Why You Need A Web Site
March 31, 2009
“I have a small business with just a couple of employees and I don’t think my product can really be sold online. Do I need a web site?”
In this day and time, there is very little that can’t be sold over the Internet. There are over 20 million people shopping online, buying everything from movies to cars to real estate property. Research predicts that revenues will be over $200 billion in 2004 and will grow at a rate of 30 to 50 percent over the next few years. These numbers alone should be enough to persuade you that you and your business should be online.
Regardless of whether you sell your product online, you should at the very least have an online presence so that customers, potential employees, partners and even potential investors can easily and quickly find more information about your company, the products and services you have to offer, as well as how to contact you.
But Can I Afford a Web Site?
Website Promotion: 10 Insiders? Secret For Writing Profitable Ads
March 30, 2009
Do what I did. Learn these 10 insiders’ ad writing website promotion "secrets", and explode your website traffics and sales:
1. You can get ad copy ideas by studying similar product’s advertising material. Collect their sales letters, classified ads, web ads, e-mail ads, etc.
2. Know exactly what you want your ad copy to accomplish. It could be to qualify prospects, make sales, generate leads, attract web traffic, etc.
3. Make a complete list of your product’s benefits and features. Begin your ad with the most important benefit either in your headline or first sentence.
4. Make your ad benefits as specific as possible. Include exact numbers, percentages, times, colors, smells, sounds, descriptive adjectives, etc.
5. List all the ways your product is different from your competition’s. Include all the differences in your ad copy that are better than their product.
6. Use graphics, pictures and drawings of people actually using your product to solve their problem. Include a picture that also shows the results.
7. Make a list of your target audience. Write down what reasons would attract them to purchase your product. Include those reasons in your ad copy.
Keyword Selection- The Dark Horse of Search Engines Optimization
March 30, 2009
Below are what I call the "10 Commandments" for Keywords.
To start with select "keyword phrases" NOT keywords. This is very important. After all, the keyword itself is included in the keyword phrase.
Consider select different endings for your keywords, (ing, ed, s and es).
Rack your brain and brainstorm with your friends to come up with a list of 25 to 50 keywords or keyword phrases.
Find out what keywords and keyword phrases your competitors are using. Do this by going to your competitor’s Web sites and click on "View" in the top toolbar and then click on "Source." Scroll down to the "Keywords Meta Tag" and you will see the keywords this competitor thinks are important. Repeat this with all of your important competitors.
Go to http://www.overture.com. Go to the “Term Suggestion Tool” and type in your keywords and keyword phrases. (Keep in mind that Overture groups singular and plural words together.)
Words with a count of 300 to 500 are good. Words with counts of 500 to 1,000 are great (maybe). It depends on a term called KEI that we will talk about later in this article.
Use Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool at http://www.adwords.google.com.
5 Powerful Ways To Get Zero Sales From Your Website
March 29, 2009
I want you to imagine a lemon. In your mind’s eye, see its yellow skin. Imagine cutting it in half with a knife. Now pick up the one lemon half and bring it up to your mouth and suck on the juices.
Do you notice how sharp the tangy lemon juice could be? Does it make you pucker? Do you notice how your mouth is watering?
…Good!
Now you realize the power of words!
See, one thing I was good at in the beginning of my online career was not getting any sales. Really, I turned it into an art form.
So with that said, I want to share with you my 5 all-time favorite ways of getting Zero sales from your website:
1. Headline and Sales Letter
I don’t need to have a powerful headline and a compelling sales letter for my site. And I definitely don’t need to go to http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com and learn how to write powerful sales letters for fr*e. It’s too much work.
2. Contact Information
How to Prepare for the Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) Certification
March 28, 2009
How to Prepare for the Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) Certification
by: uCertify
Introduction
The new Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician certification provides the most effective approach to gain the skills of successfully troubleshooting desktop environments running on the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. It is an entry-level certification presented by Microsoft for the client and desktop professional.
A research by the U.S. Department of Labor, shows that Computer support specialists held about 500,000 jobs in the year 2002, but at present there is still a shortage of skilled individuals to do this job. According to this research this is a fastest growing occupation through 2012. MCDST certification provides an excellent opportunity for those candidates who are interested in the job of support technicians because it validates that the individuals have the skills to support end users and to successfully troubleshoot desktop environments running on the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. For more information you can visit.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos268.htm
http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_department.asp?articleid=917&zoneid=63
Advertising That Yields the Best Results
March 27, 2009
In today’s world, online advertising is KEY to the success of your business. Your initial approach is what draws the curiosity that ultimately leads to the sale of your product. And of course, you only get one opportunity to make a first impression, so let’s learn how to make it a great one!
