I have uploaded more Tips and Hints pdf's

Check Your Website Ratings for Free

Go to http://websitegrader.com/ and enter your URL. Also put in your email address to send yourself a link. Save the link when you get it to a folder so you can compare this to later results. Save the displayed report as a pdf file for future review. Contact me for a link to a FREE pdf creator if you do not have one. I’ll send a link by return e-mail with instructions!

Does Your Company List for Local Search Results?

Proceed to http://getlisted.org/ where you enter your business name and zip code. Click and look for results. In case you need to add your listing or to edit one, contact me for a checklist beforehand. Things such as logos, photos, history, description, contact information, office/store hours, etc.
 
List if you work from home or have a mailbox drop. It might take a while if you do not have a telephone listed in a business name. Some sites may send a written snail mail confirmation.
 

For pdf versions of these and other Tips and Hints (with graphics if applicable)
go to our site DIYWEBJEM – DIY Guides
 

Contact us for a no-obligation consultation if you need help interpreting the results or to improve your ratings to increase your traffic and resulting sales through search engine optimization.

3 Reasons to Hire a Creative Web Designer – Sorry, but I don't agree.

The comment beneath this LinkedIn discussion headline read: “Website is all about the way you design it! No matter how much marketing you do, or how quality-filled products and services you offer, it is designing that gets you the actual recognition.”

My comment: “Can't agree less. A pretty Website without traffic is like a bright billboard on a road with no traffic after it was bypassed by a superhighway. It's like a Cubic zirconia bright, shiny and optically flawless - but basically worthless.

“There are no absolutes in building a successful Web business. It takes a combination of graphic art design, Web development and E-Marketing to complete the entire picture. Cash is king, traffic drives sales. Beauty is skin deep.”

Do you have a thought or comment on my comment?

Learn to Apply Today’s Chicago Tribune Article to Search Engine Optimization

An article appeared in today’s Chicago Tribune that has many lessons that can be applied to E-marketing your Web business. Part of the secondary headline caught my attention as did several parts of the story. Sandra M. Jones talks about retailers using special services to promote sales in the article .

Some of her very interesting observations follow. “Shoppers are motivated by price more than anything these days….” Sales are everywhere and shoppers “..are tuning out the endless barrage..”

She quotes Theresa Williams of Indiana University: “…there has to be a new approach rather than just run another sale.”

In this recession a sale is not merely enough. Ms. Jones continues: “Merchants are putting away their red pens and drumming up novel ways to tout a bargain without cutting into profits.”

Sandra mentions loyalty programs, new and creative ways to get people to shop, and more. As an example, Bottega M, an Oak Park (IL) shop, lets customers bring in old clothing and their seamstresses can be hired to do alterations.

The days of unbridled affluence and unlimited credit are gone and people are just not spending the way they used to with . Part of the change, according to Nancy Koehn of the Harvard Business School, is “the rise in consumer information…” People search the Web and “…find the best price for just about anything..” Add to that “..the decline of imaginative merchants.”

Read the rest of the story.

“Holy Toledo, Batman!” as Robin would say to his crime solving partner. I am sure we, as Webmasters, can all learn how to better promote ourselves if we study these principles and apply them. If we promote our passion and dare to be different.

Sell what makes you different, not what makes you the same. Identify a market niche where you excel. Learn about free tools available to do it yourself e-market on the Web. Commit to the sweat equity and use those tools to promote your business which will drive visitors to your Website. Learn more about do it yourself Web marketing at our Website.

Basic Building Blocks of a Web Business

My love is organic search engine optimization and do it yourself marketing to promote Judy's business, A-BnC Parties and More, Inc. Why? Because it only takes time! Time to learn, then time to implement, then time to tweak.

Through years of research and intuitive exploring I have gathered a wealth of information and references. I've learned that pretty sites even if well optimized don't draw traffic nor resulting sales. I also learned that what you "think" is great may not be to your audience. I also learned than most self acclaimed "gurus" are really not.

There comes a time when everyone must market. You have to get the word out through appropriate channels so people can find you. Then see if they buy! If not, reinvent yourself. That's what we have done on the Web, several times.

The basic building blocks are -
• determine your niche market through research work,
• construct your site based on the message you wish to convey,
• make sure people can navigate your site easily,
• "sell" your product,
• optimize for organic search results,
• add analytics and learn to use,
• market, market, market, market, etc.
• tweak all of the above...

Sites can have flaws and people will always criticize them. (I still have not optimized fully myself!) In the end, it boils down to whether you accomplish your goals, make sales and stay in business.

Can anyone suggest the ways to get the more customers for an e-commerce website?

I am about to post this comment on a LinkedIn group I belong to.

Budget? When considering PPC (Ed. Note: Pay Per Click)... or do you want to do it via sweat equity?

Some basic steps before trying to build traffic and before you consider anything else, especially when you have to pay for the anything else, are - does your site measure up in:
1. SEO?
2. Navigation?
3. Content (is KING!)?

