Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Teen Shoppers

As the children of the 90s that grew up in the computer age reach their teens online business scramble to satiate their shopping and technology needs. The main difference between the younger online shoppers and the older ones is the expectations. While older online shoppers struggle to keep up with technology, it is technology that is trying to keep pace with the younger generation.

Younger tech users are exceedingly talented in grasping new advances in technology and become bored very quickly. They seem to always be in a big hurry to go nowhere. An 8 second wait for a web page to load seems agonizingly painful for these fidgety couch potatoes. However they are more inclined to make an online purchase for something "cool" than their older counterparts, and that is why many online retailers have turned their attention to satisfying the needs of these schizophrenic multimedia junkies.

As was the case during the first depression, the few industries to thrive have been the entertainment industry and the cosmetic industries, well in part, that is. While the purchase of high ticket items such as flat screen televisions has declined the purchase of video game systems has risen. Additionally, while many have been avoiding those expensive wardrobe upgrades, many have also sought deals on accessories and makeup at discount retailers such as Walmart.

Perhaps women are trying to make themselves attractive in order to score that handsome and rich mate, who happens to be locked in his room playing video games. Unusual circumstances for unusual times.

The key to unlocking the piggy banks (if they exist) of our new spenders. Is to offer them the products they need at the speed and convenience of which they have come to expect. Keep in mind that we are dealing with a very complex group of youngsters here. As impatient as they my be to get their hands on the latest shoot em up game that lets them play out their fantasies of being a really bad person, they will kindly wait in line for tens of hours to be the first kid on the block to get it. But if successful they will get to enjoy the benefits of sitting at home while others come visit to play the new game and congratulate the proud owner.

What if a company could somehow get an online preview of a video game, advertise it's release and take orders online while consumers sample the preview. This way they can expect to get the game in the mail before it even hits stores, genius, absolute genius. Perhaps some company will put this strategy into play soon, I am curious to know if it will be successful.

Yes, perhaps a bit odd, but then I think you have to think crazy these days, because as I get older I begin to understand why my parents always seemed so odd to me and could never understand where I was coming from. When it comes to youngins these days, I admit, I am a bit confused sometimes, but I will spend the time and energy necessary so that I can profit from this madness.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Economy Down, Web Traffic Up

It appears that higher gas prices combined with a bleak economic situation has caused more Americans to stay home and either watch tv or surf the web. Additionally, bargain hunters shift through websites in search of bargains. Internet advertisers are dishing out tons of money for web surfer attention and ultimately conversion.

What does this website traffic mean for you? That would depend on what type of online presence you have. Do you run an ecommerce website? Perhaps an affiliate marketing website. Maybe you are blogging for cash. Whatever it is you do if you have seen an increase in traffic, you may have thought to yourself, how can I capitalize on this? In order to find an answer to this question you will need to gather some informaion. How do visitors get to your website? What did they type into the search engine to get there? How long did they stay and what did they click on?

If you own a website you most likely have Google analytics setup so you can easily access this information. The next step is to make use of it. If you can determine how traffic got to your website then you can figure out what to to capitalize on it. If you are a part of an affiliate program then you can paste in some appropriate affiliate information. If you provide content then your Google Adsense campaign should already generate some clicks from interested parties. But if you actually provide the products, services or information that visitors are looking for then you are in a great position to benefit on a much larger scale.

Perhaps it may be time to make some adjustments to your website. Figure out what it is exactly that visitors are looking for and make it easy and obvious for them to find it. Setup your website and links in a manner that will direct you visitors to a place where they are inticed to make a purchasing decision and give them clear reasons to make that decision at that moment. Use typical marketing strategies such as offer expires soon or last day for savings. whatever you have to do to get them to sign up.

Take advantage of increased traffic while it lasts. In our tough economic times you may soon lose visitors as many people will be forced to take low paying jobs and end up having to take two or three of them, spending less time online.