Ebay is such an awesome company. I have been registered since 2001, but didn't even use it until April 2004, and then after using it for a few weeks, decided to open an eBay business. Amazing.
Open a business on eBay. It's easy to do and costs very little to get going. If you've thought about having your own business, here is a great way to test it out. Open an eBay store for $15.95 per month and then put things in there, develop a marketing style and plan and then expand as you see fit. What's powerful about starting an eBay business is that you can--anyone can. What an awesome opportunity this is. To have the world at your door. Incredible.
Of course, a business is one aspect of eBay. I buy so many things there it is amazing. I buy shipping supplies, books, audiobooks, music, movies, electric woks, hair coloring, collectibles, and much more. My business partner bought a pool table on eBay! Ebay has everything it seems. Being able to find items, and find excellent pricing is part of the eBay experience. Sometimes things are an incredible bargain, other times, they are just at the bottom end of the market, but it is almost always good. I rarely need to search elsewhere.
I love the feedback scoring thing. I've given over 13,300 feedbacks to other people and have received over 10,600 feedbacks myself. I've never needed to give a negative feedback. As a seller I have received about 4 negative feedbacks, but they were not reasonable people. Ebay has now made some changes so that it is a bit harder to leave a negative feedback. If it is deserved, that is a great a powerful tool for a consumer. With my guarantee, it is impossible for someone to leave a legitimate negative feedback because I absolutely guarantee their satisfaction including free replacement. Nonetheless, the feedback system is overall a very positive thing to me. I would love to have the feedback score and comments listed on every business everywhere I go. If I am buying on eBay and see a number of negative feedbacks, I go elsewhere and rightly so. People are saying these guys are not good business people, so avoid them. What a powerful tool.
Ebay has made a lot of changes in the last few years and that has upset a lot of people who have been long time sellers. Business is always changing. It is still a great opportunity. Matter of fact, I promote eBay wherever I go. I try to encourage businesses that we build a website for to try selling some things on eBay. It is really easy. We coach people on building an eBay income stream and help them make it effective quickly. eBay is a great place to move some of that old inventory you might be sitting on.
At our www.delsoutlet.com eBay store, we get the best prices for our merchandise. We have tried other avenues, but eBay so far is the best overall. Of course, for the best prices, we give the ultimate in service. I have no interest in being the lowest price out there because I cannot afford to provide any service at those prices. My prices are fair, but I get a better overall return on eBay--even after eBay's fees. What that means to you, is that you should get the best prices on your items as well. It is a competitive market; however, you do not have to work the low end to be successful. Selling books for a dollar is a waste of energy to me, but there are a lot of sellers who do this. My average on eBay for used books is over $10, so that works for me. We also use eBay's half.com. Our half.com shop, www.delsbooks.com doesn't get the same return that eBay does (one reason is that at half.com, sales are to the US market only), but there are no up front fees, so that keeps the operating costs a bit lower. Ebay works better, but I use them both.
Ebay stores have set pricing and you can have a set price plus a best offer feature so that if someone likes your item, but feels the price is high, they can make an offer and you can choose to accept it, decline it or submit a counter-offer. I just sold a book for $50 where they offered me $20 and I had it listed for $95. They made two offers, and I made two counter offers and finally decided that $50 would work for me in today's market. That is a great feature for me. It was a very rare book and I knew they could not beat the price, but it was fair to both of us. In another market environment I might get $75 or even my asking price of $95. The price that the customer and the seller are happy with is the best price.
Then to add more, you can have sales on items or groups of items and use a percentage discount or a dollar amount. These are some good marketing tools that didn't exist a couple years ago on eBay. In addition, because eBay started with auctions, you can put some things on auction, then into your store if they don't sell and then take some out of your store and put them on auction and so on. You can even automate some of that process. There are a lot of ways to move things around to try different things to sell it. It is a very flexible environment.
When you are selling more, you can add features that allow you to do bulk email notices, bulk feedback and a lot of other features that really save you time and effort. They also have a wealth of various reports you can view and download to help you make decisions about your business. You can also customize your stores look and features. They now have up to 300 categories where a couple of years ago it was only 20. They are constantly improving things and adding features. Any negatives to me are offset by their constant improvements.
From buying almost any thing new or used, to opening your own business online out of your bedroom or garage and be able to sell to the entire world, to the researching of your interests, eBay has a world of things to love. Then, they also have their other companies that they have acquired over time such as PayPal, half.com, ProStores, Rent.com, Kijiji, MicroPlace, Shopping.com, Skype, StubHub, StumbleUpon. What's not to like? Great company, great services, great service.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
I'm A Raving Fan Of The U.S. Postal Service
In yesterday's post I talked about why I was a huge fan of Amazon.com. Today I want to share why I am a raving fan of the United States Postal Service.
Before 2004, I used to make comments along with many others around me about the US Postal Service. They weren't complimentary. We used to call their service the Snail Mail. We made fun of postal employees, talked about the terrible service, standing in long lines at the Post Office and just generally put them down. The truth is that I didn't do very much with the Post Office and didn't have a lot of experience with them, except that they brought my mail every day--that is, until I went into business selling books, video and music on eBay--then I really found out what the Post Office was like.
Since April of 2004, I have become a raving fan of the US Postal Service. I spent over $15,000 in postage in 2007. Most of that was through Media Mail which is the one people make the most fun about. In reality, Media Mail is a bit misunderstood. Media Mail doesn't necessarily mean slow. Matter of fact, it could arrive at the same speed as Priority Mail under good conditions. It's just that it doesn't have to. It just doesn't have the priority; however, the Post Office does an awesome job of keeping it all moving effectively.
I have raving fans about the speed of my service and since most of my mailings go via Media Mail, that speaks very highly of the Postal Service! I do try to ship daily and that helps, but once the Post Office receives it, the rest is on them. They rarely miss in my experience now of shipping thousands of packages.
I also sell some guitars. You might think I would ship via UPS, but you would be wrong. I ship most of them via US Postal Service Priority Mail. On overseas shipments, I ship guitars exclusively with the US Postal Service and either use Priority International or Express Mail International. Since 2004, I have not had one problem with a shipment overseas. The only problem I had anywhere in the world was one shipment of a book to Mexico. That's amazing service considering all the logistics involved.
Damage is always a concern. I package my items so well that I don't think there could be an issue. Since 2004, I have had two damaged items. That makes the percentage so small that it is insignificant.
Lost shipments? None. Long delays. A handful. Just imagine the volume of mail and packages the US Postal Service deals with on a daily basis. It is mind boggling. To deal with that volume and the logistics of every address in the United States along with worldly shipments to other postal services is an incredible task. My hat is off to the Post Office and all their dedicated employees at making this happen every day including Sunday. They may only deliver Monday through Saturday, but the mail is moving 24/7. Speaking of Monday through Saturday. How about Saturday. You won't find that with UPS or FedEx unless you pay a fee.
I tell you this that media type sellers should be standing and cheering every day for the US Postal Service. The low cost Media Mail is what keeps books moving. Take that away and there will be problems in bookdom.
Counter employees. I have seen a lot of counter employees. Some are so tired of their jobs, they should be moved elsewhere in the company, but generally, I find the counter people to be incredibly patient and kind and efficient. There is a lot to know and do and there are a lot of unhappy people to deal with at the counter. Of course, if they knew what I now have learned, they would have a different attitude.
How are customers perceiving you and your service. Are they making fun or raving about your service? Make sure the occasional customers have as high an experience as your long term friends. And, one last thing: Lighten up!
Before 2004, I used to make comments along with many others around me about the US Postal Service. They weren't complimentary. We used to call their service the Snail Mail. We made fun of postal employees, talked about the terrible service, standing in long lines at the Post Office and just generally put them down. The truth is that I didn't do very much with the Post Office and didn't have a lot of experience with them, except that they brought my mail every day--that is, until I went into business selling books, video and music on eBay--then I really found out what the Post Office was like.
Since April of 2004, I have become a raving fan of the US Postal Service. I spent over $15,000 in postage in 2007. Most of that was through Media Mail which is the one people make the most fun about. In reality, Media Mail is a bit misunderstood. Media Mail doesn't necessarily mean slow. Matter of fact, it could arrive at the same speed as Priority Mail under good conditions. It's just that it doesn't have to. It just doesn't have the priority; however, the Post Office does an awesome job of keeping it all moving effectively.
I have raving fans about the speed of my service and since most of my mailings go via Media Mail, that speaks very highly of the Postal Service! I do try to ship daily and that helps, but once the Post Office receives it, the rest is on them. They rarely miss in my experience now of shipping thousands of packages.
I also sell some guitars. You might think I would ship via UPS, but you would be wrong. I ship most of them via US Postal Service Priority Mail. On overseas shipments, I ship guitars exclusively with the US Postal Service and either use Priority International or Express Mail International. Since 2004, I have not had one problem with a shipment overseas. The only problem I had anywhere in the world was one shipment of a book to Mexico. That's amazing service considering all the logistics involved.
Damage is always a concern. I package my items so well that I don't think there could be an issue. Since 2004, I have had two damaged items. That makes the percentage so small that it is insignificant.
Lost shipments? None. Long delays. A handful. Just imagine the volume of mail and packages the US Postal Service deals with on a daily basis. It is mind boggling. To deal with that volume and the logistics of every address in the United States along with worldly shipments to other postal services is an incredible task. My hat is off to the Post Office and all their dedicated employees at making this happen every day including Sunday. They may only deliver Monday through Saturday, but the mail is moving 24/7. Speaking of Monday through Saturday. How about Saturday. You won't find that with UPS or FedEx unless you pay a fee.
I tell you this that media type sellers should be standing and cheering every day for the US Postal Service. The low cost Media Mail is what keeps books moving. Take that away and there will be problems in bookdom.
Counter employees. I have seen a lot of counter employees. Some are so tired of their jobs, they should be moved elsewhere in the company, but generally, I find the counter people to be incredibly patient and kind and efficient. There is a lot to know and do and there are a lot of unhappy people to deal with at the counter. Of course, if they knew what I now have learned, they would have a different attitude.
