Website Magazine - Numero 68 (INGLES)

F R O M T H E E D ITO R
Fishing for High-Quality Prospects
There are quite a few similarities between lead
generation and fishing. A great deal of preparation
is required for both, and at times, each requires as
much experience, skill and patience. While fishing
can be a solitary activity, everyone in a digital
enterprise is responsible for hooking leads, whether
they’re aware of it or not, from front-line support
staff and Web developers to content marketers and
advertising managers.
A company’s lead generation efforts, however, won’t be truly
productive if all the brand does is acquire leads; they must
also focus on engaging those future customers and ultimately
converting prospects at a rate which exceeds needs, expectations
and costs. Essentially, you can’t just hook leads (fish), you
have to reel them in, get them on the boat, and then repeat the
process. When you do it well, you’ll feed your enterprise for
years to come.
In this month’s feature article, Website Magazine takes readers
on a digital fishing trip for new business leads, teaching them
how to acquire new customers from the deep waters of the Web.
Our editors are ready to serve as your trusted guides to the best
spots on the ‘Net to find customers and educate you on how
to “gear up” with best-of-breed software, and of course, how
to actually reel in and land high-value prospects, getting them
hooked on your brand without scaring away the customers your
company really needs to survive.
This issue is filled with many more articles valuable to Internet
professionals on their journey to Web success. Website Magazine
readers will find actionable guidance and detailed information
on everyday uses of big data, digital customer service for small
| A U G U S T 2013

business, the new reality of social SEO, the fundamentals of product
feeds, resources for learning to code, and much more including 50
of the top analytics solutions available today.
Enjoy this issue of Website Magazine and make sure to
visit us on the Web at WebsiteMagazine.com to experience
our in-depth coverage of emerging trends, best practices
and industry news.

Best Web Wishes,

Peter Prestipino —
Editor-in-Chief, Website Magazine
Peter@WebsiteMagazine.com

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Rakuten Feeling Fulﬁlled

With a series of acquisitions, most recently Webgistix,
Rakuten is further establishing itself in the U.S.
e-commerce market.

Hybris Gets SAP-ed Up

SAP has acquired hybris, an e-commerce-focused
software company that offers a cross-channel
platform for mobile, call center, in-store and
Web commerce.

SALESFORCE TO
BE EXACT…

What Can’t Google Do?

Big-time customer relationship management platform provider
(and more, of course) Salesforce made its largest purchase ever
in early June when it acquired marketing platform ExactTarget for
$2.5 billion (yes, billion). ExactTarget, which specializes in technology
for email and social marketing campaigns, will be integrated into the
Salesforce Marketing Cloud suite, and may even be the next step in
Salesforce’s move toward releasing more technology in the alwaysgrowing e-commerce market.

Yahoo’s Google-Esque Makeover

| A U G U S T 2013

Google announced plans in early June to release
Google Web Designer, a free HTML5 development
tool that lets advertisers develop their own
creative assets.

While, officially, Yahoo’s redesign is meant to emphasize the
top search results on a page, it mostly just seems to make
Yahoo look more like Google.

Facebook Cuts Ads

In an effort to simplify its ad offerings, Facebook has decided to
cut its ad units from 27 to fewer than half of that. One of the units
being axed is Facebook Offers.

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| A U G U S T 2013
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w m a p p [ wa tc h ]
Analytiks

iOS - wsm.co/15H7KbJ

Chartbeat

iOS - wsm.co/195C3gE
The Chartbeat analytics
dashboard provides real-time
data to business professionals
(the ones who really get
things done) with simplified insights into the
performances of their Web, social and mobile
presences, including metrics for top traffic
sources, traffic benchmarks, user page and
server load times.

Add some color to Google
Analytics data with the
Analytiks application for iOS
devices, which converts stats
into colorful graphs to make
it easy for users to keep an eye on traffic
metrics from social networks like Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Reddit and
Tumblr. Managers have on-the-go access
to search data, top country and browser
stats, insights on desktop vs. mobile users,
bounce-rate data and more.

New Relic

iOS -wsm.co/ZS0oUr
New Relic offers useful insights
for developers, including realtime and historical visibility into
application performance, as
well as end-user satisfaction
ratings. New Relic’s sleek interface and ability
to set up push notifications regarding app
performance make it an essential all-in-one
tool for DevOps teams with existing New
Relic credentials.

Quicklytics

iOS - wsm.co/14lHFzX
Google Analytics users can
download Quicklytics to check
their sites’ most important
performance metrics in a
simple dashboard for iOS
devices. They can also invite their colleagues,
as Quicklytics connects to an unlimited
number of Google Analytics accounts and
websites. In addition, the app provides

| A U G U S T 2013

access to more than 80 different reports on
visitor, source, content, goal and e-commerce
metrics.

gAnalytics

Android - wsm.co/18TKw3Y
A favorite among Website
Magazine editors, gAnalytics
makes it easy to explore key
performance metrics. Users
can also discover the number
of visitors, page views, bounce rates and
new visits their sites have received during
pre-defined time periods. gAnalytics also
supports multiple accounts and languages.

Simple Analytics Widget
Android - wsm.co/196n2v7

One glance is all users of
the Simple Analytics Widget
need to review their Google
Analytics data directly on
their devices’ home screen.
The widget displays real-time
visitor counts, unique visitors, page views
and other stats for each registered website.
Plus, these metrics are compared to the
same data of the previous week to show
changing rates. Users can install as many
different widgets and configurations as they
want or need.

their smartphones. Aside from social media
updates and interactions, Viralheat also
includes analytics and follower data for
connected social media accounts. The app
provides access to a variety of the platform’s
most popular features, including crosschannel publishing, posts scheduling and the
ability to engage with communities in
real time.

Alerti

iOS - wsm.co/12enS2g
Based on the Alerti search
engine that constantly scans
a variety of sources, including
blogs, forums, press, social
networks and videos to
monitor online reputation, the app now gives
account holders these insights while on the
go. Alerts are based on keywords and the
results are displayed on a single interface,
which can be shared and filitered by date,
source, tone and more.

Viralheat

iOS - wsm.co/ZVWNon
The Viralheat platform
has gone mobile, enabling
users to manage multiple
Twitter, Facebook and
LinkedIn accounts from

Discover More Applications
Within the Mobile World Channel
at www.WebsiteMagazine.com

STAT WATCH

INTO THE DIGITAL CART!

You’d think that e-commerce
professionals would be resting on their
digital laurels with year-after-year of
impressive results, but they’re not. Web
retailers are pushing the virtual envelope
every chance they get, becoming
significant contributors to the global and
local economies.

64%

of e-commerce shopping carts that were abandoned in Q3 2012
(Source: Monetate).

81%

of moms say they would buy and engage more if rewarded with loyalty points on
top of the $2.4 trillion of spending they already influence every year as the primary
decision-makers of household purchases (Source: PunchTab’s 2013 “Scoring Points
With Mom” report).

The projected e-commerce spending in the
United States this year alone, according to
Forrester Research, is a jaw-dropping $262
billion, a 13.4 percent increase over 2012. How
did it get there? The best in e-commerce
technology, of course, from personalization
and retargeting to more nimble and smarter
shopping carts.
Website Magazine’s editorial staff
aggregates and curates interesting research
and data like what you’ll find in this month’s
STAT WATCH column nearly every day on
the Web, publishing the information Internet
professionals need to create strategies
and executive campaigns and technology
initiatives more efficiently.

47%

of companies say that the biggest barrier to website personalization is IT roadblocks,
with legacy technology (46 percent) falling closely behind, according to Monetate and
Econsultancy’s “The Realities of Online Personalization” research.

Find more useful data and valuable insights at
WebsiteMagazine.com.

| A U G U S T 2013

6%

of smartphone users conducted their most recent mobile retail search in a
brick-and-mortar store, indicating that even though showrooming is a growing
concern, it may be overhyped. The ongoing xAd/Telmetrics “U.S. Mobile Pathto-Purchase” study conducted by Nielsen also reported that 77 percent of
smartphone retail shoppers ultimately made their purchases in-store versus
going online to find a cheaper price.

90%

of mobile searches lead to action (e.g. store visit or phone call), with more than
half leading to purchases (Source: Vistaprint UK infographic).

$53

the average price of items bought on U.S. Web retail sites using iPads, compared to
$24 on smartphones and $22 on PCs/laptops, according to RichRelevance’s “2012
Q1 Shopping Insights Mobile Study.”

40%

of online shoppers abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load
(Source: KISSmetrics, 2012).

k

enterprise

ready

Everyday Uses

of Big Data

Big data has the potential to
revolutionize the business world by
providing companies with access
to massive amounts of actionable
information that they never
would have been able to get
their hands on in the past.
By Michael Garrity, Associate Editor

At present, the companies that have
been able to leverage the power of big
data analytics successfully are large
enterprises that have massive dedicated
IT departments and plenty of resources
to throw at the virtual wall of data to
mine it for actionable information that can
be used to guide business and marketing
decisions. Even still, companies have
mostly used big data to predict consumer
purchase intent and to guide customers
| A U G U S T 2013

k

enterprise

ready

through conversion funnels more efficiently. These are
practical uses, but don’t begin to scratch the surface of how
companies can and will harness big data to grow in the future.

