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Hub You - Make Some Sales Online
In competing for a piece of business not too long ago, my PR firm was asked to supply three samples each of recent clips, bylined articles we’d authored for clients, and press releases.For two of the three requirements, the issue was our embarrassment of riches. But for press releases, we were hard-pressed. These days, we write fewer and fewer press releases – most being the obligatory personnel announcements sprinkled with the periodic feature release. We just don’t see them as being as important a tool for PR practitioners as they once were.Yes, there are exceptions. For disclosure purposes, news releases on occurrences or developments that could materially impact a publicly held company are mandatory. And some businesses have real “news” to report, even if they’re not publicly held, that may lend itself to distribution via news release.But despite the popular image of PR firms as
[Point five]
Remember each page has a specific purpose, usually to highlight a particular product benefit. Try to get products on the front page rather than fancy graphics and at all cost avoid graphic only entrance pages. Your home page text requires the most thought and is the most important text on your site. The first paragraph must capture interest and explain clearly the benefits of your product in order to keep the attention of the fickle viewer. When browsing viewers may have more than one window open and if they lose interest they will simply click away.
Products
[Point six]
You knew we w
From the point of view of an outside observer it would appear that every project is doomed to be late, over budget or both. For large public construction projects in the UK such as the Millennium Dome, Wembley Stadium and more recently the London Underground refit, this would truly appear to be the case.Even on a smaller scale many product development projects tend be misguided in what they will achieve within the planned time frame. There are normally a number of stock excuses for such a failing. These can range from “There was an unexpected change made by the customer”, “We underestimated the amount of time required” or even “We didn’t understand the risks involved”.In the arena of customer / supplier projects there seems to be an increasing trend to win the project and then worry about how to deliver within the cost, timing and quality later. This normally results in compromised delivery for the customer o
Know your customer
[Point one]
If your business is selling then you will know your customers well. However for successful online selling you must narrow this perspective and choose a particular segment to target.
Consider how you can segment and divide your target web customers. For example you may be able to do it by age or by geographic region or both. Remember on the web you must start by selling to a specific targeted audience, so here we are not talking about all your customers, just those you wish to reach over the web.
As an example supposing you are a shoe retailer and wish to expand online sales. Realising that younger customers are more likely to buy online you target them. This then leads to your opening page the home page displaying the latest trainers and your advertising strategy maybe incorporating some online game retailers. So your typical brick and mortar customer may well be a middle aged person, but your targeted online customer maybe teenagers.
Know your product
[Point two]
You must know what benefits your product offers to your target customers. List the benefits and then list them in order of importance. Remove any contradictory benefits. If yoiu are selling the cheapest then don't compare it with the most expensive as this will plant doubt in your customers mind. Make sure you are selling one thing only and now you are clear about the benefits you are ready for your web pages.
[Point three]
Target your products for web sales that are most suitable for this. Different products may sell online than in your local sales. Consider factors other than simply the despatch cost and remember the target audience as discussed above. There is no point in trying putting children's shoes on the home page because they are the lightest, when you have decided that the targeted audience that you are advertising to is teenagers.
Web pages
[Point four]
Have a page for each benefit and additional pages for other things that you wish to achieve. For example a page to collect email addresses. Make sure that each page does one thing only.
The theme of simplicity rings through this document. Make sure that your customer is never confused. That you are never more than one click away from the home page. Navigation sytems or buttons should be clear and easy to use and at the very most have two naviagtion systems. (Navigation systems are the buttons you click to get from page to page on a web site).
Reduce distracting areas on each page. For example do not have fancy peripheral graphics and flashing images. This may simply distract from the main purpose of your page.
[Point five]
Remember each page has a specific purpose, usually to highlight a particular product benefit. Try to get products on the front page rather than fancy graphics and at all cost avoid graphic only entrance pages. Your home page text requires the most thought and is the most important text on your site. The first paragraph must capture interest and explain clearly the benefits of your product in order to keep the attention of the fickle viewer. When browsing viewers may have more than one window open and if they lose interest they will simply click away.
