Website Magazine (Special Issue) - April 2013 (Gnv64)

F R O m T H e e D ITO R
Inside the Online World

Content marketing is the digital tactic du jour among
the new media elite, but its no longer enough to just
produce and distribute content. Todays savviest
digital enterprises must relate to their audiences with
content that motivates, involves, captivates and excites
in any and every format, because thats the way to
drive results.
Depending on your vantage point, you might think digital

marketers have all gone content crazy. They are feverishly
developing and distributing content, but too few enterprises
are implementing strategies in this far more crowded and
demanding environment. This is a rather serious problem
for brands both large and small.
How are enterprises using content marketing today? What
methods do they employ for developing, distributing and
analyzing their content-related performance? This months
Website Magazine feature aims to answer these important
questions (and others) and help set your enterprise on a
profitable course down the content marketing road.
As a Website Magazine reader, you also have access to several
other items that are sure to accelerate your digital success,
including detailed guidance on navigation techniques
in Web design, advice on leveraging user reviews and a
crash course for getting started with semantic markup.
Likewise, this months editorial lineup includes
coverage of mobile apps, digital advertising, Facebooks
Graph Search and a roundup of subscription billing
Software-as-a-Service solutions.
| A P R I L 2013
Enjoy this issue of Website Magazine and make sure to

visit us on the Web at www.WebsiteMagazine.com to
experience our new mobile-friendly, channel-based digital
format covering all of the topics that Web workers need to
achieve digital success, from design and development to
search and social.
Best Web Wishes,
Peter Prestipino Editor-in-Chief,
Website Magazine
Peter@WebsiteMagazine.com
ISSUE HIGHlIGHTS:
profiling of Wells Fargo, UGG australia and
Weight Watchers,
preparing for Facebooks Game Changer,
tackling Keyword not provided,
Understanding Who Cloud Hosting is Good For,
Buying a Money-Making Website,
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| A P R I L 2013
net briefs
Want More net briefs?
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OFFER,
THEY
WILL
CLAIM
According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, the social
networks Facebook Offers program has been catching
on with consumers, as 42 million-plus users have already
claimed deals. The service was met with some hesitation
when the company announced that it would be encouraging
businesses to run offers on the site, but if Sandbergs statistics
tell merchants anything, it is that this program may be worth
the investment sooner than later. The COO revealed that ads
delivered in the newsfeed (like offers) drive eight times more
offline sales than display ads on the side of the page.
| A P R I L 2013
read more at Website Magazine:

http://wsm.co/NetBriefsApril13
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| A P R I L 2013
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WEIGHT WATCHERS
Call us vain, but for most of us, theres nothing more important
than our outward appearance. And almost everyone we know
thinks they could stand to lose a few pounds. Weight Watchers has
taken this concern and focused on a lifestyle approach to weight
loss. Since 2001, it has given its members a digital space to actively
follow the pursuit of their goals. Nevertheless, for the Weight
Watchers site, theres no result greater than user engagement.
Our premise is the more engaged our users are, the more
successful they are, so thats been a focus of ours for the past 3-4
years said Theresa DiMasi, VP of content at WeightWatchers.com.
Engagement tools, such as user-generated blogs, achievement
tokens, cheat sheets, recipe builders and videos are available,
but its the very vibrant Weight Watchers community that fuels
engagement and time-on-site through tip and success story sharing.
With these channels, and others (discussed below), Weight
Watchers is listening to its users and responding to what they want.
Social Media
Weight Watchers extends its listen-first strategy to social
media as well.
| A P R I L 2013
CLICK HERE
Discover
the digital tactics
of 100 top digital
companies at
wsm.co/web100.
We use social media

as a way to not just get people to our
site, but also to hear what they want,
said DiMasi. We do this for tools too.
Whenever we launch a product or service,
we hear feedback and use it to better tailor our
tools. Again, we know that the more engaged people are, the more
successful theyll be.
WeightWatchers.com also utilizes social login, which gives users
the ability to log in without creating a profile. In turn, this provides
the lifestyle company with a customer profile, which can be used
to segment further marketing campaigns, like email.
Email
Segmentation is important for Weight Watchers, as its
emails can reach upward of 8 million people at a time (via a
combination of prospects, current members and past subscribers).
Weight Watchers hope its emails will meet the specific
needs of subscribers, as their needs change as they advance through
the program.
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We are lucky in that way; we are providing

the service that people need, said DiMasi. Its
a stage; its a journey, and they are opening and
wanting these newsletters.
Mobile
Health-conscious folks also want to be able to
access Weight Watchers on the go. The companys
mobile platforms let users save favorite recipes,
create shopping lists, track points and more.
Acquisition
Even with its strong grasp on email, mobile and
user engagement, perhaps the companys biggest
success is in advertising, with Weight Watcher
celebrity endorsements paving the way. The
company recently brought on retired NBA player
R E PO RT
and TV analyst Charles Barkley to promote its

mens division.
Heres this guy that people, of all ages know
and like, said DiMasi. They relate to someone
like that, and they see the impact that it makes
and how it works for Charles Barkley.
Weight Watchers also drives consumers to its
website through social media, banner ads and
email marketing, which are mostly done inhouse.
We do work with agency partners, too; it
just depends on the project, said Stephanie
Schulman, public relations manager at Weight
Watchers. We are the experts on our brand, so
even when we work with agencies, we have a
great relationship with them. Its whatever makes
sense for a project.
For its affiliate program, teaming up with
Commission Junction made sense.
2013 Goals
Like always, Weight Watchers plans on keeping
its users top-of-mind.
For us, its really about the tighter the
relationship we have with our members and
subscribers, the better we can meet their needs,
said DiMasi. We can always do it more and more
like making tools easier and simpler to use and
giving them the opportunities to keep engaged
with us anytime.
| A P R I L 2013
snapshot
WEB RANK
US UNIQUE VISITORS
RANK
COMPETITIVE RANK UVS
1. weightwatchers.com
2. nutrisystem.com
3. hungry-girl.com
4. dwtz.com
5. ediets.com
3,673,371
483
3.67M
539K
327K
117M
83.2K
Provided by Compete.com
SEARCH DATA
SE TRAFFIC
SE TRAFFIC PRICE
ADS TRAFFIC
ADS TRAFFIC PRICE
1,888,678
$545,801
121,238
$55,761
Provided by SEMRush.com
SOCIAL STANDINGS
FACEBOOK FANS
N
NUTRISYSTEM
WEIGHT WATCHERS
84.5K
1.07M
TWITTER FOLLOWERS
N
NUTRISYSTEM
WEIGHT WATCHERS
Provided by BuiltWith.com
TECHNICAL NOTES
SERVER
IIS 7
WIDGETS
Browser Hawk
6.97K
159K
A
NE
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EK
R E PO RT
UGG AUSTRALIA
Popularized by celebrities and loved by people across the world,

UGG Australias classic UGG boots have reached iconic status and
stood the test of time (45 years strong). Its website, UGGAustralia.
com has not only kept up with this popularity, but also fueled its
sales and the promotion of its extended line of footwear, accessories
and apparel. Its also seemingly served to conquer one of UGG
Australias biggest obstacles: turning first-time buyers into repeat
customers.
John Kalinich, VP of e-commerce for Deckers Outdoor
Corporation, which owns UGG Australia, offers an unparalleled
look at how the famed brand attempts to do just that, and how it
provides its users with an experience that is easy-to-use, relevant
and unexpected.
Email
Part of UggAustralia.coms success has been its email marketing
strategy. In order to enhance effectiveness, the company uses a
combination of marketing emails and segmentation strategies
(segmented by interest, triggered actions and personalized
communications based on browsing behavior). Marketers also
leverage consumer data, sales trends and product interactions to
reach a positive return on investment. UGGs communications
follow industry best practices and are consistently tested for both
content and time sent.
Its internal retention team manages the communication
strategy using a variety of methods, but the majority of email
| A P R I L 2013
communication goes through a third-party ESP, Silverpop. They

also use Demandwares native functionality for transactional and
back-in-stock emails, while they are able to personalize email
communication from their integration with MyBuys, a company
specializing in cross-channel personalization.
E-Commerce
UGG Australia also enlists Demandware, an on-demand
e-commerce solutions provider, to increase conversions.
The features that are available to us within the Demandware
platform have enabled us to establish a framework of best
practices, said Kalinich. We have an optimized checkout funnel
that is a mix of steadfast best practices, such as guest checkout and
alterations that meet the consumers constantly evolving habits and
expectations.
Furthermore, we gained the ability to display active
merchandising, which has enabled us to promote the right
products to the right
shoppers at the right time.
Demandware also has a
sophisticated A/B Testing
tool that has offered
us the opportunity to
optimize our conversion
by testing different
strategies and consumer
experiences. Additionally,
Demandware has
enabled us to achieve
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strategic agility by reducing the time to market

for the introduction of new Web applications/
ideas, therefore enabling us to achieve KPIs-like
conversion rate quickly and effectively.
With Demandware, UGG Australia can
proactively anticipate its consumers needs and
increase engagement across all touchpoints by
creating consumer-driven digital enhancements
that are flexible and unexpected.
Features like product quick view, dynamic
content slots, mini-cart and product sets, have
empowered us to ensure an easy and engaging
branded shopping experience on our websites,
said Kalinich.
Speaking of branding, UGG Australia offers an
impressive, global cross-channel experience. By
executing an annual strategic plan, the company
acknowledges the key areas of focus, determining
when and how to engage with consumers across
all channels and platforms.
All channels have a key understanding of
our global consumer and the brand voice, said
Kalinich. We do not keep our departments
in silos; we make sure our teams develop
content as an integrated group with the same
communication strategy. The email calendar,
website merchandising schedule, social calendar,
search strategy and the affiliate creative are all
based off the visual merchandising plan, hero
| A P R I L 2013
products and centralized goals. This enables

us to cultivate a unified brand environment
that provides a consistent experience across all
channels.
One of which is mobile.
Mobile
We bridge the gap between the current mobile
experience and the consumers expectations by
optimizing our original mobile cartridge to enable
ease of checkout and browsing, said Kalinich.
We have also identified when consumers open
emails on mobile devices and are able to send
messaging with graphics optimized for the smaller
screen size. This has dramatically improved clickthrough rates for this customer segment.
2013 Goals
In 2013, we will move beyond [just] providing
information to participating in a conversation
about the information, said Kalinich. We will
accomplish this by leveraging brand advocates
and online/offline channels to incite engagement
among consumers who expect to have total
control over their media consumption at all
times. We will continue to gain more consumer
insights and create stronger connections
during the first engagement to create a bond
for sustained loyalty.
snapshot
WEB RANK
US UNIQUE VISITORS
RANK
1. stevemadden.com
2. uggaustralia.com
3. juicycouture.com
4. jimmychoo.com
5. whatshebuys.com
403,116
5,160
421K
403K
314K
42.0K
34.8K
SEARCH DATA
SE TRAFFIC
SE TRAFFIC PRICE
ADS TRAFFIC
ADS TRAFFIC PRICE
617,201
$772,622
15,313
$16,627
SOCIAL STANDINGS
FACEBOOK FANS
S
STEVE MADDEN
UGG AUSTRALIA
604K
1.43M
TWITTER FOLLOWERS
S
STEVE MADDEN
UGG AUSTRALIA
TECHNICAL NOTES
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Demandware
HOSTING PROVIDER
Navisite
19.7K
31.4K
A
NE
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EK
R E PO RT
WELLS FARGO
For the better part of three and a half years, Wells Fargos
Digital Channels Group worked to create a seamless transition
for Wachovia customers transitioning to Wells Fargo after the
companys mega acquisition. The results of this integration put
Wells Fargo in a unique position to capitalize on an omnichannel
approach, even years later.
Omnichannel
The financial company spent a substantial amount of time bringing
the Wachovia and Wells Fargo systems together to create a unified
picture of its customers across all channels, as well as cross-selling,
which is at the core of the companys strategy.
Wells Fargos multichannel progress includes the ability for all
touchpoints to have the same information as the other. If a customer
makes a payment on their mobile device via an app, browser, or
text message, it will be reflected
at any branch. ATM receipts can
be securely emailed, along with
other various sensitive records,
so customers arent forced
to walk out of a Wells Fargo
branch holding very personal
information. Additionally, Wells
Fargo receives customer email
addresses, which can later be
used for marketing efforts.
| A P R I L 2013
FREE
ACCESS
Weve got work going

