SERIOUS BUSINESS
By Willie CrawfordSend this report to me by autoresponder
A very big part of internet marketing success
is dependent upon conveying a professional,
ethical, and trustworthy image. So many
businesses convey just the opposite image
without seeming to realize it. So I'll
point out just a few things you may be doing
that probably hurt your business more than
you realize.
1) Domain Name. It IS a widely held belief
that if you don't have your own domain name
and a site hosted by a paid host, you are
somehow fly-by-night. Free web pages are
great for non-profit purposes - but not for
business purposes. The perception is that
since you didn't pay for the site you have
nothing to loose by setting up house, making
a quick profit, and then moving on to another
site. I have mirror pages that funnel traffic
to my main site. They offer free services and
information - but generate a fraction of the
sales that my main site does. Some of these
pages are number one for certain keywords at
some of the search engines - yet they don't
project the image needed to generate the sales
I need to continue growth at an acceptable rate.
Prior to getting my own domain name I was
directly challenged by a number of prospects
who obviously were interested in my product
- otherwise they wouldn't have bothered
writing. I also saw where queries were made
to see if complaints had been filed against
me at several oversight groups. So again,
I had indicators that prospects were
interested, but didn't know whether they
could trust someone using a free web site.
Back in April 98 I asked the 80,000 members
of the Links Exchange Digest their opinion on
this very issue - in a post. I already knew
the answer to the question but wanted to see
how strong this opinion was. All respondents
seemed to agree that you must have you own
domain name hosted by a full service host
to project that vital professional image.
Another thing pointed out was that when you use
a free host your name will usually be longer
than many surfers will be able to remember or
care to type in.
2) Email Address. Free email addresses at
some domain names are also considered to be
less than professional and also somewhat
disreputable. The real problem here is that
spammers hide behind phony names at throw-
away email addresses. They don't risk
loosing anything if they have one address
closed down because they can just get another
one. As a result, many businesses and
individuals now have filters setup that send
emails from certain domain names directly
to the trash. You are not allowed to register
for some products or services using some of
these domain names - programmers are blocking
them . So if you use some of these
services, your email stands even less chance
of being read. The free email providers
that don't seem to care about spamming from
their domain name are fairly obviously from
the spam we all receive daily from these
domains. I won't name names in the interest
of avoiding legal issues.
3) Spamming and bulk email. Email sent
randomly to extracted addresses hurt you more
than it help. Bulk email sent to an opt-
in list is different and seems to generates sales.
However, even here the problem is preventing
someone from adding a name/address to the
list without their permission. Names
improperly added to these opt-in list have
caused big headaches for some operators. It
all boils down to somebody harming a great
idea in an effort to make a fast buck.
I am a member of several opt in list and
can recommend the ones I like to anyone
who wants a personal recommendation. The
problem is that the "safe" lists change
far too frequently.
4) Hit counters, unrelated icons and other
items that slow down the page but contribute
nothing significant. Hit counters either
show that your pages get very little traffic
or they give visitors the impression that you
have inflated the count and are therefore
untrustworthy. Either way - you loose.
Instead of a hit counter, I recommend soft-
ware that tracks hits discretely. I use and
recommend WebLog by Darryl Burgdorf.
It is cgi script so you do need cgi access
at your ISP. You can download this script
at http://awsd.com/scripts/weblog.
It not only tells you how many hits each page
has, but where the visitor came from, how long
he stayed, and what other pages on your site
were visited. All things you need to tweek your
site and see how effective your site really is.
Unrelated icons distract from the message on
your page and slow it down. Surfers demand
speedy loading and will not wait for a slow
page to load. They will visit one of the
hundreds, perhaps even thousands of other
sites that provide similar products or services.
My site has a number of good articles on web
page do's and don'ts so I won't list
them all here. Check out these article at
http://www.williecrawford.com - and watch
you traffic explode when you fix some of the
more glaring web page defects.
5) The final issue I will mention in this
article is offering a needed, somewhat unique
product. Marketing is not convincing someone
that they need a product that they know they
don't need. It is helping them to realize
that you product fills a need they have and
then prompting them to respond. It is a
mixture of emotion and reason, but not changing
a prospects mind. When choosing what you will
devote your time and effort to offering, choose
something that there is a genuine need for and
that you really believe in!
I see too many businesses advertising the same
products and services as everyone else. This
is great if you are presenting your offers to
a different audience or have a unique angle =
and if the product or service fills a real need.
But if ten individuals offer the same product,
to the same prospect, in the same ezine or on
the same classified ads site, the prospect has
to believe that this is either a very good
product, or that that particular program is
perhaps reaching a certain saturation point.
Which is the conclusion that you generally
reach?
Your feedback is solicited. Email me at:
<willie@williecrawford.com?subject=feedback>
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Willie Crawford is a well-known internet marketing
consultant and writer. Visit his site at
http://www.williecrawford.com for a plethora
of articles on internet marketing by a variety of
authors. A quick visit may provide the answer to one
of your burning internet marketing questions!
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