25 Internet Marketing Tips

A bunch of random facts about internet marketing, all of which are worth knowing, regardless of their randomness:

1. Internet marketing is hard. Really hard. It’s not something that easily succumbs to a ‘miracle system’. Guys like Shoemoney have it right – they have systems, but they don’t say it’s easy.
2. Internet marketing can’t be done by a computer.
3. You’re still marketing to human beings. That’s why #2 is true. As long as we’re selling to humans, we’re going to need humans to handle the marketing.
4. ‘Internet’ marketing is more of a medium than a method. Marketing is a method/technique. Internet where we now do it. Yes, the techniques have changed a little, but not as much as you might think.
5. It’s measurable. While you can’t automate internet marketing, you can measure it. If you aren’t measuring each click, sale, interaction and citation for you and your business, you’re losing a lot of data.
6. Data is gold. That data (see #5) is solid gold. It’s the stuff you interpret, in part, to develop a strategy. Without it, you’re doing seat-of-the-pants marketing, which isn’t bad, per se. It’s just not as targeted.
7. Data is turd, unless you interpret it. You have to use data to make it worth something. Leave it lying around and it’s untapped potential. Sort of like cow pies.
8. Internet marketing takes time. A lot of time. There are aspects of it that can feel like a real slog if you’re new to marketing.
9. Internet marketing is the fastest marketing. To those of us who started out in 19coughcoughmumble, internet marketing is the fast forward of marketing. You can change something and see a result in less than six months?!!!! Holy CRAP!!!…
10. It’s two-way. Duh. I won’t beat this one to death any more.
11. If you try to learn it all at once, your head will explode. I figured out that I’ve spent a hair under 30,000 hours in this profession. I still have huge gaps in my knowledge. If you’re planning to buy a book (even even this one) and learn it in a week, you’re in for a rude awakening.
12. Internet marketing is the most accessible form of marketing ever. You can reach more people, faster, for less money than in any other type of marketing.
13. Access does not imply expertise. Anyone can launch a web site and try to sell something. That doesn’t mean they’re qualified to do it, any more than my access to a sharp knife means I’m qualified as a medical examiner.
14. Your web site is a hub, not the universe. You’ve got a web site? Great! Now you need to attend to all the other stuff. The web site is just a landing place. All the conversations swirling around it in search engines, social media, etc. are where the real marketing happens.
15. Internet marketing is distracting as hell. Twitter. E-mail. The most recent person saying SEO is dead. You could spend all day just reading about the field, and never doing anything.
16. You need focus. Only the most focused succeed. If you let the distractions pull you away, you’ll be lucky to launch a MySpace page.
17. You can’t fire-and-forget. If you’re a CMO, or a small business owner, you can’t just hire an internet marketer and then forget the whole thing. It requires your input. You at least need to check in now and then. Otherwise, crappy results are as much your fault as your consultant’s.
18. User generated content is a blessing and a curse. Everyone’s babbling about user generated content now. Great. Did you know that the average American reads at a 7th grade level? What kind of content do you think you’re going to get? I’m not slamming anyone. I’m just saying you need to be aware of the limitations.
19. You are never an expert. I’m not an internet marketing expert. Every day, I’m learning something new. It never stops, and you’re never an expert.
20. Relationships make or break campaigns. Your relationships with clients, colleagues, bloggers and others will drive your marketing. Relationships lead to recommendations, retweets, blog posts and a thousand other subtle citations what make internet marketing work. Don’t neglect them.
21. Ego can kill you. Ego-driven internet marketing can ruin the best campaign. Don’t let it. Pick your SEO keywords based on your audience’s questions, not yours. Design your site for your visitors, not for your family.
22. Ego can save you. At the same time, understand you’ll spend a long time shouting in an empty room. Be confident that what you’re doing will work. Otherwise you’ll end up in the modification toilet bowl of death, making one change after another, and getting no results.
23. One-year plans are doomed. You can’t write a detailed step-by-step plan describing how you’ll be spending money from now until next year. Well, you can. Just be prepared to feed it into a shredder in a month. Your audience is too dynamic to fit that kind of plan.
24. Those who talk, fail. If all you do is meet, talk and plan, then you’re not doing any marketing. You’re going to fail. Probably before you even launch anything. Meet briefly, if at all. Work hard, in bursts, then talk to the team, then go again. Always be launching a new initiative.
25. You have to write. I know, you think a YouTube video or two will do the trick. Plus you can hire 30 people at $5/article to write all your content! Wrong. If there isn’t a really, really good writer behind your internet marketing campaign, it will be a big, fat fail. Even your YouTube video requires a description and a script. There are times when you just have to pay for good copy.

