Local Search and Internet Yellow Pages - A Whole New Vocabulary for Small Business Sales

by: Dr. Lynella Grant

Buyers want both online and local information about where to buy. Most small businesses are local in nature, serving people who live nearby. Their customers found them through traditional methods like the Yellow Pages or newspaper ads. So far, the Internet hasn't figured prominently in their marketing efforts.

That's about to change, as Local Search methods become more widespread. Even for buyers expecting to spend their money close to home, more and more of them go to the Internet to locate desired products and services. They rely on search engines to find suitable vendors in the fastest, easiest way.

Local Search combines the search query word or phrase with specific geographic terms, like city or zip code. That way, search results only include enterprises in that local area. Instead of information about a small enterprise being lost among millions of pages of search results, it shows up in a small pool of local providers. That's good for them, as well as the person looking for what they provide.

Small operations can easily be located by a whole new group of buyers Consumers don't simply go to the Yellow Pages when ready to buy - as they once did. Studies show that an astonishing 36% of online searches are conducted to find local businesses. About a quarter of all Internet users already conduct local searches. They'd do even more of it, if the desired small business data were more complete.

Local enterprises need to prepare for the impact of changing customer habits. An easy first step is to include your business in Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), along with the printed Yellow Page directory. That puts your enterprise on the radar screen. Learn how your business can make the most of Local Search by visiting http://www.yellowpagesage.com You'll find reliable advice from experts in Yellow Pages and Local Search so you can get more mileage from your promotional dollars.

Start by getting comfortable with search concepts, and improve your odds of being found when people search online for what you offer. You don't even need your own Web site to benefit from Internet Yellow Pages and Local Search.

Learn the Relevant Terms
Search Engine - method for locating the information available on the Internet; a program that searches Web pages for requested keywords, then returns a list of documents where the query terms were found

Google and Yahoo, the major general search engines, have both shifted gears to make Local Search a priority when delivering relevant results.
Spider (also called "crawler" or "bot") - goes to every page on every Web site and reads the information so it can be available to searchers; to "crawl" a site it collects and indexes information from it

Specialized Search Engines - narrow focus of information crawled and indexed, like medical, business, or shopping sites

Keywords - word or phrases used by search engines to locate relevant Web pages; words chosen to improve a site's search engine placement and ranking

Search Query - search request, which the search engine compares to the spidered entries, then returns results to the searcher

Search Results - compiled list of Web pages that a search engine delivers in response to a query; the number of items returned is usually overwhelming (in the millions), so searchers only bother to view results on the first pages

Relevant Results - the test of a good search is whether the results obtained relate to what the person wanted to find, without a lot of irrelevant links

Local Search - combining a geographic term in a search query to locate suitable providers in a specific area

Pay per Click (PPC) - method of building traffic whereby site owners bid on search terms (keywords) that link to their site

Geographic Terms - specific information about the local area that can be included in a local search: zip code, town, county, geographic region, state

Top Ranking - sites shown on the first page(s) of search results

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - fine-tuning keywords and page content so the Web site rates high in search engine results

Tags and Titles (on Web Pages) - provide site keywords and information to search engine spiders for indexing a site

Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) - directory of business phone numbers and locations in a geographic area, organized by category; searchable data base accessed on the Internet
Make your business easy for searchers to find The public is embracing the convenience of searching on the Internet to find information about local businesses. However, their searches for desired information are compromised because so many local enterprises don't show up in the databases as yet. Those that do have an edge in their local market. Climb aboard! Make sure searchers can find you. For little or no money, you can expose your enterprise to the whole world.

Whether or not your business has a Web site, you need to provide the information people are looking for in the places that they look for it. Local Search and Internet Yellow Pages open new avenues to buyers ready to spend. Best of all, they support and compliment your traditional methods of finding new business. So you cover all your bases.

(c)2004, Lynella Grant
About The Author
Dr. Lynella Grant, an expert in visual communication. How printed materials send signals that strengthen or undo the words. Author, The Business Card Book & Yellow Page Smarts http://www.yellowpagesage.com Off the Page Press (719) 395-9450 grant@yellowpagesage.com

Computer Tips that Help Small Businesses Operate Profitably

by: Sharron Senter

When working properly, computers enable small businesses to make big business profits; however, get booted off your computer and you’re suddenly starving. In most instances, computers usually act up due to lack of care by its owners. Here are four computer tips that’ll keep you up and running smoothly.

Tip #1 -- Back up your computer’s data no less than once a month.
Too often a small business is thrust back to infancy because it didn’t take time to back up precious data; information that took hours upon hours to create. Information that’s irreplaceable, such as customer databases or employment contracts. Keep in mind you’ll want to back up your written data as well as check books such as Quicken and email address books. If your computer has a CD writer, it’s simple and quick to back up your data. Simply select the files and folders you want to back up and copy them to the writer.

Or if you have an older computer, copy your most important files to a floppy disk. Either way, don’t stop there; now take the CD or disk and store it in a fire-safe box! To expedite the process, organize your files within folders so you can quickly grab and copy one or two folders.

Tip #2 – Don’t turn off your computer every evening.
Too frequently computer users turn their computers off every evening. This is unnecessary and not recommended. A computer’s components are at their most vulnerable when turned on and off. When a computer has to heat up [turn on] or cool down [turn off] it’s at this precise moment components fail. It’s recommended you turn your computer off once or twice a week or only when necessary, such as from a power outage. However, don’t do the opposite and never turn your computer off, since many anti-virus programs require a computer reboot be performed before new virus patches take effect.

Tip #3 -- Automate anti-virus software so it updates automatically no less than once a week.
Depending on your software, you may need to prompt it to update. Unfortunately, there are people with too much time on their hands who desire to attack and make your computer unusable. A computer user is not ultimately protected from viruses and spyware [pop-ups, cookies, etc.] unless you're using a combination of anti-virus and anti-spyware software and a firewall, a piece of hardware that protects computers from being hacked. You must have all three pieces in order to ward off viruses, lurkers and attacks. What’s more, most of the attacks are very quiet. You don't know someone is on your computer. Instead, they secretly store information, such as child pornography or music MP3s on your computer, since it's illegal, and redirect child-porno or MP3 seekers to your computer instead of theirs.

Tip #4 -- Install a firewall if you keep your computer constantly on.
Using a broadband or DSL connection dramatically increases your exposure to being hacked. It only takes an average of 15 minutes being online before a home-based computer is attacked. The only true way to protect a computer from a hacker is to install a hardware firewall. It’s a misconception that software-based firewalls ultimately defend computers. This is simply not true. Computers must have a hardware firewall for ultimate protection, such as a SonicWall or Netscreen firewall, a component installed between a home user’s cable or DSL connection and their computer.

About The Author
Sharron Senter is co-founder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company that helps families, home power users and small businesses north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks’ technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, pop-ups and securing and making computers perform faster. To reach Visiting Geeks call (978) 346-4087 or visit http://www.VisitingGeeks.com Sharron’s also the author of, “Make Money While Sleeping.” Learn more at http://www.sharronsenter.com/fs_increase_seo.shtml

Marketing Automation For Small Businesses And Web Entrepreneurs

by: Abe Cherian

Many Internet marketers wonder how they spend less time marketing their website so they can focus on delighting their clients and developing better marketing strategies to improve sales.
They often ask:
How can I be efficient as possible so that I don't waste time and money?
How can I spend less time on activities so that I don't like (e.g. marketing and sales) and more time on activities I love. (e,g. delighting customers, improving sales materials and products)?
Every time I get busy with clients, marketing falls behind, so I end up with a "feast or famine" cycle. How can I avoid the frustration of being swamped with sales one month and famished the next?
How can I get prospects, leads, customers, signups, and referrals come to me instead of having to chase them?
How can I build a substantial "contact list", fast, and manage it effectively?
How can I organize my contacts, in one palce and build lasting relationships with them?
How can I turn visitors into qualified leads automatically -- instead of losing them to my competition?
How can I follow-up with my prospects and turn them into paying customers, even if I am on holiday?
How do I organize my ad-copies/sales materials all in one place, and use them whenever I need -- from any computer, anywhere in the world?
How do I schedule an update/mailing for a future date, and have it delivered even if I am not in front of my computer?
How do I know which advertising is pulling better results for me?
How do I know the cost of getting a prospect, and the cost of getting a paying customer?
How do I know what my time is exactly worth?

One answer to the above questions is to develop "Automatic Marketing Systems" that do your marketing for you while you do other things.

Marketing automation and CRM (customer relationship management) is not just for big corporations -- it must be implemented to your marketing even if you run a home-based business or promote an affiliate program.

