Presented by… Do’s and Don’ts

• Know what you want to convey • Organization/Navigation – clear & concise • Graphic elements o Consistent with other marketing materials o Relevant and meaningful • Follow standard web conventions for design o Logo/branding at top o Navigation at top or left side o Contact us – top right or footer o Links underlined or rollover • Design your page according to F-Pattern Eye-Tracking Principle o Web readers scan content in rough F-shape o Keep important messages flush left • Keep important information “above the fold” (or above the scroll) • Minimize distractions • Make sure your page loads quickly o Optimize graphics for the web o Limit the content and number of graphic elements on any one page

Managing your site

• Update frequently o Give your customers a reason to return • Actively promote o Place your website address in ads, business cards, after-hours message o Advertise and link to site • Feedback loops o Communicate with customers via e-mail, , etc. o Capture e-mail addresses • Analytics o Look at your website traffic at least once a month o Suggestions on what analytics to review: • Page views • Unique visitors • Entry and exit pages • Compare sections Online do’s and don’ts

• Compelling offer o Be sure to say what’s special about your product or service

• Call to action relevant to your target audience o Tell your customer what to do next – click coupon, visit store, etc. o Beyond “click here” • More details • Get a coupon • Open on account today • Learn more • Begin here

• Less is more o Keep it simple and to the point o Use clear, strong product visuals and graphics

• Link to the right place on your website o Deep link to a page within your web that has information about your offer o Create a that matches your online ad’s offer and call to action (with more details!)

• Avoid too much precision in targeting o Target to reach your entire customer base, not just a small slice

• Work with the right media outlets o Right reach o Right audience o Right content and editorial environment/context Glossary of Common Terms

Above the Fold: An area of a web page that is viewable without the visitor having to scroll. Ad space in this space often carries a higher rate as it more likely to be viewed by the visitor.

Animated GIF: An animation created by combining multiple images into one file creating the impression of movement.

Banner Ad (or Leaderboard Ad): An advertisement that appears on a Web page, most commonly at the top (header) or bottom (footer) of the page. Usually designed to encourage the visitor to click for more information.

Blacklisted: A blacklisted notice means that the message may not have been delivered due to be being flagged on one of the major lists that keep tabs of known spammers. Different ISPs use different blacklists to block mailings from being delivered to their clients. It can be a temporary ban or a permanent one, depending upon the list.

Blocked: A blocked notice means that the message did not get through due to being considered spam by the subscriber’s ISP. This may be due to being on a blacklist or because the message contains a domain that is already being blocked.

Blog: Shortened from “web log” a is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and usually displayed in a reverse chronological order.

CAN SPAM Act: The CAN SPAM ACT is a series of federal laws that must be followed by all email marketers. Those found in violation of the laws can be subjected to major penalties. For more information, go to http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/index.shtml Click-Through: The number of times people clicked on the links in your message. This is often referred to as CTR (Click-Through Rate). Note: you must have enabled click- through tracking in the campaign in order for this to be recorded. Contextual Advertising: targeting a particular visitor to a website based on the content of the page(s).

Cookie: A small file sent from a web server and placed on the visitor’s computer to store information unique to that browser. Often used by advertisers to track the number and frequency of advertisements shown to a visitor. Cookies are also used to provide visitors with personalization and enable the serving of Behaviorally Targeted advertisements.

Cost Per Thousand (CPM): The cost, per 1,000 impressions served, of buying advertising space in a given media. A $25 CPM means the client pays $25 for every 1,000 times the ad is displayed.

Cost Per Click (CPC): Online advertising pricing based on the number of clicks an ad receives. The CPC is the cost of the advertisement divided by the number of clicks.

DMA Market: DMA stands for Designated Market Area. DMAs are usually counties (or sometimes split counties) that can receive the same television and radio stations and other types of media such as newspapers. DMAs generally coincide with large metropolitan areas such as Chicago, St. Louis, etc.

Frequency Cap: A limit on the number of times an online advertisement is displayed to a particular visitor. A typical Frequency Cap is 1x per 24 hours per visitor.

Instant Messaging: (often shortened to IM) is a type of communication service that enables you to create a kind of private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real time over the Internet.

