Are Your Product Descriptions Missing Important Information?

Recently, due to a convergence of events, I have been spending large amounts of my time dealing with written product descriptions.

I have been working with an employee of one of my clients, teaching her how to write effective product descriptions (fortunately, she has a knack) and also teaching her how to include minimal HTML to make the descriptions easier to read (this has been less successful! LOL)

In addition, I have been working on several of my own personal niche sites, writing my own product descriptions based on information provided by the product’s manufacturer.

So, I ask you, if anyone is going to know EVERYTHING about a product, wouldn’t it be the folks who actually make the product?

Well, they may know everything but they don’t seem willing to share it in their product descriptions! And we aren’t talking industrial espionage issues here. We are talking BASIC information about said product!

The rant you are about to read is aimed at both product manufacturers and product retailers .

Have any of you looked, REALLY looked, at your product descriptions?

• Have you checked to see whether your descriptions include the basic and obvious information about your product?

• Have you simply been assuming that anyone searching for your product would already know this information?

Let me give you a couple actual examples from my recent web surfing and then I’ll give you TWO simple but powerful reasons why you need to include obvious information in product descriptions.

One of my niches includes power tools of varying kinds. I love woodworking and my previous career path included woodworking as part of my job description, so this actually isn’t the leap it may seem on the surface.

But, getting back to the subject at hand, I was researching bandsaws online.

Bandsaws are a specialty tool and can be used for either woodworking or metal working. However, in many instances, a bandsaw model is designed to do one or the other, but not both.

To further confuse the issue, bandsaws come in several flavors (or styles) and a couple of the styles are pretty much exclusively either woodworking or metalworking.

In theory, you could argue that a knowledgeable person can often tell whether a bandsaw is a metalworking or wood working model, simply by looking at it and, possibly, by reading the specifications.

But, like most assumptions, this one is fraught with difficulties!

The second common lacking that I noticed was the failure to specify the blade length needed for a specific model of bandsaw. Now, yes, you can argue that bandsaw blade lengths are standardized, but they aren’t easy to remember. A 14 inch bandsaw blade uses a 93 1/2 inch blade.

I’m probably not going to bother spending the brain cells it would take to remember this when I only purchase the saws occasionally. I’d rather just look it up. And, to be sure that I am getting accurate information, it makes sense to look it up by using the bandsaw model in my search.

While the blade length is probably included in the bandsaw’s documentation, it should also be included as part of the online product description or product specifications.

In my previous life I was occasionally the person choosing and ordering new power tools. When I did so, I always purchased multiple blades along with the new saw. Most often, this was simple expediency because I know that the blades would not be available locally.

So why does it make sense to place obstacles in my way. Make it easy for me to purchase the saw I want and, preferably, the correct blades!

Why Your Product Descriptions Need to Include the Obvious

Here are TWO extremely important reasons to include obvious information in a product description.

The first reason is pretty obvious:

1) What if the person is not an experienced user?

The person could be handling purchases for a company or the person could be purchasing a gift for someone.

The second reason is less obvious but is far more critical to your website’s online success:

2) If the information isn’t included in the product description, it probably isn’t available to the search engines – either for site wide search on full internet search.

This can be a long term catastrophe.

Someone searches for woodcutting bandsaw and your product doesn’t appear in the search engine results because the search engines are idiot savants. They can only report what you tell them.

It doesn’t matter if your product is the best known product in that category. If your product doesn’t appear in the search results, the searches will be purchasing the models that do appear!

So, take a moment to carefully peruse your product descriptions. try to look with fresh, ignorant eyes.

Are those product descriptions providing the information needed, either by humans or search engines?

Learning to Build Relationships Online – Part 2

As an offline business owner with a web site, I know that you are spending a lot of time worrying about getting traffic to your web site… and you should be. But what are you doing with your site visitors… once they get to your site?

No matter what kind of web site you have – retail or otherwise – you should be focused on BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS with your web visitors!

Relationship building related to your online presence can take place in a number of different ways – active, as well as passive, and they all work together…

The 2 main relationship building vehicles available to you online are your web site (and / or blog) and email – both business email and marketing email.

Here in Part 2, we will discuss BUSINESS EMAIL issues.

BUSINESS EMAIL messages are those which happen as a result of doing business. Depending on what your business may be, these are often inquiries.

These emails can be the result of customer action, such as asking a question before making a purchase.

They may also include email sent messages during the purchase process – I made an online purchase last night and received 2-3 emails from the company as a direct result of that purchase.

This type of email is often reactive in that it is created as a reaction to the process of doing business.

For most Business, especially Online Retailers, BUSINESS EMAIL falls into two categories:

1) Email that is a communication between a Business and its Customer or potential Customer. (This is independent from email regarding a transaction.)

Examples of this would be a Customer contacting a Business with a question, such as asking about business hours, requesting directions to the business offices/location, asking whether you carry a particular product (BTW, these inquiries are great for putting together a Business FAQ or providing topics for your email marketing campaigns)

2) Email that is exchanged between a Business and a Customer during the course of a transaction.

The emails that are sent during the transaction, telling the customer details of the purchase would fall into this category.

There are generally several emails that are created automatically as part of the transaction process. In a retail sale, these emails would be sent by the Shopping Cart Software as part of its function. You, as the business owner, are usually able to edit and personalize the contents of these emails, but the system sends them automatically during the completion of the transaction process. It is hands off for you, once you have edited them for your purposes.

The third type of email for a Business, especially a Retail Business, is MARKETING EMAIL and will be covered in Part 3

BUSINESS EMAIL STRATEGIES:

EMAIL ADDRESSES

• Avoid generic email addresses (such as info@whatever.com). Consider using first names. If you are concerned about keeping the different email addresses straight, so that you can easily know which one is used for what, simply adjust the names.

EXAMPLE: The business owner is Jane.
Use Jane @ YourSite.com for the main email address.
Use JaneS @ YourSite.com for Sales questions
Use JaneI @ YourSite.com for Info questions

EMAIL SALUTATIONS

• Consider personalizing the email messages that are sent as part of a business transaction, so that the email greets the customer by name.   NOTE: This can often be set up to happen automatically

EMAIL SIGNATURES

• Sign ALL business emails with a person’s name
• Tailor each Email Signature to that specific email message and its purpose
• NOTE: An email signature can be extremely valuable real estate
• Write your own versions of the thank you messages (and any other messages) sent during a transaction

FOR EXAMPLE: Issue an informal invitation for the recipient to stop by and visit in person, if they are ever in your city, as part of the transaction Thank You message

• Schedule an automatic follow up message to ask about the quality for the transaction and to ascertain that the recipient was satisfied.

EMAIL CONTENT

• Write in an informal and personable style
• Consider adding PSs to messages. As a general rule, a PS has a better chance of being read, even if the main body of the message is ignored. Go figure!

BUSINESS EMAIL is one of your most powerful communications tools. Take the time and make the effort to maximize its effectiveness!

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

Properly preparing Product Images has been our focus for October..

This month, there are THREE Cheat Sheets and ONE Short Report
covering this issue, available for FREE to registered members of
SurviveAndConquerCoaching.com!

THIS WEEK ONLY – Premier Members get the Survival Guide – Preparing
Product IMAGES for Presentation on the Web for FREE!

http://surviveandconquercoaching.com/wpcoach/premier-member-specials

The Short Report for October has just been posted:

SHORT REPORT – Initial Decisions When Preparing Product Images for
the Web

When preparing Images for a web site, there is a lot of preplanning
that can be done. It is worth taking the time to do this to avoid a
myriad of problems and time wasters, down the line. The Step By
Step Guidelines offered here won’t keep you from making mistakes
and running into problems, but they WILL minimize the problems!

I hope that you will take the time to read thru these suggestions,
then brainstorm about what you need to effectively display and
illustrate your Products. After that… sit down with this Step By
Step Guide and work you way thru, one step at a time!

Download your copy today!

http://surviveandconquercoaching.com/wpcoach/newest-resources

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

As an offline business owner with a web site, I know that you are spending a lot of time worrying about getting traffic to your web site… and you should be. But what are you doing with your site visitors… once they get to your site?

No matter what kind of web site you have – retail or otherwise – you should be focused on BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS with your web visitors!

