We Canadians already have a bit of a complex due to the fact that the rest of the world seems to lump us together with the U.S., calling them our big brother. Canadians are sick of being treated like leftovers. So, when certain North American companies leave us (and other international visitors) out of the loop by making it difficult to buy from their websites, they’re losing sales and annoying would-be customers like me.

It’s time for U.S. companies to consistently…

...continue to read "Don’t Hose the Canadians! (Our Dollars Are Equal Now.)"

Seth Godin piqued my interest (there’s a surprise) with his post about a shortage of digital coaches. Seth points out a need that a whole lot of people, myself included, have: Help getting more from the technology in which they’ve already invested.

We have an interesting discussion going about Apple, technology needs, and advertising to different types of computer users. Here’s another chance to look at how people use technology and how you can use that knowledge to create better advertsing for…

...continue to read "Who Needs a Digital Coach? (I Do!)"

If every designer (and the marketers who hire them) read Web Design for ROI, the new book by Lance Loveday & Sandra Niehaus, the Web would be a better and more profitable place.

Sure, the book will show you design techniques that help generate positive ROI, but the best of all is that it’s easy to follow. The authors dissect a website into six common sections — homepage, detail or landing pages, category pages, product pages, forms, and checkout — found…

...continue to read "Ecommerce Marketers and Designers: Read This Book"

We laugh when we see parodies of bad behavior in marketing and sales, but have you really thought about how NOT to do this with your web copy?

If a sales person avoids the dreaded “show-up and throw-up” technique by engaging in honest conversation and asking intelligent questions while answering yours in a respectful manner, then how is your Web copy supposed to be a substitute for that?

It’s as simple as ABC — and, no, I don’t mean “Always Be Closing”…

A) Hire…

...continue to read "Does Your Website “Show-up and Throw-up”?"

Want to take a stab at creating personas for your business? If so, you really should check out the most recent installment of SEOmoz “Whiteboard Friday” screencast.

In this 20-minute tutorial, Ian Lurie of Portent Interactive and SEOmoz founder Rand Fishkin discuss how to create simple customer personas and use them to boost the performance and relevance of your website.

As anyone who’s read Waiting for Your Cat to Bark may know, we have quite a bit of experience adapting the customer experience to fit the…

...continue to read "Creating Personas 101"

Who: Brian Bond, Future Now VP of Marketing & Products, Ian Lurie (President, Portent Interactive), Bob Tripathi (Search Marketing Strategist, Discover Financial Services), and Gord Hotchkiss (President and CEO, Enquiro) uncover “Search Marketing & Persona Models“.

What: Search Marketing Expo – SMX West is certain to be to the “must-attend” interactive and search engine marketing event of the year on the West Coast, delivering superior value to conference delegates and exhibit hall attendees alike.

SMX West has sessions designed just for you, whether…

...continue to read "Search Marketing Expo (West)"

Who: Join Future Now co-founder Bryan Eisenberg and esteemed colleagues for three days of must-see panel discussions for online marketers. (”All Star Analytics Team,” “Converting Visitors Into Buyers,” “Redefining the Customer,” and more!)

What: Organized and hosted by world-renowned search authorities Mike Grehan and Kevin Ryan, this annual event delivers the real-time actionable information you need to grow your business through search engine marketing (SEM/SEO). The Search Engine Strategies conference teaches the ins-and-outs of search engine marketing from top search experts and the…

...continue to read "Search Engine Strategies, London"

Time flies in the Internet world. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I wrote my first ClickZ column.

Over the past seven years as a columnist and marketing practitioner, I’ve continued to be impressed by how dramatically the Internet has changed our lives and our world. Blogs have become a major voice in society. Social media and online video have become giants. Google’s revenue is growing like a major leaguer’s biceps on steroids. New technologies continue to barrel at…

...continue to read "Seven Years of Change, Seven Years of Staying the Same"

Whether your site is lead-generation or retail, you probably have a form somewhere. Here are some basic things you can do to optimize your forms.

1. Indicate which fields are required by using asterisks next to these required fields. Ask yourself if the non-required fields offer enough value. If they don’t, remove them from the form. This could potentially make all fields a requirement — and if that’s the case, the asterisks would be overkill — which brings us to our…

...continue to read "7 Tips for Boosting Web Form Conversions"

Seems everywhere I look there are articles about Toyota’s rise from small Japanese company to the largest car manufacturer in the world. There are several theories for Toyota’s success, including their much touted use of Karzai Kaizen, or continuous improvement. But another practice is equally, if not more important, is genchi genbutsu.

In a recent American Marketing Association article (”How Toyota Got So Smart“), Travis Adkins explains genchi genbutsu:

One of the most religiously followed of these practices is something that Toyota…

...continue to read "The Difference Between Knowledge and Understanding"