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Archive for April, 2010

Importance Of Professional Looking Website!

Although nowadays creating a website is an integral part of every business model just making a website according to what you think looks good and what you like is hardly a smart and creative idea.

It is very important to note that a well designed website can lead to online success but a badly designed website can have adverse effect on your reputation and hamper the potential growth of your business.

The chief reason why so many businesses fail to tap the potential of internet is due to the fact that although their products/services are better than their competitors their website does not reflect the same thus turning away potential clients and damaging the repute of the company.

When designing a website it is very important for you to understand that your online success depends on your website and if it is poorly designed the potential clients will not waste anytime in pressing the back button. So it is very important for you to have a professional designing company handle the job of designing your website because they have the adequate knowledge and knowhow to help you create a website the can cater to the needs of your target audience.

Apart from designing your website professional web designing companies also offer various other services like web hosting Search Engine Marketing and website copywriting and take care of your other web related needs. This can help enhance the visibility of your website and help you attract potential clients and lead to online success by building a unique brand for your products and services.

Although a professional website designing company can garner to a lot of your website related needs and offer a variety of services for improving your online business website designing has many other crucial aspects that require an active participation on your part as well.

The most important thing for you to find out before going on with your website is to have clearly defined goals as to what you wish to achieve with your website and having a clear idea about your targeted audience is very significant. This requires lot of efforts and in depth research on your part as it will be of no use having a website which fails to grab the attention of your potential clients. It is also very important to highlight on your website what makes you different from others who offer similar services and also why should a client choose to work with you instead of your competitors. In other words it is very important that you identify your unique selling point and highlight it on your website. It is very important that a person visiting your website knows what makes you different from your competitors and other similar companies.

A professionally designed website can go long way in not only increasing the growth of your online business but also helping you build a brand image and enhancing your repute. A well designed website puts the right impression on your clients and helps you build a long term brand image for yourself and your company.

Although it is widely believed that putting up a website and having a Search Engine Optimization company SEO do the rest can lead to instant online success it is hardly the truth. A SEO company may improve your search engine ranking enhance traffic to your site but it cannot guarantee that a person who clicks on your website stays on it. It cannot convert a visitor into clients that can only be done by a professionally designed website.

If your website does not appeal to the visitors than no matter how much money you spend on optimization of your site it will give you no return if it is poorly designed but as a consequence it might hamper your brand image and damage long term reputation of the company.

Thus hiring a professional web site design company is worth its cost and can go a long way in enhancing your online success and developing a brand for your company.

So although web provides unlimited opportunities for success and different avenues for developing your business it also takes a lot of efforts and thinking on your part before you create a website and take a plunge into the world of web.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;About the Author
Nikunj Parikh
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Interactive Marketing

Getting Embedded With The Client

I always take public opinion polls with a grain of salt. But it startled me when in the first week of the current war the percentage of people who agreed with the statement the war is going well fluctuated DAILY.

According to the Pew Research Center here are the percentages of Americans who agreed that the war is going very well during the first week of fighting:

Friday 3/21 71
Saturday 3/22 69
Sunday 3/23 52
Monday 3/24 38

Two days of a lessthanrosy outlook sent public opinion spiraling down. The constant stream of war news and the endless spin of cable news taking heads and our short attention span led to false expectations of instant victory. I shudder to think how 24/7 news coverage would have affected World War II when bad news lingered for months at a time.

I believe the ad industry can learn a lot from the war coverage and its effects on the public.

As advertisers we are the ones who can shape public opinion for our clients. We have to be the ones to ensure that a brand at every turn puts on its best face every day. That means being proactive especially in the face of forces beyond our control. Public perception is fickle and advertisers have to prepare for that reality.

Every piece of information about a brand contributes to the cumulative effect of perception. A sale can be jeopardized by bad customer service or rude salespeople. A person talking about a bad experience at a store will influence his/her acquaintances. A bad misguided insulting ad can turn consumers off for good.

What ad agencies also need to accept is that we are ultimately responsible for the consequences of our campaigns once weve executed them and we must define for our clients what constitutes a successful campaign.

For every client and every campaign success is perceived differently. Does your agency effectively manage your clients expectations or does your agency promise them the moon and stars? Do your clients get nervous if one ad or one months ads dont work as well as hoped? Are your clients ready to bail on you at the first sight of trouble?

Reaching for the panic button is quite common when an ad campaign does not roll out as well as hoped. But look at the war situationour military didnt give up after one week nor were they ever planning on giving up despite the polls I quoted. Adjustments were made because of the enemys shifting tactics not the shifting mood of public back home.

