Five Crucial Components of Web Design
By Woody Longacre (c) 2009

Professional website developers know the importance of web
design and the role it plays in making a website successful.

Designing a successful website is no easy task, especially for
someone who is new to the world of web development. With the
help of web development applications many people can and do
create decent websites. But decent in most cases is not good
enough to make a site successful from a traffic or financial
standpoint.

There are five crucial components of web design that you must
focus on in order to make a site valuable to its visitors and
successful for you.

- SEO -
Getting free traffic to your site.

- Usability -
Ease of navigating around the site and finding desired
information quickly.

- Aesthetics -
Visual appeal.

- Content -
Valid, up-to-date, relevant information.

- Graphics -
Eye candy that relays relevant visual information to the
visitor.

SEO

Before you ever lay down a byte of HTML code for a site, you have
to know and understand at least the basics of SEO and how it
fits into the design. SEO is the art of designing a site in a
fashion that gives the site an advantage for obtaining free and
abundant traffic.

The number one aspect of SEO is selecting keywords relevant to
your site. The keywords you select should be based on high
usage, low competition and relevancy to your topic. Once you
select keywords you can then begin the development of your site.
Keep in mind keywords are a critical aspect of the design. The
keywords you choose will be applied within the design in
strategic fashion to benefit the flow of traffic to your site.
To understand more on how to implement SEO you should read and
learn more about this important subject. If you don't, your
website success will be difficult to achieve.

Usability

Your website must be easy to navigate and designed in a way that
makes it easy to find information. Visitors will not stay long
if it takes more than one or two clicks to get the information
they want or if it takes brain power to figure out how to get
the information they want. One of the goals of your site design
is to keep usability easy, and simple. To do this, apply the
following three fundamentals of usability.

* Provide a site search tool.

A visitor in a hurry can quickly find the info they desire then
move on to the action they desire.

* Provide simple, intuitive and consistent site navigation.

This provides visitors the tool they need to leisurely explore
their way through your site.

* Provide logical and simple to follow content.

The message of a site should start off in a simple and basic
fashion with well defined links pointing the way to more
detailed information or explanation as needed.

In the cases above, the goal is to make it easy for your visitor
to find the information they want without frustration or
difficulty. Doing this well will have a positive effect on
increasing the return of your visitors.

Aesthetics

A website has to look clean, uncomplicated and strike a balance
in layout that is pleasant to the visitor. Pleasing aesthetics
come about when the colors of a site complement each other, the
graphics blend and lend continuation of the theme and the layout
brings unity and openness to the page.

Often overlooked by novice designers is the color palette of the
site. While you can select color in a willy-nilly fashion and
still provide a visually appealing site, a better idea for color
selection should be based on an understanding of the color wheel
and proven color strategies.

Many web designers often view a web page as an opportunity to
blast a visitor with lots of information in hopes this will
convince the visitor to take action. Usually this results in a
quick exit due to the overwhelming visual effect and complicated
look. A better approach is to provide less content and open
space (referred to as white space) to allow visitors eyes to
scan and explore with ease.

Content

An important feature of any website is the quality of the text
content. Visitors come to a site expecting to find answers to
their questions, solutions to their problems or for
entertainment value. The content offered at your site must be
well-written and without grammatical or spelling errors. It also
has to be relevant to the theme of your site, with valid, up-to-
date information for your visitors. Content is King!

Graphics

You can have a functional and usable website without graphic
elements. However, if there are similar sites to yours that
employ graphics, guess which site will get the most traffic. The
necessary companions to any well-designed site are the images
and illustrations that grace its pages. The images can't be any
willy-nilly graphic that you might think is cool. Graphic
imagery has to support your branding, and communicate the
message you are trying to convey. Before you incorporate graphic
elements into your site, take some time to look around the web.
Notice what looks good and how elements are laid out. These same
layouts techniques can be used as models for your site.

The Internet is a highly competitive business arena. To be
successful with a commercial website, you have to keep these
five crucial web design elements in mind. Contrary to what many
will tell you, it is rarely possible to have commercial success
without the benefit of a professional website. This is not to
say that you must hire a professional, however you must
implement professional design elements to improve your chances
for success.
================================================================
Woody Longacre, Internet Web Design
(http://www.webhostinggoods.com/Web_Design.html). We invite you
to visit the Web Hosting Goods Store (http://www.webhostinggoods.com/)
for Web Design Services, Web Hosting, and Domain Registration.
================================================================

New Search Engines - Can Anyone Beat Google?
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009

Can any new search engine beat Google, probably not, mainly
because Google isn't going anywhere but up. It is the dominant
search engine with around 72 percent of U.S. online searches and
its percentages are much higher in other parts of the world.
(Source: Hitwise) However, there are some serious new
competitors that may just take a bite out of Google's rosy
search numbers. Never know, one or several of them, may just
give Google a run for those all important search engine dollars.

