Archive for Bryan Eisenberg

Showing 294 items

• Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media
  An example of social media's power to reach and engage people -- on their terms, not yours. Nov 7, 2008
• Attaching a Dollar Value to Marketing Efficiencies
  Why tying efficiencies to dollars becomes important during an economic downturn. Oct 24, 2008
• Online Marketers Can Weather the Financial Crisis
  The more you master the craft of doing more for less, the more secure you'll be in coming months. Oct 10, 2008
• 99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall...
  Like the song, online optimization can be repetitious. Unlike the song, it can be rewarding. Here's how. Sep 26, 2008
• The Case for Persona-Based Lead Generation
  What you can do for your personas to better plan your online lead gen interactions. Sep 12, 2008
• Obama Teaches Business About Persuading People Online
  Marketers don't need to be a Barack Obama supporter to benefit from the presidential candidate's digital marketing strategy. Aug 29, 2008
• Five Simple Tips for Lead-Generation Sites
  How to test and optimize the lead-generation process. Aug 15, 2008
• A Guide to Common Testing Challenges
  Does testing feel like rocket science? Here's how to identify some roadblocks to success. Aug 1, 2008
• How to Use Any Tool to Optimize Better
  If you have a tool in place now, use it better. If you don't ... Jul 18, 2008
• The Interactive Marketer 2.0
  Want to maximize sales, increase conversions, and increase your return on marketing spend? Here are some tips on how to become a marketer who understands how to optimize and plan for visitor intent, not just traffic. Jun 20, 2008
• Borders.com Takes Control of Its Online Destiny
  Can the bookseller make a dent in Amazon's business? What Borders is doing right and tips for improving the customer experience. Jun 6, 2008
• How to Gain and Act on Customer Insights
  Analytics will only tell what people are doing. Knowing why they are doing it can give you powerful optimization tool. May 23, 2008
• How to Get Buy in for Conversion Rate Optimization
  Tips for convincing executives of the importance of investing in marketing optimization. May 9, 2008
• Three Reasons Your Visitors Don't Convert to Leads
  Tips for identifying site problems and developing action items for lead-generation optimization. Apr 25, 2008
• E-mail Secrets of a Top Converting Web Site
  How alt tags, background colors, and alignment of creative make a difference. Apr 11, 2008
• Recession-Proof Your Online Marketing
  How to continually improve Web site conversion to withstand the storms of finicky economic times. Mar 28, 2008
• Improve Personas and Optimization With Four Questions
  New tool 4Q is designed to extract the most data from customers with the least amount of effort. Mar 14, 2008
• How to Prioritize Your Optimization
  Some needs must be addressed before others. Here's where to begin. Feb 29, 2008
• Getting the Most Out of Your Personas
  Five ways to improve the use of personas to guide marketing initiatives. Feb 15, 2008
• The Average Conversion Rate: Is It a Myth?
  Online marketers have embraced conversion rates of 2 to 3 percent when they should be aiming higher. Here's why. Feb 1, 2008
• Seven Years of Change, Seven Years of Staying the Same
  Seven years of lessons in interactive marketing. Jan 18, 2008
• Marketing Lessons From Apple
  While Apple uses traditional means and media to promote itself, it also markets itself in unexpected places and ways. Jan 4, 2008
• Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?
  An interview with Seth Godin on his new book, "Meatball Sundae," and mixing old and new marketing. Dec 21, 2007
• Online Retailers Fail Customer Experience 101
  Retailers are falling far short of offering even adequate online customer experiences. Some easy-to-implement changes to convert more Web site visitors into buyers. Dec 7, 2007
• Guarantee Holiday Sales
  What are you doing for your gift recipients this holiday season? Nov 9, 2007
• How Start-Ups Can Build Effective "About Us" Pages
  What can you say on your site's "About Us" page when you've only just begun? Here are strategies -- and real-life examples. Oct 26, 2007
• How to Use Customer Reviews to Increase Conversion
  Optimize your customer review system for maximum conversion. Oct 12, 2007
• The Complexity of Closing a Sale
  Understanding factors that influence buying helps you create sales copy that persuades. Sep 28, 2007
• Building Better Category Pages
  Shoppers abandon category pages, not product pages. Sep 14, 2007
• Conversion Rate Basics
  Paying attention to the small stuff on a Web site could bring big dividends. Aug 31, 2007
• Conversion Funnel Folly, Part 1
  If all you're getting are reports, you aren't getting any intelligence. Part one of a series. Aug 17, 2007
• A Half Dozen Business Choices
  Every company must make choices when it comes to how it markets and sells. Six choices to consider. Aug 3, 2007
• An Evangelical Approach to Converting More Sales, Part 2
  An in-depth look at a company evangelist's role. Last in a series. Jul 20, 2007
• An Evangelical Approach to Converting More Sales, Part 1
  An in-depth look at a company evangelist's role. Jul 6, 2007
• End Searcher Optimization: The New SEO
  Just when about everyone in the industry thinks he knows a little something about SEO, it changes. Jun 22, 2007
• Gr8 Web 2.0 Copy
  Three principles for Web 2.0 copy that sells. Jun 8, 2007
• When Personas Fail
  Online personas are useful but limited, and too often marketers neglect them. May 25, 2007
• The Difference Between ROI and Marketing Accountability
  In the quest for ROI and accountability from marketers, too many companies fail to look beyond short-term results. May 11, 2007
• Google Website Optimizer, Part 2
  A chat with Google's Website Optimizer product manager. Last of a series. Apr 27, 2007
• Google Website Optimizer, Part 1
  The scoop on Google's Website Optimizer from Google's business product manager. Part one of a series. Apr 13, 2007
• Conversion Rate Optimization, Upside Down
  Are you ready to turn optimization efforts upside down? Mar 30, 2007
• Optimizing B2B-Demand Generation
  Fishing for B2B leads with a free download? Here's how to optimize the offer. Mar 16, 2007
• Below the Tip of the Iceberg
  Just because prospects don't know how to search the way you hope they will doesn't mean they aren't qualified and ready to buy. Mar 2, 2007
• We Tried That Already
  Trying conversion rate optimization and online testing is much different than succeeding at it. This column is for those who tried it already. Feb 16, 2007
• More Profitable Online Publishing
  In online journalism, what's the transaction? A primer for publishers, bloggers, journalists, and content creators. Feb 2, 2007
• The Value of Online Traffic
  Your traffic costs way less than what it's worth. What are you going to do about it? Jan 19, 2007
• Delete Your E-Mail List
  Why we pulled up our list of 40,000 e-mail subscribers -- and hit "delete!" Jan 5, 2007
• 2006: The Year Mass Media Got a Clue
  In 2006, the emerging media market reached critical mass -- and seriously threatened long-held marketing assumptions. Dec 22, 2006
• Four Steps to More Effective Web Site Testing
  Making a decision to test is simple. But that decision alone won't deliver better online results. Dec 8, 2006
• Change Your Business' Lifestyle
  Don't put your business on a diet. Change its lifestyle -- for good. Nov 10, 2006
• Bound in Page Views?
