"NEWBIES: MAKE THEIR FIRST IMPRESSION COUNT"

I'm like a sponge when it comes to information, I absorb. When I first began exploring the net I was like a kid in a candy store. So much to see and so little time. I quickly realized that an over-whelming amount of text that I was reading and the sites I was visiting were ridden with spelling errors, incorrect grammar, poor, if any, punctuation and links that did not work. Aren't we all guilty of not having enough time to check, check again and re-check? After all, we do want to spend most of our time marketing, right!

While surfing the net one day, I began to read text on a site which was selling a product I had been considering purchasing. I thought to myself that if they did not give primary importance/attention to spelling errors and presentation how much attention would they give to their products, services and their customers.

At that point, my perception was that I was no longer interested in purchasing the product and I clicked off to the next site. As a newbie, I had excruciatingly high standards. I have to say that this lack of attention to detail was not exclusive to small sites or small business but included some of the big players as well.

If you're thinking, "newbies don't get it... that's just the way the net is, get used to it"; you might want to rethink your position. Obviously, writing is the predominant form of communication on the web, not speaking. Have you ever spoken to a person who did not speak your native language?

During the conversation, did you become confused or frustrated while trying to interpret what they were attempting to say? Reading words that are spelled wrong, for instance, can create the same kind of confusion and frustration which leads to lack of concentration, trust and interest.

End result... click; you just lost a potential customer.

Estimates show that a visitor to your web site has an attention span of approximately "FIVE" seconds. Think about how many potential customers you may have lost due to sloppiness or simply just not having enough time to check and re-check your material. My ongoing, "newbie", web exploration experience became somewhat of an experiment.

Out of curiosity, I began focusing on how many sites I could find that DID NOT have any errors of any kind from a very superficial glance/approach. Guess what? I would say that I could probably count on one hand the number of error free sites that I had come across.

Spell checkers are not the answer, they're a rationalization. There's a big difference between using a spell checker and proofreading your "final version" material at least 3 times, if not more.

There are also many websites that will check your site for link problems. Just as with a spell checker, they can only accomplish part of the job for you. Detail is key.

Presentation needs to be a priority. No one has enough hours in the day to accomplish everything they would like to, I know that I don't. I'm suggesting that without setting priorities and putting forth a certain amount of effort, mistakes may be more costly than you'll ever know. I've read statistics that say it may take a visitor/customer seven or more visits to your site before they are willing to purchase your product.

Their decision "not to buy" may simply be based on your presentation and lack of attention to detail. If you are losing business and/or you think that your business should be more successful, the answer may be that "your first impression was your last".

Something to consider: Tens of thousands of "newbies" join us everyday. Newbies are inexperienced, they have certain expectations and understandably can have a very narrow viewpoint. Some can't comprehend the complexities of maintaining a business, a webpage, a website or distributing a newsletter.

In retrospect, having since become somewhat "seasoned", I have developed a much greater appreciation for the web's version of Murphy's Law. I can now relate to a great number of the other possiblities which cause bad first impressions; the how's and why's of the technical side that causes numerous problems.

My viewpoint has become much more open to the endless reasons for what superficially may appear to be sloppiness. There is a "newbie" learning curve to consider. When you decide how much time you need to spend on detail and making your first impression count, with all your potential customers, think back to when you were a "newbie".

Samantha Hamilton is the Editor of Marketing Toolz, a weekly ezine that Simply Cuts Through the Noise! We publish fresh, high quality content.
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