When your marketing is effective and runs on auto-pilot, you enjoy a number of benefits:
You spend more time on the tasks that you like to do, which usually are those that got you into the business in the first place.

Clients come to you, and already know about your products, services, or an opportunity, so you don't have to chase them.

While you're busy delighting current clients, you're still getting the word out about your services, so you can smooth out the "feast or famine" cycle that plagues so many Internet marketers.

You get leverage to grow your business faster.

Marketing is a science.
Everybody has a marketing system -- manual or automated. Yet, all results are not equal. Some marketers emerge as giants, and others, including those that started marketing at the same time as the giants, either give up and go out of business or struggle to stay afloat.

Why? What are the variables that make a difference in the same thing?
I'll tell you why...

The successful ones are better able to relate the needs of the marketplace by using the right automation tools and analytics -- which helps them save time and money and make good judgments.

Tools To Automate Your Web Business:

There are several affordable (from $20/month to $149/month) Marketing automation websites/services that can help small business owners automate parts of their marketing chores and save time and money and increase your return on investment (ROI).
Some websites do part of the automation for you (like follow-up auto-responders, and ad-tracking services -- but very few will satisfy all of the above concerns for a small business Internet marketer all in one place.

A service specifically targeted towards small businesses, home-based entrepreneurs, and affiliate marketers will be www.iMediatools.com.

iMediatools provides a solution to all of the above concerns that is affordable ($39.99/ month) and practical for Internet Marketers. You can even try the full version for a period of 15 days before you get the Enterprise version.
Having total control over your marketing, lists, databases, and leads pays off thousand times over.

About The Author
Abe Cherian is the owner of Multiple Stream Media and publisher of weeklytips.com newsletter, where you will find hundreds of Internet business building tips. Visit www.weeklytips.com to read more tips like this one.
submitnotify@weeklytips.com

Worn Out Brochure Design Is Keeping Small Business Owners Down

by: John Jantsch

I got another one of those calls the other day...Can you make me a brochure?" Many business owners have been sold on the notion that they need a tri-fold brochure or they are not in business. Forget it...everybody's got one and no one uses it.

Your potential clients need an education. They need to know how you are different. (The typical tri-fold brochure simply confirms that you are the same.)

Every small business should create the following pieces of information and format them in a way that allows them be printed inexpensively and updated often. I like to call this approach, the Marketing Kit. Your marketing kit starts with several professionally printed pieces that are the framework for up to 10 or 12 different educational documents. The core components are:

1. A pocket folder - A multi-use workhorse, this piece alone, if designed well, can send the message that you are in business to stay. (This one will cost a little but it has many uses)

2. A marketing template - This should be a professionally printed piece that carries your logo and contact information but is different than your letterhead. This is the base piece then for the following pages that insert into your pocket folder. Your actual marketing files can be MSWord type documents that are laser printed. This gives you the ability to change and update your content and also allows you to tailor your marketing kit content to specific prospects.
Some combination of the following pages should be created for your marketing kit.

+ The Difference Page - Hit them with how you are different and shower them with benefits of doing business with you. Don't tell them what you do. I like to keep this one to the top 3 or 4 things that you do that your target market will value. Think benefits that are unique

+ A list of services - Okay, now tell them what you do or what you offer.

+ Case Studies - Pick representative clients or industries and outline how your product or service solved someone else's challenge. People learn in different ways and case studies allow them to see themselves getting relief. I think this format works well. State the situation, the problem, your solution, the result. Over time you can collect more and more of these and draw upon the ones that fit an industry or problem that in relevant to your prospect.

+ Testimonials - Get quotes from real live clients and create a page titled - "See what others have to say about us." These quotes can be some of the strongest selling tools you have. New technologies make it easy to create audio and video testimonials too.

+ Process Description - Show them how you do what you do. Create detailed checklist and flow charts that show them how you keep your promise. In many cases you have these anyway but by making them part of your marketing you can demonstrate how much more professional your organization is. These also help you justify why you charge a premium for your services. Many people underestimate how much really goes into delivering a quality product or service. So show them.

+ Your Story - Many companies have interesting or even gut wrenching histories. Tell them your story in an open, honest, and entertaining way and you will win their hearts as well as their heads.

All of the above pieces can, in many cases, be word processed files that are laser printed onto the template I described above. You can learn even more about how to use this unique tool here
This format allow for very inexpensive printing and a great deal of flexibility when you need to update, change or even personalize your magnificent marketing materials.

Want to quickly create your own magnificent marketing materials. Join me as I coach up to 10 other small business owners through the process of creating marketing materials that educate and sell. Once a week for 4 weeks we will meet via teleconference to create and critique your written marketing kit content based on the above article. Each participant will also receive a workbook, feedback and real-life example marketing kits produced by John Jantsch for his clients. Find out more by sending an email to mailto:john@ducttapemarketing.com?subject=Marketing_Kit

Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
About The Author
John Jantsch is a marketing coach and creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System. You can get more information about the Duct Tape System and download your free copy of “How To Create the Ultimate Small Business Marketing System in 7 Simple Steps” by visiting http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com.

Internet Marketing for Small Businesses

A Guide in Plain English by: Gordon Goodfellow

Have you ever been intimidated at the convoluted, jargon-ridden information about Internet marketing available on the Net? What exactly is search engine optimization anyway, and can I do it myself?

Often it results in many companies becoming confused and therefore reluctant to put into practice what would be a valuable and simple business resource when understood and applied correctly.

Market Researcher and Internet marketing consultant, Gordon Goodfellow, who is also an English literature graduate, decided it was time for a change. Part of this desire to make web marketing more accessible was due to his past experience as a teacher.

"I was sick of all the gobbledygook that surrounds web site promotion and web marketing, even today," he explains. "Website marketing isn't rocket science and should not be presented as such. Everyone should have access to affordable website promotion."

Having spent four years researching and assessing the best way of getting an effective message across on the Internet, he began to design a basic introduction to Internet marketing. The result of this hard work is Applied Web Marketing. AWM is a comprehensive beginner’s guide to marketing on the Internet, covering everything from domain names, through search engine optimisation, search engine ranking and search engine promotion, to e-commerce and merchant accounts (and their alternatives), all refreshingly written in plain English.

The guide also has useful links to many resources, and to the submission pages of the major search engines and directories, making it an unmissable companion to those seeking affordable Internet promotion for their own web sites.

The reaction to this new venture has been swift and positive. In the few months Applied Web Marketing has been available online, many influential names have given their approval and thanks. Both the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Goodfellow's local MP have been in contact. Stephen Timms MP, Minister for E-Commerce, wrote that "it looks like a very useful resource...I wish you well with this very interesting and relevant offering."
Applied Web Marketing is free to access at www.Applied-Web-Marketing.com and is also downloadable as a free ebook from the site.

About The Author
Gordon Goodfellow has worked in the market research industry for many years and is a professional Internet marketing consultant and practitioner. You may freely use this article as long as you include the following active link. http://www.applied-web-marketing.com
admin@applied-web-marketing.com

Why Small Businesses Need Both A Logo And An Identity System

by: Erin Ferree

Why small businesses need both a logo and an identity system

Experts urge small business owners to “brand” their business – to use a logo and a set of consistent marketing materials. But, they rarely go into the reasons behind this advice. Here’s a list of some of the benefits to having a professionally designed logo and marketing package:

Not to look so small - Home-printed business cards with perforated edges, or cards printed with standard designs available through Microsoft software or online business card vendors (like Vistaprint) scream, “Small-time vendor!” to your potential clients – and you’ll be similarly compensated.

To increase your chance of getting venture capital or selling a business – If you present a thorough business package, including marketing materials and graphics, your business will look more complete.

To attract more clients – Some clients look for a well-defined company look-and-feel as part of their qualifiers for making a purchasing decision.

To brand yourself – If you’re a consultant, you need a logo in order to build an image and a brand that’s bigger than just yourself.

To convey that you are established – A logo and professionally printed materials show that you are committed to both your business and to your clients.

To give clients a sense of stability – You may not have been in business “Since 1908”, but if you’ve invested in an identity, you’re much less likely to fold in the eyes of your customers. It goes a long way toward building the all-important “trust” factor.

To be more memorable – Forty percent of people better remember what they see better than what they hear or read. So having graphics associated with your business and having consistent graphics on your business materials make you more likely to come to the forefront of potential clients’ minds when they have a need for your goods or services.

To explain your company name – If your company name contains a little-known word or an acronym, the logo gives visual clues to its meaning.

