e-Business-Formula Internet Marketing Discussion Forum

[Teena]

I got an email from a friend today, and even though she's half way round the world in Canada and I'm in Australia, we laughed out loud in the emails which flowed.

Why?

Because we love Google.com

And website statistics.

And pantihose ... but only in a marine-stinger kind of way.

Are you wondering, "What the #$@$ is she talking about??!"

Let me elaborate.

Google, as you know, can find ANY word on ANY website or pdf or document on the internet - ANYWHERE in the world. That's pretty cool. We all love that.

Most of the time most of us search for simple things, but my Canadian friend has had a lot of traffic this past year on her website, and the 'search term' is .... 'pantihose'. This is extremely fascinating because her website is about ... travel.

You see it all started when she visited me in the tropics near the equator a couple of years ago. Before she visited she rang and asked me about swimming in the ocean [she was visiting in the summer season from October to March], and I was sad to tell her we couldn't swim at any one of the beaches [all close to where I lived at that time] because of the poisonous marine stingers. Well to say she was disappointed was an understatement; she was flying half way round the world and had to suffice with swimming in swimming pools which were hotter than ... well ... soup.

I did tell her we could attempt to go in the ocean if we wore pantihose, which she didn't believe, and she wrote about it on her website. You can search google.com yourself, by typing : travel pantihose

or you can just go to her website and read the pantihose story for yourself:

http://www.snapshotdiaries.com/queensland.html

So why am I writing about it? Well I thought it was pretty cool that 24 hours a day you can get visitors to your website who do NOT want to be coming to your website at all, but who have typed a word which appears on your pages. The fact that they chose your site to click on at all [for an unrelated topic] is a miracle, but then they made the decision to check it out anyway.

They then become a potential new customer, client, or business connection of some kind, and this is the really important part.

Why?

Because they found your site (1) interesting enough to click on in google, and (2) interesting enough to read when they got there, and hopefully clicked through a few more pages.

The real point I'm trying to make is that all webmasters and webmistresses need to realise that the people who visit their site are not ONLY interested in their main theme, but they also visit because they're CURIOUS - maybe they like your domain name, or the Description which appears in google ... and they might like your site enough to either come back again, or pass your link to someone else.

This brings me nicely to my conclusion - my suggestion is to build each webpage as though it is the FIRST page a website visitor might see - don't ever assume every website visitor starts at the 'front door', the Home page. They can appear on any page - at any time - whether you talk about pantihose or meerkats or pumpkin soup - so make sure each page has at least some of the following:

=> good slogan or state clearly what your site is about [don't make them search]
=> domain name prominently displayed
=> fabulous content to get them reading ... and staying longer
=> a way to sign up for your newsletter
=> a call to action - Sign up now! - Download free ebook! - Get 5-email tutorial free!
=> easy links to navigate the site.

So now it's over to you - why not check your website today, as though you're a 'first time' visitor? Or send your url to a bunch of friends and ask them their honest opinion about the content and navigation? [Do not be thin-skinned when they give you honest opinions - accept it all gracefully and see if it is valid, and needs to be actioned.]

Good luck, let me know how you get on!

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About the Author

Teena Hughes writes articles, books and ebooks on the internet and business, and helps small business get online - fast - using automated web builders and content management systems. Sign up for the Newsletter, visit the blog!
http://BuildAWebsiteTonight.com/newsletter.html
http://BuildAWebsiteTonight.blogspot.com
Teena Hughes © 2006

[Thumperfive]

*chuckles*

great story and great article - and faboo tips!

thanks for sharing!