Archive for the ‘Marketing on the Internet’ Category

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

As I see everyday, many offline business owners are both overwhelmed and intimidated about taking their small businesses online. They may have been determined enough to get a website, but after that, well, everything just seems like too much — too many options and too much to do.

Well, I understand! I am right there beside ya! LOL

I was talking with a friend last night. She has an offline service based business but does have some products that she sells and which are unique to her and her business.

She has had a blog for several years, but like many us, has had trouble gaining traction.

I think that we understand intellectually how online promotion works and we know that business blogging is a good way to promote an offline business online… but emotionally, it can be difficult to grasp.

DO people READ business blogs from just regular folks?

I mean, really… does this actually work for a small, local business?

Read the rest of this entry »

We all know that running an off-line business takes an incredible amount of time, and I'm sure that you've realized by now that the Internet offers a myriad of ways to promote your off-line business.

The question becomes, which of these online promotional opportunities makes the most sense for an offline business?

I firmly believe that Twitter is one of those online marketing opportunities that you NEED to make time for!

While creating and running a Twitter marketing plan does take thought and effort, there are many tools and methods available to make it easier to accomplish your Twitter tasks… and as it stands now, Twitter has the potential to become an extremely important part of YOUR online marketing puzzle.

Why Twitter? you may ask.

Read the rest of this entry »

In September 2009, Google introduced their newest web gizmo, the Sidewiki. In simple terms, it allows anyone (registered with a Gmail account) to leave comments on your site … and YOU have NO control! Ignoring the copyright issues (of which there are MANY) this means that

• ANYONE who is registered to do so can LEAVE COMMENTS on ANY page of your web site.

• ANYONE with the Google Toolbar installed can READ THOSE COMMENTS

• YOU HAVE NO RECOURSE (at this time) to have those comments removed!

This is an important and potentially damaging issue for ALL web site owners. In response to this grave threat, I wrote a Google Sidewiki Special Report, outlining the situation as it currently stands and offering my suggestions on what a web site owner should do in preparation… I posted about this issue on one of my Yahoo groups last night, and this morning, one of the members has replied with the following:

Looks like it is covered by the usual Terms of Service for Google so you could ask for stuff to be removed if it infringes copyright (then wait 6 months for Google to get round to it).

This is certainly a valid point… but in my mind, it misses the primary danger that the current Google Sidewiki situation presents…

Read the rest of this entry »

The last 4 weeks have been an interesting convergence of events…

I had several sites hacked… repeatedly.

I had to have one of my computer’s reformatted and a new Operating System installed.

I had the databases for a couple of sites crash (who knows why!).

I am still waiting to see the final outcome with one of my problem sites.

While living thru the whole process I have learned a LOT and I am in the midst of implementing changes based on those lessons.

Here are some of my hard earned but valuable lessons…

I am VERY happy with the advice and help from my computer support guys. An enthusiastic shoutout here to Freddie and Maria at Kentucky Trade!

I am happy with the timely help and respectful communication from my hosting company. HostGator Rocks! Thanks, guys!!!!

It is much less stressful to face potential disaster while saying *Gee, I am glad I…* rather than saying *Oops! I am sorry I didn’t…*

After spending so much time and effort writing my Survival Course, *Disaster-proof Your Online Business*, I am happy to be able to say, *Do as I DO*.

One of my dearest online friends took the time to help me evaluate the process and my actions and grade my strategies. I was pretty happy with the results.

The bottom line is… bad things will happen to your online business. Do the best you can to prepare for them, and accept that you can’t anticipate everything.

Having the various elements of my sites backed up on a regular basis was a god-send. It is much less stressful to contact the Support Desk at your hosting and be able to tell them that you have full backups available if they need them. (I am happy to say that the fates were with me and my backups were not necessary, BUT the important thing is… I had them available in a worst case scenario).

Do keep your information available in multiple media formats, when applicable. I talk about this in depth in *Disaster-Proof* and I provide both text file templates and spreadsheet templates. Over the last 4 weeks, there were many times when I found myself using BOTH formats.

