So if anybody is interested, you can find my E-Marketing Master Thesis Final Report and ask any questions at dogan[dot]gokhan[dot]gmail[dot]com.

Having said that, this blog is not going to be updated and will stay here as a souvenir from my master thesis days

Abstract

Introduction

Background

Research Questions and Limitation

Unique Contribution

Outline

Methodology

Approach

Resources

Literature Study

What is E-Marketing?

E-Marketing Methods

Search Marketing

Affiliate Marketing

Blogging

Online PR

Viral Marketing

Permission Marketing

Online Partnerships

Interactive Ads

E-Marketing Plan

Critical Success Factors

Case Study: Forteks AB

Introduction

Products and Services

Competitors

Website Analysis

Appearance

Structure/Navigation

Content

Search Engine Optimization

Marketing Communications

Statistics

Conclusions

Online Advertisement Analysis

Blocket.se

Google Adwords

Online Target Markets and Profiles

Workshops

Car Dealers

Do It Yourself

Consumer Analysis

Customer Importance Rank

Online Marketing and Promotion Objectives

Positioning

Forteks E-Marketing Concept

Marketing Mix

Google Adwords

Discussion Boards

Sales Promotions

Opt-in Email

Offline Marketing

Online Directories

E-Marketing Budget

Technical Issues

Design

Content

SEO

E-Commerce Solution

Implementation and Control

First Iteration

Second Iteration

Evaluation

Success Indicators

Conclusions and Recommendations

Lessons Learned

Conclusions

Future Work

References

Meanwhile I have my Swedish exam on Saturday. Wish me luck!

As stated in the “Project Plan”, the thesis work is composed of two iterations and the second of them is also completed as of today. So this report includes reflections upon the completed iteration.

Second Iteration Report

Blog Content

• Write the type and quality of content for your own website that you would want to find yourself, if you were searching on the search engines.
• Write about the content that most interests you. Show the passion in your text to the visitors. Don’t write solely for Google, focus on the people.

Use Paragraphs and Titles:

Don’t post chunks of text. Instead, make it easy for the readers to skim by having titles and sub-titles. I.e.:

Main Topic

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut mi odio, condimentum vel, porta nec, blandit vitae, orci. Curabitur dictum. Sed sollicitudin euismod velit. Nullam scelerisque. Maecenas libero nunc, vehicula sed, ultricies lobortis, fermentum sed, ipsum. Praesent sed justo. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.

Sub Topic

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut mi odio, condimentum vel, porta nec, blandit vitae, orci. Curabitur dictum. Sed sollicitudin euismod velit. Nullam scelerisque.

Sub Topic

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut mi odio, condimentum vel, porta nec, blandit vitae, orci. Curabitur dictum. Sed sollicitudin euismod velit. Nullam scelerisque. Maecenas libero nunc, vehicula sed, ultricies lobortis, fermentum sed, ipsum. Praesent sed justo. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.

To achieve this, think about what you are going to write and make a logical outline of your text before starting it. A reader should be able to get an overview of your content just by reading through the titles and the bold words.

• Try to use descriptive images when possible. But never use image for a text otherwise search engines will not be able to track it.
• Proofread your work before posting.
• Read related blogs and follow what they are writing about. You can add a new point of view or challenge them as well to increase the activity.
• Think about the frequency of your posts. Instead of having many short posts, consider combining them in a longer post.
• Sometimes timing is more important then the content, if there is an event or news that everybody needs to know now, be as fast as possible to blog about it.
• Ask questions and encourage readers to interact with you. At the end of each post, you can ask a question like, “What’s your opinion on this one” to stimulate the interactivity.
• Try to have a catchy headline. Sometimes writing “How To” guides help a lot. I.e. “How to diagnose your car?” or” Three things you need to know about OBD”.
• Use bulleted lists where possible.

Search Engine Optimization

Link to Other Websites:

Link to other websites as well as other posts of yourself. I.e. If you are writing about “Advantages of AMX 530″ and you have written about “How to use AMX 530″ before, you should add a link to this article in your post. You can have a title like “Further Reading:” and list the other links there or use the links in the sentences.

• When you link to other websites or your older posts, use “definitive titles” for your links. I.e.:

Bad Linking:

To learn how to use AMX 530, click here.

Good Linking:

You can also check “How To Use AMX 530“.

This kind of linking lets Google associate your link with the keywords that you have used for naming that link.

Comment on Other Blogs:

Read other people’s blogs and comment on their posts adding a link to your related post. I.e. If somebody has written about “OBD Readers” you can make a comment on his blog and say “I have also written about this in my blog, you can check it at this address”. You can even make a couple of friends during this process.

Use Your Keywords:

After defining the keywords for certain products, use these keywords in your text whenever you write about them. I.e. Assume that we have the following keywords for AMX 530, “obd reader” “eobd codes” “fault code reader”. When you write your content, you should use these keywords here and there in the sentences. Be careful about using them too much. Try to make it as natural as possible.

Better Page Names:

Permalinks are editable. It is better to have page names that contain some keywords or description about the content. WordPress creates them automatically but consider revising them. I.e. If your post title is “How to Use OBD Reader” your page name will automatically be something like “how-to-use-obd-reader” you may consider revising it and writing “obd-usage” if that is an important keyword for us.

• Link to products on the WebShop whenever possible. I.e. if you write about AMX 530 it is pretty natural to have a link to the “product page” on the WebShop.
• Use the pre-defined tags (micro-categories)for your content.

How to Write a Blog Guideline (PDF)

BlogChecklist (PDF)

PS: I have prepared these documents for the Forteks but it can be applied to any blog.

The following report is a document that is used as a means of formal reporting on the status or/and the progress of the master thesis to key stakeholders, including the academic supervisor, industrial supervisor, and the examiner.

As stated in the “Project Plan”, the thesis work is composed of two iterations and the first of them is completed as of today. So this report includes reflections upon the completed iterations and suggestions for the upcoming iteration.

First Iteration Report

So now, you can check the new face of the Forteks WebShop. The great thing is that we have done all the settings so that the Forteks.se domain points directly to the WebShop. Thanks to the SEO Add-On packet from Textalk, now we are using static page names, which will let us have better PageRank in the Google Search results. Static page names means that now we will have pages called “Amx530.html” instead of “article.php?id=31434″ which does not give a clue about the page content.

I have also added “Google Analytics” code to every single page on the system so now we will be able to have advanced statistics about the users and their behaviours.

The next step is to write the “First Iteration Report” which will summarize all the actions that have been carried out and revise the strategy. Meanwhile, I will also work on the Google AdWords Campaign and “Landing Pages”.

1. Create the Forteks Webshop from scratch:
   1. Buy the WebShop Basic packet from Textalk
   2. Buy the SEO-Add on from Textalk
   3. Use virtual hosting to bind Forteks.se to the WebShop
   4. Design customized buttons
2. Create a Blog:
   1. Create an account on WordPress.com
   2. Have a sub domain i.e. blog.forteks.se
   3. Give a link to the blog from the webshop
3. Create content:
   1. Create educational content on the blog
   2. Link back and forth between the blog and WebShop

• purchasing software ‘out of a box’
• using software provided by an ecommerce hosting company
• creating your own system, writing the code necessary

For Forteks the best solution is to use software provided by an ecommerce hosting company for the following reasons:

• Using your own system requires agreements with the banks which takes time and makes headaches.
• Creating your own system takes so much time and money.
• Using the software provided by an ecommerce hosting company, Forteks can save its time for marketing and visiting customers.

To choose the best ecommerce hosting company, the following are the criteria that Forteks must look into:

• Appearance : How does it look ?
• Easiness for Customers to order : Is it cumbersome or simple to buy?
• Content Management : How can I add new products ?
• Scalability : What if I need to have a lot of products online ?
• Promotions and Discounts : Can I make promotions or discounts ?
• Security: Is it secure for my customers ?
• Price : How much per month or for starting fee ?
• Analytics: Can I how many customers added an item to the basket but didn’t buy it ?
• Customer E-mails: Can I get the customers e-mail and send them newsletters easily?
• SEO Features: Do they have static page names or tagging utilities ?

Another important criteria is the ability to use local payment methods like Nordea, Handelsbanken etc. I have been able to find 8 companies who are competing in this are. Out of these eight companies, I have eliminated five of them immediately for two reasons :

• Too expensive
• Too amateur

So the last three of them made it into the finals. Please check them below.

Textalk has been my favorite in this list for the following reasons :

• Cost-Effective (no starting fees and low monthly fees)
• Easy to use
• If customized well, looks great
• SEO features