 

Read more: 25 internet marketing facts http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2010/03/25-internet-marketing-facts.htm#ixzz1USCRNHXY

More on Mobile Marketing for 2011

It seems like the two hottest buzzwords right now are “mobile marketing.” Everyone is talking about it, and new articles are circulating on social media sites about the topic everyday. If you are unsure of what all the hype is about, I have a very simple way to illustrate it for you. Once I did this exercise, it all became clear to me.

I want you to think about this. What percentage of the day do you think you monitor what is happening on yoursmartphone? By monitoring, I’m referring to checkingtexts, emails, Twitter, Facebook, and all your other social networking sites. If you are like me, you are monitoringthat activity on your smartphone about 85% – 90% of your waking hours. How many times a day do you launch a web browser for whatever reason on your phone? Several times, right? Now, put your marketing hat on and switch perspectives. From a marketer’s point of view, figuring out how to appeal to you through this method would be pure gold. After all, you are right there, almost all the time. We are sitting ducks, eagerly awaiting the next bit of information that comes to us through our phones.

For me, I take my iPhone with me everywhere I go. It’s my connection to the world. I tweet from the bathtub, I check in when I’m out, and I even take my phone with me into every client meeting and doctor’s appointment. All my Twitter direct messages come to me instantly on my phone (which is probably one reason why I don’t like to be bothered with auto-DMs). I even sleep with my phone under my pillow. It is never far away. How about you?

According to Little Pink Blog, mobile marketing is the new black, and I would have to agree. Our modern society is all about being mobile, and whether it’s through apps, social media, Q-codes, enhanced mobile services (including augmented reality), geolocation, Microsoft Tags, or a ton of other creative ways, savvy smart marketers are so excited they are about to pee in their pants to get to us through our mobile device.

My dear friend @ShellyKramer, CEO of V3 Integrated Marketing, said this about the mobile marketing trend, “Mobile and mobile/social integration are the epicenter of our focus right now, for clients who are paying attention anyway. The world is walking around with their mobile devices in hand, and they’d like to pay their mortgage payments and electric bills, shop and buy, and discover and explore, all by way of the smartphone that’s with them every waking moment. If you want to connect with them, making sure you know where your customers are on the web, knowing how they want their information served up, and delivering it in that fashion is the quickest route to not only happy customers (who tell others how happy they are), but also to greater profitability and improved service.”

The Microsoft Tag team created this infographic to shed some light on the staggering numbers when it comes toMobile Marketing. All I can say is… Wow!

Mobile Marketing : The 10 Facts You Need to Know

An incredibly insightful story about how to use Mobile Marketing to your advantage.

View the story here: http://www.simplyzesty.com/mobile/mobile-marketing-the-10-facts-you-need-to-know/

5 Interesting Facts About Facebook

Dan Zarella, author of the new Facebook Marketing Book, recently published an interesting chart of five statistics about Facebook marketing.

While not completely new data, it provides an interesting summary of the best times to post and the best type of content. While I can summarize the information in text, the image below most effectively sums everything up. One thing I would mention about the data is that this appears to be the mean of all pages, which isn’t necessarily the best indicator. For example, we’ve found that posting multiple times a day works well for us, but Zarella’s data suggests posting every other day is the most effective.
My guess is that the data is slightly skewed by celebrities and popular brands who are not as consistent with their updates. Regardless, the information below is pretty interesting.

