Have you ever sat down and thought about this question? Is it making you money? Is it influencing your business? It is affecting your bottom line? Have you hired web designer after web designer to try and get it ‘right’?

Many are guilty of having a website because they believe that they need one. Or, that their market dictated that they should. But, are those excuses good enough to keep one around?

Not really.

So, why keep one?

Websites can do three things for your business:

1. Validate you. It shows that you can provide particular goods or services.
2. Market your goods and services.
3. Initiate a transaction that can be fulfilled multiple ways.

You website must be treated with the same respect that you show your brand, product mix, and divisions of your company. You need to address your strategic direction, have a plan and continually monitor its performance. Then, and only then will you understand why a website is so important to your business.

Is having a website in today’s world a necessity?

Absolutely.

We’ve helped numerous companies answer these questions and be more successful with their website strategies. Contact us for more information.

What Can Web Copywriters Learn From Direct Mail?

My contention all along is that there is a writing style for the web. You take a little from the direct mail world, a little from print advertising and throw in some conversational tone - voila! Web Writing Style. This article gives some great tips on writing online.

It is so important for your website to take advantage of error handling. If one of your users navigates to a missing page on the site - how is it handled? This article, “Error Messages: More Important to Your Web Site Than You Think” , is a great outline of what can an should happen. If you have any questions, please let us know.

They Laughed When I Said There Was a Secret to Writing Good Headlines
Now here is a great primer on writing headlines, especially in the web world. Many of you know that I firmly believe the the killer app online today is copywriting. We must all become better writers for this evolving medium. The link above will give you some great tips.

I make a point to pass along some of the best practices that I see around the Internet. And, this is one of the best that I’ve seen in a while. Wolf Camera has build a website that allows you to upload your digital images to their website [PrintatWolf.com] then select the location that you want to pick them up; in four hours. This is the essence of the web - put the customer in control of the transaction.

Here’s a great article that discusses the current “killer app” on the web - copywriting. We have seen a style of copywriting emerge for the web and it all begins with a headline: 5 Easy Steps to Write More Effective Headlines by Debbie Weil in WordBiz Report