35% Revenue Increase… from Your Website!
By: Glenn Murray
2 Golden Rules for an Engaging Website
35% of visitors fail to achieve their goal when they visit company websites! By following 2 simple rules, you can increase your web-derived revenue by 1/3 or more!
Renowned website usability researcher, Jakob Nielsen, today (Nov 24) published results of his latest study. His test subjects used 139 websites. On average, they failed to find what they were looking for 35% of the time. Shockingly, 37% of users couldn’t even find company location details!
What was surprising was that users didn’t give up. They generally found the information they were after – but they found it at a competitor’s site!
So how do you stop potential customers falling into the hands of your competitors? Nielsen is right when he suggests user research. Yes, it’s imperative that know what your users need at your site. But what he doesn’t say is how to structure your website so it meets users’ needs.
There are two golden rules:
1) Write first, build later
2) Write to your customer
Write first, build later
The real message on most websites is in the writing. It makes sense, then, that the writing should determine the structure.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for most businesses. For them, the writing is an afterthought. They structure and design their website first, then try to fit the writing to the structure. This flies in the face of common sense. When you speak to someone, you structure your speech around your message. You don’t decide on a structure, then change the message to suit!
For a truly usable website, you need to plan what you want to say before you create the site – perhaps even write the whole thing. The message – the writing – should determine the structure.
Write to your customer
So how do you decide what to write?
Firstly, don’t think, “What do I want to say?”. When you’re writing a website, you have to think, “What does my customer want to know?”. It’s a very subtle difference, but it’s the key to engaging writing. And that’s what you want to do… engage the customer.
Most customers will want to know the basics:
Your website has to communicate a lot of information. And to make matters worse, you’re going to have limited screen real-estate. Ideally, your customer won’t have to scroll – especially on your homepage (all your information will fit within a single window). And you can’t fill the whole screen with writing, either. The design and navigation elements take up about a third of the window, and you should leave a bit for white space (you don’t want to overwhelm your customer). As a rule of thumb, you should expect to have about 1/3 – ½ of the window at your disposal for the writing.
Chances are, right now you’re thinking, “How am I going to fit it all in?”. Well, that’s where your writing skills come in. Choose your words very carefully…
Websites can be an extremely powerful piece of marketing collateral. You can reach millions for just a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately, your competitors can do the same thing. It’s a level playing field, but there are a lot of players. It’s important that your thoughts are structured, otherwise your site will be a mess. If your message is clear, your site will be simple and easy to use. It’s all in the words…
8 More Reasons to Write for Your Audience…
1) There are approximately 550 billion documents on the web
2) Every day another 7 million are added
3) Workers take so long trying to find information that it costs organisations $750 billion annually! (A.T. Kearney, Network Publishing study, April 2001)
4) Reading from a monitor is 25% slower than reading from paper. (Sun Microsystems, 1998)
5) Helpful content develops site loyalty. The average person visits no more than 19 websites in the entire month in order to avoid information overload. (Nielsen NetRatings in Jan 2001)
6) 79% of users scan read when online (Sun Microsystems, 1998)
7) Information gathering is the most common use of the Internet - 73% (American Express survey, 2000)
8) 48% of people use the Internet to find work-related information as opposed to 7% who use magazines. (Lyra Research, 2001)
About The Author
Glenn Murray heads advertising copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.
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Web Surfers Revolt Against "Pushy" Advertising
- by Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
=====================================
As the Internet continues to populate with websites trying
to turn a buck, two drastically different schools of thought
have developed on how to advertise online - "Push" and
"Pull."
"Push" advertising involves the use of "in-your-face"
advertising tactics such as pop-up windows and direct email.
"Pull" advertising entails using search engines and posting
articles that literally "pull" interested consumers to a
website on their own terms.
As web surfers revolt against pushy advertising, site owners
who understand how to pull consumers to their sites will
come out the long-term winners.
"Push" advertising tactics worked in the past because they
had not reached a saturation point. Since not everyone used
pop-up windows, a site owner could use them without fear of
backlash. Now it seems pop-up windows hit consumers from
every angle and even multiple times from the same sites.
The cycle of events with online advertising always unfolds
the same way. Someone finds something new that works and
people immediately jump on the bandwagon. As a technique
saturates the 'Net and loses effectiveness, instead of
finding an alternative, site owners just do it more!
Result: instead of pop-up windows going away, many site
owners just run more pop-up's - more often!
Well, if recent developments indicate anything, they show
that consumers have said "enough" to pushy advertising.
