- by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
    http://www.thenetreporter.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Not a week goes by that half a dozen people don't ask me
what separates a great, money-making website from a bad
one.

In response, I surveyed of a number of different websites,
large and small, to find what they share in common to make
them so successful.

With few exceptions, every extraordinarily great website
contained the following elements.
 
** Testimonials

Every great website has testimonials from satisfied
customers.

These testimonials help set the potential customer's mind
at ease that the products or services sold online will
perform as promised.

Truly great testimonials not only endorse the product, but
clearly state how the product increased sales, saved money,
or benefited previous buyers in very specific and tangible
ways.

Testimonials should present real benefits others can
readily identify with, understand and, more importantly,
want those same results for themselves!

** Headlines

Headlines capture visitors' attention and get them involved
in the website.

How do you read the newspaper?

If you read like most people the headlines first catch your
attention and determine whether you'll actually read a
story.

Similarly headlines on a website determine whether visitors
get involved in the information or surf away never to
return.

My own experience has shown that the proper headlines can
easily and quickly double, triple, or even quadruple a
website's sales almost overnight.

** Bullets

Bullets communicate various and subtle bits of information
about a product or service without making readers plow
through paragraphs of information to get to the meat of a
website's offering.

Bullets arouse interest, build excitement and convey a lot
of information very quickly to time-starved web surfers.

** Bonuses

Every great website offers bonuses to people who buy, apply
or fill out a form.

Nothing induces someone to do business with you online like
offering them something extra for taking the action you
want.

Offering a bonus report, tape, extended membership, extra
quantities of product at a deep discount, coupons, or just
about anything makes people more willing to go ahead with
the purchase decision.

** Guarantees

Everyone takes a risk whenever they buy anything from
anyone.

The risk centers on whether or not the product or service
will perform as promised.

In a retail store most people feel pretty confident the
store will still exist if they need to make a return or
exchange in a few days.

On the web, however, that risk in making a purchase seems
much higher than in the "offline" world.

Every great website makes a point of specifically telling
customers about their return policy and truly exceptional
sites offer 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back
guarantees.

People rarely take advantage of such guarantees and I have
personally seen a website's sales increase by 45% just by
extending the guarantee period an additional 30 days.

** Phone numbers

Every great website has a phone number with a real live
human being on the other end who can answer questions and
provide product support.

So there you have it! With few exceptions this represents
the formula for creating or identifying a truly great
website.

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
money-making mini-sites…

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up
Your OWN Moneymaking 'Mini' Websites… Without Being a
Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying
Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"

Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

      - by Jim Edwards

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
    http://www.thenetreporter.com
=====================================

As the Internet continues to populate with websites trying
to turn a buck, two drastically different schools of
thought have developed on how to advertise online  - "Push"
and "Pull."

"Push" advertising involves the use of  "in-your-face"
advertising tactics such as pop-up windows and direct
email. "Pull" advertising entails using search engines and
posting articles that literally "pull" interested consumers
to a website on their own terms.

As web surfers revolt against pushy advertising, site
owners who understand how to pull consumers to their sites
will come out the long-term winners.

"Push" advertising tactics worked in the past because they
had not reached a saturation point.  Since not everyone
used pop-up windows, a site owner could use them without
fear of backlash. Now it seems pop-up windows hit consumers
from every angle and even multiple times from the same
sites.

The cycle of events with online advertising always unfolds
the same way. Someone finds something new that works and
people immediately jump on the bandwagon. As a technique
saturates the 'Net and loses effectiveness, instead of
finding an alternative, site owners just do it more!

Result: instead of pop-up windows going away, many site
owners just run more pop-up's - more often!

Well, if recent developments indicate anything, they show
that consumers have said "enough" to pushy advertising.

AOL, infamous for their pop-up ads, has agreed to cut down
on the intrusions even though their earnings could use a
boost right now.

Major ISP (Internet Service Provider) Earthlink even offers
a "pop-up killer" feature on their new service.

Almost all email programs come with filters to fight
unsolicited email and many email add-on services have
sprung up to help consumers eliminate the unsolicited
offers for pornography, business opportunities, and
promises of instant riches.

This "anti-spam" sentiment has also caused an unintended
consequence for legitimate marketers. Many major
newsletters have found their emails blocked by spam filters
intended to stop unsolicited email. Through no fault of
their own, legitimate email marketers have found themselves
casualties of the war on spam.

The future of the Internet lies in "Pull" advertising
driven by consumer wants and needs.

The successful Internet companies of the future will invest
in search engine promotion and in providing valuable, on-
demand information consumers receive only when they ask for
it and want it. When a web surfer goes to their favorite
search engine and enters the keyword phrase "MP3 Player" or
"tax advice" that means they are receptive to information
on those subjects.