  Why don't we alter our pitches based on different customers and their differing needs? Oct 27, 2006
• Death of the Web Page
  Why waste time with traffic acquisition when it's all about customer acquisition? Oct 13, 2006
• Satellite Radio and Listening to Personas, Part 2
  Piles of money don't necessarily buy business (or marketing) effectiveness. Last of a series. Sep 29, 2006
• Satellite Radio and Listening to Personas, Part 1
  Piles of money don't necessarily buy business, or marketing, effectiveness. Sep 15, 2006
• The Risk of Conversion Rate Optimization
  Are you optimizing your optimization? Sep 1, 2006
• Building More Effective "Contact Us" Pages
  Ensure visitors don't become frustrated before they reach out to you. That's the key measure of a good "Contact Us" page. Aug 18, 2006
• The Power of the About Us Page
  
  What does your "About Us" page say about your business? Aug 4, 2006
• Three Steps to Creating Better Category Pages
  Offline stores meticulously plan every detail of the shopping experience. So should e-tailers. These three questions will help create better category pages. Jul 21, 2006
• Ruling the Roost: Word of Mouth, Part 2
  The three word-of-mouth triggers. Part two of a two-part series. Jul 7, 2006
• Ruling the Roost: Word of Mouth, Part 1
  Why word of mouth rules, and what to do about it. Part one of two. Jun 23, 2006
• The Seven Biggest Online Marketing Mistakes
  Something's wrong. There's a widening chasm between buyers and sellers. Jun 9, 2006
• Do You Want Traffic or Business?
  People say they want traffic, but what they really want is business. That makes traffic quality the whole burrito. May 26, 2006
• Branding or Direct Marketing: Why Pick Just One?
  For every online marketer who ignores branding strategies, another marketer misses an opportunity to sell today. May 12, 2006
• Emetrics Summit Wrap Up
  Any company worth its salt is finding itself more deeply invested in its Web analytics. Apr 28, 2006
• Conversion vs. Persuasion: What's Your Challenge?
  Persuasion and conversion are two sides of the same coin. Let's clear up some misconceptions about the two. Apr 14, 2006
• Traffic Cost Inflation, Coming to a Marketing Budget Near You
  Tomorrow's successful marketers must find a way to do more with less traffic. Mar 31, 2006
• Measuring and Analyzing Persuasion Scenarios
  Why, in Web analytics, does no one ask, "Why?" Mar 17, 2006
• Conversion Funnel Folly, Part 2
  If all you're getting are reports, you aren't getting any intelligence. Part two of a series. Mar 3, 2006
• Conversion Funnel Folly, Part 1
  If all you're getting are reports, you aren't getting any intelligence. Part one of a series. Feb 17, 2006
• 10 E-Business Proverbs for 2006, Part 2
  Tips for sustaining (or increasing) your Web site's momentum. Part two of two. Feb 3, 2006
• Ten E-Business Proverbs for 2006, Part 1
  Tips for sustaining (or increasing) your Web site's momentum. Part one of two. Jan 20, 2006
• How Many Personas Do You Need?
  Too many may cause you to lose focus. Too few will result in lost prospects. Jan 6, 2006
• Seven Thoughts to Arm Yourself With in 2006
  Executed properly, these ideas can make you a hero. Dec 23, 2005
• Angles of Information
  How should potential customers approach your company? Dec 9, 2005
• Clickstream Analysis: People Are Not Cows
  Have you planned your site for people or for cows? Nov 11, 2005
• What Have You Done for Your Customers Lately?
  Four ways to maximize post-transaction customer retention opportunities. Oct 28, 2005
• Does Your Web Site Stink?
