Erlend Wilhelmsen

What your Web site visitors care about

Don't you wish you knew exactly what your Website visitors cared about? While this may be a tall order, there are many studies available outlining what users do when they visit Websites. Here's five tips you may use to improve your Website:

• Users care about accomplishing their goal - quickly. They don't spend much time on anything else.
• Get your priorities in order. What are the top three things you are trying to accomplish with your site? If you don't know, figure it out and redesign your site around those priorities.
• Speak directly to your audience, but remember: they don't want to hear about you. What can you do for them?

Naming your company

Do you think General Motors, or GM, would have been the name selected for a new car manufacturer in 2004? I sure hope not. Today, even business to business markets are cluttered with companies and competition for a piece of your mind is so fierce that GM would dramatically reduced their chances of success by choosing such a poor generic name. So why are generic names so appealing? What are the biggest naming mistakes companies make?

Press releases effective for search engine marketing

Since 2004 turned out to be the year of the search engines, it's worth looking into what you can do to promote your company and your services on Google and Yahoo in 2005. Have you tried online press releases? If not, I think you should. It's not just an effective way to get in front of journalists, it's also an effective way to reach your target audience.

What to avoid when advertising online

For reasons I cannot understand, many Internet advertisers drive their audiences crazy with their irritating ad campaigns. You've probably been the victim of the pop-up ad that won't go away. Or, perhaps the "floating across the screen ad." What I find disturbing is that, in my opinion, common sense should really discourage marketers from using these tactics. See what people really hate: Most Hated Advertising Techniques (Jakob Nielsen's AlertBox)

Consider a "compare products" feature for your ecommerce site

When you're looking for a new watch or that new pair of pants, don't you enjoy comparing products side by side? I always find it easier to make up my mind when I have a chance to compare. Unfortunately, I've found that many e-commerce Websites, even top brands, don't do a very good job at providing a user-friendly compare feature.