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6. SEARCH ENGINE SUPPORT
Without aiming for a decent search engine ranking, you might have difficulty in achieving the kind of sales results you’re after. In addition to content, addressed in the previous section, there are several tools you can use to help you increase your search engine placement.

While many engines have their own criteria for developing their unique ranking system, most rely on a combination of keywords, relevancy, and even link reciprocation. In order to move into the top ten, most coveted positions, you have to know how to play their game.

First, sit down and brainstorm the keywords most used to describe your product. Google has a keyword tool that helps you determine the most widely used search terms for your business. You can find it at:
https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox.

For example, if you enter “investing,” the tool will return the following terms to you: Real estate investing, online investing, socially responsible investing, value investing, stock market investing, stock investing, investing online, gold investing, drip investing, & investing money – and these are only the top 10 out of 50+ terms it returns.

How do you use these search terms? You use them both behind the scenes and on center stage. Your web developer will want to include many of them in your META tags, which allows search engine spiders to classify your site more easily.
You’ll also want to use them in your keyword content when crafting the home page of your website. When the spider crawls onto your site, it scans the keywords to make sure the site is really relevant to that particular subject matter, and not just a scam to get traffic in the door.

You will need to continue recreating your search engine strategy, since many engines change their formula to keep everyone on their toes. Google and others, for instance, now factor into the ranking formula the number of other sites who have a link to your site. This is known as link reciprocation.

Don’t have a web developer? It’s easy (and much less expensive) to learn all this, and more, from Empowerism. Not only will you learn about issues such as link reciprocation, but you’ll see how to generate targeted traffic to your site using search engines and free tools reserved especially for members. Or you can use their turnkey system and never have to worry about anything related to search engines again!

7. ADVERTING ISSUE
Advertising will be the lifeblood of your business, so this is where the majority of your time, money, and effort will be spent. Your goal is to build a database (list) of prospects and customers you can sell to time and time again.
In the ever-changing (and challenging) world of online advertising, there are two primary categories: Free and Paid. The basic rule of thumb is that if you have much more time than money, Free advertising may be your most logical choice. However, if you have even just a little room in your budget for advertising, Paid advertising, combined with effective free methods, will save you bundles of time and is the most direct route to success.

The entire goal of your advertising efforts should be to drive targeted traffic to your website, where visitors are encouraged to add their name and email address to your database. Plain and simple. Database Marketing 101.

Free online advertising methods include (but are not limited to) posting to free safelists, engaging in message board discussions and including your tagline on each post, posting to free classified ad sites, using traffic generators (surfing/clicking for credits), submitting your website to search engines, banner exchanges, reciprocal linking with similar sites, submitting free ezine ads, writing articles and including your byline at the end, and writing a press release about the launch of your site or a new product and submitting to online news media.

These methods can be tedious and frustrating, but when you’re starting off, with no extra funds, if you can choose two and stick with them religiously, you will most likely generate enough profit to form a Paid advertising plan. Empowerism can help you get started with any of these, as well as teach you how to test and track your results, which is vitally important to your sanity!

Paid advertising methods are virtually endless. Some of the most popular include renting opt-in lists, buying opt-in leads, placing ads in reputable ezines, using pay-per-click search engines, buying banner ad space, and buying targeted traffic. When using a system like the one Empowerism supplies, your opt-in leads, delivery method, and content are automatically included, leaving you free to try other advertising venues to complement these efforts.

Just because you have an online business, that doesn’t mean all of your advertising has to be on the Internet. However, online advertising is usually less costly than offline avenues. You don’t have to pay for pricey prime time placement, but you do have to spend more time figuring out where your prospects are so that your dollars are not wasted in your efforts.

8. CUSTOMER SERVICE
Everyone knows that keeping a customer is ten times harder than getting one initially. We can all recall numerous times when we’ve purchased something and vowed never to return.

You don’t want to be labeled one of those businesses that doesn’t seem to value its customers. Word on the Internet spreads rapidly. If you burn one customer, he or she might post that experience on an online message board or mention it in an email discussion list, and no one else will want to do business with you, either.

What does customer service mean? Does it mean the customer is always right? If you want it to! But more often than not, it means that you are willing to listen to a customer’s complaints and work toward a mutual resolution.

Sometimes the only resolution that will work means a full money-back guarantee. Yes, even if you know the consumer is only doing this to scam you out of your money.

But other times, the customer is lodging a legitimate complaint, and this can be very helpful to you when it comes to satisfying the needs of other customers. Say a customer emails you with a request for a refund because many of the links in your eBook were dead links (they no longer worked).

First of all, you need to thank this customer profusely because he’s just done you a big favor. He’s saved you money. How? Because you can instantly refund his money, fix the dead links, and avoid dozens of other returns.

