Copyright ©2001 Richard Seltzer
Now that the rights have reverted to the author, he is free to update and revise this online version. Please send email him your feedback/comments at seltzer@samizdat.com
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You need to get the most out of Web pages that are critical to your business. You suspect that something is wrong -- the results just aren't matching expectations. You may be tempted to invest even more on design or on advertising or on both (not realizing that the expensive design you already have could be preventing people from finding your pages naturally). You feel out of control. You don't understand your options, don't understand how details of design can affect traffic. You may not even know what questions to ask. Hence you don't know what to tell the experts to do.
Here you'll find one set of lessons that can help solve the problems of four kinds of business people:
1) the independent professional with his or her own Web site
2) the CEO or marketing manager for a startup or a small focused company
3) the manager or marketing manager of a department or group within
a large, diverse company
4) the Internet technical expert suddenly given broader responsibility
For example,
1) Jeremy Josephs, a freelance writer living in the south of France,
was hoping that his Web site would generate new business for him from all
over the world. The site was slick, graphically attractive, and used all
the right marketing words. But very few people found it, except when he
pointed them to it personally.
2) Also, Coola, a startup with a quick and easy way to move specific kinds of content on the Web to the appropriate app on a palm device, needed to build a large audience quickly with a limited budget. They had "cool" pages and a great product that spread well by word of mouth, but how could they start the snowball rolling?
3) A couple years ago, Hitachi's Internet software business had a similar problem. Few people knew that this business existed, because it wasn't closely associated with the corporate brand. By corporate rules, they couldn't run their own separate Web site, and could not even advertise the specific URLs of their marketing pages. Ads could only point to the corporate home page, www.hi.com, where their products were buried among hundreds of other unrelated products. Very few people found them on the Web.
4) Anthony, a friend who is an Internet technical guru, recently got a new job at a new company, where he is responsible for "creating order out of the mess they are using as an Internet." Suddenly, he has to decide what to do and why, rather than just how to do it. He had to consider the broader implications of his technical decisions.
Business people in all four of these circumstances typically have two
separate goals:
1)You want to provide the optimum user experience within your Web site,
and
2)You want to make it easy for users to find their Web pages.
But the design team typically only pays attention to the first goal.
Unfortunately, a great Web site is no good if no one ever comes.
In our first lesson, we'll talk about how to diagnose your problem -- what might be making it difficult for potential customers to find your Web pages -- and what you can do to fix it.
In lesson two, we'll give you detailed, non-technical instructions on how to create your own Web pages and make them so they can be easily found. Hands-on experience will give you insight into what is involved and what matters, making it far easier for you to communicate with the professionals who will probably be designing your pages on a daily basis. You'll be able to tell them what you need and why, without being intimidated by technobabble, and will be in a better position to evaluate the related costs. Or, if you prefer, you can just do it all yourself.
In lesson three, we'll give you advice on how to publicize your Web pages over the Internet at little or no cost -- how to get the most out of what you have done.
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This book (plus three other Internet business books and numerous related articles) is available on CD ROM for $19. Check our online store at http:/store.yahoo.com/samizdat
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