Internet Marketing and ecommerce solutions

12 Common Web Design Mistakes
Web design mistakes can have a tremendous negative impact on business growth. At best, they upset your prospects. Worse, though, is you lose them forever. Here are 12 common web design mistakes you must avoid to please your visitors and grow your business.

7 Reasons to Offer a Value Packed Ezine
Do you know how you can create a connection with all of your potential clients with one action? How to build relationships over time in a consistent way? One of the most efficient ways to do this is with a newsletter, also known as an ezine.

Social Networking: What Is It And Why Your Business Needs It
How can podcasting, blogging, and web sites like MySpace help your business? They are all part of social networking, a way you can use the internet to build relationships that lead to more sales and profit for your business. Read more >>

3 Strategies to Improve Web Site Conversions
Business owners invest a lot of time and money getting their web site ranked well in the search engines, yet often completely ignore conversions. But if your visitors aren't buying from you, then all the money you spent on SEO was wasted. Here are three things you should do to make sure your site not only ranks well, but also sells well.

Top 10 Tips for Using Web 2.0 to Promote Your Business
We hear a lot about Web 2.0 these days. It sounds neat and it's trendy to talk about blogging and social media. But does it really affect our businesses? Here are 10 ways you can investigate Web 2.0 to see if it's something you should be using to promote your business.

Create a Buzz about Your Business
Email marketing can be a great tool to keep you in the forefront of your customers' minds. But don't stop at just sending out a weekly or monthly newsletter. Here are some email ideas that will have your customers buzzing about your business.

Top 10 Ways to Lose a Customer
No matter how many visitors you are able to attract to your website, there are still ways to lose them before making a sale. Below are the top ten ways to lose a paying customer.

Are Keywords Ruining Your Content?
It's one of the worst things to ever happen in the search engine copywriting field: the discovery of keyword density. Otherwise wonderful content has been utterly destroyed by writers' attempts to stuff keywords and phrases into their articles. Here's advice on how you can write naturally and still please the search engines.

Reaching the Wired Boomer
As they age, America's 78 million baby boomers will live more active, creative, inventive lives than any generation before them. This represents a truly enormous business opportunity. In the new book Turning Silver into Gold, the world’s number one authority on marketing to "post-50" baby boomers offers a complete blueprint for profiting from that opportunity. Read an excerpt here >>

8 Tips to Significantly Improve Your E-mail Response
Are your e-mail response rates dismal? Unfortunately that's the nature of the online environment today. Recent statistics show that over 50% of the tens of billions of e-mails sent daily are spam, and the top Internet Service Providers are blocking almost 25% of permission-based e-mails. Here are eight tips to help you overcome these challenges.

Long Keyphrases Can Make Your Copy Awkward and Ineffective
Using three- and four-word keyphrases in your web page copy might help you get found in the search engines for more specific terms, but if you're not careful it can dilute the effectiveness of your copy. Here's advice on how to write with longer keyphrases without sounding clunky or repetitive.

The 7 Secrets of Internet Marketing
Businesses are spending more and more of their marketing dollars on Internet marketing. And while some aspects of Internet marketing are the same as traditional marketing, others are not. Here are seven things you need to know for your Internet marketing to be successful.

The Two Most Common Keyword Mistakes
When you write SEO copy, you should take the time to find out what works and what doesn't. There are two mistakes almost every amateur search engine copywriter makes. Find out what they are here >>

Make It Easy for Customers to Choose You
When visitors come to your site, they are looking for a reason to buy from you. Do you know what makes your company stand out from the competition, and do you tell your visitors about it? Read more >>

Keyword Use that Goes Beyond the Search Engines
When you mention keyword use, all thoughts normally go to the search engines. But if you want truly effective SEO copy, you'll take time to learn that keyword use goes beyond the search engines. Read more >>

4 Ways to Communicate Better with Your Online Customers
How you communicate with your online customers will make or break your company. What are you doing to improve your customer relations? Here are four things you can do.

Great Web Sites for Consultants
A consultant's web site can no longer be an afterthought. It must play an integral role in marketing your practice to new and existing clients. Here are 11 principles you should keep in mind as you create and maintain your web site.