If our military leaders take intelligence data and then ultimately make decisions by trusting their instincts shouldnt advertising agencies be allowed to do the same thing?

I actually heard a retired general on TV this weekend say that war is an art I guess Sun Tzu was right. Well if war can be considered an art advertising certainly is. No test simulation or focus group can adequately predict the effectiveness of a campaign. We should not pretend otherwise.

By the time you read this the war might be close to ending. Or the war could be a long way from over. No doubt public opinion will continue to shift wildly. However our leaders are confident that the mission will be a success and right now thats what counts.

As advertisers we can learn from our militarys example. As brand stewards were in it for the long haul and must think longterm. We have to believe were doing the right thing for our clients. We need to start with good raw data. We need to formulate a good plan.

Most of all we need to trust our instincts and stick with them. Otherwise bad clich alert we may win the battle but well lose the war.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Branding. Religion. Censorship. Office politics. Global politics. Sexual politics. And getting drunk during a job interview.
Since 2002 Danny G. a.k.a. Dan Goldgeier has been writing the most provocative advertising columns ever published. They’re all witty thoughtful and probing and a must read for those who want a perspective rarely seen in traditional industry publications.
An Atlantabased copywriter and ad school graduate Dan has worked at shops big and small. He reads incessantly about advertising and is a whiz at rock roll trivia. Learn more about him by visiting his copywriting website or AdColumnist.com the View From The Cheap Seats Archive website. You may also find articles by Danny G at TalentZoo.com.

Your Website As Your Store

Do you think of your website as your store? If no you should. That’s what it is isn’t it. How would you like your store to be? Clean neat and professional or dirty disorganized and unappealing? When is the last time you walked into a dirty or cluttered store? How did you feel? Did you want to just turn around and walk out or even wash your hands? Did you think that what the store had to offer was cheap and below par in value? If that’s the way your site looks then maybe that’s what your customer is thinking!

You must have an atmosphere that is pleasing to buyers. One that tells that buyer that you are not an amateur but instead a trained seasoned professional. Your site is a direct reflection ofyour product and that is why that having a well designed website can make or break your sales.

Take a few minutes a look around at several web pages. What makes them appealing? Were there some that you closed out of immediately? Why? Is it clean or cluttered? Can you pick out the information you need quickly? Is it easy to get to different sections or pages at the site? Take notes and do your research. While it’s true your store is different than a brick and mortar store you can’t just take a scrub brush and some paint to it to brighten it up there are some things you can do.

Think like your customer. Think about what they are looking for. Keep in mind that when a person visits your site they have a goal in mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Give the person what they want without having to search for it.

You have only seconds to capture their attention. Make those seconds count by ‘grabbing’ them immediately. Keep the information short and simple. Be sure that all the information on your site is relevant to your product. Make the buyer think that they need your product to solve their problem.

Your main page is what you see as you enter any store. It serves a very specific purpose. it should be short simple and clean. It should be easy to view and load very quickly. It should not take more than 10 seconds tops to load on any computer. If it does your customer will leave. This is your first impression. It is best to have links that are easily viewable by the reader that will navigate to further information and details should they so choose.

To make your web site more appealing to the eyes you should stick to mild colors. Loud colors tend to hurt the eyes after awhile and people may just go to another site. Since screen resolutions vary among monitors it is a good idea to set the pixels to a standard 800×600. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes. Do not have a lot of graphics or pop ups that annoy or confuse your customer. Save the pop up for an important sale or a newsletter sign up and have it come up only once during a page. There is nothing more aggravating than having to constantly click off a pop up.

Pop unders are another good choice. A pop under comes up at the time you customer leaves your site reminding them to do something like sign up for a free newsletter or ad an additional product or come back for a sale. The customer has already gotten his information from your site and has completed his transaction and is usually willing to take a look at another offer.

You should remember that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you and therefore you should be sure that your site looks as good on other browsers as it does your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at your page. If you do not wish to do this you can ask friends to check out your site for you. You could even write up a short questionnaire for them to fill out with questions like how did they like the site the color how long did it take to load what type of computer internet hook up and browser are they using. All this information will help you make your site better and increase your sales.

Remember you have only seconds to capture the interest of your customer. I’m sure you’ve gone to sites only to just click off if they don’t appeal to you.

Copyright Kathy Wozniak

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Want to get MORE ‘Insider’ marketing Secrets on HowTo drive HUGE amounts of Laser Targeted Traffic to your website? Then you need to subscribe to Cory Threlfall’s ezine called… The Internet Wonders eZine at internet marketing