Tips for Clicks - Tips to Grow (McCann & Cambrian E-Media Services)





*Tips to Grow*


		Easy Tips to Help Your Web Site Grow! You can't stop people from thinking - but you can start them! That's what counts. - Jeff Blackman Interesting Thoughts Designing your site should be based on your expectations and consideration of how people would find and stay on your site! ► How Do People Search? Recent marketing research has determined that when shopping on line for products and services the web site user tends to initiate a search using generic terms rather than brand names. It's been determined also that people take their time in shopping. Cam Balzer, Director of Search Strategy at Performics reported that it is only near the end of the consumer's search and just before purchase that the web user will actually insert brand names into a search query. • Suggestion! Be sure to include generic terms in your page's title, keywords and most importantly in the body. Generic terms should be listed close to the top of your page to indicate more relevance. ► Design is Critical to First and Lasting Impressions! A study published in the journal, Behaviour and Information Technology reports that people visiting your web site will be make a critical judgment in only a one-twentieth of a second. it takes more time to blink! The Canadian research group was headed by Gitte Lindgaard, a psychology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. The researches point to the "halo effect" in stresssing that these first impressions tend to last. If the visitor to your web site feels positive, he/she will lend confidence and tend to pay more attention to other parts of the site as well. A bad feeling will probably result in loosing that visitor very quickly and permanently. • Suggestion! Your web site's design should be clean, professional and credible. Further more, Gitte Lindgaard suggests web designers should make sure they're not offending users visually. Consult with graphic designers who understand the fundamentals of design. Test your web site's appearance by asking a number of people to review it and insist on productive critiques. ► No Overnight Success for Newly Launched Websites As popular as the Internet has become and continues to grow, simply building and launching a web site does not garner immediate, high traffic and success. Your website will need work and time to develop a presence on the web. • Suggestion! Major search engines need time to "notice" your site and rank it but you can certainly speed up the process by regarding particular fundamentals for optimizing your site, making it favourable and relevant in so far as search engine rankings are made, and subsequently search results displayed. For more on search engine optimization (SEO) see Marketing: Web Design for Maximum Ranking. In addition to the content of your website, search engines like Google also pay attention to other factors to determine ranking. Links to your site from other appropriate websites count as votes for your site and help build your site's sense of relevance and importance. Increased click-through ratios (CTR) and various pay-per-click campaigns also help to boost your site's traffic. For more on these see Marketing: Targeting & Finding Your Customers. ► A Change is Always Welcome Web marketing experts suggest a good facelift to your web site at least once a year. Content should be refreshed even more often and regularly. Ilise Benun, author of "Designing Web Sites for Every Audience" advises that people responsible for purchasing for companies are not likely to favour companies with a web site appearing out-of-date. The nature of your web site dictates the necessity and frequency of updates to your site. Web sites providing products and services for sale, news and information portals and entertainment are likely to require daily updates. Web sites representing professional services including accounting, consulting and medical are perhaps in need of updates monthly or quarterly. • Suggestion! Develop a strategy to update your site as often as required. Focus on the main components of your site. A web site with 100 pages would benefit from having a main 10- to 25-page core updated regularly. Be fashionable, but avoid falling into the "chase the butterfly look" trap. For instance a web site may be enhanced with flash components but should not necessarily be built entirely with flash. Use graphics and images to augment your site rather than clutter it. Considering the immense popularity of broadband (high speed Internet) always be conscience of those who are on dialup. Design for greatest optimization possible to allow for fast downloads. ► Make Your Visitors Welcome If you invite people to your home, you tend to welcome them in with warm hospitality, a comfortable chair, refreshments, perhaps dinner and when your company leaves you hope they will be looking forward to another visit. Similarly, when people visit your web site they should feel welcome and important. • Suggestion! Easy, friendly navigation, organized content and means of participation or interactivity will have your visitors bookmarking your site! Invite your visitors to sign up for newsletters. ► Interpersonal Skills on Line We’ve all seen them - Help Wanted ads insisting applicant must have interpersonal skills. It’s been proven the number one reason a customer is turned away is related to the way in which he or she was treated by an employee. Just as important, self-employed individuals must ensure they have honed such interpersonal skills and convey these skills on line. Let’s get started by first focusing on your web site’s overall interpersonal cyber skills by examining the impression and image your site expresses. In a world congested with competition often the strongest asset we have to compete with is not pricing, exclusivity, availability or geographical location but ourselves. Our own personal traits and the best service imaginable can be our best and most winning combination. • Suggestion! So, how do we convey the confidence of a “firm, look-you-in-the-eye” handshake over the Internet? Consider the following objectives: Make the visitor to your web site feel welcomed. Dale Carnegie was a pioneer in personality development and famous for showing others how to become successful, but he also emphasized the significance of being sincere. Part of his approach was about making people feel important, putting people first and knowing what they wanted and responding accordingly. Does your web site make your visitor feel important? Does it address what’s important to the visitor and does the visitor get a sense of how he or she will directly benefit from your products and services? ► Instill a Sense of Confidence A neat, well organized, informative web site, free of grammar and spelling errors imparts a great sense of trust and credibility. Information which is thorough, accurate and sincere gets an A+ with your reader. • Suggestion! Respect your web site visitor by never speaking down to or up to the reader but rather on an equal level. Respect for your reader’s intelligence means never making unfounded statements or broad claims which can’t be proven. ► Invoke a Positive Reaction A positive attitude is not only contagious but it is transparent. People won’t believe in you and your business unless you’ve demonstrated that you sincerely believe in yourself and in what you’re selling, and just like wanting to be on a winning basketball or hockey team, people like to be associated with a positive, winning company. • Suggestion! Dr. Norman Vincent Peale penned a most extraordinary guide for restoring one’s faith, sense of self worth and sense of confidence through his writings including two well known books, “The Power of Positive Thinking” and “You Can if You Think You Can”. He believed that one of man’s biggest handicaps was the tendency to harbour self doubt, simply because human nature is such that we live up to the level of our self perception, and we function up to the level of our self expectations. Overcoming this manifestation involves an assertive approach to re-programming the way in which our minds think. Another approach by Dale Carnegie was to stress the positive and avoid negative connotations whenever possible. Is your web site enthusiastic, positive and reassuring? ► Be Reachable Good people skills include being approachable. Do people know where you are? • Suggestion! Your web site should not only have telephone and fax numbers, but the names of people and their positions to contact. Very importantly, a street address must be provided lending a very reassuring “arm’s reach” to your new customers. Be reachable and be responsive in a timely fashion. ► Think Virtual Visit Since your web site is a reflection of your company, its appearance and overall feel can’t be understated. We think of a web site as a means to dispense information and sometimes include a virtual tour. • Suggestion! Perhaps in its development, the web site should be regarded as a virtual visit. Treat your web site visitor in the same fashion you would if he or she came through your door! More to follow... (May 2006)