If they read an article about using vitamins to improve
health and click a link for more information, only then
they will they be truly receptive to a marketing message
about vitamins.

Consumers have taken back control of Internet!

Not with laws or more regulations, but simply by flexing
the muscles of their wallets. By pulling money away from
advertisers who annoy them and putting it with those who
meet their needs, the average web surfer has brought the
Internet powers to their knees and will continue to reshape
the Internet into an effective, consumer-driven
communications vehicle.

Any site owner who wants to have a thriving online business
and survive the next year had better take this fact to
heart!

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
money-making mini-sites…

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up
Your OWN Moneymaking 'Mini' Websites… Without Being a
Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying
Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"

Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

      - by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
    http://www.thenetreporter.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Every website owner faces the same challenge: How to get
more traffic to their website.

"Build it and they will come" worked for Kevin Costner in
"Field of Dreams," but that approach leads to bankruptcy and
a failed business when it comes to your website.

Any savvy website owner knows that it takes a lot of work,
time, and money to bring a visitor to your site for the
first time.

Smart marketers also know that it rates a lot easier and
cheaper to get people to come back for a return visit than
to attract them for the first time.

The following tips will help any website owner convert more
one-time "lookers" into repeat visitors and customers.

** Surveys **

Hold an interactive poll or survey on your web site.

Ask your website visitors questions about a topic of intense
interest to them.

Not only do people enjoy giving their opinion, but they'll
also want to read the results as you compile them and update
them on your website over the next day or week.

One way to get their email address is to tell them you'll
email the final numbers once the results are compiled.

My favorite survey tool is www.oneminutepoll.com.

** Free Prizes **

If appropriate, hold an ongoing prize drawing on your web
site.

The prizes you give should fit with the interests of your
target audience and enable you to showcase what you offer
for sale from your website.

For example, if you sell computer cables, give away
something like Velcro cord ties with your web address on
them and avoid things like teddy bears or bumper stickers.

** Original / Hard-to-find Content **

People go online first and foremost to get specific,
relevant, timely information in areas that interest them.

For some that means news articles, for others sports scores,
and for others it means current prices for things like
stocks or commodities.

Whatever content they want, give it to people in a way they
can't find anywhere else (or at least not very easily) and
make it easy for them to see that your site rates a bookmark
in their browser so they can return often.

** Brain Teasers **

People love a challenge, especially in an
area that holds great professional or special interest for
them.

If you can provide a quiz, trivia questions, puzzles
or some other "brain teaser" for people, many will take up
the challenge.

You get them to return to your website by
posting the answers and making that the only way they can
see if they got it right.

** Breaking News **

People crave up-to-the-minute news on subjects about which
they feel very strongly.

Some investors, for example, spend hours combing the Web for
nuggets of information to help them evaluate specific
markets, companies, or stocks.

One way to make your site invaluable to your audience
members is to simply post a news bite, tip, or current
"nugget" of relevant information on your site daily.

(Gee, kind of sounds like a BLOG doesn't it?)

If the information you give makes people jump up and holler
"MORE! MORE!" then you can quickly build up a regular
following.

** Resource Directories **

Few things keep people coming back to a website more than a
constantly updated directory they can tap for industry-
specific resources any time they need them.

This technique works especially well if it's hard to locate
good resources related to your topic because people place a
higher value on hard-to-find information.

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
money-making mini-sites…

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up
Your OWN Moneymaking 'Mini' Websites… Without Being a
Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying
Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"

Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

      - by Jim Edwards

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
    http://www.7DayeBook.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite the fact that most of us take the Internet for
granted, it still holds a lot of mystery, even for people
who use it every day.

Plenty of people surf the web, send email, get news, check
stock information, and use instant messenger, but the
thought of putting up their own web pages leaves them
shaking with fear.

However, with all the changes online in the last few years,
putting up your own website rates easier than ever and
creating any website breaks down to 5 main elements.

** HTML Pages:

Seven or eight years ago it cost $75 an hour to get a web
designer to hand-code an html document for you to display
on the Web.

A simple website used to cost thousands of dollars.

Now, software will do it for you better, faster and for
less than the cost of dinner and movie.

In fact, Microsoft Word (the ever-popular word processing
program from Mr. Bill Gates) allows you to convert your
word processing documents to html pages automatically.

They may not be as "s~xy" as a high powered web-designer's
work, but my experience shows that the slicker pages with
all kinds of dancing and flashing "junk" don't do as well as
the sites that load fast and get to the point!

Bottom line:
After just some minimal instruction, if you can use a word
processor, you can create your own Web pages and link them
together to form an effective Web "site."

