Online marketing: Does it really work?

By Stevie Gerber

Marketing has always been something big. This is also the case on the internet. There are thousands of marketing sources, agencies, files or recommendations. Marketing now a days is so huge, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t.

Banners

Take banners for example. Because they are so well used, it’s pretty hard to use them efficiently. The incomes hardly cover the expenses. But there is a solution for this problem, namely Banner Exchange. It’s a rather simple concept in which two different companies advertise by placing their banners on one another’s website. But there is a downside to this, which is you will be sending your hard earned customers to another website.

Spam

Another marketing method used on the web is Spam. This is when advertisers send their advertisements through e-mails to people who never asked to get those e-mails. This mostly of the time has the opposite effect of what the advertiser wants to achieve. Not only won’t the person who received the e-mail be interested in the product, he will also most likely get annoyed or even irritated. Not a very good idea if you want to achieve good sales records.

A better way of advertisement on the web is one which isn’t as well-known as the ones mentioned above. This form of online advertisement is called Sig-file Marketing. At the end of your e-mail there’s a small advertisement attached which also contains a small amount of info on your products. This method works just like the P.S. at the end of a letter. This a great method unless your advertisement is to large or your tone of voice is out of order.

Newsletter

Last but not least there’s the newsletter. This method is said to be one of the best ways of on-line advertisement, even though it’s a rather simple concept. This is how it works: You as a company put a request on your website asking people to send you their e-mail addresses so you can keep them posted on new developments or interesting information. This way you can always reach your targeted audience without having to send them Spam. Also keep in mind that it’s a lot easier to sell your products to people who are familiar with them.

Conclusion

The conclusion is online marketing may be on the rise, but not every method is effective or covers expenses. So keep that in mind if you want to keep up with your time and start advertising on the web.

Words: 441

Appendix 3B – Weblog article peer review form

Weblog Article Peer Review Form B – Second Review

Writer’s Name Stevie G.

Assessor’s name Nina J.

Date 18 October 2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get

a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.

1. Is the topic interesting? 2

2. Is the title original and appropriate? 1

3. Is the introduction complete? 1

4. Is the body of your article complete? 1

5. Is the conclusion well-developed? 1

6. Is the article well-organized overall? 1

7. Is the article easy to understand? 1

8. Is the article interesting to read? 1

9. Has any plagiarised material been removed? 3

Do you feel that the writer has improved the article? Why or why not? Be specific.

Yes, I feel. He made headlines and he changed a few words.

Has the writer changed the article adequately according to your suggestions for

improvement of your first assessment? Describe the changes and state specifically

whether you think they are an improvement.

Yes, I feel. He made headlines and he changed a few words.

Are you happy to have this article on your weblog? Why or why not? Be specific.

Yes, I’m happy with it because the article is good. It’s easy to understand and his English is very well I think.

Sources

Information center – banners (zj.) geraadpleegd op 1 oktober 2007 van: http://www.speedysigns.com/info/banners/

Ftc – spam (zj.). geraadpleegd op 1 oktober 2007 van: http://www.ftc.gov/spam/

Webmarketing today – E-Commerce, E-Mailmarketing, Internet Marketing, Wilson Internet (z.j.). geraadpleegd op 1 oktober 2007 van http://www.wilsonweb.com/

Online marketing

By Stevie Gerber

Marketing has always been something big. This is also the case on the internet. There are thousands of marketing sources, agencies, files or recommendations. Marketing now a days is so huge, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t.

Take banners for example. Because they are so well used, it’s pretty hard to use them efficiently. The incomes hardly cover the expenses.

But there is a solution for this problem, namely Banner Exchange. It’s a rather simple concept in which two different companies advertise by placing their banners on one another’s website.

But there is a downside to this, which is you will be sending your hard earned customers to another website.

Another marketing method used on the web is Spam. This is when advertisers send their advertisements through e-mails to people who never asked to get those e-mails. This mostly of the time has the opposite effect of what the advertiser wants to achieve. Not only won’t the person who received the e-mail be interested in the product, he will also most likely get annoyed or even irritated. Not a very good idea if you want to achieve good sales records.

