The other day, I consulted with a doctor who, with sparkles in his eye, wanted to have a website empire so he could conduct business on his laptop while basking on a beach. He had no experience with website building, no marketing or sales experience,no internet marketing, no research skills for any type of product. He had a dream (of wealth!) but no plan. In fact, he had no job, no home, no income. But he had a dozen nondescript domain names for totally unrelated products he had no knowledge of and a drop shipper or two.
Now here is where you expect the giant leap to success that so many "make money online" sales pitches seem to always lead to. Down and out but now on top of the world? Not this time--or in fact, so many times. Are we being sold a false hope by so many "gurus"? Or are we just hearing from their minions who sell their product. 95% of those who try to start a business online fail, quit or never get off the ground. That's a higher rate than any other small business startup---creepy! So wouldn't it be a blessing to have your dream crushed right from the "get go" (sorry, my grandmother's voice rules my thoughts), than to waste so much time and income you would have had from a day job, screwing around where you don't have the guts to implement a plan towards a goal.
Harsh words--and the unemployed doctor was crushed. But he left my office with the revelation that he was not ready for the beach just yet. He left knowing he was a very long way from building a website. This business of making money on the internet is not for the feight of heart. It can be grueling to one who has no skills and no passion for it. At one time, his passion for medicine took him through the learning process to become a professional. I could see he was looking for a replacement passion but it was obvious he was looking for a shortcut. I recommended he keep his day job (looking for doctor work) and truly consider, on his own personal time, whether he was up to the task of learning a whole new profession.
Ecommerce and internet marketing is every bit as professional as any other business. Unfortunately, it is not in the mainstream educational institutions as a respectful degree. You can learn to build websites, you can learn to program, but I have yet to see a degree in ecommerce offered at the universities. Which means, yes, we have to learn everything we can from the "gurus"--even if it means we learn we just don't have what it takes to persevere. Only the survivors of the risks taken in the learning process will be sitting on that beach with their laptop.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Guy walks into a bar.....
Guy walks into a bar and asks every woman there to marry him. Since his goal is to find a mate, he spends his efforts totally to that end. By presenting himself as a man "in the market", he is bound to create attention to his cause. He will become known by his proposals and some interested woman may actually consider his bold statements since they, too, are "in the market".
Certainly his tactics may be a bit too aggressive but the point here is that, with enough exposure, he will have his message heard by more women than if he left things up to chance.
If you have a goal in mind or a product to sell in your business, how does anyone know it is there and how do they find it? Your website may need a few lessons in communication.
The adage "build it and they will come" does not exist in the world of the internet. You must have words--on your page, on someone else's page, in the news, on videos, ad infinitum--that bring qualified visitors to your site. If you are selling horse blankets, your webpages should be "optimized" for the keyword phrase "horse blankets", not "horses". People who are looking for horse blankets need to find them. A specific brand name of blanket narrows the search ever closer to what they are looking for and qualify the visitor as someone very interested in buying that brand.
So how does one "optimize" a site page for keywords?
Keywords that are used frequently on a page helps the search engines determine the topic of your page and guide their searchers to pages that have what they are looking for. Places you can include your keywords are:
*the Title -- use your keyword phrase in the title as it is not only more descriptive of your business, it is more likely to appear as a result of a search for that word.
*Description tag -- your page should be described in a short paragraph, include your keywords here.
*Content -- in the body of the page, in your content, your keywords should be used in a context that makes sense to the reader but often enough to give credibility and attention to your page.
*Alt tags - the "alternate text" tag is a title given to explain the image. The alt text appears when you rollover your mouse. These words count in your overall count of keywords on the page.
*Text links -- the links that refer to a page or link to another should contain keywords (not "click here").
*Navigation bar links -- use your keywords in the navigation tabs where possible
*Articles -- helpful information about your product or current news or tips can create more interest to the reader and provide more opportunities to use your keywords.
The incidence of your keyword should be 5-10% of every 100 words to be effective. All this repetition can seem awkward but make sure the page can be read effortlessly. The experience must be worth the time for the reader, making them stay longer and make a purchase. Let them get to know you and your products--then the "proposal" to buy will make for an interesting and profitable relationship...
