Frequently Asked Questions

Web sites are programmed in XHTML or HTML, a language governed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C develops standards for browser makers and web developers to help make the web a more uniform place.

Some browser makers, like Microsoft, don't always follow the recommended standards, or don't implement the recommendations correctly. This means that in order to make the web site appear correctly, developers have to work around the errors, making their code invalid.

Although invalid, the pages will still display in the browser. In the case of Internet Explorer, it will most often appear ok, but if the developer only works to Internet Explorer's modified acceptance of the standards, the web site may appear broken in other browsers such as Mozilla or Opera.

Having said this, there is no reason, other than lack of knowledge or interest, for a web site not to display correctly in all of the modern browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Opera). A good web developer will use the W3C's standards correctly, while still allowing for Internet Explorer's incorrect implementation to provide you with a web site that can be viewed by a number of browsers with exactly the same results, ensuring your web site can be accessed by as many people as possible.

There are two kinds of web site visitors - those you already know you, and those that don't. Therefore, there are two basic ways to get people to visit your web site.

The first, for those who already know who you are, is to tell them. Do this by including your web and email address on all your correspondence (letterheads, business cards, brochures, ads, signage, etc.). That way, the people who already deal with you can use the web site to improve their interaction with your business.

The second, for those who don't already know about your business, is to promote your web site online so people can find you when looking for your particular product or service. The best way to do this is to ensure your web site ranks well on major search engines and have links to your web site placed on web sites associated with your industry.

TriMark Solutions can help you achieve this by formulating a collection of keywords and effective descriptions for your web site as well as submitting your web site to major search engines and recommending industry related web sites to link to or from.

This depends upon the agreement made between the developer and the client. In most cases, the web site will remain the property of the developer until full and final payment has been received. Once payment has been received, the web site then becomes the property of the client.

Copyright is slightly different, but in most cases the same applies. However, some aspects of the web site, such as back-end code or applications may remain the property of the developer. In this case, the client will be given a license to use the code, but the code does not belong to them. An example of this would be a Content Management System.

TriMark Solutions offers Domain Registrations and Management service for its clients. Contact us to find out how we can help you with your business's domain name.

It is difficult to determine exactly what makes a good website. TriMark Solutions focuses on the individual needs of each client and builds a custom interactive marketing solution. However, the following points when used together can constitute a good website.

• Clear attractive design that ties in with the business's brand and identity.
• Useful and interesting information that your customers will be interested in and appreciate.
• Search Engine friendly content and construction.
• Simple, clear navigation and structure so your customers can easily find their way around and get to what they are looking for.
• A good website needs to be able to be viewed in whatever browser or service the customer is using, so cross-browser and platform compatibility together with accessibility features for the disabled are a must.

The amount of time before a website becomes obsolete varies depending upon factors such as type and relevance of content, design, accessibility and usability levels, etc.

So, it is difficult to state an exact time, but generally, if your business has had a website for a couple of years and its starting to look a little boring, or perhaps the content is out of date, it may be time to consider an upgrade. Alternatively, if you feel your website needs a new feature that you've seen somewhere else or if you would like to improve your business's image, it may also be time to upgrade.

When appointing a web developer to create your business's website, look for the following:

• A portfolio of work – The best way to find out whether a developer can do the job is to look at their catalogue of work. If possible, find a developer who links to the websites in their portfolio so you can have a play around and see how the website they have made work.
• References – As well as the portfolio, references and testimonials from their clients are an excellent way to find out about the web developer, their work, their attitude and their reputation.
• Are they a specialist? – Look for a web developer that specializes in web design. Because websites are all they do, they can keep up with what's happening in the industry and know everything there is to know about getting online.
• Do they have search engine knowledge? – Over 70% of all websites are found and visited through a search engine. If your website is not optimized and constructed properly your number of visitors will be minimal.

