Webmaster Papers








Using Mini Websites - Powerful Way to Direct Marketing


Mini Websites are the most powerful and cost effective solution to promote and market your brand. Normally people go for a large site which have 100's of pages of selling nos. products, which confuse visitor and most of the pages remains unviewed by the visitor. Generally people do the search in search engines on specific topic and like to get the specific results only. The normal web surfer spends very little time on sites and does not go beyond 3 to 5 clicks on a site. If the visitor landed at your site and does not found what he was looking for in first two clicks he will automatically switch to another site which he found more relevant. I always advocate the concept of direct marketing as it provide user more time to do research on specific product.

Even if you are a small business owner or an enterprise, offering your products in internet, mini sites will give you advantage over your competitors. Say for example if a surfer searches for Donuts and found 100,s of sites selling donuts, he has the minimum time to brows all the pages of the site. He will give more value to the sites which offers directly donuts to the sites which first explain about the company and so on. Direct marketing is very much effective and people give value to straight forward honest offers. Now a days people fill there sites with most irrelevant contents as per instructions of any search engine optimizer, which drives visitor away from site as he has so many options to choose.

Capitalization of visitor psychology is an important aspect of direct marketing. Say for example a visitor landed at your site and at home page you display your offers will force him to brows your site to find more information's, after all he needs donuts and searched for that. Take a look at the examples contents of a donut selling site below and decide yourself which one you prefer.

Site one: Welcome to our site, we produce best of products in world. We have pizzas, donuts, burgers and blab blab blab. We are established on kwak kwak kwak with the vision of our founder Mr. XYZ and also greet your visitor with an eye catching animation.

Site two: Looking for donuts? You have come to the right place for donuts. Below are our regular offerings along with the price, Check out todays special what we have only for you. Like a custom donut of your choice click here and like to know more about us click here.

My opinion as well as experience says, visitor will give more weight to site two. Analyze the following reasons and know why:

1. Visitor was searching for "donuts" and likes to know what donut is, and then only he likes to know who are the person and procedures behind manufacturing donuts.

2. The site is offering straight to the visitor along with the prices, enough for him to decide quickly whether this is the thing he is looking for.

3. He is getting all navigations links on first page itself about the products and there varieties, this will induce him to know more. With minimum clicks he is getting more information's.

4. The site is loading fast which is a very pleasant thing for any visitor where as the animations on site 1 take time to download and he don't want to spend much time on that.

5. Site one is offering lot more products which might not be the interest of the visitor. He will simply ignore that.

6. Site 2 is displaying its product prices and discounts immediately and visitor will go immediately if that suites his pocket, if not he can book mark and ask for the price negotiations later. Where as in site he found all good in site one and found the prices after so many clicks, and if it does not suites his pocket he will be staying permanently away from the site.

7. Even search engine will give more preference to site 2 as they have specific information's on Donuts comparing to site which have other products to sell.

In nut shell grabbing attention of a visitor towards your offering is more important than explaining who you are, as its products which build a brand. People like to know first what all your offerings rather than who you are. Any buyer, even if he spends a little always likes to compare product, quality and pricings with other. Using a mini site you allow him to compare fast and he can take his decisions without wasting his time. Remember killer marketing principle says "never allow a buyer to think twice as there may be chance when other competitors grab the deal"

Arun Tibrewal is an online marketing promotions specialist since 1998 and owner of I-wayhost - Web Hosting and its network sites. I-wayhost is dedicated to provide top class hosting services with there straight forward plans. Permission is granted to reprint this article as long as the resource box should keep intact with the following links.

(Customized billing solutions)
(Online Marketing Blog)

