Somewhere along the way I signed up to receive email notifications from Firewheel Design’s excellent IconBuffet. Since then I’ve decided that I no longer wish to receive their email newsletter. No big deal, right? Just unsubscribe.

In this case it’s not so simple:

Clicking on this link brings you to an error page. It’s the wrong link to unsubscribe or change your account preferences.

This is an unusual oversight — typically Firewheel’s work is excellent — but it’s an important one that underscores the importance of testing. This is especially true for email newsletters, because once they’re sent they can’t be taken back.

Test, retest, and test again. Mantra of the week.

The chance to be a business of the week is a benefit Commerce offers their business clients. It goes a long way in actually demonstrating that they want to be our partner and see and help us succeed.

There’s no cost to Commerce to do this, and only minimal work– all they do is maintain a schedule of business who can take advantage of this opportunity to promote themselves.

Kudos to Commerce for going beyond saying they want to be our partner to actually being our partner.

What could your company offer to clients that would make them as grateful and aligned as Commerce makes us?

This makes it sound like it’s a bad time to be in real estate, the mortgage industry, new home construction, and related industries. But any down-market situation presents a real opportunity for forward-thinking and visionary firms to go beyond survival and actually thrive.

Here are 10 ways we recommend for businesses affected by the housing crash to thrive:

1. Orient your website so it provides the most useful and targeted information possible for your potential buyers. Go beyond the standard fare of linking to school reviews and community information: add information that will help people move and settle into the community once they’ve arrived (review stores and restaurants, publish information about trash pickup and parking regulations, blog about the “everyday things” people in town just know but will catch newcomers blind).

2. Blog regularly about community events and news and make your site the go-to location for what’s happening in your town. The more you’re an expert the more people will turn to you for finding the right home in the right neighborhood.

3. Focus on what makes you different. Do you have a keen eye on how to properly assess a home’s value? Can you figure out how to properly time listing a property? Can you use some home decorating skills to spruce up a home and make it more appealing during an open house and offer that to your clients free of charge? Promote all of this - heavily and repeatedly - on your site. Shout who you are and how you’re better.

4. Stay in touch with a real message. There are thousands of prewritten newsletters mortgage brokers and real estate professionals use. This is generic content and it reads that way. Write your own piece, give it a dose of your personality, and be real. That will connect with visitors.

5. Don’t hide the truth. Be honest and straight with people and weave this into the language of your site. Position yourself as a source of real information, not spin.

6. Integrate with MLS (or your own local listing service) and then augment that with more. Include direct links to Zillow and other resource sites. Do quick video interviews of neighbors and publish the best of those (a “meet the neighbors” clip). Record a podcast as you walk through the property. Anything to help immerse people in knowing about the home they’re going to buy. A new home is the biggest purchase most people ever make - go further than the grainy cell phone photos and list of stats to really present the home as someplace to love.

7. Host a seller’s party (the web part is promoting it online). As I drive around it seems that everyone is selling right now, and I’m sure they’re all in the same tough place. Get together and talk about it, hang out, and commiserate with others in the same situation. It’ll help to know that you’re not alone, and they’ll remember that you (the realtor) cared about them. Don’t worry whether or not it’s your sign in the front yard - building community is the right thing to do.

8. Use a compelling and high quality design. Design stands out, and the better an impression you make across your site (and all materials) the better you’ll be received in the marketplace.

9. Publish a sales celebration message. Every time you sell a home send out a quick e-mail note to people you’re still selling buy carisoprodol for and put up a blog article about it. Celebrate success both to keep you going and to keep up the spirits of your homeowners.

10. Use Basecamp. This simple and effective online communication tool is a great way to keep in touch with people and share videos, files, messages, and tasks related to a home. Give each buyer their own project and work with them to make their online customer experience with you easy and powerful.

Smart companies that work hard now are going to thrive during this slump and come out stronger on the other side. Build a strong site. Connect with buyers and sellers. Be real and communicate openly with them. Build a community. You’ll make it through this time and have a better time doing so.

¹http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20546324/site/newsweek/page/0/

That said, I would never wish this upon anyone (no matter what the silver lining may be). So I’m even prouder to announce that this year my wife, Katharine Tapley, will be participating in the New England Guts & Glory Walk to raise funds and find a cure for Colitis.

Please find out more about the walk or make a donation to support Kate via the links below. She’s walking with our baby in the stroller and, as in the past, I’m sure she’ll have wonderful notes and photos to share after the event!

Guts & Glory Details

Kate’s Fundraising & Donation Page

Thank you on behalf of myself, everyone else suffering from this disease and their friends, family, and loved ones who must sit by as they suffer. Your support will make a real difference in the lives of thousands.

If that sounds like you, submit a copy of your resume and work samples to employment@3000k.com.

Read on for the details….

