September 2009
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Digital Marketing Tip of the Month. Website usability, or the ease at which your website visitors can interact with your website, is an important part of digital marketing. Because successful online marketing doesn't end when a user enters your website—it ends when the user completes a sale or other desired action. This is something that absolutely won't happen if a person has to wait too long for your website to load. In today's world, we all want information now, now, now, and having to wait just isn't an option. Make sure your website load time is shorter than 10 seconds to avoid losing possible customers to your competitors. What You Should Have Read. Because if you had, you'd know that 93 percent of Americans who use social media want companies to have a presence on these networks, 40.5 percent of messages on Twitter are "pointless babble" and searching for Jessica Biel may cause some to run yelling "danger Will Robinson!"
Complimentary costumes provided by Dress Up Time during Oneupweb’s One for the Road: Operation Michigan. 
One For the Road: Operation Michigan |
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Oneupweb's Award-Winning Monthly Newsletter—OneUp Low-Down™ 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. 
As we question the true effects of global warming with 60 degree weather in Traverse City, things are heating up inside the walls of Oneupweb. And we're not talking about those Michigan vs. Michigan State college football rivalries in the lunchroom (although those are heating up as well). From a five-day motor home tour and a plethora of speaking engagements that have our employees running all over the country to volunteering in our home town, there's never a dull moment when you're busy being relentless. Check it out:
Industry Events, Places and Faces.
Tim Kauffold, Oneupweb's Director of Operations, and Duncan White will be jetting off to Vegas on October 15-16 to take part in the Mr. Handyman National Conference at the Venetian. The old adage is "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"—but not this time. Check October's newsletter for a complete run-down on the hot topics at this conference. The Shock Factor (the stat you need to bring to your next marketing meeting). Is online display advertising as effective (if not more effective) as TV advertising? When you look beyond the immediate click-through, at the full picture, the answer becomes clear. Display advertising tops TV as a marketing medium to drive sales, showing a considerable sales lift in a much shorter time period than TV advertising.  |
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Hot Off the Desk of Oneupweb CEO Lisa Wehr. Everyone is talking about how to be successful on Twitter. Social media marketing experts are coming out of the walls to give advice such as "you have to build up your followers by following others", "don't just tweet about your company" and "put some personality into your posts". And that's good advice. But the hottest thing to cross my desk today just reminded me that social media is constantly growing and changing. The rules are–there are no rules. And every once in a while someone will put up something so different, so off the wall and so "true" that hundreds of thousands of people flock to follow that person. And end up laughing until they cry or wet their pants (I will admit to the latter, I plead the fifth on the former). Last night (last night as of writing this), I found this Twitter account. And when I went back to look at it again (who could resist) I noticed that the followers had increased by 20,000. And they are continuing to rise. Is the content all appropriate? No. Is this a Twitter account everyone will find funny? No. Should a business retweet this stuff? Absolutely not. But I'll be dog-gone if it isn't good. This is a true piece of viral marketing, and whether you find "Justin's" dad hilarious or not, there are a few things that every marketer should take away from this Twitter profile. The first is that it's fun to read. In just 20 posts, "Justin" has shown us the kind of content a follower can expect to read in his updates. He's set the tone early on, and each post is a 140-character or less glimpse into what can only be conceived as one of the most humorous men on the planet. In other words, it's entertaining. That can be something we forget as businesses. We are trying so hard to say just the right thing, to keep that safe balance between promotional and informative, that we forget that we need to offer people something they want to read. And will keep coming back to again and again. It doesn't have to be outrageous, but it does need to be worth posting. A general rule of thumb should be that if you don't want to read it yourself on someone else's Twitter account, you probably shouldn't post that tweet as is. Now, I'm the first to admit that this isn't always possible. But if one man could amass 20,000 followers in just a few hours doing exactly that, isn't it worth a shot? The other lesson that can be learned from this Twitter account lies in the power of the retweet. To date, I count 20 tweets on this user's profile. Yet I count 230,047 followers and only 1 person that "Justin" is following. At first glance, this just doesn't add up. But when I added the Twitter account to my TweetDeck, I quickly understood. People like these tweets, and what do you do when you like something? You retweet. This means that all of your followers have a chance to read that exact same tweet. In other words, the number of people exposed to a Twitter account grows exponentially with each retweet. Give your followers something worthy of a retweet. It will increase your brand exposure and help your business grow. And if you have a dad with quotes as funny as this guy, all the better. Good luck, and happy tweeting.
As an internationally recognized thought leader in integrated online marketing, Oneupweb authors and maintains an extensive library of original white papers, articles and research. 
Copyright © 2009 Oneupweb. All Rights Reserved |
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A short-term study by 
The One for the Road: Operation Michigan tour has drawn to a close. We've unloaded Pearl (the motor home) and are breathing a deep sigh of that fresh hometown air. It was a fantastic trip, covering hundreds of miles and helping just as many business owners continue to survive and thrive with successful online marketing plans. Check out 
