Webmaster Papers




Google
 
Web webhostingpapers.com




/pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">

50 Ways To Use Your Website


A website is the most versatile and cost-effective marketing tool on the market. It is also an investment. After all, you are building a shopfront. In a nutshell, you can use your website to:

Enhance your professional image
1. Look professional and as BIG as large corporations.
2. Pre-sell yourself to new clients even before you meet them.
3. Supply a meaningful and intuitive address related to your type of service. It is easier to remember www.marketingcues.com rather than a long ISP email address such as www.yourInternetServiceProvidername.com/~marketingcues.
4. Provide a permanent address with up-to-date contact details and opening hours. You can change Internet Service Provider or move physical premises and your customers will always find you and your marketing efforts are not lost.

Boost confidence in your business
5. Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise with tips, articles and editorials.
6. Build your credibility by displaying awards and providing testimonials.
7. Encourage potential clients. A free web hosting address can look dubious and show less commitment to your business.
8. Give staff details to humanise your business, to show that you are "real" people.
9. Provide background information on your business.

Provide current and useful information
10. Publish a catalogue or portfolio of your products and services.
11. Inform your visitors about the benefits and applications of your products.
12. Categorise information according to target audiences. For example, discuss benefits of a dishwasher to potential buyers and give installation instructions to installers.
13. Arrange table of comparisons of product specifications and prices to help your client's decision making.
14. Publish a newsletter.
15. List upcoming products, services, events.

Increase sales
16. Sell directly to customers without middlemen.
17. Take orders when clients are ready.
18. Generate extra income with affiliate programs and sponsorships.
19. Sell advertising space eg banners.
20. Provide enrolment forms and applications for membership.

Save on operational costs
21. Open your shopfront extended hours - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - at no extra cost.
22. Produce high-impact online coloured brochures that would be too expensive to print.
23. Save printing and mailing costs on newsletters, brochures and reports.
24. Update information regularly without incurring printing costs.
25. Save time on phone calls by providing answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ).
26. Advertise your job vacancies.
27. Shorten your sales cycle by streamlining your operations.

Expand your client base.
28. Expand your reach to new global markets.
29. Collect names and addresses using viral marketing eg "Tell a friend".
30. Send special reports to visitors who provide you with their contact details.
31. Link with suppliers, clients or complementary businesses to attract more traffic to your website.
32. Increase client base with special offers and newsletter subscriptions.

Implement promotional activities
33. Link offline and online advertising and promotion to feed on each other.
34. Use email marketing and save on direct mailing costs.
35. Experiment with new promotional ideas and measure their effectiveness.
36. Create loyalty programs for repeat clients eg vouchers, special offers.

Create a favourable public image
37. Provide a list of links to promote your partners and associations.
38. Promote your community spirit and involvement.
39. Publicise your environmentally friendly practices.
40. Provide a press media kit.

Improve your level of customer service
41. Display your policies and warranties.
42. Maintain visibility with regular email invitations to view new online information or promotion.
43. Provide a user guide with a trouble-shooting section.
44. Allow your customers to view and change their account details and pay invoices.
45. Improve your after-sales service with follow ups and feedback forms.
46. Archive information. You can make available past issues of newsletters and user guides of dated products.

Obtain information for market research
47. Collect information from visitors (eg age group, preferences).
48. Gather information from suggestion forms to develop new products or improve existing ones.
49. Test and evaluate new products without spending big dollars.
50. Use surveys to obtain primary data for researches and reports.

Marketing Cues extra tip
Use multiple domain (or subdomain) names to differentiate products and services, measure promotion effectiveness and attract more traffic to your website. For example, www.product1.com, www.product2.com and www.service1.com could all point towards the same website.

