One Stop Web Support Newsletter #65

July 20, 2008

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One Stop Web Support Newsletter #65

Jeff Baas - One Stop Web Support

http://www.OneStopWebSupport.com/

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How Your Local Wal-Mart Can Help Your Visitors Buy from You

Take a look when you first walk in to Wal-Mart or any other big store. Even if you've never been in that particular store before, it takes no more than a second to orient yourself.

How people find things in a brick-and-mortar store

Signs above the aisles direct you toward the departments you want. Signs above the shelves tell you what to expect in each row.

Each sign is concise and clear. You won't find any long product lists or fine detail on them. Everything is digestible at a glance.

So what can you learn from this brick-and-mortar shopping trip? Make your navigation similar to what you saw in the store.

Remember how you found your way around there? You looked for the big sign with the department name. Then you looked at the smaller signs that listed what was in each row.

How to apply these principles to your website

You can do the same thing with your website navigation. First, identify the links that lead to your main sections of your website. Place them in your navigation bar in a way that really makes them stand out so your visitors' eyes will naturally be drawn to them.

Then identify the key links that lead to any subsections of those sections. Place them in your navigation under their parent sections. Make them less noticeable than your main section links so it is clear that they are subservient to your main section links.

What you want visitors to do is to scan the main section headings in your navigation and find the one that suits them best. Then you want them to the scan the subheadings to narrow their search. If you do this right, it should take your visitors two seconds to find a link to click as they move toward what they want.

But can't they find their way on their own?

Why is it important to break things down like this? By organizing their search into easy-to-scan blocks, you build their confidence that they will find what they want quickly and easily. They could wade through a long list of links, but you might lose them before they find what they want.

Going back to the Wal-Mart analogy, the Wal-Mart greeter could hand customers a long list of all the racks and what was on them as they came in. They could count on the customers to read the list to locate what they wanted and do away with all the signs. But how many customers would get discouraged and give up before they found what they wanted?

Keep your navigation simple and easy to scan. Put it where visitors expect it to be. Don't try to be clever. Don't draw distinctions that match your in-house terminology but that could be confusing to visitors.

Think of your website as if it were a brick-and-mortar store. What would you do to help customers find what they want if they had to walk through a physical store? Then arrange your navigation so their eyes and their mouse can bring them to their destination with as much ease and confidence as they would if their feet were doing the walking.

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Q and A with Jeff

In this section, Jeff answers your questions about starting a business online. Here's this week's question, from Troy.

Do you need any kind of license to start an online business?

What you need depends on your state and local laws. You can usually find that out by checking the Secretary of State's website for the state in which you live. Many states also have publications you can send for that describe all the legal issues of running a business in your state. Most things they describe don't apply to a small, Internet business just getting started, but here are a few things you should pay special attention to:

• Registering your business name—Most states require you to register your business name with them if you are doing business under a name that is not identical to your own legal name. For example, if your business name is John Smith Enterprises, you probably don't need to register. If you do business as JS Enterprises, you do. Most states like to have business names and their owners on file so they know who the owner is if any complaint comes in. A few states don't have this requirement, so you should check this out with your state's Secretary of State to find out. Most states refer to this registration as registering your Assumed Name, or Doing Business As Name, or DBA.
• Tax ID—This registration becomes especially important when you try to buy products at wholesale prices to resell. Most manufacturers and distributors will not work with resellers who do not have a Tax ID. Their thought is that if you're not committed enough to do the little work it takes to register for a Tax ID, you probably won't put much effort into your business and will never sell anything. At best, they'll see you as simply wasting their time. At worst, they may suspect you of lying to them about your business just so you make a wholesale purchase for your own use. A Tax ID is a must. Some states do not issue them. If this is the case, apply for a Federal Tax ID.
• Employer Identification Number (EIN)—Not necessary until you are actually ready to hire employees.
• Sales tax number—Usually not needed unless you expect to sell products offline in your state.

With all of these, check with your state's Secretary of State office or on the Secretary of State section of your state government's website to see which you need in your state.

Also there's an excellent free ebook that goes into a lot of detail about what IDs you need for in order to have manufacturers and distributors willing to work with you. It's called "Starting Your Internet Business Right," and you can download it from www.OneStopWebSupport.com/wwb-ebook .

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HOTTEST OFFERS

Each issue, I feature what I consider the best offers available each week on worthwhile business-building tools. Check here to see what's hot this week.

http://www.OneStopWebSupport.com/hot-offers.htm

Or check to see my growing selection of ebooks and training tools that you can use for free to build your Internet business.

Free Ebooks:

http://www.OneStopWebSupport.com/dir-ebooks.htm

Free Training tools:

http://www.OneStopWebSupport.com/ongoing-bargains.htm

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Success quote

'The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.'

Chinese Proverb

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This newsletter is published by One Stop Web Support, where our business is helping your business succeed.

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