7 Simple Ways to Boost Your Holiday Sales
It’s that time of year again, so how do you ensure that your e-commerce store receives its share of the Christmas shopping extravaganza pie? Here are seven tips that can help.

6 Ways You're Losing Sales on the Internet
Is your site attracting lots of targeted visitors? Is it bringing in new business and new contacts daily? If it's not, you might have fallen victim to one of these six mistakes of internet marketing.

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A Dozen Guidelines for Using E-Mail
Email has become one of the most-used ways of communicating in business, but not everyone knows how to use it correctly. Here are 12 e-mail guidelines that will improve your communications.

How Web Analytics Helped Find A Million Dollar Hole
You can read your web site stats well enough to tell how many visitors your site is getting, how many pages they visit, and how long they stay on your site. But those stats can help you do much more. Here's how one site analyst uncovered a problem costing his customer thousands of dollars in lost sales.

7 Deadly Sins of Selling on eBay
You know of people making a killing on eBay selling everything from used CDs to car parts. But your listings have had a lackluster response. What could you be doing wrong? Before you throw in the towel, make sure you aren't committing one of these seven eBay seller sins.

Could Your Website Get You Sued?
The answer is "Yes!" Even if you don't slander anyone in your blog or steal anyone else's work, what's on your website - or maybe what's NOT on it could get you sued. Here are the top 10 legal faux pas you should avoid.

17 Low Cost Ways to Get Newsletter Subscribers
Online newsletters and ezines are one of the most cost-effective tools you can use to market your business. So how do you grow your list without breaking the bank? Here are 17 tried and true methods of getting new subscribers for your newsletter.

3 Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Mistakes
The plan in your head seems so simple: bid on keywords on pay-per-click (PPC) engines then watch your business skyrocket. Some marketers do achieve instant success. However, many are losing money because they’ve got gaping holes in their PPC strategy. Here are the 3 most common mistakes search engine marketers make in their PPC campaigns >>

7 Offline Website Promotion Tips
Promoting your website offline is just as important as an online marketing campaign. So what can you do to get your website address in front of your prospects who wouldn't otherwise know about your site? Here are seven offline marketing avenues you'll want to explore.

7 Best Practices for Corporate Blogging
What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike. But before you and your business jump on the blogging bandwagon, consider these seven guidelines for business blog success.

Increase Web Site Traffic with Compelling Page Headlines
Your web page headlines can make or break you in your search engine rankings. But what good does a high rank do you if the listing isn't attracting the right kind of visitors to your site? Here are several tips to help you tackle both sides of the problem.

6 Marketing Strategies That Pay Off
Short-term and long-term marketing are both necessary to produce sales. Though it may seem that short-term marketing efforts are bringing in all the sales, it's really the result of both marketing types combined. Here are some examples of short- and long-term marketing that you can use in your online business.

Five Ways To Speed Up Newsletter Production
To get the most from your ezine, you need to send email to your list on a regular schedule. But coming up with articles for your newsletter and putting it all together takes time. Use these five tips to make producing your newsletter faster and easier, and be sure to check out the newsletter resources at the end.

Search Marketing: Opportunity for Little Companies
Think it's impossible for your small online business to compete against the big guys like Amazon? Think again. With careful attention to the content of your web pages, your site could rank higher in search results than any of the mega sites. Details >>

Looking Good on the Web
Just putting a site on the web doesn't mean anyone will find it. And worse, it could be driving people away if it isn't designed well. Here are some success secrets we've uncovered.

Building a Web Site? Ask These 7 Questions First
These days, folks who claim to know how to design a web site are pretty easy to come by. In fact, you probably know someone whose teenager can do it for you cheap. But before you hire your neighbor's kid to do the job, ask yourself these marketing questions.

Writing an Effective, Profit Producing Ad
One of the biggest challenges for most Internet Marketers is writing effective ad copy. This is hardly surprising. Most marketers are not professional writers and writing ad copy is a difficult skill for beginning marketers to master. Here are 10 tips that can help.

