Having enjoyed reading your
biographical, They
can't take that away from me... I
would love to post your article (for my) course for
seniors entitled Autobiography and Journaling ... and
let them read your article as a good example of what
I call the reader's writer, clearly expressed and easy
to read. (Howell)
The French language has
always appealed to me ... so I enjoyed Lavinia's
experiences en
France! (Di Sullivan, Perth, Australia)
I am an American and an
expat here since 1990. I have been a subscriber to Writing
Tip for a few years now and look forward to the Friday
editions. I archive by creating topics of the tips
relevant to me and often refer. (Mary, Lagos, Nigeria)
WRITERS!
Write
Your Own Best Seller!
This
year, don't just read a best-seller ... Write
your own using the software program that works
in the same way J K Rowling writes her Harry
Potter novels!
Who said Aussies would
bet on two flies crawling up a wall? Now I know
better! (Bill Denham, Chicago, USA)
I enjoy reading your page
every week, Jennifer, it's never boring and there's always
something to bring a smile to my face! (Kenny Dima,
Tenerife, Spain)
Great newsletter -
originally found this site after searching for
clarification on a contentious
point amongst work colleagues. Just had to look at old
issues and now look forward to Fridays (Juliet Wallace,
Manchester, ENGLAND)
Advertising
Tips ................................ 18 May 2001
This week
Top 7 Reasons to Review your Web Traffic
Analysis by Philippa Gamse
Quick Tip
~ * ~
Greetings,
Philippa Gamse's article focuses on
how to interpret those website statistics we all should be collecting and
understanding. You don't have to pay for a program to keep track of your
visitors and their movements - there are some excellent free stats sites around.
I can thoroughly recommend Hitlogger
and have been using them for just over six months now. The code is simple
to install and the results are very comprehensive (and no, I don't have any
affiliation with the site - apart from being a satisfied user!)
Ernest Seger's quick tip explains
the importance of choosing colours wisely when creating your web pages - you'll
be surprised at the difference colour can make.
Remember, all past issues of this
newsletter are archived
on site - feel free to browse :) and if you'd like some help with your writing,
you might like to subscribe to my other, free weekly newsletter, the
Write Way.
Regards,
Jennifer
~ * ~
Business Owners ...
Stop Writing Sales Letters the
Hard Way - Create your own winning sales
letter in less than 3 minutes -- or your money back Find
out how!
Understanding your Website's traffic logs is a crucial
component of your online marketing mix. It tells you what
your visitors do, of their own volition, so it's "market
research that cannot lie!"
If you understand what you're seeing, you can make some
great strategic and marketing decisions, not only for your
Website, but for your business as a whole.
Here are seven key marketing elements to study in your
traffic analysis:
1. General Statistics
Remember that a "hit" is recorded every time the visitor
gets an image or some text from your site -- what you need
to know is unique user sessions, and how much time people
spend on the site -- how "sticky" and engaging it is. If you
have tons of traffic, but the average time spent on your
site is less than a minute -- you've got a problem!
2. Most and Least Requested Pages
So what's really hot, and what's not on your site? The most
popular pages give you great clues as to what to offer more
of. The least viewed pages may tell you that some of your
content isn't as fascinating as you think, or this maybe a
heads-up that your navigation isn't driving traffic as
effectively as it should.
3. Top Entry and Exit Pages
These are great reminders that not all your visitors come
through your home page, so you need complete navigation on
every entry point to your site. And if people are leaving
from pages that you don't want them to, perhaps you need
stronger calls to action in those areas.
4. Single Access Pages
These are the pages where a visitor looks at the site then
leaves immediately. Since the job of your home page is
partly to filter the traffic that's not right for you,
there'll always be some of these. But if you have a splash
page, and significant numbers of visitors don't stay through
it... perhaps it shouldn't be there?
5. Cities, States and Countries
No, your site isn't a huge hit just in Virginia -- those are
all the AOL users! Unfortunately, because this information
depends on where the ISP is based, it can be pretty
misleading. But if you are getting a lot of hits from other
countries, that might be a hint for some second language
content.
