Netconcepts

Web Site Design Spotlight: Live, On-the-spot Critique of Retailers’ Sites

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:15:35 +0000

A team of long time e-commerce experts will provide live reviews and makeovers for sites from the audience members. Retailers in the audience will be asked to bring search marketing, user experience, e-commerce strategy and other design questions to this session where experts will view the sites in question and provide answers to fix what ails their web sites. Audience members who volunteer their sites for critique will receive a $25 Starbucks gift card.

Panelists:
Lauren Freedman, President, the e-tailing group
Stephan Spencer, President, Netconcepts
Amy Africa, President, Eight by Eight

Driving Engagement Through Widgets and Gadgets

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:49:29 +0000

iGoogle, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo - social networks are the hottest topic of Web 2.0. Recent developments such as Google’s OpenSocial platform may further accelerate the explosive growth in widget and gadget application users. So what do widgets really mean to your customers and to your bottom line? What monetization strategies should you focus on to ensure widgets are more than just a buzzword to your organization? And how to you prevent your widget from becoming another lost or unused orphan among thousands of other apps? Misty Locke, co-founder and president of Range Online Media, has been working with numerous retailers to determine the most innovative, engaging and measurable approach to web applications. Misty will lead a discussion with other industry experts to answer these questions and to tackle how to succeed with widgets and gadgets today, pitfalls to avoid and emerging opportunities beyond 2008.

Speakers:
Misty Locke, Co-Founder and President, Range Online Media
Stephan Spencer, Founder and President, NetConcepts
Pinny Gniwisch, Founder and EVP Marketing, ice.com

Wikipedia & SEO

Stephan Spencer — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:00:26 +0000

It seems like Wikipedia shows up in the first page of results in Google for just about every search imaginable. Wikipedia’s position as a top authority site is undisputed. Having a presence in Wikipedia has never been so important as it is now, despite the fact that external links in Wikipedia no longer pass PageRank. And it’s never been so dangerous to make self-interested edits to Wikipedia as it is today, particularly with the advent of such wikisleuthing tools as the Wikiscanner.

Is there a place in Wikipedia for you? Can you protect your interests within Wikipedia in a way that is appropriate and minimizes the risk of a backlash — now and in the future? Want to know the best ways to interact with the service? Want to learn some valuable lessons from a few Wikipedia marketing successes and failures? Then this session is for you!

Moderator:
Stephan Spencer, Founder and President, Netconcepts

Speakers:
Neil Patel, CTO, Advantage Consulting Services
Jonathan Hochman, Founder/President, JE Hochman & Associates
Don Steele, Director of Enterprise Marketing, Comedy Central

Getting Google to Love Your Website

Stephan Spencer — Thu, 27 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

The Internet’s next killer app for marketers has emerged: Google.

Google’s search algorithms power over half of all Web search queries, making high-ranking Google listings a marketer’s dream. While natural listings in Google deliver millions in sales to some of the Web’s savviest retailers, most websites are not properly designed to reach this market. How can you adjust or revamp your site so Google will love it?

Join us at the May Brainy Breakfast with Stephan Spencer, Managing Director of Netconcepts, to learn the essential strategies of putting Google to work for your website.

You’ll learn the secrets of how to:

Check your “Google Pulse”
Estimate missed opportunity costs
Ensure Google crawls 100% of your site, including dynamic pages
Design your pages to dominate rankings
Avoid getting banned or penalised by Google
Use paid placement with Google AdWords & optimise your search ads
Measure return upon investment
Prepare for imminent changes in the search engine industry
…and more!

Where else can you reach a majority of qualified prospects at zero or very low cost per click?

7 Secrets to High Google Rankings: Getting Google to Love Your Website

Stephan Spencer — Thu, 12 Feb 2004 00:00:00 +0000

The Internet’s next killer app for marketers has emerged: Google.

Google’s search algorithms power 80% of all Web search queries, making high ranking Google listings a marketer’s dream. Where else can you reach 80% penetration to highly qualified prospects at zero cost per click?

While natural listings in Google deliver millions in sales to some of the Web’s savviest retailers, most Web sites are not properly designed to reach this market. How can you adjust or revamp your site so Google will love it?

Join Stephan Spencer, President of Netconcepts, during this rich presentation to learn the essential strategies of putting Google to work for your Web site. You’ll learn the secrets of how to:

Check your “Google pulse”
Estimate missed opportunity costs
Ensure Google crawls 100% of your site, including dynamic pages
Design your pages to dominate rankings
Avoid getting banned by Google
Prepare for changes soon to come in the search engine industry
and much more!