for
on in all directions,
WEBSITE MAGAZINE
said EVP, Head
SUBSCRIBERS
of Digital/Internet Product
Discover the
Management at Wells Fargo,
digital tactics of 100
top digital companies
Brett K. Pitts. For a company as
Website Magazines
large and as complex as we can be, with Web
100 Guide
its a journey. Its something that is
available at
wsm.co/web100.
not easy to do, but in the service of
the customer, its absolutely the right thing
to do.
Usability
With the massive integration project, WellsFargo.com, which was
last redesigned six years ago, was put somewhat on the backburner.
Despite not taking advantage of some of the major upgrades on
the market since then, WellsFargo.com is a highly usable site that
understands online customers objectives and gives them plenty of
ways to meet them.
Toward the end of 2011, we thought Great, we have the
integration behind us and now whats next, said Pitts.
Whats next is a complete redesign to freshen up the way the site
looks, to add new financial education and planning tools, to take
advantage of UI conventions, to leverage brand-new capabilities
and more.
These projects will have visibility over the course of 2013, said
Pitts. Its a very, very fundamental redesign.
Wells Fargos in-house team is heavily involved in this overhaul.
At the same time, the company is also availing itself to experts out
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in the field to receive a cross-section of ideas.

It really is going to be state-of-the-art and, most
importantly, what customers expect based on other
types of retail and financial offerings, said Pitts.
Mobile
Currently, Wells Fargo reaches on-the-go
customers via mobile browsers (which a
considerable number of its customers use), mobile
apps and text requests for account balance and
other details.
Wells Fargo has north of 8.7 million mobile
customers who access their accounts on mobile
devices.
Certainly, as we look at the redesign, a big
driving factor behind that has been to make it
mobile and tablet convenient, said Pitts. Its
been right up the center of the redesign, as across
websites everyone has to consider a tablet-first
philosophy, rather than PC-first mode weve been
accustomed to over the last 10 years or so.
We deal with very important, and the most
sensitive information our customers have. Our
goal, regardless of device, has always been to keep
customers safe and give them confidence in us.
And, across devices, we are an industry leader in
providing fraud prevention education.
Additionally, Wells Fargos leverages robust
security infrastructures, including using
| A P R I L 2013
smartphones, to fight fraud.

We have lots of customers who are over the
perception hurdle of mobile, but customers are
still focused on making sure their information
is safe, said Pitts. Beyond that theres a huge
opportunity that we are capitalizing on in that
we are able to use those devices as additional
forms of authentication. We know that customers
smartphones are never 2 feet away from them.
Knowing about those devices, and knowing
the location of those devices, is another factor of
authentication. We actually have the possibility of
further augmenting customers. Its something that
we are very focused on and one area we are very
confident in.
Social Media
Customer engagement and building relationships
are at the core of Wells Fargos culture and social
business approach.
I think of social as another channel of
interaction, said Pitts. We have unique facets
to face, but we tend to see that as we add new
channels, they tend to be more additives rather
than replacements. There are opportunities to use
those social interactions that reintroduce our team
members to our customers.
snapshot
WEB RANK
US UNIQUE VISITORS
28,016,531
RANK
37
1. chase.com
31.1M
2. bankofamerica.com
29.6M
3. wellsfargo.com
28.0M
4. usbank.com
6.95M
5. wachovia.com
35.2K
SEARCH DATA
SE TRAFFIC
SE TRAFFIC PRICE
ADS TRAFFIC
ADS TRAFFIC PRICE
8,425,605
$6,057,062
91,230
$446,841
SOCIAL STANDINGS
FACEBOOK FANS
W
WELLS FARGO
CHASE COMMUNITY GIVING
326K
3.86M
TWITTER FOLLOWERS
W
WELLS FARGO
CHASE COMMUNITY GIVING
TECHNICAL NOTES
CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK
Akamai
WIDGETS
Lightbox
6.62K
29.8M
enterprise
ready
Is Facebooks Graph
Search a Game Changer?
By Allison Howen, Associate editor
Thanks to an audience of more than 1 billion monthly

active members, Facebook doesnt just have big
data it has enormous data, and the worlds largest
social network is finally ready to put that data to good
use with the release of Graph Search. Facebook is
ready, but are brand marketers?
| A P R I L 2013
Graph Search Explained

Facebooks previous search functionality was lackluster at best,
because it only turned up results for people, pages, groups or apps
before directing users to Bing search results. Graph Search aims
to solve this problem by allowing users to conduct phrase-based
queries to discover alternative information based on data that
Facebook has collected from its members over time. For example,
someone can conduct a search for music my friends like, and
enterprise
ready
Graph Search will provide that person with a personalized list of

musicians and bands that their friends have liked, along with other
data, including the names of friends who have liked a certain artist
and how many total likes that artist has on Facebook.
Essentially, Graph Searchs functionality will provide users with
a new way to explore their connections. In fact, a blog post from
the social network states, Facebooks mission is to make the world
more open and connected. The main way we do this is by giving
people the tools to map out their relationships with the people
and things they care about. We call this map the graph. Its big and
constantly expanding with new people, content and connections.
There are already more than a billion people, more than 240 billion
photos and more than a trillion connections.
At the time of this writing, Graph Search is in beta and only
available to a limited number of Facebook members. The first
iteration of the new search feature focuses on four main areas:
people, photos, places and interests. This allows members to
conduct personalized searches for a variety of information that
ranges from casual questions like games my friends like to direct
ones like restaurants nearby. So naturally, the next question is
how will Graph Search impact businesses?
The Graph Search Effect
While Graph Search is sure to influence how brands execute their
social media strategies, it also has the potential to take business away
from popular location-based services like Yelp and Foursquare.
More than 600 million users visit the social network on a daily
basis, and with Graph Search, they may have less reason to use
| A P R I L 2013
The Local
Rivalry
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ome
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find nearby businesses.
vices
s
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u
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ry13
unavailable on services
like Yelp and Foursquare,
such as the names of
friends who have liked or checked
into a business and when.
That being said, if Graph Search truly does become the search
feature that Facebook wants it to become, businesses with Facebook
Pages will want to optimize their social strategies to ensure that
their brand is among the top results when a search is conducted.
However, appearing first in the search results will be easier
said than done.
Optimizing for Graph Search
Although little is known about Graph Search, there are a few social
best practices that Page managers should leverage now.
The most important thing to know about Graph Search is
that likes will likely matter a lot. Search results are based on
Facebooks understanding of a brands follower counts, which
means that a business with a large fan base will be more likely to
turn up in the results for various searches. Likes will not be the only
factor that will determine where businesses end up in Facebooks
enterprise
ready
Graph Search results, however. Expect other interaction types, such

as check-ins to be influential, as well. For example, the number and
recency of check-ins may help brands appear high on search results.
What this means is that brands should start focusing on fostering
engagement with their
fans, which can be done examples of possible location-based searches.
through a combination
of publishing compelling
content and offering
incentives for specific
actions, such as discounts
on in-store purchases
when a customer checks
in through Facebook.
Aside from encouraging
engagement with fans,
Facebook suggests that
brands also continue to invest in their profile and make sure it is
complete and updated. Page managers should verify that the name,
category, vanity URL and information within their Pages About
section is all correct. Once all of these things have been taken care
of, Page managers (along with the rest of the Net) will have to sit
back and watch how the new search feature will influence user
activity on the rest of the Web and in the real world.
The Future of Graph Search
Unsurprisingly, there have been many theories floating around
regarding Graph Search since its Jan. 15 launch.
| A P R I L 2013
Graph Search will undoubtedly affect location-based platforms,

as previously mentioned, but the new feature could also impact
the broader search marketing industry as a whole. The reason?
If Facebook cant find results for a members query, it directs
users to Bing for Web-based
results (as it did previously). The
difference is, however, that Graph
Search is much more robust
than Facebooks previous search
offering, and if members start using
this feature on a regular basis, they
could end up on Bing more often,
at which point it is up to Bing to
keep them coming back. While it is
far too soon to call this new search
functionality a Google killer, it does
have the potential to improve Bings
market share.
Yet, the biggest question surrounding Graph Search is whether
or not the social network will launch a new ad format for Graph
Search exclusively. While the social network hasnt launched any
new ad formats that integrate with Graph Search as of this writing,
Facebook did note that brands can launch an ad within sponsored
results, which will appear to people whether or not they have Graph
Search.
Only time will tell what type of impact Graph Search will have
on the Web, but it is safe to say that this feature definitely has the
potential to be a game changer.
Website Magazine
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A Beginners Guide to
WEB DESIGN
BLUNDERS
By Jarrod Wright
Being a website designer can be tough. Your work is out

there on display for anyone and everyone to critique (and
believe me, they do). While you shouldnt take everyones
opinions to heart, there is one group whose voice should always be heard your site visitors.
Naturally, a Web design needs to look good, but it also needs to be
user-friendly. Many Web designers will find a brands message lost
in translation if they forget who the website is really for.
The biggest Web design blunders occur when a designer puts
creativity before function. A well-designed site may attract a few
visitors initially, but those users wont return if the site isnt easy to
use and consume. Design too many of these low-traffic sites and
| A P R I L 2013
the digital business will tank (and probably your reputation too).
So what are the most common usability mistakes to avoid?
Just Plain Hard to Read
Legibility is an integral part of good Web design. A site may have
knockout visual elements, but that doesnt guarantee repeat visits.
Sure, content is king, but if that content is impossible to read,
users will leave as fast as they came. To improve digital legibility,
consider the following:
Use sans serif fonts for body copy. If you absolutely
must use serif fonts, save them for something special,
like headings.
Website Magazines
Small BuSineSS laB

Stay away from hard-to-read color schemes. Visitors
always prefer black text on a white background.
Dont use more than three font sizes. Any more than this
makes a site distracting and difficult to read.
Avoid bolding, italicizing and underlining excessively.
Break up copy with smaller paragraphs, which are less
daunting for Web readers.
Overly Cumbersome Forms
Registration forms can be a pain. It is necessary to obtain certain
information from your visitors, but you dont want to turn those
users away because the form is too complicated. If there is one
important bit of guidance for website owners who must have a
registration form, its this: be brief. You wouldnt want to waste time
filling out a form that requires a million answers, so why make
your visitors? If youre not sure where to start, begin by comparing
your websites form with those in your vertical that also require
registration. Find out what details theyve made mandatory, and
how much you feel is too much. Then, consider what your website
needs and start designing.
Poor Information Accessibility
Missing search boxes and a downright messy structure (e.g. site
architecture) can cause information (and conversion paths) to be
all but inaccessible to users.
| A P R I L 2013
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ery to
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Search, and its numerous
alternatives, are effortless to
implement (after a bit of copy and paste on
your part) and provide an efficient means by which visitors can
search for and locate the information they want.
Good Web design isnt easy. It requires a commitment to testing
to discover what works. Find the balance between too much
and not enough, and the critiques you receive in the future are
sure to be positive.
Jarrod Wright is a website designer and owner of Subtle Network Design

