by Bryan Eisenberg

So you’re the biggest, the best, the fastest, the first? So what. Big deal. How do you know if any of that answers the question your customer is asking, “What’s in it for me?” (WIFM).

“Features versus benefits” is Marketing 101. But as I look around the Web, I wonder if anybody heard that through their college-day hangovers. Very few people even talk about benefits, much less make the effort to get really good at translating features into benefits. Yet power-packed words describing benefits are what trigger the emotions that motivate us to spend our money, time, or energy. People (including you and me) buy because of the positive emotions associated with the benefits.

Products’ attributes usually have four principal levels:

Features — what products have. For example, “This application is able to handle multiple users concurrently.”

Advantages — what features do. For example, “This application provides essential information in real time.”

Benefits — what features mean. For example, “This information will allow your managers to keep their fingers on the company’s financial pulse at all times.”

Motives — what features satisfy. For example, “This feature will provide cost-savings, control, and efficiency.”

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by Mandy Porta

To build a solid foundation for your business, you must first identify your typical customer and tailor your marketing pitch accordingly.

Many businesses say they target “anyone interested in my services.” Some may say they target small business owners, homeowners, or stay-at-home moms. All of these targets are too general.

Targeting a specific market does not mean that you have to exclude people that do not fit your criteria from buying from you. Rather, target marketing allows you to focus your marketing dollars and brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you than other markets. This is a much more affordable, efficient, and effective way to reach potential clients and generate business.

How to Define Your Target Market: Look at Your Current Customer Base

How to Define Your Target Market: Check Out Your Competition

How to Define Your Target Market: Analyze Your Product/Service

How to Define Your Target Market: Choose Specific Demographics to Target

Figure out not only who has a need for your product or service, but also who is most likely to buy it. Think about the following factors:
• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Income level
• Education level
• Marital or family status
• Occupation
• Ethnic background

How to Define Your Target Market: Consider the Psychographics of Your Target

Psychographics are more personal characteristics of a person, including:

• Personality
• Attitudes
• Values
• Interests/hobbies
• Lifestyles
• Behavior

How to Define You Target Market: Evaluate Your Decision

Once you’ve decided on a target market, be sure to consider these questions:

• Are there enough people that fit my criteria?
• Will my target really benefit from my product/service? Will they see a need for it?
• Do I understand what drives my target to make decisions?
• Can they afford my product/service?
• Can I reach them with my message? Are they easily accessible?

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by Christian Vasile

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. True or not, images are an important part of any website we create. Since it is so easy to embed an image in a website (even the process of creating your own images is very easy), most websites are filled with them. There are some very good examples out there on how to deal with images in a website from different points of view, but most of the websites do not showcase positive examples.

Web Design Usability Guide – Dealing with Images

Indeed, users want to see photos on websites, but they want them to be relevant. They would prefer a webpage that doesn’t have visual images rather than a webpage that has lots of photos that just make it heavy and cluttered. The key in using images on websites, according to the study, is based on a few basic ideas:

• Image fundamentals - size, composition, quality and exposure are four important things to look for in a good image. People actually look for quality in images, even the contrast makes a huge difference.
• Effectiveness – if the picture creates excitement or interest, then it works. It is down to three characteristics:
  • Emotional appeal – does the product in the picture look good and make the user want it?
  • Rational appeal – does the image show the benefits of the product?
  • and Brand appeal – does the picture fit your brand?
• Transmitted message – this is about the image sending the right message to the website readers.
• Anticipated user response – this is a bit more difficult to put into practice, but the basic idea behind it is that the picture should help decision-making and create a desire for the product. We will talk about this a bit later.

Purely decorative images tend to be ignored unconsciously by our brain.

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by Kathleen Fealy

Commercial websites can easily annoy visitors. Here are four good ways to do it.

1. Offer Assistance Too Quickly

Good business intentions don’t always succeed. Most commercial website owners want to capture leads and offer assistance to their visitors. But some inadvertently end up annoying these visitors by offering help too early or through annoying chat boxes.

A better way to offer assistance is a pop-up box that appears after the visitor has been on the page for at least 30 seconds or has clicked on at least one additional page. Verizon Wireless utilizes this method, deploying its interactive “Call Now” box after approximately 30 seconds on the site.

2. Solicit Information Too Quickly

When consumers use search engines, they are typically seeking information. If a business has used relevant keywords, and wrote good titles and descriptions for the search engines to display, then its site may be chosen by the consumer, who will click on your site and view its information.

3. Requiring Extra Clicks to Get Information

How often have you come to a web page to find that you have to click more links to get to the information you are looking for? Why couldn’t you just get there in the first attempt?

4. Automatically Play Music

Have you found yourself in the office or on a train and the site you visit starts playing music? Do you quickly look for the mute button? Give your visitor’s the ability to click “play” as the default option. Only then would your music start. It gives them the control they need based on their surroundings.

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