(PS I met my husband on Match.com 10 years ago this week! It does pay to advertise :-)
Check out these sites and see if you can determine what keywords
they have been optimized for:
http://www.StorkandVeil.com
http://www.GeorgiaDawgHouse.com
Certainly his tactics may be a bit too aggressive but the point here is that, with enough exposure, he will have his message heard by more women than if he left things up to chance.
If you have a goal in mind or a product to sell in your business, how does anyone know it is there and how do they find it? Your website may need a few lessons in communication.
The adage "build it and they will come" does not exist in the world of the internet. You must have words--on your page, on someone else's page, in the news, on videos, ad infinitum--that bring qualified visitors to your site. If you are selling horse blankets, your webpages should be "optimized" for the keyword phrase "horse blankets", not "horses". People who are looking for horse blankets need to find them. A specific brand name of blanket narrows the search ever closer to what they are looking for and qualify the visitor as someone very interested in buying that brand.
So how does one "optimize" a site page for keywords?
Keywords that are used frequently on a page helps the search engines determine the topic of your page and guide their searchers to pages that have what they are looking for. Places you can include your keywords are:
*the Title -- use your keyword phrase in the title as it is not only more descriptive of your business, it is more likely to appear as a result of a search for that word.
*Description tag -- your page should be described in a short paragraph, include your keywords here.
*Content -- in the body of the page, in your content, your keywords should be used in a context that makes sense to the reader but often enough to give credibility and attention to your page.
*Alt tags - the "alternate text" tag is a title given to explain the image. The alt text appears when you rollover your mouse. These words count in your overall count of keywords on the page.
*Text links -- the links that refer to a page or link to another should contain keywords (not "click here").
*Navigation bar links -- use your keywords in the navigation tabs where possible
*Articles -- helpful information about your product or current news or tips can create more interest to the reader and provide more opportunities to use your keywords.
The incidence of your keyword should be 5-10% of every 100 words to be effective. All this repetition can seem awkward but make sure the page can be read effortlessly. The experience must be worth the time for the reader, making them stay longer and make a purchase. Let them get to know you and your products--then the "proposal" to buy will make for an interesting and profitable relationship...
(PS I met my husband on Match.com 10 years ago this week! It does pay to advertise :-)
Check out these sites and see if you can determine what keywords
they have been optimized for:
http://www.StorkandVeil.com
http://www.GeorgiaDawgHouse.com
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
You Can Find Me in Google--and that's a good thing!.....the internet explained (part two)
Don’t ya just hate how complicated things have gotten? I don’t understand politics, world trade, Paris Hilton, or Windows Vista. How did this all happen? I find myself hearing the words of my parents telling me how simple life was when they were young. Geez, does that mean I am getting older---nah, I just know that things are moving a lot faster than ever before in history. When a refrigerator lasts over 20 years but a computer becomes decrepit in two….!
Recently I spent time consulting with an up and coming portrait photographer (I am a retired Master Photographer myself) and it became apparent to me that although the packaging of a service or product may be different and more complicated today, the foundation of its marketing is absolutely the same. The “old” techniques I once used in my business actually were not outdated at all. Selling is selling, the process is always “find a need and fill it” or a variation that is “create a need/desire and provide a solution”.
I can remember how profound that phrase was when I encountered it in a book long ago. It made me understand the process that makes the world go round. Anyone can do it and we all do—we take jobs because we have, as well as the employer, a need that has to be filled. The better we are at presenting our value, and the better we are trained to attain that value, the better chance both sides needs are fulfilled.
When I began to get involved with online “ecommerce”, as it is called, I had already spent years selling services and products to the public. Mine was a very personal business (family and children portrait photography) and I relied on the ease of human contact and personality to sustain my business. But on the internet, there was no such interaction. I felt like I was “behind the curtain” or selling with my eyes closed. It was a little sobering to think that all that I had learned in my former business would be of little value in marketing online. Quite the contrary, even online customers still do business with people they like! My biggest concerns were: how do I get my business seen online and then how do I get my visitors to like me?