How are customers perceiving you and your service. Are they making fun or raving about your service? Make sure the occasional customers have as high an experience as your long term friends. And, one last thing: Lighten up!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
I'm A Raving Fan Of Amazon.com
It always interests me how someone becomes a huge fan of a company. I know that interests me about my company, and I hope yours as well. So, today, I want to tell you why I love Amazon.com. Maybe there will be some insights in this that you can use in your company.
You might find this strange, but I have over 15,000 books in stock and have a book business on two different online sites and yet I buy a huge number of books from Amazon.com. It doesn't seem like that would make a good deal of sense, but it does. And, I'll tell you why Amazon.com is one of my best 'silent' partners in my book business.
1. First and foremost is that Amazon.com has almost any book you could want in new condition and through their independent sellers (like me), they have a similar selection in used books. I am registered to sell on Amazon.com but haven't gotten around to actually doing it. I sell on eBay and half.com (owned by eBay).
2. My guarantee on my book sites is this: I guarantee that you are pleased--every sale, every time, no exceptions. Pretty simple guarantee and I take it to the maximum meaning. I buy a lot of new and used books. When I am buying a used book and then a day or two later, they send me an email that the book was sold and refund my money, I think that is terrible. It's as if I just wasted two days. Giving me a refund is not sufficient to me. So, in my business, if I cannot find a book (sometimes they hide, although it is almost always temporary), I will many times go to Amazon.com and buy them a brand new copy and have it sent directly to them along with a personal email from me about what I am doing and why. In the case where a new one is not available or out of print, I will find a better quality condition book from another seller and pay for it along with expedited shipping and then a personal note. In any case, I find a book in better condition than the one they bought and I go way out of my way in cost and time to get it to them as a replacement for mine. In the event that I have somehow misdescribed the book; that it is not in the condition I stated it to be in, I will refund their money in full AND send the replacement. I have paid as much as $55 out of pocket to purchase a book that is an effective replacement. That means I lose money on that sale, but gain a customer perhaps for life! Think about it. If someone took care of you like that, how would it make you feel?
3. When I buy a new replacement through Amazon.com, it goes via 2-day expedited shipping. Fast always impresses my customers. With Amazon.com I am able to put a personal note in the package and also to see that an invoice is not included. The really cool thing about this is that Amazon.com has this program called "Prime." Prime membership costs around $100 a year, but you get 2-day shipping free on almost all your new purchases. I can assure you that with my volume of purchases at Amazon.com, they are losing money on me on the shipping, but they are way ahead with me as a large customer! The Prime membership makes me a hero for a nominal cost. Great feature.
4. The pricing at Amazon.com is always good. I have an account at Barnes & Noble.com and buy some things there, but I have grown accustomed to the Amazon.com service and they also have a much larger used book source than others. Buying used on Amazon.com is not nearly the good experience as buying directly from Amazon, but it is acceptable. I remember sending a music CD to Italy and when it arrived, it was not the exact one they wanted. I found a new one on Amazon.com and had it drop shipped directly to Italy with no hassle whatsoever. Since I ship all over the world, that is an important thing to know. Amazon.com's charges for the shipping overseas was reasonable whereas many companies I have looked at were way out there. All these things build trust and confidence.
5. There is information about each item that Amazon.com sells directly. Many even have independent reviews or comments. I don't use this a lot, but sometimes it helps me make sure I am getting the book I think I want.
6. The check out process is easy and the follow up emails are clear. It is a rare occassion that Amazon.com does not hit their initial target delivery time. When that happens, they let me know via email and keep me posted until it is done.
7. I have now purchased many other items from Amazon.com because of the experience I have in buying books, music, video and audiobooks. As a small example, I had a salad spinner that we loved and worked great. One day it stopped working. I went to Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart and could not find it anywhere. I went on Amazon.com and there it was. I'm a happy camper again. You would be amazed what is on Amazon.com now. I still buy a huge amount on eBay, but Amazon.com is the second place I look.
What's the bottom line? Building trust and confidence through the shopping and buying experience. How are your customers perceiving you? I'm a raving fan of Amazon.com. Do you have any raving fans? What might they rave about? In my book business, my fans rave about fast shipping. Go look at our feedbacks and you will see that over and over again. That is powerful for a bookseller because that is not common with a bookseller. Our eBay store is http://www.delsoutlet.com/. You might want to find a way to get your customers feedback. Raving fans are so much fun--and profitable.
You might find this strange, but I have over 15,000 books in stock and have a book business on two different online sites and yet I buy a huge number of books from Amazon.com. It doesn't seem like that would make a good deal of sense, but it does. And, I'll tell you why Amazon.com is one of my best 'silent' partners in my book business.
1. First and foremost is that Amazon.com has almost any book you could want in new condition and through their independent sellers (like me), they have a similar selection in used books. I am registered to sell on Amazon.com but haven't gotten around to actually doing it. I sell on eBay and half.com (owned by eBay).
2. My guarantee on my book sites is this: I guarantee that you are pleased--every sale, every time, no exceptions. Pretty simple guarantee and I take it to the maximum meaning. I buy a lot of new and used books. When I am buying a used book and then a day or two later, they send me an email that the book was sold and refund my money, I think that is terrible. It's as if I just wasted two days. Giving me a refund is not sufficient to me. So, in my business, if I cannot find a book (sometimes they hide, although it is almost always temporary), I will many times go to Amazon.com and buy them a brand new copy and have it sent directly to them along with a personal email from me about what I am doing and why. In the case where a new one is not available or out of print, I will find a better quality condition book from another seller and pay for it along with expedited shipping and then a personal note. In any case, I find a book in better condition than the one they bought and I go way out of my way in cost and time to get it to them as a replacement for mine. In the event that I have somehow misdescribed the book; that it is not in the condition I stated it to be in, I will refund their money in full AND send the replacement. I have paid as much as $55 out of pocket to purchase a book that is an effective replacement. That means I lose money on that sale, but gain a customer perhaps for life! Think about it. If someone took care of you like that, how would it make you feel?
3. When I buy a new replacement through Amazon.com, it goes via 2-day expedited shipping. Fast always impresses my customers. With Amazon.com I am able to put a personal note in the package and also to see that an invoice is not included. The really cool thing about this is that Amazon.com has this program called "Prime." Prime membership costs around $100 a year, but you get 2-day shipping free on almost all your new purchases. I can assure you that with my volume of purchases at Amazon.com, they are losing money on me on the shipping, but they are way ahead with me as a large customer! The Prime membership makes me a hero for a nominal cost. Great feature.
4. The pricing at Amazon.com is always good. I have an account at Barnes & Noble.com and buy some things there, but I have grown accustomed to the Amazon.com service and they also have a much larger used book source than others. Buying used on Amazon.com is not nearly the good experience as buying directly from Amazon, but it is acceptable. I remember sending a music CD to Italy and when it arrived, it was not the exact one they wanted. I found a new one on Amazon.com and had it drop shipped directly to Italy with no hassle whatsoever. Since I ship all over the world, that is an important thing to know. Amazon.com's charges for the shipping overseas was reasonable whereas many companies I have looked at were way out there. All these things build trust and confidence.
5. There is information about each item that Amazon.com sells directly. Many even have independent reviews or comments. I don't use this a lot, but sometimes it helps me make sure I am getting the book I think I want.
6. The check out process is easy and the follow up emails are clear. It is a rare occassion that Amazon.com does not hit their initial target delivery time. When that happens, they let me know via email and keep me posted until it is done.
7. I have now purchased many other items from Amazon.com because of the experience I have in buying books, music, video and audiobooks. As a small example, I had a salad spinner that we loved and worked great. One day it stopped working. I went to Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart and could not find it anywhere. I went on Amazon.com and there it was. I'm a happy camper again. You would be amazed what is on Amazon.com now. I still buy a huge amount on eBay, but Amazon.com is the second place I look.
What's the bottom line? Building trust and confidence through the shopping and buying experience. How are your customers perceiving you? I'm a raving fan of Amazon.com. Do you have any raving fans? What might they rave about? In my book business, my fans rave about fast shipping. Go look at our feedbacks and you will see that over and over again. That is powerful for a bookseller because that is not common with a bookseller. Our eBay store is http://www.delsoutlet.com/. You might want to find a way to get your customers feedback. Raving fans are so much fun--and profitable.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Background Music Is Important
Background music. You hear it in a lot of places from Starbucks to Mervyn's to the mall to the call you are on hold with. You probably take it for granted, but it is extremely important.
My partner and I were at a Farmers Market event yesterday and the person who coordinated the event made sure to have a good speaker system and some good choices of music to play during the event. It was in a small park and I was sitting on a bench and reflecting how pleasant it was. Then I focused on the music. It was so perfect. Just the right volume. Not overpowering, but you can hear it well. Good choices of music--some Jack Jones, some Doobie Bros., a little of this and that. Very pleasant.
The music really set the mood. Sellers were busy selling their vegetables and fruit and hot dogs and flowers and here is the key ingredient: people were hanging around. They didn't just come and buy and go, they felt comfortable and stayed. I stayed almost two hours. I complimented the coordinator on having the music and I told him how important to the event I thought it was.
I sat there and imagined no music. No sounds except that of people chatting a bit and sellers talking to buyers. Boring. I saw everyone leaving quickly. The music is so important because the mood is so important. The mall would be boring without it. I wouldn't shop as long without it. I wouldn't feel as comfortable talking without it. It has great power to smooth and soothe and create a friendly atmosphere.
Next time you hear it in a shop or store. Imagine it without the music. Then notice how much better your experience is with it. Think about that for your own store or office.
My partner and I were at a Farmers Market event yesterday and the person who coordinated the event made sure to have a good speaker system and some good choices of music to play during the event. It was in a small park and I was sitting on a bench and reflecting how pleasant it was. Then I focused on the music. It was so perfect. Just the right volume. Not overpowering, but you can hear it well. Good choices of music--some Jack Jones, some Doobie Bros., a little of this and that. Very pleasant.