AOL, infamous for their pop-up ads, has agreed to cut down
on the intrusions even though their earnings could use a
boost right now.
Major ISP (Internet Service Provider) Earthlink even offers
a "pop-up killer" feature on their new service.
Almost all email programs come with filters to fight
unsolicited email and many email add-on services have sprung
up to help consumers eliminate the unsolicited offers for
pornography, business opportunities, and promises of instant
riches.
This "anti-spam" sentiment has also caused an unintended
consequence for legitimate marketers. Many major newsletters
have found their emails blocked by spam filters intended to
stop unsolicited email. Through no fault of their own,
legitimate email marketers have found themselves casualties
of the war on spam.
The future of the Internet lies in "Pull" advertising driven
by consumer wants and needs.
The successful Internet companies of the future will invest
in search engine promotion and in providing valuable, on-
demand information consumers receive only when they ask for
it and want it. When a web surfer goes to their favorite
search engine and enters the keyword phrase "MP3 Player" or
"tax advice" that means they are receptive to information on
those subjects.
If they read an article about using vitamins to improve
health and click a link for more information, only then they
will they be truly receptive to a marketing message about
vitamins.
Consumers have taken back control of Internet!
Not with laws or more regulations, but simply by flexing the
muscles of their wallets. By pulling money away from
advertisers who annoy them and putting it with those who
meet their needs, the average web surfer has brought the
Internet powers to their knees and will continue to reshape
the Internet into an effective, consumer-driven
communications vehicle.
Any site owner who wants to have a thriving online business
and survive the next year had better take this fact to
heart!
--- Jim Edwards is the co-author of a step-by-step, "paint
by numbers" guide that guarantees to teach you how to go
from zero to making real money online in about a month!
"33 Days to Online Profits"
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Today's topic, ladies and gentleman, is: Time. We're going to talk about time today because I never seem to have enough of it. And I figure that if I dedicate a whole column to the subject of time and stress some of it's finer points, then perhaps Father Time will show his appreciation by granting me a few extra hours each day. This will allow me to be able to complete a couple more important tasks each day such as hitting the 'Snooze' button on my alarm clock at least 15 more times each morning. And speaking of snoozing, there will be none of that during today's lesson which will begin right now:
Time is defined by the The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as: 'A nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.' This definition leads us to the obvious question: If a definition contains 20 word, 5 of which contain 10 or more letters, and it still doesn't make much sense, isn't it time to get another dictionary?
Of course, dictionaries aren't the only people who have trouble with time. The ancient Mayans, for example, struggled to understand time for centuries and never got it quite right. One look at their calender clues you in to this fact. The Mayan calender had 18 months, one of which was called ChikChan (short for May), and each month had 20 days. There was even one month, Wayeb, that had only 5 days. As you can imagine, this horribly inaccurate calender made scheduling important events like the Super Bowl next to impossible. It also left them wide open to insults from other ancient civilizations, like the Sumerians for example, who had fairly accurate calenders.
The Sumerian calender had 365 days per year and even incorporated a leap year. Sadly, there was no Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Day, or Arbor Day incorporated into the Sumerian calender which is why the Sumerian civilization was eventually wiped out. Such flagrant calender discrimination, even in the Dark Ages, could not be tolerated.
Since we have covered all pertinent information available about calenders, I think it's high time we expand our understanding of time by discussing another mechanism by which we mortals judge the passing of it. But first, does anyone know where the phrase 'high time' comes from? Is there such a thing as 'low time'. Feel free to ponder these questions quietly as we move on to discussing: The Clock.
A clock, for those of you who don't know, is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as...Wait a second! Let's not even go there. We're already pretty confused as it is. Let's just all agree that a clock is a device that has lots of numbers and two arms and makes it's living by juggling minutes and seconds.
I feel the extreme need to insert a time cliche here. This cliche makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and probably has pagan, barbaric origins, but I think it summarizes what we've learned thus far in our discussion. So here goes our first time cliche 'A stitch in time saves nine'. And now back to the show.
There have been numerous different kinds of clocks throughout history. Many of them made absolutely no sense whatsoever. A good example of this is the ancient Egyptian water clock, which was basically just a bowl with a hole in the bottom of it. There were markings on the inside of the bowl that measured the passage of 'hours' as the water level reached them. One of the obvious problems with this clock was the fact that whenever working-class Egyptians wanted to get off work early they would keep taking little sips of water from the bowl/clock throughout the day. This was one of the reasons it took so long to finish the Pyramids.That and the lack of power tools.