Getting Custom Programming Done Right
Thinking of having a program or web application designed or customized for your business? If you've ever undertaken such a project, you know how easily it can get out of hand. These tips can help you ensure the final product actually does what you need for it to do.

5 Important Web Site Metrics
There are hundreds of reports you can get from web analytic systems and if you know what you’re doing they can really help you. But only five of them measure things you can control. Find out what they are and why they're important.

Using Web Site Stats to Improve Performance
In part two of this article series on making use of your web site's key performance indicators, learn the importance of the amount of time visitors spend on your site. Details >>

10 Tips for Bloggers
Want to get more people reading your blog? Here are 10 simple guidelines that will increase your exposure. Details >>

The Myth of Rankings
More and more frequently, people are getting into SEO for the wrong reasons (and sometimes for no real reason at all). Achieving high rankings for targeted keyphrases, while an admirable and worthwhile goal, is really only a small piece of the entire online marketing puzzle. Read more >>

FTC Releases Report on Spyware Workshop
The Federal Trade Commission has released a staff report summarizing the issues and drawing some conclusions from its April 2004 workshop, “Monitoring Software on Your PC: Spyware, Adware, and Other Software." Get the details here >>

Improve Your Web Site Conversion Rate
In the third and final part of this article series, find out how the source of your site's traffic affects conversion, and learn about specific search engine queries, PPC (pay per click) issues and other general topics. Read more >>

Improving Your Web Site Conversion Rate - Part 2
In Part 2 of this series, learn about measurement software tools, the pros and cons of logs versus ASP vendors, average conversion rates, why it helps to track visitor activity and what you should test and tweak to improve conversion rates. Details >>

How to Improve Your Web Site Conversion Rate-Part 1
Wondering how you can get more of your site's visitors to actually make a purchase? In the first of this three-part series, find out what a conversion rate actually is, how to stand out from your competitors, and more. Details >>

Successful Web Sites Don't Set Out to Sell
What's your web site's purpose? Is it to sell as much of your product as possible, or is it a tool to help guide your potential customers? Your answer may determine the success of your web site.
Read more >>

How to Create Online Presentations for Telephone Selling
How much extra money could you make by closing just one or two additional sales a day? You can double, or even triple, the effectiveness of your telephone selling by showing prospects why they should buy from you, instead of just telling them. Details >>

6 Secrets to Make Your Web Site Pre-Sell
Imagine what your small business would be like if all of your prospects walked into your office or store pre-sold. It's possible, if you make your marketing do the pre-selling for you. And there is no better medium to pre-sell your prospect than with your website.
Read more >>

Write Better Web Content
While an attractive, professional-looking site is an important start, content is king. So how do you create effective content for the Web? It may be easier than you think. Here are four tips that can help.

Missing Mail? Here's Why
Have you signed up for newsletters or discussion lists and then didn't get any mail from them? Or maybe you signed up and you stopped getting their mail? Where did it go? Why? What can you do about it? Details >>

What's So Special about Google?
An Internet company finally gets it really-really right without compromising its dorm-room culture and Grateful Dead chef. Google is one of only three or four companies that have figured out how to make piles of cash from the Internet. And the company is unapologetic about its dot com corporate culture. Read more >>

Think Globally, Act Locally
We all know that the Internet is a powerful global network able that can reach remote customers, but what does this mean to a business that wants to sell something to the person down the street? Read More >>

Top 12 Email Mistakes to Avoid
Your e-mail is as much a part of your professional image as the clothes you wear, the postal letters you write, the greeting on your voice mail and the handshake you offer. If you want to impress on every front and build positive business relationships, pay attention to your e-mail and steer clear of these top twelve e-mail mistakes.

New Yahoo! SiteMatch Program
The new Yahoo! pay for inclusion program, SiteMatch, has caused quite a stir among webmasters and small businesses. How will it affect you? Will you have to pay to get included in the Yahoo! search results? Read about it here >>

What's Wrong with Adware?
Adware programs that save your passwords, offer shopping discounts, or enhance your browser seem like useful, harmless tools. But these "helpful" programs are actually tracking where you go, cluttering your screen with popups and popunders, and taking profits away from your favorite web sites. Read more >>

Making Good Use of Flash
If you are considering Flash for your web site production, there are reasons why you would and would not want to tap into this great technology. Here are some questions to answer before diving in.

