SATGo
Online Marketing Newsletter Issue No. 7 - September
2003 |
1. Use Pop-Ups
to liven up your web site
"How to
Use Pop-Up Windows Effectively and Responsibly"
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
This article appeared in Web Marketing Today, Issue
128, Sept 3, 2003
Still pop-ups pester us. Pesky windows that get in
the way of what we are reading. Or multiple pop-under
ads that appear under the webpages we open. Swat!
Swat!
Why?
Simple. Pop-ups are effective marketing tools. When
I started using a automatic pop-up window to get new
subscribers it increased my subscription rate a whopping
40% -- and got me lots of complaints and some bad
press until I learned how not to annoy my customers.
I think it's possible for you to use pop-up windows
responsibly and effectively, while still respecting
your customers. Let me explain how.
Let me distinguish
between two types of pop-up windows:
Small windows that open in response to the customer
clicking on a hyperlink, and
Small windows that open automatically when a visitor
arrives at a webpage.
Each of these techniques represents a vital web marketing
tool. Let's start with the first one.
Links that
Pop Up Small Windows
There are times when you don't want to take your visitor
away from the webpage by introducing hyperlinks. For
example, when your potential customer has clicked
on an ad and is looking at your landing page, you
want to conclude her visit with a completed transaction,
not a lost customer. This is the time to open a small
window when she has a question, not send her away
to an entirely new webpage.
JavaScript
to the Rescue
To open these small windows I use JavaScript. In the
webpage header I include the actual JavaScript program.
Then, at the hyperlink, I call that program with five
settings which define this particular window:
- Pop-up window
URL
- Window height
in pixels
- Window width
in pixels
- Message that
displays when the customer's mouse hovers over the
hyperlink
- URL of an alternate
destination if the customer has disabled JavaScript
or pop-up windows
Headers and
footers for pop-ups
My pop-up windows are intended to be small, so I don't
put my usual masthead graphics or navigation system
on them. However, I include some JavaScript in the
header and the footer to enable visitors to easily
print out the contents and close the window. I use
a meta-robots tag to keep search engines from indexing
my pop-ups, since they appear without an appropriate
navigation system:
<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex,
nofollow">
Pop-Ups for
Landing Pages
If you're not yet using small windows that pop up
when your customer clicks a hyperlink, you really
need to -- especially on landing pages. To work well,
landing pages must anticipate each question that your
prospect has in her mind and answer them one by one
-- benefits, features, shipping policies, guarantees,
etc. But you don't want to take space answering questions
that don't interest your prospect. I've learned to
answer questions with hyperlinks that open small windows.
That way I keep the customer on the landing page,
moving in a linear fashion down to the order button.
If some hyperlinked text interests my prospect, she'll
click to open a small window. If not, she continues
toward -- I hope -- the purchase.
Now let's turn to some much more controversial cousins,
a second type of pop-up window -- automatic pop-ups.
Automatic pop-ups
In spite of all the people who dislike them, automatic
pop-ups work. They increase subscriptions and click-throughs
dramatically.
Why don't people like them? Because they're like
flies -- you're always trying to bat them away, since
they open more and more browser windows.
But if you could limit pop-ups -- tame them, teach
them manners -- people might even like them. Like
dogs. Nice doggie. Don't jump up on me, please.
Taming over-aggressive
pop-ups
Automatic pop-ups work because they are in your face.
They distract you and force you to either take an
action or close them. But if the action is one your
customer finds she is actually interested in taking,
then pop-ups aren't so bad after all.
Pop-ups should serve your customer, just like the
rest of your site. Succeeding in business is all about
serving your customers well!
If pop-ups are in your face once, what's the big
deal? If now they lie down quietly and don't jump
on you again, they're okay.
When I first tried an automatic pop-up window it
worked very well in skyrocketing my subscription rate.
But the windows kept popping up anytime the visitor
opened another page on my site.
