Sunday, April 4, 2010

Custom Applications for Online Marketing: A good choice?

Most internet businesses are working hard to improve their customer's experience on their sites. From mobile phones apps, to analytics, there are a variety of applications that businesses can use to give their customers a more interactive, targeted experience. Almost all small web businesses use analytics to make internet marketing decisions, but not everyone is confident in the decisions they are making. Here are a few tips for web developers to give customers visiting a site a satisfying experience.

Application Integration
Combining applications like site search with reviews or web video can dramatically improve results as opposed to using those applications independently. An integrated approach gives a web site more meaningful engagements with the customer. A professionally developed and efficient feel captures more sales and conversions in online business. Navigation is more natural for online shoppers when reviews and product features are integrated with site search. Let us say that a customer is searching for a laptop on your eCommerce site. One search option might bring in the top rated laptop based on reviews. Another search option could be search by features like cost, technical specifications, and uses. Integrating these options allows the customer to do full research without leaving your custom site. Fewer clicks to find the right product means higher conversion from reduced site abandonment rates.

Use Analytics You Trust
Analytics cannot are useless unless the results are understood and trusted enough to make decisions. Ongoing site changes and web development can lead to a fragmented state of online information gathering. A key to web marketing is to have a basic philosophy integrated across the whole online business and supporting applications. You may want to hire an expert web developer to manage integration of analytics across platforms.

Drive Personalized Campaigns
When applications are integrated, the holistic picture of your web customer can be harnessed to deliver personalized messages that prompt action. If your customers can register their product preferences in an opt-in product newsletter, you can leverage site data to create more targeted emails that show the customer their preferred products. A personalized email is much more appealing than a mass e-blast.

Always Leverage Data
By sharing data across applications, you are leveraging the date to the best use for your internet business. Other activities, such as advertising or SEO campaigns will be much more effective if you already ahve a database of important keywords generated through site search. The list of words typed into your business's website is a much more relevant dataset than a generic search engine keyword tool.

Analyzing the effectiveness of site design can be difficult across multiple on-site variations and marketing programs. The key is insuring a holistic view of the whole web business's data and using that data to greatest effect. Maximizing your technology investments is a great way to get an edge without cutting overhead with a second-rate web host.

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