What the state of your current site...is it an asset or liability?

Notification of Funds Received
Do you just wish you had emails like that in your inbox everyday? Well, now you finally can! I can't reveal too much but I can show you the page:

Good day and thanks for dropping in,

Today's questions for all businesses is:
What the state of your current site...is it an asset or liability? Not knowing could be part of the solutions to a better 2008.

This is a great featured article and well worth the time Click Here: to print out and review in detail, comparing the advise of an expert with where you are at, and where this should take you.

If you have a current site or an older static site that you might have been using for years, the simple aspects, if you are selling from your site, is that your users may no longer compelled to make you a part of their daily or weekly life.  They might land once and they may or may not buy.

The real discovery here is that you have the ability to bring them back to your site, over and over now, using NetFluence.com software, not just as an additional delivery program, but as a feeder to help propel your own traffic sources to your "Money Sites".  These money sites are so-termed, because they are your income producers - the site that people go to acquire your products or services.

In a reply to one of our subscribers last week, I am handing over to you the observances of other experts, who are seeing and managing the changes, using the presence of 2007-2008 and I am pointing out to you the  ill-fated results of not embracing the Internet for what it really is. You as professional business people can no longer sit upon your previous accomplishments.  You need to step forward, embracing the changes that occur, and you need that power at your fingertips.

Now, the facts are the same for all web sites...You and I are vying for attention in a massive world and getting the visitor's attention is all about asking them to help you, while you offer them additional advice and services through your interactive sites, to make this mesh with your on and off-line world

Today's featured article is By Nick Yorchak and he asks the question:

Is Your Website an Asset Or a Liability?

Follow along as he accurately describes the purpose of embracing the changes and challenges us to make our presence known.  Along with this, I have added comments and denoted the features already built into NetFluence.

Featured Article:
Is Your Website an Asset Or a Liability?
By Nick Yorchak

As Business Tools, do you remember back in the good ol' days when having a website was something every company needed and wanted? Websites were the wave of the future, and the dream of transitioning to conducting business onlíne filled our heads with visions of a revolution in the way commerce was conducted. With a website, a company could reach clients and interact with potential customers on a global scale. A website was indicative of a company's technological prowess, symbolic of the desire to innovate and evolve with developments in the industry.

When you create a web site in 2007 and going forward, your entire mindset must change.  This is no longer a simple solutions. We all know that we need a website, but many of us think that simply having one is enough.

In fact, there is research indicating that many firms with an online presence haven't touched their websites in years. They haven't spent any time improving functionality and appearance, and they have yet to consider the basics of website usability and the inherent potential of search engine optimization.

Of course, we all recognize by now that having a website is an essential business asset, if it's done correctly. It's easy to see that if your site is outdated or an eyesore, it becomes a liability that hurts you more than it helps you. Conversely, a well-designed site can make all the difference in your world.

Very often, YOUR site is the first place users go to research your products and services.And, this site needs to serve as a lead generator, a CRM tool, and even to make purchases.  A siomple statically maintained site is just not adequate.

We've all heard the adage about first impressions, and it's no secret that they're the most important factor in the way people remember their first encounter with you or with your website. On one hand, a well-designed, user-friendly website will showcase your business and your brand, impressing clients. On the other hand, an outdated and otherwise bad website can hurt you far more than it can help you. Potential customers will eliminate you as a possible vendor after interacting with your brand and substandard website for only a few minutes.

I'll utilize a real estate analogy here to expand upon this thought. You'll impress guests when they arrive at your home if it's clean, well-kept, landscaped, painted, and overall welcoming. But, if you arrive at a home that's dilapidated and falling apart with chipped paint and an overgrown lawn, you'll think a lot of less of whoever lives there. Are they lazy slobs? Maybe. Or maybe they just haven't had time to take care of the property. Either way, your first impression is less than positive. We all try not to "judge a book by its cover," but in an online atmosphere, a company's website is their cover, the digital face they present to the world, so in that case you can't not judge the book by its cover. After all, that's all you have to go by.

So this must leave you wondering: Is my website an asset or a liability? By answering the following questíons, you can find out if it's time for an overhaul or just some simple changes. Or maybe your site doesn't need any work at all. Ready to find out?

  Home Page

** Can visiting users tell immediately who you are and what you offer?
** Is your site organized in a clear fashion that promotes navigation?
** Is your home page an information destination or just a messy landing page?

** Does your home page give a good first impression that entices users to clickthrough your links?

  Performance Issues

** Do your images, videos, and pages load quickly?
** Does your site utilize clean, un-bloated code?
** Does your site have a "search" function? If so, is it fast and useful?
** Have you performed quality assurance testing to ensure your site looks the same across different browsers?

NetFluence is remarkably fast with as many as 65,000+ articles on a single site.

NetFluence has been meticulously tested with the IE, Opera and FireFox browsers, ensuring that your visitors can all see the site.

With Netfluence you can create unique searches, but can also search the content of your entire site)

  Content Is King

** Is your content written clearly and persuasively? Does it speak to your target market?
** Have you included useful and relevant resources like case studies, white papers, articles, or links?
** Does your content effectively describe your products, services, and benefits?
** Is your content keyword focused to cater to users and search engines alike?

NetFluence automatically provides you with dynamic functions, bringing each piece of content to the surface with its own set of keywords, phrases and anchor-text that you are in total control of.

  Links & Navigation
** First and foremost: Do all your links work?
** Are your links clearly marked? 
** Is your navigation menu or framework consistent throughout your site?
** Does your navigation menu provide access to your entire site? You can automatically or manually link different parts of your site)

  Critical Pages

** Is there a top-level page that describes your products and services?
** Do you have an "About Us" page to describe your company?
** Is the "Contact Us" page clear, informative, and thorough?
** Do you have a page where users can ask questíons or answer their own?
** Do you have a Testimonials section?
** Do you have a blog that you update frequently?
** Do you have social bookmarking buttons to take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies?

  Usability

** Is your site organized so that information is easy to find?
** Do you have a site map that wireframes this organizational structure and links to all your pages? 
** Is your site "user-friendly?"
** Is your type scannable, easy to read, and written for the web?
** Do you utilize bullets, headlines, and other stylistic elements to organize and present content?
** Do you have calls to action that prompt users to take desired actions?
** Are you using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control the layout of the site?

  Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 
** Is your site search engine friendly?
** Have you optimized your site for specific and relevant keywords?
** Have you acquired a network of high-quality, relevant links?
** Have you utilized online PR or social media marketing for its SEO benefits?

** Does your navigation menu provide access to your entire site? 

(Built into NetFluence is the ability for you to choose your link structure - Either dynamic or static, search engine friendly. Where are you getting your links...?  Are you giving your links away and not getting any in return...? Within Netfluence you get a completely automated solution for Social Bookmarking - This can add miles to your inbound links.  Its important to realize that you are a part of a community - Give and it will give back.  Finally, with NetFluence you can either create your own or get your visitors to share links with you and your navigation system is completely built in - No more broken links)

Now that you've answered all of these questíons, you need to decide what to do next. Start with some competitve analysis to see what your competitors are doing and what you need to do to catch up. Then, survey users to see what they think and act upon that feedback; don't wait! Immediately evaluate and reciprocate.

Make as many changes as you can to improve your website, turning it back into a business asset instead of a liability, and watch as your web presence creates leads and ultimately sales that impact your bottom line.

Thanks Nick - We sincerely appreciate your sharing the knowledge.

About The Author: Nick Yorchak is an SEO expert and Search Engine Marketing Specialist at Fusionbox, a full-service Denver Internet marketing, web design, and web development company. He can be reached at his Fusionbox email (nyorchak@fusionbox.com) or at (303)952-7490.

In closing, we want you to know and understnad that NetFluence Software was engineered completely from the ground up to serve YOUR visitor's needs.

==> Go To Netfluence Now

Finally, give this a good thinking...

These seem to be the most common errors in not only blog marketing, but with most web sites:

** Not submitting to blog (any) directories.

** Failing to ping each time you publish a post.(Smart-Pinger Technology built into NetFluence automatically alerts the most prominent sites that you have created a new posting)

** Not using permalinks/search engine friendly URLs (Built into NetFluence where you can combine dynamic functions with search engine friendly URL's

** Irrelevant categories - or too many.  Make sure your site is focused and then you can further expand it as both your customer's and your needs broaden

** No RSS feed, or a broken RSS feed (Built into NetFluence - Fully automated and custom built auto-discovery RSS feeds for every piece of your site))

** Broken links to other blogs or news items

** Poorly defined blog topic/title

** No opt-in or subscription form (Built into NetFluence is a custom autoresponder that you can control)

** Excessive spelling or grammar errors

And the number one error you should avoid at all costs? ::::: Not posting frequently enough! You should post at least 2-3 times a week if you want your site to do a good marketing job for you.

Check us out and see all the features and services that come automatically with NetFluence

To your Success,

Chris Moos

P.S.  NetFluence.  Go check out NetFluence and make the best of your products or services, by anchoring yourself for a fantastic 2008.  Its all about what YOUR visitors see in the values you give to them.

==>  Go To Netfluence Now Where your future can change

ATTENTION ENTREPRENEURS...
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, I know you have been hearing all the stories of big number website acquisitions.

Then Go Here Now:

Home Page

 Print this page