Category: Blogging

Starting Your Online Business — From Scratch!

The Internet, a blessing or a curse?

click-here-start-online-businessPerhaps you are a retailer whose customers are shopping online rather than in your store.  In that case, you may consider the Internet a curse. Every skillful business person tries to turn each negative into a positive. You should be starting your online business.

5 advantages of having an online business

1. Vast audience

You have a vast audience who are on the Internet and you can market to them every day.

2. Your own website 24/7

You can have your own website promoting for you 24/7 365 days a year. You do not have to be there to sell.

3. Promote using email

You can have a squeeze page and give valuable information to the people who have given you their contact information.  With a click on a button you can promote to one person, a thousand people or a million people.

4. Lower cost than anything

With the Internet you can provide more value per visitor than ever before in history. (This blog post will refer to value quite often.  It’s what you want to be giving with all of your emails and with the products you sell.)

Earn a percentage of the selling price for every book sold.

Click here to learn more.

5. Love your lifestyle

Having your business online gives you more freedom.

5 characteristics of a good online business

1. Paid advertising

You can get lot of free publicity and can create brand awareness using social media.  You want to get good at social media.  You want to make lots of blog posts and link to them from your Facebook page, from Twitter & from Google Plus.  For the really good posts you will want to make a YouTube video and also link to it from SlideShare, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

start-your-online-business-adAs important as those 7 social media are, they will likely never work as quickly and effectively as paid advertising.  Also, keep in mind that it can take a year or more to become reasonable good at using even those 7 social media above.  You will have to learn the first one, become good at it and then move onto the second one. You keep repeating the process until you are good at all of them.

You must decide whether you should use Bing, Google, LinkedIn or whatever.  It depends upon things like cost per click and what demographic uses the platform. If you are undecided, search for something like how decide which PPC to use Bing, Google, Instagram, LinkedIn. That may help you narrow down your choices.

2.  Phenomenal website

wordpress-gears-401There is a reason why a quarter of the websites in the world use WordPress. Learn how to use WordPress and make a WordPress blog. Seriously consider using the Divi WordPress theme.

3. Build a list

online business list-building-bookHave an excellent squeeze page, use it to create a list and develop a relationship with the people on your list. (Click on the image of the book to learn much more about list building.)

Let AWeber help you make the best use of that list. Watch the video.

4. Give the people lots of value

You want to be known for giving people value. Sell nothing but high value squeeze-page-2products.  To get people to give their contact information on your squeeze page, you must give them valuable information.

That’s why they give you their email address in the first place — they are anxious to get the free valuable information you are offering them.  That free valuable information should tell them that you will be emailing them more free valuable information.

You may even end up sending them a free valuable video or PDF file every day for a week. Each video or PDF file will have information about your product. The more value you give people, the more they will trust you.

5. Sell your product

buying-online-with-credit-cardWith each email, you will make it possible to buy your product. And remember, the more they trust you, the more likely they are to buy. If you are using the Divi WordPress theme, consider using the WooCommerce shopping cart for your online business.

YouTube video

Below is the YouTube video that accompanies this blog post.

 

Peter Enns has been developing websites since 1996. He is a social media blogger and author of the free YouTube video-creation tutorial called 7 Day YouTube.

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Copywriting Tips & Mistakes to Avoid

Visitors leaving your page prematurely

When copywriting, be careful that you do not use the wrong words. You do not want your visitors to leave sooner than is necessary.

A WordStream blog post says that they process information subconsciously at lightning speeds to determine if they’ll click or bounce within a few fractions of a second. The post goes on to distill huge amounts of data comparing the results of various words used in copy. It describes why the delinquent words are bad choices.
copywriting-coffee-cups

7 words to avoid when copywriting

1.  Submit

copywriting scin-care-tips-submit-landing-page

copywriting scin-care-tips-landing-pageThese 2 landing pages are identical except for one thing. In one the bottom line says Submit. The one on the right says Click here to get my free PDF file.

There was a study using over 40,000 landing pages. One group said submit and the other said something different. The conversion rate for the one with Submit was a little over 14%.  The other one had a conversion rate of 17%.

2. Business jargon like synergy

Simple easy-to-understand English gives a better conversion rate.  Read the WordStream blog post for an explanation.

3 Hint of spam

Avoid any words that make people think about being spammed.  Even Your information will not be shared gave a noticeably higher CTA (call to action) than We will never spam you.