Google: A Gift for Small Retailers
Again, the Internet has presented small companies with an unexpected marketing opportunity. The surprise opportunity involves the most basic tool on the Web, the search engine. Read more >>

Turning Web Site Traffic Into Sales
No matter how well your web site ranks in the search engines, the added traffic that comes with high rankings is useless unless you're making sales, too. Read more >>

Mini URL Services
Anyone who has ever tried to e-mail or write down a long, complicated URL knows how difficult it can be. URL shortening services exist to give users an easier URL to remember (and type), but they don't come without risk. Read more >>

Pay Per Click Pitfalls & Solutions
Advertising your site via pay per click search engines can be both effective and affordable, but only if you avoid these not-so-obvious pitfalls. Details >>

Getting Started in Online Publishing
No longer do you have to be published in print to get anywhere in the world of writing. The Internet has created huge audiences for writers who would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Here's how you, too, can get started in online publishing.

Emergency Email Marketing
This emergency email tactic is almost a sure-fire way to get customers racing to their door, yet most businesses never use it. Read more >>

Do Customers Trust Your Web Site?
How often do you think about trust in terms of your web site? You think about the content you put on it, the look and feel, the quality of the messaging. But if visitors to your web site don't trust you, they won't become your customers. Read more >>

Do's and Don'ts for Getting Published on the Web
Driving hoards of visitors to your web site is as simple as getting your articles published on other web sites, right? Well, not always. Find out why, and what you can do about it.

Writing the Perfect Ezine
If you're trying to write an Ezine that everyone will subscribe to, open, and read, you're going to defeat your own purposes. Read more >>

How to Market Your Web Site
You have a web site and everything's in place. Now what? Although it's a marketing tool in itself, you'll need to market your web site. Here are the basics of web site promotion >>

Are You Guessing or Testing
Whether you need to decide what slogan to use, how much to charge, or what to name your newsletter, you can get quick and easy feedback from your web site. Here's how >>

20 Words That Kill
Getting your e-zine onto the computer screens of your subscribers is harder than ever. Spam filters, used by ISPs and individuals alike, can block your email too, if you use the wrong words and phrases. Read more >>

Has Your Web Site Been Hijacked?
In a cautionary tale of our times, this web site designer describes how someone stole his entire web site and used it for their own business, and what he did to remedy the situation. Details >>

Managing a Pay-Per-Click Campaign
Pay-Per-Click campaigns can bring large numbers of highly targeted visitors to your website. Making sure the campaign doesn't become too expensive or lose its effectiveness is the key to success.
Details >>

Building Your Customer Service Business
The American dream is alive and well, but most small businesses are unprepared. Most fail to stand out from the pack, no strategy, no marketing plan, no service plan, just dreams and energy. Here's how you can use technology to avoid committing business suicide.

Christmas Dreams Turn Green
The dot-com crash took the luster off online business, but the 2002 Christmas shopping season put some of that shine back on.
Read more >>

Writing Tips for Your Web Site
Advertising may be part of the overall solution to the challenge of building revenue through the web site. But, if the writing on that site doesn’t work, you’re wasting money. Read more >>

Writing Effective Google AdWords Select Ads
If you are doing business on the Internet, using Google's pay-per-click advertising system is a proven way to bring customers to your site. These tips will get you a higher click through rate and lower cost per click on your ads. Read more >>

Web Site Publicity Bonanza
Entering your web site into contests and competitions is a great way to get your site known. And, with these tips, actually winning awards is easier than you might think. Read more >>

Selling Through Your FAQ Page
By using some imagination and salesmanship, you can turn your FAQ page into a highly productive tool that not only gives visitors the information they need, but also encourages more sales. Read more >>

How to Get More Online Sales
The success of your online business depends on you making sales to customers that visit your site. To achieve that goal, your site must be focused on your customers' needs and priorities. Read more >>

Email Marketing Tips & Hints
What is email marketing, why should you use it and how do you get it opened? Get answers to those and many other questions in this interview with email marketing expert Gail Goodman. Click here >>

Improve Your Marketing ROI
Permission-based email marketing can improve the ROI (return on investment) of all of your marketing and lead generation programs. Here's how.