** Domain and Website Hosting:

Domain names used to cost $70 or more to register for a
year, but now you can get your own dot-com for only $8.95
per year at www.GoDaddy.com.

I personally paid more than $100 a month for basic website
hosting back in 1998, but you can get better, more full-
featured service now for less than $10 a month!

In fact, for smaller sites, you can get a domain name AND a
year's hosting at www.DotEasy.com for only $25 a year.

** FTP To Your Web Server:

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) intimidates people more
than any other part of the website building process…
probably because it *sounds* intimidating.

The word "Protocol" makes me think of some dreadful medical
procedure out of a Frankenstein movie!

Yet FTP is simply the process of transferring (uploading)
your web pages from your computer to another computer
called a Web "server."

A Web server is just a computer permanently connected to
the Internet to "serve" files to your website visitors.

That's all it is… just another computer that Web surfers
connect to in order to view your Web pages.

Go to www.SmartFTP.com for a free program that works
virtually identically to "Windows Explorer" and allows you
to just "drag and drop" html files to your Web server.

** Pay Me!

If you wanted to accept credit cards on your website five
or six years ago, it cost hundreds of dollars just to apply
and it felt like you needed a National Security clearance
to get accepted for a merchant account.

Now you can quickly, easily, and securely accept credit
card and even check payments through your website with no
monthly fees.

Check out PayPal.com, ClickBank.com, and PaySystems.com for
more information.

** Targeted Traffic:

Unless your Website exists strictly to serve family or
friends, eventually you'll need some traffic.

Hundreds of books exist to teach you how to get website
traffic from free search engines, your own affiliate sales
force, publishing articles online, and even how to quickly
get hundreds of other sites to link to you.

No matter how you choose to get traffic, remember, "All
clicks are not created equal!"

The key is to only pay for tightly targeted traffic with a
specific interest in what you sell on your website.

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
money-making mini-sites…

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up
Your OWN Moneymaking 'Mini' Websites… Without Being a
Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying
Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"

Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

      - by Jim Edwards

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
    http://www.thenetreporter.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ever notice how some websites grab your attention and hold
if for hours, even to the point where you must consciously
drag yourself away from the monitor?

In an age when websites truly rate a "dime a dozen,"
discovering a really great website feels more like finding a
$10 bill on the sidewalk than merely surfing the Internet.

Whether their creators did it on purpose or not, virtually
all successful websites share the following characteristics:

First, every good website focuses on a specific, narrow,
"niche" audience.

Imagine the difference between a light bulb and a laser
beam.

Both provide light, but the laser focuses its light with
pinpoint precision, while the light bulb diffuses its light
in every direction.

In other words, successful websites don't try to sell
cooking supplies to people interested in the latest fishing
or hunting equipment.

They specifically provide content on exact topics of
interest to their target audience, instead of trying to
offer all things to all people.

Second, with the exception of personal, family, or hobby
websites, every website operates with the ultimate purpose
of turning a profit.

Unfortunately many websites make this their only purpose
and, thus, fail miserably in their attempts to succeed
online.

We saw how blatantly greedy, self-centered websites failed
in the "dot-bomb" era… and it got ugly.

On the other hand, successful websites make money as a
result of providing products, services, and information of
obvious value for their targeted visitors.

They win by putting the needs and desires of the visitors
first and get rewarded in the process.

Next, virtually every good website shares something in
common with successful newspapers and magazines:
great headlines!

Any website that makes it over the long haul does so by
quickly communicating the main theme of the website with a
compelling headline or opening statement that pulls people
into the text.

Most people surf the Web in "stay or bail" mode, meaning
they constantly evaluate everything they see on whether they
should keep reading or click away to another website.

The headline or opening statement on any website represents
the single most powerful factor to influence people to stick
around and find out more, or hit their back button faster
than you can say "Windows Blue Screen of Death!"

Finally, once a good website pulls a targeted visitor into
the text, they provide focused, benefit-oriented product
information, articles and other content that plays to the
reader's built-in mental radio station, WII-FM (What's In It
For Me)!

By providing narrowly focused content, the website satisfies
specific desires for the audience and, if it's a topic of
intense interest, holds their attention for an extended
period of time and gets them to buy.

The next time you get a "great idea" for an ebook, Internet
business, or someone approaches you with a "can't miss"
online tech stock, pull out this list and use it to evaluate
the big picture.

Understanding how and why websites succeed or fail can help
you predict the ultimate fate of just about any online
venture.

–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
money-making mini-sites…

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up
Your OWN Moneymaking 'Mini' Websites… Without Being a
Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying
Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"

Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-