4. We

People are reading your copy because they want a solution to their problem. They do not care about you as much as they care about their situation.  So, use you or else no pronoun.

5. Your

When the message on a submit button was changed from Start your free 30 day trial to Start my free 30 day trial, there was a 90% increase in CTA.

6. Free (under certain circumstances)

The word Free can invite many people who just want a free sample.  Read the WordStream blog post for a greater explanation.

7. Save Time & Money

Save Time & Money is a vague, meaningless, overly-used generic phrase.

Understand those 7 points

To get a thorough understanding of those 7 points and their implications when copywriting, read the article entitled 7 Conversion-sabotaging Words to Avoid at All Costs.

Sample squeeze page

Below is a mockup of a sample squeeze page. As you can see, it is very simple. Remember, more is less. It has

  • An eye-catching headline that makes people want to read more.
  • A few pictures to help tell the story.
  • A minimum amount of text to tell the story.
  • A place for the visitor to leave their name & email address.

Click on the graphic now.

 

 

Website Statistics by Awstats

How well is your advertising doing?

Do this near the beginning of your online advertising campaign: Use a good website statistics program to figure out what is and what is not working.  Then quickly adjust your advertising so that the stats will become more favourable.

anaylzing-graph-with-magnifying-glass

 

Using Awstats for your website statistics

Awstats is a free program to help with your web analytics.  I use LiquidNet hosting.  They have Awstats, Webalizer, WordPress and many other programs available for your use at no extra cost.

Example of using Awstats

In the example below I used an Instagram ad to send people to a website explaining how to create a WordPress blog.

Daily statistics

website statistics awstats-number-of-visits-per-dayThe daily statistics chart showed that there were 559 visits to the website several hours after the advertising started.  This was way higher than any of the previous 13 days. So, I knew that the advertising indeed did attract visitors to my website.

Top 10 pages

website statistics awstats-top-10-pages-being-advertised
The Top 10 Pages chart tells you the top 10 pages that were visited during the month.  As you can see here, the page in the Instagram ad was the third most popular page for the month.  Considering the fact that the page was not promoted until November 14, it is obvious that the advertising is working to get people to the blog post.

Visit duration

awstats-1-30-seconds
 The column in front of this chart displays the amount of time a visitor spends on the entire website during the month.  The 87.6% stat shows that most of the visitors left the website in the first 30 seconds.  That almost for certain meant that most of those visitors did not see any of my advertising.
However, the stats for August, Sept. & Oct. were also close to 87%.  That suggests to me that most people spend less than half a minute on my entire website whether there is advertising or not.  However, this could change if I could figure out how to have incredibly effective advertising at the top of the page.  So far I have not figured that out.

 Search keyphrases

awstats-top-10-search-keyphrases
 These stats help you decide what pages people are really interested in.  That will help you decide where to advertise.

Glossary

For more information about website statistics, go to the Awstats glossary.

 

 


Value-added Email Marketing to Sell Online

What is value-added email marketing?

Value-added email marketing is a system whereby the vendor will gain trust with a potential customer by giving them valuable information. Typically the vendor will have an ad aimed at a particular demographic.

  • Ad sends potential customer to squeeze page.
    • value-added email marketingThe squeeze page is a lead-generation page that will have a form where the visitor adds their email address and name to a form.
  • Potential customer offered something of value in exchange for contact information.
    • It could be something such as a video or a PDF file with information of great interest to the demographic. In the form above, people can get a access to a free 7-lesson YouTube video creation course. Included in the information file there could be a notice that they should be expecting more valuable information in the form of future emails.
  • As next week passes, visitor gets email each day with something valuable (e.g., access to a lesson) in each one.
    • Because it is information they really value, with each email they will gain more trust in the vendor. Usually they will be much more willing to buy than someone who has been given no valuable information.
  • Click here for example of lead-generation page used for value-added email marketing.

Preparation work for your emails

Before you ever try to get people’s email address, do this:

  • Create 6  or 7 PDF files, tutorials or videos
  • Each one must have valuable information that is important for your demographic.
  • In YouTube video creation example above, each could be about a different aspect of  video creation
  • Each of these files should be so important for your demographic that they gain more trust in you with each email
  • After sixth or seventh email, it would be much easier to sell many of them one of your products
  • Each daily email should have  link making it possible to buy

Sample squeeze page

Below is a link to a sample squeeze page. As you can see, it is very simple. Remember, more is less. It has

  • An eye-catching headline that makes people want to read more.
  • A few pictures to help tell the story.
  • A place for the visitor to leave their name & email address.

