CitrusKiwi Web Solutions LLC

I've talked to people who say, "I can't sell." or "I'd never be any good at selling."  In the words of that old adage, "I wish I had a dollar, blah, blah..."  The truth is... WE ARE ALL SALESPEOPLE!   "But I've NEVER been a salesperson!", I hear you say.  Oh really?  Have you ever...

• Asked a girl on a date
• Negotiated a better deal on a purchase
• Got someone to accept your point of view

You get the idea?  We all are selling something, sometime.  Now, of course, that doesn't instantly make you a super seller either, but the fact remains, we all sell to one degree or another.  And what's another name for selling?  Answer, marketing!  So we're all marketers.  But, in a slightly hacked version of that very famous quote from George Orwell's book "Animal Farm", "Some marketers are more equal than others!"

Back before the internet became such a powerful (and, often, badly used) marketing tool, there were still many options for marketers.  TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, journals, billboards, posters, the list goes on.  Unfortunately, many people are now tending to overlook those traditional methods in favor of the internet.  And it's a trend I don't believe will ever stop.  Look at your Yellow Pages.  It used to be the go-to place to find a business.  When did you last look at one?  I can't remember - I ALWAYS head to the online version.  It's quick, and, more importantly, it's up to date.

The 5 "musts" of website marketing actually apply to marketing anything.  We have a vacant lot for sale in New Zealand.  We're applying these same 5 principles to marketing that, as we do to marketing websites.

1. Know your target market. 

I know that seems logical, but I'm not amazed anymore when people answer this question with, "Well, everyone of course!"  I can't think of many businesses that can answer that and be correct.  Most of us are marketing to a specific segment of the world.  Sure some segments are bigger, but it's not 100%.  We need to stop a moment and think about who would buy our product or service.  Male, female, old, middle-aged, young, teen? Does race come into it, location, income bracket?  Knowing you target market will help you....

2. Know you target market's buying pattern. 

Unless you can establish how your market buys, you're still miles from a sale.  Why do they buy, when, how often, volume, repeat, where?  No point in getting cheap rent for a shop in the suburbs if your target market buys predominantly in a big mall is it?  Knowing this allows you to...

3. Know your price point/ROI. 

Cost of goods is only one small part of figuring out your ROI (return on investment).  On top of that, there is your direct sales costs, overheads, capital investments.  It's no use selling a product with a low re-buy rate, or short shelf life at a 75% ROI.  It just isn't profitable.  But, as anyone in IT knows, a low ROI with a high refresh rate/big turnover can be very profitable.  Now you've figured out who you're selling to and how they buy, and you have an acceptable ROI, finally you get to...

4. Decide on a marketing strategy. 

"Just hit everything, surely?" is an answer I've had.  But, unless you have unlimited funds, and don't mind likely making a negative ROI, then that's not the answer.  One thing is clear though.  Do not limit your thinking to just the internet.  Sounds odd coming from an internet marketer, right?  Maybe, but then, I'm not JUST an internet marketer.  I understand that marketing your business is a holistic strategy, comprising multiple fronts.  Obviously, due to it's reach, low cost and availability, the internet should be on everyone's marketing list.  But don't neglect the avenues mentioned before, along with trade shows, events, and sponsorships.

Even within the internet, there are multiple ways of marketing.  Pay per Click (PPC), Organic, affiliate, banners, links.  That topic alone would fill numerous blogs and I won't even get started here.  Suffice it to say, get an expert.  When I first got into internet marketing 10-12 years ago I was a real DIYer.  And, then, you would get away with it.  Now it's become a real art-form, and you need more than a finger-painter to run your "art show".  When you're up against others who have hired Picasso's and Rembrandt's, you need one too.

So, you know your market and how they buy.  You're settled on a suitable price point that will actually allow you to make money (that's why you're in business, right?), and you have a marketing plan up and running.  You begin to get sales, and that allows you to move on to the final step, and that is...

5. Measure and test, measure and test. 

This is one area where we all fail at one time and another.  Most businesses fail at it all the time.  But this is one of the most crucial area (if not THE most) of any marketing plan.  We all, generally, have multiple thrusts in our marketing.  Internet, radio, newspapers, etc.  But which one is bringing in the sales, what's it's ROI?  Without measuring and testing you'll never know, and you could be throwing money away. 

How so? 

If you don't know where your sales come from, you don't know where to spend MORE on marketing (the big drawcards) and where to spend LESS or none.  Spending $10,000 a year to get $150,000 in sales is better than spending $1,000 a year to get $5,000 in sales.  Simple math - 1500% return versus 500%.

There are many ways to measure and test, but the easiest way is ASK PEOPLE!  When you get a sale, ask, "Where did you find us?"  That can be at the sales counter, over the phone, or on an internet form.  It's the marketers equivalent of McDonald's, "Do you want fries with that?"  Ask it; every single time.  Then record it, and chart it.  Then be prepared to adjust your strategy.

Finally, if you were going in for open heart surgery, would you pick a first year medical student to do it because they were cheap?  Or would you pick a Rembrandt, a master, a surgeon with years of experience who knew exactly what they were doing?  Your business is as important as your life.  Or, if it isn't, why are you in it.  Don't be stingy with it!

We all understand that being in business gives us flexibility in how we run our lives and shape our destinies.  Unfortunately, there are always outside, uncontrollable, influences that impact us as well.

Have you ever:

• Wanted to make, or alter, a contract of your own
• Signed any contract
• Been sued
• Had a tax issue/problem/question
• Bought insurance
• Bought a house
• Entered into a lease
• Need moving violation help
• Needed to make, or update, a will
• Wanted to chase an errant payer

If you said "Yes" to one or more of these, you need what we recently got - a pre-paid legal plan that covers all that and more.  We recently needed to amend our contract so just made the changes, faxed if off to the attorney, and they had a contract law expert look it over.  He suggested a few changes and we were good to go.  Cost?  Nothing.