Time doesn't permit us to talk about the other types of ancient clocks like obelisks, sundials, and hemicycles. And there definitely isn't time to go into merkhets.
Speaking of merkhets, a close cousin of the clock is the watch. The watch is the time-telling device that most of us use today. We do not however, use it to tell time. We use it to do numerous other tasks that watch manufacturers have incorporated into watches like instant messaging, reading email, and fast forwarding the DVD player. There's even a new watch on the market that comes equip with a radiation detector. And you laughed at the Eyptians for drinking from their time-telling devices.
Obviously, time is not something that can be explained in just one lesson. There's a ton of more interesting stuff we could go into about time but, frankly, I don't feel like taking the time to look it up right now. I believe I've achieved my goal of using as many time cliches as I possibly could in one article and now, I think it's time to call an extended timeout on this whole time subject. I'm sure when I do write the follow-up to this article that it will be just in the nick of time. Probably sometime around Wayeb 1st
One of the most common human experiences that two or more (depending on how ambitious you are) people can share is love. But, it?s not always easy to tell if you are in ?like?, ?lust? or full blown, forever loving. With that in mind, I?ve created this list of signs that you may be crazy in love!
1. If you?ve ever stared deeply into the eyes of your significant other for more than 10 seconds without cracking up hysterically ? you may be in love.
2. If every person in your life tells you that she/he?s no good and you?re mailman, pharmacist and local news station agrees, yet you think they are ?just jealous? ? you may be in love.
3. Guys: if you?ve taken the pictures of the other women in you?re life off the walls, like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition posters, Playmate of the month calendar, Monster Truck Rally 2005 ? you may be in love.
4. Ladies: men can produce excessive amounts of eye watering, nose burning noxious odor from almost any food or drink, and then aren?t above sharing it with others, especially at night. Knowing all this, and you STILL want to sleep in the same bed with him ? you may be in love.
5. If your significant other asks you how they look in their new retro polyester lime green outfit and you say they look hot ? you may be in love?. or you have a really strong self preservation instinct.
6. Guys: if you?ve ever given up washing and waxing that new car you just bought to watch ?Sleepless in Seattle? with you?re girlfriend/wife for the 20th time ? you may be in love.
7. If you always remember every anniversary and birthday of your partner, and you?re not female ? you may be in love.
8. If you think the underwear and socks you get for your birthday and Christmas every year is a pleasant surprise ? you may be in love.
9. If you thought the Sears Tool Set and rolling cabinet you got for your birthday was great idea, and you?re not male ... you may be in love.
10. If you are taken to Burger King for a romantic dinner, and that doesn?t bother you ? you may be in love.
11. If you notice your local florist starts arriving at work in a limo since you became a customer ... you may be in love
12. If hearing "Honey, wheres my clean underwear?" brings tears of joy to your eyes ... you may be in love
But the easiest way to tell if you are in love is this: If there is no one on this planet that you would rather spend everyday of your life with than the one you are with ? then you ARE in love!
Jan Michaels is a self-described relationship expert (why is his girlfriend laughing?) that is truly in love. When not writing amusing articles, he doesn't do much of anything really important, unless feeding the cat counts.
You can see more of his musings or various and sundry humorous items at: http://www.brunkco.com
Or, you may contact him at: hiredgun@brunkco.com
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Many reckless lawsuits are pushing companies into using labels on their products that just seem silly. While labels should provide useful and relevant information like instructions, warnings and ingredients, sometimes the wording used on these labels seems a little off kilter. All too often labels serve no other purpose than to overstate the obvious. What happened to the days of relying on common sense and telling it like it is?
One morning at a McDonald's drive through window, an elderly woman received a coffee that was too hot to sip and ended up spilling on her lap. She won a lawsuit mainly because the coffee did not warn her that it might be hot. Hence, "caution: hot" was since imprinted on all McDonald Styrofoam cups. Of course, you could argue that this type of information needed to be stated. Most labels try to inform a consumer about contents and processes used in making the goods. However, do you really need to be told that a bag of carrots contain "Ingredients: Carrots"? Also, many labels offer valuable warnings or guidelines such as age appropriateness. However, do you need to be warned that a Harry Potter broom "does not actually make a child fly"?
Various sources in the different industries decide on label regulations. For example, the Food and Drug Association (FDA) regulated ingredient and nutrition labels for the U.S. food industry. As for label warnings and instructions, most company lawyers and some federal laws advise the wording.
