E-business and E-commerce have quietly become the proving grounds for entrepreneurs seeking to parlay their ideas into a successful business entity. While online entrepreneurship is by no means a recent development, the number of non-traditional online entrepreneurial endeavors is growing at a rapid rate.
Where dot com businesses revolving around the business of dot com once reigned supreme, more traditional business models are now hitting the online marketplace en masse. From sales of mass market goods to services that can be performed through networking, the list is as endless as the number of available IP addresses.
The rise of the internet age has been a blessing for the entrepreneur, as it offers the ultimate low overhead in virtual space but exposes prospective business owners to high volumes of traffic they would be hard pressed to reach otherwise. With the capability for reaching millions worldwide, internet enterprises are fast forming the ultimate buyer’s market, where checking out the competition is only a point and click away.
Still, entrepreneurs experience far more positives than negatives when setting up shop on the internet. For starters, real estate is the great equalizer. Aside from being banned from Google or one of the other major search engines, there are no bad areas for business. Every “location, location, location” is on main street, and only the amount of window dressing separates one business from another. This allows the savviest entrepreneurs to focus far more effort on offering added value and being more creative with their marketing efforts. When the playing field is level, both businesses and consumers can benefit.
As more and more homes across the nation and around the world tap into the internet as a source of entertainment, information, goods and services, the market will continue to grow. The odds are in favor of entrepreneurs, instead of set against them as is often the case when opening a brick and mortar business. Though not all businesses can be run online, almost every business can benefit from an online presence. Since the internet is now more widely utilized than the phone book in most areas, even traditional entrepreneurial endeavors can attract a wider audience through the world wide web.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
E-business Attracts Entrepreneurial Crowd for Good Reason
E-business Attracts Entrepreneurial Crowd for Good R
E-business and E-commerce have quietly become the proving grounds for entrepreneurs seeking to parlay their ideas into a successful business entity. While online entrepreneurship is by no means a recent development, the number of non-traditional online entrepreneurial endeavors is growing at a rapid rate.
Where dot com businesses revolving around the business of dot com once reigned supreme, more traditional business models are now hitting the online marketplace en masse. From sales of mass market goods to services that can be performed through networking, the list is as endless as the number of available IP addresses.
The rise of the internet age has been a blessing for the entrepreneur, as it offers the ultimate low overhead in virtual space but exposes prospective business owners to high volumes of traffic they would be hard pressed to reach otherwise. With the capability for reaching millions worldwide, internet enterprises are fast forming the ultimate buyer’s market, where checking out the competition is only a point and click away.
Still, entrepreneurs experience far more positives than negatives when setting up shop on the internet. For starters, real estate is the great equalizer. Aside from being banned from Google or one of the other major search engines, there are no bad areas for business. Every “location, location, location” is on main street, and only the amount of window dressing separates one business from another. This allows the savviest entrepreneurs to focus far more effort on offering added value and being more creative with their marketing efforts. When the playing field is level, both businesses and consumers can benefit.
As more and more homes across the nation and around the world tap into the internet as a source of entertainment, information, goods and services, the market will continue to grow. The odds are in favor of entrepreneurs, instead of set against them as is often the case when opening a brick and mortar business. Though not all businesses can be run online, almost every business can benefit from an online presence. Since the internet is now more widely utilized than the phone book in most areas, even traditional entrepreneurial endeavors can attract a wider audience through the world wide web.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Aspiring Webmasters Want To Know, "What Makes a Website Grow?"
By: A Raymond Randall
It appears that most webmasters have come from the world of advertising. Their website content emphasizes "marketing and promotion". Just to prove my point, do a Google search on "marketing promotion". As I write, Google comes up with "about 5,910,000" entries. Gosh imagine the good fortune of a listing on page one! Of course, the number of entries for "marketing promotion" gets shadowed by "sex" which provides you with "about 192,000,000". It's not money and sex; it's sex and money.
Prominent webmasters like Jim Daniels, Cory Rudll,and Kevin Bidwell (one of my favorites) et.al teach you Internet success strategies. Of course, they all started way back in '96 (that's 1996) when aspiring webmasters wanted to know how to succeed.
Someone asked me recently if Cory Rudll's two volume manual collects dust on my desk. Chagrined, I acknowledge, "sitting just to the right of my keyboard" (been there for two years). Then I think of all the other manuals, ebooks purchased to vault my Internet marketing skills.
What then gets you the income so many claim to make? You've read the ads, "so and so made $55,000 in one month" and this was their slowest month. Or, affiliate maven makes $463,000 a year marketing affiliate programs. Each of these testimonials appear attached to some alluring ebook which you "must have" to succeed. Well, hold off before entering your credit card number.
Here are 5 considerations to ponder before thinking about income from your website.
Purpose:
I never gave much credence to business plans; however, you can't get from my house to Boston without a map. Whether you write it down (which is best) or create pictures in your mind, there must be a map. A strategy which defines what steps you take. Strategies begin with brainstorming. Sit down, put a blank paper on your desk, grasp your pen, and write. Write anything that comes to mind relevant to your purpose. Write the not so relevant ideas too; who knows they might turn out to be the most important expression of your brainstorming.
A number of routes will get you to Boston from my house: some direct and boring, some scenic and slow. Who cares what way you get there. Herman Drost's article, "8 Steps to Creating a Simple Business Plan...." provides a "how to" outline.
Persistence:
No matter what Internet hype reads, this takes persistence. Perhaps the only emotion that separates the successful from the not so successful comes down to persistence. Calvin Coolidge's (1872-1933) viewpoint may be worth memorizing. "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." Kevin Sinclair's article, "Persistence - The Magic Key To Success" inspires you to continue. Also, if you've never read Russell Conwell's "Acres of Diamonds", find it and read it now.
Preparation:
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure," says Colin Powell. Well, historians will assess the current geopolitical "learning from failure".
Every endeavor requires preparation. Ever watch a chef work? Every summer I work a weekend at a camp which serves 250 men seven meals. Doesn't sound like much until I observed the chef arrives to work at 3AM. I would get there at 4:15AM in order to dice, chop, stir, and pour in preparation for the next meal. When meals get served, few understand the amount of "prep work" that preceded the meal. No one sees you doing it; it just has to be done. Judy Collins provides clear guidelines on Ten Steps To Prepare Yourself for Online Marketing.
Probabilities:
As this article is written, the banter of presidential poll interpretation continues. Everyone has an opinion, and every pole a changing nuance. Reading polls provides some lessons on reading the probabilities of website traffic.
