slymarketing

Tips for Creating a Perfect Business Website

This is a guest post from Ben Johnson. If you want to guest post on this blog, please contact me.

First of all, what do you think a perfect business website is? Well, to me, if your business website takes your financial worries away, then it’s a perfect business website. This way you don’t have to work for anyone, you don’t have to worry about attending office everyday and you don’t have to worry about being punctual either. A perfect business website helps you earn bread and butter and gives you complete peace of mind.

Having said that, now we need to discuss that which vital elements ought to be incorporated in your business website to make it perfect.

It Must Be Appealing As Well As Relevant:

This is a misconception that you just create a website and it will start making you money. It’s a completely false notion. You have got to make your website attractive if you seriously want to win the trust of your market. Secondly, ensure that your website design is relevant to your business model.

It’s the quality of your web design that tells your market that your products will be of high quality as well. If your design is of low quality, you won’t be able to win the trust of your market. So, ensure that you make it attractive as well as relevant.

You Must Provide User-Friendly Navigation:

How much time would you spend on a site where you will see hundreds of confusing links all over the page? Well, you won’t spend more than a few seconds. The same thing will happen to you if you don’t create user-friendly navigation. Your website visitors or potential buyers won’t spend any time on your website and will most likely leave in less than 10 seconds.

Ensure that Your Copy is Benefit-Oriented:

What converts your visitors into customers is your copy. Your copy must highlight all the benefits clearly and concisely. It should tell your market why you should be trusted. It should entice your market to prefer you. So, you will need to take some time to write a compelling copy or hire a professional copywriter to do the job for you.

Choose a Readable Font Size and Style:

A lot of websites don’t care about their font-size. They make it really small. Small font-size is not easily readable. If you visit a website and find it difficult to read, then you will leave immediately. Your visitors will do the same thing if you don’t select a readable font size and style. Also, try avoiding grey font. Black is the best in terms of readability.

Strategically Organize the Content and Graphics:

Don’t make your website look like an unorganized place by having text and graphics everywhere. Organize everything in a nice and professional manner. Ensure that your website doesn’t look messy at all. Once you create the site, look at it and determine if it gives you a refreshing feeling or not. If it doesn’t, then you need to analyze your site and end the flaws.

So, these are some powerful tips that will empower you to create a perfect business website…for your business!
If you have any tips, please do share.

Ben Johnson is the Alliance Manager at Logoinn, a custom logo design company. He writes about the effect of design on marketing and brand identity and helps small businesses find design solutions for effective marketing.

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He Was Grasping For Air

Ten minutes past. I was late, it was raining. I walked faster than usual, via a shortcut through the woods while listening to the song Billionaire By Travie McCoy.

I was soaked, cold and hungry.

Just as I was listening to the chorus for the 10th time or so, the “Oh every time I close my eyes I see my name in shining lights. A different city every night. Oh I swear the world better prepare for when I’m a billionaire.” My thoughts, the fantasy I was living, my newfound ideas, the rythm inside of me, everything – it was disturbed by a vibrating phone.

Sh! I wanted to hide.

But then, as soon as I grabbed it, as soon as I put my left hand inside my pocket, I realized that I didn’t want to, but I had to, I was too curious not to.

Answering the phone when there’s no caller id is a lot more exciting. Or at least it used to be, nowadays it’s all the same.

His voice was kinda static and blurry, with a dialect I couldn’t recognize. He compensated by talking slowly. It was the perfect voice accompanied by the rain.

Hey Jens. Every single person calling me knows my first name. They know everything about me. The more they know, the more lost I feel.

He told me that he wanted to send me a newspaper, for free, not just today, but every single day for the next two months.

He told me that I was lucky. I felt lucky.

I was one of the few people he would call. It felt like a promise.

He was silent. I was silent.

But it lasted only for a moment. Then.

Um. Do you know what?

The newspaper is free because we’re celebrating our 150th anniversary. Isn’t that awesome? I could almost see his grin, and he could probably almost see mine.

While he continued to talk, I had a smile on my face, thinking about what I believe to be the two most powerful words in marketing. He had used both of them during the conversation.

