SuperTips Ezine: Issue 10

June 2nd, 1999
Harvey Segal, Editor:

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Greetings!

2. "Top 7 Benefits from Publishing an Ezine"
- by Harvey Segal

3. Readers Forum
3.1 Testimonials
3.2 Cut and paste

4. "20 Things That Should Never Appear On Your Site"
- by Nick F. Nichols

5. More "Super" Tips

6. Publications of interest

7. Next Issue

1. Greetings!

Hello folks,

In an earlier issue I was asked what was the best move I had made in my online marketing business.

My immediate reply was that it was getting a domain name, and I gave the reasons in an article

'Why your Web Site must have a Domain name' which you can read here.

But I must say that there is now a new contender for this number one position.

Any guesses ?

Here's a clue. You're looking at it !

... Become a newsletter publisher.

Just thinking of all the many spin-offs that you get from publishing gave me the idea to write an article (below)
"Top 7 Benefits from Publishing an Ezine"
and send it to the 'Top7 Business Daily Ezine List'.

You may recall that they are looking for these sort of top 7 lists, they recently used my article
"Top 7 Tips for Ezine publishers"
and now they have published this one.

So why not try and write a Top 7 article yourself and get some publicity ?
To subscribe: join-top7business@sparklist.com

Regards, Harvey

2. Top 7 Benefits from Publishing an Ezine
- by Harvey Segal

1. You can sell advertising space when your circulation reaches a significant figure.

2. An ezine raises your profile as an expert in your field.

3. Your subscriber base is effectively an opt-in list who will react positively to your product offers.

4. You can get free advertising by swapping ads for your ezine with other publishers.

5. In addition to submitting your web site to search engines you can submit your ezine to the various ezine directories.

6. You can experiment for free with variations of your ads in your ezine to see which get the best response.

7. You can get free advice from your readers.

3. Readers Forum

I'm going to use the last tip in that article above and reverse the usual trend in this section - I'm going to ask you, my readers, for your help with two items.

3.1) Testimonials

One of the great boosts that I receive are your appreciative comments of this newsletter.

What are your thoughts on publishing names to accompany these testimonials and in what sort of format ?

For example,
"Great newsletter, Harvey.... Bill Gates"

or B Gates, USA
or B.G.
or billgates@microsoft.com
or Bill Gates, Microsoft

And should we include the full signature ?

One problem: if it was
...Bill Gates, Microsoft
...Get your PC Products here

then you might be suspicious that Bill had offered me a bribe to promote his company.

Let's hear your views.

3.2) Cut and paste

While composing this newsletter I was bringing together various sections of text which I had pre-prepared, reshuffling the order, making adjustments, getting the line lengths right, when - I managed to mess it all up - due in no thanks to constant interruption from my daughter.

When I tried to pin the blame on her for losing my work her nonchalant retort was
'Well you can get it out of the recycle bin !'
How's that from a ten year old ?

The point of this story is that I find most of my time is spent hunting for pieces of text which are held in old Emails, newsletters, correspondence, files etc and then arranging them to compose a newsletter or an article.

I believe there are tools which simplify these cut and paste operations possibly with other useful features such as word wrapping to a required line length.

If you can recommend some please let me know and we can list them for our readers.

4. "20 Things That Should Never Appear On Your Site"
- by Nick F. Nichol

1. Undifferentiated Products or Services

A surprising number of sites offer products and services with no "online ordering advantage." This is especially true of health-related items, business services, book and information sellers and MLM reps. You must give your visitors a compelling reason to buy from you online.

2. Large Useless Graphics

"Websters" have the need for speed. Yet far too many home pages open with Large Useless Graphics that load slowly and make no contribution to the effectiveness of the page. In most cases, your home page should be 40K or less in file size -- including graphics. LUGs take up precious real estate that could be better utilized for benefit-related information.

3. "Welcome to My Site"

Phrases like this, repetition of your company name and other self-serving statements only cloud your message. Your home page and virtually every other page on your site should begin with a compelling headline or opening equivalent that tells your viewers "what's in it for me if I read this page."

4. Blinkers, Spinners, Scrolling Marquees, Counters, etc.

There was a time when these things were new and unusual. Now they are pass -- and in many cases, distracting and annoying. Counters especially have lost their usefulness. They are self-serving and have no purpose -- visitors really don't care how many alleged hits you've gotten.

5. External Links on Your Home Page.

This is equivalent to having an office or storefront that leads to a choice of doors that go to other businesses. When a potential customer arrives, why give that person an immediate opportunity to leave and never return?

6. Just About Any Award Logo/Banner

Most Web "awards" are dubious at best, and meaningless to most of your visitors. Awards are self-serving space-wasters that should be replaced with visitor-focused information that gives people a reason to stay at your site, not leave it to investigate the "award" sponsor.

7. Typographical or Grammatical Errors

Seems obvious, yet many, many Web pages contain common spelling and grammatical errors. Your copy is a reflection on your professionalism (or lack of it), your attention to detail (or lack of it) and your commitment to excellence (or lack of it.) Why give visitors reason to doubt you?

8. Over Use of "We, Our, Us, My, Me, Mine" and Your Company Name

These are self-serving words that turn off readers. Instead, you should use words like "you" and "your." Before you post copy to your site, run a "find" utility and compare the number of "you" words to the number of "us" words. There should be 4-5 "you-words" for every "us-word."

