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Just a quick note to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed our sessions at the Van Buren Chamber of Commerce on Friday June 6. We had two different sessions near capacity for a total of 32 participants.

Several of you requested contact information for Kirkham Systems and Melody Harshbarger of Multi Media Connection Studios. I will list those in the next posting.

I am currently finalizing details for a website that is exclusively website marketing information. I will let you know on this website when the new site is ready. I will include postings that provide additional detail for several of the elements we discussed briefly.

Thank you all for your participation and questions.

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Seth Godin (web marketing guru) has come up with an email check list that you should share with those people in your address book (you know who they are!) out of mercy for all the rest of us in their address book.

If you ever got too many FYI emails or OD’d on CCs, you will love his list of email rules. Just think of how much you could get done without emails that you don’t need.  Click "read more" to see the list.

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Yes, your email address on your website is killing you. Your organization is getting spam , missing sales leads , and aggravating customers because of it.

Can it really be that bad?

I thought listing my e-mail on my website was a good thing! I want to serve my customers & partners effectively and reach out.

Yes, the mailto link approach really is that bad.

Well, the problem is how the email address is done on your website. Most site designers still use the mailto link approach to gather feedback. There are three critical problems with this method:

1. The Mailto Link is used to harvest e-mail addresses by spambots (spam robots) so that they can crush your inbox with junk mail. I personally experienced this when my spam went from 5 a day to over 50. It dropped back to normal several months after the website mailto link problem was fixed.
2. The Mailto Link does not work for 75% of the people that click on it. This is because your browser often does not know what e-mail program you use. The mailto link can even crash or lockup a computer – not the best way to impress a potential customer.
3. The Mailto Link does not provide good feedback information. When the mailto link DOES work, you typically get emails like "Send me some information about your product" or "I really like your service on the second page." Neither message lets you know what your customers want and then they may be unhappy with your lack of a good response.

What should I do to fix the mailto link problem?

First, do NOT just remove your mailto link from your website without having a fix in place.

Here are the steps to fix the mailto link problem. The solution is to develop a form that customers can use to interact with you.

1. Define the information you want to get from sales leads and from comments. Having different forms for different functions (sales, request for information, or comments) is a good idea.
2. Select only a few fields that are required for submission (name, comment, and email are typical). Don’t require all fields to be filled out – your customers will think you are pushy and not want to talk with you online.
3. Develop a Contact Us form that pre-qualifies the information you are sent. Make sure the form data goes to the correct person’s email address.
4. Put the form in the website and test it.
5. Replace the mailto link with an image of the email address and link the image to your form page.

Yeah, but I have to show my email address.

OK, but you don’t have to use the mailto link. You can use a picture of your email address that links to your feedback form. This allows people to write down your email information and still contact you without being exposed to all the problems.

By the way, if you plan to use FrontPage to develop your forms, keep in mind that they will likely NOT work properly. Microsoft no longer supports FrontPage extensions needed to make forms function. FrontPage has other issues, but that is another (several) posts.

Our Website Marketing Class is fast approaching at the Van Buren Chamber of Commerce (June 6, 2008).

The class is filling up fairly quickly and we have added a second session in the afternoon.

Here is the official brochure content:
Have you ever thought:

• Why don’t I get sales leads from my website?
• How would a website help my business?
• Isn’t getting online too expensive?

Then this seminar is what you are looking for!

June 6, 2008 (Friday)

Two Sessions:

• 10 a.m. – 12 noon
• 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Location: Van Buren Chamber Office – 510 Main Street

Registration: FREE for Chamber members and anyone signing up as a new member, $20 for non-Chamber members.

One person (for each session!) will receive a free website assessment ($250 value)

This seminar will be presented by Joe McCoy of Best Progress.
Call the VBCC at 474-2761 to register.  Seating is limited to the first 20 registrations.

You will discover:

1. How to get a free website that looks sharp and is easy to edit.
2. The top 16 mistakes small businesses make with their website.
3. How to find out who is coming to your website and what pages they like.
4. The free tools the pros use to help define marketing strategy.
5. Ways to avoid the mistakes that even big companies make with their website marketing.
6. Who to consider as your developer if you want a new website.
7. The 5 most critical things you need to do for an effective website

This seminar will be presented by Joe McCoy of Best Progress.
Call the VBCC at 474-2761 to register.  Seating is limited to the first 20 registrations.

One quick fix to eliminate 90% of the problems…

For many people, Office 2007 is a radical departure from the interface they have grown to love. Office 2007 has the “ribbon” for navigation. People upgrading to Office 2007 from any other Microsoft Office will find it the biggest change ever in Microsoft Office. I tell my clients it is similar to what they faced when they changed from WordPerfect in the 90s to Microsoft Office – a bit uncomfortable with a learning curve, but eventually a very good choice.

My two favorite things about Office 2007: 1 – Real-time formatting - as you start to make changes, the formatting will be shown in the background. This makes it very easy to get the right look on your documents. 2 – The use of large styling buttons on the ribbon makes it easier to get formatting to work well and provide a professional look.

Quick Fix: If you plan to communicate with anyone else on the planet that does NOT have Office 2007, you will want to use compatibility mode. Otherwise they will get your document with a DOCX extension that they can’t open. To configure compatibility mode, do the following: Click the Office Button in Word 2007 (circle in top left corner), click Word Options, and click “Save” on the left. Where the screen says “Save files in this format:”, click the dropdown arrow and then select “Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)” and then click OK. You use a similar approach in Excel and PowerPoint.

What you should know about JUNE 30TH, 2008.

Microsoft will stop retail sales of the popular and stable Windows XP operating system on June 30th.  You may have already heard about Vista difficulties and the more expensive hardware requirements compared to Windows XP.  I have had several clients ask me if there is any way they can find a new computer with XP pre-installed instead of Vista.  Yes you can – if you buy your new systems online.  Dell, Toshiba, Sony, HP/Compaq, and Lenovo (was IBM) business class machine are available online with XP pre-installed.  However, traditional retailers are unlikely to have XP computers available.

Buying Vista is not horrible, it just takes more effort to get things back to normal after adding a new Vista computer.  A little preparation and a lot of patience is what you need if you decide to start moving to Vista this year.