A better way of advertisement on the web is one which isn’t as well-known as the ones mentioned above. This form of online advertisement is called Sig-file Marketing. At the end of your e-mail there’s a small advertisement attached which also contains a small amount of info on your products. This method works just like the P.S. at the end of a letter. This a great method unless your advertisement is to large or your tone of voice is out of order.

Last but not least there’s the newsletter. This method is said to be one of the best ways of on-line advertisement, even though it’s a rather simple concept. This is how it works: You as a company put a request on your website asking people to send you their e-mail addresses so you can keep them posted on new developments or interesting information. This way you can always reach your targeted audience without having to send them Spam. Also keep in mind that it’s a lot easier to sell your products to people who are familiar with them.

The conclusion is online marketing may be on the rise, but not every method is effective or covers expenses. So keep that in mind if you want to keep up with your time and start advertising on the web.

Words: 426

Appendix 3A – Weblog article peer review form

Weblog Article Peer Review Form A – First Review

Writer’s Name: Stevie Gerber

Assessor’s Name: Nina Jansen

Date 2 october 2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get

a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.

1. Is the topic interesting? 1

2. Is the title original and appropriate? 2

3. Is the introduction complete? 1

4. Is the body of the article complete? 1

5. Is the conclusion well-developed? 1

6. Is the article well-organized overall? 2

7. Is the article easy to understand? 1

8. Is the article interesting to read? 1

9. Has the writer plagiarised material? 3

Finally, read the article a third time and check it for spelling, grammar and

punctuation. Mark any corrections on the article itself then complete the rest of

the form.

Name three things you like about the article.

-It’s easy to understand

-The introduction is clear.

-The conclusion is clear

Name three things the writer should improve.

-Maybe it is more easy to make headlines.

- some senses are very long.

What is the gist of the article?

marketing on the internet became bigger. But not everything is effective

Do you think this article is good enough to pass the course? Explain your answer.

Yes, I think it is because it´s easy to understand and the senses are correct according to me.

Sources

Information center – banners (zj.) geraadpleegd op 1 oktober 2007 van: http://www.speedysigns.com/info/banners/

Ftc – spam (zj.). geraadpleegd op 1 oktober 2007 van: http://www.ftc.gov/spam/

Webmarketing today – E-Commerce, E-Mailmarketing, Internet Marketing, Wilson Internet (z.j.). geraadpleegd op 1 oktober 2007 van http://www.wilsonweb.com/

The 4 P’s can make u rich.

Before you want to sell a product you have to make a plan. There is a special method to make a plan like that. They call it The Four ‘P’s of Marketing. If you stand still at each P, the chance is bigger that you make more money. The four ‘P’s are Product, Place, Price and Promotion. In the different paragraphs you can read the explanation of each ‘P’.

Product

The first ‘P’ is product. A product is a thing or a service that you want to sell to a customer. There are different sorts of products, products that people need or use daily, like bread or milk. But there are also products that aren’t really necessary for a life, like a luxury product for example a boat. As a salesman you have to know your customers very well. Who are your buyers? What do they want? If you know that, you can coordinate you product on the needs of the customer.

Place

The second ‘P’ is place. In this case distribution is an other name for place. On which way you can bring your products to the customers? There a lot of ways. It can be a product you can touch but it can also be a product you can’t touch, a service. Does the customer want to see the product before they buy it? That’s important to know.

Price

The second last ‘P’ is price. The price of your product is very important for the success of a product. The price and quality must be in proportion. When the price is to high for the customers they will not buy it. But if your price is to low, you lose money. It’s difficult to find the right balance, but it’s very important.

Promotion

The last ‘P’ is promotion. With the promotion you show your product to the customers. A few promotion examples are:

-Advertising.

-Personal sales calls.

-Giveaways.

You have to tell the customers what your product is. And why they need it? Explain why your product is better than others. You have to show them all the advantages. With promotion you can make your product more famous.

So it is important to give a lot attention to the four ‘P’s of Marketing. Product, Place, Price and Promotion can help you to earn a lot of money and it can prevent you to lose money. So don’t ignore it.

Appendix 3B – Weblog article peer review form

Weblog Article Peer Review Form B – Second Review

Writer’s Name Nina J.
Assessor’s name Stevie G.
Date 18 october 2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.

