1. technology and computing
2. internet technology
3. web search

Internet Marketing
Traffic
and
Brand Building
Topics
• Smart browsing
• Traffic as value
• Traffic through visibility
– Domain branding
– Managing your portal presence
– Publicity and word of mouth
• Paying for traffic
– Alliance and co-branding
– Online ads
• Evaluating traffic sources
Traffic as Value
Value and Scarcity
• Value is based on scarcity of supply, not
necessarily benefits
• The supply of Web content is growing faster
than the number of users
• While the volume of online material provides
ever-increasing value to network users, the
the battle for attention is severe
Headline
Publication & Date
Paraphrase current articles on the battle for
traffic
Traffic as Value
Elements of a Web Traffic Plan
• Acquiring traffic is
expensive
Domain
Name/Brand
• And critical to Web
marketing success
• First step: make the
site easy to find by
new users
• The steps in Figure
9.3 build on each
other
Search &
Directory
Destination Site
External Links
Publicity
Paid Advertising
Fig. 9.3: Sources of Traffic
Traffic as Value
Elements of a Web Traffic Plan
• Retaining traffic is profitable
• Site loyalty dramatically lowers the cost of maintaining
web site traffic
• Fewer new users must be attracted to maintain a
profitable user base
Table 9.2
The Value of Loyalty in Building Traffic
Time Needed to Reach 100,000
Montly Retention Rate
Advertising Cost
Active Users
100%
$70,000
2.5 months
95%
$80,000
3 months
90%
$100,000
4 months
85%
$140,000
6 months
80%
$380,000
19 months to exeed 99,000
75%
**
Can't reach
Traffic as Value
Elements of a Web Traffic Plan
Developing Traffic Requires Value
• Visit duration is the online equivalent to time
in a store
• Long visit duration allows:
– More time to communicate the message of the site
– Additional opportunities to engage in commerce
– More chances to build commitment and loyalty
– Exposure to more advertising or alliance partner
impression
Traffic as Value
Elements of a Web Traffic Plan
• Visit
duration is a
good measure
of customer
value
Cumulative Prob.
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
0
20
40
60
80
100
L = Length of user's visit measured in # of page views
Figure 9.4 – Length of Time Visitors Spend on the
Xerox Company Web Site
• The higher
the value of a
site, the
longer the
duration of
visits
Traffic Through Visibility
Traffic Builders: Domain Names
• A domain name is the address a customer
uses to find your site
• Poorly chosen names can hinder success
• Once chosen, domain names can be difficult
to change without significant expense
• A domain name strategy should
– Reinforce branding
– Build traffic
– Anticipate consumer behavior and mistakes
Traffic Through Visibility
Traffic Builders: Domain Names
Figure 9.6:
Three Different Ways of Getting to the Coca-Cola Homepage
Traffic Through Visibility
Guidelines for Effective Domain Names
Domain Naming Goals
Benefits
Obtain a Category Domain
If a small or little known firm can secure a category item, it may be
www.jeans.com
able to launch an effective online business.
Avoid Domains Challenging to
Avoid confusing and hard-to-keep-straight domains. Domains should
Encode www.geens4u.com
be memorable from both visual and sound cues. Consumers may need
to store this in memory from a radio or billboard ad.
Avoid Long and Complicated
Third-party hosting should not be an excuse to avoid domain
Domains from Third-Party
registration. This will cause a problem with user recall.
Hosing Arrangements
www.aol.com/jeans/
Avoid Automatic CGI Clutter - Some systems store the location of the originating page as a keyword
Especially the Homepage
in the address. This can confuse users, limit word of mouth, and look
Table 9.4
www.jeans.com/cgi-bin/abc123 strange.
Register Related Items and
The cost of registering domain names is trivial compared to the cost
Common Typos
of acquiring traffic. Registering related names, and even common
www.bluejeans.com,
typographical errors, helps build traffic and prevent brand dilution.
