Wenn Unternehmen ihre Umsätze aufs Spiel setzen

Von Heiko Specht, Presales Consultant Gomez Deutschland GmbH

Der ideale Kaufvorgang im Internet sieht wie folgt aus: Ein Kunde kommt auf die Webseite eines Unternehmens und interessiert sich für Produkte, die dort feil geboten werden. Er navigiert solange in der Webseite, bis er über die Suchfunktion oder den Katalog auf das Produkt seiner Wahl gelangt, dieses in den Warenkorb legt und schließlich die Bestellung durchführt. Ob der Kunde aber auch tatsächlich in der Lage ist, all diese Transaktionsschritte durchzuführen, hängt von vielen Faktoren ab, die leider oft nicht bedacht werden:

• Werden die Suchergebnisse so schnell geliefert, dass der Suchende nicht die Geduld verliert?
• Wird das Suchergebnis richtig in dem jeweils verwendeten Webbrowser dargestellt?
• Kann der Bestellprozess ohne Verzögerungen durchgeführt werden?

An einer Transaktion sind viele Personen maßgeblich beteiligt. Angefangen bei der Planung des Kaufprozesses, über die Gestaltung des Designs bis hin zum Hosting der Applikation und der Webpräsenz. Der Kreis der Beteiligten erweitert sich zusätzlich, wenn externe Drittlösungen z. B. für eine Kreditkartenüberprüfung eingebunden sind.

Während alle Daten und Funktionen, die von Unternehmen in Eigenregie erstellt und gehostet werden, auch intern auf Qualität überprüft werden können, sind die Daten, die außerhalb der Firewall oder von externen Dienstleistern gehostet werden, häufig sich selbst überlassen. Es bestehen hier kaum Ãœberprüfungsmöglichkeiten, ob der Host die versprochene und vertraglich festgelegte Verfügbarkeit von 99,0% überhaupt einhalten kann und ob eingebundene Drittanbieter ihre Leistungen in den Prozessen auch tatsächlich erbringen. Read more…

B2B im Web: messen, steigern, netzwerken
Gomez plädiert für effektive Performance-Messungen bei web-basierten Unternehmens-Anwendungen

München / Hamburg, 11. Juni 2008 – Kosteneinsparungen, mehr Produktivität und Zeiteffizienz – welches Unternehmen verspricht sich dies nicht von seinen web-basierten Geschäftsanwendungen? Kein Wunder also, dass das B2B-Geschäft zunehmend im Internet boomt. Doch was können Unternehmen tun, wenn das Internet nicht mitspielt und die notwendige Performance und Skalierbarkeit nicht permanent bereitstellt?
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Online Workshops to be taught by top SEO/SEM consultants, authors and recognized leaders.

Scotts Valley, CA April 16, 2008 — Internet marketing training provider Market Motive has teamed with Search Engine Strategies to provide online classes for training in search marketing, web analytics, and web conversion techniques.

The workshops are live and interactive, delivered via video screen sharing and live telephone conference. Limited class sizes ensure attendees have time to ask for clarification or deeper explanations. Tuition for each class is $395 and registration opens today at www.marketmotive.com/online-workshops

“Search Engine Strategies has always delivered first-rate conferences and workshops,” said Market Motive CEO Michael Stebbins, “Market Motive leads in online instruction, with many of the same speakers, so this combination brings high quality training to a larger audience.”

Internet marketing expert Andy Beal recently reviewed Market Motive online training. “Market Motive’s media-consulting combination is effective and teaches online marketing in a way that works for the beginner or the experienced practitioner,” said Beal, “I’m impressed, and the guys behind this are the best in the business.”

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Todd Miechiels offers clients efficient way to capture and nurture leads through Internet marketing automation

Atlanta, GA January 29, 2008 — Atlanta-based Internet marketing consultant Todd Miechiels now provides marketing automation solutions to B2B companies through Pardot, an industry-leading provider of on-demand marketing automation solutions. Miechiels’ marketing automation services include strategy, implementation, and ongoing counseling and management.

“For years I’ve been wishing my clients had more efficient and accountable ways to handle the leads our programs generate for them,” explains Todd. “Pardot provides a cost-effective solution that marketing and sales can put to use from the moment they sign on. Since offering this service, it has really changed the way my clients and I think about Internet marketing. It puts much more emphasis on how leads are handled and it makes everyone’s jobs more rewarding as we’re better able to track new leads, all the way through to closed sales.”