Relationship building related to your online presence can take place in a number of different ways – active, as well as passive, and they all work together…

The 2 main relationship building vehicles available to you online are your web site (and / or blog) and email – both business email and marketing email. Here in Part 1, we will discuss web site strategies for relationship building.

WEB SITE STRATEGIES:

ABOUT ME/ ABOUT US Page
Include an ABOUT ME / ABOUT US page with brief bios and pictures of yourself and the staff. In most cases, informal pictures will work well.

If you have a brick and mortar location which folks are likely to visit, include pictures, both exterior and interior

WEB SITE WRITING STYLE

Write in an informal and personable style

Where appropriate, personalize comments and suggestions, such as in product descriptions

GENERAL STRATEGIES

1) Depending on your industry, consider offering personalized suggestions from yourself and the staff, such as:

Staff Favorites, Staff Tips, and Staff Recommendations with each staff member listed by name with a photo.

For instance, in an accounting practice where different staff members have different specialities, include a section of Tips with comments from each staff member, along with each individuals picture

2) Include a BLOG in your online marketing plan, and do include some posts which are personal in tone and written in a personable style

3) If you have a brick and mortar location which folks are likely to visit, include written driving directions and maps.

4) Consider offering information about related resources that may be of interest to your customers / clients.

EXAMPLE: If you are a destination site, it may make sense to offer information about local restaurants. Explore ways that you and the restaurants could cross market.

Web site strategies work in two ways:

• DIRECTLY – by providing information and resources
• INDIRECTLY – the emotions you are evoking through that information and those resources

Every part of your web site — images and written words — are reflecting on you, your business and your attitudes. While these can be very subtle, they can also be VERY powerful relationship builders.

One of the more fun aspects of computers, word-processing, AND graphics, is the ability to use Fonts (pretty alphabet styles)

Computers come with a large number of Fonts pre-loaded and many of us find Fonts online and add them to our systems. In fact, just last week I pointed one of my Coaching clients to a package of 10,00 fonts available for either personal or commercial use. What a treasure trove!

Oddly enough, this abundance of available Fonts can lead to problems if you use Fonts to promote your business.

You may have run into one of the following problems:

• You have used a specific Font to match a logo or brand, and then tried unsuccessfully to coordinate that Font usage with someone else, such as a printer or graphic designer.
• You used a Font in one project and then, months later, you want to use the same Font… but can’t find it!
• You see a Font in use that you like. You ask the person using it what it is called… she gives you the name of the Font, but when you look online, the Fonts you can find with that name don’t look like the one you want…

Now, needless to say, these are not life threatening disasters, but they can be major time wasters and / or frustrations!

Part of the problem arises because there are literally millions of Fonts in existence, and, to further complicate matters, many of them have similar names and similar appearances.

Think about college girls in Mississippi named Chelsea… you are trying to locate one specific Chelsea in Mississippi!

You know that she is a blonde and which college she is attending.

Does this find the RIGHT Chelsea? Not necessarily! Even knowing which dorm she lives in may not be enough information. My niece, Chelsea, had two other Chelseas living on her dorm floor!

In order to find the RIGHT Chelsea you will need more information about her.

Fonts are the same way! Just knowing the Font name and the Font’s general appearance – serif, san serif, art deco, moderne, or whatever – won’t necessarily locate the RIGHT Font!

Remember, many Fonts have similar names and similar appearances. Sometimes this isn’t a big issue and sometimes it is!

In any event, keeping track of your Fonts can make life much easier.

There are two basic challenges when disaster-proofing Fonts:

1) Protecting the Fonts installed on your operating system

2) Keeping track of Fonts used in specific instances

Let’s tackle these issues one at a time

Strategies to Protect the Fonts Installed on Your Operating System

WINDOWS Systems

In Windows, in order for a Font to be active within the system (in order for you to use it) the Font must be installed. While it is tempting to try to install thousands of Fonts, doing so can cause problems.

Windows 7 – There doesn’t seem to be a limitation. However, you might find a difference when you try to select a Font on a Document because the Document will pull the entire list of installed Fonts.

