IMC Update 2005-12-05
Greetings IMC fan!
After two and a half years of Right On the Spot newsletter it’s back to IMC-Update. Entrepreneurship is a constant testing and IMC Update felt better.
IMC Update is the natural newsletter for those that are into Internet Marketing and occasionally likes to meet in “real life” at our conferences.
In this re-launch of IMC Update I’ve packed it with lots of important information as well as a chance for you to get a ticket to next years conference for free!
I wish you a happy reading,
Lennart Svanberg
Editor IMC Update
http://www.internetmarketingconference.com
--> A list of Search related forums
I came across this great list of places at http://searchengineforums.com.for those that are interested in discussing Search Engines.
Search Engine Blogs
http://blog.ask.com/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/
http://www.ysearchblog.com/
Search Marketing
http://battellemedia.com/
http://blog.outer-court.com/
http://blog.clickz.com/
http://www.cre8pc.com/blog/
http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/
http://www.emarketingperformance.com/
http://googleaddiction.blogspot.com/
http://www.googlerumors.com/
http://www.grayhatnews.com/
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
http://www.netimperative.com/
http://www.oilman.ca/blog/
http://www.pandia.com/sew/index.php
http://www.researchbuzz.com/
http://www.resourceshelf.com/
http://scoble.weblogs.com/
http://www.searchengineblog.com
http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchbrief/
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/
http://www.searchenginelowdown.com/
http://www.seoradio.com/blog/
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/
http://www.searchreturn.com/digest-archive.shtml
http://www.searchviews.com
http://www.seomoz.org/blog.php
http://www.seobook.com/
http://www.seroundtable.com/
http://www.stuntdubl.com/news/
http://www.traffick.com/
http://www.wolf-howl.com/
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/
Pay Per Click
http://adwords.blogspot.com/
Contextual
http://www.jensense.com/
http://adsense.blogspot.com/
http://cashkeywords.typepad.com/cash_keywords/
http://adsclick.blogspot.com/
Shopping Search
http://blogs.msdn.com/msnshoppinginsider/default.aspx
http://www.comparisonengines.com/
http://www.organizedshopping.com/blog
Link Popularity
http://www.linkbuildingblog.com/
http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/blogs/weblog.php
Keyword Research
http://www.keywordworkshop.com/index.php
and forums ....
Search Marketing Forums
http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/
http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/
http://www.searchengineforums.com
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/
http://www.searchguild.com/
http://forums.seochat.com/
http://forums.spider-food.net/
http://www.threadwatch.org/tracker
http://www.v7n.com/forums/index.php
http://www.webmasterworld.com
http://www.webproworld.com/forum.php
Pay Per Click
http://groups.google.com/group/adwords-help?ctx=awblog&sourceid=awo&subid=US-ET-AWB-091505_4
Publishing Contextual Ads
http://www.adsensechat.com/
Directory Forums
http://resource-zone.com/forum/
http://forum.gimpsy.com/ubbthreads.php
If you’ve got any other resource that you’d like to share, email it to mailto:info@imc-expo.com.
--> IMC's theme 2006; Conversion
IMC's prediction for 2006 is that the trend to watch is Conversion of website traffic.
In 2005 the focus was on advertising in offline and online media in order to reach new customers. It’s a natural continuation for 2006 that these new heights of traffic to websites need to be converted into greater results.
People tend to have a problem in focusing on more than one thing at a time so probably a lot of sites have increased their traffic greatly in 2005 but probably not their return on investment.
So look out for email-companies, traffic analysis companies and other companies that promise greater conversion of traffic for your website in 2006.
One company that emailed me today about next year’s event is an example of this trend,
http://www.marketmetric.com.
If you’ve got any suggestions on other companies or information that supports this trend, please email me at mailto:info@imc-expo.com.
--> Opinions for IMC 2006 wanted
I’d like your opinion on topics for IMC 2006. At 2005 years show the most popular presentation was about Usability. A hot topic that also is the theme for today’s featured article from http://uie.com.
If you’ve got any opinions on what type of topics you’d like to hear in 2006, please email me at mailto:info@imc-expo.com. If you have a really great opinion it will be rewarded with a free ticket to next year’s event.
--> Feature Article: Galleries: The Hardest Working Page on Your Site by Jared M. Spool
Sony Ericsson wants you to choose one of their mobile phones. They've got 17 lovely models to choose from. Perhaps you want the T237? That one seems nice. Or the T630? Or maybe, the K700i?
What's the difference, you ask? Unfortunately, they won't tell you until after you've chosen the one you want. Only then will Sony Ericsson inform you about your chosen model's features are.
