Web marketers wishing to join the 43% of sites that are profitable have their work cut out for them–provided they are willing to actively market their online presence. But the potential of their sites goes hand-in-glove with pitfalls, many of which are avoidable.
Unlike paper catalogs, which land in one’s mailbox and demand attention, the Internet is a passive medium, said Scott R. Busch. Busch, senior vice president, Shawnee Mission, KS-based J. Schmid & Associates Inc., shared his views in a session at Acxiom/Direct Media’s 24th Annual Business Mailers Co-op Conference & Hi-Tech Marketing Symposium in White Plains, NY.
When running a Web version of their catalog, marketers need to make the pages as easy to browse as possible, keeping in mind that consumers’ modem speeds, color capabilities and screen resolution quality vary greatly. Pages should be quick to load, and reflect basic principals of copy line length and creative design. Busch also stressed that every page should be no more than one click from an order form, and that an opt-in e-mail capture mechanism should be available from every page.
Web catalogers also need to look at the mechanisms that drive customers to their sites. Search engines are of limited use: the most far-reaching of them access around one-sixth of the sites on the Web. In addition, there can be up to a six-month wait before a site appears on a search engine’s “radar.”
Better methods of building traffic include establishing reciprocal link arrangements with other sites (especially vendors and suppliers), using co-op mailers and stuffers, and direct mail and tie-ins with the company’s paper catalogs. Within the pages of the paper catalogs, customers can be directed to specific areas within the Web site–by offering a discount–this allows the cataloger to track the Web order back to the paper catalog source. On the Internet, locations such as Catalogcity.com and Shopathome.com can steer customers to a marketer’s pages, although the business-to-business areas in these sites tend to be underdeveloped, said Busch.
The Business Mailers Co-op Conference ended yesterday.
Network