Understanding Web Site Stats
Are you intimidated by your web site's reports? Don't be! Learn what all those statistics and graphs mean about your site's performance and how it can be improved. Read more >>

Business Email Etiquette 101
The impression your email message gives your customer will mean the life or death of your sale. These five tips can help you make the right impression. Details >>

Google AdWords Ads
There are two primary factors to succeeding at Google AdWords. The first is getting the right keywords. The second is writing little tiny ads. Neither is all that easy, but they can both be done. Read more >>

Looking Good on the Web
Just putting a site on the web doesn't mean anyone will find it. And worse, it could be driving people away if it isn't designed well. Here are success secrets we've uncovered.

Ezine Marketing
Publishing an ezine is a profitable and low-cost way to market your web site that you can start now. Be sure you include these seven critical elements.

How to Make Money on the Web
Don't tell the dead dot coms, but there are people making money on the web. What does it take? What do you need besides a computer and an Internet connection to start an Internet business? Details >>

E-Mail Newsletter Essentials
Marketing your business with an online newsletter is a low cost way to keep in touch with customers and generate new business. Click here to learn how to get started.

Big Website Mistakes
Is your website losing customers as fast as it gains them? Be sure you're meeting your customers' needs and that the purchase process is easy. Read more >>

Amazon Breaks Through
Amazon finally did it: they made a profit. And more significantly, they made the Internet model of retailing work on a large scale. Here's what that could mean for your business.

Satisfied Customers
The web hosting industry is one of the most competitive industries on the Internet today. Attracting new customers is important, but you must also recognize the importance of your current customers.

Why Web Developers Need Contracts
Think it's OK to work on a handshake agreement? Better think again. Here's why >>

B2B? Watch your Mouth!
The promise of B2B ecommerce is now considered bogus in many business circles. The quiet secret is that B2B ecommerce continues to show remarkable signs of both present and future success.

How Deals Go Down
Promoting your website is best done by sharing promotion with other sites. For small sites, it's an easy process, but If there is significant value involved, get the details down in contract form.

Is Innovation Dead?
Just as there was a crash hiding behind the 1999 dot com explosion, there is an innovation boom growing behind the gloomy headlines of layoffs and sinking earnings reports.

A Pirate's Look at the Internet
Has your company web site fallen victim to a cybersquatter? If you business has a distinctive name, you are at least at risk, and may have already been hit. Fortunately, there are laws that can protect you from this new-age piracy.

Developing a Media Kit
Seeking advertisers? Learn how to build a media kit that sells the benefits of your site or publication. Here's how.

Generating Web Site Traffic
Postcards can drive a high volume of traffic to your web site and they can generate a large number of sales leads for you. They're highly effective, easy to use and cost very little. Learn how here.

Site Optimization for Real People
You know clearly focused keywording throughout your site is fundamental to successful search engine positioning. So how do you write the words on your page to accent your site theme for the search engines, and more importantly, serve your customers? Get the answer here.

Junk Mail Poll
Is junk mail the bane of the Internet? Or, do you actually read the stuff? Or, maybe, send it? Take our poll >>

Do You Make It Easy?
Marketing brings customers in and customer service deals with making them happy. But, what elements are in place to make it easy for your customers to buy? Nearly one-third of all online customers are lost because the ordering or payment process is redundant or too difficult. Make it easy for customers to purchase by improving their ordering experience.

Understand the 80/20 Rule of Business
The 80/20 rule has stood the test of time in every industry, for every profession covering every job function. Use it wisely in your internet entrepreneurial activity, and you will be well rewarded.

Profiting from Ad Sales During an Economic Slump
The recent economic downturn has left many potential advertisers much more reluctant to pay the prices they would have a year or two ago. Here are six ways to boost your ad sales and profits in spite of the economy.

