The True Dynamics of Online Targeting

By now we all agree one of the great benefits of online marketing is the ability to track and measure. With that comes a greater ability to target campaigns. While targeting can provide tremendous impact and efficiency for an online campaign, it can also cause havoc if not used properly.

Make no mistake, targeting works. And targetability is one of the most powerful benefits of online advertising -- especially when it exploits the scope and diversity of large advertising networks. There are many ways to target when marketing across an online network. For instance, you can target specific audience segments by standard demographic parameters such as age, gender or income, or by specific behaviors such as consumers who travel frequently or read ESPN The Magazine. But both research and advertiser experience clearly indicate how critical it is to know your market and choose the right network before you invest in a targeted campaign. Taking a critical look at how and how much you target can make a big difference in your campaign’s ROI.

Source: Advertising.com and imediaconnection.com

Hilton Microsites Target Dozens of Customer Segments

Hilton has launched a series of microsites designed for specific customer segments - from wedding planners to Olympics sports organizations - in an effort to entice online bookings, writes ClickZ. Some 15 percent of Hilton's bookings are now made through its websites, which are also resulting in HHonors loyalty program customer signups, according to Bala Subramanian, senior VP of distribution and brand integration for Hilton Hotels.

Source: MarketingVox.com

eROI: Email Open and Click Rates Soared in Q1, Peaked on Weekends

In the first quarter of 2006, the best email open and click rates were on weekends, according to online marketing firm eROI's most recent, Q1 2006 email study. Moreover, open and click rates increased significantly in the first quarter (40 percent and 60 percent increases, respectively), compared with rates for Q4 2005, when open and click rates decreased 29 percent and 21 percent, respectively, from the previous quarter

Source: MarketingVox.com

Blogging - Funny Name, Great for Online Marketing
What Is Blogging?

Weblogs (also called web logs, or blogs for short) have drawn a fair amount of attention during the last few months. Although everyone has their own definition, I'll try to come up with what looks like common ground: weblogs are live online journals -- frequently-updated web sites where commentary and links are sorted in chronological order, starting from the most recent entries. Most weblogs belong to a community of interest, where comments and cross-links fly from site to site. Blogging, then, is the act of recording entries in a weblog. A Web Site Is Like Fish: It Stinks When It's Stale…

Source: Webadvantage.net

Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4.
The DNS system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn't know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.
Source: Webopedia.com

How does this relate to your website?

DNS servers are not all on the same networks or time schedules. Each server refreshes content on a different time cycle. Some refresh every 24 hours, others every 4 hours, but there is no standard. So, when you have changes or updates made to your site, it may take up to 48 hours for all users (including you) to view those changes as each user’s computer is connected to a different server.

Tip: Make sure you or a non-entity (i.e. info@yourcompany.com) is the registrant of your company’s domain name. This is a smart move as domain names expire, and if the registrant is no longer with the company you will not get the expiration notices and could have your website turned off without notice. An ounce of prevention goes a long way!

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