60 Seconds of Information Impacting Our Fast Forward Economy September 2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Estimated Reading Time: 60 Seconds per article

1. Too Many Doors On Your Homepage Turns Away Users.

2. How Old Is The Internet? Hint: Not As Old As Al Gore.

3. The Bar Code of The Future: Radio Frequencies.

4. Keyword-Rich URLS Promote Better Ranking.

5. Satisfying the Savvy Boomers: Making Your Product Better

6. Ask A Lawyer If Fax Broadcasting Is A Good Prospecting Tool.



1. Too Many Doors On Your Homepage Turns Away Users

Have you ever been in the cereal aisle of a grocery store trying to choose one brand of cereal from among the 30 others? If so, you know the selection process can be both irritating and time consuming.

The same scenario takes place on the home page of your web site. How many choices are your users faced with when they visit your home page? Some sites have as many as 20 choices, while others have only 10. Both are too high. We recommend that the ideal number is no more than five choices.

The goal of the home page is to get users to go inside your web site for additional information, not confuse them with an overwhelming variety of choices. Check your navigation options and make the necessary adjustments. You'll eventually see that more people are spending more time inside your web site where you want them, rather than exiting at your home page.

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2. How Old Is The Internet? Hint: Not As Old As Al Gore.

The first week of this month was the 35th anniversary of the Internet. Although it was constructed in phases, the original stage was a simple connection between two computers at UCLA. The two computers, linked by a 15-foot cable, tested a new way of swapping data that eventually would lead to today's Internet.

How far has it progressed in 35 years from that first 15-foot cable? Today, a full-length movie on DVD can speed between California and Europe in 10 to 15 seconds!

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3. The Bar Code Of The Future: Radio Frequencies

As retailers and manufacturers seek more in-depth information about the movement of their products from life-on-the-shelf time to final purchase, they are realizing that today's bar code technology may not be able to do the job.

The need for more product and consumer behavior information could give the business of inventory management its biggest shakeup since the bar code arrived on the scene.

The new technology on the block that may replace bar codes is called "Radio Frequency Identification"--RFID.

In its simplest form, the bar code is replaced by a radio station embedded into the packaging of the merchandise--from a bag of chips to baggie jeans. The radio station "broadcasts" a frequency to a nearby transmitter and converts the signal into length of time on the shelf, date of the purchase and purchaser zip code. Depending on the strength of the signal and location of the transmitter, the package will keep "broadcasting" right from the consumer's home.

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4. Keyword-rich URLS Promote Better Ranking.

The July issue of Planet Ocean reports that having the keyword as part of a web site's domain name positively affects its ranking. Yahoo and Google both give ranking preferences to web sites that have the keyword in the root domain.

If having your web site rank as high as possible on both Yahoo and Google is an important part of your marketing strategy, then we strongly recommend you include your category keyword in your domain name. If the URL of your site is basically your company's brand name, then consider adding another web site, duplicating the content of the original one, but with a keyword-rich URL.

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5. Satisfying Savvy Boomers: Making Your Product Better

There's a large portion of today's market, specifically the Baby Boomers, who are always looking for a better product or service--one that is improved and easier to use.

This doesn't necessarily mean taking your product and turning it into the "big idea," but it does mean taking a closer look at how your product fits into your target's lifestyle. The four parameters of change are "easier, faster, on-demand and convenient."

If your product or service needs an adjustment to meet any one, or all, of these parameters, please call us at (770) 457-3700. We're good at making things even better.

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6. Is Broadcast Faxing A Good Prospecting Tool?

A car wash in Atlanta nearly lost their business due to a class action suit as a result of this prospecting technique. For details, go to: Car Wash

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