It Really Is Simple RSS

It Really Is Simple RSS

by: Tony Dean

I have กGooglebotก coming to my site every day since a month ago I put up my first news feed, since then I have put up yet another.

I never used to see กGooglebotก much before, so it goes to show that if you want to be noticed by the search engines, you need to put up a กnewsfeedก.

All this resubmitting to search engines every month nonsense is just that, nonesense! I don’t really think the search engines care for you to submit to them in the first place, I think that now they like to find your site on their own. Some pundits have claimed that nowadays to submit your site at all to the search engines is counterproductive and you should not do it. They say that there is much better value in allowing the search engines to find it via a กlinkbackก from somewhere else.

กNews Feedsก are now providing that กlink backก that every site owner needs. If you run a web site and you have still not got a กnews feedก you are being left behind in the race, first to get listed by search engines and secondly to get a higher ranking my sites ranking has gone up very much higher in Yahoo and Google, since putting up my first news feed, and guess what, it was within about 36 hours of putting up that first กnews feedก that Googlebot discovered it was there! It did not take it long! The same with Yahoo, but a little bit later, like two days after Googlebot.

กNews Feedsก are readable in a software called a กNews Readerก, these are usually free to download and use right away to look at some of the feeds that are out there. There are directories for feeds which you can visit and get some addresses of some suitable ones to read each day, some of these feeds are more like กblogsก in that, they change the contents several times a day, which gives a feed a กfresherก feel to it, and which the search engines like to see. They also would like to see web site owners refreshing there web site contents on at least a daily basis, it does help with ranking.

It has been slated that the next incarnations of browser will be กfeedก compatible, they will be reading กnews feedsก as well as viewing web sites. When this does happen the กinformation revolutionก will be really turned full on! Any one, even you, can set up a กnews feedก, it really is simple, and if you don’t set one up, you are going to be like the only person in your street who does not have television or radio, you are going to miss out on the กinformation revolutionก, big time!

About The Author

Tony Dean runs a web site at: http://www.ebooksales.com. He is author of the ebook ‘really Simple RSSก which is downloadable from his web site together with a กfeed readerก

This article was posted on September 29, 2004

by Tony Dean

กHow to Make Money Online…Driving your Car.ก

กHow to Make Money Online…Driving your Car.ก

by: George Papazoglou

Here’s an alluring income generating strategy, that’s widely adopted by top MLM Agents, Small Firms, Entrepreneurs and Marketers in virtually any field of industry. It still amazes me how most Internet entrepreneurs overlook this ‘nocost’, powerful, freeadvertising system, which is…

To Making Money Driving your Car with ID Plates!

The potential of free advertising using car plates is widely adopted by small firms to gigantic corporations. You can promote any kind of opportunity, or your own business with ID Plates. It is projected that an ID car plate can generate as many as 5000 new customers per year.

Hint: If you promote an affiliate program, you still can capitalize on ID plates by redirecting prospective visitors to a profitable merchant via your web site. All you have to do next is create an ID Plate by identifying it with your own URL. Better register a unique web site to track the success of your ‘boulevard campaign’;)

Think about it… your online business will harness costfree solid advertising, as drivers will consistently ‘observe’ your web site promoted as you drive your car, park and even at traffic jams or stoplights.

You could register a web site that intrigues *curiosity*; a URL that’s short and memorable to fully exploit this awesome promotion technique. After all, gigantic corporations like IBM, Microsoft and thousands of small businesses utilize this marketing concept why not you?

In fact, one of my most lucrative marketing programs, promotes its’ conceptual 90% with ID Plates ( you can find it at: http://cashchecks.com?ar ). Don’t take this offline marketing strategy for granted you could generate an extra 46figure income annually, even without an advertising budget.

Brand your business with every ‘viral technique’ you can think of กleave no stone unturnedก. In plenty of circumstances, your customers ‘frequentby’ even in the most unsuspected places… so,‘ID Plate’ your roadway to the bank!

About The Author

George Papazoglou, is the Author behind http://websitepromotion.gr

This article may be freely distributed / republished, as long as it contains the authorกs credits and the precise entirety of the provided article, titled: กHow to Make Money Online…Driving your Car.ก

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 28, 2003

by George Papazoglou

Absolute Top Five Search Engine Marketing Myths Un

Absolute Top Five Search Engine Marketing Myths Uncovered!

by: Lee Traupel

It’s no secret that Search Engine marketing can drive significant amounts of very qualified traffic to a web site – as 85% of Internet users utilize search engines to find/research for goods and services. The problem for many companies is the difficulty they face sifting through conflicting information and hyperbole! Here is my top five list of myths that need to be run to ground.

Big Picture Myth One – Search engine ranking leads are not as good as those which originate from other forms of traditional marketing (print, direct mail, PR, etc.) – this is absolute hogwash, the truth is many agencies don’t have a clue about s/e ranking, so they push their clients to ignore this form of advertising. They simply don’t want to recommend anything they don’t understand and/or utilize an interactive marketing vehicle that requires a blend of very specialized technology and processes.

