Web Trends and Technologies to watch…

1. Web Trends and Technologies to watch… 518.432.3200 www.mercurywebsolutions.com

2. Web Trends and Technologies to watch… • Blogs (web logs) • Effective use of Flash • Online Advertising • Ads in Opt-in email newsletters • Online video ads • Embedded link advertisements • Rich media advertising • Web site Usability

3. Blogs What is it? • Short for Web log, a blog is essentially an online journal • Gets the consumer directly involved in the company • How can you use it to achieve specific goals/ applications? • Build personal and corporate credibility that will aid in attracting customers • Consumers/site visitors can get an “insider’s view” of how members of the company think and work • Real people talking about real topics • Statistics • Now, more than 2 million Americans are blogging • Cautions/Potential Pitfalls • Beware of attempts at shameless self-promotion • Internet savvy users will see through this immediately • The approach is that it’s real insight, not an advertisement • How to implement • Many types of software are available • Blogger.com is a leader

4. Use of Flash • Don’t use it gratuitously • Use technology to help accomplish a specific business objective, to enhance the users experience in some meaningful way, or to support your message • Statistics • 75% of non-marketing professional women skip Flash intros. • 81% of non-marketing professional men skip Flash intros. • Even ages 18-24 chose the non-Flash intro over 65% of the time • How can you use best this technology? • “Sudden fiction” • Ideal to build understanding of a value-added process • Demonstrate product/service value, product/service features, informative or educational value • http://www.disney.go.com/disneypictures/teenagedramaqueen/ • Auto manufacturers find Flash indispensable for creating a “human touch” • http://www.bmw.com/generic/com/en/products/highlights/1series/1series/campaign/ • Cautions/Potential Pitfalls • Don’t use a full Flash site • Ensure proper file size and search engine optimization

5. Online Advertising & Marketing • Opt-in email marketing • HTML Email Format and Design Tips • Don’t waste precious above-the-fold HTML real estate on an enormous graphic such as a logo or product graphic • Keep the design clean. Think postcard or billboard. • Use your design to move them toward the click -- rely on your web site landing page to move them to the next stage in the conversion process • If you have more than one column, make it extremely obvious which is the most important • Be picky about brand consistency. Use templates. Create a style guide and make sure people stick to it. • Make your call to action a graphic, not a text phrase, to avoid tripping content filters trained to spot spammy calls to action • Test your copy against content filters prior to sending • Personalize all you can; readers will skim more slowly, paying more attention if you do. • Use paid placement Ads in relevant opt-in emails

6. 2) Online video ads • Benefits • Replicate the immediacy and emotional appeal of broadcasting • Online video ads enable better integration between online advertising and traditional advertising campaigns, by allowing cross-media promotion Statistics • Online video advertising spending is projected to rise to $657 million by 2009 — five times this year's spending level. Cautions/Pitfalls • If online video ads are not used creatively, they will become as meaningless as the pop-up ads that most users ignore or block • The success of the new format will depend on the creativity of the advertisers Success stories: • Reebok –Terry Tate “office linebacker” commercials launched during the Superbowl • American Express – Jerry Seinfeld • http://www.pepsi.com/ads_and_history/index.php

7. 3) Embedded link advertisements • The savvy marketers alternative to the Banner Ad • This ad type changes words in online articles into paid advertising links • Users may actually find a paid message useful because its relevant to the content • Google's AdSense program allows publishers to embed a box of automatically targeted Google ads in their own sites (http://www.testmagic.com/ ) • Vibrant Media's IntelliTxt is the step beyond AdSense (http://cars.ign.com/articles/424/424269p1.html) • Why embedded link advertisements? • More likely to be clicked than are banner ads. Web users click on links all the time • Rarely make the page bigger or slower • Stand out from body text, and don't look like graphic fluff • Can be easily targeted and inserted into relevant pages

8. 4) Rich media advertising • What is it? • Rich-media ads use more sophisticated animations, audio, video and interactivity to attract more attention to your online ad • These ads get much higher click-through rates than traditional banner ads • Statistics • Rich media accounted for nearly 40 percent of ads it placed in the fourth quarter of 2003 • The reason for the ascendance of rich media? Higher response rates • On average, one in 79 Internet users who viewed a rich-media ad clicked on it, compared to one in every 370 for other ads • Internet users who didn't click were still more likely to visit an advertiser's website or purchase their product after viewing a rich-media ad

9. Usability • What is it? • Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use Usability has five quality components: • Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design? • Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks? • Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they re-establish proficiency? • Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors? • Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design? • Why pay attention to Usability? • If a website is difficult to use, people leave • If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave If users get lost on a website, they leave • If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave.

10. How? • There are many methods for studying usability, but the most basic and useful is user testing, which has three components: • Get hold of some representative users • Ask the users to perform representative tasks with the design • Observe what the users do, where they succeed, and where they have difficulties • Test users individually and let them solve any problems on their own • User testing is different from focus groups • When? • Usability plays a role in each stage of the design process • Here are the main steps: • Test your current design • Test your competitors' designs • Conduct a field study • Make paper prototypes • Refine the design ideas that test best through multiple iterations • Inspect the design relative to established usability guidelines • Test the final design one more time

11. Final Thoughts Online marketing is growing the most as a share of total budgets All channels of online marketing are tapped to increase at higher rates than other major media

12. 518.432.3200 www.mercurywebsolutions.com Thank-you!