Leveraging Big Data for Big Dollars
At the end of the day, success depends on how much money a
business brings in. It’s no surprise, then, that the first thing most
companies try to do with big data is to leverage the information to
increase sales without spending more money.
Online printing company NextDayFlyers found itself trying to
manage more than 100,000 customer records and decided to turn to
big data analysis to help “make informed strategic decisions,” with
SAS and Micro Strategy being its preferred big data management
tools.
“Because a large portion of our sales are in the B2B arena, it’s quite
useful for us to segment the data based on firmographics,” explains
NextDayFlyers CEO and Founder David Handmaker. “This shows
us the primary industries we’re serving. When we see purchase
patterns, it helps us to determine what new products and services
we should be offering. We also analyze the recency, frequency and
monetary (RFM) data and look for product affinities, which will
help us identify products to cross-sell.”
Handmaker added “using the data to identify behavioral transaction
information allows us to optimize that customer’s experience with

| A U G U S T 2013

3 Practical
Strategies for the
Data Scientist
relevant messaging and Web
Get in the lab at
wsm.co/bigdatanow13
treatments.”
Service providers are also
finding ways to introduce big
data into their own products in
order to help businesses increase sales. One of these is NetSuite. The
popular Web-based business software provider integrates big data
into its SuiteCommerce product (specifically its Upsell Manager
and Demand Planning capabilities).
“Upsell Manager looks at the sales correlations between
different items and uses it to recommend other products
to similar shoppers,” said Baruch Goldwasser, NetSuite’s
director of e-commerce. “Demand Planning looks at sales
and fulfillment history by store and warehouse to determine
how much inventory should be kept in stock at each, recommend
reorder points and preferred stock levels and automatically create
purchase orders with the appropriate workﬂow processes.”

Big Data and the Future
In addition to improving sales metrics, big data application in the
modern marketplace is using information to assess the current
state of the organization, as well as predict, identify and fix any
inefficiencies.
“With big data and prescriptive analytics, Place2Give can

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enterprise

ready

predict potential pitfalls far enough in advance that charities now
“We also use Optimizely very often to do simple variant tests,”
have enough lead time to either create a solution to the issue, or
said Wilkening. “Although this requires a larger sample, it can still
avoid the pitfall altogether,” said Gena Rotstein, the founder and
shed light on what is working and what is not working in your
CEO of Place2Give, a charity search
customer pipeline.”
engine. “An example of prescriptive
Big Data’s Usability
analytics at work is the organizational
The next step is trying
As you can see, big data is already becoming a
assessment, which looks at issues, such
focal point for both B2C and B2B organizations.
as HR, financial process, volunteerism,
to make big data easier
The next step is trying to make big data easier
governance, etc. When organizational
to handle, so it is less intimidating and more
assessments from an entire sector of
to handle, so it is less
accessible to companies of all sizes.
charities are compared, ‘holes’ in the sector
intimidating and more
Chartio is already doing this. This business
begin to emerge and become apparent.
Depending on the stage of the charity’s
accessible to companies dashboard provides a way for companies, which
so far includes everyone from Rackspace to
evolution, we can use these common
of all sizes.
PumpOne, to plug their data sources (like Oracle,
holes to predict and help the charity as
Amazon RDS, Rackspace Cloud Databases,
they grow.”
Google Analytics, Salesforce and more) into the
As with sales processes, many B2B
Chartio platform, so they can easily visualize all
companies are finding ways to insert big
their data.
data into their products to help make them more predictive, and
Ultimately, this is a much quicker way to set up and explore
thus more valuable, to their enterprise customers.
important metrics, allowing companies to make smarter decisions
Brad Wilkening, a business development engineer at
faster. Innovations like these are going to be what inevitably helps
DevMynd Software, explains that most of the applications they
big data fulfill its true potential.
build for their customers integrate with KISSmetrics or MixPanl
for pipeline tracking.

| A U G U S T 2013

See What
They’re Saying
Take a video tour of interesting people and new
stuff for your website. See Website Magazine’s
interviews from Internet Retailer Conference & Expo.

George Eberstadt, TurnTo
Zach Pitts, Kount
Branden Jenkins, NetSuite
Ed Stevens, Shopatron
Howard Diamond, Rise Interactive
Greg Wooten, SecureBuy
Scott Allan, Rakuten
Parag Mamnani, Webgility
Rey Pasinli, Total-Apps
Megan Higgins, Pitney Bowes Global Enterprise
Ross Haskell, BoldChat
Shawn Ellen, Ability Commerce
Manish Chowdhary, GoECart
Michael Moore, SDL Fredhopper
Dennis Shiao, DNN
Jake Stein, RJ Metrics
Dennis O’Malley, ReadyPulse
Tom Pittman, Seller Active
Andrew Pearson, Windsor Circle
Brian Quinn, Kenshoo Social
Ryan Morgan, Hotcakes
Charles Meyer, 7Search

Visit Website Magazine’s Video Spotlight

www.websitemagazine.com/videos

*Website Magazine thanks IRCE for permission for video interviews at the show.

| A U G U S T 2013

Jeremy Greenberg, SellerCloud
Fred Lizza, Dydacomp
Kyle Wilson, SearchSpring

Website Magazine’s

Small BuSineSS laB

Personal Stories of

INVESTING
In Customer Service
By Mitchell Harper, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Bigcommerce

Customer service is an investment, but unlike other equity, it’s
nearly guaranteed to return substantial dividends.
In my company’s early days, I ran a 10-person customer service team. I quickly found
that being honest, genuine and empathetic could turn a two-minute phone call into
the highlight of a client’s day. Those personal connections translate to word-ofmouth marketing — satisfied buyers telling friends and colleagues about their
positive experiences with your business.
Today, I frequently say to clients, partners, media and employees that
customer service is a profit center, not a cost center. That may put
me in the minority, but the top companies always invest heavily
in customer service. Consider Apple, Southwest Airlines,
Virgin and American Express as examples. It’s no
coincidence that they are some of the world’s
most profitable companies.

| A U G U S T 2013


Small BuSineSS laB
One particular example of stellar customer service convinced me
that investing in it can be profitable and sustainable.
Back in 2011, I signed up for an American Express credit card.
Everything went fine; I completed the form, got approved and
received my card in the mail. A few weeks later, I decided to cancel
the card because I found a better deal, but I had already paid the
$395 annual fee.
I called the American Express customer service line, was
connected to someone in billing and requested to cancel. After
being asked whether they could do anything to make me reconsider
and politely saying no, the woman on the other end of the phone
proceeded to cancel my card. Things went smoothly, and I was
ready to end the call when she said, “I notice you’ve paid our $395
annual fee. Let me go ahead and make sure that gets refunded to
you in the next few days.”
I hadn’t expected a refund, nor did I ask for it, but she offered
it without prompting. It was deposited into my account 48 hours
later.
Now, I canceled my AmEx card, but how many people do you
think I’ve told about this positive experience? Besides my friends
and colleagues, I’m now sharing this experience in print. AmEx
could, of course, attribute part of their marketing spend directly
to me signing up for a card, but what did it cost them to have
me describe their amazing customer service to my personal and
business connections, to say nothing of all of you?
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
| A U G U S T 2013

Like their competitors, this company could have outsourced
its customer service to a remote location with a primary focus on
reducing call time and increasing calls taken per rep, per hour, but
they didn’t. Instead, each of their customer service reps are trained
extremely well (not to mention empowered), and they put the
customer experience above everything else, including revenue.
Does your business take every opportunity to meet its customers’
needs, or does it fight tooth and nail to stop every refund request?
Will your customers tell people that you’re an amazing company
or just another self-serving business?
It’s easy to outsource absolutely everything with the false belief
that saving money will allow you to grow your business faster and
increase your margins. But consider the intangible benefits of wordof-mouth. What do your customers say about your products and
customer service and support?
If you’re not sure, ask them. Send an email survey to your
customers using tools like SurveyMonkey, Cvent or Snap Surveys.
Best of all, you can always improve if the survey response isn’t what
you’d hoped it would be.
Here’s an example from business experience:
In 2010, my company’s CSAT (Customer SATisfaction) was 82
percent, which meant that 82 out of every 100 clients rated our
support Good, Very Good or Excellent. This was OK, but we could
do better.
Fast forward and our CSAT is 96 percent and climbing. That’s
higher than most of the companies I mentioned previously in this

Loyalty
Leaders


Small BuSineSS laB
article. I’m not bragging; I just want to prove to you that if you’re
dedicated to increasing your customer satisfaction ranking, you’ll
find a way.
Here are a few things we did to boost our CSAT rating, which you
can put to work at your own company, too.
1.Listen more than you talk. You can do this with surveys, focus
groups or by including a way for customers to give you feedback
after every transaction. We have two ears and only one mouth for
a reason.
2.Set CSAT goals at three-, six-, 12- and 24-month intervals.
Let’s say your CSAT is currently 63 percent and you want to get
it to 85 percent. It might sound like a huge jump, but what if you
set achievable goals for the next 24 months and work diligently
toward them? Aiming for a 65 percent CSAT within three months,
70 percent within six months and so on, are incremental successes
that add up.
3.Be the face of customer service. The company attitude on
customer service has to be “the buck stops here.” When a customer
isn’t happy, you have to go out of your way to personally contact
them and correct the concern. Zappos built a $1 billion business
with this simple concept, maybe you can as well.
4.Model other successful brands. Think of the businesses you
| A U G U S T 2013

buy from regularly. Which of
them impress you consistently
with their customer service?
What do they do differently
from others? Model their ideas,
because there’s no point in
reinventing the wheel.

