Keyword Research for the Beginner - Part 2
Online business owners need to become familiar with the concept of "keyword research" because it will allow your business to open its doors to the specifically targeted customers that will buy what you offer.
The concept of "keywords" is a detailed and somewhat technical field, but it is one of the most important parts of every online business owner's strategy to marketing successfully.
In our previous discussion we talked about what keywords are, why they are important, and how they are found. Let's dig a little deeper now and show you how to research the keywords and phrases that are most relevant to your business.
Let's spend some time and talk about how to develop your keyword strategy.
Continue reading "Keyword Research for the Beginner - Part 2" »
I know many would-be business owners are caught up in the dream of solo business.
One of the major challenges and struggles of most beginning small business owners is grasping and understanding what is going to be required to stay on top of the company's financial position.
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.
Call it what you will ... keeping the books, financial management, accounting, doing your taxes, crunching the numbers and on and on ...
A sound marketing plan is very important to the success of any solo online business operation.
All over the globe there is a wave of entrepreneurism that is sweeping the small business world both here in America and in far away places. What is fanning the flames of this hot topic is easy access to the Internet.
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.
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.
Chances are pretty good that you've known several people, maybe family members, or friends, or past co-workers that have made the leap to private business ownership.
The Internet landscape is saturated with claims of easy, automatic, guaranteed, wealth-building packages and lucrative startup systems that anyone can do with minimal effort and wild success.
My friend Jeff had tried three different business creation "systems" or turn-key packages over the past few months that had initially sounded like they were exactly the solution he needed to profit from his own online business idea.
There is a real attraction to purchasing a "business in a box" system.
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.
In a previous post I talked a little about the importance of being honest with yourself as you undertake any business creation.
This can be one of the most perplexing and difficult decisions you have to make as you decide to create a business.
Have you ever heard that story about the ocean-going ship engine that failed?
I recently came across an article that gave some specific proven advice about launching a new web site. The steps explained were simple and straightforward. I don't remember where I saw the article, but I did make a copy and thought I would summarize it here for you.
Creating a new business is like preparing for a wedding: there are a thousand details that must be planned and executed.
When most business owners talk about "framing their business license" they are referring to the municipal or city business license that authorizes them to do business at their chosen location.
Since the beginning of time, solo business persons have opened and maintained retail stores that sold products to walk-in customers.
If you are serious about starting a small solo business, there is no greater lesson to learn than how to apply the principle of maximum leverage to everything you do in your business operation.
When you get right down to brass tacks, most successful businesses are pretty boring. Really!
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.
I don't always recommend that you seek out an attorney and a financial advisor for your business safety and peace of mind.
Before you take this step, I would encourage you to do a little research and study into the practice so you'll at least be aware of the laws, regulations, and tax consequences of this practice.
I know, I know, we all use the term freely and without much thought.
Digital information is not unlike written information, except that it exists in the form of little data bits that consist of "1s" and "0s."
First, think for a moment about a traditional physical 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.
There should be a number of considerations that you look at before you set a pricing structure to your products.
If you play the "we guarantee the lowest prices" game, you will usually regret the decision. Of course, only you can be the judge as to your approach to pricing your products and competing in your niche markets.
It's fun to skim through a number of new business plans in a short period of time. I always take special note of the sales projections and compare set against set.
There is a tendency among new business owners to price their products and services too low in the hope that they will attract more customers and not be given a reputation of being overpriced.
Let's face it, many folks that start their own solo business are first time entrepreneurs. They have no history, background, or training in small business development or operation.
Over the next few posts we will be looking at things you can do in your business to:
We're discussing the steps you can take as a business owner to make yourself and your company a professional, trusted, "real" business; not some sloppy and suspect half-hearted attempt to grab a few customer dollars.
I cant' overemphasize the notion that the most successful business owners are the ones that become "students" of small business and especially, their own business model and niche.
Every business needs to establish and maintain professional working relationships with suppliers, distributors, vendors, service providers, and outsourcing companies.
