Customers are tough cookies. They are extremely media aware and increasingly cynical and it is a clever marketeer who can get through to them. Online Surveys breath new life into the traditional survey format and offer a unique way of interaction – providing you with all the benefits of the Internet without the programming. Here are ten reasons why they may be the silver bullet marketeers’ need, complete with examples supplied by Martin Day, managing director of Survey Galaxy - one of a new breed of websites making online surveys quicker and cheaper

1. It’s cheap as buttons
Select the right survey website and creating surveys can be free of any charge and the cost to publish is minimal.
Useful information harvested from surveys can be reused and repackaged in other marketing and PR for use in press outlets making it a very efficient form of information gathering.

2. It’s easy peasy
Anyone can create and design an online survey. Create professional looking online surveys in a matter of minutes, no programming skills are required and when published the surveys are simple to complete.

3. Multiple deployment options
Once the survey is online it’s a simple step to promote it, either through email (with a link enclosed), via a link from a website or referenced by other forms of advertising. Anyone who has the link can be connected instantly to the survey, at a time that’s convenient to them, 24×7.

4. We’ve all got an opinion – and we like to give it
Customers do not often view surveys as spam and the majority welcome the opportunity to voice their opinion and the chance to have an impact on a brand. Online survey’s are an ideal way for broaching sensitive subjects with concerned employees; a survey asking a workforce on their opinion of change allows the key issues to be raised in a positive manner and encourages employee participation. Online surveys allow the message to reach each individual and invite feedback in a manageable form.

5. Get inside your respondents heads
With traditional advertising you can lead a customer to an advertisement but you can’t make them think. Surveys engage the respondent, who think about the question before giving their response.

6. Build a relationship
It needn’t all end once a survey has been completed – while you have their attention you can ask if they want to sign up for more information or a regular newsletter – making the most of the window when you have their interest.

7. Link your survey to other online information
Take the opportunity to maximise the interest of those responding to your survey by referencing related information. By embedding links within the survey to other websites that offer more detailed information you are able to reinforce the marketing message.

8. Subtly does it
Surveys can help associate, in the mind of the respondents, a product with a number of positive attributes. By listing the many features of a product and asking the respondent how important they are, regardless of their response, the product will be associated with the features; if they are rated as important the positive impact is endorsed by the customer.

9. Not just selling
A survey is an effective, quick and easy method to help promote and gain acceptance for a difficult proposal; such as a public body trying to gain acceptance and support for a particular scheme.
Take the example of a city trying to gain support from the general public for their bid to host a future Olympic Games. Being able to explain each benefit will put a respondent in a much better position to appreciate your argument and that may be enough to combat any negative aspects. As well as promoting the cause, useful feedback is gained that can be used to fine tune the overall marketing strategy.

10. Fresh topics engage interest
Think laterally and a lively and imaginative approach to surveys can provide a ‘hook’ to engage respondents. The survey subject can be focused towards a particular group on a subject close to theirs hearts. A survey’s marketing message can take the form of a simple brand awareness message by stating that the survey is being sponsored by brand name, or by finding a link from the subject matter to the product – something that is surprisingly easy and highly effective.

Discover the benefits of including in your website a Public Survey section as many people who enjoy completing crosswords and doing word puzzles enjoy completing surveys. Having a public survey notice board as part of a website is a low cost and automated method that helps to increase traffic and establish a loyal and returning following. Unlike discussion boards there is no opportunity for people to disrupt the site by inappropriate remarks as the survey results are displayed in summary form enabling them to dispense with moderators and maintenance.

Customers do not often view surveys as spam and the majority welcome the opportunity to voice their opinion and the chance to have an impact on a brand.

Many of the techniques and a few more are contained in the following Sample Marketing Survey.

A Google Adwords campaign can produce amazing results and can achieve its true potential in Search Engine Advertising when you know how to take a proactive stance against failure, by not simply ‘waiting’ for an outcome or thinking of this as a one-time project.

Many experts and professionals in this area have already mastered the techniques, which is why every ad they publish becomes a hit. However, creating a powerful advertisement, with the best combination of keywords and copy,  does not necessarily require similar expertise from you, but you do need to understand how to optimise your campaign for maximum effect.

Perry Marshall, the author of The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords outlines several strategies and techniques for monitoring, tracking, and analysing the results of each of your campaigns, so you know exactly what to change and when. The steps have already been prepared for you; making the most out of your campaign is hassle-free because many Pay Per Click Program experts have created simple and easy-to-use processes to help you get started.

