Whether you’re an established business or just getting started, there are a number of things to consider when deciding if your business is right for online sales. Basically, there are five questions you have to ask yourself:
1 Is my product reasonable to ship?
Keep in mind that when you’re working with online sales, your product has to get to the customer. In the case of a digital item, such as a computer program or ebook, that makes online sales ideal — you simply email the product to the costumer. If you’re dealing with a physical item, you’ll want to look into shipping costs and methods before you start.
Also keep in mind whether your item is one that just doesn’t lend itself to shipping. Fragile and breakable items, while fine to ship, do take more care in packaging. If your business grows rapidly, you’re going to spend a lot of your time on shipping. And some items — especially large, bulky ones — just aren’t worth the cost of mailing them. So if you’re selling second hand washing machines, you might want to stick to a local market.
2 Can my services be reasonably provided outside of my regional area?
There are some services that cannot be provided to people that are physically located some distance from the provider. An example is a lawn mowing service. Other services can be provided to people across the country or even across the world.
3 Does my product appeal to a wide variety of people?
If you’re dealing with a service or product with limited appeal, then while you still may want a website, you’re probably not going to waste a lot of time or money on online advertising. If you’re selling products or services that only appeal to people in your city or county, the internet is not going to help you generate more sales.
4 Do you have information that you can sell?
There are many businesses that have information within their organization that people would actually be happy to pay for. If that information was written as a guide or produced as a video, it could be sold to a very wide audience. For example, a real estate agent knows how to increase the sale price of a home. If that information was put into a guide, people would be willing to pay for it.
5 How competitive is the market?
Go to Google (or any reliable search engine) and plug in the name of your product. For example, if you’ve created an ebook on how to survive losing your job, type in “survive losing job.” Once the search results come up take a look on the right hand of the screen. That’s where you’ll find the PPC advertisements that your potential competitors have purchased.
Spend some time browsing the competition and answer yourself honestly: do you have what it takes to stand out from the crowd?
On the other hand, NO competition isn’t always a good sign, either — it could mean that there’s simply no market for this sort of product.
Consider this your market research. It’s essential that before you embark on any online business venture you carefully consider these five questions!
This article is an extract from our free guide, “How To Increase Profits By Taking Your Business Online“.
Download the free guide in full at:
http://www.wiseinternetsolutions.com/html/website_design_free_guide.php
Calvin Close
President
Wise Internet Solutions
Microsoft has finally announced the name of their new search engine. The search engine is to be named Bing.
At this point, Bing is not available, but will be progressively rolled out worldwide between now and June 3.
Press Releases from Microsoft state that Microsoft have designed Bing using a completely fresh look at how people search on the internet.
Over the last few years, the number of Web sites has increased exponentially.
The availability of such a vast amount of information has drawn more people online to make decisions, whether day-to-day tasks or major business and household purchases. But it’s also led to search engines that can provide too much information, and page after page of irrelevant or extraneous search results. In other words, even though the type, scope and amount of content on the Web has changed radically in the last decade, the tools we use to find information and make decisions have stayed basically the same.
Microsoft studies the search experience and found that
- Search results for 50 percent of the queries fail to meet the consumer’s needs
- 35 percent of people express dissatisfaction with search
- 72 percent of people surveyed said current search results are too disorganized
- Users are focused more on tasks and decisions: 66 percent of people reported using search engines to make decisions
- Seventy-five percent of people say they use a search engine to inform a decision for product purchase
- 62 percent to find a local business or destination
- 45 percent to select a flight or hotel
- 43 percent for healthcare research
Based on these studies, Microsoft wanted to peel away the layers standing between a user and information and help people make informed decisions.
That is why Microsoft are calling Bing the Decision Engine.
Links:
- Bing (Being rolled out between now and June 3)
- Bing the Decision Engine
- Behind the Bing Development (Guides, Videos and more)
- Bing on Twitter
I will post a review when I get to use Bing a little more.
Calvin Close
Wise Internet Solutions
Last week, a company launched a new product on the internet. They completely sold out their $2,000/unit product (over $1 million in sales) in just over 24 hours.
They do not have a retail store, nor can you buy their product in any other retail store. You could only buy it online (before it sold out).
They achieved this incredible result from a small office with just a few employees.
People from all over the world bought their product, which was basically a business training course.
This is not an isolated case. Over the last few weeks, there have been several of these very successful internet sales launches.