& Marketing. The company offers search engine marketing and creative
design services for a wide variety of clients.
Website Magazine
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50
TO P
WeB TRAFFIC SOURCeS
Traffic Jam
Trafc can come from anywhere, whether its paid,
earned or owned, but knowing where to look is half
the battle.
While its a relatively simple process to sort our marketing efforts into
these three categories, its much more difficult to extend energies and
resources across all possible channels. From search and social to video
destinations and news wires, Net workers can amass traffic in both
predictable and unexpected ways. Moreover, wed be remiss to forget,
the traffic-producing power of advertising and affiliate networks. Many
of these traffic sources are detailed here, but youll find the remainder of
the list and more on the Web at wsm.co/trafficsources13.
Each enterprise must strategize where to spend their resources (time
and money) or all the traffic-generating possibilities can be expensive
and cumbersome to implement. As someone responsible for digital
acquisition, you are likely already familiar with the destinations
discussed in this months Top 50, particularly those in search. Challenge
yourself, however, to think outside of the Google (#1) box and look to
very specialized search services.
Also look beyond the king and queen of social Facebook (#1) and
Twitter (#2) when thinking about acquiring visitors. Tumblr (#5)
lets businesses effortlessly share anything and gain visibility through its
website. Features like tags can help consumers discover a brands posts
| A P R I L 2013
and recent additions like a chat widget and real-time notifications keep
up with their interests.
When looking to video destinations to acquire website visitors, youll
see big players like YouTube (#1) and DailyMotion (#2), and also the
SlideShare (#4), a site that allows companies to
present content in the form of presentations,
SEARCH
documents, PDFs, videos and webinars. What is
good enough for the White House and IBM (who
1. Google.com
slideshare counts as users), is likely good for your
2. Bing.com
business as well.
3. Yahoo.com
Do not forget the power of the humble press
release. There is no press release distributing
4. Ask.com
venue simpler or more productive than press
5. AOL.com
release wires. Weve ranked 10 that provide
businesses with credibility, acquisition and SEO
SOCIAL
benefits, such as PRLog (#1) and PRLeap.com
(#9).
1. Facebook.com
Last but not least, this months Top 50 looks
2. Twitter.com
to advertising and affiliate networks that can take
3. LinkedIn.com
your sites traffic to the next level. 7Search (#6)
and Commission Junction (#3) are two that fit
4. Pinterest.com
the bill and can make an impact on your bottom
5. Tumblr.com
line immediately.
mastering
search
SEMANTIC MARKUP
CRASH COURSE
By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief
One of the SEO failures many enterprises make

today is not taking advantage of semantic
markup the code thats written to dene the
context of the content enclosed within it.
While the use of semantic markup doesnt guarantee
that a website will improve its search result position,
there are most definitely some interesting benefits.
Sites using semantic markup increase the chance that
information from their websites will appear on search
results as rich snippets thats big.
Since these listings are more noticeable to users,
they receive more clicks (in theory, of course) and carry
the potential to provide value to digital enterprises by
way of a higher click-through rate (CTR), which many
suspect is now a heavily weighted factor in ranking.
| A P R I L 2013
But the use of Microdata and semantic markup is

almost woefully underutilized.
BuiltWith reports that just 2.5 percent of the top
10,000 websites were using Microdata and just 1.2
of the top 1 million sites as of mid-Feb. 2013. Theres
obviously an opportunity here, but knowing where
to begin can prove overwhelming. Getting started is
always the hardest part, so consider the following use
cases, and how they could be used within your website
for the benefit of your organic/natural search marketing
efforts.
An important note; implementing semantic markup
requires some moderate-to-advanced coding skills. Its
difficult, if not impossible, to properly express how to
apply the appropriate code so within each section, users
are directed to sample snippets for further explanation.
In addition, the Getting Started Guidance section below
profiles two services for easier semantic markup.
meta Descriptions?
Believe it or not, meta descriptions were actually one
of the initial uses of semantic markup in digital history.
mastering
search
Despite playing a dominant role in the discussions and
actual efforts of SEOs for many, many years, countless
enterprises still fail to take advantage of the opportunity.
While its true that search engines now rely less and less
on meta descriptions, including them is important if
only for some backup search engine result page (SERP)
insurance.
There are of course, far more advanced uses of
semantic markup that your enterprise should start
seriously considering, including products, events,
testimonials and video.
Product Sales
Enterprises selling products can also get on the
schema markup bandwagon and not just traditional
physical goods merchants. Information publishers
can sell whitepapers, ebooks or special paid reports,
for example, by using the Product Schema to display
elements including price, ratings and even availability
(if its a tangible product). This markup element
supports numerous properties, such as those for similar
and related items, as well as offers each of which
could prove particularly effective in combination with
marked-up products.
CODING SAMPLE: wsm.co/productmarkup
| A P R I L 2013
Individuals (People)
Not every member of your enterprise plays a publicfacing role, but those that do (e.g. if profiled on an
about page, such as an executive management
team) should absolutely receive the semantic markup
treatment. Schema.org provides a specific markup
for individuals which can help individual listings
appear far more credible than without. For example,
properties under the Schema for Person include such
useful information as organizations they are affiliated
with, educational institutions they are alumni of and
awards theyve received.
CODING SAMPLE: wsm.co/peoplemarkup
Authorship
One of the most accessible types of semantic
markup is authorship markup, a feature available
through the official Schema that enables
authors, writers, bloggers, etc. to feature richer
profile information including personal photos,
the pages theyve authored, and more including a
link to their Google+ profile page). Authorship
markup has exploded in use over the past few
months, and provides a fast and relatively easy way
to dress up those often traditionally dull listings on
the search results.
mastering
search
Website Magazine has written extensively on the topic of
authorship markup, but as the Web search results become
richer and richer, those enterprises that fail to profile
key players in content marketing initiatives will find
theyve lost trust and likely sales as a result.
as to what
the future
will hold for
semantic
markup, well,
that depends
greatly on
whether digital
media workers
see the benefits
and take the
time to do so.
| A P R I L 2013
Testimonials & Reviews

By far one of the least used types of semantic markup
is that which accommodates testimonials and
reviews. Users reviews, as discussed in this issues
E-Commerce Express article, are a powerful means
by which enterprises can influence the purchasing
behavior of prospective customers. Using testimonials
in your marketing should be on the minds of every
SEO using the Schema.org markup for reviews is a
compelling addition to listings.
CODING SAMPLE: wsm.co/testimonialmarkup
Events
While the promotion of (or even attendance at)
actual, real-world events may be out of the realm of
possibility for many enterprises, those that do engage
in the marketing tactic have an additional exposure
opportunity on the search results pages thanks to the
schema markup for Events.
CODING SAMPLE: wsm.co/eventmarkup

Google gave the Web marketing community a gift
in Dec. 2012 with the release of its Data Highlighter
(available within Google Webmaster Tools accounts).
The tool enables users to tag data (name, location, date,
etc.) for events that are listed on a website to create
structured markup and rich snippets using a simple
point-and-click method.
Video
If you have a video featured on your website, it too can
have the semantic markup treatment. Using Schema.
orgs VideoObject provides SEOs an opportunity
to include information that can help the search
engines understand what the video is about. Google
has long provided video sitemaps, and that approach
certainly aids in efforts to crawl and analyze video
content, but support for VideoObject takes helping
Google understand what video content is about
several steps further.
CODING SAMPLE: wsm.co/videomarkup
Getting Started Guidance
During the development of this article, several
resources were discovered that help those interested in
mastering
search
schema markup to actually create the code that can be
included on their website properties. Check out both
MicrodataGenerator.com and Schema-Creator.org
both of which enable users of their free services to enter
the data and copy and paste properly.
| A P R I L 2013
The Future of Semantic markup

Search engines are actively beginning to include more
of this information within the search results. As to what
the future will hold for semantic markup, well, that
depends greatly on whether digital media workers see
the benefits and take the time to do so.
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express
CONSUMER REVIEWS
3 WAYS TO DRIVE ENGAGEMENT
By Allison Howen, Associate Editor
From good to bad to downright malicious

user reviews vary greatly.These snippets of
unltered opinions offer multiple benets to
merchants willing and able to market them
(appropriately). The rst being search engine
optimization, but the list of opportunities
doesnt stop there.
this is that product reviews build trust, and that trust

increases conversions.
There are plenty of ways for merchants to repurpose
this user-generated content for their benefit and that
of their consumers. While displaying reviews on a
website is definitely useful for consumers who are
already browsing there, merchants should also promote
positive reviews in all of their marketing initiatives
to reach a larger audience, both online and off. The
question becomes how merchants can implement
reviews into their broader marketing efforts.
Email Marketing
Consumer reviews can also increase audience
engagement and influence other shoppers purchasing
decisions. Eddie Machaalani, co-CEO of Bigcommerce,
is a big believer in their impact.
Consumer reviews and social proof have always
been one of the most powerful marketing tools, with
some analysts predicting its 33 percent of a consumers
purchasing decision, said Machaalani. The reason for
| A P R I L 2013
Few advertising channels can garner a better return

on investment (ROI) than email. Pair a promotional
email and consumer reviews, and its a winwin situation. For example, a merchant who is
launching an email campaign to promote their bestselling Valentines Day products could easily add a
favorable consumer review to complement the message.
This not only reminds the subscriber that the holiday
e- c o m m erce
express
is coming up, but also provides them with gift ideas
recommended by their peers.
One way merchants can implement reviews into
their email campaigns is with the Ratings and Review
solution that Listrak launched earlier this year. Instead
of manually inserting reviews into a message, this
solution automatically incorporates a merchants best
reviews into emails, which, according to the companys
CEO, can be very beneficial for merchants.
In addition to influencing immediate purchase
decisions, ratings and reviews can result in consumers
being more engaged with the brand, prolonging the
customer life cycle and increasing customer lifetime
value, said Listrak CEO Ross Kramer.
Email isnt the only place where merchants can use
reviews to grab their customers attention, as usergenerated content can also be leveraged to engage more
social consumers.
Social Media Marketing

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+
also provide merchants opportunities to promote their
positive consumer reviews and acquire new ones.
In fact, chances are that merchants are receiving
consumer reviews on these sites already. If this is the
case, they should make sure to not only engage with
| A P R I L 2013
Crests use of consumer reviews in this print ad is a creative way

of leveraging valuable, qualitative insights.
these customers on these networks, but also publicize

these reviews when possible. On Twitter, for example,
merchants should retweet their positive customer
feedback, while on Facebook and Google+, merchants
can start a Group or Community to encourage
consumer conversation.
One brand that effectively uses Facebooks Groups
to encourage consumer reviews is Listen to Your
Gut, an e-commerce retailer selling a line of natural
stomach care products. Social proof is important to
its business because holistic products are typically
alternative treatments to more widely used prescription
or over-the-counter medicine, thus less information
e- c o m m erce
express
is available about them. This is why the company
maintains an open Group Page on Facebook, which
is devoted to interacting with, and obtaining reviews
from, customers.
Visually driven social networks, like
YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram, also present
opportunities to encourage audience interactions
and promote consumer reviews. On YouTube,
merchants can post videos that show how
a new product works and ask for consumer
feedback in the comments section. By
doing this, merchants can increase product
awareness while engaging with their audience.
Businesses can also repurpose the video by
posting it on sites like Facebook and asking for
feedback from that social networks audience
too. Conversely, merchants can use a similar
strategy by publishing images of new or popular
products on Pinterest, Instagram or Tumblr and
then use these posts to ask for fan feedback or
publicize positive reviews from shoppers across
channels.
Even with all of these tactics, the Web isnt the
only place where consumer reviews can be put
to good use.
| A P R I L 2013
Offline Marketing
Merchants can integrate user reviews into their offline

marketing strategies to reach a whole new group of
consumers.
An example of a big-named brand that recently
used this tactic is Procter & Gamble. The company
e- c o m m erce
express
leveraged user reviews from ExpoTV to create an ad