Start by ensuring that your landing pages are rich in content. Visitors typically click on the advertisements if they think they will find quality and valid information, thus, it is critical on your part to maintain this and to put keywords related to what is actually offered in your ad. This makes it easier to find the page in Google search results, and also helps keep the cost-per-click for the keywords in your ad at a minimum.

Secondly, it is essential that your ad is free from any or all negative keywords. These keywords refer to those that usually attract to your site unnecessary or the wrong kind of traffic. You would not want to deal with visitors looking for ‘freebies’ (i.e. free gardening tips or free gardening events) if your business involves the selling of gardening books and tools, unless of course you have offered a specific free promotion on your landing page. The solution is simple, utilise the Google Adwords Selector Tool and get rid of the words ‘free’ and ‘events’ from your list in order to generate specific, targeted, and profitable traffic.

Next, it pays to regularly track your competitor’s activities by reading their ads. Making sure your advertisement stands apart from the competition is essential for a successful campaign. If your ad sounds or looks too similar to your competitor’s ad campaign, you could be missing a large portion of qualified traffic.

Finally, you should test different creative ad copy and present this using a distinct angle. A good way to do this is through the use of action oriented words in the headline wherein main words are typed in all-caps to ensure impact from the readers. Keeping an eye on your rivals’ ads also gives you an added advantage; using this technique allows you to evaluate which keywords perform better and those that do not generate results.

Optimizing and tweaking your Google Adwords campaign is an ongoing and necessary process, and one that will help you get higher click through rates than the competitors in your niche. Follow all the techniques mentioned here and you can be assured of optimal performance for your Google Adwords campaign.

But only for a day, before falling to just over 3% market share, according to new Hitwise data.

Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, was officially launched on 3rd June.

According to Robin Goad, Research Director at Hitwise UK, “traffic peaked on June 3, when Bing was the eighth most visited website in the UK (ahead of all BBC properties, but one behind MSN UK) and the third ranked search engine, accounting for 10.8% of the UK market.”

“Since the initial launch hype, traffic to the site has declined. However, one positive sign is that average visit time has increased to eight and a half minutes. This is half of Google UK’s number but only slightly below Yahoo! UK Search, implying that the people are actually spending time on the site and using it rather than just visiting out of curiosity.”

Have you tried Bing yet?

Your comments would be appreciated.

Does Microsoft’s new search engine have the ability to challenge Google?

Microsoft’s new search engine Bing, has just been launched. Bing is now available at www.bing.com and is a direct replacement for Live Search/MSN.

Microsoft is expected to spend $80 million to $100 million on marketing Bing and is more likely to take market share from Yahoo rather than Google.

Whether Bing will ultimately succeed or not, it will help to push Google into continuing to develop their search engine product, and the new pay per click competition will ensure that Google doesn’t get too greedy.

According to Microsoft’s, Steve Ballmer, “Bing is a new kind of search that goes beyond traditional search engines to help you make faster, more informed decisions. It will do this by combining a great search engine (with powerful new features to improve your results for any query), more organised results, and unique tools to help you make important decisions. We think of Bing as a Decision Engine.”

“So why did we pick Bing as the new brand name? We needed a brand that was as fresh and new as our approach. It needed to be like the product — optimised for the Internet. A name that was memorable, short, easy to spell, and that would function well as a URL around the world. We like Bing because it sounds off in our heads when we think about that moment of discovery and decision making — when you resolve those important tasks. And frankly, the name needed to clearly communicate that this is something new, to invite you to come back, to re-introduce you to our new and improved service and encourage you to give it a try.”

So, how is Bing different from Google?

• Bing is not dramatically different from Google, but some people have found its results more accurate.
• In addition to the standard search results, Bing shows more detailed information about a specific web page when you hover your mouse pointer at the right side of the search results. This is a great feature.
• Bing will display fewer results if it is certain that it has understood your intent. The search for “Facebook”, for example, brings up just one result.
• Some search results are divided into categories. For example, if you search for “Elton John” you will be offered results in the categories Photo, Songs, Lyrics, Tickets, Concerts, Musical, Las Vegas and Albums.
• Bing features a different background image every day.
• Bing’s video search lets you watch videos without leaving the search engine.
• Bing appears able to handle misspellings reasonably well and returned the correct results for our test.

All in all I think this is a great effort from Microsoft and a major improvement on the previous Live Search/MSN versions.

Why not see for your self and take a test drive now at www.bing.com.

If you would like further information on how you can improve your search engine results, visit our Professional SEO page now!

Anyone who is serious about online advertising should learn more about using web banner advertising as an integral part of their website marketing plan.

This video provides valuable information on the many benefits of Internet Banner Advertising.

If you are interested in banner design, please visit our Creative Banner Design page for further information or visit our Banner Design page to view examples of our work.