www.jeens.com,
www.bellbottoms.com
Traffic Through Visibility
Traffic Builders: Portal Presence
• Search engines and directories are common
ways to find a company’s web site
• Problems
– A single search often produces thousands of results
– Less than 1 percent of Web pages show up in all
four of the most popular search engines
Traffic Through Visibility
Traffic Builders: Portal Presence
• Search engines retrieve pages on the basis of
keywords, meta-tags, page titles & other content
• Secure a high ranking
– Classify your site with proper keywords, descriptors
and categories
– Make sure important Web pages are listed with all
major search engines
• Multiple listing is important to ensure exposure, as each
search engine will return a different set of results to a
query
– Work with directories (like Yahoo!) to make sure they
properly locate your site
Headline
Publication & Date
It’s usually possible to find current news on
which search engines and directories drive the
most traffic
Traffic Through Visibility
The Emergence of Specialized Portals
• A specialized portal focuses on a specific
industry
• Special directories provide editorial control
by industry experts, categorization schemes
and the ability to reflect rapid change in a
particular industry
Example – www.pikenet.com
(real estate)
Traffic Through Visibility
Electronic Word of Mouth and Diffusion
• Positive word of mouth
and publicity motivate
potential users into
trial
• Loyal users are the
main source of positive
word of mouth
• Nonusers and
disgruntled consumers
are more likely to
provide negative
comments
Figure 9.9 Influences on Trial
Traffic Through Visibility
Net Word-of-Mouth Technologies
•
•
•
•
•
•
E-mail among friends and biz acquaintances
Usenet groups
E-mail listservs
AOL and other online forums
Industry portal discussion areas
Online and traditional media coverage of the
Net
The Net amplifies the power and
accelerates the speed of user feedback
Traffic Through Visibility
Opinion Leaders Online
• Opinion leaders are well-respected industry
participants journalists, or lead users known
for expertise
• Reaching opinion leaders is a key success
factor of an e-commerce strategy
• Opinion leaders can be reached via e-mail
and social networks
Traffic Through Visibility
URL Placement
• Integrate your domain name wherever possible
– Manuals, warranties, software programs
– Familiar advertising settings
• Billboards, buses, bills, company brochures, radio
advertisements, public speeches, menus in
restaurants, park benches, shopping bags
• To track which medium is driving traffic
– Use unique identifiers
– Use different Web addresses with different media
messages
Paying for Traffic
Interactive Advertising
• Banner ads are the dominant form of online
advertising
– Clickable graphic images that take a user to
another Web location
• Pricing is usually based on the number of
impressions
– Negotiated prices, volume discounts, and barter
arrangements are common
– Each banner also carries a unique identifier
• This allows a business to track the effectiveness
of each placement in generating traffic
Paying for Traffic
Online Advertising Effectiveness
From Visits to Purchases
0.05
Pool of Visitors
From Impressions to Clicks
0.95
0.02
Pool of Impressions
Cost per Impression
$15 per 1,000 impressions
$.015 each
Cost per Visitor @ 2%
0.98
Fig. 9.13 – The Declining Number
of Viewers at Each Step of an
Advertising Chain
click through
$0.015/.02=$.75 per visitor
Cost per Purchases @ 5%
conversion from visitors
to buyers
$.75/.05=$15.00 per purchaser
Paying for Traffic
Online Advertising Effectiveness
• Online ad banners are simple to create and
implement
– Experimentation is cheap and easy
• Click-through rates are fairly low
• Higher click-through rates associated with:
–
–
–
–
–
Bold colors
Top-of-page placement
Animation
Call to action
Limited frequency of exposure
Paying for Traffic
Brand Building with Banner Ads
• Banner click-through rates are often as low
as 2 percent
• This reduces the effect of online brand
building
• Many feel that branding still requires the
power and imagery of television and radio
until users have better technology
Paying for Traffic
Brand Building with Banner Ads
• Paid advertising may be necessary to create the
initial visibility to search engines
• Several of the search engines use external links to
traffic to determine a site’s indexing frequency and
placement in result lists
• Advertising reinforces the effectiveness of free
media
• Initial studies indicate that banner ads can help
build brand awareness
• Even with no click-through, banners can trigger
post-exposure visits to sites
Paying for Traffic
Online Advertising May Not Fit All Companies
• Some sites generate sufficient traffic with
other measures
• If a business has a regional market, it’s
best to avoid online advertising on sites with
national or international scope
• Regional sites, however, may be a great
opportunity for online advertising
– CitySearch, SideWalk, JustGo, Yahoo!
Evaluating Traffic Sources
Measuring the Returns
• Measurable sources of traffic include:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Search engines and directories
E-mail promotions
Publicity campaigns aimed at building awareness and trial
Links from newspaper articles and press releases
Dedicated software updates and links
Paid advertising expenditures to steer traffic to the
site
– Alliances and co-branding to generate traffic from
affiliate sites
• Web-log and commerce server data enable marketers
to measure these sources
Evaluating Traffic Sources
Tracking Search Terms
1. free sample
6.
dhea
2. creatine
7.
sex
3. ripped fuel
8.
chrysin
4. hmb
9.
melatonin
5. protein
10. glucosamine
• Important to monitor the top-ranked keywords
visitors use to find a site
• Provides useful snapshot of the ways visitors
remember and categorize a site
Evaluating Traffic Sources
Measuring the Returns
Figure 9.18 Traffic Value
Revenues
per Visit
and per
Page View
are quite
high