Brooklyn's Progress
December 2006/January 2007

BY KARMA MARTELL

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Seminar Committee presented “CyberDiving for Dollars: Using the Internet and Your Web Site to Drive Business” at the Brooklyn Business Solutions Center, 9 Bond St. on Nov. 14.

Karma Martell, Internet marketing guru and president of KarmaCom Inc., a full-service integrated marketing company headquartered in Brooklyn gave the information-packed seminar. She was aided by Donald Schwartz, co-founder of Imagelink Productions, a Brooklyn-based multimedia design company specializing in Web design and motion graphics.

Ms. Martell began by helping the audience understand the profound role that the Internet now plays in our lives. She cited recent studies confirming that the Internet has now superseded television as America’s #1 leisure time activity; and research showing e-commerce sales scheduled to top $200 billion by the end of 2006. Ms. Martell also emphasized the explosive growth of social media (Instant Messaging, blogging, etc.), with 35% of all Internet users participating in social media and the viewing of user-generated videos reaching 31 billion views.

The thrust of the presentation concentrated on three core marketing tactics crucial to generating qualified traffic and return on investment online:

1. Striking the right balance between informational design, emotional design and content;
2. Search optimization and the role of interactive PR;
3. Email marketing and landing pages.

Mr. Schwartz’ portion of the presentation dealt with the first core tactic entitled “Why Design Matters.” Mr. Schwartz particularly emphasized the importance of color in communicating your message effectively on the Web. Ms. Martell and Mr. Schwartz presented real Web site examples of best and worst practices in Web design and navigation and search optimization.

Participants cited the presentation as “highly valuable” and “worthy of a larger arena and longer session.” Ms. Martell and Mr. Schwartz plan to offer a reprise “webinar” in the near future. For more information, please contact Karma Martell, KarmaCom Inc. at 718-488-7810 or visit the Web site at http://www.karmacom.com/. Donald Schwartz, Imagelink Productions may be contacted at 718-789-8408 or visit the Web site at http://www.imagelinkproductions.com/.