Most of us read the primary poll results rather than referring to the "internal tracking polls". When reading website traffic, we look at the number of visits without reading the "internal tracking". Travis Reeder provides detailed explanations and reasons for digging deeper into the numbers in his article, "How (and Why) to Read Your Web Statistics and Analytics".
Learn to track visitors. "AWStats is a free powerful and featureful (sic) tool that generates advanced web, ftp or mail server statistics, graphically." "A reasonable probability is the only certainty," writes E.W. Howe. So what probabilities do you have for succeeding and how do you measure them?
Personality:
Ever start a conversation with someone until you recognize that person is not "there"? Many websites give the same impression. What does this webmaster think? What matters to them? What message do they want conveyed?
It takes more effort to insert your personality into your work, to evidence your opinions and world view on a website. Every website page represents you implicitly or explicitly. What matters to you should be evident on your website, and your website should reflect your values.
Little seems to be written about this subject. Terri Seymour's article, "The Power of Personality" provides further insights. Bob Baker's book, "Poor Richard's Branding Yourself Online" elaborates this premise.
Oscar Wilde's observation that "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation" deserves a webmaster's attention.
As with all enterprise, Internet endeavors involve you with something that does not happen overnight. As with all worthy efforts, it requires a purpose clearly defined, a persistence resolutely affirmed, and a daily preparation involving your complete personality. You must remain passionately focused on the belief that you add value to this incredible enterprise known as the Internet.
Article Source: http://www.articles.web.com
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
All about Ecommerce Implementation
By Rick Martin
New ways of doing business online are being market tested all the time, but consider these new possibilities with in a framework that minimizes risk for your business. E-commerce as well known as electronic commerce generally refers to selling your products and services over the Web. Electronic Commerce simply means buying and selling of goods and services across the Internet using web sites.
The benefits are often viewed from views such as benefits to organizations, benefits to consumers and benefits to the society at large. The benefits of E-Commerce for your include nominal costs, faster and more efficient processes and expanded markets. By using e-commerce solutions, you can offer customers convenient shopping methods, maintain strong customer relationships, and Stay competitive ahead. This is one of the easier methods to capture online customers.
The Asia Pacific is home to two-third of the world’s population presenting a large and lucrative e-commerce market. Some countries in the region have documented this opportunity and have taken the lead role and are now some of the influential in e-commerce from the world outlook. An ecommerce site can be as simple as a telephone index, can range all the way to a real time credit and processing site where customer can purchase downloadable goods and receive them on the spot.
The region being so diverse in many aspects presents certain challenges in the implementation of a successful e-commerce strategy. In spite of these challenges there are economies in the region that are so well advanced in the deployment of e-commerce strategies while at the same there are still economies in the region that are yet to fully enjoy the benefits of e-commerce in either the supply and consumption chain. The available evidence suggests that there is indeed a divide emerging between Asia Pacific member countries in so far as e-commerce initiatives are concerned.
E-Business is the formation of new, and the redesigning of obtainable value chains and business procedures by way of the application of information technology. E-Business is actually more than e-commerce. It in turn expands the extent of e-commerce to change the company and the industry itself.
Web Business Ebook
The information within this book should help you gain a much better insight to building a web site. Whether you decide to do it yourself or hire a designer, the concepts presented here are all ones you will need to be familiar with. It is sincerly intended that this information will be beneficial to you as it has been compounded by experience.
Download Now.
When You Build A Business Website, It Must Be Your Personality In The Form Of A Web Site
By Juhani Tontti
All great things are natural and simple. So must be the idea of the website.
1. Why a web site is in the business?
To make money is not a reason. The reason must be something linked with entrepreneurs know how or with the business opportunity in the market or both. But, as you see, these reasons are too general reasons to build a business website.
2. How to create an internet business idea and the execution, that nobody can copy?
Let us play with an idea, that a website is a human being, a person. Would it be a man or a woman, what age, what education, where he lives, what kind of a flat or a house, what kind of a car, family, how big income he has, what products he consumes, how he spends his holidays etc.
We can go even deeper by thinking his nature. Is he cultural, sporty, does he like children, animals? Is he social, how active he is, how he looks like, how his home looks like and his car? What about friends?
Soon we will discover, that your website must be like you. There is simply no other alternative. All other solutions are impossible. So the only way to build a business website is to transfer your personality into the form of a website. It must reflect your strengths and try to eliminate your weaknesses.
A BRAND is like a human being, there is not alike in the whole world. You must build a business website, if you want it to succeed, in a unique way. In that way it will grow and become a real BRAND.
3. How can you choose template, graphics and copy for the website?
The answer is clear.
Choose things you like. That is the only and best way to build a business website. All decisions are made by feelings but told with rational terms, so is your things too.
This process will need disciplined, creative planning, you have to plan the world of your website and maintain that, because many temptations will try to change that.
When time flies you will get tired with the site much sooner than your customers and website visitors. But do not change your core ideas, they must be long term. If you think, how short time and how seldom your visitors see your site, you understand that the unchanged brand image is important to them. It must be like a friend.
The brand image is something, that can be built during a long time. It is an emotional relationship between your website and your visitors. Over time it will get stronger and stronger and especially the longer it is unchanged. Your website brand image is something no other website can have, so it is very valuable to you. Discipline will bring success.
4. But building a business website needs more than just brand image.
That is true. You will earn by selling products, not images. But a unique image is the reason for your visitors to buy, it will build a WANT.
But how to choose products to sell? A simple solution is to choose them according to your experience and what you LIKE. When you like something, you will concentrate on that and it will start to grow in your thoughts, which will lead your business to the quality. The quality of your business is the most important issue in the competition.
The Right Time To Become An Infopreneur
By Gowri Cumba
Whenever I talk to people about becoming an Internet infopreneur, I hear two objections - from different sections of the audience.
One group says, "Oh, the time's not yet ripe for this sort of thing"
And the other says, "But, isn't it already too late?"
The fact is, there is no 'perfect' time to start being an infopreneur.
Let's face it. There's nothing new about compiling data into information. And there's nothing new about selling the processed product. Why, even the Internet is no longer 'new' - though it is constantly evolving.
What is, however, relatively new and unexplored, is the concept of selling information products over the Internet to various niche audiences.
Is the time right to start doing this?
Just look at these numbers.
