Website Magazine November 2015

5 Tips to Leverage Reviews this Holiday Season

10 CELEBRATING

YEARS

THE MAGAZINE FOR WEBSITE SUCCESS NOVEMBER 2015

The Web

IS ALIVE

Predictions for the ‘Net’s Future INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

What Makes a Difference in SEO Today?

Branding Basics for Marketers Last-Minute KPIs for Retailers

PLUS

TOP 50

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Resource Center FINELY FOCUSED INFORMATION FROM INDUSTRY SPONSORS Scan to visit our Resource Center at www.WebsiteMagazine.com/resources

Website Magazine’s Resource Center presents whitepapers from our sponsors that provide information, specifics and metrics to help you make decisions for website success. Download free at www.WebsiteMagazine.com/resources.

12 Campaigns to Run this Holiday

The ROI of Responsive Design

How to Win at Black Friday & Cyber Monday

Automated Replenishment Guide

This holiday season it’s imperative that retailers serve up personalized offers to create a more integrated experience, making it easier for consumers to shop their way. Download this whitepaper to learn more about the top five trends for the 2015 shopping season.

Sponsored by Avalara

Don’t let your customers run out of their favorite products. By leveraging predictive analytics, powered by Windsor Circle, you can ensure your customers never miss an order. Download this free guide to learn how to set up automated, data-driven replenishment emails and benefit from recurring revenue.

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Why Unified Commerce Platform is a Must for Business Growth

Back in the Hopper: The Marketplace Fairness Act

As all retailers know, the holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year, if you’re ready for it. In this eBook we will explore key tips and tricks to keep your customers before, during and after the holidays, as well as the top 12 campaigns to run this year.

Sponsored by Windsor Circle

To be successful in omnichannel commerce, companies can no longer rely on legacy siloed or homegrown business applications. No matter what a systems integrator tells you, these siloed bits of technology will never communicate as effectively as one unified platform.

Sponsored by GoECart

By now, the concept of responsive Web design is well known, and increasingly perceived as a necessity. Mobile shopping is soaring. Download our eBook discussing the ROI of responsive design and how to build the case to your executives for why responsive technology will grow your sales.

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Three versions of remote sales tax legislation are in circulation and each would create different consequences for those selling online. Read this two-page overview to learn why and how passage of a federal Internet sales tax law could impact your business.

Sponsored by Avalara

Download free at www.WebsiteMagazine.com/resources

The Web

IS ALIVE

Predictions for the ‘Net’s Future It’s a fast-paced and dynamic industry that ‘Net professionals find themselves working in today. Competing now and in the future will require enterprises to create experiences for customers in new, engaging and even unexpected ways. Taking a look back at how far the Web has come (and where it is headed) is a good place to start.

THIS MONTH IN WEBSITE MAGAZINE Hot Web Conferencing Savvy professionals are turning to Web solutions to hold meetings and broadcast live events in effective and engaging ways.

Explore Website Magazine’s

DEPARTMENTS Stat Watch: Visibility via Social

Enterprise Ready: Right-Brain, Left-Brain UX

Small Business Lab: Brand Disciples 101

Branding Basics

Quiz Time:

“Branding” does not need to be a dirty word for digital marketers. Discover several ideas to help your company use branding to its advantage.

The Science of Analytics

Top 50: Email Experience Solutions

Mastering Search:

The Gift of Followers Implement and integrate these email and social tips to get more chances to market to customers this holiday season.

SEO Difference-Makers

E-Commerce Express: Holiday Reviews in Focus

Design & Development: Accessibility in Web Design

Web Commentary:

Last-Minute KPIs Retailers will want to pay special attention to the metrics of holidays past to ensure a successful present and future.

Make the Most out of Email If increasing open rates, lifetime value and revenue are the goals, marketers should review these important considerations for email today.

10 Years Later...

GET THE DIGITAL SCOOP Check out Website Magazine’s email newsletters covering search, e-commerce, social, design and more at wsm.co/webscoop.

From the

EDITOR Thanks…

Find Website Magazine at these Internet industry tradeshows.

Big Data TechCon Nov. 3-4 Chicago, IL Ad: Tech Nov. 4-5 New York, NY

The Magazine for Website Success

Thank you for the opportunity to publish Website Magazine.

Thank you for recognizing the opportunity that the ‘Net provides personally and professionally to billions around the world; thank you for seeking Web success for your enterprise; and thank you for serving as the inspiration for the nearly 100 issues that have been published (so far). Thank you – this is your Website Magazine as much as it is ours and we’re honored to play a role in your digital life.

A lot can happen in the course of 10 years (read the commentary for more on that). Web technology has evolved rapidly since the first issue arrived as one might imagine, as have the techniques and tactics used by digital professionals like you to ideate and create, publish, distribute and analyze the efforts made on the Web. It is, obviously, useful to look back over a decade of digital work to see what’s been accomplished, and to see first-hand how things have changed (or not) and just how much. A history (regardless of how detailed), by itself, however, is insufficient. It is also useful to have a plan for moving forward.

This issue of Website Magazine does both – exploring the technologies and techniques used by Web professionals to acquire and retain customers, as well as providing some predictions on what the digital landscape will look like in another 10 years. If there’s one thing you can count on, it is this – dedicating yourself to creating useful and engaging experiences, ones rooted in a clear vision, is the only true path to Web success. This month’s feature article highlights some of the most useful approaches today’s digital brands can take to create more efficient and effective websites and should serve readers well over the next 10 years.

There is also a whole lot more included in this much-anticipated 10-year anniversary issue. Readers will discover some powerful tools for Web conferencing, learn about a few branding basics and gain useful tips for acquiring more followers. And, as Website Magazine and its readers approach the holiday season, readers will find guidance on making the most of email, learn about some important SEO difference-makers and establish a foundation for gathering important key performance indicators.

As always, we hope you enjoy this issue and invite you to join us on the Web where our editors and industry contributors explore the topics that matter most to digital success. And once again, thanks for CELEBRATING 10 great years – we are excited for the next decade and we hope you are as well.

Best Web Wishes, Peter@WebsiteMagazine.com

10 YEARS

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A Mission a Decade in the Making Website Magazine is officially 10 years old, and we want to celebrate with you.

Look for the phrase “returning customers” (hint: it’s in orange and bold in the second half of the magazine), open up the November 2015 digital edition of Website Magazine at wsm.co/digitalwm15 and click on that phrase.

Participants will then be directed to a special landing page where they will be entered to win a $500 prize. The winner will be announced next month!

Website Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 11, November 2015, (ISSN# 1942-0633) is published 12 times a year, January through December by Website Services, Inc., 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018. Periodicals Postage Paid at Des Plaines, IL and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Website Magazine, 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018.

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BRIEFS

QUICK HITS Product Searches Start on Amazon (Usually) A whopping 44 percent of U.S. consumers go straight to Amazon when beginning their search for products online, bypassing both top search engines and retailers in their path to purchase according to a recent study from Survata and BloomReach. Comparatively, the data shows that 34 percent of consumers begin their online shopping journey on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, while just 21 percent start with a specific retailer.

Google Attacks Hacked Sites Google unveiled a series of algorithmic changes that will reduce hacked spam in its search results. According to Google, the changes will end up impacting roughly 5 percent of queries (depending on the language). Users may temporarily notice that for certain queries, the number of results shown is reduced.

$ WHO GOT PAID? $110 Million LogMeIN acquired

single-sign-on and password management service LastPass for $110 million in cash, with up to an additional $15 million in cash in contingent payments.

15 @WalmartLabs, the technology pow-

er behind Walmart Global eCommerce, has made its 15th acquisition in the last four years with its purchase of PunchTab. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, @WalmartLabs did note it will be using the PunchTab technology to enhance its existing customer relationship management (CRM) tools.

$450

Million Pandora has entered into an agreement to acquire live events technology company Ticketfly. The transaction is valued at approximately $450 million, with a nearly equal balance of cash and stock.

YouTube Makes Videos Shoppable YouTube is making videos shoppable with a new ad unit called Shopping ads, which present consumers watching videos on the site with an info icon in the upper right corner. Once clicked, related Cards will be revealed – including product ads. Clicking on one of these ads then directs the consumer to the merchant’s website. It is important to note that Shopping ads will use an auction model similar to Google’s search ads. Targeting based on context and audience will also be available.

? OF THE MONTH

QUESTION

What is the biggest analytics challenge for your Web-based business, and why?

To answer this question and possibly be included in an upcoming issue of Website Magazine, visit wsm.co/novqotm.

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Net

BRIEFS POPULAR WITH WM READERS +

Web Design Mistakes that Kill Rankings

+

Google rewards websites that provide a great user experience with higher search rankings. Although many Web professionals think their sites are optimized for usability, some are still making simple mistakes.

Keep reading at wsm.co/wdmistakes

APP FOCUS On-the-Go Marketing Tips Google is delivering marketing tips straight to mobile users’ fingertips with its Primer app for Android and iOS devices. The app helps users learn new digital marketing skills with quick, five-minute lessons. New lessons are added every week and cover the topics of advertising, content, measurement and strategy.

Discover more apps at ApplicationMagazine.com.

7 Reasons Why Astute Internet Marketers are in Love with Pinterest With more than 70 million users, Pinterest has quickly become a social powerhouse. The Web’s most perceptive marketers not only realize this, but are also using it to their advantage.

