Greetings this week from sunny Los Angeles!
Last week, I posed the question: If you could give people doing business online one piece of advice, what would it be?
Thanks to all of you who responded! I couldn’t include all of your advice here, but here’s a sampling:
“I always tell my web clients that they CANNOT forget about their offline marketing…the web is not the field of dreams; it can take a lot of work. Conversely, assuring them that they're not…throwing their money away with a web site, can also be a challenge!” -- Kera McHugh
“Two words. 'Measure everything.’ Everything you do on the web can be measured, the problem is that businesses don't measure the correct things. They are happy to plod along with programs written by technicians that tell you how many browsers use Netscape or Internet Explorer. …Use conversion rates and business objectives as a measurement, test and experiment with copy and content until you have it right and then stick with that as a formula for success.” -- Steve Jackson
“Give something of value away at no charge. Examples might include free white papers (e.g. many vendors do this), downloadable evaluation versions of software (e.g. Coffee Cup HTML Editor), business services (e.g. VistPrint "free" business cards), and so on. If an online vendor shows a willingness to meet an interested prospect part way with ‘no strings attached’ value items, a good many of those prospects will convert to loyal customers.” – Basil Harris
“Whenever you receive an offer by e-mail that looks too good to be true, don't fall for it. The old saying is true, the offer is not.” -Eduardo A. Bonacic-Doric
As always, your feedback is both welcome and encouraged.
Until next time,
Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
MarketingProfs.com