The music really set the mood. Sellers were busy selling their vegetables and fruit and hot dogs and flowers and here is the key ingredient: people were hanging around. They didn't just come and buy and go, they felt comfortable and stayed. I stayed almost two hours. I complimented the coordinator on having the music and I told him how important to the event I thought it was.
I sat there and imagined no music. No sounds except that of people chatting a bit and sellers talking to buyers. Boring. I saw everyone leaving quickly. The music is so important because the mood is so important. The mall would be boring without it. I wouldn't shop as long without it. I wouldn't feel as comfortable talking without it. It has great power to smooth and soothe and create a friendly atmosphere.
Next time you hear it in a shop or store. Imagine it without the music. Then notice how much better your experience is with it. Think about that for your own store or office.
Friday, August 8, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 11
Website maintenance is a key ingredient in your websites success. Don't leave it out, make sure and budget it and fit it in.
Updating your website is a given. If you have events calendars, products that change, personnel that change, suppliers that change, or any of the many things that change day to day, you will need to have your website updated. That is part of website maintenance and it is very important to insure that you are getting that done regularly. I've said it before and again now, a website with out of date information is not only ineffective, it is actually destructive. It will work against your efforts and you would be far better off to not have a website at all than to have one that is out of date.
Just updating the information in your website is important, and website maintenance goes further than this. You would be good to have your website people work with you on a package that includes search engine optimization, updating the look and feel of the website so that it remains as fresh as it can be for the money. If you figure this in on a monthly basis, it is an easy amount to deal with.
Think how great it would be to have people taking care of this stuff for you. Isn't that what you really want. I know you want to be able to trust them to do well, be effective, follow through and protect your interests. You'll see that if you are watching. The real need is to get the job done and keep doing the job so you can get on with other important tasks. This task is too important to not insure that it is assigned to someone or some company to get it done.
Think of it this way. A website with many companies is such an integral part of who they are and what they do, they have a whole division of the best they can find to keep it growing and improving and working through power outages and the like. They cannot afford to think any other way. Think of Amazon.com without their website being updated. No way. Yet, even much smaller companies have the same need.
Your website may be a central part of how your business functions in the future. You may have an office, a building, a store that you operate out of but you will most likely find that the Internet and your website will be key players in your success. The time to start is now. Make sure that you are thinking toward the future of your website and taking care of business today will insure that future is bright. You do this by building a good site now and making sure it is maintained perfectly and expanded as needed and is alive and well. Website maintenance is the key.
Updating your website is a given. If you have events calendars, products that change, personnel that change, suppliers that change, or any of the many things that change day to day, you will need to have your website updated. That is part of website maintenance and it is very important to insure that you are getting that done regularly. I've said it before and again now, a website with out of date information is not only ineffective, it is actually destructive. It will work against your efforts and you would be far better off to not have a website at all than to have one that is out of date.
Just updating the information in your website is important, and website maintenance goes further than this. You would be good to have your website people work with you on a package that includes search engine optimization, updating the look and feel of the website so that it remains as fresh as it can be for the money. If you figure this in on a monthly basis, it is an easy amount to deal with.
Think how great it would be to have people taking care of this stuff for you. Isn't that what you really want. I know you want to be able to trust them to do well, be effective, follow through and protect your interests. You'll see that if you are watching. The real need is to get the job done and keep doing the job so you can get on with other important tasks. This task is too important to not insure that it is assigned to someone or some company to get it done.
Think of it this way. A website with many companies is such an integral part of who they are and what they do, they have a whole division of the best they can find to keep it growing and improving and working through power outages and the like. They cannot afford to think any other way. Think of Amazon.com without their website being updated. No way. Yet, even much smaller companies have the same need.
Your website may be a central part of how your business functions in the future. You may have an office, a building, a store that you operate out of but you will most likely find that the Internet and your website will be key players in your success. The time to start is now. Make sure that you are thinking toward the future of your website and taking care of business today will insure that future is bright. You do this by building a good site now and making sure it is maintained perfectly and expanded as needed and is alive and well. Website maintenance is the key.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 10
What is your niche? What is it about you and your method of doing business that is special? Whatever that is, it is worthy of your focus.
Bakers and candle stick makers, plumbers, auto repair, dentists, gas stations, grocery stores, department stores all have one thing in common--there are a lot of them in pretty much every town around the land. Are they all the same? Absolutely not. Each one is different. Each is run using people and people are different. And, that is good.
In order to stand out from the crowd of other like businesses, you would do well to focus on what it is that makes you different. I would even recommend that you put so much energy into that that you make that difference dramatic and strong. Don't try to please everyone. It is an impossible task. Please yourself first and be the unique business that you really want to be. Promote that everywhere you go. Promote that especially on your website. One of the best things about a website is that it works better with a personality--even a strong personality.
Think about what is special about your business. Why did you start it? What are you trying to achieve with it? What methods are you using that other people are not? Do you have a unique approach to how you treat your customers? Do you have unique products? Do you make your own products? What about your services sets you apart? What do your customers say about you? Do you have a lot of repeat and referral business? Determine what is unique about you, your business, your products and/or your services and write all that down. Choose the most unique things to market. Build your website around telling the world about your uniqueness. This is your chance to tell the world. Work it. Improve it. Focus it.
The more unique you can represent yourself, the better will be the response over time. It is your sales tool. Use it and have fun. You've been wanting to all your life. Now's the time. Go for it.
Bakers and candle stick makers, plumbers, auto repair, dentists, gas stations, grocery stores, department stores all have one thing in common--there are a lot of them in pretty much every town around the land. Are they all the same? Absolutely not. Each one is different. Each is run using people and people are different. And, that is good.
In order to stand out from the crowd of other like businesses, you would do well to focus on what it is that makes you different. I would even recommend that you put so much energy into that that you make that difference dramatic and strong. Don't try to please everyone. It is an impossible task. Please yourself first and be the unique business that you really want to be. Promote that everywhere you go. Promote that especially on your website. One of the best things about a website is that it works better with a personality--even a strong personality.
Think about what is special about your business. Why did you start it? What are you trying to achieve with it? What methods are you using that other people are not? Do you have a unique approach to how you treat your customers? Do you have unique products? Do you make your own products? What about your services sets you apart? What do your customers say about you? Do you have a lot of repeat and referral business? Determine what is unique about you, your business, your products and/or your services and write all that down. Choose the most unique things to market. Build your website around telling the world about your uniqueness. This is your chance to tell the world. Work it. Improve it. Focus it.
The more unique you can represent yourself, the better will be the response over time. It is your sales tool. Use it and have fun. You've been wanting to all your life. Now's the time. Go for it.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 9
Field of Dreams. Remember the movie? "Build It and They Will Come." Great phrase. It is the strategy of so many with regard to their websites. I know this for sure: That would be a dream in the field for sure. It might have worked when you were the first of 50 websites out there, but when you are one of hundreds of millions of sites, that strategy is ridiculous. That is just hope and hope is not a strategy.
A better strategy is to build your site, keep building your site, keep adapting your site, keep promoting your site, keep networking your site, keep linking your site, did I mention promoting your site?
Let's ask ourselves some questions. One, what do we really want our site to do for us? Answer this in as much detail as you can with the knowledge that you have right now. Do you want the site to make your phone ring? Sell products online? Provide free information? Be a way for your organization to have information available in many different locations quickly? Be a resource for your customers to have information more readily that you used to mail out or hand out? Announce events? What is it that you really want your site to do for you and/or your business.
Two, since you probably now have a list of things you want your site to do for you, what are the most important things? Whatever those things are, we will want to focus our website on those and the rest can be added. What I mean by that is to build the site around the most important aspects of what you want it to do. For example, if selling online was one of the most important things, we would want to develop the site based on this aspect and create an effective online storefront and user-friendly shopping experience design. If you were presenting products and wanting the phone to ring, we would showcase those products in a way that would peak someones interest enough to want to find out more and make the call. In addition, we would have the phone number in so many places, that no one could miss it. The basic design should be aligned with the most important aspects of what you want your site to achieve.
Three, how much time do you have to devote to your website? If you say you have a lot of time, you could chance doing it yourself, but I think most people are going to say (honestly) that they do not have much time, nor do they want to commit much time to yet another project. In this case, you will pay someone to assist you. It will not take all the burden off your back, but it certainly will make it a much lighter load and will benefit you greatly. Get real. We have clients who hardly have the time and focus to get us the information that we need to build their website. I cannot fathom them building their own. Next, forget the brother-in-law thing. Having relatives and close friends that claim to be willing to help you get this done will generally drag out the process further. We have seen this over and over. Trying to save a few hundred by this avenue will actually end up costing thousands in lost time and/or revenue. Give it to someone who is in business doing this for much better results--and accountability!
Four, how's your crystal ball? Is it ready to predict the future for you? We know one thing for absolute certain: everything changes. Life is movement and is constantly changing. Nothing rests. Your website will need to change constantly as well, otherwise it is a waste of time and energy to build it unless (and this is the only good reason we can think of) you want it just to be a business card that very few people will see--kind of like throwing a business card on the sidewalk near Central Park in New York. Make this commitment early on: keep you site alive by continuing to feed it, massage it, love it, care for it. It will need to change. You will want it to change. Accept that up front.
And, five, when do you want to get started? The best answer is right now. Human nature is procrastination and this is especially true when people are dealing with things that are not confident in, not knowledgeable in, and are unsure of. There is a tendency to want to gather too much information. Better to move forward now, making mistakes along the way than to wait and wait and never get around to it. It is just another learning experience! So learn! Learning is good. Get started today. Right now. Don't put it off another day. Call three companies, talk to them about your ideas for a website, make a decision. Go with your feelings. You have good intuition. What you need is a decision, so make one. . .now! There, that's better.
If you build it will they come? Maybe. We know one thing for sure: they won't come if you just build it. You will need to do more. Plan it well, get it built, adapt it as needed, keep expanding and growing the site, make it more and more valuable all the time, promote it every way that you possibly can and they will come.
A better strategy is to build your site, keep building your site, keep adapting your site, keep promoting your site, keep networking your site, keep linking your site, did I mention promoting your site?
