Vastplanet Blog - Internet Marketing | Ecommerce

Barack Obama Internet Marketing Strategy & Traffic Analysis

Michael Vorel — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:20:46 +0000

I wanted to dig deeper into the impressive traffic patterns of Barack Obama and his ride to Internet stardom. I reviewed various Internet statistics on unique visitors, average stay, attention, velocity, search, online advertising and how this all worked in his favor. Overall, I am really impressed with the Internet Marketing strategy of the Presidential Election Campaign as it involves a complex plan for seo, inbound links, sub-domains, paid advertising, e-commerce store, donations, collectibles, videos, social networking and ultimately news sites. I noticed recently the attention is starting to drop significantly as the Google PPC ad budgets have been slashed and overall excitement has waned. An important point with this campaign is that many sites placed hard links back to www.barackobama.com and numerous blog posts which helped the surge of visitors. Please note, the discussion on Barack Obama’s social networking utilizing Twitter, Facebook and MySpace is a post in itself and working on that one! Let me know your thoughts on this post.

Compete Graph - clearly July 2008 was a turning point for “Unique Visitors” for Barack Obama. Was that his trip to Europe and the Middle East? On a side note, Compete triangulates multiple data sources, including ISP, Panel & Toolbar to estimate U.S. traffic.

Average Stay - something happened here - people stayed on the site less, why? Seems like a mistake happened on content.

Attention - Measures all the time we collectively spend online and then determines what percentage of that time was spent on a given site. As you can tell from the graph the Internet attention on Barack Obama has dropped off significantly in share of total internet attention.

Velocity - Velocity reports the relative change in daily Attention. Velocity is used to determine the relative growth of a domain over a particular timeframe or compared to other sites. See the significant drop.

Google Trends Analysis - last 365 days with August showing the popularity rising for “barack obama” search in Google

Wow! 59 Subdomains for Barack Obama - other sources of traffic for him

Top 5 Subdomains - sending traffic to www.barackobama.com

my.barackobama.com (2017) www.barackobama.com (620) store.barackobama.com (89) donate.barackobama.com (27) factcheck.barackobama.com (19)

Full List of 59 Subdomains

Top Keywords Driving Traffic: (note the misspelling of #5)

barack obama
obama
barack obama website
barackobama.com
barak obama

Top 15 Domain sending traffic to the Barack Obama web site

www.democratnationalcommittee.com
www.democrathq.com
www.unitedheadlines.com
www.liveobama.com
www.billpressshow.com
www.democraticstuff.com
www.liberalstore.com
www.bumperstickermagnet.com
www.21stcenturydems.org
www.democracymatters.net
www.politifact.com
www.aerialartistry.com
www.chicagotribune.com
www.current.com
www.themiddleclass.org

Search Results on Barack Obama - note Myspace on #10 and not Facebook.

Hope you enjoyed the research, what are your thoughts?

Chinese Online Shopping Trends - Taobao, Alibaba, Baidu

Michael Vorel — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:39:29 +0000

According to iResearch the Chinese are really shopping online and companies are investing as well. Alibaba is investing 5 billion Yuan (US$ 725 million) in Taobao.com the online shopping site. Taoboa is China’s #1 auction site by sales volume. Yahoo is an investor in Alibaba and they compete with the search giant Baidu.com which Google invests in. Baidu is creating a new e-commerce concept in China that will have 10,000 sellers by the end of the year.

How big is the Chinese E-commerce Market?
Chinese Online Consumer Sales will increase to 126 Billion Yuan this year from 16 Billion Yuan in 2005 (WOW)

How any Chinese are Online?
253 Million Users have shopped online in China (roughly 1/3 of the population)

Did you Know Ebay doesn’t charge auction fees in China?
Yes, that’s true due to Taoboa not charging them and Chinese Ebay users jumped ship.

Who controls search in China?
Baidu has 65.8% of the China Search Market, that’s a challenge for existing companies as we have seen how Google has changed the landscape in the US.