E-commerce over the Internet in the U.S. for the third quarter of 2006 amounted to $27.5 BILLION, a 4.5% increase over the 2nd quarter and a 20% growth over last year (Source: U.S. Census Bureau News, Nov.2006). For this study, ecommerce was defined as the value of goods and services sold online.
Annual spending per buyer increased from $457 in 2001 to $784 in 2006.
The trend is reflected around the world. Below are the total worldwide eCommerce Revenues for 2004
North America $3.5 trillion
Asia Pacific $1.6 trillion
Western Europe $1.5 trillion
Latin America $81.8 billion
Rest of World $68.6 billion
Source: Forrester Research
So what are they buying? And more specificaly, for you as an infopreneur, the important question is: "Are they are buying INFORMATION?"
The answer is a resounding "Yes".
In 2004, more than 14 million Americans made digital content purchases - each for less than $2. TowerGroup forecast that by 2009, the market for micropayments would grow to $11.5 billion in revenue.
One area in which micropayments are growing in the U.S. is for online paid content. Despite double-digit increase for micropayments, at $12.8 million in revenue, the share is only a 1 percent of total online paid content revenues. Do the math - you'll see just how vast the potential is for selling content online.
43.6% of all purchases over $50 were made on Business Content - and that's good news if you are targeting that market. More and more consumers will buy low-priced content online, with music continuing to lead the way.
In 2005, data from Nielsen NetRatings's Holiday eShopping Index showed a 33 percent increase in online purchases over the previous year. Books, music, and video combined were the fastest growing category, with a 238% increase.
Are you convinced yet? Or maybe a smaller, more personal sampling will prove the point more forcefuly.
In my own infopreneuring business, the revenues and profits from the first half of 2006 were higher than entire 2005.
A few marketing changes may have impacted these figures, but my instinctive analysis is that more people are buying specialized information online, are willing to pay more for useful information, and when satisfied they are getting good quality stuff, are buying more of it to meet their growing and changing needs.
And that change has doubled my sales in a year! So, you tell me. Is the time right for you to start doing this?
To start an online business you need to know where to begin.
By Jim Daniels
This tutorial is for folks who do not yet have a web site of their own. It will explain how to put your own custom web site on the web without paying big bucks.
Have you been contemplating having your own web site but keep putting it off for one reason or another? Maybe you’re marketing a few affiliate programs and promoting those affiliate URLs. Well, as you learned from the article in the last issue of my BizWeb E-Gazette, your own custom web site is the first step in promoting ANY business online, even those affiliate programs.
Okay, so what are you waiting for?
If you think that setting up a custom web site is expensive, think again. The total cost can be less than a few hundred bucks and some of your time. Once your site is up, the only ongoing costs are monthly web hosting charges, which can be as low as $20 - $40 per month plus yearly domain fees of just $35. Now that’s cheap!
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on getting your own custom site up...
1. Lay out your basic design.
Do this step on paper first. Draw out what you want your main entry page, or home page to look like. Keep it simple and uncluttered. Be sure it includes a short description of how your site will help your web site visitors. (These are the folks who you’ll be targeting the site to -- take some time and figure out who they are before you start!)
Then, draw out a few more pages to link that home page to. A few examples would be a page that describes your company or yourself, a page that offers free information about your area of expertise, and a page with your best product/ service/opportunity that you plan to promote.
2. Once you have a basic layout of what your site will look like, you need to design it on your computer.
There are many ways to do this. You can go out and buy one of those 800 page books on html, the code used to design web pages, or you can go the easy route. The easy route is to purchase a WYSIWYG (stands for What You See Is What You Get) web design program. There are many programs to choose from in today’s market. These programs are the easiest way to design a web site, especially for the first time. Most of these programs cost $100 or less.
Here are a few examples of such programs...
- Microsoft FrontPage: www.microsoft.com/frontpage/
I used this program to design my www.bizweb2000.com site and it is a solid choice for new webmasters.
- Homesite: http://www2.allaire.com/Products/HomeSite/
This popular design program is now the choice of many webmasters, as it produces clean html despite its WYSIWYG interface.
Tip: Read the article below before proceeding with your design: http://www.bizweb2000.com/imc/articles/frontpage.shtml
3. Once your site is laid out on your computer, you’ll need to decide on a domain name for your site.
Registering your own domain name means that web surfers will be able to connect to your web site by entering www.yourname.com. Here are a few tips to help you select your domain name.
a. Avoid using any character that is not a letter or number. Many newbies do not know where to find the '-' or '_' characters, for instance. You want the name to be easy to type.
b. Avoid using the numeral '1' or '0' in your domain name. Many people will confuse these with the small letters 'l' and 'o'. The last thing you want is someone getting frustrated when they are trying to connect to your site.
c. Use a domain name that is easy to remember and has something to do with your business. Once you settle on a name, it’s also a good idea to do a trademark search to make sure the name is not already under trademark by another company. The last thing you want is to be forced to switch domain names once you get going full swing.
You can perform a free domain and trademark search at: http://www.e-gineer.com/e-gineer/domainator/
Once you have the domain name picked out, your web host should register it for you at no charge. See the next step.
4. Select a company to host your web site.
Okay, your web site is designed and you have a domain name picked out. So why do you have to hire a company to host your site?
Well actually, you ’could’ host the pages on your own computer. After all, a hosting company will provide just that to you, a computer. But in order to do it yourself, you would need a 24 hour connection to the web, in the form of a super-fast phone connection known as a T1 or T3. These digital connections cost over a thousand bucks a month. Therefore, hiring a web host who already has multiple T’s is a much more cost-effective solution for small businesses.
Your web host will maintain your 24hr connection to the web, making sure surfers can connect to your site at all times. Therefore, it’s important to hire the right company. My past experiences with web hosting have been quite eventful (as well as painful). To help you make an informed decision, I’ve posted a report about selecting a host at...
http://www.bizweb2000.com/virtual.htm
5. Transfer your files to your new web hosting company.
This is a step that many newbies have problems with. Basically, you’ll be transferring your newly designed web pages from your own computer to the computer at your web hosting company.
Although most WYSIWYG web design programs come with a 'web publishing' interface, I’ve found the few I’ve tried to be clumsy and slow. Rather than using the web publishing interface in your design program, I suggest downloading an 'FTP' (stands for File Transfer Protocol) program from the web. These cost in the $30 range and they make uploading your site to your host, a breeze.
Here are a few simple and effective FTP programs you can use to put your site up:
CuteFTP: http://www.cuteftp.com/
This is the program I use to upload web pages to my site. Its simple drag and drop interface simplifies uploading new pages to my web site. And when making changes to existing pages, I just use my mouse to drag and drop the new page to my web host computer and it replaces the old one.
