Design Notes: A CSS Web Designer’s Blog

Online Marketing Tools

Advertising

• Google Adwords is a flexible tool that allows business owners to develop highly targeted search engine advertising campaigns and to accurately track results.
• Yahoo! Search Marketing, previously known as Overture, also offers flexible tools for search engine advertising. It is easier to get traffic with Yahoo! but traffic is reputedly not as well targeted as on Google Adwords. This can result in a lower conversion rate.

Customer Relationship Building

• Zoomerang allows business owners to create surveys and broadcast email invitations. Robust response metrics allow you to track the effectiveness of the survey and analyze results.

August 2nd, 2005

MSN Shopping Portal

Microsoft has re-released its Shopping Portal with added features. Visitors can now subscribe to searches via RSS to receive notification when a search changes. You can also save pages of interest which are added to a “Saved Pages” list that appears at the bottom of each page as you browse the site.

Time will tell if the added features will be of real value to visitors. My hunch is that the RSS notification will be used by the more Web savvy crowd to reduce their time outlay in tracking prices on commodities.

This advertising option is reserved for the big boys. Microsoft states, “Please note that if your budget is under $40k, there are other opportunities for you with MSN’s bCentral.”

August 2nd, 2005