Taobao.com - Main Site

Taoboa.com (blue line) vs. Baidu Statistics (red line)

Taobao Mall - Sub Store example

Taobao - Product Page
Very similar layout to an American e-commerce site in design and layout. In this case they are selling a Pomegranate whitening milky lotion

Taobao - Shopping Cart

Taobao - Customer Registration Screens

Alibaba.com
Alibaba.com connects millions of buyers and suppliers from around the world every day through three marketplaces: an English-language marketplace (alibaba.com) for global importers and exporters, a Chinese-language marketplace (alibaba.com.cn) for domestic trade in China, and a Japanese-language marketplace (alibaba.co.jp) facilitating trade to and from Japan. Together, its marketplaces form a community of more than 32 million registered users from over 240 countries and regions. Alibaba.com has offices in over 30 cities across mainland China as well as offices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe and the US. The company had around 6,000 full-time employees as of June 2008.

Baidu.com - main Baidu site

Baidu.com - even U.S. viewers is way up

Baidu Services (looks just like Google right?)

Baidu - Search Results (extremely similar to Google Search display)

Overall, a dynamic landscape for both auctions, search and e-commerce in China. As the #1 market in the world emerges how will you profit from it?

OJ Simpson - definition of brand destruction

Michael Vorel — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:28:51 +0000

Orenthal James OJ Simpson is a dead brand and that’s amazing but true (sorry Juice). I was thinking about how his life was really on a roll from a potential branding perspective. For example:

Scholarship to USC, Earned the Heisman Trophy in 1968
NFL Player of the Year in 1973, and played in six Pro Bowls.
Simpson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985
Film career in television series Roots, The Cassandra Crossing, Capricorn One, The Klansman, The Towering Inferno, Back to the Beach and The Naked Gun trilogy.
Hertz Rental Car, Pioneer Chicken, Calistoga Water, Honeybaked Hams and Napa Natural drinks spokesman
TV appearances, Sports Announcer

What went wrong?

Domestic Violence Issues
A long Criminal trial for murder murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1995 with questionable outcomes.
Civil Trial for wrongful death
All brands dropped OJ quickly
Canceled TV and Book Deals
IRS Tax Lien in 1999 for $1,435,484.17 in past due taxes (ouch)
Las Vegas Robbery at Palace Station Hotel Room over sports memorabilia

OJ, clearly took a wrong turn on his personal brand. At this point I wonder what brands would want OJ to be a representative. A definition of brand destruction!

Zappos Facebook Integration into E-Commerce Design

Michael Vorel — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:08:22 +0000

On Zappos today I purchased some shoes and as always was a great shopping experience.

I liked the final part of the shopping experience when they confirmed the order because they take the integration of social networking into e-commerce to heart and I believe it pays off for Zappos. I am always consulting at vastplanet with e-commerce merchants on the way they can maximize Facebook and Twitter so take a look at how Zappos does it.

This is what I saw on the Zappos order confirmation page:

What would you like to notify your friends on Facebook about?

THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING AT ZAPPOS.COM!
We appreciate your business! Your order has been received.

Click Here for More of Our Furry Zappos Customers!

Zappos.com is Hiring!
Locations include Nevada and Kentucky - USA
View Our Current Job Openings

Take a Peek Inside Zappos!
Read Our Company Blog

Tony (Our CEO) Invites You to
Follow Him on Twitter!
Follow Tony on Twitter

If You Have a Facebook Account,
Become a Fan of Zappos!
Become a Fan of Zappos

Human Behavior in Search Results - plural vs. singular matters

Michael Vorel — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:32:59 +0000

I spend a lot of time learning how people search for things on the Internet. Sometimes you can be very surprised at what you think is the obvious answer and what isn’t.