+

Employee’s Choice: Perks or Pay Raise?

New data from Glassdoor is shedding light on employee preferences when it comes to job compensation. Find out if traditional pay raises outweigh perks like insurance, bonuses, vacation time and pensions.

Keep reading at wsm.co/luvpinterest

Keep reading at wsm.co/compensate15

# WEBTECHWATCH See what has the ‘Net community all abuzz with Website Magazine’s #WebTechWatch series, a monthly roundup profiling both emerging and established technologies and some of the most useful solutions for today’s Web workers. See more and submit your own recommendation at wsm.co/wtwnov15. + Ad Intelligence from Sensor Tower: A platform to benchmark advertising spend and shape future acquisition strategies. + WooBoard: Cloud-based employee recognition platform to motivate, empower and engage workers. + Wootric: Gather Net Promoter Score (NPS) and actionable “voice-of-customer” feedback within mobile applications (see image).

Have tips, stories, or funding or acquisition news to share?

Tweet us @WebsiteMagazine

Stat

WATCH

Gain Greater Enterprise Visibility with Social Media

30%

Brands should know how obsessed the average user is with social media. Recent data from GlobalWebIndex, in fact, indicates social networking accounts for nearly 30 percent of a Web user’s daily Internet activities – but to what effect does consumers’ social use have on a brand’s ability to be found online?

Ninety-one percent of marketers, who invest as little as six hours a week on the various social networks, indicated their efforts increased exposure for their businesses (Social Media Examiner, May 2015). While exposure in this study was not used quantitatively, it is considered the top benefit of social media marketing according to those surveyed, followed by increasing traffic and developing loyal fans.

One of the ways social media may be helping marketers increase exposure for their brands is through its prominence in today’s search engine result pages (SERPs) where Google+ posts still receive prominent placement, tweets are once again being indexed in real-time and Facebook is often a top organic result for a brand query. In fact, Searchmetrics found this year that higher-ranking URLs have more social signals (as reported in the company’s Search Ranking Factors and Rank Correlations whitepaper).

Further, at least 61 percent of those investing a minimum of six hours per week in social media marketing saw improvements in search engine rankings according to the previously mentioned Social Media Examiner report.

What this means is that brands cannot focus solely on social media nor can they focus solely on search engine optimization or any other channels or initiatives exclusively. The optimal approach should be to balance efforts and investments across channels. To see which channels are playing a role in an industry’s path to purchase, marketers should plug in their data to Google’s Customer Journey tool (wsm.co/cjourney15).

80% Eight out of ten videos in the top U.S. search engine result pages are from YouTube.

(Searchmetrics, 2015)

61% While Twitter is primarily a mobile platform, 61 percent of the ad dollars spent on advertising campaigns on the network are not targeted exclusively to either mobile or desktop users.

(Kinetic, 2015)

53% Instagram has the highest amount of users (53 percent) who follow brands of any of the top social networks.

(GlobalWebIndex, 2015)

120% Since 2013, post promotion has risen 120 percent for brands on Facebook. Now 75 percent of brands on Facebook promote their posts.

(Socialbakers, 2015)

96% Nearly all (96 percent) of Pinterest users leverage the network to gather product information and 93 percent of users are planning purchases.

(Shopify, 2015)

N OV E M B E R 2015

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Enterprise

READY

The Left and Right Brain of Digital Experiences

By Marina Kalika, Sr. Director of Product Marketing at TouchCommerce

When the term “big data” became popularized many years ago, companies scrambled to take advantage of the huge amounts of information coming in from their business activities and customers.

At the time, however, enterprises were looking at the data in an isolated silo of technology and didn’t see the appropriate places where it could be utilized. Simultaneously, customer service teams and marketers were largely conducting initiatives without getting any insights from the vast amounts of customer data that was being accumulated. As a result, their campaigns were more generalized and out of touch with who their customers really were. Even less effective were the results of their personalization efforts. These were, in essence, two sides of the digital experience brain that were not working together.

Eventually, though, with technology relentlessly progressing in the management of big data, the practice became less intimidating. As data was tamed, marketing teams began to discover new ways to leverage insights offered to create more targeted, and creative, campaigns.

Since enterprises have come to a clearer understanding of data, they are better able to link the numbers with the inspiration, the insights with the vision. Companies have learned the powerful combination of left-brain analytics and right-brain creativity to develop a holistic approach to customer experience and marketing.

Left-Brain Data Basics In the beginning of the big data era, companies would look at the giant mounds of data and get overwhelmed.

Fortunately, over time, they have learned how to orga10

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NOVEMB ER 2015

nize their data in order to better understand customer behavior and create appropriate targeting algorithms.

The two basic data sets to consider have always been, and continue to be, (1) website visit history and (2) purchase history of the consumers. From these two sets flow other customer behavior metrics including page or content area viewed, time on site, previous engagement, campaign lead source, opt-out activity, cart value and many others.

As mobile has emerged over the last several years, so have data sets. Additional segmentation information such as source channel and cross-channel journey data are now in use. Possibilities are endless when businesses can deconstruct the mountain of data and look at it in meaningful sets.

Joining with Right-Brain Strategy When companies concentrate too much on optimization, however, they may overlook creative considerations and ideas that may result in greater returns.

Conversely, customer experience should tap into people’s emotions and play into popular culture, but focusing on creative doesn’t mean ignoring data. It’s akin to a sports team focusing on defense at the expense of an offensive strategy. Merging key performance indicators (KPIs), consumer insights and channel data with a right-brain creative strategy is a stellar combination. In fact, data plays an important role in directing creative.

Incorporating both data and creativity means maintaining a balance between insight-driven ideas and compelling execution. Many of today’s top brands are using customer information to strengthen the service side of their operations, as well as to optimize the content marketing they publish to their owned media properties (e.g. blogs, microsites and social media).

Produce Better Digital Experiences How can today’s companies take advantage of both leftand right-brain strategies to improve the bottom line?

Better listening: Customer experience feeds off of the knowledge of customer behavior and their preferences. The more real-time information companies have about what customers are thinking and what they are talking about, the better they are able to meet their needs. Big data opens the windows to an indepth view of the customer’s mind, as well as where trends may be leaning in the future.

Better engagement: Once brands have the right data and metrics, they can interact with and engage those prospects that are most relevant, most likely to buy and most likely to wield the greatest market influence.

Better strategies: By learning from the data received and analyzing it, brands can improve their strategies for engaging customers. Collecting insights from different data streams helps to identify

patterns in their customer engagement strategies, as well as those of competitors.

Better offerings: Digital is transforming the enterprise and forcing companies to continually come up with new and better offerings. Fortunately, data provides companies an opportunity to see trends that their customers may or may not be aware of and can give them an edge that will make a huge impact. The ability to see beyond the horizon sets great companies apart from everyone else.

Working Together Just as the brain’s right and left hemispheres work together to complete the human experience, so too must data and creativity if the aim is to enrich the customer experience. Alone, each of these components of digital experience is indispensable, but their greatest power lies within working together.

Marina Kalika is the senior director of product marketing at TouchCommerce, the innovative leader in omnichannel customer engagement solutions for market-leading brands.

Small

BUSINESS LAB

Brand Disciples and the Secret to Loyalty

By David Trice, CEO of ENGAGE.cx

There are brand advocates, and then there are brand disciples.

Advocates regularly buy your product. They’re great, and your business loves them. They aren’t, however, the shout-your-brand-from-the-rooftop and buy-every-product customers that all companies aspire to have. Disciples are not only voracious consumers of a product, but also those that adore a particular product or set of products so much that they proactively recommend them to others.

Think about the people who will sleep overnight on city streets just to get Apple’s latest iPhone – or the motorcycling enthusiasts who are hardcore disciples of Harley Davidson (buying its boots and bikes and participating in shows and social groups). These are brand disciples. If marketers haven’t figured out the importance of these brand and product disciples, consider this: According to Boston Consulting Group, nine out of ten consumers and more than 50 percent of business-to-business (B2B) customers trust recommendations from friends, colleagues and peers when making purchasing decisions.

Disciples, however, can’t be bought.

Trust is paramount to the value of disciples’ recommendations, so it must be earned. When properly earned and cultivated, disciples can be turned into an unofficial sales force. They want to connect with a 12

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NOVEMB ER 2015

business in a real and authentic way, and companies must overcome any and all obstacles to that authentic experience. Failing to meet a disciple on his or her terms will have direct financial impact. Disciples require that brands treat them with the utmost respect, that they know them and understand their needs as well as a brand understands its own.

Understanding Disciples: It’s Getting Complicated Social, mobile, analytics and cloud technology are among the top trends driving the expectations of today’s customers. As a result, customers are testing the boundaries of brand authenticity at every touchpoint. Efforts to meet the needs of disciples are made more difficult by today’s functional and technical infrastructures, which can make relevant information about disciples unavailable to company associates when it is truly needed. Knowing where disciples are in their specific journeys can appear to be virtually impossible and has become a “Holy Grail” of sorts for many businesses.

