Why you really do need a website...
Make money online
Post your online resume, easily updated, easily available,
with interactive links to really show what you've done in
past jobs or education
Keep up with friends and family - announce a new engagement,
wedding, baby, achievement, job, move
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COPYWRITERS
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Simplifying the jargon - then using it
Know your COM, BIZ, NET, ORG, INFO, WS, etc.
Know what you don't need to know about HTML, JAVA, PHP,
ASP, etc. - and what you do
I would recommend becoming a little bit familiar with how
domaining works before getting too crazy. DomainingBlog.com
is an incredible source for domainers looking for information
on domaining. It is updated daily and is full of reported
domain name sales, domaining news, tips and articles to
help you make money domaining. It really is a great source
and even has regular interviews with all of the biggest
and best domainers and domaining related companies. So much
great domaining knowledge is shared in these pieces. It
really is recommended that you read them before getting
started domaining. You will also want to sign-up for the
free domaining newsletter at DomainingNewsletter.com. It
will put you on the fast track to domaining success.
How do they do that? And should you?
Spinning, bouncing, fading pop-ups
Animated GIFs
Streaming audio/video
The myth of the all-knowing programmer or site designer
Most use the same tools available to you
A lot of those tools are free
Many are no more difficult to use than clicking a mouse
button
Advertise your current brick-and-mortar (offline) business
Provide a map to your store or office
Offer "specials" you can change daily without
spending a dime
Showcase your service or product
Start a new business online
Or expand the one you have to as large a customer base
as you desire
A website can focus tightly on a single city, even a neighborhood
Or it can bring in new customers from all over the planet
Learn the history of the Net, how it came to be, where
it's at, where it's going
Not knowing this is like voting with no knowledge of democracy
or the candidates and issues
Your choice: Teach your children - or hope they will teach
you
The late-1990s
mantra about the web being a disruptive technology that
would destroy traditional companies may have been overstated.
But a decade and a half into the web's existence, it
is clear that
the world's leading
corporations have been sidelined on the web.
domain
researchE
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The biggest shopping site is not walmart.com but amazon.com.
The biggest map site is not randmcnally.com but mapquest.com.
Established companies have usually only been able to buy
their way into this market through acquisitions (as with
Microsoft's purchase of Hotmail, which it used as a base
for creating MSN).
Why, with few exceptions, were the world's most successful
web sites not launched by the world's most successful corporations?
Many Big Name Companies' Web Sites a Vast Waste of Time
for Visitors
The McDonald's web site talks about food, but has no real
menu. The Coca-Cola USA web site has no clear ingredients
list or nutritional information, no recipes for floats or
mixed drinks, no company history, and nothing else useful
to people who like Coke. All that information has been inexplicably
located on the "company" page, which on every other web
site is used for investor relations. The Johnson and Johnson
web site has useful information if you can access it—when
the author attempted to open it, it crashed two different
web browsers (Internet Explorer and Mozilla) before finally
yielding (to the Opera browser).
Many big-name companies' web sites offer lessons in what
not to do in web design. The biggest lesson by far is not
to sacrifice usability in an attempt to look cool, and never
forget why your users came to your site in the first place.
McDonald's may be the world's largest restaurant chain,
but it didn't get that way because of its web site.
Why Big-Budget Websites Are More Often Bombs than Blockbusters
The web sites of many successful corporations (both B2C
and B2B) are like big-budget Hollywood movies that spend
millions on stars and special effects, and a quarter of
a percent of the budget on the script. Worse, the special
effects of blockbuster web sites are far more annoying than
impressive.
Location, Location, Location
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The old real estate saying applies to websites as well,
but Internet location is really the website name. You must
have a name that is easily remembered and that reinforces
your business.
If you can use your actual business name, that's great.
But if not, then choose one that will bring surfers to your
site - your product. BestWidgets.com says it all, but JonesBrothers.biz
doesn't help at all for a small business.