See what brands are
mastering user engagement
through social, local and
mobile offerings at
wsm.co/solomoloyalty13

5.Surprise customers. What would happen if you
thanked a customer for their order with a handwritten note? Your
word-of-mouth would sharply increase, because no one else does
it. It’s so simple, so why not try?
6.Care. Why do so few business owners care about customer
service? If you respect your customers and are sincere in your
approach, you will build an amazingly loyal group of customers
who will tell everyone they know about you and come to your
defense when things sometimes go wrong.
In the end, investing in customer service is often the same as
investing in marketing. The goal of marketing is to drive targeted
leads to your business who then turn into customers and give you
money in exchange for your product. By investing in customer
service, you can turn one-time purchasers into lifelong customers
who bring others with them.

Website Magazine

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50

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There is no more important endeavor
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seeking them, considering them and
leveraging them. Internet professionals
frequently use their stand-alone
analytics systems and software features
to reveal the essential data points
that will help drive their businesses in
positive directions. The questions they ask
and the answers they seek, however, are
different for every enterprise.
Each digital media professional obtains
the information they need to drive strategic
decision-making in different ways,
requiring, in some cases, varying data
types depending on their unique business
requirements. Most Website Magazine
readers will turn exclusively to analytics

View Graphs
on the
next page

solutions for website data, found here.
one needs them, are available everywhere.
Other readers, who are mobile application
It’s the data-driven insights these systems
focused, will find one of the emerging
provide that must be sought out, considered
mobile data analytics solutions, also
and leveraged to ensure success in the short
addressed in this list, to be instrumental in
and long term.
tracking that channel’s ROI.
Of course, many enterprises are actively
finding ways to capitalize
on the vast amounts of big
data at their disposal too, turning
to rapidly growing companies
your company growth
including Pentaho and
when your writing force is
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mastering

search
THE NEW REALITY OF

SOCIAL SEO
By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

SEO and social media are kind of like the
Real Housewives of the ‘Net. They pretend
they are friends for the show, but publicly
talk behind each other’s backs the ﬁrst
chance they get.
Since Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest
are now an important part of the digital world for
consumers, and search engines have taken aggressive
steps to weave the social experience into the results
pages, it’s time for SEO and social to play nice, and not
just in front of the cameras.
The new digital reality is that social and search fuel
each other, making these initiatives complementary,
| A U G U S T 2013

neither more important than the other. Essentially,
users will see more of a business’s content in Google’s
organic listings if the company increases its Google+
follows. Likewise, enterprises that increase Facebook
engagement will likely notice an increase in search
impressions on Bing.
“The term ‘SEO’ didn’t catch on as quickly or become
as sexy as ‘social media,’ but more and more these two
areas are coming together, increasingly under the
umbrella of content marketing, to answer the major
issue of ‘how are brands being found and what’s the best
way to be where the audience is?’” said Erin Robbins
O’Brien, chief operating officer of GinzaMetrics.

The Plot
In many companies, however, social and SEO
professionals and/or departments are working in
silos and fighting for camera time (a.k.a. a chance to

mastering

“ Brands

responding
to this new
social-SEO era,
where social
engagement
produces search
impressions,
are leading the
virtual way.

”

search
prove to stakeholders why their efforts are improving
balance sheets). And while those departments fight to
establish dominance in their own companies, search
engines will boost enterprises with harmonious socialSEO strategies that move toward establishing authority,
listening to (and acting on) social signals and increasing
“findability” by producing engaging content.
Brands responding to this new social-SEO era, where
social engagement produces search impressions, are
leading the virtual way.

The Cast Members
Vocus, which offers integrated marketing software, is
a practical example of marrying social and search to
increase the “share-ability” of social content to improve
SEO efforts. Items like clear and concise URLs, tracking
parameters and social meta mark-up are all part of the
discussion/collaboration at Vocus, according to Scott
C. Benson, the senior SEO manager at the marketing
software company. With this teamwork, Benson feels
they’re doing a much better job of measuring the value
of social traffic and each network.
“As visitors from Twitter or Facebook arrive at our
site, especially our blog, we measure how often they
choose to follow us on a social network or share our

| A U G U S T 2013

content,” said Benson. “Any social engagement is
measured in Google Analytics, and we can create
baseline conversion rates to analyze the value of a
network. [For example,] if our social media team
is dedicating too much time to Pinterest, and our
audience isn’t responding, we know to reassess our
strategy. The analysis can then shift to what content
types attract the most social sharing, which we know
is becoming a bigger indicator for Google’s algorithm.
While we don’t know the specifics of how social signals
impact rankings, we do try to publish content that will
attract those shares.”

The Twist
With the help of Vocus’s social and PR team, Benson’s
SEO squad has also been testing promoted tweets and
has data that suggests, contrary to the opinion of most
social gurus that you can pay for socially engaged traffic
— a new twist in the social-SEO relationship (the plot
thickens).
“The Twitter advertising we’re testing currently
has shown that paid traffic is converting (social
engagement) at the same, or a slightly higher rate than
our natural Twitter traffic,” said Benson. “The idea of
paying for truly engaged social traffic conﬂicts with

mastering

search
many social marketing experts’ best practices. Yet as
our data continues to build, I’m still seeing new visitor
traffic percentages remaining higher for the ad traffic
than natural Twitter visitors.
“So not only are we reaching engaged visitors, but
they’re also new to our site. We can begin to market
to them using email (if they sign up) or methods like
retargeting. It’s a bit of paid media fueling our SEO and
social marketing, all tied together with data.”

The Reveal
Another aspect of this social-SEO scenario united by
data is how (and why) companies listen to social signals
to enhance their SEO efforts and vice versa.
“Whether it’s recommendations, social channels that
facilitate brands and audiences finding each other’s
content or new apps that
deliver ways to interact,
social keeps finding more
ways to be involved in
the conversation,” said
O’Brien.
Platforms
like
Eight new media professionals weigh in
GinzaMetrics and others
at wsm.co/socialseominded

Social-SEO
Starter Kit

| A U G U S T 2013

help companies monitor these conversations. Brands
are even moving away from more traditional SEO
tactics (e.g. using unique title tags and rich anchor
text) in favor of social-SEO programs that use social
signals to help them earn more organic traffic, as was
the case with Logicalis, Inc., a global provider of highperformance technology and server virtualization
solutions.
“We use social media listening tools to identify
emerging technology topics and then release content
around those topics just as online interest is peaking,”
said Lisa Dreher, vice president of marketing for
Logicalis U.S. “We also have a disciplined approach
that involves members of senior leadership and two
agencies collaborating on a daily basis. Each week we
issue a ‘social and SEO’ friendly media release that gets
picked up by Google News and other online newswires.
We support that release with a series of highly targeted
Facebook posts, Tweets, LinkedIn updates and blog
posts.
“We also respect the difference in our audiences
and channels. For Facebook, we will sometimes have
contests or highlight great work from our employees.
With our blog, we focus on short posts about the hottest

mastering

search
topics in IT in a rapid-fire point/counterpoint format.
For LinkedIn, it’s all business, while Twitter is about
quick hits around events or new content.”
As a result of these social-SEO tactics, Logicalis’s
organic search traffic increased 44 percent from 2011 to
2012 (and 2011 search traffic was already a respectable
number). The growth continues in 2013, as organic
search traffic year to date is already
up 16 percent compared to
the same period in 2012.

SEARCH
SHOWCASE
Put on your SEO game
face by visiting
Website Magazine
on the ‘Net.

| A U G U S T 2013

Find Out the 5 Reasons
Your Search Trafﬁc
is Declining at
wsm.co/declineuhoh

The Finale
Clearly companies with cohesive social and SEO
efforts are seeing positive outcomes. While that
cohesion would make for a boring Real Housewives
of the ‘Net reunion show, the new reality is that when
social and SEO play nice, brands are better for users
and search engines.

Learn the Truth About
Backlinks and SEO at
wsm.co/newrules13
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e-commerce

express
FUNDAMENTALS

OF SCORING BIG

WITH PRODUCT FEEDS
By Michelle M. Wicmandy, Contributor

Big retailers have big product feeds. They
also have major challenges developing,
maintaining and optimizing those vital
data sets.
To get more out of product feeds and to stay in the retail
lead, online merchants of every size need to be armed
with basic and advanced tips, know when it’s time to
get outside help and understand what to look for in an
agency or e-commerce solution when that time comes.
First, what are product feeds and why are they
valuable? These data-based files contain detailed
product information that can be distributed to search
engines, comparison shopping sites, and other networks

and aggregators where
consumers typically
purchase
online.
The rewards can be
immense, as product
feeds benefit Internet
retailers by increasing
the opportunities they
have for exposure among
interested shoppers. Paid
Search Account Manager
at TopSpot Internet
Marketing, Lara Garcia,
explains that product

IN FOCUS:
Competitive
Pricing for Feeds
Product-feed optimization
is now a far more dynamic
undertaking thanks to
emerging technologies.
Feedvisor’s new automated
algorithmic repricing solution
enables merchants to
streamline the pricing (and
bidding) process and positively
inﬂuence their revenue and
sales strategy. Learn more at

wsm.co/feedvisor13.
| A U G U S T 2013

e- c o m m erce

express
feeds enable consumers to see multiple product listings
in single searches, without limiting the number of times
a store can appear in queries, as well.