The first word is Free. He offered me the newspaper for free. Most people say yes when they are offered something for free. When they do, they can test and review the product, and then, if they enjoy it, they’ll eventually end up paying for it.

The second word is Because. Most people say yes when they are offered something for free, but they need an explanation, they need to know why it’s free. Nothing is just free, there’s a reason why it’s free. Every product needs a story, it’s free because…?

Another minute.

He was silent. I was silent.

The sound. It was like he was grasping for air.

He didn’t get the reponse he was waiting for, and finally he stopped.

He ended the conversation with “have a great summer.” I made a silent nod, then, before I could reach the iPhone, another voice called out to me…

Ah, it was Mr. McCoy.

“Oh every time I close my eyes I see my name in shining lights. A different city every night. oh I swear the world better prepare for when I’m a billionaire.”

My thoughts, the fantasy I was living, my newfound ideas, the rythm inside of me, everything – it was back.

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How To Interrupt Blog Visitors

I have read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin a number of times. It’s an excellent book, and it reveals strategies regarding how to promote and sell anything. We need permission and we need to build trust.

Now, what’s really interesting about the book, is that we also need to interrupt in order to receive permission. We need to grab attention first, by interrupting, then we get the permission and build the trust. One of the easiest way to do this is by building a list of people interesting in what you have to offer, and use this list of people to build relationships and communicate with direct responsive copywriting.

My question to you today, is how should we interrupt blog visitors?

Some of the methods bloggers are using to grab attention are just annoying, and they force their visitors to leave and never come back. Other methods are not as annoying, but less effective.

I have just received information about the release of Taking Down a Suicidal Blogger (aff. link), a very interesting report, 35 pages, about how to build your list (and earn money from it). It reveals several interesting ways to build a list, by adding footer, popover, subscription box etc.. It discusses what works and what doesn’t work.

Lightbox

I am still using AWeber (aff.link) for my e-mail newsletter, and I’m still using a lightbox provided to me by AWeber in order to interrupt my first-time visitors. It looks like this:

It shows the first time a person visits my blog, and it shows after 15 seconds. This is the only time it will be visible on my blog. The next time they visit, it won’t show (well, unless they clear their cookies).

I’m very satisfied with this lightbox, the results are great. I get between 10 and 15 new subscribers every single day.

I know it’s a little annoying. I think it’s annoying. But it works.

I’m not sure how annoying people think this is, and if it’s so annoying that they will just leave before they’ve read my article. What do you think?

Are pop-overs and lightboxes very annoying?

Footer Ads

I have never used a footer ad, but I’ve seen them on many blogs. I don’t find them very annoying. They always grabs my attention, but I’m not sure of the effects. Ultimate Footer Ad (aff. link) is one of the most well-known footer ads, and it looks cool.

What’s your verdict of footer ads, are they just annoying or effective?

Corner Ads

There are two types of corner ads. There is something called Peel Away Ads (aff. link), they’re usually placed in the top right corner. I always see them, but that’s probably because I’m looking for them. I have never subscribed to a newsletter because I’ve clicked on a peel away ad, so, I’m not sure if they’re really that effective.

The second type of corner ads is Corner Stay Ads (aff. link). They’re placed in the bottom right corner. This is a rather new method, and as with peel away ads, I see them whenever I visit a blog that uses them. The difference is the design and that you can put any type of content, like video and audio inside. It looks cool, they’re less interruptive, but effective?

Subscription box

I have tried many types of subscription boxes. Some with images, some with just content, some with big letter and some with fairly small letters. When I use AWeber (aff. link) it’s very easy to create a professional looking subscription box, and it’s fairly easy to place them in the sidebar or just below the blog posts.

They’re not interruptive, not annoying, but not very effective. Or what do you think?

Banners

One of the nicest, and least interruptive ways to grab the attention of blog visitors is to use banners. But I believe it’s also one of the least effective methods. I have tested a few banners for my newsletter and I received very few new subscribers, just 2 – 3 a week.