There was also this business that was selling herbal remedies. The owner went from surviving on food stamps to producing a six-figure income.
Internet business is one of the few sectors that are not suffering from the bad economy.
We all like to shop in Swainsboro when we can. However, there are some things that you cannot buy here, so you go out of town to buy them.
What if non-Swainsboro people bought things from Swainsboro businesses? What do you think the effect would be on our local economy if money started pouring into our town from people all over the USA?
The internet is the way to do it.
All the leading indicators show that selling over the internet is the way of the future.
Whether you own a retail store, sell from your home or would like to start a business, why limit your sales to the local Swainsboro market?
Let’s think bigger. Let’s bring money into Swainsboro using the internet and boost our local economy.
You have probably bought something on the internet. Why not also sell to other people as well.
Our company sells our services all over the world, and you probably can too. Just about any product or service can be sold using the internet.
What do you think? Post your comment below and let’s discuss this.
Calvin Close
If you have used the internet, you have probably used Google to search for something. However, Google can do a whole lot more than help you search for something on the internet.
If you want to know how Google sees your home, search for your full street address in Google. Click the Google Maps link at the top of the search results and it will show you a local street map. You can then click a link to see a real street view of your home.
If you would like directions to drive somewhere, search for the address, then click the “directions to here” link. Type in your starting location and you will be given turn-by-turn directions. If you click the little camera icon on the directions, you can look at a street view of each turn along the way.
If you want to buy something on the internet, once you search for an item like “Panasonic Digital Camera”, there will be a link at the top “Shopping”. Click this link and Google will show you a list of cameras for sale across the internet. There are also links for you to see images, videos and news about the item you are searching for.
If you want to know quickly what the weather will be like for the next few days, type in “Swainsboro weather” and Google will tell you the current weather and forecast for the next four days.
Do you want to know the status of any major airline flight, type in the flight number like NW2545 and Google will show you the actual departure time, whether it is late and its estimated arrival time.
Do you want to track a package being shipped by UPS, FedEx or USPS? If you have the tracking number, type it into Google and Google will give you a links to track the status of your shipment.
Google can also act like a smart calculator. You can get a quick answer for “36% of 250″, plus most other normal calculator functions. However, the Google calculator goes beyond that. If you want to know how much $250 Australian dollars is in US dollars, type in “250AUD in USD” and Google will tell you. The Google calculator can also convert miles to kilometers, Fahrenheit to Celsius, plus most other conversions.
Google can also quickly tell you the time in most cities in the world by typing “time in New York” or any other city. Google will show you the actual current time.
Google can also be your handy dictionary. Type in “define:apple” and you will get a whole range of definitions for apple.
The other search engines like Yahoo and Microsoft Live have similar features. In fact, Microsoft Live is coming out with some nice new features. Go to www.live.com and do some exploring.
Have you been wondering about how to sell on the internet? In this series so far, we have been looking at how to sell on the internet successfully. In our first part in this series, we discussed various reasons that cause companies to not use the internet for their advantage, and why these reasons should not stop you from getting a website for your company. In the last two articles, we discussed how to get a website and what to put on your website.
In this article, we are going to discuss how to get people to visit your website. Firstly, we will discuss where to promote your website, then we will address what to promote.
Local stores get people in their stores by advertising in the newspaper, on the radio and with brochures mailed to your home. I also recommend advertising your website using the same advertising mediums – particularly if your business is a local-based business.
The internet also could be a major source of new customers for your company. One of the main ways to get customers from the internet is through people finding you on Google and Yahoo (known as search engines). Depending on what you sell, there could be hundreds or even thousands of people searching for your products or services every month using Google and Yahoo.
If you have a website, you need to make sure it is listed on the first few pages of these search engines because most people don’t look past the first three pages.
Test your website by searching for your product or service (not your company name). Is your website listed on the first few pages? If not, you need to get someone to modify your website so that it does.
You can also pay to advertise your website on Google and Yahoo. This way, your website will be shown in the “Sponsored Links” if people search for your product or service.
There are many other places on the internet that you can promote your website. These include advertising on websites of newspapers and other websites where your customers would visit.
So now that we have discussed where to promote your website, let us turn our attention to the subject of what to promote.