Seriously, just pick a model from this list, then we can move along with our exercise. Do you want a W600, a W520a, a W800, a J300a, a T290a, a S710a, a S700i, a K500i, a K700i, a Z500a, a P910a, a T237, a T637, a P900, a T630, a T226, a T616, or that perennial favourite, the T610?
What do you mean you can't decide? I've given you all the information that the designers of SonyEricsson.com give every user who comes to their site to view the phones. To discover which phone they want to buy, the users get to choose from this list: http://tinyurl.com/armdd
To be fair, their designers do provide a second version of the list, this time with pictures. Is this any better?: http://tinyurl.com/76ahd
Now you know which phone to choose, right? The T630 looks pretty slick. I bet it has all the features you want, right?
The designers at Sony Ericsson worked hard to create a gallery of all the available phones so users could choose one. However, they left out a critical component: the information that those users will need to make their choice. Unless the user is already intimately familiar with the phone they want, supplying model names and pictures isn't going to help.
> The Gallery Page
The galleries -- the list of links to content -- are your site's hardest working pages. They are the final page that separates those users who find the content they are seeking from the users who won't.A well-designed gallery page will drive users to success every time. A poorly designed site will only serve to drive users away.
Sony Ericsson's designers aren't the only ones who struggle with providing a gallery that can help users choose their desired mobile phone. The designers at Motorola, a competitor, did practically the same thing with their gallery page: http://tinyurl.com/c932r
Besides indicating those few phones that have available "downloads", this list doesn't give any more information for choosing than the Sony Ericsson site. It's unlikely a user will pick the phone of their dreams from this list.
> Making Galleries Work Well
Galleries are very important to user success, yet we are only now beginning to understand what they need to work well. Designing to eliminate pogosticking is still a new concept for many folks and that is reflected in many of the designs we see today. Understanding how order and layout of the links affect the user's behaviour is critical.
As time goes on, we suspect we'll see many novel design approaches that help users choose where to go next, all with greater and greater success.
Jared's article is also available on UIE's web site at http://uie.com/events/roadshow/articles/galleries/
--> IMC Update is helpware
IMC Update is helpware. It means that in order to receive this newsletter for free you must also be of help to someone else before you receive IMC’s next newsletter. The helpware concept was invented by the legendary Internet Marketer Jim Wilson of http://virtualpromote.com.
--> Subscribe / Unsubscribe
Please promote this newsletter to your friend’s. The bigger community we get the better information you receive. To subscribe or unsubscribe to IMC Update, please visit our homepage at http://www.internetmarketingconference.com
This ends our English version of the re-launch of IMC Update. Thank you for your interest. For our Swedish readers, one article remains.
--> In Swedish: Krönika: Nya IT-profiler efterlyses
Det är lätt att glömma men för ett år sedan rådde det fortfarande media-mörker över vår bransch. Jag började spara artiklar i början på året som talade om att det ”faktiskt” fanns företag som nu tjänade pengar.
Efter ebay’s köp av skype så formligen regnar det artiklar igen som berättar om hur ”lätt” det är att tjäna pengar i vår bransch. Gamla IT-profiler blir avdammade och plötsligt är det som att 5 års hårda erfarenheter är glömda i ett nafs.
Jag ser en allvarlig fara i att de personer som vilseledde en stor del av allmänheten om hur du tjänar pengar på Internet nu återigen lyfts fram.
I USA har Microsoft, Yahoo och Ebay varit förebilder för de företag som nu lyckats. I Sverige tenderar vi att återigen lyssna på samma människor som blåste allmänheten på miljarder i slutet av 90-talet.
Tänk efter före du lyssnar på någon som inte förstod Internet på 90-talet och kanske återigen har missuppfattat vad som gäller på 2000-talet.
Sverige behöver inte nya luftslott utan smarta affärskoncept som kan erövra en global marknad för endast då är de framtids-säkra.
Du har chansen att bestämma dig för om 2005 blev startskottet för en lång och hållbar tillväxt för vår bransch. Alternativet är att oseriösa företagare med flotta presentationer återigen får investerare och skadar branschens trovärdighet på nytt.
För kom ihåg att även om du kan se skillnaden på Skype och Hype så kan inte människorna utanför vår bransch det. De förlitar sig på att branschen lyfter fram föregångare och lyssnar gärna på dessa.
Om vi i branschen ej lyfter fram rätt företrädare så riskerar hela branschen att snabbt svartmålas igen vid minsta misstag – klarar vi det?
Har du synpunkter på min krönika; mejla dessa till mailto:info@imc-expo.com.
Lennart Svanberg
Editor, IMC Update
http://www.internetmarketingconference.com