March 2015 – Page 3 – Web Marketing Association Recognition Center

Posted on March 31, 2015March 26, 2015 by Bill Rice

Best Public Interest Web sites to be named by Web Marketing Association in 19th Annual WebAward Competition

The Web Marketing Association is looking for the best public interest and advocacy Websites in the world as part of their 19th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at www.webaward.org. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including advocacy, arts and non-profit websites, based on the seven criteria of a successful web site. The deadline for public interest websites to enter is May 29, 2015.
“Advocacy and non-profit websites are very competitive when it comes to Web development and organizations can benefit from the independent evaluation of their online efforts,” said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. “Advocacy sites tend to be very good a pulling at the heart strings to sway visitors to their particular point of view. Strong writing and good use of images make many of these sites successful. Sites entered into the non-profit category also benefit from a reduced entry fee which is our way of recognizing the budget constraints at many of these organizations. ”

There is also a reduced entry fee for sites entering the Non-profit industry category.

Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry is judged against other entries in its industry category and then against an overall standard of excellence.

All entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward’s professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Winners of a WebAward in the public interest categories will also receive:

Handsome statue or certificate of achievement
Increased visibility for their company
Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

Each year the Web Marketing Association names the Best Advocacy Website based on the scores submitted by the competition judges.

Recent winners of the Best Advocacy Web site include:

2014 – Havas Worldwide Prague for 3 minutes are enough

2013 – Nebo for Eames House 250

2012 – Biggs|Gilmore for Kellogg’s Share Your Breakfast

2011 – IQ for American Cancer Society

2010 – Forum One Communications for County Sin Rankings

2009 – Clarity Coverdale Fury for We All Pay the Price for Tobacco

2008 – Clarity Coverdale for Fury Are You Ok With That?

2007 – Ignite Health for Banner Moments

2006 – Ignite Health for Live with it

2005 – Tribal DDB for Exhale

2004 – Change for Register and Vote 2004

2003 – International Fund for Animal Welfare for Protecting Animals and Their Environments

2002 – The Cato Institute for The Cato Institute
Recent winners of the Best Non-Profit Web site include:
2014 – dZi Foundation for Endless Ascent Website

2013 – Vector Media Group for Associated Press: 2012 Digital Annual Report

2012 – Mineral for Casa Pacifica Website

2011 – agency for National Cherry Blossom Festival

2010 – I-SITE for Anacostia Watershed Society

2009 – Arnold Worldwide for Tough Love 2 Game – Cupid’s Revenge

2008 – Reading Is Fundamental for Leading to Reading

2007 – Arnold Worldwide for Singing Cowpoke

2006 – Bridge Worldwide for VH1 Save The Music/P&G brandSAVER

2005 – IconNicholson for Project Rebirth Web Site
2004 – I.T. UNITED Corporation for WWF Children of the Earth
2003 – I-SITE and AWARE Foundation for Teen Health Talk
2002 – Interactive Knowledge for Corridos Sin Fronteras
Non-Profit and Advocacy Websites can be entered into consideration for the 2015 Best Advocacy Website WebAward at the WebAward Website.

The 2015 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: Burst Media, EContent Magazine, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, Webmaster Radio, and Website Magazine. The Web Marketing Association thanks these companies for their commitment to the entire online marketing community.

Posted on March 31, 2015March 26, 2015 by Bill Rice

Best Legal Web site to be Named by Web Marketing Association in 19th Annual WebAward Competition

The Web Marketing Association is looking for the best legal websites in the world as part of their 19th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at www.webaward.org. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including legal websites, based on the seven criteria of a successful web site. The deadline for legal websites to enter to be judged is May 29, 2015.
“The legal industry is very competitive when it comes to Web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their online efforts,” said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. “Not surprisingly, legal websites are not known for taking risks – it’s the way their industry is. They score well in terms of ease of use, design and content, but past judges have noted they would like to see more use of technology and innovation.”

Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry in the legal category is judged against other legal entries and then against an overall standard of excellence.

