Flash Or Bang - Which Would You Prefer?

If you had to choose, would you want a site that looks pretty, or one that makes you lots of money?

Of course you want a nice looking website, but isn’t money the real motivator here? I mean you are running a business, right?

Flashy graphics and top-notch sound effects make for an awesome video game, but frankly aren’t very effective as marketing tools. In fact, too much of these elements will greatly decrease your site’s ability to convey it’s message.

Look at sites like Amazon.com and Buy.com. They’re friggin’ ugly, but they rake in an absolutely terrifying amount of revenue month after month.

Or look at any website by Mike Filsaime, Gary Ambrose, and other big name marketers. These sites are clean-cut, simple, and to the point. No extravagant visual effects of any kind, and yet these guys make a killing with just about every site they roll out.

Your content, your message, is by far the most important aspect of your web presence. Of course you want a nice appearance, attractive colors, and a sleek overall look; but don’t get side tracked by focusing on the aesthetics.

Moreover, you should focus on getting your main point across immediately. Your site's headline should literally grab a visitor by the eyeballs and make them want to read more, and the text following your initial headline should keep the momentum going and pull the reader down the rest of your page and deep into your sales message.

People rarely spend money because they were impressed by an animated header. In most cases, we decide to buy because the information presented exceeds our expectations, offers the solution to our problem, or creates a strong emotional desire.

I’ll take a site that converts visitors into customers over a site that makes people say “wow” before they click away any day of the week.

5 Tips For Developing A Website For Your Audience

Developing a website is important if you want to be a player in ecommerce. However, you don’t want to just develop a website any old way. Instead, you want to develop a website for your audience. When doing research online you have probably seen generalized information on how to develop a website, however it is unlikely you have found significant information on how to develop a website specifically for your audience. The following tips will be really helpful to you to develop a website just for your audience.

Tip #1 Goal

First you need a goal when you are developing a website for your audience. If you do not know what you are looking to achieve then it will be very difficult to be successful. Also, it takes a goal to drive your website where it needs to be. A goal is what allows you to develop an initial plan for your website and helps guide you in developing your website as well.

Tip #2 Audience

Your audience is very important and should be considered in conjunction with your goal when developing a website. Basically, you are developing your website for a certain audience and these are the people that will help meet your goal so this is very important to consider. Just make sure you determine who your audience is before you begin developing your website.

Tip #3 Content for Audience

Once you have determined your goal and your audience it is time to determine the content that will be used for your audience. You might not realize it, but the type of audience you are focusing on will really affect the content you use on your website. So, make sure you have your audience targeted so you know what content will work best for these individuals.

Tip #4 Update

Another important tip for developing a website for your audience is to plan when you will provide updates. This might seem like something you could consider down the road when your site needs updating, but is really not the case. You need to know when your audience will most likely be viewing your site and when they won’t so you know when to provide updates. A little bit of planning will go a long way.

Tip #5 Format

The format of your website is also a very important aspect and one that will really affect whether or not you reach your audience. Once you know who your audience is you will have no problem developing a format that will reach them. Also, your format improves your site’s message, so it is beneficial in a variety of ways.