In January we posted a reference to Google's Zeitgeist - a listing of the previous year's most popular Google searches.
This posting received a lot of search traffic so we decided it was time to add another tidbit.
Back By Popular Demand - Part 2!
It appears that Google has the kinks worked out of their new Google Hot Trends tool. This tool shows you the top 100 most searched terms in the Google search engine. You can even change the date to look at specific days - back to May 15, 2007.
Your Mileage May Vary
I don't know how useful this information is to the general public. I honestly doubt some of the keywords that it displays, such as this beauty ranked #65 on May15, 2007 -
"what clinton aide once felt compelled to explain that “i talked to the white house” meant he talked to some people and not to the building".
We look at the content for trends but I find it very hard to believe that phrase was among the top 100 for the day.
We are a Minneapolis web design firm, providing professional web design, web site hosting and search engine optimization - SEO. Our blog posts address all sorts of website and technology topics.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Estimating Online Sales
Nearly every eCommerce project that we bid on comes down to one final question:
How much will we sell online?
It's impossible to guarantee any sort of a projection but we have a formula that will get us in range. Our estimates are a combination of average conversion rates times current traffic levels and a bit of intuition. This estimate isn't possible without an honest traffic number.
Estimating Online Sales
We can make a solid estimate of online sales once we have a number for Avg. Monthly Unique visitors in hand. The more months we have to work from, the better - this gives us an idea of growth/decline rate and seasonality.
Take this average number of visitors and multiply it by a conversion rate you feel comfortable with using. This will give you an estimate of the average number of people who will purchase from you because of your site. Call this number Total Buys.
Online conversion rates can easily vary from 1% to 7%. We rely heavily on Omniture SiteCatalyst for analytics and we feel comfortable with starting at 3% conversion for a new site with a solid design.
Remember That Some Products Don't Sell Online
Here's where you need to trust your intuition. There are products that simply don't sell online and these products may not be obvious. If the timeliness of the product is so immediate that next-day delivery is too late then you will have a tough time selling it online.
Average Order Size
Two more variables need to be added to the formula: Avg. Order Size and another conversion percentage based on the Avg. Order Size.
Ask your prospective client for their average order size at the brick and mortar store(s). This number is often spot-on for web orders. If you don't have this number, pull an average price of all products available from the site and adjust that number about 30% down. This adjustment will accommodate for a higher percentage of small items over the bigger-ticket units.
If this Avg. Order Size is over $500, multiply your Total Buys number by 10%. If the Avg. Order Size is less than $500, multiply Total Buys by 40%.
Multiple eCommerce studies have shown - Of the visitors who start shopping online and purchase from you, better than 60% will purchase offline. The number increases to 90% if the purchase is over $500. This number should be referred to as the Online Buys Percentage.
The Final Estimate Formula
Total Buys = (Avg. Monthly Unique * Conversion Rate)
Estimated Revenue = (Total Buys * Avg. Order Size) * Online Buys Percentage
Remember: This is an estimate!
Keep in mind, this is an estimate based upon current traffic numbers and a fairly low conversion rate. We often bracket the current traffic numbers with a 50 and 100% average traffic increase over the next year.
How much will we sell online?
It's impossible to guarantee any sort of a projection but we have a formula that will get us in range. Our estimates are a combination of average conversion rates times current traffic levels and a bit of intuition. This estimate isn't possible without an honest traffic number.
Estimating Online Sales
We can make a solid estimate of online sales once we have a number for Avg. Monthly Unique visitors in hand. The more months we have to work from, the better - this gives us an idea of growth/decline rate and seasonality.
Take this average number of visitors and multiply it by a conversion rate you feel comfortable with using. This will give you an estimate of the average number of people who will purchase from you because of your site. Call this number Total Buys.
Online conversion rates can easily vary from 1% to 7%. We rely heavily on Omniture SiteCatalyst for analytics and we feel comfortable with starting at 3% conversion for a new site with a solid design.
Remember That Some Products Don't Sell Online
Here's where you need to trust your intuition. There are products that simply don't sell online and these products may not be obvious. If the timeliness of the product is so immediate that next-day delivery is too late then you will have a tough time selling it online.
Average Order Size
Two more variables need to be added to the formula: Avg. Order Size and another conversion percentage based on the Avg. Order Size.
