Thursday, September 27, 2012

Is Facebook relevant anymore?

I must say I was a happy warrior for the Facebook fan page and business page potential but not anymore.  I have to say the more I get on the more I see that posts are no longer business type ads but almost all personal.  I know that there are many very good Facebook pages out there but are we really looking anymore?  I think that Facebook is still a neat medium to touch base with friends and such and it does a great job at that. As new studies show however, sales are not really being made on Facebook and I see a definite shift to LinkedIn and even Twitter.  I believe that the shine has come off of Facebook and a new moon is rising on both Twitter and LinkedIn and who knows maybe something else just over the horizon.

So where do you go to make sales and make a name for your company?  There is no substitute for having a kick ass website! As much as people have tried to bury web creation, having a website is still a must.  Also I now believe that having a web site to work on multiple platforms is also a must. I am not saying that we create all the time for all the platforms but we are really trying now to move in that direction.

Have you also thought of an e-mail capture capability tied to a nice e-mail blast capability?  Let your contacts know what you are doing all the time and then when you think you done it too much do it again!

So what do you think?  Write me a comment and let me know.

Until next time.

Joe Rossini

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Does social media lead to sales?

This is a neat article that quotes a recent survey that shows that e-mail and search engine marketing is still king when it comes to leads!

Social media posts don’t lead to sales

A new report suggests less than 1% of transactions stem from social links.

Zak Stambor
Managing Editor

Social media barely registers as a source of sales for either new or repeat buyers, according to a new report from Forrester Research Inc.
The report, “The Purchase Path of Online Buyers,” finds that less than 1% of transactions for new and repeat customers can be traced back to social links.
To reach that conclusion, Forrester worked with e-commerce technology provider GSI Commerce Inc. to analyze 77,000 purchase paths taken by new and repeat shoppers prior to completing their purchases on the sites of GSI retailer clients in April.
The finding is curious given that an accompanying survey of 5,778 consumers conducted in 2011’s third quarter found that 48% of consumers agreed with the statement that social media posts are a “great way to discover new products, brands, trends or retailers,” and 40% agreed that posts are a “great way to discover sales and promotions.” Moreover, 17% said that they have bought something based on a friend’s post.
The report suggests that even though consumers say they are interested in using social media as a product discovery tool, that doesn’t mean they will click and make a purchase after reading a post right away. "We've known for awhile that Facebook hasn't been a direct sales channel for most companies and it never will be," says the report's author, Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. "Hopefully we can put that conversation to rest now. But there are interesting opportunities to leverage Facebook to amplify a brand or a product, or to drive traffic to image sharing sites like Pinterest which seem to have more engagement from a shopping perspective." Those efforts, she says, require a longer measurement period to understand their impact. The analysis covered two weeks in April.
The purchase path analysis found that many consumers’ purchase paths are multifaceted. That is, consumers interact with multiple marketing channels, such as e-mail, display ads and paid search ads before making a purchase. 33% of new shoppers interact with two or more trackable touch points before making a purchase. That percentage shoots up to 48% for shoppers who end up buying at a site where they had previously purchased, the report says.
New customers have fewer touch points because many of them are what Mulpuru-Kodali calls “spear fishers,” that is, consumers who look for a specific product or brand via a search engine or by directly visiting a retailer’s site. When they find what they’re looking for, they click and buy. That’s why the most common ways those shoppers arrived at their purchase were direct visits (20%), organic search (16%) and paid search (11%). The final interaction for those first-time shoppers who had multiple touch points were the same as those with one touch point, but at lower percentages. Those were direct visits (7%), organic search (6%) and paid search (6%).
E-mail is a far more important marketing channel for repeat customers, the report finds. In fact, 30% of repeat customers made their purchase after interacting with an e-mail—13% did so after reading the e-mail and 17% did so after seeing the e-mail and interacting with other forms of marketing, such as display or paid search ads. Other common touch points for one-click buyers were direct visits (20%), organic search (6%) and paid search (5%). The final interaction for those repeat shoppers who had multiple touch points were display ads (13%), direct visits (10%) and organic search (4%).





Friday, September 21, 2012

A big security hole in Explorer!

Read this please!

