Business tips - BSMR.COM » The Internet

Thought about blogging to increase business?

hecto — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:30:24 +0000

I was talking to a friend about 5 months ago lets just call him “Bill” who owns a small business, an e-commerce website to be more precise. He has been selling online for over 10 years but hasn’t been keeping up to date with the internet changes nor any search engine optimization tips. He says that he makes a good profit even though he spends about $100.00 a day on just Google Adwords, but that’s because his profit on the products he sells is pretty good. Bill was telling me that most of his traffic comes from Google because he pays for it but there isn’t much traffic coming from actual search engines organically even though he had paid SEO experts to improve the site.

I had a look at the site and said to him that the site does not have much content for natural traffic, so I suggested that he starts blogging about his products and his business in general. But when I mentioned blogging Bill didn’t really look too impressed with my suggestion. According to Bill bloging cannot work for his business and his products. Well my idea was that it may not work but it will defiantly add content to the site which will increase natural traffic. Also because the information will be related to the products it means that the people who visit the site will probably also be interested in the products Bill sells and ultimately this could lead to actual sales. Bill was surprised in my thinking and said that he had never thought about it in that way. Anyway I convinced Bill to give it a try and he did, within the first month there was an increase in the number of unique visitors and as he kept blogging and writing more about his products Bill saw a fast increase in the number of people visiting his site. I haven’t really asked bill about the profit but I am assuming it has increased as he has continued blogging ever since.

So what’s my point?

The point I am trying to make here is that until you give blogging a try you will never know if it works or not for your business. You will be surprised to see that it does work and see traffic increase. I am not going to go into detail about search engine optimisation here but what I do want you to know is that “unique content” is what gets traffic to your website.

Why is your business not online yet?

hecto — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:28:14 +0000

For some small businesses it may be the case that the internet is everywhere but their business is not on the internet which means that they are preventing some of their customers from finding them. A few years ago no one really cared about the internet that much and if someone did mention the word “web” you would have probably thought about a spider infestation. However today that has changed and when the word “web” is mentioned everyone thinks about the internet. The internet is playing a key role when it comes to informing people. So if you still don’t care then its time that you think about it a bit more.

Think about your competition

Being in business means that you are also in competition, so while maybe a lot of your competition in your market may have a website it means that they have a competitive edge over you. If you notice that your competitors are not online yet, then take the first step and go online, whatever your business there will probably many good reasons to why it is necessary for you to be online.

So how can you get online?

You are probably thinking about the fact that it could be difficult to design a website and see that as a major obstacle. Well yes it is a major obstacle if you do not know how to do it. However being in business does not mean you have to do everything yourself, the internet has also brought a lot of web developers with it who are willing to develop simple but unique websites at very cheap rates. For example if you go to one of the major webmaster forums like Digital Point there are a lot of people there who provide quality but cheap services at extremely cheap rates. One of the reasons for this is because they are from India or China, the other reason may be that they are young students who want to earn a bit of extra cash. Nonetheless this does not mean that their quality is bad. Business is all about connecting and communicating so it help getting out there and doing just that. While it may be worth learning something about the internet and websites yourself if it interests you but it really is not a must if you don’t find it interesting.

Expanding your small business to an international market

hecto — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:58:13 +0000

I have been thinking for some time about this and I have looked at a few small businesses that are currently doing it. Well my idea is that small businesses should use opportunities better and get their business to operate on an international scale. While it is always good to supply a certain market in a certain region I believe that some small business should look into supplying the international market. While this may not happen over night it could work if you give it a go. For example if you are selling washing machine parts in your local area why not put some of these parts online and try and sell them to people all over the world. You could try it out on eBay and slowly open your own website and build your customer base. You will be surprised to see how much interest you will get from people in other regions of your country and other foreign countries.

EBay enables people from all over the world to find your product easily. I used to sell on eBay myself and at the beginning I was only shipping most of my products to UK customers but over time this changed and I was suddenly shipping most of my products to customers in Europe and the US. But eBay prices are very competitive as there are many sellers selling similar products so it will be tough at the beginning, but even on eBay people look for service so once you have satisfied a buyer once s/he will come back to you if they need more.