One of the most common complaints and challenges among B2B companies is that marketing leads often find their way into an abyss once the marketing team hands them off to the sales team. According to Miechiels, about 78% of B2B leads are mishandled and not followed up on a timely basis. Even worse, close to 90% of those leads end up buying from a competitor within six months. By implementing an automated marketing solution, such as Pardot, sales teams can become more proactive in lead management, minimize dropped leads and maximize their close rates.

Through Pardot’s Prospect Insight tool, sales and marketing teams can score, grade, route, and automatically follow up with new and old leads. The on-demand web marketing automation suite maximizes efficiency for companies with multi-touch sales cycles by showing sales teams exactly where to spend their time and automatically nurturing existing leads. Companies can track all prospect interaction, score prospects based on parameters, prioritize sales reps’ time, send automated drip emails to prospects according to rules, and automatically notify sales reps of online prospect activity.

Since becoming a certified consulting partner with Pardot, Miechiels has brought the solution to several existing and new clients. He is making it a major part of a holistic approach to online lead generation in 2008.
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Be sure to tune in to WebmasterRadio.FM Tuesday, January 24 at 3 :00 pm EST to hear the premier of “Affiliate Marketing Insider,” a brand new show with host Linda Woods, who tells us, “With Affiliate Marketing Insider, we’re creating a forum for discussion and debate about an industry that is always changing.”

Fort Lauderdale, FL January 23, 2008 — WebmasterRadio.FM, the premier free, 24/7 Internet business radio network focused on the B2B marketplace, is proud the announce the launch of a new show called “Affiliate Marketing Insider” premiering Thursday, January 24 at 3:00 pm EST. Affiliate Marketing Insider will be hosted by Linda Woods, a sought-after consultant and recognized expert in the areas of e-commerce and affiliate marketing who has helped scores of companies and individuals find success in the competitive, ever-changing Internet landscape.

“We are so proud to welcome Linda Woods to our radio network,” says WebmasterRadio.FM Vice President of Marketing Brandy Shapiro-Babin. “Linda has been involved with affiliate marketing practically since its inception”.

Linda Woods is a sought-after consultant and recognized expert in the areas of e-commerce and affiliate marketing who has helped scores of companies and individuals find success in the competitive, ever-changing Internet landscape. Her company, PartnerCentric, employs the most experienced team of affiliate program management professionals in the industry.

Today PartnerCentric’s team manages more than 30 affiliate programs. Linda is a frequent speaker at affiliate-related events and has been featured in many publications, including Revenue magazine. She lives in paradise, also known as Santa Barbara, California, along with her 11-year-old son.

Affiliate Marketing Insider will air Thursdays at 3:00 pm EST. All WebmasterRadio.FM programs are available in podcast, mobilecast and archived format at www.WebmasterRadio.FM.
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Since its launch in 2003, the annual “Thumbnail Media Planner” has filled a void in making key marketing and media information available, including ad media rates for all major national and local media, to those who need it fast. The updated 2008 edition of the “Thumbnail Media Planner” boasts more content, a pocket book size convenient for the pocket or purse, and can be ordered online in hard copy or download formats.

Detroit, MI January 21, 2008 — The new Thumbnail Media Planner has filled a void in the advertising and media planning business by synthesizing the most important marketing and media facts and costs into a great pocket sized reference.

We interviewed the publisher, Ron Geskey, CEO of 2020:Marketing Communications LLC, to gain his insights into this unique publication.

Q: What exactly is the Thumbnail Media Planner?

A: The Thumbnail Media Planner is a 104-page pocket sized marketing-media reference focused on thousands of the most important facts about market and media trends, media availabilities, media reach, the 2008 media market/cost outlook, 2008 media pricing forecasts. It also includes demographics and major media costs for each of the top 100 markets, non traditional media, and even a different analysis of media effectiveness. The Planner even includes reach and frequency tables and a glossary.

Q: For whom is the Planner published?

A: The Thumbnail Media Planner is published for anyone involved with planning or approving advertising and media campaigns — ad agencies, advertisers, media, consultants, entrepreneurs, students and professors. The Planner is especially helpful to agency presidents, account and media people (many of whom order copies for their staffs) in the largest as well as smaller agencies and design firms.

Q: How can the Planner help “a planner”?