Internet Service Provider (ISP): A business that provides access to the Internet, generally for a monthly fee.

Interstitial Ad: A type of advertisement that loads between web pages without having been requested by the visitor. An interstitial ad is usually set to appear for only a short period of time (10-15 seconds) before the user requested page is displayed. Landing Page: A landing page is a website page built and optimized for a specific purpose, and many times serves as the entry page to a website. The Landing Page will often contain information about a specific offer and may direct visitors to other pages within a website.

Microsite: A mini website designed to promote a specific portion or brand from a larger corporate site. Used often with contests or as a landing page for a specific promotion.

Open Rate: This is a ratio determined by the number of people who opened your email against the total number of people to whom you sent the message.

Opt-In List: Email marketers have databases of subscribers to their newsletters, featuring these subscribers' email addresses and names. Such a list is known as an opt-in list because users choose to receive the emails. This is in contrast to spam email, which is unsolicited.

Organic Listings (also know as Natural Listings or Unpaid listings): Search result listings that companies do not sell. Organic listings represent the links to that most closely match the search term entered by the visitor. Organic listing results are based on the algorithms used by the search engine company to assist a visitor in finding desired content on the Internet.

Paid Search (also known as Sponsored Search): Paid search is characterized by advertiser bids on queried keywords. Paid search results appear separate from Organic Search results -- typically at the top, right or bottom of a search results page. Listing order is determined by the amount each advertiser has bid on keywords.

Permission Marketing: Permission Marketing is centered around obtaining an individual’s consent to receive marketing and advertising information from a company.

Personalization: Personalization gives you the ability to create a customized message/experience for each person in your database. Personalization is often accomplished via user supplied information or through the setting of cookies. Reach: The number of unique visitors who visited a website over the course of a specific period, typically within one month. Reach is expressed as a percentage of the universe of a demographic category. (For instance, STLtoday.com has 39% Reach among online adults in St. Louis.)

Rich Media: A type of online advertisement that includes graphics, audio or video within the advertisement. Rich media advertisements often allow the visitor to interact with the banner ad without leaving the web page on which the ad appears.

RSS: RSS or Really Simple Syndication is technology designed to allow users to subscribe to a specific content feed and be automatically alerted when new updates are available.

RSS Reader: Application used to subscribe and monitor selected RSS content feeds.

Run of site (ROS): Refers to scheduling ads across an entire site rather than within a specific section or sub-section. Run of site ads are typically sold at lower rates than targeted ads.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): The process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via paid placement – typically in the form of purchasing keywords.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via organic, unpaid search. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines generate results and involves editing content, HTML and associated coding on a website to improve the site’s ranking in search engine results.

Skyscraper Ad: A web banner ad with the dimension of 120 pixels wide, 600 pixels high. A variation of this ad unit is the Wide Skyscraper at 160 pixels wide, 600 pixels high. SMS: SMS (Short Message Service) is a one-way text message sent via a cell phone. It is usually received via the subscriber’s text message inbox on their cell phone and can be a maximum of 160 characters per message.

Social Networking: Social Networking refers to web based platforms focused on building online communities of people who share common interests or activities. Examples of popular Social Networking sites include: , MySpace, , and LinkedIn.

Spam: An email message that is unwanted or unsolicited by the recipient. Legitimate emails can sometimes be incorrectly identified as spam.

Sponsored Links: Text-based ads that often appear on a web page based on keyword search terms. These ads often appear next to organic search results and are typically labeled as “Sponsored Links,” “Paid Sponsors,” or “Sponsor Results.”

Subscriber: A person who signs up to receive messages from a particular company or entity.

Unique Visitor: A unique visitor is a statistic describing a unit of traffic to a web site, counting each visitor only once during the reporting period. Common ways in which a website tracks unique visitors include site registration and placing a cookie on the visitor’s computer.

Viral Marketing: A marketing strategy in which consumers are encouraged to pass along messages to others in order to generate additional exposure. Video clips and advergames are commonly spread via viral marketing through email and social networking sites.

Widget: A small graphical device that does a highly focused, often single, specific task. Web widgets can be embedded in web pages or run on the desktop. ______