Hold on to Your Customers and Visitors - Part 1
You have heard many times that keeping customers and web site visitors on your site and coming back for more should be one of the top priorities of every online solo business owner.
There are a number of reasons for doing this - one of the most important is that the cost of finding new customers is typically higher than the cost of retaining current customers.
There are other reasons as well. Today we're going to look at just what the business owner can do to keep his paying customers coming back for more!
Regardless of the niche you are in, developing your web site and business philosophy so that you keep this simple principle at the forefront of your execution will pay you great dividends over the course of your business life.
Here are seven top ways to hold on to your customers:
Continue reading "Hold on to Your Customers and Visitors - Part 1" »
I'll admit it . . . I'm a victim.
I'd like to spend some time giving you what I believe are great solo business quotations. These are not my thoughts (although I wish I had the keen insight that these business savvy people express) but rather the ideas of others that are targeted to helping you in your online business.
We're back again reviewing some more wonderful small business advice from some of the most successful people in the business world. These are not my thoughts (although I wish I had the keen insight that these business savvy people express.)
Here are some additional small business quotes that you can enjoy.
I will depart from my usual style of posting today to bring you something that might be helpful if you are having difficulty trying to decide what type of home business you might be interested in. I ran across a book entitled: Great Big Book of Business Lists.
Business mentors are a real boon to most entrepreneurs. They have traveled the same road and can keep you out of danger.
I know many would-be business owners are caught up in the dream of solo business.
Experts tell us that web site owners have just 8 seconds to grab the attention of web visitors and then they are gone! 8 seconds is a very short amount of time!
It seems that almost everyone has an idea for a killer home business.
It would be a grave mistake on your part to ignore the wants of the women in your niche.
For many entrepreneurs, getting started in business on solid footing is an elusive task. Preparing a business plan just doesn't seem to be that important.
A sound marketing plan is very important to the success of any solo online business operation.
I'd like to talk about a way to conduct your solo business online that will bring you all the profits and business that you can handle. What I'm speaking about has as much to do with your mindset as it does about your strategy or business system of operating.
If you've read anything about home business conducted on the Internet, you know how important, even critical, it is to choose a specialized niche, one that you can compete in successfully.
In the previous post we talked about turning a hobby into an online business and why it was a good idea to choose a very deep and specialized market niche.
Sometimes there's a tendency to evaluate the earning potential of a particular niche by the number of potential customers that are there. Alternatively, entrepreneurs may evaluate the likelihood that a niche will be hot in the future, or possibly offer the potential for higher end products and services.
I sincerely believe that a successful business can be created around almost any marketable idea.
Here's an exercise that anyone can do that should help you come up with some great and personalized ideas for the subject of your new online business.
In the previous two posts, we discussed a technique for drawing up a very specific list of business subjects that could become the basis of your online enterprise. They are designed to take advantage of your past life experiences, education, skills and passion.
Who says Internet business can't be adapted and put to profitable use by a youngster?
I've often thought about the myriad of reasons for startup business failure. Because creating and operating a business involves so many details, it's easy to understand why problems galore plague entrepreneurs.
Some call it "the paralysis of analysis."
Many entrepreneurs struggle to come up with good ideas. It only takes one, however, to lay the foundation of a profitable business. But don't worry - your idea doesn't necessarily need to be perfect to allow you to start a business.
Coming up with a workable home business idea is only a beginning. If whatever that idea is never develops beyond a thought, your dream of a real business will never happen.
Entrepreneurs are a diversified bunch. They appear in all sorts of sizes, temperaments, ages, and with various backgrounds.
In a previous post I talked a little about the importance of being honest with yourself as you undertake any business creation.
Here are a few ideas of some information business niche markets that I have seen on the Internet that seem to be popular and growing (in terms of the number of new businesses cropping up.)
It's a nasty name, "swipe files," but it's an idea you should implement immediately if you haven't already gotten yours started!
Working for yourself often seems like the perfect solution for finding a way to earn a living and also enjoy some freedom of expression and the flexibility to set your own work schedule.
In the previous post I suggested that there were some personality traits that were commonly measured (through self analysis testing) that seem to be indicators of the entrepreneurial mind set and qualities necessary for future business success.
There are special challenges and unique rewards for married couples that create and operate a home business in tandem.
Anyone can choose a name. Anything will get you by. But the way I see it . . . why not find the very best name you can that will give value and meaning to your business?
Does the headline of your sales ad or marketing piece really deserve 80% of the time you spend on writing the ad copy?
Just a few years ago, if you owned a solo business and contracted your time and expertise out on an hourly basis, you probably called yourself a freelancer.
Most of the professional solo businesses that I am aware of have followed a very traditional model in how the business is set up and operated.
Every business begins with an idea. The idea may or may not be your own, but it will determine, to a large extent, the success of your business.
Information businesses that are created, developed, promoted, operated, and delivered over the Internet are "the perfect business" because the product or service requires no employees, no stored inventory, no physical packaging, and no physical delivery.
Preparation for business success can come in many ways.
I remember vividly a debate carried on some thirty years ago in one of my graduate school classes that centered on the question of whether it was a good idea to encourage students to set up and operate for-profit businesses prior to their completion of formal education.
I was actually born about 40 years too soon.
There's no doubt about it. The number one reason why people come to the Internet is to get information. They come to read the latest news, comparison shop, find answers to questions, communicate with friends and associates via email or voice, seek out entertainment, or play games.
Buying trends emerge online over time to give business owners, product developers, and marketers clues as to the kinds of things that sell and the strategies that perform best in putting the products in the hands of the customer.
Creating and operating a new business can be an extreme challenge.
Small business is never easy.
Often entrepreneurs and small business owners have a difficult time trying to keep from being "stale" in their businesses.
One of the most overlooked steps in web site publishing, product creation, and article writing is the "chore" of first doing market research.
I'm going to give you the URL (web site address, in case you're unfamiliar with the term) of a great resource for brainstorming small solo business ideas. There are many other nice features and helps at this site, as well, so be sure to browse around and spend some time there when you have a few minutes.
I was going through some of my Internet business books yesterday and noticed a little red paperback book that I remember reading several years ago. I dusted it off and read it again.
Being a good solo business owner often means persuading or motivating people to accomplish tasks that you need to have done. Often, you just can't wait for folks to start a project on their own time frame. You need to have services and business execution happen quickly or you will lose money.
Last night was one of those nights that I absolutely hate! And as I grow older, I have them more often than I used to.
Of all the things you need to pay particular attention to on your web site ... content is probably the most important.
I came across some wonderful advice written by Benjamin Franklin hundreds of years ago. I thought I would share it with you today and also in the next post. There is so much wisdom and sound advice here.
I am a firm believer that anything can be sold online.
Like many of my fellow Internet marketers, there was a time when I was very enamored with the thought of owning and operating a large PLR business.
Every solo business owner has a set of core principles or values that determine how his/her business is operated.
Many times the experience of a newcomer to Internet selling is not what a business owner expects or wants.
More than once I've been asked about the saturation of deep, focused, tiny niches.