for its Crest Pro-Health line, which ran in a variety
of magazines (see image).
The ad boldly quotes the
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www.WhosOn.com
which makes the
50 TOP Software Solutions to Explore reviews,
product more relatable to
Website Magazine
potential customers. The
ad also asks its audience to
submit their own product
reviews on Facebook.
Another way brickLive Chat & Customer Analytics
and-mortar retailers can
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incorporate flattering
reviews is through in-store
Live Visitor Chat
signage, a savvy practice
Live Visitor Analytics
in the age of smartphone Proactive Engagement
carrying customers. For
SaaS or On-premise Agile Business Solutions
example, merchants can
post QR codes next to
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consumer reviews for each
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| A P R I L 2013
Once positives reviews have been incorporated into

ones marketing strategies, one question remains.
What about
Negative Reviews?
Merchants are never thrilled to discover a negative
review on their site, but this undesirable user-generated
content is actually good for business sort of.
While it would not be a good idea to use these
reviews in acquisition initiatives, merchants can gain
valuable product insights from this customer feedback.
Machaalani, of Bigcommerce, suggests that negative
reviews can also help boost a merchants credibility.
Online retailers should think about being as
transparent as possible when it comes to reviews, said
Machaalani. Dont be scared of negative reviews or
worse, delete them. Studies have shown that shoppers
who read bad reviews convert 67 percent more. Why?
Because when a retailer only displays positive reviews it
can look suspicious or fake. Keep it honest and do your
best to work out your customers issues, which could
result in a positive review, too.
design
development
5 EVERYDAY NAVIGATION
TECHNIQUES TO MASTER
By Allison Howen, Associate Editor
One of the most effective ways for Web

designers to help meet a companys goals and
achieve the digital success they so desire, is by
implementing navigational elements on their
website designs that propel users forward
through the sales/lead funnel.
It is, after all, one of the only ways that designers can
directly influence conversions which clearly plays a
direct role in an enterprises success.
Lets take a look at some of those envelope-pushing,
mind-blowing, face-melting Web design techniques
and tactics that are helping Web pros across
various industries drive customers to take
decisive, positive action.
| A P R I L 2013
Floating Navigation
Floating (or fixed) navigation is a great way to ensure
the user can move freely throughout the site at any
time, said Josh Farkas, the founder of Cubicle Ninjas.
A floating navigational menu (see image A) rests
along the top (or bottom) of a website. Since its in a
fixed position however, it will move up or down as the
user scrolls. Floating navigation bars are particularly
useful on sites heavy with content or with multiple
conversion paths, because they keep users from
constantly having to scroll to the top or bottom of the
page to access links to other key sections of the website.
Image-based Navigation
The best website navigation designs that I have
seen include the use of large-scale, full-page width
content panels with oversized photography that
include JavaScript and jQuery animations, said Anton
Shepherd, the Web designer at SWC Technology
Partners. Large thumbnail images and full-scale
photography effortlessly showcase content and provide
a unique interactive experience.
de s i g n &
de v e l o pment
digest
Designers are increasingly turning to images as a
means to funnel users to different sections of a website.
While this strategy can require immense creative effort,
being conscious of the visual nature of the modern
user experience may pay big dividends to a companys
bottom line.
Parallax Scrolling
Right now, Im really interested in the HTML5
parallax-scrolling design, which provides a
unique experience for the user by guiding them
visually through the [pages] content, said
Stephen McQuaide, the manager of earned media at
The Search Agency and former Web designer. This
is not your traditional navigation, but it is a way to
navigate the user through your content and create a
story.
c
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| A P R I L 2013
Advertising agency McGarryBowen uses oating navigation effectively.
Drop-Down menus
Drop-down menus in navigation bars can enhance
the user experience, said Jessica Ivins, the senior UX
specialist at AWeber. They appear quickly, allowing
easy access to sub-categories within a menu. When
used in the right context, they can reduce the time it
takes for a visitor to navigate [a site].
These menus-within-a-menu provide additional
navigation options when a website visitor clicks or
hovers over an item within the primary and immediately
visible navigation menu. Using drop-down menus
helps designers not just make navigating a website
easier for users, but also de-clutter both pages and
menus. Its even useful, as you might imagine,
as a means to provide a hierarchy of information
(see image D on last page of article).
de s i g n &
de v e l o pment
digest
However, drop-down menus can become problematic
if designers rely too heavily on them.
Drop downs work best as an enhancement to a
standards-compliant and functional navigation menu,
said Ivins. If a navigation menu functions across all
devices, contains appropriate labels and looks beautiful,
it will achieve its intended goal for end-users. The menu
shouldnt depend upon the drop down.
K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid)
Effective navigation bars follow the less-is-more
paradigm and include links to only the most essential
pages within the website, said Avraham Cohn the
founder and CEO of Digital Development Consulting.
This minimalist look not only looks cleaner, but also
reduces the anxiety of the viewers as they navigate
through the site and, thus, improves conversions.
A minimalist website design presents a multitude
of benefits for both site owners and their users. It
dramatically simplifies navigation (making it easier to
direct visitors to those areas of a site that will inspire
conversions) and increases the speed and performance
of a website, particularly on mobile devices, in addition
to making the content easier to read and follow. Plus,
the more minimal a sites design is, the better it is at
accentuating calls-to-action and letting users know
what they should do on a site.
| A P R I L 2013
Im annoyed when websites dont have a clear call-toaction, said Jeff Blettner, a Web designer at Formstack.
Every site has a purpose and, therefore, should have
a call-to-action that should be stated clearly on the
homepage, front and center. Scattered calls-to-action
will result in scattered conversions.
learn to Adapt
A strong, well-conceived website design should
naturally utilize the best available navigation
techniques to help direct users to specific aspects
of the site and inspire them to convert using
thoughtful routing tactics and easy-to-understand
calls-to-action. As the Web continues to evolve,
designers will have to work harder to come up with new
ways to help users navigate their websites. Fortunately,
there are plenty of creative ways to do that already, and
the best part is that innovation never stops.
View Images
B,C and D on
the next page
Using parallax scrolling, Nintendo takes users on a trip through

where its Mario Kart product has been and where it is going.
Notice the supplementary navigational guide on the bottom of
each screen, which can help users skip pages or go back.
D
| A P R I L 2013
Get Satisfactions use of a drop-down

menu helps prioritize and organize
information.
CONTENT
THAT SELLS
By Peter Prestipino editor-In-Chief
Content marketing is the digital tactic du jour among

the new media elite, but its not enough to just produce
content. Todays savviest digital enterprises must relate
to their audience with content that motivates, involves,
captivates and excites the user, because thats the
content that drives results.
| A P R I L 2013
So how are the top enterprises using content

marketing today? What methods do they employ for developing
and distributing information and analyzing their contentrelated performance? This months Website Magazine feature
answers these important questions and others to help
set your enterprise on a profitable course down the content
marketing road.
CM stAtistiCs
unleAsHeD
Content marketing has captured the attention of the digerati for
two reasons. Primarily, it is accessible from a cost and development
perspective. Secondly, it flat out works. When marketers receive
a return on their content investment, theyre going to keep at
it. Today, enterprises are aggressively testing different tactics,
distributing content to more destinations and spending money to
make it happen.
According to a recent study on content marketing from
MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute,
there is some uncertainty in relation to whether tactics are
being used effectively, but organizations are seemingly unafraid
to engage in the pursuit. The B2B Content Marketing: 2013
Benchmarks, Budgets, and TrendsNorth America report
revealed that, on average, B2B content marketers are spending
33 percent of their marketing budgets on content marketing, up
from 26 percent last year. Whats more, 54 percent plan to increase
content marketing spending in 2013. If ever there were a time to
get started, its now.
| A P R I L 2013
enHAnCinG tHe
DeFinition oF
Content MArKetinG
Beat Digital
Writers Block
What can you do if youre
struggling to get a few
characters on the screen?
Hear from professional
content marketers on how
they overcome writers
block and keep the
content owing at
Depending on your vantage

point, you might think digital
marketers have all gone content
crazy. They are sometimes wildly
developing and distributing their
content, but too few have any
formal strategy, a serious problem
wsm.co/digitalwritersblock
for brands in a far more crowded
and demanding environment.
Perhaps the problem is that theres no single definition of the
practice. Theres a difference between content marketing and
content strategy (some might argue that content development
also differs). The result of all this confusion is an absolute content
mess. If youre serious about leveraging content within your digital
marketing, its essential to have a formal strategy in place.
The strategic element of content demands attention to objectives,
audience personas and analysis. The marketing of content relates
primarily to how content is curated and distributed and how
strategic objectives are executed. Both strategy and marketing, as
well as content development, require involvement with a variety of
tools, channels and techniques, many of which are quickly proving
necessary in order to attract, acquire and engage both current and
potential customers and drive profitable customer interactions.
The good news? When done well, content marketing works
but not without some effort..
When it comes to content marketing its important to keep in

mind the end goal for your content marketing strategy, said Alexis
Karlin of Percussion Software. For instance we track the success of
content marketing through inbound lead generation, bounce rate,
marketing qualified leads, click-through rate and new visits. This is
tracked on a daily basis, measured against content themes monthly
and reviewed quarterly. Using this data helps us understand where
we need to add more content, produce more email campaigns and
reach out for guest posts.
With a better (or at least enhanced) definition of content
marketing, and some confidence that the right strategy will yield
positive results, the next phase should be to consider what content
marketing means to your enterprise specifically and that starts with
knowing your audience.
Content For tHe AuDienCe

The practice of creating a user persona of an ideal customer
is the perfect place to start. This persona includes age and gender of
course, but that information alone is too limiting. It is also important
to know how often users will purchase, their average spend
(or income) and, most importantly, how long that prospective
customer will take to convert into a paying customer once in the
sales funnel. The more you know, the better you will be able to
market exclusively to them. Website Magazine has put together
a guide to developing website audience personas available at
wsm.co/audiencepersonas.
Strangely, its not enough to understand the marketing contents
intended audience. Its also important to consider how a marketers
| A P R I L 2013
own bias may influence strategy decisions. When assumptions are

successfully mitigated, they wont improperly influence the content
marketing strategy.
Despite all the big data at our collective disposal, marketers
experiences tend to dictate the conversation, and more often than
not, its just way off base. ExactTarget released a new chapter in
their Subscribers, Fans, and Followers series called Marketers
from Mars, which contends that the modern marketer is far ahead
of his or her consumer counterparts. For example, 90 percent of
marketers own smartphones but only 51 percent of consumers do.
There are, of course, certain areas where the two groups think
similarly. As you can see in the chart on the next page, the differences
seem to outweigh the similarities in number and in what they

represent. ExactTarget asked both marketers and consumers where
brands should be spending their time and effort in order to increase
customer loyalty and service and what they found will downright
shock you.
For example, marketers have long believed that the secret to
an active Facebook page is the use of related content (e.g. not
one promotional update after another). Twenty-three percent of
marketers agree, but only 6 percent of consumers thought this was
a good idea. Consumers do want more Facebook posts, but mostly,
they want to consume information through email and websites. Are
you producing content for appropriate users, in the format they are
most likely to consume it? If not, you dont know your audience.
tHe PHAses oF user DeMAnD
Using content to drive awareness, loyalty and, of course, sales is far

from a new practice. Online marketers have always used content.
What has changed is when and how content is used within the
buying cycle.
In essence, enterprises are finally realizing the potential of
their content as a means to influence users and drive response
across channels. When you know where users are in their own
personalized buying experience, the type of content you develop
begins to play an important role.
One of the best practices that content marketers can engage in
is to align the type of content they are creating to where users are
within their individual buying cycle. As they begin the often-lengthy
purchase experience, marketers will need to address the phases
| A P R I L 2013
Content
Marketing Toolbox
of awareness, consideration and