TriMark Solutions make use of various technologies to develop their client's websites. In particular, our development skills include:

• XHTML/CSS - general website coding
• HTML, DHTML, Flash, Active X, JavaScript, XML
• Server Side Technologies including PHP, ASP, .NET
• MySQL database

Search engine optimization (SEO), considered by many to be a subset of search engine marketing, is a term used to describe a process of improving the volume of traffic to a web site from search engines, usually in "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Those efforts may also be seen in more narrow vertical search engines involving areas such as local search. Many site owners and consultants engaging in SEO attempt to pursue qualified visitors to a site, and the quality of visitor traffic can be measured by how often a visitor using a specific keyword phrase leads to a desired conversion action, such as making a purchase, viewing or downloading a certain page, requesting further information, signing up for a newsletter, or taking some other specific action. Learn more.

Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing is an internet advertising model that was developed in 1998 as a way to generate revenue for search engines and deliver highly relevant advertisements to interested searchers. This method of advertising allows your ads to be displayed for free on search engines and charges are applied only if your ad is clicked. Learn more.

We recommend the use of the top three search engines and their partner network for your campaign, namely:

• Google Adwords and its partner network of AOL, AskJeeves, Earthlink, CompuServe, NY Times.com, CNET, and Netscape
• Overture and its partner Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista, Infospace network (Dogpile, Excite, etc.), and Metacrawler.
• FindWhat and its partner network of Search.com, Excite.com, Webcrawler, Metacrawler, and Dogpile

For the majority of pay per click search engines, the highest bid wins the top spot, the next highest, the second spot, and so on. So basically you can make your ad appear on any desired rank if you are willing to match the bid.

It is important to note that sometimes position 7 can be better than position 4. In Yahoo! for example, PPC ads with position 4 to 6 appear at the bottom of page 1 while the PPC ad with position 7 appears at the top of second SERP.

However, our experience shows that having the highest rank does not necessarily guarantee a higher click through rate (CTR). A lot of times ads appearing on rank 3 have a higher CTR. This is the reason why we have a module for testing how different ads perform at different ranks for a particular ad campaign. If the ads have a higher click through rate at rank 3 rather than rank 1 it not only saves a lot of cost but also increases the traffic flow to the website.

We would be first breaking down all the selected keywords into smaller groups, clubbing the similar meaning keywords. We would then be creating a combination of ads for testing for these different keyword groups. We would also be creating a maximum of 50 ads for your site. If you would like us to create more ad copies, we would do so at an additional cost of $15 per ad copy.

SEO and PPC have their own advantages and features. In our experience, use of both of these in synergy works very well for any business which wants to generate traffic through search engines. Which one of these should be the primary source of traffic generation would depend on your business objectives, services or products that you are selling and competition from similar sites on popular search engines. Request our free Online Marketing Plan service to allow us to suggest you the best combination of services that you need to go for in order to achieve you online business objectives.

The ranking are calibrated almost instantly based on the bid rates and other metrics like click through rates by all the popular PPC search engines. Some search engines take a maximum of one day to approve the ad copy and then reflect PPC rankings.

There is no limit to the number of keywords that we research into. We will dig up as many keyword combinations as possible for your site and analyze the same to give you the best combination of highly relevant, inexpensive and a host of keywords unexplored by your competitors.

Images are an essential part of a website. Landing Page images should relate to the product in question, and be professional. Images that are too playful or unrelated will not convey the proper message to the customer.

Content should be concise, relevant, effective, and devoid of supplementary content that is not necessary for a conversion. Common landing page content includes bullet points and lists for quick and easy information scanning.

Definitely. Keywords are not only important for SEO, but also for the readers' benefit. Customers who search a specific keyword, then click on a PPC ad for a keyword, want to see that keyword on the website that they are browsing. If the keyword they are searching for is not present on the website, they will likely quickly lose interest and not continue to perform the conversion.