Recently, there has been a whole army of new search engines
debuting on the web. If you're a full-time online marketer like
me, you really have to keep your eyes open to what is happening
on the web, especially relating to search engines which deliver
most of your quality traffic. Also keep in mind, this piece may
be fairly biased since Google is directly or indirectly
responsible for around 80% of my online revenue, so any opinions
may be slanted in Google's favor, not that they need any favors
from me or anyone.

But as an online marketer you have to try to remain objective
and examine all angles in regards to these new search engines.
Despite this, in marketing and webmaster circles, everyone will
know even if you have the number one ranking for a certain
keyword in all three major engines Google, Yahoo! and MSN -
Google supplies the most traffic, hands down.

Despite its obvious dominance, Google is still basically the new
kid on the block. We have to remember, there have been many
search engines before Google and there will be many more search
engines after Google. Every entity has its day and then hands
the torch along to whatever comes next. It's one of those subtle
facts of life we all learn eventually.

Everybody has their day - empires, countries, leaders,
companies... or even search engines. Are Google's days as top
dog really numbered? Probably not in the immediate future, but
there are some new kids on the block that could definitely kick
some sand in the face of Google and stir things up, we might
even see a few serious squabbles here and there.

In a recent article on CNN, by John D. Sutter, entitled "New
Search Engines Aspire To Supplement Google" the author examines
some recent new search engines. The author discusses: Twine,
Hakia, Searchme, Cuil, Kosmix, Wolfram Alpha, Topsy, TweetMeme
and OneRiot. Each of these are different, making your web search
more personal, more visual, or connecting your search to new
social networks like FaceBook and Twitter.

Some experts say Wolfram Alpha is the most likely candidate to
give Google some serious competition because Wolfram can do
something Google can't; it can create information rather than
just reading/presenting content already on the web. Will it
present a solid threat to Google's dominance?

Perhaps, a more fitting sparring partner will come from an old
rival with very deep, deep pockets. We are talking about the new
search engine from Microsoft called Bing, which is very similar
to Google in many ways, yet different. Bing's results are very
similar to Google in a lot of ways, yet Bing serves up the
results in a very pleasing arrangement, with a nice preview
button for each listing and giving you related searches and your
search history on the left hand side. Only time will tell if
everyone would rather be binging instead of googling. To Bing or
not to Bing, that is the question? There's a very informative
article on Bing by Farhad Manjoo on Slate entitled: "Beware
Google: Microsoft's New Search Engine Isn't Half-bad." Just Bing
or Google to find it!

I personally like this search engine much better than MSN mainly
because the home page of Bing is very appealing and only has the
search box on it so you're not distracted with other news
listings like on MSN and Yahoo! One of the main reasons for
Google's success, besides the superior search results, has been
its simplicity. Keep it simple and you may just be able to
compete.

Then again, this is a bit of a biased judgment, since many of my
own keywords and sites rank high in Bing; some even higher than
they are listed in Google. I routinely monitor countless keyword
phrases in all the search engines and lately Google has been
favoring big Brand Name listings on their first page results. We
are also seeing more Product Listings (Old Froogle), more video
and more news listings... competition for Google's first page
has become multi-layered and extremely competitive. What's a
poor small online marketer to do when Google goes corporate?

Actually, Bing is not my favorite search engine of the new ones
forcing their way into the spotlight.

For me, the one that shows the most promise and may give Google
some competition is Searchme, which is a visual search (much
like the iTunes interface) where you can shuffle through
screenshots of webpages instead of a list of links. Searchme,
which touts itself as the first multimedia search engine, has
been around for a few years but is not widely known to web
users. Performing a search on Searchme with a 24 inch monitor
and 64-bit Windows is a hundred times more enjoyable than using
Google Search or Bing for that matter. It is a hundred times
faster than Google mainly because you can generally find your
information without clicking through to the sites displayed.