  Does your site preserve the scent trails visitors follow? Oct 14, 2005
• The Search for Relevant Messaging, Online and Off-
  Where are the ad campaigns and Web sites that speak to the customer's heart? Sep 30, 2005
• Grading the Gap.com Redesign
  The sites an A for strategy, but a C for execution. Bryan offers some tips for raising the execution grade. Sep 16, 2005
• Multichannel Marketing Issues, Part 2
  Beyond design and usability: using personas to improve business processes. Sep 2, 2005
• Multichannel Marketing Challenges, Part 1
  Multichannel marketing and sales efforts create many new opportunities but also new problems. What to expect, and how to handle it. Aug 19, 2005
• Measuring Personas for Success
  Evaluating personas' effectiveness boils down to two things. Aug 5, 2005
• Calculate Your Conversion Rates
  Uncover a wealth of information you can use to make your site a lean, mean persuasion machine. Jul 28, 2005
• Optimize Online Lead-Gen for Offline Sales
  Better technology and persuasive planning will not only increase lead generation, but also measure and optimize it. Jul 22, 2005
• Advertising Is Dying
  Traditional advertising is dying, while persuasion is alive and kicking. Jul 8, 2005
• Unwritten Internet Rules
  Follow them at your own risk. Jun 24, 2005
• How to Develop a Landing Page Framework
  Start by thinking beyond the landing page. Jun 10, 2005
• Five Critical (and Overlooked) Design Elements
  Practical (and often-forgotten) elements of landing- and buying page design. May 27, 2005
• A Site With a 100 Percent Conversion Rate
  A few brave sites are moving from conversion optimization to conversion maximization. May 13, 2005
• How to Improve A/B Testing
  The science of A/B testing. Apr 29, 2005
• Selling B2B Decision Makers
  Tips for making online B2B communications less stiff, more human -- and more persuasive. Apr 15, 2005
• Web Analytics: Exciting Times Ahead
  There's a head-spinning level of activity in the Web analytics industry. Apr 1, 2005
• Create Landing Pages That Convert
  Site traffic is getting costlier. Make your dollars go further with landing pages that truly convert. Mar 18, 2005
• The Next Step: The Web Analytics Association
  Most marketers understand how important measurement is. The challenge is what to do with the resulting data. Enter the WAA. Mar 4, 2005
• Prioritize Usability Testing and Web Analytics
  How do you justify Web analytics and usability tests? What role does each play in conversion? Feb 18, 2005
• Making Personas Sparkle Like Diamonds, Part 2
  Tools for creating your own customer personas. Part two of a two-part series. Feb 4, 2005
• Making Personas Sparkle Like Diamonds, Part 1
  Personas are often discussed only theoretically. In this series, tools for creating your own customer personas. Part one of a two-part series. Jan 21, 2005
• Persona Development and the Law of Averages
  Personas are complex, like your customers. Don't be fooled into wrapping them into an 'average' user. Jan 14, 2005
• Beyond Conversion Rates
  You measure what is. Now, take into account what could be. Jan 7, 2005
• Map Scent Trails That Lead to Better Conversion
  Map conversion trails that smell like a rose. Dec 17, 2004
• Fuzzy Customer Focus
  Room for improvement: This year's Online Retail Study for Customer-Focused Excellence. Dec 10, 2004
• Let IT Solve IT Problems, Not Marketing Problems
  When IT dictates and influences marketing decisions, sales can be at risk. It's time for marketing to take a stand. Dec 3, 2004
• Climbing Out of the Lowest-Price Trap
  Price is not king. Not on the Internet, not anywhere. Nov 19, 2004
• Reconcile Rising SEO Costs With ROI
  As organic optimization costs rise, don't abandon common sense in favor of keyword position. Sometimes, a prime position in search listings actually hurts sales. Nov 12, 2004
• Persona-lization and Behavioral Marketing
  Behavioral marketing has impressive advantages. Yet a piece of the puzzle is missing. Nov 5, 2004
• Debunking Miller's Magic 7
  Seven's a nice-enough number, but don't let it guide Web site design decisions. Oct 29, 2004
• Jumping B2B Hurdles: Lead Generation and Complex Sales
  Untangle complex online B2B sales and lead-generation processes. Oct 22, 2004
• Optimize Your Site for Lead Generation
  The Web influences $180 billion in offline sales. How to encourage those offline conversions. Oct 15, 2004
• Calculate Your Conversion Rates
  Uncover a wealth of information you can use to make your site a lean, mean persuasion machine. Oct 8, 2004
• The Resolving Door
  The two types of hyperlinks and why you need both. Oct 1, 2004
• Power Persuasive Copy to Punch Up Sales
  What's the number one online activity? Reading. How to make your copy matter. Sep 24, 2004
• The User-Centric Design Trap
  Most sites can benefit from user-centric design. But how, why, and when it's applied makes a big difference to a commercial site's performance. Sep 17, 2004
• The Five Issues that Persuade Visitors
  Have you taken the time to understand how they feel? Five elementsthat instill confidence in online shoppers. Sep 10, 2004
• Web Analytics for Retailers, Part 3
  The advanced analytics reports retailers need to optimize conversion rates and maximize online sales. Part three of a series. Sep 3, 2004
• Web Analytics for Retailers, Part 2
  How different retailers use various vendors' analytics reports to boost conversion and improve site performance. Part two of a series. Aug 27, 2004
• Web Analytics for Retailers: Part 1
  The five essential Web analytics reports for online retailers. Aug 20, 2004
• Calculate Your Online Conversion Rate
  How to determine the natural online conversion rate for any product. Aug 13, 2004
• How GoToMyPC Spiked Lead-Generation and Conversion Rates
  Tweak, test, and tweak some more. Apply rhyme and reason to the equation, and online conversions can soar. Aug 6, 2004
• Increase Sales With Relevant Benefits
  Uncover the benefits that are most relevant to your customers. Jul 30, 2004
• An Incredibly Condensed History of Persuasion and Sales
  Throughout history, it's gotten easier for buyers and harder for sellers. Jul 23, 2004
• Online Merchandizing Tips From TigerDirect
  Five merchandizing tips everyone can use from a top online retailer. Jul 16, 2004
• Online Product Merchandizing and Persuasive Momentum
  Commerce sites that are good... and some that are great. Jul 9, 2004
• In Search of Web Analytics Excellence
  How to shop for a Web analytics tool -- and how to squeeze every drop of value out of that solution. Jul 2, 2004
• Make a Business Case to Improve Conversion
  Even if you're not a renegade like our case-study hero, the simplest changes can improve conversion dramatically. Jun 25, 2004
• When Visitors Achieve Their Goals, Conversions Increase
  When a visitor doesn't convert, your Web site has a service defect. Jun 18, 2004
• Are You Sweating the Small Stuff?