We’ve in fact found just the opposite when we’ve analyzed s/e traffic versus other types of leads for our clients; i.e. search engine traffic can be much better, as it is comprised of individuals who are actively seeking info, not just people whose curiosity has been piqued by an eyecatching publication ad or press release. And, when we’ve analyzed the data by tracking leads via a landing page (on a web site) we’ve discovered that CPL (cost per lead) numbers can be much lower for s/e ranking than other more traditional marketing methods.

Big Picture Myth Two – Effective s/e marketing can be done in house – this is rarely the case, the sheer complexity and online competition (digital warfare!) for rankings makes this extremely difficult for most companies. Based upon our analysis over 73% of corporate accounts don’t understand the basic fundamentals; i.e. how to properly use keywords, meta tags and titles and worse, don’t submit their web sites to top tier Directories (Yahoo, LookSmart, OPD) and the hundreds of second tier directories.

Most companies delegate the s/e submissions to the webmaster or web site development staff and they just don’t have the time to understand the daunting complexities required to generate page 13 rankings or to stay abreast of the shifting submissions and ranking criteria standards, as modified monthly by top tier search engines. And, in many companies the s/e ranking is added to the over worked webmaster’s tasks purely as an afterthought – as opposed to being addressed formally by the marketing department, with dedicated personnel and a budget.

Big Picture Myth Three – off the shelf software that submits a site to thousands of web sites and presents snazzy reports can do it all. This is so inaccurate and nothing can be further from the truth – it takes a tremendous amount of labor and time to identify keyword sets (not just words), optimize the content for these keywords, submit the pages while obeying the rules of the road and then continually analyzing rankings and tweaking to maintain and drive rankings (web site visibility).

Software can certainly help to automate some facets of the process and be used for back end analysis – but you can’t expect any application to make the job easy, there is too much inherent complexity in the processes. And, competition for keyword sets is fierce – as there are an estimated 510M registered domains (the numbers vary widely) with 60K new domains being registered every day.

Big Picture Myths Four and Five – Any page listing will help to drive traffic to a web site – this is another misconception. If you are aren’t achieving page 13 rankings then your wasting a great deal of time and resources – most people never drill down below these pages. Another common mistake is trying to achieve s/e rankings for a specific URL or product – if people know the name of a company or product they will find your web site easily, it’s a waste of resources to optimize for these specialized terms in 80% of most cases.

About The Author

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of business development and marketing experience he is the founder of Intelective Communications, Inc., http://www.intelective.com, a resultsdriven marketing services company providing proprietary services to clients encompassing startups to public companies. [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 25, 2002

by Lee Traupel

Give Your Web Site a Small Business Marketing Tune

Give Your Web Site a Small Business Marketing Tune Up

by: Jeremy Cohen

Your web site is like your car. Both are significant investments that require the right features and regular and proper maintenance to ensure maximal satisfaction and performance.

Your car is a finely tuned machine. You bought it not only to get you from point A to point B but also perhaps to have some fun and look good as you go. If you purchased your car new its engine had no wear. To keep it running like the day you bought it you maintain it regularly: you change the oil every 3000 miles, you inspect its belts and hoses, you check its fluids and rotate its tires (or at least you should). Without such attention the money you spent on your car will eventually seem like a mistake as it sits idly in your garage because it won’t start.

Your investment in your web site deserves the same care you give your car. While the purpose of your car is to get you from place to place, the purpose of your web site is to help you develop new business and become more successful. It doesn’t matter if your business is retail sales or professional services, your web site is supposed to act as your store front on the Internet. While your web site doesn’t need its oil changed or tires rotated it does require maintenance to ensure it performs as the marketing tool you intended it to be when you paid to have it developed.

Here are five things you can do to tune up or add to the marketing function of your web site.

Fresh content

Fresh content will keep your visitors coming back to your site just like the oil and gas in your car help ensure it starts every time you put the key in the ignition. If you neglect to maintain fresh supplies of either, you’re asking for trouble. Your visitors seek fresh content. Once your visitors realize they’ve gotten all their going to get out of your site they will not return. Add new, relevant and helpful content to your site as often as you can and you will keep your visitors happy and returning.

Keywords

Your keywords are the words your visitors use when they think about the products or services you provide. They are like the make and model of your car they are what get noticed. Your visitors use keywords and phrases to perform searches at sites like Google and Yahoo! to find what they need. They recognize and respond to these words when they see them featured in search listings, advertisements and other promotional materials. Make sure you know your keyword phrases and incorporate them into the Title, Meta Tags and copy of your web site.

Copy

The advertising copy of your web site can be likened to the amenities of your car. Your car has a stereo, cup holders and convenient storage space to address your wants and needs as you drive. The copy of your web site should do the same thing. To maximize the marketing function of your web site’s copy make sure it focuses on the problems, wants and concerns of your clients. Your visitors will be more likely to identify you as the solution to their problem if you demonstrate to them that you understand their needs.

Require Action

Just like your car requires you to step on the gas to make it go, your web site requires your visitors to take the action you want them to take in order to function as an effective marketing tool. No one has to tell you to step on the gas. Your visitors need to be told what to do. Tell them to ขbuy nowข or ขrequest our catalogข. If you don’t they might ever know that’s what they’re supposed to do.

Get Contact Info

Getting contact information from you visitors is like remembering the keys to your car. If you can’t get into you car and start it, you’re not going anywhere. Likewise, if you don’t learn who your prospects are you can’t continue marketing to them. Most people who visit your web site will not buy from you the first time they stop by. In most cases, it takes between six and eight marketing contacts with a prospect before they choose to purchase something. Your prospects are no different. If you acquire their contact information you will be able to repeatedly market to them.

Take the steps you need to maintain your web site and it will run smoothly and get you where you want to go.

About The Author

Copyright 2005 Jeremy Cohen, Better Marketing Results

The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers attract more clients and be more successful by helping them deliver a web site that sells and improve their marketing materials to generate more interest in their products and services Get his free marketing guide, Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success:

http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/marketingservices.asp

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 15

by Jeremy Cohen

Real Estate Marketing for the ขYouข Generation

Real Estate Marketing for the ขYouข Generation

by: Dominick Evans

Are you working in the real estate industry? Are you a real estate agent, mortgage consultant, builder, real estate broker, appraiser, construction worker, etc?

The Internet is the wave of the future. You can no longer sell homes without at least some sort of internet presence.

According to Harris Polls….over 70% of people in the world use the Internet.

The Internet is the most trusted source for purchases and this includes houses.

Chances are…you already have some sort of Internet presence on the web. You may have gone with a real estate web site design company for your design. You may think your design is ok. Is it really?

That is the first thing prospective clients see when they click on a link to your web site. If they don’t like the design then they leave. The web site design company may even make templates that you can use. However, did you know that you aren’t the only one using the same exact template?

I have gone to enough real estate sites to realize that these companies are making a lot of money by cloning your site. People that are buying homes aren’t going to want to see a clone site. In fact, many may not even realize it is a clone site. They click on your link and leave as soon as they see the design, not even realizing that your site is different.

These sites contain the same articles, same look, same design, etc. They are based on image marketing. Image marketing isn’t going to fly on the Internet. It just doesn’t work anymore.

You are probably wondering what image marketing is. In the early 1980กs real estate agents realized how successful image marketing was. Back then they used catchy slogans (such as #1 in sales), told you everything they had that other agents didn’t, and used images (including their faces), to win you over so you’d choose them as your agent.

Since the 1980กs people have gotten wiser. They no longer care what you have, what your credentials are, or that you are ข#1 in salesข. Did you know nearly every agent in your area claims to be #1 in sales? How do you know? You can’t track other agents sales since they all work on commission.

So what can you do? Stop using the words ขME ME MEข and start using the word กYOU!ก

Let them know exactly what you have to offer them. List what you can do for them. There are numerous ways you can do this without compromising your job and your commission.

Offer them FREE informative articles.

Did you know that I went to a real estate agent’s site and they wanted me to put in my phone number and email just so I could read their free article? Doesn’t this seem a little odd to you? I don’t even have to mention the kind of spam I received once I did put in my email. I was contacted daily with statistics (that seemed to be made up), information, and a bunch of updates on the agent’s web site progression. I don’t care how many sales he had in August. I just wanted to read his article on Moving when you Have Pets.

This is the number one way to LOSE clients not gain them. No one wants to be nagged incessantly to buy or sell their home. Buying and selling a home is one of the BIGGEST processes a person will go through. They can lose or gain money in the end, and choosing the wrong agent isn’t something they want to do.

So, don’t let them choose the wrong agent. Offer them buyer, seller, investment, and even FSBO articles. Why FSBO’s? If you are so willing to offer information on how a client can sell a home on their own then you really must care about your clients. You won’t be getting anything in return for FSBO articles…or will you?

Did you know that over 90% of home sellers that start out as FSBO’s end up going with an agent? They do not get results, don’t understand the process well enough, or it simply is too much work for them to handle. They may not have the time to put in to selling the home on their own. When choosing an agent they are going to remember the person who was so willing to help them out, by offering advice and information. They are going to remember you!

Give them indepth information on the area you serve.

Did you know that one of the biggest complaints home buyers have is not enough information on the cities, towns, and communities in your area? You need to do more than just list a link to the URL for each community page. Have a history, demographics (such as income level, number of residents), school information, and businesses listed about each city and town you serve. You may even want to include pictures, small maps, and anything else you can think of to make the page really stand out.

