I have heard my generation called any number of things, the “blinking 12:00’s” after digital clocks when they reset, generation “Y” as a compliment (or not so complimentary) to generation “X”, and Dan Tapscott in his book Growing up Digital (he also wrote Wikinomics) calls us the “Net” Generation or N-Geners for short. I gave up and just say “I grew up in the Information Age.”

What’s so important about the children of the Baby Boomers? Well, we are changing the face of the world, which may not sound that huge, every up-and-coming generation does. However, marketing strategies, technology and even communication will have to change to accommodate these tech-savvy young adults and kids. Already we are untouched by TV and radio ads because we’ve been flooded with advertisement our entire lives. We multi-task through two and three kinds of media at once. We are making newspapers obsolete.

So how should this change your marketing strategy? What is the most important thing for your company to do? If you don’t know, find out.

Current research continues to support the fact that online presence and information contributes to more offline sales. Here are two “DON’T’s” to draw from this:

1. DON’T worry. If you aren’t set up for people to order online, you haven’t necessarily missed an opportunity. Lots of people go to a store only after they check out a website.

2. DON’T think having a website is pointless. Some people say “My website didn’t bring me any sales.” But having a web presence and information can still contribute to an offline sale. If you are really worried, get a tracking program for your site like Google Analytics or Woopra.

With all the new and interactive ways to reach your customers through web 2.0, you might think other forms of online advertisement have become obsolete. Not so much with e-mail. Its called permission-marketing (coined after a book by Seth Godin). That’s when a customer goes to your website and chooses to receive emails from you, either by accessing a form, subscribing to a newsletter or signing up for coupons/discounts.

Emarketer researched these permission sales. They say as long as your content continues to be relevant to the reader, you will continue to have access to them. If a client trusts you, they are more likely to buy. So keep in touch with those emails; when people say they want to know more, tell them! Don’t worry about being “cutting edge”, just be open and honest about your business and the right clients will find you.

Welcome to my soapbox. Pay Per Click might be the worst form of advertisement in existence and mainly consists of big companies getting rich off of little companies’ money. Not that I have any direct issues with Yahoo or Google, they are offering a service that people are willing to pay for, but most business owners just aren’t educated enough to know that it doesn’t work.

I want to make the comparison to newspaper advertising. Before the internet many people put ads for their business in the daily paper. You could pay extra to have a bigger box or even a full page ad, and then pay even more to get it in color. But these steps all made sense, pay a little extra, get more notice. However, the internet doesn’t work that way. There are lots of ways to advertise for free (I am more than happy to tell you about them, see last blog). Paying more does not mean getting more when it comes to the web.

What sparked me to write about Pay Per Click today was an article about a lawsuit against Yahoo. In the article it talks about fake clicks, Yahoo being aware of the problems and still doing nothing and ignoring repeated inquiries from the company. But here are some other good sites: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Understanding Click Fraud, Good Old-Fashioned Research, or you can be lumped in everyone who advertises falsely.

Of course, there are lots of companies out there to help you stop click fraud. But of course, you have to pay them too. So you pay for advertising and then pay another company to make sure your advertisment is working. Peachy. I might even go so far as to say, Pay Per Click could be considered the biggest scam on the internet today.

So if you are a small business owner and considering Pay Per Click, please, please, do research and consider the costs. This is not a newspaper ad.

When it comes to SEO, keywords aren’t the only important thing. Linking to other websites will get your website noticed and also raise you in Search Engine results. So if your business has a physical location you should link your website to Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, the Yellow Pages and any other free directories you can think of.

Here is a link and some information about another directory I stumbled upon. Its called Localeze; it specializes in searches for local businesses. The article has a short video and also links to the Localeze website.

http://www.imediaconnection.com/spot/iMediaSpotMemberMain.aspx?PlayNow=1&VideoID=137&ClientID=33&AccountID=47

Best thing about the internet: no closing time. It’s amusing to read that the American online growth is slowing down. We’re only projected to grow by 3.1 % in 2008… but that will put us at close to 200 million people online. However, the time each American spends online is increasing. Last year Americans averaged about 15 hours a week online. Some people access the internet for work but more and more people are going online to shop after hours, do research without leaving their homes or just to relax. If your company’s not working for you while you’re sleeping you might be missing the best opportunities.

So. We’ve established that more and more women go online. The upcoming generations are also completely immersed in internet culture and the teen online population continues to skyrocket. And, as with every other market, the Baby-Boomers refuse to get left behind. In 2006, at least 58.2 million Boomers accessed the internet at least once a month. eMarketer predicts that number will jump to 63.7 million by 2011. That’s about 5 million more Boomers online! About a one million increase each year. The web isn’t just for kids, every single generation, gender and race is only increasing in online number. Even the “Silver Surfers”, those 60+ are predicted to increase by 7 million in the same 5 year period, taking hold of 12% of internet users.

eMarketer says that in the US more women spend time online than men. Women make 51.8% of US internet users. Not much of a difference? They estimate that 4% comes out to more than 8 million more women than men online by 2012.

The reason offered for why more women go online than men, is that there are more women in the US according to the census. More an more girls born every year just add to this. In fact, a high percentage of women online are teenagers. 55% of all online material submitted by teens are from females.

So if your product or service has women in its market, wake up an take notice. If you market to the information age, teenagers and young adults, also take notice. Make your website friendly and interactive towards this segment of the population!

Numbers and facts from:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006082&src=article1_newsltr

Today on CNN there was a story about the real estate market and its continued downward trend. (Though if you are from Dallas like I am, talk to a Realtor in the area before you judge the market.) Anyhow, the reporter urged anyone selling their house to check out a Realtor’s website before using them. If they weren’t able to present your home on their site with good photographs and a well written page, then don’t use them.

Many, many Realtors have a website that is a template given to them by the company they associate with. Templates are usually not “great” websites. Some of them look nice but rarely are they well optimized or truly personal. Nor can they handle the kind of in-depth attention that CNN suggested. If you are a Realtor, consider this: A web page is the first impression your clients have of you. What do you want that impression to be?