• Redirecting To A Different Page Using JavaScrip

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Scripts | Response: 0

    There are times when a simple JavaScript redirection from one page to another can come in handy and, the following JavaScripting will enable you to do this.

    When a page contains this javascript, it will be redirected to another page that you specify in the “window.location=”. You can change the number of refresh seconds by changing the “move()’,1000 to the number of seconds you’d like.

    Example:

    1000 = 1 second
    2000 = 2 seconds
    3000 = 3 seconds

    Place this JavaScript code between the <head> and </head> tags

    <script language=”JavaScript”>
    <!–hide from old browsers
    var time = null
    function move() {
    window.location = ‘http://www.yourdomain.com’
    }
    //–>
    </script>

    Place this JavaScript code in your <body> tag

    <body onload=”timer=setTimeout(‘move()’,1000)”>

    You should now have a page that will redirect to a new url when it loads in the surfers browser window.

    Article written by Lee

  • Organizing Your Hard Drive And Server

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Hosting | Response: 0

    We have probably all done it at some point, we get in such a hurry to upload our new site that we have just spent the last 20 minutes building that we don’t think about maintaining the site at a future date or, worse still, we need to change a site we built 6-8 months ago and can not remember where we uploaded it to.

    By organizing your server from day one of your steps into becoming a webmaster you will, inevitably, save yourselves a lot of time in the long term future of our business model.

    Lets take a look at how we can accomplish this ‘organization’ though.

    On your hard drive you need to have a ‘central’ location for all of your online files and folders, what better place to keep this than in a folder named ‘Online’ of course, this is just an example but it will son become apparent to you that this is probably the most logical folder name to use.

    Now, within this folder you are also going to need to have a few sub folders, i would suggest using a folder for each of the domains that you own so for example, for your first domain, you would name it myfirstdomain.com, your second would be named myseconddomain.com etc.

    Within these domain folders you will also need to have a selection of sub folders again, I would suggest names for these folders such as /html/, /scripts/, /articles/, you are now well on the way to organizing your server.

    In addition to these sub folders you will also need to create sub folders for your images that you will be using on your sites, I would suggest using the names /banners/ and of course, /images/ for these two folders, you now know that the /banners/ folder contains all of the buttons and banners you will use on your sites and the /images/ folder contains all of the .jpg and .gifs you will use. Inside the /images/ folder, it might also be advisable to create a sub folder called /thumbnails/ which, you can store your thumb nailed pictures in if required.

    One other advantage to organizing your folders and sites in this manner is that over time, it will assist you when it comes to dealing with hot linkers. Instead of having to find the paths to all of your individual image directory, you know instantly where you put them, without the need of logging onto your server.

    Ok so you now have a semi-organized folder structure on your HD, so far we hopefully have a folder structure that looks somewhat like this:

    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/

    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/html/
    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/scripts/
    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/

    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/html/Banners/
    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/html/Images/
    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/scripts/Banners/
    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/scripts/Images/
    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/Banners/
    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/Images/

    So, hypothetically, if you created a article called ‘Article One’ you would find this in the following place on your HD:

    C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/articleone.html

    See how easy that was to find on your hard drive?

    Of course, on your server the folder structure will be no different so, your structure will be mirrored EXACTLY from your HD to your SERVER I.E.:

    /usr/www/sites/myfirstdomain.com/articles/articleone.html

    Not only will you make your server layout a lot easier to navigate but, it should, in theory, save you time when submitting your sites to the search engines, free for all’s etc as, in your head, you will already know the location to any single page.

    Try this as an example…

    You have created an article site called ‘Online Marketing’ on your third domain, where is it located?

    That’s right, you will find it at http://www.mythirddomain.com/articles/onlinemarketing.html

    How much time would you have usually spent logging into your server trying to find this page?

    One other MAJOR advantage to keeping your server and HD structure the same is backing up your data now becomes easy as pie. you simply have to download your folders into the /online/ directory on your HD, then simply burn that entire directory to Cdrom.

    Hopefully this article has given you some insight into how proper organization can be of use to you on your HD and on your server. If you are just starting out in the adult industry hopefully you will see that spending a little time to make a structuring system such as this can save you a lot of time long term.

    One last question for you however, where would you find your article called ‘Marketing Shoes’ on your 56th domain name?

    Article written by Lee

  • Protecting The Kids – Europe’s Role

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: 2257 | Response: 0

    As adult webmasters we have certain obligations we must fulfill daily whether these be, legal or moral.

    One issue that is constantly cropping up in our industry is that of minors (Children) accessing adult websites and, more importantly, the ease of which they can do.

    Recent figures released by one of Europe’s top internet analysis companies show that children in Europe and, specifically within the United Kingdom are more likely to visit a website and that, ‘showing that around one in five Internet kids (290,000) check out the sex sites’.

    These figures are certainly alarming to say the least, bearing in mind they are specifically talking about the United Kingdom, that leaves a vast majority of Europe, as yet, un-analyzed.

    We should all adapt to new methods in order to protect minors from accessing our site whether that includes placing your sites behind AVS systems which, in my opinion is one of the best ways and, most profitable of protecting minors or, utilizing ‘web safe’ software packages that are available to block access to adult sites completely we all need to adopt these practices.

    The fact of the matter remains that, in this day and age, no matter what precautions we take in order to prevent access there will, undoubtedly, be a majority of children who can and will, get access to adult sites.

    Does that mean we should compromise on the quality of our sites? No
    Does that mean we need to think harder about how we develop our sites? Yes

    It takes very little effort to subscribe to the services to block access and, you can get a single line of code to place within your html from ICRA which will at least, deter underage surfers from accessing your sites.

    In addition to the above mentioned service, you can also place a link on your warning page/s to the following services for parents to block access from children to our sites, SAFESURF, CYBERPATROL, NETNANNY and, SURFWATCH amongst others. Its not just about utilizing software and ratings on our sites though, we can go much further than that and, for instance, using nothing but softcore content on our sites will protect to some extent the materials available to children but, in addition you will also notice your conversion ratios will go up! I have and, I’m sure you have, heard it time and time again.. Make them ‘Pay for pink’ and, by using softcore images on your sites that’s exactly what you are doing.

    I for one certainly hope that you take heed at this article, protecting our children is paramount if, we are to succeed in the business, it is getting harder and harder to control who accesses our site but, we can at least take a step in the right direction.

    Article written by Lee

  • The Ins and Outs of European Domain Name Registration

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Domain Names | Response: 0

    A domain name is more than just your online adult business address; it’s a crucial aspect of your online adult business. It is closely linked to the way a surfer thinks of and, more importantly, remembers your site. In many European countries, domain names that end with a country code carry more weight with the Internet-surfing public than dot.com domain names. So, if you want to have of a chance of selling to a foreign adult surfer in a European country you might consider registering a European country code top-level domain name (ccTLD) for your site.

    Obtaining a ccTLD could potentially:

    • Increase your chance of getting listed on a national search engine. Many national search engines require a company to be local, however that may be defined, to be listed with them.
    • Get you a higher ranking with a local search engine.
    • Make your business more accessible to customers and vendors in a specific country.
    • Make your business seem more local and thus help overcome any fear local customers might have of buying from a non-European outfit.

    What Is a ccTLD, Anyway?

    Generic top-level domains (TLDs) are not linked to any geographic area. They include the well-known and familiar .com, .org, and .net domain names. In contrast to these generic TLDs, there are ccTLDs: Each country and territory in the world has its own TLD. They include, for example, .at for Austria, .be for Belgium, and so on.

    Essentially the domain name policies regulate who can register what type of a domain. In principle, nearly anyone can register a generic TLD.

    It is important to keep in mind that you might lose a domain name you recently registered in Europe if another company can prove in court that the name is rightfully theirs. If the court decides that the plaintiff has a right to it, you will lose that domain name however, I am assuming that nobody reading this is going to be considering registering ccTLD’s for the purpose of cyber squatting.

    Each country or region has its own rules, policies, and regulations about who can register a ccTLD, and how. Common restrictions include the requirement to be a local registered company or to have registered the company and/or company name as a national trademark in a specific country. However, some countries are less strict about who can register. As always, it depends on the country and its particular rules.

    The table below is meant to give you easy access to the information you will need when you are ready to register a European domain name for your site.

    Here is an explanation of the categories used in the domain registration table:

    • Country: Name of the country you might want to obtain a domain name for your business in.
    • Name of domain: The ccTLD (a two-letter abbreviation).
    • Must be local: This can mean that your business presence, your company’s physical presence, or your trademarks must be local.
    • More domains possible: Some countries limit the number of domains that you can register.
    • Same name as owner: Some countries require that the registered name be the same name as the owner’s company name or trademark.
    • Signed contract: Some domain name registration agencies demand a written, signed declaration or contract to be sent in. If in doubt, read up on specific rules relative to the specific domain name registrars you will be using.
    Country Name of Domain Must be local More domains possible Same name as owner Signed contract
    Austria .at No Yes No No
    Belgium .be Yes Yes No Yes
    Denmark .dk No Yes No No
    Finland .fi Yes No Yes No
    France .fr Yes Yes No No
    Germany .de Yes Yes Yes No
    Greece .gr Yes No No No
    Iceland .is Yes No Yes Yes
    Ireland .ie No Yes No No
    Italy .it No Yes No Yes
    Luxembourg .lu No Yes No No
    Netherlands .nl Yes Yes No Yes
    Norway .no Yes No Yes Yes
    Portugal .pt Yes Yes No No
    Spain .es Yes No No No
    Sweden .se Yes No Yes Yes
    United Kingdom .uk No Yes No No

    Now you can see the possibilities available in respect of registering more than just dot.com addresses perhaps you might like to find a country you would want to gain some extra traffic from and see about registering a ccTLD and developing it.

    Also, you could improve your chances of gaining additional traffic to your new ccTLD domain by having some country specific language on that domain, again, how your site comes across to the surfer is just as important than the domain and, there are plenty of Adult Site Translation companies out there who can assist you with this part of the ccTLD development.

    There are, of course, other ways to gain additional foreign surfers other than just registering a ccTLD for example, on European Webmasters we have a domain name registration section that will allow you to translate specific text in order to gain type in foreign traffic on dot.com TLDs perhaps, if you don’t want to or, cant register a ccTLD in the country of your choice you might like to take this approach at gaining additional foreign traffic to your sites.

    I hope this article has given you a little insight into the varieties of domain names available in and around Europe and that you might just register a domain and see for yourself how profitable the European markets are.

    Article written by Lee

  • Marketing to European Surfers

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Promotion | Response: 0

    Marketing to European Surfers.

    Today we’ll try to answer couple of questions regarding dialers and how to market them to European traffic.

    How to get traffic to your European market targeted site?

    Pretty much the same way as for all the other sites, lets German market for example (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) use SE’s, German link-lists, TGPs,… feed site with your own traffic, and don’t forget to use exit-consoles.

    Is your site translated into specific language?

    Yes, of course you won’t get far using English template on German/Spanish.. sites… You can always contact Adult Site Translation if you need help with translations.

    What sponsor should you use?

    That is pretty hard to say. Practically since almost every European based sponsor offers dialers so it doesn’t really matter which one you choose. It’s the same with per sign-up sponsors: It depends how good you are in sending traffic to them. And as always try couple of them and see which one works best for you. Most of the sponsors will offer to your surfers to pay by CC, bank account and dialers.

    Me personally, I don’t really advertise dialers. I go for sign-ups because most if not all European sponsors are recurring and it brings more money in the long run. But if a surfer wants to pay the (admittedly) high phone bills – that’s fine with me In fact, sometimes I get more money from a 0190-number (dialer number in Germany starts with 0190) than I’d get if the surfer would sign-up with his CC and would cancel his membership after the first payment.

    Why are dialers so successful in the German/European market?
    Well, I can think of 3 reasons for this:

    1.) 0190-numbers are very common in Germany. Many support-hotlines use them, you can download logos for your cell phone via 0190, you can get health-tips via 0190, fax-numbers, etc… Germans see those numbers everywhere and get used to them. Of course they know that they are expensive but I think they tend to forget this because they are so common.

    2.) Much of my income from dialers is from Swiss and Austrian people. Especially surfers from Switzerland LOVE dialers (Some of them spend hours/nights with dialers and in the end if i get 50% of that for me is not bad, isn’t it? :) I think they love dialers because they hesitate to give out the information on their CC (if they have any) and they can’t/don’t like to transfer their money via bank transfers. So dialers are actually their only way to get into the members-area.

    3.) Credit cards are not very common in Germany. I would guess only some 30% have one and many who have one don’t believe that CC transactions on the internet are secure. So most of the surfers have only 2 options left: Paying by bank account or using a dialer. The bank account has 2 disadvantages in the eyes of the surfers: 1st “The sponsor knows my name, my account number, where I live and that I’m a greasy little wanker who pays for porn. -Maybe this sponsor is going to tell my neighbors about it-” 2nd “How can I explain this to my wife?” On the other hand the dialer has advantages: 1st It is anonymous. Nobody knows who and where the surfer is. 2nd The dialer is faster than typing all the necessary information needed for a bank transaction. A few seconds for a 35kb download and the surfer is ready to go. 3rd You can always find a reason why there’s this 0190-number on the phone-bill. “Well darling, you know, I had problems with my new graphic card and I had to contact the customer-support. Those damn bastards are on a 0190-number what what can I do?”

    Well, that’s about it on dialers. One warning at the end: If you like to give them a try beware of those that do auto-downloads and auto-installations. Surfers don’t like them. Use dialers where the surfers needs to click somewhere to download and install them.

    Article written by Lee

  • There’s Face Value And Then There Is Real Value

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: General | Response: 0

    How often do we sign up to affiliate programs based on their standard terms of service for example, Sponsor A will pay you $35 for every signup you send to them and they tell you they convert at roughly 1:200 whilst Sponsor B will pay you $30 per signup and they convert at roughly 1:200 also, which of these scenarios straight off the bat will make you the most money? Think about your answer first then read on.

    Negotiate The Figures.

    Most, if not all of us would have immediately chosen Sponsor A for the pure fact that they pay you $5 more per signup and they convert at the same rate as Sponsor B however, how many of us would have written or icq’d Sponsor B and asked them to raise their payout? Not many of us I would guess. With that said, what is to stop you from emailing a certain ‘Sponsor B’ if you are able to convert consistently at their published 1:200 and asking for a higher pay rate to continue sending your traffic to them? Nothing at all and, surprisingly enough, I would guess that for most programs, they would actually increase your payout if you have a history with them.

    Haggling The Costs.

    The example above used a sponsor as the main focus however, how many times have you spent money at a content provider? A hosting company? A traffic broker? Have you actually taken a moment to ask these companies if they would give you a lower rate on the services they are providing you with? Again, I bet not many of us have I know it was only recently when I started asking for long term customer discounts and the likes. In fact, from the first point of contact you have with any company online, be they an adult web host, adult traffic broker, content provider or, in fact, an affiliate program, spend an extra few seconds when you first sign up and see how they can improve their service for YOU. To your surprise they might just cut you a deal that is unmatched anywhere else!

    Don’t Undersell Their Products.

    With the above said, one thing that you need to be aware of is that if you start making absurd price cuts from these companies you will probably be told to politely take a running jump however, lets say you were going to be charged $50 for something, ask them if you can get the same service at a 10% discounted rate if you use them again, perhaps not even on the first purchase but on the second, the third, etc.

    By contacting these companies directly and not just going on ‘face value’ even if you only save yourself one or two dollars per purchase over a year those odds and ends soon add up to a nice saving.

    Saving Money – Recap.

    In essence many of us take things at face value whether we are talking to friends and peers or whether we are paying for goods and services but, by at least in asking for a discount on our purchase the worst thing that will happen is that you get told ‘no’ however, on the flipside of the proverbial coin, you might just find yourself a better bargain than you had already found in the first place and that’s some food for thought.

    Article written by Lee

  • Fonts – Everything You Wanted To Know

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

    All web browsers use standard fonts. Mostly two types, one for proportional, one for mono spaced fonts. Proportional (or variable width) characters adapt in width, an “m” uses more space than an “i”. Mono spaced (or fixed width) characters are all equal in width, typewriter style.

    Most browsers use “Times” for proportional fonts. This font was originally developed by the London Times news paper. “Courier” is used for mono spaced. This was a very popular font used for mechanical typewriters. Both are normally set to 12 points (1/72nd of an inch).

    Serif And Sans Serif.

    Both these fonts are so called serif fonts. The French word serif indicates the little strokes at the outer ends of the characters. They are very old, you see them in old gothic handwriting, or Greek and Roman buildings. Partly used for ornamental reasons, partly because the characters are easier distinguished.
    It’s a little odd they are used on computer screens. These are by nature quite coarse, which makes serif characters quite grainy and ugly. Sans serif characters generally display a lot better on screens. Sans serif literally translates to “without stroke”. Probably the most popular sans serif font is Helvetica or derivatives like Windows’ Arial.

    <FONT FACE=”Arial”>…</FONT>

    The FONT Tag.

    The html tag for fonts is a somewhat crude instrument. Most word processors let you use any font you like, as long as it’s on your system. And that’s the first big problem in web browsers. You have no control over other systems’ fonts. So you will have to choose a font which is likely to be on any system out there.

    <FONT FACE=”Arial,Helvetica,Sansserif”>…</FONT>

    Typeface.

    The font tag accommodates this by letting you specify several fonts in the FACE attribute. If the first one is not available, the second is used, and so on. The set above is often used. Arial is on all Windows systems, Helvetica on Macintosh, Sans serif on UNIX. The same is true for mono spaced fonts in the line below.

    <FONT FACE=”Courier New,Courier,Mono”>…</FONT>

    Size.

    Word processors let you specify font sizes in points exactly. No such luck in web browsers. There are seven sizes to choose from, denoted 1 (smallest) through 7 (largest). If this SIZE attribute is not used it defaults to 3. I think the default 12 point size is a bit big, so I use 2 for size, which gives you about a 10 point character. Some browsers let you set the overall font size smaller or larger. Which makes this issue even more awkward.

    <FONT SIZE=”2″>…</FONT>

    There is a nasty bug in some browsers. When using a block of text with size 1, the last line skips a line. This bug can be squashed by putting a <BR> tag immediately after the block of text. If your browser has this bug it will show in the second text below.

    There is a nasty bug in some browsers. When using a block of text with size 1, the last line skips a line. This bug can be squashed by putting a <BR> tag immediately after the block of text (with break).

    Color.

    Fonts can have any color you like, much like the colors in the body tag. Keep readability always in mind, avoid clashing colors and little contrast. You can create nice shading effects. But don’t make a Christmas tree out of your page by using too many colors.

    <FONT COLOR=”red”>…</FONT>

    Style Sheets.

    There is a chance all this soon will be replaced by style sheets. They do let you specify exact point sizes, even use downloadable fonts. But for now I would advise against that, since not all current browsers understand them. You could however use a combination of both, should you want to.

    Article written by Lee

  • Typography Know How

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Writing | Response: 0

    Our web sites are nothing without content, and most content is comprised of simple text. Many web designers neglect to pay attention to their typography, and it shows. Proper typography varies based on where the text is and what purpose it serves. Although there are no rules etched in stone, there are a few general techniques that should be followed. Although some of these tips may seem elementary, many of them are not followed.

    Headings.

    Clearly, headings should be larger, by 1 or 2 font sizes, than your body text. You may consider bold, but be cognizant of the letter width. Arial Black, for example, may create letters too fat for your taste. When using colors, be sure the colors contrast well with the background color of your site. Black and dark gray do not contrast well, while black and white (or light gray) work quite well. Sometimes, even a simple color change can create useful headings.

    Also be sure to cascade your headings. A main heading, for example, would be larger than subheadings. This effect creates a sense of emphasis and flow to the information.

    Do not italicize your headings. Italics are meant to underscore particular content, but since the text is a heading and of larger size anyway, italics are redundant and often make the text difficult to read.

    Fonts.

    The default is Times New Roman, which works fine, but many think it is boring. I have experimented with Arial, Georgia and Verdana, and have found Verdana the most readable font face available. This is a personal preference, but fonts should be restricted to the above four to ensure compatibility between all users of your web site. If your user’s browser does not support your font choice, their browser will revert to its default. Since browsers have increased support for CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, whenever possible, use CSS to define your fonts, rather than HTML’s <font> tag. Also, be sure to keep your font sizes large enough for visitors of all ages and eyesight’s.

    Stress Styles.

    Avoid using all capital letters within your text, as it makes it difficult to read and implies you are shouting at the reader.

    To stress words within your body text, decide on a format and stick with it. Some choose bold, while others choose italics or underline. My personal favorite is italics, but any of these can work well. Be careful when using underline, however, as it can be mistaken for a link. In addition, do not overuse these stress styles.

    Entire body text should not be bold. Bold, like italics, is used to emphasis words, and usually an entire body of copy should speak for itself in regularly styled text. I like to use CSS to space my body text out a little to increase readability.

    Article written by Lee

  • Google – Manipulate Your Listings For More Traffic

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Search Engine Optimization | Response: 0

    Google seems to be the Search Engine that everyone talks about almost on a daily basis however, far from being about search engine optimization and specifically about Google related SEO i wanted to touch on something new that, perhaps you would not have already thought about.