All of the above

To be really effective, some people are using all of the methods above. I believe that if you combine several methods, like they explain in Taking Down a Suicidal Blogger (aff. link) you’ll end up with a lot more subscribers to your newsletter, but using several methods at the same time is very interruptive and considered an aggressive method to get subscribers. But, to many people, this is how they earn money. That’s the difference between a marketer and an ordinary blogger.

At the moment I’m only using a lightbox, but I’m also considering a subscription box.

I’m still looking for a method that’s not annoying, a method that doesn’t interrupt my visitors too much, and a method that should be effective when it comes to get people to subscribe to my newsletter.

What kind of method do you prefer?

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I’m Losing It

post it notes

I can’t keep up. My thoughts are everywhere. My schedule is lost, my tasks are gone. I can’t remember what I’m suppose to be doing.

I’m at my desk at work, I’m at home in the kitchen, I’m everywhere, and nowhere.

I’m doing everything, and I’m doing nothing. I’m so incredibly hot… and dizzy. I’m losing my balance.

Um. What a relief.

It was all a dream. I’m awake. It was a horrible dream about time management.

I’m dreaming about time management, who’d have thought? Not me, that’s for sure.

My biggest concern when it comes to time management, and it has been occupying my mind lately, is that I can’t keep track of my tasks, or my ideas.

If I just had a to-do list, a list to keep track of my thoughts, everything would be so much easier. But I do have a to-do list, actually, I have many to-do lists.

It’s easy to concentrate, and I’m focused when I need to be, but that doesn’t really help.

I have been using Things on my iPhone. It works great, and I usually keep my iPhone close to where I am. This way it’s easy to add new tasks to my to-do list. I have also been using the advice from Nick Cernis and his Todoodlist. That’s also working great.

And, I’ve been keeping notebooks everywhere, and small yellow stickers. I love post-it notes.

I have many to-do lists, but no place to keep everything together.

When it comes to articles for my blogs, I’ve been thinking about writing everything inside WordPress and then schedule the articles to be published. This way I will always keep track of my new posts, and I can continue writing them where ever I am, as long as I have an internet connection. But I can’t stop using WriteRoom, it’s addictive. It has to be.

As I’m writing this, I’m using four different computers, and sometimes the article I’m currently writing is located on the computer at work, and I’m at home trying to finish writing it.

I have the software, I have the moleskine notebooks, I have it all, except for the strategy.

I can’t decide.

I would really appreciate some feedback, what’s working for you?

Image: Scott Ableman

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Continue Reading 6 comments }Thoughts

How to find Facebook Pages ID

I have been looking everywhere to find the Facebook Pages id for Blog Buddy. The reason I was looking was because I wanted a like box for my Facebook Page in the right sidebar.

We need to add the id of the Facebook Page we want to promote in order to create a box like that.

I thought it would be easy to find the id, but it wasn’t.

Here’s how you do it.

1. Log in to the Facebook Page.

2. Right click on the profile image.

3. Copy the url.

4. Paste the url, and you’ll see the id as the last 15 or so numbers of the url (the id of Blog Buddy is 15 numbers).

It was hard to find it, but once you know how to, it becomes easy

Please leave a comment if you still can’t find yours.

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The Best Internet Marketing Newsletters

I’m really enjoying myself today. It’s that time of the year in Norway, where everything is just close to perfect.

It’s all quite, and wow, the weather is just awesome.

When I look up, I can’t see any clouds, just a bright blue sky and it’s as sunny as it gets. It’s not as hot as it gets in July, but it’s more than hot enough for me.

Here I am, in the hammock, only listening to the sound of birds, and thinking about Internet marketing. Not sure why that’s on my mind right now, but it is.

The reason it is, is probably because earlier today, I received one of the newsletters I’m subscribed to, and I published a tweet where I recommended that people should subscribe to it (@berget).

Um. It’s even more difficult to write laying in a hammock than I first thought.

Anyways.

I’m subscribed to a lot of different newsletters, I even have my own, but when I think about it, the two best Internet marketing newsletters I’m subscribed to are:

- Internet Marketing for Smart People
- Eric’s tips

I didn’t say the three best, or the five best, or the ten best Internet marketing newsletters, because in fact, relaxing here in the hammock, I can only think of two Internet marketing newsletters worth mentioning.