•Listing out-of-stock products, which can cause feed
removal, higher bid costs, ill will and paying out for
useless clicks

Getting Started with Feeds

•Using bait-pricing tactics, as this trick triggers consumer
complaints and bounce backs, which send red ﬂags to
search engines

To get product data feeds into the search
engines, companies take data directly from their
product database, transfer it into a delimited file and
then upload it to the network’s platform/system.
Although this approach seems easy, it is often ineffective
for merchants. Each feed (search, comparison
and affiliate networks)
requires different criteria,
category names and delivery
systems, notes Ian Lurie,
Data Feed Best Practices —
founder and CEO of Portent,
Be Sure to Include:
Inc.
With all the discrepancy,
• An optimized, fully descriptive product name
what’s the solution? Web
• A product description that goes beyond specs
Shop Manager’s Founder and
to sell the product
CEO, Dana Nevins, suggests,
• A category that closely matches the product
regardless of search engine,
• The real price
• The manufacturer’s name
to provide the most complete
• The URL of a quality product image
and accurate product
• The individual product’s SKU or UPC
information (see sidebar).
• The inventory
Merchants should also avoid:
| A U G U S T 2013

•Adding promotional jargon such as “Free Shipping,” as
this may ban the product from a listing
•Practicing keyword stufﬁng or other tactics that search
engines perceive as unethical practices

The Evolving World of
Product Feeds
Managing product feeds can quickly become a
cumbersome digital project, and one that is growing
since, according to Lurie, search engines are
transitioning from pure search tools to full-on product
aggregators that aim to provide users with more
relevant information. This means keeping up with
requirements, new features, optimal keywords and
more can be too time consuming for one business.
“There is a lot of complexity in dealing with not only
multiple search engines and multiple formats, but also

e- c o m m erce

express

frequent changes and updates made to the
specifications,” said Nevins.
Google’s new product listing ads (PLAs) is one such
example where e-commerce professionals need to focus
their attention. (Get started and maximize the new feedfocused format at wsm.co/plas101.)
Companies may also find it advantageous to hire an
agency to manage product feeds.
“Because feeds are digital, they can change easily
and frequently and should be based on competitive
dynamics,” said Veena Peña, adjunct professor of
marketing at Houston Baptist University and consultant
to the consumer goods industry. “As competing firms
launch products, feeds should also be altered to best
address competitive threats. Dedicated agencies
have the resources to spot opportunities
Managing
and respond quickly.”
When shopping for an agency-partner,
Multiple D
Lurie suggests finding one that:
ata

Feeds
Too ma

ny o
channels a nline shopping
nd too little
tim
These six
e-commer e?
ce
solutions c
an help
wsm.co/d
atafeedhe
lp

| A U G U S T 2013

3. Uses a person to optimize and examine each feed
regularly and provide client feedback
4. Analyzes and reports key metrics, such as clicks from
product feed listings, sales, conversion rates, bid costs
and terms/category placement/impressions
5. Explains how work will be transferred when the clientagency relationship dissolves
6. Discusses its team’s technical expertise concerning
exporting data, updating feeds and automation
Online merchants leveraging product data feeds
should do their due diligence from the
beginning through learning and implementing
best practices and knowing when it’s time to
ask for help. This strong foundation will help
retailers manage their campaigns more effective today
and tomorrow.

1. Understands the importance of category
word choice
2. Knows that product feeds are separate
from a product database

Michelle Wicmandy is a regular contributor to Website Magazine, a
lecturer at the University of Houston Downtown and an executivelevel marketing and business development professional.

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| A U G U S T 2013

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design

development

LEARNING TO CODE
CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR
ASPIRING DEVELOPERS & DESIGNERS
By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

Technology moves fast and if you don’t keep
up you’ll be left behind.
Fortunately, opportunities abound to keep your virtual
skills sharp and your digital design and development
career on track and moving forward.
Learning to code professionally isn’t for everyone,
but knowing how and why applications work or how
to fix even something as seemingly inane as a broken
image link will provide a more balanced and effective
view of your own work, whatever part of the business
| A U G U S T 2013

you’re responsible for.
Let’s explore some of the different ways Internet
professionals can continue their technical education
today.

GO VIRTUAL AND DO IT ALONE
Many developer/designer education resources are a
little esoteric, but if you’re looking to get some virtual
dirt under your digital fingernails and really learn the
basics of how all those pixels move around the page,
check out Codecademy. The free site offers aspiring

de s i g n &
de v e l o pment

digest

digital developers an exercise-oriented opportunity to
learn Web fundamentals, such as HTML, CSS, jQuery,
Javascript, Python, Ruby and PHP, as well as how
to connect applications to the digital world through
APIs. What makes Codecademy so popular is that it
introduces programming concepts and techniques in
an interactive way, as users must complete individual
lessons (writing code along the way) to proceed
through the course.
There are many other viable options to consider
should you choose to go it alone for your developer
education, including Code School, which offers free and
paid courses. You should also consider
PeepCode and Bloc, the latter promising
to turn anyone into a Web developer in
Publicity, Compliments
an intense, 12-week bootcamp (costing
$5,000). Other options to explore include
and Money for Designers
Udemy, whose individual courses are
Let’s get famous, admired and rich
more reasonable in price (check out “Learn
– at least digitally – with these five
PHP Programming From Scratch” for
design-based social communities:
$147) and Treehouse, whose 1,000-plus
wsm.co/designfame
video library on websites, programming
and app development, coupled with its
real-time Code Challenge Engine, make

| A U G U S T 2013

it a popular and affordable choice at just $25 a month.

LET’S JUST KEEP
THIS TRADITIONAL
While design, development and programming courses
are popping up everywhere, those more traditional in
their educational approach have as many, if not more,
opportunities. Online learning is growing rapidly as
students (regardless of their age) demand flexibility
and accessibility that a traditional learning environment
can’t always provide.
Unlike most online universities, which simply use
the Internet to deliver classroom education, Western
Governor’s University (WGU) for example, uses an
innovative approach to learning called competencybased education. This tactic allows students to take
advantage of prior education and experience to move
quickly through course material they already know, so
they can focus on the things they still need to learn.
According to Patrick Partridge, the CMO of
Western Governors University, “Students advance by
demonstrating their mastery of course material, and
there are no set class times. This takes the flexibility
of online learning to a new level. In addition, it makes

de s i g n &
de v e l o pment

digest
it possible for students to accelerate their degree
programs, saving both time and money. As a result, the
average time to complete a bachelor’s degree at WGU
is less than three years.”
So, what should students look for in these online
programs to ensure they receive a quality experience?
Partridge advises that before enrolling at any university,
it is important to do your homework, making sure
that the degree you earn will help meet your career
objectives.
“If you are already working in your chosen field, this
should be easy,” said Partridge. “If you are considering a
bachelor’s degree with the goal of moving into a better,
higher-paying job or a different field, it is important
to choose a degree that employers will recognize as
relevant. Ask the right questions. Is the university
accredited? What is the university’s background and
ownership? How will you learn? What kind of help
and support will you have? How much will it cost?
How will you pay for your program? Will your degree
be respected by employers?”
WGU students can pursue bachelor’s degree
programs in information technology (from network

| A U G U S T 2013

administration to security or software) or choose one
of the several master’s degree programs offered. WGU’s
is far from the only online school for those interested
in the world of design, development and technology.
FullSail.edu, for example, is a well-renowned option
with associate programs in graphic design, bachelor’s
degrees in mobile development and even master’s-level
courses in game design, among others.

LEVERAGE INTERNAL EXPERTISE
The two prior suggestions for learning about design and
development are ideal when workers are motivated to
excel on their own, but companies can also take the
lead when it comes to training employees, and online
learning technologies are quickly taking center stage
— none more so than Adobe Connect. The dividends
from this investment are proving substantial.
Mobile management vendor, MobileIron, for example,
adopted Adobe Connect to deliver on-demand training
to its sales and support engineers. After building and
delivering a platform for its employees, the company
expanded the offering as a complimentary service for
its customers and partners.
In the last 12 months, 5,500 participants

de s i g n &
de v e l o pment

digest
enrolled in the MobileIron University, taking advantage of
the 700 training courses created using Adobe Presenter and Adobe
Captivate software. Using Adobe Connect, it was possible for MobileIron
University to easily target training to specific audiences and disciplines.
Training sessions range from basic product overviews to in-depth technical
training courses, which leverage the full multimedia capabilities of Adobe
Connect.
“MobileIron University is embracing the end-to-end Adobe Connect
solution and deep integration with the Adobe eLearning Suite to deliver
persistent, top-quality, on-demand training. We see the results in more
closed deals and more revenue opportunities,” said Richard Lewis, director
of education and training at MobileIron. “We can monitor and measure
attendance and participation and track certification for our partners. No
other solutions offer the visibility of Adobe Connect.”
Online learning is experiencing rapid adoption. As the business and
technical worlds become increasingly competitive, Internet professionals
will need to keep learning, refining their skills and base of knowledge, not
only for the benefit of their current or future employers, but also for their
personal career growth.
Peter Prestipino is the Editor-In-Chief of Website Magazine.
A long-time Internet marketer with more than 14 years
of experience, Prestipino is the author of Web 360: The
Fundamentals of Web Success (web360book.com).

| A U G U S T 2013

Developer Stuff
Website
Magazine
Editors Like
There are numerous
resources on the Web
for learning
programming, but few
as straightforward and
in-depth as Eloquent
JavaScript, written by
Marijn Haverbeke. This
free online book (also
available as an e-book
at Amazon) introduces
JavaScript programming.
Readers will learn to
use variables, control
structures, functions,
as well as more
sophisticated JavaScript,
including object-oriented
programming.


