However, the weakness of the Internet is that it's impersonal, faceless, and lacks one-on-one contact.

On Friday, Jon Bailey, director of client services and co-founder and president of Wood Street Inc., ran through several pointers for web success for members of the Women's Business Network of Frederick .

One of the most important tips Wood passed on is to think about who you're trying to reach. It matters more than all the bells and whistles and interactivity, he said.

"Whenever you're doing anything electronically in terms of messaging or marketing, always get into the mindset of the audience you're trying to target," he said. "Never think about what you want to say to them. Think about what you want them to hear and how you want them to react to what they hear."

Give people something: "Content, content, content. It's all about the content," Wood said. "And the 'huh' factor, where people look at the site, and think, 'Huh, yeah, that's cool.'"

At it's center, an effective website answers the principal questions of marketing: Who are you? What do you do? What makes you different? Why should people care?

"You have something to say to someone, and the web is just another way to get your message out there," Wood said.

And there are many tools to get that message out.

To be effective, e-mail -- which can be overused and overwhelming, Wood said -- has to be friendly, focused, and targeted to the readers' interests and needs. The same principles apply to a website, Wood said.

One of the best tools to communicate with that audience is through a weblog, or "blog," a frequently updated online journal of sorts.

Blogs are loved by search engines for their "search rich" content, Wood said. And they're what's known as "push technology," because the message is pushed out to readers.

"The great thing about blogs are they are cheap," Wood said. "If they are set up correctly and you stay on top of them and you have something to say on a regular basis, they're very effective."

People can sign up to be notified of new entries , "Which is the idea," Wood said. "Getting people on your website interacting with you electronically."

Promoting of the website is important, making sure the website address is on everything from business cards to advertising.

Wood Street is an award winning market-based design and development firm, located in Frederick , which specializes in Internet marketing.

The Women's Business Network of Frederick meets formally over lunch each quarter, and informally once a month for coffee. It is an organization of women business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals that informs, encourages and supports women in growing their businesses.

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