to run an effective content
finally, the actual decisions. Often
marketing campaign, you
however, its more common for
have to have the right tools at
brands to address just one of
your disposal. review Website
these important phases, typically
Magazines 2013 Content
the one closest to the actual
Marketing toolbox and access
conversion. Theres a better way.
the top research, analytics and
For example, in an awareness
social media offerings at
phase, brands can address the
wsm.co/cmtoolbox
business problem, detail the
requirements and highlight the
objectives of implementing such solutions within their content. In
the active consideration phase, content should help users explore
their actual options, research solutions and determine an overall
strategy. Finally, as consumers reach the decision phase, businesses
should publish content related to specific products and vendors,
help their users build short lists, assess potential ROI and make the
decision.
Different products and services will have different content
demands, but the source and type of content matters greatly within
each phase. For example, the act of distributing quality content
through online communities can have strong SEO implications,
which is useful in the awareness phase. In the consideration phase,
email newsletters and whitepapers are valuable. Lastly, demos, free
trials and case studies can make a positive impact in the decision
phase.
Business-related content of the past tended to focus on promotion
of the business. While there is certainly a time and place for
that, there are many alternative opportunities. For example, is

your content solving an immediate or pressing problem? Is it
making something they do or are responsible for easier? The
objective now is to help users overcome obstacles. Publishing (and
distributing) content to do exactly that puts your enterprise on the
fast track to marketing success. So why not turn to users for content
inspiration?
Remember, were solving problems and driving action, so content
should do the same. To do so, enterprises must understand even
more about their users, which is why its important to survey those
users and audience regularly. Website Magazine Associate Editor
Allison Howen recently put together a list of digital platforms for
obtaining customer feedback, a terrific starting point for just this
sort of effort, available at wsm.co/feedbackplatforms.
Of course, it doesnt have to all be so strategic. You could opt to
fly by the seat of your virtual pants and leverage the vast amount
of real-time data available to create content in hopes it will drive
response. Bitlys recent public release of its new social data API,
provides one such good opportunity.
The amount of information that is shortened, shared and
ultimately clicked by Web users is absolutely staggering. With
the new bitly API, its possible to access the content that is
actively being shared across all of the social networks. The API
provides three types of functionality to access, including real-time
search data, attention spikes and metadata about the URLs being
shared.
So how can this information be used for content marketing?
Well, when you know whats trending, and are monitoring social
| A P R I L 2013
data in real time for attention spikes, the choices made in terms
of what content youll publish will naturally be better. This means
youll guess wrong less often, because those decisions are rooted in
empirical evidence (data).
Distribution
When most Web professionals think of content marketing, they
think primarily of where their content will be distributed. Theyre
not wrong to do so, but hopefully, they are also thinking of their
brands content strategy, the audience that will consume it, and
have the content assets ready to send into the channels that will
drive new and repeat visits to their digital property. In short, its as
much about curation and topic ideation as it is distribution.
According to Percussions Karlin, we use tools such
DivvyHQ, InboundWriter and Google Alerts. We integrate
DivvyHQ with our CMS, Percussion CM1. Through a dashboard
widget, were able to keep track of our content through an easyto-use editorial calendar. To help with optimizing our content
for search engines, such as Google, we use InboundWriter. This
tool helps us pick a specific keyword for our content and optimize
each post for those keywords. And to come up with new ideas to
post about we use Google alerts to notify us on the use of specificindustry keywords. We can write a response post, generate a white
paper from it or even comment on the new post.
Content distribution, however, definitely plays an integral role
in the marketing tactics success. Not all enterprises will be drawn
to using third-party tools and services for the sake of distribution;
often, brands let users play a vital role in the process.
We use the AddThis widget in order to get our blogs and content
shared across a wide range of social media, and we measure the
viral level using AddThiss reporting features, said Ian Aronovich,
President and Co-Founder of GovernmentAuctions.org. We also
have Awardable.com run giveaway events for us, which helps us
increase and encourage social interactions via sharing. Since we
started doing that, weve seen a huge increase in the buzz we are
able to generate via users and readers of our content, which over
time translates into more customers.
More often than not, unfortunately, brands involved with content
marketing have a far too narrow scope on the channels and methods
by which content can be distributed. Those that are open to all the
possibilities, stand to reap the most reward.
One key weve found to online content is to make use of all your
channels (blogs, email, social) as well as to blend in appropriate PR
tactics, like news releases, said Doyle Albee, President of Metzger
Associates. For example, we frequently get both online and
traditional media coverage for a client in IT security by offering a
point-of-view on a current event in the industry, rather than hoping
reporters and editors see our blog post. We will issue a news release
(in addition to the other items noted, above) indicating were
available for comment. This generates not only coverage, but also
offers for guest blog posts, contributed articles, etc.
Yet its the email channel that for most marketers will yield the
best results. According to Andrew Knibbe, CMO at Flippa, Email
has been our biggest driver to the site, so we spend a fair amount
of time making sure we send timely, relevant emails with optimal
content and subject lines. This relates to both our weekly newsletter
| A P R I L 2013
(with site announcement and other content we think our users will
love) and to our transactional emails (bid notifications, prompts,
receipts, watch list notifications).
The most important element of your content marketing efforts,
as it relates to distribution, is where users end up once content has
been distributed into search engines, through email and within
social media networks. Thats right, you need to control the user
experience and theres no better place to do that on your own
property. Users need to be on a businesss digital property if the aim
is to get them to complete the brands objective sales conversions
or leads. But what works best?
Weve found that a mix of site announcement, guest posts and
round-ups of relevant links from elsewhere keeps our readers
coming back to the site and engaging with our content and
platform, said Flippas Knibbe. Since our product is fairly niche,
our content is aimed at educating our current and future users.
With time, this content ranks well in Google, bringing in new
users.We publish 2-3 blog posts per week, and have increased our
newsletter sends to weekly in the last year with very positive results.
In the last three months, we have ramped up our marketing efforts,
publishing content on other blogs read by our target groups. We
also distribute wider announcements to a list of bloggers in our
niche, which means our most active users will often read about our
product on several channels over a given week.
Content AnAlytiCs
With so much more content now being distributed, the analysis of
these marketing efforts in particular is of paramount importance
buts its not always easy.

Andy Crestodina, Strategic Director at OrbitMedia and author of
Content Chemistry: An Illustrated Guide to Content Marketing said
the following about how his agency uses online content to drive
results: The trick is to create content with the promotion in mind.
Ideally, a single piece of content gets traction in all three major
channels: search, social and email.
The nature of this traffic looks very different when youre
measuring the results in Analytics. Social traffic looks a bit chaotic.
Its hard to predict. On the other hand, email traffic is very consistent.
It looks like a heartbeat on an EKG machine. Search traffic can be
very slow to build up, but over time can look like a long slow line
or curve upward.
Using traditional metrics, such as unique visitors and page views,
time-on-site and bounce rate are reliable metrics to use when
analyzing content marketing, but a new crop of solutions has
emerged that are designed to provide more meaningful cues as to
how these initiatives are really working.
Glam Media, a vertical social media company focused on
lifestyle, partnered with SaaS analytics company Moat to measure its
content engagement and effectiveness beyond common measures,
such as page views and social shares. With all the current chatter
about content marketing, you would think there would be a virtual
flood of solutions to help marketers understand how content is
performing, but, alas, they are only now starting to emerge.
Glam Content Analytics for example, which is powered by Moat,
helps digital enterprises determine just how much attention a user
is paying to a particular piece of branded content and how that
| A P R I L 2013
attention benchmarks against other campaigns. As more and more

marketers start leveraging content marketing, and distributing brand
assets far and wide through the virtual world, content performance
(and the solutions being used to understand that data) is definitely
going to receive more attention.
In the case of Glams new content analytics offering, the users
attention is examined through focus-related attributes, such as
whether the user is actively scrolling through the content and how
much time is spent with the content in the users active browser
window, among other factors. Overall, I think youll see just how
important this will be to those investing anything in the tactic.
Content MArKetinG PlAn (MADE SIMPLE)

Content marketing is a valuable part of any business strategy and
it comes in many forms. Its implementation, however, remains
underutilized. A study by digital marketing company IMN found
that 78 percent of companies surveyed placed content marketing
as a high or medium-to-high priority yet only 52 percent reported
a formal content marketing strategy was in place for every channel
of distribution.
There is obviously a sizable disconnection between content
marketing ideals and reality however. With so many mediums for
promotion and brand building, for content marketing tactics to
work they need to be specific. Not only is specificity needed, but
so is planning. Without a formal plan, how can businesses ever
market their products or services in an optimized way?
Despite blogs and websites flooded with advice for content
marketing and numerous agencies and consultancy groups that
can handle it on behalf of the clients, companies are still awash

in buzz word philosophy that is not grounded in actual practice.
Website Magazine has put together a visual resource for those
considering a content marketing initiative, containing details
on the best course of action for planning the content
marketing experience from audience research,
to content production and analysis available at
wsm.co/contentmarketing2013.
The power of content marketing makes it irresistible
to brands both large and small. When approached with
a thorough strategy, with an eye on serving users meaningful
information and using appropriate performance indicators to
measure success, your content will sell.
| A P R I L 2013
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simplifying the recurring
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subscription Billing saas
By Michael Garrity, Associate editor
Web businesses that offer products, services

or information based on a subscription model
spend a lot of time and effort managing
customer billing and payments. This process
only grows more complex as a business
acquires more customers. Scaling to handle
these new accounts can quickly get out of hand.
| A P R I L 2013
SOFTWARE
eVeRYWHeRe
In an effort to correct the problem, many Internet-savvy professionals

turn to subscription billing software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to
automate the process.
Automated Advantages
Many benefits exist for those businesses willing to hop on the
subscription billing SaaS bandwagon. Ultimately, they all come
down to helping you, the provider, save both time and money.
SaaS-based automated billing systems streamline subscription
billing and the entire renewal process, which can include everything
from email notifications to automatically retrying failed payments.
These features can dramatically improve efficiency and increase
revenues.
Some of the other advantages that go along with using a subscriber
billing SaaS are access to APIs, improved security measures and PCI
compliance, as many of these are compliant from the initial build.
These services also offer some payment choices, including options
for different payment gateways and the billing needs of different
customers, as well as the ability to offer trial periods, promotions,
and plan upgrades or downgrades.
But perhaps the most useful benefit to these systems
is the instant access to key metrics, such as the number
of sign-ups a business receives, monthly and/or daily revenue,
outstanding accounts and more. Most of them will even let
users customize how data is presented and integrated into
their websites.
| A P R I L 2013
Selecting the Right SaaS

The demand for subscription billing SaaS solutions has caused a
proliferation of software choices for business owners, which means
there are a number of options to choose from. To select the right
system, its important to consider a businesss unique needs and
those of its customers.
The first major step to take when choosing recurring billing
software is to decide what types of payments to accept. Most
businesses will likely want to take credit card payments, but others
will want to consider automated clearing house (ACH) payments
or alternative services like PayPal. A merchant account may be
needed for those accepting credit card of ACH payments, so finding
a subscription billing solution that integrates them will remove the
cumbersome step of having to make separate purchases for an
account and billing system.
Payment considerations dont stop there. Merchants
also need to prepare for any payment acceptance needs they might
have beyond recurring billing, such as one-time payments or
charges. Beyond that, businesses need to be aware of how much
technical expertise is needed to run an online recurring payment
service.
Some solutions provide complete control over the payment
experience, but require immense technical resources and expertise,
while others offer customizable-hosted payment forms that
automate subscription sign-ups and online payment processing.
For this reason, it is important to know how much flexibility youll
With so many great choices out there, theres

need in your recurring payment collection options, and how much
of the payment process a merchant will want to automate before
selecting a solution.
Another variable to consider is what a businesss reporting needs
will be, specifically, if it wants (or requires) a system that proactively
notifies staff when there are potential issues that may hinder the
automated billing process, such as a credit card that is about to
expire. Data sharing needs should also be top-of-mind because if
other systems need to integrate with the billing software, that needs
to be factored in as well.
Subscription Billing SaaS Providers

