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Sears plagued with controversies

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sears.gifThe PR firm of retail store Sears is having a really tough time these days defending its image against the tirades of consumers and privacy groups over its two separate online policies.

According to The Chicago Sun Times, privacy advocates are accusing Sears of adding spyware on the computers of some customers so it can track the online activities of those users for market research purposes. But Sears is quick to refute these allegations, saying that those consumers gave their consent and the terms were clearly explained to them. Moreover, the information gathered from customers is not shared to other parties.

Another major setback is reminiscent of Facebook’s Beacon. Apparently, Sears has displayed publicly some confidential information in one of its website, ManageMyHome.com. Exposing data such as purchase history is like opening your door to muggers. A lawsuit is already filed by a customer for this very insensitive act.

Although Sears defended that this purchase history function is very helpful to the customers, it decided to temporarily shut down this service until a validation process is implemented.

Originally posted on January 9, 2008 @ 9:56 am

5 Stupid Marketing Mistakes You Might Be Making

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Mistakes

As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you probably don’t moonlight as one of the Mad Men. There’s a reason entire degrees are built around marketing; while some people have a natural talent, “winging it” almost always ends badly.

You might not realize you’re missing out on opportunities or revenue, but you likely are if you don’t have a pro in your corner. What was once considered savvy marketing has become long since dated.

How can you make sure you’re on the right track if it’s not in the budget to hire a marketing manager? Simply making sure you avoid the most common mistakes is a good start.

Take a look at the five most common marketing mistakes and see if you’re guilty. Fixing these faux pas can put you back on the fast track to success. [Read more…]

Originally posted on August 20, 2013 @ 6:38 am

Four Must Have Solutions Your Internet Marketing Consultant Should Provide

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Internet MarketingIf you’re running a website and choose to hire an Internet Marketing Consultant to help grow your user base there are several must have solutions you should request from that consultant. These solutions will not only provide you with more information about your campaigns, they can help ensure that future campaigns for your website are optimized for the best possible ROI (Return on Investment).

Campaign Split Testing

Split testing consists of testing various CPM (cost per thousand pageviews), CPC (cost per click) and CPA (cost per action) campaigns at various times of the day, week and even month versus secondary ads. It’s a known fact that internet users tend to follow certain buying trends based on the type of product you are attempting to sell, a good internet marketing consultant will understand how to test different wording and other types of campaigns at different times of the day while tracking what works and when. For example they may place “Free Weight Loss Program for Men” against the ad “Acai Berry Weight Loss for Men” to determine which ad converts the best during the morning hours (that’s a very simple split test example). As the name suggests, you are “splitting” your advertising into several campaigns to track their efficacy. While split testing could provide your company with loses at the start of a campaign, once optimized the benefits should far outweigh the loses.

Split Testing

Heat Map Tracking

When I work with outside consultants I not only want to see results, I want to see where my conversion process is failing. Heat maps show exactly where users on a website are clicking, for example do a majority of users click on the upper left hand side of the page? This information then allows me to understand where I should place my highest converting products, affiliate links and general pages. By knowing where a user clicks internet marketers can help you not only bring users to your site, but also get them to view more pages and buy more products using simple human behavior solutions.  If you are using a banner advertising platform such as Google Ads you can even choose to display different products and affiliate links at different times based off where users tend to click on your website during certain times of the day, week or month.

 

Real-Time Keyword Reporting

The ability to monitor your most successful keywords based on campaigns you have launched with an internet marketing consultant is important not only to determine why your visitors are coming to your site, but also so you can understand what aspects of your site need more work. For example if you are an etailer you may have noticed a significant drop in one of your old product lines, that drop could be due to search engine placement, a lack of split testing focus or other variables. While you hire a marketer to market your products, you can help strengthen the success of those same products or information pages on your own by understanding which pages on your website need optimization.

 

Social Media Management

If your internet marketing consultant works for a specific number of hours on your behalf having them manage your social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc) could not only help take some work off your hands, it may allow them to better understand your audience through engagement, which in turn should help your third party helper better optimize future marketing campaigns on your behalf. Even just having your social media pages optimized by a marketer while you take care of engagement could be of great help.

An experienced internet marketing consultant will not only provide the services listed above, they will more than likely suggest many of the steps before you even ask. Proper marketing engagement requires not only placing ads on various publisher networks, it requires understanding your website and how to engage with your users. If you can afford to have a marketer act on your behalf for all of the solutions listed above you should be able to receive a well rounded marketing experience.

Originally posted on August 4, 2011 @ 3:12 pm