Windows NT, 2000 or XP – These have no limitation on the number of Fonts which can be installed, but the boot time WILL be increased due to the need to read the information for all those Fonts while the system is starting up.

Windows 95/98/Me – You can install a maximum of approximately 1000 TrueType Fonts in Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium. The exact number of TrueType Fonts you can install varies, and depends on the length of the TrueType Font names and file names.

Windows 7 – I was not able to find the Font Limit in Windows 7, however there is a Windows 7 Font manager. It includes the ability to group, install, uninstall, preview and hide fonts.

Backing up Fonts in Windows

My current operating system is Windows XP, and the installed Fonts live in the Windows/Fonts folder.

Periodically, I copy the contents of the Windows/Fonts folder into another folder on a different hard drive. I also make sure that the backup Fonts folder is included on my backup strategies.

Recently, I had to have Windows reinstalled. I simply accessed the Backup Font folder from within Windows and installed the Fonts from there into Windows. This was a relatively quick and extremely painless rebuild. I didn’t have all of the Fonts but I was only missing one or two. I consider it pretty effective Disaster-proofing! LOL

MAC Systems

For Macs, how many Fonts is too many? According to APPLE -

Mac OS versions prior to Mac OS 9 placed a limit of 128 fonts (files) in the system’s Fonts folder.

Mac OS 9 allows up to 512 fonts (files) in the Fonts folder.

For our purposes, “Files” include Font suitcases and individual Font files such as bitmapped (screen) or TrueType Fonts. In this case, the file limits do not include PostScript (or printer) Fonts.

Multiple Font families can be included in each Suitcase. The maximum size of a Suitcase is 16 MB. It maybe that you have more files in the Fonts folder than is permitted by your MAc OS. If that is the case, you can place TrueType Font files or individual bitmap files into the suitcases, or merge multiple suitcases.

To create a suitcase – duplicate an existing suitcase and then delete its contents, creating an empty suitcase.

Simply drag an existing suitcase file onto another suitcase file in order to merge suitcases,.

In order for a font to be accessible to the Mac OS, the files must be stored directly in the Fonts folder, not in folders.

If you find that your Fonts are disappearing, check the file size of your Font folder. You have probably reached the limit.

Memory or RAM is also a factor. There is only so much memory available for loading and keeping track of active Fonts. But “too many” is more than just a limitation of the operating system. Do you really want to scroll through a huge list of Fonts from within your software applications?

For best performance and ease of use, you’d do well to limit active Fonts to only the ones you absolutely must have and use a Font manager to manage the rest.

Backing up Fonts in Macs

There is always that Font that you used in that PSD that you cannot find anymore and the whole thing just backfires on you. So just backup your Fonts before you lose them to the wind.

Chances are that you have Fonts strung about all over your system. The best way is to launch Font Book, select all of your Fonts, and select Export Fonts.

Strategies to Keeping Track of Fonts Used in Specific Instances

This can be one of the most challenging aspects of protecting your Fonts! I utilize a couple of different methods.

METHOD ONE

First off, it is important to identify WHICH Font you used in a particular instance… and NO, you won’t remember. I can pretty much guarantee this! *smile*

I do this by creating a plain text file (using the .txt extension) and keeping that text file with the project in question,. This works whether my project is a drawing project, a photo type project, a word-processing project, or anything else.

If I have a large number of smaller projects grouped together, I might run just one plain text file and list the Fonts associated with the individual projects.

The plain text file contains TWO pieces of information for each Font:

• The NAME of the Font
• The LOCATION of the Font
  NOTE – this would be a COPY of the Font file and would be included in my Backup Strategies. I wouldn’t use the installed location of the Font because it is too vulnerable to a computer or operating system crash.

METHOD TWO

With my REALLY IMPORTANT Font usage, such as the cover designs for my Alphabet books, I keep the Fonts that I used in a clearly identified folder. This Fonts folder contains ACTUAL copies of the Font Files themselves and is stored INSIDE of the actual project folder.

This means that when I backup that project folder, I am also backing up the Font files themselves, in one swell foop!

Since I backup my important project folders in multiple places – on a backup system hard drive, on an external hard drive, on DVDs, and with an online backup service – this insures that I have the actual Font files wherever and whenever I need them!

