Friday, July 30, 2010
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Data Wave

Web Design Blog

Choosing a domain name

Finding the best domain name can be a difficult task, and should not be taken lightly. In years past, the best way to gain search engine recognition was to use a key phrase in your domain name and separate by dashes because the spiders were unable to parse words in urls. This led us to see a lot of domain names like widgets-by-joe.com, which is very hard to say and easy to mistype. keep your domain name as simple as possible while retaining your branding. Some of the most powerful domain names make no sense outside of the internet world - amazon.com, google.com, etc. How much business does carparts.com or books.com or insurance.com get just because they have great, short, descriptive domain names? You aren't likely to find something quite as good, but make sure you take your time and find something you really like, it's going to be just as important as the name of your business - maybe moreso.

A current client, Classy Automtive Detailing, is a great example of a company that can't use it's full or even a reasonable shortened version of it's name. Spelling out Classy Automtive Detailing takes some people 45 minutes. We decided to go with a friendly nickname classydetail.com

Domain names are cheap - ,make sure grab common misspellings of your chosen domain. You are going to advertise by word of mouth and some people aren't the greates spellers and typists. Visit www.jcpenny.com for an example. How much money do you think JC Penney would have lost if they didn't purchase the most common misspelling of their business name?

Short, easy to spell, easy to type, looks good written, and easy to say.

30 Seconds to Success

What is the most important aspect of my website?

Such a simple question to answer when you are looking at someone else's website, but it can be a daunting task to attempt to understand and quantify this yourself.

For an overwhelming majority of business sites, your goal is to impress the potential customer. To leave a lasting positive impression on your leads, you need to grab their attention quickly and keep it.

To capture someone's attention, many websites in the past resorted to garish color schemes and cartoon-like graphics. As we mature as internet surfers, our tolerance for such presentations plummet. We now expect to visit a web page and have a good understanding of what the site is about within 30 seconds. The 'above-fold' part of a page must be clean, interesting, and contain as much information as appropriate for your business. That means the site must be clean with well-presented headings and concise design cues. Colors must complement eachother and portray the mood of the product or services offered by the company.

Visit this CRM Software retailer site for a great example of what I am describing. The site says "We are high-tech" while maintaining a classic look and feel with fonts and color choice. The information is laid out in a way that tells you this business is the place to go for a niche market of CRM products and expert consulting services.

Once you have the web surfer's attention, you need to keep it. We will discuss a few great ways to keep your customers returning... next time. (Hey, I think I just mentioned the first way to encourage someone to return!)

Is a website a sales tool?

This might be the biggest misunderstanding in the .com world. Virtually all websites are marketing tools, very few focus on sales. Let's back up and discuss the differences between sales and marketing. These basic differences are often misunderstood.

Marketing is about keeping your product fresh in the minds of consumers. It is about educating a consumer so he can make an educated decision in your favor. It is about branding your company, product, or service. Even if you offer items for sale on your website, only a small percentage of the visitors will consider spending money. Most will browse your site many times without purchasing.

Personal Note:
In the early days of my Professional Photography site, I photographed auto racing and other events. I was totally focused on website sales, which were extremely low compared to the recognition I was gaining at these events. I wasn't hosting my own sites at that time and didn't have access to even basic analysis tools. My ISP called and told me that they were going to need to move my site to another server and raise my fees. They sent a report. My site was attracting over 100,000 visits per month from over 5000 unique visitors, but I was only converting about three sales. Learning that my average visitor came to the site multiple times per week, I used my basic traffic analysis to dertermine how to increase my profits. I decreased the size of the photo previews and increased the watermarking to deter sniping, and I used the data analysis to justify the decision to hire an on-site sales person for the events. My visitor count dropped by 60% and my profit skyrocketed.



Sales is just that - sellling the product. Basically, it starts at that first one-on-one contact that hopefully ends in a financial exchange. Whether it starts with a quote or a cross-counter order, this is the sales process. Once the transaction is complete, all attempts to convert that visitor to a repeat customer fall back under the marketing heading.

When you have your website built , you must keep in mind that this investment is going to be the hub of marketing activities, but like any wheel, it's going to need spokes to transfer the energy. These spokes are going to be your individual marketing efforts, such as advertising partherships with complementary local businesses, print media, event sponsorship, or any other efforts.

