Saturday, January 14, 2006
Latest One Stop Web Support Newsletter Arrives January 15, 2006
I just finished queing up issue 21 of the One Stop Web Support Internet Marketing Newsletter to mail out tomorrow morning, January 15, 2006.
This issue contains the following:
1. Online Business Techniques to Know for 2006 (part 1 of 3, Online Video)
2. Personal recommendations -
If you haven't already signed up for the newsletter, you can do so on our newsletter signup page. And you'll also get over $250 of free gifts for just for signing up.
Jeff
I just finished queing up issue 21 of the One Stop Web Support Internet Marketing Newsletter to mail out tomorrow morning, January 15, 2006.
This issue contains the following:
1. Online Business Techniques to Know for 2006 (part 1 of 3, Online Video)
2. Personal recommendations -
Website - Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet3. Special guest corner - thoughts from top marketers
Auctions - Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay
Maximizing Your eBay Profits by Selling to Your Past Customers4. Success quote from David Lloyd George
By Janiece Smith
If you haven't already signed up for the newsletter, you can do so on our newsletter signup page. And you'll also get over $250 of free gifts for just for signing up.
Jeff
Friday, January 13, 2006
So What Do You Want Them to Do?
One of the most important things on any webpage is your MWR, or Most Wanted Response. If you don't have a clear idea of where you want your visitors to go next from your landing pages, chances are they'll never go anywhere.
I've made a lot of changes within One Stop Web Support the last couple of weeks to tighten up its MWRs, and finally caught up on reflecting those changes in my home page. What had been a fairly chatty home page sprinkled with links to the major areas of the site becomes much more pointed in directing visitors to those areas, as I upload and test the revisions Saturday morning.
I'm pleased with the new look, but may still make some minor changes before I upload. I added more graphics to the page to draw attention to its key categories. What with everything in web design being a balancing act, though, that means more things for the browser to download and a slower loading time.
While the load time isn't horrendous, I've always been partial to super-quick load times. I may play around a little bit with using pseudo-graphics (elements that look like graphics, but are created right within the html) instead of .gif files and see how much quicker load times I can buy myself with that.
But otherwise, I look forward to getting this upgrade up and seeing if it has the positive effect on moving people where I'd like them to go that I'm hoping for.
Jeff
One of the most important things on any webpage is your MWR, or Most Wanted Response. If you don't have a clear idea of where you want your visitors to go next from your landing pages, chances are they'll never go anywhere.
I've made a lot of changes within One Stop Web Support the last couple of weeks to tighten up its MWRs, and finally caught up on reflecting those changes in my home page. What had been a fairly chatty home page sprinkled with links to the major areas of the site becomes much more pointed in directing visitors to those areas, as I upload and test the revisions Saturday morning.
I'm pleased with the new look, but may still make some minor changes before I upload. I added more graphics to the page to draw attention to its key categories. What with everything in web design being a balancing act, though, that means more things for the browser to download and a slower loading time.
While the load time isn't horrendous, I've always been partial to super-quick load times. I may play around a little bit with using pseudo-graphics (elements that look like graphics, but are created right within the html) instead of .gif files and see how much quicker load times I can buy myself with that.
But otherwise, I look forward to getting this upgrade up and seeing if it has the positive effect on moving people where I'd like them to go that I'm hoping for.
Jeff
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Link-Building Tip From Trafficology
I was just listening to link-building tips from the most recent Trafficology CD that I had received. Ever tried this one?
How about bartering for a link? For example, if you have an ebook or other product that has a minimal cost to you that a high-traffic site owner may have interest in, you could offer to give them your product in return for a one-way link from their site to yours. You get a high-value link, and they get a product they want.
This was only one of 10 creative link-building tips on the most recent Trafficology Platinum CD. And besides the other tips, the CD also contained an excellent 11-day blueprint for building high value links into your site. As always, the content on the CDs were outstanding!
And I just got word today that Trafficology has posted its annual report of the top traffic-building techniques from 2005, with 15 top marketers sharing their top tips that they developed for building traffic this past year.