WS_FTP: http://www.ipswitch.com/
This is one of the more popular choices among veteran webmasters. Its easy and intuitive interface makes managing your web site a breeze. No wonder it’s the world’s most popular FTP client for Windows.
Once you’ve downloaded an FTP program, spend an hour or two getting used to it. You’ll be using it a lot as a new webmaster!
That’s it! You now have each step laid out in an easy to follow checklist. And remember, your web site is never finished! Effective web sites are sites that get updated on a regular basis.
If you need more help in getting your online business set up, download my e-book at here. The book is completely free and it covers everything from business setup to web marketing strategies used by pros. You can even give the book away as your own!
Happy webmastering!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Get Returned Visitors
Update your website pages frequently. Stagnant sites are more likely to be dropped by some search engines than a site that is dynamic. You may even think about placing a date counter on the page to show when it was last updated. The search engines will spider your site more often, and your visitors are more inclined to return on a regular basis to see what's new.
Offer additional value on your website. You can place links to affiliate and partner sites and products and request that they do the same for you. It is also effective to promote their books or videos as long as these products relate to your industry and are not in competition with your own product. You can invite customers to ‘opt in’ to get discounts and special offers. Place a link on your site to ask customers to ‘opt in’ to get a monthly newsletter or valuable coupons.
Place a “Book Mark” or “Add This Site to Your Favorites” link on your home page to encourage visitors to return. Add a link titled “Recommend this site to a Friend” so that the visitor can email your website link, with a pre-written title, for example, “Thought you might be interested in this”, just by clicking on it. In other words, make it as easy as possible for your visitors to return to your website and to invite their friends to do the same.
Brand your website so that visitors can easily see that they are on “your” site. Use consistent colors, logos and slogans throughout the site and always include a “Contact Us” link on each page. Create a page titled “Our Policies” that clearly explains your philosophy and principles in customer relations. Also post your privacy policy as well so that clients know they are secure when they visit your site. Create a FAQ page which addresses and clarifies the most likely issues about your product or your company that are likely to be asked about. This will help to resolve most of the customers concerns in their first visit to your site.
Ensure that each page on your website has proper titles and keywords so that your customer can find their way back to your site if they lose the book mark. Never, never, NEVER! spam a visitor, who has opted in for newsletters or information, with unsolicited emails. If they later decide that they want to “opt out” of your newsletter or other mail, be sure you take them off the mailing list immediately. They may return if they like your products. But they will surely not come back if you continue to flood their email box with mails they consider “junk mail” or spam. Just remember to give your visitors plenty of reasons to want to revisit your website, and make it as simple as you can for them. They will be back.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Moore
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Online Web Stores
by Bruce Whitehead
Summary : If you are selling products on the web, one of the first things you will need to put into place, is a place on your website where customers can view your products and select them for purchase. In the real world, you would build a store...
If you are selling products on the web, one of the first things you will need to put into place, is a place on your website where customers can view your products and select them for purchase. In the real world, you would build a store.
You can do the same thing in the virtual world as well, without having to cover the expense of a real brick and mortar building. There are several ways to create and implement a virtual storefront:
- Design and program your own website, if you have the time and knowledge needed. This would require building not only the site, but the shopping cart and the backed database, payment processing system and so on.
The benefit to this approach is that you get exactly the store that you need. The drawback, of course, is that you need to be a programmer to do it.
- Hire a programmer and web designer to custom write your site and shopping cart system. This is usually a very expensive undertaking since there are a lot of scripts to program and implement in even a small and basic online store. In addition to the expense, this will also take some time to complete.
The benefit to this approach is that you can have your store customized to do exactly what you want it to do. The biggest drawback to this though, is simply the expense of hiring a staff of designers to create what you are looking for.
- Buy an existing script from a programmer and add it to an existing website but you would have to have some knowledge of programming or scripting to properly implement the script and properly integrate it into your existing website.
The problem here is pre-built scripts are difficult to configure or integrate exactly the way you want them to appear or behave, since they have only the options that the programmer (who knows nothing about your business) decided to put in.
- Purchase a pre-built online store website, complete with shopping cart and payment processing. There are many variations of this type of service on the web. You can purchase stand alone store systems, or stores already integrated into virtual shopping malls.
The benefit to this sort of system is that you don't need to hire designers or programmers, to write store software or system admins to maintain a store based on a pre-built script.
Most of these types of stores have administration features you can access through your web browser, and you don't usually need any special knowledge to maintain your store look or update your online catalogs.
The drawback to this approach is a lack of flexibility. In many cases, pre-built stores provide limited customization options, require use of a specific payment processor and so on. However, if you are on a limited budget, have a small assortment of merchandise that does not have to be updated constantly, this can be an affordable way to put your business into its own virtual storefront.
Take a look at your business and budget and choose the method best suited to your needs!
Webmaster Staffing - The Easy Way to Grow Your Online Business
By: Amy Remollata
The success of your online business does not end with you having a functional website. Yes, your company now has a webmaster on the payroll full-time and also a design and development staff, but is your web presence paying off? Are you achieving results besides just looking good?
The success of your online business does not end with you having a functional website. Yes, your company now has a webmaster on the payroll full-time and also a design and development staff, but is your web presence paying off? Are you achieving results besides just looking good?
Do you need to make substantial changes, additions, or upgrades to your site? Do the changes require new technology you have little experience with? Do you have the necessary skills to maintain your site in the future? Is your site turning up as a liability rather than an asset?
If you answer yes to two or more of these questions, then start considering outsourcing as the ultimate answer to your online business dilemma.
Outsourcing internet marketing services is not a new trend, yet many people are unaware of its potential. There is a lot of uncertainty, skepticism and criticisms about outsourcing. However, there are certain parts of your internet marketing campaign that can be safely outsourced.
One of these is search engine optimization (SEO). The objective of this service is to increase the amount of visitors to your site by ranking high in the search result of a search engine. By its very nature, SEO is resource intensive. Most of the directories and search engines don-t approve of automatic submissions. They prefer manual submission for approval.
Outsourcing SEO to a professional internet marketing firm will give you your desired results with just a little investment. More and more companies are making use of outsourcing and technology to get competitive advantage.
You reduce costs by nearly eliminating personnel training, human resource turnover expenses and gain more qualified personnel for your dollar. At the same time you are assured that your marketing campaigns are overseen by people who are very qualified.
