I’m not much of a web address guy though I know their are many who enjoy purchasing domain names.  This Search Insider article provides a good, quick list of suggestions for good (and bad) web addresses.

What Makes a Good URL?

On GoodURLBadURL.com I list some best practices for marketing professionals who, like me, take this URL thing seriously. Here are the Dos and Don’ts I’ve come up with for selecting and promoting URLs. I’d love to hear yours, too — either in the Search Insider Blog or the comments section on my site.

Dos

1. CapitalizeTheFirstLetterOfEachWord.

2. UseDifferentColorsOrBoldToHelpEachWordStandOut.

3. Whenever possible, use YourBrandName.com.

4. If .com is not available, use YourBrandName.net.

5. If .com and .net are taken, find a new brand name. Seriously.

6. Use YourSlogan.com when running an integrated media campaign.

7. Use subdomains when driving people deeper than your homepage — e.g. Product.YourBrandName.com.

Don’ts

1. Don’t include www. We know to go to the World Wide Web to find you.

2. Don’t include http://. If your audience isn’t Web-savvy enough to know where to type the URL, you shouldn’t have a Web site.

3. don’tusealllowercase (canyoureallytellwhereonewordendsandthenextbegins?)

4. DITTOFORALLUPPERCASE

5. No-hyphens/or slashes.

6. Don’t use acronyms, abbreviations, or numbers unless your brand is widely known as such.

7. Don’t bury your URL at the bottom of a billboard. I’m the only nerd driving around with a 4x zoom lens to find URLs.

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I was listening to the radio this morning when I heard an ad for a company that mentioned their website.  This company doesn’t sell anything over the web - this was simply a corporate website.  Here is what caught my ear in the ad:

“Our website is available 24×7.”

We are not professional marketers here at Select Metrix, but I’m not sure that is a strong value proposition.

In case it is, I am here to proudly announce that The Hire Sense is available 24×7.

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From the JustSell.com newsletter:

The doctors of “Grey’s Anatomy” are reaping rewards “Grey’s” is the most expensive show this television season, bringing in $419,000 per 30-second commercial, according to AdAge.com. That’s $25,000 more than last year’s top show, “Desperate Housewives,” commanded per
30-second spot.

Here’s the fall lineup, in terms of advertising dollars…

“Grey’s Anatomy” - $419,000
“Sunday Night Football” - $358,000
“The Simpsons” - $315,000
“Heroes” - $296,000
“Desperate Housewives” - $270,000
“CSI” - $248,000
“Two and a Half Men” - $231,000
“Survivor: China” - $208,000
“Private Practice” - $208,000

The show that has them all beat? A 30-second spot in this year’s Super Bowl cost $2.6 million.

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Inc.com’s article Business Owners Rank Internet as Most Important Marketing Tool speaks to the marketing efforts of small companies.  The poll only involved 250 business owners so it is a small sample size, but let me unpack the article this way:

While e-mail may top the list of Internet-related activities, many small businesses have begun implementing online advertising strategies. Of survey respondents, 59 percent use online ads and 68 percent utilize search engine optimization “sometimes” or “often.”

Business owners are making efforts to increase their Internet presence. Forty-four percent say they plan on spending more on Internet tools this year compared to 2006, while 27 percent plan to spend the same amount as last year. The amount small businesses will shell out for their Web activities varies, with the largest group (45 percent) spending less than $2,500.

Seems like these owners are driven to invest in their company’s Internet presence.  But then there is this:

Online social tools like blogs and message boards, however, are not as popular an option for business marketing. Almost half of small business owners never use a blog, 37 percent never visit message boards or chat rooms, and 59 percent have never tried the virtual world of Second Life.

Grouping blogs, chat rooms and Second Life together is quite a stretch.  But half of the owners never use a blog?  That is remarkable to me.  These owners are missing out on volumes of information that could benefit their company.

Also, investing in a blog for their own company would seem to be an investment with a tremendous return - especially if 44% are planning to spend more on Internet tools this year.  Personally, I can say that this blog has dramatically changed our business in ways we never imagined when we first started it.

