Part 1 of the 'Content' EcourseThere are number of ways of earning a living online, from selling through ebay, being an affiliate selling other peoples service or product, to having your own website and product, or service, to sell on a website. In this course, I will already assume that you have a website, or are developing a website. Therefore, we will be concentrating on developing your own website, and making money with it. If you want more information on how to build a website, or any other subject mentioned, then go to here at:
Home Page Right let's get on with the course, first a question. What separates a great, money-making website from a poor one? I have looked at a number of different websites, large and small, to find what they share in common, to make them so successful. With few exceptions, every extraordinarily great website contained the following elements:- Content Good content and good navigation are key. It is noticeable now, that google, and a few other search engines are looking for good clear content. This is what the modern web surfer wants. Easy to find good information. The Internet is a communication medium. Let's be more precise, the Internet is a TEXT communication medium. The Internet is NOT Microsoft, or AOL, or CNN. So WHAT IS the "real Internet"? It's the millions of small business people, the countless "islands of expertise." It's YOU. Together, the tens of millions of small business people provide the Web with the diversity that makes it such a beautiful, rich experience. The large companies of the world are moving their current business online, and will become progressively more visually oriented. But that only reduces the Net to a more efficient catalogue, or a faster way to do business. Small business people will remain the backbone, the real reason for the Net to even exist, and the Internet will stay text-based for at least 10 years, likely much longer. So content is king, and good content, or text, will remain the way to communicate. Headlines Headlines capture visitors' attention and get them involved in the website. Headlines first catch your attention and determine whether you'll actually read a story. Similarly headlines on a website determine whether visitors get involved in the information or surf away never to return. My own experience has shown that the proper headlines can easily and quickly double, triple, or even quadruple a website's sales almost overnight. Bullet Points Bullet points communicate various and subtle bits of information about a product or service without making readers plough through paragraphs of information to get to the meat of a website's offering. Bullet points arouse interest, build excitement and convey a lot of information very quickly to time-starved web surfers. Bonuses Every great website offers bonuses to people who buy, apply or fill out a form. Nothing induces someone to do business with you online like offering them something extra for taking the action you want. Offering a bonus report, tape, extended membership, extra quantities of product at a deep discount, coupons, or just about anything makes people more willing to go ahead with the purchase decision. Guarantees Everyone takes a risk whenever they buy anything from anyone. The risk centres on whether or not the product or service will perform as promised. In a retail store most people feel pretty confident the store will still exist if they need to make a return or exchange in a few days. On the web, however, that risk in making a purchase seems much higher than in the 'offline' world. Every great website makes a point of specifically telling customers about their return policy and truly exceptional sites offer 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantees. People rarely take advantage of such guarantees and I have personally seen a website's sales increase by 45% just by extending the guarantee period an additional 30 days. Personal Contact Every great website has a phone number with a real live human being on the other end who can answer questions and provide product support. Testimonials Most good websites has testimonials from satisfied customers. These testimonials help set the potential customer's mind at ease that the products or services sold online will perform as promised. Truly great testimonials not only endorse the product, but clearly state how the product increased sales, saved money, or benefited previous buyers in very specific and tangible ways. But be aware of using false testimonials, such as those that have been bought by the seller. If you do not have a good testimonial, then do not put one on your site! Testimonials should present real benefits others can readily identify with, understand and, more importantly, want those same results for themselves! So there you have it! With few exceptions this represents the formula for creating a truly great website. So, how do you go about developing a great, or even good website? Well, this is our task over the next few weeks on this course, to go into detail in several of those areas. Following on from this course, we then need to get your website noticed, and attract people to it.
Again if you are at this stage then take a look at my website, and you will find a lot of good content there.
Home Page If you have any points or questions, then I can be contacted by email at :- rabbie2@btinternet.com Here's to your success, Bill Ritchie http://www.thehomebusinessprofessor.com email: rabbie2@btinternet.com
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