Leveraging content marketing to meet business goals

Posted: 6/20/2011
By: Mark Nolan
Often, entrepreneurs struggle to implement the best internet marketing tactics for their firms. There is no perfect tactic for a small firm – rather, a company must examine its business marketing ideas and goals to determine the right fit.

New business owners may be shy to step up to the online business marketing plate because of its aggressive nature and potential to leave an entrepreneur open to criticism. However, failure to market online may force firms to resort to techniques that may be less effective.

“While it can be hard to take the plunge and start getting your name out there, it is really important you do so as quickly as possible,” David Mercer wrote for Site Prebuilder. “[S]tart writing content regularly, [and] you will build up a good base of SEO enhanced, useful and relevant content that will generate organic search traffic and boost your [search engine ranking].”

One way to do so is via content marketing. By publishing relevant content to company websites and including keywords, firms can rank higher in Google searches. However, it’s important to establish an editorial calendar and have a methodological approach, rather than just updating content randomly.

7 Steps to Improve Your Email Marketing

A successful ecommerce marketing strategy is an ever-changing blend of techniques and tactics aimed at achieving specific, predetermined goals. If executed well, email marketing is often one of the most effective means of achieving those goals.

But what does it mean to execute an email marketing campaign well? What techniques and choices make one email better than another. In this article, you’ll find seven ways to make your email marketing better, including a short case study demonstrating just how effective email can be.

The Email Case Study

Recently, a regional retailer in a niche market conducted a campaign to build a list for a new texting initiative. The ultimate goal was to have a list of shoppers to which the retailer could send monthly specials via text message. Text marketing, as a tactic, is known to drive immediate actions, and the retailer wanted to augment what it was already doing with social media, advertising, and email marketing.

To build this list, the retailer employed five marketing tactics: display sign advertising, radio advertising, social media marketing, event marketing, and email marketing. In each case, potential customers were asked to text a specific and trackable code to a particular number for a chance to win free merchandise.

The retailer invested about $250 in display advertising; $3,750 in radio promotions; and less than one hour of labor in social media and email marketing combined. It also used a portion of a previously negotiated event sponsorship for promotion. The campaign lasted one week.

It is also important to mention that the social media part of the campaign amounted to a single post on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. The email campaign included two mentions in the company’s regular email newsletter. The retailer’s newsletter is well established, and it typically includes links to two or three relevant articles, coupons, discount offers, links to video content, and contest notifications.

In the end, the email marketing accounted for 58.63 percent of the text messages collected, making it by far the most effective marketing tactic employed. What’s more, given that the email campaign added nothing to the retailer’s marketing budget, it also presented the lowest cost per action — no more cost, but the retailer did have to build the list over a couple of years. As a comparison, the next most effect tactic, display sign advertising, cost about $1.08 per phone number acquired. Radio advertising was the most expensive at $22.73 per number.

Facebook Marketing Tactics: 3 Ways of Pinpointing Your Audience

Facebook matches advertisers to users based on users’ interests, activities, favorites, their job titles, as well as the names of the groups they belong to and the pages they are fans of. That’s a lot of information, and Facebook is still a place where more often than not people are willing to share an unbelievable wealth of personal stuff with their Friends and the Facebook Corporation. From a marketer’s perspective, Facebook can offer profound insights into the personalities and circumstances of one’s target audience. As a gathering place on the Internet, Facebook’s communities and the community demographics developed therein can give marketers surgical precision as they find an arena for their ads.

