[Dixielandjazz] Web sites

[John Farrell]

Here's a snippet from Tom Wiggins :

"A lot of well meaning folks are hosting web pages that nobody looks at
except
the members of the band that are paying to have it up there. Any band can do
exactly the same thing for free, and get approximately the same results. The
Internet folks is simply not what it is believed to be or even near what
it was promised to be."

That is certainly not my experience, for me the internet has proved to be
the most attractive shop window and powerful marketing tool that I have ever
had generating a considerable amount of business. When I set up my site I
didn't bother with fancy graphics, pop-ups or other distractions but simply
stated without embellishment the four main informative factors which all
potential customers need to know : "a) This is what I have for sale b) this
is what it sounds like c) this is what it costs d) this is how to place an
order".

When advertising your wares on the internet no useful purpose is served by
filling up the page with paragraphs of tiresome hype and irrelevant
pictures, give punters the bottom line clearly and quickly. Net surfers do
not like sites bogged down with multi-megabyte paraphernalia which takes for
ever to appear on the screen. They prefer fast results, more often than not
they will give up on slow loading sites.

Most visitors arrive at your site deliberately by means of entering keywords
into a search engine, therefore they almost certainly have an interest in
your subject matter. Maybe Tom's disappointing internet results would
improve if he offered a product which surfers want.

John Farrell
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm