 Dear
Readers,
Today I'd like for you to review a fellow WebPro reader's site. Ms. Way's having
trouble increasing her ranking, traffic, and, of course, sales. She needs your
opinions, criticisms, and especially your helpful suggestions for increasing traffic
and conversions.
Visit www.lagunawaterworks.com
and take careful notes. We're planning to publish at least 25 responses (along
with your website url of course), maybe more if there's enough solid, specific
advice.
You can read her email below, which tells of the promotional actions she's
taken thus far.
If you're interested in having your site reviewed, then send
me an email with "peer review" in the subject line. Include relevant
site data such as web server logs, exit pages, search terms used to find your
site, and all of your marketing tactics.
Thanks for your help, and I hope you enjoy reviewing your peer!
Don't miss today's feature article: "The Search For Seducible Moments,"
by Jared Spool, of User Interface Engineering.
If you're really feeling frisky, analyze Laguna Water Works with Jared's concepts
in mind.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Garrett
 Laguna
Water Works Peer Review
Read her email, visit www.lagunawaterworks.com
and write to me with your suggestions
for improvement.
Ms. Way:
Our site has been up since 1999 and although we have enjoyed increased traffic
over the years I can't seem to break our 200 unique visitor ceiling. I currently
use Webposition Gold for keywords and ranking. We also use ToolShack for stats
which I have found to be extremely useful. Once a month I track our positions
on the major search engines and although we rank highly in some we don't on others.
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We have used Overture in the past for key works and phrases but it has become
extremely expensive. We have pop up advertising on Homestore.com which has added
approximately 22% increase in traffic and our ROI has been very good.
Perhaps you and your readers can offer some insight into increasing our ranking,
traffic, and profits.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Jo-Ri Way
 The
Search For Seducible Moments
By Jared Spool
How do you let your users know about your site’s particular benefits?
We get this question all of the time from designers. If you offer something that
is unique to your organization, (and chances are that you do – that’s
why you’re in business) then how do you make the users aware of these benefits?
A little while back, we had the chance to compare two web sites: Sears.com
and Dell.com. Part of the objective of each site is to sell expensive products.
In the case of Sears, they sell appliances, such as refrigerators and washers.
Dell sells desktop PCs and laptops.
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When selling expensive products, financing is always a factor. Both Sears and
Dell offer financing for their customers. Customers can, at the time of purchase,
apply for credit and then, assuming they’ve been approved, pay for the product
using their new account.
Financing is important to these companies. For example, while scanning the
Sears site, we found a webcast of a financial report by the CEO, Allen Lacy. In
his webcast, he clearly stated that a major contributor to Sears’ success
is that they offer financing on their major appliance sales. This is a way for
Sears to get more people to spend additional money on Sears’ products, not
to mention the income from interest, finance charges, and late fees.
As we compared the sites, we examined how both sites entice people to finance
their purchases. The day we visited the Sears.com site, we found a huge square
advertisement dead-center on the home page, featuring an image of a dishwasher,
an image of a refrigerator, and large words proclaiming the availability of zero-percent
financing on the purchases of select major appliances.
With this large ad on the home page, it seemed to us that Sears was trying
to educate users that they could get financing on major appliance purchases with
no interest. This probably appeals most to people who would like to pay for their
purchase over several months, but are leery about how much they’ ll get
“socked” for the interest payments.
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Clicking on the ad on the home page brings a pop-up window that explains the
details of the financing plan. It’s a small window, with just a few paragraphs
of text, but what caught our attention was the “Apply Now” button...
Read the Rest Here
For information about advertising within an iEntry email newsletter
or via a targeted direct emailing contact Susan Coppersmith at susan@ientry.com.
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