Promotion World Informer --- Issue #77

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The Promotion World Informer

Issue #77      August 16, 1999



ISSN 1488-1675

Edited by David Martin - http://www.promotionworld.com

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Part of The Developers Starting Point Network



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This issue of the Informer is sponsored by:



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Contents Of This Issue:



        - Editor's Notes

        - Cool Quotes

        - Developing User-Friendly Sites

        - How NOT to Promote Your Site

        - The Magic Keywords

        - Sponsor Message

        - Sites in the Spotlight

        - A Small Request

        - Misc. Information



======================== Editor's Notes ======================



Hello



        I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself.

My name is David Martin and I will be taking over for Joshua as

the editor of the Informer. As many of you know Joshua is moving

to Russia to work at an American run orphanage and is unable to

continue as editor.



        I will make every effort to follow Joshua's excellent example

as editor. My goal for the Informer is to continue to 

provide articles and information that you find interesting and helpful. 

I welcome you to share your thoughts, suggestions, criticism, etc. 

         

        In addition to Promotion World, I run a network of web 

development sites as part of the Developers Starting Point Network. 

I welcome everyone to take a look a look at these sites (http://www.devstart.com) and let me know if you find them useful. 

Again, I welcome to your thoughts on how I can improve these sites to 

provide better sources of web development information.



        For the next few months I plan on sending out a copy of the Informer every other Monday. Once I become more comfortable as editor and if time permits, this may change to a weekly schedule.

      

        The Informer is sent only to those who have expressly requested

it. If you no longer wish to receive it, simply follow the

simple unsubscribe instructions at the end of this newsletter.







========================== Cool Quotes ========================



 "Not only is he ambidextrous, but he can throw with either

        hand."

        --Duffy Daugherty, football coach and sports analyst



 "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do

        we need?"

        --Lee Iacocca



 "Please provide the date of your death." --from an IRS letter



 "I was under medication when I made the decision to burn the

        tapes."

        --Richard Nixon, US President





=================== Developing User-Friendly Sites ====================



Developing User-Friendly Sites

by Jennifer Johnson



According to a study by the Georgia Tech Research

Corporation, two of the main reasons visitors leave

web sites are that the sites are perceived as confusing

and/or the visitors cannot find what they are looking

for. Source: GVU's WWW User Survey (http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys).



What do visitors think of your site? How easy is it

for visitors to find what they're looking for on your

site? If you operate an e-commerce site, these

questions are especially important to you; the answers

could mean the difference between your company getting

the sale or your competitor getting the sale.



We're going to call sites that aren't viewed as

confusing and that make it easy for visitors to find

what they're looking for user-friendly. Let's explore

ways to make your site more user-friendly.



MAKE YOUR SITE EASY TO NAVIGATE



A first-time visitor should be able to easily find

his or her way around your site; the navigation system

shouldn't have to be explained in detail. If it

takes a 10,000 word dissertation to tell what

constitutes a link, you're in trouble.



Links that are easily differentiated from the page

text are one component of a good site navigation system.

An obvious difference between LINKs and VLINKs should

exist as well. I don't recommend using LINKs that

aren't underlined or LINK and VLINK colors that are the

same or very similar. Although these things might make

the site "look better", they don't help visitors

(especially "newbies") find their way around the

site.



Another quality of a good site navigation system is

using one layout consistently throughout the site. Use

the same clickable links or images in the same place

on every page. The "You Are Here"-type navigation

system might be worth a thought too.



FINDING YOUR PRODUCTS/SERVICES/PRICES SHOULD BE EASY



I can't tell you how many times a frustrated site owner

has contacted me with this question: "I have a great

product, my site gets lots of hits, but I'm not making

any sales! What am I doing wrong?" So many times, when

I visit such sites, I see a glaringly obvious contributor

to this problem: a person would have to be an

archeologist to discover what it is the site owner is

selling and how much it costs.



It stands to reason that the first step in selling

something is introducing potential customers to your

product or service. You don't have to assault them with

a blinking "Buy This!!!" graphic at the top of your

front page, but you do have to make it very easy for

the visitor to find your product or service. Otherwise,

you're likely to have lots of visitors but very few

customers.



