BuildAWebsiteTonight.com: August 2006

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Showcasing your clients

Depending on which type of business you have, it's always a great idea to showcase happy clients who are using your products or services.

One of my clients' websites is http://SnapshotJourneys.com, a terrific travel information site, created by photojournalist Karen Zabawa. The stories are all first-hand accounts and make great reading, peppered with terrific tips on travelling in general, as well as specific locations.

A little over a year ago Karen knew zip [nothing] about building websites - now she has 3 and uses one of the web builders and hosting through my company, and has gone from strength to strength.

Karen's webmistress skills have grown exponentially in a very short time, and I bet she could even teach people how to use our web builder now. I'm very proud of what she's achieved. If you've got time, why not go visit and take a virtual tour, experience the travel 'virtually' and learn great stuff about exotic [and local] locations.

One of my goals for my business is to start a section on my website where I can highlight the successes of my clients and their websites - stay tuned! Bookmark BuildAWebsiteTonight.com and pop back often. :o)

Ciao for now
Teena!

Monday, August 21, 2006

Words and phrases for marketing ideas!

Today I was emailed some phrases which I thought might amuse you ... feel free to use them when you're coming up with your 'marketing' ideas! The descriptions are - of course - tongue-in-cheek!

NEW = Different color from previous design

ALL NEW = Parts not interchangeable with previous design

EXCLUSIVE = Imported product

UNMATCHED = Almost as good as the competition

DESIGNED SIMPLICITY = Manufacturer used the cheapest components they could find

FOOLPROOF OPERATION = No provision for adjustments

ADVANCED DESIGN = The advertising agency doesn't understand it

IT'S HERE AT LAST! = Eight Months Late

FIELD-TESTED = We think most of the bugs were found by three beta testers

HIGH ACCURACY = Unit on which all parts fit

DIRECT SALES ONLY = We wouldn't give distributors enough margin to make a profit

YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT = Project was canceled six times

REVOLUTIONARY = It's different from our competitors

BREAKTHROUGH = We finally figured out a way to make it work

FUTURISTIC = No other reason why it looks the way it does

DISTINCTIVE = A different shape and color than the others

MAINTENANCE-FREE = Impossible to fix

RE-DESIGNED = Previous faults corrected, we hope...

HAND-CRAFTED = Made in my mates backyard workshop

PERFORMANCE PROVEN = Will operate through the warranty period

MEETS ALL STANDARDS = Ours, not yours

ALL SOLID-STATE = Heavy as Hell!

BROADCAST QUALITY = Gives a picture and produces noise

HIGH RELIABILITY = We made it work long enough to ship it

SMPTE BUS COMPATIBLE = When completed, will be shipped by Greyhound or Pioneer

NEW GENERATION = Old design failed, maybe this one will work

MIL-SPEC COMPONENTS = We got a good deal at a government auction

CUSTOMER SERVICE ACROSS THE COUNTRY = You can return it from most airports

UNPRECEDENTED PERFORMANCE = Nothing we ever had before worked THIS way

BUILT TO PRECISION TOLERANCES = We finally got it to fit together

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED = Manufacturer's, upon cashing your check

MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLED = Does things Marketing can't explain

LATEST AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY = One of our techs was laid off by Boeing

Cheers
Teena!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

How does one sell a high-end service and beat the competition?

One of my newsletter subscribers asks:

"How does one sell a high-end service in a marketplace glutted with weekend-warriors who give their services away? "

This is a very good question! You may find the answer simpler than you imagined.

It doesn't matter what product or service you sell, there will always be someone else who sells it for less ... and quite often there'll be others who sell it for MORE.

So how do you go about making sure yours sells?

You have to make your product or service stand out from the crowd. What is it about yours which is different / better than the others? Can you name what makes it UNIQUE? If you can, you've found your answer! You need to market your product or service as 'unique' and focus on its difference.

If you don't think your product or service is any different to the others, you'd better come up with a way to make it different / better - and fast! If there's no difference between a less expensive product/service, why would anyone bother to buy from you?

Come on - you can think of at least ONE way yours is better - start writing down all the great features and benefits, look at your competitors' websites, flyers, brochures and see what they're forgetting to say ... focus on that and write fantastic info about your product's differences, pinpointing and talking about the benefits to your potential clients.

