TheAlphaMarketer: November 2006 Archives

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Nov30	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 40 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 Know More: Niche Marketing 2.0, Niche Marketing Some Things that Should Never Change I hope you've enjoyed this in-depth look at the power of niche marketing. If you read through it and follow the guidelines, you will have good success. But there's one last thing that we need to talk about. There's one thing that really can't be taught or trained; and that's the area of honesty and integrity. Many online marketers, if you could call them that, have given the rest of us a bad name because they think because they can hide behind a computer seemingly annonymously, that they can serve customers in any way and get away with it. Don't be tempted with that thought, or the idea of doing something the easy way. While none of this is exceptionally hard, it still take hard work and consistancy. When it comes down to it all, it's all about your integrity. Nothing can buy it, and you can lose it in a second if you don't value it. Continue Reading Posted at 6:32 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov30	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 39 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 What Should Your Strategy BeWhile the great majority of people use the same overall strategy, that doesn't mean it'll necessarily be the best thing for you.To me the best strategy is still to create your own information product. Of course... Continue Reading Posted at 6:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 38 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 One Easy Measurement to Determine if Your Niche is Targeted EnoughCan you think of one question you ask yourself that would determine whether the niche you've chosen is targeted, narrowed or specific enough? Ask yourself this one question and you'll... Continue Reading Posted at 5:41 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 37 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 The Main Purpose for a Niche SiteWhat's the purpose of a niche Web site? One word: narrow. To narrow and whittle away those that aren't interested so that those that are interested can find you and one another. That's one... Continue Reading Posted at 5:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 36 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 The Power of Marketing to Your NicheWhy is a niche market offer such power in marketing? The niche is the marketing. I've mentioned that before here.What does that mean? When you have a niche market, the very defining of what... Continue Reading Posted at 4:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov29	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 35 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Why you Shouldn't be Intimidated by the "Experts"There's a little secret done by some marketers that can have a strong, negative effect upon those hearing it, if they're deciding to compete in a similar niche as the expert.How many times... Continue Reading Posted at 6:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 34 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Why Saying 'No' helps your BusinessWe talked last post about knowing the limits of our business based upon our passion and expertise, and how saying "no" was as important as saying "yes."Here's one of the reasons why: referrals. It's been... Continue Reading Posted at 6:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 33 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Know the Limits of the Niche you ServeThe key in choosing a niche is to eliminate the possibilities that you cannot serve. It's to empower you to focus; to contract, to narrow what you offer. It's the very essence of... Continue Reading Posted at 5:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 32 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 A Niche Business Constantly Needs to be PrunedRunning a business is running something that is alive. You can never quite let it go on its own. Now you can get it to the place where it can almost do it,... Continue Reading Posted at 5:50 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 31 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Keep Pushing Until you're on Automatic PilotA mistake I see a number of new niche marketers make, is to misunderstand that when all the work of finding a niche and getting an online business going that is built around that... Continue Reading Posted at 4:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov28	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 30 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 One More Important Word on CompetitorsProbably the major reason to research our competitors thoroughly, is to see really how good they are running their businesses. If they're really doing it good, how much room is there for you in that... Continue Reading Posted at 5:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 29 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 A Niche Doesn't Compete on Price AloneThe very nature of a niche defines that it can't and shouldn't compete on price alone. If that was your strategy, you wouldn't be a niche, you'd be a mass-marketer. Segmentation defines itself in... Continue Reading Posted at 5:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 28 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 What About Your Locality Being a Niche?It is my observation that the area of thinking locally while having an online business is still one of the most underserved and creatively thought through Internet niches out there. I've mentioned it here... Continue Reading Posted at 4:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 27 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 Understanding Market Segmentation - The Danger of Wrong AssumptionsWhen considering the demographic you serve, the emotional makeup of your core customer, lifestyles they live and even their relgious or cultural beliefs, you've got to be careful not to make generalized... Continue Reading Posted at 3:59 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 26 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 Separate Yourself from the PackWhen you're dealing with competitors, there is always something you must have that separates you from them in your customers eyes.We've already talked about customer service being one of the major differentiators in letting people see... Continue Reading Posted at 3:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov27	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 25 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Even Niche Marketing Has its RisksDo you believe there is such a concept as a "sure" thing in any business? The correct answer is that there's not. Because this is true, there is one thing I would highly recommend to... Continue Reading Posted at 7:40 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 24 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 The Real Edge - No Matter what Niche you FillWhat is the most obvious thing in front of your nose concerning business that very few ever get right? Serving customers until all their questions are answered or needs are met.This... Continue Reading Posted at 7:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 23 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Dealing with the Temptation of PerfectionismHow do you market to the people that you know would want your product, and are being underserved in the marketplace? That's the question that can stump marketers; even ones that have been around for... Continue Reading Posted at 7:31 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 22 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Where do you find where people are Hanging out Online?Once you have decided what market or niche you want to serve, how do you find the people that would be interested in the same niche? Where do they hang out... Continue Reading Posted at 7:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 21 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Understanding Variation when Creating for a Niche MarketWhere do you start when thinking of products or services that could meet the needs of the niche market you've decided to target? Think of the word "variation."Look at what's being currently used... Continue Reading Posted at 6:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov26	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 20 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 You Must Know Who Your Competitors ArePossibly the weakest area that new online marketers have in their business is the lack of knowledge on who their main competitors are.Now you've got to be careful in defining your competitors to begin... Continue Reading Posted at 5:10 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 19 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 Why We Talk About Being Able to Speak Their LanguageWe've talked a number of times about the ability to speak the language of the niche group we're going to serve. There is one, important reason that it must be done.... Continue Reading Posted at 5:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 18 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 Can your Hobby become a Niche Online Business? Questions you Must answer!Have you found yourself doing something you love that people start to ask you to make for them? That is one of the most common way that people find... Continue Reading Posted at 4:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 17 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 Create an Online Niche with an Offline StoreWhat's one way you could get into the online business if you have an existing store aleady? What could you do to differentiate if you pretty much offer similar products that numerous stores... Continue Reading Posted at 4:48 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 16 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 What happens when a niche goes mainstream? I was reading an interesting article by one online marketer that was serving the Sci. Fi. market. He was talking about how the popularity of TV shows like "Battlestar Galactica," "Lost,"and "Heroes" has... Continue Reading Posted at 4:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov25	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 15 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 Don't Forget the Business to Business Niche MarketOne market that can be overlooked because we think of serving individual people, is the business to business market. While the needs serving