Imagine for a moment that you go to sleep tonight, dream for what seems live forever and when you wake, it is a whole year later. Or that for whatever reason you decided to turn of your computer and throw it out the window… waiting a full year before you bought another one.
What would the internet and web business world be like, how would it have changed? Would some things have also remained the same? Recently I had the opportunity to do just that (well, figuratively speaking anyway). I came across an old backup drive with a whole bunch of training material from not one year ago, but four years ago!
What an adventure, an eye opener and a revelation of knowledge.
Want to know what I found? Simply this, that there are certain foundation principles for your web business that have not changed – even in all that time. Sure there are certain things that have changed in the “way” that we DO business, but not in the WHY.
These days it has become obsessively prevalent that we purchase the ‘latest gadget’ or participate in the ‘present scheme’ or whatever – and keeping in mind that while many of these things do work and get results – they provide results ONLY until their saturation point arrives and the customer turns away from them.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of it. I mean, do we really have to completely re-train, relearn and re-model our websites every six months just to make money from them? No. Following are my personal foundation principles for your web business; these are the absolute minimum strategies that must be built into every website that you build. No exception, no ifs or buts.
These foundation principles have and will continue to outlast every new and up-and-coming ‘guru technique’ ever devised. Learn those techniques, sure, but be sure to place them on top of the foundation, because if you “build on the sand…” well, you know the story.
1. Ease of Use Design and Structure
This goes without saying, and unfortunately it often *does* go without saying. Have you noticed how often that when you go to do a search these days all you end up getting is a whole bunch of junk results with completely user non-friendly sites? It’s vitally important that we consciously decide to design and create our websites for the customer, not the business. They must be easy to use, easy to navigate and pleasant on the eye. Forget about what’s easy for you to build, ask instead what’s easy to use.
2. Call to Action Copy
My personal favourite. Yes, the site must be easy to navigate and use, but it must also be easy to READ. This is where your sales copy comes in. Sometimes (most often in fact) your customers will come by your site just ‘looking around’ (that’s why web browsers and called web *browsers*). Often, they don’t even know what even they really want – and that’s where you ‘call to action’ copy comes in. Use it, not to flog some product, but to help guide and direct your customer through your site. A successful website isn’t just one that is easy to use; it’s also easy to walk through.
3. Automated Follow-up
Are you awake 24 / 7 and able to take eMail inquires? Probably not. And while, yes, you can employ people on the other side of the planet to take your online help registrations, you probably don’t have too when most people ask the same darn questions over and over again. » Read more: Foundation Principles For Your Web Business