You've probably noticed over your lifetime that companies dealing in quality products and services tend to remain in business over a long period of time.
I'm not suggesting anything like copying or plagiarizing someone's profitable business model and products to push them out of their own chosen niche.
Nowhere has the Internet made a more dramatic change in the existing power structure than in the business world.
On my reading list for all online solo business owners is Michael LeBoeuf's little paperback called The Perfect Business.
In a lot of online business situations, email is the lifeline between you and your customers and suppliers.
In 2005 I purchased and read Seth Godin's latest contribution to new age business thinking and culture and immediately was struck by it's logic, practicality and seemingly correct vision of how we must sell our products and services now and in the future.
Another book that I like to recommend to entrepreneurs and existing small business owners is The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, a columnist for The New Yorker magazine.
I believe it's a wise move to investigate all the options you have in executing your online business.
Some business owners have chosen to ship purchased products to their customers at no additional cost with the idea that such generosity could mean the difference between landing a sale or not, all other considerations being equal.
Have you ever noticed a shopping cart full of groceries sitting next to the checkout stand at the supermarket?
In the previous installment we discussed some of the costs associated with delivering physical products to your customers.
Often, new business owners figure the only way to increase sales is to put your product or service in front of more people.
There are more ways to increase your sales than to just try to entice more and more customers to purchase your product by increasing your advertising budget.
Most small business owners look for additional sales in increased advertising and marketing.
Entrepreneur is kind of a funny word. It's obviously of French origin. I've been hunting for years to find its English counterpart, but have not yet come up with a suitable substitute.
I want to welcome my new friend Chris Elliott to the blog and the amazing world of Internet business. Chris is a high school senior about to make a choice between colleges and is interested in entering the business world after school is completed.
Over the short history of the Internet, there have been many creative and unusual strategies attempted by entrepreneurs to generate income, both as a means to make a living and also to simply add additional streams of income to the owner's business.
I recently viewed a video clip produced by John Reese that showed his amazing VRE strategy that added over $500,000 to his business the first year it was implemented (beginning in February 2005.) You can view the video for yourself
The premier search engine Google has come up with several programs that may be of interest to the solo small business owner. But there seems to be some matter of conflicting opinion about whether a web site owner should do anything to send his traffic away to someone else.
If you are a solo business operator and choose to increase the revenue generated at your web site, you have the option of employing Google Adsense advertising. I believe Yahoo and MSN also (or will soon) offer similar programs that allow the web owner to monetize his content.
Anyone that has searched online for information type products, and even physical products in some cases, has been offered one or more "bonuses" along with the purchase of the main product.
Some solo business owners have experienced great success by marketing their company and products off-line.
It may be something you do as a matter of routine, but I've seen enough sales letters and web site catalogs that don't do this that I'm convinced some sellers just don't know what they are missing.
I think some people are born to complain.
My wife is affectionately known around our house as "the Coupon Queen."
I have not tried this strategy but I read about it and I think it would work extremely well in a solo home business application.
I read a news opinion column recently that claimed the great benefit of the Internet to small businesses was that it allowed every business to be built on the same footing - low startup cost and potentially unlimited exposure.
One of the greatest secrets to successful solo small business seems to escape many entrepreneurs.
I've noticed over the years that I've been online (since the mid-90s) a change that's taking place in the way Internet users are visiting web sites.
Every new technology faces the same uphill battle when it comes to public acceptance and dispelling people's fears that something bad will happen to them as a result of some unknown or unanticipated problem.
The solo business owner has many tools and resources at his disposal that can leverage his time and automate his business so that he can accomplish much more by himself than would ever have been possible prior to the Internet.
You would think most people are rational when spending money on products and services that they find online. After all, the complete information about the product is readily available right on the Internet.
The U.S. economy is changing dramatically.
One of the true challenges facing every Internet business is the process of turning prospects into paying customers.
Regardless of the size of your marketing budget, there are some business principles that should guide what you do, when you do it, and how you bring together the various elements of your business marketing.