To endear your company name to your clients – A difficult-to-pronounce or -remember company name may make it difficult for your clients to hire you. When potential clients have the need for your services, they can’t recall who you are! But if you reinforce the name with interesting, compelling graphics, they’re more likely to remember that hard-to-recall name, and to pick up the phone and hire you.

To explain an unusual line of business – If your business is nontraditional, or in a hard-to-explain industry, a logo can help to explain exactly what it is that you do.

To show what practices differentiate you from your competition – A well-designed logo can have many subtle meanings, and it can begin to tell the story of how you do business – what special practices make you stand apart from the competition.

To stand out in your field – A well-designed logo and an identity system can put you far above the competition, especially if they are paired with a strong marketing program.
In some industries, a logo is just expected – In the creative services industry, especially, having a logo is an industry standard.

Lastly, do it for yourself! – To show your commitment and for the sense of personal pride it will add to your practice.

These are just some of the benefits of having a professionally designed logo. If your business could use the kind of boost that having a logo provides, then contact us today for a free estimate!
Copyright 2005, elf design. All Rights Reserved
About The Author
Erin Ferree is a logo, print and web designer who has been making it easy for small businesses to stand out and to be visible, credible and memorable for the past nine years.
http://www.elf-design.com

Three Things You Must Do When Designing and Building Your Small Business Website

by: Michael Massie

If you are going to have a web presence for your small business, it only makes sense that it should actually help you get more business. In order to do so, your website design should focus on performing only one function – and that’s to convey your sales message to your site visitors in an effective and efficient manner.

No matter what your web designer tells you, simplicity is best when building your small business website. While having a website with lots of bright colors and flashy interactive graphics might win web design awards, it will probably not help you win customers. In fact, the more complicated your web design, the higher the risk that your sales message will be lost amidst all the fancy bells and whistles on your site.

For most small businesses, a simple and elegant four or five page website is all they need to get the job done. As an added bonus, such sites are inexpensive when compared to flashier multimedia sites. If you want your small business website to increase your profits instead of emptying your pocketbook, pay close attention to the following design guidelines when you build your site.

Make Your Website Easy to Read
In order for your website to get sales and/or leads, your small business website design needs to be user and consumer-friendly - that means it needs to be easy to read. So, short sentences and paragraphs, dark text on white (or very, very light) backgrounds and lots of white space should be the norm.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll say it again - the purpose of having a website for your small business isn’t to win design awards. It’s to convey information about your product or service that guides the consumer toward making a buying decision in your favor.

If you think that dark websites and colored text on colored backgrounds looks better, you may be right. However, as I mentioned earlier loud colors and excessive graphics only serve to distract attention from the sales message contained in your site content and makes your site harder to read. Remember: keep it simple and you’ll keep the sale.

Also, remember that web users tend to scan text instead of reading it start to finish like printed text. Since the majority of your visitors will not read all your content, use headlines, subheadings, and bolded text that quickly convey your overall message. Done correctly, a visitor should be able to scan all your headlines, subheads, and bold text in just a few seconds and understand the central message of your site or page.

Make Your Website Easy to Navigate
Since the chief purpose of your site is to convey information, you should design your website so the information it contains is easy to find. If you make it easy for your visitors to navigate your site, they’ll thank you with their dollars. Make it difficult, and they’ll leave your website before you can say “Google.”

At the bare minimum, you should have a navigation bar on every webpage that includes a link back to your home page and to every top-tier page in your website. In addition, you should consider placing links back to the previous page visited at the top and bottom of the current page. Some websites use “bread crumbs” for this purpose – a “trail” of links that show each page visited since landing at the site.

Lastly, make sure that there are no broken links on your website. Broken links may not seem like a big deal to you, but to a site visitor who was clicking on a link for more information they are a major frustration. Fix your broken links!

Oh, and incidentally, making your site easy to navigate will also help the search engines to find and index all your pages, which might help you get more traffic over the long haul.
Make Sure Your Website Loads Quickly

Despite the fact that high-speed internet access has become very affordable and accessible in recent years, many web users are still using dial-up connections to access the internet. Note that these people get very frustrated when they have to wait five minutes for your webpage to load. You will lose these visitors if your web page files are too large and take too long to load.
Keep photos, graphics, and animations to a tasteful minimum on your websites, and keep your total page size under 50K to ensure maximum usability for your visitors. In addition, avoid using background music on your pages unless it is absolutely necessary – music files take time to load, and can annoy your visitors enough to make them leave your site.

By the way, smaller and faster loading pages make it easier for the search engines to spider and rank your site – an added bonus for keeping your page files small and your load times fast.
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Hopefully, these guidelines will help you build a website that gets you more sales and leads for your small business. Remember, building a website that your visitors enjoy browsing will boost customer loyalty and encourage repeat sales. Create a fast-loading site that’s easy to read and navigate, and your visitors will thank you with their checkbooks!

Copyright 2005 Modern Digital Marketing LLC
About The Author
Mike Massie is a web marketing consultant and copywriter. He specializes in showing small business owners how inexpensive website marketing can boost their profits. Michael can be reached by visiting his website at http://www.Modern-Digital-Marketing.com.

Secrets of Ad or Sales Copy

1. Use visual personal touch effects to draw your visitor in. Let’s face it. In this day and age of electronic media, seeing or receiving a hand-written note certainly grabs your attention.

Use a hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Write the ad on a piece of paper, scan it and publish the ad on your web page. Adding a personal touch will always increase your sales.

2. Establish and build credibility. People get comfortable if they see others have purchased your product and are reqdy to give testimonials. This boosts up your confidence factor.

Publish a list of famous and respected customers who have bought from you on your ad copy. People will think that if these people bought from you, they should also trust your business and purchase your products. Make sure to get their permission first.

3. An effective picture can say a thousand words. Showing visual proof of the effectiveness and benefits of your product(s) will go a long way into making your prospect feel more comfortable.

Show before and after photos for your products on your web page copy. Show the problem picture and then beside it, show the picture of the resolution to the problem when they use your product.

4. Build better credibility by showing that you have been recognized in local media. The more recognized the media, the better. But there is always something about seeing someone’s name in print that boosts your credibility up a few notches.

Include an article or review that has been written about you or your business with your ad copy. This will show people that your business is respected and will increase your credibility.

5. Everyone likes to get something for nothing. Free bonuses have almost become a norm today. However, just because you give it away for free does not mean it has no value. Ensure your prospects/customers know the full value of what they will be receiving.

When you offer free bonuses in your ad copy, also list the dollar value beside each bonus. People will feel they're getting a good deal and it will increase the value of your product.

6. Use other people to boost your credibility. When people who are well-known endorse your product, it automatically makes your target audience more comfortable.

Hire a famous person to endorse your product or service. Make sure the person is well known to your target audience. Include their picture and statements on your ad copy.

7. Bring yourself out in the open. People are always suspicious of web sites or copy that talks great things but don’t give an impression of a legitimate business.

Include your own picture on your ad copy. This will show people that you're not hiding behind your ad copy and will increase their trust. Also, include your contact information below the picture and a brief statement or quote.

8. Be involved and give back to society. Don’t give the impression you only want to make the sale and don’t really care what happens to anyone after that. People do care. Charities are one way you can easily demonstrate you care. However, make sure you do follow-up on any promises you make.

Tell your potential customers on your ad copy that you will donate a percentage of their purchase price to specific charity. This will show them you really care about the people. They may just buy your product to donate to the charity.

9. Use a Q&A technique to remind your customers of their problem statements and how your product can help solve or alleviate them. This is a sub-conscious trick that is very powerful.

Ask your potential customers plenty of yes and no questions in your ad copy. The questions should remind them of their problem and make them think about what will happen if they don't purchase your product.

10. Use simple tricks to keep people reading you ad copy completely. A small prize for completing the test encourages people to read your copy, especially if the prize is related to your target audience.

Tell your potential customers they will receive a free prize if they find the five words in your ad copy that are misspelled or spelled backwards. The longer you can keep someone reading your copy the greater chance of them purchasing.


Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
http://www.netmedian.com
mailto: epicardo@netmedian.com

7 Wise Ways to Collect Email Addresses and Build Your Mailing List

By Steven Ackerman

=> Wise Way #1 - OFFER A FREEBIE
You have to give in order to get. If you want people to offer up their email address, you`re going to have to offer up an incentive. Nothing works better than something that`s complimentary (you spell that F-R-E-E). You can give away no-cost reports, books, software, or even sample pages of a book.
-Word to the Wise: Our Empowerism subscribers use complimentary subscriptions to our "Excellence Magazine" and ebook giveaways to grow their lists. Works like a charm.