A. There are many ways this Planner can help individuals and their companies improve quality, productivity, and client perceptions. One is that a Thumbnail Media Planner is a really great reference tool in meetings. When a client asks you, “How much would it cost to run this newspaper ad in the top 50 markets?” Or, “How many markets could we add?” now you can say, “Just a minute, Ill give you a rough estimate… “instead of ‘Let me get back to you…then having somebody spend hours answering a question that could have been eliminated in 30 seconds…’ It’s ideal for quick media research and estimating the cost of advertising media plans. Anyone needing fast access to media data and costs for network or spot television, magazines, radio, newspapers, the internet — or even many non traditional media– would find the Planner invaluable.
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Last year a Los Angeles-based Internet marketing consultant called PushTraffic took the Internet community by storm, offering serious businesses the opportunity to learn how to generate traffic and thousands of targeted leads. PushTraffic specializes in search engine optimization, aiding clients in acquiring some of the highest page ranks on the web.

Los Angeles, CA January 19, 2008 — Last year a Los Angeles-based internet marketing consultant called PushTraffic took the Internet community by storm, offering serious businesses the opportunity to learn how to generate traffic and thousands of targeted leads.

PushTraffic specializes in search engine optimization, aiding clients in acquiring some of the highest page ranks on the web.

“If you are a new company setting up your business Web site, it will be only a matter of time before you start wondering how on earth you could possibly reach as many visitors as you’d like,” explains PushTraffic CEO and founder John Raygoza.

Immediately you will realize the reason only a handful of successful online businesses exist in the world today: supervising an entire company and mastering the language of the web can be rather tricky tasks to juggle! And doing both alone isn’t any easier.

This is where PushTraffic can help.

The better a site’s position when searched for online, the more likely an Internet user is to find the site and consequently visit it. Typically Internet users opt not to sift through pages and pages of search results and instead tend to settle on only the first few results they see, making where a site sits in the rank essential for attracting more traffic.
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With Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer, it is no longer necessary to rely on creative hunches when seeking to improve website performance. On February 5th, 2008, VKI Studios will host a free WebEx seminar for the AMA. They will demonstrate how to use these powerful Google products to boost conversion rates.

Vancouver, BC January 17, 2008 — In a free WebEx seminar to be held by the American Marketing Association (AMA) on February 5, 2008, VKI Studios and Google Inc will demonstrate how it’s no longer necessary to rely on creative hunches when optimizing landing pages.

The seminar, entitled “Landing Page Optimization: A Process Using Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer” will show that, using a combination of Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer, it’s now easy to run A/B and Multivariate tests on web pages.
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Bresette + Company has been chosen as the exclusive marketing and consulting firm to work with FIGHT IT OUT to develop and execute a comprehensive branding, sales and marketing, fulfillment and distribution plan.

Portsmouth, NH January 12, 2008 — Bresette + Company has been chosen as the exclusive marketing and consulting firm to work with FIGHT IT OUT to develop and execute a comprehensive branding, sales and marketing, fulfillment and distribution plan. FIGHT IT OUT will be creating a strategic marketing and business plan with Bresette as their first step in the new business partnership.

New to the Mixed Martial Arts world, FIGHT IT OUT will offer the best apparel and instructional martial arts DVDs in the industry. FIGHT IT OUT differentiates itself from its competition by focusing on celebrating the history and honor of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), which other brands fail to do. FIGHT IT OUT plans to offer five lines of apparel: The Praetorian Line, the Kundalini Series, the Phoenix Collection, Street Wear, and Fight Wear for MMA fighters. Guy Chase, one of the founders of FIGHT IT OUT, is a world renown martial arts trainer, as well as developer of the training and video series, and a training descendent of the late Bruce Lee.

“I am enthusiastic to work with Bresette on building this new brand. With their creative team’s top-notch talent and their exceptional strategic planning and business consulting skills, we are sure to bypass the competition and be the #1 brand offering apparel, merchandise and martial arts training videos to the MMA customer base!” says Chase Bailey President of FIGHT IT OUT.

Josh Bresette, President of Bresette + Company is eager to get started on developing this brand. “This is a great opportunity for Bresette. We have worked on retail projects before, but none that combines all of the Bresette’s Team marketing and consulting services. In addition, with the ever growing fan base of Mixed Martial Arts today, as seen on CNBC recently, we are certain to develop and launch a brand which has tremendous growth and revenue opportunities!”
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Business marketing podcast features ideas for driving traffic to a website, search engine optimization management and internet advertising strategies from Florida web site marketing consultant, Jay Berkowitz.

Boca Raton, FL August 2, 2007 — Ten Golden Rules, a Florida web site marketing consultant and search engine optimization management company announced that their 10 Golden Rules Internet Marketing Podcast has been selected for listing on iTunes. The business marketing podcast features ideas for driving traffic to a website and small business internet marketing and advertising strategies. Read more…