BrokerKate

I had 107 page visits with most of these visits in the beginning of the blog's creation. I attribute this to the class and all my classmates visiting my blog. As time went on less people continued to read my blog.

There were 54 unique visitors and less than 54 people in the class which means that there were some people who found my site. There was a 72% bounce rate which is rather high. The problem with this is that my blog probably wasn't what they were looking for. 

The average visit duration was 2:22 minutes. This shows me that the people who didn't "bounce" read at least one post.

102/107 were in Washington and 87 of those were in Bellingham. And 15 were in the Seattle area.

Shockingly, of the 107 none of them were on a mobile device. Of course,  one reason could be that my blog isn't so compelling that people just have to read it where ever they are.

There were a few things I did to attempt to get more visitors to my blog.

Added tags for SEO. I tried to include keywords that would be searched such as "SEO" or other topics such as "digital marketing".

Referenced articles I read and tagged those as well.

Titled my blogs, hopefully, with a little intrigue while still explaining the topic of the post. 

Tried to do bullet points whenever possible to increase reader appeal.

There were things I didn't do but could have if I wanted to increase traffic such as:

Link Tumblr to Facebook because I don't have a Facebook

Upload pictures, I don't have a mobile device that allows for quick access to uploading photos

Connect with many other marketing people. My focus is on Real Estate rather than marketing.

It is a positive and negative thing how much we are being tracked on the internet. 

The positive: We get more relevant searches, personalized settings, its more convenient, and less time wasted searching for information.

The negative: It's creepy, arguably a breach of privacy, and they collect all your information.

As of now, we all know how I feel about privacy. I think it is creepy for the internet and corporations to know so much about me, but on the other hand it is so convenient.

In a March 2013 article called "Web Privacy Becomes a Business Imperative" by Somini Sengupta, they asked the question:

“What does privacy mean?” Facebook’s chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, asked at the RSA Conference. “It’s understanding what happens to your data and having the ability to control it.”

And that is the best way I can think about it too. I want the control to be in my hands what I want to disclose. This is why Apple asks if they can use people's locations and change it in the settings.

The article also explained some recent research:

"In a national survey last year, Forrester Research found that one in three consumers were concerned about companies having access to their behavioral data. More than 40 percent said they had stopped short of completing a transaction on a Web site because of something they read in a privacy policy."

These are significant statistics because if 40% of people didn't purchase something because of privacy it means that there is a large market of people that are not being served and a company is missing out 40% of potential revenue.

"Already, said Alex Fowler, Mozilla’s chief privacy officer, nearly 12 percent of desktop users of Firefox and 14 percent of Firefox users on Google’s Android mobile operating system have turned on the Do Not Track signal. “They’re asking for a different level of privacy on your service,” he said. “You have to listen to that. It’s critical to your business.”"

And critical it is. I think companies didn't realize how important it was until there were lawsuits and uproars.

So why do people give out personal information?

The first answer is convenience. It is so much more convenient to use Google Maps if you turn on location services so it can use your current location to find your way to other locations instead of finding an address and searching from there.

It is also more convenient to have frequent searches come up or for Amazon and Netflix products that are more relevant to you for your search history.

There is also networking and people want to show who they are. A recent paper called "Facebook Therapy? Why Do People Share Self-Relevant Content Online?". They question why there are so many people posting drunk pictures, what they ate for breakfast, and other things that no one really needs to know.

Their conclusion was that these activities can boost emotional well-being by sharing their lives with other people online if their offline friendships are lacking.

We all know that Google is huge. Not just huge as in kinda big, huge as in MEGA huge. But how did it get that way, how on earth do they make money? They don't make any money from me. They probably don't make any money from you either.

So I ask again, how goes Google make so much money?

The answer: Advertising.

Basically, the idea is that if you want your website in the first page or top 2 results of Google you have to either be a big search term that is being searched often or you pay for the spot. And many companies want to be found therefore Google makes money, and lots of it.