Ask your mother (or someone equivalent)...ask a teenager...ask a true friend...only after they say you site is OK can you start the campaign.

Terra hit on link building (build backlinks) and PR (agree with Steve via press releases). There is also article marketing, producing videos, etc.).

But where is your business blog? Best way to drive traffic in my estimation, when you combine with other factors to do it right!

Ask yourself: "What other social networking media are you using to promote your business?"

One thing I strongly disagree with Steve is the statement that a Web designer should be able to create an SEO website without question. When it comes to small business entrepreneurs, I find the exact opposite to be true. Most business owners do not even get involved with their sites. They are not knowledgeable. They generally farm it our to a relative or a barter partner or latch on to a "freebie" site builder.

For the few who use professional Web designers, I find them utterly lacking in basic SEO skills. Meta tags, alt tags, title tags, bold, headlines, submissions, site maps....Steve, where are they on most sites?

Niche E-Marketing Success Story, a.k.a. The Train is Leaving The Station

I have a story (not another! you say) to tell you this morning. Let me preface this by saying story telling is a salesman’s tool. We use analogies to get our point(s) across. Prior successes become the story lines for a salesman’s act. For we salespeople know we are on stage everyday with our potential customers and clients. All business owners must consider themselves to be salespeople and learn some of our basic sales techniques (i.e. moving people to decide), especially in these economic times.

All salespeople know we must perform well to get rewarded. If we successfully entertain, we get our applause a contract or commission, and get to keep our jobs and benefits! If we are not entertaining we are boo’d, get rejected, ugh(!), and feel badly.
Sometimes our audience even throws rotten fruit at us, too!

Wait, stop, cease and desist! You only feel badly if you are not a true professional for professionals know that a “No” is OK and part of the process. You simply cannot satisfy all of the people all of the time. It is really the “maybes” – stall tactics like, don’t call us we’ll call you, we’ll let you know, or ignoring the calls and emails after your hard work - that drive us up a wall!
Lead, follow, or get out of my way….Please!
Some salespeople are charming and insincere (per my cousin Barbara – I love you!). And some are blunt and frank. Guess what category I fall into?
My wife’s Website continues to draw national business as well as local customers. I recently posted a picture of a new kit for her to market in anticipation of an upcoming event. I needed about 30 minutes to post the previously taken pictures, write copy, and set the prices. In that time I made sure the page and all the items on it were Search Engine friendly. I uploaded the page’s incremental changes only in two minutes. That evening I posted two blog entries as my only advertisement, total time about 15 minutes.

My wife took an order for 21 kits yesterday morning, with add ons. And that is just one order!

Small business owners, attention, may I have your attention, please!
This is the POWER of today's Web. Knowing your niche market, knowing how to make your site search engine friendly, knowing how to advertise your product or service, and moving quickly. For the Web moves at lightening speed and you have to react FAST in an ever changing and competitive arena. It is the future of retailing and marketing.
I believe the Web and e-marketing can be applied to ANY business. That includes any Web business you choose now, or in the future to build.

What you need to survive in this competitive and hostile economy is to identify a niche market or a part of the market you are presently in, and a niche within that market where the competition is weakest. Take one of your products or services (or produce another that you have expertise in) that fills a need in that market. Stir in time and know how and bring the skill sets to a boil. Let it simmer for a while as the aroma fills the marketplace.

If it fails, write it off and cut your losses. If it works, improve on it and duplicate your efforts in another, or newer, part of that niche. If you are truly skilled and motivated already, start several at one time. Learn from one and apply o the other.

Or you can just do what you have been doing in the past, and keep headed where you were going in the past. You will indeed get there.

“Cause” the love train is leaving the station and “if you miss it, I feel sorry, sorry for you.”

Marketing your business in a slow economy.

"Plan marketplace disruptions that favor your business"
was an article in today’s daily Herald by Jim Kendall

I found it very interesting. In the article he writes:

"Adam Hartung suggests that your business should be the one that shifts the marketplace in a manner that takes competitors by surprise and puts them on the defensive. He goes on to talk about being willing to change. When you focus on execution you become obsessed with price.

"Then soon the difference between you and everyone else is merely price! Change your base and change the competition."

My comments are -- Do what others are not doing. Make yourself different, not the same. Distance yourself from the pack.

Hartung also says what I have been saying for years: "Get obsessive about the competition. Analyze the competition."

Read the rest of the article.

Intro to Web 2.0, Backlinks - Part 2

You have to speak the jargon of the Web to succeed in this battle ground. And, this is a giant war, a war for sales. It will get worse as the economy shrinks! Consumer confidence hit a new low as reported this morning.

And, people do NOT play fair. There are smoke screens and diversionary tactics, super highways and dead ends, gurus and scam artists. This is a playground where acronyms abound. HTML, FTP, RSS, PDF, JPG, MOV, etc., etc., etc.

