Sample Issue of
MICE™ Web Design Monthly
"Your solution to the Technology Rat Race!"
January 3, 2002 VOLUME I ISSUE I
NOTE: This is a duplicate of a past issue
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Topics:
"I Don't Wanna"
The Steps Toward Web Success
Happy New Year and welcome to our very first issue of the Web Design Monthly!
This exclusive, e-mail only newsletter is created to help you - the web page designer!
The biggest difficulty most people have with web sites is not so much the layout of the page or even the content, but in what to do after the site is finished! Although our newsletter will cover all aspects of the web design
experience, we hope that you will profit by the inclusion of marketing and other promotional ideas for your site.
So, without further introduction, here is your first issue! Enjoy!
Until next time, "Happy Computing!"
And remember, "The early bird catches the worm,
but the second mouse always gets the cheese!
The Editors
"I Don't Wanna"
Because this is a new newsletter and a new year, we thought it appropriate to run the following article, reprinted with permission from Stat News E-zine publisher, Bob McElwain.
Our hope is that you benefit from what it says, as much as from what it "doesn't" say! And by all means, please feel free to subscribe to the author's own e-zine! (It's one we read religiously ourselves!)
I DON'T WANNA
by Bob McElwain
My garage is a mess. It would only take an hour or so to tuck stuff away where it belongs and toss the rest. But
I just don't seem to get to it.
Leaves that generated precious shade all summer, now cover the gardens about the house. What's it take to change
this?
One of the four bulbs in the wagon-wheel chandelier in my office has been burned out for months. Bulbs can be
found 30 feet from where I sit. And I can replace one while standing on the floor; I don't even have to get a ladder or
a stool.
So what's the problem? Why don't I get these things done?
'Cause I don't wanna.
A Business-Killing Bug
I visited your site, Charlie, as you asked me to. I didn't find any obvious blunders. No spelling or grammatical errors.
But some of the copy is pretty rough; more polish is clearly called for. Some fresh content would spruce things up a lot.
And there's a need to spiff up those sales presentations, to lead your visitors more directly to them.
What was your reply to the above? Something about the lack of time. I remember that. And you felt all you needed
was just more hits. What you were really saying, Charlie, was, "I don't wanna."
When we speak of chores about our home that need doing, that's one thing. But to say the same about known failings
on our site, it's another. "I-don't-wanna" can be a deadly virus to any business, one that can destroy it in the end.
Your Newsletter Matters
Your latest newsletter kind of bothered me some way, Jill. But when I mentioned this to you, your comment was, "I just don't have the time."
What you meant, Jill, is, "I don't wanna." You feel you have more important things to do than take the time required
to produce a quality newsletter as you used to do.
It won't work, Jill. Without a top notch newsletter, your business is headed downhill.
And Growth Matters
We all need more targeted visitors and to grow our subscriber list. Most know how to accomplish these tasks.
But in many cases we are too quick to rattle off our list of rationalizations for ducking the chore. Most of which boil
down to, "I don't wanna."
Search engines and directories are helpful. But it takes a lot of time to attract a significant number of visitors from them. Competition is fierce, and it's bound to become even more intense. Still, we can not afford to ignore these resources.
Then there are reciprocal links, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and so forth. And above all, advertising.
But in speaking with Pete the other day, he told me flat out that links don't work for him. And Paula told me she'd
lost a bundle on advertising, that it hadn't produced a dime. When I suggested a joint venture to Bill, he replied with a long list of failed efforts. When I asked Betsy how she was doing building strategic alliances, she asked what the term meant.
Do It, Whether Or Not You Wanna
If your site is not right, more hits won't do you much good.
Fix things right now. Only then does it make sense to look for ways to produce more targeted traffic.
Then build some links, and consider some form of joint venture or alliance. If these fundamental tools have not
yet worked for you, figure out why. Then make it happen.
And for sure get to advertising. Remember Ted Turner's words of advice:
Early to bed, early to rise,
Work like heck, and advertise.
To say advertising does not pay off is to deny the reality of the world around you. While a case can be made that literally billions of dollars are wasted on advertising every year, this says nothing about the potential. You do not need to look far to find excellent examples of quality advertising that brings great results. So get to it.
Figure a way to make it work for you.
So What About Me?
Just now I'm going to turn off this computer, go clean up my garage, rake those leaves, and replace that light bulb. Then I will like the place in which I live better than I do just now.