You are offering something very few real estate agents even consider offering. The prospective clients will have a much better understanding of the area, and can decide where they want to move, and what they can afford.

Community pages usually list hospitals, businesses, restaurants, sporting facilities, and recreational opportunities for your area. You may even want to list important community events such as festivals, fairs, and holiday celebrations. This will definitely be helpful to current residents and prospective residents.

Your time and effort will pay off in the end. The buyer is going to want to go with the person that offers the most information on the area they are moving. Why not let this person be you?

Offer free calculators.

If you are a mortgage consultant why not offer free calculators on your site so your clients can see what kind of loan they may be eligible for? The calculators may have different requirements and can give them a basis to go off of before they contact you to assist them through the mortgage process.

Blogs and Forums

You may want to have your own web blog and forums on your site. The search engines place these two things very high if there is content on them that is relevant to your site topic. You can write articles or post other real estate articles on your blog. Forums not only give you a place to post articles, they also give you a visible way to interact with clients (prospective and current) in a public setting. You can answer questions and it is a very humanizing thing. People will see you less and less as the elusive agent they know only enough about through your web site. They will see you as a well informed, caring individual.

Once they realize that you are in fact a human (much like they are!) and not just a concept in their mind they are going to be more willing to trust you with the sale of their home, their mortgage, and/or choose you to build their home.

Team up with a Local Group

People looking to buy a home are more likely to work with a team (or network) then a solitary individual. If you are an agent you probably work with the same inspector, appraiser, or loan specialist. Why not become a team? You can refer clients to one another and create a network of clients. You also get your name out there because you aren’t the only one working for you…your team is promoting your business, as well.

There are many other things you can do to increase your visibility on the Internet and increase your profits. You just need to remember that the client always comes first. When you do this, you are sure to win over clients every time!

For more information on how to promote your real estate web site, the importance of real estate web site design, SEO, linking, and more email me at [email protected] or go through the contact form at my web site http://www.domashdesigns.com.

(This article can be replicated so long as a link back to my site is added, and proper credit is given. Thanks in advance.)

About The Author

Dominick Evans is the Head Designer for DomAsh Designs a web site design company that specializes in web site design, promotion, internet marketing, virtual assistance, and writing services for business professionals. DomAsh Designs specializes in work for Real Estate Agents, Brokers, Mortgage Specialists, entertainment web sites, retail, pop culture sites, and the computer industry. A new division of DomAsh Designs is going to start offering family based web design within the new year. All work is copyright to Dominick Evans www.domashdesigns.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 27, 2004

by Dominick Evans

Your Resourcebox Giving You Profits?

Your Resourcebox Giving You Profits?

by: Radhika Venkata

Rule number one You must write ezine articles and submit them to publishers and content sites.

Rule number two You must include a resourcebox that gives you profits, subscribers, link popularity etc or what ever you want from your resourcebox.

Tips how to get good response from Your resourcebox:

***1. No more than 7 lines:

Longer the resourcebox, it is difficult to scan through. Afterall most people first scan documents, articles to get an outline of what is about. So try keep less and only important bio in the resourcebox.

If you have 10 web sites, don’t be temptated to keep all web site urls in resourcebox. Bad way of advertising. Select one free give away product, one flagship product and keep those two urls in your resourcebox.

***2. Give something free:

DON’t try to sell products through your resourcebox. Try to grab the details of the reader like email address. If you have his email address, you sure can do follow up him.

***3. URL issues:

Try to avoid these

forget to keep urls

long urls

direct affiliate links with out some cloacking

misspelled urls

broken urls

nothing but urls in your resourcebox

hyperlinking to your url with กClick hereก word. Try to expose your url.

***4. Link popularity:

Keep only urls in the resourcebox. Email links don’t improve your web site link popularity. So if you want to keep your ezines subscription link, keep your web site form link like yourdomain.com/subscribe.html. Not [email protected]?subject=subscribe.

***5. Take care of words:

Don’t use all capitals

Avoid hype words

explain your product in 2 3 lines

Always include benefits

If possible use the word กfreeก

misspelled words

About The Author

Radhika Venkata Subscribe to กEbookBiz Magazineก which is completely focused on ebook business and Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights every month!

http://www.ebooksworld.com/freetosell.shtml

Webmaster Resources: List Your product, ezine or web site free!

http://www.webmasterscentral.com/

This article was posted on November 12, 2003

by Radhika Venkata

Do You Read On The Train?

Do You Read On The Train?

by: Tony Dean

I don’t know about you, but I see more people with PDAs on trains reading things on there instead of reading paperbacks, or newspapers.

Is this the future we are looking at?

Will newspapers of a morning be unobtainable anymore?

Will we get our daily news via the PDA?

Perhaps connected to a กSmartphoneก for downloading the newspaper to the PDA?

Or will กSmartphonesก take over the task of the PDA?

Will newsprint not be available in a few years time, also magazines at the bookstall?