� 2005 Henriette Martel-Lawson

Henriette Martel-Lawson, author of "200 Marketing Ideas for Your Website", is a website strategist who helps businesses develop or convert a stale website into an effective marketing tool. Henriette is the founder of Marketing Cues, an internet marketing resource centre providing articles, reviews, free tools and lots of tips. Receive a free ebook when you subscribe to bimonthly WEBmarketingcues newsletter at http://www.marketingcues.com

RELATED ARTICLES


Flash Deadly Sins (That Can Kill Your Web Business)
Looks like every client wants a Flash site these days but the reality is...as flashy as these sites may look, there are many negatives you may want to consider before delving into Flash.
Making The Business Case For Web Standards
Through the explosive growth of the Web, companies have realized the benefit of building a strong online presence. By publishing a website to the Internet, companies are able to build their brand, market their products, support existing customers, release publicity pieces, and even take orders. Lost in the feverish pace of growth however, has been an eye on the effect that their current web-building practices have on the bottom line and the future of their online presence. Not only does the website content itself have an impact on the company's income but so does the way the site itself is created.
Building a Web Site Requires the Right Software to Eliminate Headaches and Keep Money in Your Pocket
When most people build a web site, they think one simple thing. "If I build it, they will come". How further from the truth this is.
3 Rules of Website Designing and Layout
Now that you have got your domain name registered, your next worry is about designing a website or getting it designed, depending on your budget,inclination and knowledge.
Web Site Optimization: How To Speed Up Your Web Site By Minimizing Your GIF and PNG Image Bit-Depth
Are bloated images slowing down your web site and causing you lost business? Images comprise over 50% of the average web page so putting them on a diet is essential to improving web performance. One of the best ways to optimize GIFs and PNGs is to minimize the "bit-depth" or the number of colors within your images.
What Business Owners MUST Know BEFORE They Commit To Having A Web Site
Q1.Why would I need a web site? A1.
Frequent Business Question: How Do You Start a Web Business?
Today it seems everyone is jumping on the entrepreneur bandwagon, and who could blame them? Setting your own schedule, working from the comfort of your own home, and never having to deal with a horrible commute or office politics again, this option is quite popular among all ages. With the advent of the technology age, it seems more individuals are looking to the internet to provide them with goods or services. Without having to leave your computer to shop for whatever your heart desires, web businesses have boomed over the past decade. More popular than ever, starting your own web business is an excellent way to earn an extra income or replace your current income. However, many individuals who wish to begin this new chapter in their lives do not have any experience in starting or running a business, spurring them to ask the question: how do you start a web business? The answer is: easy! All you need is a computer, internet connection, and a dream and you are halfway there.
Your Future Profit Is In The Stars
You don't believe in astrology but you check your horoscope in the newspaper just for fun. Me too. But millions of people do believe in astrology and are willing to pay to know the future. This creates an opportunity for you to profit from an astrology web site.
7 Reasons YOU Need a Website
1) A marketing necessity
Why Do I Need A Web Site?
Even though the Internet has been around for a long time and many people are "educated" about the Internet, most have little knowledge about what a web site is and what can it do for their business.
Enhance Your Website With A Yahoo-Style Directory
Does your website have a links/resources page?
Why to Have a Website for Your Company
After having decided to start a business, the next thing that arrives in your mind is How to market the Product/Service? How to create a brand? How to recruit people? How & where to advertise? etc? Next is creating departments like Marketing, Operations, Advertising, Branding and Human Resource. You need some way to represent each department?
Website Globalization
Globalize Your Website
Get a Website!, Register Your Domain!: To Website or Not to Website?
If you're fairly new to the Internet scene, you may just be a bit overhelmed with family members, friends, collegues, and advertisements urging you to get your own website for your business. Typically, this is good advice for businesses. However, for most small local businesses, running your own website may not be the best idea. Here's why:
The Cost Of A Web Site
Just starting out, you can start with a simple informational site, which is all most need initially, and build up to a fuller site (e-commerce and/or interactive) when you can afford it.
A Network Of Web Sites Is Not Enough!
The big thing these days is your ability to capture the market. So how do you do that?
Track Your Visitors, Using PHP
There are many different traffic analysis tools, ranging from simple counters to complete traffic analyzers. Although there are some free ones, most of them come with a price tag. Why not do it yourself? With PHP, you can easily create a log file within minutes. In this article I will show you how!
3 Ways To Increase Your Websites Conversion rate
Everywhere you look these days, people are telling you that in order to sell through your website, you need tons of traffic.
Web Content Strategy 101
Your content is what gets you in search engines, speaks to visitors, and ultimately decides the success or failure of your site. Meanwhile, your content has to be updated at least once a month if you want to get return visitors and search engine traffic. You need to have a web content strategy for your site to succeed.
Getting One-way Inbound Links: the 5 Major Strategies
With search engines putting a damper on direct reciprocal links, the hunt for the elusive one-way inbound link is on.