I haven't gotten through it all yet, but there's some great stuff in there! Oh, and you can get two months free membership by using one of these links to check it out.
Jeff
I was just listening to link-building tips from the most recent Trafficology CD that I had received. Ever tried this one?
How about bartering for a link? For example, if you have an ebook or other product that has a minimal cost to you that a high-traffic site owner may have interest in, you could offer to give them your product in return for a one-way link from their site to yours. You get a high-value link, and they get a product they want.
This was only one of 10 creative link-building tips on the most recent Trafficology Platinum CD. And besides the other tips, the CD also contained an excellent 11-day blueprint for building high value links into your site. As always, the content on the CDs were outstanding!
And I just got word today that Trafficology has posted its annual report of the top traffic-building techniques from 2005, with 15 top marketers sharing their top tips that they developed for building traffic this past year.
I haven't gotten through it all yet, but there's some great stuff in there! Oh, and you can get two months free membership by using one of these links to check it out.
Jeff
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Are You Driving Your Business to Success?
Driving a car is a lot like running a business. How? Consider this.
Setting a Destination
Any time you get in the car, you have a specific destination in mind. You don't just hop in and wait to see where the car will take you. Nor can you merely have a general idea of a destination and hope to end up somewhere in its general vicinity. You need to know exactly where you want to end up.
Running a business online is the same way. You need to set a destination for yourself—what you want to accomplish. And it needs to be specific, not just a vague dream of success.
Driving It to Your Destination
Once you have a destination in mind for your car, you don't just sit there and wait for it take you where you want to go. You actively drive it there. You determine the route you will take and guide it there, turn by turn.
Similarly, you have to drive your business to the destination you've chosen. To simply set it up and expect it to take you there on its own is no different than jumping into a car, barking out your desired destination, and waiting for it to drive itself.
You need to take an active role in plotting out how to get to the destination you've chosen. If you're not sure how to do that, check out yesterday's blog entry on backwards planning. But get it firmly in your mind that reaching your destination will take active effort on your part in determining where and how to get to where you want to go.
Jeff
Driving a car is a lot like running a business. How? Consider this.
Setting a Destination
Any time you get in the car, you have a specific destination in mind. You don't just hop in and wait to see where the car will take you. Nor can you merely have a general idea of a destination and hope to end up somewhere in its general vicinity. You need to know exactly where you want to end up.
Running a business online is the same way. You need to set a destination for yourself—what you want to accomplish. And it needs to be specific, not just a vague dream of success.
Driving It to Your Destination
Once you have a destination in mind for your car, you don't just sit there and wait for it take you where you want to go. You actively drive it there. You determine the route you will take and guide it there, turn by turn.
Similarly, you have to drive your business to the destination you've chosen. To simply set it up and expect it to take you there on its own is no different than jumping into a car, barking out your desired destination, and waiting for it to drive itself.
You need to take an active role in plotting out how to get to the destination you've chosen. If you're not sure how to do that, check out yesterday's blog entry on backwards planning. But get it firmly in your mind that reaching your destination will take active effort on your part in determining where and how to get to where you want to go.
Jeff
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Why Working Backwards Can Push Your Business Forward
Ever work backwards? No, I'm not talking about doing dumb things; I'm talking about doing something that's really smart.
Most people, when starting a business, have dreams of where they want it to take them, but never work through how to get there. Working backwards is an easy way to break down your dreams into the steps needed to make them reality.
Start with your goal and make it specific. Saying, "I want to make lots and lots of money," is not a specific goal. Come up with a specific number.
Let's say, for example, that you want to make $10,000 a month. Now break it down further into a shorter period of time. $10,000 a month breaks down into $333 a day or $2331 a week (there are 4.3 weeks in a month).
Now comes the part that makes this work. Look at those figures and determine what you need to do to make sure this happens over the timeframe you set for it. Most new business owners never do this; they simply set up their business and trust that "everything will all work out." But looking at your business in this "working backwards" mindset will increase your chance of success—dramatically.
Chances are, if you're in the early stages of your business, you're making nowhere near the $333 per day you'd need to make in order to reach your goal. That's OK. File that number as a longer term goal and determine a reasonable target to shoot for this month.