DEVELOP A MEANS OF CONTACT WITH YOUR VISITORS



At first glance, this might not seem related to making

your site more visitor-friendly, but it is, indirectly.



A newsletter is one example of how contact between you

and your visitors can make your site more

user-friendly.



Many visitors may not have the time to thoroughly

explore your site on their first visit. Discovering

the various products/services you're offering (and the corresponding URLs)

through your newsletter may lead

them to just what they were looking for initially, but

didn't have the time to find.



Another way to make your site more user-friendly is to

make your contact information readily available. If

someone can't find what they're looking for, they should

be able to get in touch with you and ask.



Don't want to be bothered with all the email? Then

expect not to be bothered with too many sales, either.

If people can't get in touch with you, I promise they'll

think twice before buying anything from you. Some huge

companies can get away with not providing contact

information, small businesses cannot.



Think about how you feel when you go to the mega giant

computer site you purchased software from and can't find

a single email address where you can send a question.

Can you really afford for your visitors to feel this way

about *your* company - especially if generating repeat

customers is a goal of yours?



Depending on the current state of your site, it might

take considerable time and effort to get it to the point

where it could actually be called user-friendly, but

making it easy for people to find what they're looking

for not only benefits them, it benefits *you* as well.



RESOURCE BOX:



Rate My Site(TM)

Find Out What People *Really* Think About Your Site



Find out what works and what doesn't on your site AND how to improve it.

Free site review! To subscribe, send any email to:











==================== How NOT to Promote Your Site =====================



How NOT to Promote Your Site

by David Handlos





Incredible. While you're sleeping, your site could be doing business with people on another continent. No matter where they are on the planet, someone with an Internet connection can see your site. All it takes is a few days restructuring your

META tags, checking for browser compatibility, a few hours submitting so search engines, a few more hours emailing for reciprocal links, and...whoa. Tired yet?



Not to discourage anyone from these methods, they work great, but they take serious time. But with all of the global promotion methods, we often forget two words that would make our lives a lot easier: Think local!



Word-of-mouth is an amazing way to get your site noticed, and what's an

easier way to spread the word than where you live? One way NOT to promote your site, is to promote your web site strictly on the Web.



I've been submitting to the search engines, doing reciprocal links, and

using banner exchanges, working on increasing traffic longer than I care to admit. One day, I consulted a friend on his first web page, and told him about how long it was taking to build traffic on my own site. During the conversation, he expressed interest in my site, and asked for my URL. I told him my address, and went back to my usual promotion methods, thinking nothing of our talk.



Next week I noticed a modest traffic increase. By the end of the same week the increase had doubled itself, and I had several more subscriptions to my newsletter.

After some checking, I found that few of the new hits had come from any

search engine or newsletter.



On a hunch, I contacted my friend, to see if he had visited my site

recently. To my surprise, not only had he visited my site, but he had told two friends who also told some other friends who liked to build web sites, and they in turn had emailed some others...I was stunned. I mentioned my site to others, in hopes of repeating the phenomenon, and was actually rather successful.



Soon a quarter of my site traffic was coming from the local area, and I was getting several suggestions weekly for new content, links, and design tips for the site.



Having a site on the World Wide Web is a great thing, anyone in the world can visit your work. But don't forget people on your block, on your street, and in your town are part of the world too, and they can visit your site as easily as anyone.



Happy promoting!



David Handlos

CrossLinkz: Free Stuff Directory

http://www.crosslinkz.com







========================== The Magic Keywords ========================



The Magic Keywords

by Bob McElwain



What will your potential visitor enter into a search engine to

find your site?  If you can find these magic keywords, phrases

real people will use, then optimize your pages for them, you will

have taken a key step toward generating hits.  If you use the

wrong words, you will waste a good deal of effort and achieve

next to nothing.



A friend of mine has been working with an ex-IRS agent who can be

of significant help to those with tax problems.  But he has

decided to search for clients only in the area in which he lives,

the Santa Clarita Valley in Southern California.  It is a snap to

get a #1 position on most search engines with such phrases as

Santa Clarita Tax Expert, Santa Clarita Tax Solutions, and so

forth.  And he did so.  But he is not getting any hits.