The Multiplier Effect
One of the most exciting things about doing business online is the Multiplier Effect. It's the principal factor behind some of the fortunes that have been made on the Internet. Here's how it works.

Ezine Ad Campaign - Selecting an Ezine
So you've decided that advertising your product in an ezine is the way to go. How do you know which ezine is best for you? First you need to learn about the different types of ezines and ad structures, then you can make an informed decision.

Ezine Ad Campaign - Placing Ads
When you advertise in an ezine, there are four steps the reader (your prospect) has to take before a sale is made. Understand those four steps and maximize your chances of the reader making it all the way to the purchase.

Are You Believable?
Trust is a major factor in whether or not a customer will buy your product or service. If your claims are outrageous or lacking credibility, your customers will lose confidence. Read this article for three techniques that can work with any marketing method -- even the Internet.

Is It E-tailing or Retailing?
There are companies out there selling the same things as you -- and selling more of it. What's their secret? They promise quick delivery and top-notch customer service, all with point-and-click ease.

Web Sites Usability Checklist
How can you get prospective customers to stay at your site instead of clicking away? A lot will depend on the set up and how easy it is for customers to find what they are looking for. Take a look at this web sites usability checklist and make sure you're doing all you can to keep customers where you want them -- at your site instead of the competition's.

Powerfully Effective Online Sales Letters
Online sales letters should draw on the practices of direct mail because the Web IS a direct response medium. Your job is to make your sales letters compelling enough for prospects to read them. Know your target audience -- these tips can help!

The Rumors of E-Commerce Death
The news hasn't been good for e-commerce sites, yet customers are still buying. This has created a steady growth that goes against the reported doom and gloom of Internet retail sales. Perhaps the rumors of e-commerce death have been greatly exaggerated?

Where the Money Is
As the owner of a web business, do you understand your goal is to go where the money is? And where IS the money? With your existing customers! It is 5 times easier to sell to them as opposed to looking for new customers.

The Birth of a Niche Site
You've heard it over and over again: the way to success for small e-Commerce sites is to specialize in a niche market. You can further capitalize on that theory with a little help from our web expert.

Dot-Com Bust?
E-Business may be down, but it's not out! When the dust settles, buyers and sellers will still be doing business on the net.

E-mail Proposals
Sending a proposal in e-mail is a great way to get your ideas quickly to your prospects. But how long should those proposals be? Should you send attachments? Details >>

Marketing Your e-Book
Don't let your e-book sit and gather cyberdust! Try out these techniques for boosting sales and building recognition for your name.

Not What You Expected!
Think the typical web surfer is from Gen-X? It isn't so, says a recently published study. Wrinkle cream and Viagra may be more common among web surfers than you thought!

It's Time for Internet Business to Get Real
What has happened to the ecommerce revolution? Many articles now examine the corpses on the side of the information superhighway. Is the Internet still a good option for launching a new company, or for extending an existing business? Read this article for answers to this question and more!

Small Biz Goes B2B
We've reached the point where most companies get it that e-commerce needs to be part of the business. But big companies are the ones with the ready resources to drive their Internet change-over. Are smaller companies catching up? Click Here to learn more!

For the REAL Unfair Advantage
Effective marketing via your web site is a never-ending process. How can you develop your own system and refine it into a high-powered marketing machine? Click Here to learn some valuable techniques that work!

Virtual Press Release Faux Pas
You can save time and get your press release into many more hands by sending it via email. But watch out for these fatal mistakes before you hit the send button!

Using Online Auctions to Jumpstart Your Traffic
You have probably heard about Internet auctions.
Take a look at how you can leverage auctions to increase traffic flow into your website!

Email Marketing
Afraid "spam" has given all email marketing a bad name? Learn to use it responsibly and cash in on this great sales tool.

Do Banner Ads Work?
That's one of the questions we wanted to know when we asked small businesses and home-based businesses to tell us how they use the Internet and how they find web sites of interest. For the answers, click here.

Get Free Publicity Online
Read about how you can use the Internet to get free publicity for your home or small business.