Following are important, to-the-point guidelines for advertising your online business . . .
First, define your target market. Target the prospects you’d like to reach as you think about the following categories:
- Gender
- Age
- Profession
- Education level
- Household income level
- Family size ? number of children
- Behaviors / Importance’s (1. Price 2. Location 3. Quality 4. Warranties 5. Customer Service 6. Brand name)
One you have your market targeted, here’s generally how you go about selling online:
1. Attract a prospect’s interest with an intriguing first sentence (avoiding OVERLY sensational headlines).
2. Focus on solving the reader’s problem or on making something easier for them.
3. Give them a reason to buy at that moment with an added bonus or incentive
Faxing with VoIP, Can It Be Done?
March 26, 2009
Faxing with VoIP, Can It Be Done?
by: Jason Christensen
Faxing with VoIP can be slightly different than the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Not all VoIP providers offer Fax capabilities and some charge extra for this feature. Some VoIP adapters or ATA’s as they are called allow fax capabilities by simply connecting your fax to the device. If your ATA supports fax capabilities you should not need a second line to send faxes. Beware that unusual amounts of faxing can violate your Terms of Service agreement with some providers and force you to upgrade to their business service, I think the normal user should not have a problem with this. Some providers require you to purchase a second number for your faxing needs and charge a minimal amount for that service usually around $5 or $10 per month.
VoIP Provider Fax Information:
· Vonage: With a Vonage Small Business account, you get a dedicated fax line with 500 local and long distance minutes of outgoing fax service to the US (including Puerto Rico) and Canada, plus unlimited incoming faxes each month. Residential account you get a Vonage fax line for $9.99 per month with a one-time $9.99 activation fee. You get 250 minutes of local and long distance outgoing fax service plus unlimited incoming faxes each month. Extra outgoing fax minutes are only 3.9 cents per minute.
Free Or Not Free — Its Your Choice
March 25, 2009
The internet is one of the world’s top sources of information, products and just about anything else you could possibly want. And, if you have spent any amount of time online, you must have noticed that much of it is free.
Many home business entrepreneurs get their start online using some of these free resources. In fact, some of them use freebees almost exclusively.
So, just what are these valuable assets that attract so many home business newbies? Here are just a few:
1. Email - one can get free email accounts just about anywhere (MSN Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Google GMail, Lycos) plus tons of others. Actually, free email accounts can be very useful, but that’s another article.
2. Autoresponders - there are many free autoresponders (getresponse, and freeautobot, just to name a few). Some are better than others but they are a useful tool.
3. EBooks - You can get free ebooks just about anywhere. These can prove very valuable as giveaways to get people to do some sort of action,like join your mailing list.
How To Avoid The 3 Biggest Title Tag Mistakes With Search Engines
March 25, 2009
Your title tag is the most important 3 to 12 words on your Web page. It accounts for up to 80% of your rankings on search engines.
Here’s why:
Search Engines look for “searched for” words first in title tags.
The title tag is one of the main places search engines look to get a description of your site when posting the results of a keyword search.
Most people destroy any chance of success by making one or more of the following 3 mistakes in their title tags.
Before we start let’s describe what a TITLE TAG is and where it goes. Your TITLE TAG goes at the top of the page right after your HEAD TAG. Use HTML code and do it exactly as shown below:
Your title with a description using important Keyword Phrases
Now let’s get started.
Mistake #1. If your keywords or keyword phrases are not in your title tag, your Web page will NOT be found anywhere near the top of the search engines when these keywords and keyword phrases are search for.
Your keyword phrases absolutely MUST be in your title tag.
Profitable Websites for Exclusive Industries
March 24, 2009
In the region where my company is located, South Bend, Indiana, the demand for web design and associated services could be described as: leery. It’s not that the locale is horribly lacking evolvement technologically; rather that so many proprietors in this area are very uncertain as to what the internet can do and how they can go about forming profitable web sites for their exclusive industries.
Small businesses and corporations need to understand that the internet is indeed a beast, but a beast that can definitely be tamed. In this market small business is primarily focused in independent food service establishments, manufacturing of RVs (recreational vehicles) and related accessories, electronics engineering, and various steel fabrication. While the majority of these industries don’t necessarily have grand end-user sales growth, they do have a great potential for being leading providers in the field of B2B. Surprisingly enough, much of that success could come from establishing dynamic functional websites ? but many just don’t seem to want to jump on the bandwagon.
The trick is: to have a website with a national scope and feel to set them apart in the world economy from other local business.