Searchme is truly an eye opener but can it give Google some
serious competition. The jury is still out, but I believe over
time as web users upgrade their computers, operating systems,
and their graphics... Searchme will be more accessible to more
web users. Never know, with the right backing and marketing, any
of these search engines, especially Searchme and Bing could
blossom into a formidable opponent even for the mighty Google.

Here's why: Human Nature!

Whether we admit it or not, most of us (Humans) are lazy, we
want the fastest and easiest route to solving any question or
problem. Searchme gives us the answer much quicker than Google
and in a much nicer way. Mainly because we are also visual
creatures, given the choice between receiving pages of text and
viewing images of sites/answers, most of us will take the visual
route - we will choose TV over radio, music videos over
records... video enhanced content over just plain static HTML.
As the web turns into more of an interactive multimedia
operation; visual search will always win out over text search
any day of the year.

Most humans also have a need for speed. In our fast paced life
styles, we all want a speedy solution to our problems. Search is
no different, we want quick answers now, we want instant
solutions and immediate gratification. Nature of the beast. If
Searchme, Bing or any of the other search engines becomes faster
than Google at giving the right answer, then it's a whole new
ballgame.

Google must obviously know there are challenges to its search
engine dominance. Otherwise, why would they be offering many new
features in their SERPs; we are seeing more images and videos.
Plus, Google has just introduced the "show options" link at the
top of their SERPs, which presents their search results in many
different ways. They even have introduced the "Wonder Wheel" as
another viewing option, which gives a whole new way of using
Google's search results.

Google's Achilles' Heel may just be the thing that gives it all
its revenue: text ads. There may be a backlash on all those
Google ads littered across the web, especially among the younger
computer savvy crowd using such sites like the Google owned
YouTube, where Google has nearly obliterated the videos with its
ads. Everyone dislikes advertising, no matter what form it takes.

However, any news of Google's demise will be greatly
exaggerated, because Google, like any smart company with tons of
resources, has kept morphing and changing with the times,
quickly adapting to new features as our usage of the web keeps
changing. Google has perfected the art of staying one step ahead
of the competition. This is one champion that won't go down
without a fight to the finish. Top dogs rarely do.

If they ever present a serious challenge to Google, Searchme,
Bing or any of the above search engines, will have a formidable
opponent in the opposing corner, one that has gained almost
insurmountable prestige and brand recognition around the world.
Any major battle will instantly have a "David vs Goliath"
scenario attached to it. And we all know how that one played out!
================================================================
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous niche
sites. These 10 SEO Tactics Bring Me Over 2000 Visitors Daily:
SEO Tips (http://www.bizwaremagic.com/seo_tips.htm). To learn
more Internet Marketing Tactics try: Marketing Tools
(http://www.marketingtoolguide.com).
Copyright � 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
================================================================

Free Traffic and the 4 Vital Elements of a Successful Website
By Brye Bishop (c) 2009

Let's face it, anyone can build a website. There are countless
companies out there offering a vast array of web building
solutions, some good, some great, and some quite frankly are a
complete waste of time! But throwing together a website is
really only part of the story, only part of the process. There
are literally, hundreds of thousands of web pages, that will
never be viewed and therefore stand no chance of commercial
success. Some of those sites are relatively good; unfortunately
their owners have misunderstood the process and have the cart
before the horse...

In the online world nobody just happens by your website, credit
card in hand! If you've yet to build your website, or about to
create a new site, stop! consider first exactly what you wish to
achieve with that site, before you start. "Creating a website
should follow a process proven to deliver a commercial end
result... or run the risk of ending up, just another pretty
picture in cyberspace!"

Fortunately there is a process, and I highly recommend you take
a look at it... perhaps you already know it...

Content > Traffic > Pre-sell > Monetize

A time tested, 4 step process, proven to produce websites that
deliver... commercially! Ok so, let's now look briefly at each
step and why they work in this particular order.

1. Numoro Uno, as always. Content. Very, very important. Building
information-rich sites is crucial. You must have high quality,
unique, relevant content on your site, A; because you want to
attract visitors in the first place and B; to generate long
term, search engine based free traffic.

Online, people are looking for solutions, for information that
leads to solutions. They use the search engines to hunt for the
most relevant facts to reach this end goal solution. Your job is
therefore easy... give it to them... but don't just plonk down
any old garbage and hope for the best... take your time, put in
the effort, provide good quality information that will
over-deliver and keep your visitor interested, satisfy her need
and you will be rewarded. Over time, gradually add new fresh,
useful content and you will be creating web pages valued by
humans and search engines alike. On the internet, high value
content is king!

