It would have been easy enough for them to just advise their customer to “shake well”. This simple step would have been enough to improve the user’s experience with their product, making them more likely to purchase it again. Always a good idea.

But somewhere in some cubicle in Colorado, an “associate” in Packaging took it a step further. “Buy often.” In those two little words, the message is clear. “Don’t forget to buy our product again the next time you visit the grocery store.” Will it work 100% of the time? Probably not, but so what? How much more does it cost to add those two words and an ampersand? Not much, if anything.

There are two important lessons here that no business owner or marketing professional should miss.

First, don’t be afraid to give your customers advice on how to best enjoy your product or service. Don’t assume that they’re experts or long-time users. Giving them tips like this can greatly improve the value your product or service provides to them, making them much more likely to purchase it again in the future.

Second, never miss an opportunity to market your business or product. Always remember that people respond to directives. I know it sounds obvious, but telling people to buy your product increases the likelihood that they will. When you are communicating with potential and existing customers, don’t be afraid to tell them what you want them to do. Tell them to visit your website. Tell them to call your office. Tell them to “buy often”.

So, let’s wrap up with some practical applications. What about your business cards? Are they just a piece of paper with contact info on them, or do they carry an effective marketing message? Is the back blank? Why not put your website address on there. How about your email signature? Again, put in a link to your website and tell people to check it out for the latest x, y, and z. What about the website itself? Is it chock full of boring information, or does it give visitors a consistent, compelling call to action resulting in additional business and increased revenue?

You’re always marketing. The only question is whether or not you’re marketing effectively. If you need help making your marketing more effective, give us a call at 402-570-6482 or send us an email to find out how Wittmania Marketing can help you add new customers and increase repeat business from existing ones.

WP-DB-Backup
WordPress Backup

The first one automatically backs up your database and sends it to an email address (I use a spare Gmail account). The second one zips up your uploads, plugins, and themes directories and emails them. You can set the backup frequency for both of them. I backup databases once a day and files once a week.

The Permalinker lets you use WP shortcodes in your page/post content that automatically update your links if you ever need to change the base URL for a site. There’s also a handy shortcode for the current template directory, making it very easy to link to or display images included in a theme rather than in the “standard” uploads directory.

This seems to be much easier than using a plugin to allow PHP execution from within pages and posts, and then using the native PHP permalink functions in WordPress. We’ll see how it goes…

For Christmas, I registered his domain for him so he could go “public”. You can check it out at RobbieHotz.com. Stop by to leave him a comment and wish him a Merry Christmas.

For a Merry Christmas from Wittmania Marketing, check out our e-mail Christmas card sent via Constant Contact earlier today.

Download Now

Preview:

Download Facebook-Vector-Icon.zip

It’s a free download, but I would appreciate it if you would leave a comment and a link so I can see how you’re using it.

Thanks!

Jay Conrad Levinson writes in Guerrilla Marketing, “Marketing isn’t about you. It’s about them.” To put it bluntly, nobody cares about your business. You have to connect with people on a what’s-in-it-for-me level. This all fits into the Wittmania strategy of telling a story that connects with people on an emotional level. If people believe that your business can change their life, just as it has for other people, they will beg you to sell them your product or service. Put your customers first and the sales will follow.

An XML sitemap lists out the pages of your site, along with hierarchical and date information. Click on the thumbnail to the right to see what the sitemap for Wittmania.com looks like this when viewed in a browser. However, when a search engine spider accesses the XML sitemap it sees a great deal of information about the pages in your site, in an organized and concise presentation. This ensures that the spiders don’t miss important site content when they index your site’s content. If content isn’t indexed, it won’t be included in search results.

As you might expect, I include an XML sitemap with every website I create. If you have questions about how to create an XML sitemap for your small business website, let me know.

But what if your site is larger or more complex? While you may be able to quickly find the page you’re looking for (after all, it is your site), it may be tough for a first-time visitor to find the content they’re after. While the value of an intuitive and well thought out site structure can’t be overstated, you can do your website visitors a tremendous favor by providing a sitemap.

Let’s consider the Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter website. Their site has nearly 50 static pages and an ever-increasing number of blog posts. While all of this information is valuable and serves a purpose, it is useless if visitors can’t get to it. That’s where their sitemap page comes in.

First, the page lists every page from the site in one place. If I came to their site because I need to contact Jeff Downing, I can quickly jump to his page. If I’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident, I know exactly where to go.

Second, the sitemap gives me a visual understanding of how the site is organized. I can quickly ascertain that the site has been organized into 7 parent pages, many of which have child (and even grand-child) pages beneath them. This level of detail can help a visitor know where to start, even if they don’t see a page that is exactly what they are looking for. You can “go the extra mile” by providing your visitors with a search form. Between the sitemap and the search functionality, your visitors should be able to find exactly what they are looking for.

Readability is one of the more important aspects of Web design usability. Readable text affects how users process the information in the content. Poor readability scares readers away from the content. On the other hand, done correctly, readability allows users to efficiently read and take in the information in the text. You want users to be able to read your content and absorb it easily.

A good designer will consider the following elements when designing the look and feel of a site’s text:

1. User-Friendly Headers
2. Scannable Text
3. White Space
4. Consistency
5. Density of Text
6. Emphasis of Important Elements
7. Organization of Information
8. Clean Graphical Implementation
9. Use of Separators
10. Good Margins

We’ve all seen sites where one or more of these elements is out of balance. The result can be down right painful. This is just one of many reasons why the “do it yourself” approach might not be the best idea for your small business website. If you’re ready to enlist some professional help with your site, let me know. I’d be glad to help.