Speaking their Language The solution to overcoming these hurdles is for companies to focus on interacting with disciples the way friends and neighbors interact with each other – with true familiarity and understanding. When friends and neighbors interact, they do so with an understanding of the context of the interaction. This means recognizing disciples when they engage with a business, no matter whether it’s on the phone, via text or from a tweet. When disciples walk into a store, sellers should know who they are and greet them by name. The goal is to deliver personal relationships at scale, enabling the entire business to recognize these customers at every touchpoint and engage them with deep understanding. The time is now for businesses to understand every customer touchpoint in order to identify and understand their true disciples.

To meet the needs of disciples, engagement must become the responsibility of the whole business, and promises made by the brand need to be met at every interaction with customers.

By empowering an entire business to engage in truly personal interactions at every customer touchpoint, businesses can recognize and relate to disciples when it matters most – at the moment of engagement.

This is the secret to building lasting, meaningful relationships with brand disciples in today’s current competitive landscape.

David Trice is co-founder and CEO of ENGAGE.cx, the leading experience-driven CRM for enterprise. Prior to launching ENGAGE.cx, Trice was VP of CRM at Oracle, where he led the launch of Oracle’s Fusion CRM.

Quiz

TIME

The Science of Analytics There is science behind virtually every business decision nowadays, and it’s all thanks to the power of analytics.

When leveraged properly, Web analytics solutions provide business professionals with the data needed to optimize websites, make better marketing decisions and increase conversions. Enterprises certainly seem to be aware of these benefits, as a study commissioned by Dell Services reveals that more than 70 percent of businesses are actively using or have nearterm plans to use analytics in their everyday decision-making.

Further, only five percent of those leveraging analytics believe that they have achieved the highest level of analytical maturity.

Translation: enterprises can do more.

While the data available within analytics solutions can be quite intimidating, even the most basic metrics (traffic, views, opens, etc.) can be used to benefit a company’s bottom line.

Gain confidence in your data and keep up with the industry’s latest trends in Website Magazine’s Insights on Analytics channel at wsm.co/netanalytics.

In the meantime, test your analytics knowledge with November’s Quiz Time.

1. By 2026, revenue from the “big data” market, including the sale of related hardware, software and professional services, is expected to reach… a. $5.6 billion b. $113 million c. $23.7 million d. $84 billion

2. Which one of the following is NOT a video metric that YouTube’s analytics offering provides? a. Average View Duration b. Estimated Minutes Watched c. Accumulated Viral Potential d. Playback Locations

3. True or False: More than half of business leaders will experience difficulties evaluating data quality and reliability. a. True b. False

4. What Google Analytics feature launched in 2015 helps users recover deleted data? a. Recovery Master b. Trash Can c. Data Rescue d. RDD (Recently Deleted Data)

5. Almost half of companies are leveraging advanced analytics to do what?

For the answers to this month’s Quiz Time, visit wsm.co/qtnov15 or scan the QR code on the left.

a. Predict their company’s financial performance b. Recruit customers c. Improve retention initiatives d. Conducting competitive research N OV E M B E R 2015

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Top

50

RANK WEBSITE

Mastering the Email Experience As a channel, email just does not seem to generate the discussion, investment or attention it deserves among today’s digital enterprises and that is unfortunate as it has – for the entire Web’s history – been one of its most productive.

Organic search, digital advertising and social media are important to the success of every enterprise, of course, but the high performance that results from taking full advantage of the email channel (for both transactional and non-transactional messages) is unmatched in the digital realm today.

According to Adestra’s recently released Email Marketing Industry Census, for example, email was ranked as the best channel in terms of return on investment (ROI). What’s more, the study revealed that revenue from email increased by 28 percent year-over-year for respondents and 68 percent of companies rated the channel as “good” or “excellent” – and the positive data points don’t stop there:

+ Email marketing yields an average 4,300 percent ROI for U.S.-based businesses. (DMA)

+ Companies using email to nurture leads generate more “sales-ready” leads and at a 33 percent lower cost. (Forrester Research)

+ For every $1 spent on email marketing, the average ROI is $44.25. (ExactTarget)

+ Email conversion rates are three times higher than social media.

(McKinsey & Company)

Email is not without its challenges – poor deliverability, failures in executing relevancy and personalization initiatives, and data decay being some of the most common. This month’s Top 50 in Website Magazine, however, profiles the many companies in operation today that are helping brands both big and small eliminate or reduce these issues and maximize their use of email to drive revenue and deepen audience engagement.

The email experience is vastly different than it was many years ago, but so too are the technologies and tactics employed by today’s enterprises. The practice of email is incredibly dynamic, with significant digital advancements being made and new techniques and tactics emerging daily. Use this month’s Top 50 as a starting point as you actively pursue solutions to enhance the email experience for your brand and its customers.

How Do Your Emails Compare?

Find out how your email campaigns’ open and click-through rates measure against your peers at wsm.co/ecompare15.

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Salesforce.com MailChimp.com ConstantContact.com Zoho.com Experian.com InfusionSoft.com Aweber.com VerticalResponse.com Benchmarkemail.com iContact.com GetResponse.com MadMimi.com MyEmma.com Act-On.com Silverpop.com Bronto.com Campaigner.com CakeMail.com ActiveCampaign.com Comm100.com Streamsend.com Listrak.com Freshmail.com BombBomb.com WhatCounts.com Lyris.com SimplyCast.com IgnitionOne.com BlueHornet.com MailerLite.com GetDrip.com MailerMailer.com Contactology.com JangoMail.com ReachMail.net Strongview.com Subscribermail.com EmailBrain.com LeadFormix.com ElasticEmail.com Eyejot.com SalesFusion.com Boomerang.com HallData.com Yesmail.com SmartFocus.com EmailDirect.com Pinpointe.com Mailup.com GraphicMail.com

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Making Your Website a Lead Generation Machine for 2016 Wednesday, December 9, 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PT/1 p.m. CT

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Would you buy a shiny new convertible if it had no engine? It might look pretty, but it would never take you anywhere. If your website is not attracting the right kind of visitors and turning them into leads, then it’s not taking you anywhere either.

A company’s website is its most powerful marketing asset. Join Rachel Rosin, Marketing Programs Manager for Demand Gen of Act-On Software, to explore principles and tactics that will get your motor running at full power going into 2016.

SPEAKER

BIO

Rachel Rosin Marketing Programs Manager Demand Generation, Act-On Software

Rachel Rosin is responsible for the development and execution of webinars and email campaigns designed to attract, capture and nurture prospects and leads. She is also a key player in content development for lead and pipeline cultivation, with a focus on increasing conversion rates.

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Mastering

SEARCH

What Really Makes a Difference in Search Today?

By Marcus Tober, CTO and Founder of Searchmetrics

Search is one of the primary ways marketers drive traffic to their online content today.

With Google’s algorithm continuously evolving as well as the dramatic rise of mobile search, it is essential that companies keep a close eye on strategies that push up their pages in the rankings and keep them there.

Three important discoveries emerged from an annual analysis (conducted by Searchmetrics) of the top 30 search results on Google.com for 10,000 keywords.

The study analyzed common characteristics of pages with a high Google ranking and the factors that correlate with (or are more likely to appear on) these pages.

1) Quality content, not keywords Content strategies based purely on inserting or including individual keywords within copy are dead. The study shows that the emphasis today must be on creating relevant, high-quality content that is easily understood and comprehensively covers the topic.

The average word count of the top 30 pages in search results, for example, increased by 25 per16

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cent since 2014, while Flesch readability (which measures how easy or difficult it is to read a piece of text) is becoming more important. This not only indicates that high-ranking content tends to be longer (providing it’s relevant and adds value) but should also be easily understood (while accepting that specialist content for expert audiences may, of course, be more complex).

In addition, semantic analysis provides evidence that high-ranking pages cover topics in greater depth, touching on a variety of related subjects, which also means they rank for more search terms and topics overall to assist in potentially attracting more traffic.

For example, the proportion of important “proof terms” connected to the main topic identified in the content of the website page in the analyzed search results is around 78 percent, while the average proportion of “relevant terms” (slightly distant but related words) is around 51 percent. So if the main topic or search query is “Mexico holidays,” proof terms such as “Mexico hotels” or “Mexico flights” are likely to be common, as well as relevant terms such as “Riviera Maya” or “Cancun sights.”

2) User experience matters Websites that rank higher also tend to offer a more user-friendly experience. They are more likely to use features such as bullet points to present content in a more structured way, as well as more menus, buttons and other interactive elements that help to make sites easier to use.

With more people searching on the move, upward of 30 percent of sites appearing in the top 30 now use responsive design to automatically optimize pages for a mobile, tablet or computer experience (the real percentage is very likely much higher as the study only analyzed the most common types of responsive design).

High-ranking pages also tend to include more internal links that visitors can click and follow to find additional related information on the site. Links, however, must point to relevant information that adds value – it is not just about increasing the number of citations alone.

“

While backlink features still show a fairly high correlation with rankings, their value is gradually declining. This trend is likely to continue as Google can now better analyze and give more weight to factors such as user behavior and content semantics. There remains a correlation between high rankings and the number of backlinks, but it is lower than last year.

For tips on creating content that naturally gets links, go to wsm.co/natural-links.

While link building is on the wane, link ‘earning’ by creating quality content is the way to go.