Every business is different, but many studies show that it generally takes 8 marketing contacts to convert a prospect. What if you could reduce this number by 50% just by providing most of the information they need to them easily, via your website? Let's learn how to do this intelligently so we know what works and what doesn't -- as well as accurately predict who is ready to make a decision before we ever speak with them.

Is a website a sales tool?

This might be the biggest misunderstanding in the .com world. Virtually all websites are marketing tools, very few focus on sales. Let's back up and discuss the differences between sales and marketing. These basic differences are often misunderstood.

Marketing is about keeping your product fresh in the minds of consumers. It is about educating a consumer so he can make an educated decision in your favor. It is about branding your company, product, or service. Even if you offer items for sale on your website, only a small percentage of the visitors will consider spending money. Most will browse your site many times without purchasing.

Personal Note:
In the early days of my Professional Photography site, I photographed auto racing and other events. I was totally focused on website sales, which were extremely low compared to the recognition I was gaining at these events. I wasn't hosting my own sites at that time and didn't have access to even basic analysis tools. My ISP called and told me that they were going to need to move my site to another server and raise my fees. They sent a report. My site was attracting over 100,000 visits per month from over 5000 unique visitors, but I was only converting about three sales. Learning that my average visitor came to the site multiple times per week, I used my basic traffic analysis to dertermine how to increase my profits. I decreased the size of the photo previews and increased the watermarking to deter sniping, and I used the data analysis to justify the decision to hire an on-site sales person for the events. My visitor count dropped by 60% and my profit skyrocketed.



Sales is just that - sellling the product. Basically, it starts at that first one-on-one contact that hopefully ends in a financial exchange. Whether it starts with a quote or a cross-counter order, this is the sales process. Once the transaction is complete, all attempts to convert that visitor to a repeat customer fall back under the marketing heading.

When you have your website built , you must keep in mind that this investment is going to be the hub of marketing activities, but like any wheel, it's going to need spokes to transfer the energy. These spokes are going to be your individual marketing efforts, such as advertising partherships with complementary local businesses, print media, event sponsorship, or any other efforts.

Every business is different, but many studies show that it generally takes 8 marketing contacts to convert a prospect. What if you could reduce this number by 50% just by providing most of the information they need to them easily, via your website? Let's learn how to do this intelligently so we know what works and what doesn't -- as well as accurately predict who is ready to make a decision before we ever speak with them.

Do I need a website, and how much should I invest?

Every business that wants to see growth and continued success should be seeking some presence on the internet. As technology progresses, people are more inclined to check a website than even call. A perfect example is the “big box store” – often, we want to know if they carry a specific item or brand. Many of us choose to visit the site and browse the selection rather than calling ahead to speak to someone who may be busy or less than knowledgeable about a minute detail of the product line. As consumers become more conditioned to this type of action, you will need to keep up with the trend.

A company that works in specialties – hobbies or crafts for example, should seriously consider an online storefront to expand their client base. This storefront needs to be understood as a potential sales tool that might drive a bit of revenue, but more as a tool for window shoppers to review your products. The curious surfer in July might be a big in-store sale during the holiday rush. Creating a memorable and pleasant surfing experience that illustrates your strengths will generate much in-store profit down the road.

Generally, the size and investment of the website can vary greatly by the type of business. A local shop may only need a smaller site sharing products or services, hours of operation, a brief history of the business with some online coupons. A good site will also include a discount or birthday coupon system that will ask for email information and other ways of getting personal with your clientele. Every one of us would appreciate a nice birthday wish and a discount at our favorite shop. That is something that will keep you in the minds of your friends and customers. As we will discuss later, these are important tools that must be tracked individually to understand. Using your website’s advanced analytics (which we will discuss later) to track your individual website visitors all the way to the cash register can teach you more about your own customer base than you imagine possible.

There is no set rule to the amount you should invest. As we delve deeper into the true purpose of your website and the importance of understanding its role in your business, we will see it as a long-term investment. Remember, websites are a key part of your marketing strategy, which has a very strong, but indirect link to sales.