Effective Internet Marketing

Effective internet marketing is simple, cost little to nothing, and generally overlooked by most webmasters. Why? Because they think it's too easy to be real. But that is their first mistake. High sales conversion rates are easier than you think when done effectively.

Many folks don't realize that we are not just template designers. We each develop and maintain a number of successful niche (and affiliate) websites which promote the products and services of other companies. These niche markets are not related to the template industry at all but focus on products and services of interest to the main stream ... non- techy people (the average consumer).

We capitalize on other forms of revenue too, like Google Adsense, Yahoo Publisher, Chitika, Kontera, etc. and soon will embark on MSN's new contextual ad program.

Remember, if you own a website, are a web designer or have some other type of techie background, you and I are the minority when it comes to the internet as a whole. Most people searching the web are average consumers, and they don't own websites. I know that's sometimes hard to wrap our brain around, but that is one fact we often forget.

We are also testing junkies. We will test anything and everything dozens of times to determine what aspect brings us the best conversion rates on our websites. In 99.9% of our target markets one test result is perfectly clear. Do you want to know what it is?

It's such a silly little, no-brainer thing that I know you'll roll your eyes and say, yea - sure. But the fact is that one little thing that brings us big conversion rates is keeping the website's structure, navigation and graphics simple. Yes, you guessed it, "basic". The average consumer doesn't care how sweet your graphics look or how clever your flash intro might be. They aren't impressed with your designer's talents at all. They came to your site for their own reasons, and it is your job to give them what they want in as few steps as possible. The more "stuff" you have on your web pages, the more confusing your website will be to your visitors. If it doesn't have a purpose with high conversion test results, it should not be on your website.

If you have not yet listened to our free podcast, "How Much Graphics is Too Much Graphics", you'll want to find out what successful website owners already know. Our podcasts have been a big hit over at iTunes for months and were featured in the Top 100 Most Popular Podcasts" many, many times. We were featured on iTunes homepage as well. The popular UK .net magazine likes them so well, they have including them on their CDs that accompany their printed magazines distributed to thousands of webmasters worldwide.

> Download podcast, "How Much is Too Much Graphics"

When we founded BasicTemplates.com years ago we could have easily named the site something like Super-Duper-MoreHype-Templates.com. But we chose the name that fit the most effective and practical way to design a website that converts well. Hence, the birth of the name as it is today.

Recently we've heard that some marketers are selling pre-optimized and pre-tested templates. {grin} Quite honestly the folks who get bit with this hype will soon find out that to optimize or test a website, you must have content. You must know your market before you optimize and test your website. It is not unusual to see completely different results using the same design even within the same niche market theme. It is all about your target market, how well you know them and your site's content.

These hyped up so called pre-tested templates reminded us of another podcast we did last year. It involves the mindset of "backwards website development". Regardless of who tells you that a pre- tested or pre-optimized template is what you need, I think this podcast will shed some light on the marketing hype.

> Download podcast, "Avoiding the Backward Website Development Trap"

Again, our podcasts are free and there is no commitment to buy anything from us. We simply want to re-educate webmasters and change their mindset from "pretty" to "effective" so that they too can start making the money the really want through their website. Many folks have said that they have learned new ways to look at website development that they never knew before. The changes they have made to their process have greatly increased their conversion rates.

You may also redistribute our Effective Website Secrets podcasts provided they are offered "as is" without any editing and are not offered for resale in any manner.