=> Wise Way #2 - USE POP-UPS
Pop-ups are one of the most common methods you can use to capture email addresses and build your email list quickly and with ease. Simply construct a web page containing code for a form and set the page to open (pop up) when visitors ENTER OR EXIT your site.
Make sure the pop-up offer is something that`s valuable enough to motivate visitors to take time to give you their contact information. Your offer can be a complimentary report, download, or ebook that arrives instantly through your autoresponder to their email inbox when they give you their email.
-Word to the Wise: If you need a pop-up, you can pick one up F-R-E-E (there`s that word again) from Empowerism
-Son of Word to the Wise: "Instant" is a very powerful pop-up offer.

=> Wise Way #3 - USE POSTCARDS
If you have a mailing list that contains snail mail (street) addresses, convert it into an email list by sending out a postcard and inviting people to VISIT YOUR WEBSITE to receive a gift of some kind -- a report, a discount coupon, etc. Visitors don`t have to pay in order to receive their gifts, they simply need to enter an email address.
-A Word to the Wise from the U.S. Post Office: Postage is much less expensive for a postcard than a standard-size letter. (Not only are they economical, postcards are more likely to get your message across since the consumer doesn`t have to open an envelope.)

=> Wise Way #4 - SUBSCRIBER BOX ON EVERY PAGE
This is a clever trick that so many people overlook. Put a RESPONSE FORM ON EVERY PAGE of your website offering a newsletter or other freebie. This will increase the number of email addresses you capture exponentially.
Why? When search engines index the pages of your website, a visitor may come directly to a page other than your home page. If you only have a subscriber box on your home page, you`re missing the boat, not to mention the thousands of visitors who bypass your homepage.
-A Word to the Wise: If you don`t know how to create an opt-in form, no worries. Empowerism has a foolproof `build your own` tool made just for you!

=> Wise Way #5 - CONTESTS
Contests very often prove to be a good way to generate traffic and buzz for your business. Create a contest and put a form on your site or in a pop-up box. The entry "fee" is their email address.
-Word to the Wise: Not all the people who sign up for your contest are good prospects. Many are just contest "junkies" -- people who are only looking for freebies and have no intention of buying a product or service.
-Warning to the Wise: If your prizes are cash or large-ticket items, you should be sure to check with local agencies to make sure you`re not violating any contest laws.

=> Wise Way #6 - DISPLAY YOUR AUTORESPONDER ADDRESS
Most people give their website link when they place solo ads, ezine ads, or other marketing messages. To be one step ahead of the game in collecting email addresses, LIST YOUR AUTORESPONDER ADDRESS instead of your URL. This way you can capture email address and funnel them into your follow-up sales letters.
-Word to the Wise: Don`t have an autoresponder? Empowerism will give you one, provide you with signposts to others, and make sure you know exactly what to look for to find the "pick of the litter."
-Word from our "Sponsor": Autoresponders you can use are just one sample of the incredible resources you can depend on when you`re a member of the Empowerism family. Our tools, information, and especially the Empowerism RSVP -- Revenue Sharing Value Program -- are all designed to generate BIG bucks with LITTLE effort.

=> Wise Way #7 - JUST ASK
If you`re chatting with a prospect on the phone or a potential customer stops by your place of business, don`t be shy: ask for an email address or business card (which usually includes their email address).
Okay, you know what you want...you know what you need. It`s time for you to set your traps and CAPTURE THOSE EMAILS!

If you would like to subscribe to my entire series of helpful articles and my FREE internet home business tips and website marketing secrets newsletter with hundreds of moneymaking tips and tricks. Just go to my website, "Work at Home Ideas and Opportunities" at http://ackerman55.com. Enter your contact information and click the "Free Signup!" button. Your privacy is guaranteed.

You will also find a link to Empowerism which was referred to in this article.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Make All Your Mailing Lists Double Opt-In

By John Lynch

Accusations of spam can be so harmful to your business that every effort should be made to prevent it.

However, simply requesting a surfer to enter an e-mail address into an online form on your website is not a guarantee of not being accused of spam.

Here’s what could happen
One of your competitors could visit your website and enter the name of a well-known anti-spammer. When your autoresponder sends out the latest copy of your newsletter or mini-course to this person, he will become very angry.

It is no good protesting your innocence. Since he didn’t ask to subscribe to your newsletter, he will claim that you are spamming him. While you are arguing your case with your Web host, your competitor will be taking your profits!

Here’s how Double Opt-In works
When a subscriber signs up for your newsletter online, he or she receives a confirmation e-mail to which they must respond if they are to be added to your list.

The confirmation usually involves simply clicking a link or hitting the reply-to button.
Taking these precautions can prevent a lot of trouble and ensure that your opt-in subscribers really want your information.

© 2003 John Lynch
About The Author
For Free courses on how to succeed in Internet Marketing, Affiliate Programs, Online Auctions go to: http://www.merchant-account-service.com/free_courses_online.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

How To Double Or Even Triple Your Opt In List Subscriptions

By Al Martinovic

Face it. Whether you have an ezine or newsletter, or you are working an mlm or affiliate program... You need to capture your prospects email address on your website.

One effective way that I have found in doing this is by using an alert box. When a visitor happens on to your site a box will pop up with a text message and an option(s) for your prospects. They can then choose to accept or cancel.

Some people may find alert boxes annoying but from an internet marketing stand point it is a dream come true! I have more than doubled my subscriptions just by using an alert box on my sites.

The key is to offer something for free and of value to your prospect in the alert box to capture their email address.

Here is a simple script (put it between your head tags) that I use on one of my websites that has more than doubled my opt in subscribers:
var decision = confirm("PUT YOUR TEXT MESSAGE HERE");
if (decision == true){document.location = "PUT YOUR LINK HERE"}

You can see this alert box in action on one of my sites right here: http://www.ineedsmokes.com

In this script above you will put your text message in between the quotes of what you want your alert box to say.

The user will then have two options: to press ok or cancel. If they press "cancel" then nothing happens and they stay on the same page.

If they press "OK" they are then redirected to my sign up page where I can capture their email address. So in this script put the link where you want the person redirected to when they press "OK" in between the quotes, which should be your sign up page.

Again you can visit the link above to see how it works.

That's it! I copied and pasted one simple code on my site and more than doubled my opt in subscribers.

There are many different ways to use an alert box. The code I gave you above is a simple one. You can visit your favorite search engine and type "alert box scripts" to find a variety of alert box scripts and their functions.

Well... what are you waiting for? Start capturing some email addresses!

About The Author
Al Martinovic is the publisher of the Millenium Marketers Newsletter. Some call him crazy, some call him handsome, but he's always willing to offer a helping hand. Subscribe Today and get a FR*E telephone consultation concerning your internet business. http://www.milleniummarketers.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

You Must Build A Customer List

David Coyne

If you run (or plan to run) an online business, it’s especially important that you maintain and add to a customer/prospect list. Unlike a store-front business, which can draw on pedestrian traffic, you’re only location is cyberspace.

You must constantly let potential customers know you exist. And to remind current customers that you’re still in business and have more products and services to help them.
The are couple of powerful reasons for keeping an updated list of your customers’ names and email addresses.

Obviously the first is that prospects can be turned into customers.

But here’s another important reason: It costs five to ten times as much to acquire a new customer than selling more products to your existing customers.

Think about all advertising costs involved in trying to attract new buyers. It’s much easier to sell to people whom already know you.

If you sell a quality product and deliver great customer service, you build customer loyalty and help prevent customers switching to your competitors.

Also take advantage of “cross selling.” If customer X bought Product A, make sure they know about Product B, C, etc.

If your customer doesn’t purchase your other products, send an email and politely inquire.
When you find out their specific objection to buying, you can then address the problem.
Perhaps you can offer the customer a volume discount, two for one deal, or add an inexpensive gift if they order.

Be creative in ways to overcome customer resistance.
And check through your list often.
When was the last time you were in contact with each of these customers?
You should be keeping in touch with them at least monthly. Even if it’s just an email asking how they are enjoying your product or service.

Ask them if they were pleased with the customer service they received from you or how can you serve them better.

One of the most effective ways to keep in contact with your customers is to send them a newsletter. With email, it’s easy to create your own electronic newsletter or ezine. (For info on how to start an ezine, visit http://www.epdigest.com)

But make sure your ezine is more than just a sales pitch. People will tire of that quickly.
Instead, offer tips on how to best use your products, include new product information, offer discounts on upgrades, or create a frequently asked questions (FAQ) column.