2. Traffic... Ahh! The Holy Grail... Much has been written on
the subject, and many are making a good living providing (?)
this elusive element.

Truth is, (excluding social media) there are but two ways to get
it - you either pay for it, or you optimize for it. If you take
the time to understand the basics, you can easily do both.

Paid search, (PPC) such as Google Adwords has its place, and can
provide an immediate stream of targeted visitors to your
website; however it is a study of its own and can, if not
understood, be very costly very quickly! If you want to go that
route learn with small amounts (of money) and don't be tempted
to throw good after bad... owch! been there!

Safer and arguably better, is optimization (SEO) for the organic
results, as reached via a Google or other search engine search.
This is simply intelligent website construction, a process anyone
can do. The important point is, the optimization should be built
in during the creative process, at the time you're constructing
the site; you are literally building your website to principles
that make it search engine friendly, thus leading to high natural
positions in organic search results, leading to of course,
significant free traffic flow to your site...

3. Don't sell... Pre-sell. You have created a website with value
rich content, and fully optimized its pages for indexing by
Google (and other search engines)... Folks are arriving at your
site as directed by their search results. You are keen to have
them buy your goods or services, ready with your pitch... but
wait! There's another vital step in the process of converting
your visitors into customers, and you've done half the work
already...

Pre-selling is a warming up process, whereby you develop trust
and confidence in your offer... it's already well known that
people are more willing to buy from those they like, trust or
respect. By over-delivering relevant high value information,
without appearing to be forcing a sale you will almost by
default, create an atmosphere that inevitably leads to sales.
Simple!

As far as your visitor is concerned, her needs are being met,
his wishes are being fulfilled, you are providing the very
information that is the solution to that which they are
searching for in the first place. Pre-selling creates an
open-to-buy mindset that smoothly introduces your visitors to
your monetization offer.

4. Monetize. Ok thanks for sticking with me, here's the home
run... This is where you make your offer enticing by introducing
and highlighting the many benefits of your product or service,
and detailing exactly how it offers the solution to their
predicament. You have paved the way with informative, relevant
content and can now look to close with persuasive sales copy,

Your call to action should be strong and concise. Tell your
prospect exactly what they need to do to order. If you have a
good product, and you should, let them know exactly how they
will benefit by ordering from you... Today!

So there it is... in brief... A formula simple, yet highly
effective. Generate targeted free traffic via your highly
optimized website, provide information packed content that
offers solutions, warm up or pre-sell your visitors by
over-delivering on the quality of that content, then and only
then, monetize by introducing persuasive, benefit focused sales
copy to convert pre-sold visitors into enthusiastic customers.
For full details on how to implement each of these steps (with
no technical knowledge whatsoever!) grab yourself a free 48 page
e-copy of The Simple Art of e-Persuasion at the info link
below... or visit my site.
================================================================
Brye Bishop is a highly successful internet entrepreneur and
marketer, committed to providing quality source information and
assisting others in their quest for financial freedom.
http://www.Clickfig.com ...Get your free copy of The Simple Art
of e-Persuasion now, simply email "eBook offer" to
info@clickfig.com
================================================================

How To Find The Right Keywords To Optimize Search Engine Results
By Nelson Tan (c) 2009

Search engines are the vehicles that drive potential customers
to your websites. But in order for visitors to reach their
destination - your website - you need to provide them with
effective signs that direct them right to your site by creating
carefully chosen keywords.

Think of the right keywords as the "Open Sesame!" of the
Internet. Find the exactly right words, and presto! Hoards of
traffic will be pulling up to your front door. But if your
keywords are too general or overused, the possibility of
visitors actually making it all the way to your site - or of
seeing any real profits from the visitors that do arrive -
decreases dramatically.

Your keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing
strategy. If they are not chosen with great precision, no matter
how aggressive your marketing campaign may be, the right people
may never get the chance to find out about it. So your first
step in plotting your strategy is to gather and evaluate
keywords and phrases.

You probably think you already know EXACTLY the right words for
your search phrases. Unfortunately, if you haven't followed
certain specific steps, you are probably WRONG. It's hard to be
objective when you are right in the center of your business
network, which is the reason that you may not be able to choose
the most efficient keywords from the inside. You need to be able
to think like your customers. And since you are a business owner
and not the consumer, your best bet is to go directly to the
source.