“There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on
the shore like an idiot.” That’s a line from comedian Steven
Wright, and depending on how well your online/digital lead
generation efforts are performing, you are either famed
fisherman Babe Winkelman, or just some idiot with a pole
wasting time.
| A U G U S T 2013

If more visitors is what you’re
after, and who isn’t, then
check out Website Magazine’s
“Acquisition Super Guide.”
Readers will ﬁnd hundreds of
ideas to attract the big ﬁsh
(along with a few smaller ones
too). Take it to the next digital
level at wsm.co/leads13

Lead generation is one of the hottest topics
in digital marketing today, and the funny
thing is, it always has been. Ask any Web
professional what their top priority is
right now (or has ever been) and you’ll
likely hear that it is to drive more sales,
more conversions, etc. Why would it
be anything else?
Often, however, Internet professionals
confuse the lead generation process
with pure “acquisition” efforts alone. A
company’s efforts in this regard, however,
won’t be truly productive if all the brand does
is acquire leads. It’s also important to engage and,
ultimately, convert prospects at a rate that exceeds
expectations and cost, of course. Essentially, you can’t
just hook them, you have to reel them in, get them on
the boat and then repeat the process.
Business demand for more and better customers (and
acquiring them faster, of course) is accelerating each
digital day. Internet professionals know that marketing
tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO),
digital advertising, social media and email, can be used
to generate and produce leads (or at least acquire more
website visitors) for the eventual sale of new or existing
products and services (be it immediately or over a longer
period of time). And most Web workers have a handle
on how to ensure those leads meet their company’s
high engagement expectations — particularly those

| A U G U S T 2013

that have read Website Magazine’s June cover story
(Engagement: The Digital Laws of Attraction —
wsm.co/WMJuly13). Nevertheless, you (and likely
your competition) still don’t have enough leads to sustain
your enterprise.
Despite having the necessary
skills, experience, knowledge and resources (let’s call it
the gear, the bait and the secret fishing spot), brands are
still struggling to generate the necessary leads cheaper,
faster and in a more high-volume and quality-driven
manner. Why? They’re likely not thinking strategically
about nurturing those prospects for the purpose of
acquiring lifelong customers.
Digital brands simply need to pull it all together, from
the marketing and design to the analysis and actual
service element. Internet professionals need practical
strategies and actionable techniques for each step of
the lead generation process and access to best-of-breed
software solutions along the way to accelerate their ‘Net
success. With any luck, this approach will bring in the
big fish that will sustain an enterprise, be recalled fondly
in personal memoirs and hung above the corporate
fireplace for all to see. In a fast-moving industry like
that of Web business, however, that’s often easier said
than actually done.

TEACH ME TO FISH

The Process Matters
Lead generation or “lead gen” is essentially the practice
of marketing to generate consumer interest or, more

accurately, an “inquiry” into a brand’s products or
services. There are myriad reasons why a business
might engage in a lead generation campaign, but it
ultimately comes down to one thing: making more
sales. As Peter Drucker once said, “The purpose of a
business is to create a customer.”
To be successful at lead generation it is vital to master
the many elements of Web success. For that reason,
we’re reverse engineering the lead generation process.
In this article, we’ll explore the important foundational
elements of CRM solutions first, then, move on to
optimizing consumers’ lead generation experience
(via design), and finally on to sections where most of
the discussion around the lead gen practice already
revolves — acquisition and nurturing.
Before you engage in and use the tactics, strategies
and software referenced and discussed below, assess
how your enterprise currently acquires and manages its
leads. Are you still storing your customer or prospect
data in a spreadsheet application? Are you sending
out the same emails to all of your prospects? Are you
failing to recruit brand advocates for your referral
program or simply not producing any material at all
for use in content marketing campaigns and their
distribution within search, email and social? If so, stop
these negative practices and do your brand a favor by
exploring the opportunities and benefits that come
first through leveraging a robust, intelligent customer
relationship management (CRM) system.

GEAR UP: The Role of CRM in Lead Generation
When I was a kid, fishing in my grandparent’s pond,
I kept the fish I managed to catch in a bucket (don’t
worry, this actually does have something to do with digital
marketing and Web technology).
Now I could have thrown those fish back immediately,
or left them in the hot sun for the farm cats to snack
on later, but the fishing bucket enabled me to show
the haul to my cousins and siblings. It was storage
(temporary, of course, because they were eventually
returned to the pond) and not unlike the storage CRMs
provide. There’s another important similarity between
my fishing bucket and today’s state-of-the-art customer
relationship management systems: I was able to more
closely examine the catch, understand it (if only a
little perhaps), and use the insights gained through
that exploration and experience to catch even more.
That’s exactly what a CRM system can provide your
enterprise (the insights, not the fish) when you look at
the practice of lead generation differently.
The amount of actionable marketing insight available
from within a CRM can be staggering. Today’s CRMs
enable Internet professionals to deeply understand the
preferences and behavior of an audience (a group of
prospects or existing customers), as well as their recent
buying activity and even their level of social inﬂuence
(e.g. Twitter followers). When data of this type and
nature is accessible, brands are in a better position to
convert more of the leads they acquire and turn random

Learn more about how to handle
the implementation
and day-to-day operations of customer relationship management
systems in Website Magazine’s
“CRM Blueprint 2013” at
wsm.co/crmblueprint13

| A U G U S T 2013

website browsers into loyal, repeating buyers and in far
less time, because they know more about them.
Ultimately, what CRMs can provide digital enterprises
is a measurable opportunity to inﬂuence those “fish”
that are swimming close to its bait whether they are
current or prospective customers. That may be one
of the reasons that CRM powerhouse Salesforce is
acquiring a digital marketing platform like ExactTarget
whose expertise in email makes Salesforce now by
far one of the true leaders in the software industry.
ExactTarget actually has a full suite of digital marketing
solutions — from email and social to analytics and
mobile — providing Salesforce users with better digital
fishing poles so to speak to fill not just their buckets,
but also their plates when dinnertime (a need to close
leads) actually comes.
CRM systems are vital components to lead generation
campaigns, but they don’t (or shouldn’t) work alone. To
be truly effective, enterprises must also have a variety
of other software solutions integrated with their digital
presence to support their sales initiatives.
For example, enterprises will need a content
management system (CMS) to support users as they
visit their Web properties and navigate through the
available sales channels. Say that a user arrives and
consumes a specific type of content, then another piece
of content in the same category and then another. If
you’re tracking the consumption behavior of that user
in a CRM, you will have near absolute confidence that
| A U G U S T 2013

they are very interested in a particular topic. When a
sales person has access to that level of interest-based
data, converting that visitor to a buyer is far easier.
Consider CRM and CMS solutions as terrific fishing
buddies, which, when armed with additional software
integrations — be that survey and or chat software —
make the conversion “pickings” easy. Of course, the
more the merrier on our virtual fishing trip. Take for
example Insightly, a small business CRM solution
featured in Website Magazine’s recent Top 50 list on
lead management solutions (see sidebar), which
recently announced that its cloud-based application
has been integrated with Microsoft Office 365 and
Outlook 2013. What this means for digital-minded
enterprise is that Insightly users (the small businesses)
can manage customer interactions, leads, proposals
and more directly from within Office applications as
well as Outlook. How easy is that?
Running a lead generation campaign without a
CRM (or deploying a CRM without the much-needed
integrations) is like fishing without bait and without
a bucket. Customer relationship management systems
make your enterprise better prepared to handle today’s
more discriminating user, but our quest for the ultimate
user does not end there.
FIND YOUR SPOT: In Pursuit of Quality Leads
The final touchpoint in a user’s path toward actually
becoming a lead is typically through a form, and it is

to the form where digital marketers, designers and
Internet professionals must turn their attention if they
want more and better leads faster.
Put Form Design in Focus
It might seem strange to start at the end point of the
actual lead conversion process, but there’s a method to
the madness. Forms of the past have been cumbersome
to say the least, but as our collective understanding of
the optimal digital customer experience matures, they
(the forms) are becoming more effective. And when we
design the “right experience,” Internet professionals can
eventually turn their attention to the more traditional
discussion topic related to lead generation —
acquisition — with confidence that leakage
of quality leads won’t occur (or if it does,
certainly with less frequency).
Designers have learned over time
what is most appealing to sales
prospects and the savviest Internet
professionals are making quick
work of standardizing these vital
elements of the conversion process
in each digital product they
create. Pure, for example, is a set
See these powerful software solutions at wsm.co/50topcrm.
of small, responsive CSS modules
(wsm.co/purecssmodules) that
recently caught our attention. Pure
can be used as the foundation of a