Then I'm going to crank up this computer again and get down to business. I'm going to follow my own advice. And I
will also enjoy the results this brings.
Try it! It will work for you!!!
Bob McElwain, author of "Your Path To Success."
How to build ANY business you want, just the
way you want it, with only pocket money.
Mr. McElwain's Website is no longer available
The Steps Toward Web Success
Now I know you are fired up and ready to grab those old (or
new) pages and start to transform them into the hottest site
the search engines have ever seen. Right?
Great! Where do you start? (Long pause of silence.)
I thought so!
If you are like most page or site designers, you may think
that you put up this great looking, informational or sales
site and the world will beat a path to your URL.
And just maybe, in the beginning the world (or at least your
friends and family) did visit - once. Your initial page
counter shot up past the thousand mark and then stayed
there. Maybe the only new hits you've received were your own
attempts to sneak a peek at the counter to see if it
increased?
Don't be too hard on yourself, it happens to the best of us.
In fact, it happened to us just last year. April through
July to be exact and we can show you the statistics to prove
it!
Our business increases and decreases based on our web
activity. History has proven it for us. In July of 2001, our
business activity died. Literally died. It was
questionable whether we would continue to leave the company
running.
In reviewing all the possible reasons for our sudden demise
(or so we thought it was sudden), we looked at our web stats
to see that starting in April, page hits started declining
until they "flat lined" in July.
Of equal importance is the fact that in April our phone
calls started declining and they too "flat lined" (bottomed
out) in July.
What did we do wrong after three years of success? We broke
the basic steps to Internet success!
In this first issue, we want you to learn these basic steps
and never, never forget them. These steps will make you or
break you.
- While the initial design of your site and pages may seem
like very hard work, it's only the beginning. Success on
the Internet depends upon continuous hard work.
- There are no shortcuts. Sometimes a site will get lucky
because they attract the right attention at the right
moment in time (like the page that has President Bush and
Colin Powell signing to Osama Bin Laden). But these
are the exceptions rather than the rule. Sites that
maintain their standings in the search engines and their
popularity, work to stay there. You will have to do the
same.
- There is no "secret" formula for success. There is a
method for success, that when followed, will get you
there, but you will have to continue to work to keep
your site there!
- Look at your site critically. How's the layout? Is it
easy to navigate? Is your spelling and grammar correct?
Do any of your links lead to dead-ends? These are the
first basic questions every web site publisher should ask
themselves. Ask your visitors what they think if that's
possible.
- Don't buy into the myth that one simple solution, like
gateway pages will get you higher search engine rankings.
Search engine placement is also a process (as you will
start to learn in this newsletter). And if a company
wants to sell you on their ability to place you high in
the search engine rankings, then find out where they
rank! If they are any good at what they do, they will
be in the top ten placement for placement companies.
- Don't let your content get old and stale. This was one
of our mistakes in April through July 2001. People won't
revisit your page unless you give them a reason to want
to or have to! Think about the pages or sites you visit
repeatedly. Maybe you use google repeatedly to perform
a search, or you visit the Microsoft site to see what
new products or tips you can pick up? Maybe there is
even a gaming site you return to continuously in order to
play a game or gamble. You have to revisit the weather
page daily, don't you? The point is, each of the pages
you return to daily or weekly have given you a reason to
do so. You need to do the same with your visitors.
- Advertise and market your site on a continuous and daily
basis. (Our other mistake!) You will learn more about
over time, but there are some very easy simple steps you
can take now to market your site without any effort.
On that note, I'm going to share with you one of the
simplest ways to get the word out about your site and
advertise your URL without any effort at all!
Every e-mail program has an option for what is called a
"signature" for outgoing mail. You format your signature
once and on every outgoing mail it puts your information at
the bottom.
If your signature does not include your URL, you've wasted
free advertising with every e-mail you've sent, every day of
the past year.
If you look closely at the bottom of our regular e-mail, you
will see that we not only include the company name, but an
invitation to sign up for these newsletters, our URL and our
phone number. In fact, here's the exact signature:
Until next time, Happy Computing!
And remember, "The Early Bird catches
the worm, but the second mouse always
gets the cheese!"
Debbie Mahler, Editor/Publisher
And thank you Bob for allowing us to reprint the great article!
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