We had a disagreement in our HOA's interpretation of a clause in the CC&Rs.;  Faxed it to the attorneys and had an HOA expert attorney look it over and give his interpretation.  Cost?  Nothing.

As part of CitrusKiwi Web Solutions passion for small business, we now also offer business pre-paid legal plans, business coaching and business analysis.  We don't just throw together a website for you and consider it done.  America runs on small businesses like yours and ours.  We're passionate about seeing them grow.

Call us now before legal disaster strikes and you find there is no justice under the law unless you can pay.  And we'll tell you about keeping your identity safe, and identity (not just financial) monitoring.

I wouldn't doubt that all these are repeated elsewhere, in 1000's of pages.  That's the good, and bad thing, of the internet.  There's a bunch of information.  Unfortunately, especially when it comes to computers, much of it is out of date (or not updated), totally wrong, or written by armchair amateurs.  You know, some of the same ones that clog up the internet with horrible webpages that start with "Welcome to my page" or similar.

So let's get started......(in no particular order)

1. Bloated files/pages.

This could really be 2 categories.  Firstly bloated pages.  These are the ones stuffed with gigantic pics that allow you to cook dinner, wash the car AND do you shopping while the page loads.  Second are bloated files.  PDF's are great used properly, but they can be big.  I like to offer my visitors the option of saving/opening a PDF, or viewing as a plain HTML page.  Yes it takes more work on the part of the designer, but it's much more user friendly.

2. Visited links that don't change color.

When users have visited somewhere, they like to know it.  Not coding links to change color when they've been clicked is insulting to your visitors.

3. Spelling and grammatical errors.

As designers, we're trying to impress people with our writing and design skills.  And every program seems to have a spell checker tucked away somewhere.  Use it!  Grammatical errors aren't usually caught by spell checkers, so I always try to have at least one, better still 2 or more, people proof everything before it goes live.  Words are one of our stock tools - using our tools badly doesn't inspire confidence!

4. Splash/landing pages.

They used to be all the rage, and many designers and SEO people abused them, using them as bad doorways to worse sites.  There's no purpose in a splash page.  Optimize the homepage and use that instead.  I get really frustrated landing on a page that just has a "cute" flash intro, even if "Skip intro" is somewhere visible (usually in 2pt font!).

5. Auto start music.

Possibly my pet hate.  Even when designing music sites I wouldn't assume every visitor wants to be blasted with music just because they visited.  A music site is almost forgivable - any other site has no excuse.  For goodness sake, if you feel you must have sound, make it user manageable!

On the topic of sound, why do so many designers think that they need to have a little click sound whenever a link is clicked?  If the navigation system is good, and rollovers are active in the menus, people will no when they've clicked!

6. Best viewed in <insert fav browser>

To translate, "I was too lazy/too incompetent/too stupid to test my site in any of the other browsers, so I'd rather you wasted your time changing browsers to &lt;insert fav browser&gt;!"  The audacity.  There is no excuse for not testing on every browser to ensure compatibility.  The same applies to "Best viewed in &lt;insert screen res&gt; resolution".

7. Welcome to my page/my home page/XYZ Company, etc

Yawn.  Who cares?  And it'll do you know favors if you're trying to get sensible text displayed if you're lucky enough to have someone find you in a search.

8. Counters

Counters are easy to put in, and can't be relied upon to tell the truth.  For a number of reasons, the top of the list being the site owner!  He/she won't want a "0" in there so will invariably start at a number higher that "0".  And it's just amateurish.

9. Guestbooks

Come on, you want a professional website right?  Sure, have a testimonials page that clients can post to, but not a guestbook.

10. Self-aggrandizement

We're the best, the fastest, the cheapest, the leaders in our field.  Yeah, so what?  If you don't answer the following - WIIFM (what's in it for me?) your visitor will leave.  You need to offer solutions, not 30 pages of self-back slapping.

11. Non-professional graphics

Does the site look like an elementary school kid made them?  That tells visitors something about you, and it's not good!

12. After 5 seconds you still don't know what the site's about

If a new user looks at your site, will they be able to tell what you're all about after 5 seconds or less?  If yes, that's a good start (as long as bad auto-start music doesn't drive them away).  If no, then you have serious redesigning to do.

13. Where on earth am I/where do I go/where is the information I need?

Or, put a different way, your site has bad navigation/menus.  Not only will this seriously hamstring and annoy your visitors, search engines will have a really hard job spidering your site.

14. Disabling right-click

Yes, it seems a great way to protect your oh-so-valuable photos, etc on your site.  The truth is, it's easy to circumvent, and seriously annoys users who use right click for other than taking images.

15. Non-standard/conventional layouts

I see it all the time with advertisement or affiliate type sites - a single page that's a mile long.  I, personally, can't be bothered scrolling for an hour.  And I'm equally unimpressed when I click a link and get taken to a page where the top left menu is now at bottom center.

16. Forcing unnecessary registration

This really infuriates me.  Why do I want to give my private information away unless absolutely necessary.  Sure, if I'm buying or registering for a something, then of course.  But if you're offering a FREE download or similar, don't demand to know everything about the visitor.

This is by no means exhaustive, nor will everyone agree with every one.  There are some pet peeves in there (though most are well shared with other internet surfers.  Not exhaustive but a start! 

Happy surfing!

Ian Shere
CEO | Web designer
CitrusKiwi Web Solutions LLC
citruskiwi.com