Outsourcing is probably the most powerful internet marketing method. By being able to save time, does more than one project at a time, and making more money, marketers accepted outsourcing as one of the major factors of internet marketing success.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
101 Business Website Ideas
Below you'll find a complete list of business website starter ideas. Choose the one (or two) that best fits your area of interest or expertise. You'll find many of these on the list of 101 personal Website ideas also, as many personal sites turn into business sites.
1. Scenic Photography -- Buying and distributing photographs to calendar companies, postcard companies, magazines, etc...
2. Baby Tips -- Have a resource site for new and/or expectant mothers and sell related products.
3. Wedding Ideas -- Make deals with local catering services, photographers, and bridal shops to receive a commission for sales generated from your Website.
4. Parenting Tips -- Write an informational e-book about parenting.
5. Pet Training -- Pet store online with free tips on training and grooming.
6. Camping -- Camping tips and resources.
7. Fishing
8. Travel (Tell others about the places your family has travelled - provide photos, maps, great eating places, etc. You can distribute a monthly "paid" newsletter about travel.)
9. College Resources (School supplies distributor, online college bookstore, etc.)
10. Crafts
11. Wood Products (Ideas for creative wood furniture along with instructions and material resources.)
12. Sewing (Share your special sewing techniques with others around the world.)
13. Office Organization (You'll find that people who run a busy office are always looking for ways to improve the office atmosphere. You can show how to organize, prepare paperwork, manage and distribute work load, etc.)
14. Music (Music lovers will adore you for building a resource site for music lyrics, musical instruments and where to get them, music reading tips, etc...)
15. Movies
16. Advertising
17. Gardening
18. Sports
19. Computer Training
20. Ceramics
21. Electronics
22. Business Services -- Bookeeping, transcription, accounting, computer programming, etc.
23. Special Interest (Perhaps you're a huge fan of a certain collectible item and would like to become a distributor or reseller.)
24. Horseback Riding Resources and Supplies
25. Bike Riding Resources and Supplies
26. Mountain Climbing Resources and Supplies
27. Racing
28. Fishing
29. Writing -- Provide writing secrets in a paid monthly newsletter.
30. Reading -- Provide services or materials that help children learn to read.
31. Surfing (in the ocean, of course)
32. Singing Lessons
33. Teaching Skill Course
34. Composing Music -- Resources
35. Instrumental (piano, guitar, drums, trumpet, etc...)
36. Cooking Tips -- Offer a cooking tips newsletter.
37. Cooking Recipes (Perhaps you've discovered the secret to cooking brocolli casserole just right, or... know someone who has?)
38. Jokes (Build a site of jokes to keep your visitors laughing and laughing and laughing...ha...ha... Send a joke a day via email for a small fee.)
39. Comedy (Not limited to jokes, but just fun stuff you find on the Web.)
40. Art -- Open an online art gallery.
41. Astronomy
42. Chemistry (Maybe you've found a simple solution to help students improve their understanding of chemistry and could sell a report about it.)
43. Engineering
44. Electronics
45. Vitamins
46. Medicine
47. Herbs
48. Mountains -- Books about, reports, travel guides
49. Oceans
50. Mysterious Discoveries -- Newsletter, books about, reports
51. Animals
52. Cultures -- Newsletter, reports, books
53. Religion
54. Geography -- Maps, guides, pictures, etc.
55. Holidays (Have a Holiday theme for your site - change your site to suit each season.)
56. Languages (Include a listing of each language you can find and provide links to Websites that teach different languages.)
57. Enviroment
58. Boating
59. Government
60. Psychology
61. Games (Provide links to places where people can play free games online -- not necessarily gambling -- but, Monopoly, Scrabble, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy found at Sony.com, etc.....)
62. Interior Decorating
63. Catering
64. Fashion
65. Farming
66. Garage/Yard Sales
67. Weather
68. Women
69. Men
70. Health
71. Excercise
72. Retirement (Information about successful retirement, best retirement locations in the world, money management, etc....)
73. Stock Market/Investing
74. Special Interest Books
75. Vacationing
76. Weight Loss (Tell how you lost weight to help others.)
77. Aging
78. Teenage Years
79. Home Care and Aid (Give tips about how to care for elderly or disabled loved ones, resources for medical assistance, etc...)
80. Grandparenting
81. Handy Work (Maybe you can offer great tips for fixing things around the house.)
82. Tools
83. Flying (airplanes, helicopters, etc....)
84. House Keeping
85. Flowers
86. Pottery
87. Children (Develop a site for children or about children.)
88. Gold/Silver (coin collections, value, going prices)
89. Unique Jewely
90. Cosmetics/Beauty
91. Hunting
92. National Parks
93. Archeology (An up-to-date factual site about ancient artifacts or a study of the history of archeology will be sufficient.)
94. Poetry
95. Shopping (Tell about your shopping experiences with local stores or National chains.)
96. Real Estate (Provide a free real estate site for your area.)
97. Safety (First aid tips and maneuver demonstrations for life-saving.)
98. Science Fiction
99. Marriage Secrets (Tips for men and women to make their marriage work.)
100. News (Provide daily or weekly updated news for your local region.)
101. Entertainment (Your local area may benefit from an informative entertainment site -- new movie arrivals at the theater, special events in your town or surrounding areas, etc....)
Increase Web Site Traffic With These 7 Ways
You've got some content on your site. You are looking to get the word about your site out there. Getting a marked increase in web site traffic can be a challenging task for webmasters, especially aspiring webmasters. Internet traffic plays a huge role in determining the success of your web site.
Don't have enough traffic? Then you won't have enough opportunities for visitors to perform your most desired action. This action could range from getting your visitor to subscribe to your newsletter or to contact you for more information about your business.
So how do you get that increase in web site traffic you want? There are a variety of ways, both free and paid, to get more web site traffic. You could go about getting any type of traffic, but that wouldn't help much unless it was targeted. Targeted visitors are more valuable. Targeted visitors come to your site with the right frame of mind. They are hoping that your site will provide them with the information they are looking for.
1. Search engines
Search engines can provide an enormous increase in web site traffic. Search engine spiders can find you through their daily travels on the web. However, it doesn't hurt to manually submit your site to search engines. And if you want to increase the chances that you'll be found in search engine rankings, read up on search engine optimization.
2. Link exchanging
When you exchange links with relevant, non-competing sites, you add value to your web site. If your visitors can't find what they're looking for on
your web site, your links may help them. And if you have only high-quality links, you'll increase the chance that your visitors will come back to your web site.