Then you should happily refund the money for this sale and promise him that you’ll be repairing the problem and ensuring it never happens again. As a result, you might have salvaged his business for your release of the next edition of your informational eBook.

No matter what the situation, always be courteous and friendly when dealing with a customer – even those who are furious with you for no good reason (that you can see). Remain calm and gently take care of the problem.
The biggest complaint online consumers have in working with customer service departments is their slow reply. To combat this problem, make sure you stay on top of customer contact so that you can resolve any issues before they grow into larger ones.

By aligning yourself with a company with an unprecedented reputation for integrity and fast, friendly service, you will garner the experience to serve your clients with the respect they expect.

9. RECURRENT MARKETING EFFORT
Don’t think that once you launch a single ad campaign, your efforts are finished. Marketing your products is a never-ending task that has to be factored into the continued growth of your business. Even after you’ve made the sale, the show must go on – your goal is to keep these customers for life, if not longer!

Whenever you create a product to sell on the Internet, you must have a way to capture and store the contact information of your customer – preferably through email – and let them know they will hear from you from time to time. So long as you provide a way for them to opt out of receiving your emails, this is standard procedure.

When someone becomes your customer, the next time he hears from you will be right after his first purchase – thanking him for becoming a valued customer. From that point on, you can occasionally contact him to alert him to other special offers, upgrades, or complementary products that are available to him at a special discount because he’s an existing customer.
Your new best friends will be an auto-responder and your mailing list software. Auto-responders usually come with a mass mailing function, which is very convenient. With auto-responders, the “after-the-sale” marketing is done for you automatically – contacting the customer periodically with various “drive ‘em back” messages. You can either write these messages or hire a professional.

Your mailing list software (or the mass mail feature of your auto-responder) allows you to contact your customers “on the fly” with up-to-the-minute information that would not typically be loaded into an auto-responder. This can be in the form of special reports or a newsletter you send out regularly.

Keep your eye on the media – newspapers, television, even radio – and send your customers a message whenever you find information that could benefit their lives in some way, relevant to their relationship with you. These reports can be drafted in a matter of hours, and can be anywhere from one to five pages long.

For example, if you sell an eBook on lowering telecommunications costs, and you see a story about it on the 5 o’clock news, whip up a short report and send it to your customers. They will appreciate knowing you’re on top of the situation and looking out for their best interests. At the same time, you’ll be positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

One clever concept Empowerism provides its members is the ability to plug your name and URL into existing material that you can give away to future prospects and customers. The data is already there – you just substitute your contact information, and you’ve instantly produced a quality product. 10. Necessity of Reinvention From time to time, once your business

becomes an established entity, you’ll want to reinvent your methods or your products. If your approach in selling begins to weaken, and you notice a decline in sales, try something new before you change your entire product line. It may be that your audience is now gathering somewhere else online and you have to find them so that you can begin your new marketing campaign.

 It could be that your marketing efforts themselves need a boost or a facelift! If so, you can find a professional to help you create an ad campaign – banners, killer content, auto-responders, and more.

What if all of those efforts still don’t reap any rewards? Then it’s time to reassess your products. Is what you’re trying to sell outdated? Has technology taken over and demanded a newer approach to solving a problem than what you’re touting as the “next big thing?” Is your product or service overpriced when compared to the competition? Stay abreast of current events in your industry and begin developing a strong affinity to continuing education. Are you simply tired of selling eBooks based on real estate options and want to tackle a fresh subject matter? You can do it, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw away your current enterprise. In fact, if you’ve built a formidable reputation on the ‘Net as an honest businessperson who provides excellent information to his or her customers, that will aid you in any endeavors you pursue online! Finding your groove in the online community will eventually come naturally as your products and selling mechanisms begin to harmonize with your customers’ needs.

To keep your business fluid (changing with the times) and growing, your challenge is to stay organized, focused, and in tune with hot topics emerging on the Internet. Keep in tune? How? The best way is by having conversations with people who are doing the same thing you are! Network with fellow entrepreneurs, customers, service providers, gurus – ask questions, solicit opinions, be a sounding board, don’t stop learning. You never know what contacts you might make or information you’ll learn that could be the key to taking your business to the next level. Even the shyest among us can send an email to another business owner to strike up a conversation! No phone required! This eBook has outlined and described the basics of

successful online entrepreneurship. Now it’s up to you to take the next step. No matter who you are, your background, your level of formal education, your social status, or your financial situation – armed with the tools available to you, you can be as successful as you are committed to being. Start NOW – don’t waste another day!


See you at the top

It is the advertising issue that is the most talked about one when we begin our own online business.  Advertising websites have grown in number and the best ones are but a few.