Six Common Mistakes In Website Design That Kill Your Online Business
Some websites fare well. Others falter � and miserably at that. What�s the difference? What do the successful websites do right and what do the failed websites do wrong?
The answer � or answers even � isn�t difficult to fathom. There are quite a number of common mistakes that seal the fate on internet marketers and their dreams. Here are 6 of them, which hopefully, you�d try to avoid at all cost.
1. A slow loading website. There is nothing more irritating than a website that tales forever to load. Granted that most internet users these days have high speed connections, a great percentage are still hooked up to the World Wide Web via slower 56K access. This percentage should not be taken for granted. In building your website, try to stay away from the humongous graphic files. No, you don�t need a high number of pixels. No, you don�t need fancy movies or flash animation. No, you don�t need catchy music. You need a website that will deliver the information it promises at an instantaneous rate, and for this reason, you have to choose functionality over design.
2. A navigation system that is very difficult to understand. If your menu bar is too complicated, you�ll just end up driving away a lot of your visitors. You don�t want your visitors to get stuck in just one page. You need to make it easy for them to explore your website. Your pages must be interlinked in a logical way, and this connection should be easily navigable through an intuitive interface that even a 7 year old will be able to understand. Again, this is a matter of functionality over design. Place your navigation links either at the top of the page right below the header, or at either side of the page in a separate column. This is where your visitors� eyes will wander once they want to discover the other pages in your website.
3. Low quality content. Content is king on the internet. People log online to find information they need, and information is conveyed through your content. If your content is poorly written, who will have the patience to read the same? If your content is not unique, why will people choose your website over others? Indeed, there are two requisites for good quality content: excellent presentation and originality. Minus either of this, your entire website will be in jeopardy.
4. Poor choice of keywords to focus on. Keywords drive traffic to your website. Keywords are the terms that people search for when they�re looking for information. If you targeted the right keywords, quality visitors will come aplenty. If you targeted the wrong keywords, visitors will be scarce. So make sure you discover the right keywords even before you start building your website.
5. Cookie cutter websites. Again, this is a matter of originality � or the lack of it. Why would people choose your website over thousands of others sharing the same layout and boasting of the same content? What makes your website special? If these questions cannot be answered positively, then your online business is doomed. Worse, search engines penalize duplicate content, and your website will have a lower position in the search engine results.
6. A website that lacks focus. Focus is key in designing a website. It will be difficult for a website to focus on several, unrelated topics. Why would visitors who are interested with dogs be interested with astronomy? There�s no connection between the two subjects, and if your website caters to these topics, among others, then prepare for some rough sailings ahead.
These are the things you should try to avoid. Your online business depends on how well your website fares. So take some time to think about how you can properly build your website.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
7 Low Or No Cost Ways To Generate Laser-Targeted Traffic To Any Website by Detlev Reimer
There is one vitally important rule in generating a consistent income from your website: You need a steady flow of targeted website traffic. If you don’t have any visitors on your site, you won’t make any money – that’s just a fact.
You have many ways to generate low cost website traffic. Don’t spend money you don’t have or use methods you can’t afford.
Here is a short overview over the most effective ways of getting visitors for free or low cost:
Joint Ventures
If you have a product that is of high quality, you should try to get list owners to promote it for you. In return, you should offer them a much higher than usual commission – even the full 100%. Your goal should be not to profit on the front end but on the backend.
In other words, you must build your list and offer your new subscribers or buyers other related products. Once they are on your list, you'll get multiple chances of making them an offer they can’t resist.
Link Exchanges
This is a sure and proven method and has been working for years. You will seldom find a website which doesn’t have any link to another site. Most webmasters are willing to exchange links with each other so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.
A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a higher ranking in search engine results – even though it's working better with one way links.
Startpage Exchanges
One of the best free possibilities for getting targeted traffic is the use of Startpage Exchanges. The way it works is very easy to explain: You view other people's websites and in exchange, they are viewing the URL YOU are advertising to them.
Sure, you are not getting the same conversion rates as from an email campaign. But still, you are getting targeted visitors (you can choose target groups that you want to advertise to e.g. Internet marketers or business opportunity seekers) to the site through YOUR LINK.
Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing also known otherwise as Viral Advertising is a marketing technique used to build the public awareness of one’s product or company. In a nutshell, companies ride on the idea that if people like the content of a media they will pass it on to their friends and family.
Viral marketing has become a popular means of advertising and marketing because they are relatively low cost. To avoid being tagged as spam mail, viral marketing counts on the eagerness of one person to pass on the product. If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won’t block it and open it as well.
Write and Submit Articles
There are many ezines and article directories on the internet which are waiting for your article submissions. Also, many freelance writers are willing to write articles for you for a small fee if you can’t write them yourself.
