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((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER ))))))))))))))))) April 27, 2000

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This newsletter sponsored by: ibooks, NetMechanic and Actuate Software

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Now with over 97300 subscribers!

https://www.webreference.com https://www.webreference.com/new/ https://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:

1. OPEN PUBLISHING: Submit Your Article! 2. CONTEST: Subscribe & Win HotDog Professional 6.0! 3. FEATURED ARTICLE: Online Branding: Developers and Designers Hold the Key 4. NET NEWS: * RealNetworks Goes Browsing With Mozilla * Intel Nixes Chip-Tracking ID * Loudcloud Trumpets Statistics Portal * Italian Piracy Ruling Angers Software Makers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. OPEN PUBLISHING: Submit Your Article!

Every Thursday the Update features a new article contributed by our readers through our Open Publishing Initiative. We encourage you to submit your own article ideas. Your words could be here, being read by over 90,000 people!

https://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html

This week, Wanda Cummings covers online branding - it's not just for Fortune 500 sites, and can make the difference between keeping and losing your site's visitors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. CONTEST: Subscribe & Win HotDog Professional 6.0!

Come one, come all, and see the amazing new WebRef Subscribe & Win contest! Sign up for the Webreference Update newsletter, and you could win a registered copy of the new HotDog Professional 6.0 Web authoring tool from Sausage Software. Each week we'll draw new winners from our new subscribers - you could be next. Already a subscriber? Not a problem - just fill out the form, and you'll be automatically entered to win.

https://www.webreference.com/new/contest.html

This week's winners include Adrian Young of Auckland, New Zealand and Marsha Johnston of Edmonton, Canada. Enjoy the software!

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LOCATION……LOCATION……LOCATION……

85% of Web users rely on search engines to locate information. If your site's not listed…you may lose visitors to the competition!

Submit your site with EngineStarter by NetMechanic at https://www.netmechanic.com/ads/f64.htm

************************************************************adv.** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. FEATURED ARTICLE: Online Branding: Developers and Designers Hold the Key

Amazon. Ebay. Travelocity. Yahoo! Walmart. IBM. The Gap. And, oh yes, Microsoft. Welcome to the world of branding, a world where trusted names count. In the US alone, it's an over $2 trillion dollar industry. The growing mainstream activity on the Internet has afforded a whole new way of losing customers - or gaining them. As developers and designers, you hold the key to the front door in online branding.

So what exactly is branding and what's all the hype about? That's all just big ad agency stuff, right? Wrong. There is a terrible misconception that branding is about the creative side of business. About the logo. The advertising. The copy. The "look and feel." It is, but that isn't nearly the full extent of it. Branding is, in a nutshell, the entire user experience - the "relationship" between the company and the customer, how a company makes a customer feel. This applies to all companies, great and small. In both online and offline branding, it's about:

* how the customer is treated at the door (home page) * what the packaging looks like and how it's positioned on a shelf (Web site) * how the cashier treats the customer (navigation, online support, online orders) * how the company handles complaints (returns, ease of contact) * how a company positions itself as "trustful" and "credible" (a combination of the above, media treatment, etc.)

Every form of contact that a company has with a customer is part of branding. Because the Web is a more "user-driven" experience and can loosely be described as a hybrid medium (print and broadcast), it poses some interesting branding challenges and opportunities. It has the potential to deliver the company's identity, products, service - the whole shebang - in the space of a few screens and within seconds. Your Web site is where the entire experience comes together for the user - or not. Make no mistake about it: the number of consumers who make purchasing decisions online is growing exponentially, and the launch of so many free internet service providers will only fertilize that growth. If you provide a positive experience for these users, they'll talk. And that language translates into dollars. Confuse them or fail to apply some of the basic methods below and you'll lose them within seconds, too.

So, from a design and development perspective, we should give them bells and whistles, right? Maybe. Sure, bells and whistles are nice if you're approaching an audience who happens to like bells and whistles - like gamers. Flying hotdogs really wouldn't fly that well, however, on iVillage.com or Inc.com. Keep your market in mind. Study it. The average user is more concerned with function than they are with form. An ace-looking site with difficult or no function will lose a user pretty quickly. Build an ace-looking site with phenomenal functionality and they'll come back with the whole clan. People are still people, whether they're online or not. Here are some good ol' fashioned methods with a cybertwist that will work toward creating "brand loyalty" and a repeat visitor.

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1) Get 'em at the door. There are three questions which immediately enter the mind of any user when popping into your home page: What's in it for me? Can these people be trusted? Do they know what they're doing? Through clear and appealing visuals and copy you must immediately establish credibility. This is the first step toward developing a healthy "relationship" with your user. Make it inviting. Remember, these are people who are trying to communicate with you. Brand the domain name so they'll remember it; they're directions to the office or store. The domain name should reflect the company name as closely as possible. Here are a few good samples that offer a credible message, sell their product and company, and visually address their intended market: https://www.apple.com https://www.gateway.com https://www.kelloggs.com

2) Don't clutter the aisles. If you design a site that is difficult or impossible to navigate, your user will turn around and walk back out the door, or worse, never make it in. Ever go to a department store and walk into a "Please use other door" sign? Very annoying.

