If you missed the previous two articles in this series, Planning Your Fishing Trip and Baiting The Hook, you can find them at:
     http://insite-online.com/ezine/articles.htm?lyc

Chances are you're a sport fisherman like me. I reckon we have a big advantage over the trawler fleets. We can put a lot more personality into what we do. We can break a few rules, try something new, and we won't have a bunch of profit-hungry shareholders giving us a hard time (unless you have a very vocal fishing widow!).

But there is one thing all of us need, big or small, and that's a process. You need to have a plan of exactly how you're going to handle your fish from the moment he takes the hook. You're also going to need at least one back up plan, just in case things don't quite go your way.

If you fail to plan, it's like planning to fail!

Getting a nibble is pretty easy, but getting the fish to take the hook, and then landing it, can be altogether a tougher game. The moment of the strike, when the fisherman jerks his line and sets the hook firmly in the fish's mouth, is the easiest time to lose the fish. It's the same with you and your cyber fish. You have just a few seconds from the moment they click on your bait, to hook them and start reeling them in through your site.

The first impression is crucial. Your fish will make a rapid decision about whether to investigate further. So you have to strike quickly and positively with the biggest benefit your fish is going to get from you. That should hook them. But beware; fish don't like the feel of the hook in their mouth. They fight and struggle against it.

Hype, hard sell and inflated claims can very easily snap that line and your fish will swim off never to return. You are going to need to keep a constant gentle pull on the line, gradually leading, rather than dragging, your fish to the shore. You can keep a little pressure on by starting each page with a benefit and finishing it with a teaser or an unfinished sentence that links through to the next page. And so you can lead your fish to the shore.

The shoreline you're reeling your fish to can be anything: buying a product, subscribing to a newsletter, generating a lead, whatever. You need to decide which single action you want the fish to take, the one that is most crucial to your business. This must be the focus of your website. Navigation needs to be simple and obvious. Keep the route to your final action page as short as possible. If you can do everything on a single page, do it.

Don't throw up weeds that your fish could tangle the line in. Additional content needs to be relevant to your desired action, and links should quickly pull your fish out of these weeds and back on course. If you're selling something you need to weed out banner ads and links to other peoples sites on the route to shore. These are big sharp rocks that will cut your line in an instant and set your fish free.

So, you've got your fish within inches of your net, and then wham, they turn and try to run. If your call to action is tried and tested, this is just another opportunity. Now you need to bring in your back-up response. Your fish has come this far with you, so they are interested. If they won't take the action you want, give them a good reason to take an alternative action.

This has only one objective: to get permission for you to keep in touch by newsletter, discussion list, product updates, news bulletins, anything. This way, they're still on the hook, you've just given them a few yards of slack. Now you can show what a caring, sharing fisherman you really are. Gradually, over time you can reel in the slack and land your catch another day.

Your process is not just about designing a website to get a result, its about developing ways to build long term value added relationships with your fish. This is vital, because most businesses will make most of their profit on back-end activity, not the very first action. Remember, fish are for life, not just for Christmas.

My net's pretty full now, so I'll call it a day and head home. Enjoy your fishing and I hope you catch everything you want.