What are you selling? Concentrate on that one thing (or
group of things). Unrelated products can confuse and irritate
your viewer. If you offer many products, dedicate a page
for each one. Up-selling great, but don't dedicate so much
to it that the customer feels caught in a bait and switch.
Make mention of other products but do so subtly. Remember,
too, that domain names are cheap to get and to host, so
consider having a different website for each product or
service grouping.
Make sure the site is consistent through out your site. New pages should look
consistent with old pages. If you want to change the design of a new page, consider
a total site redesign. Nothing is more disturbing to a customer than feeling
as if they have just gone to another site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout
the site.
You only have between 10 and 30 seconds to capture your
potential customer's attention. Make your site load
fast, minimizing
graphics to those really needed, keeping the actual
page size rather small. Stay away from glitzy animations
and
sounds. That fancy flash movie may be really cool,
but not so after
you have seen it a dozen times!
You can make your secondary pages a bit longer once
you have the prospect on your site. Don't forget to
test your
pages
at different connection speeds. Your cable modem may
blaze, but what happens on a 56k modem on dialup? You
may be surprised.
Also make sure that all your cool stuff works on all
current browsers. FrontPage and DreamWeaver both let
you test this,
and if you are serious about your business site, you
need one of them, or a good web designer.
About 85% of all web users find what they are looking for
via the top search engines. Your web pages must be easy
for the search engine spiders to find and navigate. Focus
on your keywords and keyword density within your page, but
don't try to write just for the search engines. Utilize
the meta tags keywords, description and title. Use your
keywords when naming your pages and within the body of the
page.
Who are you selling to? It is critical that your site reflect
the desires of your potential customers. Are you trying
to sell to teenagers between 14 and 17? If so, the site
must be designed for what they expect to see. Is your product
aimed mostly at home-based businesses? Then you can afford
to emphasize different products or services on different
pages. The key here is to know your market and build the
site to their preferences. Don't try to be all things to
all people.
Your contact info should include an email address, mailing
address, phone number and a fax number, if applicable. Remember,
too, that a PO Box is an acceptable address if you are working
from home. If you are unwilling to provide this information
to your customers, how can they trust (or buy from) you?
A clear privacy statement is "must have". Every commercial
web site should have a privacy statement posted on line.
Do not think that because you are small, you don't need
to do this, and all the other items. It matters. Provide
an easy-to-see link to your privacy statement from every
page on the site as well as from any location that you are
asking your visitors for personal information.
Offer an ironclad, no exceptions, money back guarantee.
This also establishes credibility but it is important enough
to stand alone. If the customer sees that your are willing
to assume all of the risk, they will immediately be more
inclined to trust you. If you are providing a downloadable
product and someone asks for a refund, don't get hung up
on their still having the product. Just ask them to delete
it and then you forget about it. The last thing you want
to do is to get into an argument with a customer.
If you don't currently take credit cards, start doing so
immediately. You can either set up a merchant account or
use a service like PayPal or ClickBank. Take checks on line
through PayPal. Provide an address for those who prefer
to pay by check or money order, but make it clear that you
do not accept cash. Say that you do, and someone is sure
to claim they sent you money and got no product.
Make sure the payment method is easy to access and use.
Do not ask for any more information than is necessary to
complete the transaction. If you don't need the info, don't
ask for it. Remember, too, that if you are keeping customer
credit card info online, you had better have a very good
firewall and anti-spam software. There is a major liability
potential here. That is why outside services like PayPal
are so popular. The keep the card info and you never see
even it.
Make site navigation easy and intuitive. While it may be
artistic to make your index page all black and hide the
link to continue, will that generate business? If your customer
can not navigate your site to find what they want, they
will go elsewhere. Limit the choices and direct your customers
through a sales process.
Does your website get the message across to your visitors?
Is it compelling? Is the site user-friendly? Does it lead
your visitor through the sales process? Have a few friends
or colleagues review, critique and edit your copy to insure
it is delivering the intended message. But first, make sure
they are good spellers! Always double check your spelling
and grammar.
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