I discovered that it's possible to put a cookie on
the visitor's web browser telling the webpage that
he has already seen the pop-up, thank you -- don't
bother him again. That helped a lot. Now people would
see the pop-up only on the first page of my site they
came to, but never again (unless they purged all their
cookies -- I mean, deleted them).
But the script I found on the Web didn't quite work
quite right. It seemed like some people's web browsers
just couldn't keep their cookies down. Maybe they
were gluten intolerant, I don't know. But I got numerous
complaints. Someone wrote a brief review about my
site and complained about my pop-ups in print. I was
embarrassed. Hang my head. I had to tame my dog.
So my programmer used this strategy: write a cookie
to the visitor's web browser and then try to read
it. Only after testing both writing and reading, would
the program pop up the Subscribe Now window. If the
visitor's web browser didn't cooperate with the cookie
thing, then he wouldn't see a pop-up window at all.
Ever since reprogramming the pop-up code I've had
no complaints. Not one.
Doggie is well-behaved now. Nice doggie. Want a cookie?
Timing the
pop-up
It's my belief that you shouldn't just throw a pop-up
at a person the moment he lands on your webpage. He's
arrived at your webpage looking for something in particular.
Don't distract him now with something else. I let
people stay on my pages for 5 seconds before the Subscribe
Now pop-up appears. By that time I think the visitor
is more likely to see my newsletters as a valuable
resource containing important information. Delaying
a pop-up is easy with JavaScript.
There you have it -- the marketing importance of
pop-up windows. I think learning how to use pop-ups
is a vital tool in your web marketing kit.
Learning to tame them is just as important.
2. Where have all
the overseas tourists gone?
Peter Rose of Anchor's Rest B&B summarised the
suggestions
"Dear Pete.
Well, the question that I posed has certainly drawn
a wide response, although I honestly believe that many
of the replies are wide off the mark in their response
to where the overseas tourists have gone. However that
is not to say that their replies are to be ignored.
I will try to summarize the responses received,
1) Law and
order.
There are many people who believed that there has
been a general decline in law and order in SA and
that crime in KZN in particular is to blame for the
lack of overseas tourists visiting Umhlanga. In this
respect the news media came in for some stick about
really negative and unfair reporting of the crime
here. Certainly it was felt that some television programs
report unfairly and unnecessarily about SA crime statistics.
Perhaps the most flack was directed at central Government
for their alleged lack of action to combat serious
and violent crime.
2) Increased
strength of the Rand.
There seems to be a general belief that financially
SA is no longer an attractive tourist destination
due to the strengthening of the Rand over the last
year, coupled to high inflation and the spiraling
upward cost of air fares to get here. In other words
the cost of the overseas air fare to get here is no
longer offset against a low cost of living once the
tourist is here.
3) No International
flights into Durban.
A few people believe that the added difficulty of
having to change aircraft at Johannesburg International
Airport (coupled to the extra cost of a local flight
to Durban ) puts people off KZN as a tourist destination.
4) Marketing.
There is a belief that the tourist information about
KZN is inadequate and not readily available at Johannesburg
International Airport in particular, as well as Durban
Airport when a tourist arrives here.
Some people believe that in order to continually attract
foreign tourists, that it is critically important
to have tour guides fluent in foreign languages stationed
at the International airports.
Some think that the "Kingdom of the Zulu"
marketing campaign has a negative connotation rather
than a positive one, as it presents a single province
that is fraught with violence, which includes Durban
and the tourist areas. The view was also expressed
that many people in Europe couldn't care less about
Royalty and therefore don't care about anyone's "Kingdom"
5) Environment
Some people believed that the negative impact of litter
with plastic bags, plastic bottles and bottle tops,
cardboard boxes etc fouling the beaches and country
side, creates such a poor image of SA that many overseas
tourists are put off from ever returning here a second
time.
6) Cape Town
and other "prize destination" such as the
Game Reserves -Kruger and Hluhluwe
It seems that "no matter what" the guest
houses in those area's are generally doing well.
7) Disease and
health.
Malaria, Aids etc is seen by some as the reason for
the decline in tourism.
8) Seasonality.
