ImageWorksBlog

Many clients come to us for help in re-designing their Web site. Typically, the conversation starts with the client asking us questions. In response, I hand them a sheet with questions that are best answered before they start peppering us with questions that are, in some cases, not relevant. This list of questions is a fantastic guide to help people get back on track with their web development projects.

1) What is the goal of the site? If it's to support your product or service, great. Then let's make the documentation front and center, and easy to find. If it's to make the phone ring, then lets make sure the phone number is big and bright and well placed.

2) How will you measure success? Is it number of visitors? Is it spreading your message? Or, is it having the right kind of person pick up the phone and call you?

3) How many people on your team have to be involved? At what level?

4) Who will be writing the content? And, what will the content say about you? this relates directly back to item number 1 on this list. Are you trying to close sales? Are you telling a story?

5) Are you earning permission to follow up? Allowing appropriate people to opt in is a very powerful tool for gaining permission to "touch" you clients.

6) How will people find your site? Google? From your URL printed on Billboards? Does showing up in the search engines matter? What about Viral Marketing?

7) Who needs to update this site? How often? Do your news and sections need frequent updating? Will your developer support ongoing maintenance, or supply you a toolset to update your content, or both?

8) How are you integrating your other marketing efforts with your Web site? Do you have coupons that are emailed out that can be redeemed in your online store? Can people request coupons from your site that can be used in your brick and mortar establishment?

9) How often will you overhaul your site? What are the dollar and time constraints on the project?

And finally, my personal favirite:

10) Do your team members understand that 'everything' is not an option?

Jeffrey

Jeffrey Cohen is the director of New Business Development at ImageWorks, LLC in Vernon, CT. ImageWorks has been providing state of the art web development solutions for 10 years. ImageWorks can provide web solutions for both large and small companies. Visit our portfolio on our website. For maximum ROI with your web design, development, hosting or internet marketing needs including myspace design, on-line marketing, Social Media and Blog design, or for help with web issues, contact Jeffrey at JCohen@imageworksllc.com.

Many of our clients approach us for guidance, and often we find that some of what they are looking for us to provide is really something they should be providing to us. As they say, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." So then, what can you do to become a better client to your creative service vendors?

Have realistic expectations, and know your limits (resources such as time, money, etc.,) before beginning the project.

Simplify the problem!

Don't be afraid of paying for the work. Friends and family typically can only take you so far.

Stay away from glitz for glitz's sake. It may look pretty, but often stifles functionality.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey Cohen is the director of New Business Development at ImageWorks, LLC in Vernon, CT. ImageWorks has been providing state of the art web development solutions for 10 years. ImageWorks can provide web solutions for both large and small companies. Visit our portfolio on our website. For maximum ROI with your web design, development, hosting or internet marketing needs including myspace design, on-line marketing, Social Media and Blog design, or for help with web issues, contact Jeffrey at JCohen@imageworksllc.com.

Customers really don’t become customers until they have bought from you at least twice. The first time they buy, they are merely visitors looking for the value in what you offer.

Getting customers in the door is one thing. Getting them to come back is something quite different. Single visit customers are the most expensive and therefore least profitable to work with. (What exactly did you spend to get them to come to your website or store in the first place?)

And now that they are here, what can you do to keep them? What can you do to build the Holy Grail of Marketing, Customer Loyalty?

Well, outstanding customer service is certainly a great start. Under promising and over delivering are the staples of a great consumer experience. But how about a great rewards program? Something of real value that keeps them coming back? And how much would you spend on someone that you have already spent a fortune on in the first place, if it means keeping them coming back?

Using your Web site as a means to capture customer loyalty is a great, cost effective way to offer your client base a way to redeem coupons, offers, and receive the benefits of being a customer. See what creative ways you can think of to keep 'em coming back.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey Cohen is the director of New Business Development at ImageWorks, LLC in Vernon, CT. ImageWorks has been providing state of the art web development solutions for 10 years. ImageWorks can provide web solutions for both large and small companies. Visit our portfolio on our website. For maximum ROI with your web design, development, hosting or internet marketing needs including myspace design, on-line marketing, Social Media and Blog design, or for help with web issues, contact Jeffrey at JCohen@imageworksllc.com.

Halt the "revolving door" on your Web site.
Have you taken a look at your Web site statistics lately?

Have you taken a look at your Web site statistics lately? As Web users get increasingly surfing-savvy, they are spending less and less time perusing sites they come across. Their initial visit may last as little as 10 seconds. If your site doesn't immediately rivet a visitor's interest, he or she is gone -- possibly never to return.