Your goal is not to be just a company that sells products, your goal is to be the solution provider to your customers’ problems.

If you’re stumped about what content to include in your newsletter, send out an email to your customers asking what they’d like to read.

TIP: You’ll get a much better response if you offer an incentive for them to reply. Offer a free e-book or discount on your other products.

If you’re just starting your business, you don’t need to purchase an expensive database to store your customer list. Many email programs have versatile address book features where you can store and update your list.

Microsoft Works includes both a database and spreadsheet program that are easy to use and won’t blow your budget.

About The Author
Dave Coyne is a marketing consultant and information publisher. Get his FREE Report: “How to Run A Home Based Business And Never Create A Product, Write An Ad, Or Talk To Anyone.” Send an email with REF006 in the subject line to dcinfobiz@GetResponse.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

9 Hot Tips for Linking With Other Sites

By Gareth Davies

If you have a website the chances are you receive e-mails from Webmasters asking you to make a link exchange with them. But how do you know whether you should link to their website or not? Well here are 9 rules of thumb, to help guide you through the linking maze.

1. Is their site relevant to yours?
This is key, and more and more important these days. If the answer is YES then it’s worth thinking about. If it’s off topic then you may want to think twice before swapping links. A link from a relevant website to your site is the preferred choice as it can help reinforce your website theme and potentially send some useful traffic your way.

2. How many links is too many on a links page?
When your link is being placed on another website, you ideally want that page to contain as few outbound links as possible. 15 or less outbound links is good, 150 outbound links is not so good. If there are a high number of links on a page [such as 150] then the value of each link out is weakened.

Whilst we can only make assumptions about ‘link weight’ some Webmasters will use a cut off point of 50, 75 or even 100 links on a page as a top end maximum. Anything over 50 outbound links on an average resources page is certainly quite high. However if your link will appear on the page of a good quality site or ‘authority website’ an exchange can still be worthwhile.

3. What is the Page Rank of the site on Google?
Some webmasters focus a lot on Google’s page rank as a measure of a website. If you download and install the Google toolbar you will see a measure of 1 to 10 shown via a horizontal bar for each site you are on. Typically the higher the page rank, the more important a site is perceived to be. A link from a Pr 5 page is often seen as a more powerful link than one from a Pr1 page. However, Google’s Page Rank is only meant to be a rough guide and should not be taken too seriously. Tip one should always preside - a relevant link is always what you want.

4. Should the links page be categorized?
Personally I prefer a well organised links page. If your citing a resource in context of an article you would link from the paragraph, but for the purposes of resource links it is a good idea to organise your pages into relevant themes relating to your website and business. If the site containing the link you are being offered is placed on a page with 200 links all mixed up and covering every topic under the sun, then it’s not ideal. If you’re an online shop selling Art Prints should you really be on the same links page as Hosting Companies and Travel Agents? Make the effort to organise your resource pages, even if some link partners don't.

5. Is the links page being read by search engines?
It is important that the page your link is on can be found and read by search engines. The page should be no more than 2-3 clicks away from the homepage. You can even test if the web page is in the Google index by visiting www.google.com and typing into the search bar cache: with the full domain and page name extension after it.

So your query in the Google search bar could read: cache:www.mywebsite.com/thelinkspage.html.

The page should then show in the Google index. If it does not then there are a couple of possibilities. 1/ The page is very new and hasn’t been crawled yet or 2/ the site has a problem being crawled by search engines due to poor internal linking.

6. What if a Webmaster asks me to link to one site, but links back to me from a different site?
This process is sometimes referred to as '3-way linking' or a 'linking triangle'. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with 3-way linking as it can sometimes be done for convenience. However the first thing you need to do is 1/ Evaluate the site you are linking to and 2/ Evaluate the site and page you are getting the link from. So is the outbound link destination relevant to your site, and is the inbound link you are going to receive also coming from a quality related website?

7. Do I want to associate my business with this particular site?
It is a simple question to answer and this should form part of your decision making process. If you think you have been approached by a good website then the chances are others will feel the same and possibly the search engines too.

8. How do I know if my link partners are still linking to me?
You can do this manually by keeping the information for each link partner in an Excel spreadsheet or similar and then periodically check the exact URLs your link should appear on. However if you get to the stage of having hundreds of link partners this may become rather impractical. At this stage a reciprocal link checker might be advisable. www.linksmanger.com offers a link management system that includes periodic checking of link partners as well as a link exchange system for around $20 a month.

9. So what are the best links?
One answer could be “the ones that deliver lots of relevant traffic”. However links can mean different things to different people. Natural linking [when people link to you without you asking] are a great reward, but it is also wise to ensure you have some links from quality sites in your industry. Teoma can be a good place to find such sites as it focuses more on human edited results than say Google for example. Simply make a search with a good key phrase on www.teoma.com and you will quickly see which websites are the ‘authority’ sites. Set about trying to get listed on as many of the best ones as you can.

About the Author
Gareth Davies is a web design consultant at GSINC Ltd based in London, UK. GSINC deliver practical web design solutions and effective online marketing strategies for business. For more information visit http://www.garethsketty.com or if you have any questions you can contact Gareth at garethsketty@yahoo.co.uk
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

How To Get At Least 50 Visitors A Day Free!

By Karin Manning

Every eBusiness owner is constantly looking at ways to get free traffic to their site. After all, if you have no visitors you will never have any sales. So getting visitors to your website is the first major step to get underway in your marketing campaign.

Pay-per-click search engines are one of the most highly recommended ways to get immediate traffic to your site. However, there are times when eBusiness owners – particularly newbies – don’t have the cash needed to continuously run pay-per-click traffic campaigns.

I have discovered a little known traffic generating technique that could seriously result in more profits in your pocket with extremely little effort on your part. In fact, you’re not going to believe how easy this really is.

If you’re serious about your Internet business then you must be using a truckload of products and services on a regular basis. The $60,000.00 question is - Do you spend time giving testimonials for the many products and services you use in your day to day life? If not, then you could be missing out on an incredible stream of no cost traffic to your site on a regular basis.
Writing testimonials is a relatively easy task. Just write one as if you were simply sending a short note of appreciation to someone you know.

EXAMPLE:
“I’ve been a member of Profits Vault Monthly for the past year and I have increased my profits streams by 300% in the seven months I’ve been promoting these products. Not only that, but I continue to enjoy $200.00 profit a month on my products already in circulation. I would highly recommend Profits Vault Monthly to anyone.” Karin Manning http://www.reprintrights4u.com/profitsvaultmonthly.com.

TIP: You don’t have to link people to your main website. You can link to anything you like – an affiliate program, a free report, a fr** download, just about anything you like…this is your chance to have your say.

Don’t be embarrassed to say that you’re not earning $100,000.00 a year with one product. There are thousands of people online who are happy to earn a few hundred dollars a month to help cover their car payments and house payments so don’t think your testimonial won’t be featured if it doesn’t include six figure digits. In this instance I believe credibility is far more important than inflated dollar figures.

If you find a particular product or service helpful, then give a testimonial about it to the website you purchased it from. Include your full name and url and you’re in business. Now of course this is no guarantee that your testimonial will be spotlighted on the website, however, the more credible and specific your testimonial is the higher your chances.

Now one website alone could be providing you with 5 unique visitors to your site every single day. Now that isn’t a big number by itself, however, in a month that adds up to 150 unique visitors to your site. And that’s just for one website.

If you offered 10 quality (and genuine) testimonials to 10 different websites they could send 50 unique visitors your way on a daily business.

1500 Free Unique & Targeted Visitors Every Month!
ADDED BONUS: Not only do you receive free traffic through this marketing strategy but this also helps your link popularity with search engines. Link popularity is proving to be the next best thing when it comes to ranking high on search engines so this is money in your pocket for virtually nil effort on your part.

Take a minute to make a list of all the membership programs you belong to, the affiliate programs you’re a member of, the products and services that you promote on a regular basis and I’m sure you’ll be able to come up with at least 10 testimonial targets easy.

3 Quick Ways To Effective Testimonial Marketing

1. Give Powerful Testimonials.
The more credible your testimonial the better chance you have of having your testimonial published on a site and featured in a better position. Be specific in your testimonials, just like you are in sales pages and your ads. For example, “I earnt $187.00 in my first 10 days of using this product” etc is much more effective than “I made some sales in the first month”. The more specific you are, the higher your visibility will be.