  For lack of a link, the conversion was lost. Jun 11, 2004
• Benchmarking an Average Conversion Rate
  What's the average conversion rate in your industry? Jun 4, 2004
• Do Your Web Forms Show Good Form?, Part 3
  Everything counts in Web site conversion, including the Web forms on your site. Last of a series. May 28, 2004
• Do Your Web Forms Show Good Form?, Part 2
  Everything counts in Web site conversion, including the Web forms on your site. Part two of a series. May 21, 2004
• Do Your Web Forms Show Good Form?, Part 1
  Everything counts in Web site conversion, including the Web forms on your site. Part one of a series. May 14, 2004
• A/B Testing for the Mathematically Disinclined
  Online, testing is king. A/B testing is a simple, scientific way to test variables in the real world. May 7, 2004
• Fix Navigation to Improve Conversions, Part 3
  How breadcrumbs, site maps, and other factors related to Web site navigation can improve conversion. Apr 30, 2004
• Fix Navigation to Improve Conversions, Part 2
  How to help online customers find what they want (even when they don't know what they want). Part two of a three-part series. Apr 23, 2004
• Fix Navigation to Improve Conversions, Part 1
  How to help online customers find what they want (even when they don't know what they want). Part one of a three-part series. Apr 16, 2004
• Make a Good Investment in In-Site Search Engines
  The keys for enhancing in-site search ROI. Apr 9, 2004
• The Customer-Centric Phase
  Your customers don't care about features. Benefits meet their needs -- and improve the bottom line. Apr 2, 2004
• End the One-Page Site Visit
  If the usability study gave your site the green light, why do visitors leave after only two pages? Mar 26, 2004
• Seven Conversion Rate Concepts for the Final Exam
  Need to improve conversion? Start here. Mar 19, 2004
• No Such Thing as a Digital Salesperson?
  Think it'll be long, long time before a Web site replaces a salesperson? Think again. Mar 12, 2004
• Accurate Analytics Require Cookies
  Effectively track site visitors for accurate activity metrics. Mar 5, 2004
• What Does Conversion Rate Really Measure?
  Used properly, site analytics are the crystal ball of user behavior. Persuade them before they buy (or leave). Feb 27, 2004
• What Would Ogilvy Write?
  On good Web sites, copy always trumps design. Feb 20, 2004
• Content, Copy, Language, and Prepurchase Behavior
  Selling in a literate medium. Feb 13, 2004
• Online, We're All Introverts
  You're selling in someone's personal space. Feb 6, 2004
• The New Frontier: Complex Sales
  Make online high-consideration purchases easier -- one step at a time. Jan 30, 2004
• Are You Designing for Usability or Sales?, Part 3
  Usability's important, but it's not essential to a commercial Web site's success. Part 3 in a series. Jan 23, 2004
• Are You Designing for Usability or Sales?, Part 2
  Usability's important, but it's not essential to a commercial Web site's success. Part 2 in a series. Jan 16, 2004
• Are You Designing for Usability or Sales?, Part 1
  Usability's important, but it's not essential to a commercial Web site's success. Part 1 of a series. Jan 9, 2004
• Conversion Rate: Measure of Success
  Conversion rate still isn't top of mind for most Internet marketers. It should be. Jan 6, 2004
• The Survey Says...
  Navigating online survey pitfalls. Jan 2, 2004
• How to Choose a Web Analytics Solution
  Criteria for assessing which Web analytics solution is right for your business. Dec 26, 2003
• Customer-Focused Excellence
  Bryan's holiday gift to you: secrets from his recent retail site study. Dec 19, 2003
• The Color of Money
  A quick primer on the ROI of color. Dec 12, 2003
• Does Usability Actually Sell Anything?
  Some great studies come from usability labs. But do their conclusions hold up? Dec 5, 2003
• Metrics, Six Sigma, and Improved ROI
  You established metrics for your online marketing. You use metrics to track and report your efforts. Congratulations. Now what? Nov 21, 2003
• Secrets of the Yellow Brick Road
  The secrets of embedded links -- the yellow brick road to persuasion. Nov 14, 2003
• The Value of a Second
  What's the value of the time visitors spend on your site? Nov 7, 2003
• Hyperlink to Persuasion
  Separate superior conversion rates from mediocre ones. How to craft links that persuade. Oct 31, 2003
• Shopping Cart Abandonment Is Not the Issue
  Too many marketers are trying to fix the wrong problem. Instead, direct energy and resources toward the three site issues that can vastly improve conversion. Oct 24, 2003
• Layout and Visual Clarity: Not a Matter of Taste
  Site design is more than eye candy. It's a powerful persuader. Oct 17, 2003
• Image, and Web Site Images
  Graphics are more than window-dressing. Do your site graphics inform, persuade and sell? When are images better than words? Oct 10, 2003
• Keyword Research: Optimization for Conversion
  Keywords and -phrases can be your most powerful conversion tool. How to use them to your best advantage. Oct 3, 2003
• Points of Resolution
  Walk a mile in customers' shoes -- through your own Web site. Sep 26, 2003
• Do You Walk Your Talk?
  Make an emotional connection with prospects -- identify your brand with a human need. Sep 19, 2003
• Why Should They Buy From You?
