Posts Tagged ‘Submit Solution’
Monday, June 15th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Oliver Bigler, the founder and CEO of eHarbor, Inc., was spotlighted in the summer 2009 issue of Utah Valley BusinessQ on page 63. This magazine highlights good small-business practices and entrepreneurial achievements in the area south of Salt Lake City.
The feature focuses on Bigler’s ability to think on his feet and remain flexible in his business decisions. His ideas have led to a change in eHarbor’s and its affiliates’ focus from search engine optimization to website hosting and ecommerce solutions.
Bigler joined what would become eHarbor in 2002 after working as a Strategy Business Consultant for the Monitor Group in Cambridge, Mass. Bigler started targeting a growing segment of the online market: small to mid-size business and ecommerce. Submit Solution was the first entity created under Bigler’s leadership, followed shortly thereafter by Real Estate Promoter, which focused on search-engine marketing and lead generation in the online real estate market. In 2003, Bigler created a new corporate entity to house the increasing number of divisions. That new entity was named eHarbor, Inc.
I talked a bit about Bigler in my second blog entry “eHarbor’s future: Swinging for the fence.” He has big plans for 2009, and many of them have already come to fruition. Be sure to check out the redesigned Magellan Commerce website. You’ll see many other positive changes this year as we work on new designs for our other affiliates, such as Submit Solution. Exciting news keeps coming from eHarbor, Inc.
Tags: business, company, Ecommerce, eHarbor, magellan commerce, marketing, Media, news, oliver bigler, Real Estate Promoter, Submit Solution, Utah Valley BusinessQ
Posted in Ecommerce, Media, eHarbor | 5 Comments »
Monday, June 1st, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Here’s an interesting trend online marketers should pay close attention to: the increasing length of search queries. That’s right, online users are Googling more search terms at a time to find specific topics and products. And they are clicking on paid listings less often than before.
This is big news because it represents a shift from business as usual.
The number of words per search grew from 2.8 in January 2007 to above 3.0 in March 2009, according to comScore, a top source of online research. This change might seem insignificant, but it is actually quite large, statistically speaking.
I read about this shift in search queries in a WebProNews article, entitled “Longer Search Queries Hurting PPC Clicks?” The author of that article suggested online marketers who use paid search in their marketing campaigns will have to adapt and be much more creative in their selection of search terms.
When people used fewer keywords in their searches, it was easier for marketers to choose good ones with low competition to get their paid-search listings on. Now, however, people are using so many keywords that a growing number of search-results pages do not include any paid-search listings because they have gone unnoticed.
The world of pay-per-click might become extremely complex in the near-future as marketers awaken to these facts. A seemingly endless number of keyword combinations could make the task of reaching the right customers more difficult but also more effective at the same time.
People who use more search terms are usually more intent on finding and buying a product than those who type in one or two keywords. It will be interesting to see where this trend leads.
If you would like help with creating an effective paid-search campaign, I recommend contacting Submit Solution or Real Estate Promoter. These eHarbor, Inc. affiliates are industry veterans and they will able to help you.
The photo of the complicated wiring is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of challiyan.
Tags: affiliate, article, change, comScore, Ecommerce, eHarbor, future, keyword, marketing, news, online, Paid Search, Pay-Per-Click, PPC, Real Estate Promoter, research, search engine, Submit Solution, WebProNews
Posted in Pay-Per-Click | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
In the digital age, information is not only plentiful, it’s downright endemic. We have Web analytics tools that can glean information on people who visit our websites.
I will compare information gathering to eating. The more food we eat, the more weight we are likely to gain. If we eat everything we find, we’re not living a healthy lifestyle. It takes discipline and wisdom to choose the foods that our bodies need the most and then eat appropriate servings of them. A little variety doesn’t hurt either.
If we constantly eat and never do anything with that energy, even if the food we eat is good for us, we’ll probably become obese. People who become obese have a greater chance of premature death, just as ecommerce companies that become saturated with information and don’t do anything with it can die prematurely, as well. Not to mention suffer indigestion.
Information is a great thing, just like food. But we must use it wisely. We should gather information pertinent to our needs and then put it to good use in our online marketing decisions, product pricing, customer service, etc.