2. Be Choosy With Offering Testimonials.
You’re probably thinking I’ve had a bit to drink since I started writing this article and coming up with this point because haven’t I just defeated the whole purpose to my article? I don’t think so. If you offer testimonials to every person with a website you’ll lose all credibility. Make your opinion matter by only putting your name to products and services that really deserve it. A bit like athletic sponsorship deals. You are going to be endorsing a certain product people will associate you with…so make sure it’s worthy of your acclaim. If in doubt, don’t put it out.

3. Make Your Testimonials Sell.
Make sure you take the time to promote yourself by signing your full name and website address on the bottom of all your testimonials. Even better do what one noted internet marketer did and give yourself a label. The Fr** Ad Guru may be taken but can you think of a nifty name to brand your own identity? If so, throw it in and your testimonial may just get featured just because they like your name – for example, Cheapskate Suzy, Future Internet Millionaire etc.

About The Author
Karin Manning is the publisher of Net Wealth, a newsletter filled with up to the minute tips and techniques for growing your business online plus your free subscribers club. Subscribe by visiting http://www.reprintrights4u.com/earnprofitsmonthly and filling in the ePackage popup on entry.
karin@reprintrights4u.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Small Business Web Site Design - Why separate formatting from content?

Today’s web pages are full of content. What makes the web so appealing is its ability to present content in a rich state combining formatting and graphics with content. Of course, you will come across some sites that will tend to overdo this part. Hopefully, they will learn quick or learn the hard way. But that isn’t the intent of this article. In today’s article I want to focus on why it is important to separate your content from your formatting.

To understand this better, let us take a quick look at how we can actually format a web page with some formatting. Don’t work even though this sounds “technical”, it really isn’t once you understand the concepts.

Let’s assume we want to create a paragraph of text that has the following criteria:

There needs to be a Header so we can identify the paragraph
There have to be a few hyperlinks for redirecting the user to some helpful web sites
The header font needs to be a different color with different font size.

The common way is to insert this formatting right within your text. Like so:

<font face="Arial" color="#336699" size="2">
<span style="line-height:17px;" >
My sample text
</span>
</font>
<font face="Verdana" color="#000000" size="1">
This is my other sentence within the paragraph
</font>

So do you see anything wrong with the above code? Nothing much, right? And to a large extent, you may be right in assuming so.

But consider this scenario. You want to portray a consistent look and feel to your web site by formatting all your headings in one specific color, font and font size. And of course, you would like all your text to be formatted another way. Let’s just keep it this simple and not complicate it by saying you would like to format different types of paragraphs differently.

So how would one generally go about formatting this in some of our favorite HTML editors? Well, simple. You would highlight the text and choose the formatting via the handy buttons, menus and whatever else is available. And how does our leading-edge HTML editor format this text. Yup! You guessed right. It will insert the formatting surrounding your text, as illustrated in the above example.

So now that you learnt how to format your text, you get excited and go about formatting

Now comes the fun part. You (or your boss) suddenly decide you would like to change the formatting just a “little”. Instead of the Arial font for the Headers, you would now like it to be Verdana. And of course, while we are at it, can we change the paragraphs to Times Roman?

Now the realization strikes you. You have to go through every web page on your web site and manually edit these Font tags to reflect the new change? Can you see how tedious this can get when you have a few pages on your web site? What about the situation when you have a dynamic web site that takes it’s values from a database?

This is one of the primary reasons I always recommend separating the formatting from the content. This is easily accomplished with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Among other things, CSS is extremely good for separating formatting from content. Using CSS, whenever we would like to change the formatting, we change it in one place. Yes, you heard that right. One place. And the formatting ripples through the entire site instantly.

Now how good is that?

When you think about it, separating formatting from content seems totally logical. Yes you will see most standard HTML editors may not fully support what is discussed in this article. However, with a little bit of careful planning and some circumvention, we can easily accomplish style in our web page formatting using CSS.

Till next time,

Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin

Why Doesn’t My Small Business Web Site Sell?

by: Jeremy Cohen

Many small business owners are disappointed by the ability of their web site to generate new business. Simply having a web site does not guarantee its effectiveness as a marketing tool. If your web site is unable to consistently generate new leads and prospects you may well be disappointed in your investment in your web site.

Does this sound familiar? If so, you may be making one of several common mistakes made by small business owners make when they decide to turn to the web for more business. Here are five common mistakes that can hinder the marketing performance of your web site.

Failure to Measure Traffic
Every so often when I speak with someone who is dismayed at their web site’s ability to generate revenue. I am surprised when they tell me they don’t know how many people visit their site each month, day, hour, etc. Measuring the traffic to and through your web site is critical for understanding the marketing prowess of your web design and the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.

If your web site enjoys lots of traffic, say over 1000 visitors a day, but generates one or two sales a month you can be pretty sure there is a deficiency in your web design. If you are not measuring traffic to your site you do not provide yourself an opportunity to identify and correct the problem by seeking and implementing better marketing design.

On the other hand, if your web site generates a small amount of sales and you don’t know that only fifty people are visiting your site each month you deny yourself the ability to realize that you have a fantastic web site and that marketing it better will lead to a significant increase in revenue.

If you are not measuring your web site’s traffic you are missing opportunities to increase your ability to generate sales and be more successful. If you are not currently measuring traffic to and through your site you can move your marketing forward by integrating the tracking service provided by one of the many companies that provide web metrics. Two such providers are webtrends.com and webstat.com.

Poor marketing message
Another reason web sites fail to sell is that they do not do a good job of delivering a compelling marketing message. Without an excellent marketing message you risk losing your visitors to other web sites because it is not immediately clear to them that you can help them with what they seek.

One sign that you may have a less than stellar marketing message is that it does not speak directly to the consumers who become your clients. Your marketing message should identify exactly whom you help. If you help more than one population you can easily cater your marketing message by changing just a word or two. Be sure your marketing message clearly indicates whom you help and you will notice an improvement in you sales success.

Another sign that your marketing message is not hitting a homerun is that it does not clearly demonstrate that you provide what your customers seek. If you sell handbags and your marketing message is “glamour can be yours” then you are missing the boat as this marketing message fails to indicate at all that you sell handbags.

To correct a dysfunctional marketing message make sure it clearly identifies your target market and the results they seek. Once you have a great marketing message you can use it in your web site and your other marketing material.

Don’t See Big Picture
Another common shortcoming of small business web sites is that many fail to realize a fundamental marketing concept: most consumers who make a decision to buy something make the decision to do so after 6 - 8 contacts with some form of marketing for a particular product or service. Failing to realize and act upon this marketing fact will hinder your ability to grow your business.

The purpose of marketing is to establish your business in the marketplace so that consumers think of you when they are ready to act to fill a need or desire. By regularly getting your marketing message in front of your market you can help them associate what you do with what they need. You can also attract more clients by demonstrating your expertise to clients in your marketing material.

How are you going to get your marketing message in front of your market often enough to help them associate your products or services with the problem they need solved or the need they need to fill?

Poor design
Do visitors to your web site do what you want them to do? If they are not it may be the design of your web site that is preventing your visitors from taking the action you want them to take. The design of each of your web pages is instrumental in guiding the actions of your visitors.
So what constitutes good design? Good design stems from the skillful integration of graphical and textual layout, color, shape and choice and flow of content. If your site does not have the content your visitors seek you will strike out each time someone visits your page. If your web pages don’t put what you want your visitors to see immediately in front of them you will miss opportunities to sell.

If your choice of fonts and colors make your pages difficult to read your visitors will likely move along to another web site they can understand more easily.

To identify if your web pages suffer from poor design ask yourself the following questions:
Does my text stand out over my background color?
Does the design of my site focus my visitor’s attention where I want it?
Does my content give my users what they want?
If you answered ‘No’ to any of the questions above you can improve your ability to get your users to do what you want by taking steps to correct anything that may be wrong.

Failure to Focus on Client Needs
When people visit your web site you want them to read through the content of your site. By doing so your visitors develop a sense of how your product or service can help them. If your copy doesn’t focus on your clients’ needs and desires they will be off to another site in a blink.

If your visitors are quickly leaving your web site it may be because your copy does not focus on their needs. Here are some common mistakes to avoid:
Don’t focus on the process or method you use to do your job
Don’t focus on your existing clients
Don’t focus on your experience
Don’t focus on the quality of your product

By making any of the above mistakes you detract attention from the reasons that are going to help your clients make the decision to buy from you. You may be very proud of your accomplishments, and you should be, but focusing on them does not address your clients' needs. By addressing your clients' needs you will communicate better with them and increase your ability to sell.

