Can I Get Some Help From The Audience?
| Category: Online Promotion | Date: 2001-09-10 |
In this issue you will learn:
1. How interactivity can boost your bottom line.
2. Some cool free tools for boosting interactivity on your site.
I have always been on the conservative side of things when it comes to web design. I always appreciate a humble, well designed, professional site to one that beats you over the head with flashing gizmos and animation.
A little bit of tasteful animation to attract the web surfers attention is always great, but one can easily go overboard. It should go without saying that this does not present a professional image for your organization.
However, what does impress me is something that actually *involves* the web surfer. One can have excellent interactivity without being too flashy. Indeed, well designed interactivity will make you look even more professional.
People seem to assume (as erroneous as that assumption may be) that if you can pull off putting together a site that cleverly interacts with the customer, then your products and services must be high quality as well.
At least, that's my theory. I have stats indicating this theory is true. Remember, the only way to find out if it is true for your case is to *try* it yourself.
With that said, here are some of my favorite tools one can add to a site to make it more interactive. (You might want to check out ROIbot.com for an excellent all-in-one set of applications.)
1. Drop-Down One-Click Surfing
If your site is really complicated and you haven't managed to develop a coherent avigational structure (those of you reading this who have heard me speak or have read my course know this is one of my major pet-peeves), this is a quick and easy solution for you.
A site can certainly live without this. Most of our sites don't have one. However, I would recomend this if you aren't sure about the reliability of your current navigational structure.
2. Site Searching
For very large sites with pages and pages of information, sometimes even a coherent navigational structure is not enough. It makes things nice and easy for the web surfer if you provide a search utility.
For example, today at the Netscape site I was looking for information on Java compatibility and Netscape versions. They have a way for me to search the web, but not their site. This is crazy to me.
I finally found a site map, but it gave me a serious headache. It sure would have been nice if they had included a "site search" utility.
(Addendum: on going back to the site after writing this I found that they *do* have a site search, but it's buried deep and hard to find. What does that teach you?)
3. CGI Based Email
If you're managing a newsletter, it's asking a lot of the surfer if you give them instructions like "just send am email here with the words 'blah blah' in the subject".
Who is going to do that?
With CGI Based Email forms, you can set up a simple subscription box on your site. Just ask your customer to enter their address and press a button. Do you think that will increase the number of subscriptions you get? You bet!
COOL TIP: If you use "formmail" as your mail script, you can specify a page to visit upon submission of the form. Offer an incentive for subscribing to the list and simply have your form redirect the surfer to a place where they can pick up the freebie. This, too, will have a dramatic effect on the number of subscribers you get.
4. Bulletin Board
A bulletin board can generate a great many return visits to your site if it becomes popular. Remember: every time someone comes back to your site it's another chance for them to buy your products (or display your banner ads if you're selling advertising).
All of these scripts can be found quite easily at just about any free script site. If you're familiar with CGI they shouldn't be too hard to configure.
About the Author
Mark Joyner is the CEO of Aesop.com.Aesop Marketing Corp.
To quickly and easily start using free viral traffic building as he recommends in this article, we recommend StartBlaze.
http://www.startblaze.com
:To contact see details.
ceo@aesop.com
http://www.aesop.com
1. How interactivity can boost your bottom line.
2. Some cool free tools for boosting interactivity on your site.
I have always been on the conservative side of things when it comes to web design. I always appreciate a humble, well designed, professional site to one that beats you over the head with flashing gizmos and animation.
A little bit of tasteful animation to attract the web surfers attention is always great, but one can easily go overboard. It should go without saying that this does not present a professional image for your organization.
However, what does impress me is something that actually *involves* the web surfer. One can have excellent interactivity without being too flashy. Indeed, well designed interactivity will make you look even more professional.
People seem to assume (as erroneous as that assumption may be) that if you can pull off putting together a site that cleverly interacts with the customer, then your products and services must be high quality as well.
At least, that's my theory. I have stats indicating this theory is true. Remember, the only way to find out if it is true for your case is to *try* it yourself.
With that said, here are some of my favorite tools one can add to a site to make it more interactive. (You might want to check out ROIbot.com for an excellent all-in-one set of applications.)
1. Drop-Down One-Click Surfing
If your site is really complicated and you haven't managed to develop a coherent avigational structure (those of you reading this who have heard me speak or have read my course know this is one of my major pet-peeves), this is a quick and easy solution for you.
A site can certainly live without this. Most of our sites don't have one. However, I would recomend this if you aren't sure about the reliability of your current navigational structure.
2. Site Searching
For very large sites with pages and pages of information, sometimes even a coherent navigational structure is not enough. It makes things nice and easy for the web surfer if you provide a search utility.
For example, today at the Netscape site I was looking for information on Java compatibility and Netscape versions. They have a way for me to search the web, but not their site. This is crazy to me.
I finally found a site map, but it gave me a serious headache. It sure would have been nice if they had included a "site search" utility.
(Addendum: on going back to the site after writing this I found that they *do* have a site search, but it's buried deep and hard to find. What does that teach you?)
3. CGI Based Email
If you're managing a newsletter, it's asking a lot of the surfer if you give them instructions like "just send am email here with the words 'blah blah' in the subject".
Who is going to do that?
With CGI Based Email forms, you can set up a simple subscription box on your site. Just ask your customer to enter their address and press a button. Do you think that will increase the number of subscriptions you get? You bet!
COOL TIP: If you use "formmail" as your mail script, you can specify a page to visit upon submission of the form. Offer an incentive for subscribing to the list and simply have your form redirect the surfer to a place where they can pick up the freebie. This, too, will have a dramatic effect on the number of subscribers you get.
4. Bulletin Board
A bulletin board can generate a great many return visits to your site if it becomes popular. Remember: every time someone comes back to your site it's another chance for them to buy your products (or display your banner ads if you're selling advertising).
All of these scripts can be found quite easily at just about any free script site. If you're familiar with CGI they shouldn't be too hard to configure.
About the Author
Mark Joyner is the CEO of Aesop.com.Aesop Marketing Corp.
To quickly and easily start using free viral traffic building as he recommends in this article, we recommend StartBlaze.
http://www.startblaze.com
:To contact see details.
ceo@aesop.com
http://www.aesop.com
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