MarketingSherpa Blog

Thanks to all of you who wrote me in response to last week’s SherpaBlog. Here is a quick summary of what I’ve learned from you:

– Pages must print:

If you decide to switch right-hand links to the left-side of pages based on the usability lab research I mentioned last week, make sure users can print pages without losing any information off the right edge.

I had our Web guy Ryan add a “print this story” button to the top and bottom of every article on our site to help with this problem.

– SEO is unaffected:

For those of you who were concerned that your search engine optimization might be affected by moving links from the right to the left, I asked expert Jill Whalen of HighRanks.com for advice.

Jill said, “Either way of having the links makes absolutely no

difference to the search engines. Unless your HTML page is over 110K (not including graphics), the spiders will index *all* the content and follow *all* the links.”

– For eCommerce keep your buy button right-side:

Click analysis researcher, David Niu of NetConversions told me based on his data, “A retail best-practice that we’ve observed is that call-to-action should be placed on the right-hand side and most cross sell and up sell opportunities are also best placed there or under the product.”

– In email, right-side links not always visible:

Loads of you wrote in to note that when it comes to email newsletters, you do not always open your window all the way to read. Smaller windows = right-hand columns being cut off.

If a newsletter (or other mailer) wants clicks, don’t put critical stuff over on the far right.

Until next week�

Thanks for your support,

Anne

Anne Holland – Publisher

MarketingSherpa

AHolland@MarketingSherpa.com

====

CASE STUDIES

====

#2. Vary Email Creative by Region for Higher Response

At long last, we got someone besides a travel company, to go on the record saying that different offers and creative work better in different parts of the US.

Pamela Hoffman at Ajilon discovered strong regional biases quite by accident when she created an email campaign template library for her company’s 100+ regional sales offices. Turns out account reps in and clients in California liked very different campaigns than the Midwest, or Northeast. More here, including some creative samples: http://www.b2bmarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2362

#3. How to Target Asian Americans Through Integrated Online/Offline Marketing

Every wondered what it’s like to market a Broadway show? Here’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes story, including results.

This is a must-read if you are involved in grassroots community-based efforts, or you’re hoping to learn more about how to approach the Asian American demographic. Plus, includes a photo of the coolest promotional t-shirt we’ve ever seen: http://www.consumermarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2367

#4. How to Make a Niche Community Site Profitable; Plus 4 Ways to Market CD ROMs to Your Members

If you market to mothers of young children, you’ll find some fascinating insights into the demographic in this story.

Also, if you’ve ever dreamed of quitting your corporate job and starting your own online publishing company for profit, you’ll be inspired by this story of a husband and wife team who are living the entrepreneurial life-style in Austin Texas.

P.S: Be sure to click on the link to creative samples at the end of Case Study, because their clean design is really lovely:

http://www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2363

====

PRACTICAL KNOW-HOW

====

#5. Special Report: How Rising Junk Mail Rate Affects Legit eMailers: 36 Brands Accused of Spamming

What do Amazon, Dupont, Marriott, Crate & Barrel and Bank of America have in common? In the last 24 hours each has been accused of being a suspected spammer by consumers. Ouch.

In part I of our Special Report on how the rising junk mail rate affects legitimate emailers, you’ll learn:

Categories: Uncategorized Tags: