In response to the questions we frequently receive about how best to utilize these new technologies, we’ve collected some of our favorite articles on five of the most important new media for innovative marketing efforts.

Take a look, and don’t forget to share any thoughts or questions in the comments section at the bottom of each posting!

1. Digital Signage
Thinking about bringing digital signage into your stores? Here are five key things to consider before it’s installed.

2. Email Marketing
Check out six simple steps for developing an effective email marketing strategy—or improving the one you already have.

3. Maximize Your Website
How well is your website performing? Learn how two valuable tracking tools, from a web audit to GreenTrak web analytics, can help your site achieve optimum success.

4. Mobile Marketing
Would text message marketing be an effective way for you to reach out to customers? Should a branded iphone app be part of your new media marketing strategy? Check out the benefits of mobile marketing, and get answers to your FAQs.

5. Social Media
The benefits of business blogging, plus a few points to consider before you dive into—or dispel the value of—social media.

Take a look at the web audit below—you might find some new opportunities for improving your site that you haven’t considered before!

A) User Experience & SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Use GreenTrak or another comprehensive web analytics system to assist you in answering the following questions:

1. Who comes to your site, and what are they looking for?
2. Is your navigation easy to use? Are your users finding what they’re looking for?
3. Is your site search engine-friendly?
4. Are you using basic SEO practices?

B) Content

1. Is your site content current and regularly updated?
2. Who updates the content? Who should be updating it?
3. Does your site contain press releases, FAQs, or useful links to other websites?
4. Do you have any “web-only” content on your site?
5. Is the content written in short paragraphs?
6. Do you collect email addresses on your site?
7. Are your “opt-in” and “unsubscribe” options easy to locate and use?

C) “Clickability”

Interlinking involves adding content or links to related pages throughout your site that will enable users to navigate to other parts of your site. Interlinking can help increase web traffic and improve SEO.

Make sure you have interactive elements that can help improve interlinking, such as:

• Search function
• Graphics/photos
• Downloadable files
• Printable pages
• Social media
• Maps

D) Traffic

1. Are you listing your web address on all printed materials?
2. Have you registered with the major web directories?
3. Have you edited the title, keywords and description tags on your site?
4. Are you linking to the sites of similar organizations?
5. Are you promoting special events and offers on your site?
6. Are you using email messaging strategically?
7. Are the links on your website up-to-date?
8. Are you regularly analyzing the web traffic on your site using GreenTrak or another web analytics tool?

E) Credibility

1. Does your website have a privacy policy?
2. Is contact information easy to access?
3. Is your mission statement easy to find?
4. Do you provide content and resources that build brand integrity?

A web audit performed by DW Green Company is designed to highlight the specific areas of your website in which improvements are recommended, and to present you with an action plan for making these improvements.

If you’re interested in a DW Green Company website audit, or would like to discuss other options for improving your website’s performance, please contact us.

A website tracking system shows you exactly how your website is performing.

A Few Things to Consider:

1. If you’re currently using Google Analytics to study your website visits, you’re among the elite few who can navigate through data to get usable, practical information to manage your supermarket business. It’s free, but it’s not all that easy to use.
2. If you are sending out email editions of your weekly ads or periodic “web blasts,” you absolutely need to know how many customers are opening these ads or promotions, as well as how many are acting on the offers. If you’re not offering an email option for your weekly ads and promotions, you should be. The cost is very, very close to zero and you have the ability to measure the effectiveness of your ads and promotions.
3. You should assign one person in your organization to view your daily website traffic statistics and report to you any aberrations. If the number of site visits double in one day, for example, identify what caused the increase in web traffic—and continue doing it!

How much does it cost to subscribe to a website tracking system?

You should expect to pay around $50 or less per month for a completely comprehensive website tracking system. The system should be easy to use, highly intuitive, enable you to easily download information to EXCEL for future analysis, and provide “real time” reporting as well as standard graphs and chart to ensure ease of use.

FREE TRIAL OFFER

We’ll set up your current website to give you easy access to your website tracking reports. Our free trial is a no cost, no obligation opportunity to see exactly how your website is performing over a 2 week period.

This offer is limited to the first 50 supermarket retailers to request the free trial offer.

If you have a supermarket website, here are some of the basic “at a glance” items you should be viewing, and that GreenTrak provides:

• Touch Mapping
  Once they’re on your site, what do your visitors do? What do they click on, where do they go, and what are the most popular sections of your site? Touch mapping gives you the answers.
• Rolling Week At-A-Glance Report
  See whether or not your website traffic is growing steadily each day.
• My Favorite Reports
  Pre-formatted graphs and charts update you with just one click.
• Popular Pages
  Find out what visitors are looking at on your site, and what they’re ignoring!
• Month to Date Website Page Views With Month to Date Averages
  Do site visits spike on days that your new ads are posted?
• Geographic Map of Site Visits
  Are your website visit statistics misleading you to believe that all visitors to your website are also your shoppers? Website visits don’t always translate to sales. See where the visitors to your site are actually located.
• Top 10 States and Top 10 Cities
  Click on “details” and see why consumers come to your site.
• Web Browsers and Operating Systems
  Is your website designed for both Windows and Mac users?  If you have a growing number of Safari Browser users, is your website designed to work well with Safari? Check out the stats.
• Browser Versions
  See how many of your website visitors are using each type of web browser.
• Screen Resolutions
  Is your website built for screen resolutions of 800 x 600 when most of your viewers are 1024 x 768? Find out how your site is seen on screen.
• Search Engines Used to Find Your Website
  Find out which search engines are being used the most, and which keywords are being used to find your site.
• Click Path Detail Within Your Website
  View detailed information on each website visitor. In the example below, a web visitor came to the website during the 11am hour.  They were 1 of 291 visitors that hour, and their computer was located in Seattle, Washington (more specifically, at the University of Washington). They viewed 6 website pages, but were active on the website for just 37 seconds. They viewed 6 different pages of the weekly ad before leaving the site.
• Percentage of Site Visits During Weekdays and Hourly Averages of Page Views
  See if site visitors are only coming to your site on “ad posting” days. Find out what time of day they’re visiting your site, and determine the best time to send out a web blast promotion that will reach the greatest number of customers.
• Summary of Average Site Visit Duration; Percentage of New Visitors vs. Return Visitors
  Are you attracting new visitors each week? Do you provide a web experience that causes site visits to increase in length of time?

If you’re interested in tracking the effectiveness of your website, give us a call today, or be one of the first 50 supermarket retailers to request a FREE TRIAL OFFER.