Having an online shop is both similar and different from your offline retail store.

One of the biggest differences is how shoppers interact with your merchandise.

Offline, your shop, along with its contents, comprise your product display.

Certainly this is obvious, but there are subtleties to the situation that you, the small business owner, may not have considered.

In fact, in a real world situation, you have a strong degree of control over your customers. With the physical arrangement of your retail store, you are controlling:

1) WHERE your customer enters — you have a main front door and you may have another entrance from a parking lot or similar situation, but the customer doesn’t just materialize inside the store, near a particular product.

2) HOW your customer interacts with the merchandise — is it in glass cases or out on open shelves where it can be handled and touched?

3) WHAT they see and the information that they have about the products — is the product on display with literature, but the sales staff is available to demonstrate and explain the product’s use and features?

For this example, think about how sewing machines are sold in a specialty store, as opposed to how they are presented in a discount store.

In addition, if you have a knowledgeable and experienced sales staff, they are likely tailor their product presentation to the interests, experience, and questions asked by the customer.

As you can see, offline and in person, you actually have a strong degree of control over the entire sales process and especially, over any customer’s shopping experience.

Online, you have none of these advantages.

Instead, you are relying on web site navigation and product descriptions. This changes the selling landscape immeasurably. Let’s take a moment to contrast the online experience with the offline experience.

1) WHERE your customer enters – on a web site, we hope that the customer will be entering the site on the home page, but the reality is far different.

In the case of an online store, the customer is far more likely to enter your site from a search engine results page (known as a SERP). In this case, the customer will be clicking on a link provided by the search engine, in the case of free or organic search or on a paid advertisement that you have provided.

In many instances, this means that a customer will be entering your site and landing on a page that is directly related to the term that he or she was searching for — in many cases this will be a product page.

If the customer is unfamiliar with your store or company, this means that the product description needs to act as both a description of your product and an introduction to your company.

2) HOW your customer interacts with the merchandise — online, the product is not available to be touched or even looked at closely. This means that the tools you have available in the current technology — images and written descriptions — must be as detailed and as accurate as possible.

It also means that the product pictures must minimize the limitation of the written description and vice-versa.

Unfortunately, it is easy for you to miss important information, simply because you are so familiar with the product.

An excellent example of this is providing a clear picture with easy to see details. While this would seem to be a good solution, if the image does not contain a visual reference to demonstrate the actual size of the product and if the written description does not provide this missing information, you may be losing sales to people who don’t want to take the time to ask and who can find that missing information on another web site.

3) WHAT they see and the information that they have about the products — Again, the important thing to remember is that your online customers can see and read only what you provide. Scrimping on the written product descriptions on your web site is like putting gags on your offline sales people… not a good thing for anybody!

If anything, provide too much information. If you worry that folks won’t want to read it all — and this IS a valid concern — then start with a brief overview so those who skim can read that and move on, but provide more detailed information further on for the careful purchasers who will read and consider every word.

The beauty of doing this is that while you are providing detailed, descriptive, and valuable content for your human visitors, the search engines also love this type of website content.

The cold hard truth is that detailed and unique product descriptions are becoming more and more important. Gone are the days when you could slap up a few descriptive words, or copy the information provided by the manufacturer. Yes, it is more time and work for you, but the long term rewards will likely be well worth it!

For more information about turning product descriptions into good little sales people, check out the Survival Guide – Preparing Product DESCRIPTIONS for Presentation on the Web

This was written for a business forum I spend time on, in answer to a member’s question about why he wasn’t showing in the search engines.

At the time, he had a single picture of the product on display with no written details of any kind… not a single word!

Here is my reply:

You have an interesting and unique product here which means that you have a LOT to write about in a product description.

Remember, you are not selling the product — especially since this product is unlikely to solve a problem. What you are selling is the beauty and romance first and the utility of the product second.

Also, keep in mind your prospective customer. In this case, you are likely targeting consumers purchasing for their homes, as well as DIYers (Do-it-yourselfers) and interior designers, both groups of which are likely to want to modify the item in some way.

