Dear Reader,

I love surprises. You never know where your next idea will come from.
Hope you enjoy what I stumbled across while watching QVC.

As always, questions and feedback are encouraged.

Mary Johnson

Call me:  937-974-5539
Email me:  mary@websitehelper.com
Web me:  www.websitehelper.com

• "Sample Size" vs "Travel Size": The Power of Words
• A System to Stay on Top of Your Emails
• Database Web Sites -- Do They Make Sense for You?

"I'm struck by how seldom company builders consider the question of what to 'stop' doing."

-- Jim Collins

"Sample Size" vs "Travel Size": The Power of Words

Words are powerful. The right words can work for you, the wrong words can work against you. I learned that by observing QVC, the popular home shopping channel on TV.

I'll let you in on a little secret. I frequently watch QVC. I have been doing it for years, but not for the reasons that you might think. They are experts in selling. They know what features to emphasize and how to do it most effectively.

You can learn a lot by observation. One day they were selling a skin products package. They started out describing it as coming in "sample sizes" but immediately corrected themselves to say "travel sizes".

It caught my attention. Why did they think the change was so important?

Well, "sample size" conjures up images of something that ought to be given away. "Travel size" conjures up images of many benefits that I might be willing to pay extra for, such as less weight and less bulk to make my trip more pleasant.

How do you apply this to grow your business? Get several people together and review your sales literature, tag line, sales pitch, etc. Prune out any words that are not working as hard for you as they could be in creating positive images to emphasize the benefits of your products or services.

Finally, be an observer of both good and bad examples of marketing and constantly evaluate why they chose their words and whether you feel that it is affective or not.   This is a great way to improve your skills.

A System to Stay on Top of Your Emails

Have you ever forgotten to respond to an important email because it got lost in the shuffle?

Here is a system that works for me and is easy to follow.

When I get a new email message, I leave it in my InBox until I either 1) read it and delete it or 2) read it and file it. That way, my InBox acts like a "To-Do list".

What I mean by "file it" is not to print a hard copy, although sometimes that is necessary also, but to put it in a separate folder in my email.

Did you know that you can create folders in your email system and name them whatever you want, to organize any emails that you want to save? This is true in Outlook and Outlook Express, as well as many common email
systems. Give it a try.

Database Web Sites -- Do They Make Sense for You?

The majority of small to medium-sized business have static Web sites -- their Web pages never change and when they do, the Web master must change them and upload the changed page to the server.

But, when the need exists for a Web site to be updated with new information frequently to keep the content fresh and give visitors a reason to return, or if there are huge amounts of similar data that can be displayed in a repetitive format, then a database-driven Web site can be a good solution.

Check out a new Web site that I just completed (http://www.HeartofCenterville.com) for Heart of Centerville, an organization started by a group of 25 business in Centerville, Ohio to pool their resources to generate business.

The majority of the content on this Web site is derived from a Microsoft Access database so that additions and deletions can be made simply in the database and the Web pages are updated automatically.

If you are using an Access database in your business, contact me today to find out whether it makes sense for you to consider a database solution.

Call me:  937-974-5539
Email me:  mary@websitehelper.com
Web me:  www.websitehelper.com