Focus on hitting this month's target. Let's say you're currently averaging $10 a day and decide that you can increase that to $20. Sit down and figure out what you need to do to make that increase. How many of your products do you have to sell to reach your goal?
For the sake of example, let's say you're selling one $40 product every four days. To average $20 a day, you need to sell one every two days instead. What are some things you can do to accomplish this? Would doubling your traffic do the trick? Or would bringing in a more targeted source of traffic be the answer? Are there ways you can make the product more appealing so that more of your existing visitors will buy it?
Look at everything and figure out specific, tangible ways that you can change things for the better. Never trust to luck. Never expect that simply adding some new tool to your marketing arsenal will do the trick all on its own.
Look at buying your product from your visitors' point of view. And I mean look at it honestly. What questions will your visitors need to have answered before they'll buy? What will your sales copy need to do to reach them?
Look at how they get to your site. Look at what needs lead them to look for your product in the first place. Understand them better and you'll sell to them better.
Challenge yourself to find a way to improve your business so you meet your goal. Rather than merely hoping that things get better, make it a habit to look for ways that you can make them better.
And once you meet your goal, you can set a higher goal for the next time period, building constantly toward the long-term goal you had set initially. As you get better at thinking backwards, you'll be able to make some intelligent projections of how long it will take to reach your goal. Your plans will become more solid. You'll find yourself growing more consistent and more confident of the direction you're going.
I have one more "never" to share with you, though, especially when you first start this exercise. Never give in to the temptation to try to make multiple changes at once.
As you look at all the ways you can increase your sales from $10 to $20 a day, you'll see multiple ways you can potentially accomplish this. Choose the one that you feel gives you the best chance of success and stick with just that one. Do the best you can with that one before you flit off to try something else.
The worst thing you can do is try a little of this and a little of that and never stick to any one way to reach your goal. Focus on improving one thing and one thing alone until you've done the best you can with it. Don't worry that some other ways might work even better. You can always try those other things when you're moving your goals upward from $20 to $30, or $30 to $50.
You accomplish far more by doing one thing completely than by never completing ten things that you've started.
Working backwards is an effective way of developing the mindset you need to succeed. And it puts you in the driver's seat. You control your growth. You learn to set realistic expectations. And, most important of all. You keep your business moving forward.
Jeff
Ever work backwards? No, I'm not talking about doing dumb things; I'm talking about doing something that's really smart.
Most people, when starting a business, have dreams of where they want it to take them, but never work through how to get there. Working backwards is an easy way to break down your dreams into the steps needed to make them reality.
Start with your goal and make it specific. Saying, "I want to make lots and lots of money," is not a specific goal. Come up with a specific number.
Let's say, for example, that you want to make $10,000 a month. Now break it down further into a shorter period of time. $10,000 a month breaks down into $333 a day or $2331 a week (there are 4.3 weeks in a month).
Now comes the part that makes this work. Look at those figures and determine what you need to do to make sure this happens over the timeframe you set for it. Most new business owners never do this; they simply set up their business and trust that "everything will all work out." But looking at your business in this "working backwards" mindset will increase your chance of success—dramatically.
Chances are, if you're in the early stages of your business, you're making nowhere near the $333 per day you'd need to make in order to reach your goal. That's OK. File that number as a longer term goal and determine a reasonable target to shoot for this month.
Focus on hitting this month's target. Let's say you're currently averaging $10 a day and decide that you can increase that to $20. Sit down and figure out what you need to do to make that increase. How many of your products do you have to sell to reach your goal?
For the sake of example, let's say you're selling one $40 product every four days. To average $20 a day, you need to sell one every two days instead. What are some things you can do to accomplish this? Would doubling your traffic do the trick? Or would bringing in a more targeted source of traffic be the answer? Are there ways you can make the product more appealing so that more of your existing visitors will buy it?
Look at everything and figure out specific, tangible ways that you can change things for the better. Never trust to luck. Never expect that simply adding some new tool to your marketing arsenal will do the trick all on its own.