Operating on a international scale does not mean having to get bigger it just means that you could get more customers. Ebay was one of the examples but the problem with Ebay it can only work with specific products and a lot of small businesses may find that the prices people sell there are the prices they buy their goods themselves. All that means is that you need to find cheaper suppliers. Another way you could serve an International market is by taking part in forums that fit your business people there are always looking for help.

There is also the option of getting your own website online to sell your goods but I would not suggest this if you don’t know what you are doing because you could end up spending a lot and not getting any results, this is why I was suggesting the cheaper methods to start with.

Registering the right domain for your business

hecto — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:17:20 +0000

Small business domain registration is not such an easy task anymore. The domain business has got a lot of competition and there are many different top level domains (TLD) such as .com, .co.uk, .net, .biz. However finding a top domain is not easy anymore as most of them have been registered years ago and buying a domain names in the aftermarket can be pretty expensive for a small business. To be honest there really is no need of buying in the aftermarket most of the time, all you have to do is be a bit creative and you can come up with a really good domain.

A domain name can help your business and at times it may be a good idea to check in the aftermarket for the right one if you feel that’s the only option left. However you can also register the best domain for you with just spending the normal fee of about $10 or €7, only because you pay so little for the domain it does not mean that it is a cheap domain, it only means that you were the first one to think of that domain. During your domain search I would recommend that you include generic words in it, for example if you are a wholesale business it may be an idea to include wholesale in your company domain, so wholesalesomething.com. Including a generic word that relates to your business will prove beneficial as the search engines will also favour you and your customer will be able to identify your business area much easier.

What Top Level Domain (TLD) should we pick?

I will touch on this a bit here as it may be a confusing with so many different TLD´s available but I will write something in more detail about it soon. The .com TLD is King of them all as it is the mostly used worldwide. However it is not necessary to have it, if you are targeting the UK market then .co.uk will do the same job, on the other hand if the .com is also available I would registering it too.

Domain Registration

Well this is the easy there are so many companies around so you have a great choice. Godaddy.com is the biggest domain register and has competitive prices, at Godaddy.com it may be wise to find discount coupons in forums and use them when buying some even offer up to 30% discount. There are also other registrars like Name.com that is a bit cheaper but it may be that you want to get web hosting with your domain so I would suggest shopping around and finding the best deal.

All about marketing

hecto — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:57:58 +0000

For small business marketing is the lifeblood, it is important to understand that real marketing involves every aspect of your business including yourself. It is understandable that while marketing your business you want to make the most of the money you have budgeted for your advertising, therefore small business needs to plan wisely and slowly.

Spread the word

Networking is an important aspect, as it allows you to spread the word about your business. This may mean that you can join up local business groups and allow yourself to interact with different people. When you get opportunities to speak to small business groups or professional organizations then let nothing stop you from doing so.

Local Media

Take advantage of the media in the town or city you live in. This includes newspapers and magazines that are able to write profiles about businesses. Therefore make sure you contact your local newspaper pr magazine and request whether they would be interested in writing a profile about your business. Of course you must remember to be prepared for the interview and be aware of what your business has to offer.

Good offers

Make an offer that no other business has made, this may include giving a good away for free. Every costume likes the feeling of getting something for free. Foe example if your business involves sweets, then give some away to several different costumers.

Business Cards

It can be argued that business cards are the most underutilized tools for marketing your business. When creating your business card you need to know what valuable information you want on it. With a business card you can just hand it to anyone you want.

Use Internet

The internet has spread world wide, for that reason you should take advantage of it as much as you can. Thus, there is no excuse for not creating a professional website for your business. This allows people to find information about your business in their own homes. However, you must add all needed information about your business.

Payment options you can offer to your customers

hecto — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:21:40 +0000

Offering your services online also means that you have more options then ever when it comes to payment and it’s always an advantage to have as many payment options as possible.

