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Please Pardon The Dust

Thanks for stopping by. Like a new store still opening for business, where a lot of the merchandise is still in boxes, some still hasn't arrived yet, and the shelves are only partly assembled and installed, — we're still creating new material for your benefit because you're the most important person in our enterprise.

Building a decent site is a big job, and there's much to do. But take a look around and you'll find some things already here that will be useful. Then come back often and catch the new material being added.

And drop me a note if you have any topics or questions you'd like to see addressed. I'll use those questions as guides as we develop the site and the new content.

But what we have is important to many, and so we're putting at least part of it up where you can start benefitting from our content and materials without having to wait until it's all in place.

Make yourself at home, ignore the walls that aren't quite painted, and pick up some new ideas while you're here to help you in your business.

And if you need to contact me, that's easy too. Just call:

Or send an email to: clarke@verinet.net and I'll get right back to you as quickly as I can.

And thanks again for coming by.

Clarke Echols

Success is not an accident—
And marketing is not a game...

If you're in business, you better be in marketing...
Or soon you won't have a business to market.

Marketing your business on the web
Isn't a game either.

If you don't do it right — You'll be throwing money away ...
Money lost because of business you didn't capture —

• Money that could have been yours ...
• Money you could be capturing as profit ...
• If you'd just do your marketing right.

Marketing is not for amateurs.
Neither is advertising.

Odds are ... the guy or gal trying to sell you Yellow Pages ads knows zilch about measured results ... and even less about the actual return you can expect from your Yellow Pages advertising dollar.

And the people they have designing your Yellow Pages ad probably don't have a clue either.

They can tell you how they think you can measure results. But they don't know from experience. And it isn't taught in college, or art school either.

[That's why you should seriously consider having somebody else help you plan and design what's in your Yellow Pages ad, if you have one.]

The daily paper can't tell you how many eyeballs will actually see your message, based on where and when it's placed. Neither can most other media. They can't guarantee your ad will even be seen — much less actually read by subscribers.

Building Your Company Web Site
Isn't for Amateurs Either.

Take a look at the Common mistakes found on over 95% of business websites.

How many of these errors show up on your site, if you have one? And how much are they costing you in lost business and lost profits?

Or if you don't have one yet, what steps are you taking now to prevent those mistakes from showing up when you get it built?

When's the Last Time
You Carefully Examined Your
Business Marketing Strategy?

...Do You Even Have One?

• Is the lack of an effective marketing strategy killing your profits or weakening your business — especially in times of political and economic uncertainty?
• Is your business and marketing strategy up to date and ready for current economic conditions and technological advances?
• Is your web-site architecture based on a sound marketing strategy and a solid design that addresses the interests, attitudes, and preferences of today's actual web users?
• Is your web-site content based on current, known, best practices? Was the copy written by a master of the craft who knows what those best practices are and why they work? Does the graphic design properly support the written copy? Are you sure?
• Or is it based on the personal opinions and preferences of the business owner or a web designer who is more interested in ''pretty''-ness than effectiveness?

Your Strategic
Web Site:

The Heart of Your
Strategic
Marketing Program
———————

What Is A
Strategic Web Site?

Strategic:
Based on, designed with, or structured around a sound, effective strategy.

Strategy:
A combination of tactics — devised from the science and art of using social, psychological, economic, cultural, personal, and other factors and influences — to ethically lead individuals along a systematic path toward a decision or action that will benefit them in a meaningful way.

Doing this effectively, correctly, and with complete integrity, can also reward you generously for helping them accomplish and enjoy those things they consider worthwhile and important in their lives.

Website:
Pages of information stored online at a specific location on a web server where they can be accessed over the Internet by using a web browser.

Each page contains text, pictures, and/or graphic images. Pages are designed, arranged and interlinked in a logical manner so they are easy to access, easy to use, easy to read, and easy to understand.

Users can then study, consider, and evaluate individual pages' content, and determine whether the information and any offers presented are useful in satisfying their needs or desires.

But Without
A Sound Strategy,
It Isn't Strategic

Sound strategy always uses proven best practices, including effective methods of presentation, and structure of both written copy and supporting graphic design that properly keep the visitor focused on the copy (not the design), because that's where the message is.

Thus there must be strategy in the purpose. Strategy in the architecture of the site. Strategy in the text. And strategy behind the graphic layout and design.

And without all of those carefully in place, you can't get maximum effectiveness out of any web site.