The internet channel is relatively new to business and consequently generates less revenue than more established, more traditional channels like retail shops and call centres. So business owners do not care. This is a big mistake! Here’s why.
Consumers are turning to the internet to dream and research. They dream about their holidays, their home renovation or their garden upgrade. When they are more serious, they research their specific needs on web sites that they found while dreaming or on search engines.
To keep costs down, many businesses turn to low cost web site design agencies. These agencies are competent at developing web sites and have the technical capabilities but most have no concept of user based design. What I mean by this is that they do not design the web site for the target customer.
Best practice web site design centres on the customer persona. What is a persona? It is typically a one page document that clearly describes the target customer. It contains such things as a photo, age group, socio-demographics, beliefs, values and attitudes. With this knowledge, user based designers can target the website to appeal to the target customer.
This is the context for good copyright. Once the target customer has been defined, the copyrighter can create communications that resonate with this target group. More than that, they appeal to the psychology of the customer.
Finally, few web sites have a clear call to action. What do you want the visitor to do when they visit the site? Is this obvious when you visit the web site? Is the call to action compelling for the target customer?
So, most web sites don’t work because they are not designed to meet a customer need. They are more likely to be designed to look pretty or to take advantage of the latest technical fad. These technical capabilities are only useful when they contribute to achievement of the web site goals.
Do not compromise on good web site design. It does not pay.
Pete Fick
www.webwings.com.au
Web Sites That Work
As I was reading through the latest internet business success stories, I couldn't help but notice that, despite dramatic differences in the business models they use and the products and services they sell, successful web site owners all share three common "success traits" that played a major role in growing their online sales to $100,000 to $600,000 a year...
Success Trait #1:
First of all, one of the reason's why they're s successful NOW is because they didn't let their lack of knowledge stop them. Despite the fact that many of them had no computer experience, never mind experience using the Internet -- and despite the fact that many had never owned a business before -- they just plain got started and didn't worry about making everything "perfect" the first time.
Remember, I'm not talking about rocket-scientists here. These are regular people, like you and me, who started running their web sites out of their own homes and are now making $100,000 to $600,000 a year with their sites.
And believe it or not, almost all of them were making a profit from day-one! Sure, they weren't all making buckets of cash right away; but their profits increased quickly as they continued to improve on what they started with.
Success Trait #2:
I've already mentioned that these successful web site owners didn't worry about making everything "perfect" right away. And this is important, because rather than overload themselves by trying to become Internet marketing gurus BEFORE they got started, they just dove in and focused on one marketing strategy at a time, working extremely hard to maximize their profits with one strategy before moving onto the next.
This is a trait that really amazed me because even though these successful web site owners are earning substantial incomes from their web sites, they ALL talk about how they plan to snowball their profits and sales even more by strategically adding another strategy... and another strategy... and another strategy... to their web sites, one at a time.
Success Trait #3:
Interestingly, the one point that kept coming up again and again, sometimes two or three times in a single interview, was that all of these successful site owners confess they could have been earning a MUCH bigger income MUCH faster had they only avoided the costly mistakes started educating themselves sooner.
And that's probably the most critical trait these success stories share -- they've all committed to educating themselves about the most profitable marketing strategies and techniques.
In fact, I could literally go on for pages and pages reeling off the hundreds of invaluable marketing strategies, techniques, tools, and software recommendations that these people share in their interviews, based on their own real-life experiences and commitment to educating themselves.
However, I know it will mean much more when you hear, straight from the horse's mouth...
Both Pete Fick Fick & Michael Laleye are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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