Let me tell you why.

There are three things I really appreciate when it comes to newsletters, and when I write newsletters, I’m talking about newsletters sent to me by e-mail.

1. Sent to me on a regular basis

I want the newsletter on a regular basis, it could be every fourth day, every week, every second week or whatever, but I want it on a regular basis.

2. Contains valuable information

I’m looking for tips, I want to learn something. I want it to be different, not just the stuff I learn from reading other blogs.

3. It contains no sales

I don’t want every single newsletter to contain affiliate links. I don’t want it to be that obvious why the person is sending me the newsletter. I don’t like to see affiliate links inside a newsletter, although I guess it’s ok if it happens once in a while.

Eric’s tips and Internet Marketing for Smart People are perfect. I open every single edition, and I read every single word.

I recommend that you join both, you won’t be sorry.

Are you subscribed to any newsletters and can you list any that you recommend?

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Join Our Blog Community

As people, we all need help, or at least, we all need a way to share information. It’s time to realize that we need Blog Buddy.

In order to understand that you’re doing the right thing, or in order to understand that you’re actually fairly successful, you need to compare yourself to other people, or at least you need to get some feedback.

I never compare myself to other people, but I want feedback. I really really want feedback, all types of feedback, both positive and negative. Feedback makes us stronger, a lot stronger. It makes us understand our purpose.

As a blogger and writer, there are at least three ways to get help.

- Ask for help

When you ask for help, most of the time, you’ll receive help. I have asked for help via Twitter, Facebook, discussion forums, my blogs, and via email. I don’t ask for help much, but when I do, it’s awesome to see how fast the help arrives. People love to help.

- Pay for help

I have also paid to get help. For instance, I have paid to get people to help me with web design, graphic design, MySQL, wordpress, drupal and lots of other stuff. When money is involved, it’s even easier to get help.

- Help to get help

To me, the best kind of help is when I help people and I get help in return. No money is involved, only favors, no strict rules. I help them, they help me. It’s about sharing and caring.

As a blogger and a writer, it’s important to get feedback. I love to hear what people think of my blog and my writing, I love to hear all the details, the small ones and the really big.

Nobody likes a zero.

When you blog, you do it because you enjoy writing, and you enjoy sharing information. When you enjoy sharing, I bet you also enjoy the feedback. This is why, as a blogger, you should join Blog Buddy – a Facebook Fan Page dedicated to sharing and caring. It’s all about blogging and writing.

Let’s connect at Blog Buddy, our blog community. Your blog doesn’t have to be in a specific niche, all types of bloggers are welcome. We want a variety of blogs and all types of people.

Is Blog Buddy something you find interesting?

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Try This Before You Trash It

Some days are different. Some days are not.

Yesterday was a little of both.

Too many things to do, at the same time, it was nothing more left to do. My mind was drifting away at the various tasks. As a man, I felt a sudden urge to relax.

Um.

I was going to take a bath, fill the bath tub, cover it all the way with really hot water, close to 40 degrees Celsius. I was going to relax, read a book, and just let my thoughts travel, somewhere.

Usually, that’s as good as life gets.

But, as soon as I entered the water, and was about to get started with the relaxing, it hit me that I had forgot a cold coca-cola. I was thirsty, really thirsty, even more thirsty now that I realized that I had forgot the coke.

As I looked up, at the ceiling, then at the wall, my eyes wandering, deciding whether or not I should walk downstairs and get myself a coke, remember, at this time I was almost relaxed, I realized that I had also forgotten the book.

It was just me and hot hot water.

I wanted to.

But.

I didn’t move.

I was looking at the shampoo in the corner. The big grey bottle with fancy yellow letters. It was the biggest bottle of shampoo I had ever seen, and there it was, in the corner. I remember, I had to buy it, it was so big and beautiful, and the yellow letters, they’re still just as amazing.