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Yes according to a recent study by Capital Consulting in London. I came across this short little article from Workforce Management in a newsletter. It is a short artice so I will reproduce it in it’s entirety (emphasis is mine):

At Least Say Thank You:
Shoddy recruiting does more than chase away potential high performers. New research suggests it also may cost companies in the marketplace. Capital Consulting in London says nearly one-quarter of job seekers have been poorly treated when applying for a job, and they frequently take out their frustrations by broadcasting the news far and wide: 31 percent share the bad experience with three to five people, with 24 percent telling six or more people. These sensitive job seekers use their leverage as consumers too, with 53 percent vowing to never purchase products or services from the offending companies. The biggest complaint centers on lack of communication, with 53 percent expressing anger at not being told why they weren€™t chosen for a position.

As we run our process for our clients the one thing I make sure I do is let candidates know when they have been eliminated from the process. It is amazing how many thank you’s I receive back from these candidates. They are truly thankful that I have communicated with them openly. So are your recruiting efforts counterproductive to your marketing efforts?

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I graduated with a degree in psychology and I have a coffee addiction so abcnews.com’s article was irresistible: Starbuck’s Psychology. The article points to some specific, subtle marketing principles incorporated by the ever-expanding Starbuck’s chain:

It has everything to do with the marketing strategy behind this designer coffee chain, which devised a clever way of creating its own community. It also pinpointed one key aspect of caffeine shoppers: They want their coffee immediately.

“Designer coffee” for certain. Knowing this fact, they devised their strategy:

Across the United States, there are 9,814 stores with a total of 13,728 worldwide. The Starbucks management has watched coffee drinks, and figured out exactly what people will and won’t do for coffee.

“We actually study traffic patterns,” said Starbucks CEO Jim Donald. “If it’s in a downtown area, we study foot-traffic patterns.”

“Not everyone can shop at Tiffany’s, but everyone can afford a cup of coffee — even if it’s $2, $3 or $4,” Blumenthal said. “You can do something nice for yourself by buying yourself a good cup of coffee every day.”

While 80 percent of the sales are takeout, they’re still delighted to have customers stay and sit with their computers for hours to make the place feel lived in.

The tables are also rounded to give it a comfortable atmosphere. As Blumenthal explained, round tables are more welcoming than those with square edges, and people look “less alone” while seated at a round table.

It is remarkable to me that this company with a clear market-leading position has placed such an emphasis on the minute details. Is your marketing program as finely tuned to your customers’ expectations?

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Writing effective sales copy is difficult, time-consuming and financially rewarding once you master it.  We have not mastered it at Select Metrix.  Earlier I posted on the effectiveness of using “P.S.” in your voicemails and written correspondence.  Now MarketingProfs.com offers Want Better Sales Copy? Take a Tip From Zig Ziglar.  There are many tips in this article, but I want to focus on one tip about what not to do:

Want to set your sales copy and your business apart from the overwhelming majority of organizations you’re competing against? Here’s a simple but powerful strategy you can start implementing today. Specify exactly what you mean when you use such words and phrases as quality, quality products and services, customer-service-oriented, we put the customer first, value, etc.

Because these words and phrases€”in and of themselves€”are meaningless. Yes, they sound good. Yes, they look good on your stationery and in your email and on your Web site. But the sales impact of using them, without defining and detailing what you mean, is virtually nil.

If your sales copy is laden with “quality, service and price,” you are sacrificing your copy for the common language of indistinguishable products or services.  Prospects assume a certain level to enter the market place - a level that includes good quality, reliable service and a reasonable price.  Notice I wrote “assume” - it doesn’t mean these assumptions are based in reality.  There are plenty of companies that don’t meet this level.  But the prospect initially assumes this level.

If the assumption is already made, writing sales copy that simply restates the assumption without defining it is pointless.  The better approach is to follow the author’s advice and put some metrics to your claim.