Before I get too far into these goals, let me say that I will be speaking here from the standpoint of one who has already found a market, a product (or two), built a website and has begun the process toward having a real business online. In future posts, I will talk more about the first steps and those that follow in that process. For now, it is important to better understand how things work before opening up shop.
How does one get to be “Big Man On Campus”? Simply have a lot of friends with your name on their tongue. Even those who aren’t so popular would want to be in your circle. Some friends are genuine, some are acquaintances looking for recognition, some owe you a favor, some are wannabees who talk a little large to appear as if they have an affiliation to you, some talk because they admire you and therefore spread your notoriety. Some attention you create yourself with several methods of self promotion. This is the analogy of getting your website noticed. It is called “link building”.
A site receives a higher level position in the search engines, in large part, to the amount of links it has to itself. A link can be another site that has agreed to put your web address on their site that is “hyper linked” (that blue underline you click on) back to your site. You get credit for having a lot of links from other sites to yours because it shows that your site is popular, has credibility, and it probably means your site has a value to offer since so many others “recommend” you by linking to you.
Link building is an ongoing process and takes time. There are also good ways and bad ways to do it. If the BMOC had a lot of cheerleaders and football players and deans and professors as his friends, his popularity has more weight than if most of his friends were freshman and bartenders. The quality of the sites that you get links from are part of the equation, too. The search engines can rate your site and its position in the search results by the company you keep. Quantity is a good thing but quality can get you further.
You want your site to be recommended, right? But what is in it for the other website owner? Well, they need links, too, so at first you will do fine with “reciprocal linking”. In essence, you trade links—you give me one on your site and I will give you one on mine. That is a good start but you also should try to get links that only point to your site—one way links—as they are more desirable to satisfy the search engines. Think of it as your mom recommending you versus your last employer’s recommendation. A one way link shows a more true recommendation. Same with a link from a blog post that points back to your site, or a news story about a product you sell, or an article you wrote or had written that was posted on another site.
The search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) have to decide who gets top billing as well as the proceeding positions. This is where information that is relevant rises to the top like cream from milk. The relevancy of search results is their ultimate goal and focus. Links are just one of many criteria judged for those positions.
So accumulate links of quality and quantity and as the search engines begin to notice your site, it will be listed in areas that people are searching. Those areas will depend on the “keywords” your site has been “optimized” for---which is where we will start in my next post on understanding the basics of search engines, the internet, and your online business.
Recently I spent time consulting with an up and coming portrait photographer (I am a retired Master Photographer myself) and it became apparent to me that although the packaging of a service or product may be different and more complicated today, the foundation of its marketing is absolutely the same. The “old” techniques I once used in my business actually were not outdated at all. Selling is selling, the process is always “find a need and fill it” or a variation that is “create a need/desire and provide a solution”.
I can remember how profound that phrase was when I encountered it in a book long ago. It made me understand the process that makes the world go round. Anyone can do it and we all do—we take jobs because we have, as well as the employer, a need that has to be filled. The better we are at presenting our value, and the better we are trained to attain that value, the better chance both sides needs are fulfilled.
When I began to get involved with online “ecommerce”, as it is called, I had already spent years selling services and products to the public. Mine was a very personal business (family and children portrait photography) and I relied on the ease of human contact and personality to sustain my business. But on the internet, there was no such interaction. I felt like I was “behind the curtain” or selling with my eyes closed. It was a little sobering to think that all that I had learned in my former business would be of little value in marketing online. Quite the contrary, even online customers still do business with people they like! My biggest concerns were: how do I get my business seen online and then how do I get my visitors to like me?
Before I get too far into these goals, let me say that I will be speaking here from the standpoint of one who has already found a market, a product (or two), built a website and has begun the process toward having a real business online. In future posts, I will talk more about the first steps and those that follow in that process. For now, it is important to better understand how things work before opening up shop.
How does one get to be “Big Man On Campus”? Simply have a lot of friends with your name on their tongue. Even those who aren’t so popular would want to be in your circle. Some friends are genuine, some are acquaintances looking for recognition, some owe you a favor, some are wannabees who talk a little large to appear as if they have an affiliation to you, some talk because they admire you and therefore spread your notoriety. Some attention you create yourself with several methods of self promotion. This is the analogy of getting your website noticed. It is called “link building”.