About The Author
2004 © Better Marketing Results. All rights reserved.
The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers attract more clients and be more successful with his coaching marketing service and free marketing guide: Jumpstart Marketing: More Prospects, Clients and Success. Get the FREE guide at: http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/
jcohen@bettermarketingresults.com

Small Business Web Smarts – What is cross-browser viewing?

The Internet changes rapidly. When the web browser was first introduced, you had only one web browser. Today, you not only have different organizations with different browsers but you also have different flavors of the browser.

Do you think your web site looks the same across all browsers? Think again.

The added complexity is that with hardware getting cheaper and cheaper every day, monitors are getting bigger too,. So what does this mean to you? Well, this means that your web site needs to accommodate different resolutions as well.

Most small business owners never even consider this aspect to their web site. This is because most web designers design with one size. This is generally 800 x 600. So how does this affect your web site? If you have a wide screen, your web site will look squished to the top left. The higher the monitor resolution, the smaller your site will look. You will also start seeing a lot of “problems” (for example, graphics that are repeated across your screen and are not meant to be) if you have a wider monitor and are viewing in a resolution higher than 800 x 600.

Sounds bad, eh? Is there anything you can do? Yes, you can. Read on to learn.

For starters, simply knowing about this problem makes you better than 75% of the other businesses that are not aware. Now you can take corrective action with your web designer or web design company.

When you negotiate your contract with a web design company, ensure you let them know you are aware of this problem and tell them you would like your web site to be fluid. What do I mean by this? Well, to state it simply, your web site design and content adjust themselves to your visitors browser and screen resolution. And how is this accomplished? Well, using what is commonly called as “CSS” or Cascading Style Sheets. If you would like to learn more about this interesting technique, contact us and we’ll be glad to provide more details.

The other problem is that most web designers “test” only on their computers. As a result, they generally design in the resolution their monitors are set to; not their target customers. Wouldn’t it be nice to see how your web site would look at different resolutions? Well, I can point you to one web site that will let you type in a web address (URL) and select a particular screen resolution. It will then take your web address and “simulate” the look at the selected resolution. And the magic address is:

http://www.dotfactor.com/tools/develop/htmlscreensizetester.shtml

Have fun testing your web site.

Till next time,

Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
http://www.netmedian.com
mailto: epicardo@netmedian.com

The Most Beneficial and Most Under-Used Web Site Promotion Tool

by: Richard Brunelle

Of all the methods of Web Site Promotion, the Press Release is by far the most beneficial tool available. It is also one of the least used tools. When thinking of Web Site Promotion, a web site owner or his delegate has to consider what method of promotion will bring the best results. But, a majority of these people fail to recognize the significance of the Press Release.

Press Releases are one of the few documents that can be submitted one time to one location, but be considered for publication in millions of other locations. Press Releases submitted to a quality News Distribution Service are routinely reviewed by a bunch of Journalists. Journalists from all forms of media consider use of Press Releases in their publication. It is probable that a Press Release of significance will get selected by numerous Journalists for inclusion in their publication or media as a Press Release, as well as used for a subsequent news feature. How many times has Google generated a Press Release that creates news features on television, radio, print publications, and all over the Internet? In case you aren’t sure the answer, every time.

Now, most of us will never write a Press Release of such significance as to reach all forms of media like a Google press release, but a simple Press Release from an unknown stands a pretty good chance of getting significant distribution. A Press Release published on the Internet, immediately upon publication generates attention to your business or web site. How? Most of the News Media select Press Releases for inclusion to their Internet news publications. Most of these News Media sites also are Free Content Providers to millions of other web sites by offering free news feed linkage from the News Media site. Not all of the sites using such feeds are going to select the specific feed that carries your Press Release. But, what if only one in ten do? You cannot pay for banner ads or search engine placement that will give you as much promotion in a single day.

Press Releases are one of the few documents that get published in other media that immediately attract attention to your business or web site. Newspapers, Newsletters, Magazines, and a large amount of company bulletin boards frequently pick up and publish Press Releases from News Distribution Services. If your Press Release is picked up for publication, the first day of its release will probably be the strongest in the print media. However, newsletters and magazines usually are not a daily or weekly publication. So it’s possible that two weeks or a month after its release, your Press Release will get another strong viewing.

Press Releases are one of the few documents that get published to numerous locations without much effort. One single Press Release, submitted to a quality News Distribution Service is considered for publication in millions of media publications, read by tens of million readers. So, even if only one of these publications picks up and publishes your Press Release . . . Do the math!

A Press Release is the best method of increasing Search Engine Ranking by linkage. Once a Press Release is published by any of the News Media, it is archived in a searchable database. This placement of your link into a high ranking, high traffic media site is priceless. Test this for yourself if you wish. Simply prepare and distribute a press release. Within two to five days, do a search for your web site. If your Press Release was accepted and published, you will find a number of links from the media that published your Press Release back to your web site. And, what if one of those media sites just happen to be Google or Time Magazine? We can wish and dream, can’t we?

What do you have to do to get your Press Release published? There are only two rules to successful Press Release distribution and publication. 1. WRITE WELL. And 2. SUBMIT IT WELL. There are no Editors that like poorly written anything. Poorly worded or full of grammatical errors gets one thing, the trash. And, regardless of many peoples opinion, the News Distribution Service utilized is very important. You can submit a press release about Jimmy Johnson getting caught eating boogers and subsequently getting promoted from the Mailroom to Building Maintenance, as long as you follow the proceeding rules.

To write a Press Release well, you have to understand the use of a Press Release. A press Release is not a Sales Brochure. A Press Release is not for telling stories about your weird Uncle Alfred. A press Release is to tell the world some newsworthy event has or will occur. And believe it or not, your web site or business probably has such newsworthy events happening all the time. Once you have ascertained that you have such an event to tell the world about, you have to write your article properly. Not only do most places you can submit your Press Release to require it be in a certain format, but they also expect it to read a certain way.

A Press Release should start strong with an informative title, followed by an equally strong first paragraph. The first paragraph should contain answers to Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Subsequent paragraphs should be used for interview quotes and or supportive content. Having done that, there is one more important element to a proper Press Release. There is no such thing as an anonymous Press Release. Press Releases contain all the specifics relative to the person making the Press Release. There are some Editors and Journalists that actually want to discuss the Press Release content, and your Press Release will not see the first glimpse of publication if they are unable to contact you.

This article has not prepared you for writing and distributing your Press Release properly. Doing so is not my intent. The sole intent of this article has been to raise your awareness regarding the value of Press Releases. I recommend that you consult a professional, read a book on the topic, or find a friend that works in Public Relations to help you for best promotion of your company or web site using Press Releases. But, if you are willing to put forth the effort, you will find the Press Release one of the strongest promotional tools available to you in any media.

About The Author
(C)2005-Richard Brunelle-All Rights Reserved
This article may be reprinted freely in its entirety, including my reference box.
Richard Brunelle is CC&BW for datajam’s Internet at http://datajamsinternet.com/. He has been providing technical support services, building web sites, and writing informative articles since 1996.
datajam@comcast.net

Give Your Web Site a Small Business Marketing Tune Up

by: Jeremy Cohen

Your web site is like your car. Both are significant investments that require the right features and regular and proper maintenance to ensure maximal satisfaction and performance.

Your car is a finely tuned machine. You bought it not only to get you from point A to point B but also perhaps to have some fun and look good as you go. If you purchased your car new its engine had no wear. To keep it running like the day you bought it you maintain it regularly: you change the oil every 3000 miles, you inspect its belts and hoses, you check its fluids and rotate its tires (or at least you should). Without such attention the money you spent on your car will eventually seem like a mistake as it sits idly in your garage because it won’t start.

Your investment in your web site deserves the same care you give your car. While the purpose of your car is to get you from place to place, the purpose of your web site is to help you develop new business and become more successful. It doesn’t matter if your business is retail sales or professional services, your web site is supposed to act as your store front on the Internet. While your web site doesn’t need its oil changed or tires rotated it does require maintenance to ensure it performs as the marketing tool you intended it to be when you paid to have it developed.

Here are five things you can do to tune up or add to the marketing function of your web site.

Fresh content
Fresh content will keep your visitors coming back to your site just like the oil and gas in your car help ensure it starts every time you put the key in the ignition. If you neglect to maintain fresh supplies of either, you’re asking for trouble. Your visitors seek fresh content. Once your visitors realize they’ve gotten all their going to get out of your site they will not return. Add new, relevant and helpful content to your site as often as you can and you will keep your visitors happy and returning.

