PLAN YOUR WEBSITE FOR USE BY MONKEYS
Even if you have the smartest customers in the world,
plan your website as if it were going to be used by monkeys.
People don't like to have to think online... they expect you
to know what they want, and to put it front and center.

People expect certain elements to be on every website,
and they expect them to be obvious. Your site should have
a "Contact" page, offering a real address and real phone
number, and an "About Us" page. You may want to be
unique and call your company information "Our Story,"
but don't do it. "About Us" may be boring, but it's standard...
and standards are your friends. You don't want to take the
chance of someone missing an important section of your site
because you called it something they don't recognize.

Typically, you'll have a navigation bar on the left. If you
don't put it there, it should go along the top, where it will
always be seen. Try to allow visitors to your site to find what
they want without having to click on anything more than
two or three times. CAN people find the new line of soccer
shoes in Products > Clothing > Footwear > Sports > Soccer?
Of course. WILL they? Not if your competitor puts a picture
and link on the home page.

Keep it simple. Really simple. Remember, people don't
like to think when they're on the Net. Anything that is
nonstandard will come off as frustrating.

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STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT, 21st CENTURY STYLE
Dr. Dan Herman writes on MarketingProfs.com that the
customary way of defining strategy (Where are we now?
Where do we want to be? How are we to get there?) is no
longer effective in today's rapidly-changing environment.
Instead, he advocates looking at the current situation and
asking questions that boil down to, "What's next?"

While the classic method assumes a relatively unchanging
world -- we know our true goals; the world is stable enough
that our goals will still be valid in a month, a year, a decade;
our competition will do tomorrow what it is doing today --
the method Herman advocates is more flexible.

When planning, he suggests looking at the situation as of
right now. Ask: What's now? What's possible? What's
feasible? What's next? Using Herman's method, strategy
development becomes continuous and organic.

For the full article, go to:
http://www.marketingprofs.com/4/herman3.asp

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THE POWER OF TESTIMONIALS
Of course YOU like your product or service. Potential
customers expect your advertising to paint you in a good
light. But remember that as you build your brand, you
should be building trust. Testimonials -- which show that
your CUSTOMERS like you, too -- demonstrate to
prospects that you deliver what you say you will... that
you are worthy of the trust your brand promises.

When soliciting testimonials, choose articulate, enthusiastic
customers and work that best matches your company's
desired image: if you want to be seen as an innovator, get
a testimonial from a customer who uses your most
innovative product. If your goal is to be known as
dependable, find someone who's used your products for
years because of their dependability.

Have a draft of a testimonial prepared when you call your
customer. Ask the customer if they might say something
like what you have written, and tweak accordingly. Your
customers will thank you. They might not know what to
say, and your having prepared potential quotes for them
takes the work of preparing the testimonial off of their
desks. Always run the completed testimonial by the client
before using it, of course.

Don't forget to ask what the customer thought of your
service and understanding of their business, as well as their
satisfaction with the project. Testimonials let customers
hear from other customers, which will help to build trust
and build your brand.