Let's ask ourselves some questions. One, what do we really want our site to do for us? Answer this in as much detail as you can with the knowledge that you have right now. Do you want the site to make your phone ring? Sell products online? Provide free information? Be a way for your organization to have information available in many different locations quickly? Be a resource for your customers to have information more readily that you used to mail out or hand out? Announce events? What is it that you really want your site to do for you and/or your business.
Two, since you probably now have a list of things you want your site to do for you, what are the most important things? Whatever those things are, we will want to focus our website on those and the rest can be added. What I mean by that is to build the site around the most important aspects of what you want it to do. For example, if selling online was one of the most important things, we would want to develop the site based on this aspect and create an effective online storefront and user-friendly shopping experience design. If you were presenting products and wanting the phone to ring, we would showcase those products in a way that would peak someones interest enough to want to find out more and make the call. In addition, we would have the phone number in so many places, that no one could miss it. The basic design should be aligned with the most important aspects of what you want your site to achieve.
Three, how much time do you have to devote to your website? If you say you have a lot of time, you could chance doing it yourself, but I think most people are going to say (honestly) that they do not have much time, nor do they want to commit much time to yet another project. In this case, you will pay someone to assist you. It will not take all the burden off your back, but it certainly will make it a much lighter load and will benefit you greatly. Get real. We have clients who hardly have the time and focus to get us the information that we need to build their website. I cannot fathom them building their own. Next, forget the brother-in-law thing. Having relatives and close friends that claim to be willing to help you get this done will generally drag out the process further. We have seen this over and over. Trying to save a few hundred by this avenue will actually end up costing thousands in lost time and/or revenue. Give it to someone who is in business doing this for much better results--and accountability!
Four, how's your crystal ball? Is it ready to predict the future for you? We know one thing for absolute certain: everything changes. Life is movement and is constantly changing. Nothing rests. Your website will need to change constantly as well, otherwise it is a waste of time and energy to build it unless (and this is the only good reason we can think of) you want it just to be a business card that very few people will see--kind of like throwing a business card on the sidewalk near Central Park in New York. Make this commitment early on: keep you site alive by continuing to feed it, massage it, love it, care for it. It will need to change. You will want it to change. Accept that up front.
And, five, when do you want to get started? The best answer is right now. Human nature is procrastination and this is especially true when people are dealing with things that are not confident in, not knowledgeable in, and are unsure of. There is a tendency to want to gather too much information. Better to move forward now, making mistakes along the way than to wait and wait and never get around to it. It is just another learning experience! So learn! Learning is good. Get started today. Right now. Don't put it off another day. Call three companies, talk to them about your ideas for a website, make a decision. Go with your feelings. You have good intuition. What you need is a decision, so make one. . .now! There, that's better.
If you build it will they come? Maybe. We know one thing for sure: they won't come if you just build it. You will need to do more. Plan it well, get it built, adapt it as needed, keep expanding and growing the site, make it more and more valuable all the time, promote it every way that you possibly can and they will come.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 8
Social networks are all the rage. The most famous of them is probably My Space and then came You Tube and Facebook and LinkedIn, Moli and many more with more on the way. Many of these sites are being utilized with success by businesses seeking new markets, new viewers. Some are putting their toes in the water and others are jumping in full on.
These sites are ways that you can network with thousands of other people and share common interests. Your business is part of you and it makes sense to include it in your profiles and even a bit of self-promotion. In addition, many businesses are linking their blogs, newsletters and such to these networks so that people will visit all of your various sites. It's like having 10 websites in 1.
It's interesting that this also helps in the search engines, especially when searching names. I know if I search my own name that I come up on the top of the page and the link is to LinkedIn. Nothing wrong with that. Then if you click on that link, you see some information including a company name and links to my website. That'll work! Getting to the top of the list is cool and helpful as well. I know that is what a lot of people focus on--getting to the top of the page. So, here I wasn't even trying and there it is. This is how powerful some of the social networking sites can be for you and your website and other interests. If I type in our company name, it also is at the top of the page, but the link comes from this blog. We talked about blogs in this series and you can see by this some value of the blog in finding you on the web along with the value of the information in the blog.
When I type in part of my business name (Upward Trend) and my name, of the 10 items on the first page, 8 of them match me and the company. Two are links to this blog. Another is Technorati which is a social network for blogs, two are for LinkedIn, and the last three are to our other website, Commercial Truck Success, but through the use of multiple domain names pointed at that site. It's not that I was trying to do all of this, but you can see that it is working at bringing our information at the top of the pages.
It all has to do with information though. For example, if you just typed in Upward Trend, you would have very different results because the phrase Upward Trend is used in many common ways and is generally used in reference to market trends or sales trends and such so there are a lot of links from all over the place. If you just add a bit of definition such as our complete name: Upward Trend Management Services, we come up to the top via this blog, not the website, but the blog is a direct link to the website and much more, so it is all good.
The bottom line is that there are a number of things that you can do to promote your website. Some of these things are becoming familiar with some of the social networks. It is very easy to do. Joining is free. Join them all if you like.
These sites are ways that you can network with thousands of other people and share common interests. Your business is part of you and it makes sense to include it in your profiles and even a bit of self-promotion. In addition, many businesses are linking their blogs, newsletters and such to these networks so that people will visit all of your various sites. It's like having 10 websites in 1.
It's interesting that this also helps in the search engines, especially when searching names. I know if I search my own name that I come up on the top of the page and the link is to LinkedIn. Nothing wrong with that. Then if you click on that link, you see some information including a company name and links to my website. That'll work! Getting to the top of the list is cool and helpful as well. I know that is what a lot of people focus on--getting to the top of the page. So, here I wasn't even trying and there it is. This is how powerful some of the social networking sites can be for you and your website and other interests. If I type in our company name, it also is at the top of the page, but the link comes from this blog. We talked about blogs in this series and you can see by this some value of the blog in finding you on the web along with the value of the information in the blog.
When I type in part of my business name (Upward Trend) and my name, of the 10 items on the first page, 8 of them match me and the company. Two are links to this blog. Another is Technorati which is a social network for blogs, two are for LinkedIn, and the last three are to our other website, Commercial Truck Success, but through the use of multiple domain names pointed at that site. It's not that I was trying to do all of this, but you can see that it is working at bringing our information at the top of the pages.
It all has to do with information though. For example, if you just typed in Upward Trend, you would have very different results because the phrase Upward Trend is used in many common ways and is generally used in reference to market trends or sales trends and such so there are a lot of links from all over the place. If you just add a bit of definition such as our complete name: Upward Trend Management Services, we come up to the top via this blog, not the website, but the blog is a direct link to the website and much more, so it is all good.
The bottom line is that there are a number of things that you can do to promote your website. Some of these things are becoming familiar with some of the social networks. It is very easy to do. Joining is free. Join them all if you like.
Monday, August 4, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 7
Get other people to promote your website and your business. You can do this through links from their site to yours and from your site to theirs and so on. The more links you have the better. Think of this like network marketing.
You probably have friends in business and they have websites as well. If there is the slightest connection, having links to each other can be very beneficial to everyone involved. It could just be that you recommend this business for this reason.
Here is an example of a company that we are associated with that is a good fit with what we do and them with us. The company is Communities Online Network. They have a number of other sites that we are linked together in. If you go to Woodland Community, Davis Community, Elk Grove Communities or Natomas Communities, you will see links to our site and we have quite a number of links to their sites in two websites, two blogs, an email newsletter as well as other communication links. This mutual promotion of like-minded businesses is great for all concerned including our customers and prospects. In addition our other suppliers and associates have a possibility of benefiting as well. For example, it was through our association with Communities Online Network that we had our first video commercial created. Now we will promote them as well. It becomes more and more of a network as it expands. You get more exposure and they get more exposure. I've mentioned them 6 times in this paragraph and five of the times there is a link to their sites. But, I don't do it just for the heck of it, this company is an awesome bunch and what they are doing is very valuable to large communities and they deserve to be promoted.
Find some ways that you can link with others through website, email newsletter or blogs and continue to make your website work for you. It's not very hard work, but worthy.
You probably have friends in business and they have websites as well. If there is the slightest connection, having links to each other can be very beneficial to everyone involved. It could just be that you recommend this business for this reason.
Here is an example of a company that we are associated with that is a good fit with what we do and them with us. The company is Communities Online Network. They have a number of other sites that we are linked together in. If you go to Woodland Community, Davis Community, Elk Grove Communities or Natomas Communities, you will see links to our site and we have quite a number of links to their sites in two websites, two blogs, an email newsletter as well as other communication links. This mutual promotion of like-minded businesses is great for all concerned including our customers and prospects. In addition our other suppliers and associates have a possibility of benefiting as well. For example, it was through our association with Communities Online Network that we had our first video commercial created. Now we will promote them as well. It becomes more and more of a network as it expands. You get more exposure and they get more exposure. I've mentioned them 6 times in this paragraph and five of the times there is a link to their sites. But, I don't do it just for the heck of it, this company is an awesome bunch and what they are doing is very valuable to large communities and they deserve to be promoted.
Find some ways that you can link with others through website, email newsletter or blogs and continue to make your website work for you. It's not very hard work, but worthy.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 6
Change from sending out mail to sending email, but make it interesting a send an HTML email newsletter style piece promoting your business, your products, services and your website.
When you send out mail, even though you may have your website included, the customer or prospect must go to a computer and type in the address. It's not that this is a hard thing to do, but we're not sure when they might get around to it. With the HTML style newsletter, the piece can have the same or even greater design features like photos, logos, graphics as you would have in the direct mail piece; however, with the insertion of links, people only need click on it while they are looking at the newsletter. Much better chance of them getting to your site by probably a factor of 10. In addition to your website link, you can link certain pages of your site to have them go once, twice, three times or more.
We talked in this series that there needs to be a good amount of content and interest to have your customers and prospects visit your site again and again. Maybe this time they will come to look at a product or service feature and another time it might be an article of interest. Keep expanding your value to your customers and prospects by expanding your site and its interest.
