Alternative Marketing: What Happened When Etailers Dove Into Blogs, Podcasting, and RSS

Alternative Marketing:What Happened When Etailers Dove Into

Blogs, Podcasting, and RSS

First, a 15-minute Primer on Blogs, RSS, & Podcasting

Stephan Spencer, Founder & President

Netconcepts

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Blogs

• Online journal, organized in reverse chronological order

• 439 million Google search results for “blog”• 3 types: news blog, writers blog, “our blog”• The community of bloggers = blogosphere• Blogosphere is rich with interlinkages

– Bloggers always cite (and link to) their sources in their posts

– Links also appear in “blogrolls”, “trackbacks”, comments, RSS

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RSS

• Better than the Inbox– Unspammable content delivery channel to

individuals– Viable replacement for enewsletters

• Web-wide Syndication– Propagate deep links that drive traffic and “search

engine juice”

• “You should be fired if you do a marketing site without an RSS feed.” - Robert Scoble, Microsoft

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SlashdotheadlinessyndicatedonNanodot.org

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The top result was thanks to syndication via RSS

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How subscribers follow RSS

• Web-based aggregator– Bloglines (now owned by Ask Jeeves), My

Yahoo!, MyMSN, MyFeedster, etc.

• Installed application– NewsGator (Outlook plug-in), Sage (Firefox

plug-in), Pluck (IE plug-in), FeedReader, etc.

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RSS

• Help subscribers keep their finger on the pulse of your business/industry

• Compel webmasters to post your content– News alerts, latest specials, clearance items,

upcoming events, new arrivals, new articles, new tools & resources, search results, a book’s revision history, top 10 best sellers, project management activities, forum/listserv posts, recently added downloads, …

– For blogs: latest posts, latest posts by category, latest comments per post, …

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Subscribe tosearch resultson MSN Search

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Subscribe tosearch resultson Yahoo! News

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Subscribe todeals with onlineretailers

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Subscribe toarticles

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Subscribe topodcasts

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Subscribe toa feedpersonalizedto you

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Podcasts

• “Time shifted Internet radio”• Mainly for downloading MP3 audio clips,

but video can be podcasted as well• Podcast-capable RSS reader

automatically downloads audio/video clips and syncs them to your MP3 player

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Moblogging

• Sign up for a free Flickr.com account • Email photos from your cameraphone to

your blog• Subject line becomes the title; message

body becomes the body of the blog post

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Positive Buzz for Voltaic

• Solar-powered backpack from small start-up• Blogging friend Treehugger blogged about it• Then got picked up by CoolHunting• Then got picked up by Gizmodo• A flurry of orders ensued.

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Negative Buzz for Kryptonite

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Search Engine Optimizing Blogs/RSS

• Rankings can be manipulated• “Implied endorsement”• Combination of on-page and off-page factors• On-page

– Body copy, title tags, headings, etc.

• Off-page– Links act like votes. Votes weighted. Favors A-list

bloggers.– Link text very important (“Google bombing”)

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Email blogging@netconcepts.com for this 39-page transcript plus the accompanying audio recording

What Happened When eHobbies Dove Into Blogs

Seth Greenberg

CEO, eHobbies

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6/14/05 Added blog to sitewide header and homepage hyperlink

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Indexed within1 day

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eHobbies Blog Key Stats

% of site traffic:

Before 5/19/2005 0%

Blog launched 5/19/2005 2.5%

Moved to header 6/14/2005 5%

Blog Coupon Usage 8/10-8/31 5% of daily orders

Blog Conversion Rate is 2x greater than site conversion

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The Good The Bad The Ugly

•Organic Search

•Effective for our audience

•Personality

•Received Great Press Coverage

•Gets Our Point Across(new products, content)

•Demands Attention and to be nurtured

•Competes with Message Boards

•Too many3rd Parties involved•“Diary” rather than Dialog

•Personality

•Instantly Publish Reports

ICE.com

The 10 Commandments of Corporate Blogs

By Pinny GniwischEVP Marketing/founder

1. Editorial

2. PR

3. Current Trends

4. Promotions

5. Customer Feedback

Customer interaction on a new level

4 Comments

6. Natural Search Ranking

Google RankKeyword Daily Change Weekly Change Monthly ChangeDiamond Pendant 31 13 16 5Discount Diamond Earrings 30 4 6 5Gold Rings 4 9 1 6

7. SalesOrders

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2

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7

68 Sales past month

140 sales part 3 months

346 sales past 6 months

0.82% conversion

8. Company Vibe

- Creating an Environment of Cohesiveness and involvement

9. Being at the Forefront

10. Beyoncé

SteveSpanglerScience.com

Steve Spangler, Founder and CEO

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Diet Coke + Mentos Candy = Making Learning Fun!

QuickTime™ and aH.263 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

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Insta-Snow Video

QuickTime™ and aH.263 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

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What What happened on happened on June 1, 2004?June 1, 2004?

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Product Sales

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If a blog increases brand awareness...

If a blog creates a buzz...If a blog generates sales...

Hmmm?

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www.SteveSpangler.com

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• Blog launched on July 6, 2004• Steady increase in sessions• What about sales?

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Increase in sales attributedto the blog?

NewsletteNewsletter spiker spike

Blog Blog spike!spike!

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What should I blog?

• Best-selling products

• “Did you know?” product information loaded with keywords

• Feedback from customers

• “Behind the Scenes” information

• Customer testimonials

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Podcast Interview Style

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Mentos Eruption?

• One roll of Mentos candy

• 2-liter bottle of soda

• A room filled with ooohs & ahhhs!

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Now It’s Time for Q&A!• Stephan Spencer

– Founder & President, Netconcepts– sspencer@netconcepts.com

• Seth Greenberg– CEO, eHobbies– seth@ehobbies.com

• Pinny Gniwisch– Founder & EVP Marketing, Ice.com– pinny.gniwisch@ice.com

• Steve Spangler– Founder & CEO, Steve Spangler Inc.– steve@stevespangler.com