Web Coach Tip: 3 Quick & Easy Ways to Resurrect Your Website.
by Donna Payne, "The Web Goddess"

With the recent buzz about George Mason University making it to the final 4, I remembered an old acquaintance who attended GMU in the 80’s and of course “Googled” him just to see where he landed in the scheme of life.

What I found was delightful and also shocking since I’ve completely devoted myself to website marketing.

This acquaintance I’ll call “George” had successfully started up a family business in a fast growing niche industry for the affluent. Excellent! I thought, until I went to his company’s website.

What I found there to be absolutely shocking! His website was very “pretty” which is fine, BUT it was missing 3 critical and basic elements:

1. No method of automatically collecting visitors email addresses.
People just don’t realize how important this is. Once you get an email or physical address you can continue to market to that person forever. It’s so much easier to take care of the customers you do have than to constantly be farming for new ones.

A colleague of mine boasts about carrying a million dollars on his key chain by keeping his customer mailing list on a flash drive. George doesn’t realize that his mailing list can bring him unlimited value as a source for sales and referrals.

PLUS he could snail mail a newsletter, tips, catalogs, reminders, shopping services, sweepstakes, special promotions, VIP customer shopping events… the list could go on forever! (and archive these mailings and notices on his website)

PS. What if George wanted to sell the family business? A prospective buyer will want to know all about his inventory and stock, but where’s the real value?

His client database of course! He could certainly pump up the value if he had a mailing list of a few thousand happy, cared for, and well taken care of ready to buy customers.

2. No “AUTOMATION.”
What I mean by this is there’s no automatic way of keeping in contact with your subscriber list. Follow up is sooooo important. Experts tell us it takes an average of 7 contacts before customers buy.

For example: Martha wants to receive a free report about your featured product. But first she must enter her email and address, therefore; allowing you to capture her info.

Your system automatically sends her emails every few days or weeks (you determine how many and how often) to keep in touch by offering valuable info. This automated system will also allow you to send broadcast emails to your growing database of subscribers, and act as a shopping cart for your website.

3. The website is all about “THE COMPANY.”
Yes, pictures of sales people are nice – but what does your customer really want when they visit your website? They want to learn as much as possible about what you have to offer. Here’s an exciting opportunity to EDUCATE YOUR CUSTOMER.

In George’s business, 5 out of 10 times his customer wants to learn more about his product before buying. He could shorten his sales cycle by posting every bit of information possible on his website so folks can “research” before coming to his store.

Not only would he educate: this positions him as a trustworthy expert and increases customer loyalty.

MY PERSONAL PET PEEVE.
Contact email doesn't match website. Having an aol email address displayed instead of your own dot.com is just a pet peeve of mine. This indicates the web developer didn’t take the time or care enough about your image as a professional.

Just by making these three changes, George is sure to increase his bottom line.

OH, WHAT THE HECK! I learn from real life examples best, so you can click the image above to see the site yourself.

Now it’s your turn… What’s missing from your website?

All the best,


Donna Payne, "The Web Goddess", Creator of the Money & Time-Saving "QuickStart Web Workbook."

Do YOU have a favorite marketing tip? Please share it!
I'd love to know if you have had success that's changed your practice for the better. Please email it to Donna@thewebcoach.net, subject line: "marketing success".

©2006 Donna Payne

Want to read more articles like this one?
click here: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Donna_Payne

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Donna Payne is the Chief Web Goddess of The Web Coach.net, and is known as the gal to call when you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed by the internet. To spend more time with Donna and experience Web Site Development, Marketing and Coaching in the most SIMPLIFED way possible go to http://thewebcoach.net

Newsletter Solutions for Coaches!

If you've ever run out of time to do a newsletter... struggled with writing articles, or longed for an affordable way to attract clients, Newsletter Solutions for Coaches is just what you need. Read more here: http://www.newslettersolutionsforcoaches.com.

For comments, questions or responses to this newsletter, please click here. Feel free to [forward-forward this newsletter]; if this was forwarded to you, you may [subscribe-subscribe here].

ps. Please add "Donna@TheWebCoach.net" to your safe senders list or address book in your e-mail program, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues! To learn now to add me to your safe list click here.