Non-Line Blogging

Presented at Aberystwyth University last week on a Welsh Assembly programme for graduates looking to start up new business.  Aim of the workshop was to give some practical advice on how the web can support them and it struck me how complicated we make all this interweb marketing stuff.

Download it from http://www.nonlinemarketing.com/html/downloads.html

How many big companies with teams of business anaylsts and web designers can really strip their business down to the simple things: 

Work out your allowable cost per sale - without that you should not be touching Google AdWords or Affiliate programmes.
Focus on a few key succesful outcomes - as likely to be "ring this number" or "print out this page and pop in and see us" as much as "click here to visit our micro-site". 
Create persausive web sites - get rid of the clutter, use great photos and think about audio and video content that gives you an honesty and transparency.

OK, so I also told them to know and love Google, to play around with social media and think about testing and measuring, but the key was to get them to do the basics well.  And on my travels I came across simple sites doing things really well.

Persuasion with good photograpy and simple colour palate...

And for the BtoB world, how about Persuasion by being simple, clear and honest...

So there you have it, by paring back our cluttered sites we can probably deliver a more pleasant, engaging experience.  Sites like www.thomson.co.uk  and www.innocentdrinks.co.uk have already done it.  So now we all have to catch up with them.

Less is more and all that.