Okay, so you have your website set up and you have been getting traffic for a few weeks but hardly anyone is making a purchase, what do you do? Starting a business is not as easy as it appears in a textbook or from watching your neighbor make a lot of money out of their garage. Anyone who has marketed a business or a product for a business knows that a company needs to specify their target market in order to optimize on marketing efforts.
Think of your product, determine what niche it falls into and then decide what demographic and psychographic are a part of that niche market. Once you have done this, you can research that particular group and design a marketing plan structured around their needs and wants.
For example, a company specializing in camping equipment is going to want to post articles about camping and possibly create a blog focused on camping and other outdoor activities to draw in their target market.
Narrowing your marketing strategy will help you better focus your marketing efforts in directions that will be most beneficial to your organization. You will also want to include emotional and product images on your site as well as putting your logo in a prominent location to help with business recognition. As always if you have any questions or concerns about this subject give Thrive Learning Institute a call
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Website Conversion Rate
In this video Thrive Learning Institute covers the methods that you will need to follow after launching your website to drive the initial visitors to your site. Most people don't understand that once their website is live the work is not over. Running an effective test market will help increase your websites conversion rate and make you a considerable amount of money.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tip of the Week: Search Engine Optimization
When it comes to SEO, keep your expectations realistic. One expectation that is initially set too high by many companies is the SEO time frame. Please realize that, realistically your SEO efforts could take months or even a year to see big rewards from your efforts. You also need to make sure that the people you work with understand how much improvements mean in SEO. Since it's a never-ending battle to stay in the top of the search engines, it's important to always be involved.
Once you have realistic expectations, you can start to examine and determine the real results of your SEO efforts. A couple main ways of examining where you stand with various search engines are to search for yourself, and to analyze the statistics on the web through programs like Google Analytics. It is very easy to see the initial rankings of your SEO efforts. Simply go to Google.com, for example, and type in your company's name. Where do you fall? An additional way to scope out where you stand apposed to the competition is to seek out web statistics which will benefit your company and give you a realistic sampling of where you stand as a company.
Once you have realistic expectations, you can start to examine and determine the real results of your SEO efforts. A couple main ways of examining where you stand with various search engines are to search for yourself, and to analyze the statistics on the web through programs like Google Analytics. It is very easy to see the initial rankings of your SEO efforts. Simply go to Google.com, for example, and type in your company's name. Where do you fall? An additional way to scope out where you stand apposed to the competition is to seek out web statistics which will benefit your company and give you a realistic sampling of where you stand as a company.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Dropship Companies
In this post Thrive Learning Institute will teach you the easiest way to sell a physical product online. When many people get started trying to sell products online they usually get stuck on the first step which is finding the actual product. By knowing how to find quality dropship companies you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
What is Dropshipping?
Sometimes companies will ship out products one at a time rather than making customers purchase them in bulk and ship them out themselves; this is known as dropshipping. One form of dropshipping is Blind Dropshipping; this occurs when the company that is dropshipping puts the receivers business name and address on the package as a return address.
Where are Dropshippers Found?
Dropshippers may be found through Dropship directories, manufacturers, and joint ventures.
Dropship Directories
These are online databases created by companies that go to trade shows and determine which companies are willing to dropship. The companies are then divided into categories based on the products they offer. Some common dropship directories include, but are not limited to, worldwidebrands.com and 123shipper.com. There may be a fee associated with the directories but they are well worth the fee for the time which will be saved by using a directory instead of taking the time to research. Some Dropshipping Directories will even offer discounts
Manufacturers
Larger manufacturers may not dropship but smaller manufacturers may. It is important to call or email the manufacturer about a specific product and tell them you are starting an online business. Next, ask if they are able to Dropship or if they have a distributer over your area or region that can. If they cannot Dropship, they may be able to list someone who can.
What Fees are Associated With Dropshipping?
It is important to know the fees which are associated with Dropshipping. There are three different ways fees may be applied: price markup, fixed rate, and a monthly fee. Price markup occurs when the manufacturer and the wholesaler mark up the price in order to make a marginal profit. Some Dropshippers may apply a fixed rate per product; say around $25. There may be a monthly fee to be a part of the warehouse allowing you to pay one flat rate for the entire month, regardless of the number of products.
Make sure to always ask the Dropshipper what kind of fees they charge. If all three fees apply, chances are a profit cannot be made on the product. However, there may not be any fees applied. Research and make sure the best deal is being made.
What is Dropshipping?
Sometimes companies will ship out products one at a time rather than making customers purchase them in bulk and ship them out themselves; this is known as dropshipping. One form of dropshipping is Blind Dropshipping; this occurs when the company that is dropshipping puts the receivers business name and address on the package as a return address.
