Marketing: MAKE YOUR WEB SITE WORK MORE SO YOU CAN WORK LESS

MAKE YOUR WEB SITE WORK MORE SO YOU CAN WORK LESS

Written by C.J. Hayden, MCC

Do you know how your web site fits into repparttar

overall marketing strategy for your business? Do you have a strategy for your web site as a marketing tool? If you're like many entrepreneurs I speak with, you probably don't. All over repparttar 120945

world, small business owners are spending thousands of dollars on building and maintaining web sites without being able to answer one big question: What do you want your web site to do? Creating a web site without a marketing strategy can be an expensive and time-consuming mistake. Here's an illustration from repparttar 120946

more familiar world of paper and postage. Imagine that you hired a graphic designer, printed 5000 four-color tri-fold brochures, and when repparttar 120947

boxes arrived, you asked yourself, "Gee, what shall I do with these?" That scenario may sound a bit embarrassing as it stands, but let's take it further. Suppose repparttar 120948

first idea that occurs to you is mailing your new brochure to a list of 500 names you collected by exhibiting at a trade show. But then you realize that you didn't design repparttar 120949

brochure as a self- mailer -- all 6 panels are filled with graphics and copy. To mail your brochure, you will now need 500 envelopes. Of course you want to use repparttar 120950

ones printed with your address and logo, but how much do those cost a piece? And do you have 500 in stock? What will be repparttar 120951

cost in money or time to get envelopes printed, addressed, and stuffed? How long will all this take? Was any of this in your budget when you had repparttar 120952

brochures printed? The brochure example can tell us much about what goes wrong in creating web sites. Many sites are constructed to be simply electronic brochures. Entrepreneurs often get their sites designed by sending their printed brochure to a web designer, and saying, "Put this on repparttar 120953

Web." So here's what is wrong with that. If you want your web site to attract traffic, your web site must be DESIGNED to attract traffic. You have a choice in designing your site and integrating it with your overall marketing strategy. You can choose to make your site an electronic brochure with no consideration of how to attract visitors built into repparttar 120954

design. If you do this, it means that you must direct traffic to your site by other means -- advertise, promote, exhibit, speak, write, network, prospect, mail, call, etc.

Drive People to Your Site to Buy Your Products

Written by Judy Cullins

Drive People to Your Site to Buy Your Products Judy Cullins © 2003 All Rights Reserved.

Bring those visitors back for more, applauding you and saying BRAVO! They will create a buzz about your great site, and send you many more visitors through word of mouth. These visitors are your personal marketing force.

If you are a non-techie like me, you may not have heard of what a "sticky" Web site is (it is repparttar stuff that lures visitors back again and again). But we do know we want that!

Forget getting to repparttar 120944 top of repparttar 120945 search engines. Let your Webmaster do that. Instead, try out some of these low- maintenance ways to bring 'em back to your Web site for more.

1. Upload new, original, and useful content often. Do not think of your Web site as a virtual brochure. Avoid blatant ads such as banners, which turn visitors off. Give them information only they can't find anywhere else—and give it free. People want and need how to's, especially.

Always think benefits when you post some new article. Helping your visitors get what they want will bring their trust and respect as an expert, and eventually, bring you profit from your book, other products, or service.

2. Update your Web site content regularly and often, perhaps daily or weekly. If someone visits your site and finds nothing new, they will disappear into cyberspace and spend their time on other sites.

If you don't want to write articles, copy and paste other people's articles or tips from their ezines or Web sites with their permission, of course. Keep repparttar 120946 pieces under 1200 words. Common lengths are anywhere from 75-1000 words. You can include a tip list, past feature articles from your ezine, an excerpt from your book, poetry, a heart-felt story, or a character sketch from your fiction book.

3. Publish your own ezine. Make it short and sweet. Start with a monthly, then see if you can do it bi-weekly. If you don't stay in regular touch with your possible buyers, they will forget you and your book's message.

People want to know you better, so they can trust you and think of you as an expert in your field. Your free information, tips and resources will keep them as subscribers. If they like your eMag, they will recommend it to others. The opt-in eNewsletter tops all other ways to drive traffic to your site, and it can be mass mailed free, too. Check out www.topica.com.

4. Include a recommending service on your site. Your repeat visitors create new traffic. Check out www.Recommend- It.com. It's free, fast, and versatile. Each time someone recommends your site, they are entered in a contest to win a Palm V reading device and a chance to win $10,000.

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