The only problem is that this shampoo really sucks. I can’t use it in my hair, or on my scalp. If I do, you should see me a few minutes later. I get dandruff all over, and it itches, I’ll be scratching my head until the next time I’ll be adding shampoo, then, hopefully another brand. But it’s there, in the corner, it’s like its staring at me, tempting me, wanting me to cuddle. It’s still as beautiful as the first day I noticed it.

It’s times like these that I understand that I’m a lot like my dad. I keep and store everyhing until I get forced to throw something away. Whenever I get forced to, I end up prioritizing, what to keep, what to trash.

Looking at the shampoo, I was thinking, maybe I can use it for something different, maybe I can use it to make bubbles?

If I can, then it wouldn’t be a complete waste, a matter of fact, it would be a rather good product.

After pouring the shampoo in the water, and stirring it for a few seconds, I saw the bubbles come to life. A few minutes later, I couldn’t see myself or the bath tub, everything was covered with bubbles and foam, even the floor. Everything was big white and beautiful.

I had bubbles on my face, in my hair, and all over my body.

The shampoo sucks as shampoo, but it was the most amazing bubble bath I have ever witnessed.

Some products are different. Some products are not. Some products should be used as described. Some products should be used as you wish.

Remember, this is how word of mouth marketing starts…

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Continue Reading 4 comments }Word of Mouth

5 Ways to Identify that Your Website is a Mess

This is a guest post from Ben Johnson. If you want to guest post on this blog, please contact me.

You may have your website already up and running, but you may not be making any sales. I tell you, this is not something new in the online business world. A lot of online business owners face this problem. They create a website, upload it and then get frustrated after a few months when they don’t make any sales.

A newbie creates a site with this perception that people will visit the website, get interested in the product, pull out their wallet, take their credit card and place an order. Well, it’s not that easy to make people buy, especially when they can’t see you and all they see is your website.

So, what can you do to improve your website and win the trust of your visitors?

There are 5 important elements that you need to analyze to determine the effectiveness of your website. If you haven’t incorporated these elements effectively, you won’t become a successful online business owner.

So, let’s take a look at them and identify if they are negatively affecting your sales or not:

1. Have You Created an Attractive Website?

If your website is not attractive, then you won’t be perceived as trustworthy. People will look at your website and then determine whether you are a true professional or not. Your website represents you. So, you need to make it attractive to attract your potential buyers. If your website is not attractive, then you have got to get it redesigned.

2. Have You Written Benefit-Oriented Copy?

After reading your copy, do you think buyers will be compelled to buy your products? Do you think it’s making you look credible and trustworthy? If your web copy doesn’t precisely and concisely explains the benefits of your products and services and also fails to portray you as credible, then you will have no choice but to say good bye to your customers.

3. Have You Used Readable Font Size and Font Style?

A lot of websites make this mistake. They use a very small font size and a peculiar font style. It makes it difficult for readers to read the content. Don’t do that and, hence, don’t make the lives of your readers miserable, because they would love to leave your website in such a situation.

4. Have You Provide Easy-Navigation to Visitors?

Let your visitors find the required information / products easily. Easy and user-friendly navigation will allow them to go to different sections without wondering where to click.

5. Is Your Website SEO-Friendly?

It is important to make your website SEO-friendly in order to drive relevant traffic to your website from search engines. If it’s not SEO-friendly, then it won’t rank high in search engines on your desired keywords. Do proper on-page optimization according to the guidelines of famous search engines, especially Google.

So…After you answer these questions, you will be able to identify whether your website is a big mess or not. If it is, then you need to revamp your website as soon as possible.

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How I Read Hundreds of Blog Posts a Day

I subscribe to a lot of blogs, I’m not sure how many, but whenever I log in to my Google Reader I have hundreds of new blog posts to read.

Earlier, it took me a while, it took me several days to go through the list of blog posts. And when I thought I was finished, new blog posts had arrived.

It was a constant struggle.

Until I discovered the stars…

Now, what I’m doing it his.

I browse through all the headlines of the new blog posts, and when I find a new blog post I add a star to it. I don’t read it right away, I only add stars to the blog posts I find interesting.