Cool Web Site of the Day

I don’t usually feature web sites, but as a marketing guy I take an interest in everything new and this caught my eye.

While meandering through the internet today I found a web site for HEMA, which is a Dutch department store. No I don’t speak Dutch, but you don’t need to to enjoy some great programming. Click on this link to get to their web site and sit back and enjoy the wonders of web 2.0. It will scroll up and down for you so don’t touch your keyboard.

Actually if you do speak Dutch please let me know if this is a legitimate web site and why it is not tied back to their corporate site. Regardless, it is still the cool site of the day.

Did it make you watch the entire show and then want to buy something? Do you think there is a place for this type of web site? Let me know what you think.

My thanks to Kite Boy for featuring this on his blog.

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Top 59 Stock Photo Web Sites

I use a lot of photos on my blog as they are part of my Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. A lot of people end up on my blog from an image search. (Click on the Thumbnails for larger versions)

Where do I get my photos? Here is a list of stock photo sites. Some are free, some charge a fee, some are royalty free and others require a royalty. I will let you sort that out, but this list is a great resource:

1. http://aarinfreephoto.com/
2. http://blackat9.tripod.com/
3. http://gallery.hd.org/index.jsp
4. http://gallery.yahoo.com/
5. http://gimp-savvy.com/PHOTO-ARCHIVE/
6. http://kepek.creart.hu
7. http://orangetrash.d2.hu/
8. http://photobox.ru/
9. http://stock.kriegsnet.com/
10. http://www.alamy.com/default.asp
11. http://www.artzooks.com/
12. http://www.bciusa.com
13. http://www.deviantart.com
14. http://www.dieblen.de/ - use google to translate
15. http://www.digitaleden.de/
16. http://www.ditto.com
17. http://www.dreamstime.com/
18. http://www.dubtastic.com/resources.html
19. http://www.farmphoto.com/
20. http://www.freefoto.com
21. http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
22. http://www.free-image.net/
23. http://www.freeimages.co.uk
24. http://www.freemediagoo.com/
25. http://www.freenaturephotos.com
26. http://www.freephotosbank.com
27. http://www.freestockphotos.com
28. http://www.gettyimages.com
29. http://www.gograph.com
30. http://www.imageafter.com
31. http://www.imagebank.com
32. http://www.imageblowout.com
33. http://www.im-visions.com/
34. http://www.ironorchid.com/clipart/
35. http://www.istockphoto.com
36. http://www.mediaphoto.com.br/index.php?leng=eng
37. http://www.morguefile.com
38. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html
39. http://www.niblack.org/imagebase/
40. http://www.openphoto.net
41. http://www.photo.net/stock/
42. http://www.photocase.de/
43. http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/
44. http://www.photolibrary.fema.gov/
45. http://www.photolibrary.fema.gov/photolibrary/index.jsp
46. http://www.photonica.com
47. http://www.photos.external.lmco.com/
48. http://www.pictor.com
49. http://www.pixelperfectdigital.com/
50. http://www.ppdigital.com
51. http://www.pro-visions.com
52. http://www.shawnsclipart.com/happeninfamily.html
53. http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery.mhtml
54. http://www.snap-shot.com
55. http://www.squiver.com
56. http://www.stock.b-man.dk/
57. http://www.stock-photo.pl/
58. http://www.sxc.hu
59. http://www.unprofound.com/pix

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Google Cheat Sheet

You might be asking where a Google Cheat Sheet fits into marketing, but I can assure you I use many of these unique features every day in my research. Mastering searching is the key to improving your marketing.

My favorite tools when I am researching a product or company are:

info:www.inboxfx.com - find info about a page
related:www.inboxfx.com - shows pages that Google think are related to a site
link:www.inboxfx.com - find page that link back to a page or entire site
marketing plan filetype:pdf - search for specific filetypes only

Google Web Search Features

In addition to providing easy access to billions of web pages, Google has many special features to help you to find exactly what you’re looking for. Click the title of a specific feature to learn more about it.