50

| A U G U S T 2013

website’s (both the layout and styling) native HTML
elements and common UI components including
grids, buttons, menus and forms. This makes landing
page development for the purpose of lead generation a
far faster, and more importantly, standardized process.
More on the Optimal Form
Many digital marketers fervently espouse the benefit of
the short form over the long form and while it certainly
has its place, some of these suggestions are misguided
at best and downright dangerous in some instances.
Digital businesses need quality leads and folks, a
name and email address just doesn’t cut it in every
instance. Short forms tend not to reveal intent, nor
do they indicate the quality of said lead (regardless of
whether the brand is able to connect an email address
to a previous behavior or some social media profile).
On the other hand, long forms can dissuade a prospect
from ever entering information at all. Isn’t there a better
way?
The only way to ensure that forms support your
enterprise in its quest to obtain more high-quality leads
is to adopt a process from that point of contact that
helps filter and refine the information available about
a user. This ensures when the information is passed to
the sales or marketing department, better decisions can
be made and time spent can be more productive.
For example, the use of qualifying questions makes
a big difference in lead generation campaigns in that it

is possible to understand the user better. Such as, when
is the user going to be ready to buy or when was the
last time they purchased a related product? Or, what
is their biggest challenge in purchasing a solution and
what benefits do they see or expect to see from using
what it is that you’re selling or offering?
The answers might seem obvious to you, but it
doesn’t take a digital business maven to understand
that having this information at the ready proves
quite useful in the actual conversion process as brand
sales personnel know more about the expectations
of users, whether certain leads can be disqualified
outright, and increasing in importance, that data can
also be used to immediately start remarketing to them.
That might seem aggressive, but a quick review of the
growth of that now common place tactic proves that
even if you aren’t, your competitors likely are engaged
in the practice.

Creating Optimized
Forms
for Lead Gen
Discover the steps toward
developing optimized lead
generation forms at
wsm.co/leadgenforms

Get ‘Em Hooked: Social Acquisition in Focus
So far, your lead generation campaign (built with a
powerful CRM system on the backend) is optimized
to support sales initiatives and the marketing and
design team is creating a digital experience conducive
to generating the highest quality leads once users arrive
on your website. So, what’s next? Keep moving down
the funnel, of course. It’s time to talk lead acquisition.
Search, advertising and email have been lead
generation mainstays for many years, but there’s a new

| A U G U S T 2013

pond that Internet professionals are eyeing.
The channel where today’s marketers have the
greatest hope in generating leads and ultimately
driving purchases is through social media. The
verdict still seems to be out, however, on whether
the investment that’s been made already, and is
still made, is really paying off. One thing is for sure
though; it’s not for lack of trying. Social networks are
responding by optimizing their offerings (Facebook
for example just reduced the number of available
ad units in an effort to make its programs more
accessible) and releasing programs with advertisers of
all sizes in mind.
Twitter, for example, recently added the Lead
Generation Card to its suite of Twitter Cards, which is
a collection of programs that enable marketers to bring
a richer user experience within an expanded tweet.
Users interested in a particular offer can expand a tweet
to see a description of the offer and a brand’s call-toaction. Their name, @username, and email address
is pre-filled within the card and upon submission by
the user the data is shared with the brand advertiser.
The best aspect of the program, according to Twitter,
is that not only can brands drive deeper connections,
but do so at a lower cost-per-lead compared to other
marketing approaches. The program is currently only
available to managed clients of Twitter but the network
expects a global release soon.
The lead generation process doesn’t exactly end at the

moment when users click submit, however. In reality,
that’s when the real work begins.

REEL IT IN SLOW

Lead Nurturing with Content
If you want to keep the fish –— the leads — you catch
or acquire, it’s important to develop them, so their
interest grows to a point where they will eventually
purchase the product or services provided (without
breaking the line). Better yet, keep them coming back
to purchase more in the future.
Thanks to the variety of marketing automation
solutions and their integrations with CRM solutions
(see Website Magazine’s “5 Marketing Automation
Solutions to Remember” at wsm.co/acqret13),
Internet professionals are now more efficient and better
prepared to handle the broader lead lifecycle than ever
before. While these solutions are undeniably powerful
additions to the marketing tackle box, much work still
needs to be done to actually land (convert) those fish.
Once a prospect is on the hook, in the virtual pipeline
headed toward conversion, digital marketers must reel
in their catch slowly through a process of consistent
and relevant relationship and trust building.
In the sophisticated CRM landscape of today,
nurturing happens/occurs in a variety of digital forms,
from email (e.g. the use of auto-responders) to search
and advertising (e.g. retargeting), and let’s not forget,
social. To navigate these often-murky waters, leveraging
| A U G U S T 2013

the value of “content” can set your enterprise on a
course not just for more leads but better leads too.
Content That Your Leads Need
The secret to turning a lead into a white-hot prospect
is to provide value and not just run-of-the mill value,
but genuine value, what users (your prospects) really,
really want and when they really need it.
Let’s return to the fishing example for a moment.
When I was a kid, we didn’t fish with expensive lures
(no shiny jigs or wiggling spinners). Instead, we used
the ultimate bait - bologna and corn. That sounds
gross, and looking back it was, but something about

Enterprises should strive to know as much as they can about their
prospects before sending them to their sales team for the close, but
which leads are more likely to buy? Enter lead scoring, a common
practice in lead generation that prioritizes leads based on their likelihood of purchasing. Review Website Magazine’s “Quick Guide to
Basic Lead Scoring with BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing)”
at wsm.co/getbant and discover numerous services to help your
enterprise score its leads for optimal selling.

LEAD GEN
FACEOFF:

Search vs. Advertising vs. Email
See the opportunities and
challenges of each of these
established channels and set your
brand on a course for success at
wsm.co/leadgenfaceoff.

that combination worked. Whatever the appeal, it
worked better than the most expensive lures. The
reason, I believe, was that it was more in line with the
expectation and desires of the fish in that pond. The
point of that little story is marketers have to give their
users something they actually want and really need.
And when you do that, you can further customize the
acquisition strategy to obtain the right user and close
the deal at the perfect time.
Ultimately, every content item produced should be
unique and compelling, educating the prospect about
different aspects of the problem or solution that your
enterprise provides a solution for. But this pond runs
deep and your content needs to match.
For example, many leads may only be interested in
solving an immediate problem they are experiencing.
In this case, they are only in the “awareness” phase so
blog posts, articles and white papers will prove ideal.
Consider those prospects just nibbling at the bait on
the hook.
Once they bite however, the job of a digital marketer
is far from complete. Those prospects will hold on tight,
dig in as it were and seek out even more information,
perhaps in the form of webinars or e-books (maybe even
a live chat or two for an initial question). The process
continues as they get closer to converting. Content may
take the form of actual product demos or a software
trial. The point here is that the closer a prospect gets
to becoming a converted customer, their preferences

| A U G U S T 2013

for content changes, and your responsibility to nurture
them should change as well.

Mastering Lead Generation

“It Was This Big”
Lead generation campaigns require support from
every corner of the enterprise. They demand funding
from the C-Suite, the most artistic and sophisticated
efforts of designers, the savviest turns of phrase from
copywriters, aggressive promotion by digital marketers,
and constant attention from both sales and support
personnel. Digital brands needing more customers may
already be engaged in lead generation, but if you aren’t
getting enough good fish in the bucket, it’s time to start
over, think smarter and change how you approach
fishing for leads.

SOFTWARE EVERYWHERE

Straight Up CRM Comparison
Building true, quality relationships with customers doesn’t happen overnight.
Businesses must nurture their leads to develop high-value interactions in the
future. That can seem insurmountable for those with an existing customer base
of hundreds, or in some cases, thousands, of people. Luckily, there are plenty
of software solutions available for companies of all sizes to make customer
relationship management more meaningful and manageable.
By Allison Howen, Associate Editor

For
Constituent
Management

Mid-Range
Mavens

Blackbaud CRM is specially
designed for nonprofits, as it gives
organizations an integrated view of the “constituent”
experience with fundraising, prospect research,
analytics and multichannel marketing features. Plus, Blackbaud
offers Luminate CRM, a cloud-based constituent engagement platform
built on the Salesforce platform. Luminate is optimal for organizations, such
as hospitals, that not only manage relationships with traditional customers,
but also donors for nonprofit efforts.

Zoho

SugarCRM

The
Scalable CRM

Big-Market
Movers

The Salesforce Sales
Cloud platform is used by some of
the world’s most recognized brands to manage
customer relationships, however, small businesses
can also reap the benefits of this application. “With the
cloud model that we have, you can basically pay as you
go,” said Tricia Gellman, senior director of small business marketing
at Salesforce.com. “And you can start with a smaller version because we
have a couple of different levels in terms of pricing, so it becomes quite flexible
for people as they are building their businesses.”

Oracle

SAP

The Social
SMB Solution

Small-Biz
Wonders

Nimble makes it easy for small
businesses to manage their relationships
with customers over a variety of channels by helping companies find customers’ social profiles, view
business-to-customer interactions, send messages
and manage tasks and events. Plus, the platform includes social
listening features and an Apps Marketplace for extended functionality.

