Marketing Must-Haves

So here we are, not reading books like normal people from the start to the end. We're making it back to the first few chapter's of Scott's New Rules of Marketing and PR. The sentence that stuck out the most to me was, "When I arrive at a (web)site, you don't need to grab my attention; you already have it!" I think that this is such a great line and that anyone with a website should follow it. Like Scott says, customers and people browsing the web don't want to be bombarded with ads and obnoxious  headliners, they just want information, which is why they're searching the web in the first place. If you're going to have a website for your company or products, I think that it should be filled with information that would be useful for people who are searching for your company/products. These things could include:

customer reviews and testimonials
hours of operation and contact information
product offerings and pictures/descriptions
an easily accessible and clean layout
interesting facts and information to keep attention
a way for people to receive updates and news
an interactive component

links to other relevant content

So these are just a few things that would be good for a successful website to include, and though I know there are many more, I think that these are probably some of the most important. People don't want ads and one-way company propaganda shoved down their throats, they want and need relevant and helpful facts and information; that's what you should give them!

New Book: New Rules...

In our textbook, The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott, I really liked the section in chapter four called "Understanding Blogs in the World of the Web." I found this section to be very true. I liked how it was comparing the world online to the world in reality. Basically it was describing how the site Amazon is the bookstore, eBay is like the garage sale, and blogs are just the people that you can chat with in restaurants or at the bars. They may not be completely accurate, but they have things to say. These things could be relevant to you and your life, like for finding a job or keeping up with the happenings in the industries and world. Other things being said could also be helpful tips and advice or just sharing funny stories. You can follow any blog, basically like keeping in touch with friends. It's pretty interesting that pretty much every aspect of life can be found online and are only a few clicks away.
Another thing with blogging that was talked about in the chapter was that bloggers are usually more focused on opinions or one side of a topic, rather than how a journalist writes in a more balanced form. I would say that bloggers write in a more subjective manner while journalists have more of an objective writing style. I also think that bloggers have more freedom in choosing what they're going to share with the world.