Think about your customers. What do they want, or what do you have to offer that they would love to have – especially things that you can give for free? You will certainly get a better result if you promote things that offer exceptional value rather than just promoting your company, products and services. For example, if your business was a veterinary clinic, you could promote a free guide on taking care of your pet. You could also promote free coupons if they go to your website.
Apart from the direct response you get from this promotion, you will get an additional benefit. People will find out about it and start telling others to go to your website to also get a copy. This is known as viral marketing, and it can be extremely powerful in getting people to your website.
In my next article, I am going to cover selling on EBay. Do you have excess stock that has not been selling? If so, EBay may be a way for you to sell it quickly.
Have you been wondering about how to sell on the internet? In this series so far, we have been looking at how to sell on the internet successfully. In our first part in this series, we discussed various reasons that cause companies to not use the internet for their advantage, and why these reasons should not stop you from getting a website for your company. In the last article, we discussed how to get a website.
Now we are going to discuss one of the most important aspects of selling on the internet successfully – what to put on your website.
Did you know that over 98% of websites make almost ZERO sales? There are two main reasons for this. The first reason is that the website gets very few visitors. We will cover this in our next article. The second reason for not generating sales from your website is that the website contains the wrong things, so even those people that do visit your website do not buy from you.
One of the main reasons people don’t buy from you is that they don’t believe that your product / service will fulfill their needs or desires. Sometimes, this is a reality. However, in many cases, it is a perception only – because the right message is not being told.
Most often, companies fill their websites with information about their company, their products and their services. Unfortunately, this is of no interest to most people. Instead, they should be telling how their products / services will meet the needs or desires of the web visitors.
Let’s look at an example.
What would you rather read about? A brochure titled, “Get a new high-quality metal roof from ABC Corporation” or one that is titled, “Get a new roof that will last for 50 years – maintenance free”?
You see, in the first case above, the title is assuming that people know the benefits of a metal roof. In the second case, the main benefit is stated clearly – enticing you to read more about it.
Another common mistake is to assume that by putting a “Contact Us” button on your website, people will race to contact you. It doesn’t work like that. You will get far more people contact you if you make it easier for them to contact you (by having your contact information very prominent) and by giving them an incentive to contact you (by offering free samples, coupons, etc).
There are other reasons that cause poor sales from websites, but it is beyond the scope of this article.
In our next article, we will cover how to get people to visit your website. Just like a retail store – if you have no shoppers, you get no sales!
If you have any questions about this article or any previous article, contact Calvin directly. If it would be of interest to other people, we can discuss your question in a future article.
Calvin Close
Wise Internet Solutions
Many companies have not considered selling on the internet. For others, it is an unfulfilled dream. In our last article, we discussed various reasons that cause companies to not use the internet for their advantage, and why these reasons should not stop you from getting a website for your company.
This week, we are going to discuss how to get a website. This is really for interests’ sake because your website design company usually does this for you.
Have you ever wondered what happens when you go to a website using Internet Explorer or Firefox (or any other web browser)? Where does the information come from, and how does it get to you?
Essentially, the internet is literally millions of computers around the world that are connected to each other like a huge spider web. This is why the internet is sometimes referred to as “the web”.
So, when you type a website address (like www.wiseinternetsolutions.com) into your web browser, your computer looks up that website address in a directory called a DNS server. This DNS server is like a phone book that tells your computer where that website is located in the world. Your computer then requests the information from that website and displays it in your web browser.
There are three main things that need to happen to get your website on the internet.
Firstly, you need to register your own domain name or website address for your company. A domain name is like a piece of internet property. You cannot put your website on a website address unless you own it, just like you cannot build a house on someone else’s land. So, you need to find a domain name that has not been taken, and then register it.
Secondly, you need to find a place to “host” your website. A web hosting company is a company that has computers connected to the internet all the time. By paying a monthly rental, you are allowed to save your website on their computers so that anyone can access your website any time of the day or night. These computers have backup power supplies so that your website is always available, even during power outages.
Thirdly, you need to design the website and save it to your web host. Really, a website is just a set of pages with content that are linked together so that people can navigate from one page to another. The content can be text, pictures, music and / or video among other things.
What you put on the website will make the difference between whether or not your website will generate sales for your company. We will cover that in our next article.
We have just completed our latest website.
This website is for people and real estate agents wanting to buy, sell or rent real estate in Swainsboro.
Over the next few weeks, we will be getting properties listed. We have already got a few people on-board ready to get their properties listed.