SEE THROUGH
THE CLOUDS
Get a more in-depth look at CRM
solutions at wsm.co/crmarison

| A U G U S T 2013

ContactMe

Campaigner

SOCIAL MEDIA MAVENS

How Facebook Partnerships Boost

Custom Audience
Targeting Options
By Lisa Cucinotta,
Social Media Marketing Lead at Resolution Media

Beyond
Facebook
Discover 10 social
sites you’re not
using, but should at
wsm.co/socialtotry

Facebook’s recently announced partnerships with
data-gathering firms Acxiom, Datalogix and Epsilon,
as well as the BlueKai data-management platform,
make its already-effective Custom Audience ad
offering even better at pinpointing the right audience
segments. Facebook advertisers can now leverage
available data on users’ offline shopping habits, online
consumption and other purchasing behaviors.

These new targeting capabilities essentially level the
playing field, providing companies of all sizes access to
the same kinds of data big brands have been using for
years to optimize email, direct mail and other digital
media initiatives. Social media advertisers can now
use more powerful targeting capabilities to reach and
engage the audience segments that matter most to them
and their bottom lines.

The net impact of these data partnerships will likely
be more relevant and efficient social media advertising.
Brands will also be better equipped to measure their
Facebook activities and use them to improve sales.

Custom Audiences 101

| A U G U S T 2013

Before making an effort to master the new capabilities,
advertisers should first ensure they understand the basic
Custom Audiences offering. With Custom Audiences,

SOCIAL MEDIA MAVENS

Facebook receives a list of consumer data from an
advertiser and anonymously matches the individuals
on the list to corresponding Facebook profiles
via email addresses and/or phone numbers.
A privacy and data-protection process called
“hashing” is applied to help ensure Facebook users’
anonymity, but this essentially enables advertisers
to reach their own designated audiences through
Facebook ads. Advertisers can target Facebook ads
to existing customers, loyalty club members, or
any other pre-defined group or list of people within
their house files.

“ Now,

third-party
data enables
marketers to
target consumers
who would
not have been
identiﬁed by
Facebook’s
native interest
categories.

New Functions
Facebook’s recently unveiled partnerships also provide
new targeting capabilities within Custom Audiences.
Brands can now access data relating to both ofﬂine
purchases and previous shopping habits. Consider the
following scenario:

”

• BlueKai’s cookie-based integration with Facebook
enables brands to deliver ads to Custom Audiences,
further targeted through cookie matching by using
data that may have been stored over long periods. A
car dealer could target those who visited its site a year
ago and still demonstrate purchase intent.

| A U G U S T 2013

Testing Required
Advertisers should test and experiment
with Custom Audience capabilities to
discover effective ways to win consumer
attention and action. The following provides some
practical ways to get started:
1) Use third-party data to discover Facebook users’
current interests. Many users do not consistently
update their “interests” on Facebook. Now, thirdparty data enables marketers to target consumers who
would not have been identified by Facebook’s native
interest categories (for instance, an “auto intender”
who isn’t a fan of any auto-related Facebook pages).
2) Reach larger pools of consumers. Before this
update, Custom Audiences prevented brands from
targeting consumers beyond their own lists and
databases. Now, advertisers can engage with potential
customers actively looking to make a purchase in
particular categories.
3) Test new targeted ads in the news feed. Marketers
should test their Custom Audience ads as
Sponsored Stories and/or Page Posts, not just as
Facebook Exchange (FBX) ads in the right rail.

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Newsfeed placement should garner better performance and
higher engagement.

August 12-15, 2013

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4) Keep talking to previous customers. Brands can remain
engaged with customers who have made previous purchases
and may value ongoing communication with the brand.

•

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www.theetailblog.com

•

Launched in 1999, eTail East is the Leading Practitioners Conference
for the Online and Multi-Channel Retail Industry.

5) Test and monitor the promotion of content tied to keywords
in search. With Google heavily weighting social signals as a
ranking factor, advertisers may benefit from using these new
capabilities to drive Likes and sharing of strategically identified,
SEO-relevant pages/content (e.g. a video). This can potentially
boost natural search rankings.
Since shopping, consumption and purchasing behaviors are
now available targeting options, brands of all sizes and verticals
are empowered to offer the most relevant and efficient social
media advertising seen to date.

•

“The eTail conference has been the best eCommerce show we have attended by far.
The keynote presentations are timely and the breakout sessions are the right size and
given mostly by marketers and Internet retail savvy executives. The conference is
extremely well run and provides a lot valuable networking opportunities. Best of all
we have been able to improve the quality of our eCommerce experience thanks to a
numbers of new ideas and strategies that were inspired by the show!...”
- Tim Littleton, President & CEO, CHEFS Catalog

Working in a
Post-Penguin
2.0 Web

Learn what’s
changing for ‘Net
Professionals at
wsm.co/seowaddle

Lead
Sponsors:

Register
Today| A U G U S T 2013

Organized By:

Call: 1.888.482.6012 or 646.200.7530
Email: etail@wbresearch.com Visit: www.etaileast.com

3 Strategies for

Differentiating
the Online Experience
By Ian Truscott, VP Product Marketing, SDL Content Management Technologies Division

The lingua franca for delivering contemporary
websites has changed, and so have today’s
business drivers and the expectations of modernday customers. The CMO is now focused on
optimizing the customer experience (CX); analyst
firms talk about digital experience management
(DXM) and customer experience management
(CEM/CXM); and customers are embracing
anytime, anywhere access with your brand using
a variety of devices and social channels.
As marketers, we’ve tried to understand these digital
opportunities by repeating what we did with print.
Industry analyst Tim Walters shared this rather apt
quote with me from media theorist Marshall McLuhan,
which addresses how television became the disruptive
media (in 1960):
| A U G U S T 2013

“When any new form comes into the foreground of
things, we naturally look at it through the old stereos.
We can’t help that. We’re just trying to ﬁt the old things
into the new form, instead of asking what the new form
is going to do to all the assumptions we had before.”

Experts Speak

We’ve been doing exactly that with how we market
using the Internet. For example, people think of a
website as a brochure. In digital marketing, we refer
to print publishing processes with terms like publish,
approve, archive and syndicate. In the broader
marketing ecosystem, we are trying to fit old media
disciplines, such as PR, into this model, leaving us
struggling as the latest new engagement channel —
whether its Pinterest or Google Glass — disrupts our
old line of thinking.
To help differentiate your online presence in the face
of these new forms, consider
following these three business
practices today.

Discover everyday brands using
content marketing successfully at
wsm.co/contentclout
| A U G U S T 2013

1. Engage in
content marketing
Despite what you have just
read, there is one thing that

has not changed, and that’s something we need to carry
over from the old world to the new: your story. The tale
of who you are, what your brand and product stands
for, who your people are, why you raise money or the
services you offer your citizens, is a valuable resource
and one that should be marketed.
To tell this story, however, you need to consider who
you are talking to and how (e.g. device, channel, etc.)
they are listening. For example, what if you’re a B2B
manufacturer of air conditioning parts and no one is
visiting your Pinterest page. What’s the point of having
one if it does nothing to enhance your business?
Start your digital experience management
strategy by stripping away the buzz about the
channel, and think about your story. This
storytelling approach is enshrined in the discipline
of content marketing — the idea that you focus on
the content to engage with customers and prospects
without selling. As the Content Marketing Institute
(CMI) states:
“Eighty percent of business decision-makers
prefer to get company information in a series
of articles versus an advertisement. Seventy percent
say content marketing makes them feel closer
to the sponsoring company, while 60 percent

say that company content helps them make better
product decisions.”
Thus, content marketing is not about a single
“fire and forget” campaign, but a sustained
unveiling of the story over a series of
content touchpoints.
2. Practice social
media listening
Your sustained story needs to be told to a
specific audience. And to figure out who
this audience is, it’s a great idea to reach for
social media as a way (not post).
Using social media to listen can help you
find your online audience and where they
hang out. It can also give you more subtle
insights into the language they use, how
they describe your industry and products
and their sentiments about you and your
competitors. All of this provides guidance
into the editorial position you should
take with your content.
It also gives you a measurement
baseline to work from, as
analysis of this social data can
| A U G U S T 2013

reveal commitment to your brand and products. You
can revisit this baseline to gain insight into the success
of your strategy and the level of audience engagement.
3. Think “One Web”
Once you have defined your story and the audience
you want to reach, it’s then appropriate to think about
delivery tools and tactics.
To tell this clear, consistent story across all
of your digital channels, you need to manage
the content centrally and then dynamically
deliver a relevant experience to that unique
visitor, for that channel and on that
device. This is not about your company
running a bolt-on mobile solution, an app
or even siloed email or Facebook campaigns
— this is content for all touchpoints, and
what I mean when I talk about “One Web”
thinking.
Don’t get caught up in the latest new
channel. Instead, focus on what you want to
say, and what your customers need to hear,
in order for them to reward you with their
business, loyalty and advocacy.


