One of my favorite things to do is to surf real estate web sites for different areas. Currently, I am daydreaming about living in the North Carolina Mountains.

This morning, I ran into two issues (on two different sites).

On one site, the text descriptions of the houses (a VERY important part of any RE site and its content) were done in black on white (almost always a good choice) BUT in italic! It is EXTREMELY difficult to read paragraphs worth of italics!

So… when SHOULD you use Italics?

At this point, the majority of web site content is text. Additionally, most LINKS are underlined to show that they are clickable. As a result of that combination of circumstances I recomend the following:

• Limit Underlining ONLY to links (I do the same in my paper writing, as well)
• Limit Italics to brief usage (such as word or phrase or, rarely, a sentence). To make it easier to read, combine Bold and Italic.
• Use Bold for emphasis, especially for longer passages such a paragraphs, because it is easy to read.
• Avoid colored text unless you have chosen a font color and background color combination that has good contrast and is easy to read.
• Be sure that the Text size is reasonably large or else it may be hard to read.

Check your site in different browsers… and ask you customers/clients if it looks good to them!

This will remind them of your site, get them engaged, and, we hope, will alert you to any problems you may not be aware of!

If they can’t read your site… you are in TROUBLE!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

PS- I’ll talk about the second issue I saw later on this week ;-)

As a business consultant, I spend a LOT of time recommending that my clients Blog to promote their businesses. I also suggest using WordPress to create standard business web sites (I have a Free ecourse on this topics in the works).

At the same time, I am also very aware of the large number of people who Blog as a social exercise, and as part of a spiritual journey.

Being hip deep in writing about blogging as I prepare for my upcoming TNNA classes, this article caught my eye:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/05/07/blog.therapy/index.html

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

The most important action a web site can perform is to attract visitors — and, they need to be the RIGHT visitors!

There are actually 2 types of visitors that come to a web site – search engine spiders and human visitors.

I am going to put *Search Engine Spiders* first here, because one of your biggest concerns as a business owner is *do I show up in the search engines?* — Right? And, it is an extremely important goal of your web site and your business’s online presence.

Unfortunately, *Search Engine Optimization*, also known as SEO, is NOT a subject that all web designers/developers know about… and the dirty little secret is that a talented web designer and a beautiful web site may actually be sabotaging your web site in the search engines!

YIKES!

Who’d a thunk!

OK, don’t panic – let’s look at this issue in detail.

A *Search Engine Spider* is a program that follows or *crawls* along the internet, going from link to link and reading the contents of that page, which is then stored in the Search Engine memory. Now, there are TWO key issues here:

1) the page needs LINKS – If a page doesn’t have any links, coming or going, the spiders can’t find it. Most web site pages have links, usually multiple links, and so a *Search Engine Spider* will crawl from page to page and web site to web site.

2) the page needs CONTENT for the spider to READ – Let’s be clear here… at this point in internet technology, Search Engine Spiders can ONLY read TEXT. Search Engine Spiders can not read images! (et least, not yet! LOL) They can read the file name of a picture, and that can be used to help with search engine standings, but if all you have on a web page is a picture and links — if there is no real content for the search engine spider to READ — that page is NOT going to do well in the Search Engines.

In other words, if you have your restaurant’s menu displayed ONLY as a graphic/picture, while your human visitors may be able to read about your famous signature dish, the Search Engines won’t ever know about it and your web site, or at least that page, won’t show up in the results if a human visitor does a search for your famous signature dish!

OK — NOW you can panic!

So, what can YOU do? First, YOU — as the business owner — need to be taking an active role in your web site development, and this means protecting YOUR interests by educating yourself. The Internet is still new enough that comparing it to the Wild West is not a far leap. You need to protecting yourself and your business!

Fortunately, there is an incredibly valuable resource available online — and it is FREE.

Cricket Walker offers intensive online courses here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SEO_Techniques/

and here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/successful-website-marketing/

If YOU don’t have time to take the courses, have one of your employees do so, especially the employee in charge of your web site.

No matter what, YOU need to read Cricket’s book, Search Engine Techniques.

http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/seo-techniques.htm

The reality is, you can’t trust anybody but yourself to protec your interests. If you have read Cricket’s book, you will know enough to protect yourself from talented and well-meaning but clueless web designers. ;-)

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

This is the first post in a new Series called — Now What?