Once YOU know what's unique, you'll be able to create a marketing and advertising campaign to capture the attention of your potential clients.

Good luck with your efforts! Keep at it until people know your product is the best! Remember, the ONLY way they will know is if you TELL THEM ...

Cheers
Teena

How to use WordPress?

One of my newsletter subscribers has written:

"I need specific instructions as to how to do some things in Word Press - can you help?"

Although I don't use WordPress, I do know someone who uses it constantly - Teli Adlam. Teli has written a very thorough instruction ebook, and condensed a lot into 7 pages. You can download the pdf by clicking here. Please let me know if you find it useful and that it answers your questions.

Other links you may find useful are:

http://Codex.WordPress.org
and
http://www.WordPress.com

Cheers
Teena

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Websites : Having PDFs on your site

Something which I've been wondering about lately is the reasoning behind all the PDFs [Portable Document Format documents] which website owners have on their sites.

I love to give lots of information as much as the next person [maybe even more] but I think this is very important :

Always let the web visitor know
the link they are about to click on
will go to a PDF.

Why should you let them know? There are a few reasons:

maybe they don't have time for a pdf to load
maybe they don't have pdf reader software installed
maybe they're afraid of viruses
and the list goes on.

Most importantly, you don't want to alienate your web visitor or make it harder for them to get information. If your pdf is full of great info, and should be read by all your web visitors, consider turning the info into web pages.

Another pdf issue which crops up from time to time is the method used to save info as pdfs. Recently I have received [or downloaded] catalogs of information, but once the pdf was opened, I was unable to use the Search feature. I had to wonder - what's the point of a catalog if I couldn't search for what I needed? None of the obvious topics were clickable, so the only option I had was to scroll through or search for a page number. What a turn off that was. Consider your web visitor when you 'save' your info as a pdf - carefully consider the Settings before the final click 'ok'.

I would just like you to think about your web visitor, the 'end-user' of your information, and put yourself in their shoes. Or better still, what's bugged you lately about websites you've been to or info YOU'VE received? Could any of your web visitors feel like that about YOUR website?

Give it some thought ... you may just find you could do a spot of tweaking, help out potential customers and gain a few new clients by making your site even easier to use.

Ciao for now,
Teena

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Marketing :: Using articles to get website visitors

Recently I wrote a post called Bring visitors to your site [where I talked about blogs] and I'd like to expand on that theme.

If you'd like to bring visitors to your blog, it may not be appropriate to write about it on your website, but you can certainly have links to your blog from your site.

I also have an Article Directory attached to my main website, and I write articles and make sure my links are at the bottom of the article - website url [website link], blog url and article url if appropriate.

If you write about different topics or themes, and have more than one website, you can put different urls [links] at the bottom of articles.

I recently wrote an article with the word 'pantihose' in the title, which for some reason, brings in lots of clicks and visitors. :)

The article is called My Pantihose have been Googled!

The same article is also about website presentation and making sure each page is ready for visitors, and don't assume each visitor will come in the 'front door' [there are some tips in the article on how to make sure you're covered].

Getting back to writing articles, a lot of people who would like to write think it's just too hard, and while you think that, it may just be true. What if you decided it wasn't too hard, and you only had to write one paragraph about something you enjoy in your business? Is that too hard? No? I didn't think so. :)

Put that paragraph away until tomorrow, then look at it again, and write one more paragraph.

Do this until you have about one page worth of valuable information. That's an article. It doesn't have to be hard, it just requires you to write about something you know about, or are passionate about, or want to share. When you're ready, you can submit your article to a range of article banks - there are a zillion, this is just a small list:

www.businessarticles.org
www.goarticles.com
Yahoo Marketing Articles
Yahoo Self-care Articles
www.1st-in-articles.com All types of articles
www.amazines.com Many types of articles
www.adswise.com Internet Marketing articles
www.authorconnection.com Many articles
www.advertisingknowhow.com Large variety of categories
Yahoo Business Articles
www.reprintarticles.com Many categories
www.articlecity.com Most articles.

The majority are free to join, so create an account at a couple of these, then the next day go back and add your article. You don't need to do it all in the one day - you can take it in easy steps.

When you check your website statistics a few days later, you just might be pleasantly surprised to see some visitors from those same article banks where you posted your article. How cool is that?

