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 Issue #16 - February 17th, 2003 Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses
Brought to you by idesignbusiness.com http://www.idesignbusiness.com Issue #17 Monday, March 3rd, 2003 In this Issue: ARTICLES: ONLINE POLL: FREE RESOURCE: Welcome back to another issue of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Business. From now on, each issue of the newsletter will include a one question survey covering topics that are related to small business marketing. By answering YES or NO to the question, you can immediately see the survey results and get an idea of what other small business owners think about specific topics. Give it a try and let me know what you think. We will aggregate the results and post them in upcoming issues. Please direct all newsletter correspondence to newsletters@idesignbusiness.com You can view all past issues of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses at the newsletter archive. Click below to visit the archive: Newsletter Archive Kharron Reid idesignbusiness Advertisement The Bag Lady - FREE COMPLIMENTARY business registration for women owned businesses! Access to view and post trade leads, tenders, offers to buy, sell, barter exchange, you will have business listing in our online directory, and much more…REGISTER NOW! http://www.bagladyit.com Online Poll Do you think email marketing is an effective way to increase traffic to your website? ARTICLE Separate yourself from the pack: Build a sticky site There are millions of websites on the internet, only a small percentage have succeeded in making a great site. This weeks article delves into the making of a "sticky site." What defines a sticky site? A sticky site gets you to their site and keeps you on their site, then has you clicking back for more! There are four components to creating a site that doesn't let visitors go. Below, we will briefly cover the four components. Content is King Most websites are made to provide information to consumers. A lot of information is a good thing until it is too much information at once. Try to be as clear and concise as possible. Reduce the time it takes to understand the purpose of that particular webpage, by reducing the wordiness. If someone can figure out the who, what, and when in the first five to ten seconds...you're golden. The use of bold titles and short descriptions is one way to cut down on the amount of text on a webpage. Keep your content original and update it on a regular basis. New and original content will maintain their interest over a longer period of time. Remember, choose wisely when developing the content for your website. Organization Good organization on a website involves good use of navigation and white space. Good navigation consists of a consistent navigation bar or buttons throughout the entire site. The Nav Bar should tell users what page they are currently on and where they are in the site. If you have a large site, a site map can be very helpful. The use of white space just makes things a little easier on the eyes. Too much clutter and your text will get hard to read. So, make sure your background doesn't interrupt your text and the columns of text are narrow enough. Graphic Design When talking about graphics I think it is more beneficial to start by listing a couple no-no's in using graphics on the internet. A nice sleek design can never hurt but it certainly isn't the most important element to making a sticky site. Fast loading graphics are instrumental in keeping the 56k users clicking around. Cutting your images and tabling them from top to bottom will give users a sense of progress when loading a page. A good use of simple, clear icons can help with navigation and cut down the amount of text on a page. Remember these points the next time you re-design your site. Build Relationships with your visitors Understanding who you visitors are will help you to cater to their needs on your website. Making your website interactive allows for a little customer feedback. The use of forms to collect user input is enough to get started. Eventually, you can track the flow of visitors through your site, such as which pages they visit most. This feedback can be used to create content that your visitors will want to keep coming back for. I hope this article helps you to make your site a "sticky site." If you would like any advice on improving your website, just send us an email at: consultation@idesignbusiness.com We provide free reviews of websites providing objective and useful information to improve your web presence. Make sure to include you website URL and any specific questions you have in the email. Advertisement 60% DISCOUNT IF YOU ARE A NEW WOMEN IN BUSINESS START-UP http://www.bagladyit.com nothing to pay until "April 1st"- 1000's of women in business registered with The Bag Lady - Millions £'s of government Tenders published daily, access to all services, trade leads, barter exchange, your business "Trade Mall page" all for £40 year and much more! FREE RESOURCE: Each issue of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses will include helpful free online resources to promote your website. This table has all 216 non-dithering colors with their html hex code. This is very helpful when trying to match html colors with your graphics. Enjoy! HTML hex color table ABOUT idesignbusiness idesignbusiness provides Web marketing and technology solutions for small businesses. We utilize a combination of consulting and technology expertise to create customized and flexible solutions. Please visit http://www.idesignbusiness.com for more information. Advertisement This Brand New eBook is about Nothing but the Facts! Never Before Revealed INSIDERS Secrets produced by The Very Best Internet Marketing Experts. Can you Afford to make Your Decisions on MISINFORMATION provided to you by those so-called Internet experts when they only send you to some Affiliate Links so that they can be paid COMMISSIONS? Are you going to Waste more of your Hard Earned Money? Or check with the FACTS First ... " http://www.e-biz-resource.com SUBSCRIPTION NOTICE This newsletter is only sent to opt-in subscribers. If at anytime you would like to be removed from this list, please send an e-mail to newsletters@idesignbusiness.com with REMOVE in the subject line. Spread the word - Please forward to friends and colleagues. Copyright 2002 - 2003 idesignbusiness http://www.idesignbusiness.com |
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