SEO Blog and Web Hosting News

Archive for September, 2011

In order to master the art of web design, designers must follow the subsequent pointers:

1. Web designers are marketers per se. Web sites are all about advertising products, ideas and services. Thus, a web designer has to understand the mindset of marketers in order to create a design that sell.

2. Read, read and read. We do not experience everything. Thus, our tendency is to learn from others. Reading web design books, newsletters and tips are pretty valuable since they can save you time and effort. Basically, books are more conclusive than newsletters and tips however, they are for free and mostly updated.

3. Narrow down your target market. You cannot please everybody same thing that you cannot be good at everything. Thus, this fact calls for the narrowing of your target market. Even in the interface of the so-called web design, a designer cannot claim that he is an expert at anything or everything about the needs of a website. It is better to pick a certain audience and try to be good at catching their attention, preference and choice. This practice allows you to be best at a given area thus developing expertise.

4. Answer your target audience’s needs. In order to answer the visitor’s needs, web designers must know what kind of visitors his site is welcoming. Do they belong to the younger generation or otherwise? What do they want from your site? Are these information, details and pleasures in your site in order to get their undivided attention and loyalty? Bear in mind that colors, font size, style of graphics, contents and the entirety of the site affects viewer’s decision and choice.

5. Know the basics of SEO and copywriting. Though Search Engine Optimization and copywriting are not directly related to designing, still, designers must have basic knowledge about them. This is because web designing is intertwined with marketing, use of keywords and visibility.

Aside from that, designers must also have knowledge of the programming basics. If not, the tendency is waste time or to create a mediocre or unsatisfactory design to the detriment of the sites.

6. The primacy of functionality. If ever you are faced to make a decision between a web site’s aesthetic form and its functionality, you have to be firm in upholding the latter. Not everything that is pretty is ‘saleable’. Besides, you don’t create web sites for the sake of making it nice-looking.

Above anything else, the site must be functional so as to cater to every visitor’s wants and needs. Appearance is a means to catch visitor’s attention nevertheless, it is not the end. If a designer prioritizes appearance alone without considering its primary consideration the web site’s marketability will suffer.

7. Know when to break the rules. Rules are only guidelines, if you feel that the rules are inappropriate for a certain creation follow your heart’s desire and venture on an experimental adventure.

These 3 marketing myths can cause you to lose sales if you base your marketing decisions on them. We’ve given you some marketing tips to blast each myth and boost your sales.

Myth 1: People buy a product at the cheapest price they can find.

That is not true – if it was then companies like Rolex and would not exist – Timex would have put them out of business a long time ago. Despite the ease of research that the internet affords – buyers are generally lazy and don’t undertake full research. Even on eBay where it is far easier to check the relative prices of a product – people often buy a product at a higher price than they could. So what causes people to buy? These are called buying triggers – the most common are:

• Confidence in the seller
• A high perceived value
• Recommendations
• Ease of purchase

Blasting Myth 1:
Establish your credentials – for example we have over 20 years of business consultancy experience – so we know what works and what does not work in a business.

Find ways of enhancing the perceived value of your product or service by adding extras or clearly demonstrating the value of it’s purchase.

Ensure that you include some actual recommendations within your sales letter.
Make it easy to purchase and receive your product by not introducing any barriers to purchase such as extra forms, obscure or complex payment methods.

Myth 2: Offering your customers numerous different options will boost your sales

When confronted with several options, most customers have difficulty making a decision. They often react by procrastinating – and going to a seller who offers a clearer product. Now by this we don’t say add extras or up sells, just clearly state what is included in the product and don’t offer options that not only confuse but making your selling and processing more difficult.

The human mind works better when offered the two options “buy”, “don’t buy”.

Blasting Myth 2:
Only offer one product – or product package per page. You can have a clear (and short) menu on each page to encourage multiple purchases.
If you have more than one option for a product or service – then give them different names and present them each separately. For example you can call them “silver service”, “gold service”, “opal service” etc. This is what we did with our various marketing services and it works quite well.

You should always aim at a small, easily understood product or service range. You should be able to explain each of your products in one or two sentences. If you can’t do this – how do you expect your potential buyers to understand what they are buying?

Myth 3: Everybody Needs My Product or Service

Unfortunately, most people don’t believe that they do need a particular service of product. Obviously with items such as Ipods – your teenager will try and tell you they really, really, really need one, but this is peer pressure that has been built up with millions of dollars. Much of this was spent on research into what there market wanted – and they got it right!