The email marketing will not only help get people to your website, but it will help you get information to customers more effectively. Sure there are some that don't use the computer much, but that is becoming more and more rare. With the volume of information now on the Web, you will need to keep increasing the value of your site and as that value increases, your customer loyalty is increased.
Having a website is just one piece of the marketing and there are many things related to it that can dramatically help you move forward with your Web presence and web commerce.
When you send out mail, even though you may have your website included, the customer or prospect must go to a computer and type in the address. It's not that this is a hard thing to do, but we're not sure when they might get around to it. With the HTML style newsletter, the piece can have the same or even greater design features like photos, logos, graphics as you would have in the direct mail piece; however, with the insertion of links, people only need click on it while they are looking at the newsletter. Much better chance of them getting to your site by probably a factor of 10. In addition to your website link, you can link certain pages of your site to have them go once, twice, three times or more.
We talked in this series that there needs to be a good amount of content and interest to have your customers and prospects visit your site again and again. Maybe this time they will come to look at a product or service feature and another time it might be an article of interest. Keep expanding your value to your customers and prospects by expanding your site and its interest.
The email marketing will not only help get people to your website, but it will help you get information to customers more effectively. Sure there are some that don't use the computer much, but that is becoming more and more rare. With the volume of information now on the Web, you will need to keep increasing the value of your site and as that value increases, your customer loyalty is increased.
Having a website is just one piece of the marketing and there are many things related to it that can dramatically help you move forward with your Web presence and web commerce.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 5
Expand your websites influence by the use of a blog. This is a great way to increase the content of your site even when the blog is not actually on your site. For example this blog is on www.blogger.com and our website is www.upwardtrend.org. These are hosted in completely different places, but there is a link to each other in both locations. In addition, the content of the blog is directly related to the subject material of the website. Blogs are also found in search engines from the content, so blogs can help you get found that way as well. Blogs are generally just content, so that is even more helpful for the searches.
Writing a blog can be fun and interesting. It will probably work best for you to use your expertise to talk about your experience, your thoughts and ideas as they relate to that expertise. My experience is in sales, marketing and merchandising as well as using tools such as websites, blogs and newsletters, so it makes sense that these are the things that I have a lot of knowledge of and would write about. This is my second daily blog. The first is here: CTS which was started several months ago. My goal is an article a day in both blogs, but you can choose your own goal. Maybe it is an article a week or two a month or something like that. I see many blogs that have about 5 or 6 entries a month. You'll know what is right for you. It just needs to be fun and interesting for you or it is likely it will not get done.
If you are a plumber and want to expand the influence of your website, write a blog about plumbing. There must be a wealth of stories, insights, plumbing problems and solutions to write about. Maybe you are a general contractor and you have all kinds of tips for people to work with contractors better. Perhaps you have a shop where you sell unique products and could talk about those products. You could be a dentist and we all know there is a lot to talk about there. If you are a physical therapist, there is a wealth of information that could be of value to many including how to choose a good physical therapist. Whatever field you are in, there is much you had to learn to become proficient at it and all of that information can be of value to many others.
You can write as often as you like. The more often you write, the more content, the more value. You can then offer to send it via email as I do with this blog and develop a following of people who enjoy your articles. That makes it more fun as well. It's always great to find other people getting value and learning from your efforts.
If you aren't into writing much, you can dictate to a recorder and have an employee write it for you. There are even programs that you can talk into and it will type it out for you. There is always a way if you see the value in doing a thing. Think of all the information that you have gathered over the years and how you can help other people avoid the pain of making mistakes that you've already made and learn a better way of doing a thing. It may be as simple and powerful as an idea whose time has come and you have just inspired someone to reach for something. You just never know who you will touch and how it will affect them. There is so much knowledge in the heads of people in business and the web is a great place to share that information. That is powerful. It is of value to so many all over the world.
Make your website work for you by expanding its influence through the use of a blog that is included in your website, or linked to it. It is fun and is a great way to expand. Go for it.
Writing a blog can be fun and interesting. It will probably work best for you to use your expertise to talk about your experience, your thoughts and ideas as they relate to that expertise. My experience is in sales, marketing and merchandising as well as using tools such as websites, blogs and newsletters, so it makes sense that these are the things that I have a lot of knowledge of and would write about. This is my second daily blog. The first is here: CTS which was started several months ago. My goal is an article a day in both blogs, but you can choose your own goal. Maybe it is an article a week or two a month or something like that. I see many blogs that have about 5 or 6 entries a month. You'll know what is right for you. It just needs to be fun and interesting for you or it is likely it will not get done.
If you are a plumber and want to expand the influence of your website, write a blog about plumbing. There must be a wealth of stories, insights, plumbing problems and solutions to write about. Maybe you are a general contractor and you have all kinds of tips for people to work with contractors better. Perhaps you have a shop where you sell unique products and could talk about those products. You could be a dentist and we all know there is a lot to talk about there. If you are a physical therapist, there is a wealth of information that could be of value to many including how to choose a good physical therapist. Whatever field you are in, there is much you had to learn to become proficient at it and all of that information can be of value to many others.
You can write as often as you like. The more often you write, the more content, the more value. You can then offer to send it via email as I do with this blog and develop a following of people who enjoy your articles. That makes it more fun as well. It's always great to find other people getting value and learning from your efforts.
If you aren't into writing much, you can dictate to a recorder and have an employee write it for you. There are even programs that you can talk into and it will type it out for you. There is always a way if you see the value in doing a thing. Think of all the information that you have gathered over the years and how you can help other people avoid the pain of making mistakes that you've already made and learn a better way of doing a thing. It may be as simple and powerful as an idea whose time has come and you have just inspired someone to reach for something. You just never know who you will touch and how it will affect them. There is so much knowledge in the heads of people in business and the web is a great place to share that information. That is powerful. It is of value to so many all over the world.
Make your website work for you by expanding its influence through the use of a blog that is included in your website, or linked to it. It is fun and is a great way to expand. Go for it.
Friday, August 1, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 4
Grow your site. Of all the things we see with small business websites, they build them and quickly forget they are there. A website will only be as effective as the information and if that doesn't change there's no reason for prospects or customers to come back.
If your website has a comment at the bottom that says something like. . . last update on [date]. Get rid of that. What is the point of putting that on the website. It could only be a positive thing if that date is updated daily along with the site. We know one that says last updated in 2006. That's a fresh site?
Here's a good goal: add a page a month. That's not much, but it is something to continue to grow your site with. Add some information about products, information links, photos, detailed descriptions, articles about what you do, ideas for future product or services, a newsletter tab, a newsletter archive tab, a link to your blog, and much more.
Pretend you're a customer coming to your site and think what you might like to see that would continue to peak your interest. Add some of that. Ask your friends and associates to give you their input to what they might like to see to maintain their interest. Add some of that. Keep your mind open to new thoughts and ideas about your site and add some of that. There you go, your site is growing every month. A little here, a little there and pretty soon, you have a lot of great information, photos, videos and more. Great job. Keep it going.
If your website has a comment at the bottom that says something like. . . last update on [date]. Get rid of that. What is the point of putting that on the website. It could only be a positive thing if that date is updated daily along with the site. We know one that says last updated in 2006. That's a fresh site?
Here's a good goal: add a page a month. That's not much, but it is something to continue to grow your site with. Add some information about products, information links, photos, detailed descriptions, articles about what you do, ideas for future product or services, a newsletter tab, a newsletter archive tab, a link to your blog, and much more.
Pretend you're a customer coming to your site and think what you might like to see that would continue to peak your interest. Add some of that. Ask your friends and associates to give you their input to what they might like to see to maintain their interest. Add some of that. Keep your mind open to new thoughts and ideas about your site and add some of that. There you go, your site is growing every month. A little here, a little there and pretty soon, you have a lot of great information, photos, videos and more. Great job. Keep it going.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 3
Promote your website. Make sure everyone that you talk to knows about your site. Have it printed on your business cards and every other piece of printed material you give out. Have a stamp made so you can stamp in on other people's product literature. Print it on your shopping bags, on your front window, on your forehead. Well, not your forehead, but everywhere else is cool.
In the first year at least and even beyond that, you want everyone that you talk with to know about your site and have the address for it. Carry your cards with you everywhere you go and hand them out. Promote it in every way you can.
If you run ads on the radio, give out your site; ads in the paper, put your site there. Publish it everywhere and get the word out. Get other people promoting it for you.
This all assumes that you have a site that you think people will want to see that has a lot of content for them to look through and has a lot of pictures to see as well. You will also need to constantly improve your site every month or people will not come back to it. Keep it fresh and changing. Promote the changes to encourage people to come back again and again.
You can offer special deals that are only on the website and advertised nowhere else. Encourage people to check it out and see what special deals are there. Let them know that they change often so they will come back again and again. If you do that, I recommend that you stick to that and advertise those deals only there. If they find it, they get the deal.
Promote your site with other Internet tools such as a blog. This blog promotes our website and also gives out valuable information at no cost. This is a great tool for promoting your site. You can also become involved if you aren't already in some social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and others.
The more ways you can promote your site, the better. Make your site valuable so that people want to go to it and promote it on every level. This is the fast track to a successful website.
In the first year at least and even beyond that, you want everyone that you talk with to know about your site and have the address for it. Carry your cards with you everywhere you go and hand them out. Promote it in every way you can.
If you run ads on the radio, give out your site; ads in the paper, put your site there. Publish it everywhere and get the word out. Get other people promoting it for you.
This all assumes that you have a site that you think people will want to see that has a lot of content for them to look through and has a lot of pictures to see as well. You will also need to constantly improve your site every month or people will not come back to it. Keep it fresh and changing. Promote the changes to encourage people to come back again and again.
You can offer special deals that are only on the website and advertised nowhere else. Encourage people to check it out and see what special deals are there. Let them know that they change often so they will come back again and again. If you do that, I recommend that you stick to that and advertise those deals only there. If they find it, they get the deal.
Promote your site with other Internet tools such as a blog. This blog promotes our website and also gives out valuable information at no cost. This is a great tool for promoting your site. You can also become involved if you aren't already in some social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and others.
