According to a survey by a marketing association, roughly 60% of all Americans have high speed internet. But even this figure is skewed. The truth is, far less than 60% have actual high speed.

If you ever fill out surveys, you’ll see that the choices do not include satellite service. Possibly because it is advertised as high speed, satellite service is lumped in with broadband.

The latest figures I could find indicated that Hughes Net now serves over 500,000 homes, and since Hughes and Wild Blue each served a comparable number in the 2007 figures I found (700,000 combined) we can assume that Wild Blue also has over a half million subscribers.

While the ads promise high speed, it is far from the truth. In fact, every time I see a TV ad for either Wild Blue or Hughes Net I have the urge to throw something at the screen while yelling “You lie!” I mention both providers, because I’ve used both.

One of their techs explained to me that it just can’t be any other way – it’s the nature of satellite to take longer because of the way the signals have to bounce up and back. On the positive side, it is faster than dial-up over our ancient rural phone lines. So, I continue to pay a hefty high-speed price for “medium” speed.

The government stimulus package is supposed to bring broadband to rural areas – so that everyone will have actual high speed by 2020. But even if that happens, it doesn’t do your 2010 marketing much good!

So why is lack of high speed costing you business? Because when it takes too long to view your message, we go away.

The three mistakes that can drive visitors from your page are:

• Using video to the exclusion of text.
• Asking your visitors to click from page to page to view your message.
• Creating long load times with too many graphics or dark colored backgrounds.

In many, if not most cases, videos stream in short chunks. You’ll hear 4 or 5 seconds, then wait for 8 or 10 seconds for the next 4 or 5 seconds. How many people are willing to watch video that way? Not me!

Going from page to page is another problem. Just today I wanted to read a message that promised a list of 8 ways to relieve pain. Too bad. Each short point was presented on a different page, surrounded by advertisements that included graphics. I got as far as the 3rd point, and after using about 6 minutes to view 30 seconds worth of reading, I left.

Perhaps if all they’d had on those pages was text, it would have moved fast enough to keep me interested.

And that’s the third thing that slows things down and causes visitors to leave – often before your page even finishes loading. Too many graphics or a dark red or black background spells SLOW. Your satellite or dial-up visitor has to really want to be there in order to stay long enough to see your page.

I’ve done it a few times – and rather than sit here and steam, I go find something else to do while the page loads. To give you an example, at different times I’ve folded a load of laundry, gone upstairs to get a cup of coffee, and carried a load of wood in for the fireplace – and come back each time to find that the page is almost loaded.

As I said, I really wanted to go there for a purpose. But there’s no way I’d do that to read your advertising.

When Mark Twain made that statement, I’m sure he was talking about the word choices that speakers and authors make in order to create specific thoughts and feelings in their listeners and readers.

Creating those feelings depends upon recognizing the subtle differences in the meaning of two words that are similar in meaning – but impart a slightly different feeling. For instance, the difference between eager and anxious.

One conveys happy anticipation while the other hints at worry, however slight. And yet, many use the two words interchangeably.

These differences are the reason why writers of every variety keep a Thesaurus by their sides. If you know any writers or speakers well, you’ve probably heard them saying “I’m searching for a word. I wrote _____ but it’s just not quite right. I know there’s a better word.”

They’re also the reason why those who submit stories to newspapers are often dismayed to find that someone has edited their piece and removed a word that they had carefully chosen. Sometimes, the whole meaning of an article is changed.

I can only imagine what Mark Twain would say if he came back today and saw what article / content spinners do to destroy the intent and ideas behind written words.

He might have a good laugh, because some of the results can be humorous. For instance, in one of my articles that was “stolen and spun,” the spinning software changed a sentence from “You can appeal to…” to the confusing: “You crapper appeal to…”

It took me a while to figure out how the spinner got crapper from can, but I finally did and had a good laugh.

