Building eCommerce

By Court Tuttle

There is an expression that says, “first impressions are lasting impressions.” This phrase is very true and can be applied in a number of different situations that deal primarily with the interactions of people. Normally, when you meet someone for the first time, you want to make a positive and memorable first impression so that the other person will like you and help you in the future.

Although making great first impressions has mainly been applied to the close interactions of people who meet for the first time, there are many other situations where this truth is equally as important. If you own your own business, leaving a positive first impression with your customers is crucial to your success and profitability. A negative first impression will threaten the growth of your company and cause you to inevitably lose valuable customers and sales.

The same philosophy applies to the Internet and all of the different web sites that have been created throughout the last decade or so. As an owner and creator of a web page, you want to attract as many visitors to the site as you possibly can. This is mainly accomplished by making a great first impression on all of your visitors.

One of the newest and most common types of web sites on the Internet today is called blog, which helps people to share information about various topics and ideas. Blogs have the same objectives as ordinary web sites, the most important being to attract as many visitors as possible. In order to attract more and more blog visitors you must make a very positive first impression with them.

Making a great first impression on your blog visitors can be done in quite a few ways and should be applied to your blog as soon as possible in order to experience fast effects. The following are a few suggestions that will help improve your blog’s image and reputation to first time visitors.

Simplified Title
The most important part of introducing your blog to a new visitor is to inform them on what your blog is all about. This can be accomplished by designing and publishing a main title that is both extremely attractive and easy to read. When a first time visitor arrives at your blog, they should be able to tell what your site is all about just by reading and understanding your appealing title.

Home Page Content
After a visitor sees your title, they will then scroll down to look at what types of things are published throughout the rest of the blog. Your blog’s home page should be very well organized and display the highest quality content that you have created. This will ensure that people will want to keep coming back visit your blog again and again.

Contact Information
At the end of your home page, there should be a place where first time visitors can contact you with questions, comments, or concerns. Making the visitor feel important and welcome to your blog will leave them with a great desire to always be a part of your blog.

About The Author

Court provides information about student loans and helps people refine their hosting internet marketing strategy.

By Jeff Casmer

Bigger is better, at least that’s what we’ve all been ttold. You want to generate the greatest amounts of sales, by generating the largest amount of traffic which is done by advertising in ezines with a large subscriber base– a formula for success, or maybe not.

Advertising in smaller ezines and thinking small can be very powerful. An ezine with 10,000 subscribers or less (10,000 is considered small in the net marketing game) can prove to be very effective.

Allow me to point out some benefits:

1. Advertising in smaller ezines are great testing grounds. Every ad should be tested and small ezines give you accurate results. A smaller ezine gives you the opportunity to test your ad copy on a live audience without shedding hundreds of dollars. You can then spend the big bucks on a larger ezine once you’ve perfected your ad.

2. They are affordable. For 20-40 dollars a small ezine can help you spread the word about your business. It’s a cost effective way to let people know who you are and why they should care.

3. Generally smaller ezines sell fewer ads than bigger ones. This works in your advantage since there is less competition. Your ad will stand among few ads rather than an entire classified page where there all clustered together. In some cases, your ad stands alone which means a well written ad can get a lot of attention.

4. Loyalty is a big bonus online and small ezines are of some of the most loyal businesses out there. They need your advertising dollar so they will usually show their appreciation in several ways.

5. Readers of smaller ezines are also more loyal since they share a closer connection with the publisher. That personal feeling establishes trust. This means that readers are more likely to be responsive to your ad since they assume that because the publisher, whom they trust is recommending you, you might be worth checking out.

How to make advertising in small ezines worth your while:

Since your casting your net into a smaller pool of fish, you need to make sure you do all you can to make your ad successful.

1. Watch your tone

Try to match the tone of the ezine. If readers are used to a matter of fact tone from the publisher they may not respond well to your over enthusiastic ad or vise versa. Read a couple of issues to get a feel for what readers are expecting.

2. Use an advertorial

An advertorial is a solo or top sponsor ad where the publisher endorses your product or service. These can yield high results; however, publishers usually want a percentage of the sale or a higher fee for this. They will also request to test your offer before the editorial runs.

3. Repetition is vital

Because it is cheaper to run your ad you can afford to run it multiple times. And you should because a must do for successful advertising is to repeat your ads. People need to hear your message at least seven times before they will make the purchase.

4. Check and double check

Once your ad is published, there’s no going back. Don’t let careless mistakes hinder a sale. Test your URL, check for spelling and know the ezines ad policy before your ad runs.

While bigger is better in some cases, small scale ezines are a cost effective way to pull profits.

About The Author

Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant and work at home business owner. For more information on advertising in smaller ezines please visit his “Top Ranked” Earn Money with Ezines Directory which gives you all the information you need to Work From Home in the 21st century.