There are a number of factors that go into web design, including why are you building the web site? That’s first and foremost. Why? To sell something? An online brochure?

It can not be all things to all people because it will end up being nothing to anyone.

In an upcoming session in Orlando, we will be examining websites for design flaws. But luckily we will tell you how to improve it!

AMA Digital Marketing Conference

Peter Radizeski will be speaking about Corporate Blogging at the AMA Tampa Bay’s one day Digital Marketing Conference on March 6, 2009.

Integrating Blogging into your Marketing Strategy

Weblogs or blogs are changing the way companies are listening and reaching out to their customers, partners, investors, and stakeholders. Peter Radizeski, Marketing Idea Guy, and Shawna Vercher, The Society of Successful Women, are professional bloggers and will answer the following questions from their experiences: What steps should companies take to set up and manage a blog; What are the elements of a successful blog; and what guidelines or policy should companies have on blogging. Register here. Or win a free pass. Here’s how:

Blog about the event and you could win a free full-day conference pass. Simply write a blog post promoting the event along with a link to this URL (http://urlbrief.com/a32480) using this event badge. Then send an email to newmedia at amatampabay.org with a link to your post and you’ll be entered to win.

If Twitter’s your thing, just do a tweet including the link above and our @AMA_Tampa_Bay twitter name. Send an email to the address above with a link to your tweet and you’ll have a chance to win.

As many of you know, I don’t use PowerPoint during my sessions, but these are the ideas I will be trying to convey about Marketing, Messaging, and Guerrilla tactics.

I have attended numerous expos, seminars, webinars and conferences. Many are just pitches, blatant and boring. Very few live up to the description or agenda (false advertising?). Slides filled with terms, graphs, and data. Boring!

I moderate panels and I am organizing BarCamp Tampa. In both cases, I look at it from the Attendee view.

• What would be a good take-away?
• What is the Attendee looking to learn or hear?
• And ultimately, what would be a Wow?

Admittedly, I am a bit of a bear when it comes to session / webinar material. I don’t want screenshots or revenue projections or subscriber growth charts. I want to know:

• Who is doing what now?
• What is working?
• What’s Unique?
• What is the Trigger?
• How is it being delivered?
• Where could this go?

In the case of VOIP, I would want to hear about HD sound, Jajah’s translation service, stuff like SimulScribe, hooks to integrate VOIP with other applications, and finally how to use these things on my PPC-6700 mobile handset. (In that case, screenshots would work).

The thing specifically about a tele-seminar or webinar is that the speaker doesn’t know if the audience is engaged or not, unless the speaker specifically hooks or engages them. You have seen folks in meetings typing on their Blackberries – and that is when you ARE in the room. Now try to engage effectively when the attendee can be interrupted by his email, phone, colleague, etc. Your presentation has to be enthusiastic, absorbing and captivating. What?! Yeah. That’s hard work, but people are giving up their time to attend, so shouldn’t you give them their money’s worth?

Sponsorships of the How to SELLECOM series is simple and available. Email me at peter [at] marketingideaguy dot com or call the office at 813.963.5884 to start putting your name in front of your audience.

Host.net owns a data center in Boca Raton as well as a network acquired by th epurchases of WebUnited/expedient and WV Fiber.

If you have specific questions, please email them in. We will be talking for about 10 minutes then we will slide into Q&A for 30 minutes. Register via email to peter [at] rad-info dot net or calling 813-496-2122. Bridge info will be emailed to participants on Thursday evening. No charge with the code. ($9.95 otherwise).

It is easier to market to a niche – a specific target subset of the marketplace, like doctors or lawyers – but most business owners think wide scope instead of narrow. The truth is that most folks won’t hear your message unless you spend Big Bucks. Even then, most won’t respond.

In a targeted campaign, the message can be tailored and specific to the needs of a community of prospects. Better resonation. Think of it this way:

When choosing Adwords to buy, the most general (say Tampa Financial Planner) is more expensive than something more specific (maybe Tampa 401k rollover specialist).

Another example is SEO (search engine optimization). If your keywords are too general, you will be one of millions of pages, so you have to work harder (or spend more) to win the first page. For more specific keywords, you can make it to the top easier and organically.

In Seth’s book, The Dip, the message is to become World’s Best - in a niche.

If you have marketing questions, please email them to me (peter at marketing idea guy dot com).

The list of 60+ ideas from Orlando can be reached from here. The full list of ideas will end up as an appendix to my book (SELLECOM due out later this year). The DVD of the session will be available soon. Watch for it or email me about it.

The ideas in and of themselves are no big deal. It’s taking one and implementing it that makes it worthwhile. During the talk, I mentioned creating new habits. Jack had mentioned that you should start the day with 2 cold calls. I added that you should Eat That Frog first. Put those 2 items are your calendar every morning and make it a habit. You will productively begin each day — and even if the rest of the day is fighting fires, you still got a jump on a new RGA habit. (RGA = revenue generating activity).

UPDATE: MY book, SELLECOM: 101 Ideas for Marketing in the Telecom Jungle, is now available! Buy one here!