What about you? Why do you unsubscribe or stop reading? As a business owner, does this change the way you think or the approach you will use with email marketing?

I’d rather see people unsubscribe than just delete without reading. What about you? Would you rather have a smaller list of people that read or a big list of deleters because the number sounds good? As business owners, what could be be doing better to keep people reading our email?

On the flip side… when you keep reading an ezine or newsletter month after month, what keeps you reading that particular one?

Here’s the top 10 ways to add weight to your inbound links;

1.) Use linking text that matches a search query

2.) Ensure the page that links to you has high trustrank.

3.) Ensure the page that links to you has good pagerank.

4.) Use text links. Image links have less weight and javascript links have even less.

5.) Strive for content area - links in the content area have more weight than links in sidebars

6.) Look for longevity. How long it stays on the page. Links that scroll off have less weight

7.) Understand that relevant text (on the linking page) to the page linked to adds weight.

8.) Understand that relevant text surrounding the link adds weight.

9.) Understand that links from a different IP address pass more weight than the same IP address.

10.) Know that links from domains you don’t own pass more weight than links from sites you own.

• 46.1% judge credibility by “Website Design Look” (ie; the way your site looks)
• 28.5% judge credibility by “Information Design” (ie; the way your content looks)

The vast majority of your visitors will (and do) judge your credibility by looks. That’s why Susan Boyle was such a surprise, isn’t it? We judged her before she had a chance to open her mouth.

The difference is that with your website, you don’t get a chance to “open your mouth.”  Statistics indicate that visitors decide whether to hit the back button in seconds flat.  The most common reasons for hitting the back button is that the site either doesn’t “look like” what we want, or the site doesn’t “look” professional.

I can not possibly over-stress how important good design is in retaining traffic.  It’s a horrifying thought, isn’t it? You work your fingers off to drive traffic - and then have people leave because you don’t look professional.

Of course, if you’re not selling anything, it’s not a big deal. Most of us will talk to complete strangers about our health, our kids, our yard, our pets.  But, when it’s time to put the money on the table, it’s a different story.  We all want to be sure we’re making a sound decision on how we spend our hard earned money, yes?

Let me show you some samples of the difference that design can make…

Sample 1: Before
This is a very basic blog. The blog itself is an seo friendly theme.  It’s not unique itself, nevermind unique to the business.

Same Site; After

This is the main page:

This is what the interior (content) pages look like:

Work of that level will generally cost $750 - $1500+ depending on how much you need done. Do you want an overall design that’s used for the main page, too?  Or do you want a unique main page with the interior pages slightly different? Do you want the content professionally laid out?  Do you want photo layout? Or do you just need a custom design that will help you stand out and you’ll take it from there?

Options for Shoestring Budgets…

For entrepreneurs and small business owners on a shoestring budget, there are less costly ways to achieve a professional look.  There are many free wordpress themes and  free website templates available online.  For that matter, you can even just get a custom header or “facelift” for your blog or site, usually for around $199, give or take.

Here’s an example of a simple “facelift” …

BEFORE: 
A very popular theme; this look is seen on many blogs. Recognize it?

AFTER
It’s amazing how much difference a few design elements can make, isn’t it?

If you have a commercial blog, the question isn’t whether you need to look professional.  If you look at the top 100 blogs, you won’t find a blog that look unprofessional among them. The only question is how you want to achieve a more professional look.

P.S. My daughter is offering blog facelifts for $199 (reg $249) at  WebsiteJuju.com - bonus is that most people can’t tell her work from mine.  It probably doesn’t hurt that we knock ideas back and forth.  It’s a great deal if you want a look that stands out from the crowd.

I’ve been on Twitter less than a week, and this is how the notices come in. In waves.

I don’t just blindly follow everyone that follows me. I check each one first.

It doesn’t take as long as you’d think. I’ll check all of these in minutes flat.

I just right click and open them all in new tabs. Then, as I flip through the tabs, I can see what’s on the profile page of each member.

The profile pages are cool because they just show what “that” person is posting.

So when I see one that has “MLM OFFER, CLICK NOW” repeatedly on their profile, I don’t add that person. If I see porn, ditto. I don’t add them.

When I see people with really cool stuff on their profile page, articles and info that I’d like to read more of, I add them to my feed reader or my favorites. It’s a really easy way to find great stuff in very little time.

So here’s the tip. Use your tweets wisely. If your profile page is full of great info and friendly conversation, people will follow back. And if you stand out, you may even get more feed subscribers, more bookmarks and more visits to the site you link to at Twitter.

2) A window will open. Type in “chapter 1″ - or any other indicator. For example, if you’re linking to a quotation or image, type in a word to identify the bookmark. Click “Add”

3) Scroll to the place you want to make the link, such as the table of contents. Highlight the text or image that will form your link, and then click Insert –> Hyperlink

4) A window will pop open. Select the bookmark you want to link to and click okay.

Voila. It’s that easy to hotlink within Microsoft Word documents. Have fun!