It was felt by some Cape respondents that as July
is "Out of Season" for them, that it could
also be the reason for KZN. The good summer weather
in Europe this year was also blamed on the drop in
tourists seeking the sun in Africa.
9) Red Tape.
It seems to some people that central Government has
too many rules and regulations (red tape) governing
Tourism and that too little support is given to the
small operator in the tourist market and too much
to the hotel industry. Furthermore there was a belief
that the local Tourism Associations are giving the
hotels 1st choice before any leads are passed to small
accommodation providers.
10) Economics.
A very worrying view expressed by a German Tour Operator
was that SA is fast pricing itself out of the International
tourist market and cites some exorbitant price increases
that they have been faced with this year from car
hire companies 70% to accommodation establishments
15% to 35% higher year on year for the same product.
11) Too expensive
One view was that
all of the SA accommodation establishments are pricing
themselves for the overseas markets and are too expensive
for the locals to afford.
12) Religion
One view was that we should all pray every day for
the arrival of overseas tourists.
From the above it is clear that many people hold many
different views on the reasons why the overseas tourists
suddenly disappeared from our the local scene here in
Umhlanga in July. However I think that most people are
citing factors that have been around for a long time.
So very few of the views expressed are new and I believe
that very little has changed that would have such a
"sudden" impact on the arrival of foreigners
to our part of SA. That is not to say that their views
are not important or that we should ignore them or become
complacent about the seemingly never ending problems
that beset our wonderful country.
Please don't misunderstand me here. The July season
for our establishment eventually turned out well, but
not as a result of overseas tourists. Fortunately we
were able to attract local tourists in their place.
To this day the arrival of foreign tourists knocking
on our door has slowed down considerably from last year
and the previous year. Maybe there is no single answer
to this worrying trend and perhaps it is an accumulation
of all or some of the above reasons.
I believe that the most significant issues are a) The
strong Rand b) The high cost of air travel from Europe,
with very few airlines offering budget or discount travel
to and from SA. c) The exceptionally high prices that
some businesses are trying to impose on overseas tourists,
in the belief that we should be more in line price wise
with our products to Europe. The danger here is that
when there is a sudden and unexpected upward swing in
the value of our currency, we are stuck with our published
prices with no where to go.
Many of the German guests that stayed at our B&B
over the past few years said that they almost never
used SAA or Lufthansa to get here as they were far too
expensive. Almost without exception, they used the special
offers that other countries were having on air fares
to SA
From my point of view I would like some answers about
the International marketing campaigns that our Minister
of Tourism is undertaking in Europe. I would specifically
like to know if there has been a change in emphasis
or direction in our marketing efforts in the German
market or any of the European markets? Has there been
a new drive to attract tourists from the East or Far
East for example? We are told that the arrival of tourists
into SA is significantly up on last year, but not where
these arrivals come from. Certainly if the information
is true, the increased number of tourists are not coming
down to the East Coast of KZN.
Perhaps we will never know the reason for the lack of
tourists from overseas during July. However one thing
that has become crystal clear to me as a result of this
experience, is that we can't rely on anyone else, especially
the travel and tourism authorities, to give us a helping
hand with obtaining guests for our business. Consequently
I plan to increase my advertising spend dramatically
in order to ensure that I survive and prosper in this
difficult market without reliance on others.
Best regards."
PETER ROSE.
ANCHOR'S REST B&B
UMHLANGA ROCKS.
3. SATGo featured
events
On a regular basis SATGo features events of interest
to tourists. Tourists are emailed to entice them to
visit the web site to learn more about these events.
SATGo clients have the opportunity to advertise their
services in these featured events. Click
here to review the September newsletter which
announces the featured events.
If you would like to sponsor events click
here. A sponsorship costs R500 and consists of
a mention and hyperlink in the newsletter to tourists,
and 2 banners on the SATGo web site where the featured
events appear.
If you would like to include a hyperlink in the featured
events, click
here. The hyperlink to your page on the SATGo
web site will appear in the copy about the featured
events and costs R200.
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