Shop-bots for B2B?

For my "etailing" class at GVSU, I had to investigate shop-bots, including B2B application. Here is the B2B version. You can also see the whole assignment.

At the office this morning we had a discussion about bots for our industry. Some b2b bots are just simple vendor directories and others are more extensive comparison tools. The discussion centered on whether we should be listed at these sites and why.

We came to the conclusion that sites with comparison tools (www.globalspec.com, http://www.trcustomquotes.com/) attempt to make our product a commodity (not desirable). And as a larger player in our industry, our presence would legitimize such a service (also not desirable). The new directory service (www.industrialquicksearch.com) tries to promote each vendor, which is more reasonable to us, but the prices they are charging are very high to little additional value. Their rate, $400 a month translating to $2 a click-thru, is basically assuring high visibility due to their ranking on the search engines.

Marketing "Mystery Meat"

Just got this email (marked with a high priority exclamation mark, no less). Geez!!!


Good Day:
My name is Kristin Burton and I represent Racar International located in Anderson, Indiana.

I am attaching a flash presentation so that you may become more familiar with what our company can do for you. You may also visit our website at www.racarintl.com.

After reviewing the presentation please contact me so we can set-up a face to face meeting.

Thank you for your time and I hope that we can become wonderful business partners.

Best Regards,
Kristin Burton
Office Manager
Racar International
765-644-4727 Office Phone


And what is it that they do?

Web advertising

Okay, I don't advertise with banners or pop-ups, but I certainly suffer them like everyone else. This explains the current trend of pop-ups and how they affect site-owners running them.

Wired 10.06: View

This is a hysterical "Daily Sucker" from Web Sites that Suck!

HUMMEL CROTON INC. LINK TO HCI WEBPAGE

Very rare for me to laugh out loud at my PC!. This was my fave:

USE "BROWSER" OR SECONDARY MOUSE KEY TO RETURN TO PREVIOUS ENTRY PANEL
[GO] TO THE PREVIOUSLY VIEWED PAGE!
[GO] TO THE THE VERY BEGINNING OF WEBPAGE!
[GO] TO THE THE MAIN WEBPAGE!

Well, at least he understands that viewers need *alternate navigation paths*.

Old school or new school

Got another call from GlobalSpec to get listed at their site. I've told her repeatedly that their service comes after we consider our future with Thomas Register and their big green books. I'm not too excited about TR, but I need some convincing that something else will be better. Since the web has started I've seen various web services come and go. I've only been happy with Google and Overture advertising because you are paying for what you are getting, and you are in control.

I am currently trying out Business.com on a per click basis. The activity is higher than I would expect. GlobalSpec's flat fee makes it a harder decision to make and/or justify. Still, B2B websites need a killer-app (think viral) to pull people like me in.

Trade publication directories antiquated

Took care of responding to two "free directory listing" requests from two publications. Neither show any real attempt at streamlining the process. One from Laurin Publishing has a whole thick booklet to go through and manually check-off each category you want your company listed under. At least my sign-up form was pre-filled out making my job easier.

The other request came via email and I responded to it in the same way. The email came from the publication's adminstrative assistant as a Word attachment. They can't even rip a PDF for a broadcast email, even though I get regular professional snail-mailings from them. I had to then manually type in my responses in a normal email, as the Word file wasn't set-up to fill-in the blanks. I could have ripped a quick Frontpage form to do what they want in 15 minutes. It would save all the answers in a table ready for import into their database. Geez!

Received mailing from a local direct-mail house offering a seminar on their services, with guest speaker from the Post Office. Our tax dollars at work for someone else, I guess. No URL on the oversize postcard. That's a pet peeve of mine--no URL, no interest from me.

Friday's links

The Dialectizer
Humorous translation tool.

Try this on your competitors' websites for a real laugh.

Web Pages That Suck
Blog of bad websites. Some really horrible! Good comments from visitors, too.

Directory day

Had the new Thomas Register rep come in to pitch the "big green books". We've always advertised in these, but the Internet certainly diminishes their value.

Also had the Ameritech "Industrial Directory" salesman in. This book competes with Thomas Regional directories (which we don't use). Their directory looks just like a Yellow Pages, but is comprehensive for the state of Michigan.

How many people still use paper directories to find vendors these days????

Top-10 Guidelines for Homepage Usability (Alertbox May 2002)

This article from Jakob Neilson is great. He really knows what his is talking about, and makes it all look so simple. I wonder if he has ever started a web page from scrap, just to see how hard it is.

Cool Home Pages

Their design guide starts here:
Cool Home Page Commandments
There are seven "lessons" along the left side of the page worth reading up on.

Friday's cool links

Maybe I can make this a tradition?

First, the favorite of my wife and I:
OwlCam for May 9th

And an extreme (obsessive, funny) site:
World RPS Society

Got a letter today

The letter was from Thomas Publishing Company announcing their new local representative. Looks like my old representative dumped them. The Thomas Register is a dying breed of directory. I was seriously considering killing it off this year, anyway. But if we spend $10,000, that's the same as two trade ads, so it suddenly doesn't look that bad.

I had turned on my old Register rep to the "Industrial Quick Search" business (see previous post), which apparently they are making a killing on. Ace for me to spot a trend, and a big F for not taking it on myself.

Cool email list to join

Zooba is an email newsletter list that is a cut above. They offer what I think are truly interesting, readable emails. I am signed up for the "Biographies: Leaders" and "Harvard Business School".

The writing and focus is on par with some of my favorite magazines. They market books relating to the subject matter on each email, which has nice synergy. (Is it an effective business model, I wonder?)

Glad I'm not LookSmart

LookSmart is a web directory that powers some search engines, primarily MSN.com. They changed their listing price from a one-time $299 to 15 cents a click-thru.

Customers are irate. Here is an article by an search-marketing industry-leader that politely rips LookSmart a new one:
WebPosition Newsletter

Anyway, found this interesting from a business and web perspective.

Postcard deck advertising anyway

Despite my questioning bingo-deck's future, I made another insertion order for one. I do see activity on my tracking URL that I use for my advertising (www.mysite.com/tracker), so I think I can justify continuing this promotion venue.

Email from www.globalspec.com

How much of this is true and how much is a sales pitch? I think I'm starting to believe what she says is true.

Traditional marketing tactics - like print advertising and trade shows - are on the decline. Why? They don't reach your target audience. Now engineers are searching online for the components they need during their product discovery phase.

Many leading product and component suppliers already know this . . .

FACT:

Advertising spending and ad pages in engineering trade publications are significantly down. Ad spending in Design News was down 55% year over year. In ENR was down 38.43%. That's just two examples in the trend among leading publications. (See others.)

FACT:

Trade show attendance is down. National Manufacturing Week 2002 drew 35,784 attendees this year, only 56% of the 63,510 that registered to attend. The number of companies attending dropped 5%. That means fewer prospects to see your products.

FACT:

Engineers aren't going to trade shows and reading magazines as much. Instead, they're embracing the Internet as their preferred way to search for products and components. 85% of engineers go online to search for products and 74% say it has shortened their design cycles (Design News 2001). GlobalSpec's own experience supports these facts: our visitor traffic increased 1,000 percent in 2001.

BOTTOM LINE:

If you change your marketing mix to maximize the use of the Internet, you'll reach more of your target audience faster, more cost-effectively and at the moment they are looking to buy.