All legal entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward’s professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Winners of a WebAward in the legal category will also receive:

Handsome statue or certificate of achievement
Increased visibility for their company
Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

Each year the Web Marketing Association names the Best Legal Website based on the scores submitted by the competition judges. Recent winners of the Best Legal Web site include:

2014 – Postali LLC for Staver Law Group

2013 – Shine Lawyers for Shine Lawyers Website

2012 – Scorpion Design, Inc for Crary Buchanan Website

2011 – Clark/Nikdel/Powell for Peterson & Myers Website

2010 – WilmerHale for WilmerHale Careers

2009 – Thomson-FindLaw for Law Offices of Lisa L. Maki

2008 – The Attorney Store for GETLEGAL.COM

2007 – carbonhouse, inc. for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC

2006 – Thomson-FindLaw for Yanowitch Law, P.A.

2005 – Frost Brown Todd LLC for Frost Brown Todd LLC Attorneys at Law
2004 – Saturno Design LLC for Pierce Atwood – Attorneys at Law
2003 – Pepper Hamilton LLP for www.pepperlaw.com
2002 – Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP for Lanepowell.com

Legal Websites can be entered into consideration for the 2015 Best Legal Website WebAward at the WebAward Website.

Participants can improve their chances on winning a WebAward by visiting the Web Marketing Association Facebook Page and becoming a fan of the page. The Web Marketing Association will be providing hints and tips on how to improve your chances on winning a top award though out the award program entry period.

Posted on March 30, 2015April 14, 2015 by Bill Rice

Best Photography Web site to be Named by Web Marketing Association in 19th Annual WebAward Competition

The Web Marketing Association is looking for the best photography Websites in the world as part of their 19th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at the WebAward Web site. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including photography web sites, based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. The deadline for photo web sites to enter to be judged is May 29, 2015.
“Photographers have benefited greatly by the growth of the Internet,” said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. “Their websites have allowed them to by-pass the gate keeper and offer their images directly to those who wish to buy them. Other photo websites provide valuable services to consumers as well. Having that aspect of your photography website reviewed is just one benefit of participating in the annual WebAward program”.

Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry in the advertising category is judged against other advertising entries in its industry category and then against an overall standard of excellence.

Here are the past Best Photography WebAward winners:

Year	Winner	Site Name
2014	BETC Digital	Graffiti General
2012	Photodex Corporation	Instant Online Video Creation with ProShow Web
2011	Cuker Interactive	Tim Tadder Photography
2010	Walgreens	Walgreens Mobile
2009	Geddes Management Ltd	Designer baby clothes, ideas for baby shower favors, and free baby stuff
2008	Picnik	Picnik
2007	Mass Transmit	Planet Billard
2006	Slate Magazine	Slate Magazine

All photography entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward’s professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Winners of a WebAward in the photography categories will also receive:

Handsome statue or certificate of achievement
Increased visibility for their company
Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
A highlight for your resume.
Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

Photo Websites wishing to be considered for the Best Photography Website can submit their website for consideration at WebAward.org.

Posted on March 30, 2015April 14, 2015 by Bill Rice

Best Faith-based Web site to be Named by Web Marketing Association in 19th Annual WebAward Competition

The Web Marketing Association is looking for the best faith-based Websites in the world as part of their 18th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at the WebAward Web site. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including all religious denominations web sites, based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. The deadline for advertising web sites to enter to be judged is May 29, 2015.

Here are the past Best Faith-based Website winners:

2014 – Communications Department for Dallas Theological Seminary

2013 – Mark Deitch & Associates, Inc. for Temple Aliyah

2012 – Webknowledgy for Calvary Lutheran Church

2011 – PARTNERS+simons for Portsmouth Abbey Monastery Website

2010 – Joel Osteen Ministries and Lakewood Church for Lakewood Church

2009 – Guideposts for Guideposts.com

2008 – Mediapulse for Park West Church

2007 – Bayshore Solutions for Wycliffe Bible Translators

2006 – Dallas Theological Seminary foor Dallas Theological Seminary Website

2005 – Biola University for Talbot School of Theology Website

2004 – PhotoMission, Inc. for A Worldwide Community of Christian Photographers

All faith-based entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward’s professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Winners of a WebAward in the advertising and marketing categories will also receive:

Handsome statue or certificate of achievement
Increased visibility for their company
Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
A highlight for your resume.
Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

The 2014 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: Burst Media, EContent Magazine, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, Webmaster Radio, and Website Magazine. The Web Marketing Association thanks these companies for their commitment to the entire online marketing community.