A squeeze page mainly is a place for visitors to leave their name & email addresses.  Click on the graphic now.

Related Pages

All of the pages below are important for your value-added email marketing strategy.

Free AWeber 30-day trial

AWeber Review

How to create a form and add it to a web page

Resizing a form

SlideShare

The SlideShare presentation below expresses the main points of this post in 12 slides.

YouTube video

Watch the highlights from this page in this video.

 

Pinterest Pin

value-added email marketing width=

 

 

Peter Enns has been developing websites since 1996. He is a social media blogger and author of the free YouTube video-creation tutorial called 7 Day YouTube.

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Bing PPC FAQ

Q. Size.  What are the maximum sizes of the heading and the body of a Bing PCC?  What other minimums & maximums are there?
A. Ad title: 25 characters

  • Ad text: 71 characters
  • Display URL: 35 characters
  • Destination URL: 1024 characters
  • Minimum word count: 3 words in title & descriptive text.  I.e., the title and body must have at least 3 words combined. (More info)

Q. Size, expanding it.  If I feel like the maximum sizes are not enough, what can I do?  
A. Change your ad to an Expanded Text ad.  This is a free service. These will be your new dimension:

  • Ad title: 60 characters
  • Ad text: 80 characters

To set up Expanded Text Ads:

  • Click on Ads tab
  • Click Create ad button
  • In Ad group box select pertinent campaign
  • Select pertinent Ad group
  • Under ad type select Expanded text ad.

 

 

 

 

 

Ebiz, How to Have a Successful Online Store

Your own Ebiz

ebiz shopping-with-smartphone-within-store-600Ebiz (electronic business) is the conduct of business processes on the Internet.

Perhaps you have a brick and mortar store and are upset with all of your potential shoppers who are shopping online.  This blog post will help you set up your own online store.  Promote online to people in your own city. You can have the best of both worlds — ebiz and physical store.

Perhaps you want to sell downloadable products throughout the English-speaking world.  This blog post will help with that too.

Lay the foundation

As the cliche says, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  You will want to set up your store in neat columns & rows with buy now buttons that will add your sales tax and freight and then collect the money for you.  Before you do that, lay your foundation.

Earn a percentage of the selling price for every book sold.

Click here to learn more.

Add a table

table-with-buy-now-buttons-300The SFM system mentioned above will automate much of the online store creation for you.  In the event that you want to make your own, go to the blog post telling how to make an HTML table.

Assuming you are using WordPress, you can use CSS to add border, align the data, etc.

Add PayPal buy now buttons

paypal-horizontal-menuTo add PayPal buy now buttons, go to paypal.com.  Click the signup button.  Login. From the horizontal menu click on More > Sitemap > Create PayPal Buttons (in the tools section) > Create New Button.  Follow the instructions.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement by which the owner of a good or service pays a commission to a third party (the affiliate). The affiliate has an external website that promotes the good or service. The affiliate gets a commission for every sale generated from its referrals.

An example of this is ClickBank.  Every product on that website is some sort of downloadable software.  An affiliate creates a website that promotes the software.  When someone downloads the software from a link on that website, an affiliate code will be included in the order. ClickBank will give the affiliate code owner a fixed percentage of the sale amount.  (ClickBank will also get a percentage of the sale.)

Ebiz is here to stay

Ecommerce retail sales are increasing at a rate much faster than regular brick & mortar store sales.  If you are interested in retail, ebiz is the way to go.

 

share-on-social-media

 

 

Peter Enns has been developing websites since 1996. He is a social media blogger and author of the free YouTube video-creation tutorial called 7 Day YouTube.

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Blogging Tips to Help You Make Money Online

The Web Hosting Secret Revealed website says

In this post, you will find 8 methods to structure your post and speed up your writing that I personally use when I work on my blog posts. Whether you use all of them or just some, according to your personal writing process, you will write more quickly and efficiently, without stress.   Read more.

The Digital Marketer website says

Most of the advice you’re getting about blogging is DEAD WRONG. We know because we’re operating blogs in dozens of niches and we test EVERYTHING.

One of our most successful blogs, SurvivalLife.com, has grown to one million in sales. That’s not annual sales.  We generate one million in sales every month — and growing.   Read more.

The Banklinko website says

Today I’m going to show you how one entrepreneur used viral marketing to generate 17,584 unique visitors to a brand new website.