The more ways you can promote your site, the better. Make your site valuable so that people want to go to it and promote it on every level. This is the fast track to a successful website.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 2
In part 1, I talked about search engines and how people want their website to show up on the first page. I may come back to this subject again, but this time, I want to talk about domain names.
There seems to be a good deal of concern over domain names and having it match your business name exactly. It is nice that a domain name may match your business name, but sometimes the business name is long. For example, we have www.upwardtrendmanagementservices.com. We don't really use it, but we have it pointing to our site. Instead we bought a second name: www.upwardtrend.org. This is the one we use. It is much shorter. It's not the name of the company, but it is close enough for us. So, length has something to do with how to decide on a domain name. Really, I wanted UTMS.com, but that was taken.
There are a good number of businesses that are using domain names with dashes. This is not easy to type in when someone might be looking for you and typing that domain name, but there are other advantages. First, it probably gets you the coveted .com extension. Second, when it comes to the search engines, the words are separated and can come up more easily. For example, maybe the business name of Del's Italian Restaurant which you might like to have as delsitalianrestaurant.com is taken, so you could do this: dels-italian-restaurant.com. As you can see in looking at both of them, the second one stands out dramatically. You can actually see the words while the other one is just a bunch of letters strung together. For this business I might recommend dels-italian or delsitalian.
For customers to use your domain name easily, the shorter the name, the better. So, I recommend that you buy several domain names and you can have them all point to your site. Get the full business name one if you want like we did, but get some shorter ones as well and decide which you will use to promote your business.
One reason people want the full business name is to have email that looks very professional. I cannot imagine anyone actually typing my email with our long name. It would be a real drag for me as well. After all, I type it every day. So our email uses the shorter version. That makes it easy for everyone. We just have to make it a point to say the .org part clearly, otherwise they might assume .com. No big deal. It works for us. We have one client who has a four word business name and he bought the first letters with .com and uses it to promote his business and for his email as well. Works well for them.
Of course there are a lot of other domain name extensions to consider. There's a new one called us.com. So, you can choose the name you want, but perhaps you have to accept the different extension. If you're clear in your promoting, that shouldn't be a problem. Having the .org for us doesn't seem to slow us down any. Buy several and use them all.
Think about this. The domain name is going to be the most useful in getting your customers to use your website. Of less importance is the search engine aspect of this. So something that is memorable and easy to type can be very helpful. Decide which one to use for email and which one to use for promotions. You can also buy new ones later that you can use in special promotions and have them link to your site, or buy a new site, use the new domain name and link to it from the old site and back as well. There are so many possibilities and no reason to limit yourself.
There seems to be a good deal of concern over domain names and having it match your business name exactly. It is nice that a domain name may match your business name, but sometimes the business name is long. For example, we have www.upwardtrendmanagementservices.com. We don't really use it, but we have it pointing to our site. Instead we bought a second name: www.upwardtrend.org. This is the one we use. It is much shorter. It's not the name of the company, but it is close enough for us. So, length has something to do with how to decide on a domain name. Really, I wanted UTMS.com, but that was taken.
There are a good number of businesses that are using domain names with dashes. This is not easy to type in when someone might be looking for you and typing that domain name, but there are other advantages. First, it probably gets you the coveted .com extension. Second, when it comes to the search engines, the words are separated and can come up more easily. For example, maybe the business name of Del's Italian Restaurant which you might like to have as delsitalianrestaurant.com is taken, so you could do this: dels-italian-restaurant.com. As you can see in looking at both of them, the second one stands out dramatically. You can actually see the words while the other one is just a bunch of letters strung together. For this business I might recommend dels-italian or delsitalian.
For customers to use your domain name easily, the shorter the name, the better. So, I recommend that you buy several domain names and you can have them all point to your site. Get the full business name one if you want like we did, but get some shorter ones as well and decide which you will use to promote your business.
One reason people want the full business name is to have email that looks very professional. I cannot imagine anyone actually typing my email with our long name. It would be a real drag for me as well. After all, I type it every day. So our email uses the shorter version. That makes it easy for everyone. We just have to make it a point to say the .org part clearly, otherwise they might assume .com. No big deal. It works for us. We have one client who has a four word business name and he bought the first letters with .com and uses it to promote his business and for his email as well. Works well for them.
Of course there are a lot of other domain name extensions to consider. There's a new one called us.com. So, you can choose the name you want, but perhaps you have to accept the different extension. If you're clear in your promoting, that shouldn't be a problem. Having the .org for us doesn't seem to slow us down any. Buy several and use them all.
Think about this. The domain name is going to be the most useful in getting your customers to use your website. Of less importance is the search engine aspect of this. So something that is memorable and easy to type can be very helpful. Decide which one to use for email and which one to use for promotions. You can also buy new ones later that you can use in special promotions and have them link to your site, or buy a new site, use the new domain name and link to it from the old site and back as well. There are so many possibilities and no reason to limit yourself.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
How To Make Your Website Work For You, Part 1
The reason you have a website is for it to work for you. It has the capacity to do that 24/7 . . . or not. In this series, I will discuss ways your website can make a major difference in your business.
In this time, when many people think of a website and what it can do for them, the first thing that comes to their mind is search engines. Well, they don't usually use the phrase search engines, they usually use the phrase Google. So great is that word in this time that it has become not only a brand, but a phrase, a noun, a verb, an adjective. We find it on Google and look at the top of Google and of course, I am writing this message in a Google-owned tool called Blogger.com. People want to know that they are on the first page of a Google search, they want to get found on Google. That is a marvelous goal, but what does it mean when they find you?
Once your site is on the first page of the search, when then? I can assure you of this: you won't be the only one on the page. Think of it this way: You look in the Yellow Pages for a plumber and you heard of this one called Down the Drain Plumbing. You scroll the list and find the name and phone number, but they don't have an ad on the page and on the two pages that are open, there are 15 or 20 ads for plumbers with photos and hours of operation, website info, things they specialize in and so on. Maybe there's even a discount offer in the ad or some other incentive to try them. You can't help yourself and you look around and read each one. By now, you've probably forgotten about that other company. . . what was their name?
What's the point? Content. The ads are all about content. Of course, in the ad, the content costs money every month. The good news about the website is that content is cheap! However, content is king. I know that when I am looking at the ads, I find one that works for me, but the ones who don't have an ad do not get the business. I'm looking for information that I can relate to. When I need a plumber, I want the information. Who cares about all those with just a name and a phone number? They might as well be music stores. Since I don't know any of them, I use the best information I have to make a decision--the content in their ads.
This is the same kind of thing that happens on the search engines. People will type in plumber, city and see what comes up and then they could look at many of those on the first page and will most likely make their decision from the information on that page.
So, what will the information say about your business when they search and find you? Will they find a name and a number or will they find a story, testimonials of satisfied customers, information about your services and how you perform them, why you started this business, how long you've been doing this business, your passion for this business, your great rates, your guarantee of satisfaction, your incentive offers, your highly mobile fleet, your 6 hour turnaround, your clean and respectful employees with their names and photos that back up that statement. Will they find things that will help them make a good decision and buy from you? It will depend almost entirely on your content.
Remember this: the search engine is searching words. That is the content. Prospects type in a word or a phrase that we might call keywords. The search engine then looks for those words. If those words are not on your site, there is no way the search could bring up your site. How could it?
A website can be a very powerful tool for your business. . . or not. You can have a small site with 1-5 pages that is pretty much just a business card--a line listing in the yellow pages. The website just gets you into the Yellow Pages, but it won't get you found. But, you can have a website that has 50, 60, 200, or 2,000 pages of valuable information. The odds are with you there, aren't they? You don't do that in a week, you do that as a process over time. Growing your website will be one of the most important things you can do in your business. It will also help you get found on the first page. You can also have a smaller site and get found by combining your website with a blog and a number of other Internet tools that can work together to get you found.
The search engine is really a beneficial thing, but it is only one aspect of the value of your website. There are many ways to make your website work for you. See our next installment for more ideas.
In this time, when many people think of a website and what it can do for them, the first thing that comes to their mind is search engines. Well, they don't usually use the phrase search engines, they usually use the phrase Google. So great is that word in this time that it has become not only a brand, but a phrase, a noun, a verb, an adjective. We find it on Google and look at the top of Google and of course, I am writing this message in a Google-owned tool called Blogger.com. People want to know that they are on the first page of a Google search, they want to get found on Google. That is a marvelous goal, but what does it mean when they find you?
Once your site is on the first page of the search, when then? I can assure you of this: you won't be the only one on the page. Think of it this way: You look in the Yellow Pages for a plumber and you heard of this one called Down the Drain Plumbing. You scroll the list and find the name and phone number, but they don't have an ad on the page and on the two pages that are open, there are 15 or 20 ads for plumbers with photos and hours of operation, website info, things they specialize in and so on. Maybe there's even a discount offer in the ad or some other incentive to try them. You can't help yourself and you look around and read each one. By now, you've probably forgotten about that other company. . . what was their name?
What's the point? Content. The ads are all about content. Of course, in the ad, the content costs money every month. The good news about the website is that content is cheap! However, content is king. I know that when I am looking at the ads, I find one that works for me, but the ones who don't have an ad do not get the business. I'm looking for information that I can relate to. When I need a plumber, I want the information. Who cares about all those with just a name and a phone number? They might as well be music stores. Since I don't know any of them, I use the best information I have to make a decision--the content in their ads.
This is the same kind of thing that happens on the search engines. People will type in plumber, city and see what comes up and then they could look at many of those on the first page and will most likely make their decision from the information on that page.
So, what will the information say about your business when they search and find you? Will they find a name and a number or will they find a story, testimonials of satisfied customers, information about your services and how you perform them, why you started this business, how long you've been doing this business, your passion for this business, your great rates, your guarantee of satisfaction, your incentive offers, your highly mobile fleet, your 6 hour turnaround, your clean and respectful employees with their names and photos that back up that statement. Will they find things that will help them make a good decision and buy from you? It will depend almost entirely on your content.