Yet another zero-day exploit targets IE

Microsoft Security Advisory 2757760, dated Sept. 17, warns of a newly disclosed IE vulnerability that could allow remote-code execution — which means an attacker could take over a targeted PC with the same rights as the current user. (This type of threat is why we recommend setting up a non-admin account on the PC you use most of the time.)
According to the advisory, Internet Explorer 10 (included with Windows 8) is not threatened. But that caveat is irrelevant because few Windows users are running Win8 for any purpose other than testing the new OS.
- What to do: Here, in a nutshell, are your options:
1) Use another browser. Until Microsoft releases a patch for this new threat, simply do all your Web browsing with Firefox or Chrome — and make sure they’re fully updated.
2) Remove Java. If you must use IE, ensure that Java is fully disabled or not installed. I discussed this in my Sept. 6 Patch Watch column.
3) Use the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit. If you can’t operate without IE and Java, Microsoft’s EMET software can help. A RationallyPARANOID blog has a helpful how-to guide for installing EMET. Brian Krebs also has an excellent post on using the toolkit to protect IE.
Look for more on EMET — what it is and how it protects you — in next week’s regularly scheduled Patch Watch. And if Microsoft releases an out-of-cycle IE update before then, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a soon-to-be-released Microsoft fixit for Internet Explorer; it should provide protection until a patch is ready. I’ll post an update in the Lounge when it’s released.
Susan Bradley is a Small Business Server and Security MVP, a title awarded by Microsoft to independent experts who do not work for the company. She's also a partner in a California CPA firm.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

A neat testimonial from Tom Rambo

I am humbled by this testimonial:

Details of the Recommendation: ""Commitment to excellence" isn't a term I toss about casually. That's why when I say that Joe Rossini has made a commitment to excellence to his customers the benchmark of his career, it's because I've observed it. During our years together at Sweda, International, Joe was among the top salespeople in the country. As Major Account Manager in Kansas City, Joe opened new business with such well-known national companies as Hallmark, AMC Theaters and Dickinson Theaters. For over 20 years, Joe has combined his commitment to excellence with a strong entrepreneurial spirit to grow his company, Rossini Management Systems, specialists in Internet web page design, maintenance, hosting, and search engine optimization into one of the premier services of its kind in the Midwest. I would recommend Joe and his company to anyone needing web-related services." 


What can I say, I feel good about this!

Joe Rossini

Internet Cert advisory on Internet Explorer

Please read this:

National Cyber Awareness System

US-CERT Alert TA12-262A
Microsoft Security Advisory for Internet Explorer Exploit

Original release date: September 18, 2012
Last revised: --

Systems Affected

     * Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
     * Microsoft Internet Explorer 8
     * Microsoft Internet Explorer 9


Overview

   An unpatched use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Internet
   Explorer versions 7, 8, and 9 is being exploited in the wild.
   Microsoft has released Security Advisory 2757760 with mitigation
   techniques.


Description

   Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 7, 8, and 9 are susceptible to
   a use-after-free vulnerability. This vulnerability is being
   actively exploited in the wild. At this time, there is no patch
   available for this vulnerability. End-users can mitigate the
   vulnerability by using Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience
   Toolkit.

   Additional mitigation advice is available in the MSRC blog post:
   "Microsoft Releases Security Advisory 2757760" and US-CERT
   Vulnerability Note VU#480095.


Impact

   A remote, unauthenticated attacker could execute arbitrary code,
   cause a denial of service, or gain unauthorized access to your
   files or system.


Solution

   US-CERT recommends Internet Explorer users read Microsoft Security
   Advisory 2757760 and apply mitigation techniques such as using the
   Microsoft Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit.


References

 * Microsoft Security Advisory (2757760)
   

 * MSRC Blog: Microsoft Releases Security Advisory 2757760
   

 * Download Microsoft EMET 3.0
   

 * US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#480095
   


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

A neat e-mail tip

This is short and sweet a great tip from Manta:

Use the F Pattern

Did you know that most people read their emails in an F pattern? To increase the effectiveness of your email call to action (CTA), place your most critical content starting from left to right, then from top to bottom. This ensures that your readers see the CTA, which means higher probability of conversion.


Some people say e-mail is dead, I say use all methods of marketing including e-mail and you will find success!


Until next time


Joe R

Monday, September 17, 2012

Web marketing part 2

Web marketing is an art it is an acquired taste and it takes time to learn and be good at it. I believe you have to work on it and work on it and work on it and then you continue to work on it. I have and can say been very successful at bringing leads to companies, one of my older customers I have brought over 1,6 million visitations and I am quite sure hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.  However there are those frankly that I flopped on. It is not easy to say that you have not succeeded but I have missed occasionally. If anyone tells you they have a 100% hit rate, well just walk away.  OK, but I will of course dwell on those that were successful and why and what you and maybe I have to do for your web campaigns.