Since the people who know me best sometimes accuse me of being overprepared, I will admit to wondering a couple of times if I was going overboard. I am now happy to say… No, I wasn’t! LOL

As I said at the beginning, I am still evaluating the process, so look for one or two more posts sharing my experiences.

Sharing the road to success,

Tink

The only limit to marketing a business online is your imagination…

I LOVE to read ebooks and one of my favorite ebook stores has implemented a fun, and interesting marketing campaign for the Holiday season. Here is the link to the page that explains it:

http://allromanceebooks.com/contest.html

As you can see, this method not only provokes the interest of the ebookstore’s customers, it also drive NEW traffic to the site… and online, it is *All About the Traffic!*

Now, if you’ll excuse me… I am going to particiapte in the contest! *VeryBigGrin*

*********************

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good girl this year. What do I want for the holidays? An iPhone/iTouch so that I can use Stanza to read all the romance I need from all the publishers I love that I buy at All Romance eBooks. You see, Santa, I deserve the iPhone/iTouch because…

It is time I FINALLY, REALLY, TRULY entered the 21st century! And goodness knows, I might want to read all of your marvelous books on something other than my laptop!

Happy Holidays,

Tink

What’s new this week at SurviveAndConquerCoaching.com:

Tactic # 8 has been added to the series on List Building called List Building Tactics and Tactic #7 has been removed from the BASIC Level Membership. There are 24 Tactics in this series.

This week’s Cheat Sheet is *Understanding Online Search and the Differences between External and Internal Searches* It will be available to BASIC members for just a week.

I am introducing a new Short Report this week: Are You Maximizing Your Web Shop’s Search Options?
While its focus is on online Shops, if you have a wholesale site or showcase site, this WILL apply to your site!

Here is a list of the Resources currently available for PREMIER Members. Have YOU downloaded your copies yet?

Cheat Sheets (13)
CORE Cheat Sheets (4)
FREE Special Reports (2)
List Building Tactics (8)
Short Reports (3)
Software (3)
Special Update (1)
Survival Course (2)
Survival Guides (1)
WordPress Resources (5)
Videos (4)

Don’t forget to download the October 2008 WordPress Plugin report, while it is available.

Removed from BASIC Level: *Short Report – The Offline Business Owner’s Guide to Making the MOST of Local Portals & Directories!*. It is 11 pages with 10 question you should be asking about your Portal and Directory opportunities. There are more and more of these coming online, and they represent excellent marketing opportunities… IF you know the right questions to ask.

Just a reminder, if you are using WordPress for ANY type of site, the new Survival Course – Create an Effective Web Site YOU can Operate Yourself (even if you know NOTHING about the Internet) is a worthwhile read. It is available in Web Page format as part of Academy – Basic or as a PDF download.

http://surviveandconquercoaching.com

And… last but not least, check out the NEW Special Offers page! For a limited time, get

Survival Guide to Search, Search Engines, and Web Site Statistics

at a GREAT PRICE! You’ll have to join, but BASIC Level membership is free!

Sharing the Road to Success

Tink

I am addicted to purchasing downloadable ebooks. I LOVE the instant gratification and the variety of stories that are not avaiable in print…

I want to take a moment to share an experience that I just had with one of my reliable publishers… and a wonderful marketing opportunity that could become a negative experience for their customers.

I don’t plan to name any names here or point any fingers of blame, this is simply a learning moment!

I logged on to the site and on the home page there was a new message in red. It said:

If you are entitled to a FREE Download from XXXXX Ebooks in celebration of our second birthday just log into your account and begin browsing. You’ll find a FREE DOWNLOAD button on every book detail page. To select a specific title click on the button and the book will instantaneously pop into your library. This is a limited time offer set to expire soon so don’t delay. Thank you for shopping at XXXXX Ebooks!

This is a wonderful gesture, but in my case, for a variety of reasons, it went sadly wrong.

First off, I will admit, I just glanced at the note as I was clicking on the new title directly below the message. I got to the new title and there was a Free Download link, as mentioned. Without thinking, and before reading the book synopsis, I clicked on the Free Download button.

