teachers, technology mix it up - InMaricopa.com
teachers, technology mix it up - InMaricopa.com
teachers, technology mix it up - InMaricopa.com
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12m BUSINESS <strong>InMaricopa</strong>.<strong>com</strong><br />
March 2012<br />
YOUR HOME BUSINESS<br />
Is your webs<strong>it</strong>e<br />
working for or<br />
against you? DEBRA<br />
BY DEBRA PLUNKETT<br />
For most small businesses, particularly<br />
home-based ones, an effective webs<strong>it</strong>e<br />
is your storefront. It’s your face to the<br />
world and only chance to make a first<br />
impression.<br />
It needs to be working for you, not<br />
against you.<br />
Every single piece of webs<strong>it</strong>e traffic<br />
a small business attracts is crucial.<br />
Just getting people to vis<strong>it</strong> your s<strong>it</strong>e is<br />
enough of a challenge, but once they’re<br />
there you want to do everything in<br />
your power to ensure they take action<br />
toward be<strong>com</strong>ing a client.<br />
You have a few options. There are<br />
brochure s<strong>it</strong>es, which essentially are<br />
an online version of a flier or<br />
physical brochure you would<br />
hand out. They are informative<br />
and may include a call to action,<br />
but they’re not interactive and<br />
don’t include an e-<strong>com</strong>merce<br />
<strong>com</strong>ponent.<br />
If you have products to sell<br />
and want to include a shopping<br />
cart, you need a more <strong>com</strong>plex<br />
s<strong>it</strong>e.<br />
Whichever type of s<strong>it</strong>e f<strong>it</strong>s your<br />
business best, there is more to a good<br />
s<strong>it</strong>e than simply being aesthetically<br />
pleasing. It needs to be functional. It<br />
needs to ac<strong>com</strong>plish the goal of closing<br />
business.<br />
Tiny, nearly imperceptible elements<br />
of a page can have a big impact on how<br />
vis<strong>it</strong>ors interact w<strong>it</strong>h <strong>it</strong>. For example,<br />
PLUNKETT<br />
changing the color on a “buy now” button<br />
can markedly improve how many<br />
times <strong>it</strong>’s clicked; rearranging photos<br />
or changing fonts can do the same.<br />
Making these types of<br />
changes in a disciplined way is<br />
what marketers call A/B testing<br />
(because <strong>it</strong> <strong>com</strong>pares version A<br />
to version B).<br />
Many more fascinating<br />
examples can be viewed on<br />
s<strong>it</strong>es like www.whichtestwon.<br />
<strong>com</strong> — and from them, lessons<br />
can be learned.<br />
In a recent example, a long<br />
headline for an offer was tested<br />
against a shorter, punchier headline<br />
w<strong>it</strong>h a sub-headline (both containing<br />
essentially the same information,<br />
arranged visually differently) w<strong>it</strong>h the<br />
winning, shorter, headline increasing<br />
the desired result by 38 percent. How<br />
much more prof<strong>it</strong>able could your<br />
business be if you were nearly 40
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