  1. You do not know where you are going until you can track to see if your campaigns and your marketing is working so I very much recommend a very good reporting program.  At the very least use Google Analytics,  this will give you a good shot at seeing what pages are being visited and where the traffic is coming from. If you are concentrating on sales in the Midwest United States, the reports should show you that they are coming from there. The reporting will tell you some neat things like time spent on site, pages that they spent the time on and maybe if you are lucky, what company came to see your web site! I use a neat program called Hitslink and I recommend it but it is not free so if money is important, go with the free Google program. I recommend you track every page and if your marketing company is any good they will give you monthly reports to let you know that what they are doing is working.  Better yet, you look because you are the one paying for the service and maybe just maybe that company may not be telling you the whole truth.
  2. I like to use all types of marketing and branding to sell my products but recently a salesperson told me that they were going to spend thousands of dollars on putting ads in a magazine (old line advertising). I mentioned let me do a PR release on line hardly cost you a dime and it might hit millions of people but no much interest for him to do that . I just do not understand companies that even today are afraid to use the tremendous power of the web.  Yes I say use traditional marketing but from now on it is the web that will drive sales and marketing and those companies that will succeed will be those that spend their money on the net!
OK, next article on web marketing later this week and remember, if you need help just ask me I have over 30 years of marketing and sales and web marketing experience!

Until next time

Joe Rossini

Friday, September 14, 2012

made my day

This was sent by a customer and made us feel good.

Brenda….it’s a good thing you are not here right now because I would give you a big hug.  Tell Joe not to feel bad, because I would hug him to if he was here too!

Looks great!  I will look at the text and everything else on Monday for a tiny bit of fine tuning, but the layout is wonderful!  Thank you!

Bilt Industries of Belton Missouri signs new web contract with Rossini.com

We are proud to announce that Bilt Industries of Belton, Missouri signed a contract to have our company update and refresh their web site. Bilt sells industrial shelving and is a fast growing company here in the greater Kansas City area. We are pleased to call Bilt a customer!

Joe Rossini

Your web marketing plan

Fall is coming, the holidays approach and several things start to happen on the web and in your business, if you are in retail, things start to pick up, if you are in other businesses things may start to slow down. I have found that once you push into November things slow down a bit, people are thinking holidays and vacation and of course money to be spent on Christmas or other holidays.  What should you do with your web site?

  1. First get a web site check up to see if you can stretch every little drop out of it. Check your keywords. Update some of your content, it is content that should be changed often, the search engines love it. With just some of those changes you may get higher rankings in the search engines.
  2. Add a blog, and yes I know you say you don't have the time but you do have enough at least once or twice a week to talk about your business or share some information.
  3. If you do not have a business page on Facebook add one, it will give you a little bounce in the search engines and also help your branding and again let people know about you and your company and products. Oh yes do not forget Google+ not yet really catching on but you should have one.
  4. Have you ever done an on line PR release? This can help you promote your business. People still do the traditional stuff like spending thousands on a magazine ad yet it cost so much less to hit millions of people on the net by doing a pr release.
  5. Try to write some ad son local newspapers or magazines it can work.
OK this is part one more to come soon, look for my posts. Have a great weekend and remember I can help you on all of the above if you want the help.

Until next time...

Joe R

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Permission Marketing: Facebook's Cash Cow and a Marketer's Dream

This article is by Andrew Cherwenka:

Is this the next big move by face Book? Read this:

Marketers buy Facebook ads hoping to drive sales but most are simply building awareness. We're on Facebook to connect with friends, not brands, and advertising is an uninvited interruption. Enter permission marketing, the vehicle to build profitable consumer-brand connections and get the FB stock back in black. Here's how it works.
Give To Get
Our attention isn't free. We rarely give it so marketers have tried for centuries to steal it. They jump in our paths with their messages, interrupting whatever we're doing. If we acknowledge them, they win. But do they? Attention isn't measured in seconds or clicks. It isn't measured in distribution or volume. Even brand recall means nothing if we haven't created an emotion for the brand beyond passive acceptance.
Marketers confuse awareness with attention. I may be aware of the ad or sponsored story but I don't have to pay attention. And since I'm not paying anything, the brand isn't getting anything. At best they've given me a coupon or moment of entertainment but that doesn't build a profitable connection.
What if brands give me something I really value? Now we're talking. A lifestyle brand could give an invitation to members-only group activities. They could show me the popular running clubs in my social network. And thanks to the affordability of storing and processing data plus the integration of social and product graphs, brands can now build recommendation engines along the same lines as Amazon's Betterizer, Netflix's Movies Recommended For You and Apple's iTunes Genius. Promise me relevant, useful info and you've got more than just my awareness: you've earned my attention and my auth-in.
Auth-In For the Good Stuff
The problem with permission marketing's early days was the cost of opting in: it simply wasn't high enough. People could check "yes" to receive ongoing emails but they weren't giving much. Many used their junk email addresses or a fake profile so in fact, it cost them nothing. They would take what they wanted -- maybe a coupon or a whitepaper -- and leave.
The auth-in is changing the permission game and it promises to yield billions for Facebook. Social networks contain a wealth of personal behavioral data but it can't be scraped or bought: it needs to be user-authorized. With a compelling carrot smart brands can successfully earn email addresses, likes, friends lists, and wall posts. That's the real authentic stuff marketers dream about.
You might think it's crazy to give a business your personal details but if you collect frequent flyer points, you're already doing it. You're letting an airline put a virtual homing device on you in exchange for a price discount. If you have a loyalty card then you're exposing that retailer to your full purchase history. It doesn't get much more personal than that.
Don't Be Greedy
A direct connection to your consumer is the Holy Grail of marketing but it isn't always treasured. Here are just a few ways brands are breaching trust with the people who mean the most to them.
  • Not Reciprocating. Brands must initially give to get and they must keep on giving.
  • Being Greedy. Ask only for permissions you need. Writing on a consumer's wall isn't one of them.
  • Snooping. Every interaction must be transparent and expected.
  • Being Misleading. Ongoing interactions must be exactly as promised.
  • Reselling. To quote Seth Godin, "Permission rented is permission lost."