To begin his talk at SES Toronto, Marty Weintraub identified three classes of Facebook targeting tactics that every Facebook marketer ought to have at their disposal. Literal, competitive and inferred targeting should all inform a Facebook ad strategy. Let’s take a look at these three and summarize Weintraub’s discussion of them in more detail:

Literal Targeting:
These are the most obvious connections a marketer can make. Selling lacrosse sticks to people who like “playing lacrosse” on Facebook would be an obvious starting point. Literal targeting aims to match ads that are semantically related to the interests of users on Facebook. Often a keyword appears both in the interests listed by users and in the ad itself. Literal targeting allows marketers a way into Facebook that is parallel to SEM efforts on search engines. The downside is that these clear relationships sometimes don’t exist and that they unlock only a fraction of community demographics’ potential. As a marketer, Facebook allows you to go deeper into the lives your audience than ever before. The question according to Mr. Weintraub is “how deep are you willing to go?”

Competitive Targeting:
Competitive targeting focuses on both the positive and negative Facebook presence of a brand’s competitors on Facebook. A competing brand’s fans on Facebook might be an effective place to market your superior goods. Explain the added value of your product in your ad, offer a deal, try to win people over to your side. Fans of brands that are vulnerable, either because of an inferior product, negative press coverage, a recall of some sort, whatever the vulnerability may be, present fertile ground for converts. Essentially, marketers should try to find ways to leverage competitor investments in organizing their followers on Facebook both for their own Facebook presence and against the competitors themselves.

There are also plenty of opportunities to market to dissatisfied customers of competing brands. People who like “windows seven sucks” would be a good group to market the newest Apple products to. Take a look – there’s plenty of negative sentiment on Facebook to mine. Start by searching for groups with a word like “hate” or “sucks” or “awful” and see if you can find people with strong negative sentiment for something related to your product and write ads that present yours as a useful alternative.

Inferred Targeting:
Marty Weintraub sees inferred targeting as the place for a marketer to “go deeper.” Facebook can help marketers identify people who are insecure, people with violent tendencies, people with idealistic passions. Facebook is filled with users who “self-identify” at social extremes. Would somebody who likes “stopping genocide” also like to buy tee shirts where ten percent of the profits go to feed the hungry in Sub-Saharan Africa? Probably.

There are tons of opportunities to market to people based on their circumstance. Medical conditions are a goldmine. Someone who likes “i am pregnant” will soon be buying a predictable range of products. Family roles and occupations that people list can help marketers as well. Single dads are different from grandparents and so are the products they buy.

What do pot smokers buy (beyond illicit substances)? An incredible number of people will identify illegal activities as a part of their interests. Find these extreme individuals and offer them related discounts on cookies, ice-cream and slurpies. Offer them self-help guides or eye drops. Once you begin to think laterally, the end seemingly has no end.

It’s the golden age of marketing according to Mr. Weintraub, because we have newer and more precise insights into our audiences. Admittedly, to hear him talk about it, one can’t help but imagine Facebook marketing as a frontier — one that is getting richer and deeper.

What do you think? What is the craziest association you’ve ever made between your product and a demographic with your Facebook ads?

Building a Buzz in Social Media Ahead of Traditional Marketing

A  BRAND that has been present online since the days this newspaper still included “http://” in Web addresses is expanding its digital marketing tactics by embracing social media.
Enlarge This Image

The Facebook page for UP2U Gum. Each pack contains 14 sticks of gum, offering buyers a choice of two flavors.

Perfetti Van Melle has hired the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, as the social media agency in the United States for its Mentos line of mints and gums. As Perfetti Van Melle gears up to introduce Mentos UP2U, its first stick gum sold in this country, the initial advertising efforts will be focused in social media like Facebook.

For instance, the new gum already has a Facebook fan page, at facebook.com/up2u, which more than 95,900 people have indicated they “like.” The first 1,000 visitors who clicked on the “like” button got free gum in a promotion that began on June 13 and ended on Wednesday.

Plans call for an invitation to be made next month on the fan page, asking those who “like” the new product to provide the name of friends they would want to receive samples.

Perfetti Van Melle has long made digital media part of its pitch for Mentos. In 2003, during the California recall election for governor, Mentos introduced a microsite, or special Web site, that sought to declare a new product, Mentos boxed mints, as the “official chewy mint” of the election.

And in 2006, when performance artists uploaded to a Web site called eepybird.com, a video clip that demonstrated how mixing Diet Coke with Mentos mints can produce cool explosions, Perfetti Van Melle embraced them and posted the clip on mentos.com.

The strategy to introduce Mentos UP2U “is very much 360-degree marketing, starting with very compelling and unique social media content,” said Mehmet Yuksek, executive vice president for North America at the Perfetti Van Melle office in Erlanger, Ky.

“We’d like to build a buzz,” he added, and then move on to advertising in traditional media like television.

To help generate such word of mouth, Perfetti Van Melle is also using Lizzie Grubman Public Relations in New York, which will distribute samples of Mentos UP2U at events in locations like Las Vegas and Miami.

The interactive aspects of the marketing plans are indicative of the increasing importance of digital initiatives at companies that peddle consumer packaged goods.

“Just a few years ago, digital information meant one thing to senior executives: risk,” said Susan McPartlin, retail and consumer industry leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which joined with the Grocery Manufacturers Association on Tuesday to release a study titled, “Thriving in a Connected World.”

“However, companies are no longer thinking defense,” she added. “They are using the digital data to advance their competitive position.”

At the same time, social media, smartphones and other digital technologies are empowering consumers “with greater control of their shopping choices,” Ms. McPartlin said. “And they aren’t shy about posting their feelings online about products, where they literally are handing over reams of potential insights that can create a tremendous opportunity for consumer packaged goods companies that can find patterns in the noise.”

That is demonstrated repeatedly on the UP2U Facebook fan page. For instance, about an hour after the brand posted a question on the page on Wednesday afternoon — “A theme song plays whenever you enter a room. It’s UP2U, what song do you choose?” — there were already more than 120 comments, which included “I Will Survive,” the theme from “Jaws,” “Like a Virgin” and “My sons would say the music from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ when the old lady is on her bike.”

In this realm, “consumers are out in front,” said Marc Kempter, senior vice president and group account director at Martin, particularly the target audience for the gum, which is teenagers and young adults.

“Television is still necessary to create broad awareness” for a new product, he added, but the propensities of the “digital extroverts” in the core market for UP2U led to a decision “to launch it digitally first, build up a fan following and then take it mass.”

There are drawbacks to that strategy, Mr. Kempter said, especially that “there isn’t a playbook” for success.

“Six months ago, a year ago, everyone was talking about Facebook ‘likes,’ ” he added. “Now, it’s not just ‘likes,’ it’s the interaction you want to have with the consumers.”

Perfetti Van Melle already sells a pellet-gum variety of Mentos, called Mentos Pure Fresh, but wants to enter the stick-gum segment because it is about four times larger. The stick-gum segment, however, is intensely competitive, as the confectionery giant Mars, which now owns Wrigley stick-gum brands like Orbit, 5 and Juicy Fruit, clashes with Kraft Foods, which now owns Cadbury stick-gum brands like Trident, Stride and Dentyne.

“We are a top-tier, very formidable global player in gum,” Mr. Yuksek said, referring to Perfetti Van Melle brands sold internationally like Brooklyn and Happydent. “We’re here to make it happen in the U.S.”

Mentos UP2U bears that name because each 14-stick package contains seven sticks of one flavor and seven sticks of a second flavor. The packages declare: “2 flavors. 1 pack. You decide.” The four pairs include berry watermelon/fresh mint and sweet mint/bubble fresh.

In September, there will be “an entire digital experience bringing the brand to life, all about celebrating choice,” Mr. Kempter said, “and then TV in the late fall.”

According to Mr. Yuksek, Perfetti Van Melle plans to spend $50 million on advertising and marketing to introduce the new gum. The company spent $17.3 million last year in the United States, the Kantar Media unit of WPP reported, to advertise in major media all its gums, mints and candies, which also include Air Heads taffy and Chupa Chups lollipops.

SEO Strategies for Facebook Pages, the Complete Guide to Groups and More Recent Updates at the Facebook Marketing Bible

The Facebook Marketing Bible, June 2011 edition, now includes even more strategies and updates for marketing your brand on Facebook.

