AOL Browser BETA - A Major Contender?

- Quick Favourites: In addition to normal favourites, AOL offers quick favourites. Simply add a webpage to a specified folder in your favourites, and it will display a small textlink in browser window, just under address bar. Click it, and your browser zooms off to webpage you specified. Quick, easy and effective.

10 Things Your Website Must Do

1. Define your 'position' and communicate it prominently.

   Tell website visitors on your homepage what you do and how you are different from others in your industry. Tell them where you specialize. This can be accomplished either through a combination of your company name and 'slogan', through text in an introductory paragraph or through a bold, prominently-displayed marketing-type message. Here is an example:

   Cowell eMarketing

   A small and innovative eMarketing firm for businesses seeking new ways to attract and retain customers. Unlike larger eMarketing firms, Cowell eMarketing only accepts a limited number of active clients at a time, which allows us to provide responsive and individual service... way it used to be.

2. Communicate that others have taken step to do business with you.

   When people browse your site they wonder if your company is trustworthy. In order for people to feel confident about doing business with you, you need to help them in trust department. By showing that others have already done business with you, you show that you are a real company with real customers. Here are a few ways to do this:

   1. Quotes/Testimonials - ask your clients for a 1 or 2 sentence quote about various ways in which you have satisfied. Example:

      "Donovan Consulting is only firm we go to when we need accounting work that must be accurate and on-time."

   2. Success Stories - compile a short, one paragraph story about how you helped a client overcome an obstacle. Include names of companies and people wherever possible. Also, include factual data to add impact.

      "Susan Smith, Director of Operations at InstaNet, was losing millions of dollars each year in employee overtime and project overruns. With our help, we were able to work with Susan to install ProjectWare and after six months InstaNet reduced employee overtime by 75%. Additionally, project overruns were brought-down to 5% compared to 15% before using ProjectWare."

   3. Case Studies - a case study is typically a one or two page report (longer in some cases based on topic) that takes success story even further. A case study will provide detailed information about client's challenges, how those challenges affected their business, what options they had for solving those challenges, which option solved their challenge and specific results of how solution is saving money or producing revenue.

      It is important to use a combination of these tools throughout your website as related links to relevant information.

3. Position yourself as a leader.

   As visitors browse your site, they start to form an opinion of your company's offerings, reputation, etc. One thing people will want to know is your 'position' in industry. Does your company lead industry? Do they lag behind? Are you a 'me too' company? Here are a few examples of information you can provide to establish a position of leadership:

   1. Write articles and white papers on important topics within your industry. Take a stand and give your opinion on matter. Don't be afraid of your opinion. If you are passionate about your thoughts and opinions, share them!

   2. Conduct seminars on an important topic in your industry. Teach others how to do something that they otherwise might not know how to do. Depending on your audience, you can offer free seminars or charge for them.

   3. Speak at conferences and other business events where your target audience is likely to be. Apply for as many speaking events as you possibly can!

      Promote your articles, white papers, seminars and speaking engagements on your website. Invite people to hear what you have to say.

4. Provide opportunities for visitors to engage with you at several levels.

   On web it is sometimes difficult for people to make leap from 'just browsing' to buying. Whether you literally sell online or are a services company that doesn't 'do business' online, you will want to offer your visitors several ways to start a dialogue with your company. By giving people an opportunity to engage your business without a major commitment, you establish your 'foot in door'. Once you have your foot in door, 'getting sale' is easy. Here are some tools you will want to consider to get your foot in door:

   1. Free reports/white papers - not only do these tools establish your company as thought leaders, they also serve as a great way to get people to interact with you at no cost!

   2. Online calculators - a great example are 'mortgage calculators' that a lot of real estate finance companies offer on their websites. These simple tools provide value with no commitment on customer's part.

   3. Trial products - can your product or service be packaged in a 'try-it-for-free' scenario? Software companies can offer free 30-day evaluation versions of their software. A products company can send sample sizes of their products at no charge. An online service can offer free access for a limited time or completely free 'basic' accounts. Music business can offer one track of several for free. The possibilities are endless!

   4. Newsletters - If you regularly write or have access to fresh articles, you can publish an online newsletter and allow people to sign-up for free. As long as your newsletter is sent on a regular basis and always has new and valuable articles, it will be a hit!