3. Submit to directories
Submit to major directories like the Open Directory Project and Zeal so that your web site becomes more visible. Also submit to themed directories with topics relevant to your web site. Smaller directories may not be too beneficial in terms of web site traffic but they can give you more inbound links.
4. Pay-per-click advertising
Pay-per-click advertising can help you get more web site traffic. Pay-per-click advertising is a popular form of advertising where you pay for an ad to be included in specific search engine results pages. It's easy to lose money with this type of advertising so get a guide. Pay-per-click advertising can deliver targeted traffic to your site as interested visitors click on your ad. Make your ad specific and bring them to a relevant page on your web site.
5. Submit articles
Write excellent articles about your web site's topic. Articles can increase your reputation and establish you as an expert in your field. Or they can shine a negative light on you if you submit total garbage. If your articles keep readers interested, then they may want to visit your site for more information.
6. Word of mouth
Tell everyone you know about your web site. If your web site is excellent or stands out from the crowd, the word will spread as more and more people hear about it. If it works, the effect can be huge. So do whatever you can to mention your site in your daily contact. For example, add an email signature to promote your web site.
7. Traffic exchange
You have to be careful with traffic exchanges. Some programs tend to be very untargeted as they simply show pages to members. However, there are programs that can bring in more targeted visitors. Some programs let you show ads so only visitors who are interested will come to your web site.
Powerful Tips for Super Fast Mini Site Profits!
There are many ways to make money from “mini sites”. Mini Site for a general definition usually means a very small site with only a few pages (3 to 10).
However today I am solely concentrating on selling a “single product”. This can be an ebook, piece of software, a service or even simply “list building”.
**The Most Important Factor!
The main thrust of any highly profitable mini site is in the planning.
Once this has been achieved "you must see through to the end your action and marketing plan/system."
I have seen too many times people build sites and products only to quit without going the whole course.
I have a current client with an excellent ebook of which the topic has huge demand and his book is only one of two on the market.
Like he stated; “I have put six months, time, effort and money into this book, I am not going to quit now”.
With a little testing, editing and site marketing, we will have his book selling 500 to 1000% more copies within a month or so.
So don’t get to the 80% point of you work and then quit.
Do a bit more testing, build a better linking campaign, write that pop-up course, launch that press release, do more research, get your sales copy professionally written, have your ebook edited by an expert, get help if you need to.
Plan to Succeed and Succeed by Finishing!
**Your Product – Is There Demand?
Simple & quick ways to ascertain if demand for your product or service is present before taking steps to create it.
1. Use Nichebot (http://www.nichebot.com/) & Word Tracker (http://www.wordtracker.com) to research your keywords and get an idea of competition.
2. After choosing your keyword/s, do a search on Google and see how many “adwords” (right hand side of the screen) advertisements appear.
Click on these ads to see “exactly what” they are selling. Are they selling a product the same or similar to yours and at what price? Set up an excel file and check the same keywords over a two week period, who’s advert stays and who’s drops off?
It is best to change your Google ‘preferences’ to show 100 search findings to examine the ads more easily.
3. Set up your own free Adwords account (https://adwords.google.com/select/) and see what amounts are being bid for your given keyword.
The next few tasks also help with the above however it will help you deicide whether there is an exact need for your own product.
1. Do a search for your keywords on Overture (http://www.content.overture.com/d/). Under the top search result click on “sponsored linking” and then click the “view bids tool”.
This will give you the prices of all bids. In general a higher price means that there is much competition and demand for that keyword and product.
Click on a few these links to see exactly what is being sold.
2. Start asking questions on forums associated with your business and product. Does anyone own similar products, what was good about the product or bad, improvements that could be made and so on?
3. Get a survey done.
4. Write a short email course, set-up a website and get traffic to the site using Adwords. At the end of the course get subscribers to fill out a survey stating whether they would find your new product useful and if they would purchase it.
**Product – Service Production
This is part is straight forward really. Being that it’s your own product, you should already know how to produce it or least some idea.
I will say that if you are writing an ebook, by far the easiest method is to produce it in Microsoft “word” or similar and then convert it into “Pdf” using Adobe Acrobat 7.
**Setting Up
Again, setting up your website, domain name, etc can be done quite easily and inexpensively.
**Testing
You must split test! This simply means to test different parts of your sales copy, headings, pictures, price that is on your sales page to achieve the highest sales percentages (website hits to sales).
At this stage though you have a choice!
You can split test your product by driving clients to your site using “paid methods” such as Adwords (https://adwords.google.com/select/).
Or
You can start building traffic to your site and then test with free traffic.
Or
The best option, do both at the same time!
Let me make this very clear. Testing can and does make & break many businesses!
Fail to test and your business can under or you could be loosing $10,000’s lost revenue every year. Do not fail to test.
**Marketing Your Mini Site
On of the best ways to market your own product is with an affiliate program. You can have hundreds if not thousands of people advertising your product or service all over the net for free.
Here are several top affiliate services currently on the market:
http://www.clickbank.com
http://www.cj.com (Commission Junction)
http://paydotcom.com
At this stage we get into the nuts and bolts of web traffic and marketing however as much of this is similar for some sites I will cover web traffic methods in detail in the following section.
**Planning & Your Budget
After completing your research you should plan you whole business campaign and prepare and research a budget.
What will you do yourself and what will you outsource? Items to think about are:
Web Design
Sales Copy
Affiliate Setup
Accepting Payments
Download Area (If an online product)
Delivery
Marketing & Web Traffic
If you are a small business much of this can be handled by a staff member to set up or organize. If a solopreneur the same can be done.
**Sales copy – a word of warning!
If you have no sales copy experience, you will improve with time spent online.
Even so, although I have many years of experience I still outsource my major copy writing needs. Copy writing is a highly acquired skill and while good copy will make you a lot of money, bad copy will…….
So bottom line. If you have no skill in copy writing, outsource it.
**That’s it! Start you marketing campaign and watch the profits flood in!
Do You Really Own Your Web Site? Maybe Not
Here are some important tips for you to remember and some questions to ask your web site design or development company. If you don't understand the 'ownership' issues when you are buying a web site design or web based application, this is must read material for you! Don't get caught paying twice.
I recently interviewed a new client who was looking to add the functionality of a database to their existing web site. Their current webmaster had completed a business logo and designed the initial interface for the site. The clients asked their webmaster for a quote to add the functionality to the site and he returned a price that far exceeded the clients’ budget.
