MarketingSherpa Blog

For the past few years I’ve had countless marketers and Web usability experts tell me, “Make sure your site pages are thin so they load quickly. People will leave your site rather than wait even an few extra seconds.”

Now there’s a new trend, it’s not just about thinning your page load, it’s about thinning your navigation options.

Most site revamps these days seem to be about taking stuff off, rather than adding stuff on.

In fact two of our Case Studies this week are about sites with few options. One site (MiningGold.com) only has a single option. You can click to buy, or you can click to leave. Another site (GoodysOnline.com) got rid of all of its impressive bells and whistles to focus on a simple offer for a discount coupon.

In a way, many companies’ home pages are becoming less like all-encompassing corporate doorways, and more like direct response reply cards.

Has your site gone skinnier? Let me know.. AHolland@MarketingSherpa.com

In the meantime, here’s Sherpa’s best stories from the past week:

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CASE STUDIES:

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#1. How to Go From Zilch Coverage to 200+ Media Interviews in 18 Months

Can you imagine if you called up the reporters who cover your marketplace, and they all said they’d never heard of you, or they thought you’d gone out of business?

That PR nightmare is exactly what happened to MAPICS, a 20-year old software firm serving manufacturers. Learn how MAPICS fought back, grabbing column inches from competitors like Oracle and SAP.

No, MAPICS didn’t stage any dramas or launch any revolutionary new products. Instead they relied on rock-solid PR best practices that you can emulate in order to get more press attention too: http://www.b2bmarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2197

#2. Goodys Chain Stores Test Emailed Discount Coupons

If you’ve been considering emailing discount coupons to your customers to see if you can drive some brick and mortar store traffic, absolutely check this Case Study out.

It includes some stunning metrics regarding average shopping cart size. We worried discount coupons might cannibalize normal sales. We were completely wrong: http://www.consumermarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2199

#3. Selling eBooks & Subscriptions to Consumers Online: 5 Hard Lessons from a Get-R*ich-Quick Publisher

It’s easy for we “serious” marketers to sneer a bit at the guys selling “how to get r*ich on the Internet” stuff. But, don’t you ever secretly wonder if there’s something you could learn from them? No matter how traditional and snooty your company is?

During the course of our research to create this Case Study, we learned five lessons that have already helped us out tremendously. Now it’s your turn. Yes, includes some (very) useful metrics: http://www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2201

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PRACTICAL KNOW HOW:

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#4. Anne’s Marketing Column: How to Sell Your List – Part II

In Part II of this special report for email list owners, you’ll find:

-> 7 Tips on how much money you can make renting out your list

-> How to pick and compensate a list manager

-> What’s the difference between a manager and a broker

-> How to make sure no one spams your list

Also includes a link to Part I (in case you missed last week): http://www.MarketingSherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2198

#5. AOL’s EVP of Strategy Lon Otremba on Now That the Pop-Up Party’s Over…

Short but sweet. In this quick interview, AOL’s Lon Otremba suggests a few ways online advertisers can still get pretty good response rates, without relying on annoying interruptive spots: http://www.greatmindsinmarketing.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2202

#6. How to Plant Stories in Target Marketing & Inside DM

More than 45,000 direct marketing professionals read Target Marketing Magazine or its sister newsletter Inside DM. Check out our interview with Editor in Chief Hallie Mumert to find out how to influence her so your story reaches them: http://www.marketingfame.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2200

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