In a recent article How Does Google Make Money? written in December 2012 stated that:

"The company's annual report succinctly puts [the way they make money], "We generate revenue primarily by delivering relevant, cost-effective online advertising.""

and

"In some respects Google is essentially the world's largest bus shelter, deriving 96% of its revenues from ads."

To better explain how Google makes their money I have to explain how Google Adwords works.

The basic idea is that a company defines words that they think is relevant to their company. I own a company called Red Hot Blues here in Bellingham, WA. It is a dance venue that offers lessons and social dancing once a week. I have used Google Adwords and I put things like RHB (acronym), Bellingham Dance, Blues Dance Seattle, Blues Dance and many others that are similar.

The way it works is that when the term "RHB" is searched I have an ad for my company's page on Google. At this point if the consumer clicks on the ad I pay a Cost Per Click (CPC) if they don't then nothing happens besides the Impression it leaves on the consumer.

What price I pay for the search terms is all based on how important that word is. RHB isn't any important term so my CPC was very low. But the term Walmart or Apple would be a very high CPC. If a company was an apple orchard and they wanted to use the term "apple" they would have to pay a lot of money to beat out Apple. However, searching for "apple orchard" I assume Apple has no interest in that and the CPC would be lower.

Besides Google making ridiculous amounts of money, there are at least two good things that come from Google Adwords, It makes us do the work for our sites to be found rather than Google. And since we know our company better than Google does we know what search terms are used. 

Sometimes we only think we know what our search terms should be but Google Adwords is smart about that. They track which words are clicked most often or which are least often. At this point you are able to redirect more money to the more profitable search terms and delete the ones that aren't valuable.

This is what has made Google and Google Adwords so popular; they allow you to be more searchable on your terms with paying small amounts of money only for results. Rather than standard advertising such as print which makes you pay whether you get results or not.

Today, a company can rarely succeed without co-creation. In fact, a brand cannot be a brand without consumers' perceptions of that company. Within this idea there are many people who can contribute to the betterment of the company; shareholders, employees, consumers, and more.

Some companies are made from people collaborating all over the world. Companies such as iStockPhoto and Linux are such companies. Other companies are less global but share the same idea such as food co-ops connecting grocers with farmers, or a co-op for grade schools.

A wise company asks consumers what they think of existing or new products and services and how to make it better. Consumers are not only customers but also the developers of the product who are highly invested and believe in the idea. This not only makes current customers happy but it allows for new customers to find a new product that is superior to the previous product.

Of course not all clients or groups have brilliant ideas, some have terrible terrible ideas. And some may be average. However, all of the ideas need to be vetted and analyzed for feasibility. This is up to the company to decide what the best course of action for the shareholders is.

Not all of this co-creation is a good thing. There are many people collaborating on a project but sometimes the loudest voice in the room wins, or the one with the most power wins. Or maybe even consumers don't know what is realistic or don't, themselves, know what they want but demand it anyway.

This is now where beta testing, trials, and free products to test come in. Testing products, doing multiple versions and revisions is a good idea because no one got everything perfect the first time they did it. And if they did the industry is always evolving and new versions and ideas need to be created to keep up with the changing world.

Adding onto the previous post I want to explore more about apps.

In reading the 16 App Marketing Strategies written by ImpigerMobile.com I found one word that really jumped out at me. Apps are very hard to find since there are so many of them similar to the websites on the internet now. So the word I read was "discoverability." I have said this before, if you have an amazing app or great content but no one can find it then what is the point in making the app or website?

Many people believe content is enough to create a successful idea, app, or  website. However, us as marketers know better. We know that we need to market our content to create a powerful company.

There are a few things that should be done for Apps; 16 according to this article. I will list the ones I find most important.

Name and Keywords - The better something is named and the more searchable it is allows for better discoverability.

Publicize - This is many of the 16 strategies combined. This includes promotion on things like Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

Reviews - This helps because people like guarantees from real people who have used the product before.

