Whenever I talk about good website design, I inevitably bring up sites like Craigslist and the Drudge Report. This is generally followed with gasps, a roll of the eyes, and complaints that the designs of those sites haven’t been updated in years. How can I use them as a good example of design?

Despite their “outdated” looks, both websites are one of the most popular online destinations in the world. The reason? Both websites make information easy to find. Enticed by well-written headlines, visitors are only a click away from reading a news story at the Drudge Report. With Craigslist, visitors are just a click or two away from finding and apartment to rent, a job, or selling something for free.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggested you mimic the look and feel of those sites. For the services those websites offer, the look and feel works for them. Your website design needs to speak to your target audience too. What I am suggesting is that you go over your website and see how easy it is for visitors find information about your products or services, enter your sales pipeline, and contact your company. Can they find what their looking for in one or two clicks or is it a hassle for them to find what they’re looking for?

The easier it is for people to find what they’re looking for, the higher your conversion rates will be.

We’ve long become accustomed to people loudly talking on the cell phones, firing off emails during a meeting, or twittering minute details of their lives, but sometimes it seems that behavior that was once considered rude is not only becoming acceptable but in many cases supersedes more personal communication.

In The Wall Street Journal Rachel Mardsen writes:

Too many people seem to be grasping for ways to connect with others while rarely actually connecting in a way that has true value or significance. What so many people end up with is something that looks like a connection from the outside as they text each other a million times a day, or sign notes with “much love.” Sadly, that’s the new standard of personal value in this technological era.

Last year there was a big push for business to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with prospects and existing customers. And, if done right, these sites can be great tools to connect with those interested in your product or service. But often when businesses use social media sites, they often mistake this form of communication for the personal touch that it often takes to get someone to enter the sales pipeline or become a customer.

To increase conversions this year, resolve to be more personal in your marketing efforts. Whether it’s picking up the phone, taking someone to lunch, or sending a personalized (not mass mailed) email, be sure your marketing and sales efforts includes efforts that let your prospects and customers know that their more than a Twitter follower or Facebook fans.

That added personal touch can go a long way to filling your sales pipeline and getting many more loyal customers. 

Sometimes business owners don’t know how big their customer base is. They may have a target audience but their product or service may appeal to others they haven’t thought of.

One Utah business owner, John Borkoski, saw his restaurant The Beehive Grill attract new customers and after he stared brewing his own root beer in addition to his own microbrews. What started as a beverage option for children become very popular and an unexpected source of revenue and customers.

As chief brewer, Jeff Van Horn, told the Salt Lake Tribune:

“We didn’t realize who our customers would end up being,” said Van Horn. “It sold well enough to spend more time on it and put more effort into coming up with new flavors.”

Today his recipe box has half a dozen carbonated sodas including black cherry, grape, orange cream and even pink pomegranate lemonade.

Van Horn estimates The Beehive Grill is probably going through 45 to 50 (5½ gallon) kegs of root beer a week. And as a result of their new offering, they’re attracting new customers.

Of course a restaurant is one thing. Owners can up with new dishes and recipes and know relatively quickly if it’s popular or attracting new clients

However, when your storefront is a website and you have a long and complicated sales cycle, finding those unexpected revenue streams isn’t easy. However there are three things you can do to get a better idea of other products or services that your prospects customers are interested in.

1. Pour over your analytics data

Look at how search engine visitors are finding your website. Why keywords and phrases are they using to find your website? Are they looking for a product or service that’s closely related to what you offer now? What pages of your website do they go to? What do they do once they arrive at your site?

With the right website data, you might discover an underserved market – one that your company could expand and move into. Remember, growing your business is about knowing what the customer wants – not what you think they want.

2. Talk to your sales team

Your sales team often has the most up-to-date pulse on what customers are asking for. Talk with them one-on-one and let them tell you what prospects are telling them. Are they looking for more than what you’re currently offering? Does the lack of a product or service costing them sales and affecting your businesses bottom line?

3. Talk to existing customers

Take some time to do informal surveys with some of your clients – especially those who may not be fully utilizing your product or service. Ask them what they like and don’t like about what you offer and what they’d like to see that could compliment your offering. If there’s a general consensus among customers, you might have found an new stream of revenue and a way to expand your business.

