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My
biggest lesson learned was also my most costly. Seven
years ago I started an Internet-based business and
spent thousands of dollars on Web design. After months
of zero e-mails and no orders I realized I had produced
nothing more than a flashy extension of my business
card- it looked great but not one could find me.
Like
so many Web site owners and the majority of dot-com
bombs, I failed to thoroughly do my homework in the
beginning to find out if there was even a market for
my product online. The challenge: How was I going
to make my Web site work for me?
I
started by researching and evaluating my customer's
patterns instead of assuming what my clients were
thinking, which opened many doors for my site and
business. I learned to use specific tools available
to determine whether a market exists for my particular
idea on the Internet. Using newsgroups like Dejanews.com
for example, which is now owned by Google proved an
ideal place to conduct a test market for customers
' habits. Keyword research is another fundamental
starting point that I've seen many site owners neglect.
Services like Keywordzone.com are valuable to find
out how many times a particular keyword search terms
is typed in each of the top ten search engines.
Once
I had established what surfers type into engines to
find an industry, I tailored my site to what the customers
were already looking for on the Web. I learned the
power of knowing what people want to buy or see on
the Web without having to spend the design investment
in the first place.
Listening
to my clients and site visitors via e-mail feedback
and site surveys was imperative for my success in
business. Asking questions like, "How can we
improve?" and "What would you like to see
us offer?" allowed me to stay in touch and offer
content and services that would benefit my customers.
Bottom
line: Focused research allowed me to produce sites
that are not just glamorized business cards, but sites
that are highly visible and give the visitor exactly
what they are looking for. If I had known about these
tools available to me early on, I would have had the
knowledge to build my site to the needs and desired
of my visitors in the first place.
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