Internet Marketing workshop

Stephan Spencer — Tue, 07 Oct 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Join us for a hands-on, one-day workshop on Internet marketing tactics, including search engine optimisation, copywriting, conversion, and web project management. Each module will be jammed packed with practical advice, online resources, tools, tips, case studies - including the “inside scoop” on what worked and what didn’t - and interactive critiques of attendees’ websites and online marketing efforts. With a live Internet connection, we will examine in-depth:

Search engine optimisation
You want to get to the top of the search engines? Ah… but which search engines should you target? What keywords are your prospects searching for? And how do you get your site to the top for those keywords and then stay there?

Learn the tactics that will make your site ’scream’ in the search engines - ethically and sustainably - without costing you a fortune ongoing.

Hands-on keyword research
Fine tuning your content, HTML, design, and site architecture for optimal rankings
Workarounds for poor search engine practices (such as frames, question marks in URLs, Flash, pop-up windows, links that say “click here,” page titles like “Welcome to ABC.com”, pull-down navigation menus)
Making your e-commerce or database-driven site “search engine friendly”
Building links (directories, niche sites, etc.)
Google’s secrets revealed (PageRank, hyperlink text, etc.)
Pay-per-click search engines (Overture, etc.)
Benchmarking & competitive intelligence
Measuring the return on your search engine marketing investment

Improving conversion rate
So you’ve got visitors on your website, but will they “convert” to customers? Improving conversion on your site is an art and a science that involves a mix of clever copywriting, compelling offers, a follow-up strategy, meaningful metrics for measuring success, and more.

Developing a unique voice / personality
Active vs. passive tense
Verbs vs. adjectives
“You” vs. “we”
Toning down the marketingspeak
Fine tuning your offer
The call-to-action
Segmenting
Personalizing the content and the message
Marketing metrics: cost per click, cost per conversion, customer lifetime value, churn rate, etc.
“Blogging”

Working with your web developer
What are the ingredients for sucess when launching a redesign or a new site? What processes are helpful in keeping the project and the vendor on track? What are reasonable expectations of the client and the vendor? What goes into (and what doesn’t go into) an effective brief or specification? How do you manage the legal risk?

Writing a strategic brief, creative brief, functional spec, content plan, etc.
Budgeting and resource allocation
Vendor selection
The art and science of estimating time and costs
The web development process
Change management
The project extranet
Web development contracts
Liability and disclaimers
Ownership of source code
Terms & Conditions for your website users

We guarantee that after this intensive workshop you’ll walk away with loads of practical, actionable tactics and tips. So what are you waiting for? Register today.

BIOGRAPHY
Stephan Spencer, M.Sc., is the founder and president of Netconcepts, a full-service interactive agency with specialization in search engine optimisation, e-commerce, email marketing, and Web site auditing. They count amongst their U.S. clients: Birds Eye, Wella, Midwest Express Airlines, InfoSpace, Homestead.com, The Sharper Image, Cabela’s, and MP3.com; local clients include Westpac (NZ), The Fletcher Trust, nzgirl, SmokeCDs.com, TrustPower, and Business in the Community.

Stephan is a columnist for Unlimited. He has also written for Marketing Magazine, Management Magazine, Catalog Age, and Building Online Business. He has been featured on the cover of In Business magazine in the U.S. Stephan is a frequent speaker at Internet conferences around the globe - Berlin, London, Toronto, Santiago, Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco. He currently serves as a director of Sales & Marketing Executives International.

Internet Marketing workshop

Stephan Spencer — Mon, 16 Jun 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Presented by Stephan Spencer, Managing Director of Netconcepts:

Search engine optimization
You want to get to the top of the search engines? Ah… but which search engines should you target? What keywords are your prospects searching for? And how do you actually get your site to the top for those keywords and then to stay there? Learn the tactics that will make your site ’scream’ in the search engines - ethically and sustainably - without costing you a fortune ongoing.
Improving conversion rate
So you’ve got visitors to your site, but will they purchase? Improving conversion on your site is an art and a science that involves a mix of clever copywriting, compelling offers, a follow-up strategy, meaningful metrics for measuring success, and more.
Email marketing
Email can get you in front of your customers and prospects without relying on them to remember to come back and visit your site. But pitfalls abound. Get it wrong just once and you’ll significantly trim your list and burn your relationships. Learn what it takes to make great campaigns and newsletters, get the permission you need from your intended audience, and then test your assumptions scientifically.
Working with your web developer
What are the ingredients for sucess when launching a redesign or a new site? What processes are helpful in keeping the project and the vendor on track? What are reasonable expectations of the client and the vendor? What goes into (and what doesn’t go into) an effective brief or specification? How do you manage the legal risk?

