I find it amazing that drinking games can be applied to pretty much anything. Buttttt…for all of you binge-drinking enthusiasts out there, here’s a game that can only be played once a year: The State of the Union Address Drinking Game!

Rules

The general rules of this game are no different from any other drinking game. Every time President Obama says a certain word (ie: “change”) or phrase (ie: “make no mistake”), you take a drink/shot. A drink is either a shot or a good gulp from a beer (or cider). All you do is watch the speech and play along. If all goes well, you’ll be unconscious by the time they show the other party’s response. For an extended list of keywords, phrases and rulesa, check out their website or their Facebook Group. This year, President Obama’s State of the Union address is scheduled for Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 9pm (Eastern). It should be broadcast on all major networks and cable news/political netorks. For online coverage, go to http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp.

Game History

This drinking game dates back to when George Washington gave the first State of the Union address on January 8, 1790. I’m pretty confident there’s no evidence of that fact, but I’m pretty sure it happened. On the other hand, I do know that is when the State of The Union Address began. As for the drinking game, the website (DrinkingGame.US) says nothing about it’s history. “I’m sure there are other people who have made similar games, but I think most people play by our rules,” Marc Melzer, one of the creators of the State of the Union Drinking Game and now a lawyer, told AFP. (Yes, they were interviewed by the AFP as well as The JDF.)

I decided to do a little research of my own. WhoIs information for the site says the domain was registered in 2004. I decided to contact the owner, Marc Melzer and a few questions myself. “We did it our senior year of college in January 2002, mostly for fun. We were on the campus and thought this was a great idea to distract us from work. We hosted it on a college site and people responded with over 50,000 hits…in 3 days. In 2003, we saw more like 500,000 hits in a matter of a week. We ran into trouble with bandwidth issues. In 2004, it found it’s final home on DrinkingGame.US (how appropriate!). ” (Marc Melzer, Co-Founder of DrinkingGame.US). When I asked him about the other sites that promoted their own versions of this game, he said that there was nothing they could do. It was a matter of an impossible Copyright.

It looks like this game has gained a lot of popularity since 2002. Major web publishers have put out their own articles about this game, and GAVE NO CREDIT TO DRINKINGGAME.US!

1. Huffington Post
2. San Francisco Chronicle (which was also published 4 hours later on Huffington Post)
3. Digg!

(Entertaining) Disclaimers…

And what kind of game would this be if there were warning labels attached to it? After researching the sites that promoted this game, I decided, that instead of posting my own disclaimer, I’d simply post theirs. Enjoy:

DrinkingGame.US:

Please note that we do not now, nor have we ever, encouraged irresponsible use of alcohol. It is important to know your own limits and to act accordingly. We discourage improper use of alcohol.

Mahalo.com:

Disclaimer: This overview of the State of the Union Address Drinking Game, is, given the problem of Binge Drinking on college campuses, a controversial subject. Note that these sites contain adult-oriented content and should all be considered potentially unsafe.

HuffingtonPost:

NOTE: The Huffington Post in no way encourages binge drinking. This is the comedy section. If you actually drank as much as we suggested you would die, so do not do that.

Posted under Blogs, Events, Jewish Marketing, Online Marketing, Viral Marketing

No doubt one of your goals for 2010 is to make more money from your website, but question is how? One option is to double or triple your website traffic (assuming it’s of the right variety) or to try and convert more of your visitors into customers (aka conversion rate). If you’ve heard the term ‘conversion rate’ during 2009, expect to hear it even more in 2010. Assuming you’re looking to increase your conversion rate to meet your 2010 goals and impress your boss here are 15 tried and tested tips.

15 Tried and Tested Tips To Increase Online Conversion Rates:

1. Make sure you’re still relevant – Use Google Trends and your historical information to make absolutely sure the products you’re offering are still popular with market demand. If your competitors offer new products by RSS, by all means sign up. They might be onto something.

2. Stay competitive – Price match your products vs. your top competitors. It’s very easy to loose track and miss their price reductions.

3. Keep delivery charges to a minimum – Now that you’ve made certain your prices are competitive, don’t mess this up by overcharging for delivery. Reduce your delivery charges to the lowest rate you can, this plays a huge role in the buying process.