By the way, I got the idea for this blog entry from an article in Ecommerce Times, entitled, “Drowning in Data: Web Analytics and Information Overload.” That article has lots of insights into information gathering, and I took a piece and ran with it.
This leads me to some things I learned at a recent Webinar by Hubspot and Brent Leary, entitled “How to Use Social Media to Attract More Customers.” I promised I would talk more about this Webinar in my blog entry on Facebook, and I’ll keep my word now.
I highly recommend clicking on the Webinar link above to watch the hour-long presentation. You can also download the presentation slides in a PDF file to save time.
In the Webinar, I learned about websites I can use to both gather and organize information from social-media sites like Twitter. Here are the ones Leary mentioned:
- TubeMogul – distribute online videos and analyze viewers and impact.
- CoTweet – organize your conversations in Twitter.
- Salesforce – measure results in Twitter, Google and other online media.
- Bit.ly – shorten links and keep track of who clicks them.
- Favotter – another Twitter measurement site.
- Twitalyzer – in-depth information on your Twitter account.
I find these sites helpful in my efforts to focus the social-media exposure of eHarbor, Inc. and its affiliates. In fact, eHarbor’s affiliates help not only to create a website for you, but track and gain more visitors through search engine optimization and other strategies.
These companies include: Magellan Commerce, Real Estate Promoter, Submit Solution, and Direct Home Find.
Remember, you are what you eat – but it’s what you do with your time and energy that truly defines you.
The photo of the fat cat is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of brokinhrt2.
Tags: affiliate, animal, article, Brent Leary, company, data, Ecommerce, Ecommerce Times, eHarbor, facebook, flickr, funny, google, humor, magellan commerce, marketing, obesity, Real Estate Promoter, Social Media, Submit Solution, twitter, Web analytics, website
Posted in Ecommerce, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Two weeks ago I mentioned eHarbor, Inc. won its first game of the softball season in the Provo/Orem recreation league. On Wednesday, April 22, 2009 our team played its second game.
We were supposed to play our second game last Wednesday, but, amazingly, it snowed several inches and made the field unplayable. Snow in spring! Global warming, I guess.
Our softball team took the field Wednesday at 9:15 p.m. and kept swinging for the fence until we won 21-16. We’re now 2-0!
The game’s highlights included:
- Four eHarbor players batted 1.000.
- Two players hit home runs. Mike Sorenson, a Submit Solution representative, got an in-the-park home run, while Calvin Russell once again hit one into the parking lot.
Our team’s next game is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 6:15 p.m. Hopefully we won’t see any snow this time.
This is my 30th blog entry on the eHarbor Blog. We’ve come a long way in the past three months. I’ve been talking a lot recently about social media, news media companies like the New York Times and, of course, ecommerce. I thought I’d take a break from that hard and heavy stuff to talk about other things I find interesting – things that make me happy.
I hope you notice the tag logo we added to the eHarbor Blog. You can see it in the address window above. We made it using Favicon.
The photo of the baseball player swinging is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker.
Tags: affiliate, baseball, company, eHarbor, flickr, Fun, game, news, orem, positive, provo, slogan, sport, Submit Solution, success, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I read a Bloomberg article that said the New York Times is facing a large drop in revenue and is trying to cut back on its expenses to stay in business. The article is entitled, “New York Times Sees Further Ad Drop After Loss Widens.”
The New York Times is learning the hard way that ecommerce and online media are changing the way people gather information and the way marketers advertise their products to customers. They’re trying to stay afloat by cutting jobs, reducing their staff’s salaries and selling property and other assets to try to make up for lost advertising revenue.
All of this is prolonging the inevitable. Old media will have to adapt to changing conditions or go the way of the railroad.
For better or worse, Facebook, Twitter and other social-media sites are revolutionizing communication and information distribution. Marketers are shifting their advertising dollars online because it is much more cost-efficient to do so. Print faces serious challenges because of this.
One quote in the Bloomberg article stuck out to me above all the others. Thyra Zerhusen, managing director of Optimum Investment Advisors, said the New York Times has “to do a better job monetizing their online revenues.”
This seems to be a common theme for companies looking to make a profit online. Online marketers save money by hosting a website instead of renting space at a mall, but they need to understand doing business online is a big change from the old way of doing business and it requires different approaches to earning a profit.