Companies spend thousands of dollars on pay per click (PPC) advertising, SEO, PR, and other marketing initiatives attracting visitors to their website without seeing a significant increase in sales or leads. Filling your sales pipeline with high quality leads doesn’t have to be expensive. Most companies can see an immediate increase in high quality leads by implementing 5 proven online conversion practices into their website. Not only will these tips maximize the quantity and quality of leads in your sales pipeline, they’ll also help your organization where it matters most: the bottom line.

To learn more about these conversion practices, download our free lead generation guide here.

Mark Cuban has a great post on his blog titled “Success & Motivation – 2009”

Though the post is directed for those looking for a better job in the recession, it’s also great business advice. Cuban’s 5 ideas for changing your fortunes this year include:

• Recognize that its [sic]ok to live like a student…. The cheaper you can live, the greater your options. Remember that.

Same goes for a business. You don’t need fancy offices or computers to get started. Just need an adequate space to get going. Your basement or garage works just fine

• Take Lots of Chances….Creating opportunities means looking where others are not.

Don’t follow the herd. The world is full of ways to update Twitter. Develop the next social networking or lead generation breakthrough on your own.

• Figuring out if you are in the right job….If you love what you do so much that you are willing to continue to live like a student in order to be able to stay in the job, you have found your calling.

If you love the business you’re staring or are working hard at, then keep with it. It beats wasting your time at something you hate.

• Figure out how to be the best…. So rather than trying to convince people you are the best, let the quality of your work do your talking.

Do something better than anyone and knowing how to market it is the KEY to making your business dreams a reality.

• Start the day motivated with a positive attitude.

Not much to add here. If you approach the problem with the right mindset, you’re bound to work harder and create more opportunities for yourself.

You can read Cuban’s entire post here.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of “The Best Job in the World.” The job paid $100,000 for six months and involved “exploring the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for six months and report back to Tourism Queensland and the world via blogs, a photo diary, video updates and interviews.”

Sounds like a great job, right?

Turns out it was also a great PR campaign by Tourism Queensland to promote tourism to the area.

“This is probably the first time that a campaign has achieved this sort of reach with so little advertising spend other than a few strategically placed job ads around the world,” said Australian marketing analyst Tim Burrowes, editor of media and marketing website Mumbrella.

“This has all been about the power of people passing things on, largely through YouTube. The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don’t need to spend huge on advertising.”

The “Best Job in the World” campaign began in January with Tourism Queensland launching an advertising campaign centered around the lure of a job that is more like a paid holiday.

Within days, the campaign was one of the most popular items on the web, as applicants from all over the world sent in 60-second video applications and news of the contest spread on social networking sites….

Tourism Queensland has hailed the advertising campaign as an enormous success, calculating the $1.7 million spent had reaped an estimated $110 million in global publicity.

“The worldwide response to Tourism Queensland’s “Best Job in the World” campaign has been nothing short of phenomenal,” said Tourism Queensland’s CEO Anthony Hayes.

“The key now however is to convert the global interest raised by “The Best Job in the World” into visitors to Queensland — to bring more tourist dollars into Queensland’s economy, protect existing tourism jobs and hopefully create new ones.”

If they can accomplish their goal, this could go down as one of the best PR campaigns in history.

In this recession, a debate had raged whether or not organizations should cut their marketing and advertising budget during lean times. According to a New Yorker article, numerous studies have shown that those who keep spending during tough times do better in the long run.

In 1927, the economist Roland Vaile found that firms that kept ad spending stable or increased it during the recession of 1921-22 saw their sales hold up significantly better than those which didn’t. A study of advertising during the 1981-82 recession found that sales at firms that increased advertising or held steady grew precipitously in the next three years, compared with only slight increases at firms that had slashed their budgets. And a McKinsey study of the 1990-91 recession found that companies that remained market leaders or became serious challengers during the downturn had increased their acquisition, R. & D., and ad budgets, while companies at the bottom of the pile had reduced them.

The best part?

…the benefits from recession investment are often surprisingly long-lived, with companies maintaining their gains in market share and sales well into economic recovery.

You can read the entire article here. In the meantime, start cranking up the marketing budgets!