  Uncovering what motivates purchase decisions. Sep 12, 2003
• Persuasion: Beyond Trust and Credibility
  An even more important element in the persuasion mix. Sep 5, 2003
• The Golden Rule of Online Persuasion
  An online selling secret. Aug 29, 2003
• 'Good Enough' Conversion Rates?
  When is 'good enough' not good enough? Aug 22, 2003
• 20 Tips to Minimize Shopping Cart Abandonment, Part 2
  How to get shoppers to complete the sale. Last of a two-part series. Aug 15, 2003
• 20 Tips to Minimize Shopping Cart Abandonment, Part 1
  How to get shoppers to complete the sale. Part one of a two-part series. Aug 8, 2003
• Writing With Global Reach
  Common phrases and constructions can confuse nonnative English speakers. Find out how to communicate clearly. Aug 1, 2003
• 'Six Sigma' Web Marketing
  Eliminate sales process defects with this data-driven approach. Jul 25, 2003
• Rank Well in Search Engines and Convert the Traffic
  How to create pages that rank well and convert search engine traffic into buyers, prospects, and leads. Jul 18, 2003
• Prioritize and Rationalize Search Engine Marketing
  Organic listings are trusted. The four influencers and three questions that create better, higher rankings. Jul 11, 2003
• It's Not the Price, It's the Value
  Locking yourself into price competition is a losing proposition. If you're providing value, your customers may even be willing to pay more. Jul 4, 2003
• SEO: Search Engine Optimists?
  Marketers are waking up to the power of search. Too bad they often squander the opportunity. Jun 27, 2003
• Are You Sweating the Small Stuff?
  For lack of a link, the conversion was lost. Jun 20, 2003
• The 5 Percent Solution
  The power of compounding helps you turn slow, steady improvement into booming growth. Jun 13, 2003
• Too Poor to Buy Cheap
  Price or value: What attracts your customers? Jun 6, 2003
• The Empathy Sell
  There's no such thing as an 'average' visitor. Time to get to know a bunch of new people. May 30, 2003
• Interactivity: For a Call to (More) Action
  Using interactivity to motivate consumer behavior. May 23, 2003
• Challenge: Get More Leads by Next Friday
  Seven methods to boost lead conversion. Up to the challenge? May 16, 2003
• Conversion: More Science Than Art
  Conversion: pitting usability gurus against scientists. May 9, 2003
• How High Is Your Hurdle?
  Creating a Web presence is easy, but it shouldn't be that easy. May 2, 2003
• Neither the Time Nor the Place
  Buying online's a linear process. Ease people into converting by providing the right information at the appropriate stage. Apr 25, 2003
• Turning $0.40 Into $200.00
  What's the difference between coffee at harvest and at Starbucks? A whole lot of value. Apr 18, 2003
• Conversion Rate: Measure of Success
  Conversion rate still isn't top of mind for most Internet marketers. It should be. Apr 11, 2003
• How to Choose a Web Analytics Solution
  Criteria for assessing which Web analytics solution is right for your business. Apr 4, 2003
• Shopus Interruptus
  Have you created an online version of shopping purgatory? No wonder customers abandon full carts. Mar 28, 2003
• Want to Persuade? First, Delight!
  Delighted customers are loyal customers -- and that makes everyone happy. Bryan offers some delightful ideas. Mar 21, 2003
• Relaunching a Web Site: The 12-Point Checklist
  Redesign, revamp, or relaunch your site, step by step. Mar 14, 2003
• Writing With Global Reach
  Common phrases and constructions can confuse nonnative English speakers. Find out how to communicate clearly. Mar 7, 2003
• How to Increase Conversion Rate 1,000 Percent
  A systematic approach to the multitude of variables that impact your bottom line. Feb 28, 2003
• How to Decrease Sales by 90 Percent
  Case studies can be very dangerous things. Feb 21, 2003
• Two Steps to Spike Acquisition, Conversion, and Retention
  Is your site built for acquisition, conversion, or retention -- or all three? Feb 14, 2003
• How Are You Measuring Customers?
  When you're too focused on making quarterly financial goals, you may lose sight of what's really important. Feb 7, 2003
• The Bucks, Not the Bucs
  Are advertisers living a lie perpetuated by agencies? Bryan thinks so. Jan 31, 2003
• Seven Ways to Increase Pay-Per-Click ROI
  Targeting qualified traffic isn't the best you can do. Drive qualified visitors to actually buy. Jan 24, 2003
• The Way Customers Want to Buy
  There are four personalities. Understanding them is mission critical. Whom does your copy speak to? Jan 17, 2003
• A Man. A Plan. A Can Opener.
  Frictionless retail: lessons learned from a man who turned 112 can openers into an empire. Jan 10, 2003
• Keeping New Year's Resolutions
  How to make good on the promises you're making yourself as we begin 2003. Jan 3, 2003
• Is Your Right Brain a 98 lb. Weakling?
  Sneak past left-brain defenses with creative, intuitive, persuasive writing. Dec 27, 2002
• Wrapped Up Tightly in a Box
  If you're trying to persuade, a tool isn't the solution. Dec 20, 2002
• Effective Skimming and Scanning
  No, they're not the same. To really engage visitors, your site must be skimable and scanable. Dec 13, 2002
• Integrating Brand With Direct Marketing
  Online marketing isn't either/or. Branding messages must be integrated with direct marketing tactics. Dec 6, 2002
• What Is Bubblegum Marketing?
  Sticky Web sites that attract lots of eyeballs just aren't enough anymore. Nov 22, 2002
• The Payoff of Planning Persuasive Architecture
  Site design: how to deliver on time, on budget, and on purpose. Nov 15, 2002
• Designing for Action
  Now that you know what a storyboard isn't, learn what a storyboard is. Nov 8, 2002
• Framing the Problem
  Wireframes: why you need one, how to build one, and, once and for all, why a wireframe is not a storyboard. Nov 1, 2002
• Uncovering Solid Foundations for Persuasive Architecture
  Uncovery: the steps to knowing whatyou don't know (but need to) about your business. Oct 25, 2002
• Redesign Time?
