"Do They KNOW You As a Professional?"
By Gail Hornback   ©2004 All Rights Reserved

The Internet has definitely changed a lot of the ways we go about doing business. Most of the changes have been good for business, making many things easier and faster. Beware, though, of sacrificing your professionalism in the name of ease and quickness.

As an Ebusiness owner, and Ezine publisher, I see it happen almost every day. I'm not certain whether it is due to laziness, or just plain ignorance, but there are sure a lot of folks that are missing out on the opportunity to establish their professionalism, reputation, and the ongoing promotion of their Ebusiness as a legitimate one. Think back to the "olden days" when we all used the US Mail to conduct business, and communicate. Who, in their right mind, would address an envelope with mailing address, and return address, then take out a piece of blank paper, and write a one-liner, like "How many subscribers do you have?", fold it up, place it in the envelope, and mail it to the publisher? Yes, email has made it simple for the sender, AND the receiver. I can easily hit the "reply" button, and put the number 1100, and send it. And the information would be understood perfectly. BUT - both I, and the person considering advertising in my ezine have missed a valuable opportunity to establish a reputation of professionalism, AND to promote our Ebusinesses. If you are SERIOUS about your Ebusiness, then you had better be serious about taking the time to do, even what may seem like the "little" things like a professional. 1. ALWAYS address the person to whom you are writing any kind of email by their first name, if you know it. Chances are, even if you are clicking a link on a site that loads up an email, there will be a way to find out the person's name. If not, address them by their site name. But ALWAYS address them!! 2. ALWAYS sign YOUR name! Is there any reason you don't want them to know your name?????? If so, you're not a legitimate Ebusiness-person anyway! 3. ALWAYS include a short sig file (2-3 lines that describes your Ebusiness, with a link to your site). This is a critical, (and easy) part of the big promotion picture. Now, of course, if your Emails are going to establish your professionalism, as they promote your Ebusiness, then your site had better continue the theme when they get there! :-) And that could be a whole new article!! But, for now, in a nutshell, remember the basic elements that let your visitors know that you are serious about what you are doing: 1. Tell Your Visitors Who You Are. Your first site page is where your visitors meet YOU. So they better be able to find who and where you are. Next they want to know how to get in touch with you. Put your e-mail address where it can be easily found. (Now they can address you by name when they email you! ) Remember, scammers do their best to hide any contact information, but make their offer so good that most newbies never notice the lack of contact information, and don't realize they have been had until it's too late. Giving them your complete contact information tells them that YOU ARE LEGITIMATE! 2. Your Site Should Be YOUR site! My partner and mentor, Mike, taught me a long time ago about using free Hosting Services. I didn't think I could afford to get a real site that was mine, and consequently, my site was covered with someone else's advertising. The "FREE" services were stealing my business as well as making me look un-professional. So don't go out there with anything less than a professional look. You owe it to your prospects and you owe it to yourself. Most of all, if you don't, you will never make it on the Internet. It's a real business. Treat it that way. Take the time to do what it takes to show people you are a professional. Because - if you don't .....they'll see that you're not!!!

---

GAIL HORNBACK is owner of WebWorksAtHome.com, http://webworksathome.com, and partners with Mike Smith in Coyote Marketing, where you can get Your Own E-Business Website For Pocket Change. Learn HOW to Launch Your Own E-Business, NOT someone else's mirror site! http://cmymtc.com/index1.htm

---

The Internet Marketing Center

---