I thought that having a good looking website was going to be enough to attract buyers to my site but according to the following article by Lynn Parker at WomenEntrepreurs.com, looking good isn't enough!

Hmmm... I better go back to my website, www.funcartattoos.com and see if my website let's people know that I give 5% of my car magnet sales to nonprofits such as the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition !

Listen to what Lynn has to say!

Your Website Is Your Brand

More important than looking good, your website must clearly communicate the value of your business.

by Lynn Parker

For many online companies, such as Expedia or Evite, the web is their brand experience because they offer online services through online channels. For other organizations, web presence is more like "brochureware"--in other words, a static marketing channel for real-world products and services. But whether your product is virtual or requires a warehouse and a forklift, the key is how you demonstrate and show your brand promise online.

In this first of a two-part series, I'll introduce the concept of a brand-based web strategy. Next month, I'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to create your own web strategy.

As the front door to your prospects, your website becomes your brand's face. From the moment they land on your home page, visitors make snap judgments about the value you provide, how you're different from competitors and whether they feel an emotional connection to your brand. So it's important to consider how well your web presence communicates your value.

Smart business owners get this, but they often respond to this imperative by spending a lot of time on their site's design, colors and images. That's a good start, but design is only part of a prospect's online experience. content continues below Equally important are:

* The type of content you have

* How the content is organized for each of your target users

* How it drives them to a deeper level of engagement with you

* How well it delivers on your brand promise.

For small businesses with limited resources, the website is crucial because it has to do so much work. It acts as a community outreach, sales, marketing and workflow management tool. And if you believe--as I do--that everything you do and say as a company makes up your brand promise, then your site must reflect your brand through and through. Otherwise, you'll leave customers wondering which experience they'll get the next time they call.

What Does This Mean to You?

Before you hire a designer, start by thinking of your site as an extension of your business strategy rather than just a line item in your marketing budget. And the best way to bridge from your brand to your site is with a web strategy. A web strategy provides intention and discipline to your website development process. It ties your brand and business goals for the year to content development, management and measurement strategies that guide the brand experience you provide on the web. What goes into a web strategy?

Here's an outline:

* It keeps tabs on your user profiles, allowing you to dive more deeply into who your users are and what they need from your site.

* It determines what the competitive landscape looks like.

* It audits stakeholder requirements.

* It maps out exactly what type of experience your site should deliver.

* It figures out what you should measure and how you should measure it (both via offline measurement tactics and online analytics), based on your goals and objectives.

In a nutshell, your web strategy is a lot like a website owner's manual, giving you all the tools you need to build, adapt and manage your online brand experience. So stop and think about the front door to your company's brand experience. Make sure it looks good. But more important, make sure it opens into your organization's promise and creates customer champions.

Lynn Parker is co-founder of Parker LePla, a brand strategy consulting firm in Seattle. She's also the author of The Reluctant Entrepreneur, and co-author of Integrated Branding and Brand Driven.

I'm always trying to figure out how to sell more of my really cute car magnets, when I came across this article by Cynthia McKay entitled "You Can Sell Anything.  All you need are the 4 keys to success: packaging, novelty, price and accessibility."

What I realized is that for my business, Fun Car Tattoos, I'm not looking at all 4 of these areas.  I think that the one area that needs the most work is Accessibility.  Hmmm... my cute car magnets are just available on the web.  I think that it's time to try to sell them to airport gift shops, pet shops and novelty stores.  Actually, I have a new carbon footprint car magnet that I should be promoting with the new "green" business wave.  How about you?  What else should you be doing to get your products out there?  Read Cynthia's article for some ideas and then let me know what works for you!

by Cynthia McKay

I was flying home from Florida recently when a blizzard hit Denver and left me stranded. I wandered around the airport contemplating a variety of travel options and stumbled upon a newsstand whose wares included chocolate alligators. I bought a box for dinner and, as I sat in front of the store munching on the chocolate delights, I saw several others making a similar purchase. It occurred to me that you really can sell anything.

How do you know what could work? I learned a lot as I people-watched. There was immense traffic in the concession areas, from the Starbucks to the clothing boutiques. I considered my own purchase: I could have invested in a bag of M&Ms for dinner, or I could have bought a more reasonable (and healthier) meal. Instead, I selected chocolate aquatic reptiles as the best option. Why?

