:The Flash Advancer

Your web site is like your car. Both are significant
investments that require the right features and regular and
proper maintenance to ensure maximal satisfaction and
performance.

Your car is a finely tuned machine. You bought it not only
to get you from point A to point B but also perhaps to have
some fun and look good as you go. If you purchased your car
new its engine had no wear. To keep it running like the day
you bought it you maintain it regularly: you change the oil
every 3000 miles, you inspect its belts and hoses, you check
its fluids and rotate its tires (or at least you should).
Without such attention the money you spent on your car will
eventually seem like a mistake as it sits idly in your
garage because it won’t start.

Your investment in your web site deserves the same care you
give your car. While the purpose of your car is to get you
from place to place, the purpose of your web site is to help
you develop new business and become more successful. It
doesn’t matter if your business is retail sales or
professional services, your web site is supposed to act as
your store front on the Internet. While your web site
doesn’t need its oil changed or tires rotated it does
require maintenance to ensure it performs as the marketing
tool you intended it to be when you paid to have it
developed.

Here are five things you can do to tune up or add to the
marketing function of your web site.

Fresh content
Fresh content will keep your visitors coming back to your
site just like the oil and gas in your car help ensure it
starts every time you put the key in the ignition. If you
neglect to maintain fresh supplies of either, you’re asking
for trouble. Your visitors seek fresh content. Once your
visitors realize they’ve gotten all their going to get out
of your site they will not return.

Add new, relevant and helpful content to your site as often
as you can and you will keep your visitors happy and
returning.

Keywords
Your keywords are the words your visitors use when they
think about the products or services you provide. They are
like the make and model of your car - they are what get
noticed. Your visitors use keywords and phrases to perform
searches at sites like Google and Yahoo! to find what they
need. They recognize and respond to these words when they
see them featured in search listings, advertisements and
other promotional materials. Make sure you know your
keyword phrases and incorporate them into the Title, Meta
Tags and copy of your web site.

Copy
The advertising copy of your web site can be likened to the
amenities of your car. Your car has a stereo, cup holders
and convenient storage space to address your wants and needs
as you drive. The copy of your web site should do the same
thing. To maximize the marketing function of your web
site’s copy make sure it focuses on the problems, wants and
concerns of your clients. Your visitors will be more likely
to identify you as the solution to their problem if you
demonstrate to them that you understand their needs.

Require Action
Just like your car requires you to step on the gas to make
it go, your web site requires your visitors to take the
action you want them to take in order to function as an
effective marketing tool. No one has to tell you to step on
the gas. Your visitors need to be told what to do. Tell
them to “buy now” or “request our catalog”. If you don’t
they might ever know that’s what they’re supposed to do.

Get Contact Info
Getting contact information from you visitors is like
remembering the keys to your car. If you can’t get into you
car and start it, you’re not going anywhere. Likewise, if
you don’t learn who your prospects are you can’t continue
marketing to them. Most people who visit your web site will
not buy from you the first time they stop by. In most
cases, it takes between six and eight marketing contacts
with a prospect before they choose to purchase something.
Your prospects are no different. If you acquire their
contact information you will be able to repeatedly market to
them.

Take the steps you need to maintain your web site and it
will run smoothly and get you where you want to go.

Copyright 2005 Jeremy Cohen, Better Marketing Results

The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and
professional service providers attract more clients and be more
successful by helping them deliver a web site that sells and
improve their marketing materials to generate more interest
in their products and services. Get his free marketing guide,
Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success:
http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/marketing-services.asp

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What is the most-read advertising medium when traveling? It is
not the map. And definitely not the newspaper. It is the one
they called the Brochure.

Brochures have become considered the “gem” of the advertising
world. What added to the interest of brochure is that not only
did they serve as guide for those who have no idea whatsoever,
they are also used as marketing tools for businesses and
companies alike. It can be noted that not all brochures are
effective in these purposes, which leads to the questions: What
should be in a brochure to make it effective, all the while
interesting?

