Up Market |
- Beware of the “Hit Men”
- 7 Easy Tips for Using Twitter to Increase Business
- Creative Goal Setting
- 4 Excellent Resources for Choosing Website Color Schemes
| Posted: 01 Apr 2012 09:00 AM PDT No, this isn't about some television series, game, or anything else encapsulated by the title. (Yet it is a chapter in my upcoming book.) However the effect this has on the general public, and business as a whole demonstrates a misunderstood, and misguided approach to business. "Eyeballs mean sales." or "All passers-by are potential customers." They're not. When I say this at a meeting, it's at this point everyone in the room turns their head and the room goes silent. (And the person who invited me begins to sweat.) Usually what I respond with to break the silence is to ask a very simple question, "What's the value of 1 million hits or visitors that don't purchase, compared to 1 hit or visitor that does?" Some start talking about conversion rate and its value. Others begin raising the argument of credibility in the eyes of others, and so on. But what doesn't get answered first is the question I posed, which is exactly the point I'm trying to instill. So many people will work more on what I see as a distraction rather than building a real business. I understand the argument about eyeballs, and traffic, but if that were all there was to it downtown shops, mall stores, and every stand on a boardwalk would never have a sales issue. But they do. The argument for selling a rental spot in a brick and mortar model is sold using the same story you'll hear from a "traffic" salesman. "There's so much traffic that goes by here" was yesterday's pitch. Today it's, "You need to drive traffic." No, you need to make sales. If your focus is skewed primarily to traffic, then you won't be putting in the needed focus on building or improving a product people want to buy. After creating your website your next focal point should be in getting just one hit that actually buys, not getting 1 million of what I call "The look, like, and leave crowd". The goal for 98% of business websites should be to give someone who wants to buy your product or service the place where they can make the transaction with ease of use, feel secure when they use their card, and have a reasonable feeling of expectation that if a problem arises it will be addressed in a reasonable time frame. The other 2% I reserve for the market players that do have actual first needs of "eyeballs." Magazines, television, and newspapers fall into this category. However I will also contend that product should still be first, followed by "hits." Not the other way around. When someone asks me how many "hits" my website gets they are usually stunned when I say, "I don't know, nor do I care." When they pick their jaw off the floor I like to follow-up with, "The only hit I care about is the one that purchased my services. Because as of this date, my bank doesn't accept my hit rate as legal tender." I'll bet neither do the "Hit Men." © 2012 Mark St.Cyr Featured Image Photo Credit: gak |
| 7 Easy Tips for Using Twitter to Increase Business Posted: 01 Apr 2012 06:00 AM PDT Once you start using these ideas, you may be surprised and delighted with the results you see directly attributable to Twitter. |
| Posted: 31 Mar 2012 03:00 PM PDT Experiment with new ways to visualize your future. |
| 4 Excellent Resources for Choosing Website Color Schemes Posted: 31 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PDT Deciding on a color scheme for your website is one of the most important choices you'll make. Not only do you have to consider things like the emotional and cultural associations that people have with color, but you'll also have to translate that to how you want them to feel about your brand. The good news is that for every brand personality out there, there's a color scheme to match. Whether you want your site to be perceived as vibrant and energetic, or sophisticated and luxurious, you'll find the following four resources extremely helpful for choosing a color scheme that sets your website apart from the competition. ColorBlender
By default, ColorBlender is set to "Automatch" which is a nice way of saying "Artistically Challenged." If you'd like to change each color block directly, simply click the Direct Edit button below the different color swatches. ColourLovers
ColorSchemeDesigner
Whether you've got your heart set on a monochromatic design (black and white with one accenting color) or you want to get creative with triads and tetrads, ColorSchemeDesigner delivers. You'll also get complementary shades with your selection, so if you don't like the core colors you selected, you have both lighter and darker alternatives. Adobe Kuler
To save your finished creation, you'll need to create an Adobe ID (free) which you can get by registering at the site. Your chosen color scheme will have color values for nearly every possible use, including HEX, RGB, CMYK and more. Get Creative! Have you used one of the sites above to create your website color scheme? Share your story below in the comments. Otherwise, go experiment and see what you can create! |
ColorBlender
If you'd rather be inspired by real-life color schemes, 
If you prefer a more hands-on approach to choosing color schemes, but hue and saturation sliders (like in ColorBlender) just aren't your style, there's 
Kuler (pronounced "Color") is a color scheme gallery that lets visitors rate and comment on color themes. It also lets you sort them by most popular and highest rated (within the last month). Of course, it wouldn't be any fun if you couldn't create your own color schemes, so Kuler lets you do just that, via clicking and dragging lines on a color wheel. It then automatically adjusts up to four other corresponding hues, shades and tints so that you get a perfect combination each time.| You are subscribed to email updates from Upmarket To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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