Ask your prospective client for their average order size at the brick and mortar store(s). This number is often spot-on for web orders. If you don't have this number, pull an average price of all products available from the site and adjust that number about 30% down. This adjustment will accommodate for a higher percentage of small items over the bigger-ticket units.
If this Avg. Order Size is over $500, multiply your Total Buys number by 10%. If the Avg. Order Size is less than $500, multiply Total Buys by 40%.
Multiple eCommerce studies have shown - Of the visitors who start shopping online and purchase from you, better than 60% will purchase offline. The number increases to 90% if the purchase is over $500. This number should be referred to as the Online Buys Percentage.
The Final Estimate Formula
Total Buys = (Avg. Monthly Unique * Conversion Rate)
Estimated Revenue = (Total Buys * Avg. Order Size) * Online Buys Percentage
Remember: This is an estimate!
Keep in mind, this is an estimate based upon current traffic numbers and a fairly low conversion rate. We often bracket the current traffic numbers with a 50 and 100% average traffic increase over the next year.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
2nd Wind Exercise Equipment Chooses First Scribe
First Scribe is proud to announce their latest partnership with nationally recognized 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment.
First Scribe's industry leading Design and Internet Marketing services will allow 2nd Wind to combine their 4 existing websites into one singularly branded, eCommerce presence. First Scribe's programming team will also integrate the 2nd Wind online shopping cart to their existing NetSuite Accounting and CRM systems.
The 2nd Wind and First Scribe management teams agree that the sales projection for the new eCommerce presence will surpass the expected first-year revenue of a 2nd Wind brick and mortar store. Both teams have high expectations and they will use Omniture SiteCatalyst analytics to measure the effectiveness of their efforts.
First Scribe Owner & CEO, Jay Perrill is excited for the new business partnership saying, "The acquisition of the 2nd Wind Exercise account is a great move for us. This firmly establishes First Scribe's reputation as a premium web design firm."
About 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment
2nd Wind (http://www.2ndwindexercise.com) is passionate about fitness solutions for their clients and continually changes the way the world looks at exercise. Founded in Minneapolis in 1991 as a specialty used exercise equipment dealer, 2nd Wind grew rapidly and is now the premier specialty Fitness dealer in United States with 100 Midwest locations in 10 states. 2nd Wind has a philosophy of "Customized Fitness Solutions" and an environment that educates, motivates and develops individual programs to achieve and obtain measurable, realistic goals while optimizing their customer’s chance for a successful, life changing fitness experience. 2nd Wind is the exclusive dealer for many top brand manufacturers including; Life Fitness, Parabody, True, Hoist, PaceMaster, Vision, Octane, and a host of others. 2nd Wind also offers a free VIP program that provides personal training, healthy recipes, fitness articles and exclusive discounts on top home fitness equipment.
First Scribe's industry leading Design and Internet Marketing services will allow 2nd Wind to combine their 4 existing websites into one singularly branded, eCommerce presence. First Scribe's programming team will also integrate the 2nd Wind online shopping cart to their existing NetSuite Accounting and CRM systems.
The 2nd Wind and First Scribe management teams agree that the sales projection for the new eCommerce presence will surpass the expected first-year revenue of a 2nd Wind brick and mortar store. Both teams have high expectations and they will use Omniture SiteCatalyst analytics to measure the effectiveness of their efforts.
First Scribe Owner & CEO, Jay Perrill is excited for the new business partnership saying, "The acquisition of the 2nd Wind Exercise account is a great move for us. This firmly establishes First Scribe's reputation as a premium web design firm."
About 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment
2nd Wind (http://www.2ndwindexercise.com) is passionate about fitness solutions for their clients and continually changes the way the world looks at exercise. Founded in Minneapolis in 1991 as a specialty used exercise equipment dealer, 2nd Wind grew rapidly and is now the premier specialty Fitness dealer in United States with 100 Midwest locations in 10 states. 2nd Wind has a philosophy of "Customized Fitness Solutions" and an environment that educates, motivates and develops individual programs to achieve and obtain measurable, realistic goals while optimizing their customer’s chance for a successful, life changing fitness experience. 2nd Wind is the exclusive dealer for many top brand manufacturers including; Life Fitness, Parabody, True, Hoist, PaceMaster, Vision, Octane, and a host of others. 2nd Wind also offers a free VIP program that provides personal training, healthy recipes, fitness articles and exclusive discounts on top home fitness equipment.
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