3) Backlinks still highly correlate with rankings – but their value is declining Search experts have long understood that search engines use the number and variety of backlinks to a page – from other sites – as a quality signal (e.g. if a lot of other pages point to a page, then it must be valuable and useful).

For many years, Google has attempted to clamp down on those who try to game the system by building false (or unnatural) links just for the sake of improving rankings – and it seems to be working.

“

Discover several recommendation engines that can increase the number of internal links presented and the relevancy of those links at wsm.co/boost-links.

Interestingly, backlinks from news sites occur more frequently on high-ranking pages – maybe because Google views these links as a reliable indicator of quality (it is more difficult to manufacture false links from online publications) and freshness.

While link building is on the wane, link “earning” by creating quality content is the way to go.

As the research shows, to rank highly, the emphasis is now on good, relevant content on sites that provide a top-notch experience and are technically sound.

Marcus Tober is CTO and founder of Searchmetrics, a leader in search and content performance.

A Match Made in Digital Heaven?

Top-ranking sites increasingly have one thing in common: responsive design. Arm yourself with additional reasons to go responsive at wsm.co/seoheaven.

E-Commerce

EXPRESS

5 Tips to Leverage Reviews this Holiday Season

By Matt Parsons, Chief Customer Officer at PowerReviews

The holiday shopping season is truly a wonderful time of the year for retail brands, but those unprepared for the end-of-theyear shopping blitz could end up missing out on thousands (in some cases, millions) of dollars in sales. The reason? Reviews.

By now it’s clear that ratings and reviews are an essential part of the digital shopping experience, and further, how consumers make purchase decisions (see sidebar). Not all review content is created equally, however. So how can a brand ensure it makes the most of the review experience? Let the following serve as a useful guide during this holiday season and those beyond.

1. Stock Up on Reviews

Did You Know?

88% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

(BrightLocal, 2014) 70% of consumers are interested in accessing product ratings and reviews while in store.

(PowerReviews, 2015) 18

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The best way to ensure that products have reviews is for retailers to ask for them by sending a postpurchase email to every customer each time they buy from them (internal data revealed that nearly 67 percent of reviews originate from post-purchase emails). In the event that a company is introducing a new product for the holiday season, those responsible for marketing should consider conducting a “sampling” campaign, sending samples of that prereleased product to generate reviews ahead of time.

This could help move potential customers toward conversion since others have already tested it and provided their recommendation.

2. Make it Mobile More mobile shoppers than ever before are expected by the end of this year. And while shoppers are using mobile to make purchases online, they’re also using it at brick-and-mortar locations. In fact, a 2015 study released by the Local Search Association revealed that 90 percent of consumers are using mobile devices to help them make purchases while in-store.

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Marketers can take advantage of this growing trend by ensuring shoppers have everything they need in the palms of their hands and that means mobile-friendly reviews. Brands, for example, will want to use responsive design to ensure that reviews display properly regardless of screen size. Further, they should ensure their reviews section doesn’t slow down page load time, which is especially important on mobile, as there are already environmental fluctuations to contend with.

3. Use Reviews in Holiday Ads & Signage As mentioned above, customers don’t just read reviews, they trust them. Only price impacts purchase decisions more. When featuring products in holiday advertisements and signage, retailers should consider including reviews and star ratings to enhance their ads with the voice of the consumer. Marketers can even use the data they’ve collected to create holiday shopping guides that feature top-rated items, making it easy for consumers to find the perfect gift for everyone on their list.

Creative marketing campaigns like these can increase sales this holiday season, and increased sales provide more opportunities for retailers to collect reviews – even offline.

4. Solicit Reviews from In-Store Shoppers With foot traffic at an all-time high during the holidays, retailers should consider leveraging in-store shoppers to generate a higher volume of reviews. This is best done by tying existing loyalty programs, which track in-store purchases, to post-purchase emails campaigns. For example, when a person provides his or her phone number to access loyalty perks in-store, the retailer can email them a receipt, ask for a review and even provide a small promotional offer.

5. Test Incentives & Rewards for Reviews The majority of consumers who aren’t writing reviews cite needing an incentive to do so. As the holiday season approaches, it is a good idea to use rewards to motivate customers to leave reviews. By experimenting with different types of rewards – 10 percent off the next purchase, bonus points to an existing loyalty program or a sweepstakes entry – retailers can see which offers generate the most reviews.

Sweepstakes programs, in particular, are a digital goldmine if acquiring more reviews is a retailer’s goal.

Reviews will prove critical to the performance of Internet retailers this holiday season. Those that actively pursue them, make them accessible and reward those that invest their time in providing them, will be those positioned for Web success in the future.

Matt Parsons is chief customer officer at PowerReviews, a provider of ratings, reviews, and question-and-answer technology.

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Design and

DEVELOPMENT

Advice from the Pros:

Designing for Web Accessibility

By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

More people are accessing the Web than ever before and with the influx of new Internet users comes a greater demand to make it usable for everyone regardless of abilities.

While regulation is not uniform across industries (read, “Web Accessibility Rules for 2015” at wsm.co/warules15 ) experts like Carin van Vuuren, CMO of Usablenet, notes an increase of cases where online businesses are sued on the grounds of discrimination. While some corporations are mandated by the federal government or other agen-

Real World: Coding for Accessibility “When I was in university for computer science I met someone who was blind and surfing the Internet using a text-to-voice accessibility application.

It was fascinating to watch: He’d rapidly switch from element to element on the screen and determine what the content was about. The dictation app would just pronounce the first few syllables of the content and he’d know what the content was about. Images and links were the toughest. People spam these elements with keywords rendering the ‘alternate text’ attribute useless to its original purpose.

Ever since then, when I code, I make sure all my alt text is descriptive and succinct by imagining it from the perspective of someone who’s visually impaired.” ~Orun Bhuiyan, Marketing Technologist, Senior Developer at SEOcial 20

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cies to make their website accessible, others, notes van Vuuren, want to be good corporate citizens and support all their customers. There are, of course, revenue implications as well.

“Being unable to navigate non-descriptive links such as ‘click here’ or ‘more info’ greatly impacts the experience for the user living with disability, and is likely to end in abandonment in the journey,” said van Vuuren.

“For those users who have low vision or are blind, ordering products online or even booking a holiday using a device can become impossible if the business in question hasn’t considered their needs when designing the experience. An assistive site that offers a good user experience for users will not just increase loyalty and trust for the business, but will impact the bottom line positively as well.”

With 15 percent of the world’s population living with some form of disability (according to 2014 data from the World Health Organization), brands may not only feel compelled to improve their online experience, but also soon be required to. When it comes to implementing accessibility, however, many designers have to rely on their peers to set an effective plan in motion, as their resources may be limited.

Website Magazine enlisted the help of accessibility experts to provide advice on meeting or maintaining standards (for more tips go to wsm.co/webaccess15). After all, while there are many considerations to be made when designing a website for accessibility, there are plenty of reasons for brands to make the effort – loyalty, compliancy, conversions and decency to name just a few.

Adopt an Accessibility-First Approach “You’ve heard of mobile-first, which is a useful approach for getting designers and developers to think about the context of use and break-points in the mobile form factors, but ‘accessibility-first’ endeavors to make Web accessibility standards compliance, as well as empathy, foundational to any website or application project.” ~Thelton McMillian, Founder, President and CEO of Comrade

Use New Web Design Standards “Website accessibility has gotten trickier over the last few years. Websites have been (and still are) going through an awkward growth spurt; they’re becoming less like mildly interactive brochures and more like highly interactive app-like experiences.

And as websites have become more complex, the bare minimum for accessibility standards has also grown more complex.

We’re hopeful that accessibility implementation will catch up to design and functionality trends. The recently debuted U.S. Web Design Standards (access at wsm.co/wdstandards) is a great example of making implementation easier – it provides easy-toimplement solutions for government websites and indirectly helps raise the bar for all websites. If Google begins to emphasize the importance of accessibility more than they already have, we’ll really start to see standards pickup.” ~ Justin Kalaskey, Lead Designer at WebMechanix

Be Basic “The recent trend for flat design and a simpler look and feel to sites has been very beneficial to accessibility. The more straightforward a website is, the easier it is for screen readers to present the content. With small wearables like watches, designers have to present only the core functions of their applications with a very basic interface, and this is a good mindset to have when designing for accessibility too.” ~ Fiona Taylor-Gorringe, Developer and Blogger for MyAccessible.website

Check for Color Contrast “People with a variety of vision issues (color blindness, low vision, cataracts, etc.) find it difficult to read without sufficient contrast between the foreground text and background color. Because of this, check your pages with a color contrast checker and never rely on color alone to relay important information.

Testing for WCAG’s recommended 4.5:1 color contrast ratio is a good start. This can easily be done with Webaim’s color contrast checker or Web Accessibility Evaluation (WAVE) tool. In addition, a great tool that allows you to simulate how your site might look with a number of different vision deficiencies is the WAVE plugin for Chrome.” ~Michelle Williamson, Accessibility Lead for Mediacurrent

Take a Human Approach “Consider input from people with disabilities. Assume that someone can’t fully interact with one part of your site, whether visually, with hearing or physically.

It’s a very human approach, and one that can benefit the population of people of all abilities.” ~Sharon Rosenblatt, Web Accessibility Specialist at Accessibility Partners, LLC

Avoid “Future Proofing” “Meeting and maintaining accessibility standards needs constant attention and a defined process.

