• Keep your site up to date - it is important your site doesn't look out of date. For example we change our home page every month to update the latest newsletters. From time to time you can change the look of the site so it doesn't look jaded to regular visitors.
  
• Visit it yourself - take time to look at your website as a visitor - what impression does it create - how easy is it to find information.
  
• Check out how fast it downloads - one of my pet issues is why have the question "Do you want to enter?". Another issue to consider - do you need a site that takes time to download because of the graphics. Sometimes websites are designed to look good but they dont function easily from a sales/marketing perspective. From my experience most people prefer quick entry to a site rather waiting around while images download.
  
• Visit other sites - one of the great things about the internet is that you can learn a lot from looking around at other sites
• Make it easy to navigate- when talking with people about their website we recommend a minimalist approach. By this we mean make it clean looking and simple to find your way around - dont try and put too much information on you home page for example - link it thru to secondary pages - put tabs at the top of the page.
  
• Focus on message - this means that you have clearly identified what the visitor wants when they visit your site. Once this is clear the question is - how well does our site respond to this need?

When you think about it people either visit your site because they know you and have had dealings with your business or alternatively they come across your website by referral e.g. search engine listing, recommended by a friend and so on.
How can you encourage more visits from both these categories?

Your own mailing list

• Sending out a newsletter reminds your clients about what you have to offer and updates them on new products/ services. This information will encourage them to visit your site.
  
• Listing your website on your business cards, stationery, invoices and on-hold phone messages reminds your clients that you have a website.
  
  To those who don't know you
  
  • Search engine listings where you have meta tags and a focussed set of keys words to get your business listed.
    
  • Viral marketing where readers of your newsletter encourage their friends and colleagues to visit your site.

This is the most critical part. Having gone to all the hard work of getting people to come to your site you need to think thru what you want them to do - buy, enquire, become aware and so on.

If you are using a newsletter for example and your newsletter promotes a new product then it is vital the link from the newsletter goes directly to the product page on the website and that from that product page the visitor can easily order or get more information. If you don't think this thru then all the hard work in publishing the newsletter can be wasted.

Newsletters enable people to quickly respond to your offer and you need to make sure that your website responds equally quickly and directly.

Statistics are also very helpful. Newsletter statistics will show you which product/service is attracting most interest. Website statistics can also show you what people do when they come to your site - which pages they visit, in which order and so on. All of this market intelligence equips you to make the most of every visit to your site.

The great thing about websites is they work for your business 24/7. The downside is that they are passive - waiting for someone to come to them.
The best answer in using the net for your sales and marketing needs is to have a great-looking efficient website and a great looking and efficient newsletter - both working together to complement the other. In this way you get the best of both worlds in serving the needs and interests of your clients and potential customers.

The Hot Pepper Group, a PR firm from Adelaide, has come up with a novel way to benefit businesses and to contribute to the fight against prostrate and breast cancer.They have put together a PR package called 'Succes in a Briefcase' which will enable businesses to use step-by-step guides to undertake in-house public relations, business communication and media liaison utilising current staff.

Penelope Herbert, the managing director says: "The Hot Pepper Group is an award-winning agency prepared to share it’s tips and PR secrets because we are passionate about helping to improve business communications, whilst raising funds for breast and prostate cancer research. Help us raise $250,000 and help your business save $1,000’s."

Part-proceeds from the sale of every ‘Success in a Briefcase’ will be donated to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Foundation for the ground-breaking work being undertaken by Dr Sally Stephenson in breast and prostate cancer research. The aim is to raise $250,000. So Hot Pepper have provided ‘Success in a Briefcase’ at an accessible $350 (plus $9.95 postage and handling).