Packaging, novelty, price and accessibility are all qualities of a successful brand. Sales success takes careful planning. Have you ever noticed that Cheerios boxes are placed right at the consumer's eye level in the cereal aisle of the grocery store? That's no accident. Companies pay a price for placing products in specific locations so they can be seen and accessed by the consumer. You're probably aware of product placement in the movies. That Fed Ex truck in an integral scene of a Bruce Willis thriller is no coincidence. Some individuals have made a fortune selling product placements in Hollywood.

When a consumer is shopping for a bottle of wine, a label with a swordfish or leaping lizard might win a sale on looks alone. A clever logo, striking colors and unusual packaging can bring in millions for a company. I recently purchased a hostess gift because the packaging was spring-like, stunning and looked expensive despite the $12.99 price tag. I can't tell you whether the box contained chocolates, candy or cookies--but it certainly complemented my hostess's décor and party theme.

Branding is a critical part of your business. I didn't have an advertising budget when I began Le Gourmet. However, I knew that repetitive reminders are necessary for the consumer to understand your business. So I begin a creative, no-money marketing strategy. I left cards on my dry cleaner's bulletin board and brochures in ladies' rooms. I also posted magnetic signs I bartered for on my two delivery cars. Even if they didn't know who I was or what I did, people would often say, "Oh, I've heard of Le Gourmet!" That's exactly what it's about. Getting the name out there is your priority no matter what you're selling.

We've been marketing the Le Gourmet name for years. So although we're one business among many, if a consumer looking for a franchise or a gift basket picks up a phone book or googles the web, she's more likely to pick out a name she's heard before.

One of my franchisees was looking for creative ways to get her name out to the public. She couldn't give away gift baskets and could only afford a small bit of advertising. So she designed a flier with a 20 percent-off coupon, went to the busiest open-area shopping mall in Denver and offered free chocolates and the coupon to consumers there. Her time was well-spent: She wrote her product off as a marketing expense, and her charming personality brought in some great orders. If people know you, trust you and like you, you'll have a good baseline to develop an impressive clientele.

You have to convey the quality and value you provide to every current and future client. Get quality business cards, decent photographs that depict what you're selling, clear descriptions of your product or service and, finally, accessibility. There's nothing worse than spending time and creativity branding your business and then greeting clients with an answering machine or, worse yet, no option to leave a message at all.

When you do communicate with clients--in person, by phone or through the web--be clear and concise: Don't overwhelm with information, but do explain the who, what, where and why of your business, followed by your pricing.

You really can market anything and make a profit. Don't drop the idea of chocolate alligators just because someone else has already created them. Odds are, you can do it better, cheaper and more memorably.

 How many of you have been trying to increase your conversion rate? I know that I have.  For months I've been trying to get people to buy cute dog paw car magnets from my business, Fun Car Tattoos.  I've really tried hard to get the word out about all my fun car magnets but... I've been linking people back to my home page.

Well, according the following article I found in the San Francisco Chronicle, I should have been linking people back to my specific product page and not my home page.

How Can I Improve the Conversion Rate of My Internet Marketing Campaign?

The success of an Internet marketing campaign can be measured by its conversion rate. Depending on your site and your type of business, your conversion rate may be based on convincing readers to become subscribers, encouraging people to buy something, or enticing prospective customers from another site with an ad. The best way to convert users is to provide them with all the information they need to make an informed decision.

Online marketing is direct response marketing, so you need to encourage the customer to act. And action is determined by letting customers know what and why they should click. They need a compelling differentiated benefit.

Compelling because it sparks them to act.

Differentiated because your offer is different from what they can get elsewhere.

Benefit because they have to get value out of it.

You may try to lure customers to your site with a discount on your service. You advertise the discount in an email newsletter. A potential customer is exposed to the email link and is attracted to the discount that you're offering. When potential customers click on the link, they need to go to a specific page that will educate them about the discount and entice them to sign up for your service. If the link takes people to a page without the information they need -- or, even worse, your home page -- odds are you'll lose the customer. Home pages have the lowest conversion rate in terms of purchasing.

In addition, by sending people to a specific page to learn more about your offer, you can easily measure the conversion rate -- the percentage who sign up for your offer compared with the total visitors to that page. Keep in mind that it often takes people more than one visit to a site to convert them.