a business market may be different, they're just as diverse,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:50 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 14 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 Niche Marketing can Save you Marketing DollarsAdvertising to mass or general audiences always is much more costly than it is to market to a niche demographic; it's another strength of targeted marketing.If you were targeting, for example, model airplane enthusiasts,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 13 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 6 Characteristics of the Best Internet ProductsNow that we have a pretty good grasp of what a niche is and how to discover it. Now we need to look at what type of product within that niche is best to... Continue Reading Posted at 6:17 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 12 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 Immerse Yourself in Your NicheIf you want to successfully market to a niche, you'd better be a true expert in your field. When you deal with a niche, you're dealing with people with interests. That means that in general, they'll... Continue Reading Posted at 5:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 11 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 How to find what people within your niche want or needSo once you've discovered your niche and who you want to serve - while building credibility and relationships - the question then arises about how you can find out what... Continue Reading Posted at 5:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov24	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 10 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 The Need for Credibility within Your NicheMost people won't care too much about any of your history unconnected from their specific interests. So we have to be careful when we offer some of our background that's disconnected from our niche's... Continue Reading Posted at 5:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 9 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 What it Means to Really Find Your Market OnlineWhen we talk about finding an online market, we won't get into the most obvious means of search that has to do with simply finding Web sites, blogs or other areas that... Continue Reading Posted at 5:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 8 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 Why Online Marketing offers a Great Chance for Niche BusinessesNow in the pre-internet world, serving a niche was difficult if you lived in a smaller town. After all, how many people would you be able to build a business around... Continue Reading Posted at 5:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 7 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 Why Niches Exist in the First PlaceWhenever you here the phrase "you can't compete with the big guy," don't take in that false statement. The very nature of a business being big is what creates the possibility of a niche... Continue Reading Posted at 5:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 6 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 Another way to Help Identify your NicheWe've talked about how knowing and understanding yourself and what interests you as a key to understanding the type of niche you can serve.Within that concept, another thing you can do is to create... Continue Reading Posted at 3:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov22	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 5 Gary Bourgeault November 22, 2006 Two ways to Look at NichesAssuming that you've discovered the area or areas of interest that you can serve, it's at this point that you have to consider a couple of things about niches.First, there are niches that aren't being... Continue Reading Posted at 8:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 4 Gary Bourgeault November 22, 2006 What about the people that employ the other strategy we talked about in marketing to niches, without really being passionate about them, or necessarily having a desire to interact with the community? Is this still a business model to follow?There... Continue Reading Posted at 3:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov20	Understanding Yourself: The First Step in Identifying a Niche Gary Bourgeault November 20, 2006 Last post we talked about the two different types of people and strategies that make up marketing to a niche community. This post we'll look closer at the person who has a long-term vision and wants to be part of... Continue Reading Posted at 8:42 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Tale of Two Niche Strategies Gary Bourgeault November 20, 2006 Part 2 of an In-depth look at Niche Marketing In considering searching out a niche that can be served and turned into a great online business, there are two ways of doing it that must be considered. Two types of... Continue Reading Posted at 2:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov19	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 1 Gary Bourgeault November 19, 2006 In beginning any online endeavor, there is one thing that everyone must understand: every business is a niche - even the huge companies are. Let's look at Wal-Mart (WMT) as an example. If you don't think they serve a niche,... Continue Reading Posted at 8:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Opportunity for Video Content Providers Gary Bourgeault November 19, 2006 With broadband use growing strongly and video site proliferating as a result, people are looking all over the place to find unique, interesting content. The recent announcement that there will now be a broadband network that will only show TV... Continue Reading Posted at 2:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov18	Yahoo is Trying to be all Things to all People Gary Bourgeault November 18, 2006 An internal Yahoo (YHOO) memo that was written by Senior Vice President Brad Garlinghouse reveals that the company is going to be shaken up for its poor performance. The memo stated that cuts of up to 20 percent could be... Continue Reading Posted at 5:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov17	Make it Simple and Easy to Pass on Your Viral Content Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 As with all viral marketing campaigns, we must conceive of it with the user in mind. That's why things like the strange, humorous, unique, bizarre, weird, compelling and fascinating are the concepts that are used to inititate successful campaigns. Now,... Continue Reading Posted at 10:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Study Confirms Diverse Behaviors of Broadband Users Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 Clickz has a good article on how broadband users have been characterized as "one homogenous group of people," or as we also talk about here - a mass audience - and talks about a study that shows the opposite is true. The... Continue Reading Posted at 9:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Universal Music Sues MySpace for Copyright Violations Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 The Universal Music Group is at it again as they have now sued News Corp.'s (NWS-A) MySpace, saying that the site has empowered its users to post millions of Universal's songs and videos to the online community. One report says... Continue Reading Posted at 5:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The More the Internet Changes the More the Message Stays the Same Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 With the proliferation of ways people consumer content - whether video, text, photos, blogs or RSS feeds, online community sites or niche sites - there is the temptation to think that something has changed as far as the message goes;... Continue Reading Posted at 4:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Internet Changing Retail Even More Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 When the ability to compare shop online sprang up, it changed the retail business forever. Most retail companies had to adjust everything they were doing and market and promote in new ways. Now, there is another big change that has... Continue Reading Posted at 2:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov16	Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Come Together for Shared Sitemaps Standard Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 Webmasters have been waiting for it for quite a while, and now it's here: Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) have agreed to jointly use "Sitemaps 0.90" protocol instead of separate standards. "The launch of Sitemaps is significant because it allows... Continue Reading Posted at 11:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Internet Advertising Continues Record Growth for 8th Straight Quarter Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 A report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, concerning Internet advertising on Internet Ad Bureau (IAB) member sites, revealed that it increased by 33 percent during the third quarter over last year. It reached $4.2 billion for the member sites. While it was... Continue Reading Posted at 7:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	YouTube, NHL Strike Content and Advertising Partnership Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 The NHL has become the first major U.S. professional sports league to go into partnership with YouTube. The NHL has agreed to supply YouTube viewers with highlight videos from its daily venue of games, plus other video clips produced by... Continue Reading Posted at 6:16 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	AOL Chief Being Replaced by NBC's Randy Falco Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 AOL CEO Jonathan Miller, who announced that he was leaving the company, has been replaced with NBC executive Randy Falco. Time Warner (TWX) chairman and CEO Dick Parsons commented: "A key to Time Warner's digital future, AOL is showing early success... Continue Reading Posted at 4:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov15	Ad Executives say Behavioral Targeting Most Effective Online Gary Bourgeault November 15, 2006 The American Advertising Federation released a study on Tuesday saying that ad industry executives believe that behavioral targeting is the most effective online advertising strategy. Out of the 168 executives that were surveyed, over 50 percent said that behavioral targeting... Continue Reading Posted at 8:22 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Can YouTube Retain its Mass Media Status? Gary Bourgeault November 15, 2006 The Google story about its setting aside a huge reserve - now said to be $200 million - for potential future lawsuits connected to YouTube and copyrighted material is only part of the problem that is talked about. There are... Continue Reading Posted at 1:54 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov14	Digg CEO Jay Adelson says Company not for Sale Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 In an interview with Forbes.com, Digg CEO Jay Adelson said that the company wasn't for sale. When asked if Digg was for sale, Adelson responded: "No. Digg is not for sale. Our focus is entirely on execution. The only way that... Continue Reading Posted at 6:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Yahoo CEO Terry Semel says Online Advertising Growth Underestimated Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 Yahoo's (YHOO) CEO, Terry Semel, believes that the growth of online advertising has been understated because projections haven't included the increase of advertising on video, mobile and social networking sites. He asserts that online advertising projections have only included graphic... Continue Reading Posted at 4:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Empower to Handle Problems on the Spot Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 One of the great tools used by successful marketers, isn't one normally thought of as a marketing strength. It's the empowering of your people to handle problems on the spot. As one writer said: "Empower your employees to just 'do... Continue Reading Posted at 4:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	YouTube Starting to Face User Backlash Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 Most of us knew that eventually YouTube would face some type of backlash from its original, core group of users as they continually embraced the large media companies. It seems like the beginning rumblings are starting to happen. Some users... Continue Reading Posted at 2:19 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov12	Is JumpTV a Niche? Gary Bourgeault November 12, 2006 JumpTV (JTV.TO) is an online service that caters to immigrants or expatriates that want to stay connected to their homelands through watching their native news and entertainment spoken in their own language. It distributes 230 live television feeds from 70... Continue Reading Posted at 7:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Three Major Concerns of Online Shoppers Gary Bourgeault November 12, 2006 Akamai Technologies (AKAM) recently commissioned JupiterResearch to conduct a study to see what it was that consumers disliked the most on poor performing shopping sites. The three major concerns are: 1. Slow page loading The study revealed that on an... Continue Reading Posted at 5:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	One Thing that's Holding Back Online Advertising Gary Bourgeault November 12, 2006 Everywhere I read about why online video advertising is being held up, most people don't understand the real reason behind it. You hear about the risk of advertising showing up next to undesirable content. You also have the possibility that... Continue Reading Posted at 3:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov11	How Purchasing Behavior Changes Across Industries Gary Bourgeault November 11, 2006 An interesting study by Doubleclick revealed a few important insights into the major factors in what the key influencers in the decision-making process for consumers are. In the vaction and travel industries, and all the related services like hotels and... Continue Reading Posted at 8:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Disney's Internet Strategy Excelling Gary Bourgeault November 11, 2006 The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) announced that its revenues for downloads will reach close to $700 million for their 2007 fiscal year, company executives said on their earnings call. Disney CEO Bob Iger added that the Internet is producing a... Continue Reading Posted at 1:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov10	Buick and Tiger Woods go Viral on YouTube Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 Responding to industry leaders that marketing on YouTube needed to be done with a more amateur feel than professional, Buick hit it right with Tiger Woods as they put together a video specifically for the YouTube audience. It hasn't done... Continue Reading Posted at 6:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Expedia's Customers Now its Competitors Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 Continuing on our theme today of getting more out of our Web visitors, let's look at the example of Expedia Inc. (EXPE), the leader in online travel companies. They reported that their profit for the 3rd quarter dropped by a... Continue Reading Posted at 6:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Key Reason for Behavioral Targeting Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 Steve Smith interviewed Christal Condon, the director of marketing at Internet-only etailer Home Décor Products Inc. concerning behavioral tracking and its effect upon results. The company mainly uses paid search to attract it customers, and a secondary source is comparison... Continue Reading Posted at 4:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Car and Driver looking to the Web for Growth Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 The Car and Driver magazine is experiencing the same problem that the majority of the industry is - their subscriptions and ad sales are falling. Subscriptions, which are currently at 1.3 million, have dropped by around 3 percent from last... Continue Reading Posted at 2:06 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 9	Some Lessons from Borat! on Viral Marketing Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 The success of "Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," shows the problem that media companies have when it comes to stifling the viral strength of the Internet. Borat was all over YouTube, and the... Continue Reading Posted at 8:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Tapping the Power of Niche Online Communities Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 With the new statistics out that MySpace is getting over 80 percent of online visits of the top 20 social network Web sites, it might seem a contradiction to say we don't have nearly enough "niche" social sites to satisfy... Continue Reading Posted at 8:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Visual Search Engine Like.com Launched Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 Riya has lauched their visual search engine Like.com, which empowers consumers to find items by their appearance, not only text. The method used at this time is pictures of celebrities wearing various products. "A picture is worth a thousand words,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Web Shoppers want Better Online Experience Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 In a report by the Internet Retailer, they said 9 out of 10 consumers are planning on doing most of their holiday shopping online. The problem is that almost half of those potential customers report that there are a lot... Continue Reading Posted at 6:15 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	MySpace gets 82% of Social Networking Visits Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 A new report by Hitwise says that 82 percent of the overall visits to the top 20 online communities went to MySpace in September, a statistic that shows it increasing in visitor share. Of course statistics have to be kept... Continue Reading Posted at 1:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 8	News corp. to Invade Japan with MySpace Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. (NWS-A) has gone into partnership with Softbank, the Japanese technology investment group, to offer MySpace to the Japanese market, according to a report in the Financial Times. The deal is expected to be confirmed... Continue Reading Posted at 6:20 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	What Happens after we Establish Online Credibililty? Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 Rob Garner commments on a question he was asked by a participant at the "LINKING AND OPTIMIZATION" panel at Ad:Tech Chicago in July. The question was: "Which do you think is factored more heavily by the search engines--off-page elements or... Continue Reading Posted at 5:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Ad:Tech Panel says it's Possible for Brands to not use "Traditional" Media Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 The recent Ad: Tech panel, promoted with the promise that “This session will be the one that launches the Internet on its next wave of untrammeled growth,” didn't seem to offer even a small wind to push the Internet boat... Continue Reading Posted at 4:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	News Corp. says Fox Interactive should break even in 2007 Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 Marketwatch reports that News Corp. (NWS-A) has confidence that their Fox Interactive division, which includes online properties MySpace and IGN, will break even during fiscal 2007, according to executives on their first-quarter conference call. Revenue for the overall Fox Interactive... Continue Reading Posted at 4:01 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	JVC Recruiting Consumers to Promote Everio Camcorder Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 JVC is jumping on the consumer-generated media bandwagon as they now inviting consumers to "Create Our Commercial," in their new campaign to promote their Everio hard drive camcorder product line. They are soliciting users to submit their 30- to 60-... Continue Reading Posted at 2:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 7	Social Networks will Fragment for Years Ahead Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 When talking about social-networking sites and whether the larger sites can keep their market share from eroding, the answer to me, is no they can't. While a place my MySpace and other big sites will still grab millions, it will... Continue Reading Posted at 10:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Verizon in talks to bring YouTube to Cell Phones - Does anybody care? Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 Reportedly in the final stages of talks to bring YouTube to cell phones and television sets, Verizon Communications (VZ), according to some, would get an edge over its competitors. As far as the cell phone side of it, I don't... Continue Reading Posted at 8:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Every Page is Becoming Your Homepage Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 While there is a lot of discussion about what should or shouldn't be on a homepage of a web site. How fast or slow can it be allowed to load, should we have two option; one for high speed access... Continue Reading Posted at 6:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How to Handle Challenge/Response Filters Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 Some companies are experiencing what seems like increasing responses from opt-in customers concerning challenge/responses. It is possible for this to be a seasonal or temporary surge depending on how you've been promoting opt-in campaigns. Exact Target Director of Privacy and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 6	Tool to help you Increase your Emails' Deliverability Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Larry Chase put me onto an excellent, simple tool to use to check out the deliverability of your ezine. It's extremely easy to use. Simply paste the text or HTML code of your ezine message into a box and press... Continue Reading Posted at 8:06 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Google Venturing into Newspaper Ad Market Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Quoting an anonymous source, the Washington Post reported that Google (GOOG) is getting ready to roll out a test run of a program that empowers businesses to go to Google to buy ad space in a number of national newspapers;... Continue Reading Posted at 6:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Two things we must do if we have an Advertising Model Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Talking about the total disruption of the newspaper industry, a recent article uses the auto industry to show how and why this is happening. What's important to us is to understand how we can use this for our advantage in... Continue Reading Posted at 6:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	AdBrite now offering Auction model for its network Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Starting only two years ago, Adbrite set out to bring large brand marketers together with niche Web sites, while charging weekly rates instead of per-click. They have exploded in growth, now having a network of over 28,000 publishers and brand... Continue Reading Posted at 2:46 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 5	Tim Berners-Lee getting screwy - wants to save the Web from Dangerous Bloggers Gary Bourgeault November 5, 2006 Tim Berners-Lee, credited with "founding" the Internet in the early 1990s, recently said in a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that if the Internet is left to evolve unchecked, "bad phenomena" will pretty much make it useless.... Continue Reading Posted at 6:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	We must Understand our Target Audience Gary Bourgeault November 5, 2006 When we are considering initiating a potential viral campaign, there are a couple of things we absolutely must keep control of to give it an honest chance to succeed. First of all, if you're hiring someone to do the creative... Continue Reading Posted at 3:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 4	The 12 most persuasive words in the English Language Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 Yale University released a list of the twelve most persuasive words in the English language. What was really interesting to me, was that one of my mentors years ago was talking about these very same words or concepts as being... Continue Reading Posted at 5:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Yahoo, Beliefnet Partner in Online Personals Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 Religous site Beliefnet, has forged a partnership with Yahoo (YHOO) Personal to host its Soulmatch dating service. As a result of the deal, Beliefnet will be able to provide ten times the number of dating options of people who are... Continue Reading Posted at 4:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	AOL and Microsoft targeting indie-rock fans Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 AOL (TWX) and Microsoft (MSFT) are courting the indie rock crowd as part of their strategy to enlarge their audience base. While this isn't anything new, the interesting thing about it is their creating of original content to try to... Continue Reading Posted at 3:22 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Starbucks admits to losing laptops with worker data Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 Starbucks, after two months of looking for them, has admitted that they can't find four laptop computers, including two that have private information of 60,000 of their former or current U.S. employees. Included with the personal data are the names,... Continue Reading Posted at 1:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 3	Euro's David Jones wants to Take Back Creativity from Consumers Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 Advertising Age hosted The Idea Conference recently and had for a speaker David Jones, CEO of global agency network Euro RSCG Worldwide. His talk was more of a rallying of the old way of doing things by telling the participants... Continue Reading Posted at 10:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Welcome to Mass Media GooTube Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 For the first time in the migration from analog to digital, the traditional media companies have something to swagger about. With YouTube having to face the copyright law, and huge portions of their users uploading copyrighted material, the media companies... Continue Reading Posted at 9:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	MarketingSherpa bought by MEC Labs Group Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 Anne Holland, founder & president of MarketingSherpa wrote to her customers on her website that the company has been acquired by MEC Labs Group, another marketing research company. She said concerning the deal: "Nothing drastic will change. We're keeping our... Continue Reading Posted at 3:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Amazon launches new beta - Tapping into growing online ad market Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 With online ad spend being one of the key growth areas, Amazon.com has employed its subsidiary A9 to power up its new pay-per-click ad network to display targeted text ads alongside its product pages. The program, which is in beta,... Continue Reading Posted at 3:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Decreasing the Results of Email Typos Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 At thealphamarketer one of the things we always do is talk about some of the simple things that can affect an otherwise well thought out campaign. In the case of email, I was reading an article about the way that... Continue Reading Posted at 1:40 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 2	3 Reasons why Viral Campaigns Fail Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 Citing AzACreations, e-consultancy offered ten reasons why viral campaigns fail. I really like this list as it stays away from the usual "create something engaging" stuff, and talks more about common mistakes that can really hurt any campaign; no matter... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Ask.com knocks out rivals, lands Lycos deal Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 In a major coup, Ask.com struck out against rivals MSN (MSFT) and Google (GOOG), landing the Lycos account for natural search and sponsored listings, according to Online Media Daily. MSN Windows Live was the former provider of natural search results... Continue Reading Posted at 7:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Video ad market growing steadily Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 The recent announcement by Atlas, an Internet marketing company, that it is releasing new online video ad serving technology for pre- and post-roll ads, made me think of where the market is at right now and how much or if... Continue Reading Posted at 5:28 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	YouTube to offer video sharing on mobile phones Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 With MySpace saying recently that they will be offering a mobile phone service, you knew it wouldn't be long before YouTube would do the same. It didn't take long as Chad Hurley, YouTube founder and CEO, told an advertising conference... Continue Reading Posted at 4:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Difference between B2B and Consumer Marketing Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 Omniture, Inc. released a study concerning B2B marketing and some of the differences between marketing to businesses and marketing to consumers. The first conclusion of the study was that by 2008 online marketing will be the No. 1 media for... Continue Reading Posted at 1:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 1	Is "Evil" AOL turning around? Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 With the AOL deal being considered one of the business mistakes of the century, Time Warner (TWX) is finally looking like it may have had a few brains in the deal. The subscription service had nowhere to go and their... Continue Reading Posted at 8:22 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Marketers ready to tackle social networking sites Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 Watching the social network sites grow for a while and getting a feel for how to market to them, it seems that online advertisers are getting ready to move into the space in a big way. In 2007, marketing on... Continue Reading Posted at 6:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	BMW's Mini Drives Viral Email Success Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 Using a fun, creative tool that is simple and easy to use and send, BMW's Mini division launched a highly successful email marketing campaign. What they did was offer visitors to their site the ability of design their own Mini.... Continue Reading Posted at 5:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Mazda ramping up its online video campaign Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 With the increasing penetration of broadband, more companies are increasing their online video campaigns. One automobile giant, Mazda (MZDAF.PK), says that 80 percent of the visitors coming to their site arrive there through broadband connections. Before we go on I... Continue Reading Posted at 5:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Facebook's Challenge Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 When Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed the company from being a niche business to a mass audience site, it was a huge gamble for sure. The problem with that move is that general audience businesses are few and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 »

