Many misconceptions exist about selling products on the internet that land thousands of internet marketers offline to sell in a more lucrative and forgiving market. The first mistake is viewing internet sales much like they view offline, B2C sales. They figure by throwing up a site with some pictures and text, magically people will not only come to it, but that they will also buy their product. Unfortunately, the internet is not a sidewalk where local passerby stumble upon your site while window shopping. Then as if by some magical attraction, like love at first site, fall in love with the representation of your item for sale, a graphic and some text, and are convinced to buy it, regardless of the numerous risks involved with the purchase.
Whatever you do to sell your product off the internet, you must be twice as good at it online. For one, you are basically attempting the impossible, to convince people to buy your product without saying an audible word. It’s like someone asking you to sell shoes for example without speaking a word and without letting the buyer try them on. Every purchase made on the internet is viewed as a risk by a buyer for many reasons. To name one of the more obvious is, will I like it once I get it? Buyers also hesitate for safety reasons, cautious of paying for the item and never getting it. As an ecommerce marketer you are asking people to “take your word for it,” that the product is worth the cost and that you are a legitimate business selling a legitimate product. This is in addition to the thousands of other objections that go along with buying something before getting to see it up close. Why would someone want to purchase something online versus in a retail store? Truthfully I cannot think of any. As an online marketer, you have to create that reason. Probably the most common reason people would actually prefer to buy it in a retail store is the immediate satisfaction it brings. Overcoming this objection is quite possibly the hardest one since most buyers would actually pay a higher premium to satisfy their need to have it now. By giving your potential buyer a lower price and free shipping creates a reason to buy your product online versus in a store. If your margins are already tight, you may want to rethink internet sales especially if your competitors are offering free shipping. Believe it or not this is a big deal breaker no matter how little or how much the shipping costs actually are. Assuming now that you have reduced your price for the product and offered free shipping, “what risk are you going to take to even the score for the risk they are taking by giving you their money, trusting that they will eventually get the product if all goes well. This includes the unforeseen shipping blunders that now add a third party to their risk of purchasing. That’s a lot to ask of someone you don’t know, don’t you think? What kind of guarantees do you offer? What is your return policy? Can people ask questions with a quick reply when inquiring about your product? Can people sample it before they buy it? I urge every internet marketer to have a solid return policy that guarantees the buyers satisfaction in the purchase otherwise the most prevailing guarantee is - no sale.
Your lead capture must be polished and you have to be willing to give something away. You take a risk and the buyer takes a risk. Whatever it is you use to persuade your audience to buy, it must be worthwhile, bordering on exciting! The idea on the internet is to sell your product in bulk to make up for how low you’ve had to reduce the price. Now with all of that said, before worrying about how to sell to your visiting traffic, you may want to first worry about getting them to your site. That in itself is enough of a challenge to kill off the first round of the misled marketers before even making a single sale. Do I think selling something on the internet is easy? The answer is a resounding, “NO.” Contrary to the belief of a large majority, it is one of the hardest sales to make. ECOMMERCE: DON'T BE FOOLED BY INTERNET MYSTIQUE - LOWER YOUR MARGINS AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS
March 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Many misconceptions exist about selling products on the internet that land thousands of internet marketers offline to sell in a more lucrative and forgiving market. The first mistake is viewing internet sales much like they view offline, B2C sales. They figure by throwing up a site with some pictures and text, magically people will not only come to it, but that they will also buy their product. Unfortunately, the internet is not a sidewalk where local passerby stumble upon your site while window shopping. Then as if by some magical attraction, like love at first site, fall in love with the representation of your item for sale, a graphic and some text, and are convinced to buy it, regardless of the numerous risks involved with the purchase.