Many companies have not considered selling on the internet. For others, it is an unfulfilled dream. They hear about companies increasing their sales through the internet, and wish that they could achieve the same. For various reasons, they never take the steps to using the internet for their advantage.
What about you? Have you wanted to use the internet to boost your sales, and yet not taken the necessary steps to achieve it?
Over the next few articles, we are going to go through the steps needed to get an internet presence that generates more profits for your company. I will cover how to get your website, what to put on the website, how to get people to visit the site, and how to get people to buy from you.
In this article, I am going to start by addressing the most common reasons that cause people to not get a website.
The first reason is that many people do not realize what a website can really achieve for their company or even what can be sold using the internet. A website can be used to provide information about your company, products and services. It can also allow people to buy from your company 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – regardless of whether they live locally or across the other side of the USA. There are countless other opportunities made available with a website.
Many people also think that they cannot get a website because they are not very computer literate and don’t know much about websites. Yet, this need not be a hindrance. We recently developed a website for someone that knew very little about computers and hardly knew how to send an email. Within 2 months, his website was generating a constant stream of new sales.
Some people are intimidated by technology and its terminology. They are afraid that the person that designs websites is going to talk about things that they have no idea about – and make them look silly. However, you really do not need to discuss the technical aspects of the website with your website designer just like you don’t discuss how to print a newspaper if you want to place an advertisement in the newspaper. You need to only discuss what you really want to achieve with the website.
Lastly, many people don’t realize that the increase in sales can well exceed the cost of the website. An internet marketing consultant will be able to discuss the sales potential for your particular company.
In the next article, I will tell you how to get a website for your company.
Calvin Close
ps If you are looking for someone to design a professional website for your company, give me a call on (888) 601-WISE or send me an email using our Contact Form.
Don’t let the bad economy keep you awake at night…
Use the internet to INCREASE your business sales
Dear Business Owner,
If you are like most business owners that I know, the bad economy is rather unsettling. In fact, it is enough to keep you awake at night – and for good reason. However, I won’t go into boring statistics about how many businesses are going “under”.
Instead, I want to show you how you can “recession-proof” your business by opening it up to new markets that you may not have even dreamed of. Yes, new markets mean more sales for your business!
How? By using the internet.
Now wait. Before you start thinking that this is not for you, let me tell you that virtually ANY business can use the internet to get more sales. Even if your company already has a website, you need to read on.
In these bad economic times, it is absolutely critical that your company harnesses the power of the internet.
It is a matter of survival.
Let me tell you why…
As you know, you can only increase profits by increasing sales and / or reducing costs.
When times get bad, companies start searching for ways to reduce their costs because sales are falling.
In the past, if a company needed a supplier, they would reach for the yellow pages or try calling companies advertising in local newspapers.
Not any more! Now, people just search on the internet using Google, Yahoo or other search engines.
So, instead of companies choosing suppliers that are in the same town or region, they choose based on what they find on the internet – and their choice could be across the country…
…and that company can be yours – with a well-designed website.
Unfortunately, over 98% of websites generate almost ZERO sales.
Don’t let this happen to you.
In order for your website to make sales from the internet, your website needs to:
- Be on the first pages of Google, Yahoo, etc so that it attracts a lot of visitors
- “Connect” with your visitors so they feel that you understand their needs
- Make your website visitors WANT to contact you in some way (whether it is to buy from you online, or to contact you now because they may want to buy later)
- Continually reinforce the fact that your company is trustworthy and able to provide what your website visitors need
- Make people view your company as the first choice for the product / service they need
Would you like to harness the power of the internet to increase your sales?
Wise Internet Solutions can create a website (or modify an existing one) for your company that will:
- Quickly be listed on the first few pages of Google and / or Yahoo (usually on page 1)
- Earn your company the respect of your web visitors
- Get a very high rate of visitor contact (FAR higher than most websites)
- Get people to buy from you
In case you are thinking that you don’t know where to start, Wise Internet Solutions can do everything for you. We can register your domain name, host your website and set up your email accounts for your employees.
Over the last 4 years, Wise Internet Solutions has been perfecting techniques that allow us to develop successful websites.
We have designed websites for both local companies and companies as far away as Australia and Singapore.
Contact us now, and let’s arrange a time where I can personally explain this more fully. There’s no obligation, of course, and certainly no pressure, but, together we just may figure out the best way for your business to use the internet to grow your sales.
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