March 6, 2010
I recommend starting a blog site. Having a blog site is your first line of defense in your campaign to avoid getting fired. It's also a major tool for getting promoted.
I recommend WordPress software. It is powerful. It is verstile. It is not too hard to learn . . . if you have the right template to design your site. When you download it from www.wordpress.org, the software is free.
I recommend using a hosting service that allows an unlimited number domains for a flat rate -- under $10/month. There are several. I use Hostgator, because Bill Myers does. That's good enough for me. Hostgator has a program called Fantastico that lets you upload WordPress to manage your domains.
With WordPress, you need a template, also called a theme, if you want to design a decent site. This is important if your site is content-rich, which I recommend. Your WordPress theme must function as content management software (CMS).
There are lots of free and powerful themes out there. Atahualpa is one of them. It got my attention because it's named after the last Inca emperor, who was executed by Pizarro. Why would he be the namesake? Weird. For a free theme, it's a good product. For a video on a few of the things it does, click here. Any good theme will do similar things and much more.
I want a theme for a guy who knows no code and who wants an easy learning curve. I want drag & drop. I want to see what a page layout will look like before I click the SAVE button. That narrowed the field to Headway 1.5. For $164, I can buy the developer's version, which lets me create as many sites as I want on Hostgator.
As a guide on how to sell a product, the site is worth visiting: http://headwaythemes.com.
1. It offers strong but simple advertising copy: lists of benefits.2. It offers a demo button. This takes you to a page with a list of features. The page is OK. There are additional links on the left to click. It's nothing special, but every site should have something like this.
3. Close to the bottom of the page, it has examples (thumbnails) of blogs whose designers used the program to create their sites. You can click through and see how each of them looks. Smart!
4. It offers a 2-minute video: a screencast. This has some weaknesses. The main one is this: it has buffering problems. It is not smooth. Also, it has music instead of narration. Mistake! Why? Because narration that reinforces what's on the screen reinforces the sales effectiveness.
Last summer, the software's developer hired a man to create a YouTube video of a demo of the pre-release beta version. It is 8 minutes long. Here is a sales video! You can see the benefits. The narrator rehearsed. He wastes no time. You can see the program in action. You are told what he is doing and what each benefit is. This is the way to produce a marketing video or an information video. He should hire the guy to produce the same video, but with the final version of the software.
Too bad I have to have PayPal to order it. That's an extra step in the ordering procedure. It's his deal, but he loses sales. I'll sign up today.
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