Designers/developers should have a strategy for this, make sure they have support from accessibility experts, and consider tools/solutions (such as Usablenet Assistive) that can help provide a blanket of accessibility across a website as it changes.

When advising our clients on improving upon the user experience (UX) of their site or app, we explain that a small investment into user-centered research or insight will help to inform accessibility, which in turn is likely to offer a return on investment. We are also able to conduct an audit of the accessibility and compliance requirements of any website, to assist companies with developing a fully accessible website.” ~ Carin van Vuuren, CMO of Usablenet

Tools for Designing for Web Accessibility Check out what resources your fellow designers and developers are using to ensure their websites are accessible by all users at wsm.co/watools15.

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The Web

IS ALIVE

Predictions for the ‘Net’s Future

By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

When Website Magazine first launched in November of 2005, it was a very different time for digital.

Although it is not necessary to outline the many data points that could illustrate the tremendous growth and development of the Internet since that time, it should be noted that while many things have changed (and others stayed the same), digital has become an essential part of business today. And believe it or not, despite some setbacks (privacy and security to name but two), it has all been for the better.

This issue of Website Magazine is a special one for many reasons, but none more so than that it will provide an opportunity to look back and explore what works (and what did not – or does not). This is an opportunity to remind our collective self of what it really takes to achieve ‘Net success today, and prepare for the inevitable next steps. What readers will find in this 10-year anniversary issue is evidence that the Web is not just alive, but it is also thriving. What is more, all signs indicate it will remain that way for the foreseeable future – but there are quite a few things that must be addressed to continue this upward momentum.

Hosting & the Cloud There are few things more important to the short- and long-term success of an enterprise than the reliability of its infrastructure. Over the past 10 years, nothing has changed more (and for the better) than how enterprises host their websites and applications. Discover five ways to make good use of your cloud deployment at wsm.co/5deploy.

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Positioned at the intersection of business and technology, Website Magazine has been fortunate to occupy a unique vantage point in our decade-long history in that our editors have access to, and early awareness of (thanks to our active community of ‘Net professionals), the technology, solutions, techniques and tactics that help enterprises accelerate their success and develop efficient and meaningful – and most importantly, profitable – relationships with their existing customers and potential audiences. This issue of Website Magazine looks at the primary areas of interest and numerous fundamentals of Web success because that is what Website Magazine is – the magazine for website success. That in and of itself is not enough, however, readers also need to know how it will change, and so predictions are included in the following pages to ensure those actively involved in the digital success of their enterprise can thrive for another decade.

There are, of course, many things that can influence the success of a business that are both in and out of its control – but when one knows what those things are, they can manage them and modify them to their ultimate benefit, bending them to their digital will so to speak.

THE BIG IDEA Innovative ideas are the foundation of what it takes to achieve success on the Web and enterprises must remain committed to this principle.

The enterprises that build their products, services and solutions with this in mind from the outset are still those that rise above, easily differentiating themselves from the

Website Magazine Readers Speak What is the most significant development in the past 10 years and how has it changed how your business operates? Share your thoughts at wsm.co/wmreaders10.

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competition and are those most likely to achieve genuine success in the future. There is simply no sense in being a virtual ‘also-ran’ or digital ‘johnny-come-lately’ as the Web has no tolerance for slightly better or somewhat different offerings.

Consumers want things that are wholly and completely better in some way (be it features, price or service). There are simply too many instances of the former today, but that has, in fact, always been the case. Website Magazine’s first issue provides, perhaps, the clearest example of this (and it is something I’m still most proud of for recognizing).

The feature article was “Yahoo vs.

Google.” At the time, Yahoo was the powerhouse, Google the disruptive upstart, and Yahoo it seemed to many was more concerned with the bottom line and satisfying investors, whereas Google was simply organizing the world’s information. In the 10 years since, their respective successes have been clear – Google has grown to be one of the most powerful companies in the word, while Yahoo has struggled, replacing CEOs as fast as the rest of the digital world changes its website designs (every few years on average).

What was the difference? It was likely a matter of priorities – one company’s focus was revenue, the other developing the absolute best technology that it could.

The “big ideas” were different for these companies and it’s my personal hope that the readers of Website Magazine over the past 10 years have recognized what its talented team of contributors and dedicated staff writers and editors have always focused on – helping them create the very best digital products and experiences for their audiences and ultimately generating sustainable streams of revenue in the process.

The 10-year anniversary issue of Website Magazine will be no different – what you will find on the following pages will highlight how today’s Web professionals can maximize their investment of time and resources and how to create memorable, efficient and effective experiences for their users today and tomorrow.

Software Everywhere There is not a moment in the day that Web professionals do not in some way interact with software – it’s essential to the digital experience today, and the topic has been covered extensively in past issues as well as in our “Software Everywhere” channel at WebsiteMagazine.com. Explore many of the top solutions identified in our annual Digital Power Players of 2015 issue at wsm.co/powerplayers15. most recent report. The popular and seemingly default choice for a digital presence is being somewhat threatened, however, by the introduction of the new top-level domain extensions. And the one thing .COM alternatives really needed, they finally received.

Fears of low resale values and how search engines may treat websites that use the new top-level domains (nTLDs) may have prohibited greater adoption up to this point, but with Alphabet (formerly Google) announcing that it would use abc.xyz as its primary domain, things may change in the future. Companies always look for ways to differentiate their brands and the experiences they develop, and domain names are becoming an increasingly accessible way to do just that.

A greater familiarity with the new extensions among end-users should also drive greater adoption. In fact, GoDaddy recently released results of a study that shows in the last 18 months, customers pointing a domain name to a social media site increased by 37 percent – a rise the company attributes to customers wanting to control their online identity. GoDaddy isn’t the only company to notice the shift.

Verisign also indicated they have seen an increase of more than 10 percent for domains pointing to sites like Facebook and LinkedIn in Q2 versus Q1.

‘NET PREDICTION: Expect a significant drop over the next decade in the number of .COM registrations and a slow-and-steady increase in the use of non-.COMs such as .CLUB and .WORK, as well as region-specific nTLDs such as .NYC or .LONDON.

‘NET PREDICTION: Enterprises that focus on creating unique

WEB DESIGN Evolution

and compelling products and experiences will be those that thrive over the next digital decade. Further, those that create rich and engaging experiences for users will find they become more like Google than Yahoo.

It’s probably safe to say that the design of most digital professionals’ first website was, shall we say, an absolute and total embarrassment – at least when they look at it today.

Thanks to the sophistication of today’s software solutions, design is faster, cheaper and better in nearly every way. Designers have learned over time what excites users and compels them to take action, they understand the importance of even the subtlest interaction, and have access to detailed feedback on every moment of a user’s visit, information that can be used to iterate quickly and ship products more meaningful to the bottom line of an enterprise.

DOMAIN NAMES & Branding The growth of the Web is reflected in the growth of the domain name industry – and it’s poised for another significant round of growth in the very near future.

The .COM extension still dominates the digital conversation, counting upward of 120 million active domains in Verisign’s

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10

CELEBRATING

YEARS

It is not uncommon, however, for designers to lose sight of the fundamentals. For example, applying a grid to designs gives layouts visual balance and harmony, using colors/tones that both complement and contrast well drives interest and interaction, and selecting the right fonts/typography expresses context and conveys a timeless appeal. Design of course, is fluid, but even if there is a need to transform a digital presence, it’s important to never forget the basics.

‘NET PREDICTION: While software solutions for design, like those found in Adobe’s Creative Cloud, are empowering designers to create faster and better, those that maintain focus on the fundamentals of design will be those that continue creating experiences for users that drive genuine engagement.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION & Content Development If there’s one topic of interest that has maintained its status as incredibly important in the minds of Internet professionals, it is that of search engine optimization (SEO).

While the search engines have become very sophisticated in the way that they crawl, index and return websites, it would be difficult to argue that the practice of search engine optimization has really changed all that dramatically since the first issue of Website Magazine.

Consider links, for example – they remain the most important factor in how and where a website ranks. Also consider “content.” It too is important, yet many Web professionals are still confused by the phrase “quality” content – no one serious about their ‘Net success would set out to create anything less right? The lack of standards, coupled with the black box that is search engine algorithms, result in confusion and frustration today just as it did many years ago. For this reason, those most successful with the practice of search engine optimization know this: Create content that users want, create a great deal of it to satisfy every possible need and interest related to their product and service and share that content with those that are able to provide a link/citation to it on the Web. That’s the secret of SEO – always has been, and it always will be. The nuances are obviously very important and Website Magazine remains dedicated to highlighting the techniques and tactics in each issue as well as online in its Mastering Search channel at wsm.co/mastersearch.

Social Media Matters?

Most brands have, to date, struggled with social media.

While some use it as their primary means of acquisition, others use it as an opportunity to engage their existing audience, and still others as a means to provide timely support. See how some of today’s top brands are using social media to their advantage at wsm.co/socialmavens.

The rest of SEO, however, from meta tags to structured data, means little in comparison to providing an experience to users that is of value, and that can be discovered by users. If Web professionals want to excel on the search results pages, the focus must be on content development and content marketing.