Keywords
Your keywords are the words your visitors use when they think about the products or services you provide. They are like the make and model of your car - they are what get noticed. Your visitors use keywords and phrases to perform searches at sites like Google and Yahoo! to find what they need. They recognize and respond to these words when they see them featured in search listings, advertisements and other promotional materials. Make sure you know your keyword phrases and incorporate them into the Title, Meta Tags and copy of your web site.

Copy
The advertising copy of your web site can be likened to the amenities of your car. Your car has a stereo, cup holders and convenient storage space to address your wants and needs as you drive. The copy of your web site should do the same thing. To maximize the marketing function of your web site’s copy make sure it focuses on the problems, wants and concerns of your clients. Your visitors will be more likely to identify you as the solution to their problem if you demonstrate to them that you understand their needs.

Require Action
Just like your car requires you to step on the gas to make it go, your web site requires your visitors to take the action you want them to take in order to function as an effective marketing tool. No one has to tell you to step on the gas. Your visitors need to be told what to do. Tell them to “buy now” or “request our catalog”. If you don’t they might ever know that’s what they’re supposed to do.

Get Contact Info
Getting contact information from you visitors is like remembering the keys to your car. If you can’t get into you car and start it, you’re not going anywhere. Likewise, if you don’t learn who your prospects are you can’t continue marketing to them. Most people who visit your web site will not buy from you the first time they stop by. In most cases, it takes between six and eight marketing contacts with a prospect before they choose to purchase something. Your prospects are no different. If you acquire their contact information you will be able to repeatedly market to them.

Take the steps you need to maintain your web site and it will run smoothly and get you where you want to go.

About The Author
Copyright 2005 Jeremy Cohen, Better Marketing Results
The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers attract more clients and be more successful by helping them deliver a web site that sells and improve their marketing materials to generate more interest in their products and services Get his free marketing guide, Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success: http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/marketing-services.asp
jcohen@bettermarketingresults.com

How to Select a Web Site Host

by: Mike Snyder

So, you know how to create HTML files (web pages) and want to start a website. You have a domain name but don't know where to store the files (web host). You find countless web hosting companies offering a wide range of products but you can't make heads or tails of all the features to decide which plan is right for you.

Does this sound like you?

If so, this article was written for you. Hopefully after reading it, you will have a better understanding of all the terms associated with web hosting and find a hosting company that is right for your business.

File Storage Space
Usually hosting companies sell different packages centered around storage space. Storage space is specified in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB); a megabyte is 1000 kilobytes and a gigabyte is 1000 megabytes.

How much storage space do you need? Well, that depends on what you are planning to do with your website. If you have only a few pages of text and little to no graphics or images, a 25 MB should be more than you will ever need. Most hosting packages start at 25 MB of storage space. When comparing web hosting companies for file storage space, be sure to check their terms and conditions to make sure they do not charge another setup fee for upgrading to a packge with more space.

One way to determine the size of your files in Microsoft Windows, right click the Start button and click Explore. Scroll down and select the file(s) or folder(s) you plan on using for your website. Right click on the selected file(s) or folder(s) and click Properties and you will see the size.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the measure of how much data flows through your site. It is usually expressed in GB transfered per month. If you are expecting a lot of hits (millions of page views) to your site you will need to get the most bandwidth you can afford. For new web sites it may take a while to get up to a significant bandwith. If you find you are approaching the bandwith limit, you can always upgrade to a plan with higher bandwidth. Some plans allow you to increase your monthly bandwidth for an additional monthly charge.

E-Mail
Most hosting plans include a significant number of POP e-mail accounts and unlimited e-mail forwarding.
POP accounts can be accessed with your current e-mail program and some hosts may include a webmail interface for your POP accounts. If you have several people that work for your web site/business and want them to have their own e-mail address, you will need to select a hosting plan with enough POP accounts.
E-mail forwarding is when e-mail that is addressed to your website gets redirected to another e-mail address that you specify. An example of e-mail forwarding: for one of my websites mail addressed to mike-@-mrgoodbeer.com, sales-@-mrgoodbeer.com, and webmaster-@-mrgoodbeer.com all get redirected to my Gmail address. With e-mail forwarding you can easily track where your e-mails are coming from. Be careful though...the more e-mail addresses you have, the more SPAM you will receive.

Shared vs Dedicated
When comparing hosting plans, you may notice plans for shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Shared hosting simply means that your web site will be hosted with other websites on the same server or machine. Shared hosting is good for the average web site where speed is not a priority.
A dedicated server is just that, a server that is dedicated to your website. The advantages of a dedicated server are speed and control. The disadvantage is cost, you will usually have to pay a much larger monthly fee for having a dedicated hosting plan. If you know nothing about Unix, Linux, or network administration make sure to get a managed dedicated server. The hosting company will take care of all the security and software patches/updates that arise over time.
Make sure to review the hosting company's terms and FAQ concerning their dedicated servers to determine if their service is right for you.

Support
For the companies that do not have 24 hour support, you will have to determine if their phone support hours meet your specific needs. Make sure to note the location of the company and offset the support times for your time zone. If you plan on working on your web site during all hours of the day, make sure to choose a company with 24/7 phone support; otherwise, you will have to wait for them to open before you can get help to solve your problem.

CGI
Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a program, also know as scripts, that can be run on a website to make the site more dynamic. CGI programs can be written in PERL, C, Unix shell, and countless other languages. It is best to select a hosting plan that allows CGI because you will undoubtedly run across an application or game that you want to modify or include on your site.
There are many resources on the web that list free CGI scirpts and countless companies offering CGI scripts for you to buy.

MySQL
MySQL is used for creating and maintaining web based databases. If you anticipating having some data on your site that your users might want to sort you will probably need to find a web host that supports MySQL. Some hosting companies specify how many databases you can have on your site and charge an additional monthly fee if you want more. You will have to determine how many databases you will need and select the appropriate web hosting plan.

FrontPage
FrontPage is a website creation and management what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) tool developed by Microsoft. The files generated by FrontPage may have extentions asscoiated with them. If you are using FrontPage to develop your site, you will need to make sure that the hosting plan you choose supports FrontPage extentions or your web pages may not display properly, if at all.

Server Operating System (OS)
For most basic websites you will not have worry about which OS your web hosting company is using. Most hosting plans are running on either Unix or Linux. For some unique web site features, you may need a Windows based server.

Setup Fee
Some hosting companies charge a setup fee when your account is created. This is usually a one time fee and may be waived, in some cases, when you pre-pay for your service. Check the hosting company's terms carefully to determine the details of their setup fee.

SPAM Filter
Most hosting plans include some type of SPAM filter for your e-mail accounts. This feature can come in very handy if you are using POP email accounts.

Shopping Cart
Some hosting companies provide shopping cart features as part of their hosting plan. You do not have to worry about this featue if your web site is not selling products. Also, there are many different third party shopping cart applications and CGI scripts available on the web that you may choose to implement on your web site such as the ones found at PayPal.

About The Author
You may reprint this article (can be found at http://www.mrgoodbeer.com/hosting/ ) in any form but all links to MrGoodbeer.com in the credits, title, body, and this footer must not be altered.
mike@mrgoodbeer.com

5 illustrious strategies to explode your web site traffic

by: Benjamin Scott

Are you spending hundreds of dollars on advertising campaigns, only to find out that you have earned a very small profit or none at all? Here are 5 illustrious strategies that will help you explode and create viral traffic to your web site.

1.Reciprocal Links – Think of reciprocal linking as a mini joint venture. Go to any major search engine and search for sites that are related or similar to yours. The majority of web masters that exchange links with other web sites have a links page. Look for the links page and see if they provide instructions on how you should link to their web site. Contact the web master and inform him/her that you have linked to their web site and request that they link to your web site in return. Remember to provide the web master with the page that you have placed their link on. Always make sure that you provide the web master with your web site url,title and description so that he/she can link to your web site in return.

If you keep contacting other web sites on a consistent basis,at least 10% of the web masters that you contact will exchange links with you. You will receive traffic from your link partners and also from the search engines. Link popularity is a major part of the search engines algorithm. Remember to only contact web masters with related web sites that have a links page. Contacting unrelated web sites can result in spam complaints.

2.Writing Articles – This strategy creates viral traffic from all different angles. The key here is to provide a resource box at the end of your article with a link to your web site. Once you write your article you will need to submit it to the many different announcement lists on the internet. There are companies that will charge you a small fee to submit your articles for you, or you can submit them on your own for free. Once you submit your articles the potential for hundreds of visitors begins. Ezine publishers can send your article to thousands of readers and other publishers will place your article on their web sites.

If you have a good resource