Research and Best Practices

This is a relatively new science: landing page design, personalized urls, and integrated marketing channels. Combine this with the world of Search Engine Optimization, and the potential of becoming overwhelmed happens sooner than you might expect.

This section is intended to parlay some of the information into an organization fashion so it's all easily referenced. What kind of metrics should I be looking for? How do I know my campaign was successful? Yup! You'll find it all here.

Fireclick.com

How cool is this? Need some benchmarks to see if your results are at par with your industry? Look no further! Here's a site that provides an objective comparison of key metrics across a variety of segments. Compare the performance of your online business to the many successful industry leading web sites!

Some quick links:

Top Line Growth |
Fashion and Apparel |
Electronics |
Catalog |
Specialty |
Outdoor and Sports |
Software

Fireclick, an industry leading provider of web analytics services, is proud to introduce the world's first publicly-available web analytics benchmark index. The Fireclick Index provides an objective comparison of key metrics across a variety of segments. Compare the performance of your online business to the many successful industry leading web sites using Fireclick today!


Top Line Growth

MarketingExperiments.com

This is an interesting website that offers some tremendous tools, utilities and best practices with real results. Some of their content is superb in that it provides real-time anecdotal evidence for integrated marketing strategies.

Just check out some of this stuff from their website:



MarketingSherpa.com

I would probably attribute MarketingSherpa as one of the primary influences for a lot of content on this site. While their subscription is fairly high at about $400 a year, they will refund that money to you on a pro-rated basis. So, if you need to get some fast facts and research to support a project -- this is one way to go! Worst case scenario, you sign up for a month and pay about $35.00. That's an easy number to digest even in the worst of times.

Here's a bunch of free stuff that they offer:

Note: Yes, you may download and read as many of these resources as you'd like. You may also share these hotlinks with your colleagues and in blogs or email newsletters. You may also use the charts and data contained herein for your own articles and/or presentations with proper attribution to Marketing Sherpa.com. All content is copyright MarketingSherpa Inc.

  • Email Marketing Resources
  • Search Marketing - SEM & SEO Resources
  • Business-to-Business Marketing Resources
  • Landing Pages, Ecommerce & Web Design
  • How to Sell Online Subscriptions
  • Wisdom Report - Annual Reader-Written PDF
  • Latest MarketingSherpa Free-to-Read Stories
  • Sign up for free weekly email newsletters
  • Sign up for a free 7-day Trial Membership for instant access to all Sherpa content



    Email Marketing Resources


  • Email Marketing Benchmark - Executive Summary (PDF download, includes data charts)
  • MP3, Powerpoints & Transcript: Sherpa's Annual Email Marketing Study Results Teleconference
  • Behind-the-Scenes in the Booming Email Service Provider Industry Article & hotlink to Buyer's Guide to ESPs
  • Email Summit 2007 Wrap-Up Report

  • Sign-up form - Free brochure & news on Email Summit 2008
  • Email Award Winner Gallery 2007 Includes Creative Samples for 39 winners.
  • Email Award Winners Gallery 2006
  • How to Improve Your Customer Service Email Responses Book author interview
  • Top 10 Email Newsletter Mistakes


    Search Marketing - SEM & SEO Resources

  • Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008 - Executive Summary PDF includes sample charts, heatmap, and table of contents.
  • Annual Study Presentation Top 5 Search Marketing Opportunities for 2007 Audio file, transcript plus PDF of slides.
  • Article:3,944 Marketers Reveal Search Marketing Costs, Clicks, & Conversions Fall 2006
  • PDF Excerpt from: Buyer's Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Firms May 2006
  • PDF Excerpt from Buyer's Guide to PPC Search Agencies May 2006


    Business-to-Business Marketing Resources

  • Top 10 B-to-B Marketing Mistakes PDF download, revised mid-2006
  • Article: B-to-B Demand Generation Summit Wrap-Up Report October 2006
  • Annual Study Presentation: Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Data for 2007 Audio file, transcript plus PDF presentation.
  • PDF: New for June 2007! href="http://www.marketingsherpa.com/exs/BusTech07Excerpt.pdf"> Business Technology Marketing Benchmarks - Executive Summary(PDF includes, data charts)


    Landing Pages, Ecommerce & Web Design



  • New for March 2007! Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2007 - Executive Summary> (PDF download, includes data charts)
  • Annual Study Presentation: Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2007 Audio file, transcript plus PDF presentation.
  • Landing Page Handbook - Executive Summary & Introduction
  • PDF download

  • Presentation Landing Page Eyetracking Study Results Includes sample heatmaps
  • MP3 & Transcript Audio interview with Steve Krug Author of the bestselling Web design handbook, Don't Make Me Think


    Wisdom Report - Annual Reader-Written PDF

  • Wisdom Reports Landing Page



  • How to Sell Online Subscriptions

  • Online Subscription Marketing Statistics 2006-Transcript & Charts from Sherpa Research Speech presented May 2006
  • Blog: What I Learned at the Subscription Summit This Week (Big & Ugly)


  • No More Landing Pages

    Wow! I absolutely LOVE this site! They give you lots of free information, practical advice, and nifty downloads that contain more than you could ever want to know about this science.

    Here's a three-part video from ION Interactive - the folks that bring you "No More Landing Pages". Click Here.

    Here's a TON of cool PDFs that you can download and reference. Some sales stuff too, but if you are just learning about this, chances are this will all serve you well!

    Happy reading!