Oneupweb's Online Marketing News

May 2008

Search Engine Marketing Strategies for the Health Care Industry.

Oneupweb CEO Lisa Wehr will be a featured speaker at the May 15 live audio conference: Search Engine Strategies to Drive Key Audiences to Your Healthcare Web Site. Find out how to begin or expand a paid search marketing program, and listen to real case studies from Kaiser Permanente and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. You can still register for the audio conference, or put your order in now to receive a recorded copy. Visit StrategicHealthCare.com.

Google, Google, Google.

This month’s StraightUpSearch podcasts focus on the internet giant—and it’s not all search. Listen to discussions about Yahoo!, hairspray, politics and more. But don’t let us do all the talking. Tell us what you think at StraightUpSearch.com.

Join the Oneupweb Team.

We have experienced remarkable growth over the past year, and as a result, have created new positions we are looking to fill with talented, creative people. Open positions include: PPC Project Manager; Software Developer; Web Developer; Senior Graphic/Web Designer; and Graphic Designer. Please check them out and share with your friends.

In the Industry

This month the Microsoft pursuit of Yahoo! ended. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft withdrew their takeover offer, citing a divide over price, while Yahoo! was emboldened by a successful test to carry search advertising from Google. So it’s an end to Mircohoo, at least for now.

May Low-Down.

You want your website to be a resource—easy to navigate, user-friendly and intuitive so that you can build your brand, create loyalty and stay competitive online. When was the last time your company performed a thorough usability evaluation and analysis of its website?

Check out The Low-Down, below, for results from last month's poll question.

Subscribe now to receive timely, informative articles designed for the busy online marketing executive. Every month you'll receive a summary page of the latest issue with a short introduction to each article. With one click you can access a complete article and read it then or download it for later. Visit the OneUp Low-Down™ archive for past issues.

Oneupweb Brings Home 10 Awards for Marketing and Creative Excellence.

Oneupweb has recently been recognized for creative excellence in several award competitions. The Business Marketing Association presented Oneupweb with three Pro-Comm Awards, including Best of Division for their electronic newsletter, OneUp Low-Down and for their corporate podcast series, One For The Money. Oneupweb also received an award of excellence for their online marketing blog, StraightUpSearch.com. The American Inhouse Design Awards honored Oneupweb for their Online Marketing Survival Guides and corporate website, OneUpWeb.com. And most recently, Oneupweb received several Hermes Creative Awards, including a platinum for One For The Money and their Online Marketing Services Brochure. They also received a gold for their Online Marketing Survival Guides and two honorable mentions for OneUp Low-Down and StraightUpSearch.com.

One For The Money Episode 8 Now Available.

Oneupweb’s amateur acting company brings you another installment of the award-winning podcast series, One For The Money. In episode 8, The Slasher, the recent economic downturn causes one company to revisit their current spending plans. No department seems immune. Investors and upper management are demanding accountability for every dollar spent—and those that can't provide adequate proof of performance are sure to see the deepest cuts. Put simply, it's a potential bloodbath out there. Listen to discover how one marketing department avoids catastrophe.

Last Chance to Save $100 on Registration for the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition.

The Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition is quickly approaching, but there’s still time to save! Oneupweb is offering you a $100 discount off the current registration fee. Click here to access the special online Exhibitor Client Discount Registration Form and enter where requested our unique Exhibitor Client code: EC8303. Complete and submit the online registration form and your registration confirmation at the discounted price will be emailed to you immediately. Plus, if you take advantage of this discount offer and stop by our booth, 912, at Internet Retailer 2008 held at Chicago's McCormick Place West convention center on June 9-12, we’ll give you a $25 MasterCard Gift Card on the spot as a special bonus. Find out more by visiting IRCE.com.

Oneupweb Unveils New Consultation for In-House Marketing Teams.

If your search engine optimization and paid search marketing is handled by in-house staff—you’re not alone. It can, however, be difficult for a small team to maintain an objective perspective and keep abreast of the latest information and advanced strategies. And that’s where Oneupweb’s new service comes in. Get search marketing analysis and support from a proven industry leader. Visit OneUpWeb.com to find out more or contact us to start the discussion today.

Real Client Case Studies.

Our clients are receiving results so great, we couldn’t keep them to ourselves. So each month we’re going to bring you a real case study with real results. And to get the ball rolling, we’ve picked a fantastic health care provider whose strength lies in its integration of natural search optimization, paid search and expanded services such as market research, online PR and podcasting. Check out what we’ve helped them accomplish:

Top-ten positions within natural search results have increased more than 1,100 percent.
Monthly unique visitors have increased from 50,000 to 250,000.
Weekly podcast earned over 500 new subscribers in less than a month.
Their online strategy accounts for 60 percent of all patients.

Look for another Oneupweb case study in next month’s issue, or download our Case Study Book today to find out more about what we can do for you.

Low-Down Poll Results.

Here are the results to April’s Low-Down poll question:

Legal issues are becoming a bigger concern for Online Marketers. Which of the following online legal issues has been a concern for you or your business in the past year?

OneUpLowDown

OneUp Stats.

Millions of internet users are creating and sharing content all over the web—and millions more are joining in each year. US internet users are eager to communicate online and savvy online marketers should be looking for ways to get in on the conversation.

OneUpLowDown

6 Ways to Ramp Up Online Sales

With the recent economic downturn, many companies may start to see sales slip across the board. Budgets will take cuts, but that doesn’t mean that management expectations will decrease. This is where a usability checkup can really come in handy.

By quickly auditing your site for improved accessibility and ease of use, you can drive sales and return without increasing your marketing budget. Here are six things you can look at now to help ramp up online sales.

Navigation
Is it easy for your customers to find what they want? Does your site navigation make sense to your target audience? Keep in mind that the harder they have to look for the information they want, the more likely they are to leave and find it elsewhere. A good way to start your evaluation is to look at average time spent on the site and number of pages viewed.

Ease of Purchase
Improving the checkout process can be the single easiest way to increase sales. What are the bottlenecks in your checkout process? Are your checkout and shipping processes on par with what your target audience wants and expects? And don’t forget about promoting further sales.

Interface Friendliness
Nothing can turn a customer off more than having to fill out forms with excessive amounts of personal information, except having to wait too long for a meaningful answer to a question. Take a look to see how you follow-up on inquiries, and check to see if your contact process appears personal or automated.

Security
No one is going to give away their personal information on a site that doesn’t make them feel secure. Is the protection for your site’s information and software adequate and up-to-date? Do people feel secure on your site? Would you?

Technology
Does your site load and work properly on all web browsers? Have you tested to make sure after installing new software or changing designs or content? A simple test can either confirm that everything is working properly, or alert you to a simple problem that may have customers abandoning your site without making a purchase.

What's Working
Which web pages deliver the most natural search traffic? What’s working on those pages that you can apply throughout your site? Often, learning what works can be just as helpful as learning what doesn’t.

Whether you’re an ecommerce merchant or a healthcare provider, traffic to your website comes with a high price tag. Loosing sales because of usability issues is a costly concern—and one that can be avoided without ever increasing your budget. Make sure you’re doing all you can. Learn more by downloading Oneupweb’s 15-Point Usability Checkup.

As an internationally recognized thought leader in integrated online marketing, Oneupweb authors and maintains an extensive library of original white papers, articles and research. You can access these and previous issues of OneUp Low-Down at OneUpWeb.com. For questions about our services or other resources available at Oneupweb, call us toll free at 877.568.7477 or email info@oneupweb.com. We look forward to hearing from you.