Faith-based or religious Websites of all denominations wishing to be considered for the Best Faith-based Website can submit their website for consideration at WebAward.org.

Posted on March 29, 2015April 14, 2015 by Bill Rice

Best Publishing Web site to be Named by Web Marketing Association in 19th Annual WebAward Competition

The Web Marketing Association is looking for the best publishing Websites in the world as part of their 19th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at the WebAward Web site. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including publishing web sites, based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. The deadline for advertising web sites to enter to be judged is May 29, 2015.

Here are the past Best Publishing Website winners:

2014 – SapientNitro for Activision.com Relaunch

2013 – The Family Cookbook Project for Familycookbookproject.com

2012 – Oxford University Press for BBC College of Journalism

2011 – The Family Cookbook Project for Familycookbookproject.com

2010 – Creativity-online.com for Creativity-Online

2009 – About.com for About.com

2008 – My1Stop.com for My1Stop.com

2007 – Entrepreneur.com for Entrepreneur Media Inc.

2006 – Arcadia Publishing for Arcadia Publishing

2005 – Kel Geddes Management Ltd for The Official Anne Geddes Website

2004 – Mediapulse for New Homes Guide Website

2003 – Association of American Colleges and Universities for AAC&U Web Site

All publishing entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward’s professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Publishing Websites wishing to be considered for the Best Publishing Website can submit their website for consideration at WebAward.org.

Winners of a WebAward in the advertising and marketing categories will also receive:

Handsome statue or certificate of achievement
Increased visibility for their company
Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
A highlight for your resume.
Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

Posted on March 26, 2015March 23, 2015 by Bill Rice

Web Marketing Association Award Update

Interactive Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards — The 13th annual IAC Awards Call for Entries has ended. The judging is just finishing up. Winners will be announced on April 7th.

WebAward Competition — The WebAward Competition 19th annual award program will kick off on April 1. We are working on updating the competition web site so stay tuned!

MobileWebAwards — 2015 MobileWebAwards competition will start accepting entries in August, 2015!

Posted on March 23, 2015March 23, 2015 by Bill Rice

Win a free full conference pass to ad:tech San Francisco

Win a free full conference pass to ad:tech San Francisco (May 20-21, 2015) from the Web Marketing Association. ad:tech brings together the digital marketing industry’s brightest minds to share tactics, strategies and insights to apply as soon as you’re back in the office. With tracks covering all of the hottest topics, you’re sure to leave the show with relevant and practical tools to help propel your business. 2015 IAC Award Best of Show winners will also be announced at this event!

Enter the ad:tech Conference drawing here!

Deadline to enter is April 22, 2015. Winner will be notified by email.

Posted on March 23, 2015March 17, 2015 by Bill Rice

Managing Info Overload for Sales Reps – Whereoware Case Study

In today’s selling climate, clients demand superior customer service and a one-to-one dialog with your brand. To meet clients’ growing expectations, reps must monitor customer data to understand each client’s pain points and sell to them more effectively. The amount of data available can be overwhelming. Luckily, technology is the game changer to collect all that disparate data and contextualize it for reps, so it is actionable and useful. Whereoware’s Spotlight Sales App, winner of the Web Marketing Association’s Best B2B Mobile Application at the 2014 MobileWebAwards, bundles the data, tools, and targeted training reps need to succeed into an intuitive mobile app.

Sales reps juggle meetings, clients, and deadlines and are rarely in a single place for long. We developed Spotlight to help reps be as effective on the road and from a hotel as they are from their home base. With this in mind, Spotlight is designed to be extremely agile – reps can browse products in a sales meeting and then place the order from the cab ride home, even with spotty WiFi.