  Companies are taking a hard look at their Internet initiatives. Many have decided it's redesign time as soon as the busy holiday season is over. Oct 18, 2002
• Qualified Answers to Persuasive Architecture
  How much time and effort have you invested thinking about how your prospects buy? Oct 11, 2002
• Do You Want to Inform or Persuade?
  How to design a Web site that persuades visitors to buy. Oct 4, 2002
• What Should You Measure?
  Everything's measurable -- but don't measure everything. Define what you need to know to meet your objective. Sep 27, 2002
• Are We There Yet?
  Usability experts' focus on download speed is sorely misplaced. Sep 20, 2002
• Seven Ways to Boost Conversion Rates
  Simple doesn't always mean easy. The obvious is too often overlooked. Bryan offers seven basic (yet crucial) tactics to persuade prospects to buy. Sep 13, 2002
• Amazon: The World's Biggest What?
  Does Amazon need a new brand? Sep 6, 2002
• Pressed for Advertising Cash?
  Question: If you don't have an ad budget to compete with the big boys, how do you level the playing field? Aug 30, 2002
• Not Just Another Article on Luncheon Meat
  Bryan isn't sure if he trusts the 'Trusted Sender' idea. Aug 23, 2002
• Communicating Perceptual Reality
  Credibility counts. On your site, for your brand, and for marketing as a profession. Marketers, can you explain your job credibly? Aug 16, 2002
• Bitter Taste, Sweet Results
  It's unappetizing, but swallowing your editor's medicine produces healthier copy. Aug 9, 2002
• Can't Smell It on the Web?
  The right copy can sell anything on the Web -- even if it has to be touched, tasted, or smelled to be truly experienced. Aug 2, 2002
• What's Really Surprising About E-Tailing? No Surprise
  E-tailers are making astonishing discoveries (that retailers have known about for years and years). Jul 26, 2002
• Branding As a Simple Science
  Bryan offers the three key elements to understanding -- and implementing -- branding. Jul 19, 2002
• Confronting Relevance
  Relevance is what your customers want. Here's what it is and how to deliver it. Jul 12, 2002
• 'Web Analytics' No Longer Means Web Rage
  Information overload? For marketers, that once meant knowing how many visitors' browsers were version 6.0 versus 6.0.1. The new generation of analytics tools generate information you can actually use. Jun 28, 2002
• The ROI of Free
  When dollars and cents aren't the only metric: tracing the value of intangibles. Jun 21, 2002
• The Color of Money (and Your Site)
  In the black and tickled pink! Color is a persuasion tool. Use it to improve your conversion rate. Jun 14, 2002
• Think Before You Send
  Hold on! Before you hit 'send' on your next campaign, make sure you've done this indispensable groundwork. Jun 7, 2002
• Renting a List? Consider a Spam Clause
  Zap spam, save your brand? One email marketer developed a simple, elegant solution. List brokers won't like it. May 31, 2002
• An Offer You Can't Refuse
  Set someone at your store's doorstep and hand them dough to buy anything they want. Think you have a guaranteed sale? Think again. May 24, 2002
• Caution: Internet Chaos!
  Seeking answers? Determine if your questions have answers. May 17, 2002
• Innovative Testing
  Though the current craze for testing and measurement can be a boon, make certain you're looking at the long term rather than just the immediate results. May 10, 2002
• Email Case Study: How to Sell Out an Event
  Selling out an event is not about sending out email; it's about planning a solid, integrated campaign. Bryan offers some tips for a successful conference. May 3, 2002
• Betting the Farm on RFM, Part 2
  Trying to reactivate defected customers is a futile exercise, but why not use RFM to catch them before they get away? Apr 26, 2002
• Betting the Farm on RFM, Part 1
  Now that everyone's figured out that the holy grail of one-to-one marketing doesn't deserve the reverence it was once given, the venerable direct marketing concept of RFM is coming up more and more. Apr 19, 2002
• I'm More Than an IP Address!
  There's hard data, and then there's the human factor. Measuring success and improving results means knowing how to assess both tangible and intangible campaign elements. Apr 12, 2002
• Specialists, Experts, Gurus, and Other Marketing Problems
  You're marketing your entire business. If something's not working, do you fix the symptoms or cure the disease? Apr 5, 2002
• Pick One: Open Methodology or Slave to Technology
  Who runs your business, you or your technology? Are your projects wired for simplicity? Mar 29, 2002
• How to Interpret Web Metrics
  Which numbers are important, and what should you do when you've got them? Mar 18, 2002
• The Pareto Principle: Applying the 80/20 Rule to Your Business
  A small portion of your business is generating the bulk of productivity and profitability. That's the Pareto principle. Your job is to identify and leverage it. Here's how. Mar 11, 2002
• It's Not the Price, It's the Value
  Locking yourself into price competition is a losing proposition. If you're providing value, your customers may even be willing to pay more. Mar 4, 2002
• Shaking Hands, Email, and All That Jazz
  Sealing a deal with a customer online is just as important -- if not more so -- as doing so in the real world. Feb 25, 2002
• Just How Do I Reach My Goals?
  There's one very important thing we can learn from Lincoln -- to persevere and reach for greatness, moving beyond merely acceptable results. Feb 11, 2002
• Bloodletting and Why Testing Can Be Unscientific
  If you think taking a purely scientific approach to improving your conversion rates is the answer, you're kidding yourself. Feb 4, 2002
• How Will You Measure Up in 2002?
