t For Me?" (WIIFM) is their favorite tune. Emphasize benefits for customers. The company logo or your plush office is of little interest to them. Tell them the advantages of dealing with you; why they should contact you NOW either by buying something, emailing you for further information, or subscribing to your ezine. Tell them new benefits they will get when they come back to your site. Make allowance for visitors with different or older browsers. Some companies and website designers ignore the nMany businesses recognized the potential of the Internet soon after it started. They rushed to get up a web page and tap into the rapidly increasing potential market. There are now millions of business web sites. If you follow this Guide, your site can be near the top of everyone's lists of favorite sites. If you just put in a little time, you can easily surpass this sort of figure and your returns will continue to increase for years.

Here are a few basic tips about starting your Money Tree:

Prepare your site and then promote it. Have your site in place and tested by friends and staff before you start promoting it. People, who are enticed to visit but find no original or appealing content, may never return.

Give your visitors useful and unique content. Update information and encourage visitors to contact your company, subscribe to your ezine and come back to your site. Pictures and sounds should enhance your message and inform visitors. Large but slow loading graphics or state-of-the-art effects that only a few computers can display can mean your message does not reach the majority of visitors. You could lose them as potential customers. If your visitors have to wait more than a few seconds before there is anything to see, they will leave.

Most Internet users want specific information. A fun site showing, for example, the creation of a virtual hot dog will amuse but rarely help your Money Tree to grow!

Make navigation and organisation user-friendly. Carefully map your whole site on paper before building it. Make it easy to navigate. Keep in mind the "2 clicks" rule; every product or feature should be no more than 2-clicks-away from any other point on the site. Include, for example, a page that lists all the sections with brief descriptions and links. Or you could add a low-cost search facility for visitors to quickly find what they want.

Focus everything on your customers' needs. Visitors want to know what you can do for them: "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM) is their favorite tune. Emphasize benefits for customers. The company logo or your plush office is of little interest to them. Tell them the advantages of dealing with you; why they should contact you NOW either by buying something, emailing you for further information, or subscribing to your ezine. Tell them new benefits they will get when they come back to your site. Make allowance for visitors with different or older browsers. Some companies and website designers ignore the ne

Prepare your site and then promote it. Have your site in place and tested by friends and staff before you start promoting it. People, who are enticed to visit but find no original or appealing content, may never return.

Give your visitors useful and unique content. Update information and encourage visitors to contact your company, subscribe to your ezine and come back to your site. Pictures and sounds should enhance your message and inform visitors. Large but slow loading graphics or state-of-the-art effects that only a few computers can display can mean your message does not reach the majority of visitors. You could lose them as potential customers. If your visitors have to wait more than a few seconds before there is anything to see, they will leave.

Most Internet users want specific information. A fun site showing, for example, the creation of a virtual hot dog will amuse but rarely help your Money Tree to grow!

Make navigation and organisation user-friendly. Carefully map your whole site on paper before building it. Make it easy to navigate. Keep in mind the "2 clicks" rule; every product or feature should be no more than 2-clicks-away from any other point on the site. Include, for example, a page that lists all the sections with brief descriptions and links. Or you could add a low-cost search facility for visitors to quickly find what they want.

Focus everything on your customers' needs. Visitors want to know what you can do for them: "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM) is their favorite tune. Emphasize benefits for customers. The company logo or your plush office is of little interest to them. Tell them the advantages of dealing with you; why they should contact you NOW either by buying something, emailing you for further information, or subscribing to your ezine. Tell them new benefits they will get when they come back to your site. Make allowance for visitors with different or older browsers. Some companies and website designers ignore the n

state-of-the-art effects that only a few computers can display can mean your message does not reach the majority of visitors. You could lose them as potential customers. If your visitors have to wait more than a few seconds before there is anything to see, they will leave.

Most Internet users want specific information. A fun site showing, for example, the creation of a virtual hot dog will amuse but rarely help your Money Tree to grow!

Make navigation and organisation user-friendly. Carefully map your whole site on paper before building it. Make it easy to navigate. Keep in mind the "2 clicks" rule; every product or feature should be no more than 2-clicks-away from any other point on the site. Include, for example, a page that lists all the sections with brief descriptions and links. Or you could add a low-cost search facility for visitors to quickly find what they want.

Focus everything on your customers' needs. Visitors want to know what you can do for them: "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM) is their favorite tune. Emphasize benefits for customers. The company logo or your plush office is of little interest to them. Tell them the advantages of dealing with you; why they should contact you NOW either by buying something, emailing you for further information, or subscribing to your ezine. Tell them new benefits they will get when they come back to your site. Make allowance for visitors with different or older browsers. Some companies and website designers ignore the n

refully map your whole site on paper before building it. Make it easy to navigate. Keep in mind the "2 clicks" rule; every product or feature should be no more than 2-clicks-away from any other point on the site. Include, for example, a page that lists all the sections with brief descriptions and links. Or you could add a low-cost search facility for visitors to quickly find what they want.

Focus everything on your customers' needs. Visitors want to know what you can do for them: "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM) is their favorite tune. Emphasize benefits for customers. The company logo or your plush office is of little interest to them. Tell them the advantages of dealing with you; why they should contact you NOW either by buying something, emailing you for further information, or subscribing to your ezine. Tell them new benefits they will get when they come back to your site. Make allowance for visitors with different or older browsers. Some companies and website designers ignore the n

t For Me?" (WIIFM) is their favorite tune. Emphasize benefits for customers. The company logo or your plush office is of little interest to them. Tell them the advantages of dealing with you; why they should contact you NOW either by buying something, emailing you for further information, or subscribing to your ezine. Tell them new benefits they will get when they come back to your site. Make allowance for visitors with different or older browsers. Some companies and website designers ignore the needs of visitors using older systems. If they can't see your message or access features, you lose them. Split your promotion budget between online and offline. Promotion is one key to a successful web site, but many underestimate its value. They rush to get a website but do not promote it. Your web address (URL) and email contact details should be on all your advertising and stationery. Keep visitors on your site. If you feature a “Cool Sites” section with links to other sites that you don't own, you may encourage your visitors to leave your site, and they may not return. Encourage customers to get further information on your products with a form they can fill in online. You will get their contact details when they submit the form. Make it easy for visitors to contact you. Visitors will not search for this information. Get visitors to return to your web site. Just having your company on the web is no reason for people to visit your site. You MUST give people as many reasons (relevant to your products or services) as you can to visit your site:

• Free recipes

• Free software

• Internet customer discounts

• Product announcements

• Online magazine

• Electronic newsletter

• Chat room

• Prize giveaways or other contests

• Cool things such as games, if that suits your business

If you get traffic to your site through your marketing campaigns, you must then get people to come back again so you have a chance to develop a longterm customer relationship. You might offer a purchase discount on the customer’s next order or a “Loyal Customer Program”. Get names, email addresses and other information from visitors. You can use a "Guest Book" to do this or offer a free newsletter or exclusive hints for anyone who emails you. Find out who visits your site, why and how often, so you can target your market and follow up.

Change the site regularly to maintain interest. Would you put up a window display in your "bricks and mortar"