If your business is in the market and you sell your product or
services directly on the Web or through a mobile application, there
are many different providers to consider.
Authorize.net
The popular payment gateway provider Authorize.net offers an
Automated Recurring Billing (ARB) solution that lets its users
submit and manage recurring transactions that can be created
manually or in Web checkout forms.
Fusebill
This automated and flexible recurring billing and payment solution
was designed with mid-sized businesses in mind. Fusebill helps
manage billing throughout the customer life cycle. Features include
account creation through recurring payments and invoices and
| A P R I L 2013
no reason you shouldntswitch over to a subscription billing saas to simplify your payment
processes right now.
support for an entire organization, including accounting/billing

operations, sales, marketing and management.
Avangate
Avangate offers a quick setup process and its users can customize
the purchase experience for customers and even offer their products
to consumers around the world. It also comes with the industrys
highest security standards, including fraud checking, secure order
pages and PCI compliance.
Chargify
Customers can charge using flat, metered or tiered pricing with the
Chargify recurring billing solution, which even offers functionality
for the use of coupons and setup fees. Chargify helps manage the
entire subscription cycle, from sign-ups and trials to payments and
upgrades; it even covers affiliate payouts. And all of this is secured
and PCI compliant.
Of course, there are many other solutions that you could use, such
as Billing Circle, Zuora, SaaSy, Monexa, Recurly, SubscriptionBridge
and CheddarGetter. With so many great choices out there, theres
no reason you shouldnt switch over to a subscription billing SaaS
to simplify your payment processes right now.
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| A P R I L 2013
digital agency
Matchmaking
When and how to start the process

By Lisa Barone, VP of Strategy at Overit Media
I work on the agency side of the digital marketing world, which

means I regularly meet with new clients to discuss their needs,
goals and experiences. These conversations are incredibly
enlightening in terms of understanding their needs. Theyve
also taught me that businesses struggle to understand when
its time to consult an agency and how they need to prepare
for this meeting. Here are experience-driven tips to finding a
rewarding match.
When to Consult a Marketing Agency

As business owners and proud marketers, we often want
to do everything ourselves. We believe we are the best
person to touch our site and that we know better than
anyone does about what our customers want.
| A P R I L 2013
This is 100 percent true. Until its not. There comes a time when
its best to consult an outside agency for strategy, implementation
or even to hand off entire parts of your project. By not seeking
help, you are actually doing a disservice to your company.
How to Find the Right Marketing Agency
What are signs it is time to partner with a marketing agency?
Ask Them: What are your areas of specialty?

The digital agencies you interview may have experience in a wide
range of disciplines, but what do they think theyre best at? As a
prospective client, their answer will give you a more intimate look
at the agency and their perceived strengths. You want to work
with an agency that shares your view of the market, your beliefs
and your similar goals. If you think video is the next hot ticket,
you want your agency to be excited about videos potential, as
well. More than that, you want them to have expertise in video.
Youre chronically overextended and doing too much

outside of your expertise
Leads have stopped for you, not your competitors
Employees are unhappy (and leaving)
Many business owners delay working with a marketing agency
because trying to find an agency that is capable and trustworthy
can be needlessly intimidating. Aligning yourself with the right
marketing agency takes asking the right questions, of both
yourself and your potential partner.
Ask Yourself: What do you need?
Answering this questions means preparing for the conversation
with key information like:
What areas of your business are working?
Where do you think you need help?
Where are your competitors strengths and weaknesses?
Where do you want your business to go?
| A P R I L 2013
Whats most important is that youve identified your needs and

goals. By relaying this information to your agency, theyll be able
to draw the lines for you.
Ask Yourself: What is your preferred client/

agency relationship?
Youve already invested your time, blood, sweat and tears into
your marketing efforts. Thats what got you here. So dont hand
it off to anyone without ensuring youre getting the client/agency
relationship that works best for you. Ask yourself:
Do you want to be actively involved in the entire process?
Do you want an agency thats going to act like a third-party
consultant or blend into your existing team?
For most clients, Id recommend only pairing with an agency
that is willing to become part of your larger team. This is someone
who will be excited to understand your whole business, your

goals and how their efforts will complement your entire
marketing strategy. Success happens with full integration.
Ask Them: What is your work process like for
projects like mine?
Every agency will have a different approach to your project.
Some start working before your signature is dry and others
will require an initial brainstorm or planning session. At some
agencies youll have a single point of contact (usually an account
manager), while others will assign you different people for each
department working on your project.
Understanding your agencys work process will lay the
groundwork for a relationship of open dialogue, idea sharing
and a stronger result. Take the time to understand not only how
your project will get work done, but also who will be involved
and how youll be brought into the loop. If a company cannot
articulate how things are done, take that as a sign they may not
get it done.
Knowing when to bring in an agency and how to
find them takes time and research. However, an agency that
understands your goals and shares your vision can help grow
your business to depths you could not have reached without
their specific expertise.
| A P R I L 2013
INSIGHTS On AnALYTICS
HELPLESS
if youre dealing with the growing Keyword Not
Provided problem, youre working in the dark
By Michael Garrity, Associate Editor
in late 2011, Google implemented a major change, forcing

search engine optimization professionals to work in the virtual
dark, as keyword-level data from users logged into and
searching on Google was no longer available to them. While
the change has benefits to users (improved privacy/security,
faster speeds and an improved overall experience), it has been
a significant problem for digital media professionals. the issue
is only getting worse.
The problem is these professionals no longer have information on
why Google search engine users are showing up at their websites.
This is particularly detrimental for SEOs, as that data is essential to
running any halfway decent optimization campaign and driving
traffic to websites from natural/organic results.
As Tad Miller, vice president of accounts at Search
Mojo, puts it, It makes it harder to justify your existence as an
SEO.
The Growing Epidemic

When Google first announced the change, it impacted less
than 10 percent of queries. The situation has gotten much
worse leaving many to wonder if Google knew exactly how far
reaching the implications would be for websites.
I think that Google definitely underestimated the impact this
would have, said Shannon Welch, the director of Web analytics at
Terakeet Corporation.
| A P R I L 2013
INSIGHTS On AnALYTICS
According to Welch, keyword not provided has had a pretty

huge impact on her work, and it is currently affecting the companys
top-three keyword searches.
It makes our job to improve searches for users more difficult,
said Welch. Its hard to come up with concrete answers with a
large percentage of branded traffic not provided.
Miller, whose company works with a mix of B2B and consumer
brands, has noticed similar problems. He reports that Search Mojo
has some clients with 50 percent of their traffic encrypted, so
obviously that makes it completely impossible to do any year-overyear analysis.
But this isnt an isolated problem, as Optify released a study in
late 2012 showing that 39 percent of Google search terms are
shown as not provided, and that 64 percent of companies are
now seeing between 30-50 percent of their traffic displayed as such
in Google Analytics.
Before It Gets Better

Anxiety about the future of keyword not provided is getting more
intense thanks to an increasingly tech-savvy customer base for
many online companies.
According to Welch, one of the biggest problems has to do with
what your audience is. If your users are generally Google-heavy or
younger and likely to have a Gmail account, its more of a problem.
Adding to that concern is a recent change to the Chrome browser
(v25), as all searches that are conducted in the address bar (or
Omnibox) will now also be encrypted, even if users that arent
logged into Google accounts conduct them.
Unfortunately, there doesnt seem to be any way to slow down
| A P R I L 2013
Google Got
You Down?
the adoption of Googles online

There are
al
services, all of which require users
to the W ternatives
eb
to sign up for a Google account.
popular a s most
The problem is only going to
service. F nalytics
in
get worse as Google tries to push
wsm.co/ d them at
googlealt
people to get involved in Google+
s
because of the personalization it
provides in the search results, said Miller.
How to Deal
To date, there hasnt been much that Web professionals can do to
combat the keyword-not-provided problem, but that doesnt mean
theyre not trying.
Our work around has been to look at the year-over-year traffic
on a page and gather from the history what data is provided and
what keywords drive the most traffic to a page, said Miller. Say
a homepage has a 20 percent drop [from that] we can usually
assert that searches for a brand name are down.
Meanwhile, Welch has been creating custom filters in the
Advanced Segments section of Google Analytics and rendering
landing pages for not provided keywords to see just where those
particular searchers are trying to go.
Creating landing pages and custom reports have so far become
some of the industrys best (and only) practices for dealing with
this issue, as they are one of the only ways to fill in the gaps left by
missing keyword data. For now, its just a temporary solution to the
very big problem.
We can do work arounds, guess and assume, but were still
missing a lot of data, said Welch.
mObIlE MATTeRS
App-ly
Common Sense
to App Development
By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor
The amount of time consumers spend interacting with

mobile apps in the U.S. is growing. In fact, Flurry Analytics
report that between Dec. 2011 and Dec. 2012 that number
grew by 35 percent. By their measurement, U.S. consumers
are also spending more time in apps than on the Web. Does
this mean we should all be racing to build apps? Well, yes
and no. We look to several industry experts to gain some
common, yet overlooked, sense in this app-building journey,
as well as some inspiration.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Q Do we need an app?
Id wager the majority of business needs can be solved by HTML

responsive design, with a mobile-first mindset, said Seth Banks,
Founder of Cashboard. Responsive design lowers the barrier to
mobile and offers more bang for your buck than building an app for
the App Store or Google Play. Frameworks like Gumby.css make
responsive design dead easy. We leveraged this framework for our
recent redesign, and weve seen a huge spike in conversions since.
| A P R I L 2013
mObIlE MATTeRS
In my mind, apps are the realm of software companies. Theyre

overkill for your average retailer or Web business.
Q Whats
the users incentive to download
and use the app?
Too many companies build apps that are nothing but a miniversion of their sales portal, which is fine if youre Walmart or
Target, said Ron Rule, CEO of Coracent. If youre selling trinkets
from a shop down by the beach, you dont need an app, just a good
mobile website.
Q How will you monetize the app?
There are a number of ways to monetize an application, but if

the customer does not have a clear plan, or we cant help them
quickly arrive at one, it is usually a good sign that they shouldnt
spend money to build it, said Ryan Stemkoski, interactive director
at Zipline Interactive.
Questions to Ask a Developer
Q What services do you specialize in?

