Fit by Five Tuesday brings us to a long overdue review. Jane had high hopes of providing more website, blog, and book reviews but we admit that we have failed to deliver. But, hope is not lost. Hope is always eternal. Therefore, we offer you 5 Ways 800-CEO-Read is Female-friendly AND 5 Reasons You Should Care.
First, the 5 Ways --
1. 800-CEO-READ "is the perfect bookstore hybrid: a sophisticated Internet presence... with a customer service soul. If you call us, we'll pick up the phone; if you e-mail us, we'll reply quickly. Feel free to give us a call at 800-236-7323, or place an order or request online."
The site boasts a "community of readers, thinkers, managers and doers," and invites all to join "by exploring our services today!"
This site is female-friendly for all the usual reasons, but it has some exceptional points we think are also worth mentioning. First, in the usual way, 800-CEO-Read offers a headline that tells the viewer exactly where she has landed: "800-CEO-Read a better way to buy books." Then, in true user-friendly fashion, the site has a quick order button, a shopping cart, an evelope, and a ?.
Many readers will remember that Jane cautions against using icons or images to convey text, but a shopping cart, an envelope, and a question mark are universal symbols for -- buying, emailing, or asking a question. They work.
The homepage is especially compelling. The reader is greeted by a smiling Jack Covert, the brains behind the scene (we think -- according to the About Us page, and our interpretation), who presents that friendly face we ladies like to see. That personal invitation...that openness we prefer over the staid and stuffy business-suit profile.
Directly beneath Jack is a yellow banner that declares, "Special Discounts when you order 25+ copies. Click here."
Hey, what's not to like about that?
Meanwhile, there's more...
Spotlight Reading...with good-sized book covers -- not tiny little icons that strain one's eyes. And below that, the explanation of what, exactly, 800-CEO-read is, if the header wasn't convincing enough-- saying it's a way for "corporations, universities and MBA-programs, small businesses, as well as individual book buyers" to buy books in bulk.
Jane can find nothing wrong with this site. In fact, the colors, the design, the navigation, and the information it contains are all working together to make a user-friendly experience. We all know that a pleasant website visit, a pleasurable experience, is the #1 way to get Jane and her friends (including Dick) back to visit again and again.
But wait, there's more! The site has a BLOG! Many of Lip-sticking's readers know of the 800-CEO-READ blog, but for those who don't, Jane says, "This is a blog you simply must visit."
It's a plain-Jane blog, no fancy lettering or graphics. No ads shouting, "Buy me!" Just good reading, good reviews, good reporting, and a list of books that will make you drool!
Since women are opening new businesses at twice the rate of men; since women influence over 80% of the purchasing decisions in the U.S.; and since women buy and read more books than men (we have presented these stats many times before --they are gathered from the U.S. Census, the Women's Business Center, and other women's blogs) -- being female-friendly is just a big PLUS for 800-CEO-READ, both the website and the blog.
So, let's talk about 5 Reason You Should Care:
1. All of the above. We could cheat and list them and take up 3 reasons right off, but...we're not going to do that. We stand by the statements above, of course, but there are other reasons you should care, also.
2. The blog has an interactive feature beyond the comments section of each post. (it's powered by Movable Type). There are interviews! Jane is not the only one who likes interviews. We find them popping up all over the web, especially in the blogosphere. In fact, over at Jackie Hubba's and Ben McConnell's Church of the Customer, we found a GREAT podcast on marketing to women -- ala our good friend Andrea Learned of Don't Think Pink fame.
Interviews...a good way to engage visitors. You should care ... because this is a tool YOU, too, can use to attract both the fairer sex and all others.
3. Jack Covert Selects -- a category where the 'expert' (we said so earlier) offers his advice and 
insight into a particular book. Women, and not a few men, like to hear what the 'experts' think about products and services, but especially about books, movies, DVDs, and CDs. That's why Blogcritics is so popular. And why this category of the 800-CEO-READ blog is something you should care about.
YOU'RE an expert in something -- we presume it's in your business. SHARE your advice and insight, on a blog...or a separate webpage. It will certainly help build credibility, but...it will also attract search engines...and, what's not to like about that?
4. By golly, 800-CEO-READblog is into podcasting! There is only one up so far, from June 28th, but no doubt there are more coming. Please do not whine at Jane that you have no time to listen to podcast. Of course, you do. You drive, don't you? Download this podcast to your MP3 player (we know you have one; if you don't, we know where you can get one), and listen to it in your car. Or, at the airport. Or, while eating dinner -- turn off the TV. It's all gloom and doom, anyway.
Improve your business by listening to podcasts -- like this one.
5. Interesting tidbits, like the ones posted on July 11th, by Todd S. from A Penny for... tidbits are great ways to engage folks. When Jane et.al is/are in such a hurry to find that special item or gift, and we land on your site or blog -- and we're greeted by three or four short, relevant bits of information, we feel as if you're starting a conversation with us. Trust me, starting a conversation -- about a topic we like -- will pull us in every time.
Why can't you do the same thing? You can. You should. Sprinkle these small bytes of information throughout your site, even on product pages, and watch the reaction. Jane will be sure to tell all her friends...and relative.
So, all in all, what's not to like about that?
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