Technologies Required:

* XHTML
* CSS
* JavaScript
* Know your way around Photoshop and Illustrator

Nice to haves (not required, but if you’re learning any of these, all the better):

* Drupal, Wordpress, and Zen Cart template experience a plus
* Flash
* PHP

Requirements:

* 3+ years total web development experience.
* A good eye for design and experience with Photoshop or other graphics-based programs.
* If you’re not great with CSS and XHTML and we do mean great, we don’t want you. No offense.

The basics:

* Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills and a strong attention to detail.
* Keep current with advances in web technologies and monitor industry trends in web design and development.
* Maintain a high volume of work under tight deadlines.
* Handle a wide range of projects and duties.
* Resolve problems in a timely and diplomatic fashion, with a focus on customer service and meeting the needs of clients.
* Interact daily with staff and work collaboratively on projects.

Pay:

This position has a competitive salary, based on experience.

Benefits:

3000k is committed to providing an excellent working environment with competitive benefits and a salary commensurate with experience. Our standard offering for full-time employees includes:

* 100% health insurance.
* 100% dental insurance.
* Flexible working hours.
* Opportunity for advancement in a fast-growing, energetic company.
* Paid vacation.
* Friendly, relaxed working environment.

Who We Are:

3000k is a fast-growing interaction agency in Worcester, Massachusetts, that uses the web to establish and expand our clients’ brands and businesses. We focus on search marketing to help clients acquire prospects, strong sites that convert these prospects to customers, and tools that maintain these relationships once they’re established. At every step we use appropriate and sophisticated web technologies and are as proud of our work as we are of our results.

Epson Stylus Photo R200 w/Ink Cartridges
A good little inkjet printer from Epson.

• · 5760×1440 DPI
• · 6-color inks
• · Border Free printing
• · 20PPM plus
• · Complete product specifications from Epson

Epson Expression 800 Scanner
This trusted scanner has been in the 3000k family for seven years. It includes a SCSI cable to connect to your computer, and a transparency adapter (great for slides).

• · 800×3200 DPI
• · SCSI
• · Micro Step Drive technology
• · Transparency adapter
• · Includes SCSI cable
• · Complete product specifications from Epson

Apple iMac G5, 2GHz, 20″ Display
This has been a great design machine and has worked flawlessly for us over the years. A good machine if you’re still running PowerPC software (like Photoshop CS2 or earlier), or need to be able to run OS 9 apps.

• · 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5
• · 1.5GB RAM
• · 240GB hard drive
• · 20″ display
• · Mac OS X 10.4.10 pre-installed
• · Mouse, keyboard included
• · Complete product specifications from Apple

Apple PowerMac G4, Dual 867MHz
This machine has been upgraded (lots of memory and drive space) and served as our internal office server from 2003-2007.

• · Dual 867MHz PowerPC G4
• · 1.5GB RAM
• · 250GB hard drive
• · Mac OS X 10.4.10 pre-installed
• · Mouse, keyboard, USB cable extender, external speakers
• · Complete product specifications from Apple

Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium, 1.0GHz
This PowerBook was my main machine for over three years and worked great as a mobile office. We’re including a lot of extras with this like a PodiumPad, external mouse, and VGA adapter.

Updated: This PowerBook is sold as of Sunday, August 26th.

• · 1.0GHz PowerPC G4
• · 1GB RAM
• · 60GB hard drive
• · MacOS X 10.4.10 pre-installed
• · Mouse, Podium Pad, USB cable extender, VGA adapter
• · Complete product specifications from Apple

Sony alpha Digital SLR Camera
This great little digital SLR is really an amazing camera. Image stabilization, super-fast, and with a big memory card (we sprung for the 2GB card). We’ve been partnering with professional photographers on projects, recently, so no longer have a need for this and want it to find a good home.

• · Professional grade digital SLR
• · 10.2 Megapixels
• · Includes lens
• · Image stabilization
• · 2GB memory card
• · Padded carrying case
• · Complete product specifications from Sony

I thought this would be of value to the greater web community. Enjoy!

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These articles seem to focus on the first part (increasing the number of hits). Can anyone offer similar links to help me increase the probability of a page-view becoming a lead?

Hi Stuart,

Good question. I don’t have any other links to share on this but I’ll share the orientation 3000k takes when building a site to see if that helps you.

PROSPECT / CUSTOMER LIFE CYCLE
The life cycle of a prospect involves three things: driving prospects to your site, encouraging them to take action once they’ve arrived, and maintaining those connections once they’re established.

ACQUIRING PROSPECTS
SEO, pay-per-click, traditional advertising, blogging, and other techniques can be used to help acquire visitors. These each have their place in your plan, some help to pull prospects to you (like blogging) while others involve pushing out to where your prospects are (like direct mail).

GETTING PROSPECTS TO ENGAGE WITH YOU
Your question is really about the second step in the cycle: how to get people to engage your firm once they’ve come to your site. This involves building a site (or landing page) that’s tailored to addressing the needs of your visitor and providing clear and explicit actions for them to take - contacting you, in the case of lead generation.

