Final Post for Class - A Review of the Last Seven Weeks

It's hard to believe that this class is over. I really enjoyed it and all that I have learned about Internet Marketing.

For starters, I learned how to set up tracking on my blog pages so that I can see how to direct my marketing. Through tracking, I am able to see which areas of my marketing are the most productive, in specific, which social media site: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. I am also able to see what times my blog posts are looked at and from where. Another thing that I am shown is how a person views my blogs - from a computer or mobile.

I learned that when preparing to market a product, it is always important to first put together a marketing plan - a strategy, that involves how to acquire customers, commit customers and retain customers. (I might have used different terminology than that which was used in class.

Being that I work as a direct consultant for a candle wax company, I found all of this information very helpful as my main goal in sales is to get my product noticed, encourage sales, and retain customers.

This class has definitely caused me to step outside of my comfort zone in the area of marketing. I have opened two other blog pages - ESSENCEdePink.wordpress.com and MyNameIsJodi.blogspot.com. I have learned that video marketing is a very powerful strategy and have stepped outside of my own comfort zone to try to incorporate it into my marketing strategy.

In all that I have learned, I think what the most striking has been that just as I have learned to track others in order to increase my ability to get my product viewed, I also learned that others are also tracking me - not just me but all of us. With every click of the buttons that we push, with every website we visit, with every piece of information that we enter into the computer, we are being tracked by other companies. There are many reasons why we are tracked. Mostly it has to do with the same reasons that I would track another - to get my product seen and acknowledged. 

This is actually the area that I think will see the most change in the next 10 or so years. Tracking is a necessary part marketing. It is used to help the company better direct their efforts in a way that is cost-efficient. Yet with the fear of hackers, which have been a real threat when it comes to all of the personal information that is readily available via the internet, there is no doubt some changes that will occur in the way out information is held, used, and even shared.

I found all that was learned in this class very invaluable and I am looking forward to utilizing all that I have learned this as I continue to market my products to consumers. 

MAKE IT or BREAK IT: The Power of the Website

In week 6 of class, I have been looking at websites and how they are designed. I have been learning about what makes a really good website such as it needs to be usable and have good utilities (the features needed to do what the user wants). 

There are five components of a good website:

1. Learnability - it must be easy for users to navigate and accomplish the basic tasks the first time they use the site.
2. Efficiency - Once the user knows how to use the website, they must be able to easily perform tasks on it.
3. Memorability - If the user leaves off using the website for some time, they must be able to return to it and continue to use it as if they never stopped using it. They must be able to easily use the website with each attempt
4. Error - IF they make an error while using the website, they need to be able to easily recover from it, and
5. Satisfaction - it must be a pleasant experience using the website. (Nielsen, 2012)

Considering these components listed, I looked at a website that I spend a lot of time on, and that I have studied closely for this class - Pinkzebrahome.com/ESSENCEdePinkbyJodiLynn.

Here is a picture of the home page 

It is definitely appealing to the eye. But as far as usability how does it measure up?

1. Learnability: It is definitely straight to the point. It is clear that this is a Pink Zebra website. The Logo stands out, and if I needed to reach out to the company it is very clear where I can click to do so with the Contact Us button to the far right of the navigation bar. 

2. Efficiency: Most people come to the website to learn more about the product. There are four products that many visit the website to get: fragrances, simming lights, shades and the soaks products. The customer does not have to go looking for links to what they are interested in. The links are placed up front on the navigation bar so that it is easily accessible. Even the sale items are easily accessible by clicking on the outlet store button.  

3. Errors: If the customer was to hit the wrong button they can easily hit another button and go to the product listing that they are interested in or they can hit the back button to back out of the page that was accessed by accident making it easy to recover from errors. 

4. Satisfaction: the set up of the page and the bright colors are visually satisfying along with the easy to use design.

5. Memorability: Even if the website is not used everyday, it is very easy to remember what to do when returning to it. 

The homepage does clearly state what is offered, and there is no way to get lost using this website because the navigation bar is static.

Overall, Pink Zebra Home did a very good job setting up their website to be user friendly. Because of the ease of use of this website, I give them a rating of MAKE IT. 

Now looking at the mobile website

The Mobile app follows the same format as the website which is good for branding. It has the same ease of usability as the website. What is different is that you don't see the navigation bar as on the website. But what you do see is the three dashes at the top that opens up the navigation bar when it is clicked on...

Clicking the three highlighted bars at the top will give you the same navigation options as on the website. So the mobile website is just as functional and also gets a MAKE IT rating for usability. 

 Now the true test of website usability is what the customer thinks when they use it. So I invite you to check out the Pink Zebra Website by clicking this link

Pink Zebra Website

Then comment below to let me know what you think about this site. I would love to hear your comments. 

Reference:

Nielsen, J. (2012, January 4). Usability 101: Introduction to Usability. Retrieved February 11, 2018, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/

Using AD formats that follow IAB Guidelines

This weeks blog post assignment required that I research a few separate websites to see what ad format that they used. I found myself looking at Vistaprint and Pink Zebra, two websites that I use frequently. 

I found that they both follow the IAB guidelines for their ad format and that they use several different types of ad formats include the Display Rising Stars ad unit. 

To give an idea of what the Display Rising Stars ad unit format looks like, here is a picture: 

A lot of times we look at these various sites, attracted to the layout of some and not attracted to others and we dont realize what we are looking at and how the layout/ design that is chosen for ads on the website plays a key role in drawing customers to the site. 

Here is a picture of the Pink Zebra website showing different ad format: 

Do you think that this site would move you to click on it.? 

Would you like to see this site in person? Click the following link:

bit.ly/ESSENCEdePink

Week 5 Class Blog Assignment

After about 4 tries, all different videos, and after finding out that Microsoft Movie Maker is no longer available on Windows 10, I finally decided to try doing different sized videos to see if that would upload. 

This week we are looking at video marketing and having watched many different videos, this one that I just posted is nowhere near skilled as a tool for marketing. But...

... this is a start and what I found in reference to doing videos here on Blogger from my phone is that I have less that one minute if I want the video to post. This is important to know and actually can be done considering radio advertisements are in 30-second and 60-second increments.

So now I thank everyone who has clicked on this blog to help me with my school assignment and now, its pregame time for the Super Bowl so I will catch everyone later.