Presented by Kelly Goto, Principal, gotomedia, Inc.:

Usability
Information design
Workflow
Metrics for ROI from a user experience perspective

Leveraging Search Engines to Market and Advertise (panel)

Stephan Spencer — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Research shows that up to 85% of Internet users find what they need on the Web using search engines and directories. As marketing and advertising budgets have been in decline, return-on-investment (ROI) has become an increasingly important metric in evaluating a campaign’s effectiveness. Learn how to use search to effectively to market your product and service and gain the highest ROI.

Moderator: Stephan Spencer, President, Netconcepts
Panelists:
Paul Schulz, Senior Vice President, Marketing and General Manager, Online Business, Overture Services, Inc.,
Christine Churchill, Founder, Key Relevance
York Bauer, Executive Vice President, Wireline, Infospace
David Fischer, U.S. Manager, AdWords, Google Inc.

SEM: What Every e-Marketer Needs to Know (Workshop)

Stephan Spencer — Tue, 05 Nov 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Step-by-Step Web Marketing (produced by IIR, sponsored by Google, and endorsed by the American Marketing Association) held in Atlanta, GA

Imagine an online ad that costs you nothing per impression, guarantees both a local and worldwide audience actively seeking your products and services, and offers 6 times the click-through rate of a banner ad… a search engine listing.

Search Engine Marketing is the ultimate targeted, low cost and high return weapon in the e-marketer’s promotional arsenal. Using search engines is the second most popular Web activity behind email. 80% of Internet sessions begin at search engines. 55% of online purchases are made on sites found through search engine listings. If you want to grab people’s attention online, you need to know how to get your message to people through search engines.

Companies who do not aggressively address search engine marketing are letting their competitors eat their lunch. Consider that Macys.com has nearly 500-fold more pages in Google than MarshallFields.com, Bloomingdales.com, Nordstrom.com, and NeimanMarcus.com combined! There is a serious gap in your e-marketing strategy if it does not include search engine marketing.

Join us for a hands-on, day-long workshop on search engine marketing, where, with a live Internet connection, we will tackle:

Which search engines to target
Hands-on keyword research
Benchmarking against your competitors
Google’s secrets revealed (PageRank, hyperlink text, etc.)
Pay-for-performance search engines (Overture, etc.)
Building links (directories, niche sites, etc.)
Developing a search engine marketing plan
Best and worst practices (emulate the leaders, squash your competition)
Case studies, including the “inside scoop” on what worked and what didn’t
Making your e-commerce or database-driven site “search engine friendly”
Measuring the return on your search engine marketing investment
Criteria for selecting a search engine marketing agency
Online tools and resources

You’ll walk away with loads of practical, actionable tactics and tips. For example:

How many pages of your site (and your competitors’ sites) each search engine has indexed
The best sites in your industry to get links from for increasing your position in the search results
Relative popularities of keywords that your target audience might use (e.g. what’s more popular with searchers - apparel, clothes, or clothing?)
Workarounds for “spider traps” and poor search engine practices such as frames, question marks in URLs, Flash, pop-up windows, links that say “click here,” page titles like “Welcome to ABC.com”, pull-down navigation menus, etc.

This workshop is designed with non-technical marketers in mind. But even the Internet-savvy techie will get a lot of this tailored, intensive workshop. Sponsored by Google and endorsed by the American Marketing Association, Sales & Marketing Executives International, and the eMarketing Association.

Search Engine Marketing: What Every e-Marketer Needs to Know

Stephan Spencer — Tue, 12 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Join us for a full-on, hour-long primer on search engine marketing from Stephan Spencer, author of Marketing Magazine’s March feature article on search engine marketing and the upcoming Marketing
Magazine Search Engine Marketing research study.

Stephan’s going to talk about:

which search engines to target
hands-on keyword research
benchmarking against your competitors
Google’s secrets revealed
pay-for-performance search engines
developing a search engine marketing plan
best and worst practices (emulate the leaders, squash your competition)
measuring the return on your search engine marketing investment
criteria for selecting a search engine marketing agency
online tools and resources

Don’t miss this hands-on session with heaps of audience participation and a live internet connection. You’ll walk away with practical, actionable tactics and tips. It’ll be great, like drinking from a fire hose!