Research Center >> E-Newsletters

E-Marketing Tips From the Front Lines
Use restraint on your Web site and focus on time spent versus page views. Microsites bolster trade shows. Product development via e-newsletters.
from AICPA Custom Media Solutions

Effective B2B Sites Show Off Content, Not Design

With more and more CFOs signing off on marketing expenditures, ROI has never been more important for your Web site. The smart money says compelling content, not dazzling graphics, will attract and retain the right kind of customers, especially in B2B.

The Alternative Energy Store’s Web site was recently cited by Internet Marketing Report as one that showed design restrain to make its content really shine through.

Visitors are steered to the content, not the Web page and background, itself via:

• Free floating, less boxed-in layout
• Strong color and effects that draw attention to the content
• Center-aligned content giving it an up-front, confident feel.
• Plenty of white space
• Oversize text used very sparingly

Take a moment to check out www.altenergystore.com and see how you stack up.

Time Spent Trumps Page Views As Primary Site Metric

Online audience standard bearer, Nielsen NetRatings, recently discontinued inclusion of page views as its primary metric for comparing Web sites and started using “total time spent” by users of a site. That’s good news for more online marketers and content shapers as it will more accurately reflect and reward visitor engagement levels with site content rather than merely taking attendance.

Experts expect the change to lower the rankings of sites like Google, where users are primarily searching and help many B2B sites and video sites like YouTube where users spend more time browsing and engaging.

Microsites Help Build on Success of Trade Shows

Trade shows continue to do well (see related article in today’s issue). Not only has trade show revenue surpassed print advertising revenue in the B2B sector, but trade show revenue is up over five percent this year and attendance is up three percent over 2006.

BtoB Online recommends building on that success by setting up microsites separate from your company’s Web site. Design it specifically to convert all the contacts you made at recent trade shows. You don’t need to go crazy touting all your company’s products and services on the microsite. Just focus on furthering your dialog with prospects who are “in-market” and truly interested in your presence at the show.

E-zines Can Help You Discover, Test New Product Ideas

For B2B marketers, electronic newsletters can generate mountains of useful data on customer preferences and reading habits. Not only do e-newsletters help you stay at the top of the mind with our customers and prospects, they can help you come up with new product ideas.

How?

By checking your click-stat reports for the most popular article headlines.

Gather your most popular headlines and see if any topic seem to keep bubbling to the list. Get a sense of whether the most popular headlines are strategies, how-tos, personality profiles, industry trends. According to Internet Marketing Report, you can also take popular headlines and turn them into audio conferences that prospects will pay to hear. Use the audio conferences to cross-promote you products, services, trade show appearances and of course, your other e-newsletters.