Recent Updates to the FMB

10 Key SEO Strategies Every Facebook Page Owner Should Know. While Facebook’s “viral channels” – the News Feed, invitations, and messages – play a central role in the spread of content through Facebook, employing important SEO tactics within your Facebook Page can help your Page reach more and more Facebook fans.
The Complete Guide to Using Facebook Groups. Groups are the oldest and simplest way to build community around your brand or company on Facebook. This is our updated guide to using Facebook Groups to draw customers, partners, and friends in conversations around your brand.

Facebook Page Redesign 2011: Marketing Strategies and Best Practices. In February 2011, Facebook launched its first round of major design updates and expanded features affecting Pages for businesses, brands, media, and public figures. Since then, the company has rolled out additional changes to Pages layout and functionality. We walk you through the key changes here.
About the Facebook Marketing Bible

The Facebook Marketing Bible has enabled thousands of marketers, social application developers, publishers, and entrepreneurs to navigate and get the most out of the increasingly sophisticated marketing opportunities on Facebook.

The web edition of the Facebook Marketing Bible is comprised of detailed resource pages, comprehensive how-to guides, and case studies analyzing today’s most successful marketing and advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Now that Facebook is nearing the 700 million monthly active user mark, there’s never been a better time to reach your target audience through marketing on Facebook.

Table of Contents excerpted from the full June 2011 Edition

Building Your Brand through Facebook Pages

Page Destination Tab Ad Campaign Strategies
Facebook Pages and Public Profiles
The Profile Page – A Walk-Through
Designing Your Facebook Page

Facebook Page Redesign 2011: Marketing Stategies and Best Practices
The Wall Tab for Making Pages Dynamic and Viral
How to Choose a Landing ‘Tab’ for your Facebook Page
Adding Custom Modules to Your Page
Communicating Through Your Facebook Page

How Your Business Should Reply To Facebook Comments
The Basics of Status Updates for Pages
Demographic Targeting for Status Updates
Updating Facebook Page Status Via Text
Receive Page Status Updates Via Text
How to Avoid Having Your Page, Open Graph Object, or Application Unliked, Removed, Muted, or Blacklisted
More Ways to Promote Your Facebook Page

How Brands Can Advertise within Social Games
The Basics of Status Updates for Pages
Increase Engagement and Insight through Status Tagging
How to Grow Your Page’s Audience through Page Invitations
SMS Subscription Service for Pages
Branded Virtual Gifts on Facebook Pages for Viral Advertising
Advanced Strategies for Facebook Pages

How to Build a Customized Facebook Landing Page Using Iframes
Facebook Ecommerce: What Features Are Important in a Page Storefront Application
The Best Facebook Page Strategies and the Pages That Use Them
Strategy: How to Promote Your Page in 6 Steps
Marketing Strategy: 4 Reasons Why Marketers Should Invest in Pages Before Groups
10 Key SEO Strategies Every Facebook Page Owner Should Know
8 Best Practices for Retailers on Facebook
Marketers Actively Bidding for Generic Facebook Pages
The Facebook Open Graph for Marketers and Content Publishers

The Like Button Style Guide: How to Pick the Design That’s Right for Your Website
How to Choose Open Graph Tags That Maximize the Value of Your Like Buttons
Facebook Connect Integration Best Practices from the Platform Showcase
Implementation Options: Like Button
Facebook CTO Bret Taylor Discusses the Open Graph
More Ways to Market on Facebook: Questions, Places, and Deals

How Businesses Can Use Facebook’s “Recommend This Place” to Gain Exposure and Likes
How Pages Can Use the Relaunched Facebook Questions Product
How to Create a Deal with Facebook Deals
The Places We’ll Go: How marketers can use Facebook’s new location features
Facebook Questions – A Walk-Through
How Marketers Can Get The Most Out Of Facebook Questions
Groups and SEO – a Quick Overview
Advertising on Facebook