Instead of plunging in and scribbling down a list of potential
search words and phrases yourself, ask for words from as many
potential customers as you can. You will most likely find out
that your understanding of your business and your customers'
understanding is significantly different.

The consumer is an invaluable resource. You will find the words
you accumulate from them are words and phrases you probably
never would have considered from deep inside the trenches of
your business.

Only after you have gathered words and phrases from outside
resources should you add your own keywords to the list. Once
you have this list in hand, you are ready for the next step:
evaluation.

The aim of evaluation is to narrow down your list to a small
number of words and phrases that will direct the highest number
of quality visitors to your website. By "quality visitors" I
mean those consumers who are most likely to make a purchase
rather than just cruise around your site and take off for
greener pastures. In evaluating the effectiveness of keywords,
bear in mind three elements: popularity, specificity, and
motivation.

Popularity is the easiest to evaluate because it is an objective
quality. The more popular your keyword is, the more likely the
chances are that it will be typed into a search engine which
will then bring up your URL.

You can now purchase software that will rate the popularity of
keywords and phrases by giving words a number rating based on
real search engine activity. Software such as WordTracker will
even suggest variations of your words and phrases. The higher
the number this software assigns to a given keyword, the more
traffic you can logically expect to be directed to your site.
The only fallacy with this concept is the more popular the
keyword is, the greater the search engine position you will need
to obtain. If you are down at the bottom of the search results,
the consumer will probably never scroll down to find you.

Popularity isn't enough to declare a keyword a good choice. You
must move on to the next criteria, which is specificity. The
more specific your keyword is, the greater the likelihood that
the consumer who is ready to purchase your goods or services
will find you.

Let's look at a hypothetical example. Imagine that you have
obtained popularity rankings for the keyword "automobile
companies." However, your company specializes in bodywork only.
The keyword "automobile body shops" would rank lower on the
popularity scale than "automobile companies," but it would
nevertheless serve you much better. Instead of getting a slew of
people interested in everything from buying a car to changing
their oil filters, you will get only those consumers with
trashed front ends or crumpled fenders being directed to your
site. In other words, consumers ready to buy your services are
the ones who will immediately find you. Not only that, but the
greater the specificity of your keyword, the less competition
you will face.

The third factor is consumer motivation. Once again, this
requires putting yourself inside the mind of the customer rather
than the seller to figure out what motivation prompts a person
looking for a service or product to type in a particular word or
phrase.

Let's look at another example, such as a consumer who is
searching for a job as an IT manager in a new city. If you have
to choose between "Seattle job listings" and "Seattle IT
recruiters" which do you think will benefit the consumer more?
If you were looking for this type of specific job, which keyword
would you type in? The second one, of course! Using the second
keyword targets people who have decided on their career, have
the necessary experience, and are ready to enlist you as their
recruiter, rather than someone just out of school who is
casually trying to figure out what to do with his or her life in
between beer parties.

You want to find people who are ready to act or make a purchase,
and this requires subtle tinkering of your keywords until you
find the most specific and directly targeted phrases to bring
the most motivated traffic to your site.

Once you have chosen your keywords, your work is not done. You
must continually evaluate performance across a variety of search
engines, bearing in mind that times and trends change, as does
popular lingo. You cannot rely on your log traffic analysis
alone because it will not tell you how many of your visitors
actually made a purchase.

Luckily, some new tools have been invented to help you judge the
effectiveness of your keywords in individual search engines.
There is now software available that analyzes consumer behavior
in relation to consumer traffic. This allows you to discern
which keywords are bringing you the most valuable customers.

This is an essential concept: numbers alone do not make a good
keyword; profits per visitor do. You need to find keywords that
direct consumers to your site who actually buy your product,
fill out your forms, or download your product. This is the most
important factor in evaluating the efficacy of a keyword or
phrase, and should be the sword you wield when discarding and
replacing ineffective or inefficient keywords with keywords that
bring in better profits.

Ongoing analysis of tested keywords is the formula for search
engine success. This may sound like a lot of work - and it is!
But the amount of informed effort you put into your keyword
campaign is what will ultimately generate your business' rewards.
================================================================
Nelson Tan is the webmaster behind Internet Mastery Center.
Download $347 worth of FREE Internet Marketing gifts at
http://www.internetmasterycenter.com
================================================================

The Brand Story Web Marketing Process
By Jerry Bader (c) 2009

If websites have one overarching goal it is to create confidence
in whatever the website is promoting and who's promoting it. It
doesn't matter if it's a product, a service, a sales campaign,
or an idea, if the presentation is not minimally credible or
optimally motivational, then it fails as a means of marketing
communication.