You have to learn by doing. You have to walk the walk and talk the talk. But before you can Run, Run, Run you must crawl, crawl, crawl.

Building backlinks to your site improves your visitor traffic. More visitor traffic should increase you SALES. If you are selling something they want.

Forget about the past, this is a new day with a new market. Building backlinks is but one way to build your success. Use the free tools Web 2.0 offers you.

Web2.0 My Understand Thus Far, Part I

Web2.0 is social networking. And social networking can be, and is being, used for business, point blank. You can use Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, TBD, etc., to only socialize. You can share events, play games, meet old and new friends, post photos, etc., and waste a lot of time. You can post videos on YouTube for humor, shock, information, etc.

Or you can use these, and other Web2.0 avenues, to get people to visit your Website. And most of these avenues are FREE advertising and demand only sweat equity. Some are better than others. The point is if you want to generate sales through social networking, you can. If you get more people to visit, more people will purchase. Increase traffic, increase sales. Point blank, end of story.

The old rule of thumb in retailing was you either have traffic or you build traffic. In either case you pay for it. One option was to rent in a mall or street location where there was a lot of traffic, and a lot of rent. Or to start in a low traffic (i.e. home based, garage, industrial park, etc.) and spend money on advertising for traffic.

That day is passé.

Some of you spent a lot of time, money, and energy at last week’s Party Planning Showcase in a Northwest Chicago Suburb. Judy and I strolled the show talking with our friends. We asked ourselves “why continue?” five years ago and could not find a reason to. We found the reason.

Glance at the Web statistics I provided you free, or request another or a new one. It compares your recent Website activities and search engine rankings with those of A-BnC Parties and More, Inc. Visitor hits on Judy’s sites, including www.abncparties.com have DOUBLED on a daily basis from December, 2008 to January, 2009. Sales have also increased over last year’s comparisons. Sorry, I will not divulge by how much.

The invitation is still there, join the Facebook (Home Based or Small Businesses on the Web) discussion. The information is Free. Or should I charge for it? Will it be more valuable if you pay for it? Judy’s new V-P and national sales manager asked: “Why is it so cheap?”

December 31st, 2008 -- A Day of Wonder and Miracles

It could have been a day spent loafing or taking it easy. Or, a day of rest, reading papers and preparing for tonight's celebrations. However, it took a turn that made it a most memorable and engaging day. December 31st was a truly great day to tackle challenges!

The day started slowly with our traditional Wednesday morning breakfast meeting. Four friends gathered at the deli for coffee (or water) and bagels. Nobody seemed in a hurry to get going or back to what they had been doing. Neither did I.

I was procrastinating on tackling a Web challenge that had me stymied for days. I previously spent hours on a project with no success. I could not mentally work out the problems, even earlier that morning.

When I returned to my desk after breakfast instead of attacking the project, I diddled with a different project I could have easily put off for next week. I needed some input from my supervisor after coming up with a novel approach. That needed authorization from the next level. Within an hour or so, I had confirmation! Wow!

I turned to information gathering. I needed technical assistance for work projects for the upcoming week. My first call found a manufacturer's representative at home going through CD's. He was most helpful in teaching me more about his products' features and laying out an equipment list. He also answered a question about a personal need, since it fell within his area of knowledge.

Then came another call, and another, an email, etc. I had a pickup on the first ring at a technical department where I would normally have waited at least 15-20 minutes. I received immediate pricing on some required parts stemming from the first call I had made to the manufacturer's representative.. I left a message that was returned in about an hour at a sales' desk. The only delay was because I placed the call during the assistant's lunch break.

I downloaded some pictures, cropped and reduced them. Off to a sub-contractor for a quote I will have Friday or Monday morning.

What was happening? Everyone was there to be of service!

Back to the Web challenge since I was feeling in a zone. Right into the Web host's technical department! Someone who spoke the English language without a heavy trans ocean accent! Someone who spoke English and not computer jargon! Someone who answered ALL my questions to his best ability and was not anxious to get off the phone! (I'll tell you what Web host it was on a later post.) Wow!

I was feeling so good I turned to the same Web host for a new Website application. Voice mail, ah well. But, ah well the message was returned within minutes... And, I was talking to the head of the sales department. And he spoke my language and at a level I could comprehend. Double wow!

He turned me over to another technical assistance and for a third time I talked with someone I could asked questions to and get responses back where I was not shaking my head. Triple wow!

Next my wife had some of her own challenges that needed MY assistance! That problem solved, this application installed, that broken appliance mended!

Our daughter came home from job #1 for a short time before departing to job #2. We actually all spent some quality time in a discussion while she ate. And we all had a chuckle or two to boot!

What was happening? Was I walking on water? No, but things just seemed to be gelling at the right time. You see, most customer service and technical departments as well as sales representatives are slow on New Year's eve. There are not many calls, they do not plan to be in the office all day, etc.

So next year, instead of loafing New Year's eve day, I'll save up some more problems to address and get a great start for the upcoming year! That is, unless it snows...