A site receives a higher level position in the search engines, in large part, to the amount of links it has to itself. A link can be another site that has agreed to put your web address on their site that is “hyper linked” (that blue underline you click on) back to your site. You get credit for having a lot of links from other sites to yours because it shows that your site is popular, has credibility, and it probably means your site has a value to offer since so many others “recommend” you by linking to you.
Link building is an ongoing process and takes time. There are also good ways and bad ways to do it. If the BMOC had a lot of cheerleaders and football players and deans and professors as his friends, his popularity has more weight than if most of his friends were freshman and bartenders. The quality of the sites that you get links from are part of the equation, too. The search engines can rate your site and its position in the search results by the company you keep. Quantity is a good thing but quality can get you further.
You want your site to be recommended, right? But what is in it for the other website owner? Well, they need links, too, so at first you will do fine with “reciprocal linking”. In essence, you trade links—you give me one on your site and I will give you one on mine. That is a good start but you also should try to get links that only point to your site—one way links—as they are more desirable to satisfy the search engines. Think of it as your mom recommending you versus your last employer’s recommendation. A one way link shows a more true recommendation. Same with a link from a blog post that points back to your site, or a news story about a product you sell, or an article you wrote or had written that was posted on another site.
The search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) have to decide who gets top billing as well as the proceeding positions. This is where information that is relevant rises to the top like cream from milk. The relevancy of search results is their ultimate goal and focus. Links are just one of many criteria judged for those positions.
So accumulate links of quality and quantity and as the search engines begin to notice your site, it will be listed in areas that people are searching. Those areas will depend on the “keywords” your site has been “optimized” for---which is where we will start in my next post on understanding the basics of search engines, the internet, and your online business.
Search the Internet? Piece of cake.....(the internet explained--part one)
Have you been seeing the funky commercials on TV where everyone's innocent comments bring a flurry of babbling on about subjects that have almost nothing in common? Well, that's a take off on "search engine results"--those places you are given when you type into Google or MSN or Yahoo to find out where you can get tickets to a concert or find a gift for the boss or your favorite music or running shoes or...ad infinitum.
The phone book has gone the way of the dinosaur. Trivia can settle a bet in an instant. The title of that movie you can never remember can be found. So much of our days are filled with having so much information at our fingertips (literally) that we can feel just as lost when the "internet is down" as we do when we lose our electricity or our water in our home.
Where does all this information come from? Better question yet, how does it get on my screen? Without going into the tech aspects of this event, let's try to better understand, if I search for "pet supplies", there is a list of websites that offer pet supplies. Why is it that PetCo.com is listed first and ABCPetSupplies.com is listed on the third page? You see, it takes a lot of factors for a company like PetCo to get that first page listing so that you find what you are looking for.
That coveted "first page" listing means revenue for the website owner, right? So how does it get there? Well, these are a few of many reasons:
It has the keyword phrase I typed ("pet supplies") on the web page that comes up in this search.
It has a lot of other sites that link back to them with that phrase in the link.
There are news stories or articles about "pet supplies" that reference this site.
The site has many pages of its own linking to this phrase and
the site has been around for a long time.
These practices take time and are always ongoing but they ultimately make the difference.
Okay, so you may ask, if I want to have my website in the first pages of the search engines but the site is brand new, how do I compete for that first page listing? A shortcut for immediate attention is paid ads.
Next time you make a search, look over to your right at the "sponsored" listings. These are ads that are paid listings. The main body of the page, on the left, is what is called "organic" listings. These have battled their way to the top using the factors described above. But the "sponsored" listings also have a hierarchy. With bidding for positions, you can "buy" this space with an ad. More about that another time.
Most people find that by searching for a very specific "keyword", such as "8' chain link choke chain", they will more quickly find what they are looking for than searching "pet supplies". The search engine can narrow your request right down to the brand name, if you ask.
In part two of the search engines explained, we will examine this narrowing of focus and how anyone can compete with the "big dogs" if they know a few easy tips.
