You spend time and money promoting your website; but what do you
want to achieve (apart from more page views)? Is it more sales of
Blue Widgets? Is it more subscribers on your mailing list? To be
exact, what is your site's Most Wanted Response?

I ask this question because in the excitement of creating your
very own website, it is easy to forget (or not even consider) the
main purpose of your site! Alas, I talk from experience!

In late 1999 I created Shop Tour UK (http://www.shoptour.co.uk):
"a unique way to surf secure UK shopping sites." (Well, that's
what I thought, anyway! :-) ) The site started out life as a hobby
site - no problems there! - but quickly started to take hours and
hours of updating each day. (With no clear, measurable objectives
it's very easy to continually change and 'improve' a site!)

Shop Tour UK wasn't making any money, either - well, it was a
hobby site! So I decided to redesign the site, join lots of
affiliate programs, find the best affiliate programs, and focus
the site on promoting those programs!

--- sidebar ---
Affiliate marketing really does provide a great opportunity for
ALL site owners to make extra income. But choose your affiliate
programs wisely; otherwise, you'll still be working hard but for
very little reward. To learn more about the pros and cons of
affiliate marketing, visit http://www.associateprograms.com
--- sidebar ---

Yes! It took months to sign-up to affiliate programs and seek out
the best of them. Yes! It took a couple of site redesigns. And
yes! It is better to have clear, and measurable objectives right
from the start! (That is, to know your site's Most Wanted Response!)

But hey! Now I spend much less time updating my site (because I
only concentrate on promoting the most profitable aspects of it),
AND it is now starting to earn money!

So how does this affect you?

- Well, does your site sell goods? Then which goods in particular
do you most want to sell? Or which goods are easiest to sell,
easiest to convert a visitor into a customer (allowing you
to follow-up)?

- Does your site offer content, supported by affiliate programs
(like my own site)? Then which affiliate programs are most
relevant to your site? Which offer the best rates of
commission, with the best chance of a sale?

- Does your site simply operate a newsletter? Then do you make it
easy for people to subscribe, from *any* page on your website?
And do you sell the benefits of your free newsletter, make
people WANT to subscribe?

Dr Ken Evoy introduced the Most Wanted Response (MWR) in his 'net-
selling bible' Make Your Site Sell. It's probably the most
important lesson in all of Make Your Site Sell. In essence, the
MWR is what you most want your visitor to do after reviewing your
content. And it should always:

* be reasonable
* be measurable
* be a good fit
* qualify the visitor

Some techniques of getting your most wanted response include
using the word YOU often in sentences, using commands, making
sentences active (rather than passive) and creating powerful
headlines.

These are just a few ways to achieve your site's most wanted
response (there are more).

What's MOST IMPORTANT, however, is that you understand the concept
of a Most Wanted Response for your website, and you set about
trying to achieve it. Then, and only then, will all the effort you
make in generating traffic to your website be worth it!

Happy promoting!

PS My site's most wanted response is *not* what you might think
it should be. None of the shopping sites listed on Shop Tour
UK run affiliate programs as good as those I now actively promote!



About the Author
Steve Nash is webmaster at http://www.shoptour.co.uk He
discovered the Most Wanted Response concept by visiting Site Sell
at http://www.sitesell.com/shopping101.html And now he's excited
because Site Build It! now does it ALL for you! From site concept
to site creation to site promotion to site profit. Marvellous!
Site Build It! http://buildit.sitesell.com/shopping101.html