The main thing to be considered is the cover of your brochure
because it is the first thing that people sees upon holding
them. The message that should be written there should entice the
reader to look inside and read more. Graphic designs can also be
an added factor. Captivating pictures and life-like images are
sure capturers but they do not really explain what the brochure
is about. Designs are just first hand insights. The main key is
the words you use. Using words to attract and provoke curiosity
are like hypnotizing them to do whatever you want them to do
next. And that next thing would be to read further into the
brochure.

Another approach that people use in a brochure is the “pity”
approach. This type of approach entices the emotions of the
readers. The guilt feeling coupled with a hint of curiosity make
them go through the brochure. Graphic images can only heighten
their already intense emotions. Take, for example, brochures
that present malnourished children or poverty stricken places
and even beggars sleeping on streets. The initial reaction to
this is pity. And with conflicting emotion of compassion and
apathy, the readers tend to look for and see what all was that
about. See how a simple picture can be effective marketers?

And lastly, the most important contents that should not be left
out in brochures are the details about your company or business.
Besides the name of course, contact details should be
prominently put in all the right places. Sometimes the owners
forget to put in information like contact numbers and operation
times. These details pertaining to the owners are the next
important things in a brochure. After reading the brochures, the
readers have the tendency to look for information about the
owners. This is their way of checking for credibility and
background on the owners and the people advertising these
brochures.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit
http://www.ucreative.com

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If there is one thing we have all suffered through is waiting for a site to download online. It seems like it is the worse thing in the world and will never end. We actually either click off of the site or after the initial download of the frontpage completes, we then click off of the site because the subpages take too long to load. We have all been here and this article is to help make sure your visitors don’t go through it as well.

The reason why a websites speed of download is important is actually very simple and we have broken it down into two parts:

-The first part is that people want to get to where they are going quickly. This is pretty straight forward and now a days no one seems to have the time to wait for a site to download(no matter how important it is).

-The second part is to deliver the content to the user as quick as possible so that we can keep them interested and entertained. The quicker they can get to the information the more they will click around your site and the more they will interact with your website. This is extremely important if your website has it’s own estore, as the more products your visitors are able to view then the more time they spend in your store and the better the chance you have of them purchasing something off of you. Pretty simple and straight forward.

Now you may be wondering how you can take your current design or your re-design and improve the performance of your website so it doesn’t take forever for it to download. The truth is that it isn’t too complex and actually anyone can follow these steps. Here are some tips on how to get your website to load faster and why these factors may cause long load times:

1. Tip one is to use regular html text instead of graphic text(such as exporting text from a program like fireworks or photoshop). The reason for this is that html text carries alot smaller kbs size when added to website design. So anywhere that you use regular text instead of “graphical text” will really help decrease your page size making the download time quicker for each user.

2. Tip two is to limit other graphics uses on your website where you can. Some things such as using a graphic for your logo can not be avoided but try to make an effort to limit the amount of graphics on each page. The more graphics you use the higher your page size will be and the more time it takes to download it. Really graphic intensive websites can have users waiting a while for everything to download. Some occasions where it might be ok to use graphics is if they will also be used on subpages. These graphics will already be cached on your visitors computers and will not have to be downloaded again when a person visits your subpages.

3. Tip three is to limit the use of flash. It can make your page take even longer to load as the kbs size of each file are usually quite larger then any graphics on your website. This can really increase download times and in alot of cases is not necessary.

4. The final tip is to try not to nest tables inside of each other. Try to break down your design and use multiple tables. This way each table will load separately giving your visitors something to view while the rest of your site loads. If you load everything into one table then they will have to wait for the whole main table to load.

Remember the key is to get your users to the information as fast as possible. If you follow this advice and apply these rules to your site, then there is nothing saying you can’t have a quick loading and great looking website as well.

Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business and join in conversation at Logo2D.com - Logo2D.com Forum

©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article freely but please keep in the copyright

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