Try to write one article per month, and you'll be amazed at how your web visitors will increase in number.

Have fun!
Teena

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Blog :: Marketing

Do you tremor when you hear the phrase 'marketing your business'?

Do you shrink back in fear and trepidation? shy away from networking groups?

Start sweating profusely when you try to force yourself to make cheerful 'catch up' calls with clients and potential clients?

Well, I've got a tip for you. Shhhhhh! Just between us ... come closer, no - even closer ... ready to hear what it is? You'll be relieved, I promise!

Here it is. Stop doing all those things that make you nervous and uncomfortable!
STOP TODAY!

Phew - feel better now I got THAT off my chest. [Sighhhh]

Oh. You thought I meant NEVER do any marketing ever again?

Oh no, no, no - that's not what I meant. :)

What I actually meant was, stop doing the kind of marketing you DON'T like, and start doing the marketing you DO like!

How easy is that?

If you're great on the phone, make weekly, fortnightly calls to potentials and clients.
If you're great in groups, attend all the networking events to be recognized and hand out biz cards.
If you're an email whiz, do all your contact by email.

But what if there's an even easier solution?

What about A BLOG?? That's right, a blog where you can write every day or so, just a paragraph or two, to update your clients and potentials on what's happening at your 'ranch' [or office etc].

I know, I know - now you're wondering, "What on earth will I write???!"

But I bet if you look at your daily diary and just go over the day's events, you'll be amazed at how many very suitable topics can be put in a blog entry. Got a new contract for a great project? Bought fantastic new equipment to upgrade your services? Employed new staff, or learnt new skills, to better help your clients? Each of these things is a great topic for a blog.

What happened in the news today in your industry?

Making reference to one or more news stories [and link to them] will show your clients you're up-to-speed on your industry news, which builds confidence in your capabilities.

Any conferences or events which might interest clients?

Search google for info on relevant events, even if you have global visitors - there'll be a client who will be really pleased they heard about a conference on your blog.

Have a newsletter sign up page on your website because ...

if you have a newsy blog, you can put links to all the interesting blog posts [and comments] over the past few weeks, which means you won't have to search for info for your newsletter anymore [no doubt at the very last minute].

So, get started today - go to the Blogger.com home page and sign up - it'll take about 2.75 minutes - I promise. :)

Cheers
Teena!

Backups and keeping copies

Did you see the article in the paper or online today, about NASA 'misplacing' the video of the FIRST STEPS ON THE MOON???

Oh boy, I really can't believe that!

One giant blunder for mankind: How NASA lost moon pictures
Richard Macey : August 5, 2006

THE heart-stopping moments when Neil Armstrong took his first tentative steps onto another world are defining images of the 20th century: grainy, fuzzy, unforgettable.

But just 37 years after Apollo 11, it is feared the magnetic tapes that recorded the first moon walk - beamed to the world via three tracking stations, including Parkes's famous "Dish" - have gone missing at NASA's Goddard Space Centre in Maryland.

A desperate search has begun amid concerns the tapes will disintegrate to dust before they can be found.

It is not widely known that the Apollo 11 television broadcast from the moon was a high-quality transmission, far sharper than the blurry version relayed instantly to the world on that July day in 1969. [Read more on the Sydney Morning Herald website ...]

It made me think of how many people I know who don't actually back up their computer data, their websites, or even keep their paperwork organised, or even scanned onto cds so they can access it when the ink is no longer visible on the pages. [Is it just me or is anyone else having this issue with some receipts, for example, with 'disappearing' ink after a couple of months? who'd invent THAT?]

Anyway, I thought it was worth mentioning an article I wrote a while back which has now appeared on a ton of other websites - you might want to check it out here:

Backup Schmackup: Im Afraid, Very Afraid!

And think about it - when was the last time YOU backed up your computer or data???

I'll leave you with that thought,
Cheers
Teena!

So easy even an adult can do it!!

: Name: BuildAWebsiteTonight; Location: Sydney, Australia

Teena Hughes says, "BuildAWebsiteTonight is so easy even an adult can do it!" If you need a website but haven't got a clue where to start, our automated online Web Builder is perfect for you. Teena will add snippets of information to this blog about websites, the internet, and other small business topics - we hope you enjoy them.

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