We have all heard soooo much about the power of the internet and, as a result, it is very easy to develop unrealistic expectations. You put up your web site and then you wait… and wait… and wait…

Sometimes you know what you are waiting for (Lots of sales?Many new clients? The phone ringing off of the hook?) and sometimes you don’t — *I have a web site now. This will make a difference… won’t it?*

The truth of the matter is… a web site can have a tremendous positive (or worst case — a negative) impact on an offline business. However, you do need to understand the intricacies involved. Just having a web site online won’t do much for your business.

The good news is — and I am a *glass is half full* soul– you have already taken the first and hardest step… you HAVE a web site. Now you need to build and develop your online presence.

This series, *Now What* is aimed at helping you understand the issues involved and help you develop strategies to address them… so, stay tuned and look for *Now What* next week!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

I ran into a problem recently… out of the blue!

I have a professional relationship with someone in one of my niches. We have communicated by email for a couple of years with no problems, other than an occasional email disappearing into the VOID. Ok, that happens. It can be inconvenient, but compared to the ease and speed with which most email is handled, I can live with it.

This last time however, out of the blue, and as Murphy would have it, with a deadline looming, my emails to her were suddenly AWOL!

Unfortunately, it took a while for me to realize that she wasn’t getting my precious missives… and she simply thought that I had failed to meet my deadline. ;-( To further complicate matters, all of this happened late one night on a weekend, so picking up the phone wasn’t a practical option… sigh…

Once the dust had settled, I realized that for some reason, Yahoo will no longer accept email from my tried and true primary email address. I have a number of web sites and use a couple of different hosting companies so I sent the final email from another site on a different host and she was able to receive it.

The problem arose in that she felt that this was MY problem, since it was MY email that was being blocked. As I looked into the matter, it became clear that I had no options to clear up the problem with Yahoo… sigh…

In this case, we now have a work around should we need it, but it got me to thinking. I consult with a fair number of independent retailers, many of whom sell online, and most of whom use email in their businesses.

I had just finished writing my ebook, *Email Marketing the RIGHT Way* and realized that I need to come up with a practical strategy to recommend to my retail clients, should this problem arise with their businesses.

I am in the process of writing a new Cheat Sheet to deal with this issue and to provide supplemental information for the Email Marketing the RIGHT Way. I’ll let you know as soon as the Cheat Sheet is ready!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

FavIcons are one of my personal favs about marketing online.

So, what IS a FavIcon? A FavIcon is the little picture you see in the browser’s URL/address bar and next to that site’s name in a long list of bookmarks. For this web site, it is an itty bitty version of the colorful gear image on the blog header. Can you see it? Not all browsers show the FavIcon, but a lot of them do. I am sure that eventually all of them will do so.

I have been using FavIcon for many years now… in fact I NEVER put a site up without a FavIcon. Part of it is my lamentable *I am a Designer and everything has to be perfect* mentality… but, truth be told. I also honestly believe that it can give a web site an effective marketing edge.

I am online about 12-18 hours a day, barring the t’storms when I turn off and unplug the ‘puter (a 100 year old house and funky wiring, ya know! LOL). As a result, I have a terrifyingly long list of bookmark folders, each of which holds another long list of bookmarked web sites. Does a FavIcon make it easy for me to find a given web site in those long and endless lists?

You bet it does! ;-)

In addition, online, among the myriad of web sites which can be your site’s direct and indirect competition, a FavIcon can help build that all important marketing element — the *Online Brand*.

I have added a Cheat Sheet about FavIcons over at SurviveAndConquerOnline.com as well as a brief, FREE Tutorial in the Academy there.

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

One of the biggest barriers to Online success is applying Offline reasoning to Online situations– incorrectly.

Online marketing (and selling) is very complex and all of us are looking for ways to decipher its complexity. One tempting method is to look for parallels between the Offline and Online worlds and then apply that Offline reasoning to Online situations.

Now, as a former Theater Scene Designer, I was trained to use metaphor as a problem solving tool. Comparing apples to apples can be very effective, but in many cases, applying Offline reasoning to Online problems is more like comparing apples to screwdrivers.

What brought this to mind was hearing (third hand, I will admit) about a company that is planning on selling digital products online. OK… that is good. I sell digital products online and know that it is a viable business model.