Remember this: the search engine is searching words. That is the content. Prospects type in a word or a phrase that we might call keywords. The search engine then looks for those words. If those words are not on your site, there is no way the search could bring up your site. How could it?
A website can be a very powerful tool for your business. . . or not. You can have a small site with 1-5 pages that is pretty much just a business card--a line listing in the yellow pages. The website just gets you into the Yellow Pages, but it won't get you found. But, you can have a website that has 50, 60, 200, or 2,000 pages of valuable information. The odds are with you there, aren't they? You don't do that in a week, you do that as a process over time. Growing your website will be one of the most important things you can do in your business. It will also help you get found on the first page. You can also have a smaller site and get found by combining your website with a blog and a number of other Internet tools that can work together to get you found.
The search engine is really a beneficial thing, but it is only one aspect of the value of your website. There are many ways to make your website work for you. See our next installment for more ideas.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Add eBay To Your Marketing Plans
You can add income to your business by extending your marketing plan to include eBay. We have a little eBay business and have brought in close to a quarter of a million dollars in the last four years. Here is a link to our eBay store: Del's Outlet along with a similar store on eBay's half.com: Del's Books. Primarily we sell used books, music and video, but we have sold many different things as well, including musical instruments, collectibles, and others.
If you think of eBay as a separate business as Delsoutlet.com is, it can be a good deal of work with small items, but if you think of it as an additional income stream for your existing business, it can be fun and very profitable. Who doesn't want another income stream?
An eBay store is a great way to get started and it is very inexpensive to start. From that store, you can list items as buy it now or best offer. It is recommended that you put a number of things on auction and keep working a few at a time in the auction venue while maintaining the store. It really is simple to do. I won't say that it is not work, because it does require effort, but anyone can learn to do it quickly. We can also help you with that if you like or there are quite a number of books available to give you advice. If you would like us to help you, we will come in an help you get online and functioning in very short order and use our experience on eBay to get you up to speed and making income quickly. You could be selling things today.
Do you have some things in your store that have been sitting for a long time that you wish would go away? Then the eBay store and auctions is a perfect venue to move that old merchandise. Do you have some unique items that could use some attention? Then eBay is a perfect place to show them off. Matter of fact, the more unique it is, the better it works.
Here's one of the best things that getting on eBay does for your business: You will become a worldwide business. We have shipped items to over 70 different countries all over the world. The world is our marketplace. Matter of fact, I get higher prices for items overseas than in the US market! That works for me. You will have to set up shipping, but we can help with that as well. It is very easy to do. We use Stamps.com as shown on the left bar of this blog and I highly recommend them. We print out shipping labels and the Post Office takes care of the rest. You can also do UPS or FedEx if you prefer. The US Postal Service does an awesome job for me and it is generally much less expensive.
If you haven't already, you will need to become familiar with PayPal with your eBay business. Over 200 million people have a PayPal account worldwide, so it is ever more popular as a payment method. If you have a store and a merchant account, you can take credit cards through your offline business. You will find PayPal to be very effective and easy for customers throughout the world and their rates are very reasonable.
The competition is fierce on eBay and that stops a lot of people from getting involved. Frankly, I just ignore it pretty much. I don't try to compete for the lowest price. There's no profit in that strategy. Better photographs, better descriptions, and patience will be your edge. I frequently sell items that are easily found for $1 and I sell them for $10. It is how you go about it that makes that difference. Then there are many on eBay who limit themselves by stating that they only ship to the contiguous 48 states, don't take PayPal, don't this, don't that and on and on. Each one of those items is limiting your sales. Take them all away and you are wide open to much opportunity! Remember, I make more on overseas sales in general mainly because I have no problem shipping there. I've shipped items as expensive as $1500 with no problems. Don't create unnecessary limits on your business. Be bold and unafraid. Two great questions to ask: 1. What am I really afraid of? and, 2. What's the worst thing that could happen? I have lots of customers in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and many other countries.
Want to get started on your own? Click the icon on the left bar to start an eBay store. It costs about $9.95 per month for a basic store. Download Turbo Lister so you can list your items and keep a database as well. It's free. Get some information. eBay has loads of information and guides on their site. There are a number of books available as well and the most popular is called the The Official eBay Bible. With this method, you have a good learning curve. The other alternative is to hire us or someone else you may know who has a good deal of experience on eBay to guide you through and help you get up to speed quickly and save all the trial and error that we have already been through. This method will have superior results, but for a fee. You choose. Either way, adding eBay to your marketing plans can not only give you another income stream, but may turn out to be a very large one!
If you think of eBay as a separate business as Delsoutlet.com is, it can be a good deal of work with small items, but if you think of it as an additional income stream for your existing business, it can be fun and very profitable. Who doesn't want another income stream?
An eBay store is a great way to get started and it is very inexpensive to start. From that store, you can list items as buy it now or best offer. It is recommended that you put a number of things on auction and keep working a few at a time in the auction venue while maintaining the store. It really is simple to do. I won't say that it is not work, because it does require effort, but anyone can learn to do it quickly. We can also help you with that if you like or there are quite a number of books available to give you advice. If you would like us to help you, we will come in an help you get online and functioning in very short order and use our experience on eBay to get you up to speed and making income quickly. You could be selling things today.
Do you have some things in your store that have been sitting for a long time that you wish would go away? Then the eBay store and auctions is a perfect venue to move that old merchandise. Do you have some unique items that could use some attention? Then eBay is a perfect place to show them off. Matter of fact, the more unique it is, the better it works.
Here's one of the best things that getting on eBay does for your business: You will become a worldwide business. We have shipped items to over 70 different countries all over the world. The world is our marketplace. Matter of fact, I get higher prices for items overseas than in the US market! That works for me. You will have to set up shipping, but we can help with that as well. It is very easy to do. We use Stamps.com as shown on the left bar of this blog and I highly recommend them. We print out shipping labels and the Post Office takes care of the rest. You can also do UPS or FedEx if you prefer. The US Postal Service does an awesome job for me and it is generally much less expensive.
If you haven't already, you will need to become familiar with PayPal with your eBay business. Over 200 million people have a PayPal account worldwide, so it is ever more popular as a payment method. If you have a store and a merchant account, you can take credit cards through your offline business. You will find PayPal to be very effective and easy for customers throughout the world and their rates are very reasonable.
The competition is fierce on eBay and that stops a lot of people from getting involved. Frankly, I just ignore it pretty much. I don't try to compete for the lowest price. There's no profit in that strategy. Better photographs, better descriptions, and patience will be your edge. I frequently sell items that are easily found for $1 and I sell them for $10. It is how you go about it that makes that difference. Then there are many on eBay who limit themselves by stating that they only ship to the contiguous 48 states, don't take PayPal, don't this, don't that and on and on. Each one of those items is limiting your sales. Take them all away and you are wide open to much opportunity! Remember, I make more on overseas sales in general mainly because I have no problem shipping there. I've shipped items as expensive as $1500 with no problems. Don't create unnecessary limits on your business. Be bold and unafraid. Two great questions to ask: 1. What am I really afraid of? and, 2. What's the worst thing that could happen? I have lots of customers in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and many other countries.
Want to get started on your own? Click the icon on the left bar to start an eBay store. It costs about $9.95 per month for a basic store. Download Turbo Lister so you can list your items and keep a database as well. It's free. Get some information. eBay has loads of information and guides on their site. There are a number of books available as well and the most popular is called the The Official eBay Bible. With this method, you have a good learning curve. The other alternative is to hire us or someone else you may know who has a good deal of experience on eBay to guide you through and help you get up to speed quickly and save all the trial and error that we have already been through. This method will have superior results, but for a fee. You choose. Either way, adding eBay to your marketing plans can not only give you another income stream, but may turn out to be a very large one!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Pretend You're A Customer.
Look at your website as a customer. I think a lot of websites are thinking of the website as the site or site builder rather than the customer. Look at your site and think, "Now, I am a customer and what would I like about this site and what would not be so cool." Then, ask some friends to look at it in the same way. Get the most honest feedback you can get.
Here are some examples of things that I saw at a site I just looked at for the first time of a small business in a small town. I have been inside this store. This is an e-commerce site in that they have an online store with a shopping cart and they sell clothing products that are unique. These were my impressions:
Here are some examples of things that I saw at a site I just looked at for the first time of a small business in a small town. I have been inside this store. This is an e-commerce site in that they have an online store with a shopping cart and they sell clothing products that are unique. These were my impressions:
- There is no phone number except on the contact us page. The email address is at Yahoo, so that tells me they are very small or haven't considered it. Worst case it should be customer service @ domain name. This is a store that doesn't actually sell online, but see if you can find their phone number and address: Wine & Spirits World. Here's a clue: It's on every page of the site!
- There is no person related to this store, no photographs of personnel. There is no personality. It's just a store. Here is a multi-million dollar store with lots of personality: Threadless. Personality is a good thing for business. Strike that--it is a great thing for business!
- There are no store hours anywhere on the site. There are no store photographs. There is no local customer interest on this site. It appears they want to be a large Internet store. Both can be done effectively.
- This is a site that begs for a good deal of information due to its unique products, but the information is very slim. There could be history, how these products perform, what they do for the customer, how they relate to the environment, why this product is superior, and on and on. Give people a good reason to come back to your website. Keep adding information all the time, so there is something new all the time. Add a blog for the fun and information of it. I know it is work, but it is very important work!
- They specify 7-10 working days to ship the product. That is a very long time to wait for the shipping to start and then wait for the shipping in order to finally receive the product. People (me) expect better. The 7-10 working days suggests to me that they are drop shipping the product and that they do not actually have it in stock. Most effective online stores ship in less than 48 hours! Many in 24 or less. E-commerce cannot be very effective on 7-10 days plus shipping. It also specifies $25 for expedited shipping, but doesn't specify what that means. Does it mean overnight? Two day? What? Priority Mail is cheap and fast. There is also an upcharge for Alaska and Hawaii. Well, that's what you get for living in paradise!
