Tips for Clicks - Web Marketing - Targeting and Finding Your Customers On Line





*Web Marketing*

Marketing: Targeting & Finding Your Customers On Line!
Don't be afraid of asking a dumb question! That's better than making a dumb mistake.
- Unknown

Web Content Must Convert to Substance!
Marketing on line utilizes a wide realm of fundamentals. Everything from building and ensuring credible content, making your web site visitor feel welcome and clear on how to navigate the site and being responsive to visitors' inquiries.

In organizing your web site, make sure that your content converts to substance! Even though we may follow through on the old adage that it’s all in the presentation, we need to ensure that your web site is one part presentation and one part substance!

See Through the Eyes of Your Visitor
When considering any content and its placement, attempt to “experience” your own web site through the eyes and mind of the visitor to your site. If this proves very difficult in so far as being objective, then take a look at web sites from others in the same kind of business and examine your own reaction. What do you see? Is it what you expected? Was the site worth your time? Did you learn something or achieve something by visiting this site? Were you in awe or were you disappointed? Perceive the desired experience and transform it into a cognitive prototype and commit it to your web site development.

What Comes First
There are different schools of thought surrounding your web site or company’s mission statement. Some believe it should be located on your front or main page. However we strongly recommend that you consider that as a visitor to your own site, you immediately want to know what the products and/or services are and how they will benefit you. Once you’re convinced the product/service is for you, you will be more likely to explore the web site for the company’s promises and policies to deliver.

Following on the importance of Dale Carnegie's lesson on the priority of making people feel important, it would be vital that you focus on the potential customer and how the product or service will benefit them directly. You need to know what they want and respond accordingly with the proper design and text insertion. With the greatest respect for your company’s goals and objectives, a visitor to your web site may have never read anything more into your front page statement than lip service if it really doesn’t address his or her immediate needs. Consider also, that you’ve got to grab and maintain the interest and attention of your visitor and you could lose it all within precious seconds. Compare this same challenge in developing a 30-second radio commercial! The approach is quite similar.

Intelligent Content Respects Your Web Visitor
Your site should be neat and organized. It should have practical and relative information, sufficient to enhance your site’s substance. Grammar and spelling errors can do most of the harm in robbing a sense of trust and credibility from your visitor’s perception of your company. Demonstrate your respect for your visitor by making reasonable, intelligent and well founded claims on behalf of your products and services.

The practice of making broad and general claims has become rampant in all forms of media over the decades. It is both easy and tempting to make such claims like, “We are number one in town”, “We deliver”, “You’ll be glad you shopped here”, or “You won’t be disappointed”. They all have some very unattractive common denominators. Each statement serves only to brag in a fashion that today’s educated consumer is likely to react with a general ‘we’ve-heard-it-all-before’ kind of response. Each of these makes a claim which is literally unfounded. Although the claim may be intended to be harmless, it is delivered with no imagination, is non-original and really is unsubstantiated.

Your web site visitor surely wants a promise which is more focused, believable, credible and most importantly will directly fulfill a personal need. So turn a boast into a promise or commitment by making alternative statements like, ““We’ll work hard to prove we’re number one with you”, “Count on satisfactory service, or your money back” and “Enjoy your shopping experience”.

Stress or emphasize positive aspects of your services and products. Avoid any negative references or connotations whenever possible. For example, a family campground may not be located on a natural shoreline but rather has a pool for its guests. Avoid a statement that would directly dictate the campground is not on a lake. Emphasize the benefits of a clean, heated, large pool for the whole family to enjoy on a hot summer afternoon!

E-Mail
To ensure ongoing awareness of your domain name, consider using only your e-mail addresses aliased with your domain name rather than your ISP's name. After all, you want to be more interested in promoting your own Internet presence and this practice helps to promote the ongoing branding of your web site name. Your hosting accounts include the use of your own customized addresses. Cambrian & McCann offers several accounts with each hosting plan.

On Line Customer Service
In our section, E-Commerce, as part of Frequently Asked Questions About the Internet we outline the infrastructure necessary to carry out on line business transactions. E-Commerce is very conducive to the nature of some business activities including the retail of books, music and software, however, most web site operators are focused on dispensing information with the aim of generating traffic to their front door. To help accomplish this goal, ensure your site contains the following:

Complete contact information including phone numbers, mailing address, town or city location, e-mail addresses, mail feedback forms and office hours are all necessary. It is strongly recommended you include your geographical location to provide the sense of "arm's reach" to potential customers. You may also want to consider obtaining and promoting a toll free line to prove your commitment and raise the level of professional appearance. Toll free plans are very reasonable in cost and accessible to all sizes of business.

Web site content should be refreshed regularly. Give consumers a new reason for visiting your site weekly or monthly. Tips, timely specials and product support will keep people coming back. You may consider creating a small, manageable newsletter which can be e-mailed to customers or web site visitors by their request.

Participating in a trade show? Ask people if you can contact them by e-mail when you have news of products and services to pass on. Ask for their e-mail addresses on free draw ballots. Always get their permission first.

Ensure your web site content is credible, accurate and without spelling and grammar errors! Improper use of language can rob your site of credibility faster than other content errors.