Expert's Corner

What's an Accidental Landing Page?

Brian Makas, Manager of Business Intelligence for ThomasNet, shares his perspective on how you can make the most out of every visit to your website.

Thanks to search engines, any page on your website could serve as a landing page, whether you want it to be or not. And, on the web, decisions are often measured in seconds:

• The visitor to your website is likely to read less than 30% of the text on your site
• Over 60% of visits consist of only one or two page views

How can you make sure that your prospects can immediately find what they are looking for no matter what page they land on?

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How Reducing Card Processing Payments can Contribute to ROI

Many manufacturers providing goods and services to corporate and government customers accept purchasing cards – more widely known as p-cards – as a form of payment. Lincoln Electric Company, a world leader in developing and manufacturing welders and cutting tools, accepts p-cards which presently represent about 6% of their net revenue. This volume of p-card usage has also resulted in rising processing fees for Lincoln. Their challenge: Develop a process improvement for accepting p-cards which would result in savings to their bottom-line.

Lincoln applied a Six Sigma business management strategy to help identify a process improvement. This analysis helped Lincoln develop a solution which included a B2B payment solutions company – 3Delta Systems, Inc. (3DSI) – the same company that provides payment services with ThomasNet.

The result: Lincoln Electric reduced their p-card processing fees by nearly 50%. Their baseline interchange fee reduced from 2.7% to 1.4%, saving the company $1.4 million annually in direct interchange fees. Want to learn how you can contribute to your ROI?

Manufacturers Aim
for Rebound

“By the second quarter of 2010 or sooner” is when 76% of executives at manufacturing and industrial companies say the U.S. economy will improve, according to the ThomasNet Industry Market Barometer survey.

More than 800 industrial decision-makers - executives and managers from small, mid-size and large companies - responded to the ThomasNet Industry Market Barometer survey. The survey shows manufacturers are taking control of their own futures and they’re using the Internet to emerge from the economic downturn. They’re combining ingenuity with decisive action to direct their own rebounds, rather than waiting for the economy to pick up steam, and they’re saying: “Always energize around sales, innovation, marketing and cost control measures.”

Are you doing the same? Are you ready to take advantage of the economic rebound other suppliers and manufacturers -- possibly your competitors -- are anticipating?

Know What Your Competitor is Doing Now

Manufacturers are taking action. 70% of manufacturers say they’re employing these strategies to help them survive and succeed during these changing times:

• Developing new or innovative products
• Looking for business in new industries
• Exploring new sales channels
  
• Increasing online marketing

Respondents shared lessons they have learned during the economic downturn over the past year or so, which have formed the foundation for their new strategies:

“You can’t be diversified enough in a down market.”

“Stay customer-focused. Be flexible to meet customer expectations. Be proactive in responding to customers and/or anticipating customer needs.”

“Innovation must never end.”

“The Internet is one of the best business tools available, period.”

Take control of your company’s rebound by...

61%

of industrial businesses say that the Federal Stimulus Package won't help their businesses rebound.