  If you're like most marketers, you're practically swimming in data. But learning how to act on these critical measurements is the only way to improve your site. Jan 28, 2002
• There Is No Egg in Eggplant
  You may know what you mean to say when you're writing copy for your Web site, but are you expressing your vision as clearly and precisely as possible? Jan 14, 2002
• Toward a New Year of Freedom
  Ever feel like technology that's supposed to make things simpler and quicker just ends up creating more complications? Jan 7, 2002
• Are People Getting Stuck in Your GUI?
  If customers are stuck, your site isn't sticky. Is the problem your GUI? Dec 17, 2001
• Is Your Web Site Qualified to Sell?
  Does your site pass the one page only indicator? Take this test to find out if your Web site can qualify customers to learn what they want -- and convince them you can deliver. Dec 10, 2001
• It's Imperative to Make These Choices
  In your persuasive writing, you may choose to take the road less traveled, but you've got to decide upon a path. Bryan says you've got a better chance of reaching your goal if you pick your route before departure. Dec 3, 2001
• Buying Is Not a Rational Decision
  You may think arming yourself with facts and data will help you convert prospects into customers, but Bryan says it's more important that prospects trust you and feel comfortable with you. Nov 26, 2001
• Your Email Isn't What You Think It Is
  When you send an email, you should be thinking of ways to wriggle into your prospects' long-term memory. An immediate response may be nice, Bryan believes, but being burned into your prospects' brains is what'll bring the biggest return long term. Nov 19, 2001
• How Will They Buy It if They Can't Find It?
  Snazzy unique navigation may wow your site visitors, but if it hinders them from finding what they need, they won't be hanging around very long. Nov 12, 2001
• The Most Powerful Secret of Customer Conversion
  Merchants are struggling to figure out the most effective way of increasing their conversion rate. Bryan says the key is focusing on one particular metric. Nov 5, 2001
• E-Commerce Metrics: Drowning in Your Own Data?
  Because we can collect, measure, and analyze so much data on the Web, you'd think e-tailing would be a marketer's dream. Too often, it's a nightmare. We're overwhelmed with too much data -- data that can be hard to distinguish from useful information. Here's how to figure out all those numbers. It's easier than you think. Really. Oct 29, 2001
• Saying the Right Thing at the Right Time
  In a B2B setting, as elsewhere, you persuade prospects to convert by meeting their needs at that precise moment. Oct 22, 2001
• Developing Your Project Doesn't Have to Be Rocket Science
  You want to ensure your project succeeds. Youwant it to be cost-efficient. OK, then you need a new and better management method. Oct 15, 2001
• How Many Holes Are in Your Bucket?
  At each step of the sales process, a site loses some users. We use the leaky bucket metaphor for a site that doesn't successfully convert visitors into buyers. Traffic fills the bucket but leaks out of holes. You need to plug as many holes as possible. Oct 8, 2001
• The Artful Science of Conversion
  Could there be a manual -- laying out steps one by one -- to teach marketers how to lead consumers down the path to conversion? Well, it's not so simple as that, but years of study have yielded some pretty hard-and-fast rules. Oct 1, 2001
• The Ideal Tracking System
  If we think of conversion as a comprehensive system that carries a visitor from start to finish, from landing to close, we can start asking questions about how we evaluate that system. Sep 24, 2001
• Conversion Is Music to My Ears
  Let's step back and take a broader look at the nature of conversion, both as an idea that shapes the exchanges between you and your prospects and more importantly as a compelling process that should guide the entire scope of your online efforts. Sep 17, 2001
• Accidental Marketing
  You and I decide to get into showbiz -- maybe movies, where the money is. We find investors, buy great real estate for the studio, buy the latest equipment, negotiate awesome distribution deals, contract high-priced talent, then spend like mad on advertising for a movie about... Sep 10, 2001
• Where Oh Where Did My Eyeballs Go?
  When folks read newspapers, their eyes first go to pictures. Online, their eyes go for text first, particularly captions and summaries, and graphics only later -- sometimes not at all! This has made a lot of copywriters happy. It has also heralded a new field of inquiry. Sep 3, 2001
• Buying: The Flip Side of Selling
  To successfully get your prospect to take action, you must be able to see the world from your customers' buying point of view. Ideally, while you maintain your sales perspective, you conduct your sales process in a way that is in tune with how customers decide to buy. Aug 27, 2001
• The Winning Edge
  Someone once told Bryan that everything you do either enhances or detracts from your ability to close the sale and that no detail, however minute, is neutral. So what does that have to do with converting Web site traffic? "Everything," says Bryan. Aug 20, 2001
• Christmas in August?
  If yours is one of those businesses that look to theholiday season as a major shot in the arm, this is not thetime to subject your site to a complete redesign. Instead,this is the time to grab the low-hanging fruit -- to dothe things you can implement quickly. Aug 13, 2001
• What Does E-Tailing Deliver That Customers Can't Live Without?
  If your Web site is not merely an additional distribution channel for your existing clientele's convenience, then the question of what value your prospect should assign to your Web site is vitally important to the health of your business. Aug 6, 2001
• CRM, Yes, But Don't Forget to MRC
  Building a relationship takes time. Shoving some tech-heavy customer relationship management application at your customers is more likely to push them away than draw them in. Don't put the cart before the horse; first make sure you have happy customers to manage. Jul 30, 2001
• Why Aren't Your Emails Getting More Action?
  For a long time, Bryan has been concentrating on the topic of converting Web site traffic. But do the principles he's been espousing apply to other media -- in this case, email? Of course they do. Here are some helpful tips and tested insights. Jul 23, 2001
• If You're So Good, Sell Me
  Are you endangering your online business? Nothing can be more deadly than the wrong assumptions. Bryan addresses some of the most common misconceptions about selling and customer conversion. Jul 16, 2001
• 'What' Must Come Before 'How'
  Wireframing is all about the "what" -- the execution and process of the site. It has nothing to do with the "how" -- including the innovations of technology and design. It will keep your site focused on what it needs to do to maximize conversion rates. Jul 9, 2001
• Opting for Results
  Opting in involves an exchange of value. You get something you want (usually contact or marketing information), and your prospects get something they want. It's a very simple equation. But you have to do your permission marketing with sensitivity, sense, and style. Jul 2, 2001
• It's the Customer, Stupid
  Take a look at the words on your Web site. Are you talking about all the wonderful ways your visitors can benefit from your products or services, or are you instead talking about all the great features of your products, your services, your company? Jun 25, 2001
• Selling Yourself Short on Traffic
  Fairy tales are often based on reality. True, some more than others. But here's one that's far from being a tall tale, even though it has a happy ending. Well... for some characters at least. Jun 18, 2001
• How to Make the Most of Your Traffic
  Despite the rash of dot-bombs, so-called experts are still telling you to increase sales by using methods that the has-beens have proven don't work. Sadly, many people keep listening to that advice. And they keep paying for it, too. Jun 11, 2001
• Increasing Your Conversion Rates
  If you're going to survive, you have to focus on bottom-line results. Spending a fortune to drive traffic to your site -- when most of it never does anything while it's there -- drives up the cost of customer acquisition so much, you'll never reach profitability. Jun 4, 2001
• The Five-Letter Dirty Word
  What word (it refers to something we do every day, whether we realize it or not) immediately conjures up an image of a slick, aggressive, fast-talking person trying to push something of dubious value? May 28, 2001
• RE: Email Subject Lines That Work?
  We are all bombarded by emails. Some are legitimate business correspondence, many more are solicitations, personal mail, junk, jokes, spam... With all of that clutter in your prospect's inbox, does your email have a chance of being read? May 21, 2001
• Behind the Scenes: The Making of a Web Site
  How is a movie like a Web site? Before a single scene of a blockbuster gets filmed, the production crew has a complete map of the end product. They leave nothing to chance. Neither should you when designing your site. Lights, camera, action plan! May 14, 2001
• Navigating Through Analysis Paralysis
  Despite what many information architects believe, good navigation schemes have little to do with prospects' recall ability. Instead, what's at work is how humans handle choices. So, do you want to follow convention, or do you want to close more sales? May 7, 2001
• KISS Your Customers If You Want Them Back
  Programmers dream of elegant code. To them, simple is elegant. That's true of the language the rest of us use: The best writing is often the simplest. So too with Web sites. The idea is to communicate, after all. Say it best with a KISS. Apr 30, 2001
• Customers: One Click Away From Goodbye
  If your site is not a part of the selling solution, you have a big problem. You certainly won't be making it into the history books. In fact, you'll be relegated to the dustbin. Why? Because your customers will be history. Gone. Goodbye. With nary a click back. Apr 23, 2001
• A Land Beyond Usability
  Sure you appreciate the pothole-free roads, the prominently displayed signs, and the smooth and straight highways of the Land of Usability. But are you on a Sunday drive to nowhere, or are you headed somewhere important? Apr 16, 2001
• You Want Them to Buy? Sell Benefits
  To sell, you must appeal to what motivates people. Use words that evoke, not words that baffle. In other words, translate features, which appeal to the intellect, into benefits, which appeal to the emotions. Apr 9, 2001
• The ABCs of GTC and POA
  You don't need a B.A. or M.S. or Ph.D. to know that beyond the ABCs of running a site are the GTC and POA. Bryan spells it all out for you. Apr 2, 2001
• As Easy As 1, 2, 3 (4, 5)
  Even in the age of the Web, people buy the way they always have. That means to get them to buy, you need to sell. For your Web site to sell, its information architecture must integrateevery step of the five-step sales process. Mar 26, 2001
• Funneling Customers Into Your Site
  Your Web site's home page is both sales funnel and salesperson. You've got to pull your potential buyers through the funnel, showing them the way to what they, and you, want: Their purchase, your sale. Mar 19, 2001
• Why Should I Buy From You?
  Why would anyone want to do business with you? What's so special about you? What makes you think you're any different from anyone else? No, that's not your superego talking. It's just what your customers want to know about you. So what are you going to tell them? Mar 12, 2001
• A Pair of Ears Beats a Pair of Eyes
  Hear ye, hear ye! Ads fail if they don't respect the workings of the brain. In advertising -- and the brain -- the killer app is sound, whether heard directly (audio) or mentally (ad copy). Words are back! And Bryan's got 'em. Mar 5, 2001
• Measuring Your Sales Success
  We love baseball. All those stats! Ks, ERAs, and HRs... If you also love baseball analogies -- and just maybe also want know how to increase your Web sales -- make the right call: Read on to score big (and to find out about SPRs, CCRs, CTBs...). Feb 19, 2001
• Does Your Home Page Engage Customers?
  The only thing customers care about is what your product or service can do for them. To engage customers, you need a Web site with strong copy that spells benefits in their own language. Feb 5, 2001
• Does Your Home Page Help or Hinder Sales?
  To increase your online sales, you have to begin at the beginning: your home page. If it doesn't do what it should, visitors won't go deeper into your site. So... does your home page pass the "AIDAS" test? Jan 22, 2001
• Marketing Is NOT Sales
  Don't get Bryan wrong. He does think marketing is an essential part of the e-commerce equation. But when it comes to success in e-business, or any business, he says it's all about sales. Jan 8, 2001

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