Whatever you do to sell your product off the internet, you must be twice as good at it online. For one, you are basically attempting the impossible, to convince people to buy your product without saying an audible word. It’s like someone asking you to sell shoes for example without speaking a word and without letting the buyer try them on. Every purchase made on the internet is viewed as a risk by a buyer for many reasons. To name one of the more obvious is, will I like it once I get it? Buyers also hesitate for safety reasons, cautious of paying for the item and never getting it. As an ecommerce marketer you are asking people to “take your word for it,” that the product is worth the cost and that you are a legitimate business selling a legitimate product. This is in addition to the thousands of other objections that go along with buying something before getting to see it up close. Why would someone want to purchase something online versus in a retail store? Truthfully I cannot think of any. As an online marketer, you have to create that reason. Probably the most common reason people would actually prefer to buy it in a retail store is the immediate satisfaction it brings. Overcoming this objection is quite possibly the hardest one since most buyers would actually pay a higher premium to satisfy their need to have it now. By giving your potential buyer a lower price and free shipping creates a reason to buy your product online versus in a store. If your margins are already tight, you may want to rethink internet sales especially if your competitors are offering free shipping. Believe it or not this is a big deal breaker no matter how little or how much the shipping costs actually are. Assuming now that you have reduced your price for the product and offered free shipping, “what risk are you going to take to even the score for the risk they are taking by giving you their money, trusting that they will eventually get the product if all goes well. This includes the unforeseen shipping blunders that now add a third party to their risk of purchasing. That’s a lot to ask of someone you don’t know, don’t you think? What kind of guarantees do you offer? What is your return policy? Can people ask questions with a quick reply when inquiring about your product? Can people sample it before they buy it? I urge every internet marketer to have a solid return policy that guarantees the buyers satisfaction in the purchase otherwise the most prevailing guarantee is - no sale.
Your lead capture must be polished and you have to be willing to give something away. You take a risk and the buyer takes a risk. Whatever it is you use to persuade your audience to buy, it must be worthwhile, bordering on exciting! The idea on the internet is to sell your product in bulk to make up for how low you’ve had to reduce the price. Now with all of that said, before worrying about how to sell to your visiting traffic, you may want to first worry about getting them to your site. That in itself is enough of a challenge to kill off the first round of the misled marketers before even making a single sale. Do I think selling something on the internet is easy? The answer is a resounding, “NO.” Contrary to the belief of a large majority, it is one of the hardest sales to make. 
SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A FAD
September 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
If you haven’t already jumped on the social media speeding train, do not wait another moment. This is not a fad that is going to die out anytime soon. I just recently saw an article stating Facebook as the 4th largest website in the world- in the shortest amount of time.
Having worked directly with corporate organizations that are far removed from the use of social media or even the internet in general as a sales tool, I know what most businesses think immediately when faced with the idea: “It doesn’t fit our framework” or “I am afraid it will distract our employees who will then become less productive” In response I say, “you could only be so lucky.” Try getting 10 or so old school sales reps to just dip their feet into the social media pool is like …well, trying to teach an old dog new tricks. Furthermore if you can honestly tell me that the 200 million people on Facebook aren’t your customers, then I would say, “you’re in the wrong business.”
The truth, as hard as it may be for businesses to swallow, is that customers, (the ones that buy your products or services) are involved in social media and they much prefer to do research and make their purchases online. The reality is if you don’t get involved in social media immediately it may cost you a whole lot more than you would lose by at least trying it. Guessing that your next question is probably going to be “how?”, I have come prepared to offer some advice.
Don’t try to do it alone by researching and finding your way in the dark. That will most likely be a lesson in futility and cost you more blood sweat and tears than you can stand at the moment. Hire a professional who will lead the way, instruct your team and run with your brand in all the right directions. Hiring a managed service provider that can manage your campaign is a wise move and money well spent. Think of them like a temp or part time employee because they will need to integrate with your company to be effective. Consequently this happens to be a managed service providers strength within their market; their ability to integrate and manage your business over a long period of time.
Success in social media will not happen overnight and will not happen any sooner by simply thinking about it. Getting a team of individuals involved in something new can be very trying and time consuming and my guess is you have plenty of other business related activities to keep you busy, like running it. Seek out a managed service provider, and find one you like personally because they’re moving in.
You said you wanted to be successful didn’t you? CONTENT IS KING
August 2, 2009 By 3 Comments
More than ever, especially in the world of social media, written content is the driving force behind one's success on the internet. The more you have the better chance you will have at being found. For many, who although are skilled in reciting the english language but not writing it, this is a terrifying and seemingly impossible feat.
Content Writing: Make it Simple
For those of you who find it difficult to put words on paper in any sort of logical order here are a few tips to help make it easy.
Make an outline of what you want to say or the message you want to get across. Content writing is much easier when you first organize your thoughts with an outline. Start by putting the major points to discuss on paper but don't worry about the order. Later when you have jotted all of them down begin by putting them in an order that seems logical. This will dramatically help your content writing to have flow, and to make sense.
After putting your topics in order, make bullet points under each one of the key points. Make this brief! This should only be an outline or highlights of each section. One sentence per bullet point although you may have several bullet points if that subject contains many different things to talk about. Here is an example:
Subject: How to Write Content
Style of Content Writing- point of view (1st or third person)
- stick to one throughout
- Jot down major points to discuss
- Put in chronological order
- Under each heading put bullet points of key information to discuss
- Write the intro paragraph (brief summary of topics for discussion)
- Using outline as a guide write content that is rich with information
- write a summary or conclusion paragraph
- should relate to your intro paragraph by summing up the points discussed
BUILDING AN SEO FRIENDLY WEBSITE
July 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
SEO starts from the very beginning of a website’s conception. Although SEO can later be implemented, at times it can be difficult, requiring so much reconstruction one would virtually need to rebuild an entire new website to make it SEO friendly. With that in mind, having an SEO specialist working with the programmer and web designer to make sure all of the necessary SEO components are built into the design and the text is optimal. Although due to cost this approach isn’t always possible, it ensures an SEO driven site with the necessary SEO components built in.
TIPS TO IMPROVE RANKING
June 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Often times ranking can be a difficult task especially if our keyword is a competitive one. Here are some ideas to lower the competition and still get your desired result.
Now assuming all of the other page elements of SEO are present including keyword within in the content writing, links and other basic SEO factors already exist, it is time to start writing city pages. City pages are designed to focus on a smaller market share and compete within a particular city instead of your current national market you have been struggling in. Often times a business such as a doctor's office will likely already compete locally because his clientele has to be within a certain number of miles to make them a relevant market, however for someone who either sells something on line or sells something which does not require face to face with its consumer then the market is endless. For example someone selling seo services sells nationally because most of the time all communication can be done over the phone or email. Someone selling babysitting services would only be competing locally within their city of residence for similar obvious reasons. They physically could not babysit for someone outside of certain range of distance. When we compete on a local level versus a national one, our competition is greatly reduced and for obvious reasons, much easier to achieve the desired ranking within organic search.
If you are currently competing nationally and are struggling, my advice to you is: break your market up and begin competing in smaller sections. How is this done? It is rather simple actually. Here again is where content writing proves to be king. Start writing content using your keyword with the city of designation so for example my keyword may look like this: SEO Services Phoenix or Phoenix SEO Service. Then proceed to write content using this keyword as you would normally for optimization. Your metas for the pages would be something like this: SEO Services Phoenix | Get Seo Services Phoenix...... Now so as not to also disturb you current content where you would like to still compete nationally, place these pages in the footer of your site as links. Don't forget the opportunity here to keyword your link!!! 
Keep writing them for each city or state that you would like or until you are satisfied with the results and amount of traffic to your site. You can never do too much!!
PAY PER CLICK-BENEFITS TO SEO
May 20, 2009 By 8 Comments
When most of us think Pay per Click we think ad campaigns that got out of hand, dollars wasted and not too much of anything to show for it. It can be a scary option for the more conservative business owner whose budget is tight and whose ideas therefore are much the same. Truthfully, however, Pay per Click is no more a risk than a fierce battle in the search results and will only become fiercer as more websites flood the internet. While search result ranking is important for longevity and continued business success, Pay per Click is an excellent short term option in the interim, to bring revenue during the lull.
What small business owners should know is that most of the time a pay per click campaign will cost you less money up front and bring about the most immediate revenue/results than would fighting your way up in the search results. Assuming you are able to secure a worthwhile spot the time to get there can vary depending how competitive your keywords are. One thing is almost always a guarantee; it will take you no less than a month and up to a year to earn a favorable spot in the search results. On average a safe estimation is 4-6 months to earn a decent ranking within the top 5. Now consider the amount of money spent on seo efforts within that time frame to get a worthwhile spot in the search results.
THE MANY BENEFITS OF PAY PER CLICK ADVERTISING
The biggest benefit found in Pay Per Click advertising is the ability to get immediate sales or conversions without too much effort, in essence the campaign most often pays for itself as in the case of product sales. Most often one sale thru a pay per click campaign could pay for a weeks worth of marketing for itself. In addition, and to clear up anyone’s preconceived notions, limits on amounts spent can and most often are set on each campaign, each ad, or each ad group. The chance of wasted dollars getting out of hand is slim. Most pay per click services have safety features built in to prevent such occurrences. If optimized most efficiently your campaign dollars would also generate enough profit that could potentially be spent on the ranking efforts. So why wouldn’t you have both?
Carefully consider both options as a means of growing your business. Search results are a long term option for growing your business and once achieved its results are long lasting as long as the website is kept current and fresh. However, Pay per Click is a great short term or long term approach at driving immediate traffic that can and often does convert into sales or dollars earned, very quickly. www.contentwriterseo.com
ROBOFORM - HE'S A KEEPER!
April 26, 2009 By 9 Comments
Well I did it! I finally joined the instant messaging craze that everyone claims is going to be as big as google. The Twitter interface is really clean and easy to use. It is pretty basic, no ads, and it's focus is only what you clicked on, in other words there are not a thousand things all over the page making it confusing where or what you are suppossed to do next. Pretty much a no brainer. I must admit at first I really didn't get it. What was so great about posting short messages to people you don't know. Especially since they weren't going to too many people except a business partner whom I exchanged "follows" with and twitter the friendly bird that follows everyone.
But then it happened. I met the "twitter robot" of my dreams. He came from nowhere and began "following me". I was shy at first but at the same time flattered by his gesture. Boy was he busy. He was posting stuff every hour like a mad man ...or I guess more like a raged robot? I guess it wasn't me he was interested in after all? For a moment I was deflated, but clicked on one of his postings anyway just to see if I could get some small clues, anything that would provide insight into who he was and what he wanted with me.
That was the day I was introduced to what I would like to call the best tool ever to have been born on the web. Yes I know that is quite a huge introduction as I may in the future take this "tool" for granted because of how easy and hassle free it has made my life. Not to mention the fact that it came from the robot stalker on Twitter I was still reeling over. There I was face to face, well network to network, with a similiar subhuman by name, maybe a cousin of my late twitter fling, ROBOFORM www.roboform.com I can't imagine my life without him now. Yes I know there have been several poor attempts in the past of software that remembers your password but someone has finally figured it out. It is so easy all you have to do is remember your passwords one last time and after that it takes over. It even adds links on the tool bar of the sites requiring login so the next time you want to visit you simply click the link appropriately labeled and it will not only take you there, it will log you in. All with one (1) let me repeat ONE simple click. I'm in love! I have found the robot of my dreams.
Some of the more skeptical types may wonder about the security of such a process....don't worry they got that covered too! Check it out! www.roboform.com Make sure to download the free version...because I simply don't know what else they could do to make it any better than it already is. Must I also mention this robot did not spam me to death. He is clean, light and quiet; making himself available only when I need him...ahhh! He treats me like a queen!
THE PREFERRED RANKING #1 OR 2?
April 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
When people think SEO most of them immediately think about search engine placement, and keywords. Ranking number 1 in Google’s search results whether implied as a campaign strategy or not is most always a goal in an SEO campaign and typically search engine placement as the number one spot is weighted most heavily because from that superior ranking we assume sales for the customers, or exposure, or popularity. Whatever goals the customer may have for their website can and will be achieved in googles first spot!
If even 40% of individuals habitually pick the 2nd or 3rd result in Google or Yahoo, or MSN, this will bring up a very interesting question about search engine placement. Is the first spot in Google the best one? I actually pick that result last after not finding what I am looking for with the other results on that page.
A close friend was also quick to retort of her same habits and in fact was also fully aware of why she did it. She stated that usually the first result is not what she is looking for. I think she probably has the same affliction as I, obtained as a shortcut from inferior search engines and possibly inexperienced web marketing efforts. The first result today listed in Google I am confident would fit your search term most accurately most of the time as would the second or third. So what search engine placement, gets the most clicks? We need a program that collects those results in case anyone is looking for a project?
PRICING SEO PROPOSALS
April 7, 2009 By 5 Comments
Anyone who has been in this business more than a week can attest to the difficulty found when writing a proposal or pricing a project. What should I charge? It is nearly impossible to estimate how long certain tasks may take especially since there are so many variables that exist with SEO. In addition, these services hold different values for everyone. One individual may feel that $6,000 is worth all of the additional traffic, conversions, and online presence. Others may not. Or perhaps you have failed to show them the value in it. Whatever the case may be I have seen the shock on the clients face one too many times to not yearn for a new method.
Pricing SEO proposals can be a rather unpleasant experience if the customer is not at least familiar with pricing up front. Personally I have decided that if the customer does not seem to be familiar with SEO pricing, I am going to assign him/her homework; to look up the going rate for SEO services and get familiar with the very wide ranges of pricing everywhere on the internet from $50.00 and hour to $200.00 an hour. Then we might have something to talk about, like what they can afford and what to them is "reasonable." It may also place a bit more value on the work that we do. Let's face it, this knowledge can turn a mediocre business into a thriving money maker. So the value in SEO is truthfully well beyond even the highest priced proposal found anywhere as long as you deliver what you promise in the time frames stated.
Equally difficult is predicting how many hours various tasks will take you up front. With the plethora of variables that can occur in any one service of SEO, what you thought may take 10 hours may end up taking you 20 or maybe just 4 hours. If we give ourselves some leway in the initial pricing, although hours may be lost here and there, it can help to minimize the loss. It is always a pleasure to have the client who understands those variables and hourly pricing but most small businesses want to know up front how much they are spending and understandably so. Any wavering of that intial price can send shockwaves through the entire project.
If possible giving a range of hours may work best and maybe adding a "not to exceed" x amount of hours to cover yourself should the task take longer that you proposed intially and to ease the small business owner's fear that things could "get out of hand".
Since I haven't yet had a chance to try these new pricing methods I am not sure how effective they may or may not be. Being that my pricing is at the lowest end of the wide range; what have I got to lose, besides a customer that cannot afford SEO services? It appears that was never mine to begin with.
PICKING KEYWORDS
April 1, 2009 By 2 Comments
Picking keywords used to attract search engines can be an eye opening experience. Often times the most popular words or the words having the most searches are misspelled forcing you to use a misspelled word in your content writing. For most content writers this is very frustrating but a necessary component to SEO. The next time you see a misspelled word used all over a particular website don't be too quick to tell them their mistake. Chances are they did it on purpose
Another problem I recently came across was a lack of keywords. The topic I was marketing had some searches but nothing substantial to build a business on. Had it not been for some trend research I did I probably would have advised the client to tailor their business just a bit to include a more searchable term. So how did I choose their keyword to best describe their business yet also has enough searches to make it worthwhile? First I looked for keywords/phrases that were characteristic of someone looking for something new or looking for ideas relating to that field. Since it is a new concept it is the responsibility of the business to get people interested. Someone searching with a general phrase of "new investments" might be interested in someone selling a unique investment opportunity not yet well known for example. Sometimes the more general the keyword the more competitive it is, however not always. Usually just by changing the general phrase a little you can find a keyword with less competition and a decent amount of searches. For example instead of "new investments" you could try “new invest” or “invest new” or maybe "new opportunity invest" You would be surprised at the many different ways people phrase their searches and giving the content writer a difficult challenge when trying to use it in the text. Sometimes the keyword phrase is incorrect grammar and even more frustrating for the writer who most likely cringes at the idea of writing text with improper English. I know I do! So as you peruse various sites and notice misspellings or incorrectly phrased sentences, keep in mind that may have been on purpose or at least let’s hope so! 