‘NET PREDICTION: More than any other means of digital customer acquisition, search engine optimization will likely change the most over the next decade. Learn how to future-proof SEO initiatives on the Web at wsm.co/thinklikeseo.

EMAIL DOMINATION & the Behavior of Interaction There have been constants of course in the history of the Web; and for Internet marketers, there has been no more productive and cost-efficient channel than that of email.

Everything has changed about the practice of email, however – from the strategies used for acquisition, to the complexities of deliverability, as well as the methods used to drive engagement. What the most successful enterprises have discovered is that the activity of their audience should inform their approach.

Emails triggered based on the activity or “behavior” of recipients, for example, which involves building profiles for each individual subscriber, should be the aim of every sender today. Depending on the actions taken with a business, recipients should be served with messages customized to their personal experience. The information used to determine these triggers should be demographic (e.g. age, location, profession), and include site visit history, as well as specific interactions (like a previous purchase) with a product or service. On average, behaviorally triggered emails receive a 152 percent higher open rate than traditional emails (source: Kissmetrics), making it an effective approach for enterprises.

Whether it’s to confirm that an action has taken place, or to simply educate or delight recipients, behavioral trigger emails deliver relevant information exactly when the buyer needs it. Since behavioral trigger emails are contextual, they are more valuable to the buyer than a generic email blast, and are the means by which brands are creating memorable and meaningful experiences for their audiences today.

‘NET PREDICTION: It has been suggested that the demise of email is imminent, but all signs point to its continued use by marketers and consumers alike. The manner in which messages are delivered, however, will most certainly change as consumer expectations evolve, and as mobile (and other smart devices) become even more pervasive.

ADVERTISING, MARKETING & Demand Generation One of the most significant differences from the Web of many years ago is the degree to which the experience can be customized. Today it is being personalized in ways never before conceived of and each buyer’s jour-

ney can be unique and dynamic, changing to meet their wants, needs and interests, evolving alongside their motivations and goals.

Where the community of Web professionals once was concerned purely with lead generation, today’s focus is on demand generation, creating touchpoints with each buyer (existing or potential) and catering to those users over time, instead of just focusing on generating as many leads as possible, in as short a time frame as possible with as little investment as needed.

Demand generation is about treating interactions with the care and consideration they demand and personalization provides such an opportunity. With consumers encountering numerous touchpoints on their path to purchase, marketers have an equal number of opportunities to help reinvent this journey.

The programmatic trend, for example, is helping connect marketers and advertisers to the world’s media supply, and uses software and technology to automate and optimize the buying and placement of ads in real-time. In other words, programmatic takes all the information it can collect about a buyer and converts that information into action – the purchase and display of the right ad at the right time in the right place. Marketers can set specific parameters to guide the process, and even integrate customer relationship management (CRM) data to deliver an even greater level of personalization.

What is important about programmatic (and the various ways it is manifested including retargeting – learn more at wsm.co/bestretarget) is that it illustrates how savvy enterprises are shifting their focus toward greater efficiency; those that fail to recognize the opportunity likely won’t survive another decade.

‘NET PREDICTION: Advertising is under attack; personalization tactics can appear creepy to some users and ad blockers are preventing brands from getting their message in front of users altogether, which will require the industry to be more thoughtful and helpful in their approach.

ANALYTICS, PERFORMANCE & Measurable Improvements Of all the areas of expertise for ‘Net professionals, it is analytics that often gets the least attention – and that is unfortunate. There is no other way to gather the necessary insights required to change things – everything – for the better.

Consider back when website activity was measured with “hits” as the indicator of ‘Net success. What became clear to digital teams was that this measure of success was misleading as it counted/included everything – every image load, every page, everything – and wasn’t a reliable indicator of performance. Fortunately, the Web as a whole has finally recognized that the accuracy of analytics data is as important as anything in the digital enterprise. Plus, the better that data is, the better decision-making will be and the faster an enterprise will achieve ‘Net success.

Mobile & Local Perhaps the main reason that “local” never became what many hoped was because it didn’t have a conduit to the offline experience, or at least one that was as seamless as consumers needed. As smartphones emerged and became more sophisticated, mobile and local quickly became hot topics in the digital discussion. While mobile/local really plays more to the interest of enterprises with an offline presence, there are steps that every company should take in this new consumer reality. Learn more about combining mobile and local at wsm.co/molotips.

Today’s analytics offerings for Web enterprises are incredibly powerful and detailed. Not only do they provide a more accurate reflection of performance, they are also increasingly used to help measure the user experience.

As an industry, professionals moved from counting visits and page views, to tracking a variety of detailed indicators of performance – goals, events and interactions are measured with ease and that is not something that was easily done many years ago. How many ‘Net pros, however, actually use that information to their benefit? Consider an individual’s choice of analytics system.

Chances are high that not only are they able to identify the sources of traffic, but also what landing pages they arrived on, their bounce rate, and the journey they took down the path to conversion or engagement. This wasn’t available many years ago, but it is today and it is the responsibility of every digital professional to make good use of the data afforded to them.

‘NET PREDICTION: It might be difficult to believe, but more and better data will require greater attention from Web professionals. Over time, enterprises (and the technology that supports them) will become better at profiling the activity of individual users, providing even more opportunities to engage users in the moments that matter.

The Web Is Alive There are hundreds of other possible topics that could have been included in this writeup, emerging and established technologies, and proven and edgy tactics that have helped Web professionals accelerate their success. What you should take away, however, is that the Web is alive, and it is changing and evolving right before your digital eyes. The more it changes though, the more it ultimately stays the same. We as a community of ‘Net professionals still want to create experiences for consumers that resonate but the means by which we now use have changed. As a result, it is essential that today’s Web enterprises remain committed to delivering useful experiences and being thoughtful about the manner in which that is done.

Software

EVERYWHERE

Hot & Cool Web Conferencing

By Allison Howen, Associate Editor

Although the words “hot” and “cool” are opposites by definition, there are times when they can be used to describe the same thing or circumstance.

For example, a new amusement park may be a “hot” hangout spot while also being a really “cool” place to have fun and meet new people. The same concept holds true in the professional world too, as a popular technology may be a “hot commodity” due to the fact that it offers unique features that are really “cool” to use. Such is the case with the three Web conferencing solutions featured below:

5 Tips to Get More out of Modern Meetings Meetings almost never go as planned, but there are some proven ways to increase efficiency, boost productivity and take your meetings to the next level. Read more at wsm.co/meetwell.

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Hot Company: Blue Jeans Why It’s Cool: Versatility Blue Jeans offers cloud-based video collaboration services that work with any video-enabled device and Internet access. The coolest aspect of Blue Jeans’ Web conferencing solution, however, is that users can launch large meetings with up to 100 interactive participants. For even larger Web conferencing needs, users can leverage Blue Jeans’ Primetime events service, which enables them to have up to 3,000 remote participants. This service is ideal for businesses looking to hold large training sessions, marketing events or interactive lectures, and was even leveraged by the Sundance Film Festival in 2015.

With the Primetime service, Sundance was able to broaden the audience for a documentary premier at its Festival, as well as hold an interactive video panel discussion after the premier with audience members across the country. By using the service, Sundance brought new audiences into the Festival’s experience and fostered interactive discussions by inviting remote audiences into the conversation.

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Hot Company: join.me Why It’s Cool: Simplicity Join.me started out as a screen-sharing tool, but evolved into a complete Web conferencing solution that focuses on ease-of-use, enabling anyone to participate in meetings without the need to download software first. With the solution, meeting hosts can leverage features like customizable links and one-click scheduling. While customizable links enable hosts to add a branded element to the meeting, one-click scheduling makes it simple to set up meetings in advance with either the join.me Scheduler or directly within Outlook or Google Calendar.

It is also important to note that join.me offers mobile apps to make it easy for participants to join meetings no matter where they are located.

In fact, the solution offers Android and iOS apps (including an Apple Watch app) that participants can leverage to join conversations and view presentations. These apps are available for all three plans that join.me offers, including its free offering that allows for up to 10 meeting participants and features screen sharing, file transfer, video conferencing and whiteboarding capabilities.

Hot Company: AnyMeeting Why It’s Cool: Vast Tool Set AnyMeeting offers a vast tool set that is sure to cover any needs a host may have for his or her Web conference.

In fact, the solution offers functionality to support every step of a Web conference, from custom email invitations to after-meeting reports.

AnyMeeting provides three plans, all of which come with their own unique tools. The Meeting Lite plan, for example, provides unlimited meetings for up to four people, as well as chat, screen sharing and meeting notes functionality. On the other hand, Meeting Pro can host up to 30 people, enables users to record meetings and leverage in-meeting file sharing. Lastly, Webinar Pro can host up to 200 people in a meeting, offers PayPal webinar ticketing functionality, as well as custom surveys, audience polls, an attendee waiting room and integrations with both Facebook and Twitter to make it easier for hosts to promote their conference.

Hot or Not? While these Web conferencing tools are both hot and cool in their own ways, it is important for professionals to consider their own company’s unique needs before selecting a solution. When available, users should take advantage of free trials before making a final decision.

THE WAIT

IS OVER

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Conversion

CORNER

Branding Basics for Digital Marketers

By Tim Ash, CEO of SiteTuners

“Branding” is a dirty word for many digital marketers.

