Elite Street
Follow us on : February 2011

Welcome to the debut edition of Elite Street!

Every month, we’ll bring you marketing industry developments, conversations from the digital “dinner table”, exciting SEM buzz and much more!
Love Is In The Air
Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love…and shopping online. Consumers plan to do their Valentine’s Day shopping onlinethis year, which is a 9% increase from last year, says the eBillme Online Spending Index.

Here are the Top 6 Keywords for Valentine’s Day on Google in the last 3 years!

  1. Valentine’s Day
  2. Valentine’s Day roses
  3. Cheap Valentine’s Day gift
  4. Valentine’s Day specials
  5. Valentine’s deals
  6. Valentine’s discounts

On the Road

You’ve met him, you’ve talked to him…well now our fearless leader Ben Kirshner is taking his SEM smarts on the road at the2011 e-Tail West Conference in Palm Desert, CA, February 22-25.  Hear Ben’s pearls of SEM wisdom on paid vs. natural search!

Everything’s Better in Bed
Bed Bath Store Logo

The holidays are what we like to call the “holy grail” of e-commerce. So whenBedBathStore approached us to make their holiday search tactics more transparent and optimization more focused, we knew what had to be done. Expand their keywords to open the door for greater search results and optimization.Test, test, test and test their products and landingpages some MORE.  Finally, we created compelling, attractive lifestyle-themed web content and copy to lure customers into the online store. Congratulations to BedBathStore on doubling their holiday sales performance from 2009-2010!
Quick Links

 
Put Your Best E-Commerce Foot Forward in 2011

Letter to Santa, check.  New Year’s resolutions, check. Now it’s time to stop “talking” about what you want and make it happen!  Here’s our 2011 Wish List to keep you from putting your e-commerce foot in your mouth.

Seeing is Believing: Involve Video & Visual Search More

Whether it’s an obese kid dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” or Jersey Shore’s Snooki fist pumping, video search is the “X Factor” that separates the good, the bad and the ugly marketers.  According to comScore, 172 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in December 2010 for an average of 14.6 hours per viewer.  If you look at Zappos.com, it’s clear that visual search makes good cents.

Race to the Checkout: Simplify Your Checkout Process

The last thing anyone wants is to be sucked into a 20-minute online vortex with lengthy questionnaires, required membership signups and mandatory logins.

Stay With Me: Engage and Entice Customers to Click and Buy

A button here, a button there, a button everywhere…that’ll be enough to get people to click and buy…well, not really! Be SELECTIVE in choosing what, how, where and how often you place buttons on your site.

Follow the Breadcrumbs: Tell Your Customers Where They Are and Where They’re Going

Online consumers are a lot like impatient kids asking thousands of questions about where they are and where they’re going.  So indulge their “fancies” with breadcrumbs at the top or side of each web page.

Because We Said So: Customers Trust Product Recommendations

When a friend or popular website like Amazon.com or the New York Times puts an item on the “Best Seller” list or subtly “suggests” that you buy it, customers are at least intrigued to check it out.  This says: WE’RE LISTENING!

 
HOT on the SEM TrailHOT on SEM Trail

The economic climate has left much to be desired, leaving many brands shuffling to find their way.  But there may be a light at the end of the digital tunnel. A recent report by Forrester Research Inc. shows that 43% of marketers plan to increase their spending on interactive marketing this year, while only 6% plan to cut back on that spending. These online growth spurts have nudged us towards success – for our clients, our agency and our staff.  In 2010, we were featured in Inc. Magazine’s prestigious Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies.

As we work hard to bring you up-to-the-minute news, information and developments in the SEM world, please feel free to send your comments and story suggestions to ragini@elitesem.com.

Best Regards,

 

Elite SEM