Web Trends and Technologies to watch…

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Web Trends and Technologies to watch…

Blogs (web logs)

Effective use of Flash

Online Advertising

oAds in Opt-in email newslettersoOnline video adsoEmbedded link advertisementsoRich media advertising

Web site Usability

Blogs

What is it?Short for Web log, a blog is essentially an online journalGets the consumer directly involved in the company

How can you use it to achieve specific goals/ applications?Build personal and corporate credibility that will aid in attracting customers Consumers/site visitors can get an “insider’s view” of how members of the company think and workReal people talking about real topics

StatisticsNow, more than 2 million Americans are blogging

Cautions/Potential PitfallsBeware of attempts at shameless self-promotionInternet savvy users will see through this immediatelyThe approach is that it’s real insight, not an advertisement

How to implementMany types of software are availableBlogger.com is a leader

Use of Flash

Don’t use it gratuitouslyUse technology to help accomplish a specific business objective, to enhance the users experience in some meaningful way, or to support your message

Statistics75% of non-marketing professional women skip Flash intros. 81% of non-marketing professional men skip Flash intros. Even ages 18-24 chose the non-Flash intro over 65% of the time

How can you use best this technology?“Sudden fiction”Ideal to build understanding of a value-added process Demonstrate product/service value, product/service features, informative or educational valuehttp://www.disney.go.com/disneypictures/teenagedramaqueen/ Auto manufacturers find Flash indispensable for creating a “human touch”http://www.bmw.com/generic/com/en/products/highlights/1series/1series/campaign/

Cautions/Potential PitfallsDon’t use a full Flash site Ensure proper file size and search engine optimization

Online Advertising & Marketing

1) Opt-in email marketing

HTML Email Format and Design Tips

Don’t waste precious above-the-fold HTML real estate on an enormous graphic such as a logo or product graphic

Keep the design clean. Think postcard or billboard.

Use your design to move them toward the click -- rely on your web site landing page to move them to the next stage in the conversion process

If you have more than one column, make it extremely obvious which is the most important

Be picky about brand consistency. Use templates. Create a style guide and make sure people stick to it.

Make your call to action a graphic, not a text phrase, to avoid tripping content filters trained to spot spammy calls to action

Test your copy against content filters prior to sending

Personalize all you can; readers will skim more slowly, paying more attention if you do.

Use paid placement Ads in relevant opt-in emails

2) Online video ads

BenefitsReplicate the immediacy and emotional appeal of broadcasting

Online video ads enable better integration between online advertising and traditional advertising campaigns, by allowing cross-media promotion

StatisticsOnline video advertising spending is projected to rise to $657 million by 2009 — five times this year's spending level.

Cautions/PitfallsIf online video ads are not used creatively, they will become as meaningless as the pop-up ads that most users ignore or block

The success of the new format will depend on the creativity of the advertisers

Success stories:Reebok –Terry Tate “office linebacker” commercials launched during the Superbowl

American Express – Jerry Seinfeld

http://www.pepsi.com/ads_and_history/index.php

3) Embedded link advertisements

The savvy marketers alternative to the Banner AdThis ad type changes words in online articles into paid advertising linksUsers may actually find a paid message useful because its relevant to the contentGoogle's AdSense program allows publishers to embed a box of automatically targeted Google ads in their own sites (http://www.testmagic.com/ )Vibrant Media's IntelliTxt is the step beyond AdSense (http://cars.ign.com/articles/424/424269p1.html)

Why embedded link advertisements?More likely to be clicked than are banner ads. Web users click on links all the timeRarely make the page bigger or slower Stand out from body text, and don't look like graphic fluff Can be easily targeted and inserted into relevant pages

4) Rich media advertising

What is it?Rich-media ads use more sophisticated animations, audio, video and interactivity to attract more attention to your online adThese ads get much higher click-through rates than traditional banner ads

StatisticsRich media accounted for nearly 40 percent of ads it placed in the fourth quarter of 2003The reason for the ascendance of rich media? Higher response rates On average, one in 79 Internet users who viewed a rich-media ad clicked on it, compared to one in every 370 for other adsInternet users who didn't click were still more likely to visit an advertiser's website or purchase their product after viewing a rich-media ad

Usability

What is it? Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use

Usability has five quality components:

1. Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?

2. Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks? 3. Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can

they re-establish proficiency? 4. Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can

they recover from the errors? 5. Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

Why pay attention to Usability? If a website is difficult to use, people leave If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the

site, people leave If users get lost on a website, they leave If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave.

How?

There are many methods for studying usability, but the most basic and useful is user testing, which has three components:

Get hold of some representative users Ask the users to perform representative tasks with the design Observe what the users do, where they succeed, and where they have difficulties

Test users individually and let them solve any problems on their own

User testing is different from focus groups

When?Usability plays a role in each stage of the design process

Here are the main steps:

1. Test your current design 2. Test your competitors' designs 3. Conduct a field study 4. Make paper prototypes 5. Refine the design ideas that test best through multiple iterations6. Inspect the design relative to established usability guidelines 7. Test the final design one more time

Final Thoughts

Online marketing is growing the most as a share of total budgetsAll channels of online marketing are tapped to increase at higher rates than other major media

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