Summer Reading List
The summer months present a perfect time to recapture your ‘Net enthusiasm. Here’s what’s on Website
Magazine’s summer reading list in 2013 — find the rest on the Web at wsm.co/schoolsin13

Digital
State:

Youtility:

How the Internet is
Changing Everything
Author Simon Pont’s
new book, Digital State,
features commentaries
from a range of global
experts that each offer an
answer to the important
question: “What is the
digital state?” Pont and his panel
of experts, whose knowledge varies
from marketing and information technology to legal
and media research, explore how technology, society
and culture are impacted by the digital revolution and
consider its future implications. Discover how the digital
state affects modern marketing, what’s causing the
explosion of social media dependency and how
technology is being used to change the world.

| A U G U S T 2013

Why Smart Marketing is about
Help Not Hype
authored by Jay Baer, discover a new
approach to cut through the marketing
clutter by adhering to the philosophy
that if you genuinely help someone, you
create a customer for life.

Taking Back Retail:
Transforming Traditional Retailers
into Digital Retailers
Written by co-founders of portable,
andrew apostola and simon Goodrich
explore everything from online video
to Facebook commerce and how
technology can drive retail success.

Pinterest
for Business:
a Complete, Updated Guide
for Ultimate Success
author Karen Leland shares
basic and advanced techniques
to curate content and make
pinterest pages and pins stand
out on the Web’s fastest growing
social media site.

Master the
Web Fundamentals

Web 360: Fundamentals of Web Success is the one-and-only
guide to mastering all the elements critical to Web success.
Here’s what subscribers are
saying about Web360:
“A must-read for any level of Internet
marketer.”
“Very impressed with both the journal as
well as the no-nonsense book.”
“So much insightful information I had to reread
the book, highlighting all over the place.”

To learn more, visit
WebsiteMagazine.com/Web360
| A U G U S T 2013

WEB HOSTING PANEL

WEBSITES IN
THE CLOUD
Getting Started with Windows Azure

The cloud can seem rather mysterious, but it
certainly does not have to be. What most Internet
professionals need is some practical and actionable
guidance on how they can actually use popular cloud
services, including Windows Azure or Amazon Web
Services, to host websites.

| A U G U S T 2013

Web Hosting Panel

There are, of course, slight differences in each of the popular cloud
platforms, so in order to create as valuable and comprehensive
resource for Internet professionals as possible, this article focuses
on running a specific app (WordPress) in the cloud on Windows
Azure.
The first step, obviously, is to sign up for the service, which in our
case took just a few minutes. Windows Azure currently offers three
free months to test out the platform (albeit with some limitations),
making it a good opportunity to get your cloud feet wet, so to speak.
There’s a lot an Internet professional can do in the cloud, from
running virtual machines to creating backend services for apps
running in Azure, but we’re interested in running a website in
the cloud, right? Azure fortunately provides an opportunity to
select from a number of applications including such popular
content management systems and blogging platforms like Joomla,
Drupal, WordPress, Kentico, DotNetNuke, Lemoon, Orchard and

| A U G U S T 2013

Run Websites in
the Amazon Cloud

Windows Azure certainly isn’t the only
cloud offering for Internet professionals;
Amazon’s EC2 also makes the process
rather simple. Discover the necessary
steps to get your WordPress or other
software systems running in the Amazon
cloud at wsm.co/ec2foryou.

Umbraco, and even some
e-commerce systems
like nopCommerce and
Commerce Kickstart.
Once the type of
application you want to
run has been selected,
it’s time to configure that
application on Azure. That’s as easy as selecting a URL (changing
the DNS configuration comes later) and selecting a region. It’s also
possible to run a database in the Azure cloud so should you have
the desire and knowledge to create and use your own Azure-hosted
database, at this point you’ll have an option to either select your
own or go with the default MySQL database.
After the initial database setup is complete, Azure will automatically
provision the account and install WordPress (or whatever software
you’ve selected). The whole process takes less than
a minute. Visiting the URL previously defined
from the Azure control panel will direct to an
installation completion process for WordPress where
administrative usernames/passwords will need to be
created. Once that step is finished, the WordPress site
is live for the whole Web world to see.
Since you’ll likely want to use your own domain
name for your WordPress blog (or any of the deployed
software applications selected) a few additional steps
are necessary — namely, modifying DNS records

WEB HOSTING PANEL

including CNAME or ANAME at your domain registrar. Azure
provides detailed guidance on the configuration process, which
outlines the specific requirements and steps. Essentially, setting
a custom domain name on a website site is only available for the
shared and reserved modes (not free) for websites running in
Windows Azure.
Much like a traditional hosting account, Azure provides a control
panel for your cloud account from which you can monitor CPU time,
HTTP Server errors and requests in different time periods for the
running applications. You can also modify some general settings,
such as the capacity and number of instances running, making
it rather easy to scale a website for additional throughput and
availability.
Getting a WordPress website up and running in the Azure cloud
was exceedingly simple. There, is of course, much more that
will go into the management of that website on the Azure cloud,
but thanks to a rather intuitive interface (see image) and a very
well-documented support system, getting started in the cloud is
quite simple and should be on the to-do list of things for Internet
professionals to explore.

| A U G U S T 2013

AFFILIATE INSIDER

MANAGING LONG-TAIL

PERFORMANCE

Why Long-Tail Publishers are Key, How Advertisers Can Win Their Attention
By Matt Swan, Client Strategist at Affiliate Window

There are two opposing attitudes that characterize advertisers’ current sentiments about the composition of their afﬁliate programs.
On one side, brands with mature programs are becoming less comfortable
with their reliance on just a handful of big-name publishers for the vast
majority of sales and are eager for their long tail to contribute more. On
the other, they believe that in order to achieve or exceed performance
targets, it is easier to increase sales from the top volume-drivers than it is
to spend resources engaging affiliates from the long tail.
Both sentiments are understandable. Why have an affiliate
program with thousands of partners if only a small proportion are
producing significant enough sales volumes to justify the resources
allocated to the channel? Nevertheless, research shows that if you add
sales from all of the long tail, it often equals that of one high-performing
affiliate publisher. The question for advertisers becomes how to tap
into this volume.
| A U G U S T 2013

AFFILIATE INSIDER

Rethinking Long Tail

Does Your
Performance
Marketing
Program Need
a Tune-Up?
Running an afﬁliate
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Simply having one doesn’t
mean you will suddenly
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business from it. Read
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Let’s look at examples of two programs, both in the
fashion retail sector, and examine what has made their
strategies for engaging and optimizing the long tail
successful. The common factor is that they rethought
their long-tail strategies.
The long tail needs to be regarded differently and
judged against different metrics than those used on
top performers. Rather than looking at the proportion
of overall sales the long tail contribute, it is more
appropriate to review month-over-month growth in
sales from the long tail, as time is a neutral benchmark,
opposed to total percentage. Secondly, long-tail
engagement is a long-term project, so any strategy
needs to be divided between quick-win tactics and a
commitment to ongoing optimization.

Short Term
Let’s begin with an analysis of the low-converting
affiliates on these retail programs. Seeing that many
of the partners were content-rich and relevant sites
that represented a good brand fit for the advertiser,
efforts were focused on helping these long-tail affiliates
improve their conversion rates. Several quick-win
tactics proved beneficial.
The first step involved effective communication:
finding out precisely what these affiliates needed.

| A U G U S T 2013

Advertisers should expect long-tail sites to be more
demanding in their content and creative requirements.
Clear guidelines on what can be said on their sites helps
to maintain compliance, while ﬂexibility in producing
creative in unusual sizes or formats gave them the
necessary tools to start promoting successfully. Going
one-step further, co-branded creative is still incredibly
under-utilized in the affiliate channel for long-tail sites,
despite its effectiveness.
Efforts to win publishers over as brand champions,
for example with free products in return for writing
reviews or by offering prizes of gift vouchers in return
for the best affiliate content each month, have also
proven to be successful quick-win tactics for other
advertisers in the past.
These campaigns resulted in a significant increase
in the proportion of revenue-driving long-tail
affiliates on one of the retail programs from 7 percent
to 11 percent over a four-month period immediately
following the program launch. Another saw a threefold increase in active affiliates from just 3 percent
of the affiliate mix to 9 percent. Finally, it is worth
remembering that long-tail partners are strong
generators of traffic, as well as sales.

Long Term
Mobilizing the affiliate long tail requires long-term

AFFILIATE INSIDER

“…a
successful
strategy will
be proven
by gradual,
year-on-year
improvements
rather than the
rapid volume
uplifts.”

commitment and unfortunately the same tactics may
not work for each affiliate in this group. A lack of
short-term inﬂuence is characteristic of the long tail.
Instead of the peaks that characterize top volumedrivers, growth amongst the long tail will be much less
pronounced. These affiliates are slower burners, and
a successful strategy will be proven by gradual, yearon-year improvements rather than the rapid volume
uplifts characteristic of the top performers as marketing
campaigns (e.g. newsletters) are initiated.
Understanding this, it’s key to implement an
ongoing strategy of long-tail optimization for
all. This can involve encouraging ongoing
affiliate engagement through rollouts of
an affiliate portal, an affiliate toolkit for
banner and copy requirements and special
promotions to deepen long-tail affiliates’
engagement with the brands. Coupling this
with continued recruitment (focusing on
key content sites) and an ongoing analysis
of where such sites could be given assistance
in converting their traffic, are the essential
tools for long-tail engagement.

| A U G U S T 2013

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Website Magazine - Numero 68 (INGLES)

Website Magazine - Numero 68 (INGLES)

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