Without waiting to see what happened, I back up to their home page and read the message, carefully and completely this time…

I was excited because just this AM I had saved a link to one of their books that I wanted… It was the first of a series so I was thinking that I would use the Free Download for the first book and then purchase the second book.

I signed into my account only to discover that I seemed to have inadvertently *purchased* that initial book… which I wasn’t interested in and which wasn’t even available in the book format that I prefer…

Rats! I totally wasted their generous gift!

So… here is how I see the problem…

Clearly, I am at fault for not reading the announcement and for clicking on the button for a book I didn’t want.

However, I think that the publisher could have minimized the possibility of this outcome in several ways:

1) By placing the FREE DOWNLOAD announcement on the page so that it stood out more clearly, rather than including it in the main info text and just changing the color.

Put it in a colored box, with a headline about it, such as *FREE DOWNLOAD for Qualified Customers*.

2) Explain in greater detail how the process works.

A Bulleted list of step by step instructions would have been nice. I am pretty experienced and I managed to mess it up. I am sure that they have a respectable number of customers who are less experienced than I am.

3) Give a clear warning NOT to click on the button until a decision has been made.

4) Consider adding a second step in the process so that the reader can back out of the *Free Download* purchase, during the process… better to have a two step process than a lot of unhappy folks ending up with the WRONG book! LOL

I think of myself as fairly web savvy and yet I managed to totally screw up the process. ;-(

I am frustrated about the experience, which is a shame since that was not the purpose behind such a gracious and generous gift…

So, my suggestion about using a marketing strategy such as this… try to plan for the lowest common denominator and design the process to be a successful one for that segment.

In my case, it was a combination of not paying attention combined with a moment of extreme blondness.

I pride myself on being fair so I am berating myself, not the publisher.

I am also working on the whole *making lemonade* approach and turning this into a learning moment for other businesses, hoping to keep what would seem to be an unstoppable marketing promotion from turning into a negative experience for your web site visitors.

Sharing the road to success,
Tink

The focus of my membership site, SurviveAndConquerCoaching, is to help offline businesses move online. This can be frightening and overwhelming… just one more problem to address in a busy work day. My goal is to provide the resources to minimize the stress, avoid the mistakes, and achieve an easy transition.

I wanted to share a recent email I got from a SurviveAndConquerCoaching member:

Subject: just took lesson 1 for Strategies for Online Retail Success!

I signed up for your basic level membership when you first talked about this on the quiltdesigners list… then it was ‘later’, ‘I dont have time right now’, etc.  I really wish I had MADE the time from the beginning.

You have really opened my eyes, just in the first lesson!  I just wanted to thank you for starting this up!  As soon as I have the funds available I’ll be upgrading.

Thanks Tink!!

Angela R McIntyre

Laughing Cat Designs Etc.!

**************************

NOW! On to what’s new this week at SurviveAndConquerCoaching.com:

Tactic # 7 has been added to the series on List Building called List Building Tactics and Tactic # 6 has been removed from the BASIC Level Membership. There are 24 Tactics in this series.

This week’s Cheat Sheet is *Why Blog?* It will be available to BASIC members for just a week.

A NEW Video Tutorial has been added to the BASIC-Video Vault. It explains *How to Create a PDF file Using Free Software*. It will be available to BASIC Level members for about a  week.

Don’t forget to download the October 2008 WordPress Plugin Report, while it is available.

If you haven’t downloaded the newest Short Report – The Offline Business Owner’s Guide to Making the MOST of Local Portals & Directories! — grab it now! It is 11 pages with 10 question you should be asking about your Portal and Directory opportunities. There are more and more of these coming online, and they represent excellent marketing opportunities… IF you know the right questions to ask.

Just a reminder, if you are using WordPress for ANY type of site, the new Survival Course – Create an Effective Web Site YOU can Operate Yourself (even if you know NOTHING about the Internet) is a worthwhile read. It is available in Web Page format as part of Academy – Basic or as a PDF download.

http://surviveandconquercoaching.com

Sharing the Road to Success

Tink