Build a website – should you do it yourself of hire a programmer?

My advice for building a business website is to use a professional website programmer. The days of making simple HTML websites is long gone and it takes a fairly technical person (i.e., a web programmer) to correctly code a website so it functions correctly on different browsers and so it is optimized for loading the website correctly and without error messages. This is especially true if the website will be used for e-commerce.

There is also the factor of time management. Unless you want to become a web programmer as your career, it makes much more sense for you to focus your time on building your business (marketing, sales, operations...) instead of studying web programming books so you can try to save a few bucks building your own website. Just as you would use an attorney for your legal issues, and an accountant for your taxes, you should use a professional web programmer to program your website so it is done correctly and looks professional.

To Your Business Success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Advertising Agency
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638

Do You Make These Common Internet Marketing Mistakes?

I have been involved in Internet marketing since the world-wide-web began and I consider myself to be an Internet marketing expert. From my experience helping clients build successful websites, I have learned what works and what does not work when selling on the Internet. To help you avoid costly mistakes, I have listed what I have found to be the biggest Internet marketing mistakes.

Mistake 1: Using Flash. If your website is one big Flash presentation, you are making a huge mistake! Why? Because consumers go to your website to seek information, not to watch a "I'm so cool" Flash presentation. Ask yourself, when you go to a website, do you sit there and watch their ego-building Flash presentation or do you click the "skip flash" link to get to the real information?

Another major problem with Flash is that it is only "interesting" the first time a visitor goes to your website. If they actually return to your website, they will do everything they can to skip your Flash presentation so they can quickly get to the information they want. In my experience NOTHING kills Internet sales more than Flash. That is why you almost never see the world's top websites like Google, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo using Flash as the basis for their web pages. If you are making this mistake, get rid of the Flash immediately and make your website a valuable source of information, because that is what consumers want.

Mistake 2: Letting your webmaster write the text for your website. This is another huge mistake that companies make. On nearly a daily basis I get a call from a company that has spent a fortune building a website and they cannot understand why they are not generating any sales. My first question is, who wrote the text for your website? In nearly every case they tell me their webmaster wrote it.

Why is it a mistake to have your webmaster write your website marketing text? Here is a hint-- webmasters are programmers, NOT marketing professional who know how to write text that sells. If you want your website to generate sales, you must hire a person who is an excellent copywriter and knows how to write words that make people want to buy! Would you hire your webmaster to write a display advertisement for you? Of course not! Then why on earth would you allow them to write the text for your website? By having your webmaster write the text for your website, you are ensuring your website will be an awful sales tool. To solve this problem, hire a marketing professional to write the text for your website. We at the Geisheker Group specialize in writing powerful marketing text for websites. For a free no-obligation quote, call us at (920) 592-9595.

Mistake 3: Making your website hard to navigate. Have you ever been to a website where you have to click on various generic graphics or parts of a flash picture to try and find a link to the information you are looking for? Why on earth do companies do this? It is not fun, it is not clever, it is STUPID AND ANNOYING! When designing your website's navigation (links to information) use the acronym K.I.S.S., which stands for KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! Simple sells. Complex does not. If your webmaster tries to sell you on using parts of a Flash picture for links or some other complex navigation system, FIRE THEM IMMEDIATELY!

Mistake 4: Not having a telephone number on your website. People rarely trust companies that do not have a telephone number. I certainly don't. If I am considering buying a product from a website and they do not have a telephone number, I don't buy. And I know others feel the same way. For example, I have had several clients hire me because I had a telephone number on my website and the other marketing consultant websites they were looking at did not. Therefore, if you want customers to buy from you, make it easy for them to contact you by having a telephone number on your website. In fact, you should have your telephone number on EVERY page of your website.

By following these recommendations, your website will be a far more valuable sales and marketing tool.

To Your Success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Advertising Agency
(920) 471-1638

Most important internet marketing website tips

Today I worked on preparing a marketing program for a new client. After reviewing my client's website, I want to offer a few pointers for creating a business website and Internet marketing.

1. DO NOT HAVE YOUR WEBSITE TEXT IN ALL CAPS. IT MAKES IT LOOK LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING AT YOUR CUSTOMERS. IT IS ALSO HARD TO READ.

2. Do not make your links the same color as your body text. Finding links should NOT be an Easter Egg hunt. Make your links a different color than the rest of your text so your customers can actually find your links.

3. Break up large blocks of text with sub-headlines. It makes it easier to read your website and it draws people into your text so they keep reading.

4. Include your contact information on every page of your website or at least provide a link to your contact information on every page of your website. A big part of making sales online is building trust, and it is hard to trust a company that does not provide a phone number.

That is all for today.

Thanks for reading.

Peter Geisheker
CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company