Archive for August, 2009
Win or Lose – Where Will Your Website Fall On the Wheel of Fortune?
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Will you win or will you lose? You’ve probably seen the show Wheel of Fortune where people spin the wheel to determine what prizes they could they win. If you were to spin the Internet Fortune Wheel, where would your website land? Would it be on the winning side or are you closer to going bankrupt?
Most people think they just need to zip out any old site and it will work for them. That, my friend, is an attitude you can’t afford to have when it comes to working online. Your website is the calling card for your online business. Without it, you would have difficulty getting people to find you, let alone buy your products.
Publishing a site to the internet that isn’t appealing or doesn’t cut it will cause the Internet wheel to land on the losing side for you. If you want your business to be a success, don’t risk your hard earned money and time by having an ineffective site.
Why is it so Important to Have a Well Created Site?
You have an online business and your site will be your “store” from which all your sales and transactions will take place. If you walk into a local store, you will see a specifically designed layout within that store. Everything is placed where it is, for a reason.
Why? Brick and mortar store owners do this to increase interest in products or to gain more sales. Most stores are kept pretty clean and fairly easy to navigate to help you find what you need. The reason for that is to build a rapport with you, so you can develop trust with that store and their workers. How many people do you think would buy items from a dirty, grungy, poorly laid out store? Not too many.
People don’t trust business owners that don’t take care of their stores. When selling online, your “store” is your website, so you must take care of it and make sure it’s pleasing and easy to navigate for your online visitors. Those visitors are no different than the customers who walk into the local stores. Will your site measure up?
Your business site should come across to your visitor as a professional site with which to do business from. It should welcome them, help them around and make the sale as easy as possible for them. Since your website says a lot about your business, you will need to make sure it speaking positive things.
Plan to create the best possible professional website to sell your products from. Your customers are important to the success of your business. No customers = No sales. A site that grabs a visitor and keeps them there while you layout what you have to offer and your sales pitch will land on the winning side of that Internet wheel. The losing side is only for those who don’t care about their business and whether or not it succeeds. Since you’re not one of them, keep your site up to par and make your customers happy.
Twitter Lingo: What You Should Know
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I’m really loving Twitter. At first I wasn’t so sure, but as the months have progressed, I’ve come to realize that Twitter and other forms of social media are not a fading trend, but rather the “new” way to business.
Twitter is one of the most popular social networking tools that everyone is using. It is so popular that it has developed its own language. If you want to use Twitter, learn a few of the terms so you’ll be on top of your game the first time out.
Basically, Twitter is like instant messaging or text messaging. You feel like you’ve stepped into an alternate universe because everyone looks human but they are speaking some sort of gibberish. Well, it is not really gibberish but the Twitter language. You’ll think you are developing a lisp but that’s okay – everyone who uses it has one.
What are the Basics?
1. The site is called Twitter. Some interchange Twitter and Tweeter and that’s a faux pas. A tweeter is something that works with woofers in your car speakers. Now, you can use “tweeter” to refer to someone who uses Twitter if you want to.
2. The messages that you send are called Tweets. Don’t confuse it with chirps. A bird chirps and even though a bird is the logo, the messages that you chirp out are known as tweets. Each message is 140 characters or shorter.
3. A person that uses Twitter is a Twitterer. You can say a Twitter user but twitterer is more accepted. Twittering (or tweeting) is the act of sending and receiving tweets and using various aspects of the service.
4. On Facebook you have friends, but on Twitter you have followers. Yes, it sounds like you are recruiting, but it distinguishes Twitter from the other social networking tools. You can be followed or have people that you follow.
5. There are several tools or applications that can be used with Twitter service. All of these will either begin with “Tw”, hence the lisp. For example you have TweetDeck, Twhirl, Twitterfeed, Twitterrati just to name a few
Texting, Anyone?
6. Twitter does use some of the same lingo as text messaging or chat room users. With 140 characters, space is precious. Instead of typing “see you later,” change it to “CUL8R.” so, not only do you need to be familiar with Twitter lingo but text messaging terms help as well.
Follow Suit
7. Remember the lisp? Many Twitter terms are recycled terms with a Tw- prefix. For instance, “twalking” is someone who twitters (by text) while they are walking. “Twaffic” is twitter traffic. You get the idea.
8. For a more comprehensive list of Twitter lingo go to http://twittonary.com for more. This Twitter dictionary includes text messaging abbreviations, Twitter lingo and names for Twitter tools. Keep this handy and you’ll always look like a hip Twitterer.
