"Let Your Little Website Shine" Part 6 (Final in series)

Written by Lynne Schlumpf


Thanks for joining me this one last time forrepparttar sixth and final part in this series. One final note aboutrepparttar 134731 site mentioned last time: www.websitesthatsuck.com Not only does this site serve a great purpose for you as a website designer (or final decision-maker on how your website looks), but it is also an example of a site you'll not soon forget. It's hilarious in some spots and useful in others. You don't necessarily have to agree withrepparttar 134732 authors ofrepparttar 134733 book about design elements, but you can learn a thing or two. You can also see some ofrepparttar 134734 worst websites ever by following their links torepparttar 134735 "Daily Sucker". I often feel bad forrepparttar 134736 author of those websites, but it does motivate them to improve. It should also motivate you not to makerepparttar 134737 same mistakes. It'd be pretty embarrassing to be known as a company that created one ofrepparttar 134738 worst looking websites onrepparttar 134739 WWW! I hope it never happens to either of us! 11. Does not use email addresses obtained fromrepparttar 134740 site to SPAMrepparttar 134741 people you got them from. This is another one of my pet peeves. If you sponsor a contest or sweepstakes on your site, or you ask visitors to answer a survey, PLEASE don't see their email address as "fair game" to SPAM them to death with sales letters! It's one thing to sponsor an email newsletter and have them sign up for it. In these newsletters, you can put short sales pitches and links to sales sites. Internet users find this to be acceptable. They figure that you're providing them with information, so someone has to pay for it, right? There's nothing more annoying to me than to get a bunch of sales junk in my email box just because I entered a contest. Allowing visitors to willingly sign up for ezines* or to click on banners on your site is acceptable. Sending them sales junk by email just because they visited your site causes them to lose trust in you. 12. Has some kind of newsletter so that its visitors can keep in touch: I mentioned this item briefly in Element number 12, but now I will expound on whyrepparttar 134742 email newsletter, or ezine as it is called, is an effective method of marketing if it's used creatively. If you would like to start an email newsletter that you can use to keep in touch with visitors to your site, you can create one free here: www.listbot.com Create a link to your newsletter on your site to allow visitors to sign up free. As long as your newsletter has some content, they'll stay subscribed. I despise email newsletters that are nothing but sales pitches allrepparttar 134743 way through, with links to go buy something. I unsubscribe myself pretty quick

Basic Marketing Principles: Don't Put Up Your Website Without Them

Written by Merle


So you think you've createdrepparttar perfect website. It looks great, loads fast, and you perform marketing and promotional duties on a regular schedule online and off. There seems to be only one problem....no one is buying your products. Did you rely onrepparttar 134730 essential rules in marketing when you you created your site? If not, you're in real trouble.

1) Great Customer Service?

One thing that will drive your customers away faster than anything else is poor customer service. This ranges from taking an eternity to answer your email, to shipping delays. You need to respond quickly, especially when it comes to email. In our "hurry-hurry" society people will not wait to hear from you for very long before moving on torepparttar 134731 next guy.

Do you have your email address on every page of your website? Nothing irks me more then having to dig through a site just to find an address to ask a question. Do you offer a toll free number so they can contact you? Easy to do and free with http://www.ureach.com How about real time communication on your website? Take a look at http://www.humanclick.com, which allows you to answer questions from your website guests as they browse your site.

The more ways you give people to communicate with you,repparttar 134732 better. Many companies fail online due to shoddy customer service. Don't be one of them. By offering excellent service you'll stand out fromrepparttar 134733 crowd and build better relationships with your clients. Remember it's easier to re-sell to an existing customer than it is to find a new one.

2) Who Are You and What Do You Do?

Identify your company and your products onrepparttar 134734 home page. Don't make people "dig" down into your site forrepparttar 134735 answer. They won't; they'll just leave.

Also, make sure you describerepparttar 134736 benefits of your service or product right away. For example, will it save time or money? Make you thinner? Is it easy-to-use? People don't care about you, they want to know "what's in it for me?" Tell them and tell them fast, or risk losing them. Sales are generally made on emotions. If you don't trigger any by giving them a good reason to buy from you, they won't.

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