4. Offer a search functionality – Large numbers of visitors will start their buying process by using a search functionality. If your shopping cart doesn’t have a search functionality upgrade now, consider embedding Google Custom Search or Free Find.

5. Pay close attention to error pages – Error pages are a sure fire way to miss out on potential sales. Track your error page in your favorite web analytics software and fix these pages as soon as possible. If you’re using Google Analytics it’s a breeze to track them.

6. Custom build your error pages – Ok, some error pages are well beyond your control, but still you can turn this into an opportunity. Don’t just say ‘the page cannot be found’. Offer a search functionality on the page and direct links to your top sellers.

7. Fine tune onsite navigation – Without getting into complex site structure issues, try and place your top sellers one click away from your landing pages (i.e. home page or category page). If you’re struggling to visualize how it should look, try the free wire frame tool from mockingbird.

8. Capture warning messages – Warning messages vary from ‘product out of stock’ to a ‘missing field in the registration process’ (which we’ll get to in a minute) and might reveal potential problems.

9. Make the checkout process short – Size matters when it comes to converting visitors to customers. If your site has a lengthy checkout process you’re asking for trouble. Capture only the most relevant fields needed to complete the purchase because you can always follow up later and ask for more details.

10. Try a guest checkout process – Many customers will tell you, they’re tired from opening another account and having to remember another username / password. Offer a one page checkout process which captures the customer details, but does not open an account. You’ll make yourself more attractive to a lot of people I know.

11. Offer alternative checkout gateways – There’s a lot to be said for using the likes of PayPal and Google Checkout. Putting their fees aside for a moment, there are a lot of customers who are more likely to pay like this vs. giving their credit card details to a site they have never heard of.

12. Look credible, add a physical address – Visitors are always looking for reassurances you’re a genuine site. Adding your physical address is a sign that you’re a credible seller and here to stay.

13. Visibly show terms and conditions – The goal of showing terms and conditions or a privacy policy is to eliminate any doubt in the buying process. Your visitors might not read it, but nowadays it’s a hot topic so make sure you’ve got one.

14. Communicate with visitors through different channels – Some visitors might want to talk on the phone, some might want to chat online and some consider Twitter as their communication line to you. Visitors who take the time to communicate could very well turn into customers. Cater to as many communication channels as you can and prioritize your response.

15. Always test – You might find some of my tips useful or you might have some of your own. An important tip is to carefully test changes you’ve made using various tools from analytics software, to user session capture and a/b testing software.

What are your tips to increase online conversion rate?

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Guest post by Michelle Strassburg who is the co-founder of oak flooring store Wood and Beyond. Michelle has many years experience managing online sales and is an active blogger.

Posted under Online Marketing

Problem Areas: Room For Improvement…

I’ve targeted a list that looks at 21 factors that influence your visitors decision to continue browsing or bounce.(4)

1. Load Time – Most of us are very impatient and slow loading pages will not make us want to return. On the other hand, pages that load quickly will encourage visitors to navigate through your site knowing that they won’t have to wait very long for each page to load.

2. Error Messages – If new visitors to your site are getting error messages and are unable to access your site, they’re not going to be impressed and they won’t be back. There are a number of different errors that can occur.

3. Colors – The look of your site will obviously be a factor in your visitors’ first impressions. The colors of your website can have a huge impact on the overall attractiveness of the site. Choosing the right color combinations can be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of online tools that can help.

4. Logo/Branding – Another factor in the overall look of your website is the logo and branding. Most importantly, the logo should help to brand your business in the way that you want visitors and customers to think of you.

5. Header Images – Dominant header images are often used and they can have a strong effect on first impressions. Personally, I’m not a big fan of large header images for blogs, but some blog designers use them with great success. I like to see the content start higher on the page, but many visitors don’t share my opinion (I’d be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below).

6. Typography – A somewhat subtle influence is the typography and fonts. A change in the typography may not be a drastic change, but it can make all the difference.

7. Layout – One of the most important design elements is the layout. Whatever layout you use should draw the reader’s attention to those items that are most important. Layout can be used not only to create an attractive design, but also to make the site easy for visitors to use. While most websites use a fairly standard design, a good way to make your site stand out is to use a more creative layout. Of course, you’ll want to make sure that your creative layout adds to the effectiveness of the website rather than detracting from it.

