2014 Shopping Trends - Adapting

Okay, I admit. I am the pot calling the kettle black. I do not update blogs, tweets, post to social sites on my own behalf. Frankly, it is hard enough to keep up with the posts from  Phil Rozek ,  Andrew Shotland (like the new pic), Darren Shaw, Mike Blumenthal , David Mihm, and  Nyagoslave Zhekov  to say a few.

For all those into SEM, this article from MSN Money caught my attention.

"Ten trends that will help you shop in 2014."

"Mobile purchasing goes mainstream."

We have seen this coming for a long time. With more and more people utilizing Smartphone's and tablets, the day of "going home" to research and purchase a product via desktop is dying.

Now, the speed of mobile and the insights of social exchanges such as reviews and peer purchases are a driving factor over one's painstaking sole research.  And trust in technology's privacy and efficacy is a "given" for more people today. Bye-bye Boolean.

"Everything will be personalized."

Well duh.  Why do you think ads for Jones Wear New York show up next to your inbox on Yahoo mail? The average consumer does not know about "privacy mode" and apps to squelch these ads.  I liken this to the day I asked the postmaster to stop putting the usual Wednesday junk mail in my PO Box. He said "we get paid to put it in all boxes and they all have got to be accounted for."  And I thought USPS was not in it for profit.

"Couponing will go high-tech." 

Anyone else out there get personalized Grocery Store deals delivered to your email? Yep and all you have to do is go to the website, click on the deals you might want to use and it adds them to your - guess what?  Club card.  You can even do this while in the store on your mobile.

Not new. But going even more high-tech? "Coupons on Checkout" is one app that makes it possible to have any coupon at the right time.

There are other things in this article but these examples show the need to adapt to upcoming buying trends.  It proves that the "responsive", reactive, or adaptive element of a web site is becoming more critical.

And, it demonstrates client's needs to "adapt" cutting edge technology in order to beat the competition.

It does make for some interesting dialogue as to the effectiveness of some of these efforts.  I know that because of my own bias ("I know those are ads and I am not going to shop for a sweater right now"), but then I am in marketing.

When I ask friends or acquaintances, their opinion about such advertising as those that slow down my Yahoo mail, or the Google Placed ads at the top or side of a page, I am usually given the same answer.

"I know they are paid for advertising so I do not click on them."

Is it any wonder numbers of stars and review content will continue to dominate purchasing in 2014?

SEO Scammers

There are two things that confound me about this business. I will tell only one today.

The first is that small business owners get a cold call from a company in “Nowhere, FL” and get hooked into buying a monthly SEO plan only to end up with four “listings” - Facebook, Goggle Local, Twitter and Yelp.

As an added bonus, these business owners get “generic” photos to represent their online presence. Finally they get nine posts a month to Facebook which is linked to Twitter. And the posts are not necessarily representative of the company.

One client, a restaurant owner, had generic very modern urban inside photos of a coffee counter posted on his Google and Yelp pages. This is a hometown diner here. Reminiscent of the old lunch counters in the Midwest.

The posts to his Facebook page included a photo of a TV Dinner – yup, Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Peas. The caption was “Celebrating the anniversary of the TV dinner.” 

Don’t do it. Don’t buy into some pie-in the sky promise to get you listed first and take care of your monthly Social Marketing. They do not even know you, let alone speak with your voice or attitude. Your customers know this. Your potential customers will walk in, see it wasn’t the place pictured and walk out.

Another “gimmick” some of these companies use is to lead you on month-to-month and when you finally decide it isn’t worth it, they’ll keep all your log-in information from you and/or delete all the posts. Now you have to start over.

There are two proper ways to do SEO. Do it yourself. Read about SEO from reputable persons who are the gurus of this type marketing. Some are listed on my Clients and Friends page. Then take the time to do it. Just a short warning – you will probably take a lot of time to do it and the whole time you will be thinking “I really should be doing my books right now.”

Or hire someone you know and trust – someone who will work with you and then give control to you when the initial SEO has been completed. Interview them like you would a potential employee and research them online.

Of course new to the industry but not unfamiliar with it, I am working locally with people I can meet with, in order to build reputation and clients. Small start, but I already have a few feathers in my cap.

Hey Here's my New Site!

So much anxiety – should I use Wordpress? Joomla? What if I go with a traditional website instead of a CMS? Will all the Wordpress junkies divorce me if I use something else?

Well here it is folks, and no it’s not complete. And it's not Wordpress. I don't even LIKE the way this program publishes, but I need it NOW and it is DONE! Nearly. You’ll see vast areas of space that need a little something. Maybe your comments?

For what it’s worth, I have been very busy with two things lately – Local SEO and Website Building for other people. I prefer SEO. I am good at it and it has well defined boundaries. As a person who strays outside when the boundaries are not well defined, I can chew up a lot of time researching and experimenting. Yeah – I DID color inside the lines. I was anal like that.

But the internet? You get me going on a topic and then I am flying off on something else I found or wait “Here’s ANOTHER expert I really need to subscribe too!”

Let me know what you think. Are my colors too obnoxious?