You know when your business is failing when...Written by Joann Marsili
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.YOU KNOW YOUR BUSINESS IS FAILING WHEN… by Joann Marsili © 2001 Over years, we have talked with many different types of businesses. The businesses having most difficulty being successful inevitably have same type of issues. YOUR BUSINESS IS FAILING WHEN YOU.... Assume Everyone Already Knows What Your Business Is -- Just hang out your shingle and everyone will come running, right? Wrong! People won't notice you unless you take time to interest them in what you do. Consumers or businesses are very busy just trying to go about their business. Tell everyone what you are doing, give everyone your business card, and volunteer to give presentations in your specialty. In addition, don't qualify people indiscriminately -- tell EVERYONE! The bank teller may have a brother who is looking for exactly your product. You never know where or how networking connections are made. When people do express an interest, get their name, address, and phone number and start a database of potential clients. These people have pre-qualified themselves and you need to find out how to sell your product to them. If you sell to consumers, you might gather names through business- card drawings, guest books, etc. If you sell to other businesses, you might run promotional seminars or sign up to display at a trade show. DON'T PUT TOGETHER A MARKETING PLAN – Who needs to market a business? I'm in a great location and I can't afford expense, right? Wrong! Marketing is lifeblood of your business. There's an old saying that goes "nothing happens until you make a sale." If you have no one to make a sale to, you don't have a business. Marketing dollars are not an expense; it is an investment in success of your business. Plan a monthly marketing budget and then look for ways to cost-effectively use your dollars. The decision on where to allocate your marketing dollars will depend on what type of business you have, where you are located, where your customers come from, and whether you offer a product or service. Reading anything by Jay Conrad Levinson will help set a framework for anyone involved in marketing of a business.
| | Internet Marketing Strategies -- Paying For Traffic Written by Shelley Lowery
If you've been struggling with your website traffic and your sales aren't what you had hoped, then maybe it's time to start paying for traffic.Pay-per-click Search Engines provide an extremely effective means of obtaining highly targeted traffic to your website. The concept is simple. You bid on targeted keywords for as little as .001 per click and receive targeted traffic to your website. Overture http://www.overture.com The most popular and probably most effective pay-per-click Search Engine is Overture. Although minimum bid is now 5 cents per click, if you have strategically designed your website to sell, then paying only a nickel per visitor will be well worth investment. The key to using this technique effectively is to focus on one specific product and select highly targeted keywords. This will help you to weed out all of window shoppers and attract your specific target audience. Viewing Search Terms Most pay-per-click Search Engines will enable you to view exact "search terms" that have been used to perform searches. Use this to your advantage. You can find out exactly what "search terms" are being used for your target market and place your bids accordingly. Try to create a list of as many relevant keywords as possible. The more keywords you bid on, more traffic you'll receive. When bidding on keywords, keep in mind that in order to be successful, you don't have to be listed at top. Although receiving a listing in top three positions will produce major traffic through Overture, most of time, you must have a large advertising budget to compete. Before placing your bid, perform a search to find out how much your competitors are paying per click. Try to place your bid so that your listing will appear on first page to increase your chance of success. By selecting highly targeted, less popular keywords, you'll not only attract a more targeted audience, but you'll also obtain a higher listing for less money.
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