Write about something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Provide tips and guidelines related to the subject or niche your site is about. Include a resource box at the end of your article and link it back to your site.
Publish a Newsletter
Publishing a newsletter gives you free advertising to targeted prospects. If you think that you are not a writer or you don’t exactly how to write, you can outsource that part of your business. Hire writers on freelancer platforms like Elance.com, Scriptlance.com, Guru.com or similar websites. In your newsletter, make recommendations for products you like and which you have personally used. Then you are almost guaranteed to make sales.
Participate in Forum Discussions
This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website and build your expertise at the same time. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that are on the same subject or are in the same niche as your site by using your signature line when posting.
Start a free Blog
You can start a blog for free on a platform like Blogger.com. By adding exclusive niche content to your blog on a regular basis, you can achieve the same high positions which regular websites are getting. You just have to be careful that you are not choosing a too competitive niche. Then direct that traffic to your main site which has your salesletter to make sales.
—————————————————————–
Article by Detlev Reimer. The PromoBuddy 2.0 Giveaway has launched! Promobuddy saves and organizes all of your data from affiliate details to ads and signature files in 36 databases. It can even calculate your conversion ratio. There are no costs involved to get it! Download it here: http://goto-pro.com/go/to.pl?l=tparticle&cu=1&u=660
You have many ways to generate low cost website traffic. Don’t spend money you don’t have or use methods you can’t afford.
Here is a short overview over the most effective ways of getting visitors for free or low cost:
Joint Ventures
If you have a product that is of high quality, you should try to get list owners to promote it for you. In return, you should offer them a much higher than usual commission – even the full 100%. Your goal should be not to profit on the front end but on the backend.
In other words, you must build your list and offer your new subscribers or buyers other related products. Once they are on your list, you'll get multiple chances of making them an offer they can’t resist.
Link Exchanges
This is a sure and proven method and has been working for years. You will seldom find a website which doesn’t have any link to another site. Most webmasters are willing to exchange links with each other so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.
A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a higher ranking in search engine results – even though it's working better with one way links.
Startpage Exchanges
One of the best free possibilities for getting targeted traffic is the use of Startpage Exchanges. The way it works is very easy to explain: You view other people's websites and in exchange, they are viewing the URL YOU are advertising to them.
Sure, you are not getting the same conversion rates as from an email campaign. But still, you are getting targeted visitors (you can choose target groups that you want to advertise to e.g. Internet marketers or business opportunity seekers) to the site through YOUR LINK.
Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing also known otherwise as Viral Advertising is a marketing technique used to build the public awareness of one’s product or company. In a nutshell, companies ride on the idea that if people like the content of a media they will pass it on to their friends and family.
Viral marketing has become a popular means of advertising and marketing because they are relatively low cost. To avoid being tagged as spam mail, viral marketing counts on the eagerness of one person to pass on the product. If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won’t block it and open it as well.
Write and Submit Articles
There are many ezines and article directories on the internet which are waiting for your article submissions. Also, many freelance writers are willing to write articles for you for a small fee if you can’t write them yourself.
Write about something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Provide tips and guidelines related to the subject or niche your site is about. Include a resource box at the end of your article and link it back to your site.
Publish a Newsletter
Publishing a newsletter gives you free advertising to targeted prospects. If you think that you are not a writer or you don’t exactly how to write, you can outsource that part of your business. Hire writers on freelancer platforms like Elance.com, Scriptlance.com, Guru.com or similar websites. In your newsletter, make recommendations for products you like and which you have personally used. Then you are almost guaranteed to make sales.
Participate in Forum Discussions
This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website and build your expertise at the same time. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that are on the same subject or are in the same niche as your site by using your signature line when posting.
Start a free Blog
You can start a blog for free on a platform like Blogger.com. By adding exclusive niche content to your blog on a regular basis, you can achieve the same high positions which regular websites are getting. You just have to be careful that you are not choosing a too competitive niche. Then direct that traffic to your main site which has your salesletter to make sales.
—————————————————————–
Article by Detlev Reimer. The PromoBuddy 2.0 Giveaway has launched! Promobuddy saves and organizes all of your data from affiliate details to ads and signature files in 36 databases. It can even calculate your conversion ratio. There are no costs involved to get it! Download it here: http://goto-pro.com/go/to.pl?l=tparticle&cu=1&u=660
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Importance of forums
Forums are a great wy to ask questions and learn from people who are doing the same thing as me. So i signed up with a few forums for now and i'm ready to learn :-).
Here are some forums i signed up with:
www.smallbusinessforums.org
www.thewarriorforum.com
www.mlmforums.com
Here are some forums i signed up with:
www.smallbusinessforums.org
www.thewarriorforum.com
www.mlmforums.com
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