These website do two things well:
- They tell you in 2 seconds or less what they sell, what need they fill, and why you should say on the site.
- They tell you what they want you to do next.
Excellent Websites
Google Keyword Tool
All else equal, it’s better to have your keywords or keyphrases (the words people type into Google to find what you’re selling) in your domain name. To find out what people are searching for, don’t make any assumptions, but rather use the free Google Keyword Tool. Here’s how: (more…)
Online Video and Animation Creation Websites
You’ve probably been wowed by some sites that have storytelling animations on their homepage. It’s a great way to captivate your viewers and tell your story far more effectively than with a plain, static page. Here are some sites that enable you to create animations: (more…)
Royalty Free Music for Video Production
If you use music for which you don’t own the rights as the soundtrack for a video, you’re likely to get flagged as a copyright violator. YouTube is particularly nasty about this. Facebook also will threaten to shut down your account if if happens too often.
The following are three sites that come highly recommended by a friend in the music/advertising business. These stock music libraries allow you to preview royalty free music for download. (more…)
What it Takes To Rank Well on Google
Let’s pretend you have a hardware store in Hood River, Oregon. Here’s what you need to do to rank well on Google. (more…)
Mail Lists and Forums Using Google Groups
Google Groups can be used both as a mail list and an online forum or bulletin board. (more…)
Search Engine Proof Web Sites
Some of these web site are beautiful, but the graphic artists who designed them paid no consideration to ranking well in the search engines. (more…)
Book on Exporting
This is my book on Exporting.
Writing Press Releases
Here’s a pdf of a PowerPoint presentation I use for a PR workshop.
Subscribe to my newsletter list (to the right) and I’ll notify you when I do this workshop again.
Horrible Websites
A website should to two things. First, it should communicate what need it fills, what it’s selling, or what it’s unique value proposition is. A website should do this within two or three seconds of a visitor arriving at the site. Second, it should tell the viewer what they should do next. This should be clear within a few more seconds. Some websites fail to do these two basic things. Some fail more miserably than others. (more…)