Taking the product on the link that you gave us, here are some questions to answer…

PRODUCT – hand carved folding screen room divider

PRODUCT INFORMATION

The screen itself -

Are both sides carved? If so , are they carved the same or different. If not, how rough is the other side (pictures would be helpful)

What are its dimensions unfolded – height, width, thickness

What are its dimensions folded – height, width, thickness (The purchaser may have concerns about whether it will fit in an elevator or up a tight staircase)

Where are the folding breaks? How many pieces is it comprised of and what are their individual dimensions

What is it weight? What is its weight in the shipping container? (these can be approximate, but the prospective purchaser needs to know whether extra help will be needed when it is delivered)

How is it packed for shipping? What tools are needed to unpack it? Is it assembled, partially assembled or totally unassembled. What tools are needed?

What is it made of?

Wood – what kind
what are the characteristics of the wood — is it heavy? aromatic? water resistant (thus appropriate for a bathroom or new a swimming pool)

what are the colors of the wood?
what is the finish on the wood?

Hardware -

What is the hardware made of? How does it work (in the case of a folding screen, which way and how far will the screen fold?)

Is the hardware visible? ornate? Is it an additional design element?

Is the screen a genuine antique or a reproduction?
In either case, if it represents a specific historical period, identify the period, its common characteristics, what the original use would have been etc)

Is more than one available? — in the case of a DIYer or Interior designer, it is possible that more than one would be desired.

How can it be used now?

In this case, can it be used as more than a folding screen? As a former designer, I immediately see its uses as a headboard for a bed — but I need the dimensions and know where the folds are

As a pair of doors? I need the dimensions and know where the folds are

Can I take it apart and make a unique table? I need the dimensions and know where the folds are, as well as information about the hardware and how it is attached

ADDITIONAL IMAGES – In addition to, NOT instead of the descriptions

Minimal – Full product image, close up of the carving and close up of the hardware details

Preferred – Show every inch in detail

TELL ME A STORY

For those of us in the USA, India and Indian furniture is romantic. Tell me more about it?

Was it hand carved by animated chipmunks in junior high school shop class?

If it is antique, tell me about the historical period, how it would have been used originally, any other fun facts to know and tell…

An intriguing product like this is worth probably 10-12 juicy, story telling paragraphs in the product description.

For those web visitors in a hurry or just doing the preliminary research include the facts: measurements etc in a Product Details bulleted list.

Look at how Amazon combines BOTH methods!

The beauty of this method is that it provides lots of good information for humans and search engines… it helps build you web site’s unique brand, and builds your site’s credibility.

This method has the potential to blow your competitors out of the water in addition to actually providing information for the search engines and for your web site visitors…

For more information about this topic and strategies to implement this method, check out my Survival Guide – Preparing Product DESCRIPTIONS for Presentation on the Web

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

Keyword Research – Use It and Control your Online Traffic

Keywords and Keyphrases are an online concept that has little to no meaning for many Offline business owners, and yet they are one of the biggest stumbling blocks to anyone's potential online success.

I have to admit, shamefully, that I have been one of those in denial!

Yes, I have known about Keywords and Keyphrases since my early days online.
 And, yes, I actually saw the power of keypharses on my original web site, long before the idea of *Longtail Keywords (keyphrases)* became a bestselling concept!

However, I am ashamed to admit that I suffered from a severe disconnect between my INTELLECTUAL understanding and my EMOTIONAL understanding… and even more painful to admit, as a result I KNOW that I have lost mucho dinero over the years.

So, at this point in time, and in a long delayed move, I am beginning to bring the issue of Keywords and Keyphrases into the forefront of my online efforts.

And so, today I stand before you…
a REFORMED Keywords and Keyphrases Believer

(Cue the organ music!) LOLOL

While I am joking about my Johnny Come Lately attitude here, as a result of some of my recent, personal online work, I now TRULY understand the  importance of Keywords and Keyphrases.

The unrelenting REALITY here is that no matter

• How WONDERFUL your Product
• How IMPORTANT your Message
• How GREAT your Deals…

If you aren't using the Keywords and Keyphrases that folks are ACTUALLY SEARCHING WITH, they won't be arriving at your site!

It is just that simple!

If your site doesn't have the Keywords and Keyphrases that folks are ACTUALLY SEARCHING WITH, your site won't appear on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and as a result, the people who are searching won't see your site in the lists of options.

Keywords and Keyphrases are the SECRET PASSSWORDS of the internet. They are what the customers need to enter your site.

Picture this…

Your site is hidden behind a high wall with a small door. In that small door is a tiny hatch. A potential Customer MUST  whisper the Keywords and Keyphrases that they are using in their search.

IF — and this is a REALLY big IF –  your site contains those Keywords and Keyphrases, then the doorman (who is NOT your employee. btw) is granted permission by the Search Engines to open the door — to display your site or one of its pages in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

If your site DOESN'T contain those Keywords and Keyphrases — even if it has similar ones — the door to your online business will remain securely closed and the site itself hidden from sight!

This means that Potential Customers will never even be given the OPTION to visit your site!

You have no control over this!  UNLESS, you start paying attention to, and start applying Keyword and Keyphrase Marketing to your site!

Because of this, you must start addressing the concept of  Keywords and Keyphrases in a strong, proactive, and aggressive manner, and on every page of your site.

This is a vital and relatively ignored part of the problem of Search Engine optimization. Certainly there are many hidden methods of SEO that can be used, btu the site CONTENT and the savvy use of Keywords and Keyphrases is an element that is often overlooked and even ignored.

A large part of the problem for offline business owners is the simple fact that Keywords and Keyphrases are an online concept that is rarely an issue offline.

While it is easy to understand that you haven't had to worry about them before and so you don't realize their importance online, this doen't negate the harm your ignorance is causing your site and, longterm, your online success.

Keywords and Keyphrases are one of the critical differences between online and offline. As a result, they stand between a business owner and online success. All to often however, the business owner is totally unaware of this issue.

Keywords and Keyphrases – The Simple Explanation

The term Keyword refers to a word or phrase ( also known as a Keyphrase or sometimes called a Longtail Keyword) that an Internet user would use to search for online information.

In most instance, the potential customer is using one of the major Search Engines, such a Google, to search the entire internet for their chosen Keyword or Keyphrase.

Knowing exactly WHAT Keywords and Keyphrases are being searchd for provides powerful insight into YOUR potential customer, and equally importantly, shows clearly and unequivically HOW to reach that potential custoemr.

• Keywords and keyphrases offer insight into what online visitors are looking for, they can provide information about products sought, or information that is needed.
• They help make up for the minimal interaction between an online business owner and his targeted customer.

Keywords are a VITAL part of the online success equation and they are often entirely ignored by offline business owners!

I began to REALLY understand the importance of Keywords and Keyphrases when I was working on my SHORT REPORT: Keywords – What Are They and
Why Do YOU Need to Know About Them?

As it happened, this also tied directly into a new direction I am taking my personal online business. Talk about meeting REALITY – an an unpleasant reality at that! — head on!

I have spent many nights, lying in the dark, having the concepts of Keywords and Keyphrases drifting around in my head… not so good for my sleep, but quite a book for my online business.

I hope you will take this rant to heart and look over my new short report…

SHORT REPORT: Keywords – What Are They and Why Do YOU Need to Know About Them?

NOTE – If you are member at SurviveAndConquerCoaching you can get this report for less! Basic Members get a substantial discount and Premier Memebrs get it for FREE!

Here is a link to the Short Report at SurviveAndConquerCoaching.

Do yourself a favor and take a minute to check on this…

Is your domain registered with your hosting company?

If it is registered with your Hosting Company, this is a bad thing. For more information on WHY this is bad, check out my CheatSheet – Why Use Different Companies for Domain Registration and Web Site Hosting?

If both your Domain and Hosting Account are with the same company, you need to move your domain name ASAP, providing you are happy witrh your hosting. If you aren't happy with your Hosting Company, then things are a bit more complicated and that is a topic for another day

But, back to this topic…

The time to move your domain is BEFORE you have a problem.

Let me share my recent experiences…

I have a client with a web site. About 3 months ago, we ran into problems with the web site and the hosting company was now able to resolve the situation in a satisfactory manner.