It is the province of the Mad Men set – wowing clients with slick creative campaign pitches. Similarly, it is a detailed brand-guidelines document laying out allowable fonts, colors and even messaging for maintaining consistency across all marketing materials – a restrictive set of handcuffs. Huge amounts of media money are spent on branding exposure, seemingly without a requirement for any tangible results.

On the other side, are the accountable digital marketers like you – measuring every aspect of marketing, testing and optimizing everything and keeping an eye on campaign ROI. You chafe at the seemingly random restrictions placed on you when something is arbitrarily declared to be “off brand.” It seems like this gap

can never be bridged and the two groups are destined to speak past each other forever.

Luckily, there is a better way. The following ideas should help you better understand how to use branding to your advantage.

A brand is expensive to build and difficult to change

Face it – most marketers don’t work for Coke, or Nike or Disney. And despite their claims that their product is “the world’s leading solution for...” somewhere, deep down marketers probably know that is not true. Maybe the brand is well-known in a tiny market niche, or in the minds of direct competitors, but unless marketing teams have already spent a lot of focus, time and money – they don’t have a real brand at all with the general public. Don’t confuse name recognition with brand.

For those who do have a strong brand, they may have the opposite problem because it has a life of its own. Don’t think that a cosmetic logo change or a new creative campaign will change people’s perceptions overnight.

+ Don’t pretend you have a brand when you don’t.

A brand is not its representation

Many people mistakenly believe that the brand is its visible symbols, or color theme or design aesthetic – but this is not true. It is the mental concepts that are triggered in audiences’ minds that are the actual brand. Marlboro’s cigarette brand may be defined by iconic blocks of red color, but also by photographs of cowboys on the open range. The real brand, however, is the vision of rugged male independence that it evokes in people’s minds. The trigger is not the brand, and digital marketers should have the freedom to experiment with the best stimuli to best activate the underlying brand concept.

+ Our job is to identify the best triggers to activate the underlying brand concept in prospects’ minds.

A brand is situational, not absolute

A brand is not monolithic and equally strong in all circumstances. If someone mentions bookstores, most Americans would probably think of Barnes & Noble. If asked about this in the context of online, however, they would probably activate the Amazon brand. If asked about audio books, they might think of Audible.com.

This shows how much the concept of brand is contextdependent. All are bookstores, but one can provoke an audience to bring other brands quickly to mind by manipulating the context.

+ Your job is to identify contexts in which your brand is the dominant leader.

People’s brand needs are also situational, not absolute People’s days are filled with competing priorities and goals that often change on a moment-by-moment basis. Most do not have durable needs or desires.

When someone is hungry, for example, they want to eat and this dominates their experience. When that

“

“

...digital marketers should have the freedom to experiment with the best stimuli to best activate the underlying brand concept.

same person is cold, shelter becomes a priority. When sad, they seek excitement or distraction. Yet this could all be the same person. Knowing about their demographics would tell a marketer little about their affinity for a restaurant, ski lodge or live music event brand in the moment.

+ Stop thinking about market segments, and think about situational brand advantages instead.

A brand frame must be consistent with messaging

All brands satisfy some combination of basic implicit human goals. Everyone craves excitement, adventure, autonomy, discipline, security and enjoyment at various times. A marketer should be very clear about the degree to which his brand activates each of these.

For example, the Volvo brand works primarily on autonomy (individualistic idiosyncratic self-expression), discipline (austere and functional looks) and security (strong safety record). By contrast, BMW is more likely to map to goals of adventure (the potential for extreme performance), excitement (high-speed prowess) and enjoyment (of the driving experience itself).

Let’s say both companies created high-performance sports cars that are very capable. Which one is likely to activate its brand in the minds of the consumer, and sell more cars? The answer is obvious. BMW would have a tremendous advantage because its brand frame fits the product. By contrast, the notion of a high-performance Volvo is in almost direct opposition with its brand frame, and will fall on deaf ears with consumers (as evidenced by several failed attempts to launch sports cars over the decades).

+ Understand the implicit goals satisfied by your brand and make sure your messaging amplifies these.

Hopefully, the above ideas will help you unify modern direct-response digital marketing with the seemingly esoteric realms of branding. They should not be separate, but should be used in tandem to create the strongest possible impact.

Tim Ash is the CEO of SiteTuners, Chair of Conversion Conference and bestselling author of “Landing Page Optimization.”

Website Magazine Bookshelf: Decoded For detailed examination of these concepts, Phil Barden’s “Decoded” is a must-read. It’s available for purchase at wsm.co/decodethis.

Social Media

MAVENS

Social Santa:

Give Your Brand the Gift of Followers this Holiday Season

By EJ McGowan, GM of Campaigner

Social will, without a doubt, be top-ofmind for Internet retailers this upcoming holiday season.

Research found that 49 percent of Internet retailers already plan to prioritize social sharing to increase marketing effectiveness, and 71 percent say social integrations are key for successful email marketing campaigns (read more: wsm.co/holidayqs).

What kind of holiday cheer will these brands likely see from social media integrations?

There’s a unique value to social campaigns.

For instance, social media consumption varies from platform to platform, providing a second, third and fourth opportunity for the savvy marketer.

Social also allows for diversification of outreach platforms like the addition of mobile for a company that has traditionally only done desktop.

And, generally, it is an incremental, costeffective strategy that can be added to any email marketing campaign.

QUICK HIT: Discover the optimal time of day to post to different social media networks at wsm.co/timesbest.

There are two main operations of social: social sharing and social connecting. The former is very powerful because it allows for wider reach through the initial contact’s network and general shares. The latter creates a more personal connection between a customer and brand. Both are important to leverage in any successful social integration campaign.

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In short, social is the gift that keeps on giving. How can you take advantage and turn it into the Rudolph that will lead you through the blizzard of the upcoming holiday season?

Re-gifting: It’s OK (sometimes). Using social atop an email marketing campaign means marketers already have the content. Besides monitoring and management tools, there’s nothing else they need other than ready-to-mail marketing content. Brands can repackage the same content that’s in their emails into easily digestible bits that consumers can take in while browsing Twitter or Instagram.

Secret Santa shouldn’t always be a secret.

Consumers should always be able to know where their messages are coming from, but, more importantly, they should always be able to connect with the sender. Companies can make it easier on themselves by adding “Follow” and “Like” social buttons into their emails that can quickly connect their contacts to their social pages. Be it subscription pages, or even unsubscribed notices, allow consumers to have the option to connect with a brand their way. Just because they don’t want a particular company’s emails, doesn’t mean they don’t want to know what’s going on.

Give hints on your gift and see if it’s a hit. Just like email marketing, where subject lines can make or break a message, social media ad headlines can mean the difference between a new or lost follower. Use A/B split testing to determine the best ad headline for social. The more likes, share and followers it generates, the more certain a company can be that it’s a winner. This works for posts in general as well. Marketers should be tracking which of their customers respond on which platforms — there is no single best option — but having that additional information is another piece on which to base segmentation.

Leave out milk and cookies. As part of embracing social media platforms, launch campaigns that are specifically driven to generate followers and subscribers, not sales. In these cases, marketing emails should be concentrated on social promotion. For instance, grant special offers only when subscribed through a specific social channel. Depending on how many platforms and angles are available to do this, try it once a month or as little as once a quarter. This form of outreach also creates a social presence that will not put off contacts when seen on other emails.

Ultimately, social engagement could make or break your holiday season efforts. Though email marketing campaigns will remain the crux of consumer engagement, social integration could be the differentiator you’ve been looking for. Use the tips above and give your brand the gift of more followers.

WEBSITE MAGAZINE

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YEARS

Insights on

ANALYTICS

A Metric’s Carol

Last-Minute KPI Tips for Retailers

By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

Every retailer has choices to make when it comes to how they approach the holiday season — from where they choose to spend their money to what they choose to spend their time on.

Holiday Campaign Checklist Discover items to check off before you launch important endof-year campaigns at wsm.co/xlist15.

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While nobody wants to be a Scrooge, analytics data can help retailers decide where to be generous or stingy — as there are indicators buried within ghosts of holidays past and present that can predict the successes or failures of the future.

Past

Even with national holidays like Fourth of July and company-specific events like anniversary sales, chances are that an e-commerce site’s largest promotional efforts come at year-end. With Black Friday fast approaching (and expected to once again be the busiest shopping day of the year), it’s imperative retailers look at what happened Nov. 28, 2014 to inform what will happen Nov. 27, 2015.

They can turn to their current Web analytics system (see a list of the most popular at wsm.co/coolanalytics) to reflect on that single day (by setting a custom date range) and even compare it to past Black Fridays. Retailers should pay special attention to campaigns (e.g. Facebook ads, email newsletters, paid search, etc.) that boosted key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversions, revenue and length of sessions, while flagging any that had negative implications, like above-average bounce rates.

These campaigns’ successes and failures should set the precedence for this year’s efforts – even if some last-minute modification is required.

For example, if an email campaign on Black Friday 2014 performed poorly (few sessions derived, no conversions, etc.), a retailer will want to review that particular message within their email service provider (ESP) to discover the reason. Perhaps it was sent too early or too late in the day? Was it missing a call-to-action? There are important questions to ask if campaigns underperformed on such a critical day (see sidebar).