Nov30	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 40 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 Know More: Niche Marketing 2.0, Niche Marketing Some Things that Should Never Change I hope you've enjoyed this in-depth look at the power of niche marketing. If you read through it and follow the guidelines, you will have good success. But there's one last thing that we need to talk about. There's one thing that really can't be taught or trained; and that's the area of honesty and integrity. Many online marketers, if you could call them that, have given the rest of us a bad name because they think because they can hide behind a computer seemingly annonymously, that they can serve customers in any way and get away with it. Don't be tempted with that thought, or the idea of doing something the easy way. While none of this is exceptionally hard, it still take hard work and consistancy. When it comes down to it all, it's all about your integrity. Nothing can buy it, and you can lose it in a second if you don't value it. Continue Reading Posted at 6:32 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov30	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 39 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 What Should Your Strategy BeWhile the great majority of people use the same overall strategy, that doesn't mean it'll necessarily be the best thing for you.To me the best strategy is still to create your own information product. Of course... Continue Reading Posted at 6:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 38 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 One Easy Measurement to Determine if Your Niche is Targeted EnoughCan you think of one question you ask yourself that would determine whether the niche you've chosen is targeted, narrowed or specific enough? Ask yourself this one question and you'll... Continue Reading Posted at 5:41 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 37 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 The Main Purpose for a Niche SiteWhat's the purpose of a niche Web site? One word: narrow. To narrow and whittle away those that aren't interested so that those that are interested can find you and one another. That's one... Continue Reading Posted at 5:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 36 Gary Bourgeault November 30, 2006 The Power of Marketing to Your NicheWhy is a niche market offer such power in marketing? The niche is the marketing. I've mentioned that before here.What does that mean? When you have a niche market, the very defining of what... Continue Reading Posted at 4:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov29	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 35 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Why you Shouldn't be Intimidated by the "Experts"There's a little secret done by some marketers that can have a strong, negative effect upon those hearing it, if they're deciding to compete in a similar niche as the expert.How many times... Continue Reading Posted at 6:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 34 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Why Saying 'No' helps your BusinessWe talked last post about knowing the limits of our business based upon our passion and expertise, and how saying "no" was as important as saying "yes."Here's one of the reasons why: referrals. It's been... Continue Reading Posted at 6:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 33 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Know the Limits of the Niche you ServeThe key in choosing a niche is to eliminate the possibilities that you cannot serve. It's to empower you to focus; to contract, to narrow what you offer. It's the very essence of... Continue Reading Posted at 5:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 32 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 A Niche Business Constantly Needs to be PrunedRunning a business is running something that is alive. You can never quite let it go on its own. Now you can get it to the place where it can almost do it,... Continue Reading Posted at 5:50 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 31 Gary Bourgeault November 29, 2006 Keep Pushing Until you're on Automatic PilotA mistake I see a number of new niche marketers make, is to misunderstand that when all the work of finding a niche and getting an online business going that is built around that... Continue Reading Posted at 4:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov28	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 30 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 One More Important Word on CompetitorsProbably the major reason to research our competitors thoroughly, is to see really how good they are running their businesses. If they're really doing it good, how much room is there for you in that... Continue Reading Posted at 5:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 29 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 A Niche Doesn't Compete on Price AloneThe very nature of a niche defines that it can't and shouldn't compete on price alone. If that was your strategy, you wouldn't be a niche, you'd be a mass-marketer. Segmentation defines itself in... Continue Reading Posted at 5:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 28 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 What About Your Locality Being a Niche?It is my observation that the area of thinking locally while having an online business is still one of the most underserved and creatively thought through Internet niches out there. I've mentioned it here... Continue Reading Posted at 4:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 27 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 Understanding Market Segmentation - The Danger of Wrong AssumptionsWhen considering the demographic you serve, the emotional makeup of your core customer, lifestyles they live and even their relgious or cultural beliefs, you've got to be careful not to make generalized... Continue Reading Posted at 3:59 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 26 Gary Bourgeault November 28, 2006 Separate Yourself from the PackWhen you're dealing with competitors, there is always something you must have that separates you from them in your customers eyes.We've already talked about customer service being one of the major differentiators in letting people see... Continue Reading Posted at 3:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov27	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 25 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Even Niche Marketing Has its RisksDo you believe there is such a concept as a "sure" thing in any business? The correct answer is that there's not. Because this is true, there is one thing I would highly recommend to... Continue Reading Posted at 7:40 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 24 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 The Real Edge - No Matter what Niche you FillWhat is the most obvious thing in front of your nose concerning business that very few ever get right? Serving customers until all their questions are answered or needs are met.This... Continue Reading Posted at 7:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 23 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Dealing with the Temptation of PerfectionismHow do you market to the people that you know would want your product, and are being underserved in the marketplace? That's the question that can stump marketers; even ones that have been around for... Continue Reading Posted at 7:31 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 22 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Where do you find where people are Hanging out Online?Once you have decided what market or niche you want to serve, how do you find the people that would be interested in the same niche? Where do they hang out... Continue Reading Posted at 7:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 21 Gary Bourgeault November 27, 2006 Understanding Variation when Creating for a Niche MarketWhere do you start when thinking of products or services that could meet the needs of the niche market you've decided to target? Think of the word "variation."Look at what's being currently used... Continue Reading Posted at 6:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov26	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 20 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 You Must Know Who Your Competitors ArePossibly the weakest area that new online marketers have in their business is the lack of knowledge on who their main competitors are.Now you've got to be careful in defining your competitors to begin... Continue Reading Posted at 5:10 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 19 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 Why We Talk About Being Able to Speak Their LanguageWe've talked a number of times about the ability to speak the language of the niche group we're going to serve. There is one, important reason that it must be done.... Continue Reading Posted at 5:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 18 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 Can your Hobby become a Niche Online Business? Questions you Must answer!Have you found yourself doing something you love that people start to ask you to make for them? That is one of the most common way that people find... Continue Reading Posted at 4:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 17 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 Create an Online Niche with an Offline StoreWhat's one way you could get into the online business if you have an existing store aleady? What could you do to differentiate if you pretty much offer similar products that numerous stores... Continue Reading Posted at 4:48 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 16 Gary Bourgeault November 26, 2006 What happens when a niche goes mainstream? I was reading an interesting article by one online marketer that was serving the Sci. Fi. market. He was talking about how the popularity of TV shows like "Battlestar Galactica," "Lost,"and "Heroes" has... Continue Reading Posted at 4:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov25	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 15 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 Don't Forget the Business to Business Niche MarketOne market that can be overlooked because we think of serving individual people, is the business to business market. While