In one day.

And he accomplished this despite having:

Zero connections.

Zero Twitter followers.

Zero marketing budget.    Read more.

The Ragan.com website says

Some communicators are so good at what they do, we hang on their every word. They can make anything interesting, from Hot Pockets to the stomach flu. They just happen to call themselves comedians… .

Comedians live and die on engaging their audiences. Take Brian Regan—he can talk about the serving size of Fig Newtons, and you’ll still want more at the end. Fig Newtons aren’t funny; they’re completely unimportant.

Brian proves it’s not what you say; the magic is in how you say it.   Read more.


Earn a percentage of the selling price for every book sold.

Click here to learn more.

Webalizer Website Statistics

Making sense out of those statistics

webalizer-statistics

Various web hosts including LiquidNet Ltd Hosting use Webalizer to help people get statistics for their websites.  If you are not using that web host, you will have to adjust the information below to suit your situation.

Getting started using Webalizer in 7 steps

Read the brown text to skim through these steps.

  1. Go to the LiquidNet Hosting control panel.  I live in North America.  So, I go to us.cloudlogin.co.
  2. webalizer-summary-of-business-for-past-yearStatistics > Web Statitics.
  3. Go to the line that represents the website for which you wish to have statistics.
  4. Click on the graphic in the Webalizer column.
  5. That will give you a summary of the activity for the past year.
  6. The yellow area in the graph and in the tab represent visits to the website.  That is likely the most important statistic.  A single visit is the number of times a visitor has gone to your website for a 30 minute period of time.  For instance, when someone goes to your website and visits 11 pages during a 12 minute period, that would be one visit.  When someone goes to your website and visits a bunch of pages over a 48 minute period of time, that would be two visits.
  7. Click in the month column to find the statistics for a particular month.


Earn a percentage of the selling price for every book sold.

Click here to learn more.

Example

Blogging 101 webalizerIn September I created my WordPress blog post. Then I started an advertising program to get people to that post. I want to know how successful my advertising program is.

Going down to my top 10 pages, I saw that the WordPress blog post had 1714 visits using it as an entry page.  I saw that 558 visitors used that post as an exit page.

That means that over 1100 visitors linked to another page from my blog post page.  Over two thirds of the visitors linking to another page meant that at least two thirds of the people who went to the page engaged with my entry page.

What that meant to me was that it would be worth my while putting some very effective advertising on that page.

Related page

The Elbel Consulting Services website says

This article focuses on how to interpret statistics reported by the Webalizer package.   Read more.

 

 

 

 

video making

 

 

 

Peter Enns has been developing websites since 1996. He is a social media blogger and author of the free YouTube video-creation tutorial called 7 Day YouTube.

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Social Media Buttons, Visitors Share Your Posts

Social media icons
social media buttons Multiple social media logos reflected 700 x 400

It is a good idea to have social media buttons at the bottom of every blog post.  Make it easy for visitors to share your blog post with their social media connections.

social media buttons Icons with PinterestThe buttons on the right are from the bottom of this page.  If a visitor clicks on the Twitter logo, they can share a link to this page on Twitter and so on.  Click on the grey icon and they can print the page.  Click on the plus sign and they have access to around 200 different social media.

Free social media buttons

Get the code to have free social media buttons like I have at the bottom of the page.  Go to addthis.com.  Sign up and then click the Get the Code link at the top of the page.

HTML code for social media buttonsCopy the code into your clipboard, go to the bottom of your WordPress post in text view and paste the HTML code to the bottom of the page.

Related pages

6 Tips to Get Your Blog Noticed

The B2K Media Marketing website says

Always have your social media profiles pop up in NEW windows or tabs.  Read much more.

Where to place your social media icons

A Suzanne Perazzini article says

Facebook is getting more and more difficult … since it became a public company and therefore an impersonal business.  Pinterest, is currently the best way to get a good flow of traffic to your blog.  Read much more.

16 Social Media Icons …

A Clear Edge Marketing post says

Below is a listing of 16 key social media icons — a glossary of icons, if you will — that can serve helpful for those not social media savvy.

Read more.

YouTube video

The video below may help you get a better understanding of exactly how to add social media buttons to your blog post.

Social Media Icons Pinterest

Watch the above SlideShare presentation on the SlideShare website.

 

 

 

Peter Enns has been developing websites since 1996. He is a social media blogger and author of the free YouTube video-creation tutorial called 7 Day YouTube.

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