9. "Name, Rank and Serial Number" Information

It's *amazing* how many home pages begin, "The Acme Widget Company is a family-run business located in Cornfield County, Nebraska..." Who cares? What does this have to do with the benefits of your products or services? If you must include boring vital statistics like these, put them on an "About Us" page and give some reasons *why* these things are important to readers.

10. Frames

Many older browsers don't support frames. Many search engines don't index them properly. Many frames require scrolling to read the text and activate links. Frame scrolling bars take up precious real estate. Frames don't bookmark properly either.

11. "Under Construction" Signs/Notices

What good does a page that isn't finished do for your visitors? It just wastes their time and could possibly frustrate or annoy them. Every page on your site should have a purpose or reason why it's there. Every page should also have a "call to action" -- what you want the visitor to *do* after reading the page

12. Dead Links

This should be obvious, but broken links are all too frequent. Broken links are annoying, frustrating and unprofessional. Why make your visitors mad?

13. Broken Graphics

This should also be obvious, but missing graphics are all over the Web -- even on "professional" sites whose principals should know better.

14. Incomplete Contact Information

It's amazing how many companies try to remain anonymous and then expect people to do business with them. To maximize your credibility, you should include complete contact information on *every* page. Use a physical street address, not a P.O. Box. Provide a "live" phone number, not a voice mailbox. List your fax number, and toll-free ordering number if you have one.

15. Home Page That "Scrolls Into Oblivion"

Despite the universal quest for information by Websters, most of them will *not* read long home pages that "scroll into oblivion." You should break up your home page to a *maximum* of three complete vertical page scrolls. Give visitors links and benefit-related teasers that lead to separate pages.

16. Cookie Nags That Appear More Than Once

Many people believe cookies are an invasion of their privacy. If you must use cookies, don't nag your visitors more than once per visit to set a cookie.

17. Free Offers That Aren't Immediately Fulfilled

You *should* make some kind of free offer on your site that will allow you to capture visitor names and email addresses. But you should only do this if you can immediately fulfill your offer. Many sites offer free consultations or information, then fail to deliver. This can permanently damage credibility.

18. Non-Secure or Confusing Ordering Procedures

Many sites have non-secure or confusing ordering procedures. Better to not request credit card info, etc., if you can't do it securely. Offer a mail in, call-in or fax-in alternative. If you have more that 2-3 items for sale, invest in a shopping cart system. Make it easy for customers to buy.

19. Plug-Ins/JavaScript Pop-Up Windows

Most people will not take the time to load plug-ins to view or do something at your site. They'll just click away. JavaScript pop-up windows can be annoying. Why make it difficult for visitors to see what you offer?

20. Plagiarized Material

This should be obvious, but many people take copyrighted material from other sites and pretend it's theirs. Doing this will eventually bite you and could lead to serious legal problems. The good news is, most people are flattered to let you use their material, if you give them proper attribution

Nick Nichols helps you get more customers, who will pay you more money, more often. He does this through customer-focused, benefit-laden, results getting copywriting for your Web site. For more free online marketing tips: <http://www.successplace.com/web> or <mailto:nick@successplace.com>

5. More "Super" Tips

There are some great points in Nick's article above. If you agree with them then why not check out how your site ranks against them. If you have some ideas of your own send them along and we'll publish the best ones.

Here are a few to get started with, they are "Do's" rather than "Don'ts"

Make your site easy to navigate. Provide links to your home page from all others and don’t go too many levels down.

Pay great attention to your home page. This is where you need to make a good first impression as you may only have ten seconds or so to keep your visitor's attention So don’t overwhelm your visitor with too much information and hundreds of links. Keep it interesting and let it show clearly what the rest of your site contains.

Do you want your visitors to come back ?

- You can tell them to bookmark your site

- You can leave them with the name of your site, for example, "Remember the name - SuperTips"

- If they download your pages to read offline make sure there is contact information to help them return. You could hard code the actual URL on each page.
If you have a page with a lot of information then provide the option to have it sent by Email using an autoresponder.

If you really want to catch the eye with a link or banner the best position is reckoned to be the bottom of the first screen on the right hand side.

Stop your visitors leaving ! Examine every page of your site and ask
- what can I do to persuade my visitor to continue reading
- where can I take him to next

Ask for comments from you visitors about your site.

6. Publications of Interest

One way of promoting your Ezine as we have seen in the top 7 article above is to exchange ads for your ezine with other publishers.

When Laura Raushel of Business Consultant Weekly accidentally omitted my entry she offered to post it for an extra week.

When I mentioned to Lewis Heussman of the Netified-Classifieds Gazette that I had not seen my ads because the issues had not arrived he offered to repeat them - even though they actually been published and it was just that my own copies had somehow not been received.

So, as a thank you to Laura and Lew, I'm posting their ads again in today's 'Publications of Interest' section.

FREE advice to move your small biz into profits. Learn to manage and market your business effectively while receiving time-saving and motivational tips to move you toward your goals. Get a FREE gift for subscribing. mailto:lraushel@hughes.net?subject=subscribeST

Discover the easy way to reach new customers! Advertise in the Netified-Classifieds Gazette! FREE Weekly Ezine with Marketing Tips, Featured Articles, Affordable Internet Advertising and Web Hosting. mailto: webmaster@Netified-Classifieds.com Subject=Subscribe "http://www.Netified-Classifieds.com"

7. Next Issue

One of our most popular articles was "10 Quick Traffic Building Tips for Any Web Business" by Terry Dean, so it's nice to welcome Terry back next week with "How To Reach Millions Of People Using E-zines For Pennies !"

If you have any suggestions to improve this newsletter so that we can make it a great resource for all our readers please drop me a line.