the needs serving a business market may be different, they're just as diverse,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:50 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 14 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 Niche Marketing can Save you Marketing DollarsAdvertising to mass or general audiences always is much more costly than it is to market to a niche demographic; it's another strength of targeted marketing.If you were targeting, for example, model airplane enthusiasts,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 13 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 6 Characteristics of the Best Internet ProductsNow that we have a pretty good grasp of what a niche is and how to discover it. Now we need to look at what type of product within that niche is best to... Continue Reading Posted at 6:17 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 12 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 Immerse Yourself in Your NicheIf you want to successfully market to a niche, you'd better be a true expert in your field. When you deal with a niche, you're dealing with people with interests. That means that in general, they'll... Continue Reading Posted at 5:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 11 Gary Bourgeault November 25, 2006 How to find what people within your niche want or needSo once you've discovered your niche and who you want to serve - while building credibility and relationships - the question then arises about how you can find out what... Continue Reading Posted at 5:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov24	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 10 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 The Need for Credibility within Your NicheMost people won't care too much about any of your history unconnected from their specific interests. So we have to be careful when we offer some of our background that's disconnected from our niche's... Continue Reading Posted at 5:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 9 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 What it Means to Really Find Your Market OnlineWhen we talk about finding an online market, we won't get into the most obvious means of search that has to do with simply finding Web sites, blogs or other areas that... Continue Reading Posted at 5:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 8 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 Why Online Marketing offers a Great Chance for Niche BusinessesNow in the pre-internet world, serving a niche was difficult if you lived in a smaller town. After all, how many people would you be able to build a business around... Continue Reading Posted at 5:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 7 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 Why Niches Exist in the First PlaceWhenever you here the phrase "you can't compete with the big guy," don't take in that false statement. The very nature of a business being big is what creates the possibility of a niche... Continue Reading Posted at 5:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 6 Gary Bourgeault November 24, 2006 Another way to Help Identify your NicheWe've talked about how knowing and understanding yourself and what interests you as a key to understanding the type of niche you can serve.Within that concept, another thing you can do is to create... Continue Reading Posted at 3:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov22	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 5 Gary Bourgeault November 22, 2006 Two ways to Look at NichesAssuming that you've discovered the area or areas of interest that you can serve, it's at this point that you have to consider a couple of things about niches.First, there are niches that aren't being... Continue Reading Posted at 8:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 4 Gary Bourgeault November 22, 2006 What about the people that employ the other strategy we talked about in marketing to niches, without really being passionate about them, or necessarily having a desire to interact with the community? Is this still a business model to follow?There... Continue Reading Posted at 3:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov20	Understanding Yourself: The First Step in Identifying a Niche Gary Bourgeault November 20, 2006 Last post we talked about the two different types of people and strategies that make up marketing to a niche community. This post we'll look closer at the person who has a long-term vision and wants to be part of... Continue Reading Posted at 8:42 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Tale of Two Niche Strategies Gary Bourgeault November 20, 2006 Part 2 of an In-depth look at Niche Marketing In considering searching out a niche that can be served and turned into a great online business, there are two ways of doing it that must be considered. Two types of... Continue Reading Posted at 2:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov19	An In-depth Look at Niche Marketing - 1 Gary Bourgeault November 19, 2006 In beginning any online endeavor, there is one thing that everyone must understand: every business is a niche - even the huge companies are. Let's look at Wal-Mart (WMT) as an example. If you don't think they serve a niche,... Continue Reading Posted at 8:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Opportunity for Video Content Providers Gary Bourgeault November 19, 2006 With broadband use growing strongly and video site proliferating as a result, people are looking all over the place to find unique, interesting content. The recent announcement that there will now be a broadband network that will only show TV... Continue Reading Posted at 2:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov18	Yahoo is Trying to be all Things to all People Gary Bourgeault November 18, 2006 An internal Yahoo (YHOO) memo that was written by Senior Vice President Brad Garlinghouse reveals that the company is going to be shaken up for its poor performance. The memo stated that cuts of up to 20 percent could be... Continue Reading Posted at 5:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov17	Make it Simple and Easy to Pass on Your Viral Content Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 As with all viral marketing campaigns, we must conceive of it with the user in mind. That's why things like the strange, humorous, unique, bizarre, weird, compelling and fascinating are the concepts that are used to inititate successful campaigns. Now,... Continue Reading Posted at 10:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Study Confirms Diverse Behaviors of Broadband Users Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 Clickz has a good article on how broadband users have been characterized as "one homogenous group of people," or as we also talk about here - a mass audience - and talks about a study that shows the opposite is true. The... Continue Reading Posted at 9:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Universal Music Sues MySpace for Copyright Violations Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 The Universal Music Group is at it again as they have now sued News Corp.'s (NWS-A) MySpace, saying that the site has empowered its users to post millions of Universal's songs and videos to the online community. One report says... Continue Reading Posted at 5:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The More the Internet Changes the More the Message Stays the Same Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 With the proliferation of ways people consumer content - whether video, text, photos, blogs or RSS feeds, online community sites or niche sites - there is the temptation to think that something has changed as far as the message goes;... Continue Reading Posted at 4:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Internet Changing Retail Even More Gary Bourgeault November 17, 2006 When the ability to compare shop online sprang up, it changed the retail business forever. Most retail companies had to adjust everything they were doing and market and promote in new ways. Now, there is another big change that has... Continue Reading Posted at 2:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov16	Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Come Together for Shared Sitemaps Standard Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 Webmasters have been waiting for it for quite a while, and now it's here: Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) have agreed to jointly use "Sitemaps 0.90" protocol instead of separate standards. "The launch of Sitemaps is significant because it allows... Continue Reading Posted at 11:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Internet Advertising Continues Record Growth for 8th Straight Quarter Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 A report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, concerning Internet advertising on Internet Ad Bureau (IAB) member sites, revealed that it increased by 33 percent during the third quarter over last year. It reached $4.2 billion for the member sites. While it was... Continue Reading Posted at 7:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	YouTube, NHL Strike Content and Advertising Partnership Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 The NHL has become the first major U.S. professional sports league to go into partnership with YouTube. The NHL has agreed to supply YouTube viewers with highlight videos from its daily venue of games, plus other video clips produced by... Continue Reading Posted at 6:16 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	AOL Chief Being Replaced by NBC's Randy Falco Gary Bourgeault November 16, 2006 AOL CEO Jonathan Miller, who announced that he was leaving the company, has been replaced with NBC executive Randy Falco. Time Warner (TWX) chairman and CEO Dick Parsons commented: "A key to Time Warner's digital future, AOL is showing early success... Continue Reading Posted at 4:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov15	Ad Executives say Behavioral Targeting Most Effective Online Gary Bourgeault November 15, 2006 The American Advertising Federation released a study on Tuesday saying that ad industry executives believe that behavioral targeting is the most effective online advertising strategy. Out of the 168 executives that were surveyed, over 50 percent said that behavioral targeting... Continue Reading Posted at 8:22 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Can YouTube Retain its Mass Media Status? Gary Bourgeault November 15, 2006 The Google story about its setting aside a huge reserve - now said to be $200 million - for potential future lawsuits connected to YouTube and