Allowing reps to go about their daily activities uninterrupted, Spotlight’s engine syncs records and captures reps actions in an offline queue that fires in batches once service is available. Reps experience the sync as automatic, with no interruption to their day-to-day work or waiting for the app to catch up. The Spotlight sync is unobtrusive, but effective, transmitting everything reps need to work offline. The sync engine means that product data and product imagery is always up-to-date.

Mobility is awesome, but actionable and accessible data is often the missing puzzle piece for sales apps. Giving reps access to all the leads in the database (not limiting to leads they manually entered) was a priority. We integrated Spotlight with marketing automation tool Silverpop, giving reps access to all their leads. The sync engine is universal, so transmitting Silverpop’s lead information was simple, but with so many leads, how could reps effectively focus their attention?

A customized scoring model incorporates leads’ online behavior from Silverpop (emails opened, webpages visited, items purchased, etc.) and offline behavior (interactions in meetings). When a lead becomes hot, we push a notification to their reps’ iPad. This allows the rep to focus their attention on the right leads at the right time. We added a “sales rep grade” column in Spotlight, allowing reps to manually adjust lead scores to reflect positive or negative in-person meetings. This data gives reps a client’s full online and offline history before walking into a sales meeting. Better preparation leads to more successful meetings.

To help reps be more efficient, we also integrated Spotlight with Apple’s Core Location framework. Reps can finish a meeting early and then search for other leads in close proximity to their present location by selecting a search radius. The search results also show the customers’ lead score and profile. Spotlight than calls Apple’s framework to generate and display turn-by-turn directions using GPS.

To save money and time on returned order package (because of incorrect or missing addresses), we built Spotlight with the capability to verify addresses when an order is placed. When a rep is placing an order and filling out the address field, Spotlight calls the UPS API framework to verify whether the address is “good” or if an alternative addresses is a better match. Once an acceptable address is selected, reps can fully submit their order.

Sales reps managing territories can oftentimes end up with a lone wolf mentality. They are responsible for bringing in new clients and orders, but are working predominantly without day-to-day supervision and training. Leadership can feel powerless, as sales reps interact with customers and represent their brand without direct management oversight, and reps can feel frustrated by the lack of relevant feedback.

While, Spotlight always captured sales rep activity – products ordered, GPS location of the app, customers searched and visited etc., there wasn’t an easy way to analyze this information. In our iOS Developer’s Arrash’s words, “Data is just data until its useful, and then it’s information.” To make the data actionable, we built custom pages to deliver graphs and reporting functionality. In near real time, leadership can review reps’ sales activity (the customers visited and products shown at each visit) to pinpoint areas of weaknesses and develop solutions to improve performance. Training can be tailored to a rep’s unique needs, improving the sales team overall and increasing sales.

We joke that Spotlight lets management attend every sales meeting. Between the tools ability to please clients, empower and train sales teams, and let leadership sleep easy, Spotlight is no joke. When reps can consistently place orders and give clients a seamless, reliable buying experience, they are more productive in their day-to-day role and can focus on building positive relationships and increasing brand credibility.

Jim Rothey is Partner and CTO at digital agency Whereoware, located in the Washington D.C. metro region. With over 21 years specializing in mobile and data management systems, Jim heads up the mobile team. He has 4 software patents.

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015 by Bill Rice

IAC Awards Best of Shows to be announced at ad:tech San Francisco

The Web Marketing Association announces that the Best of Show winners of the 13th annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards will be announced at a special presentation at the ad:tech San Francisco Conference May 21^st at noon on the Keynote stage. The IAC Awards are the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. This international award program evaluates all forms of online advertising, including email, page-based ads, online newsletters, mobile apps, Websites, video and social media in 86 industry categories.

“The Web Marketing Association has had a long standing relationship with ad:tech conferences,” said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. “It is a natural progression to use this industry-leading conference as a platform to announce the IAC Best of Show awards”.

The two-day ad:tech San Francisco event will take place on May 20-21, 2015, and will feature an expo floor showcasing the latest products and services, breakout sessions and keynotes led by established brands and agencies and much more!