Page Destination Tab Ad Campaign Strategies
Sponsored Stories Ads: Walk-Through and Marketing Campaign Strategies
Facebook Ads: Read Before You Get Started
Facebook Ads – A Walk-Through
The Facebook Ads Manager
Facebook Self-Serve Ad Types: Page Ads
Facebook Self-Serve Ad Types: Event Ads
Ads Targeting on Facebook

10 Powerful Targeting Methods Facebook Ads Every Performance Advertiser Should Know
Friends of Connections Targeting
Facebook Ads: Language Targeting
4 Connection Targeting Tests Every Advertiser Should Run
From Keyword Targeting to People Targeting: Understanding Performance Advertising with Facebook’s Tim Kendall
Time Scheduling
Tools and How-Tos for Marketers

Facebook “Insights” Metrics Dashboard for Page Managers
Using Third Party Tools to Manage Your Facebook Page
How Page Owners Can Restrict Content for Underage Users
How to Export Your Facebook Page Updates to Twitter
Policies, Privacy, and Guidelines to Watch

Promotional/Sweepstakes Policies for Facebook Pages
The Future of Sharing on Facebook: A Hybrid Public/Private Model
Facebook’s Guidelines for Promoting Pages Outside Facebook
Featured Facebook Campaigns

Marriott Resorts, The National Guard, Discover Boating, Bravo, Nike and More
T.G.I. Friday’s, State Farm Latino, Sprint, NASCAR, Honda, Olympic Paint and Bergdorf Goodman
Hot Wheels, New Belgium Brewing, Men’s Health and Women’s Health, Dogs, Callaway Golf and 7-Eleven
Subway, Samsung Televisions, Stoli Vodka, NBC & Bravo and More
Join the Facebook Marketing Bible at FacebookMarketingBible.com

The Top 6 Office Distractions (Inc. Magazine)

Sound Design
When it comes to creating a productive office environment—it’s more than just four walls. According to a Cornell University study, even low-level noise in open-style offices can result in higher levels of stress and lower task motivation. If you’re going to go with an open office plan, be sure to think about where you place employees who operate at higher decibel levels. Also keep in mind placement of loud appliances such as copy machines.

Watch That Dial
Room temperature can directly influence productivity at work. Cornell University studied the effect of increasing temperatures in the workplace from 68 degrees to 77 degrees. Errors at the company fell by 44 percent and typing output increased 150 percent with the increased temperatures. Another study indicates that an office can also be too hot—with a loss in performance at temperatures higher than 75.2 degrees.

Tech Intrusion
Nearly 60 percent of work interruptions are—you guessed it—thanks to the Internet. Yes, you can blame Fail Blog for not getting your work done. And don’t forget the time spent on social media, e-mail, and switching back and forth between on-screen applications. According to a survey by market research firm uSamp, while social media use can encourage coordination among employees, there’s no denying it’s a huge distraction.

Social Butterfly
Telephone calls, walk-in clients, that talkative colleague across the way: Unplanned conversations can have a dramatic affect on productivity in the workplace. Phone calls, talking with co-workers, and impromptu meetings make up 43 percent of work interruptions, according to a market research survey.

Sitting Pretty
The design of office workstations is often linked to health, comfort, and productivity in the workplace. Chairs that are not adjustable and desks that are too small can cause sore backs and contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome. A study coordinated by Health and Work Outcomes, an independent health research and consulting company for office furniture manufacturer Steelcase, found that individuals who received office ergonomic training and sat in a highly adjustable chair increased average productivity by 17.8 percent after a year.

Space Matters
The Wall Street Journal recently published findings from a number of worldwide studies suggesting the space around your workstation could affect not only your productivity, but the style of work you accomplish. Low ceilings encourage analytical thinking, while high ceilings can encourage abstract thought and creativity. Color and light can also change the way we think. Surrounding workers with red walls could stifle creativity, but fuel inside-the-box thinking for tasks that call for small details and accuracy.