You want to avoid shops that simply dont offer the expertise youre
looking for, said Jay Melone, CEO at DigitalXBridge. However,
also beware of the shops that promise everything under the sun.
Theyll either be a large agency with a hefty budget or trying to
| A P R I L 2013
be everything to everyone, with no

specific area of expertise.
Q prices
What are the
of past
projects?
DIY Ap
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Buildin
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bu
yoursel ild an app? Do
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Most developers will have a portfolio of

their best apps, so ask them what the cost was of the ones
theyre showing you, said Rule. If your budget is $10,000, it doesnt
matter how great someones $50,000 app was; you need to know
what they can do within your budget.
b2C App Inspiration
Experts Speak: for more app inspiration (including B2B apps), visit wsm.
co/appspiration
Uber is a good B2C app, and a great example of a mobile application that seems
simple, but in fact has a very complex back-end, because it involves exchanging money
and geolocation. For an app like Uber, an organization should pick their dev firm very
carefully, ensuring they have experience in this field.
Sean Ziolko
Designer at KTA
Most inspiring B2C app is Square. Accepting mobile payments is just pure brilliance.
This app makes it easier to set up a store without getting entangled with usurious and
dated payment processors.
Joshua R. Simmons
CEO of Bluebird Interactive
WEb HOSTInG PAneL
ClouD VPs
For beGinners
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
By Jason Silverglate
From bloggers to retailers, it seems that everyone

has their heads (and businesses) in the cloud.
Left and right, decision makers are entering the cloud-hosting
sphere and leveraging its power to obtain a structurally sound
digital presence (from blogging software to e-commerce platforms)
that can help them attain online dominance. In case you still need
convincing, here is a general overview of what cloud hosting and,
more specifically, virtual private servers (VPS), can do for you.
blog On
In todays Internet-centric world, people in the know understand
that blogging is much more than simply sharing their thoughts
with the digital world. Bloggers understand that their craft is a
way to attract and keep ad revenue coming to a website. Through
various means and tactics (search, social and email), professional
bloggers can attract ad revenue and keep it there.
Cloud-hosting providers offer multiple blogging platforms, such
as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. Yet, competent suppliers also
offer lesser-known blogging platforms to their clients; these include
b2evolutions, Chyrp, Dotclear, eggBlog, Open Blog, PivotX, Pixie,
Serendipity and Textpattern. It should also be noted that the best
hosts offer these platforms using a one-click installation process that
| A P R I L 2013
WEb HOSTInG PAneL
makes your busy life much easier. So, blogging should definitely be
the first thing you use your cloud virtual private server (VPS) for.
Sell, Sell, Sell
Alright, so maybe writing isnt for you; maybe your role is in sales.
Theres cloud hosting for that, too, in the form of e-commerce
websites. But first, you need to figure out which e-commerce
platform is right for you. Will it be Magento or Avactis? How
about CubeCart or BoxBilling? Or maybe even Axis, AbanteCart
or AlegroCart? Whatever your choice, all of these solutions will
allow you to utilize your cloud-hosting platform to make a ton of
money and capitalize on all the incoming traffic youll gain by using
scalable cloud technologies to meet the growing needs of your
e-commerce business. So, dont rule out e-commerce as a great
method for making money using your cloud-hosting platform.
Do Your Homework
We have covered blogging and selling, but we forgot one (big)
thing. See, both options require analysis. Whether you are analyzing
incoming traffic and bounce rates or how long it takes for your
customer to order their product, analysis is essential for you,
the person who makes his or her living off of tracking numbers,
optimizing click-through rates and figuring out ways to bring
in more traffic. Now we cant tell you which application to use,
personally we cant get enough of Piwik, but we can let you in on
some of the most popular website analytics, polling and survey
applications, including Aardvark Topsites, Advanced Poll, CJ
Dynamic Poll, LimeSurvey, Logaholic, Open Web Analytics, Simple
| A P R I L 2013
Into the Cloud!
This article sc
ratches the
surface of the
many available
platforms ava
businesses lo ilable for
oking for Web
success in my
riad ways.
Dig deeper w
ith Website
Magazines B
ig List o
Source Softw f Open
are at
PHP Poll and, of course,

Piwik.
These offerings will
provide your enterprise
with real-time reports on
website visitors, the search
wsm.co/oss13
engines and keywords
your visitors used
to access your site, the
language they speak, where they are from, the most
popular pages, etc. Essentially, with these apps you can know
everything about your visitor without having to consult Google
Webmaster Tools (but lets be honest, you are probably going to
use Google Webmaster Tools, and certainly Google Analytics, to
get a second opinion on your website performance numbers). As
with blogging and e-commerce platforms, the best providers offer
a one-click install.
Is That All?
Nope! You should know cloud hosting can also be used for online
ad management, calendars, customer support, database tools, ERP,
forums, gaming, etc. Cloud hosting has many uses and this is,
admittedly, a broad overview, but with so many positive uses, only
one question remains. What are you waiting for?
FortressITX CEO Jason Silverglate entered the Web hosting universe in
1997. Silverglate spends his time pushing the bounds of cloud hosting
technologies, educating small businesses on the benefits of cloud
infrastructures and throwing himself into anything tech.
INTERNET ADVeRTISInG
Keep your ad strategy
Ahead of the
Game in 2013
By Jeremy Bloom, Co-Founder of Integrate
The technology advancements of 2011 and 2012 will drive

the platform and product adoptions of 2013. Marketers are
already starting to push away the antiquated solutions
of yesteryear in favor of automated, real-time tools that
enable omnichannel strategies. So, what can you expect
from the Net advertising of the future?
mobile RTb will take off in a big way

In 2012, U.S. marketers spent $2 million-plus on digital display
ads purchased through a real-time bidding (RTB) exchange
or platform, doubling the previous years figures. The value of
RTB is clear: It provides advertisers with the ability to reach a
unique user in real time, increasing ad relevance and spend
efficiency. Most Internet users have an identifiable browsing
history supported by cookies, and advertisers can use RTBenabled exchanges and platforms to pinpoint specific audience
segments using cookie-based targeting.
Mobile, one of the fastest-growing marketing channels, has
been all but absent from the RTB chatter due to its lack of cookie
targeting. Mobile inventory is currently available on an RTB basis
only through specialized providers, such as Turn, Moolah Media
and Tapad. However, 2013 will be different, as we can expect to see
| A P R I L 2013
a meteoric rise of RTB in the mobile space courtesy of Facebooks

cookie-less mobile ad network, giving advertisers the ability to
purchase high volumes of mobile display inventory using RTB
systems.
Although RTB-powered mobile ad buying is currently
available, adoption has been slow to ramp up. More
accurately, adoption rates are closely following industry trends.
|Since mobile ads usually redirect to a mobile site or an app store
landing page, buying mobile ads on an RTB basis is reasonable only
if your mobile site is optimized for mobile devices or your goal is
app downloads.
Further, although the rise of mobile advertising has made
it easier for marketers to reach their target audiences on
the move, tracking and attribution platforms cannot accurately
compare the performance of mobile ads to other paid
media, at least not currently. This limits the effectiveness of
mobile analytics on the path to understanding how
mobile ads drive users through conversion paths. As more marketers
develop and optimize increasingly engaging mobile experiences
and learn to quantify the bottom-line result of mobile ads with
evolving cross-channel media attribution platforms, mobile RTB
spending will increase.
The elephant in the room, and what will largely determine the
rate at which mobile RTB ad buying grows, is Facebooks mobile
ad network. The social network recently paused a test of its beta
ad network, which allowed marketers to serve ads on third-party
mobile apps using Facebook targeting data. This nifty feature
| A P R I L 2013
circumvents the problem

targeting mobile users
without cookies and enables
advertising based on the
content that Facebook users
have shared or liked.
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3
Strategy #1: Prepare yourself for the return

of Facebooks mobile ad network by experimenting with
current mobile RTB platforms like EveryScreen Media, Strike Ad
and Tapad, but only if your mobile sites and landing pages are
optimized for the small screen. If your goal isnt app installs, dont
waste time with mobile ads until youve created a flawless mobile
experience.
b2b will look more like b2C
B2B marketers have traditionally paid 10 times more than B2C
marketers for media buys due to the finite inventory that exists
in the B2B market. With the advent of programmatic buying, and
more B2B marketers becoming involved in retargeting and RTB
through demand-side platforms (DSPs), many marketers had ah
ha moments in 2012. They discovered that B2B decision makers
were buying products and converting outside of the premium B2B
placements they were paying a pretty penny for.
By leveraging DSP-enabled technologies, B2B marketers realized
they could gain insight into where their audiences live and convert
once they clock out of work for the day. Since marketers are
Prepare yourself for the return of Facebooks
generally being asked to do more with an equal or smaller budget,

the tech-savvy B2B marketer will embrace and test more segments
with DSPs. Well also see more placements of B2B brands and offers
with relevant B2C publishers. This is great for B2C pubs and B2B
brands, though somewhat concerning to B2B publishers who have
been living high on the hog with exorbitantly priced CPMs the
good old days are coming to an abrupt end, and the machines are
taking over. However, B2B publishers that shift their strategies to
combine new technology and methods with their existing industry
expertise will continue to monetize their inventory effectively.
Strategy #2: To avoid neglecting profitable opportunities, B2B
marketers should understand and stay abreast of trending B2C
marketing strategies (e.g., targeting individual as well as business
characteristics) and realize that every B2B target is also a consumer.
mobile ad network by experimenting with current

mobile RTB platforms like EveryScreen Media,
Strike Ad and Tapad.
Get Web Tips

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No Gossip. No celebs. No stock
reports. Just Web tips and trends
from Website Magazine Editors.
And sometimes a prediction.
Visit WebsiteMagazine.com/email and choose your topic(s).
| A P R I L 2013
AFFIlIATE InSIDeR
Website
acquisition
income Generation for small Business
By Ken Courtright
| A P R I L 2013
The economy hit people hard and many are looking for a
better, or at least a different path for income. Joining the
small business community, which has enjoyed a healthy
growth in recent years, may be the way to go.
According to the Intuit Index, a monthly report of people working
at businesses with 20 or fewer employees, employment was up 4.7
percent from July 2009 to Feb. 2012. By contrast, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics measure of the overall U.S. non-farm employment
increased by only 1.9 percent. With this upward trend in small
business growth, what options are there for those wanting to start
a company? Purchasing an already monetized website one with
low overhead and potential for sustained income could provide
the financial security one seeks.
Todays most popular methods of making money on the Web,
of course, come from display ads, lead generation, product sales,
or direct sales of a service, product or app. The purchase of a
monetized website offers something unique. When buying a
website that is already making profits, the buyer may not have to
have any experience in the industry the site resides in. The days of
needing a specific education, skillset or industry training to own a
small business are over.
Because buying revenue-generating websites takes little in the
way of industry experience, it is a great option for those needing
extra income or for many who need to work from home. One must
still take careful consideration before buying a monetized website
AFFIlIATE InSIDeR
as without knowing what Web properties are truly sustainable,

people can slowly watch their investment erode away.
There are many ways to go about acquiring a thriving online
business, but take the following criteria into consideration and
youll be on the fast track to generating online income.
1. Assessing the Commitment
If you are in the market to acquire a site, make sure you are
comfortable with the financial and time commitments. Focus on
Non-Heroic websites, meaning buy websites that are easy to
maintain, market and manage. You must also make sure you have
the passion, interest, content and funding to get into the game.
2. Funding the Acquisition
A quality, sustainable website acquisition can range from thousands
of dollars to millions. There are three main factors in determining
the proper budget for acquiring a monetized website. The first
would be the risk tolerance of the new business owner; the second
is the amount of income they are shopping for; and the third is
how much of the starting capital should be set aside for monthly
maintenance and marketing.
3. Finding the Right Site
Now comes the tricky part finding the right Web property. At any
moment there can be 10,000-50,000 sites for sale throughout the
world, but not all are potentially viable investment opportunities.
Monetized websites are listed for sale just like homes and cars on sites
like Flippa.com and others. There are many strategies and methods
| A P R I L 2013
for identifying a quality, sustainable site. Consider evaluating a

site on the following criteria: quality of design and development,
current and potential market share, existing promotional efforts
and overall promise.
4. Acquiring the Site
It is necessary to scan hundreds of sites each month to determine
the best fit for an individual. Only consider acquiring those sites
that are consistently generating stable revenues, and at roughly two
times their earnings, which means that at the time of purchase it is
producing a 50 percent annual return.
5. making It Work and Grow
While it is essential to acquire a site with a proven track record of
revenue and success, the ultimate goal is likely to grow the sites
income even further. The first recommendation is to understand
exactly what type of monthly marketing they were doing to get the
site into its current position. You may want to look to partner with
an Internet marketer that understands how to make your digital
asset grow and prosper.
Keys to Success
The key to buying a quality, sustainable monetized website
is to do the homework, make sure the website has steadily
generated income over time and is in an industry you believe
has a good future.
Ken Courtright is an entrepreneur who has leveraged his 20 years
of business experience to drive the success of Todays Growth
Consultant and its division Income Store.
STAT WATCH
Data, Data,
Everywhere!
The most interesting stats and metrics
from the digital world.
The Web moves pretty fast. If you dont
stop and look around once in a while, youre
sure to miss some new trends, evolving
best practices, or opportunities that will
help your enterprise not just survive, but
thrive. Website Magazines editorial staff
aggregates and curates some of the more
interesting recent research and statistics and
publishes it daily on the Web, as well as in this
months Stat Watch.
Find more useful data and valuable insights
at WebsiteMagazine.com.
| A P R I L 2013
Digital Hiring Demand