RELATED ARTICLES


Web Designer? You Dont Need No Stinkin Web Designer!
RIVERSIDE, CA August 4, 2004 ?- "Historically, small business owners have had a limited number of options to choose from when it comes to the development of an on-line presence," says Pat Spinelli, owner of The Web Site Tutor, a Riverside, California 1. web site design and training firm.
5 Tips For A Better Website
Having an eye catching website is great, but are you optimizing your website to allow the best performance possible? I receive several emails a day from clients asking how they can get more hits to their websites, what can be done to increase sales, and how to prepare their sites for search engines. There are very simple things that can be done to help your website perform its best.
Allocating Your Web Site?s Budget Properly
I had a client say something to me the other day that I thought was rather interesting. He mentioned that he almost considers SEO as a marketing expense even though its really a web expense. It was then that I realized that many people still do not consider what they do with their website as part of their marketing plan but as, well, just something else.
5 Essential Traits Of A Home Business Website
So you've decided to start an online work at home business and are just beginning to build your website. You probably have a million different ideas for what you want the site to look like. You will want to take into consideration that your idea of a great website may differ drastically from what a website designed to make sales should be like.
Get to Know People through Websites
Web sites are not just places to sell things; they are a medium where people can get insight into other people's lives. Take the musician Xavier Rudd for example. I recently saw this guy play at a concert and had never previously heard his music. He was really cool, literally blowing me away with his many skills, beautiful music, positive energy, and humble attitude. So being thus affected, I decided to check out if he had a website on the Internet. After finding his site (http://www.xavierrudd.com/) I automatically got to become more acquainted with the man, not as a fan looking up to a so-called 'star', but as a human being receiving real insight into the workings of another individual in our global human community.
Planning Your Website for Success
Most people know they need a website in order to publicise and promote their business but very few people know what they want in their website. Fewer still are those who can actually sit down and plan their websites well.
Frequent Business Question: How Do You Start a Web Business?
Today it seems everyone is jumping on the entrepreneur bandwagon, and who could blame them? Setting your own schedule, working from the comfort of your own home, and never having to deal with a horrible commute or office politics again, this option is quite popular among all ages. With the advent of the technology age, it seems more individuals are looking to the internet to provide them with goods or services. Without having to leave your computer to shop for whatever your heart desires, web businesses have boomed over the past decade. More popular than ever, starting your own web business is an excellent way to earn an extra income or replace your current income. However, many individuals who wish to begin this new chapter in their lives do not have any experience in starting or running a business, spurring them to ask the question: how do you start a web business? The answer is: easy! All you need is a computer, internet connection, and a dream and you are halfway there.
Writing Effective ALT Text For Images
Anyone who knows anything about web accessibility knows that images need alternative, or ALT, text assigned to them. This is because screen readers can't understand images, but rather read aloud the alternative text assigned to them. In Internet Explorer we can see this ALT text, simply by mousing over the image and looking at the yellow tooltip that appears. Other browsers (correctly) don't do this. The HTML for inserting ALT text is:
How Did You Get Here?
When marketing your website, it's important to know which of your efforts are producing results and which of them are a waste of time.
Growing Your Meetings In CyberSpace
As increasing numbers of people search for information on the Internet, it becomes more imperative to have a compelling Website to promote and support your meetings.
CPanel Fantastico - Features and Benefits
Fantastico is a 3rd-party cPanel add-on and can be purchased and added to the standard cPanel interface. Fantastico allows you to quickly install a variety of open-source scripts. By selecting a script and providing some basic information for each, you can install a script within minutes. Fantastico is designed so that the script you install is always the newest available.
Are You Overlooking the Benefits of Using Sub-Domains within Your Web-hosting account?
One of the most useful features offered by some web hosting companies, is the option of creating sub-domains in the same web hosting account. The problem is, most website owners are not aware of why and how to create sub-domains.
Eight Deadly Web Site Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Creating and maintaining an effective presence on the Web has become increasingly complex and challenging as the power of the Internet as a marketing tool becomes more and more necessary to entrepreneurs and emerging businesses.
Developing A Login System With PHP And MySQL
Most interactive websites nowadays would require a user to log in into the website's system in order to provide a customized experience for the user. Once the user has logged in, the website will be able to provide a presentation that is tailored to the user's preferences.
2 Key Ways to Make Your Site a Success
If one more business owner tells me their website sucks because they're just "too darn busy to deal with it", I'm gonna hurl. That's like saying, "I'm doing business in my dirty underwear because I'm too busy to get dressed." Realize it or not, your website (or lack thereof) is very often the first impression your prospect or peer will have of you. Now, it's no longer a matter of having a website -- it's a matter of having a great one.
My Yahoo Search - Beyond Bookmarks
Yahoo has long offered email, an online calendar, notes, bookmarks, and more through their free My Yahoo service. Now Yahoo has expanded this service even more by adding My Yahoo Personal Search to the mix.
Websites: You Get What You Pay For!
So you finally decided to invest in a web presence or upgrade your current site? There are many available choices in "web designers" to choose from. This decision is an important one! You may have a relative or friend of a friend who will do your web site at a very low cost from the comfort of their house. At the same time you receive a quote of a higher price from a professional design house. Who do you choose? The first instinct is to always assume the lower price is a better choice. This article will discuss why this isn't always true, and why "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!"
Using Mini Websites - Powerful Way to Direct Marketing
Mini Websites are the most powerful and cost effective solution to promote and market your brand. Normally people go for a large site which have 100's of pages of selling nos. products, which confuse visitor and most of the pages remains unviewed by the visitor. Generally people do the search in search engines on specific topic and like to get the specific results only. The normal web surfer spends very little time on sites and does not go beyond 3 to 5 clicks on a site. If the visitor landed at your site and does not found what he was looking for in first two clicks he will automatically switch to another site which he found more relevant. I always advocate the concept of direct marketing as it provide user more time to do research on specific product.
Preventing Repeat Form Submission Using PHP Sessions
We've all seen those messages on some websites warning not to click a button more than once or negative consequences, like paying a bill twice, may result. Sometimes we can cause these problems by hitting the back or refresh buttons. In this article I will explain a methodology whereby a site can ensure each form is submitted only once, thereby demonstrating that such warnings are unnecessary and, depending on the nature of the problems caused, worth repairing immediately. Let's begin by taking a look at the process we are studying: Form Submission. As pedantic as it may seem, it will be worthwhile to detail each of the steps in this process: Visitor requests a page from the server which has a form on it.Server retrieves form and sends to user.User enters data on form and submits to server.Server processes form data and returns resultant page. The scenario we now need to analyze is when the user re-triggers a previous form submission process. What we need to find or create is something which changes during the form submission process which does not depend on the specific form being submitted and which we can tell changed. That was a loaded sentence which fully details our solution, so let's break it down. Find or create something which changes during the form submission process,does not depend on the specific form being submitted, andwe can tell changed.
12 Tips To Great Websites
Why do some sites succeed while the vast majority of others fail? More and more website owners are asking themselves these questions. The answers are often more obvious than you may think. Below are 12 tips for better, more successful web sites.