Now– I do realize that as Offline Retailers YOU won’t be selling digital (downloadable) products, but please bear with me here! This is simply a conevnient exampel to illustrate the problem with drawing incorrect parallels. ;-)
What concerned me was hearing (again, third hand) that this company did not plan to show the book pricing until the item is added to the shopping cart.

As it was explained to me, the reason was that they were following the example of “real books” whose pricing is located either on the back or inside the front jacket, so viewing the price requires a little work.

Hmmmm… OK, let’s think about this…

I see this as faulty logic for three reasons. (Truth be told, I quit looking after these three, because I had other things I needed to do. LOL)

My thoughts —

Problem #1 – Following the example of “real books” only works if you understand WHY it is that way and your product and its selling mechanism are the same as “real books”.

With real books, putting the price on the back or inside the front jacket encourages the shopper to pick up the books. Many times this leads to looking more closely at the book, opening it and reading an excerpt, looking at the table of contents, the index, or, better yet, any illustrations (can you tell that I am a visual person? LOL).

The potential customer is interacting with the book, building a relationship with the book, and once that happens is more likely to want to give it a good home (meaning purchase it, for any of you poor souls who are not *book people* … smile…)

With a digital product, displayed online, this won’t happen…

While a digital product may have the same intellectual content as a physical printed version, the differences in its physical manifestation – it is a file on a computer, not a physical book– make this an excellent example of comparing apples to screwdrivers.

Problem #2 – Pricing on digital products can vary greatly.

With a physical product, it is easy to guess a ballpark price.

I don’t expect to pay the same for a beat-up second hand paperback book as I would for the newest, large, lavishly illustrated and beautifully printed coffee table book.

Pricing digital products is much less obvious. Often it is difficult to separate the issues of physical creation and manufacturing costs from the value of the intellectual property that the digital product contains. As a result, it is very difficult to predict accurately what the product cost will be.

Problem #3 – Online purchasers are wary about being taken advantage of or scammed.

Many folks are not aware that it is safe to back out of a purchase even after you have products in an online shopping cart.

Many are afraid that simply starting the transaction will commit them. Will they be willing to start the process, simply to find out the price? I doubt it!

One of the most important elements of successful online selling is creating customer comfort and trust. For that reason, it is important that an online merchant provide open and comprehensive information about a transaction BEFORE the transaction begins. This includes information such as a detailed description of the item, photograph of the item (if applicable), the format/size of the item, shipping charges, exactly how the transaction will take place AND the product’s price!

I believe that asking the customer to start the transaction before establishing the price is a poor marketing strategy.

Thinks of how differences between countries and cultures can affect business. In some parts of the world, black is the color of mourning, in others, white is worn to honor the dead. To someone wishing to show proper respect, wearing the wrong clothing can send a disrespectful message nonetheless.

There are many knowledgeable Offline business people who are moving Online and bringing with them a wealth of knowledge and breadth of experience from which all of us benefit.

The danger lies in NOT recognizing that Online is a very different universe than Offline. It is important to learn about this new Online world before incorrectly applying business principles from the old Offline world.

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

Last January,I had a wonderful time in Long Beach, teaching 5 classes for a total of 6 sessions. I taught 2 sessions of my Step By Step to your First Web Site class.

Interestingly enough I had one women attending that class… she looked dvaguely familiar, but, after 10 years of attending the Needlework Trade Shows, EVERYBODY looks vaguely familiar! LOL

Later she came up and told me who I was… with that context, I remembered her. Her husband had taken one of my first Internet classes, several years ago at one of the Trade ShowS. The class had been about how to build a web site. He loved the class and had gone right home and created a lovely site for his wife’s retail store. He had emailed me asking a few questions, and had sent me links so I could see the new store once he had it up and running. ;-)

Needless to say, I was a bit surprised to see hee in my classes — she ended up taking all 5 of them! Well, during a break between classes, we had time fo a chat and I learned that …

… she had lost the web site her husband built her as the result of an acrimonious divorce. He kept it and since she didn’t know any of the info she needed to retrieve it… it was GONE! She lost the web site, the hosting, and MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, she lost the domain name (the dot com name of the site).