The demand for freelance online talent keeps growing and
so does those digital professionals incomes. Those most commonly
hired, according to the Elance Global Online Employment Report,
were mobile developers and Web programmers (followed closely by
marketers and Web content professionals). HTML developers saw a
149 percent earnings increase, while PHP and CSS experts saw their
income improve by 108 and 103 percent respectively. Mobile-minded
Android and iOS developers also saw increase of 146 and 132 percent.
68%
The percentage of the Internet population across 11 countries who

would select a do-not-track (DNT) feature if it was easily available as
reported in Ovums 2013 Consumer Insights Survey.
25 Billion
60%
64%
The number of songs sold on the iTunes digital

music store, a milestone reported by Apple.
The majority of potential consumer electronics purchases that are

inspired by a consumer review to select a brand not in their original
consideration set, according to Weber Shandwicks recently released Buy It, Try It, Rate It research study.
The percentage of online marketers who say their budgets for

paid search advertising will increase in 2013 (according to a Vizu/
Nielsen Report).
5.6 million
The number of directions generated from the Yelp mobile

app in Jan. 2013 (according to Yelp). Customers who leverage Yelp spend an average of $101.59 on their first visit.
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CANT MISS RESOURCES TO ACCELERATE YOUR WEB SUCCESS
QUOTED
Alexis Karlin of Percussion Software
24
Andrew Knibbe, CMO at Flippa
24
Andy Crestodina, Strategic Director at OrbitMedia
24
Anton Shepherd, Web Designer at SWC Technology Partners
20
Avraham Cohn, Founder & CEO of Digital Development Consulting 20

Brett Pitts, EVP, Head of Digital/Internet Product Management,
Wells Fargo
WEB 100
Website Magazines Web 100
Guide is available NOW! Current
Website Magazine subscribers
can discover the digital tactics
of leading enterprises at
wsm.co/getweb100.
Web 100 Features

Content-Rich Rankings
Exclusive Interviews With the Webs

Biggest Inuencers
Best Practice Takeaways From the
Digital Elite
Lists of Third-Party Providers Used
by the Webs Best
Free to Website Magazine

Subscribers & Available at
wsm.co/getweb100
| A P R I L 2013
Doyle Albee, President of Metzger Associates
24
Eddie Machaalani, Co-CEO of Bigcommerce
18
Ian Aronovich, President & Co-Founder of GovernmentAuctions.org
24
Jay Melone, CEO at DigitalXBridge
34
Jeff Blettner, Web Designer at Formstack
20
Jessica Ivins, Senior UX specialist at AWeber
20
John Kalinich, VP E-Commerce at Deckers Outdoor Corporation
Josh Farkas, Founder of Cubicle Ninjas
20
Joshua R. Simmons, CEO of Bluebird Interactive
34
Ron Rule, CEO of Coracent
34
Ross Kramer, CEO of Listrak
18
Ryan Stemkoski, Interactive Director at Zipline Interactive
34
Sean Ziolko, Designer, KTA
34
Seth Banks, Founder of Cashboard
34
Shannon Welch, Director of Web Analytics at Terakeet Corporation
33
Stephanie Schulman, Public Relations Manager at Weight Watchers
Stephen McQuaide, Manager of Earned Media at The Search Agency
20
Tad Miller, Vice President of Accounts at Search Mojo
33
Theresa DiMasi, VP of Content at WeightWatchers.com
NOTED
AddThis
24 Facebook
Authorize.net
30 Flippa
10, 18 Optify
24,37 Pinterest
33
18
Avangate
30 Flurry Analytics
34 Recurly
30
Awardable.com
24 Foursquare
10 SaaSy
30
Billing Circle
30 Fusebill
30 Sencha Touch
34
Bing
10 Glam Media
24 Silverpop
bitly
24 Google 10, 18, 33, 35 Strike Ad
36
Chargify
30 InboundWriter
24 SubscriptionBridge 30
CheddarGetter
30 Instagram
18 Tapad
36
12 Turn
36
Commission Junction 7 jQuery

Demandware
DivvyHQ
8 Listrak
24 McGarryBowen
18 Twitter
18
20 TypeKit
12
24 Yelp
10
ExactTarget
24 Monexa
30 YouTube
18
ExpoTV
18 Moolah Media
36 Zuora
30
EveryScreen Media 36 Moat
Website Magazines print edition is only the

beginning of our coverage on emerging
trends, best practices and news that
impacts your Web success. Here are three
popular articles you might have missed at
WebsiteMagazine.com.
7 Innovative Solutions to CAPTCHA
User Attention
Among the many solutions that Web workers have
devised to improve security measures and the
user experience on their sites, is the CAPTCHA
(or Completely Automated Public Turing test to
tell Computers and Humans Apart), a solution that
presents a challenge response test to users that
ensures the person trying to access the site is
actually a human and not just an annoying spam
bot. Read more at wsm.co/captcha13
Responsive Design: Not So Simple

Sometimes, a good idea on paper can blossom into
a great idea in practice. Other times however, a
seemingly great idea on paper can quickly turn into
a wastebasket full of unexpected and unnecessary
frustration. Such can be the case for those who
decide to build a responsive website for their
business. Read more at wsm.co/responsivedes
Trends in Title Tag Design

Its difcult to overstate the importance of
title elements when it comes to search engine
optimization (SEO). The title of your website or Web
page as it appears on a search engine results page
(SERP) is an important factor when it comes to how
well you ultimately end
up ranking. Read more at wsm.co/titletag13
WEb COMMenTARY
Growing
Your Digital
Garden
| A P R I L 2013
By Amberly Dressler, Managing editor
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret

of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming
tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the
first one. Mark Twain
Spring is around the corner, and if you are anywhere other than
states famous for their year-around good weather (e.g. California,
Hawaii, Floridaall those sound nice right about now), then it
cant come soon enough. Aside from more sunshine and higher
temps, spring is a time for rebirth, regrowth, renewalall the words
synonymous with starting over.
In Chicago, for example, at time of writing its gray, windy and
freezing, literally. Give this city about eight weeks, and well start
seeing hundreds of thousands of beautiful tulips line the Magnificent
Mile (for the unfamiliar, thats 13 blocks of North Michigan Avenue
filled with hundreds of stores, dozens of hotels and a vital, bustling
part of Chicago). While tulips may spring up naturally in certain
parts of the world, their grand, welcomed appearance in the heart
of the concrete Second City is no accident. Around St. Patricks Day
the same time the Chicago River is dyed green landscapers
lay the groundwork for the annual display that typically lasts from
mid-April to the end of May. The city workers feel hurried to get this
massive job finished. Their efforts are worth the troubles.
WEb COMMenTARY
When all is said and done, the tulips signify to Chicagoans that the
long, cold winter is truly over.
In todays ber competitive digital landscape, plenty of businesses
are facing a metaphoric Chicago winter, but each enterprise can
plant its own seeds for success. There is no better time than now
to plan, plant and protect your enterprise. Think of it as growing
your digital garden.
Plan
In every business there are attractors and detractors impacting its
success. If pressed to answer who is who at your company, Im
willing to bet you can point out whose commitment, loyalty and
drive is unwavering. Im also willing to bet, itd be just as easy to
point out whose actions, words and overall presence casts a negative
shadow around projects, productivity and morale. Have you had an
honest discussion with the latter group? If not, dont put it off for
tomorrow. Give them an opportunity to improve their behavior,
but dont plant bad seeds. Oftentimes we hang onto people and
things out of fear. You didnt get to be in a position of decision out
of fear; dont make decisions based on it either.
Plant
The act of planting is a leap of faith. You have to believe that your
preparation will truly pay off. This is a time to take some risks.
| A P R I L 2013
Promoting, hiring or delegating can be part of this process. If you

know what it takes to take your business to the next level, but are
bogged down with the everyday tasks you are hanging onto, hire,
promote or delegate the right person for the job, so you can do
yours growing your business.
Protect
Just as you would nurture a garden, your business must have
proper care and protection. While there is no magic insurance
policy that protects your business from lawsuits or threats (either
internal or external), due diligence is as close as it gets. This begins
with understanding current issues. Online privacy is a big one,
and enterprises keeping current with its changing tide are the ones
positioned for success. So read everything you can, talk to everyone
in your industry and keep learning.
Spring is a great time to start anew and part of the planting process
is removing what was previously there. Beautiful tulips cannot grow
on top of lifeless poinsettias. Just take one step at a time and know
that sometimes its the simplest advice that has the greatest meaning.
As my young sons favorite book instructs, Sprinkle seeds into the
ground, scoop some dirt and pat it down. With sun and rain both
helping out, soon the seeds begin to sprout.
Go ahead watch your digital garden grow.
Meet The Staff
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CONTRIBUTORS:
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Jason Silverglate
Lisa Barone
| A P R I L 2013
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F R O m T H e e D ITO R

Inside the Online World

Depending on your vantage point, you might think digital

Enjoy this issue of Website Magazine and make sure to

read more at Website Magazine:

Link-shortening service, bitly, released a set of

Foursquare for Business

Acquisitions & Milestones

Google, Yahoo, Twitter and OpenTable

Getting paid peanuts for AdSense?

Get paid more with

EARN 60% OF WHAT ADVERTISERS ARE PAYING PER KEYWORD!

Reach out to a representative today to find out how

We use social media

We are lucky in that way; we are providing

and TV analyst Charles Barkley to promote its

Popularized by celebrities and loved by people across the world,

communication goes through a third-party ESP, Silverpop. They

strategic agility by reducing the time to market

products and centralized goals. This enables

Weve got work going

in the field to receive a cross-section of ideas.

smartphones, to fight fraud.

Thanks to an audience of more than 1 billion monthly

Graph Search Explained

Graph Search will provide that person with a personalized list of

Graph Search results, however. Expect other interaction types, such

Graph Search will undoubtedly affect location-based platforms,

FINELY-FOCUSED INFORMATION FROM INDUSTRY SPONSORS

This practical guide helps internet marketers achieve better

Website tags are the lifeblood

6 Web Metrics Even

Got the right metrics and user

7 Ways Website Tags

Find out how merchants and

CHAT WITH THE CHATTERS:

Learn the six core drivers why

Iden%fying Anonymous Website Visitors

Copyright 2011 VisiStat All rights reserved

Heres how to identify website visitors where they

Small BuSineSS laB

Being a website designer can be tough. Your work is out

Small BuSineSS laB

Jarrod Wright is a website designer and owner of Subtle Network Design

Evaluating Your B2B

B2B professionals now can

Real-Time Data Verication

Benets of Real Time

Too many email campaigns hit users

What impact would additional

Live Chat Performance

How do you measure the success of

Ecommerce and Sales

Will ecommerce companies be

WeB TRAFFIC SOURCeS

One of the SEO failures many enterprises make

But the use of Microdata and semantic markup is

Testimonials & Reviews

CODING SAMPLE: wsm.co/eventmarkup

The Future of Semantic markup

Need Converting Traffic?

REACH NEW HEIGHTS

Theres more to internet marketing than

BEGIN TODAY AND USE