Owning a small business is the new American Dream. A recent national survey found that nearly 60% of Americans listed owning a business as high on their wish list of things to accomplish, even higher than owning a home.
In another installment we reviewed the various definitions and synonyms for the word "focus."
The other day I spent some time at Borders, the giant bookseller franchise that I often frequent when I'm searching for some Internet selling tips and advice that I can't find in the books on my own bookshelf.
The answer won't be a surprise to most; nevertheless, the concept or principle behind the answer needs frequent repeating until it's permanently embedded in the business operator's memory.
Before we get to today's post, let's take a minute to remember the victims of the September 11th tradgedy of 2001. It's hard to believe that it's been six years since we endured that nightmare.
Every business needs to identify something that sets it apart from all other businesses in the same niche.
I know of no other activity required of business operators that can be so frustrating, expensive, and fickle as the advertising game.
One of the great advantages to operating a solo business is that you, and you alone, control what transpires in the business. You make all the decisions, you set the rules, and you alone reap the business spoils.
I believe in small business! I believe in entrepreneurs!
Just a few years ago, solo business owners took advantage of the fact that they could market their goods and services online all across the continent.
I have seen a smattering of Internet marketers voicing loud and sometimes passionate opinions that blogs are destroying the Internet. Why?
Of course you would want to do that. Here's why!
A lot has been written over the past ten years about business owners as risk-takers, and the characteristics or qualities that they possess which allow them to be successful in what they do.
Why am I so passionate about solo Internet business?
Think back to the time you had your first thoughts about working for yourself by creating a business.
Here's a quick tip that I've used on several occasions to get me over the direct marketing hurdles of creating a winning headline, effective ad copy, layout questions, developing a good offer, finding the best sizes, etc.
I was asked this simple question in a roundtable discussion of business owners recently, and to my utter surprise, a very lively dialogue carried on into the night as the group of us debated the challenges and opportunities that affect small business today in comparison with "the way it used to be" just 10-15 years ago.
Marketing a small business can be a daunting task for the owner that has no previous marketing experience.
Times are changing and every solo business owner needs to design his little company in a way that it can be globally competitive.
Often entrepreneurs and small business owners have a difficult time trying to keep from being "stale" in their businesses.
I've often asked myself this question. It seems that when I was younger no one talked about individuals owing and operating a business without employees to help share in the work.
Some of you may have seen this on MSN recently, but I thought I would share my synopsis of it anyway for those interested in the "wants" of Internet users.
Did you know there are ways to see what buyers are looking for at any given time online?
Of all the tricks and strategies that direct marketing professionals have devised over the years to increase sales and push prospects to take action at crunch time, maybe the ultimate trick is employing the "scarcity" factor to a product or service.
The folks over at the
Today's post is a bit of rambling about a principle that all of us seek and can, at least to some degree realize, regardless of how our business endeavers pan out.
Often a web site privacy policy is overlooked, thrown together in haste, or altogether omitted as the site owner is anxious to move on to more glamorous and creative aspects of developing a business home on the Internet.
Who hasn't received a mailer that included an offer to purchase a product or try a service with the stipulation that all you have to do in order to activate the offer is peel off a pre-printed label and stick it in the box marked "I ACCEPT" and then send it off in the mail?
The type of fraud I'm referring to is credit card or payment fraud as opposed to things like embezzling, tax evasion, or product scams.
In my travels today I ran across a great site online that should provide a nice resource for you as a small business owner. At the very least, you can use it as a consumer to find just about any kind of product or service imaginable.
Regardless of the product or service you want to sell online as a solo business owner, you will be confronted initially with the task of choosing a viable niche.
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.
I found a great online resource that I'd like to share with you. It's an online service that "grades" your web site.
Online business is a game of sorts. You are competing against others in your niche for customers and their dollars.
We are continuing our discussion of the fear of Internet selling. You see, many would-be entrepreneurs have extreme fear of offering products and services online to potential customers.
