CyberMalls: 7 Criterial for Selecting a Successful Provider
| Category: Marketing | Date: 2003-06-24 |
Cybermalls or Internet shopping centers are collections of commercial Web sites on the Internet. The idea is that mall merchants benefit from the promotional efforts of the mall owner to get traffic to their home page.
I find a lot of people are unsure about what makes a good mall if they are considering putting their storefront in one. You have to be careful because there are literally thousands of malls. Most are absolutely worthless -- they draw close to zero traffic!
When looking for a mall provider to host your Web site, you should do some due diligence first. Otherwise, you could get taken and end up wasting time and money. Not a pleasant feeling!
In my opinion, you should verify the following information *before* getting a Web site (or a "link" for an existing site) in any cybermall. . .
1. On and Offline Promotion.
Most malls are only promoted via search engines and random links and banners. Successful malls know that an offline promotion component is very essential. Ask specifically how the mall is promoted. If there are no offline plans, Id go elsewhere. After all, youre paying for traffic (analogous to paying for circulation stats in a magazine.)
2. Verifiable Traffic.
Find out how many visitors are visiting the malls home page each month. I have found that "hits" are extremely misleading and pretty much useless stats. Every server seems to count up hits in a different way. Your concern should be the number of people visiting the home page. These represent potential buyers.
3. Promotional Efforts Attract Shoppers (i.e. buyers).
You are paying the mall for the type of traffic they are drawing to their site. You want this to be shoppers, and if possible, representing the demographics of your typical buyer. I have found that most mall owners spend all their promotional efforts on attracting mall merchants. These people are not buyers -- theyre merely checking out the mall to make an informed buying decision. Ask what type of ads they place and where. If you see all of their ads promoting Web space for sale, that is a problem.
4. Secure Credit Card Transactions.
It is imperative to put your buying customers security at ease. I believe without it, your sales potential is dramatically impaired.
5. Dont Overpay for Traffic.
Youre paying for expected traffic to your site. Make sure youre not paying too much in relation to the traffic you think you will get. Just like a magazine, an ad in a 100,000 circ. publication should cost about 1/2 of that of a 200,000 circ. publication (all else being equal). Similar thinking should be applied to buying Web space in a mall.
6. Theme or Categories Offered.
If a malls promotional efforts tend to attract say business owners, it makes sense that you should offer something that business owners want. Check out the categories in the mall. Do any fit your business? Are there several stores in that category? If not, you may be placing your site in a mall with the wrong demographics. Its just like advertising in trade magazines. The seller of golf equipment wouldnt advertise in Income Opportunities or Entrepreneur, right?
7) Reasonable Charges for Changes.
Anybody knows that a successful Web site needs constantly changing information. Thats one strategy to turn visitors into lifetime relationships. Check into the fees for making changes to your site. If its too much, you may be spending too much on "change" fees. Better yet, see if you can make the changes yourself and upload HTML files to their server with an FTP utility.
About the Author
Jeffrey Spencer is the publisher of the nationally recognized newsletter "Internet Profits!" and author of dozens of internationally published articles. Send any e- mail for FREE information on his new, controversial Internet marketing home-study course at ssip3@infoback.net.
Subscribe to his FREE "Weekly Success Tip" e-mail newsletter by sending e-mail to wstsub@ix.netcom.com or visiting his Web site at http://www.choicemall.com/successstyles.
ssimail@ix.netcom.com
http://www.choicemall.com/successstyles
I find a lot of people are unsure about what makes a good mall if they are considering putting their storefront in one. You have to be careful because there are literally thousands of malls. Most are absolutely worthless -- they draw close to zero traffic!
When looking for a mall provider to host your Web site, you should do some due diligence first. Otherwise, you could get taken and end up wasting time and money. Not a pleasant feeling!
In my opinion, you should verify the following information *before* getting a Web site (or a "link" for an existing site) in any cybermall. . .
1. On and Offline Promotion.
Most malls are only promoted via search engines and random links and banners. Successful malls know that an offline promotion component is very essential. Ask specifically how the mall is promoted. If there are no offline plans, Id go elsewhere. After all, youre paying for traffic (analogous to paying for circulation stats in a magazine.)
2. Verifiable Traffic.
Find out how many visitors are visiting the malls home page each month. I have found that "hits" are extremely misleading and pretty much useless stats. Every server seems to count up hits in a different way. Your concern should be the number of people visiting the home page. These represent potential buyers.
3. Promotional Efforts Attract Shoppers (i.e. buyers).
You are paying the mall for the type of traffic they are drawing to their site. You want this to be shoppers, and if possible, representing the demographics of your typical buyer. I have found that most mall owners spend all their promotional efforts on attracting mall merchants. These people are not buyers -- theyre merely checking out the mall to make an informed buying decision. Ask what type of ads they place and where. If you see all of their ads promoting Web space for sale, that is a problem.
4. Secure Credit Card Transactions.
It is imperative to put your buying customers security at ease. I believe without it, your sales potential is dramatically impaired.
5. Dont Overpay for Traffic.
Youre paying for expected traffic to your site. Make sure youre not paying too much in relation to the traffic you think you will get. Just like a magazine, an ad in a 100,000 circ. publication should cost about 1/2 of that of a 200,000 circ. publication (all else being equal). Similar thinking should be applied to buying Web space in a mall.
6. Theme or Categories Offered.
If a malls promotional efforts tend to attract say business owners, it makes sense that you should offer something that business owners want. Check out the categories in the mall. Do any fit your business? Are there several stores in that category? If not, you may be placing your site in a mall with the wrong demographics. Its just like advertising in trade magazines. The seller of golf equipment wouldnt advertise in Income Opportunities or Entrepreneur, right?
7) Reasonable Charges for Changes.
Anybody knows that a successful Web site needs constantly changing information. Thats one strategy to turn visitors into lifetime relationships. Check into the fees for making changes to your site. If its too much, you may be spending too much on "change" fees. Better yet, see if you can make the changes yourself and upload HTML files to their server with an FTP utility.
About the Author
Jeffrey Spencer is the publisher of the nationally recognized newsletter "Internet Profits!" and author of dozens of internationally published articles. Send any e- mail for FREE information on his new, controversial Internet marketing home-study course at ssip3@infoback.net.
Subscribe to his FREE "Weekly Success Tip" e-mail newsletter by sending e-mail to wstsub@ix.netcom.com or visiting his Web site at http://www.choicemall.com/successstyles.
ssimail@ix.netcom.com
http://www.choicemall.com/successstyles
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