Communicate to the Subconscious Mind

Branding is often thought of as a marketing strategy reserved
for major consumer product companies, but the fact is all
businesses are brands that are either cultivated so they
blossom, or let go-to-seed like a garden full of weeds.

Marketing neophytes often think of branding only in terms of
some physical manifestation, like a logo, but a brand is the
full complement of residual impressions resulting from all the
experiences associated with a product, service or company. And
today, the online experience is a vital venue for creating those
experiences.

By using video, the marketer has the opportunity to tap into the
audiences' subconscious mind, the buried remnants of both
remembered and forgotten experiences; the kind of experiences
that form attitudes, prejudices, and preferences that inform our
decisions, most importantly our buying decisions.

Where Businesses Go Wrong

Where businesses go wrong is settling for only the obvious, the
logical, and the rational. Brands are formed in the
subconscious, so if your marketing communication doesn't reach
the subconscious mind then it is not establishing or enhancing
the brand in any meaningful, effective long-term way.

What video does, when done right, is communicate on both the
obvious and subconscious levels, making it the ideal
Web-communication vehicle for creating a powerful brand
experience, but only if you understand how to use the
presentation and performance elements available.

Considering how powerful a tool Web-video can be, it amazes me
how so many normally intelligent business people can opt for
second-rate presentations. The do-it-yourself and user-generated
efforts compete for the booby prize with the mindless corporate
drivel - they all miss the point: a persuasive motivating
presentation must communicate on multiple levels.

How To Deliver A Brand Story

We like to refer to developing, delivering, enhancing, and
managing a Web-based brand, as The Brand Story Process.
By thinking of your brand in terms of a story rather than just
some graphical image, or nebulous mission statement, you avoid
many of the pitfalls associated with ineffective branding.

A story, any story, has certain fundamental elements:

1. A storyline, plot or arc that moves the audience from
skeptical Web-surfers to loyal customers.

2. A hero, who vicariously represents the audience and
their dilemma in satisfying their subconscious needs or desires.

3. A villain, who represents the problems, obstacles, or
challenges that confront the audience in satisfying those
subconscious needs.

4. An agent of change that represents your company's
ability to resolve the dilemma by providing a solution to
satisfying those needs.

5. And a format that structures the presentation in a
series of procedural or serial video episodes, that establishes
and enhances the brand image, all while delivering literal and
subliminal benefits.

Storyline - The Arc of Transformation

At the heart of your brand story is your marketing message and
that message must invoke change: a transformation from
dissatisfaction to satisfaction, and not just a presentation of
features and benefits.

Your brand storyline puts what you offer into context, and
illustrates the achievable results through onscreen surrogates
acting out the audience's hidden agendas. A competitor can
always cut your price or add new features, but neither tactic
can overcome brand loyalty based on satisfying subconscious
emotional needs.

Hero As Brand Messenger

It's not just the message; it's the messenger. There is no
substitute for the human being. No avatar, cartoon character, or
computer-generated equivalent will provide the subtlety and
nuance required to communicate on the verbal, visible, and
subconscious levels.

The one caveat is that real people can be 'too real' for their
own good. We rarely recommend using company executives in front
of the camera because the camera picks up all kinds of signals
that the unpracticed performer is not aware of, resulting in an
impression often contrary to the intended message. An uptight
senior executive, no matter how well meaning, delivering a
reassuring message to the public over some product liability
problem can actually hurt the company's rehabilitation efforts
if that onscreen presenter is deemed untrustworthy or deceptive.

He'll Always Be Tricky Dick

There are many examples of this sort of marketing faux pas, with
Richard Nixon's 1960 television debate with John Kennedy being
one of the most famous. On the radio many people thought Nixon,
the veteran campaigner, won the debate, but under the
penetrating scrutiny of the television camera, Nixon's true self
came through. It was not just the five o'clock shadow; it was
his buried true-self delivering a negative impression to the
audience's subconscious mind. The negative Nixon brand was
established forever, one that never fully recovered.