Of course, I wasn’t pleased, because the person who did it left my name on it. I feel certain that Mark Twain would not be pleased either, if it was his own work that had been “spun.” Especially if the spinner failed to remove his name.

As an article writer, I’m often confronted with seeing my own words “spun out of control” in a manner that makes them unintelligible. But, for those who like a mental challenge, figuring out what the original article might have said can be entertainment.

For instance, take the following sentence: “Whether you admire them or not, Accessible Houses can be a actual able absolute acreage sales tool.”

I looked up the original article and found that it said: “Whether you adore them or not, Open Houses can be a very effective real estate sales tool.”

The words “real estate” and “Open House” have specific meanings in our culture – we all know what they mean. But when “absolute acreage” is substituted for “real estate” it not only takes on a different meaning, it leaves us thinking “What in the heck is absolute acreage?”

On the other hand, “accessible house” could have a couple of different meanings – just not the same meaning as “Open house.”

As for “actual able,” I doubt if I’d have figured out that it meant “effective” if I had not gone in search of the original article.

In this same article, spinning changed the Law of Attraction to the Law of Allure. The difference is subtle, just as it is with eager and anxious, but there is a difference.

Adding content to a website is a good idea. It adds search engine optimization and gives site visitors more reasons to stay longer. And borrowing articles from a site such as EzineArticles.com is a perfectly acceptable way to do it.

Your website and your articles really are your “face to the world,” and you will be judged by them. So don’t choose an article and ask software to spin it into 10 more articles. The results are often such that you’ll present the face of an illiterate, or a “goof.”

At best, they’ll show that you’re more interested in appealing to search engines than humans – and what is the point of attracting visitors if they’ll see what you wrote and hurry to leave?

My opinion: when content is the result of article spinning, the best idea would be to delete it.

Upon investigation I found that their web host, Imbris, no longer exists. It’s been gone since sometime around the end of last month.

According to news reports, no one knows why. There’s a sign in the window that says “Closed,” and they’re not answering any calls or emails.

They may be a victim of the economic downturn – perhaps too many customers couldn’t pay their bills. Or perhaps they had some kind of personal health or financial crisis. Whatever the reason, they’re not there and their customers are out of luck.

I was further surprised when I went to Who Is and learned that I’m still the contact person and admin for that domain name, even though I haven’t been with the group for several years. I thought I had changed that…

But they’re lucky, because I’m still here and willing to do the work to change it.

Hopefully the web designer who re-built their page a couple of years ago has kept everything in his own computer, because they’re going to have to start all over.

Another rescue I wrote for had bad luck with that one. Their web designer had used some kind of on-line service and NONE of their web pages were stored in his computer. When that host went away they had to start all over from the beginning.

Another danger of using small hosts lies in professionalism – or lack of it.

A friend of mine had her site with a local host who had also done her web design. And they refused to make corrections! This is not so good when one of the mistakes is an incorrect phone number.

Since they refused to fix the errors she asked me to do it, but they had control of her site and refused to give her the user name and password to get in. The whole thing made no sense, since the corrections might have taken all of 10 minutes.

She decided to discontinue their service, but with no copies of her web pages where she could get to them, we had to “steal” her pages one piece at a time and reconstruct them. The words were pretty easy, but the swirly graphics were in many pieces – putting them back together was a trick!

The next hurdle came when she tried to switch hosts – because her name wasn’t listed in the Who Is information. A computer-savvy employee had set it all up and used his own name as contact person and admin. Unfortunately, he had passed away, so my friend went through weeks of sending proof that she had a right to move that domain.

The lesson: Host with the big guys – and always, always, always list your own name as owner of your domain.

If someone else built your site and you aren’t sure, just go to www.whois.com and type in your URL – you’ll find out where you stand. If you find you aren’t there, contact your web person and have him or her go make the change. Don’t wait until they’ve moved away, gotten mad at you for some reason, or (perish the thought) passed away.