copyrighted material is only part of the problem that is talked about. There are... Continue Reading Posted at 1:54 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov14	Digg CEO Jay Adelson says Company not for Sale Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 In an interview with Forbes.com, Digg CEO Jay Adelson said that the company wasn't for sale. When asked if Digg was for sale, Adelson responded: "No. Digg is not for sale. Our focus is entirely on execution. The only way that... Continue Reading Posted at 6:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Yahoo CEO Terry Semel says Online Advertising Growth Underestimated Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 Yahoo's (YHOO) CEO, Terry Semel, believes that the growth of online advertising has been understated because projections haven't included the increase of advertising on video, mobile and social networking sites. He asserts that online advertising projections have only included graphic... Continue Reading Posted at 4:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Empower to Handle Problems on the Spot Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 One of the great tools used by successful marketers, isn't one normally thought of as a marketing strength. It's the empowering of your people to handle problems on the spot. As one writer said: "Empower your employees to just 'do... Continue Reading Posted at 4:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	YouTube Starting to Face User Backlash Gary Bourgeault November 14, 2006 Most of us knew that eventually YouTube would face some type of backlash from its original, core group of users as they continually embraced the large media companies. It seems like the beginning rumblings are starting to happen. Some users... Continue Reading Posted at 2:19 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov12	Is JumpTV a Niche? Gary Bourgeault November 12, 2006 JumpTV (JTV.TO) is an online service that caters to immigrants or expatriates that want to stay connected to their homelands through watching their native news and entertainment spoken in their own language. It distributes 230 live television feeds from 70... Continue Reading Posted at 7:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Three Major Concerns of Online Shoppers Gary Bourgeault November 12, 2006 Akamai Technologies (AKAM) recently commissioned JupiterResearch to conduct a study to see what it was that consumers disliked the most on poor performing shopping sites. The three major concerns are: 1. Slow page loading The study revealed that on an... Continue Reading Posted at 5:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	One Thing that's Holding Back Online Advertising Gary Bourgeault November 12, 2006 Everywhere I read about why online video advertising is being held up, most people don't understand the real reason behind it. You hear about the risk of advertising showing up next to undesirable content. You also have the possibility that... Continue Reading Posted at 3:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov11	How Purchasing Behavior Changes Across Industries Gary Bourgeault November 11, 2006 An interesting study by Doubleclick revealed a few important insights into the major factors in what the key influencers in the decision-making process for consumers are. In the vaction and travel industries, and all the related services like hotels and... Continue Reading Posted at 8:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Disney's Internet Strategy Excelling Gary Bourgeault November 11, 2006 The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) announced that its revenues for downloads will reach close to $700 million for their 2007 fiscal year, company executives said on their earnings call. Disney CEO Bob Iger added that the Internet is producing a... Continue Reading Posted at 1:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov10	Buick and Tiger Woods go Viral on YouTube Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 Responding to industry leaders that marketing on YouTube needed to be done with a more amateur feel than professional, Buick hit it right with Tiger Woods as they put together a video specifically for the YouTube audience. It hasn't done... Continue Reading Posted at 6:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Expedia's Customers Now its Competitors Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 Continuing on our theme today of getting more out of our Web visitors, let's look at the example of Expedia Inc. (EXPE), the leader in online travel companies. They reported that their profit for the 3rd quarter dropped by a... Continue Reading Posted at 6:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Key Reason for Behavioral Targeting Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 Steve Smith interviewed Christal Condon, the director of marketing at Internet-only etailer Home Décor Products Inc. concerning behavioral tracking and its effect upon results. The company mainly uses paid search to attract it customers, and a secondary source is comparison... Continue Reading Posted at 4:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Car and Driver looking to the Web for Growth Gary Bourgeault November 10, 2006 The Car and Driver magazine is experiencing the same problem that the majority of the industry is - their subscriptions and ad sales are falling. Subscriptions, which are currently at 1.3 million, have dropped by around 3 percent from last... Continue Reading Posted at 2:06 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 9	Some Lessons from Borat! on Viral Marketing Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 The success of "Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," shows the problem that media companies have when it comes to stifling the viral strength of the Internet. Borat was all over YouTube, and the... Continue Reading Posted at 8:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Tapping the Power of Niche Online Communities Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 With the new statistics out that MySpace is getting over 80 percent of online visits of the top 20 social network Web sites, it might seem a contradiction to say we don't have nearly enough "niche" social sites to satisfy... Continue Reading Posted at 8:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Visual Search Engine Like.com Launched Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 Riya has lauched their visual search engine Like.com, which empowers consumers to find items by their appearance, not only text. The method used at this time is pictures of celebrities wearing various products. "A picture is worth a thousand words,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Web Shoppers want Better Online Experience Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 In a report by the Internet Retailer, they said 9 out of 10 consumers are planning on doing most of their holiday shopping online. The problem is that almost half of those potential customers report that there are a lot... Continue Reading Posted at 6:15 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	MySpace gets 82% of Social Networking Visits Gary Bourgeault November 9, 2006 A new report by Hitwise says that 82 percent of the overall visits to the top 20 online communities went to MySpace in September, a statistic that shows it increasing in visitor share. Of course statistics have to be kept... Continue Reading Posted at 1:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 8	News corp. to Invade Japan with MySpace Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. (NWS-A) has gone into partnership with Softbank, the Japanese technology investment group, to offer MySpace to the Japanese market, according to a report in the Financial Times. The deal is expected to be confirmed... Continue Reading Posted at 6:20 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	What Happens after we Establish Online Credibililty? Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 Rob Garner commments on a question he was asked by a participant at the "LINKING AND OPTIMIZATION" panel at Ad:Tech Chicago in July. The question was: "Which do you think is factored more heavily by the search engines--off-page elements or... Continue Reading Posted at 5:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Ad:Tech Panel says it's Possible for Brands to not use "Traditional" Media Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 The recent Ad: Tech panel, promoted with the promise that “This session will be the one that launches the Internet on its next wave of untrammeled growth,” didn't seem to offer even a small wind to push the Internet boat... Continue Reading Posted at 4:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	News Corp. says Fox Interactive should break even in 2007 Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 Marketwatch reports that News Corp. (NWS-A) has confidence that their Fox Interactive division, which includes online properties MySpace and IGN, will break even during fiscal 2007, according to executives on their first-quarter conference call. Revenue for the overall Fox Interactive... Continue Reading Posted at 4:01 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	JVC Recruiting Consumers to Promote Everio Camcorder Gary Bourgeault November 8, 2006 JVC is jumping on the consumer-generated media bandwagon as they now inviting consumers to "Create Our Commercial," in their new campaign to promote their Everio hard drive camcorder product line. They are soliciting users to submit their 30- to 60-... Continue Reading Posted at 2:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 7	Social Networks will Fragment for Years Ahead Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 When talking about social-networking sites and whether the larger sites can keep their market share from eroding, the answer to me, is no they can't. While a place my MySpace and other big sites will still grab millions, it will... Continue Reading Posted at 10:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Verizon in talks to bring YouTube to Cell Phones - Does anybody care? Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 Reportedly in the final stages of talks to bring YouTube to cell phones and television sets, Verizon Communications (VZ), according to some, would get an edge over its competitors. As far as the cell phone side of it, I don't... Continue Reading Posted at 8:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Every Page is Becoming Your Homepage Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 While there is a lot of discussion about what should or shouldn't be on a homepage of a web site. How fast or slow can it be allowed to load, should we have two option; one for high speed access... Continue Reading Posted at 6:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How to Handle Challenge/Response Filters Gary Bourgeault November 7, 2006 Some companies are experiencing what seems like increasing responses from opt-in customers concerning challenge/responses. It is possible for this to be a seasonal or temporary surge depending on how you've been promoting opt-in campaigns. Exact Target Director of Privacy and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 6	Tool to help you Increase your Emails' Deliverability Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Larry Chase put me onto an excellent, simple tool to use to check out the deliverability of your ezine. It's extremely easy to use. Simply paste the text or HTML code of your ezine message into a box and press... Continue Reading Posted at 8:06 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Google Venturing into Newspaper Ad Market Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Quoting an anonymous source, the Washington Post reported that Google (GOOG) is getting ready to roll out a test run of a program that empowers businesses to go to Google to buy ad space in a number of national newspapers;... Continue Reading Posted at 6:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Two things we must do if we have an Advertising Model Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Talking about the total disruption of the newspaper industry, a recent article uses the auto industry to show how and why this is happening. What's important to us is to understand how we can use this for our advantage in... Continue Reading Posted at 6:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	AdBrite now offering Auction model for its network Gary Bourgeault November 6, 2006 Starting only two years ago, Adbrite set out to bring large brand marketers together with niche Web sites, while charging weekly rates instead of per-click. They have exploded in growth, now having a network of over 28,000 publishers and brand... Continue Reading Posted at 2:46 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 5	Tim Berners-Lee getting screwy - wants to save the Web from Dangerous Bloggers Gary Bourgeault November 5, 2006 Tim Berners-Lee, credited with "founding" the Internet in the early 1990s, recently said in a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that if the Internet is left to evolve unchecked, "bad phenomena" will pretty much make it useless.... Continue Reading Posted at 6:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	We must Understand our Target Audience Gary Bourgeault November 5, 2006 When we are considering initiating a potential viral campaign, there are a couple of things we absolutely must keep control of to give it an honest chance to succeed. First of all, if you're hiring someone to do the creative... Continue Reading Posted at 3:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 4	The 12 most persuasive words in the English Language Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 Yale University released a list of the twelve most persuasive words in the English language. What was really interesting to me, was that one of my mentors years ago was talking about these very same words or concepts as being... Continue Reading Posted at 5:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Yahoo, Beliefnet Partner in Online Personals Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 Religous site Beliefnet, has forged a partnership with Yahoo (YHOO) Personal to host its Soulmatch dating service. As a result of the deal, Beliefnet will be able to provide ten times the number of dating options of people who are... Continue Reading Posted at 4:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	AOL and Microsoft targeting indie-rock fans Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 AOL (TWX) and Microsoft (MSFT) are courting the indie rock crowd as part of their strategy to enlarge their audience base. While this isn't anything new, the interesting thing about it is their creating of original content to try to... Continue Reading Posted at 3:22 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Starbucks admits to losing laptops with worker data Gary Bourgeault November 4, 2006 Starbucks, after two months of looking for them, has admitted that they can't find four laptop computers, including two that have private information of 60,000 of their former or current U.S. employees. Included with the personal data are the names,... Continue Reading Posted at 1:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 3	Euro's David Jones wants to Take Back Creativity from Consumers Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 Advertising Age hosted The Idea Conference recently and had for a speaker David Jones, CEO of global agency network Euro RSCG Worldwide. His talk was more of a rallying of the old way of doing things by telling the participants... Continue Reading Posted at 10:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Welcome to Mass Media GooTube Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 For the first time in the migration from analog to digital, the traditional media companies have something to swagger about. With YouTube having to face the copyright law, and huge portions of their users uploading copyrighted material, the media companies... Continue Reading Posted at 9:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	MarketingSherpa bought by MEC Labs Group Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 Anne Holland, founder & president of MarketingSherpa wrote to her customers on her website that the company has been acquired by MEC Labs Group, another marketing research company. She said concerning the deal: "Nothing drastic will change. We're keeping our... Continue Reading Posted at 3:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Amazon launches new beta - Tapping into growing online ad market Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 With online ad spend being one of the key growth areas, Amazon.com has employed its subsidiary A9 to power up its new pay-per-click ad network to display targeted text ads alongside its product pages. The program, which is in beta,... Continue Reading Posted at 3:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Decreasing the Results of Email Typos Gary Bourgeault November 3, 2006 At thealphamarketer one of the things we always do is talk about some of the simple things that can affect an otherwise well thought out campaign. In the case of email, I was reading an article about the way that... Continue Reading Posted at 1:40 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 2	3 Reasons why Viral Campaigns Fail Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 Citing AzACreations, e-consultancy offered ten reasons why viral campaigns fail. I really like this list as it stays away from the usual "create something engaging" stuff, and talks more about common mistakes that can really hurt any campaign; no matter... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Ask.com knocks out rivals, lands Lycos deal Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 In a major coup, Ask.com struck out against rivals MSN (MSFT) and Google (GOOG), landing the Lycos account for natural search and sponsored listings, according to Online Media Daily. MSN Windows Live was the former provider of natural search results... Continue Reading Posted at 7:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Video ad market growing steadily Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 The recent announcement by Atlas, an Internet marketing company, that it is releasing new online video ad serving technology for pre- and post-roll ads, made me think of where the market is at right now and how much or if... Continue Reading Posted at 5:28 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	YouTube to offer video sharing on mobile phones Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 With MySpace saying recently that they will be offering a mobile phone service, you knew it wouldn't be long before YouTube would do the same. It didn't take long as Chad Hurley, YouTube founder and CEO, told an advertising conference... Continue Reading Posted at 4:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Difference between B2B and Consumer Marketing Gary Bourgeault November 2, 2006 Omniture, Inc. released a study concerning B2B marketing and some of the differences between marketing to businesses and marketing to consumers. The first conclusion of the study was that by 2008 online marketing will be the No. 1 media for... Continue Reading Posted at 1:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Nov 1	Is "Evil" AOL turning around? Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 With the AOL deal being considered one of the business mistakes of the century, Time Warner (TWX) is finally looking like it may have had a few brains in the deal. The subscription service had nowhere to go and their... Continue Reading Posted at 8:22 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Marketers ready to tackle social networking sites Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 Watching the social network sites grow for a while and getting a feel for how to market to them, it seems that online advertisers are getting ready to move into the space in a big way. In 2007, marketing on... Continue Reading Posted at 6:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	BMW's Mini Drives Viral Email Success Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 Using a fun, creative tool that is simple and easy to use and send, BMW's Mini division launched a highly successful email marketing campaign. What they did was offer visitors to their site the ability of design their own Mini.... Continue Reading Posted at 5:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Mazda ramping up its online video campaign Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 With the increasing penetration of broadband, more companies are increasing their online video campaigns. One automobile giant, Mazda (MZDAF.PK), says that 80 percent of the visitors coming to their site arrive there through broadband connections. Before we go on I... Continue Reading Posted at 5:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Facebook's Challenge Gary Bourgeault November 1, 2006 When Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed the company from being a niche business to a mass audience site, it was a huge gamble for sure. The problem with that move is that general audience businesses are few and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

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