1. Is the topic interesting? 1
2. Is the title original and appropriate? 1
3. Is the introduction complete? 1
4. Is the body of your article complete? 1
5. Is the conclusion well-developed? 1
6. Is the article well-organized overall? 1
7. Is the article easy to understand? 1
8. Is the article interesting to read? 1
9. Has any plagiarised material been removed? 1

Do you feel that the writer has improved the article? Why or why not? Be specific.

The things she had to improve was to make a good headline, and a few senses. And when I look at the article now, I can see she did that correctly

Has the writer changed the article adequately according to your suggestions for improvement of your first assessment? Describe the changes and state specifically whether you think they are an improvement.

Yes she did. And it looks a lot better this way

Are you happy to have this article on your weblog? Why or why not? Be specific.

Yes, I think it’s a nice article now

sources:

ABC’s of small business. (2003) Marketing and Promotion. Geraadpleegd op 20 september, van: http://www.abcsmallbiz.com/bizbasics/marketing/4ps.html

Websitemarketingplan.com.(2007) 4 P’s of Marketing by Bobette Kyle. Geraadpleegd op 20 september, van http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/marketing_management/TacticsArticle.htm

Websitemarketingplan.com.(2007) Stronger SWOT Analysis and Marketing 4 P’s
by Barry Welford. Geraadpleegd op 20 september, van: http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/mplan/4Ps.htm

words: 408

Before you want to sell a product you have to make a plan. There is a special method for, The Four ‘P’s of Marketing. If you stand still at each P, the chance is bigger that you make more money. The four ‘P’s are Product, Place, Price and Promotion. In the different paragraphs you can read the explanation of each ‘P’.

Product

The first ‘P’ is product. A product is a thing or a service that you want to sell to an customer. There are different sorts of products. There are products that people needs of use everyday, like bread or milk. But there are also products that aren’t really necessary for a life, a luxury product like a boat. As a salesman you have to know you customers very well. Who are your buyers? What they want? If you know that, you can coordinate you product on the needs of the customer.

Place

The second ‘P’ is place. In this case distribution is an other name for place. On which way you can bring your products to the customers? There a lot of ways. It can be a product you can touch but it can also be a product you can’t touch, a service. Does the customer want to see the product before they buy it? That’s important to know.

Price

The second last ‘P’ is price. The price of your product is very important for the success of a product. the price and quality must be in proportion. When the price is to high the customers will not buy it. But if your price is to low, you lose money. It’s difficult to find the right balance but it’s very important.

Promotion

The past ‘P’ is promotion. With the promotion you show your product to the customers. A few promotion examples are:

-Advertising.

-Personal sales calls.

-Giveaways.

You have to tell the customers what your product is. And why they need it? Explain why your product is better than others. You have to show them all the advantages. With promotion you can make your product more famous.

So it is important to give a lot attention to the four ‘P’s of Marketing. Product, Place, Price and Promotion can help you to earn a lot of money and it can prevent you lose money. So don’t ignore it.

Weblog Article Peer Review Form A – First Review

Writer’s Name Nina Janssen

Assessor’s name : Stevie Gerber

Date 02-10-2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to get

a general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.

1. Is the topic interesting? __1_

2. Is the title original and appropriate? _3___

3. Is the introduction complete? _1___

4. Is the body of the article complete? __1__

5. Is the conclusion well-developed? __1__

6. Is the article well-organized overall? __1__

7. Is the article easy to understand? __1__

8. Is the article interesting to read? __1__

9. Has the writer plagiarised material? __3__

Finally, read the article a third time and check it for spelling, grammar and

punctuation. Mark any corrections on the article itself then complete the rest of

the form.

Name three things you like about the article.

Its easy to read, and the text is very clear

It’s an interesting article

Good use of the language

Name three things the writer should improve.

She could make a title

What is the gist of the article?

This article tells you how useful it is to make a good use of the four P’s

Do you think this article is good enough to pass the course? Explain your answer.

Yes, I think she’ll pass the course!