Look at buying your product from your visitors' point of view. And I mean look at it honestly. What questions will your visitors need to have answered before they'll buy? What will your sales copy need to do to reach them?
Look at how they get to your site. Look at what needs lead them to look for your product in the first place. Understand them better and you'll sell to them better.
Challenge yourself to find a way to improve your business so you meet your goal. Rather than merely hoping that things get better, make it a habit to look for ways that you can make them better.
And once you meet your goal, you can set a higher goal for the next time period, building constantly toward the long-term goal you had set initially. As you get better at thinking backwards, you'll be able to make some intelligent projections of how long it will take to reach your goal. Your plans will become more solid. You'll find yourself growing more consistent and more confident of the direction you're going.
I have one more "never" to share with you, though, especially when you first start this exercise. Never give in to the temptation to try to make multiple changes at once.
As you look at all the ways you can increase your sales from $10 to $20 a day, you'll see multiple ways you can potentially accomplish this. Choose the one that you feel gives you the best chance of success and stick with just that one. Do the best you can with that one before you flit off to try something else.
The worst thing you can do is try a little of this and a little of that and never stick to any one way to reach your goal. Focus on improving one thing and one thing alone until you've done the best you can with it. Don't worry that some other ways might work even better. You can always try those other things when you're moving your goals upward from $20 to $30, or $30 to $50.
You accomplish far more by doing one thing completely than by never completing ten things that you've started.
Working backwards is an effective way of developing the mindset you need to succeed. And it puts you in the driver's seat. You control your growth. You learn to set realistic expectations. And, most important of all. You keep your business moving forward.
Jeff
Monday, January 09, 2006
Better Businessperson; Better Person
I started on a different blog topic tonight, but it quickly got out of hand. Rather than a short blog-length entry (and yes, I'm well aware that my blog entries are rarely anywhere near as short as a blog entry is "supposed" to be), this was turning into an entire chapter.
So I stashed it away for later use in a different form. But the gist of it was a riff on my oft-repeated refrain that you can't succeed at becoming a better business person without becoming a better person at the same time.
Yes, I know there are scumbags out there who use business to exploit others. But I've found that they generally face the consequences of their actions in one form or another eventually.
But I've found that truly succeeding in business requires you to understand more deeply the way that others—and you yourself tick. And that can't help but make you a better person.
Jeff
I started on a different blog topic tonight, but it quickly got out of hand. Rather than a short blog-length entry (and yes, I'm well aware that my blog entries are rarely anywhere near as short as a blog entry is "supposed" to be), this was turning into an entire chapter.
So I stashed it away for later use in a different form. But the gist of it was a riff on my oft-repeated refrain that you can't succeed at becoming a better business person without becoming a better person at the same time.
Yes, I know there are scumbags out there who use business to exploit others. But I've found that they generally face the consequences of their actions in one form or another eventually.
But I've found that truly succeeding in business requires you to understand more deeply the way that others—and you yourself tick. And that can't help but make you a better person.
Jeff
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Finding Related Sites With SearchIt! Free Internet Marketing Research Tool
The SearchIt! free search tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
Rather than repeat the introductory info about SearchIt! that I shared previously, I suggest that you see the October 2nd blog for this information. Or simply realize that it is important to click all the links and read all the instructions that SearchIt! tells you to do.
You'll find SearchIt! A LOT easier and more valuable to use if you do that.
Using SearchIt!
Last time we continued covering some site research tools, including ways to find vital statistics about a site, including info such as contact information or whether your site is on any spammer blacklists. This week we'll look at how SearchIt! can help you find related sites for joint ventures or link exchanges.
In the Step 1 dropdown box, scroll down under Site Research and select Similar/Related.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options.
Google Related Tool
Alexa Related Tool
Gigablast Related Search
U May C More
(Note: These options may change. The SiteSell people (who maintain the SearchIt! tool) are constantly adding new search tools to it.)
Google Related Tool
This option find sites that are similar to whatever domain you choose. Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
You can enter a competitor's domain name. You can find their super-affiliates and approach them about promoting you as well. Or you can enter your own domain name and find related sites that you can approach about link exchanges or joint ventures. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
Alexa Related Tool
This option operates in a similar way to the Google Related Tool, but gathers its information in a different way, resulting, usually, in smaller sites than Google returns.
Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
Use it the same way you would the Google Related Tool and mine its additional information. Enter a competitor's domain name and find their super-affiliates to approach about promoting you as well. Or enter your own domain name and find related sites that you can approach about link exchanges or joint ventures. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
Gigablast Related Search
This option operates in a similar way to the Google and Alexa Related Tools, but, in my opinion, is the least useful of the three for finding related sites. It seems better at finding sites where the other site mentions the domain you are searching for. Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
Enter a competitor's domain name to find what other sites mention them and might be persuaded to mention you as well. Or you can enter your own domain name and find what sites mention you. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
U May C More
This option, too, operates in a similar way to the Google Related Tool. It organizes sites in a different way, though. It locates the site you search for in their database and gives you a list of other sites that fit into the same category. As such, it focuses more on sites that are related in theme and pretty much ignores any link relationship between the two.
Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
Use it the same way you would the Google Related Tool and mine its additional information.
Enter a competitor's domain name or your own to find related sites. Check them out and approach about link exchanges or joint ventures. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
Next week
This Sunday, we looked at how SearchIt! can help you find related sites for joint ventures or link exchanges. Next week we'll look at how SearchIt! can help you keep track of how well the search engines are spidering your site.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of valuable information. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing arsenal.
Jeff
The SearchIt! free search tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
Rather than repeat the introductory info about SearchIt! that I shared previously, I suggest that you see the October 2nd blog for this information. Or simply realize that it is important to click all the links and read all the instructions that SearchIt! tells you to do.
You'll find SearchIt! A LOT easier and more valuable to use if you do that.
Using SearchIt!
Last time we continued covering some site research tools, including ways to find vital statistics about a site, including info such as contact information or whether your site is on any spammer blacklists. This week we'll look at how SearchIt! can help you find related sites for joint ventures or link exchanges.
In the Step 1 dropdown box, scroll down under Site Research and select Similar/Related.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options.
Google Related Tool
Alexa Related Tool
Gigablast Related Search
U May C More
(Note: These options may change. The SiteSell people (who maintain the SearchIt! tool) are constantly adding new search tools to it.)
Google Related Tool
This option find sites that are similar to whatever domain you choose. Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
You can enter a competitor's domain name. You can find their super-affiliates and approach them about promoting you as well. Or you can enter your own domain name and find related sites that you can approach about link exchanges or joint ventures. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
Alexa Related Tool
This option operates in a similar way to the Google Related Tool, but gathers its information in a different way, resulting, usually, in smaller sites than Google returns.
Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
Use it the same way you would the Google Related Tool and mine its additional information. Enter a competitor's domain name and find their super-affiliates to approach about promoting you as well. Or enter your own domain name and find related sites that you can approach about link exchanges or joint ventures. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
Gigablast Related Search
This option operates in a similar way to the Google and Alexa Related Tools, but, in my opinion, is the least useful of the three for finding related sites. It seems better at finding sites where the other site mentions the domain you are searching for. Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
Enter a competitor's domain name to find what other sites mention them and might be persuaded to mention you as well. Or you can enter your own domain name and find what sites mention you. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
U May C More
This option, too, operates in a similar way to the Google Related Tool. It organizes sites in a different way, though. It locates the site you search for in their database and gives you a list of other sites that fit into the same category. As such, it focuses more on sites that are related in theme and pretty much ignores any link relationship between the two.
Type the domain name (without the http:// or the www.) in the Step 3 box. Click the SearchIt! button.
Use it the same way you would the Google Related Tool and mine its additional information.
Enter a competitor's domain name or your own to find related sites. Check them out and approach about link exchanges or joint ventures. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to see your results.
Next week
This Sunday, we looked at how SearchIt! can help you find related sites for joint ventures or link exchanges. Next week we'll look at how SearchIt! can help you keep track of how well the search engines are spidering your site.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of valuable information. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing arsenal.
Jeff
© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Jeff Baas, One Stop Web Support
