aimClear Search Marketing Blog

While we love our websites and enjoy the benefits of allowing customers to do their own buying, there is still this little invention called the telephone. People are as connected to their cell phones as they are to the world wide web. In some industries, it’s a toss-up as to the number of customers who make their purchases online as to those who find the product online and then pick up the phone and call their orders in. Some people still like talking to a real person, especially if they have questions.

Moderator Chris Boggs, Manager, Search Engine Optimization, eMergent Marketing/BRULANT, Inc. along with Marc Barach, Chief Marketing Officer, Ingenio, Inc. and Dan Hight, Director of eCommerce Sales - Agency Division, Superpages.com remind us how to get connected with all those people using telephones. Read the rest of this entry »

Put your marketing program in context.  People are picky.  They like what they like.  The search engines work because people choose to use them.  It’s classic evolution – the most popular features will survive.  So how can you use that to your advantage? 

Some search engines convert better than others.  Dana Todd, Co-founder and Principal, Site Lab International Inc. moderated the esteemed panel of John Squire, SVP, Product Strategy, General Manger, Search Services, Coremetrics, Robert Heyman, Chief Search Officer, MediaSmith, and Isabel Sopoglian, VP of Search Marketing, Cars.com who all offered some savvy advice on how to get your customers to your site and convert them to buyers using the individual strategies of the various search engines. Read the rest of this entry »

So you have got people visiting your site and perusing what you have to offer. Are they visiting or intending to buy? Following on the heels of Landing Page Testing Overview, Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch introduced a panel of speakers to further your ability to get your customers to buy what you are selling. Jennifer Doss, E-Commerce Marketing Manager, Lids.com, Jamie Smith, CEO, Engine Ready, James Beriker, President, Efficient Frontier, and Chris Leggatt, Senior Account Executive, Moniker focused this discussion on conversion behavior and turning the customer into cash. Read the rest of this entry »

Your website is like any retail store. You want it to look clean and nice from the outside so customers will come inside. Once inside, you want to be able to grab their attention with products to buy. Your website must work the same way. It must gain the customer’s interest and attention to entice them to buy what you are selling.

Landing pages are vital to converting visitors to buyers. Amanda Watlington, Owner, Searching for Profit introduced Tim Ash, President, Site Tuners who gave advice and insight on how to fine tune your website to convert customers to cash.

Your goal is to get people to your site, have them take action, and to build retention and value with your company or brand. Retailers spend a lot of money on acquiring the customer and on retaining customers, but not enough on converting the customer to take action and buy the product. Read the rest of this entry »

Your website is done. Now you can relax and let the money roll in, right? Not likely. Your site may be the most beautiful creation and may have all the information you can imagine sprinkled with key words here and there. But this creation is filled with holes.

Social media is becoming an essential part of the mix. Blogging is all the rage and podcasts allow customers access to information on the run. So how do you take advantage of these? Kevin Heisler, Executive Editor, Search Engine Watch moderated Duncan White, Director of Client Services, Oneupweb and Jeff Pruitt, President, SEMPO and Executive Vice President of Search, iCrossing who insight for integrating social media as part of your website. With more than 80% of retailers not doing all that can be done, the market is open to anyone, including the little guy, to be competitive. Read the rest of this entry »

Mars and Venus have never communicated well or played nice together. Generations raised with computers (Mars) have expanded the internet universe to include a wide array of communication tools and possibilities. Older generations of business website models (Venus) are having a rougher time trying to keep up to the times simply because they don’t understand their customers behaviors and habits.

You Tube? Podcasts? Texting? Argh! What is a business to do!? How do you choose mediums that work for your business and the customers you are trying to reach? Rebecca Lieb, Vice President & Editor-In-Chief, The ClickZ Network introduced Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now Inc. Bryan is from Mercury and he has the answers. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have ever designed, or been involved in the design and content of any website, you know (or should know) that you are biased in your opinions. Yes, you can use all the right words and have pretty pictures, but is your site really able to pass the usability-test?

Rebecca Lieb, Vice President & Editor-In-Chief, The ClickZ Network introduced us to Larry Bailin, CEO, Single Throw Internet Marketing and author of “Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?”. Larry provided feedback and critical comments on a variety of participating audience websites. Read the rest of this entry »