Category Archives: marketing

Marketing on the Internet, word-of-mouth marketing, relationship marketing, reputation defense, public relations and other aspects of marketing products and services. Particularly online marketing, marketing for real estate agents and small business marketing for entrepreneurs.

Hourly Rate or Project Rate for Writing Services — Which is Best?

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I got an email today from a fellow writer who asked if she should offer project rates or standard hourly rates for her copywriting services. Some of her potential clients had been advised by a real estate coach to always get per-project rates. She asked for my advice.

For anyone who plans to hire a writer, you may want to consider the following, before signing on the dotted line: If you have a standard/recurring project (like writing a 250-word property description, if you are are a real estate agent) you can easily hire a writer and pay them “per listing.” But this is pretty “rote” writing and you aren’t pushing the creative envelope much. Some writers are willing to do other projects based on a per-word or a per-page calculation.

There are a few things you should consider on each of these “product-based” approaches to writing services:

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Driving Traffic and Securing Sales for Small Business Websites

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If you own an ecommerce website, you may be interested in some of the latest statistics on which search engines and websites are most effective traffic drivers for closing sales online.

According to a recent report released by Hitwise.com, Google retains the top position in online sales. Compared to rival search engines, the big “G” is leading the pack, as most small business owners would expect. According the press release dated August 31:

“Hitwise today announced that Google was the top U.S. search engine responsible for 14.93 percent of U.S. upstream visits to the Shopping and Classifieds category for the week ending August 26, 2006. Yahoo! Search was the second most popular search engine sending visits to Shopping & Classifieds websites, accounting for 4.69 percent of upstream visits for that week. MSN Search rounded out the top search engines accounting for 2.33 percent of visits to the category.”

(Note: Upstream sites are those sites visited immediately prior to visiting the subject site.)

In addition to the expected Google dominance, a newcomer to the commerce scene is the social networking site MySpace.com. Commonly considered a gathering place for teens and young adults, this online community now accounts for a serious market share of online purchases via upstream clicks. WebProNews reported last week that upstream visits from MySpace.com accounted for more upstream traffic to shopping and classifieds than old-timer MSN search.

Marketing and online communication with your target audience is becoming a more diverse equation. Today, you should consider multiple approaches to establishing your brand and vary your platforms. Consider new, less traveled roads when marketing online and always try to keep a pulse on where the people who comprise your target market congregate online.

It’s not a static problem, but keeping abreast of the changes and shifts of dynamic online populations will pay big dividends for your business, no matter what the size.

Superbowl Ads ( or Superbowl Adds ) in Online Searches

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I’ve had so many hits lately on searches for “Superbowl Adds” that hit this site since my blog on the local MSN video search entitled “Wanna Watch the Superbowl XL from the Sky?? Local Live Adds Detroit to the City List” went live. Since it’s so easy to hit that “d” twice on a keyboard, I decided to help those visitors looking for Superbowl ads. Here’s where you can view them online or… on your iPod (of course!)…

Your iPod can display mini-versions of the Superbowl darlings by subscribing to the Superbowl Advertisements PodCast (no longer a valid link) or by going to iTunes and doing a search for that term in the podcast menu.

If you don’t “do” the iPod thing yet, it’s ok, you can still see your Superbowl Ads here: www.iFilms.com (just search for Superbowl ads — and spell it with only one “d”) *grin* You can also spend hours on the iFilms site just enjoying yourself — so you stand warned.

You guys probably like the Jessica Simpson take-off on the “These Boots” for Pizza Hut. Personally, I prefer the Miss Piggie version. Love the Fabio ad too. LOL. And the ad for the mobile phone with a personal defense system that I saw while at iFilms left me cackling. My son says it’s just plain violent. I find it more than slightly amusing. :O)

There, now you know.