Like to learn more? Email me for a friend request and let me know to notify you when a new post has been made.
Also make your requests for specific topics you would like to see covered.
There is a small business in all of us, just waiting to be put online.
This week's featured website:
http://www.GeorgiaDawgHouse.com
The phone book has gone the way of the dinosaur. Trivia can settle a bet in an instant. The title of that movie you can never remember can be found. So much of our days are filled with having so much information at our fingertips (literally) that we can feel just as lost when the "internet is down" as we do when we lose our electricity or our water in our home.
Where does all this information come from? Better question yet, how does it get on my screen? Without going into the tech aspects of this event, let's try to better understand, if I search for "pet supplies", there is a list of websites that offer pet supplies. Why is it that PetCo.com is listed first and ABCPetSupplies.com is listed on the third page? You see, it takes a lot of factors for a company like PetCo to get that first page listing so that you find what you are looking for.
That coveted "first page" listing means revenue for the website owner, right? So how does it get there? Well, these are a few of many reasons:
It has the keyword phrase I typed ("pet supplies") on the web page that comes up in this search.
It has a lot of other sites that link back to them with that phrase in the link.
There are news stories or articles about "pet supplies" that reference this site.
The site has many pages of its own linking to this phrase and
the site has been around for a long time.
These practices take time and are always ongoing but they ultimately make the difference.
Okay, so you may ask, if I want to have my website in the first pages of the search engines but the site is brand new, how do I compete for that first page listing? A shortcut for immediate attention is paid ads.
Next time you make a search, look over to your right at the "sponsored" listings. These are ads that are paid listings. The main body of the page, on the left, is what is called "organic" listings. These have battled their way to the top using the factors described above. But the "sponsored" listings also have a hierarchy. With bidding for positions, you can "buy" this space with an ad. More about that another time.
Most people find that by searching for a very specific "keyword", such as "8' chain link choke chain", they will more quickly find what they are looking for than searching "pet supplies". The search engine can narrow your request right down to the brand name, if you ask.
In part two of the search engines explained, we will examine this narrowing of focus and how anyone can compete with the "big dogs" if they know a few easy tips.
Like to learn more? Email me for a friend request and let me know to notify you when a new post has been made.
Also make your requests for specific topics you would like to see covered.
There is a small business in all of us, just waiting to be put online.
This week's featured website:
http://www.GeorgiaDawgHouse.com
The economy has everyone thinking beyond "yard sale" to bring in extra income.
eBay may have started it all but interest in making money online is growing...
As it becomes easier and easier to set up a website, more "everyday" people as making money online. In fact, you don't even have to have a website to make money from the internet! For the past few years, I have become engrossed in the options available and have used many of them to earn an income. For me, it's fun and challenging-two requirements that motivated me.
I became interested in the internet in 1998, when things were still shiny and new online. In tech years, that's an eon ago! A young man named Corey Rhudl was selling something called an "ebook" on the internet. At that time, a hard copy was sent out by mail to the customers who bought it. Corey's book was on his interest in cars--a book of car buying tips. He made quite a fortune on it and realized that the selling of information was the key to his success. He applied that format to other information and soon began to teach others how to do what he did.
Thus began something quite inspiring. Not only was information in demand, but products that were not available in brick and mortar stores were being sold. And before you knew it, mainstream products were being seen there, too (oh my Amazon...). The rest is history, as they say.
No longer was the internet a place for techno geeks only or an exclusive club of retailers--the average person could sell their books on fly fishing, building a solar panel, dog training or have a yard sale online (eBay) or buy items wholesale and sell from their own website or sell other people's stuff for a commission. Today there are even more ways to make money online. And you don't even have to print those ebooks anymore--digital downloads take all the overhead out of selling your product.
There is nothing more fascinating to me than to learn more about the whole process and see how it changes everyday; see the effects and new opportunities those effects bring.
For anyone here who has an interest in this marvelous internet experience, I will be posting each week with a, let's call it, beginner's guide to making money online. If you have been mystified by how that works, curious about what is going on behind the scenes, you will not want to miss this ongoing commentary. To subscribe, just send me a friend request and ask to be notified when my next post is online.