How does permission marketing save Facebook? Auth-in campaigns aren't free to the marketers; they need to be jump-started and maintained with ongoing awareness ads. The network effect of a successful campaign is tremendous but ongoing budgets are required and targeted Facebook ads work. Even marketers like GM, suspicious of the value of awareness ads, will agree that the net present value of an ongoing connection exceeds the cost of a sponsored story. And guess what, stock analysts? That's worth billions.

Do you want a web page that works on your smart phone?

Just FYI, the trend in web development is fast moving toward web pages that can be seen on your laptop, your tablet and your smart phone.  This trend is not a passing fancy like Facebook (opps ) I didnt mean to say that did I?? Bottom line is, tablets and smart phones are here to stay. New web page design is beginning to shift quickly to take advantage of this trend.  What can you expect from the new designs?  I will tell you that fancy large screen move here and there designs are going to give way to less fancy more open spaced designs that play well to the new frontier.

Just letting you know we are now creating those new designs if you are interested!

More next time!

Joe Rossini

Go Daddy went black

What happened to my website and email yesterday?

Millions of Go Daddy users are asking the same question. Websites that use the Internet domain registrar and web hosting company Go Daddy were knocked offline yesterday in what appeared to be a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack executed by a member of the hacktivist group Anonymous.

In a carefully worded statement released Tuesday morning, interim CEO Scott Wagner said the incident -- which lasted from shortly after 10 a.m. PDT to 4 p.m. PDT -- was due to a corruption of network router tables.

"At no time was any sensitive customer information, such as credit card data, passwords or names and addresses, compromised." - Scott Wagner, Go Daddy CEO

As I have said no vendor or company is exempt from down time.!

Until next time

Joe Rossini

Monday, September 10, 2012

Looking for solar products?

www.greentimeusa.com/ is a company that offers a variety of energy saving devices and solar kits for the kids. With the holidays coming, visit http://www.greentimeusa.com/

Greentime also carries energy saving devices such as the Power Save 1200 that can save you up to 25% or so on your energy bill. I have one and it is working.

Another interesting product that I will soon purchase is a safety jacket used for emergencies. It would be good for extreme weather, earthquakes, huricanes and more.












Go check out this web site see if some of those items are of interest to you.

Until next time

Joe R

Friday, September 7, 2012

A look at a few really good companies

I start with a company that has been selling and making coffee in KC for over thirty years. If you have never heard of them or tasted their coffee please visit their web site at www.actioncoffee.com. Action is more than just a coffee maker, it also offers commercial services for companies. If you need a coffee service give them a shout.  Oh yes, you now can buy on line!
http://www.actioncoffee.com

Robinsons's Delivery Service is a family owned Kansas City trucking delivery service that has been in business since 1950. Robinsons specializes in general deliveries for large vendors such as Hallmark Cards. Fast, reliable and affordable, Robinsons is one of the oldest trucking delivery companies in the Midwest.
http://www.robinsondelivery.com

Have you ever thought of leasing your business equipment? Often times it is more economical to lease than to buy. One of the oldest and most reliable leasing companies in KC is Heritage Leasing. I have used this service on many occations in my past and they are trustworthy and dependable. Take a look and call them for your next large leasing project.
http://www.heritageleasing.com

Insurance is an important part of our everyday life. Many do not know that life insurance can also be used for other things. Joe Rintamaki is the Founder of KC Wealth Management which is based in Overland Park, KS. The company was established to help clients learn more about money and help them create a strategy that will aid them in fulfilling their financial goals and dreams.
http://www.kcwealthmgmt.com

These are just a few of my customers and I believe in them all! Please visit them and see if htye can be of help to you in the future.

Until next time!

Joe R