8. Advertisements – One of the easiest ways to make a bad first impression is to have a website that is full of advertisements. Most of today’s internet users have come to expect advertisements to be present on most websites, but too many ads, the wrong type of ads, and poor ad placement can be a big turn off for visitors.

As a general rule you should avoid placing ads in places that will interfere with visitors being able to read your content, unless the goal of your site is to make money through ad clicks. Animated ads are also a touchy subject as they can also easily distract and annoy readers.

If you use advertisements that are relevant to visitors and are kept out of the flow of your content, visitors generally will not mind.

9. Your Reputation – Some of your first-time visitors will be familiar with you or your website before they even visit. In many cases they may have read about you on another website that links to you. This is especially common for bloggers. If that visitor has read a positive recommendation of you before visiting your site, you will have already developed a little bit of a reputation in the mind of that visitor that may affect the first impression. This can also work the opposite way if they have heard or read negative things before visiting.

10. Ease of Navigation – We’ve probably all been at websites that looked like they had great content that we wanted to read, but just couldn’t find what we wanted. I’m not sure if there is anything more frustrating on a website than poor navigation. On the other hand, well-constructed navigation can help visitors to have a very positive experience on the site.

11. Clarity of Purpose – New visitors should be able to very quickly determine the purpose of a website. Many sites effectively incorporate this into their branding by using a descriptive tag line that sums up the site’s purpose. About Us pages are also helpful for communicating purpose.

12. Unprofessional Items – Some items like low-quality animated GIFs and hit counters can give a negative first impression. Generally anything that makes your site look like it was designed 10 years ago should be avoided.

13. Quality of Images and Photos – It’s amazing how much impact a high-quality photo or graphic can have on a design. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources online for getting high-quality, low-cost photos, and some are even free. Searching for a good free picture may not be worth the time it takes when you can find one faster and pay $1 or $2.

14. Accessibility – Accessibility is a big buzzword in web design. The reality is that not all of your visitors will fall into the mould of the average visitor. Some will have handicaps, some will use older browsers, some will have slower connections, etc. If your website is not accessible to a visitor it’s almost guaranteed to create a bad impression.

15. Popups and Pop-unders – Most internet surfers now have some sort of popup blocker, but some websites are still using them. Most visitors don’t appreciate popups that aren’t blocked, and this can create a bad impression. Some sites, however, still use popups effectively, so it’s something that you will have to weigh the pros and cons.

16. Video and Audio – As more and more internet users have high speed connections, audio and video will continue to become more common. Some visitors appreciate these elements and it’s evident by the success of such sites as YouTube. A general rule with both audio and video is that it should not start automatically without the user choosing to have it start.

17. Associations – Visitors may be new to your website, but they may be impressed with associations to someone or something they know and respect. An example of this is web hosting provider Media Temple. Visitors to Media Temple’s website will see testimonials on the homepage from Nike, Sony, and Starbucks. If that visitor is wondering about the competence and capability of Media Temple, associations with these large, well-known companies will have a huge impact on the first impression. Another example is a website displaying a badge that shows membership in the Better Business Bureau.

18. Quality of Content – Of course quality content cannot be left off this list. While content may not have an instant impact like some of the factors that relate to the design of the site, it will have a significant impact on visitors that stick around for a minute or so. This is a big factor especially for blogs. A first-time visitor that finds really great content will remember their visit in a positive light.

19. Tone – In addition to the actual content, the tone of the content can also have an impact on first impressions. I’ve been on a few blogs that have strong content, but an unnecessarily negative tone by the blogger created a poor first impression.

20. Number of Comments and Trackbacks – New visitors to blogs will often notice the number of comments on posts. A lot of comments and trackbacks show that other readers are involved, and it indicates that this is likely a valuable resource. On the other hand, seeing no comments often causes the visitor to wonder how many other people are reading.

21. Flash Intros – Positive or negative, flash intros will impact the first impression of visitors. I’m not a fan of flash intros on most websites. I think they have their place on websites in certain industries, such as websites for movies or rock bands. Unless visitors will expect a website in your industry to have a flash intro, I would avoid it.

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Article By: Joshua Russak | FirstTimeOnline, LLC.

With over 2 years of Web Development and Online Marketing experince, Joshua finds himself very passionate about the interactive space. Due to high levels of demand, he founded First Time Online LLC, a Web Design/Marketing agency helping Small Business break into the online space. Joshua is also a passionate blogger, writing for MarketingBlog.NET, providing Tips, News & Entertainment covering the Online Space.

Posted under Online Marketing, web design

Remember that old saying “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!” Well you can forget about it! I regret to inform the world that when it comes to business, first impressions are everything.

First Impression: In the Blink Of An Eye!

First time visitors to your website have very little time to spare. The initial impression will be formed in the span of 2-5 seconds. According to Canadian Researchers, “Web users form first impressions of web pages in as little as 50 milliseconds (1/20th of a second).” (1) Don’t believe me? This theory was tested by Dr. Gitte Lindgaard at Carleton University in Ontario. Their conclusion supported the following:

“Even though your site may have superior products, services, or usability, an initial negative impression from a poor or slow design can steer customers towards your competition. You only get one chance to create a good first impression, make it count. A clean, professional, and fast-loading site can ensure that your first impression will be a good one.” (2)

If you’ve managed to make it past the 1 second mark, congratulations! You have now entered the “pitch” zone. Comparable to a sales call, you have about 5-10 seconds to make your initial impression to gain their interest.

Make Their First Time Online A Memorable One

Assume, for a minute, that your website visitors have never used the internet before. They come to your website and immediately, they are presented with flashing images, endless menu’s, buttons, content and more. It’s like driving cross country without a map – you’ll get lost and even worse, won’t ever bother making the trip.

Many web development companies pride themselves on flashy, colorful websites…but remember, your visitor came to the site for a reason and it’s your job to make it as easy as possible for them. Web presence doesn’t have to be expensive in order to be effective. Millions of small businesses are getting ripped off by expensive agencies that don’t even deliver effective results.

The best way to get results is to simply ask friends and family for their opinion. Want a specific demographic to test it out? Put up an ad in Craig’s List and if need be, offer an incentive. 2009-2010 is all about gaining the user’s opinion and putting it in to play. Once you get enough feedback, use that information to implement the necessary changes. Now it’s time to sit back and wait. Your visitor will either stick around or bounce…

The “EVIL” Bounce Rate

Bounce rate simply represents the average percentage of initial visitors to a site who “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site. “Use this metric to measure visit quality – a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors.” (3) Relevant…or attractive! If you operate a site where users can find what they want immediately on the entry page, then this doesn’t apply. To find you’re bounce-rate, contact your web-master or consider using free analytics software, Google Analytics.

Google.com analytics specialist Avinash Kaushik has stated: “It is really hard to get a bounce rate under 20%, anything over 35% is cause for concern, 50% (above) is worrying.” If you’re above 50%, then chances are, your first impression could use a make-over.

80% of Your Sales Come From 20% of Your Clients

YES, first impressions are everything, BUT…how you follow up with your first impression is just as, (if not more) important….and To best illustrate what I mean, let me refer you over to Timothy Ferriss’s “The 4- Hour Workweek“. In this book, he refers to the Pareto Principle, aka: The 80/20 rule.  This rule states that “for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes”. Among the many ways Tim applies this rule, he refers to a common rule of thumb in business: “80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.” In most cases, this is due to either big sales or residual/repeat customers. See what I’m getting at?

Customer Service is key. The businesses that spend millions on marketing, but lack customer service are comparable to Bug Zapper. They draw in their customers and immediately burn them. (It may be a weak comparison…but I like how it sounds!) The best way for you to figure out what your customers want is…yep, you guessed it…ASK THEM! Surveys, questionnaire’s, poll’s, website comments, etc. Give them what they want and they’ll keep coming back for more.

This article continues here: Problem Areas: Room For Improvement…

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Article By: Joshua Russak | FirstTimeOnline, LLC.

With over 2 years of Web Development and Online Marketing experince, Joshua finds himself very passionate about the interactive space. Due to high levels of demand, he founded First Time Online LLC, a Web Design/Marketing agency helping Small Business break into the online space. Joshua is also a passionate blogger, writing for MarketingBlog.NET, providing Tips, News & Entertainment covering the Online Space.

Posted under Online Marketing, web design