Deadly Webmaster Disease - SiteRightItis
Interesting title and maybe it made you smile, however for some webmasters this is a very real condition. Do you have it? I hope not, but you can find out by reading on. Hopefully if you are infected with this disease then this article should immunize you and ensure you a long and healthy webmaster life. (I'll send you the bill for the immunization later)
Ok let's get serious. I have spent many years helping all sorts of web businesses get off the ground from info sites to entire shopping malls, I have built them all.
What is always interesting to me is to see is which sites stay around and which disappear after a few months.
Over the past few years I have noticed something very interesting. A small percentage of my clients are constantly tweaking their sites, adding this feature, adding that feature, changing the look of this page, changing the look of that page, in essence trying to create the "Perfect" site. For me this is not a bad thing as I get paid for editing and installation services. However I often tell clients they don't need this or that and try and re-focus them a little on what they SHOULD be doing. I do have a reputation of "telling it how it is" but In my defense I could not do otherwise, I believe we sometimes need to hear wat we NEED to hear not what we want to hear.
Here is what I discovered, the webmasters that spend the most time tweaking and perfecting their sites don't have anywhere near the visitors my busiest clients do.
Now while wanting your site to be "perfect" may seem like a good positive thing, it can be fraught with danger. The reason for the lack of visitors to these "tweaking" sites is simple, they spend hundreds of hours worrying about cosmetics and features, and next to no time promoting their business. Some of them even blamed the layout of the site and not the lack of promotion for its poor visitor numbers and lack of profit.
Websites are no different from traditional bricks and mortar businesses. You can have the most beautiful restaurant in the country, serving the best food on a little back street somewhere, but unless people know where it is it will fail. Well the internet is FULL of tiny back streets and your business is on one of the smallest until you promote it, get busy, and move to one of the busier streets where word of mouth brings you most your trade.
I remember many years ago when I started my first site, I did at least have the common sense to realize that I knew very little about running an online business, and went and signed myself up for a few webmaster newsletters to gleam some tips and advice from those more experienced.
I will never forget the very first email I ever received from one of those webmaster sites, it's subject was "KISS" which stood for "Keep It Simple Stupid" Something I have never forgotten.
Sure your site needs to look nice, but what is way more important is the content and the navigation. If I visit a flower site to order flowers for my mum's birthday, then what I want to see when I get there is FLOWERS!
Yes my eyes will be met with the "overall look" when I land on the home page of the site, if it looks messy maybe I won't order. If it has a nice professional look then great I have a good impression, but believe me when I say this, I will not stop to think about how your site looks any further than that. I just want to buy flowers not do a review on your sites design or feature list.
An example: This is one of my clients sites http://www.anythingflowers.com the lady that owns this site UNDERSTANDS the above. She UNDERSTANDS that web users are busy impatient creatures and just want to see the goods.
Notice she even added a button in her top navigation called "In A Rush?" That leads to a page that basically says, if you are busy instead of wasting time looking through all our categories let us design a lovely bouquet for you. Which product do you think her site sells most of???? You got it, the florists choice bouquets. I rest my case, her visitors want flowers not a pretty site or a live chat feature.
By the same token and this may offend some of you but it's how things are. I am really not interested in a large "about us paragraph on your home page, for goodness sake build an "about us" page and put it in your navigation, if I want to know more about you I'll find it. Right now I'm thinking about my mothers birthday, I just want to see the flowers, know how much they cost and how much delivery is.
Try to keep your opening paragraph to a few lines then show me the product.
If you run a service or information site then tell me briefly about the service or information you offer, then give me a nice clear navigation so I can look around and get more details on the service or information I am interested in. KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Think for one moment about some of the biggest earning sites on the web. Is Paypal loaded with graphics and layout??? No it is very simple, clean and easy to navigate. Take a look at Ebay, the first thing you see are products and categories and a search box. Let's not forget the mother of all simple designs Google what is it? A search engine, whats the first thing you see??? A search box, get it???
There was a lot of publicity recently about the free dating site "plenty of fish" is that a design masterpiece??? NO in fact it's quite ugly, but that site earns over $500,000 A MONTH! What is the first thing you see there?? Dating search, dating ads and dating profiles, not "Plenty of fish was established in 1995 and our primary mission blah blah blah" What do you think the folks at plenty of fish spend their time on? (apart from counting their money) Design? Trendy features?? Hell no! PROMOTION!!!!!
Do you get the point??? SiteRightItis is no different from "I'm just waiting for the right time" or "I'll quit smoking before im 40" it is a form of procrastination hidden behind a rationalized creative reason.