I recommend going to Magellan Commerce’s redesigned website to find resources that can help you succeed online. These include search engine optimization, website design, and more.
You can also go to other eHarbor, Inc. affiliates: Submit Solution and Real Estate Promoter.
The photo of the tiger staying afloat is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of fPat.
Tags: advice, affiliate, article, Bloomberg, company, consumer, Ecommerce, eHarbor, facebook, flickr, future, internet, magellan commerce, marketing, Media, new york times, news, online, Real Estate Promoter, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Media, Submit Solution, twitter, web, website
Posted in Ecommerce, Media, eHarbor | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
The Internet has changed the way we do a lot of things. Ecommerce is changing the way we shop for goods and services. Online marketing is proving more popular to advertisers than other forms of media, especially in the current recession.
For better or worse, the Internet is changing the news media, as well.
It’s not easy being in the news business. They work hard to analyze stories and write up accurate and up-to-date information, only to have their work quickly summarized and modified for blogs, sometimes with little credit to the original author. There are even a few bloggers who point out all of the misspellings and bad grammar in otherwise good articles.
Often, bloggers practice fair use of copyrighted content by using only a small portion of an article and building their own ideas off of it. I did that with the story on consumers touching products.
Whenever I include an image, which is the property of someone else, I make sure to give credit where credit is due. You might notice my attribution at the bottom of almost every blog entry. I’ve done that from the very beginning.
We appear to be in an age when people like to think of information as free. That can be a good thing, but it can also lead to a lack of credible information in the long term, as news writers lose incentives to generate well-researched stories in the first place.
What inspired me to write about this topic is an article in Ars Technica, called “The newspaper industry’s attack on Google misses the point.” Fascinating read, by the way. I recommend it.
I thought this was an important topic to spend time discussing here in the eHarbor Blog. I hope to keep share more positive stories soon on eHarbor, Inc. and its affiliates: Magellan Commerce, Real Estate Promoter and Submit Solution.
The photo of the dilapidated Dallas Times Herald sign is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of adonis paul hunter / ahptical.
Tags: blog, change, Ecommerce, economy, eHarbor, future, google, growth, internet, magellan commerce, marketing, Media, news, online, Real Estate Promoter, search engine, Submit Solution, web
Posted in Ecommerce, Media | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Can’t touch this. No, not the M.C. Hammer song – actually, I’m referring to a flaw in the format of ecommerce. I recently read a Time Magazine article, entitled “Want to Save Some Money? Shop Without Touching.” In that article, they talk about a remarkable study from UCLA and the University of Wisconsin that shows that consumers who touch a product are much more likely to purchase the product and even want to pay more for it than if they don’t touch it.
“When you touch something, you instantly feel more of a connection to it,” said Suzanne Shu, who teaches at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and co-wrote the study. “That connection stirs up an emotional reaction – ‘yeah, I like the feel of it, this can be mine.’ And that emotion can cause you to buy something you never would have bought if you hadn’t touched it.” This quote is from the Time article.
How interesting. The Time article focuses on consumers, saying that they can potentially save money by keeping their hands to themselves at stores. While that is a good idea, and I intend to follow that advice, I think the results can send a completely different message to ecommerce marketers.
To me, this article brings up the problem that ecommerce is, by definition, online shopping. And the Internet is different than a mall. Therefore, online consumers, who are unable to touch products they see on websites, might be less able to connect with products and won’t necessarily be as interested in buying them. It’s much easier to shop around for the best deal online, also. It’s a competitive market online.
It is essential to get your name out there as much as possible while the recession continues and since you face this slight disadvantage. Even though potential customers can’t touch the products on your website, they can be impressed by your professional presentation, high placement on Google and other search engines, and the great content on your site that attracted them in the first place.
Ecommerce sales continue to grow, despite the recession, even while sales slow in traditional retail stores. Clearly, consumers are interested in shopping online, and the ability to touch products isn’t the most important part of the buying process.
If you would like to have a quality website, and utilize search engine optimization in your efforts to gain customers online, be sure to check out eHarbor, Inc.’s services.
You might also want to check out Magellan Commerce, which recently launched a redesign of its website. Other eHarbor affiliates include Real Estate Promoter and Submit Solution.