- All of the products appear to have a photo, but the photo is about 1" square. It says click to enlarge, but it opens a new window with the same size photo. If I were to buy something on this site, I would want to get a better photo that I can actually see and relate to the product and would even prefer to have more than one photo. I hate to return things, so I want to see what I am buying to reduce that possibility. There is no detail in the photographs to indicate the weave, texture. Colors are not representative of what they would look like on the item. All in all, I would have a tough time buying anything off this site based on the photos.
- Pricing includes shipping, but that isn't really promoted. It should be. It should say FREE Shipping!* with the asterisk for the details of where that is free and it should be on each item, so that it cannot be missed. Free shipping is cool. I see it on the home page and on the shipping page only.
- Pricing strategy. I'm a marketer and merchandiser, so I have strong feelings about this. Whenever I see a price of $10.04, I say that price is $1.00 higher than $9.95. People don't look at the change (the numbers on the right of the decimal), they look at the largest dollars (the leftmost numbers). Believe it. It is true. You might as well take advantage of that and offer this product for .09 less at $9.95. Next, don't let "9" be the last number. It is too close to 10. Silly, but true. I recommend $.95, but it could be .94, .96, etc. I want it close to 10, but just far enough away that it is not 9. On the other side, stay in the 9's. Don't go $9.74. I mean, you can, but I think you are throwing away .21 for no good reason. Almost nobody will recognize the difference between $9.74 and $9.95. Since these things are generally true regardless how how inexpensive or expensive the product is, go with it and keep the change!
- The site is clean and pretty, but it has no life. It needs some draw. Something that draws you in right on the home page and then goes on forever.
I cannot be critical that it is a website, but I ask "what is the strategy here? What is the overall plan of what the site is supposed to achieve? How will this grow the business? What other things will work with this site to promote the business effectively? I think sales, marketing and merchandising. Pretty is nice, but sales are better. My partner says that people get their website done the first time, then they say, "Check. That's done." I know this is true, but if Amazon did that, they would have died the first month. Their site has thousands and thousands of pages and it changing minute by minute. It has to or die.
Pretend you're a customer. Why should I want to buy from you? If I bought, what kind of service can I expect? Why would I want to come back?
Saturday, July 26, 2008
It's Amazing How Much I Learn When I Open My Mind
It's amazing how much I learn when I open my mind. It is like there was a flood of things waiting to come in and help me, but I just didn't see any of it because my mind was not open to it.
It seems that I have been consistently behind the curve on technology. Learning to use computers was one. I finally opened my mind up to learn them a bit and I learned a lot very quickly. Pretty soon people came to me for answers. That's amazing! Not an expert or anything, but I got fairly good at moving around in DOS creating batch files and making things easier for me. I grew comfortable with it and when Windows came out, I rejected it for DOS. Silly me. Mind closed. I think finally version 3.1 I decided to get the hang of it. Open mind, the rush is on.
The Internet. No interest. Just a fad. A bunch of silliness. Mind closed. No vision. Darkness surrounds me. Out of touch, out of focus. I didn't even get email until long after MSN was in the game. But, once the mind opened up, the flow came with power. Now I pretty much live on the Internet. Fascinating. And on it goes. Every time my mind is closed, something happens that causes it to open and all of a sudden I see why people liked the Internet, email and many more things like that.
I can see now that I have always been opening and closing my mind throughout my life on every kind of issue. I can also see now that it is only when it is open that learning and growth take place. I think of it as flowing with the river instead of swimming against it. It is more effective to say the least.
It seems that I have been consistently behind the curve on technology. Learning to use computers was one. I finally opened my mind up to learn them a bit and I learned a lot very quickly. Pretty soon people came to me for answers. That's amazing! Not an expert or anything, but I got fairly good at moving around in DOS creating batch files and making things easier for me. I grew comfortable with it and when Windows came out, I rejected it for DOS. Silly me. Mind closed. I think finally version 3.1 I decided to get the hang of it. Open mind, the rush is on.
The Internet. No interest. Just a fad. A bunch of silliness. Mind closed. No vision. Darkness surrounds me. Out of touch, out of focus. I didn't even get email until long after MSN was in the game. But, once the mind opened up, the flow came with power. Now I pretty much live on the Internet. Fascinating. And on it goes. Every time my mind is closed, something happens that causes it to open and all of a sudden I see why people liked the Internet, email and many more things like that.
I can see now that I have always been opening and closing my mind throughout my life on every kind of issue. I can also see now that it is only when it is open that learning and growth take place. I think of it as flowing with the river instead of swimming against it. It is more effective to say the least.
Friday, July 25, 2008
How's That Working For You?
On purpose is good, by accident is lousy, but either way, measure the results. See what is working and see what is not working. Either way it is good information. When you have the information you can do more of what is working and less of what is not working. Many would call that progress--if you are keeping track and trying a number of things.
It fascinates me how some business people think about marketing. Running a newspaper ad for $800 is a good chunk to spend. I would expect a specific result from that investment. Many we find wouldn't know the value because they have no method in place with which to measure the results.
If you advertise products and do not keep track of the sale of those products why would you continue to spend the advertising money? Hope is not a strategy. It would be much better to have a plan of action and the advertising be a portion of the strategy--a tool. This is especially true with products. If you were doing institutional advertising, it is much more difficult to measure results, particularly short term results. But, if I am advertising products or services, I want to see some results. I want to plan the ads to fit my strategic plan of moving merchandise in a specific time frame and in a specific quantity.
It is a part of the good plan to measure results from each effort to see what is working and what may not be working according to the plan. Advertising should be targeted for a definite result, not just for the heck of it. When you can see what the results are, you can modify the advertising as necessary to improve the results of it. Ask a few good questions like, what is the specific result I want from this ad or ad campaign? How will I know if I have hit that target? What other things can I try that may get positive results or improve existing results?
Try enough things that you know you have covered the best opportunities. Just because something doesn't work the first time, doesn't necessarily mean it won't work another time. Maybe it just needs a little twist that will cause it to change the results. Work it, measure it, modify it as necessary and try a number of things. Look for your advertising to achieve specific results.
It fascinates me how some business people think about marketing. Running a newspaper ad for $800 is a good chunk to spend. I would expect a specific result from that investment. Many we find wouldn't know the value because they have no method in place with which to measure the results.
If you advertise products and do not keep track of the sale of those products why would you continue to spend the advertising money? Hope is not a strategy. It would be much better to have a plan of action and the advertising be a portion of the strategy--a tool. This is especially true with products. If you were doing institutional advertising, it is much more difficult to measure results, particularly short term results. But, if I am advertising products or services, I want to see some results. I want to plan the ads to fit my strategic plan of moving merchandise in a specific time frame and in a specific quantity.
It is a part of the good plan to measure results from each effort to see what is working and what may not be working according to the plan. Advertising should be targeted for a definite result, not just for the heck of it. When you can see what the results are, you can modify the advertising as necessary to improve the results of it. Ask a few good questions like, what is the specific result I want from this ad or ad campaign? How will I know if I have hit that target? What other things can I try that may get positive results or improve existing results?
Try enough things that you know you have covered the best opportunities. Just because something doesn't work the first time, doesn't necessarily mean it won't work another time. Maybe it just needs a little twist that will cause it to change the results. Work it, measure it, modify it as necessary and try a number of things. Look for your advertising to achieve specific results.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
I Stop At Starbucks For the Bathroom
I have to admit it. When I am travelling, I purposely stop at Starbucks for the bathroom. I almost always buy something to pay them back for the privilege, but I didn't go there for the Latte and Maple Scone (I do love their Maple Scones!).
I go there for the consistency of their clean restrooms. I used to stop at McDonald's before I discovered Starbucks. McDonald's is okay, but not very consistent in comparison. If that's all there is for the next 20 miles, okay, but I prefer Starbucks hands down.
In the last few years I have traveled by vehicle extensively. As a result of discovering Starbucks (I was a late bloomer. . .) about three years ago or so, I have had the opportunity to stop at quite a number of them. I have found their consistency of clean inviting restrooms is second to none in quantity and quality. I feel totally comfortable stopping there and while I'm stretching my legs, I might as well have a latte and a snack. I even have ended up looking at their music CD collections while waiting for the bathroom and have really enjoyed buying many of their CD's.
They say at Starbucks that it is not the coffee, it is the experience. At first I didn't relate to that really well, but I get it. It is even more so when you relate it to stopping there as a first choice when coffee is the last thing on my mind.
You just never know why someone is doing business with you. Now Starbucks knows the biggest reason I go there. I do love the coffee, the maple scones, the sandwiches, the cold drink selection, the CD's, the newspapers, the decor, the comfortable atmosphere, the friendly people, the service oriented team, the fun they seem to have working there, the locations, the colors and the fancy gadgets for sale, the comfortable chairs, and the restrooms. Awesome company and strategy. Sold me and I wasn't an easy sale.
I go there for the consistency of their clean restrooms. I used to stop at McDonald's before I discovered Starbucks. McDonald's is okay, but not very consistent in comparison. If that's all there is for the next 20 miles, okay, but I prefer Starbucks hands down.
In the last few years I have traveled by vehicle extensively. As a result of discovering Starbucks (I was a late bloomer. . .) about three years ago or so, I have had the opportunity to stop at quite a number of them. I have found their consistency of clean inviting restrooms is second to none in quantity and quality. I feel totally comfortable stopping there and while I'm stretching my legs, I might as well have a latte and a snack. I even have ended up looking at their music CD collections while waiting for the bathroom and have really enjoyed buying many of their CD's.
They say at Starbucks that it is not the coffee, it is the experience. At first I didn't relate to that really well, but I get it. It is even more so when you relate it to stopping there as a first choice when coffee is the last thing on my mind.
You just never know why someone is doing business with you. Now Starbucks knows the biggest reason I go there. I do love the coffee, the maple scones, the sandwiches, the cold drink selection, the CD's, the newspapers, the decor, the comfortable atmosphere, the friendly people, the service oriented team, the fun they seem to have working there, the locations, the colors and the fancy gadgets for sale, the comfortable chairs, and the restrooms. Awesome company and strategy. Sold me and I wasn't an easy sale.
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