One thing I thought about was creating a co-brand or marketing your app with a better known brand. Such as a MPG calculator app with Shell at their gas stations on their gas pumps with a QR code. Or Nike partnering with Gatorade for an app. This would allow less known companies or apps to piggy back off of better known brands.

Sadly I don't have a smart phone, nor do I have a tablet. But I know people who do! I will be getting both of those for work when I graduate but as of right now I am sitting with a borrowed iPod Touch from my brother to get me through my mobile browsing, email, and apps.

There is a very large battle between the iOS and the Android phones going on right now. Android is winning by a long shot with over 68% (according to Android and iOS Surge to New Smartphone OS Record in Second Quarter, According to IDC) of the market share. Are they superior? Does it matter? Some people find the user interface for the iPhone more appealing than the Android operating system. So really, as marketers (as long as Android and iPod aren't our business) we don't have to care who is the leader.

We do, however, have to focus on creating content to go on both of these operating systems. When the smart phone came out, smart companies jumped on the band wagon and made apps for their companies as fast as they could to capture more of the market. Why? Because of the idea of content marketing and the "Freemium" model. 

To me analytics are fascinating. I love collecting data and analyzing it. Marketing analytics is harder than collecting the data for MPG for your car. Marketing analytics involves not only looking at collected data and saying "cool we have more views today than yesterday!" but really looking at the data and asking why that is. Is it because it is a weekend? Or because you put a promotion out, launched a new campaign, or created new content? Or it is because of an unrelated reason such as a correlation between the Rex Sox winning the series and your red socks on the shelf selling out.

Everything matters and the more you understand "why" the better you understand how to use that information to better market to and serve your customers.

Not everything is about you either. Yes, your company is important but you have to look across the street at the competition and find data and information about them as well.

As I mentioned above having more page views than yesterday isn't really all that big of a deal. Some things are about the short term but some things really need to be looked at on a long term scale. For instance, Christmas (sadly) only comes once a year. Therefore you can only collect data once a year if you want to focus on Christmas sales. So you have to compare more data over years rather than over weeks. And of course the longer to have data the easier it is to find patterns, outliers, and the line smooths out barring drastic changes.

I am in a Digital Marketing class at Western Washington University (MKTG 488) the professor is Mark Staton.

I think everyone has done A/B Testing before but I think many people don't realize they have done it or they don't think of it in the marketing jargon.

So how has EVERYONE done A/B testing? Simple. Have you ever tried to get candy when you were little and you tried throwing a tantrum, asking nicely, sneaking it in the cart, and begging to see which one got you the candy? Then you would only do the two that worked most consistently then perhaps you found that asking nicely was the best way to achieve maximum success.

In the marketing world it is the same idea. The question for marketers is how to make the best interface, product, package and advertisement, etc that produces the best results. They only way to measure these results is through analytics  And now in the Information Age it is easier than ever to track the success rate of a specific A or B test and then implement this in their website, advertisement or other marketing technique.

There are many companies that offer A/B Testing if you want to outsource it. Optimizely is one of the most well known. Recently I have been seeing ads from Adobe for SEO and A/B Testing. I find this interesting because they are branching out of their core competencies of artistic software.

I am really thankful I have some coding experience and a computer science family who taught me the importance of coding. When I was little my dad told me I should take a coding class or two and I never really believed him. But I found out that it is really important for marketers. Luckily I learned from osmosis and know enough to work my way around a webpage.

For another class I was reading a case on the company HUGE and they believe that coding is very important in our digital marketing age. In an online world it is necessary to have knowledge of at least HTML.

I won't name names but last year a freshman couldn't get onto Blackboard because she blocked it or something so I was going to do what I could during the 5 minute break and I asked her what her browser was. I knew it was Safari because it was a Mac. But her reply was "what's a browser?" That scared me, it should scare all of you too. She was a prospective business major too. I think it is very important for all business majors, and all college students, and all people for that matter to learn to code.

