Welcome to Business Consultant Weekly

Vol. 2 Issue # 23 June 7, 1999

In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: Understanding Your Visitors by Wanda Loskot

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE: It's Just Bits and Bytes, Right? by Jack D. Deal

If you'd like to read previously ran tips and features, go to http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html

Today's feature article provides us with a peak into the psyche of our website visitors. Wanda advises us to build our sites around valuable, free content. Have you got something valuable to give your visitors?

If not, go to http://www.ezze.net/affiliates/1801 and find out how to offer your visitors free Internet Access, free Email, free Web Sites, free Storefronts, free Dating Services, free Chat Rooms, free Conferencing Services and free EzzeLinks Pages (that include free FFA page, 700 Site Submission, free classifieds, free eReports, free eBooks & free greeting cards).

Understanding Your Visitors by Wanda Loskot

So, you want to know what can make your website really effective? I can tell you what. It is your concern for visitors. It is understanding their needs and their wants. Responding to their wishes. Because you are building the web site for them - not for you, right?

So, take a look at your website and examine how does it fit with the psychology of your visitors. Keep in mind that people act and react differently on the web - so much so, that sometime it is difficult to believe that these are the same people who behave so "normally" in the "real" world.

1. They are always rushing

Maybe because they have soooo many places to visit, maybe because they feel guilty that they should be doing something else. Whatever the reasons - they are always in the hurry.

They have in their hands a deadly weapon (mouse) and they click away whenever they get bored (and they DO get bored really fast and easily).

Make sure then that your pages load fast, that you tell people quickly what and where they can find and provide them with a way to jump to any page from anyplace with really easy navigation.

2. They expect a LOT for free

People on the internet ARE on the internet because they know that it is a gold mine of free information. They are expecting to find it - and they will. Once they find it, if the gold mine is really rich - they come back for more. And they send their friends to visit the same places.

However, they simply refuse to come back to the place that didn't interest them when they landed there for the first time.

Build your offer around the rich, free content. Don't think about selling - but about what you can give. Then, and only then, offer them something so incredibly valuable, that your visitors will be willing to pay for it.

3. They don't trust easily

People on the net are often misinformed and even paranoid about buying on line. They are aware that anyone - even a 10 year old kid - can build an awesome website full of unique graphics and they need to be skillfully persuaded before they are ready to leave a name or e-mail address. And they need to be persuaded even more before they will hand you their credit card number.

Don't even think about selling anything in the first paragraph - resist selling on the home page at all. Use it to establish rapport and to provide information. Romance your visitor and use as many ways as possible to inspire their trust.

4. They love to click

Their mouse-finger is literally begging them to click. They will request and subscribe to just about anything that somehow looks promising - as long as it is offered free of cost and you don't ask for too much information. Your visitors will enter chat rooms even if they plan to remain silent, they will vote, and they will even click on some advertising banners - all for that thrill of clicking.

Make sure then that you satisfy their need to push that mouse button while exploring YOUR site. Use that craving to your advantage - ask them to subscribe, to vote, to click for more information, to ask questions, to move from page to page. If you don't give them opportunity to interact, they will satisfy their need to click anyway: they will click to surf away.

Don't follow into the steps of those who try to change the surfers habits instead of taking advantage of them - it is a very costly mistake! * * * Wanda Loskot - international business coach/writer/speaker Author of referral system that will make your business work so that you can rest or play - register to win one month of FREE business coaching! http://loska.com/successconnection Free newsletter mailto:news@loska.com?subject=subscribe%20RU

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"To be an explorer is to have a dream. Your dream gives your life direction and helps you navigate day-to-day decisions."

- Robert Ballard, underwater adventurer, finder of the Bismark and the Titanic

Questions to Ponder

What is my dream?

Do I let my dream influence my day-to-day decisions?

What is my dream telling me right now?

------------------

Have a Great Day!

Kevin Eikenberry mailto:kevin@discian.com http://www.discian.com

It's Just Bits and Bytes, Right? by Jack D. Deal

It was one of those 'stellar' or rather 'solar' California afternoons. The sky was a deep, dark blue -- a storm having cleared out the skies the day before. We walked through rows of brussel sprout plants that were beginning to lean with the weight of the sprouts. Surfers were scurrying down to the beach. The waves, ten and twelve footers, were breaking several hundred yards out and rolling in just right. We reached the cliff and walked down the narrow path which still slippery from the recent rain.

What could spoil this perfect setting? I kept thinking back to the management meeting I had conducted the day before. There were six of us seated around a conference table evaluating employees and discussing how to create an employee buy-out program. We were fifteen minutes into the discussion when one of the managers said, "I have to say something".

My first impulse was 'oh boy'. In the past when these kinds of statements came up it was something like -- 'I quit' or 'We gotta fire Joe' or 'Someone's stealing the coffee money'. But that wasn't the case this time.

"My best friend stopped by to see me last night," said the manager, "we went to grammar school together. The good news was that his company went IPO last year and he took home five and half million dollars. That was the good news. That same day he got the good news from his accountant he also got a call from his doctor. He had cancer; it had metastasized and was non-treatable. He had 6-8 months to live."

There was a silence around the table. After a pause I made some comment about how sorry we all were and went back to our agenda.

I lay awake that night thinking about the peculiar occurrence at the meeting. I did not think about the buy out -- that was simple. I kept thinking about the cancer and the millions of dollars. What would five million dollars look like? Could you go down to the Credit Union and withdraw five million dollars? Could you get the 5M in gold? What would 5M in hundred dollar bills look like? The truth of the matter was, the five million really did not physically exist -- it was just a bunch of bits and bytes on a computer database. Sure the money could be spent but only because others gave value to the database. If it were wiped out by something like the Y2K bug, would it still exist? What if everyone said 'your bits and bytes aren't worth anything anymore to us?' Then I kept going back to the terminal condition. Would he get to enjoy his money? Would he give it away? Would he throw one big party? Would he live lavishly as his physical condition deteriorated? Did his quest for the 5M contribute to his cancer? Did he work too hard and lower his immune system? Was it a cruel joke played by fate? Was the doctor only kidding? The more I thought, the more absurd my ideas became. Nothing made sense and a hundred years from now, I thought, who would care?

As I sat on the beach my editor (and life companion) looked at me strangely. 'All this pure air, sea and beach and you are not enjoying it,' she said,'business problems don't usually get you this down -- especially at the beach.' I then told her the story. She shrugged and started looking for shells.

I never resolved this one and concluded that there really was no resolution. We are all animals and the price we pay for not being a rock or the sea is mortality. How we live is all we really have and how we die in a certain sense is rather insignificant. In the total scheme of things it matters very little. So when our teenager acts up I really have to put it in perspective. Are the annoyances really important? How would I feel if he had the cancer? Or my editor? Or me? Some would care; some would cry but for most, life just goes on.

The next day I was reviewing a motivational tape in my car on my way to a client site. The speaker was talking about discipline and how we must manage our lives with discipline to achieve business success. And then came the clincher: "And some of you instead of being disciplined would rather spend the afternoon at the beach". That's me, I decided! Sure I work hard and will work hard in the future. But I will take some time. Even 5 million dollars can't buy an afternoon at the beach.

Jack D. Deal is owner of Deal Consulting 831-457-8806. Related articles may be found at http://www.dealconsulting.com.

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