Thursday, November 02, 2006
Using the Web to Jump-Start Your Business
When was the last time you went surfing? While surfing is a popular water sport, it's also a term for online browsing. Clients surfing the Internet could be looking for your Web site. Maybe it's time to make the most out of the information superhighway.
A Web site might be the first introduction potential customers have to your business. Here are some tips to help you create a Web site that will give them the best first impression and encourage them to use your products or services:
Know Your Audience
A common online marketing mistake is to try to target too many audiences. There are 938 million users on the Internet. Marketing to all of those eyeballs is simply not effective and can be very costly. If your target customer group is women ages 14-27, it does you no good to spend time and money marketing your site to men ages 55-90. Take the time to find your customer, and customize your approach to people who actually search for and therefore want to buy your product or service.
Build a Second Site
A second common mistake is to have just one e-commerce Web site. Instead, you should build several sites that appropriately customize your sales approach to different audiences. This allows you to effectively sell the same product to different target groups using unique messaging, design and tone. One way to do this is by building a second site in a different language that can be more easily searched by customers according to their language-specific search terms, which can help increase your revenue
Get Specific
Try to avoid marketing dissimilar products on the same site. This will let you take advantage of the way Web users tend to search. People shop on the Internet by looking for specific items or categories of items. Selling tools and bedspreads on the same site will lower your search engine rankings and cause you to lose sales. Instead, start off selling one type of product and sell it well. You can always branch out in the future.
When considering the appearance of your online business, be sure to:
• Create clean, structured pages.
• Make navigation user friendly and accessible.
• Incorporate both pictures and text.
• Choose colors and fonts wisely.
• Check your site carefully before going live.
• Keep information current.
If you don't have the skills needed to create the site yourself or don't have time to commit to the project, hire someone. Even if you're on a limited budget, chances are you can find a Web master in your price range
Article by K. Shelby Skrhak from Success From Home Magazine Jan 2007
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