Recent reports conclude that Craigslist is expected to rake in $100 million in revenue this year. Kudos to CEO Craig Newmark for his innovative thinking and this very commendable 23 percent hike over last year’s estimated revenue.

In contrast, EConsultancy said the Newspaper Association of America is reporting that newspaper ad revenues are down by 29 percent. So what can newspapers and other online media properties, such as local and vertical directories, Internet Yellow Pages and classified sites do to protect their businesses, keep advertisers coming back and compete with the likes of Craigslist?

Media properties need to influence and enhance advertisers’ ability to immediately connect and engage with their browsers. They also need to provide innovative tools to help illustrate how their customers’ ad dollars are generating real leads and sales.

Let’s face it, we live in a “pay for performance” world right now. The days of disposable advertising dollars are long gone and advertisers – whether they are looking to rent a room, sell a house or publicize a job opening – are carefully choosing where to spend their money. However, according to Forrester Research, 76 percent of advertisers still have no way of determining their online advertising campaign ROI, and few are measuring campaigns across channels.

By implementing optimization services such as call tracking, text to speech technology, click to call and call recording, publishers can close the loop for advertisers by converting more leads, guaranteeing that no lead goes unanswered and proving campaign ROI. In fact, the ability to address the ROI factor alone can put a media company steps ahead of the competition.

These services also allow media properties’ advertisers to be immediately connected with potential customers at the point of peak interest and create a personal connection with consumers.

Yes, it’s true that we live in an overly-automated, fast-paced, now-or-never world, but the fact of the matter is that we – as humans – yearn for personal, trust-laden relationships. Without optimization services, media properties’ customers are just another advertiser with another product to sell. Services that help them interact with potential buyers make them stand apart from the crowd and provide proven ROI by converting more browsers to buyers.

Heading to the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Boston next week (June 15-18)? We’ve been busy gearing up for it, as we’ll be there for the full four days. Swing by our booth, #413, Monday through Thursday to learn more about ATG, our e-commerce applications, and what you can do today to improve your overall commerce experience online, in store, or in the call center.

Our own Bill Zujewski, Vice President, Product Marketing, will be speaking on Tuesday, June 16 at 2:00 pm during Track A: Managing Technology. Check out the panel presentation to get an inside look at technology options for online retailers and which options work best for specific retailers. You’ll get the pro / con breakdown of different approaches retailers can take as well as a peek into what works the best now, and what will continue to work in the future.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Though the government says consumers are reducing their spending, online retailers are reporting a year-over-year growth in sales for the first quarter of 2009. In fact, a majority of online merchants are predicting that the positive momentum will continue throughout the year.

These numbers were reported this week by Internet Retailer, as part of the publication’s new profitability and business development survey of 92 Web-only retailers, chain retailers, catalogers and consumer brand manufacturers.

This is more great news for e-commerce merchants and we’re glad to hear that a majority of online retailers are faring well in these difficult times. We are also encouraged to see that very few retailers are planning cuts to their technology theater of operations. As Gene Alvarez, vice president of e-commerce research at Gartner Inc., says in the Internet Retailer article, companies that continue to invest in their Web sites through tough economic times are best positioned and prepared to capitalize on the economic turnaround when it occurs.

As such, we wanted to provide a couple of tips to help online retailers continue this growth in sales and power through these shifting times. The time to be a little creative and try new tactics is now, so you are well prepared as we head closer toward the holiday season:

• Deploy automated recommendations: Personalized merchandising services help quickly lift revenue by recommending the most relevant products from the catalog to each shopper. If your recommendations engine understands your catalog and gives you the control to balance automation with your merchandising strategies, you can use it to personalize merchandising across the site and across channels. Why not automate and personalize your top-seller pages, a slot on your homepage, or even create new pages such as gift guides or “just for you” sections? Our data shows that customers who extend recommendations across their site and across channels have a much greater revenue impact than those who use them for cross-sells alone.
• Implement live help with click to call and click to chat: These technologies can help quickly and measurably increase conversions, reduce Web site abandonment, increase order values, and improve customer loyalty and contact center efficiency. A recent report from Forrester Research finds that firms that are successful in implementing interactive help features like click to call and click to chat are quick to move shoppers from the Web to the phone. The more you can do to make experiences satisfying and consistent across channels, the more new and repeat customers you will earn.
• Try re-marketing techniques: One of the most recent trends we’ve observed with our customers is the growing use of re-marketing or “winback” features that proactively ask site visitors to provide their e-mail address when their online behavior indicates they may potentially abandon a transaction. You can easily do this with a proactive rules engine that you control, so you can offer this “winback” feature only to select visitors who exhibit common signs of abandonment, such as hovering on a page for too long. You can then re-market to those who opt-in, providing links back to carts and reminders to complete orders.

Yesterday, Internet Retailer reported that Jo-Ann Stores, a long standing customer of ours, reported Web sales of $9.5 million for the first quarter of 2009. That translates to a nearly 16 percent increase in e-commerce revenue. Jo-Ann Stores sews up success by engaging its more than two million customers on the Web and giving them the ability to easily find and purchase the products that bring their creative inspirations to fruition.

Congratulations to Jo-Ann on its continued success.