	Book Search	Use Google to search the full text of books.
	Cached Links	View a snapshot of each page as it looked when we indexed it.
	Calculator	Use Google to evaluate mathematical expressions.
	Currency Conversion	Easily perform any currency conversion.
	Definitions	Use Google to get glossary definitions gathered from various online sources.
	File Types	Search for non-HTML file formats including PDF documents and others. i.e. marketing plan filetype:pdf
	Groups	See relevant postings from Google Groups in your regular web search results.
	I’m Feeling Lucky	Bypass our results and go to the first web page returned for your query.
	Images	See relevant images in your regular web search results.
	Local Search	Search for local businesses and services in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada.
	Movies	Use Google to find reviews and showtimes for movies playing near you.
	Music Search	Use Google to get quick access to a wide range of music information.
	News Headlines	Enhances your search results with the latest related news stories.
	PhoneBook	Look up U.S. street address and phone number information.
	Product Search	To find a product for sale online, use Google Product Search.
	Q&A	Use Google to get quick answers to straightforward questions.
	Refine Your Search - New!	Add instant info and topic-specific links to your search in order to focus and improve your results.
	Results Prefetching	Makes searching in Firefox faster.
	Search By Number	Use Google to access package tracking information, US patents, and a variety of online databases.
	Similar Pages	Display pages that are related to a particular result.
	SiteSearch	Restrict your search to a specific site. i.e. marketing site:www.themarketingguy.wordpress.com
	Spell Checker	Offers alternative spelling for queries.
	Stock and Fund Quotes	Use Google to get up-to-date stock and mutual fund quotes and information.
	Street Maps	Use Google to find U.S. street maps.
	Travel Information	Check the status of an airline flight in the U.S. or view airport delays and weather conditions.
	Weather	Check the current weather conditions and forecast for any location in the U.S.
	WebPageTranslation	Provides you access to web pages in other languages.
	WhoLinksToYou?	Find pages that point to a specific URL. link:www.inboxfx.com

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Great Example of Web 2.0 - Domino’s Pizza

You may have heard the term Web 2.0 and thought about it without really knowing what it refers to. From Wikipedia comes this definition:

“Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.”

I think Domino’s Pizza has done a brilliant job of taking their web site to the next level by making ordering a pizza simple and fun.

Firstly, they have the ability to order by cell phone.

Then they have added Hot Email Offers which you can subscribe to:

And they even have online order tracking:

Does your website reflect the nature of your customers and prospects? Does it communicate at their level and does it allow them to complete their business on your web site easily and without becoming frustrated?

If the answers are no then maybe it is time to upgrade your web site and incorporate some of the new features that web users are starting to expect.

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Google 411

Just when you thought you have seen everything along comes another innovation from Google. I don’t want this blog to turn into an ad for Google, but some of the things they are working on cannot be ignored by marketers.

I just ran across Google 411. Did you know you can send a text message containing your search query, such as [ cafe seattle wa ] or [wx 02139], to 466453 (GOOGLE on most phones) to get information such as local listings, weather, movie show times, sports scores and more.

I am not the most prolific text messager in the world, but I was able to type 466453 into the To: box and Weather vancouver bc into the Message box and in seconds a three day forecast for Vancouver was sent to me by text message.

I then got adventurous and typed Pizza Vancouver bc into the subject field and in seconds I had the phone numbers for three pizza places.

Ever the optimist I typed Marketing north vancouver bc… and my name was not displayed so that proves it is not perfect, but worth a try.

I cannot forecast how people will embrace this form of search, but now that I have tried it I will definitely us it again. I am going to look further into how a company can improve their ranking in the search results as this is potentially a new source of business for some companies.

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Wondering About Search Terms?

I just stumbled on a new Google tool called Google Sets. You enter a few items from a set of things and Google will try to predict other items in the set.

I entered “email” and “stationery” and Google Sets provided the following list:

• email
• stationery
• looney
• graphics
• misc
• disney
• web site
• brochures
• leaflets
• pawed
• swisbeagle

Okay I don’t know where “pawed” and “swisbeagle” came from, but the others are relevant.

This is a great tool as it helps you determine what search terms people might be using to find your product or service. Because it is Google providing the results you know it is based on their daa so it is going to be reliable.

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New Web Communication Tool

I ran across an interesting concept called Click Phone. The basic premise is that if you have someone on your website or reading your email you want to make it as easy as possible for them to reach you.

Click Phone is a Push to Talk Web Call Back service ( sometimes called, Click to Call, Click to Talk, Push to Call) that allows your online visitors to instantly connect to your cell phone from your website or email. In the case of a Realtor it will even work from their MLS.