The photo of the Don’t Touch Me sign is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of F.S.M.
Tags: company, consumer, Ecommerce, google, internet, magellan commerce, marketing, Media, news, online, Real Estate Promoter, search engine optimization, SEO, study, Submit Solution, Time magazine, UCLA, web, website
Posted in Ecommerce, eHarbor | 6 Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I get to fulfill my promise in my last blog post by writing about some of the great things happening at eHarbor, Inc. I’m excited!
Magellan Commerce, an eHarbor affiliate that was formed in May 2008, launched a completely redesigned and improved version of its website on Friday, April 3, 2009. It is quite an improvement, as you can see from the before-and-after screenshots below.
Original version of the Magellan Commerce website
New version of the Magellan Commerce website
Magellan Commerce designs websites, corporate logos, business cards, letterheads and postcards and more for businesses and individuals. They also help companies top search engines with search engine optimization.
Remember the SEO series we finished a little while ago? The tactics we discussed in that series, such as simplifying URLs, optimizing images and improving anchor text, are among those Magellan Commerce uses for its clients.
I recommend checking out the redesigned Magellan Commerce website for yourself today! Feel free to also visit other eHarbor affiliates, like Real Estate Promoter, Submit Solution and Direct Home Find.
I look forward to sharing more positive ecommerce news like this soon.
Tags: affiliate, company, Direct Home Find, Ecommerce, eHarbor, growth, internet, magellan commerce, new, news, online, positive, Real Estate Promoter, redesign, search engine optimization, SEO, Submit Solution, update, website
Posted in Ecommerce, SEO, eHarbor | 7 Comments »
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
By Robert Lockard
So far, it appears the Conficker C virus is not doing much damage, as many had predicted it would. The Washington Post published a satiric blog post on April 1, entitled “Conficker Worm Strike Reports Start Rolling In,” describing all of the damage being done by the virus. Then, at the end, the author included a note saying, “Just kidding - April fools!”
This keeps happening: the Cold War, Comet Hale-Bopp, Y2K – all of these events were supposed to bring about the end of the world, or at least a fundamental change in it. But they failed to live up to expectations. The world hardly changed at all as a result of these events. Yes, I know the Soviet Union fell apart at the end of the Cold War, and that was a pretty big change. But look at Russia today and you’ll see they haven’t really changed that much. President Obama just met with the Russian president to talk about nuclear disarmament. Sound familiar?
Pranks like Conficker C, which don’t deliver on their promises, might actually do a great deal of damage by leading people to lower their guard or simply not care about actual crises that come later on. I never try to fake people out so I can laugh at them and say, “Made you look!” because that damages credibility and makes people constantly on edge and less eager to trust others. That’s not what I want.
This discussion reminds me: Last week, eHarbor, Inc. treated its employees to a showing of the movie “Knowing.” The movie had a lot of good moments, and I especially enjoyed it because the filmmakers actually had the courage to *SPOILER ALERT* blow up the world. No sugarcoating, no simple solution, no endless number of countdowns to avert destruction, like in “Armageddon” (a movie that utterly failed to live up to its title) – just the whole world on fire. Now that’s a way to deliver on catastrophic promises.
Mind you, I don’t want the world to be destroyed and, after seeing the movie “Knowing”, I felt a little depressed. But I do like seeing promises fulfilled when someone bothers to make them. Heck, even “Back to the Future Part II” promised the universe, or at least our galaxy, would be destroyed by a time paradox – but that didn’t really happen. All I’m saying is I hope someday people who promise something earth-shattering will actually follow through with it. Until then, I won’t hold my breath.
By the way, eHarbor and its affiliates (Magellan Commerce, Real Estate Promoter and Submit Solution) have good news on the horizon that I can’t wait to discuss. We’re growing a lot and we hope to share the positive ecommerce news soon as new products are released and updates are added to our websites.
The photo of the cat and dog sitting together is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of MïK.
Tags: april fools day, armageddon, back to the future, computer virus, conficker c, eHarbor, flickr, funny, holiday, humor, Knowing, magellan commerce, movie, news, online, Real Estate Promoter, Submit Solution, web, worm
Posted in Ecommerce, Movies | 2 Comments »
