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Archive for the ‘How To’ Category

More search engines are serving search results with local listings because that’s what people are using. More folks are using the internet to find local products and services than ever before.

Your business needs to show up in local listings. You can make your business show up by registering at the following websites. Here is a listing of the Must Have online registries for which you need to be part of:

Must Haves:
Google Places – http://www.google.com/local/add/analyticsSplashPage
Yahoo! Local – http://listings.local.yahoo.com/
Bing Local – https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
DMOZ – http://www.dmoz.org

1. Traffic – get them to your site.

2. Conversion – get them to respond

Know Your Audience – speak in their jargon, write for 4^th graders

1. Keep navigation simple – allow users to easily navigate the site.
2. Response or load time – needs to be quick.
3. Visually highlight “Calls to Action”, ie, phone numbers, buy now, etc.
4. Keep you pages short – try to avoid scrolling, only 10% will scroll.
5. Avoid lots of text – break up long pages with more nav or link options.
6. Allow for scanning – use short sentences, headlines, bullet/numbered lists.
7. Check spelling and grammar – don’t look like a dummy.
8. Footer navigation – don’t leave them hanging- site map, contact, etc.
9. Contact info on all pages!

Avoid:

• flash designs
• pop-ups
• auto audio
• links to external pages
• counters
• too much movement
• intro splash pages
• tiny fonts
• too many social networking buttons

Designing a good sales web site can be the difference between losing a visitor and making a sale. You’ve got ten seconds to capture a viewer’s attention and convince them to stay – that’s how long it takes people to decide to keep reading, or move on.

Make Your Site User Friendly
You need to plan your web site carefully to make it really sell your product:

• Have an attention-grabbing headline that tells visitors what they’ll gain by staying. It should list some clear, compelling benefits – what they’ll learn and what kind of information you’ll provide.

• Keep your web site clean and simple. It should be easy on the eyes, with no more than a couple of key colors and a couple of easy-to-read fonts. Font should be very dark and contrast strongly with a lighter background. Avoid using patterns and limit your use of graphics.

• Use more sales copy and fewer images. Images should be used strategically to support the sales copy, not vice versa.

• Make your navigation easy. It should run across the top of your page or down the left side. The fewer clicks it takes to purchase your product, the better, because every time you ask visitors to click, you lose some.

• Make your sales process quick and painless. Don’t use hidden links. If you want shoppers to buy from you, you have to make it obvious how they do so.

Develop Your Customers’ Trust
Your web site has to convey credibility and professionalism – people won’t buy from you if they don’t trust you. There are two main ways you can build your customers’ confidence in you:

1. Share your qualifications: how you got here and why you’re able to help them. Don’t just bullet-point your credentials – talk to them. Relate your experiences and explain how this product has helped you – let them see there’s a real person behind the site.

2. Use testimonials from people who’ve actually used your products. Video, audio, and written testimonials, accompanied with customer pictures, are proven tools for creating credibility with consumers. Make sure your testimonials show actual, measurable results that people achieved by using your product.

Create Customer Loyalty

Sharing relevant, interesting information on your site can be a tremendous point of sale. Tell your customers what your product is, where it originated, and innovative ways they can use it. If you sell camping gear, write an article about great destinations for camping, or post tips for staying safe in the woods. Give shoppers a reason to come back to your site – there’s a good chance that, while they’re there, they’ll buy something. By educating your customers, you’re creating a sense of loyalty that will make them want to buy from you rather than your competitors.

So you want to start a business selling stuff online?

If you want to start an online business selling stuff on the internet, you have to start our right. Beyond a solid business plan, you need to become legal. If you’re going to selling retail and creating wholesale relationships with manufacturers or wholesalers, they will not take you seriously unless you are a legal entity with a State and possibly a Federal Tax ID number.

You become a legal entity by formally creating a business organization in your state. Go to your states website for information, you can probably do it online. You have to decide the best structure i.e., Sole Proprietorship, LLC, S-type Corporation, etc. There is typically a fee for establishment of a formal business name for a particular state. Your accountant or tax attorney can help you here if you have questions.

Once you receive the business entity documentation, you can very quickly procure a State Tax ID Number and a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). You can get both in about five minutes online. Start with the Federal (you may not need it – but you might to do your state ID, so get it anyway).

For the Federal ID, go to: http://irs.gov

For your state, do a search for “Your State” + “Department of Revenue” + E-services; or something like that. In Minnesota for example a search such as this works well: “mn tax id”. The website here is: http://taxes.state.mn.us.

Literally you can have both these numbers FOR FREE within 30 minutes.

As you establish relationships with suppliers, most will ask for these number. If all you have is your SS#, they may regard you as amateurish and not treat you with the same respect as a more formally organized entity.