Q. How do people search for oil painting or oil paintings?

Results 1 - 10 of about 12,200,000 for oil painting
Results 1 - 10 of about 5,930,000 for oil paintings.
A. People search for a single painting since they want to solve one problem

Q. How do people search for shoe or shoes?

Results 1 - 10 of about 136,000,000 for shoe
Results 1 - 10 of about 389,000,000 for shoes
A. People search for a shoes because they want many choices

Q. How do people search for car or cars?

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,420,000,000 for car
Results 1 - 10 of about 856,000,000 for cars
A. People search for a car because they want just one

Q. How do people search for dvd or dvds?

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,110,000,000 for dvd
Results 1 - 10 of about 311,000,000 for dvds
A. People search for a dvd because they want just one

In summary, most people are singular in nature and go to Google to solve an individual problem or inquiry. However, unless you check you may be buying ads in the wrong place!

PopShops - Automatic Merchandiser for Affiliate Marketing

Michael Vorel — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:42:32 +0000

I originally posted a how to guide on using Popshops in the AffSpot.com Affiliate Marketing forum and and wanted to share with you on the blog as well.

PopShops & Grooming Lounge - Easy Merchandising Tips with datafeeds

We are huge fans of what PopShops.com is doing these days and wanted to make sure you know all about how easy it is to merchandise products. PopShops has over 37 million items in it’s database and 1498 vendors ready to integrate with Commission Junction, LinkShare, Google Affiliate Network, LinkConnector, PepperJam Network and ShareASale Affiliate Programs.

Did you Know:

100% Free to use
With PopShops you keep 100% of your commissions
Customize titles, descriptions, colors, fonts, image sizes, etc.
WordPress, TypePad and Blogger widgets
Product prices/availability automatically updated in shops
Upgrade plans to use PHP, ASP, HTML for your site or blog

The Grooming Lounge is integrated via Google Affiliate Network on PopShops and encourage you to follow these steps:
Step #1 - Go to www.popshops.com
Step #2 - Signup for an account and select the Grooming Lounge Store
Step #3 - Choose the category of product you are interested in.
Note - if you haven’t signed up for the Grooming Lounge Affiliate Program, head over to Google Affiliate Network or PepperJamNetwork!

Screen Shot - Left side is stores, middle you pick products, right side is matrix (you can choose a variety of grid options)

Grid Choice - alternating content (nice for blog, coupon site)

Grooming Lounge Vertical Alignment (smaller space needed)

Grooming Lounge Text Links (easy way to add links and copy)

The Grooming Lounge is the premiere destination for quality men’s grooming products, advice and services. Whether a man is looking for a new shaving regimen, hair product, skincare solution, gift or a way to deal with an embarrassing problem the Grooming Lounge can help. We have 3 store locations, booming catalog sales and are rapidly growing! Be Part Of A Hip Brand – As seen on TV – Good Morning America, CNN, CNBC, Fox News. Magazines – GQ, People, US, Playboy, Style, Business Week, Golf Digest, Trump, Cargo, Men’s Journal and Cigar Aficionado.

Commission Structure: 8 – 10% commission with 60-Day Commission Duration
Average Sale: $100
Coupons: YES
Datafeed: YES
Join Today: Visit Google Affiliate Network or PepperJamNetwork

Open Trademark Bidding Policy
We made a decision to allow you the flexibility to bid on Grooming Lounge keywords in the search engines. Some of you have taken advantage and had great success with it. If you haven’t already, go ahead and bid on Grooming Lounge keywords. PPC is a great way to hit $1000 in sales and boost your commission from 8% to 10%. We ask that you please don’t use our trademarks in a domain name or destination URL in anyway.

My SEO Secrets by Wil Reynolds of Seer

Michael Vorel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:54:12 +0000

I was at a great SEO session at Affiliate Summit with Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive. His slides from the presentation are now available and thought I would pass them on as they are excellent.