My client and I decided to move her web site to a different hosting company, but…

In order to move the site, we needed to change the domain settings, meaning that  she needed to control or have access to her domain registration.

However, the hosting company had registered it for her and despite the fact that it IS registered in her name (a GOOD thing) she can not change the setting related to it (a BAD thing).

So far, we have been working on getting the domain registered to her account with a different domain registrar. The process has gone on 3 weeks and I will be working on it next week as well. I personally have made numerous phone calls and spent interminable amounts of time listening to bad elevator music,while on hold.

If she had her domain registered elsewhere AND had access to the domain settings, we could have moved / rebuilt her site after the first week of problems. As it is, we are looking at this for more than 3 MONTHS! and we still haven't been able to move her site…

BECAUSE SHE OWNED THE DOMAIN BUT DIDN'T CONTROL IT!!!!

The good news is that the web site is accessible to the public, we just can't make any changes to it. Things could be much worse, but we have also wasted 3 months of being able to market her business with her website!

So, do yourself a favor BEFORE you run into problems.

Check where your domain is registered. Owning the domain isn't enough. You need to be able to access the domain settings at will.

If this is not the case, go ahead and move your domain to a different registrar.

Be aware that the process maybe a long one.

Do it now, before you have problems!

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

Black Friday

Cyber Monday 

Free Shipping Day (NOTE: Free Shipping Day 2010 is Friday, December 17)

Have you figured out your strategies for these upcoming events?

I have been busy doing the Holiday Season planning for a group of my niche websites.

NOTE – NONE of my online business streams are related to selling either needlework or quilting products in any way! Let me repeat that…

I WON'T BE SELLING NEEDLEWORK OR QUILTING ONLINE!!!!!

Anyway, I have my planning notebook, my Planner Pad, and my colored pens and highlighters, planning for the upcoming Holiday Season. (What can I say, I am visual person and I like shuffling paper LOL)

Three of the events I am focusing on are:

Black Friday

Cyber Monday

Free Shipping Day (NOTE: Free Shipping Day 2010 is Friday, December 17)

While my business are online only, these events are equally, if not more, important for brick and mortar.

(REMINDER – NONE of my online business streams are related to selling either needlework or quilting products in any way!)

In the case of Brick and Mortar, it is of the utmost importance that you start figuring out ways that you can make these dates work for your OFFline business.

If you have any sort of online presence, whether you have a business card site or run a full fledged online retail site with shopping cart or something in between, you should be planning… NOW!

Don't wait until the Wednesday before Thanksgiving…  at that point you are already 2 months behind

I am still in the tentative stages of my planning, but already I am thinking that I will start my promotions by Oct 1 — not necessarily blatantly, mind you, but I DO want to make the most of the lead time…

Some of my ideas are -

Create a Gift Basket of the week idea and promote it with a post on the site (note, all of my sites are built with WordPress and I primarily create Posts rather than Pages) and with Tweets (I will have a Twitter acct for each site) and on my email list (I will have at least one email list for each site)

Figure out a way to have an appealing (not annoying) Holiday CountDown. It would need to start BEFORE Black Friday, so maybe start it on Nov 1? Can I figure out a creative way to talk the Holiday Countdown up starting in Oct — maybe with something posted weekly?

Some thoughts related to retailers — ideas which are not appropriate for my business model –

Plan and promote WishLists for customers (Promote offline, and online with website, Twitter, Facebook if appropriate, and on your email list(s))

Offer incentives to get customers to visit your Brick And mortar location on Cyber Monday

Offer incentives and/or activities for Black Friday — for AFTER they have shopped elsewhere for everybody else. Think about offering rewards for surviving shoppping elswhere.

Create a Twitter Hashtag Campaign for these events – either individually or as a group

Tink Note – You SHOULD already be Tweeting and you SHOULD already have a Twitter Hashtag Campaign going where you send out Tweet Announcements as new products are put on the shelves

Check out Twitter for Offline Businesses

The important takeaways with all of this:

• You should be planning all of this now, not on the day before Thanksgiving
• You can't just go into ostrich mode about all of this… make a preemptive strike!

Sharing the Road to Success,
Tink