Will public libraries not be a place you will go to and sit down and read? Or will they be a network hub with servers all over the place for people to instantly download, not only the daily newspaper, but any textbook, manual or book, straight onto their กSmartphoneก and read things on the move?

The saving on paper and ink would be enormous, as would the manpower, distribution resources, bookbinding for we could all read digitally, future generations will not know what a paperback is or a newspaper, unless they get saved in museums.

The race has been on for some time to preserve our modern culture in digital form, all the classic story tellers who are now in the กpublic domainก are being transposed into digital ebooks so future generations will be still able to read them. So many books have been กpulpedก in the paper mill it is still unknown how many authors works have been destroyed right to the last copy.

The race is on too, for the thousands of collectors of กfirst editionsก by popular authors, who scan every shelf at the second hand bookstore or market stall and even it seems, at the local Oxfam charity shops! The word is that the Oxfam charity in the UK took over thirteen million pounds sterling in the year 2003 just in old books donated to their stores. I find this totally incredible, but their figures don’t lie.

About The Author

Tony Dean is a published author and runs a web site selling Ebooks and Software. To subscribe to his ezine send blank email to: [email protected]. His web site is: http://www.ebooksales.com

This article was posted on October 31, 2004

by Tony Dean

7 Steps To A Powerful, Useful Reciprocal Links Dir

7 Steps To A Powerful, Useful Reciprocal Links Directory

by: Charles Kangethe

The Problem

No matter how good your product or service is, if you are not receiving targeted visitors to your site or if your web site is not well ranked by the Search engines you will not sell much.

A solid, reciprocal linking strategy, properly executed will deliver both targeted visitors and improve your web site rank for your chosen keywords and all for กno money down.ก

Step #1 Specific Keyword Search

It is important that your chosen keyword phrases are as specific as possible.

Scott Buresh of http://www.mediumblue.com/ says this about keywords and using กgeographicก, กadjectiveก and กnounก modifiers to make them specific.

กModifiers are used for two main reasons: to increase the percentage of ideal prospects in the traffic the phrase attracts, and to find terms that are easier to target on search engines. Adding the right type of modifiers to your search engine key phrases will increase your chances of success.ก

This step involves effort and a capacity to brainstorm because you need a minimum of 100 keyword phrases for good results. Good search engine optimisers build lists of 300 specific or more keyword phrases.

The following resources will be of use as you build your keyword phrase list

* Overture Suggestion Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

* Good Keywords by Softnik Technologies http://www.goodkeywords.com

* Use a search engine to research กKeyword Phrasesก and learn more practical details on this critical task.

Step #2 Suitable Link Partners

Your ideal link partners are web sites based on

* High quality content Ideally the material (articles, reviews, reports, ebooks etc) should be original, fresh and informative to visitors.

* Tight web site themes The content addresses a specific business, product or service type.

* Tight directory themes A link to the link directory should be prominently shown on main pages and the directory must be tightly themed and not just a กlink farmก of general, nonrelated web sites.

* Complimentary themes While you may not want direct competitors to feature in your directory, complimentary sites that fulfil the above features will provide great value to your visitors.

Step # 3 Find and Review Link Partners

Now, find web sites who may be กgoodก link partners.

Using a search engine or directory, go through each keyword phrase in your list and visit as many of the web sites that are returned as you can.

Evaluate each site on the basis of the criteria set in step #2.

Decide on the categories you want in your directory.

For an Internet marketing business these would typically be กAffiliate Programsก, กBusiness Promotionก, กIncome Opportunitiesก an so on.

Qualifying web sites, may of course fall into more than one category depending on their business, product or service offerings.

With this information you can now make another list of :

* Qualifying web sites for inclusion. * Relevant email address to which link requests must be addressed.

* Web site URL and a short description of the web site and what it offers.

* Make a note of กspecialก features on the web site which you can usefully put in your email to *prove* you have actually visited the site. This goes a long way to countering SPAM problems.

Step # 4 Build Your Partner Link Directory.

Build your Partner Linkกs directory using a separate HTML page for each distinct category.

Add the URL link and comment for each qualified site into the relevant category page(s).

Make your directory pleasurable to visit, where visitors find information quickly and easily.

Ensure ithe directory is easily found and reached from your main web pages.

Step 5 eMail The Webmaster

Using the email addresses, write to each Webmaster you have linked to.

Tell them :

* The URL address of the page where their link can be found

* Your own web site link information (URL and descriptive comments)

Finish by asking for a reciprocal link in their directory.

Make the email personal and you might like to use the *special* feature note you made to help your request achieve success.

Step #6 Maintain Your Directory

A partner directory is a work in constant progress.

It must change quickly to reflect obsolete, dead, new, and modified links and web sites.

This maintains itกs usefulness to your visitors.

Depending on size, verifying the links may be more than you can achieve easily by your own efforts. Offer prizes to visitors who find and inform you of links that are no longer useful.

Maintenance also means giving added prominence to entries for other webmasters who respond to your mail and tell you that they have added your link and web site information to their own directories.

You can add a small graphic next to each Partner link making it stand out from the other web sites that have not provided a reciprocal links.

Remember your directory exists to provide useful content to your visitors. Do not immediately remove a non reciprocating web site, if it adds value to your visitors.

Step #7 Repeat

Go through the six steps above regularly and over a period of 3 to 6 months you should notice a significant and sustained rise in targeted traffic from complimentary sites as well as a rise in search engine rankings for your specific keyword phrases.

Conclusion

Building a useful, tightly themed, Partner Link directory is a กNo costก traffic and ranking builder.

Will you devote 15 minutes to this today, and into the future ?

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

About The Author

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The กSimply Easierก brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 02, 2004

by Charles Kangethe

5 Common Web Site Development Mistakes of Small Bu

5 Common Web Site Development Mistakes of Small Business

by: Robert Flenner

Hereกs some mistakes to avoid when selecting or building your Web site. You know on those days when you have to wear your tech hat.

1) No Value Too Simple

This is probably the most common mistake made by small business owners online. The site has little value for the service or product their offering. Often it starts out as a กbrochureก site. Meaning their current offline marketing material is put online. Unfortunately many sites never progress past this point.

Now don’t get me wrong at leasts itกs a start, but it may not be enough.

You need to take a hard look an ask if there is anything of real value for the customer once they get there. Does it go beyond your contact information and service offering? Does it need to?

You can build a brochure site, but you might quickly find itกs not getting the results you expected.

2) Overkill

This mistake goes in the opposite direction. These sites fall in two categories:

They either are so loaded with content that the customer says กoh no, I don’t want to work this hardก or the site has been so กovertechedก the lights dim in your house when you access it.

The first site suffers from a lack of proper categorization and navigation. Probably the designer read one too many books on effective Web sites 50 articles per topic minimum of 10 topics, blah, blah, blah. It misses the critical difference between mass marketing and local community marketing. The fact is of the 100 articles on your web site 5 of them are being read if you’re lucky!

Now the second site, the bandwidth hog, suffers from misguided flash intros, excessive movie downloads, cute images sliding in and off the page, and all of this is happening at the same time. You can almost hear the customer crying out กI just want to schedule an appointment onlineก.

3) The กAll In the Familyก Site

Also known as the relative site. Be it your talented son of 16 or your brotherinlaw who knows all about this technical stuff, the site was designed, developed, and released by someone in the family who is กvery technicalก. The chance of success of these sites is very low because itกs not the technical side of a site that makes or breaks it for small business, itกs the business side. How much does your 16 year old son know about your business? Or more importantly how much does he care to learn?

4) Free Web Site with Purchase of Candy Bar

Yeah, itกs almost got to that point. Web sites for free! Anyone can have one like giving away a promotional magnet for my refrigerator (actually promotional magnets are much more effective). Costs nothing, design it in minutes. However, most are worth nothing and are a waste of time and effort.

5) Over Priced and Difficult to Change

The business owner looking for something really กspecialก. Cost is not the issue. This mistake can have significant ramifications because you can spend a lot of money and then realize you need something different. Make sure you get a site that you can change easily. Not a site that the company you hired can change easily, but that you can change. Make sure YOU see how easy it is to change before you agree.

Web sites offer you the opportunity to try different ideas, promotions and services quickly. The Web site you launch today will not be the Web site you need in six months. Small business owners are reluctant to redesign or change Web sites because of cost and experience.

Make sure that the Web site you buy at a minimum is database driven, supports templates, and can be changed by anyone, not just the กoriginal manufacturerก.

About The Author

Robert Flenner is founder of www.bentgrassgraphics.com devoted to community oriented small businesses. His articles have appeared on many web sites such as O’reilly, and is the author of a number of books on emerging technologies and ecommerce. He can be reached at [email protected] .

This article was posted on August 24

by Robert Flenner

20 Tips for Creating a CustomerFriendly Web Site

20 Tips for Creating a CustomerFriendly Web Site

by: Christopher Smith

What annoys an Internet user the most? A quick unscientific survey of a local Internet café suggests the top three turnoffs are:

Sites that are very slow to download;

Ones that are confusing to use;

Sites that do not contain the promised information;

The single most common reaction to sites like these is that the visitor very quickly moves on to another web site. Clearly, if you get things wrong there is usually no second chance.

How can you avoid this happening to your business? Well, here are twenty tips to help you when designing or redesigning your company’s web site.

Start with a clear understanding of the purpose of your site.

Is the aim of your site to sell, entertain, or inform? The design of your site should be consistent with its purpose. The requirements for a site selling software online will be very different from say the web site of a local community newspaper.

Plan the site with the customer in mind.

Imagine how your customers (existing and prospects) will use your site. Consider their reasons for visiting and their needs. Something that looks logical to you may not appear so to a firsttime visitor.

Design for crossbrowser compatibility.

Although Internet Explorer dominates, do not overlook those people who use alternatives such as Mozilla, Opera and Netscape. Make sure your site can be viewed in other browsers; that way you will not unintentionally reduce the number of visitors to your site.

Choose simplicity over complexity.

Unless you are a design company showcasing its skills, keep things simple. Visitors (especially frequent ones) may not be impressed by your complex animated graphics especially if they serve no apparent useful purpose. Make it simple for visitors to get to the content – that is what most of them are coming to your site for anyway.

Make the navigation intuitive and easy to use.

This is probably one of the two most important aspects of designing a web site, the other being content. Make your site’s navigation logical and clear. Ensure the most important and most oftenaccessed information is easy to find. Link names should be concise and selfexplanatory. Test navigational links to make sure they work and keep them uptodate.

Your site should be as visually appealing as possible.

Visual appeal is subjective but the design of your site will undoubtedly influence customers’ perceptions of your business as a whole. An uncluttered layout, careful choice of font size and colors and appropriate use of graphics and images should go a long way to ensuring your site creates a good impression of your business.

Apply a consistent design or ’look and feel’ to your site.

Keep design consistent across your site unless you want your visitors to ask themselves whether they have wandered into another company’s site by accident.

Integrate your web site design with your offline branding.

For many, the Internet is still an alien environment so reassure your customers by applying the same branding online as you do offline. After all, if you have spent a lot of money building your brand why spend more appearing to build an entirely different online brand (unless, of course, this is your intention).

Keep page size manageable to ensure speedy downloads.

Online visitors’ patience is measured in milliseconds and not everyone has hispeed or broadband Internet connections. So, keep page sizes within reasonable limits to ensure that they download quickly. Optimize graphic size and avoid putting an image on a page unless it adds something for the visitor.

Ensure your site’s content reflects its purpose.

If yours is a sales site for example, ensure that your content concentrates on selling. Stay focused and avoid the temptation to upload content that is not relevant to your web site’s purpose.

Enable quick and easy location of information.

Quite simply, most customers will quickly leave your site if they cannot locate the information they are seeking. Internet users increasingly require information to be instantly available and there is no shortage of other sites eager to take business from you. Think what information customers are likely to want and do not hide it away.

Make sure content is relevant, accurate and uptodate.

Provide accurate and relevant content and keep it uptodate. Failure to do this will make your company look inefficient and reflects badly on your customer service levels. Search engines also appreciate content that is updated regularly.

Encourage interaction.

Get visitors to interact with your site and spend more time on it. Make a visit an interesting experience for them by including useful online tools, etc. Just make sure they are relevant to your site.

Personalize your site.

Depending on the technology you have available to you, it may be possible to greet visitors to your site by name and serve up content tailored specifically to their needs. If you can do it then do so.

Invite dialogue.

Give your customers the opportunity to contact you via email, online forms, a callback/callme facility, web chat, etc. Ask for their feedback via online surveys and feedback forms. Invite them to subscribe to a customer newsletter.

Acknowledge customer contact.

It is common courtesy to say ‘thank you’. Very little effort is required to set up an email autoresponder. When requiring customers to complete and submit a form, make sure there is a ‘thank you’ page or popup. It reassures the customer that you have received their communication and does not leave them wondering whether or not your site is working properly.

Make it a ‘seamless’ experience.

Aim to give customers the same level of service online as you give them offline. Your goal should be to facilitate the customer’s interaction with your company and allow them to choose how to do business with you. You know that customers are your most valuable asset and that retaining them is vitally important.

Give your customers support.

Reassure visitors to your site by providing elements such as help pages, FAQ’s, a site map, terms of use and a privacy policy. They will appreciate it.

Inspire confidence.

Ensure that your site works properly and its content is uptodate. Check error messages make sense and forms and data entry fields are logical. Get someone to proofread your site and spot any grammatical and spelling mistakes. The quality of your site tells customers a lot about the quality of service they can expect from you.

Get to know your customers.

Learn as much as you can about your customers and the way they use your site (and, if you can, find out how they use your competitors’ sites). Then use this learning to improve your site and increase your return on investment.

The number of web sites is growing every day and now just about anyone can create one. If you want your site to stand out from the rest, plan it carefully and design it with your customers in mind. Far too many web site owners just do not bother.

About The Author

Christopher Smith is owner of YourSiteAssessed.com (http://www.yoursiteassessed.com) and President of eNewsWriters, Inc. – a company which writes customer newsletters for businesses (http://www.enewswriters.com).

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 18, 2004

by Christopher Smith

Is Your OnLine Business Customer Friendly?

Is Your OnLine Business Customer Friendly?

by: Philippa Gamse

Customer service is increasingly seen as one of the most valuable uses for a commercial World Wide Web site. Your Web site is available on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis. So it is well worth exploring ways in which your customers can virtually ขserve themselves,ก without the need for overtime staff, or lengthy voice mail procedures.