“We are excited to host the announcement of the Best of Show winners of the 13^th annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards,” said Kimberly Dunn, marketing director for ad:tech. “Recognizing achievements in the various digital marketing disciplines is important to the continued advancement of our industry.”

IAC Best of Show Awards will be presented within each of following advertising formats:

Best Social Media Campaign

Best Online ad (including banner, pop-up or interstitial)

Best Rich media online ad

Best Email message

Best Online newsletter

Best Website (including best landing pages and best microsites)

Best Online video

Best Mobile applications

Best Integrated ad campaign

Best of Industry and Outstanding Online Advertising IAC Winners will be announced online during the second week of April. The Top Agency and Outstanding Advertising Developer IAC Awards will also be announced in April.

Judging for the IAC Awards takes place in February and March 2015. Judges consist of a select group of Internet advertising professionals with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web advertising. Competition judges include top executives from leading corporations, institutions and media organizations such as Arc Worldwide, Brunner Digital, Campbell-Ewald, CNN News Group, Deep Interactive Asia, Digitas, EuroRSCG 4D, Google, IBM Interactive, imc2, JWT, LeapFrog Interactive, Mass Transmit, McCann Worldgroup, Razorfish, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Tectis GmbH, TMP Worldwide, Universal McCann Interactive and Wunderman / Y&R.

The 2015 Internet Advertising Competition Awards are sponsored by Burst Media, Small Army, Vertical Response, EContent Magazine, ad:tech conferences, Clickz Live, Webmaster Radio and Website Magazine.

A complete list of past winners can be found at the IAC Award Website.

About ad:tech Conferences

ad:tech is a conference and exhibition where the marketing, technology and media communities come together to share new ways of thinking, build strong partnerships, and define new strategies to address key industry challenges and opportunities. Several annual events around the world focus on top-notch education through keynote speakers, topic-driven panels and workshops as well as showcase the latest products and services to help deepen understanding and create new ideas that will drive business forward. Attendees leave ad:tech with the tools and techniques they need to compete in an ever-changing marketplace. For more information, visit www.ad-tech.com.

About the Web Marketing Association

The Web Marketing Association is an organization working to create a high standard of excellence for Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of online advertising, Internet marketing and promotion used to attract visitors to Web sites. The Web Marketing Association’s annual award programs, the WebAward Competition, the Internet Advertising Competition Awards and the MobileWebAwards, have been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world since 1997.

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Bill Rice

See you at DIGIMARCON WEST 2015

DIGIMARCON WEST 2015 Digital Marketing Conference will be held from May 27th to 28th, 2015 at the luxurious Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Santa Monica, CA. DIGIMARCON WEST 2015 Conference showcases the most audacious and thought provoking speakers in the digital marketing industry, providing attendees with emerging strategies, the latest innovative technologies, best practices, and insights from successful digital marketing campaigns. Whether it’s building customer loyalty, increasing sales, improving lead generation, or driving greater consumer engagement, the DIGIMARCON WEST 2015 program has been specifically designed to help attendees develop their audience. Attendees will learn how to build traffic, create brand awareness, improve customer service and develop better use of digital tools internally to drive more productive business outcomes. Immerse yourself in topics such as Content Strategy, Web Experience Management, Usability/Design, Mobile Marketing, Customer Engagement, Social Media, Targeting & Optimization, Branded Search, Marketing Automation, Analytics & Data and much, much more!

DIGIMARCON WEST 2015 offers all of the elements you need to achieve digital marketing success! Awesome keynotes, expert panels, plus solutions providers and their tools for digital marketing – all in a dynamic, community-based setting. Conventional thought will be challenged, new ways of thinking will emerge, and you will leave with your head and notebook full of action items and ideas to lead your agency / team / account to even greater success. With plenty of networking opportunities, it is the perfect place to build a professional network, find business partners, generate new ideas, and learn.

Registration is limited to ensure attendees get the full benefit of this exclusive Conference. Come to DIGIMARCON WEST 2015 and discover how to thrive as a marketer in a world where everything is digital. Take advantage of our super saver registration rates and secure your seat early.

Click here to learn more and register.