Should You Get A Blog?

Written by Andrea J. Lee


A blog is a type of website. It allowsrepparttar website owner to easily write messages that get posted torepparttar 108819 site automatically, often in a journal or diary-like style. A particularly appealing thing about blogs is that your readers can comment back to your posts fairly easily, and a continuous stream of fresh conversations result. (This is a good thing.)

Here are three reasons to consider getting a blog:

1.To Replace Your Ezine

If you currently publish an ezine, you may wish to consider replacing it with a regularly published blog. This means using your blog to publish journal entries, and then when it comes time to communicate with your subscriber list, you excerpt some items from your blog, and send those out as your ezine.

This saves you from creating special articles only for your ezine. In many cases it becomes easier for you to write in blog format (short and sweet) so you save time. Readers enjoyrepparttar 108820 practical, "reporter-like" nature of blogs instead of ezines, and gradually come to feel that they are in conversation with you on a daily basis. You become part of their everyday circle of friends and associates, which leads to you becoming their natural resource onrepparttar 108821 topic of your expertise.

2. To Create a Quick and Dirty Learning Environment or e-Campus

For those of you who offer TeleClasses or other programs that want to have a web page of learning resources, links, class notes and audio, etc., a blog can be a great way to bring together an e-Campus.

If you offer a workshop, coaching/consulting, or even a software solution, and you want to instantly add value to your clients, create a "client/student resource page" using a blog. This becomes an environment thatrepparttar 108822 students can play in, study more, and soak up your materials. Your clients continue to benefit from your expertise even though you're not physically there; they do it at their pace, and at little cost to you.

Website not selling? Twelve questions you should ask yourself

Written by David Bell


So your website is getting visitors, but not enough are buying. A common online problem, unfortunately. Here are twelve common faults found with websites that don't sell. If you answer no to any of them, you need to take action. 1)Does your text focus on emphasizingrepparttar benefits andrepparttar 108818 resultsrepparttar 108819 customer will get from purchasing and using it? Sales copy needs to be focused onrepparttar 108820 benefits torepparttar 108821 end user, not onrepparttar 108822 features ofrepparttar 108823 product. Listrepparttar 108824 features, and then translate them into benefitsrepparttar 108825 customer will get. Move away from "our Widget does this, this and this.." to "You will soon be doing this .." 2)Does your website convey enough strong benefits? Brainstorm to come up with a list of benefits. Rank them in order of importance. Then mention them in order throughoutrepparttar 108826 text, best first. Summarizing them with bullet points too also works great. 3)Does you text stimulaterepparttar 108827 emotions? People buy withrepparttar 108828 heart notrepparttar 108829 head - so try and stimulate emotions - use words to paint a picture of life after they've bought your product " Imaginerepparttar 108830 freedom of no more back pain..." or "...money worries could soon be a thing ofrepparttar 108831 past, and you could soon be taking those exotic vacations...". 4))Doesrepparttar 108832 headline grab and draw you in? You've got to try to stop them dead in their tracks withrepparttar 108833 headline. Userepparttar 108834 best benefit of your product, and create interest so they read on. Make it hard hitting, but not unbelievable. 5)Do you have a call to action? People put off decisions, even if they're 90% sold on your product, they may still decide to "sleep on it". Don't let them have time to forget - give them an incentive to purchase now - discounts, bonuses etc. 6)Does your website load and function ok? Slow load times may cause people to get impatient and go elsewhere, even though it registers a visit. Do all links work, and more importantly, have you tested your order page by running dummy orders? 7)Do you have any testimonials from satisfied customers?

Testimonials are everywhere online, and people expect them as a matter of course. Ask those who have purchased what they thought -email them a simple customer satisfaction survey, offer a freebie for replying and userepparttar 108835 best comments. If your product is free,try a testimonial swap with a seller of a complementary (but not directly competing) product -offer to review his product if he reviews yours.

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