Whoever invented the phrase "cool", you made it possible to describe things of which people will understand, without a doubt, what you mean. The internet is most definitely "cool", first and foremost.
Julia is an online retailer and internet marketer--titles that will be explained in upcoming posts on this blog. Her motto is "The more you know--the more you DON'T know..."
As it becomes easier and easier to set up a website, more "everyday" people as making money online. In fact, you don't even have to have a website to make money from the internet! For the past few years, I have become engrossed in the options available and have used many of them to earn an income. For me, it's fun and challenging-two requirements that motivated me.
I became interested in the internet in 1998, when things were still shiny and new online. In tech years, that's an eon ago! A young man named Corey Rhudl was selling something called an "ebook" on the internet. At that time, a hard copy was sent out by mail to the customers who bought it. Corey's book was on his interest in cars--a book of car buying tips. He made quite a fortune on it and realized that the selling of information was the key to his success. He applied that format to other information and soon began to teach others how to do what he did.
Thus began something quite inspiring. Not only was information in demand, but products that were not available in brick and mortar stores were being sold. And before you knew it, mainstream products were being seen there, too (oh my Amazon...). The rest is history, as they say.
No longer was the internet a place for techno geeks only or an exclusive club of retailers--the average person could sell their books on fly fishing, building a solar panel, dog training or have a yard sale online (eBay) or buy items wholesale and sell from their own website or sell other people's stuff for a commission. Today there are even more ways to make money online. And you don't even have to print those ebooks anymore--digital downloads take all the overhead out of selling your product.
There is nothing more fascinating to me than to learn more about the whole process and see how it changes everyday; see the effects and new opportunities those effects bring.
For anyone here who has an interest in this marvelous internet experience, I will be posting each week with a, let's call it, beginner's guide to making money online. If you have been mystified by how that works, curious about what is going on behind the scenes, you will not want to miss this ongoing commentary. To subscribe, just send me a friend request and ask to be notified when my next post is online.
Whoever invented the phrase "cool", you made it possible to describe things of which people will understand, without a doubt, what you mean. The internet is most definitely "cool", first and foremost.
Julia is an online retailer and internet marketer--titles that will be explained in upcoming posts on this blog. Her motto is "The more you know--the more you DON'T know..."
Monday, February 16, 2009
Do You want your clients to know your Wholeale Prices?
It happened to me again! Upon checking my nearest competitor in the search engines, I find yet another "wholesaler" of my products posting retail AND wholesale prices to the public, for anybody, including my clients, to see. I don't know about you, but I believe that a retail business should have access to the wholesale prices of the products they sell only if they have a resellers certificate/sales tax number. The general public should not know the cost of an item and how much it is marked up. Geez Louise...
Okay, so some one finds my site with a thingy that I sell for $29. This wholesale company has the nerve to put both retail ($29) and wholesale price ($10) of the same thingy on their site. And I wrote to them asking for an explanation. Their answer was that the retailers they sell to find it "convenient" to see the prices they will have to pay. Wonder how many of those dunces have figured out that their prospective customers are looking under the same keywords and are a bit peeved at knowing what margins they are paying. Sounds like a lot of too lazy retailers who find it a little too inconvenient to create a private wholesale account.
Or maybe these lazy retailers aren't really working under a sales tax number...hmmmm.
Tell me what YOU think.
(signed-Perturbed in Atlanta)
Okay, so some one finds my site with a thingy that I sell for $29. This wholesale company has the nerve to put both retail ($29) and wholesale price ($10) of the same thingy on their site. And I wrote to them asking for an explanation. Their answer was that the retailers they sell to find it "convenient" to see the prices they will have to pay. Wonder how many of those dunces have figured out that their prospective customers are looking under the same keywords and are a bit peeved at knowing what margins they are paying. Sounds like a lot of too lazy retailers who find it a little too inconvenient to create a private wholesale account.
Or maybe these lazy retailers aren't really working under a sales tax number...hmmmm.
Tell me what YOU think.
(signed-Perturbed in Atlanta)
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