Some websites poke fun at labels currently on today's market. One site, for example, DumbNetwork.com, has a large supply of examples that would amuse nearly every consumer:
Many labels contain instructions on how to remove wrapping or the box's content first. While these instructions sound silly, many first time users lack basic skills and need a lot spelled out. In other words, what seems obvious to you is not so obvious to someone else - perhaps this explanation would make a great label! Occasionally, manufacturers include instructions to discourage certain unwanted behavior. For instance, many golf carts contain the warning "Not for highway use" to discourage mischievousness.
Even though many labels sound ridiculous, these labels must be worded carefully to ward off frivolous lawsuits and from preventing consumers from doing something harmful. One hair-coloring manufacturer may have hit the real reason on the head when it used this warning on the side of its box, "Do not use as an ice cream topping".
Copyright 2005 Samson Bateson. All rights reserved.
Samson Bateson is the webmaster of Funk Label the best on-line label resources site. For any questions or comments please visit his archive of articles: http://www.funklabel.com/It amazes me, how often during a week, I hear "It's not my fault, it's not my responsibility".
It seems that in today's society no one wants to take responsibility for anything. Parents don't or won't take the responsibility of how their children turn out. It's the daycare's fault, the school's fault, the college's fault, the cop's fault, ... you get the picture. As far as children go today, newsflash parents, "It is your fault." They are your children, not the daycare's or the schools. It is your responsibility to be sure that they get to school, that they learn in school, and what they do after school. That means paying attention to what your children are doing. Taking an interest in the homework they have, and if they don't have any, giving them some. Monitoring what kind of music they listen to, what they watch on television, what kind of movies they watch, and the video games they play. Teaching them the difference between reality and imaginary ideas, people and things. Television and video games are not baby-sitters, and neither is the school system. Your children are your responsibility, and in all honesty if you don't have the time to spend with your children, then don't have them. I fully realize that both parents have to work today because of the cost of things. However, there are parents raising children who are aware of what their children are doing, spend time with them, and instill in them ethics, morals and values so that their children can become productive adults. Unfortunately, these parents appear to be few and far between.
Teachers, your job is to teach our children. The crying about class size doesn't cut it. When I attended school we had a minimum of 30 students in most classes, and teachers taught and we all passed our Regents exams before graduating high school. Unfortunately, while I was in college I could see the writing on the wall already regarding our education system. Those who were going into teaching only had to pass/fail classes such as psychology, sociology, and learning theory classes; and they couldn't even do that. Our education system has gone downhill since the mid 70's. Yes, there are still some good teachers out there, those in their 40's and up. However, we have teachers today that can't read and write, so how can we expect them to teach our children to do so. Some of the teachers today are afraid of being tested on a yearly basis, and many of them should be, because they would not pass. The standards for testing today are a joke. I would love to give a Regents Exam test from a high school in the 50's, 60's, and even early 70's. Both the students and the teachers today wouldn't pass.
I know I am making a lot of people angry, and you should be. The fault lies with our educational system. It has disintegrated over the years. Too many other factors have come into play in our school system. This is something that should not have happened. In order to get good teachers, children and parents have to respect them, and unfortunately today that is not the case. When I was attending school, we respected our teachers and our principals. Suspension was a punishment and an embarrassment, both to ourselves and our parents. Teachers were allowed to reprimand students. They didn't have to worry about student rights, students self esteem, etc. When we start respecting our teachers again, let them teach and not worry about being politically correct, and pay them a salary they can live on we will get the better educated to teach our children. In addition, parents look at teachers as their baby-sitters, and expect them not only to educate their child but to help raise them. Parents you have a responsibility to your child and to the teacher. You have to respect the teacher and support them, not fight them.
So many of the problems today both with parenting and teaching is the way society and government put handcuffs on both. Parents can't even hit their children today without the threat of being a child abuser and being carted off the jail, court or worse. Discipline is not abuse, and I believe that discipline is sorely needed. I am not advocating child abuse, however, you cannot reason with a 2 year old sticking their finger in a wall socket. A firm no, with a slight slap of the hand works wonders. I am amazed at what children get away with today. However, they get away with these things, because parents let them. Over the years we've let government, vocal parental groups, legislators and the legal system dictate how we raise our children. Why? Because then we can use the mantra, "It's not my fault, it's not my responsibility".
People today are to quick to abdicate responsibility to everyone but themselves. One of the biggest problems are all the frivolous lawsuits out there. Children taking their parents to court. Parents suing companies because of hot coffee, a hot pickle. These cases get too much attention and unbelievably juries that give out awards.
