June 2, 2004
In
This Issue:
1. What's In a Word? (Maybe Everything!)
2. In the News - Slow Week Roundup
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - Help for Local Web Designers
5. Wrapping It Up
_________________
What's In a Word? (Maybe Everything!)
I can't think of a business that doesn't need to write about
itself at some point. If you have a company web site, you've probably
done a lot of writing about your products or services, your company,
and maybe even your expert staff. If you sell widgets and have
a print catalog, you have to write about your widgets there. Maybe
your company is small and your only marketing efforts have been
a small brochure or a yellow pages ad. You've still had to write
about yourself.
How carefully did you choose your words?
Today I discovered a month-old article that opened my eyes with
a few clear instances of the power of a single word. The article
is called "Blah, Blah, Blah" and it was written by Herschell
Gordon Lewis, a respected copywriter, for DIRECT magazine, a publication
geared toward the Direct Marketing industry. In the article, Lewis
argues against the use of "blah" words that don't lead
to the type of customer response you want -- an order, an inquiry,
or whatever it may be for your business. He offers a great example
of the power of the word "the", borrowing from a catalog
selling gardening products where one of the typical product headings
is "The Gardener's Hat." Lewis writes, "The heading
positions the hat. It isn't just a gardener's hat; it's the gardener's
hat."
If you're like me, you usually don't pay attention to the details
as closely as that. But Lewis makes a great point about the
power of a single word on your web site, in your brochure, or wherever.
It's ironic that I don't care for how the article itself is
written,
but that example and others make it a worthwhile read for those
of you who are involved in any kind of writing about your products,
services, company, etc. And that should be just about all of
you.
Herschell Gordon Lewis: Blah, Blah, Blah
_________________
In The News
It's been a quiet week since the last newsletter. I'll blame
that on the Memorial Day holiday. One noteworthy article, which
I'll link below, reports that online retail sales in the U.S. increased
51% in 2003, and surpassed the $100 billion level for the first
time ever. The study cited in this article also say that 79% of
the online retailers surveyed were profitable in 2003. That's a
much higher number than I would've guessed, but it proves that
with each passing year, the tools web developers (such as OWT)
can integrate into a web site become more cost-effective to install
and better at generating sales. That combination of increased revenue
and lower cost equals more profits for the online retailer.
With the news so slow for the past week, let me use this as an
opportunity to clear out some links I've been meaning to post
about.
Froogle Merchant Center
If you sells products online and have listings in Froogle, or
want to have listings in Froogle, check out the new Merchant
Center.
Gmail and Privacy
Google has posted a lengthy, new page that tries to address
many of the privacy-related concerns that have been raised
in the
past couple months about their Gmail service.
Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index
Shopping.com is a very popular comparison shopping site,
and the site regularly posts information about consumers
are searching
for on their site. It's a great and sometimes fascinating
look into current online shopping trends -- the hot
products, hot
brand
names, etc. And you can sign up to be notified by
email (like I am) every time the list is updated.
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time to read.
These are just some of the headlines we've posted
to OWTweb.com in recent
days.
US online retail sales top $100B in 2003
May 28, 2004 - Industry Standard
It was the first year in which U.S. online retail sales exceeded
US$100 billion, reaching $114 billion. That represents 5.4 percent
of all retail sales.
Microsoft to launch new search technology
May 27, 2004 - Associated Press
The end-to-end search technology illustrates how concerned Microsoft
is with besting rivals including Google, the current Internet
search favorite.
Search engines try to find their sound
May 27, 2004 - News.com
Some media companies with audio and video content are aggressively
seeking ways to get programming listed in Internet search
engine results.
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
This Week's Q&A
Thanks for publishing a helpful newsletter. I'm fairly new to
the Tri-Cities area and to web design...I'm a graphic designer
by profession. I've published just a couple sites, using Dreamweaver
on a Mac, and then GoLive on a PC. Seems like I know just enough
to be dangerous. Are there any training facilities or resources
in the Tri-Cities area that can help me hone my skills? Any user-groups
in the area?
Sue
Hi Sue -- Thanks for the email, and the kind words about the
newsletter. Glad to hear you're getting something from it.
I don't know of any training facilities here in town that
are specific to web development. The local SBDC offers
classes that
are more
geared toward small business issues. Here's a link: http://www.wsbdc.org/directory/
On our web site, we do have a bunch of links to resources
that can help you learn more, including a few good message
boards
and such where you can chat with other designers. Here's
that link:
http://www.owtweb.com/resources/
And as for local user groups, there's apparently a few
local web designers that get together via the Meetup.com
web site,
but I've
never attended so I don't know what the gatherings are
like. Here's more information about that: http://webdesign.meetup.com/228
Hope this helps, and thanks again for the email. (Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
These past couple issues have been dealing with some business-related
topics, like effective writing (this issue) and shipping costs
(last week). I do want to get back into some good discussion about
making search engine-friendly web pages and helping your pages
rank better in Google, Yahoo, etc. You can help the cause by sending
in any questions -- general or detailed -- about search engine
rankings and search engine optimization. The more I know about
what's on your mind, the more I can tailor the newsletter to provide
helpful information. So don't be afraid to write. We'll be tackling
SEO-related stuff in coming weeks, so get on board and help guide
the discussion.
See you next week! Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
The OWT Newsletter is a weekly service offered free to anyone
interested in learning more about web development, search engine
optimization/marketing, and just about anything else related to
running a business web site. You don't need to be an OWT client
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