I purchase my domain names and host them with GoDaddy. Not only are they big enough that I think they’ll be around for a long time, their service is exceptional. That’s why I have an affiliate link to them on the sidebar – I trust that if I send them customers, they’ll treat those customers well.

One last thing: No matter where your website is hosted or how much you love or trust the person who maintains your site – keep current copies of your web pages in your own computer and in your back up.

Having those pages readily available could save you weeks of grief.

***The ideal length for a web page***
According to web expert Gerry McGovern, the ideal length for a page of web copy on a regular web site (not a landing page) is 300 words. He says 50% of visitors will read a 300-word page to the end, while only 5% will scan 1,000 words.

Headlines should be 4 to 8 words, sentences 15 to 20 words, and paragraphs 40 to 70 words. Hyperlinks should be in the right-hand column, not embedded within the body copy.

Reason: links in the body copy distract readers, making it difficult for them to read the paragraph.

Source: IntelBuilder

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From Marte:  Part of this advice is in contrast to some I’ve read about search engine optimization.That information said links in the body copy leading to other pages on your site lead to better optimization. So perhaps this is another battle between pleasing the reader, or pleasing the search engines.

My advice: Pay attention to what you do when reading, and decide. Do links distract you, or not?

Of course you’ve seen me harp about breaking up the copy – I just got another message this morning that I couldn’t (wouldn’t) stumble through… must have been 100 lines of copy with no breaks.

And there’s just no excuse for it. Adding a line between paragraphs only takes a flick of the finger on the enter button!

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***3 ways to build credibility***
Here are 3 things you can give – or give up – to others to build credibility with them:

1-Material wealth.
For instance, giving a customer a full refund – even when you don’t legally have to.

2-Time and energy.
Giving clients guidance, assistance, or advice when you are not “on the clock” or charging them for it.

3-Opportunity.
Example: the consultant who turns down a lucrative offer from a big potential client because it represents a conflict of interest with a smaller, less lucrative existing client.

Source: Wanek, Tom, “Currencies That Buy Credibility” (WA Press, 2009).

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From Marte: I sure agree with the first two, but I’m not sure about the third, because who would know? The client you turned down, who is cross at you for it?

I’ve turned down projects that went against my moral standards, but I didn’t send out a notice about it when I did.

At any rate, these two items are brought to you courtesy of Bob Bly Direct Response Letter. To sign up for Bob’s letter, visit www.bly.com.

If you’re in business, it’s also a good reason to reflect on the past year’s marketing efforts and begin to implement necessary changes to make the New Year brighter. (Or, EVEN brighter if you’re already doing well!)

Look at what you did, where you spent your dollars, and the results you saw from those efforts.

Commit to doing more of what worked while you eliminate or repair what didn’t work.

Today, your website is a vital link and should be the hub of all you do – on line or off line. This is the place where customers and clients can come to learn more about you and what you offer. It’s the place that affords you all the space you need to showcase your products or your services, or both.

Even if you’re a small-town merchant or service provider, you need a website.

But it has to be done well, or it won’t help you at all.

If you already have a website, give it a critical eye this week and make the necessary changes. If you don’t have one yet, get busy with finding a good URL and getting going.

Check out these 5 Secrets to Effective Web Copy before you get started.

Then, wander around the web a bit and look at your competitors. Which of their sites is easy to navigate and pleasant to use? Which sites are irritating? And why are they irritating?

Often it’s because there’s too much clutter or the navigation links are confusing and unclear. Sometimes they take too long to load because they added flash and video and way too many graphics.

Capture ideas from the sites you like – and make note of the elements you didn’t like, so you don’t get talked into repeating those mistakes.

While you’re at it, look at sites for products or services different from yours – some of the best ideas come from other industries.

One more thing…

Before you stop working on your website, do the final step: Check your links.  Every one of your links.  It is unbelievably easy to make a mistake creating those links, and it makes you look bad when people keep coming up with “page not found” errors.

You have just over 3 days to whip your website into shape… so do it!