Wil covered the following and very good at SEO:

- What is Google Knol - what are the advantages of Google Knol
- How Google Knol is killing your content is King Strategy
- SEO Tools you can use from linkdiagnosis and SEO quake
- Longtail approach
- Google keyword tool
- MSN Adcenter Plug-in - use with excel macros
- Google advanced Queries
- How to get .edu links
- His personal SEO bookmarks at delicious

My 5 Favorite SEO Strategies Exposed

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: ase08 affsum)

Olympic Branding - Maximize Michael Phelps Brand

Michael Vorel — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:18:12 +0000

I am getting tired of reading about Michael Phelps, seems that no other person has made the spotlight. Today’s story I read was an anatomical breakdown of his body and yes I agree he is part fish and what a diet! How many sponsors does he have? Who would be a perfect brand? See the answer below as this is going to go Olympic!

Interesting Facts:

Height: 6 4″
Weight: 195 pounds
Long Arms, Long Reach, Large Hands, Long Torso, Increased Lung capacity
Double Jointed elbows, knees, ankles - Fish like

What he Eats (dead giveaway on Food branding)
12,000 calories daily, 6x Normal

Breakfast: 3 fried egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions & mayonnaise. 2 cups of coffee, 1 Five egg omelet, 1 bowl of grits, 3 slices of french toast, 3 chocolate chip pancakes.

Lunch: 1 pound of pasta, 2 ham and cheese sandwiches, energy drinks

Dinner: 1 pound of pasta, 1 pizza, energy drinks

Attention: Kraft, Starbucks Coffee, Hershey’s, Barilla, Dominos / Pizza Hut / Papa Johns, Gatorade

Recent Publicity

Question - Is the Michael Phelp’s brand profitable?

With all this Olympic hype, pending 8 Olympic Gold Medals what will the future branding of him bring?

On Aug 15th I saw that the Chicago Tribune covered this topic as well.

His 5 main sponsors include: Speedo, Visa, Power Bar, Omega Watches and AT&T

Next up, TV shows, Foods, Coca-Cola, Cars, Your Brand, etc..

Question: How come a Michael Phelp’s product line isn’t available yet?

Question: How come www.michaelphelps.com doesn’t go to his own branded site?

Overall, seems that his brand is not being maximized to the same potential of Michael Phelps

Jewelry Affiliate Programs and Gold Fluctuations

Michael Vorel — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:38:32 +0000

Was reading in Wall Street Journal on the price of gold and noticed that Gold Futures are tumbling down. Apparently, Gold has given up it’s gain for the year and is affected by a fall in oil futures. Here is why need to care about “Second Quarter Jewelry Demand for Gold fell 24% year over year”

To me, that is a red flag for promoting gold jewelry as consumers are pairing back purchases and ultimately your affiliate plan as well.

Question: What can you do to promote jewelry?

Answer: Weddings, Engagement, Anniversary - Are people stop getting engaged? Of course not.

So don’t let Gold affect your plan, just focus on diamonds! Cheers

Affiliate Summit - How I pick Affiliate Offers

Michael Vorel — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:22:49 +0000

I recently attended Affiliate Summit and just went through the 25 different affiliate marketing business ideas formed at the show. From Saturday to Tuesday I talked to many merchants, affiliate networks, cpa firms and affiliates. Here is how I figure out what I want to promote.

1. Review business card notes (I write on them notes to jog my memory)
2. Review the handout material to review offer again and pitch anything that isn’t compelling (I only take 1 page sheets, fyi)
3. Join any network that I came across that is new (you want to get that out of the way as soon as possible)
4. List out all the individual merchants, CPA offers onto paper with small action items
5. Review the List of 25 and rank A B C (Rank A means viable now, B - hold on, C - No)
6. Choose 5 deals to focus on.
7. Research keywords that drive the offer or brand (explore long tail).
8. Review PPC rates (to rich to play the game?)
9. Create Individual Web Sites or Integrate into existing ones with separate landing pages
10. Launch Sites & Grab some cash

Note - If the program does not produce within a short period of time the offer and site is scrapped. You won’t win them all so just accept that fact and move on.

Equals

Good Luck!