Long story made short, we found a great application that already exists that would meet the clients’ needs for substantially less than custom development. The client advised the previous webmaster that they were moving services. Do you think they got to keep their original web site? Nope. We had to start over again, which unfortunately meant that this customer had to pay for extra design time that they had effectively already paid for.
Here are some important tips for you to remember and some questions to ask your web site design or development company.
Web Design Source Code
When you hire a web designer or a developer they are going to produce a web site or web based application that your business is going to be dependant on. In fact, a web application may be your whole business. This is absolutely the case where a business is 100% online and depends on the process built into their web site. E-commerce stores are a perfect example of a whole business online.
Web designers create web pages with a compilation of images and hyper-text markup language (HTML). The HTML is a text based standard language that most every web designer in the world knows. The HTML is what is used to hold the structure of your web site together. It keeps the pretty pictures and text all in the right places. Your web browser interprets that HTML and shows you the web site images and text.
Your web designer will start your design by “drawing” your web site in a graphics program. Macromedia Fireworks and Photoshop are two tools that are very often used by professionals. Your designer will draw the site using shapes, colors, images and fonts that are all piled up in layers to create the final “look and feel” for your new web site design. The designers will then slice up the images and use the resulting smaller images to build your working website using HTML to hold it all together.
Here is the key. You need the original art file that was used to design your web site in Macromedia Fireworks or Photoshop or whatever software your designer uses. If you don’t get the source file, your next web designer will have to start your design from scratch if you want artwork changes. This is no walk in the park if the original images that were used are not available. Macromedia Fireworks source files have the extension .PNG (yourWebsite.PNG). Photoshop files have the extension .PSD (yourWebsite.PSD).
Another design issue that you may run into in the future is fonts. If your designer uses fancy fonts that are not installed by default on your computer or your future designers computer, you will have to substitute different fonts. In some cases, choosing a new font is not a big issue. However, if you could image that the font used in the logo for Coca-Cola® became unavailable because Coke® changed designers it would most likely cause them real damage. They need the font used in their logo or corporate branding and so do you!
Questions to ask your web designer
1) When you are finished designing my web site will you provide me with the source files used in the design of my new web site?
2) Will you transfer the ownership (copyright) of these source files to me or my company? Or at least give me perpetual license to continue using them and to make revisions?
3) Will you provide me with the names and files for all non-windows fonts used in the design of my new web site? At the very least, because there may be real copyright issues with transferring the fonts, you need to know the names of the fonts and where you can buy copies of them for your project archive.
Web Application Source Code
Web developers create programs that work as applications on the internet. They create code that is compiled, usually in real-time, at the web server. The code will, for example, connect to a database and extract a set of data. The data will then be compiled into an HTML table (so that it is readable) and then sent from the web server to your web browser as pure HTML. You will not be able to “view source” and read the scripting language because it never leaves the web server. If you “view source” from the web browser, you will only see the HTML.
Some of the code that your developer writes will be protected by copyright. Your developer may also buy code in the form of server components, use code blocks for functionality from other programmers or purchase complete application in order to finish your program. You need to ensure that the developer tells you that you can continue to use the software that they develop for your business for an unlimited period of time, and that if there are any licensing restrictions or reoccurring licensing costs that they are disclosed to you before you start the project. Find out if you will be bound forever to a hosting or server plan for you application.
Here are some questions you may want to ask your web developer
1) Will you transfer an unlimited a perpetual license to me or my company to use the application that you develop for me?
2) Will you disclose any licensing restrictions to me regarding the application?
3) Will you write code using common standards or languages that I will be able to move to another hosting provider or eventually to my own server?
4) Can I move my application to another server in the future if it is necessary?
Use of Encryption
So your web developer says “yes” to the last four questions and you think, “great, I’m home free, let’s get started”. Then two years later you decide it’s time to move your web application to your own servers because your e-commerce store is screaming busy and the cost of bandwidth and hosting is killing your profits.
You start the process to move your application to your new server and call up your webmaster for help, but he has gone to University in the states and “isn’t doing that anymore”. You think to yourself, “I guess I should have used a more established company…” So you find a new webmaster. Incidentally, I am often told by new clients that I am their second, third and sometimes even fourth web developer. So we go to move the web site, but wait, something is wrong… portions of the source code are encrypted. Even the government couldn’t decrypt it. We have to rewrite those blocks of code and the client has to pay… again.
If your web sites source HTML or application scripting language is encrypted then it may have to be rewritten or you will have no way to add functionality, or to fix bugs, without involving the original developer who holds the key to the encryption. They are quite clever, aren’t they?
There are some good reasons to encrypt some portions of the source code, even on in a web application. Most web applications will contain, in the source code, the database, username and password within one of the files. This is a great example of a code block that should be encrypted before it is placed into a shared hosting environment.
If your web developer is going to encrypt portions of the source code, make sure you get a copy of the unencrypted source code for your project archive. In this manner you will be able to work with a new developer.
Questions to ask your web developer regarding encryption
1) Will you be encrypting any or all of the source code in the application you are developing for me?
2) Will you provide me with a copy of the original source code prior to being encrypted?
Technologies
There are a number of technologies used in the development of web sites and web applications they include Pre-Hypertext Processor (PHP), Active Server Pages (ASP), Active Sever Pages dot Net (ASP.NET), and Cold Fusion to name a few. All of these scripting languages facilitate connecting web sites to databases and accessing functionality on the web server such as sending mail or uploading files. All of these technologies are widely used, widely available and there is a great number of developers that know these languages. There are some lesser known programming and scripting languages that may be able to do a lot of the same things as the more widely used languages. The pitfall is that you may have a more difficult time finding a programmer that knows the language.
Some web scripting or programming languages like Microsoft’s® Active Server Page or Active Server Page dot Net technologies are developed specifically for use on the Mircrosoft operating systems. These technologies are difficult, if not impossible, to run on a Linux operating system. When your programmer selects a language to develop your web application with, he may be marrying you to a long term relationship with a particular operating systems and software vendor. This is okay as long as you recognize the long term ramifications of these choices, some of which may be greater costs to you in the future.
Questions to ask your web developer regarding programming languages
1) Is the technology you use tied to one particular operating system or can I host my web site on my choice of servers with my choice of operating system? More specifically, can I host my application on a Microsoft web server and a Linux server?