If she had been able to retain control of her dot com name, she would have  had the option of simply moving that domain to a different hosting company and building a new web site. Would it have been a Pain in the You Know What? You bet! However, it would have been doable. As it was, she lost her entire online presence.

So… the moral of the story is, YOU, the business owner MUST be the person who registers, supervises, renews, AND controls the domain names for you business. The truth of the matter is, once you have an account with a reliable Registrar (and the accounts are FREE), it is possible to log on and register a domain in just a few minutes… Doing the necessary work to utilize those domains is also very quick…

>> Note to self — do a video showing how simple this is for members of SurviveAndConquerCoaching.com <<

The other obstacle for a business owners is the overwhelming amount of info — what does it mean, why do you need and … what in the TARNATION are you supposed to do with it?

All of those questions are explained AND answered in my Disaster-Proof Your Online Business.

Yet another reason why my Disaster-Proof Your Online Business is SOOOOO important!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

This past January, I spent 5 days in CA at TNNA’s Winter Market, answering lots of internet related questions and teaching a marathon of 3 hour classes about doing business online.

In the course of the show, I was asked many questions about doing business on the internet… in my classes, in the aisles, and at my booth. Often the questions are regarding how business is set up within common internet industry business models.

A common example is that most web designers handle all of the details regarding the web sites they design/develop, including registering the domain and providing the hosting. From the designer/developer’s point of view, this business model is very attractive and a good money producer.

However, from the point of view of a small business owner, this scenario can be fraught with many hidden dangers!

So… what do I do as a business consultant? Do I go with the flow and offer advice based on the common business models?

I always answer every question by first asking myself *What would I tell Lisa?*.

Lisa is my BF/Cousin. She is a single mom with 2 daughters in college and no financial help other than from her own business.

Lisa was the inspiration for my Disaster-Proof Your Online Business Survival Guide and Workbook.

She called me at midnight (my time) to say that she didn’t have access to her web site to change the registration for an offline workshop. Her workshops are the financial backbone of her business, so this was a MAJOR business crisis!

As it turned out, we were able to get the issues resolved… after several nail-biting hours! Lisa’s web developer had sent Lisa the important info when she changed web hosts, so SHE had acted responsibly. Lisa had carefully kept the email that was sent, even though she wasn’t sure exactly what it all meant, so SHE had acted responsibly.

The problems had arisen because Lisa had not realized the importance of being the person controlling the information, decision-making, and action-taking concerning her web site.

Many times, the standard internet industry business practices are helpful to time stressed business owners, but they can sometimes result in catastrophic problems further down the road. As I spend more and more time answering questions in my consulting and coaching business — I find myself returning to the criteria– *What Would I Tell Lisa*.

I try always to answer the questions by explaining what industry standards may be, and what the long term implications are. If I feel that such an action might put a small business’s Internet interests at risk, I explain in detail why I think that, and offer practical suggestions for minimizing the risk.

Alway, in the back of my mind, I hear Lisa’s voice quavering on the phone, *Tink, I think I have a problem…* and I answer accordingly!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

I just had an eye opening Google experience… I did a quick Google Search for:

Dentist Richmond KY

Google displays the title *Local business results for dentist near Richmond, KY*

There, alongside a lovely little map of Richmond, KY are the first 10 results that are found, along with a link that says *More results near Richmond, KY »*. Among the listed results, I recognized my dentist, along with an orthodontist who happens to be the husband of a close friend.

OK… all of this seems straight forward.

However, it started to get interesting when I clicked on the links. The default link — for those businesses that don’t have web sites — is a Google Map page, with a map marked with the business location, the business name, address and phone number. Below this is a set of tabs offering the following choices: Overview, Details, Reviews, and Web Pages (with the number of referring pages beside it)

Of the 10 dentists lists, only 3 had their own web sites — and 2 of the three were committing online business suicide by making a brutal and common mistake. A fourth had a related web site listed, but no web site for his dental practice! YIKES

On a positive note, ALL of the first 10 were listed in multiple online directories…

… but most had only an address and phone number!

Now I do realize that I am passionalte about the importance of online marketing for small businesses (and I can be a bit volatile), but by this time I was bouncing up and down in my chair with frustration!

I had to take a deep breathe and figure out a way to channel my frustrations in a constructive way…

So, keep on the look out for a new Cheat Sheet about WHY local businesses need web sites… ;-)

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink