Tag Archives: website

How Can I Attract Buyers To Order My New Baseball Caps?

Products, , ,

I have tried just about anything and nothing seems be be working. Calling to ask for an appointment to show them the product line, trade shows, sending in samples. Buyers never return phone calls. At the trade shows the buyers only see their existing clients they have an appointment with and totally ignore the new companies with new products. My website doesn’t get any traffic either. Someone at the show suggested hiring a celebrity but as we found out they are extremely expensive and hard to get. I am thinking of joining a networking association in hopes to find some leads.

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The buyers you’ve been meeting simply aren’t interested in what you’re selling. This could because: 1) they don’t like your product, or 2) they don’t see a demand, or 3) they don’t like your presentation.

You have a number of approaches:

– Create a demand. Skip the buyers, sell direct to sk8ters and the rest of your target demographic. If you start getting sales, then buyers may follow.

– Improve your presentation. Your website seems to appeal to teens. Why not brand special caps for different college campuses? High Schools? Beach communities? Bars? Adult Sports Teams?

– Improve your product. Ask the buyers what they think about your product and listen. Do they like the price? Style? Uniqueness? Message?

I don’t think a networking assn will help – you haven’t yet identified what you need (other than sales). As for your website, if you’re not getting traffic, then you haven’t figured out what people are searching for and wading into those waters. MySpace would be a natural community to hype your hats and build traffic.

Overhauling My Website (And Why You Should Care)

Creative Business Ideas, eMarketing, ,

Engine OverhaulPerhaps you’ve already noticed – I overhauled my website. This is my third rewrite of my site.

Originally I wrote the website using a canned template and site builder software that my web host provided for free. While that worked, it wasn’t a reflection of my business.

I then rewrote the site using Dreamweaver. This software gave me lots of control over the result, but it was a hard learning process.

As I’ve explained to many of my clients who wanted website advice – in addition to budgeting time and money to create the site, you’ll need to also keep the site up-to-date, which is an ongoing expense (since you need to pay a web designer to update the site for you).

Normally, to create a web site, you hire a web designer. A web designer combines the skills of a graphic artist with those of a computer programmer. They write your website in a language like HTML, which describes what goes where on a page on your website. The HTML is stored on your host computer. To create your website, the designer uploads the design to your host. To modify your site, the designer changes the relevant files and re-uploads them.

Recently, there’s a better way to build website, using blog (more formally called CMS = Content Management System) technology. CMS is designed to make it easy to write articles. CMS separates the design of the site from the content. So, you can have someone create the design for you (or do it yourself), and then you can change the content when you want, without the need to hire anyone, or use any special software. Only basic computer expertise is needed.

Since I’ve been answering marketing questions for a while, I realized that I could share some of this information with others. So I created a blog, and tied it into my existing site. It worked fine, but it didn’t look like the rest of the site, so I decided to rewrite my website to use CMS. You’re now looking at the result.

The biggest upside to the new look is that the site is easily searchable (by category, date, keyword, or search phrase). It’s more modern looking, and it’s also easier to change how it looks. I can update the site from anywhere in the world and people can subscribe to the RSS feed.

Overhauling your existing site isn’t for everyone. But the next time you’re planning to have your web designer update your site, you might consider CMS.

How Can I Advertise My Business For Free?

eMarketing, Publicity, Starting Out, ,

I want to advertise my business on the web.

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There are lots of places to advertise on the web. The question is, where are your potential clients looking? What problem do you solve for them? How do you solve their problem? Why should they trust you?

Before wasting your time posting, figure out your strategic marketing plan. Then, you can advertise for the right customer at the right place at the right time (and stand out from all the other free advertisements).

How Can I Market Mortgage Protection Insurance?

eMarketing, Services, , ,

I have been in the insurance business for a while. I have a handful of associates that are in the same situation that I am. We are looking for a more effective presence on the Internet regarding mortgage protection insurance. We have tried all the “free” posting ideas (i.e. Craigslist, etc.) but we’re looking more toward directed interest in this particular product.

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Last month Overture listed the relatively low number of 2764 searches for “mortgage protection insurance” (contrast this with 1.7 million searches for “mortgage”) Not surprisingly, if people aren’t searching for it, they won’t find you.

The key is to determine who is your target audience (people with mortgage) and what problem you solve (avoiding foreclosure of your home when you die).

People don’t look for insurance regularly – they think about it when they have a big lifestyle change: a marriage, a divorce, a birth, a death, a new home, an inheritance, and at tax time (when meeting with financial advisers). Therefore, it would make sense to create a series of marketing pieces that help people at these times:

“How To Ensure Your Marriage Is Financially Strong”

“10 Financial Tips for New Parents”

“Keep Your New Home In the Family”

These educational articles would be published on your website, in article banks, local magazines, etc. The purpose is to provide genuine information, with a link back to your site for more information.

How Can I Market Sensuality Products?

Products, Publicity, Starting Out, ,

I have recently signed up to do home parties for a new business called Sensuality. It is similar to Fantasia (same concept) with different products. We do same sex parties, couples parties….anything! Fantasia is so well known that it has been very hard to get our name out there. The person who created the business is doing well with her website and also writes a sex ed column for the local paper. But how can I market myself?? I also have a background in the sexual health field…this is something unique that Fantasia doesn’t have…All my friends have already had parties so…word of mouth hasn’t started to work yet. What can I do in the meantime?

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If your products are simply different (you didn’t say, “better”, “higher quality”, “USA Made”, “Hypoallergenic”, “guaranteed”, etc.) then you need to focus on your differentiator: your background in sexual health.

Your approach can be: “Instead of simply buying gimmicks, let me teach you a fun and better way to achieve long-lasting intimacy using our products.” The key is teach / intimacy. Your insight is what will draw people in. The products you sell will be the revenue stream.

Offer paid classes in your area. For the price of the class, attendees get a full-priced credit from your catalog (i.e., if your class costs $25, give them $25 towards the purchase of your products). You’re creating additional value, rather than simply having a free class (which is perceived as a non-value).

Your intimacy classes (for women/men/couples) could be offered through your local Yoga studio, Gym, Personal Trainer, Beauty Salon, Nail Care Studio, etc. Basically, places where people who care about their appearance go. If there’s a romantic restaurant in your area, consider co-marketing with them (use their back room during a slow day). Your local hotel/motel that has conference facilities would be a good bet (once you have advance sign ups, to avoid paying a lot out of pocket).

As you do your presentations, start recording them. They can naturally become a revenue stream in their own right.

If you can’t give up $, then co-market:

If you do your presentation in a music store, and hand-pick music selections to go with your products.

…in a wine shop, choose wines based on personalities, positions, etc.

…in a video store, choose movies that are couple-friendly.

…in a gelato store, choose sensuous flavors.

You get the idea.

How Can I Inexpensively Market A Book?

Products, Publicity, , ,

Do you have an eBook or a physical book? Does the book have an ISBN #?

If you have an ISBN, then Amazon & Google Books are certainly appropriate places to get listed.

If you don’t, then you’ll be self-promoting your self-published book. As a minimum, provide a website for the [e]Book (or a page in your existing website’s store). Provide samples of the book’s contents, as well as price, size, number of pages, etc. You need to build trust in the prospective buyer.

Don’t forget free classified services, such as Craigslist, etc.

If the book is more than a how-to (i.e., it’s a personal story, etc.), then create a press release for it, and distribute it (there are lots of services, such as www.free-press-release.com).

If there are self-contained excerpts, publish them at various article banks online.

To get people interested in your book, post information where your target audience visits online. Likewise, try to get people to link to your book. If you have a blog, announce it.

How Can I Target Home Page Traffic?

eMarketing, , ,

Most of the traffic (over 70%) of my clients’ web site lands on the home page. For example, the traffic comes from directly-typed-in URLs or natural search results. Home pages are mostly “generic”. How can we target the traffic better so these un-targeted traffic gets to the right page and so it increases conversion rate?

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  1. If someone types in your domain name to get to your home page, you only have a couple of options: improve your home page or use cookies to track repeat visitors and present a targeted message to them.
  2. If someone is coming on an inbound link (which you mentioned is organic) and the home page isn’t relevant, either the home page is stuffed with keywords or the inbound link isn’t targeted well (if you can influence the inbound link to point to a better page, do so).
  3. If you’re targeted with PPC (etc.), then these paid links should be better targeted.
  4. If your home page is generic, then spend time fixing the problem. Who is your target audience? Identify the key problems you solve for your audience, and clearly guide them to that area of your site.
  5. You can improve your website itself, creating better content/internal linking. This will help longer-term with the organic search. Once again, you’ll need to understand what search terms people used to find you, and then build your site to better serve them.

How To Start Your Online Business For Free

Creative Business Ideas, eMarketing, Starting Out, ,

Let me first answer the common questions:

I’m not a computer whiz. Creating a website isn’t much harder than creating a document in your word processor.

I don’t have a lot of time. Spend more time selling your products (services) and less time setting up your business using the detailed steps.

Is this really free? Yes.

Why? By giving you a free website, companies build your loyalty.

Why do professionals charge $1000s? Anyone can create an online business. Making the website look “sharp” is a job for the pros. If you don’t have thousands of dollars to spend, create something functional now and improve it later.

The “catch” is that for free you won’t get your own domain name (www.MyBusiness.com) . Instead, you’ll have to have a name like: MyBusiness.googlepages.com. From a professional marketing perspective, this isn’t ideal. However, if you have no budget but want a website, then this will work wonderfully. There are a number of companies that will provide you a free website. I’ve found that that “Google Pages Creator” is the best – they don’t insert advertisements onto your website.

  1. Go to: pages.google.com
  2. Create a free Gmail account (if you don’t already have one)
  3. Websites are all about visual appeal. Gather images that highlight your product (or service). Make sure that the images are yours to use (either something you created, is in the public domain, or have licensed).
  4. Design your “Home” page. This page should answer the question, “What problem does your product (or service) solve?” Don’t clutter it with lots of details. The home page is all about getting someone interested enough to read further. Make sure that the home page has your contact information (name, address, phone, email) on it (note: you want contact info on all your webpages).
  5. Design your “Contact Me” page. Make it easy for someone to find you.
  6. Design your “About Me” page. Add a picture of you. This page should answer the question, “Why are you the best person to sell this product (or service)?” or “Why should I trust you?”.
  7. Design your “Store” page. This page should answer the question, “How much does it cost? What are the details? What proof do you have? How can I buy it?”
  8. Go to: www.paypal.com
  9. If you don’t already have a (business) checking account, go to your local bank to get one. Link the account to Pay Pal.
  10. Choose for your Paypal “payment solution” Website Payments Standard. Create Buy Now buttons and/or PayPal Shopping Cart for each product you’re selling. Insert the buttons at the proper locations on your “store” webpage.
  11. Get feedback from your business associates. Does the site look acceptable? Is the information on the site accurate?

The site that you create will be a full-fledged online business. People can find more information about you and your products. They can order from you online. You can gradually improve the look and feel of the website over time.