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Exciting Websites
If your web site is not doing what it’s supposed to do, then take one or two steps back to basics.
How do you do that? You might ask. The answer is not really too deep or difficult.
Most probably your web site is now complete and you have posted it. Unfortunately, like 99 percent of other web sites, it’s just sitting there. Not much traffic…not much of anything.
Hopefully we would like to change that and even go as far as help branding your web site.
Now what? Well, we need to take one or two steps back to the basics of cool web sites such as StarMonitor.com.
In most cases one step back starts with content.
Look! Just open any web site now; any web site will do. What did your eyes do first?
Did your eyes look for all the ads you could read and admire? Did your eyes look for all the jumbo mambo links? Did your eyes look for the Meta Tags???? What are the Meta Tags anyway? Don’t even worry about it.
Most probably the answers to all those questions are "No"! Well, most people look for the content of the web site as soon as they open the web site. Something they can read and make sense of. Something they can enjoy.
Then take one step back and start with web content. Make it better as much as you can. I know - I know it is hard but you have to do it. This back step might be the hardest, but you have to do it. Write something grabbing. Write something everyone wants to read. Write something everyone can’t let go of….Can you do it? Yes, you can. We all have something new and interesting to say. Whatever it is, just make it fun. Have you heard of that saying “It is not what you say; it is how you say it.” It’s so true in a web site. Just make it flow, coherent, concise, clear, fun and charming. Make your ideas long, yet your sentences short. Short sentences make your visitors stay and read on.
Now, let’s say you did all these and the web content is good. OK, open another web site that you know the content is already good. After approving the content, most people look for more information in that web site. Can you find what you might be interested in?
To check the quality of navigation, start looking for the link you are looking for and stop breathing. If you are turning purple and you still can’t find what you are looking for, you are in trouble (according to the past owner and author of iconocast.com : http://www.iconocast.com, Michael Tchong ).
So, the next step is to make your important material and links are findable, noticeable, and locatable. Now you are working on feel, and navigation of your web site. This was your second step back.
So the navigation is good and you can now find what you are looking for. At this point most of us lean back and in our own mind, we say something good about that web site; we admire the efforts behind such a nice web site. That’s the time most of us notice colors and details. Meanwhile, we might ask who is advertising there. Then we pay some sort of attention to the advertisers, or maybe not.
Now, was there something really unique about this web site that you are going to get the phone and call your friends about? Or is there something you might email your friends about? If there is, this web site is on its way to Branding. Success is not too far! Rejuvenation is almost complete!
So far you have taken two or three steps back. You took care of content, you took care of navigation, and you made your site a bit colorful. You looked for those details. I bet with you, you are a lot happier with your web site. Now what? Well, write something good about your web site. Explain it to the whole world. Think of it as your baby. Be creative and make it shine. Publish your article everywhere you can. You will get the link popularity you deserve for all the hard work you did.
What makes a visitor call and tell all his friends about your web site? As we said, we want your web site to be a successful brand. I remember the very first time I heard about Google, it was from a technical show; maybe it was CNET on TV. The reporter said a lot of good things about Google. I liked Google from the moment I tried it. I must have told at least 100 other people about Google. Google definitely had something new. Yes, New. We all should try to have something New. People like New no matter how unimportant it is. Google had something Innovative. Try being Innovative.
Eric von Hippel in his wonderful book called “The Sources of Innovation” summarizes the user as the best source of innovation. I totally agree. Basically, in one time or another, as a user, we have all been creative. People are creative in their Kitchen, or people are creative in their Garages or Shops. When we try to solve a problem, as users, we all create new ways of solving things. If you like to find more about creative process, I strongly recommend Dr. von Hippel’s book.
Make your site a bit innovative. Google changed things. Is your site provocative? Is your site a change agent? If there is absolutely no innovation or nothing new at all, then make your site any of these:
Classic, active, bright, vibrant, visionary, changing, flowing, sassy, enticing, memorable, sophisticated, smart, cool, intriguing, stimulating, giving, creative, entertaining, trendy, fashionable, daring, sharing, inclusive, educational, honest, decent, innovative, intelligent, vital, dynamic, positive, provocative, concern, involved, compassionate, with integrity, challenging, radical, brave, balanced, free, energetic, colorful, generous, charismatic, and most important an expression of who you are.
