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LINK YOUR BUSINESS CARD TO A SPECIAL WEB PAGE

What if your prospects had real motivation to find out more about your product or service?  
And felt you were actually HELPING them in the process?

Current Situation
Most business cards are handed out at networking events, trade shows, etc., only to be tossed out by the end of the day. 
 Even if your site is listed on your business card, few, if any prospects will visit your site without a reason.

Motivate Them
Add a special page to your website only for business card holders with a benefit JUST FOR THEM.  This special web page address
would be known ONLY to those with your business card. The URL address would be something like:
www.yourdomain.com/buscardspecial.html.

What to put on this special page to motivate visitors?  Here are some ideas:

-Informative article about your industry - a current hot topic
-Discount on their first order with your company
-Optional products/services to upsell to current customers
-Article about "10 Ways You will Save Money (or Time, Effort...)
-Using Our Product or Service

The possibilities are endless!

Just make sure you tell them the BENEFIT of going to that page when you hand them your card.  It also is a good conversation
starter.  Voice the benefit in terms that are important to your prospects.

The Power of Web Flexibility
Don't be afraid to change and update what's on the special web page.  Just keep the URL address (http//...) the same, so you
don't have to reprint your cards each time you update the special page!  That's the benefit of a website.  Printed business cards
stay the same, but you can change content on a web page anytime.

Final Note: Test & Track
Check your website statistic reports to see how often your "business card" page is being accessed.  Try out different
offers and information to see which ones get the most response.


MIND'S EYE NEWS TIP IN PLAIN ENGLISH:
Increase targeted traffic to your site by creating a
benefit-driven web page with a unique address known only to your
business card holders.

STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD

How is the casual web surfer going to perceive your website as distinct from a thousand others in the same business?

Developing a clear Unique Selling Proposition (USP) has a lot to do with differentiating your website (and company!) from all the
others. What is unique about your business?  Why do customers come to you for their business, rather than your competition?
What do you do better (or different) from all the rest?

Finding your USP is one of the first steps toward a truly successful marketing plan, especially online.

Distinctive Packaging
Many small business people cut corners on website design costs. The result is a same-old, look-alike website that you couldn't
remember an hour after you visited it.  Like book covers that compete for consumers' attention, websites need strong visual images.

A quality logo is essential.  A small businessperson can get a logo designed for $200 to $500, though many companies spend
several thousand dollars on the process, since it is so vital to the identity of their company and their products.  Most graphic
design companies offer this service.  We offer logo design as a part of our custom website packages.

Competitive Analysis
Just as important as a logo is a distinctive design for the website.  The site ought to leave you with an attractive visual
memory.  Look at your competitors' websites.  What do you like about them?  What would you change?  If you like a certain style
or "look", chances are your customers will too.  Does your site's style reflect your unique business, or does it simply list the
bare facts about you with a big yawn?

A Distinct Voice
Another way to differentiate your website is with a distinctive "voice."  The Internet can be a very flat, cold world.  So make
sure the style of writing adds personality and individuality to the website text.  In a corporate culture this can be darn near
impossible.  We've all seen the webpage with the DRY message from the CEO.  Companies that are smart find spokespersons who put
personality into the website text, i.e. a distinctive "voice."

A Clear Focus
Part of making your business or product distinctive is narrowing. Many online businesses try to be everything to everybody and fail
because they are seen as just being part of the crowd.

Smaller companies have an easier job of differentiating themselves.  Often the Unique Selling Proposition can be a
geographic focus combined with a specialty.  For example, a dry cleaner in Portland, Maine, that specializes in cleaning suede
better than anyone else in the city.  Or a recording company that markets New Orleans jazz.


MIND'S EYE NEWS TIP IN PLAIN ENGLISH:
Find your company's Unique Selling Proposition, and incorporate
that into your website to make it stand out from the crowd.

DON'T BE A WEB HOST VICTIM!

How well do you know the company that hosts your website?  If your host company goes out of business, you may be in deep trouble.

Let's cover the basics first.  A website is a group of electronic "files" stored on a special computer (also called a "server").
This server is hooked up to the Internet to allow visitors access to web pages 24 hrs a day/7 days a week.

If you own a "first level" domain name, (example: www.mycompany.com), the web site and its pages are your
property.  But if your host goes out of business, shuts down its servers, and the web pages are not retrievable, your website is
not just inaccessible, it's gone!  And you no longer have access to the email address associated with your site.

If you use a free service to host your web pages and have a "second level" domain name, such as www.freehost.com/mycompany,
when the hosting company goes out of business, you are completely out of business.  No domain and no pages.  The domain address
you've been using (and hopefully advertising!) and the site are completely gone.

Protecting Yourself:
1) You should always retain a copy of all your web pages and images used.  This serves a dual purpose.  It not only provides a
level of safety in the event of a problem with the web server, it also provides a backup copy of your web pages if your provider
goes out of business.

2) Buy your own first level domain (www.mycompany.com) if you haven't already.  It looks much more professional than a second
level domain, and is an inexpensive investment.  

3) If you already own your domain, and had your web designer or host register it for you, make sure the domain name is actually
in your name.  We had a client recently have to change the domain name they were using, because their former web developer
registered the domain in their own name!  Go to: www.allwhois.com , type in your domain name, then in the next page click on "whois record".  Your name should be the first one listed.  The Admin and technical contacts can be your host or web designers.

4) Know your web host company.  Like anything, you get what you pay for with cheap web hosting.  Support will be by phone or
email, and on generally on THEIR schedule.  Be aware of what you are getting.

Your best bet is to contact for services with a web host who provides quality service at a reasonable price.  Protect yourself
from the possibility they might go out of business.


MIND'S EYE NEWS TIP IN PLAIN ENGLISH:
Retain a copy of your website and make sure you own your first
level domain address.

BUILDING TARGETED SITE TRAFFIC

Building website traffic is a key challenge for websites.  In our "Effective Websites" seminars, attendees invariably ask how to
increase the number of visitors to their website.

Boxcar of visitors?
The only time you may want huge numbers of random site visitors is if you're in the business of selling ad banners.  Even then,
banner ads are harder to sell with fewer "click-throughs" (percentage of people who actually click on an ad) than ever
before.

Otherwise, if your site is designed for garnering prospects and sales leads, you are better off working toward fewer, but MORE
QUALIFIED visitors to your site.  Why spend time and money getting the world to come to your doorstep, if they're not good
candidates to buy from you?

Targeted Traffic Better!
So, it's not just any old traffic, but RELEVANT traffic that makes all the difference in online marketing success.
How to get those targeted visitors to your site?

Here is a suggestion to get started:
With your next direct mail or media ad (or even on the back of your business card), include the specific website address (on
YOUR website!) of an article you know your prospects will find useful.  Add the brief, useful article to a page on your website
before publishing the address.  Or ask your web developer to add the article for you.

Example
A dry cleaner may run these two lines in their spring ads:

"Check out how to best store those wool winter coats at our website http://BishopCleaners.com/storecoats

The article should be useful, of course, and can include a discount for wool coat cleaning at Bishop Cleaners.  Chances are
good that visitors will surf around your site, discovering all the wonderful things you do!

A side benefit of this example is the ability to test specific ad outlets for their effectiveness and response rate.

Mind's Eye News Tip in Plain English:
It's not just any old traffic, but rather RELEVANT, TARGETED
traffic that is worth cultivating in the long run.