Even a study by CyberSource Corp. stated that generally websites that offer a wide variety of payment options other than just the usual credit card option had a sales conversion rate of 12 higher then those offering one payment option additionally to credit cards to the credit card option.

So the more online payment options you offer the more online payments you will receive, different people like different options for their own personal reasons. It may be that some people view some payment options safer then others.

Anyway here are some of the online payment options you could offer on your site:

1) PayPal

PayPal has become known via the internet site Ebay as it is the main payment method used there. This has made millions of people worldwide of PayPal, generally it is a trusted payment option by people which is also why you should consider offering it as a payment method.

Now Paypal is a all-in-one payment solution. By using PayPal you are accepting Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit card payment. PayPal enables people to make use of Bank transfers and using their debit card to top their account up. The best thing about PayPal is that it’s a bit of a Pay As You Go system, what I mean is that there are no monthly fees for it nor are there any cancellation or setup fees. The amount PayPal charges depends on the your sales volume, however it is 1.9% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. For more information got to here to compare the PayPal payment solution .

2) Credit Cards

This is probably the payment method to have available if you are looking to receive payments online. It is also the payment option to have if you are going to offer only one option, (which I personally strongly don’t recommend) this would be the option to pick. Payment via Credit Cards is still the most widely used method when making payment online.

To be able to set up a credit card processing on your website you need to get an internet merchant account.

3) Debit Cards

As most people nowadays have a credit card this is definetly one of the payment methods to have as your payment option. During 2007 debit cards continued to be the most used payment method for online buyers in the UK so it would dfinatly be a mistake to ignore this fact.

4) Give Them Offline Payment Options Too

For some reason some people are unable to make payment online at all and it may be an idea to give your buyers the ability to make payment offline, so for example you could allow them to send you a cheque and only once the cheque has cleared you post the product or offer the service. The offline payment options are also relatively cheaper even though it takes longer to complete the transaction.

Ever thought about Video Marketing?

hecto — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:15:45 +0000

Ok I am not how many of you have thought about this but video advertising is something many large businesses pay a lot of money for. As a small business owner you probably never thought about it because of its high costs. However the internet has broken these barriers and has enabled everyone and this includes Small Businesses to advertise through a video to their customers.

The great thing about this advertising method is that it’s free, as you probably guessed it I mean uploading a video of your business on video websites like youtube.com. Making a video and uploading is pretty easy and fast. Some videos on youtube.com get millions of views from people world wide and a lot of them are nothing special if you watch them.

Ok to put this into prospective youtube.com gets over 100 000 million hits a day and getting some of those visitors to view your business video will only do your business good. Upload your video on other video websites like Metacafe as well, don´t just limit yourself to youtube.com. So go ahead and give it a try.

I liked the video below from youtube, try and spend a few minutes viewing it because it is pretty informative.

Not too sure about E-Learining?

hecto — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:32:36 +0000

E-Learning is probably a term that you have heard before or may even have participated in it as in today’s modern world this is widely used in organisations and households. Also known as Electronic learning (or e-Learning or eLearning) this is a kind of education the instructions come from a computer and not a human. Usually there is no interaction with a person during E-Learning. Many government and commercial organisations worldwide make use of E-Learning to train their employees about a specific application that the organisation may have developed or even educate their employees on topics such as the environment. E-Learning has spread at such a great speed that Universities offer courses to enable those who are unable to attend lectures in a physical locations to still graduate, via this method of teaching, most student who take these courses rarely or never see their lectures.

The E-Learning industry is estimated to be worth over 38 billion Euros worldwide; in the European Union (EU) for example over 80% of the e-learning products are produced abroad. To help you understand just how big E-Learning is and at what a rate it is growing then it may help knowing that in 2006 nearly 3.5 million students in USA were taking part in online learning institutions. Universities in United States view this as a method of increasing their revenue as E-Learning can be applicable for a wide variety of people. For some people E-learning has given them the opportunity to get a degree due to the fact that E-Learning also offers a great deal of flexibility. On the other hand E-learning requires highly trained employees to work with students on-line. Not only must these employees know their subject area well but they now must also be trained to use the computer and internet will.