I never did like the word rationalize try a different spelling with the same sound "rational lies".
Ask yourself this: Does my site look nice?? Yes? Great! Am I hitting my visitors with the info, service or products they came for as soon as they reach my site??? Yes?? Great! Is my site easy to get around for visitors and for search engines??? Yes?? Great!
Here's some very complicated advice if you answered yes to all the above:
STOP MESSING AROUND WITH YOUR SITE AND PROMOTE IT!!!!!!!THAT IS HOW YOU WILL MAKE MONEY!!!!!!
Exchange links, list in directories, post in forums, list in search engines, write articles, join some text link exchanges, use the bigger Pay per click search engines and advertise a little. Promote your site in every legal and ethical way you can.
In closing some final reminders:
Other than an initial 5 second glance 90% of your visitors don't care about the quality of your site design, as long as it looks ok and is easy to get around. They are interested in information, products or services.
Promote Promote Promote! The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary!.
Experienced Independent Florist Shares 15 Tips on Ordering Flowers and Gifts
(ContentDesk) October 15, 2005 -- "In the not-too-distant past," says the owner of Nations Florist, "people ordered their floral arrangements and gifts from a neighborhood florist someone they knew and trusted. Now they often call a toll-free number or order online. They don't really know what they're getting."Although they may think they got a bargain, consumers may end up being disappointed in the quality they receive. Or worse, if they send a floral gift, they spend a lot of money to give a high-quality gift, and they never know that the recipient got something far different from what the sender intended.Alan Gurinsky has answered many questions and helped many customers in his three decades as an independent florist. Recently he put together a list of 15 tips to help consumers get the best value and receive the most benefits from the florist's creative talents when ordering from a flower and gift shop.1.
Always call a floral shop directly. Avoid using generic 800 numbers...
Experienced Independent Florist Shares 15 Tips on Ordering Flowers and Gifts
Florists > Experienced Independent Florist Shares 15 Tips on Ordering Flowers and Gifts
Send Flowers Online
Thinking of a special someone? Send flowers. Flowers provide an excellent choice as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations or just saying "I love you". Make those special people in your life realize how important they are by sending a bunch of breathtaking and exquisitely arranged flowers.
In the fast-paced life we live today, it is difficult to locate the florist's number or actually make that trip to the shop. However, we can easily accomplish this task by clicking the mouse at any convenient time of the day. Sending flowers online is quite easy.
Open the site, browse through the various flower arrangements, see the pictures, compare prices and make the purchase. All this comfort results in a huge saving of your time; the ease and convenience make ordering a very pleasurable experience.
Ordering flowers online will result in faster delivery of your order than ordering on the phone. Online florists have connections with several delivery experts...
Florists > Send Flowers Online
Valentine's Day ? Where Did THAT Come From?
Just as soon as the stores put away their Christmas merchandise, out comes the Valentine's Day items ? even though Valentine's is still more than six weeks away.I don't know why, but it always takes me by surprise to see Valentine's Day merchandise so soon after Christmas.I've always wondered where Valentine's Day came from, and under those circumstances, a person could be forgiven for thinking it was invented to create more business when Christmas is over.But no, after a little research, I discovered that Valentine's is not a holiday that was "invented" by greeting card companies to sell more greeting cards or by candy companies to sell more candy or by florists to sell more roses.Valentine's Day actually started more than 1,500 years ago.According to legend, Valentine was a priest who defied the orders of the Roman emperor Claudius and continued to perform marriages. It seems that Claudius realized no young men wanted to join his army because they didn't want to leave their wives and...
Valentine's Day ? Where Did THAT Come From?
Florists > Valentine's Day ? Where Did THAT Come From?
Tis the Season for Giving…Flowers
(ContentDesk) December 2, 2005 -- Are you racing around trying to buy holiday gifts for everyone on your list? Getting gifts out to everyone, near or far, doesnt have to be difficult. Instead of running in and out of every store in town make one stop at your local flower shop or a couple clicks on an online flower site and send flower arrangements to those hard to shop for folk. Winter is the number 1 flower-buying season and theres a reason for that, plants and flowers make great gifts. Here are some great gift ideas: Look for arrangements using poinsettias and amaryllis (flowers of the season) Think wreathsthey make beautiful door hangings and can also be used as centerpieces Ask your florist to incorporate pieces of evergreen into the arrangement for a real holiday feel Find arrangements with candles, fruit, and ornaments used as focal points Anything that is deep purple or red, these are great winter season colors
Tip: Pass on Grocery Store Flowers Why order flowers online...
Florists > Tis the Season for Giving…Flowers