James Feldman is President of JFA, Inc., an online business offering high quality and unique gift items including automatic watch winders, Grundig shortwave pocket radios, and nitroglycerine pill fobs. The JFA Web site has been online since 1997, and has doubled its income every year it’s now a multimillion dollar ecommerce enterprise.

Jim, who’s also a professional speaker and expert on customer service, highlighted for me how the online buying experience differs from the bricksandmortar model.

Buying online eliminates the physical presence and personality of the salesperson from the process. This makes the Web site copy critical in creating a onetoone relationship with the customer or prospect.

Which echoes one of my favorite mantras:

Every page of your site should be written from the visitor’s point of view, not yours.

A visitor should be able to look at your offerings, and immediately answer the questions:

ขWhy me?ข – that is, is your Web site the right place for me?

ขWhy should I care?ข – does this copy convince me that you can meet my needs?

It’s much easier and immediate to jump from Web site to Web site than to move between realworld stores. So the visitor has far more freedom of choice online. Jim says that the challenge for customer service is therefore very clearly to focus on one customer, one purchase at a time. Ecustomers expect great service, with little or no direct interaction. They will tolerate some mistakes, but not many.

Jim offers five rules for effective online customer service:

1. Be accessible. Show very clearly on your site all the ways that your customer can contact you – including email, phone and fax numbers, and your office hours.

And, if it’s practical for your business, be personal – give your visitors a real person to call who has a name, as opposed to [email protected]

Of course, if you’re really upscale, you can include a ขCallmeข button on your site.

2. Return every email or phone call in the same day, as far as reasonably possible. This may sound simplistic, but a recent experiment with the top Fortune 100 companies showed that nearly a third failed to respond to email sent through their Web site within one month! Some of these companies still don’t provide a usable email address on their sites at all.

3. Acknowledge all orders. Send email confirmations (this can be done very effectively with autoresponders), and if you’re shipping actual products, give tracking numbers and expected delivery dates.

4. Provide a clear return policy, honor it and learn from it. This may give you more information about what’s working and what’s not. Jim’s products are sometimes returned with no explanation, so his staff always call the customer to establish and resolve the problem.

5. Expect more phone calls. Jim says: ขCustomers can’t read or write!ข If your Web site traffic and response rates grow (which is, of course, what we want), so will the volume of phone calls, whatever your business or industry.

Regardless of the site quality, clear returns and privacy policies, secure servers, etc., people still require human interaction. All of my clients report talking to customers on the phone, and walking them through the Web site, where their questions are clearly answered. Maybe these psychological barriers will lessen over the next few years, but right now, they are very much there.

If you can get the customer service aspects of your business working well, there’ll be a definite bottom line impact. Jim is quite clear that his business has grown substantially through repeat business and referrals from satisfied customers.

And in contrast, we can see the impact of poor customer service and fulfillment procedures in many of the dot.coms that are currently failing. Jim says that people buy things online in the expectation of getting something more valuable than the actual money they spend.

Does your Web site do this??

JFA Inc. can be found at http://www.jfainc.com/

About The Author

Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is an internationally recognized ebusiness strategist. Check out her free tipsheet กBeyond the Search Enginesก for 17 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 4650317 or mailto:[email protected].

This article was posted on November 14, 2002

by Philippa Gamse

10 Great Ways To Generate More Sales

10 Great Ways To Generate More Sales

by: Mohamed Rabea

1. Negotiate with ezine publishers to get free or discounted ads by letting them join your affiliate program and earn commissions on the ad you run.

2. Build up the number of people that join your free affiliate program quickly by temporally offering your product for free to the people that sign up.

3. Allow people to download software or ebooks from your web site at no cost. Just ask your visitors in return if theyกll refer their friends to your web site.

4. Offer daily or weekly visitor bonuses. This will increase your repeat traffic and sales because your visitors will visit regularly to get the visitor bonuses.

5. Sell advertising space in your product package. You could sell inserts, flyers, brochures, booklets, and digital ads for electronic products.

6. Publish your ezine only on your web site. Have people subscribe to a กnew issueก email reminder. This could really increase your traffic and sales.

7. Create two versions of your ezine so people can choose if they want ads included with it or not. Thisกll attract the people who hate ads to subscribe.

8. Add a free classified ad section to your web site. You could then trade banner ads with other web sites that have free classified ad sections.

9. Turn part of your web site into a members only web site. Instead of charging for access, use it as a free bonus for one of your products.

10. Create a free ebook directory on a specific topic at your web site. People will visit your web site to read the free ebooks and may see your product ad.

About The Author

Mohamed Rabea is the owner of the Internetกs most popular home based business and marketing websites, available from http://www.bizpioneer.com & http://www.bizpeak.com

This article was posted on September 05, 2004

by Mohamed Rabea