Transferability
Make sure that you are able to move your web site to a server with comparable standards in the future should you wish to do so. Moving a web site to a new server is not necessarily due to a break down in the relationship with your web designer. You may be forced to move if your existing server can no longer handle your traffic bandwidth. If your costs become too high in a shared hosting environment you may find it more economical to setup your own web server and host your own application.
If you do choose to host your own application this is where the cost ramifications of your earlier choices will hit your pocket book. For example if your site was developed using PHP, an open-source scripting language for websites, then the cost of your new server will likely not include any software licensing because the operating system (Linux) is free. If on the other hand your site is developed using .ASP or .ASP.NET, you are going to have to buy expensive server licenses from the big guy.
Can You Use Your Site Into the Future?
If you commission a web designer or developer to complete a project for you make sure that you have an agreement in place that clearly specifies that you can continue to use the project and the related source files when it is completed. Check the service agreement that you have signed with your web company. Of course if there is no documentation then you will not know if you own you web site or web-based application.
In Summary
There are some good reasons for web designers and developers to protect their rights and to ensure their future earning potential. As the client or purchaser of web design services you need to understand where you stand with regard to choices that will be made on your behalf regarding your web site or web based application.
Valuable Niche Markets
If you are attempting to start a business online or if you are simply trying to increase your traffic and revenue, focusing on a niche market can give you the edge that you need in order to reach the high goals that you have most assuredly set for yourself. There are so many different niches in the overall market that any web site on any topic can find a niche and fill it. When you specialize, you are more likely to succeed.
The most powerful tactic in the history of warfare is the classic divide and conquer routine. You can make an obscene amount of money if you can take over one niche market and then another and another. Focusing on smaller groups of people and dominating their needs in a particular area is the best way to effectively spend your resources.
When you attempt to evaluate your market keep in mind that there are people in your market that you wouldn’t normally associate with it. There are a small number of people who live in the suburbs who would like to wear cowboy boots. If you can target your products at groups such as these you are more likely to sell to them than someone who would target the cowboy boots to... well.. cowboys.
Finding niche markets can be a daunting task. Basically, you can ask yourself a few questions that will assist you in finding the niche market that is right for you.
1. What experience do you have with the products that you are selling? If you are an expert in the field of your sales, you are more likely to succeed than most. Try to come up with the reason that you got interested in the products that you sell. Figure out what kind of people are most likely to be interested in your products and then try to come up with some groups that aren’t so quickly thought of but that may find it fashionable or interesting to purchase your products.
2. Who was the product that you are selling designed for? Cowboy boots were designed for cowboys. There are people who have never stepped foot on a farm who will wear cowboy boots, but they were designed for cowboys. Try to think of what group of people the product was designed for and what other groups can be cut out of the same mold. I.E. country folks, suburbanites, city dwellers, inter-city dwellers. You are not as likely to sell cowboy boots to inter-city people as you are to suburbanites.
3. Are any of these groups already targeted for your product? If somebody is already targeting the niche that you came up with, you may be able to decipher whether or not there is still room in that market for you. If your competition has been selling the cowboy boots like hot cakes in the suburbs there may still be time for you to make some money off of them.
4. Can you target your niche better than anyone else? If there are already companies selling your product to the group that you wanted to select as your niche market, you still may be able to be the most successful. Just because you are not the first doesn’t mean that you can’t be the best. If you can target a group of people better than anyone else due to some experience, tendency, or inborn characteristic, go for it. Competition is important, without competition nobody would ever become successful.
5. How well can you optimize your niche for search engines? You may be able to come up with an excellent niche market that you can provide for better than anyone else. This niche may be completely original, and you may have the resources necessary to really get it off the ground. But does it have the potential to top any search result sheet? Will anyone ever come looking for it? If not you may have to start off by advertising on pay per click advertising services such as adwords before you get a chance to really thrive on your fresh new niche market.
If your niche market can fill up a few slots for key words you are in better shape than most. It is normally very difficult to come up with good, comprehensive key words for your web pages. The best situation that you can encounter is one in which your key words are more or less laid out for you. If you have a catchy little gimmick or a highly targeted niche market you should be able to come up with a good set of relevant key words. Having relevant key words is most of the battle in the whole SEO game. Any SEO that can come up with a good, comprehensive list of key words will probably do quite well in the world of business.
Increase Conversion Rate In No Time!
Identifying your site’s conversion rate is vital to determine whether your site is surviving the internet business or not! Conversion rate refers to the number of site visitors that are converted into customers. The higher your site’s conversion rate is, the higher is its sales and return on investment. Sales and ROI are directly proportional with the conversion rate. Along with your efforts of improving your website, you should also consider improving your site’s conversion rate. Here are some of the effective strategies you can use in ensuring that your site gets the best conversion rate it could possibly have.
- Maintain honesty in dealing with your customers.
- Don’t waste your visitors’ time.
- Offer a reasonable return policy.
- Provide your customers various payment alternatives.
- Identify your Unique Selling Point.
More often than not, online customers appreciate honesty. If you are running out of a particular product, tell your customers right away so they won’t expect for it. Just imagine what your customers will feel if they go on the usual procedure of adding the product to their online cart only to find out that the product is out of stock? This could be a reason enough for your customers to be annoyed and purchase from your competitor instead.
Even when it comes to pricing, be very honest with your customers. Avoid the idea of hiding additional charges – like shipment charges. Tell your visitors right away if the price is inclusive or not of shipment charge and other additional costs. It can be frustrating enough to have budget your money then later on find out you still need to pay for additional costs, right?
Online shoppers and users are usually the busy ones. Don’t waste their time by letting them fill up too many boxes just to be able to purchase your product or service. To ensure they will purchase from your site, ask only for the most relevant information. If they see that they need to fill up pages of forms, they might just leave your site and transfer to other sites where less information is required.
Admit or not, there will be an instance wherein the customers are not fully satisfied with your products – for instance a dress doesn’t fit. When instances like this happen, what guarantee can you give to your customers that they won’t end up being the loser in the transaction? In these cases, the return policy becomes beneficial. It makes your customers more at ease in pursuing the purchase.
It will be a whole lot easier and comfortable for your customers if they will be given various alternatives when it comes to payment. There may be customers who don’t have a credit card so provide them with a different alternative. This will increase the number of your site’s customers; thus, increasing your site’s conversion rate, as well.
From the name itself, USP or Unique Selling Point is your business’ unique edge over your competitors. It is the factor that lets your customers decide to purchase from your site instead from your competitors’.
Simple as they may seem, these strategies actually work and they can really be trusted. Follow these simple strategies and your conversion rate is bound to boom in no time!