Category Archives: Web/Tech

Why your retail store needs a good web site, even if you don't do e-commerce.

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Thanks to Holly at GrokDotCom for finding this article on SearchEngineWatch.

Media measurement company, Nielsen Online, conducted a survey to examine the relationship between online research and offline purchases. They found that 80% of participants who had recently bought consumer electronics from a brick and mortar store whose site they visited first.

  • 53% bought from the site where they spent the most time.
  • 58% would choose the internet if they could only use one channel to conduct product research on consumer electronics. Only 25% chose the brick and mortar store.

I get asked all the time about the importance of having more than just a first generation "my nephew built it" web site for your LOCAL clothing store, plumbing shop, cafe, bank, insurance agency, etc. My answer is always, "I can’t believe it’s 2008 and you’re still asking that question. " But, some people will only listen to the numbers.

The numbers are still speaking. They haven’t changed their minds. I can help you.

Wordtracker: Great Story on the Blendtec Saga

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Tomdickson_2 I wrote a short piece about Blendtec’s success on YouTube a few weeks ago.

Today, Rachelle Money at Wordtracker’s blog posted an interview with Blendtec owner/video star Tom Dickson.

When asked about his feelings towards viral marketing now, Dickson said, “The interesting thing about viral marketing is that when you put it out there there’s no way of taking it back – it’s gone. You might get people who say bad things but that’s just going to happen.

“Most of what’s said about the campaigns is very positive. In fact, if someone says something negative about me or the blender, we don’t have to do anything because others will come back and defend me and the product.”

It’s a great success story. I find it very interesting that the strategic pieces all fell into place AFTER the company found a remarkable way to tell the message.

What are you doing to be remarkable?

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Advertising vs. Being Remarkable

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Blendtec"Advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable."
-Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens

There are STILL plenty of very smart people in the world who have not begun to realize the power of the web. For some, it’s a fear of technology. Others have been too busy engaged in successful business. Still others just have their heads in the sand.

I was having a conversation with a group of very successful brick and mortar jewelers a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about my blogging class and they asked if I knew of any jewelers who have had any measure of success with blogging. I pointed them to Ice.com and their use of a blog strategy to tie their name to celebrities and provide lots of in-bound links to products.

Then, they asked me if I could name a business that has achieved any kind of success with YouTube?

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