Sources:

ABC’s of small business. (2003) Marketing and Promotion. Geraadpleegd op 20 september, van: http://www.abcsmallbiz.com/bizbasics/marketing/4ps.html

Websitemarketingplan.com.(2007) 4 P’s of Marketing by Bobette Kyle. Geraadpleegd op 20 september, van http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/marketing_management/TacticsArticle.htm

Websitemarketingplan.com.(2007) Stronger SWOT Analysis and Marketing 4 P’s
by Barry Welford. Geraadpleegd op 20 september, van: http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/mplan/4Ps.htm

words: 350

The reason why direct marketing works.

Are you interested in direct marketing? Do you think it works? This blog has the answer. Direct marketing is a personal way to send a message. People love personal communication and like to be treated as an individual. This kind of marketing gives information, so that questions get answered and people order your product. But how can marketeers use direct marketing effectively?

How to use it?

There are many ways to use direct marketing effectively. In this blog you read a few of this.A very important one is to make sure your message gets to the right person. If the wrong person gets your message, its certain he won’t buy your product. Sixty percent of your succes depends on this. But how can you make sure you send your message to the right person? First you must know how they are, what they wanted to be and what their thoughts are. Otherwise you can’t write a succesfull letter. If you know all this you can start your letter. If you really want to impress people, you should write in a way they would like to be, not who they really are.

Product and service

Also an important thing is your product and service. Your product has to be fantastic, because otherwise people won’t come back to buy from you again. Your service is very important, because people like to be treated well and service reflects the products image. If you got a fantastic product and great service, you don’t need much publicity. People would buy from you anyhow. The timing of sending your message is also essential. If people are very busy, they won’t take the time to read your message.

How are the consumers?

Interesting to know is how consumers are. There are a few things you must know about consumers. They find it hard to trust someone, they don’t want commitments with something they don’t know all the facts of. Consumers are always busy, they don’t need any more problems, keep it simple and easy. There are a lot of choices they can make, consumers are a bit confused who to believe and trust. At least they are tired of telephonemarketing or spam.

Give consumers much information about your product or service. People would believe in you and trust you and buy your product. If you send your message to the right persons and keep your promise people also return to buy from you again. Write your message in a way people would like to be. Make sure that your product en service is perfect and you will got a lot of new buyers. If you are lucky they will buy from you again. Because of this direct marketing works.

words: 459

Appendix 3B – Weblog article peer review formWeblog Article Peer Review Form B – Second Review

Writer’s NameJodie B.

Assessor’s name: Tagel van den O.

Date 17 october 2007

Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No

Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question. Read the article once to geta general idea of what it is about, then read it a second time to rate it.

1. Is the topic interesting? _1___

2. Is the title original and appropriate? __1__

3. Is the introduction complete? ___1_

4. Is the body of your article complete? _1___

5. Is the conclusion well-developed? _1___

6. Is the article well-organized overall? _1___

7. Is the article easy to understand? ___1_

8. Is the article interesting to read? __1__

9. Has any plagiarised material been removed? __1__

Do you feel that the writer has improved the article? Why or why not? Be specific.

Actually its hard to tell in which way Jodie has improved her article. Because from the first time I found that she has written here article in good English. So, I had not much to say

Has the writer changed the article adequately according to your suggestions forimprovement of your first assessment? Describe the changes and state specificallywhether you think they are an improvement.

My suggestion was that she could write the introduction more interesting, so that people get more intersted in the article by reading the first lines. she improved it , by asking some questions in the beginning.

Are you happy to have this article on your weblog? Why or why not? Be specific.

I’m certainly happy to have this article on our weblog. Because she gives in her article a clear answer why Direct Marketing works.

Sources: 

Findmorebuyers. (2006). How to Create ‘Top of Mind’ Awareness. Geraadpleegd op: 20 september 2007, van: http://findmorebuyers.com/page.cfm/11

Findmorebuyers. (2006). Powerful Direct Marketing Numbers. Geraadpleegd op: 20 september 2007, van: http://findmorebuyers.com/page.cfm/5628

Gnam, R. (z.j.). 18 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS That Can Make or Break Your Direct Marketing Campaign. Geraadpleegd op: 20 september 2007, van: http://www.directmailquotes.com/expertadvice/display.cfm?article=217