You have as little time to lock-in interest as does a highway billboard. And, once you gain that interest, you need mechanisms to guide a visitor to action: purchase your product, generate a lead, inquire about your services -- whatever you deem a successful outcome of a Web visit.

Statistics show that it is not uncommon for only one Web visitor in 500 to take action on a Web site. For some reason, most Web site owners find this an acceptable ratio. As a comparison, say you operated a traditional retail store on Main Street U.S.A. If 499 persons out of every 500 who walked into your store immediately left -- without even a glance at your merchandise -- would you find that acceptable? Of course not. You'd go out of business rather quickly.

So how do you halt the "revolving door" on the Web?

A critical step is to give your Web visitors an alluring and easy way to interact with you. And we're not talking about your site's "Contact Us" link.

The vast majority of Web sites rely on their site's "Contact Us" page for inbound inquiries. This is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make.

Statistically, the "Contact Us" page is one of the least visited pages on a Web site. Why? When a person is making an initial evaluation of a company's products or services, the last thing he or she will do is pick up the phone or send an e-mail. Consciously or unconsciously, he or she doesn't want to be bombarded with a sales pitch or get on another "spam" e-mail list.

So, if not via the "Contact Us" page, how do you encourage someone to engage your services? It's easier than you might think...

Even in today's high-tech interconnected world, still the most powerful word in all of marketing is "free". Give your Web visitors a taste of your services. An easy way is to create a couple-page PDF with some tips or insights about your industry -- and offer it as a free download on your Web site.

One of our clients is a company called Hayward Turnstiles, Inc. Visit www.haywardturnstiles.com and notice the small button in the upper right that says "Download our FREE Turnstile Guide". Simple techniques like this can be hugely successful at bringing the "revolving door" to a rapid stop. They jump-start the interaction, generate leads, create fertile and fresh databases for permission marketing e-mails and e-newsletters -- you name it.

Instead of a 1-in-500 interaction ratio, maybe it becomes 200-in-500. Now isn't that much more reasonable?

This is just one of many business-building techniques we offer our clients. ImageWorks specializes in making sites work for companies -- not just be pretty pictures on the screen.

So stop the revolving door. Lock in business. With a few small techniques, it's easy.

Jeffrey Cohen is the director of New Business Development at ImageWorks, LLC in Vernon, CT. ImageWorks has been providing state of the art web development solutions for 10 years. ImageWorks can provide web solutions for both large and small companies. Visit our portfolio on our website. If you have any web design, development, hosting or internet marketing needs including myspace design, marketing and Blog design, we can assist. For help with web issues or to leave a reply to this blog post, contact Jeffrey at JCohen@imageworksllc.com.

Many marketing folks are finally starting to sit up and take notice of the fact that traditional copywriting techniques do not work on the web. The reasons are varied but include the nature of the web. When leafing through a magazine for example, you will likely give some focus to a full page ad, or if there's a billboard between your home and your place of work you might not notice it today, but you probably will tomorrow or the next day. it's a different ball game when it comes to the online world.

When surfing hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of pages per day, the chances of coming across the same message once you've left a website are pretty small. With each web page it's either now or never. You can lose the reader if you haven't engaged them sufficiently.

So, how do we solve these issues?

First of all, instead of trying to SELL to a customer, today's successful marketers need to be more focused on generating leads which could end up in a sale further down the line.

Offering free downloads of white papers, videos that engage, or other free trials and offers are a fantastic way to engage your future clients, and a great way to capture their information so that with permission, you can continue to market to them, building trust and becoming a valuable source of information over time. What you are doing is recognizing that it's tough to get people to buy from one page, and reacting by reducing the size of the barrier making it really easy for consumers to become familiar with your company.

The bigger issue is that most traditional marketers think writing sales copy for the web is exactly the same as writing for print. Many make the simple mistake of copying and pasting their print-based marketing messages onto their websites, and then wonder why conversion rates are poor. It may be time to make the transition from writing print sales copy to online copy and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Some key points to consider include:

1) Online customers aren't a captive audience. They come and go as they please, ultimately making an immediate sale harder. Generating leads by offering free trials, white papers, demos, or a free newsletter may ultimately be more important than blindly pursuing the big sales pitch.

2) Transparency is key to writing online sales copy. Don't make false promises because customers can readily read up on your products and services, immediately check a competitors site, use comparison websites and even Google customer review forums and user groups to get real information.

3) When writing an offer for your prospective clients, make sure it is clean, concise, and attention grabbing without being too gimmicky. Your headline is a promise to prospective readers. Its job is to clearly communicate the benefit that you will deliver to the reader in exchange for their valuable time. Write your headline first, and then make sure you are able to deliver on the promise you just made!

Welcome to the New ImageWorks Blog!