Website Analyst Newsletter
Meeting Your Needs With Excellence
Issue 14
January 2001
Editor: Lucian Millis, editor@website-analyst.co.il
Publisher: Website Analyst http://www.website-analyst.co.il/
Website Analyst offers free website evaluation, ratings,
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. Editor's Note
2. 10 Ways To Keep Your Website Visitors "On Site"
3. Traceroute Tool
4. Links of Interest
5. Pick Of The Month (HTML by Example)
6. List Management
7. Contact Information
1. Editor's Note
Dear Friend,
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to wish
you and your family a happy and prosperous New Year.
Spread the word! Don't hesitate to forward a copy of this
newsletter to friends and associates, but please include the
subscription address so they can join us. Invite them to send
a blank email to mailto:analyst-subscribe@topica.com
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy what you find here.
2. 10 Ways To Keep Your Website Visitors "On Site" by Ron Knowlton
Don't you hate it when visitors come to your website for only
a second or two and then quickly click off to another site?
Here are ten ways to capture the interest of your
visitors and keep them focused on your "site":
1. Use interesting headlines.
That's what the newspapers do. And it works! The headline
catches your interest. You then have a desire to read more.
Provide headlines on your opening page that are eye catching
and that capture the interest of your website visitor. Then
from the headline you can link to another page on your site
for more details.
2. What's New
Provide a page with new information at least once every week
or two. Provide a link on your home page to this section so
that your visitor can quickly go to this page and learn more.
This could include interesting articles, tips, advice, or even
recent product reviews. A top ten (or even top five) list is
also a popular feature.
3. Offer a freebie
One way that many site owners use to attract visitors and keep
them there is to offer a freebie of some sort, whether it's a
report, an interesting article, or even a free e-book.
4. Offer free tips
Offer free tips and advice sprinkled around your home page.
If a tip catches a visitor's interest, provide a link from
that tip to a page on your site where they can go to learn
more.
5. Build trust
Knowing who you are dealing with helps build trust. That's
why some website owners include a picture of themselves on
their home page. Some also include an "about" link that
tells more about the company, the webmaster's background, or
more information about the product and it's development.
This type of content helps your visitor get to know you
better and builds trust and confidence.
6. Offer a Top 10 list
David Letterman has one. So does the New York Times--as does
Billboard Magazine. It's a top 10 list. For some reason
people love them. Whether it's rating animal tricks, books,
or the latest CDs, readers enjoy reading about what's popular.
You can offer your own opinion, or the opinion of a group of
people. Whether it's rating other products, websites, or
software, there seems to be something magical about a top 10
list. People will read them!
7. Don't have an ezine? Get one!
If you don't have a newsletter or ezine yet, it's time to get
started. As you build your list and send out your ezine,
people get to know you and trust you. Soon they bookmark
your site and return often (particularly when your ezine
entices them to come back). And from a sales and marketing
standpoint, you have a built in "warm market" that you can
send new marketing information to--helping build sales.
8. Feedback From Others
Ask friends to visit your site and tell what catches their
interest. This feedback can also come in the form of a forum
--a popular feature where visitors can offer their comments
and suggestions. (This can also be done in your ezine.)
Better yet, complimentary comments from others posted
strategically on your website can help build trust in you and
in your site (testimonials).
9. Track Your Visitors
Use a tracking service (such as:
http://www.websitetrafficreport.com
http://www.thecounter.com
http://www.extreme-dm.com or
http://www.websitetracker.com).
Then view the statistics each day and see where visitors are
going on your site. This will give you an idea of what's
catching their interest and what's not.
10. Conduct a survey
Ask visitors what they like and don't like. People love to
share their opinions. They will tell you! Many are willing to
fill out a brief survey. Then take the survey results and
provide more of what they do like and less of what they
don't like.
About the Author
Ron Knowlton is a former journalist and the founding
editor at http://www.soaringprofits.com/
He can help you succeed on the internet!
Subscribe to the Soaring Profits Success Ezine!
Like a free weekly internet marketing course by email! mailto:subscribesp@soaringprofits.com
3. Traceroute Tool
(courtesy of Hugh Brecher - Executive Director - AEIP.com)
Would you like to know how long it takes visitors from other
places to get to your web site?
You can run tests from numerous places around the world with
just a few keystrokes! Visit http://www.traceroute.org/ and
select a country from which to start. After selecting the
country, select a specific location within that country, and
then just provide your URL address. You'll be able to see
the number of "hops" from "node" to "node" as the connections
are made between the remote site and your web site. Try this
same test at different times of day. It will help you get a
better sense of the way things work.
http://www.traceroute.org/
4. Links of Interest
Usability vs. Design (Mars vs. Venus)
"For all their statistics, arguments, and lists, the usability
experts are overlooking the fact that we, as humans, are not
all Martians. Indeed, there is a little Venus in us all, and
some of us are nothing but Venusian."
http://www.alistapart.com/stories/marsvenus/
Navigation - Make it easy to get around
"By constructing a Website with an intuitive, elegant and
simple navigation system that shows visitors just where they
are and explains how to get to other sections of the site,
you can enhance their experience at your site."
http://www.webmasterbase.com/article.php?aid=272&pid;=20
TIP: Think of a motto or slogan as a headline for your
web site. This tells visitors WHO you are, HOW your product will
benefit them, and WHY you are the best.
For example: Providing the highest quality coffees for private label.
How to Chose Between UNIX or NT Servers: ASP vs Perl
"If you are planning to launch a web site, then it is a
good idea to consider the kind of webserver to use before you begin.
You basically have two big options Windows NT and Unix."
http://www.stylusinc.com/servers/scripts/asp_cgi.htm
Excellent learning tool!
All the HTML tags including Netscape and Internet Explorer
extensions, sorted in alphabetical order. Every tag entry
contains an easy to understand description of all its
attributes with examples of use for each. This way you can
"cut and paste" the example code straight into your web
pages! Well organized. A site to visit and learn from!
http://vzone.virgin.net/sizzling.jalfrezi/iniframe.htm
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Thanks for reading another issue of WA Newsletter!