6. Referring URL's
This tells you which search engines are sending you traffic,
and which of your advertising and linking strategies are
working. It also tells you about sites that may have links
to you that you didn't know about -- check these out -- it's
a great relationship builder to send a thank you -- you
might even get some new business from it!
7. Top Search Keywords and Phrases
Once the search engines have listed your site, these tell
you what the really hot search terms are for your business.
Pay attention to these -- they may have some surprises --
one of my clients recently wrote a book on a subject that
was really sought after on her site -- until she saw the top
keywords, she had no idea it was so popular!
------------------------------------------------------------
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is an internationally
recognized e-business strategist. Check out her free
tipsheet "Beyond the Search Engines" for 17 ideas to promote
your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html
Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317 or mailto:pgamse@CyberSpeaker.com
His Friends Laughed When He Told
Them He Was Going to Start a Web Site - Until the Orders Started Rolling In!
Here's how
he did it ...
Here are some of those fascinating
little questions we've all pondered at some time:
Have you ever imagined a world with
no hypothetical situations?
How come Superman could stop bullets
with his chest, but always ducked when someone threw a gun at him?
If all those psychics know the winning lottery numbers, why are they all still
working?
How much deeper would the ocean be
if sponges didn't grow in it?
There are 24 hours in a day, and 24
beers in a case. Coincidence?
Quick Tip
The Color of
e-Business
by Ernest
Seger
We all know the tremendous advantages to operating a store
front on the Web. But often we overlook the built-in
disadvantage that every Internet store front shares.
The flat surface of a computer monitor has to substitute
for the brick, mortar and 3 dimensional colors of a real
world business.
Which brings up a problem -
You built your site around a particular shade of blue that
looks great on your PC. But your visitor is viewing your
site on his Mac, which translates that shade of blue into
something that looks very different!
But not to worry. The following free sites can help you
whip out great looking web-safe color combinations in a
flash.
http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/
is a free color lab that
allows you to see how colors work together. It's very
visual and simple. Click on the color wheel and different
color choices are presented to the right of the wheel. Keep
choosing colors until you find something that looks good to
you.
http://www.reallybig.com/visibone/lab/
is the same color
lab but with a *random* button. Click "random" until you
find an interesting combination of colors. Then begin to
remove the colors you don't like by clicking on the tiny
"X"s.
http://www.paletteman.com/ allows you
to experiment using
up to four color combinations It gives you HEX or RGB
values and will even email the
combinations to you.
Now let's talk first about the IMPACT of colors - and how
the colors you choose for your web site could impact your
bottom line.
[] Blue
Studies have revealed that blue is the country's most
Popular color.
Ford, "Big Blue" (IBM) and Benz, are all blue. When
Exxon and Mobile merged, their color became blue.
[] Green
Speaks of ecology and nature. Says Eiseman,
"Consumers describe it as fresh, clean and revitalizing."
Yellow-Green is negative for adults (slime), but is liked
by the youth market.
[] Red
Red is viewed as the most exciting color - and creates
a high arousal threshold.
Compare Chrysler (red) with Ford (blue). Which company do
you view as the most cutting-edge and exciting?
[] Purple
"The 18 to 29 year olds are especially partial to purple
because they consider it sexy," says Eiseman. "And
the influentials see it as powerful and sophisticated."
[] Black
"Black remains the most mysterious, powerful, and
sophisticated shade, especially with wealthy,
achievement-oriented women." But not by middle-aged men
and women, however, who still associate black with
mourning.
[] Pink and red
The two colors that are seen as the warmest as well as
the most cheerful, with pink being the most popular
of the two.
Better use of color will mean a better Web site that
appeals to your visitor, and can even make your site
appear better than it is.
Match the color scheme of your site with your
target audience and you'll make more money.
It's as simple as that (and as hard!).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet Business Marketing, by Ernest Seger, specializes
in software, services, e-books, and Internet marketing
techniques to drive targeted traffic to your site. http://www.internetmarketing2000.net http://web-design-2001.com
~~~~~~~~~~ Free Marketing Courses ~~~~~~~~~~~~