The problem is in two parts.  Many people who live in the Santa

Clarita Valley do not know that they do.  Even those who do tend

to feel they live in Los Angeles.  Secondly, many do not know how

to spell Santa Clarita.  So his first place position is

meaningless, unless he turns to advertising in locally circulated

newspapers, magazines, and newsletters.  This can cost bucks, and

he could have done this without the effort it took to build his

site.



Discovering what potential visitors might enter to find your site

is a challenging problem, one often overlooked in advice regards

position on search engines.  One way to begin is to list a few

words you feel will work, go to your favorite search engine,

enter them, and see what comes up.  Any phrase that generates a

lot of unconnected listings is not likely a good candidate.



When you find something that ranks your competitors high in the

list, check out the sites.  Once the page has fully loaded, take

the option in your browser to view the page source code.  Find

the keyword meta statement near the top of the page, and check

those listed.  Add as appropriate to your list.  Also check the

page content to see which keywords are sprinkled throughout it.

These may be the most important ones.  In particular, see how the

keyword you used to get this page is handled.  You may find clues

as to how best to use it on your page.



When you think you have a good list, try this useful resource at

GoTo.Com.    At the very bottom of the home

page, click Manage Your Account.  On the new page, click Tools

And Tips To Help Manage Your Account.  On the new page, click

Search Term Suggestion List.  Enter the keywords you are thinking

about.  Some of the suggestions made can be added to your list,

particularly those used most often.  GoTo.Com provides this

service because they hope you will find additional words to bid

on (pay for high rankings in lists - another topic).  But you do

not need to use their service to take advantage of this resource.



At this point you have found and expanded your list to include

keywords others use.  So is that it?



No!  To stop at this point assumes you have found what potential

visitors will enter when they want a product or service such as

yours.  But you do not *know* these are the phrases real people

will use.  You do not know you have the magic keywords.



I have a suggestion.  It is not a guaranteed solution, but I have

used it successfully.  It goes like this.



I write a good description of the product or service I want to

sell, maybe half a page.  I describe what it is, what it does,

and how one will benefit from it.  I write much as I would when

producing an ad.  However, I do all possible to *avoid* the

keywords I feel will be used.



Next I pester everyone I know, asking what they might enter to

find this product.  And I give it time; not everyone is as

interested in my problem as I am. 



When I have collected replies, I go back and pester these same

people with a list ranked with the most common suggestions up

top, including phrases I found that were not mentioned.  I ask

them to pick four or five they feel are best.



I have found some really neat keywords in this way, phrases I

would never have discovered on my own.  I hope you can make it

work for you.



I sense this is an aspect of search engine positioning often

overlooked.  It is easy for me to pick a phrase related to your

business and get you top position on at least some search

engines.  It is meaningless, though, unless people actually enter

that phrase.

______________________________________________



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For your personal copy of STAT News

     MailTo:STAT@SiteTipsAndTricks.Com

Just click Send; I'll do the rest!







************************* Sponsor Message *************************



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====================== Sites in the Spotlight  =======================



Here are a few sites that may be of interest:



Website Finacing 

Need money to complete your website project? Maybe you can finance it.



Webdeveloperslist.com 

Looking for a web developer? Try this searchable database.



123Webmaster.com 

Contains lots of webmaster related information.







========================= A Small Request =======================



If you enjoy reading this newsletter each week, why not tell

a friend about it? Even better, why don't you recommend The

Informer on a discussion list? The more subscribers there

are, the more time I am able to justify spending on creating

valuable content for you all!



Just tell everyone to subscribe by sending a message to

 with SUBSCRIBE in the BODY

of their message.







======================== Misc. Information ======================



To comment on the issues covered in this week's newsletter,

use the appropriate forum on our Discussion Boards.





Browse the archives at 



If you are looking for some good advertising deals, you might

like to consider Promotion World and the Informer as places

to advertise.





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I appreciate all your mail with your comments and suggestions!





Newsletter Credits:



David Martin, Editor







Jennifer Johnson, Feature Writer







David Handlos, What Not To Do Specialist







Bob McElwain







And now for the mandatory legal stuff:



This newsletter is copyright 1999 David Martin.

No part may be reproduced in any way without prior permission.

The only exception being you may freely forward this newsletter

to your friends and associates *only if* it is in its unmodified

entirety.