I’ve been selling on eBay for years, though mostly on-and-off in the last couple of years. eBay has mostly been my “sideline” allowing me to indulge in my twin passions of collecting (and selling) vintage postcards and pearl necklaces. However, much as I love the extra income I get from eBay, it’s extremely hard for […]
Online Business
Starting a Website: Build a Broad Authority or Niche Site?
Someone posted a very interesting question in Yahoo Answers: when you start a website, should you build a broad authority site, or a smaller niche site? The asker wants to know the impact of the size of the website in terms of search engine optimization as well as potential revenues. Personally, I would go for […]
What Should be the Topic of Your Website?
I meet a lot of folks who want to start their own websites, but are stumped with the very basic question: “What should be the topic of my website?” The topic and focus of your website is a result of a number of factors: What is your objective for creating the website? A website for […]
The Secret to Perfect Search Engine Marketing
Mark Simon wrote a very interesting piece on how to handle paid search in the article “The Secret to Perfect SEM? It’s in the Mail”. According to Simon, you can have a good paid search campaign if you understand the similarities between search marketing and direct mail: Importance of targeting: A successful direct mail campaign […]
The Importance of Analyzing Your Web Statistics
I’m a big web analytics person. In fact, most of the work I do for others is to analyze web analytics and help them understand what it means for their businesses. Web analytics is a powerful tool that can help you slice and dice numbers to understand your customers: what they want, what they don’t […]
43 Website Features of Top Online Retailers
Ever wonder what sets big businesses apart from small businesses? Of course, they have the resources, and with it, they can get the best talents and top-of-the-line technology to outsell the retailers and develop features that can only turn a small business green with envy. Take a look for example at online businesses. Beyond their […]
Cost Effective Online Marketing Methods
One of the interesting data in the Shop.org/Forrester Research’s report “State of Online Retailing 2007” is the most cost effective online marketing method. Per the study, the amount of dollars online spent by an online retailer to get an order based on various methods are as follows: Email (to customer list) = $6.53 Affiliate program […]
How to Use Web 2.0 to Get More Traffic for Your Website
YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Digg, Wikipedia are but some of the collaboration-focused websites that have changed the Internet. Called Web 2.0, these sites include social networking, social bookmarking, social tagging, wikis, among others. The question now is: how can you tap these Web 2.0 websites to boost traffic of your site and increase your reach? Here […]
How to Engage Online Customers
You often hear of the advice that you need to “engage your customers.” Engaged customers are more loyal, and more likely to recommend you to others. But how exactly do you “engage the customer,” especially online where you don’t get a chance to personally talk to the customer and present your products unlike traditional retailing? […]
5 Steps to Optimizing Your Website
One asker at Yahoo Answers raised the question of why her website was not getting any traffic. The site has been live for several months, but it is nowhere to be found in the search engines. Being a newbie who knows nothing about designing and creating a web site, she spent her meager resources to […]