Specifically, you’ll need to:

• · Understand the needs of your audience.
• · Validate your firm and convey your value to these groups.
• · Affirm to valid prospects that you can do what they need.
• · Alleviate concerns your visitors have.
• · Provide a clear and explicit set of actions (call, email, buy, etc.).

I mentioned site or landing page, an important distinction. A landing page is a single page that sits between your site and the prospect. They’re often tied to pay-per-click campaigns and try to address 80% of a visitors needs quickly after they’ve clicked on an ad but before they’re dropped into your site.

So, for a landing page, your visitor:

• · Performs a search and sees your ad.
• · Clicks on the ad and is directed to your landing page.
• · Skims the information there.
• · Determines if you’re the right match and they should continue on to your site or contact you (good landing pages should have a clear and explicit set of contact options).

Both the landing page and your site should have a carefully crafted message that speaks to your visitors and helps them self-select whether you’re the right firm to work with or not. This is achieved through a combination of the copy, design, imagery, and features.

KEEPING THE CONNECTION ALIVE
So you’ve done all of this hard work and crafted a good search marketing campaign, driven a lot of traffic to a strong site, and begun getting contacts. Chances are only a small percentage of those prospects are a good fit ready to buy today.

The final step, then, is keeping in touch with the prospects who aren’t ready to buy now so you’re still prominent in their mind whey they are ready. E-mail newsletters and order viagra order cialis order cialis professional order viagra professional blogs can be an effective way to do this by pulling people back with interesting content (blogs) and pushing information out to those who’ve expressed interest (newsletters).

- - - - - - - - - -

This is how we grow businesses with a marketing website: acquire visitors, convert them to customers, and maintain those relationships.

We are proud to announce that today we launched the website for OBT Music. The launch of the website marks the formal debut of the the company. It also represents an unveiling of one of the most interesting, technologically complex, and advanced sites we’ve launched in recent years.

OBT Music is a stock film-music library designed for use by film and television producers, documentarians, corporate filmmakers, video game studios, and students, among others. The site features over 1,500 music cues, as they’re called in the industry, at launch. These music cues are designed for use in productions as transitional music, themes, to run under opening and closing credits, and wherever else you’d hear music in a production.

OBT Music is Tom Phillips and Tom Martin, two film music composers from central Massachusetts. Their resumes are impressive: Tom Phillips wrote the theme music for PBS’s Antiques Roadshow, both of them have had their work used in dozens of PBS series and documentaries, including The American Experience and NOVA. They have also done work for programs shown on HBO, The Discovery Channel, AMC, TLC, Lifetime, and A&E. Their work has contributed to many award nominations and wins, including Emmys.

The work that Tom and Tom do is different from what is offered by other music libraries because it is written exclusively to be used in productions and has the benefit of decades of experience in the industry behind it.

The OBT Music project took advantge of virtually every service that 3000k offers. To complete this project we employed:

• Website design
• Custom web application programming and databse development
• E-commerce design and construction
• Search engine optimization
• Email marketing
• Copyediting
• Hosting and Stats

The most technologically interesting components of the site — from our persspective, and likely those of other web developers — is the site’s search tool and licensing process. The search tool was built using AJAX. By employing this new technology, we were able to provide a user interface that is much smoother, more powerful, and more like a desktop tool than any other web-based music cue library we’ve seen. We hope this tool will really help OBT stand out in their industry.

The licensing checkout process also makes use of AJAX and a single-page checkout system that has been shown to reduce cart abandonment and improve sales.

We’ve very excited to see OBT launch. We can’t wait to see how it’s received by the film and television production industry. We expect it to make a big splash.

And next time you enjoy the music in a movie or television program, check the credits. You may see OBT Music listed there.

Visit the new OBT Music website.

Humanetrics is the brain-child of author, consultant, trainer, and keynote speaker Jay Forte. We built and launched Jay’s first Humanetrics site a couple of years ago. For the new site, he asked us to emphasize features that would enable discussion and collaboration — two values that are key to his training and consulting.

Jay’s work emphasizs sharing ideas and powerful discussions, so we built his site using WordPress, a blog-style content management system that allows him to easily update the site, add blog posts regularly, and gives users a chance to comment and discuss topics with each other. With this kind of group-communication tool in place, the new Humanetrics site has a framework to enable the sharing and creation of powerful ideas.

To create this site, we did something we’ve never done before: created a custom WordPress template. WordPress uses design templates to provide easily changeable “skins” for its sites. Many designers release templates free to the community, but in order to give Humanetrics a unique, appealing design to match its content, we created our own template.

In addition to that, we used WordPress plug-ins that will reduce spam, allow page-level search engine optimization, create a Google/XML sitemap for improved search engine visibility, and much more. When combining this new site with its blog features and Jay’s email newsletter, the new Humanetrics site is a dynamic communication and collaboration tool that will help grow business across the country.

Visit the new Humanetrics site.