The media perpetuates many of the problems today. By focusing so much attention on the people that do harm to others, more individuals out there figure if they want attention they need to do the same. This becomes a vicious cycle, and teaches our children the wrong way to accomplish things.
So, how do we fix it. We all take responsibility for our actions. We don't abdicate our responsibility. We admit we are human, we make mistakes, and move forward from there. Try and I mean really try not to make the same mistakes over and over. But most important of all, take the responsibility for your own screw ups and don't put the blame on anyone else.
Copyright DeFiore Enterprises 2001
Sue and Chuck DeFiore
Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach. Visit http://www.hbsdigest.com to start today.
coaches@homebusinesssolutions.comMarya Mannes once wrote, ?The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future.? Obviously Ms. Mannes preferred the status quo - health, sanity, logic, blah, blah, blah. Why? Green House Roulette is so much more intriguing.
In the country, weather affects everything. For five years Western South Dakota has been gripped by drought. Water and hay are vanishing. Farms and ranches are blowing away. While the government bails out victims from hurricanes and says, ?South Dawho?? our cattle are pissing dust mites. Fortunately, things are looking up.
There is some good news! Those pesky glaciers are finally melting off! Last year an eight-nation report estimated an area of Arctic icepack the size of Texas and Kansas is gone. For those who are geographically impaired, that is an area bigger than a breadbox.
At first, news of devastating global climate change might seem a bit of a bummer. Then I read an LA Times article and had a change of heart. The article began with the usual gloom. Greenland?s ice cap is melting. Our coasts will flood from rising seawater. Inuit hunters are falling through thinning ice. Melting glaciers change ocean temperature and salinity contorting the jet stream, which results in altered weather patterns worldwide. Multitudes of species are dying off . . . It was disheartening.
Then I got to the article?s final paragraph. Bam! My faith was restored. Here the Times pointed out the perks of global warming. Seriously, the article actually ended saying: ?The report is not all gloomy. A warmer Arctic could increase the number of some species, such as Arctic char, a fish. It could extend the growing season for wheat in Canada and open up now-treacherous sea routes, such as the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route, which parallels Russia, for shipping and resource exploration.?
Three cheers for the LA Times! It?s true! All is not gloomy. With that glorious bit of sunshine pumped straight up my ski bibs, I was able to see things in a whole new light. I started thinking of other advantages to global warming. Soon you will agree that people from all walks of life will benefit.
For starters, Inuit Hunters will benefit! Once Inuit have nothing left to hunt there will be no need for them to risk falling through thin ice. Plus, by needing food they will be ripe for a floating (pontoons, not ice) Arctic Super Wal-Mart. ?Go get ?em, Sam.?
Boat owners will benefit! Not only will there be smooth sailing through the formerly bothersome ice of the Northwest Passage, but each summer, cruise ships will be able to run tourists straight up Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Scuba Divers will benefit! There will be no more burning coral cuts. In fact there will be no more coral. Once all the reefs are gone, divers can pack away first aid kits and dive straight in. A little silt never cut anyone.
Canadian Wheat Farmers will benefit! You see, there is a 10% decrease in yield of corn from Midwest crops for every degree of global warming. No worries though, now wheat can take the place of corn. Think about all those scrumptious Wheat Dogs at the ball game. How about popped wheat with butter at the movies or steaming wheat on the cob? All scream ?yummy? to me.
While it is a bit ironic that ethanol is made from the corn crops global warming devastates, I am sure some aspiring chemist will rise to the challenge of developing ?Wheatanol.? Imagine Canuck Wheat Farmers having more influence than the Saudi Royal Family.
Dune-Buggy enthusiasts will benefit! The Dakotas will soon reopen for your 4-wheelin? pleasure. Join the Mount Rushmore Nose Climb on July 4th! It will be a bugger of a challenge!
Eco-Tourism Operators will benefit! Companies could offer new ?Emaciation Tour Packages.? Tourists get closer photos of polar bears and whales when they are too lethargic from starvation to meander away. In addition, long treks to Inuit villages can be avoided once they are forced to beg on the streets of Nome (or cashiering at Wal-Mart).
Finally, the next generation of Bush family politicians will benefit! Once again they can avoid addressing campaign issues, this time by distracting dehydrated voters with witty campaign phrases like; ?No Kyoto Pact-No Ice Pack,? or ?Dead Seals Never Flip-Flop,? even promising ?No Char Left Behind.? Not to mention offering new, SPF 80 tax credits.
Well, by golly, I do feel better! Shall we spin the Rolette wheel some more?
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