Where are Dropshippers Found?
Dropshippers may be found through Dropship directories, manufacturers, and joint ventures.
Dropship Directories
These are online databases created by companies that go to trade shows and determine which companies are willing to dropship. The companies are then divided into categories based on the products they offer. Some common dropship directories include, but are not limited to, worldwidebrands.com and 123shipper.com. There may be a fee associated with the directories but they are well worth the fee for the time which will be saved by using a directory instead of taking the time to research. Some Dropshipping Directories will even offer discounts
Manufacturers
Larger manufacturers may not dropship but smaller manufacturers may. It is important to call or email the manufacturer about a specific product and tell them you are starting an online business. Next, ask if they are able to Dropship or if they have a distributer over your area or region that can. If they cannot Dropship, they may be able to list someone who can.
What Fees are Associated With Dropshipping?
It is important to know the fees which are associated with Dropshipping. There are three different ways fees may be applied: price markup, fixed rate, and a monthly fee. Price markup occurs when the manufacturer and the wholesaler mark up the price in order to make a marginal profit. Some Dropshippers may apply a fixed rate per product; say around $25. There may be a monthly fee to be a part of the warehouse allowing you to pay one flat rate for the entire month, regardless of the number of products.
Make sure to always ask the Dropshipper what kind of fees they charge. If all three fees apply, chances are a profit cannot be made on the product. However, there may not be any fees applied. Research and make sure the best deal is being made.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Tip of the Week: Building a Link System
In the beginning, you will probably want to link to more popular websites from your own website but as your link building progresses other steps must be taken to ensure the best results. Eventually, you're going to want to contact companies who will benefit from your products to have them place a link to your website on their own website. Be careful how you approach the company, you want to help them realize what's in it for them not what's in it for you. Send them a personalized letter identifying core ways that adding your link to their website will increase their sales.
Internal links are another good way to build up your link system; these are easier and faster than external links. You may be thinking "I already have an internal link system set up through my navigation" but that's not enough. You need to create links from one portion of your website to another in order to get better results. Commonly, these links are found in articles, blogs, or at the bottom of the page.
You will not have immediate effects from working on a link system to your website. It takes weeks, maybe even months before you will see your website climbing in the search engine ranks.
Recommended Article: Make Money With Internet Marketing
Internal links are another good way to build up your link system; these are easier and faster than external links. You may be thinking "I already have an internal link system set up through my navigation" but that's not enough. You need to create links from one portion of your website to another in order to get better results. Commonly, these links are found in articles, blogs, or at the bottom of the page.
You will not have immediate effects from working on a link system to your website. It takes weeks, maybe even months before you will see your website climbing in the search engine ranks.
Recommended Article: Make Money With Internet Marketing
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tip of the Week: How to Submit to Organic Search Engines
It is important to register your website with various search engines. In this post, we will explain how to register with MSN, Yahoo and Google. Over-submitting to any search engine may cause the search engine to kick your website out of any future searches so be careful how often you register your sites with the same search engine.
To register with MSN, put your address in quotes in the search box ("your address here") and run a search for it. When no site is found, assuming your site is not currently registered, MSN will bring up a page saying so. Click on the option "send this address to us" and then fill out the form provided by posting your URL and then click submit URL. To register with Yahoo, scroll down to the bottom of the Yahoo homepage and click on "suggest a site", then click on "submit your site for free". Put your URL under submit a website or web page and then click submit URL. To register with Google, simply go to www.google.com/addurl and fill in the information specified.
After submission, search engine crawlers should come to your site within a month to make sure that you have the right meta tags, keyword saturation, etc. Make sure you optimize your site for the search engines. Do not expect your site to immediately come up in searches; it takes time.
To register with MSN, put your address in quotes in the search box ("your address here") and run a search for it. When no site is found, assuming your site is not currently registered, MSN will bring up a page saying so. Click on the option "send this address to us" and then fill out the form provided by posting your URL and then click submit URL. To register with Yahoo, scroll down to the bottom of the Yahoo homepage and click on "suggest a site", then click on "submit your site for free". Put your URL under submit a website or web page and then click submit URL. To register with Google, simply go to www.google.com/addurl and fill in the information specified.
After submission, search engine crawlers should come to your site within a month to make sure that you have the right meta tags, keyword saturation, etc. Make sure you optimize your site for the search engines. Do not expect your site to immediately come up in searches; it takes time.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Benefits of Branding
In this video Thrive Learning Institute teaches you the basics of creating a brand for your business. Most people don't know that 70% of online businesses that fail online have no defined logo or branding, because of that it is critical for you to focus on the branding of your business from the very start. For more information visit www.whythrive.com.
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