Common mistakes made by inexperienced advertisers include:
•  Too Much or Irrelevant Content
•  Confusing or Unclear Call to Action
•  Missing "Thank You" Page
•  Too Many Images & Visual Distractions
•  Wordy or Lengthy Contact Form
•  Missing Promises or Guarantees (PPC Ad Claims "Free", but this is not on Landing Page)

Conversions can be any action that you (as an advertiser) deem valuable. Pageviews, Form submissions, or Online purchases can all be considered conversions. Whatever your conversion, be sure to provide a clear Call to Action persuading visitors to execute the desired act.

There is no limit to the number of landing pages you should have. Ideally, an advertiser should have a landing page for each product or service. Different PPC ad groups may warrant differing landing pages, however some specific services may be allowed to use the same landing page for multiple ads and ad groups. Regardless of the number, the quality and content of the landing page(s) should be relevant to the ads and to the product or service being offered.

Interactive marketing is a revolutionary new trend in marketing that treats each marketing transaction as a personal conversation between the customer and the company. TriMark Solutions takes this idea to the next level by creating a truly interactive B2C experience between customer and business. For our clients, our Interactive Marketing strategy focuses primarily on the unique concept of Customer Engagement and Interaction. TriMark does more than simply place an ad in front of the relevant targeted customer, we entice them to interact, communicate, and engage!

The definition of interactive marketing comes from John Deighton, a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard, who was the founding co-editor of the Journal of Interactive Marketing. Deighton's simple yet powerful definition of Internet Marketing is, "The ability to address the customer, remember what the customer says, and address the customer again in a way that illustrates that we remember what the customer has told us." (Deighton 1996).

During TriMark's Interactive Marketing campaigns, we entice and persuade open communication between client and consumer, placing our clients in a position to listen to what their customers have to say. Together, we then utilize this valuable information and feedback to improve every aspect of a company, including products, customer service, marketing efforts, and more! Simply put, our Interactive Marketing plan gives customers the attention and service they truly deserve via maximized customer engagement and online interaction.

Although similar, Interactive Marketing and Online Marketing are not the same concepts. Online Marketing is the concept of placing a highly relevant ad in front of a targeted online searcher precisely when they are searching for a product or service. Interactive Marketing takes this same approach, however it entices, rewards, or otherwise persuades a direct communicative response from the targeted audience.

For example, sending out a survey through a mass email marketing campaign would be considered a part of interactive marketing as long as the data gathered from the survey will be used to better serve customers. Aside standard text and display ads and email marketing, interactive marketing campaigns can also be administered through online surveys on the company website, social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), SMS messages, or interactive research booths in high-traffic public places.

The wildly popular e-commerce site Amazon.com is a powerful example of the use of interactive marketing. As customers make purchases and record their preferences in books, they are then shown book selections that match not only their preferences but recent purchases. Here, Amazon is gaining valuable information from customers on their book preferences, and then displaying customized ads and suggestions for books that meet each customer's individual tastes and preferences. This strategy will immediately increase site time on site, visitor happiness, repeat customers, and most importantly sales.

Strategic Interactive Marketing Campaigns allow customers and potential prospects to participate in the process of building a brand's image in a certain market, as well as in the mind of the consumer. One such example of this process is one of TriMark's local clients, Sparians Bowling Boutique & Bistro, who strategically utilized a compelling Interactive Marketing campaign before their doors were even open. After gaining a loyal fanbase on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, Sparians started a blog asking followers to vote and help choose what types of foods, uniforms, and specials the upscale bowling boutique would offer. These interactive blog posts were dubbed "Sparians Feedback Fridays", and helped create a high level of loyalty and customer engagement during the Sparians Grand Opening. Although the point of the blog posts was not to advertise or sell, creating these personalized B2C conversations helped generate a much higher turnout for the Sparians Grand Opening and more sales and revenue during the first several months of business.

No. TriMark Solutions can only be used with email marketing lists for which you have permission to communicate to.

Your email marketing list is safe behind our heavily secured firewalls. It will reside in your TriMark Solutions account until you remove your list. You may, at any time export your list directly to an active email address in the form of a .csv excel sheet. TriMark Solutions will never rent, share or sell your email marketing list.

TriMark Solutions will accept your email marketing addresses in 3 file formats; .txt (text file), .csv (Comma Separated Values) and .xls (MS Excel Spreadsheet). Simply browse to where the file lives on your computer and let the TriMark Solutions wizard guide you through the import.

To import an address file from Microsoft Outlook, you must export your Outlook Contact folder to a text (i.e., contacts.txt) file.

No problem. It's time to get started! There are several ways you can collect email marketing addresses. TriMark Solutions provides a website opt-in tool to put on your website to help you in marketing your email program. That will help you begin growing your list immediately. Your site visitors can sign up for your email marketing list and their addresses and pertinent information will automatically imported in to your TriMark Solutions email marketing account. Because TriMark Solutions offers Retention and Email Marketing Consulting to all clients, we will also help develop strategies to grow your list through other portals as well.

TriMark Solutions email marketing pricing structure is dependent upon the individual needs of our clients. Please Contact Us or Schedule A Demo so that we can go over your email marketing needs together.

The standard discount that we offer on non-profit email marketing discounts is 10% off our annual license agreement.

Yes! TriMark Solutions email marketing software does integrate with other Software companies, Salesforce.com and Webtrends.com. Through these two integration partners, TriMark Solutions Email marketing software is capable of helping to take your internet marketing efforts to the next level of customer conversions, detailed trackability and website analytics.

Absolutely not! You will be able to create beautiful HTML email marketing campaigns by simply pasting your content in to our email marketing wizard driven templates!

No! You can add your own headers and footers, change text color size and type. You can add or remove paragraphs as needed.

Yes! You can load your own HTML using our "custom template" section of the software, which is one of our many available templates options.

Your business will have complete control over the name in the "from" field - it can be you, your account representatives, your company name or even your CEO. You create the default email address (yourname@domain.com) as well as the alias that will be displayed (such as "Monthly News") for each list. Additionally, you can set a different "from" address for each mailing.

TriMark Solutions offers a HTML email design & branding that are designed to match the look and feel you desire for your email marketing campaigns. You will work with design team on customizing an HTML template to meet your exact needs.

Yes. TriMark Solutions does charge a one time fee for HTML Email Designed templates.

TriMark Solutions has standing relationships and ongoing dialogue with many of the leading ISPs and blacklists such as AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, etc... This includes the sharing of information regarding policies, practices and issues. Through researching 75,000 emails sent over a 6-month time period using 8 clients, TriMark Solutions average delivery rate was 96%, where as industry averages are between 87%-90%.

Yes, you can see the email addresses of who opened your emails as well as those who clicked onto links within your emails. You will also have access to viewing the history of that user, as well as who that user has forwarded their emails to, and the message they sent. You also have the ability to then export those "open" or "click-thru" email addresses in to a new interest category of their own!

Yes! TriMark Solutions has a bounce management feature that allows you to see which addresses bounced and for what reasons. Additionally it will allow you to export those addresses for easy bounce management of your lists.

Getting started is really very easy. First, Schedule A Demo, it will only take a minute. Once you've completed this task your information will be sent to one of our email marketing specialist who will contact you within 24 hours to schedule a time to demo our highly sophisticated email marketing software program.

Yes! TriMark Solutions recognizes that each customer is unique in their familiarity with technology, as well as their level of experience in permission based email marketing. For this reason, we have adopted a personalized approach to training where we work with you to determine the training format that best meets your need and is convenient for your schedule. Regardless of what elements work best for you, rest assured that we will arm you with the knowledge and expertise to take your email initiatives to a whole new level of sophistication.

The answer is simple: we provide all of the tools necessary for you to successfully create, deliver and track email campaigns while maintaining top tier industry compliance. Furthermore, our partner is ExactTarget, who is considered an industry leader in email marketing software development and also has partnerships with technology organizations such as IronPort, Pivotal Veracity and Microsoft to provide you with a state-of-the-art email solution that can effectively grow as your organizational needs grow.

TriMark Solutions differentiates itself from many of the competitors in the marketplace through the following: