BlogSmall business, Marketing, Promotion and Web Design

eMarketer provides this data as a table, so I compiled a little chart, so it is easier to get an idea. So far it looks like pretty much all the media spend is supposed to stay the same or decline insignificantly, whereas the spend on rich media/video is expected to rise significantly. This means – video (YouTube?), Flash, AIR, Flex and so on. Judging by our web design studio experience – clients who spend on rich media advertising (i.e. Flash and video) getting better returns. Obviously I am not allowed to share any numbers, but that’s the trend we see here.

BTW, that is also where we charge more money then for a plain web design – on rich media. But that comes when clients realize the potential.

Yesterday I have returned from a Thanksgiving trip to Chicago. Aside from matrimonial errands (my friends were getting married) I had a chance to communicate to a lot of different people from various social groups. Aside from regular chit-chat I was inquiring on the cost of living. Obviously you can get data from various web sites, from Monster.com to specialized ones, including Craigslist. What you don’t get is a “feeling”, the whole picture of quality of life. What can you afford if you are making $XX,000 per year? What can you afford if you make $YY,000 more? Gas, insurance, food – you can get the numbers, but it is usually hard to get an idea.As in many smaller communities, much more business done on a personal referral basis. This is good, because you only need to be good at what you are already doing and think less about marketing to various groups. It is also bad, since “word of mouth” is the slowest communication tool. Also it won’t forget your mistakes as easy as larger, unconnected market. Last, but not least – it’s complicated, because there will be a lot of people with whom you will naturally trade, for example – I create a web site for a car dealer to get a big discount on a car I like. No actual money involved, but I still get something for something.Good thing about coming into such a community – you immediately get a lot of referrals and potential clients. Bad thing is – they all expect you to perform nearly for free, because they were personally referred to you. If you set initial price too high – they’ll just flock away without even bargaining. If you set a reasonable price – they will try to negotiate it down to ridiculous levels, spreading bad news if you don’t let them.Probably that’s why, even though so many people encouraged me to move, I still don’t. New York is still much bigger market.

Today I got a call from one of my clients asking me to check stats with him as he is seeing certain discrepancies in Overture reports. We went in and figured that the number of clicks reported by Overture roughly 3 times larger then what is being reported by AWstats. Upon contact, Yahoo/Overture issued a statement that basically says “your software is badwe know better”. Alright, we thought, and ventured to check on Google. The result was astonishing – the difference was 0.6%. Either Google is very good at serving ads that are traceable, or Yahoo/Overture isn’t being honest. Or both.