It requires no fancy software downloads, speakers or microphones to use. All that is required is an open phone line from your prospect to receive the call. Most importantly, it’s a toll free call for your prospect and will even capture their phone number for later follow up.

The company provides a free demo which you can try by clicking here.

I plan to incorporate this feature on our email stationery website inboxFX Communications as interested prospects are already completing a brief contact form so why not make it easier for them to Click to Call.

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Do You Know Where Your Website Is?

I read an interesting study conducted by John Fuhrman, the director of training for My Green Parachute, who provide customer acquisition services such as exit strategies, referral networks, and sales/training.

He visited over 1,000 real estate sites in all 50 states. These included single Realtor sites to multi-office groups, independent offices and franchises. When you see the results you will understand why I ask “Do You Know Where Your Website Is?”

Here is how it broke down:

Out of 1,000 visits or attempts to visit:

226 - were not working, under construction, linked to online poker, or other industry, or even linked to other real estate sources.

332 - were cookie cutter (probably free or all done by the same person) sites that provided no unique information. Only about broad market topics.

442 - worked well enough to find individual contact information, salespeople and manager’s names. However, 77 of those e-mails were not activated for one reason or another.

So if I am reading this correctly 22.6% of Realtors have websites that are not functional. If you fall into this category click on the Website link above.

Useful Links and Websites for November

If you want to increase the “stickiness” of your website (keep people there longer) ensure that your “links” or “Resources” page changes frequently and is seen as a compelling page to visit. Think about what people who are looking for your product or service might be searching on to determine which links you should add.

The links will change by industry, but here are a few I have come across recently that I think deserve a look:

Universal Packing list for travel - Generate a custom packing list for any journey!

Happy Median - Meet halfway between you and your friends. Save time and distance.

Fall Foliage - Check out how each state handles Fall Foliage mapping. My preference is New Hampshire

Fall Foliage in New Hampshire
Fall Foliage in Vermont
Fall Foliage in Maine
Fall Foliage in Massachusets

How much should I pay my babysitter? (US)

35+ Ways To Find and Plan Events Online

How the World Really Shapes Up - What the world would look like if we viewed it not by the size of each country’s land mass but by the size of each country’s alcohol consumption, wealth, HIV prevalence, etc.

Music from your Favorite TV Shows

Food Timeline - provides hyperlinks to each food, providing further information about its history and what people ate over the ages.

Color & Design - A website with everything there is to know about colors.

The People History - Find the History of the Cost Of Living, Prices, Events, Popular Social Culture, Inventions and Technology. Search by year or decade. Add your own historical memories. 1920-2006.

Homes of Billionaires from Forbes Magazine

Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

NFL Standings

I hope you get the idea. There are great resources on the internet that people would never find by themselves. Add links related to to your industry to increase traffic, improve your search engine rankings and increase “stickiness”.

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Seven Deadly Website Mistakes

As an approved vendor for Ubertor, a leading web site developer, I frequent their blog which is always on the leading edge of real estate technology, but it applies to all business sectors.

Steve Jagger, the co-founder of the company published the following list which is great advice for anyone looking for a website. You can click on the website tab above for more information about the services I can provide.

Following are 7 things to look for from Steve with my editorial added.

1. No Splash Pages - Internet users are in too much of a rush to be slowed down by your splash page. This applies to Flash as well which is annoying when you are looking for information

2. Login Required - These days, internet users are too savvy to give up their real email address. They will just go elsewhere to find the information they are looking for or give you an email address that they use for login required sites.

3. Canned Content - Get rid of it. Take the time to write your own content. Your website visitors will love you for it. The more local content the better your search results.

4. Flash - As a minimal accent to your website it is great, if more than 15% of your site is in Flash you have a search engine problem.

5. Version - If your website asks the user what version of your website they would like to see. Like Flash, HTML, Low Bandwidth, High… you lose. If your website doesn’t show up immediately and deliver your message right away it’s pretty hard to keep people along for the ride.

6. Firefox - If your website does not work in Firefox… look into it. Firefox accounts for 35% of internet users. Don’t know what Firefox is? check it out here… it is a big step up from Internet Explorer.

7. Sitemap - Do you see a sitemap on your website? Google says “Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site.” Don’t have one? Better get on it.

There are some great points here. Call me if you are interested in a website in less than 24 hours for as little as $ 10 per month.

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