A Brand Should Never Get Old, Ill, or Fat

Even positive reaction to a real personality can turn out to be
negative. Take the example of Steve Jobs. His keynote addresses
are treated like rock star performances, but when not available
to perform for whatever reason, rumors start, and even major
corporations like Apple feel the effect.

What you really want to create is a brand character, a
spokesperson that can be managed, cultivated, and grown into a
long-term brand representative, one who can deliver your
marketing message and brand story in consistent, effective, and
controlled campaigns.

Every Brand Story Needs A Villain

When we speak of the brand villain we are not necessarily
referring to another character although that can certainly be
one way of illustrating the issue at hand. As an alternative,
situations or scenarios can be used to represent the problem or
dilemma.

Psychological issues are most often not so cut-and-dried as to
be presented by the black-hat villain and white-hat hero.
Engaging heroes are often tainted or damaged in a way the
audience can relate to, and effective villains are not so much
evil as they are representative of an alternative agenda.

Take for example the recent commercial campaign for 'Oatmeal
Crisps' that is currently running in the Canadian market. The
series of spots features a father who is trying to protect his
favorite cereal from being consumed by his teenage son in one
commercial, and by his elderly father in another. This extremely
clever campaign digs deep into the emotional resentments and
psychological issues involved in the family dynamic, but it does
it in a humorous, lighthearted manner, where the audience can
relate to the situation, and accept the underlying message.
Here's a case of protagonist and antagonist, a more
sophisticated approach to the hero-villain relationship.

You Are The Agent of Change

By adopting the Brand Story approach to marketing, you need to
accept the notion that your brand is an agent of change. All
stories are about change: transformation from one state
(dissatisfaction) to another (satisfaction). You construct your
brand story based on the idea that your brand will transform the
audience somehow.

Take the 'Multi Grain Cheerios' commercial featuring a husband
and wife discussing the ingredients listed on the cereal box:
while the overt message is buy this product because it tastes
good, the underlying message is that it helps control your
weight thus making you more attractive to your spouse, not a
subject that any sensitive spouse would suggest. The cereal is
presented as the agent of change: overweight and unattractive,
to slim and beautiful, while at the same time removing the
stigma of dieting by providing the taste excuse to justify the
purchase.

This commercial like the previously mentioned 'Oatmeal Crisps'
commercial creates a conflict that delivers multiple messages
through the familiar husband-wife scenario; one that is familiar
to anyone who has ever dared suggest their significant other
should lose some weight.

Are You "Law and Order" or "Prison Break"?
Format: Procedural or Serial

The two most commonly used presentation formats are Procedural,
think "Law and Order", or Serial, think "Prison Break".
Procedurals follow a strict formula that continuously replays
the basic story arc with the context of each episode emphasizing
the consistent attitudes, perspective, and point-of-view of the
franchise or brand. On the other hand, Serials move the plot
along from episode to episode keeping the audience in suspense
as to what is going to happen next and whether the brand hero
will win the day.

One of the best Serial advertising campaigns every implemented
was the Nescafe Gold Blend coffee campaign that ran from
1987-1992. You can watch the whole campaign from beginning to
end on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igi9u6X4y-s).

One of my favorite Procedural style campaigns is the recent
Kleenex (Let It Out) campaign that was brilliantly executed. It
played upon the audience's emotions, memories, and experiences,
while associating those deep-seated feelings with their brand of
facial tissue that is normally regarded and sold as a strictly
commoditized product.

Doing Something, Isn't Necessarily Doing It Well

Far from being restrictive, these formats provide familiar
structure within which the company can establish and enhance
their brand, but failure to grasp the underlying emotional
element inherent in your offering will lead to failure. A
current Canadian advertiser tried to copy the Kleenex format
without understanding what made the Kleenex campaign effective;
they copied the physical presentation but without any emotional
subtext, relying totally on a cost-to-performance benefit, and
the result is a second rate effort rather than an effectively
clever slipstreamed homage.

It's About People, By People, For People

Unlike television advertising that is restricted to only those
that can afford it, the Web is available to all. The problem is
easy and affordable access to the tools and venues to deliver
your brand story does not mean that you are telling it
effectively. Marketing communication is not about research,
technology, or statistics; it's about people and the underlying
emotional needs your brand satisfies - therein lies the basis
upon which you build your brand story.
================================================================
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design
firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Ask about our
Summer Video Website Campaign Special. Visit
http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and
http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com
or telephone (905) 764-1246.
================================================================