    Manipulating Google Traffic.

    So your site is already listed in Google but you want to increase the amount of traffic you receive, one way that we as a company have been successfully using for the last 18 months is that of manipulating the display of our clickable links in Google, how are we doing this? Simple, using ASCII character codes in your meta tags.

    ASCII In Your Meta Tags.

    ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) it has been proven, when used in your HTML page Meta Tags will actually display not only letters and numbers but, symbols as well, as a webmaster this can give you a great advantage over how much traffic you can pull from your Google listings and, not only Google, a few of the other search engines also read ASCII code when it is found in your Meta Tags.

    Putting This To Use Practically.

    A good method of putting this to use would be utilizing in your Meta Tags as follows.

    <title>Site Name <ascii code here> page title</title>
    <meta name=”Description” content=”normal page description”>
    <meta name=”Keywords” content=”normal keywords”>

    This will display a search engine listing that not only has your site name on it as well as a description but, in the position where the ASCII code will appear you will also have an attention grabbing symbol enuring that your site stands out from all the others listed on the same search engine results page as yours.

    ASCII Meta Tags – An Overview.

    Hopefully you have seen how adapting your current HTML page Meta Tags by placing an ASCII character code within them can benefit you for gleeming further search engine traffic to your sites and, with this new found knowledge you may well place both your sites traffic and your bottom line profits ahead of other webmasters.

    Article written by Lee

  • The Successful Marketing Approach

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Promotion | Response: 0

    In today’s volatile and competitive marketplace, the strategic manager must possess a sophisticated perspective regarding creating and maintaining the overall image of the organization.

    In order to accomplish this goal, marketing must play a key role, regardless of the company’s size.

    To be truly effective, a company must be up-to-date with it’s marketing ‘psyche’. In bygone times, companies concentrated on items it was able to produce, not on customer needs and wants. This type of outdated thinking will most likely lead to a rather short lifespan.

    Today, marketing is a holistic approach that is often more complex than first thought.

    What Is Marketing?

    It is a process through which an organization identifies a need and then provides a means of filling or satisfying that need.

    Customers are more informed and savvy than in the past and they expect more – in the quality of both products and service. Today’s customer is not willing to merely sit passively by and consume – he wants a voice and relationship with the companies with whom he chooses to conduct business.

    Marketing is not deciding where and how to advertise. This is only one component of the process. Effective managers make sure they have a well-defined and mapped out strategy that deals with the entire lifecycle of the process. The most successful companies have a keenly honed customer-centric marketing model.

    This model outlines a process that allows the company to determine the needs and wants of a “target market” and deliver this while instilling in the customer the belief their company’s ‘satisfaction solution’ is better value than the competition’s.

    The first step in a marketing strategy involves the identification of unmet needs within a market and delivering/developing products and/or services to meet those needs.

    Define Your Market First.

    Is it a business-to-consumer company, a business-to-business company, or both? Regardless of the target(s) a company must be able to clearly identify a common need amongst a large portion of this market, as well as that portions propensity and ability to buy that product or service.

    Once the target market has been identified it is time to do some analysis. The depth, complexity and related cost should remain proportionate to the ratio of overall business this product or service is anticipated to generate.

    Analyze Internally.

    What will be involved in creating this product or service? Is there access to all of the necessary components? How much volume can be handled? Are their efficient distribution channels? What will it cost to make or provide this? The next phase is an external analysis that looks at specific trends within the target market. With this information in hand, a company is then able to make an informed decision as to whether or not it is feasible to proceed. Now that the target market has been identified and the operational side has been flushed out, a strategy can be addressed. How a company decides to communicate its message should be in correlation to its overall marketing strategy. Whether the most effective method of conveying you message to the target audience is through traditional advertising channels, the Internet or more innovative activities, it should be apparent from the prior analysis. The final phase of a marketing strategy should examine the component of customer relationship management: What processes are in place to service our customers? How do we ensure a positive resolution of customer complaints? What performance measurements will be used to determine how well clients are being serviced? And, most importantly: How will customer relationships be maintained so they will do business with us again and again? By developing a comprehensive strategy that spans the entire lifecycle of new to repeat client, a company will find it is able to effectively address the present needs and wants of it’s target markets, as well as being able to incorporate new areas as they develop. Article written by Lee

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