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Dear
Reader,
Lets get this straight right out of the box, a website in our view is
an active, electronic, response mechanism. The television and radio
parts of your project are advertising mediums that drive people to your
website. It does not usually work the other way around. We have found
that 10-15% of your viewing and listening audiences are oriented to
silent and self-typing ordering, they do not want to talk to an
operator.
These people will see or hear your site address and automatically go
to your website to get more information and order. Basically that is the
way they want to order. They do not want to listen to phone operators
ask them for discount club memberships when they called to get a
"pasta pot." Your site is your webmercial, however it supports
the ad the TV viewer has just seen, and adds only enough information to
drive a purchase. Simplicity is the key, and in this article we have
asked TriCom Technologies to give us the vision that works in creating
your very own webmercial.
TriCom Technologies: Designing a Website that Makes Money 
A website that is simple and easy to use is far more valuable than
one that has high tech capabilities and fancy design. Why, because you
want to get the order placed, paid for, shipping underway, and customer
service in place. The main principles for designing a profitable website
are to keep it simple, easy to navigate through and provide the relevant
information the user needs.
When designing your website choose colors and fonts that stand out,
but are easy on the eyes. Use the same consistent design (colors, font,
style) throughout your site. Listen to and trust your designer, if you
spent the time picking a qualified design firm they will lead you in the
right direction. People who work with design and implementation day in
and day out have seen what works and what doesn't. At times your vision
for "design" maybe cool, but its practical use will hinder the
commerce you are trying to achieve. Trust the pros.
Websites
and Media Roll-outs
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TriCom
Technologies: Know Your Customer and Pander to Their Lack of
Patience |
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Know what your customers want and make it easy for them to find
the information they need quickly. Web users are impatient and
if they can't find what they want quickly and painlessly you'll
lose them. If it takes too long to get the information they
need, they may end up going elsewhere.
Navigating through the pages should be easy to do. All links
and navigation tools should be clearly marked. Your visitor
should be able to easily find their way to ordering a product,
contacting you, or whatever they may need to do. Information
should never be more than 2-3 clicks away.
When deciding on the content of your site, knowing how much
detail to include is important. Too much detail can detract from
the site, since the customer won't know where or what to look
at. A good design helps the reader to focus and understand what
you're telling them. If you're questioning whether or not you're
providing too much detail, you probably are. Follow the basic
principle; keep it simple, this will allow your customer to
better follow what you're saying. Confused customers won't make
it to your shopping cart.
Read
on about TriCom Technologies... »
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TriCom
Technologies: Get Loaded on Wine Rather Than Loading Time on the
Web |
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Graphics should be small enough to keep the load time short.
This is where a good web designer comes in to help you balance
the size of your image and what you choose to portray. Resist
the temptation to use animated graphics, this was very popular
in '96, but we learn from our mistakes. Remember your website is
designed to sell your products not for your own thrills. Have
fun with it, but keep your objective clear.
Before you go live with your profitable new website, make
sure your links work correctly and your information should be up
to date. Make sure you double check for spelling and typos. Then
check it again. This will help maintain your credibility.
Remember your website designer may not always be familiar you're
your industry's technical jargon, time spent proof reading is
invaluable. Also, make sure your pages work on multiple
platforms (i.e. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator)
Now that you've designed and built your very own website
which will allow you to optimize sales and provide a positive
customer experience, it's time to promote your site and create
traffic.
Full
Story »
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