Products
[Point six]
You knew we wo
I can write about this mistake because I used to be one of the biggest offenders years ago. Perhaps if you're reading this now, you are an offender too.What's this big mistake I'm referring to? ...-----------------------------Affiliates are driven and motivated by commissions and have no knowledge or passion for the programs they have chosen.-----------------------------Don't get me wrong. We all know the main goal of an affiliate is to make money. It would be crazy not to evaluate how much you will be paid when you join a program. However, the mistake is made when the money becomes more important than your interest and enjoyment.Successful affiliates build websites on their passions and THEN look for programs that compliment their site. Unfortunately many people do it backwards. They look for programs that will make them a lot of money first, and then build a site afterw
As an example supposing you are a shoe retailer and wish to expand online sales. Realising that younger customers are more likely to buy online you target them. This then leads to your opening page the home page displaying the latest trainers and your advertising strategy maybe incorporating some online game retailers. So your typical brick and mortar customer may well be a middle aged person, but your targeted online customer maybe teenagers.
Know your product
[Point two]
You must know what benefits your product offers to your target customers. List the benefits and then list them in order of importance. Remove any contradictory benefits. If yoiu are selling the cheapest then don't compare it with the most expensive as this will plant doubt in your customers mind. Make sure you are selling one thing only and now you are clear about the benefits you are ready for your web pages.
[Point three]
Target your products for web sales that are most suitable for this. Different products may sell online than in your local sales. Consider factors other than simply the despatch cost and remember the target audience as discussed above. There is no point in trying putting children's shoes on the home page because they are the lightest, when you have decided that the targeted audience that you are advertising to is teenagers.
Web pages
[Point four]
Have a page for each benefit and additional pages for other things that you wish to achieve. For example a page to collect email addresses. Make sure that each page does one thing only.
The theme of simplicity rings through this document. Make sure that your customer is never confused. That you are never more than one click away from the home page. Navigation sytems or buttons should be clear and easy to use and at the very most have two naviagtion systems. (Navigation systems are the buttons you click to get from page to page on a web site).
Reduce distracting areas on each page. For example do not have fancy peripheral graphics and flashing images. This may simply distract from the main purpose of your page.
[Point five]
Remember each page has a specific purpose, usually to highlight a particular product benefit. Try to get products on the front page rather than fancy graphics and at all cost avoid graphic only entrance pages. Your home page text requires the most thought and is the most important text on your site. The first paragraph must capture interest and explain clearly the benefits of your product in order to keep the attention of the fickle viewer. When browsing viewers may have more than one window open and if they lose interest they will simply click away.
Products
[Point six]
You knew we w
What exactly are we trying to accomplish by proving to others that we’re right? We might win the argument but ultimately lose the relationship. Perhaps a better, deeper-rooted question is this: Why do we lose sight of success, of our big objective, when we feel challenged or intimidated?When I prepare to negotiate, provide a service or turn my employees’ talent into performance, I know deep down that if I make people feel valuable they will see my input as having value. But in that moment when they are just hands-down, across-the-board dead wrong, I sometimes can’t stop myself from letting them know how incredibly wrong they are. When that happens, my ability to influence them vaporizes on the spot, and I’m left dealing with the response I created by making them wrong.I think this is the most consistently counterproductive thing we do in business and, I suspect, in our personal lives too. It may be the founda
[Point three]
Target your products for web sales that are most suitable for this. Different products may sell online than in your local sales. Consider factors other than simply the despatch cost and remember the target audience as discussed above. There is no point in trying putting children's shoes on the home page because they are the lightest, when you have decided that the targeted audience that you are advertising to is teenagers.
Web pages
[Point four]
Have a page for each benefit and additional pages for other things that you wish to achieve. For example a page to collect email addresses. Make sure that each page does one thing only.
The theme of simplicity rings through this document. Make sure that your customer is never confused. That you are never more than one click away from the home page. Navigation sytems or buttons should be clear and easy to use and at the very most have two naviagtion systems. (Navigation systems are the buttons you click to get from page to page on a web site).
Reduce distracting areas on each page. For example do not have fancy peripheral graphics and flashing images. This may simply distract from the main purpose of your page.
[Point five]
Remember each page has a specific purpose, usually to highlight a particular product benefit. Try to get products on the front page rather than fancy graphics and at all cost avoid graphic only entrance pages. Your home page text requires the most thought and is the most important text on your site. The first paragraph must capture interest and explain clearly the benefits of your product in order to keep the attention of the fickle viewer. When browsing viewers may have more than one window open and if they lose interest they will simply click away.
Products
[Point six]
You knew we w
Branding, or brand marketing as some now call it, is one of the buzzwords of public relations and marketing. I searched several dictionaries in vain for a precise definition of this high profile concept as it is applied in the business world. The closest I got was the one that explained the verb "to brand" as "to impress firmly." On the other hand, perhaps I wasn't so unlucky after all. Not the whole story, maybe, but this is, after all, the very essence of what branding in business is. When you brand something - be it a company, an individual, a product, a service, a concept or a process - you impress strongly on people's minds whatever is special and distinctive about it. You make some kind of lasting impact that leaves them in no doubt that your special something stands apart from everything else in the same category. It sounds simple enough. The problem is that
Web pages
[Point four]
Have a page for each benefit and additional pages for other things that you wish to achieve. For example a page to collect email addresses. Make sure that each page does one thing only.
The theme of simplicity rings through this document. Make sure that your customer is never confused. That you are never more than one click away from the home page. Navigation sytems or buttons should be clear and easy to use and at the very most have two naviagtion systems. (Navigation systems are the buttons you click to get from page to page on a web site).
Reduce distracting areas on each page. For example do not have fancy peripheral graphics and flashing images. This may simply distract from the main purpose of your page.
[Point five]
Remember each page has a specific purpose, usually to highlight a particular product benefit. Try to get products on the front page rather than fancy graphics and at all cost avoid graphic only entrance pages. Your home page text requires the most thought and is the most important text on your site. The first paragraph must capture interest and explain clearly the benefits of your product in order to keep the attention of the fickle viewer. When browsing viewers may have more than one window open and if they lose interest they will simply click away.
Products
[Point six]
You knew we w
What image are you portraying when you send email? Having a properly designed signature accomplishes two main objectives:1) Expressing the image you seek to convey in a professional and organized manner. 2) Ensuring that parties receiving the email will have your complete contact information.Email signatures are commonly included within the body of an email or as an attachment. Let’s start by determining what is important in creating a consistent and professional email signature.1) Name 2) Title 3) Phone number 4) Direct email address 5) Web site address 6) Other pertinent informationNow let's take a look at how to create your signature in the body of an email and as an attachment using your email program and or word processing program if used in conjunction with your email.1. Creating a Signature block • In Microsoft Outlook, start a new message b
[Point five]
Remember each page has a specific purpose, usually to highlight a particular product benefit. Try to get products on the front page rather than fancy graphics and at all cost avoid graphic only entrance pages. Your home page text requires the most thought and is the most important text on your site. The first paragraph must capture interest and explain clearly the benefits of your product in order to keep the attention of the fickle viewer. When browsing viewers may have more than one window open and if they lose interest they will simply click away.
Products
[Point six]
You knew we would get there in the end. The customer must be able to see what they are buying clearly, so make sure your pictures are not just good but great. Make sure you have pictures of all your products and that they are professional and well presented. To persuade a customer to part with their hard earned cash you must present the product clearly.
Split your products into segments and think of the benefits they offer. Peripherals of interest to two segments can be included twice. Special offers can remain in all sections or can be targeted to the specific section they are displayed in.
If you really can't get your products on your front page, good product pictures must be viewed as soon as you click into the product section, which as we already know is one click from the home page.
[Point seven]
Once the products appear they must be well displayed and the pictures must expand if clicked on. The more expensive the product the more pictures and even video may be required. Imagine that you were parting with your money online. You would not just want reassurance that the product was good. But perfectly suited for your purpose.
Your Website
[Point eight]
Work with your website and let your website work with you not against you. Just think how many times you have closed a website because it was so badly designed you couldn't find your way around it. I am constantly amazed by the number of times I have to use the site specific search engine to find a product or service that the company sells or in the case of one company three days ago I had to use the search engine to find its primary, yes its main product! Not only was it not on the front page it was hidden in the site.
More commonly websites are simply ignored. They are perfect when they are launched. But when a customer views the site two years later they see old adverts and pictures of products that have now been modified. Viewers are experienced now and pick up on any lack of care immediately and worse they assume that this applies to all areas of your business. If you are featuring last years models on your website then they will put you down as last years company. You would be better without a website.
[Point nine]
The fact that are your most powerful and fantastic and invaluable source of marketing information about exactly what your customers want is available from your website is ignored by most businesses. Information on what key words customers are using to find your site is quite simply the most important information you can have for highlighting marketing trends. For example if your website is organised into pages that are organised by product type. Your statistics can tell you which pages are the most popular and which pages are ignored. This information is now the heart of your business and once you get used to working with it you can i
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