Some of these KPIs, however, may be irrelevant a year later. For instance, a retailer could have suffered a high bounce rate (access industry benchmarks

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NOVEMB ER 2015

at wsm.co/mozbench) from a campaign directing mobile users to a landing page that was not optimized for their device. This year, however, that same campaign (or a similar one) could be lucrative if that retailer is now mobile-ready and capable of serving users regardless of the device being used. While there are many questions that arise from even the most basic analysis, these are the type of queries that need immediate answers (and should inform campaign changes) in the coming weeks.

Present

Retailers often focus too much on the amount of traffic their site has (or the “magic” number of visitors that will solve all their problems) instead of the quality of traffic it is currently receiving. By comparing referrals based on the revenue they are bringing in, retailers will have a current understanding of where their last-minute efforts should be directed. For example, if a specific publisher (e.g. a blogger) is just outside of an e-commerce site’s top referral sources (e.g. top 10 or 20) but generates revenue, a retailer may want to send that site owner an email or a tweet thanking them for their support and perhaps offering their readers an exclusive end-of-year promotion. Since the publisher has already shown interest in that retailer’s site, he or she may need just a little push to promote it more often this holiday season.

Yet to Come

Without tending to past and present data, retailers won’t like what is yet to come – especially if they aren’t looking at new versus old business at year’s end.

This holiday season, retailers are going to put on their best show – free or discounted shipping, beautiful creative and more – which can bring in a lot of new shoppers. If sellers don’t cater to returning customers, however, they are doomed to fail. Not only are returning customers more likely to react positively to a retailer’s marketing efforts, but Zeke Hamdani, director of Web services for Celerant Technology, says returning customers can also provide the most profitable transactions. In fact, an Adobe Digital Index Report indicated those who have purchased from a company twice before are nine times more likely to convert than a first-time shopper, while a RJMetrics E-Commerce Benchmark report indicates the more times shoppers buy the more likely they are to increase their average order value (AOV).

Make it a Happy Holiday

It’s critical that retailers think more about the past, current and future experiences they are offering by reviewing their analytics and making last-minute changes so it’s not just a happy holiday season, but also a lucrative one – setting even higher benchmarks for 2016.

“Do You See Me?” “I see you! and so do your customers!”

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Email

EXPERIENCE

Making the Most out of Email Today

By Jeremy Hogan, Senior Manager of PR and Digital Content at Celtic Chicago

For years, marketing experts have tried to predict when email will “die” as a viable medium, and what channel(s) will ultimately replace it.

The assumption was that social media and messaging platforms would overtake email as the primary means of communication, particularly given the preferences of millennials, and the rise of mobile devices. While the list of communication channels is longer, and smartphone usage higher than ever before (and growing by the day), a new study suggests email isn’t going anywhere just yet.

In a study released in Aug. 2015, Adobe reported that Americans spend up to six hours per day checking email. This included time both at and away from the workplace, and it was shown to occur during a range of activities including watching television, lying in bed and even using the restroom.

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With American workers and consumers still devoting such a high percentage of time to email, here are some important considerations for marketers: Keep email in the marketing mix – Regardless of what assumptions Internet professionals may have about email’s use now or in the future, the numbers clearly show it remains a primary source of information.

Email can still serve as a valuable mechanism for delivering a brand’s message to a targeted audience, so companies small and large need to keep it in mind when planning their next marketing initiative.

Keep email interesting and relevant – Just because audience members are actively reading email, doesn’t necessarily mean they want to be reading a company’s email. More than one-third of respondents in Adobe’s survey indicated they wanted fewer repetitive emails from brands they engage. Marketers will want to avoid flooding contacts with too many messages, and be selec-

tive in those they do send their way. How can they tell if their audience is interested in what they are sending?

Keep track of your results – Marketers are always chasing metrics to quantify the success of their efforts, and email campaigns offer plenty of data to help gauge and improve their performance. Brands can see what messages their readers are actually opening, discover the optimal send times and evaluate clickthrough rates to judge if their message has value beyond an enticing subject line. Most email platforms even provide the list of devices individual recipients are using to read a message. Companies are likely to find that smartphones are the leading device used to check email, reinforcing the importance of catering to a mobile audience.

Keep a “mobile-first” mindset – Mobile devices are quickly becoming the preferred method of checking email. This fact was confirmed in the previously mentioned Adobe report, which states 88 percent of millennials use their smartphones for email. The study also confirms what many marketers know from personal experience – people don’t want to deal with the excessive scrolling required of viewing an email on a smartphone built for desktop. The standard rule of email design in 2015 – and truly any Web design – is to design for mobile first. Companies will want to assume their audience will be viewing their message on a smartphone, and plan the layout accordingly – avoiding excessive load times required by large images, and keeping all content in a single-column format that fits within a standard mobile phone screen (discover the basics of mobile-optimized email at wsm.co/mobilebasics). Once a message’s content and layout have been optimized for today’s audience, one key step remains.

Keep your website current – The primary goal of an email blast is to drive traffic and spur a specific action once a recipient is on the brand’s website (the same as any digital marketing effort one might employ) – not only requiring marketers to convey the value of clicking through to a site, but also participate in some website upkeep. With heightened awareness and prompts to visit a site, marketers should ensure that there is relevant and engaging content of interest to their audience once they are there. Further, if an e-blast promotes a specific offer or product, it should be the first information a reader sees after clicking through.

The digital landscape is continually shifting, and it can be difficult to manage the countless ways people are receiving their content. The devices and platforms

used today might be significantly different five years from now, creating challenges for marketers looking to stay ahead of the curve. What we do know is that today’s audience is still very much dependent on email for staying connected, in spite of any assumptions we might have had to the contrary. It is important that marketers embrace this fact, and strive to deliver meaningful content their audiences want in a format they can easily access and read.

Jeremy Hogan is a senior manager of PR and digital content with Celtic Chicago, a full-service marketing firm.

10 Need-to-Know EMAIL MARKETING STATS The top three uses of email are newsletters (66 percent), promotional content (54 percent) and welcome series emails (42 percent). –Salesforce Ninety-one percent of consumers check their inbox at least once per day. –Salesforce One-third of marketers say their subscribers read emails on mobile devices at least 50 percent of the time. –Salesforce Forty-seven percent of emails are now opened on a smartphone. – Movable Ink Twenty percent of marketers say their company’s primary revenue source is directly linked to email operations. –Salesforce For 69.7 percent of U.S. Internet users, email is the preferred method of communicating with businesses. –eMarketer Sixty-one percent of consumers say they like to receive promotional emails weekly and 28 percent want them even more frequently. – MarketingSherpa The top three metrics used to track email marketing success are click-through rates (47 percent), conversion rates (43 percent) and click-to-open rates (38 percent). –Salesforce Two-thirds of companies would like to improve their personalization (64 percent), marketing automation (64 percent) and segmentation (62 percent). –Econsultancy

For more insights into email marketing, visit wsm.co/emailexperience.

Web

COMMENTARY

10 Years Later…

By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

I did a few rough calculations when the Website Magazine team was putting this issue together.

In the 10 years since the first pages of this publication were initially made available back in Nov. 2005, I’ve consumed no fewer than 10,000 cups of coffee while within the confines of Website Magazine offices, acquired many thousands of followers on social networks, used five mobile phones and three different laptops, written well over 5,000 posts and articles for the weblog and print edition of this publication (not to mention three books) and edited thousands more from staff and contributors. I have even hit “send” on what I can only assume is many millions of emails at this point.

I’ve attended more tradeshows and networking events than I can possibly remember, and even been fortunate enough to speak at a few. I have been interviewed countless times and interviewed thousands of Web professionals myself, from established CEOs whose companies were eventually acquired by the biggest brands in business and technology, to startup founders in emerging industries whose vision, motivation and dedication was nothing short of pure inspiration. It has been an amazing 10 years filled with successes and failures, highs and lows – and I would not want it any other way.

What I didn’t realize when the first issue of Website Magazine was published was just how much I would ultimately learn; not about the technologies or tactics mind you (although I’ve acquired many important and valuable lessons in that time frame that shape everything I do now and will do in the future), but rather about

people and their fears, needs and motivations. A lot can happen in 10 years, but I feel confident in saying this: If you are able to understand what people (friends, family as well as your digital audience) ultimately want and need, you and your enterprise will be better off for it – much better in fact.

That’s not easy, of course, as we all are motivated by both the seen and unseen, the immediate and the fleeting. Some are concerned with profit (money), others compliments, and still others some publicity or at least recognition. Some have a need to be understood, others for a sense of security. These are not easy demands to meet, of course, requiring a sensitivity that can only be developed by making the effort, remaining committed to a cause and purpose greater than oneself, and being vulnerable and willing to fail. Making a genuine connection with those around you isn’t easy, but it is worth it.

I encourage all readers of Website Magazine to make that effort as the reward is immense.

This issue, and all those before it, would not have been possible without the help of many people – the list too long for the confines of this one page. These people helped me understand my own vision for this publication, worked feverishly to help manifest it and have all been a valuable part of Website Magazine’s, and my own, success and for that I am eternally grateful.

To our readers, and all those that have supported us, 10 years later, I say thanks. With a continued dedication to understanding the people and technologies that represent this industry, we will all be positioned for greater success in the future.

N OV E M B E R 2015

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