I would go further and recommend not focusing on those 3 topics.  I am rarely swayed by those topics.  Instead, I am drawn to companies that state their value proposition and define it in customer terms (how this value would affect me if I chose their solution).

P.S. This approach works in voicemail messages too.

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Our website is a constant topic of discussion for us - one of the subjects is how much information should we be publishing. I came across a post relating to this topic on the B2B Lead Generation Blog. There are a number of very good points made in this entry, but a couple really stand out.

People use the web for research; they are looking for fresh ideas, insight and actionable information. Intellectual property is difficult to protect and is quickly commoditized by the market. Why not leverage some of your IP to your advantage? Leverage it and demonstrate your thought leadership.

I have read numerous articles in the past couple of months that bring up similar points. In today’s market buyers are engaged much earlier in the selling process, sometimes even before a salesperson calls on them. I don’t know about you, but if something isn’t working right, I am on the web looking for solutions. After I have finished the research, I usually will make calls to a couple of the companies that have the most helpful websites.

There will undoubtedly be a few companies that look like they have great products/solutions, but the only way I can learn about them is to call the company. So why do I rarely call these companies? Because I am looking for some basic understanding of the problem I am encountering and I want to find that on their website. Instead, I figure that this company will want to start at the very beginning and try to troubleshoot the problem. After a long, tedious call, I expect that they will finally provide a solution. I also expect that I will be put on a call/email/follow-up list whether they solve my problem or not. Which leads me to the second point I wanted to share with you.

This is particularity important for companies engaged in a complex sale, where up to 70% of a customer€™s perception of your brand comes from their interactions with your sales people. I believe that the people and companies who succeed today are those who learn faster and teach others what they know more effectively.

And what better way is there to start building your brand then through your website, blog, white papers, etc. Start building your brand by sharing your expertise. The author of the B2B blog, Brian Carroll, uses this analogy:

I have a friend who is a NASCAR fan and what he loves is that it’s more about the driver than the car. All the cars are the same. It€™s the driver and the crew that make the difference. It’s kind of like that with business now. Most companies have the same basic car. It’s really about how well you drive it.

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Selling Power offers up Forget Market Share; Go for the Profits in their sales management newsletter and it is a compelling read.

The problem with going after market share as a primary goal is that companies wind up sacrificing profitability in the process. When your whole marketing strategy is about preserving or increasing market share, it€™s easy to get wrapped up in aggressive bidding wars. And it€™s a downward spiral: customers learn to take advantage of that aggressiveness, demanding lower prices, which further erodes profits.

It is a slippery slope because in essence a discount in price immediately discounts your value distinction.  Businesses that not only articulate their value differentiation but also successfully defend it are the ones that grow…exponentially.

Here is a comment to make sales manager’s gag:

In other words €“ and here€™s the tough part for many managers to swallow €“ when a competitor threatens your position by offering lower prices for a similar product, your first move should not automatically be to jump in to undercut him. In many cases, it is far wiser simply to walk away.

Salespeople are tempted by the discount to close the deal (I can personally attest to it).  But in the long run, discounts lead to dilution of your value.  I have always been one to fancy market share through extraordinary offerings as opposed to greatly discounted products or services.

Read the story about Reuters in the article for a real-world example of this principle in action.

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After the Cartoon Network debacle of last month in Boston, it now appears another company is attempting more moronic marketing in the same manner.

A clue in a Dr Pepper promotion suggested a coin that might be worth as much as $1 million was buried in the 347-year-old Granary Burying Ground, the final resting place of John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and other historic figures.

After contestants showed up at the cemetery gates early Tuesday, the city closed it, concerned that it would be damaged by treasure hunters.

It is obvious that this company knew what it was doing. Placing a coin in a national cemetery is pathetic. I suspect they are hoping for volumes of free marketing via news stories. Let’s hope they don’t receive it.

And why is Boston the target? Are their creative people that uncreative as to closely copy a recent guerilla marketing stunt?

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