Awards Programs: Judging Sites

Written by Richard Lowe


Okay, so you've takenrepparttar plunge and created your awards program. Your criteria are defined and well written, your purpose is understood and you've promotedrepparttar 134680 heck out of your program. Now you've started getting applications - andrepparttar 134681 real work begins.

This isrepparttar 134682 part of awards programs that is, well, both interesting and extraordinarily dull. The creative work has all been done. What remains is to examine each site that applies for your award and determine if they are good enough to deserve to be recognized.

So how does this work? It's pretty simple, really. It all starts from your criteria.

Let's use an example of a pretty standard set of criteria:

- Reasonable download time - Understandable navigation - Readable text - Not under construction - No broken links - Good quality content - Way to turn off music - Good HTML - Viewable in all screen resolutions - Does not violate copyright or steal bandwidth - No sites which promote illegal activities, pornography, hacking or warez.

What I like to do is set aside a few hours a week to go through my list of sites. Then you visit each and every site and compare it torepparttar 134683 criteria that you have created for your award. You should also keep in mind whetherrepparttar 134684 sites must meet ALL criteria or just most of them!

This is so important that I will repeat it again: comparerepparttar 134685 applying site against your criteria and only your criteria. In fact, you should only compare it againstrepparttar 134686 criteria that you had posted atrepparttar 134687 timerepparttar 134688 site was submitted.

So let's check a site againstrepparttar 134689 criteria. You surf to it and find that it seems to download very slowly. This, at first glance, appears to violate your criteria - but spend a couple more seconds to make a judgment call: is thisrepparttar 134690 result ofrepparttar 134691 site design or something beyondrepparttar 134692 webmasters control (such as slow server)? Ifrepparttar 134693 page has 500kb of graphics, thenrepparttar 134694 site flunks immediately - go on torepparttar 134695 next one. Ifrepparttar 134696 page looks reasonable (and it will not take long to figure this out), then continue with it.

Okay, what's next onrepparttar 134697 criteria? Understandable navigation. That's an easy one - can you figure out quickly how to navigaterepparttar 134698 site? Hmm, suppose a site has a JavaScript menu and you hate JavaScript? well, if you used these criteria, then you cannot flunkrepparttar 134699 site for this - but you can update your criteria sorepparttar 134700 next series of submissions cannot have JavaScript menus. Readable text is next onrepparttar 134701 list. Can you readrepparttar 134702 text? It does not matter whetherrepparttar 134703 characters are pink and green - can you read them? If so,repparttar 134704 site passes - if not, it doesn't.

How To Keep More Of Your Visitors

Written by Said Rouhani


Did you know that most of your visitors probably never go beyond your homepage? And a lot of them leave within ten seconds of hitting your homepage, NEVER to return again?

These are wasted visitors, and you must do everything possible to reducerepparttar waste, or you'll simply miss out on a great amount of profits.

Luckily, there are a couple of effective tactics you can employ to prevent visitors turning their backs on your site. I've outlined ten of them in this article. The basic strategy is two-fold: 1) Trying to keep people on your site 2) Getting them to subscribe to your mailing list.

Here we go:

1. Make it a priority to collect opt-in email addresses

Your number one marketing priority onrepparttar 134679 Web should be to build your opt-in mailing list. This is where most of your customers will come from. And best thing is, once they're on your list you can sell to them over and over. Include a subscription form for your ezine on EVERY page of your Web site (check out my own site for an example of this - pay attention torepparttar 134680 left hand margin).

2. Put up testimonials

Put up a couple of shining testimonials right on your homepage. Interject your homepage copy with a couple of these testimonials. Addrepparttar 134681 names and email addresses ofrepparttar 134682 persons who wroterepparttar 134683 testimonial to boost credibility (ask them first though). Remember: NEVER fake a testimonial! Not only is it unethical, but it'll show through. And if I'm not mistaken, it is also an illegal practice.

3. Don't link out on your homepage

Keep ALL links on your homepage internal. In other words, don't give visitors a way out so they wont leave as soon as they arrive.

4. Make your headline stand out

Your homepage headline should be in large font type, and very attention grabbing, while atrepparttar 134684 same time hype-free. Study some great sales letters you've come across onrepparttar 134685 Web. You'll soon realize that one ofrepparttar 134686 things they all have in common is a headline that just makes you WANT to know more about whatever product/service is being offered.

5. Work on your copy

The most powerful selling tool at your disposal are WORDS. You need to get your copy perfectly tight (especiallyrepparttar 134687 homepage). This is not an overnight process. It takes several weeks (and even longer) of trial and error to get it right. Check your log files after each change to find out how many people leave your site via your homepage. Make it your mission to reduce this number, until you've hit such "tightness" that you can't get it any better. Take some free online copy writing courses to learn how to improve your copy (I've listed a couple on my site). Whatever you do, write for your TARGET audience!

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use