Web Marketing Today
Issue 63, November 2, 1998

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This article contains older information. Go here for newer information on miscellaneous Internet marketing strategies.

Theme: Learning about Your Visitors (part 1)

Try this experiment. Take a crack marksman and show him your target. Then give him some ammunition and put an accurate rifle in his hands. Now blindfold him and spin him around three times. Finally, ask him to take aim and hit the bull's eye. Oh, by the way -- duck! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Our lawyers made us say that. :-) You can't do effective Web marketing blind, without good data about who is visiting your site, and what their needs are.

Too often we write our sales copy on the basis of a target audience that isn't really there and wonder why it doesn't connect.

The next three issues are on learning about your site visitors. This week we take a general look. Next week we'll be more specific, discussing HitBox.com and questionnaires, and what you can learn from them. Finally, we'll take a hard look at the marketing information you can glean from log file analysis.

This issue marks the 4th anniversary of Web Marketing Today, first published in November 1995, one of the first Web marketing publications on the Internet. We're very thankful to God for His blessing, and to all our faithful subscribers. This issue goes out to 77,948 subscribers around the world.

What Good is Insight about Your Visitors?

What's the point? What can you learn, and why should you want to learn it? Read what an understanding of site visitors can do for you. Read the Article.

8 Ways to Learn about Your Site Visitors

We describe a number of different means you can employ to learn more about your visitors. Why don't you try two or three of these on your site? Read the Article.

Web Survey Resources

A growing number of companies make setting up and analyzing online surveys much easier. We've listed a few here. See the list.

Previous Articles on Related Subjects

As you study collecting information on your visitors, why don't you read some of these articles from previous issues of Web Marketing Today:

• "Collecting and Using Data from Your Website Visitors," 7/1/98. http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/data-collect.htm
• "How to Get Customer Data AND Newsletter Subscriptions," 7/1/98. http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt3/980701doubleduty.htm
• How to Capture Visitor E-Mail Addresses, 8/1/99. http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/email-capture.htm
• Forms-to-Email Programs, 8/1/99. http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/email-forms.htm

Awards and Recognitions

Drs. Foster and Smith Pet Products (http://www.drsfostersmith.com), was listed among the "Top 100 Internet Retailers" in the September 1999 issue of Store Magazine, published by the National Retail Federation.

Wilson Internet Services was the original contractor for the design and usability of the site, so we were particularly delighted with the ratings our client received:

• Ranked among the Top 10 for "Shopping Experience," better than 90% of the other top retailers.
• Ranked among the Top 5 for overall "Website" category, judging such things as ease of navigation, easy-to-view photos, simple payment process and credit approval, etc. Better than 95% of the other top retailers.

Joe Voellinger, Drs. Foster and Smith's Internet Marketing Manager, sent me a kind note saying, "To me this says volumes about the job you did for us." And we're pretty proud, too.

Reported in Susan Reda, "Groundbreaking consumer survey tracks nation's biggest on-line merchants," Stores Magazine, September 1999 (http://www.stores.org/archives/sept99cover.html).

We can't guarantee your store a Top 5 website rating -- that involved a six-month project -- but we can certainly help you improve your site and sales in your online store through a subscription to Web Commerce Today. In addition to our own articles on designing an online store, at last count we linked to 165 articles about online store design in our e-commerce research room. Why don't you subscribe today at http://www.wilsonweb.com/wct/

Best of Web Award

We were honored that our site was selected by 4anything.com's Best of Web Award Committee. Thank you.

Upgrade Now

If you use a Netscape Communicator 4.0 to 4.05 web browser, it's time to upgrade. After January 1, 2000, some of the digital certificates in that browser expire, making it difficult for you to assess which online stores are safe to shop in. You can download the latest version of Netscape at http://www.netscape.com/computing/download/

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Read additional articles from Web Marketing Today, Issue 63, November 1, 1999