If you believe this myth then you also believe that you can succeed without doing much marketing or selling. Unfortunately, despite what some marketers tell you – it does not happen that way. Undoubtedly there some very successful marketers around, but they will all admit that a great deal of market research, testing and reviewing of their offerings – happened before they became successful.

Building a successful business is hard work – most of it devoted to finding potential customers and then matching them with your products and services. Even if most people can use your product or service, you still need a marketing strategy to reach them and a persuasive sales message to close sales – because you can bet your last dollar – that where there a lots of potential customers – there are just as many sellers.

Blasting Myth 3:
• Do your homework – find out where your potential customers are, what particular needs and desires they have and what they are seeking to solve these.
• Look for a narrowly defined niche market where your product or service will solve a unique need of the customers.
• Design your product or service to meet these needs.
• Test, Change, Test, Refine, Test and obtain customer feedback.

Unless you are one of the millionaire marketers around – you will find many myths that you follow and potentially lose money on. Hopefully the ones above have helped you.

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© Copyright 2006 Biz Guru LLC
Lee Lister, writes as The Biz Guru, for a number of web sites including her own www.BizGuru.us and www.clikks.com where she sells her informational products. With over 20 year’s management and business consultancy experience with businesses large and small as well as being a serial entrepreneur, she now helps others set up, develop and market their businesses.

You might like to join our: Clikks Ezine: – aimed at the small businesses – click or brick with a web site presence. We provide business strategy and internet marketing assistance and products. clikks_ezine@aweber.com

This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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Internet. Business. Profit. To fully integrate all of these words into a successful merge you will need another word. Traffic. Every article you will find about making your web site or company successful would always include the importance of generating web site traffic.

So, we all know that in the core of it all, web site traffic is the most essential thing to a successful internet based business company. Aside from ensuring that you have a great product to sell, and your company’s internal organization is well taken care of, it would be time to get to the nitty-gritty of things, generating web site traffic.

If you already have a site and you think that you are not getting the web site traffic that you’re supposed to be getting, then its time to re-strategize. If you are contending in very competitive business industry, you should always be a step ahead of your competition, increasing your web site traffic flow should have been done starting yesterday.

Timing is essential, that’s an old adage known to everyone. But with generating web site traffic, you should always be on your toes and be a day ahead of everyone. Never think of today and tomorrow as a starting point for making your web site traffic laden, it should always have been yesterday.

To help you out in increasing more web site traffic for your site, here are some seven surefire secrets to increase your web site traffic starting from yesterday.

1) Invest in good advertising with search engines

Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture provide great advertising schemes that are very truly popular and assures great web site traffic. Although with this surefire way to increase web site traffic would cost you some money. While some would shy away from spending money to increase web site traffic, it is imperative in this case to do so because Adwords and Overture is the top surefire way to increase web site traffic.

You could see for yourself the success this search engine advertising methods have reaped rewards for so many companies. Lots of sites feature these advertising system and many have signed up to reap the benefits. Do not be left behind. Every penny is worth it with using Google and Yahoo’s advertising.

2) Exchange or Trade Links with other sites

With exchanging links with other sites, both of you will benefit from the both parties’ efforts to enhance your sites’ web site traffic. When one site features another site’s link, they could provide each other with the web site traffic that the other site generates. The efforts are doubly beneficial because it would seem like both of you are working to generate more web site traffic. You can increase web site traffic when you trade more links with more sites especially similar niche sites.

3) Use Viral Marketing

Viral marketing allows you to spread the word about your company and product without any costs or if ever low costs only. This is a marketing method that can be quite sneaky; you can attach your company’s name, product or link to a certain media such as a funny video, entertaining game, an interesting article or a gossip or buzz. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium that they will pass it on to many people.

4) Search and use proper keywords or keyword phrases for your sites content

Search engines look for certain keywords that they would show in their results page. In doing so, having the right keyword and keyword phrase is a high requirement in ranking in high in search engine results. You could write your own content or you could hire someone to do it for you.

5) Write Articles that can lead web site traffic to your site

Submit articles to sites that would contain the same subject that your site deals in. If you sell car parts write press releases and articles about cars and car parts. Attach your sites description and services at the end of the article as well as the link.

6) Join forums and form online communities

Capture a market and show your expertise and credibility. When you found a good foundation for your site, people will trust you and your site and will pass on to many people their trust. Web site traffic will certainly increase because they know that you can provide what they need.

7) Lastly, Offer newsletters.

If many people know what you are about and your existence is shared with many others, you will find a loyal web site traffic that can provide you with more web site traffic by recommendation. If you arouse the curiosity of your customers they would be pushed to help you with your web site traffic.

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