Make those buttons a delight to look at and easy to figure out; they're your salespeople and clerks. A lost sale or visitor is often the result of not being able to get to the checkout with relative ease or find the information/service sought. https://www.nationalvideocenter.com/tz/tzmain.html https://www.mbusa.com/home.html https://www.dell.com

3) Offer assistance - even if it's not asked for. Let those clerks offer helpful suggestions about other products or services to buy, or other information which might be of interest. The user can't be expected to know your entire product or service line or to spend the time looking for it. https://www.amazon.com https://www.ebay.com https://www.yahoo.com

4) Personnel must be efficient, friendly, courteous. If your site doesn't outdo the bricks and mortar version of the purchasing or visiting experience, there'd be no point in the user coming. Utilize the many comprehensive tools available to you: autorespond thank-yous; follow-up email in the form of newsletters, sales, or unique memberships. Offer incentives, sweepstakes or gifts of some kind. Give the user a thousand reasons to feel right at home and to come right back again. Make online contact information a snap, and provide a place for complaints and suggestions.

5) Develop a relationship, make the visit an experience. Generating word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful components of any branding strategy - online or off. Developing a solid relationship with a user and helping them identify themselves as being a "friend" or "preferred customer" of the company will ultimately generate positive word-of-mouth offline. It can also be generated online. Let users share their experiences through a chat room or forum of some kind. Set up a message board where they can voice their opinions or get an opinion before they buy a product or service. Let them know that they as individuals, and their opinions, count. https://www.adobe.com https://www.sears.com

6) Be clear, informative and don't make false promises. There is such a thing as "overpositioning" - making false statements or setting up goals which are unattainable. Be realistic, give your users accurate, up-to-date information about your services and products. If it will take a week for shipping, say that. It will do wonders for credibility. Also, provide easily-accessible information should they need it or want it - like instructions on how to put that model train together or recipes for their brand new grill. https://www.garden.com

7) Listen to your customers and follow through. Study your audience, measure where they're going and not going, and why. Web pages should be created based on knowledge of a customer, and product data can be pulled from your database based on that individual. Customize as much as you possibly can. Don't underestimate the value of "Welcome back, Joe," as a user revisits a site. Solicit information, analyze it, and act accordingly.

8) Practice what you preach. The site you develop must accurately reflect a company's core values. Are they trusting, helpful? The caring provider of all providers? If it professes to offer high- end solutions with the customer in mind, the site must execute that successfully throughout the user's entire experience - from start to finish, and then after the sale or visit. Remember, this is an ongoing relationship and it's your responsibility to maintain it on the Web.

Whether you're programming, coding, or designing for the Web, you are an integral part of the process of branding - for companies both large and small. In a split second, a consumer will reach for what they know and trust. You help build that trust. Your Web site may be the only contact or experience a user has with the company, so offer them a worthwhile and lasting one. Build it so they WILL come. Brand like you never thought you would.

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************************************************************adv.** About the author:

Wanda Cummings is a 20-year veteran of visual communications and marketing. She and her two colleagues offer a wide range of comprehensive solutions through their innovative company, Creative Solutions Design & Marketing.

You can find Wanda at https://www.creativesolutions.ns.ca or reach her at [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. NET NEWS: RealNetworks Goes Browsing With Mozilla, Intel Nixes Chip-Tracking ID, Loudcloud Trumpets Statistics Portal, Italian Piracy Ruling Angers Software Makers

>RealNetworks Goes Browsing With Mozilla

RealNetworks is adding browser functionality to a private-label version of its media player, fueling speculation that its war with Microsoft may flare up again. RealNetworks is using portions of Mozilla.org's open-source browser code in a version of its media player and server created for Web broadcaster Global Media. https://www.internetnews.com/streaming-news/article/0,2171,8161_348211,00 .html InternetNews.com, 000426

>Intel Nixes Chip-Tracking ID

Hoping to avoid another campaign by privacy activists, Intel has decided not to include a controversial user identification feature (similar to that in the PIII) in its forthcoming 1.5 GHz Willamette chip. https://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35950,00.html Wired.com,000427

>Loudcloud Trumpets Statistics Portal

Loudcloud Inc. broke its silence Wednesday with the launch of a portal that provides customers with statistics and reporting tools for business management. The Net infrastructure service provider, founded by former Netscape chief Marc Andreessen last October, rolled out myLoudcloud to give clients more control and visibility in their business. https://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,2171,3_348261,00.html InternetNews.com, 000426

>Italian Piracy Ruling Angers Software Makers

A Turin judge has ruled that copying software programs is not illegal provided they are not sold for profit. The judgment has angered manufacturers, who fear it will encourage an already booming software piracy sector in Italy. https://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/04/27/italian.pirates.idg/index.h tml CNN.com, 000427

That's it for this week, see you next time.

Andrew King Managing Editor, WebReference.com [email protected]

Eric Cook Assistant Editor, WebReference.com [email protected]

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