P.S. If you have trouble getting that web copy to come out right, get in touch… web copy is what I do.

I thought it would be fun, and I read about how to install them, but didn’t have a program to create a graphic with an .ico extension. I spent part of one day looking around and then decided that I didn’t need it after all.

So, yesterday when I saw a Tweet on Twitter about how to install a favicon on WordPress, I followed the link. And there – at the end of the article – was a link to a site where I could create one.

Such fun!

I went there, created the favicon, and installed it on www.marte-cliff.com per instructions. It worked perfectly, but I decided I didn’t like it. My favicon was purple, but my website is mostly blue.

So I tried to change it – and so far, I can’t do that. Is this strange, or what?

I even deleted the favicon entirely, removed the coding from the page and sent it out again. But when I refreshed my page, the purple favicon is still there. And when I replaced the coding and sent the new favicon out, the original one is still there.

Not being a web tech, I can’t figure out how this can be. If I change something else on my site and send it back out, it changes. Why not this?

The bottom line is – this works. But be sure you have the image you want before you send it out because you might be stuck with it. Here’s the link for creating your favicon: http://www.prodraw.net/favicon/index.php

You’ll need an image to upload before you get there. Remember this is a tiny thing – 16 X 16 pixels, and choose your image accordingly. You can have anything you want, because you choose an image from your computer to upload.

Here’s the link with instructions for adding it to WordPress: http://techravings.info/2009/06/easiest-way-to-add-favicon-to-a-wordpress-blog.html

I haven’t tried that one yet. I did start, but when I saw that it was going to take several steps I decided to leave it for another day. This Hughes Net connection takes so long to open new pages, and I’m so tech illiterate that I could see it taking me an hour or more.

If you have high speed and are technologically literate, it might take the 10 minutes “as advertised.”

Oh, and if you happen to go to my website and YOU see a blue favicon, let me know would you? Maybe this is just something about my computer that makes the purple one get “stuck.”

If you want them to stay and respond according to your wishes, send them to the right page.

• Grocery stores can get away with putting the bread and milk at the back of the store so you have to pass a few thousand other items to get there.
• Government websites can let you flounder for hours because they don’t care if you find what you need or not.
• Utilities that have a monopoly in your area can make you suffer because you have no choice but to deal with them – or go without power and phone services.

BUT

• Marketers who want to sell products or services can’t get away with that.

Your visitors are no different than you – unless you’re determined that you MUST have something, you’ll take off after but a few seconds of looking and not finding. You’ve got better things to do with your time, and so do they.

You’re not a grocery store, and people don’t want to “walk past” all that other stuff before they find the widget they came for. If your site looks intersting they may stay and look around – but only if they first find what they came for.

Making things easy for your customers is one of the hallmarks of customer service.

Think about that… then check your links.

Whatever the reason, I’d guess that asking for testimonials ranks up there with public speaking when the subject is “Things I don’t want to do.”

You don’t have to be so direct. Instead, you can go about it a bit more subtle fashion – by asking some pointed questions. You, or someone in your firm, can do a follow up call a week or two after the purchase and simply chat. When you get something good, ask permission to use it. Then type it out and send it to them for approval.

Here are some questions to get your “questioning” juices flowing:

1. What problem were you trying to solve when you purchased ________?
2. Did it fulfill your expectations? (Hopefully they say yes, then ask “How”)
3. Has using _______ saved you money?  How?
4. Has using _______ saved you time?  How?
5. Do you use this yourself, or does someone else use it?
6. What do you like or dislike about the _________?
7. What would you tell other people about our product?
8. Is there anything you want me to know about our product or our service?

When I had a real estate company we sent out a 4 question form after each closing. We asked if everything was done to their satisfaction, if there was anything they especially appreciated, if there was something we could have done better, and if they had any other comments.

Not everyone returned the form, but we learned a lot from those who did, and we did get some good testimonials. We also got good suggestions about how to improve things, and those have a tremendous value when you’re trying to be the best you can be.