DESIGN DEPOT Q&A
Rew Rixom, Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc.

Question: I have been told that my website is ‘live’ and that I need to back it up?  What does this mean?
Answer: What we mean by a ‘live website’ is that the most current copy of the website resides on the web server, and is visible at the domain name, rather than residing on a server in our office.  The reason that you need to back up the website is that if anything happens to the website on the web server, you’ll need to have a copy of the most current version (your back up) to replace it.  This can happen more than you think, and a back up really saves an unpleasant situation.

Question: So how do I back up my website?
Answer:  You’ll need to download it using File Transfer Protocols (FTP).  When your website first went live, our Hosting Department would have provided you with FTP access to the website, including a username and password.  If you do not have this information, please e-mail our hosting department to obtain it.
Web editing software programs such as FrontPage and Dreamweaver already have built in FTP programs, but using them to download your website can be confusing.  Luckily, most web browsers will have FTP capabilities so you don’t need to purchase any software.
Just type your website’s FTP address into your web browser’s address bar. If your domain name is http://www.haleyfarm.com, then your FTP address will be ftp://www.haleyfarm.com.  At this point, you’ll be prompted for your username and password.  Once you have entered your information, you’ll see your website in file view.
Once you select all of the files, it is a simple task to copy and paste the files into a folder that you have created on your computer.

WEB SITE SAVVY—INSIDE BLIZZARD TRACKER
INTRODUCING LIVE CPC COST ANALYSIS
Christine Burke, Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc.

Blizzard is offering a new add-on feature for Blizzard Tracker ROI Edition called “Live CPC Cost Analysis”.

In previous editions of this newsletter, I have explained the benefits of campaign tracking and conversion tracking.  Here is a quick review of these features, standard in the Blizzard Tracker ROI Edition.  Campaign tracking allows you to see how many visitors your website is getting from your CPC (cost-per-click) campaigns, regardless of the referrer from which they came.  For example, you paid for the click in Overture, but the visitor came from MSN.  Conversion tracking adds another dimension; not only can you tell how many visitors came from each campaign and search term, you can also tell which visitors completed a sale, and how much they spent.  You can see the quality (profitability) of the visitors delivered by each campaign, as well as the quantity of visitors.

Calculating your return without Live Cost Analysis
To calculate your return on advertising spend (ROAS), you need to login to your CPC account (e.g. Google Adwords or Overture) and get the statement that shows how much you have paid for each term that was clicked upon.  You then compare those numbers with the revenues that came from the resulting visitors, as revealed by Blizzard Tracker.  In other words, you collect data from different sources—the CPC account and Blizzard Tracker—and then you do the math yourself.  One tool that can help with the math is our own ROI calculator, found at www.blizzardtracker.com/roi.html.

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E-mail marketing has proven to be a more efficient, more affordable marketing tool than traditional direct postal mail campaigns, providing a response rate of as much as 15%, compared to a response rate between .06% and 5% through traditional postal mail.
Designed by hospitality professionals for the meetings and hospitality industry, E-proDirect utilizes the latest in e-mail marketing technology to reach thousands of meeting planners looking for a venue to hold their meetings, conventions or other corporate activities.

How it works:

Clients (including hotels, Convention and Visitors Bureaus, meeting facilities, and related service providers for the meetings industry) begin by selecting a target market from a database of over 65,000 meeting planners that can be broken down by market segment and geographic region.  They can choose from a variety of campaigns to meet current objectives, from a basic property e-brochure to a monthly or quarterly newsletter.  E-proDirect uses this information to design and create a custom, full-color electronic brochure that includes eye-catching graphics, the client’s logo, descriptive text, property photos, function space diagrams, value date calendars, and a link to the property website, among other information.
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