Your web site is what your customers need to perceive you. Just some of the qualities mentioned above are enough to make your web site shine. If you have something a lot of people can benefit from, you are on your way to success and effective emarketing.
In this website we discuss a new concept called “Hidden Brand Identity”. We claim that no web site or product really needs to have something revolutionary or as evolutionary as Google Technology. You just need to make whatever you have a bit more intelligent, aesthetic, sassy, cool, and then target it at a growing market. We would like to see that every web site has a chance to be a brand. We totally believe in our new concept. Look at Absolut Vodka. Look at GAP clothing and look at Swatch Watch. None of them really had something as revolutionary as Google. They just changed their concept to cool, sassy and aesthetic, and then targeted their product at a very growing market, namely Yuppies.
You can do the same. There is always a formula for branding and you need to unlock it.
If you have followed some of our suggestions, in no time Search Engines will find you and you don’t have to pay to be included. Do you think anyone at IBM or Microsoft ever worried about being found in Google or Yahoo?
Well, we need to do some things right though until we get there. But, don’t lose your dream. Yes, you need to choose the right keywords that people choose to find your material starting with search engines. Go back to every page you have created, especially the home page. What are the important “words” you have in your content? These are your keywords. Do they have weight?
Well, if you don’t have good keywords, change your content a bit to include some good keywords that people use to search for your web site or material. Just look at each page and use only those keywords you find in that page for that particular page. Try to be creative and innovative with your keywords. Try some keywords that are narrower perhaps. Make sure your web site designer will include these keywords at the top of your web page where they have to be mentioned.
We believe if you improve your content, choose the right keywords, and have more quality web sites (such as CNET or ClickZ) point or link to your web site, you will get a higher page ranking in almost every search engine. In the eyes of search engines, the more other quality web sites point or link to your web site, the more link popular is your web site. By quality web sites, we mean web sites that have high ranking to begin with. We believe strongly in link popularity and sometimes it is the hardest to achieve. That is how web site branding is achieved. Sometimes writing an article in another popular web site (such as CNET or ClickZ) is a great way to get a link to your web site and boost your link popularity. It’s always a good thing to check to see who and how many other web sites are pointing to you or your competition. If they are linking to your competition, you can ask them to link to your web site too. Find out why they are linking to your competition and do the same to get a link.
Before we cover Internet Marketing on this web site, we strongly suggest you get to know our Branding Laws. We use our Branding Laws almost everywhere on this web site. Getting to know them helps with many concepts.
When it comes to Internet Marketing, I like Amazon.com. Amazon started with Books and then extended its operations to almost anything. They did it methodically and slowly. I believe Amazon is using the first law by just repeating the success they had with selling books to almost any other item they sell.
Amazon also is using the fifth law of Branding. People buy from Amazon since other people have bought and the rationalization is done for them. When you buy a book from Amazon, they show you who and what others books have been bought with the book you are just about to order.
Share with us. What other websites do you think are doing a great Internet marketing job. We love to hear from you. Try to apply our laws to each website you are suggesting.
We will review your input and we will add it to this page with reference to you and your own website.
The truth behind why so many online businesses fail
By Jill St Claire source: http://www.record-bee.com/Stories/0,1413,255~33911~2775845,00.html
JSC Marketing is comprised of a highly skilled team that applies the proven marketing strategies of Founder, Jill St Claire, to developing strategic Digital Marketing and communication systems, expert website development, and custom Search Engine Optimization that provide businesses, cost-effective and results-driven solutions to achieving their business and marketing objectives.
Jill St Claire, Founder
JSC Marketing, LLC
www.DIGITAL-RETURNS.com
http://www.jscmarketing.com/
jill@jscmarketing.com
TF (888) 435 5156
DIR (707) 786 4616
Build it and they will come! Well ... sometimes. If you're real lucky, andI mean REALLY lucky.
Now you have your beautiful website boasting your amazing products or services. It's out there, just waiting for people who want what you have to offer. You're going to dazzle them with your dynamic website and the sales are going to come flooding in. Wrong. The dream is over. It's time to come back to reality.
I can't begin to tell you how many times I've heard the stories of disappointment from very sharp business people who actually thought that having a website is all there is to either starting and operating a successful and profitable online business, or incorporating eCommerce into their existing business of traditional commerce.
Your website is quite simply, a brochure that is now lost in a very large online ocean of literally billions of other brochures. We'll compare it to a stack of beautifully printed brochures sitting on your desk; your prospects will never see it unless you place your brochures in a visible place where people look for what you have to offer -- true? Your online brochure, (your website), also needs to be positioned in a visible place where your prospects can find you -- on major search engine directories.
Keywords and keyphrases are the search words and terms Internet surfers use to find the products, services or information they are looking for. Choosing the right keywords and phrases for your website's search engine optimization (SEO) program is critical to its success. The right keywords drive targeted traffic to your website -- prospects who are ready to buy. The wrong keywords attract web visitors that are not likely to purchase your products and services -- wasting everyone's time and your money.
By following these simple rules, you will be able to determine the right mix of keywords and phrases that will generate targeted prospects to your website. Remember that good search terms are those that are related to your business and have sufficient monthly search traffic.
* Rule 1. Select keywords that represent your company's "bread and butter." What products and service lines are the most profitable, have the strongest sales, and continue to show good market demand. And yes, typically the 80/20 rule applies here. 80 percent of your sales and sales leads are produced by 20 percent of your keywords and phrases.
* Rule 2. Look at complementary products and services that people tend to buy that you don't offer. Often, these keywords generate good prospects and typically have less competition than your primary keywords and phrases.
* Rule 3. Use online tools to help determine keyword variations and search frequency. The best free programs to use include Overture's search term suggestion tool -- http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion and Google's AdWords suggestion tool https://adwords.google.com/select/main.
* Rule 4. Use WordTracker -- www.wordtracker.com For a small fee, you can use this tool to find niche keywords, use the thesaurus to find related search terms and determine general monthly search frequency. This is a great tool and worth the investment.
* Rule 5. Use pay-per-click programs like Overture or Google's AdWords to choose keywords and phrases for your SEO program. Both programs help you generate search terms based on specific keyword relationships and show how often they are searched for. Set a small monthly budget and track the number of keyword impressions you receive for each search term. After one to two months of data, choose the search terms with adequate search frequency and incorporate them into your search engine optimization program.
* Rule 6. Don't forget Geographics. If your products and services are local original, be sure to include your state or city within your search phrases. For example, an investigations company that conducts most of its business in the Midwest would want to choose "Indiana and private investigator."
* Rule 7. Take a look at your competition. Based on your top three competitors, look at their website for specific search terms being used. Also, look at their META keywords to get a good idea of what search terms they think are important. Remember you want to look at competitors for your different markets served and products and service lines.
* Rule 8. Analyze your website traffic. Make sure your web hosting company provides you with the ability to analyze your website log files. Some hosting companies have you log into your account to view monthly web traffic reports, while others email monthly reports. Information obtained can tell you the top search terms and search engines used to find your website and other valuable information.
To get the most out of your log file data, it is recommended to use a log file analyzer such as Web Trends or Urchin. By applying these simple rules, you will be well on your way to generating highly-targeted keywords and phrases that attract the right prospects -- prospects who have direct interest in what you have to offer.
JSC Marketing is comprised of a highly skilled team that applies the proven marketing strategies of Founder, Jill St Claire, to developing strategic Digital Marketing and communication systems, expert website development, and custom Search Engine Optimization that provide businesses, cost-effective and results-driven solutions to achieving their business and marketing objectives.
The Internet Marketing discussed on this site is based on a proven scientific system. This system is based on psychology of logical persuasion and intrinsic motivations. The links Internet Marketing through Tips, Reasons, Guidance for Logical Persuasion and First Law of Branding summarize this science.
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