In the "Silicon Valley Goes Hollywood: Top Coders Can Now Get Agents" article it reminded me of a statistic I heard. Basically the number of people who fail a beginning CS class is astronomical somewhere in the 70% range. Basically, yes, programmers get paid very well. But this stuff is HARD!

I was blessed to have a family of CS majors and teachers who taught me  about computers and coding. And I know most families aren't that rich with geeks (affectionate term) but with the resources such as Codeacademy.com now it is easier than ever to learn HTML and CSS

I found an interesting article from the New York TImes called Computer Coding: It's Jot Just for Boys on women being CS majors and how women are a minority but if you have a passion for it to go for it.

I got through HTML Basics I, II, and III. I got about half way through the CSS section.

My family is a bunch of CS majors so I knew most of the HTML coding, it is just time consuming. Fun though!!!

In this media age many people just Google what they are looking for rather than being shown something on tv that they "need." We are a consumeristic society and as such we already "need" many more things than we actually do. This is where inbound marketing steps in.

Inbound marketing is basically figuring out how to market to those who want your information, products, and/or services. "Amplify Your Impact: How to Multiply the Effects of Your Inbound Marketing Program" by Marketo describes it as entertaining content that promotes awareness rather than sales in the effort to make a sale in the future.

It ties what we learned about in the previous articles and lectures together. Basically, if you have great content (paid, earned, or owned), and you make sure people can find it by SEO you therefore have potential customers. They are more likely to be responsive to your marketing techniques since they have shown an interest in your offering by seeking you out.

We all know the old saying "Location. Location. Location" and this is also true, its just the location in the digital space. Being located in the right places and in many places gives your company the potential to become known and grow. The article also explains that content is very important. They go on to list 25+ locations such as podcasts, blogs, free trials, widgets, and demos.

One thing the article didn't mention and I thought would be a good addition would be an app. The easier it is to get to your content the better. And it is a constant logo on their phone that is never more than two feet away from their person 24/7.

In the article "The Grateful Dead: Pioneering Inbound Marketers" they talk about how concert goers would tape the concerts and give them away. Instead of discouraging this they encouraged their fans to tape and distribute (for free) the tapes. This made them even more popular since their songs were being played in more places and generated more fans.

Sound familiar? It is.

Paid, owned, and earned media are three ways companies can find their way into a consumer's presence.

Imagine: You are the queen or king of a magnificent castle. You are looking for a baker to bake you a cake for a glorious feast you are going to have next week and all the bakers in the land are vying for your attention.

One baker, desperately needing this order, decides to pay you to see you. Proud he was granted an audience with your excellency, puffs up his chest and shows you his wonderful creation. However, he was only allowed a 30-45 second window to explain everything he could about himself, his creations, and who he is which is a very short time and very costly.  

The next baker is surprised to see your royal highness at her humble bakery in the middle of town. You had heard great things about this baker and decided to check her out. Of course, you being the most important person in the land, you only have a few moments to spare before moving on. The baker, carefully laid out her store for you to see everything clearly, albeit the store was a little hard to find.

The last baker is very busy since her patrons keep referring her to their friends. And you were informed on many occasions by your advisers that this baker was the best in all the land. You decide to order a small cake to taste and find out it was delicious, you dare say it was the best cake you have ever had the pleasure of eating. You then write a royal decree making this baker and her store the official bakery of the land and all your future gatherings.

I thought an anecdote would be a better way to spice up (pun) the usually bland (second pun) textbook definitions of what paid, earned, and owned media are all about.

Sadly, you are not a queen or king (are you?), however we are in a place where we sometimes feel waited on hand and foot. Literally, companies are dying to sell us hand cream and shoes we recently searched for on Amazon. How you say? It all goes back to the baker. COOKIES of course!

No, not those cookies, though I am now hungry, I mean internet cookies (not as tasty). Companies or third parties on behalf of these companies have tracking "cookies" as they are called that remember what you search and learn about who you are. In turn they use this information to provide related ads to who you are and/or what you searched for.