If you are someone who likes to traipse around the shops, fighting shoppers and trying on clothes which don’t fit you, before standing in queues of sweaty bodies, then you need not read this article. If, however, you would prefer to shop from the comfort of your own home, then read on.
Boxing Day online sales for 2009 broke all previous records in the UK. It was sales galore leading up to Christmas and people were even found to be hunting for bargains on Christmas day itself! More and more high street retailers are choosing to sell online and ecommerce has become an all important feature for any major retailer.
Ecommerce, or online shopping, is a great way to start up in business because people can find you and buy from you, all in one hit. If you have your own website, then using an online shop facility means that your products are visible and they are accessible without anyone having to leave the comfort of their own home. People love to shop online – it’s as simple as that. We are becoming an increasingly immobile society that seeks instant gratification, and if people can buy from you whilst making the dinner and hoovering the lounge, then they will!
The most economical way to start your own business is to set up a website with a website builder and there are many of those around. You can literally be set up within moments using the range of templates provided and you will start to pop up in search engine trawls from the minute you publish it. Once you have your website set up and your business registered, an online shop could be the best way for you to get quick sales, depending on the type of product that you sell.
Make your website easy for customers to navigate and let them see how easy it is to buy from you. The easier it is, the more likely they are to stay with you. People don’t want to have to trawl through endless sites and pages to find what they are looking for. They are easily bored so it’s important to capture their interest from the outset. Make your products clear, your pricing structure clear and your pages easy to navigate with good links from one to the next. Joe Bloggs wants a Christmas present for his sister in a certain colour and for £30. He wants it as quickly as possible and he wants it to be delivered within a few days. Consumers know what they want and it’s a consumer-led market.
Think about what you would do when shopping for Christmas or a birthday and what you would want from an online shop. Then adapt it to your own business and your own market. Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer and start thinking about you can capitalise on this. Make your website customer friendly and start to see your sales rise next Boxing Day! You don’t need a high street presence to make your business work.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Monday, 11 January 2010
10 Essentials For Your Business Website
Your business website is only as good as its content and its usability. Without a well-thought out design and plan, your site is not likely to generate sales for you and your site will be just another one of millions. It needs to give you an identity which is unique in its own field.
So what should your business website have to make sure that you get noticed, generate new business and enhance customer brand awareness?
Well of course you need to make sure that it’s aesthetically pleasing and that you think about colours, layout and so on. But there are other essentials which people fail to acknowledge and we have listed some of them here. Without them, your website could create a negative experience for visitors and fail to give you the return on your investment that you are looking for. They are not complicated essentials and they are by no means rocket science but they are, nonetheless, important.
Contact details and map
How is anyone going to find you if you haven’t put your contact details on there? You need your name, your address, a telephone number and an email address. People won’t spend hours looking for you and trying to trace you – they’ll just go elsewhere and find another site. It sounds basic but make sure you have these details on your site and that they are clearly visible from the home page as well as other pages.
Having a map of where you are gives customers peace of mind that you actually do exist and that they can find directions to you using a postcode search, perhaps on Google.
A ‘contact us’ form
Give customers a chance to contact you in their own time and from the comfort of their own computer. These forms mean that they can fill out a simple form with questions they may have and you can either call or email them back. Plus it saves them the cost of a phone call. Please ensure that you do respond - sounds obvious but it’s essential!
Photos and videos
Make sure you add a photo of you and your team if you have one. No it’s not being vain! It means that people can see who you are and it assures them that you are real! The more ‘authenticity’ and ‘reality’ you apply to your website, the more drawn in people become and the more they are likely to think that you are a genuine business which has its customers in mind.
Using relevant video footage can add a three-dimensional look to your site and is just another way to show people that you are real and that you understand their needs.
Newsletters and sign up facilities
Newsletters are a very important part of any business, particularly if you’re a new business. Sending out regular newsletters is a way to involve your potential audience. Allow them to sign up and opt out of your newsletters and you can then draw them in with a capturing, well-written letter on a regular basis.
Customer feedback and testimonials
One of the most powerful selling tools comes from word of mouth from others. If potential customers can see that others have used you and were happy, they are more likely to use you themselves. The feedback and testimonials will ‘speak’ directly to your audience and add yet another dimension. And don’t make them up! Make sure you get genuine feedback which can be accounted for.
Email to a friend button
Allow your visitors the chance to email the link to your site to a friend. What better way to get noticed than if someone else says to their friend “hey look what I found”? It can save you a lot of effort in getting the message out there.
Social bookmarking buttons
Social bookmarks are public web pages which allow you to list the links to all your favourite websites. They are a way for customers to tell others about you and that they like you. There are countless social bookmarking sites out there now and can be found with a quick Google search.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn links etc.
Again, it’s all about bringing the personal touch into your website and giving people the chance to ‘interact’ with you. These links will mean that your visitors can tell their friends about you and share your website link with others on their own Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages (to mention just a few). It’s all about networking and having a presence. Gaining brand recognition; being noticed and being recognised.
Blog
Give people the chance to see what you have been up to and what you have to say. Using your own blog can be a great way to enhance SEO for your site and introduce regular new content which the search engines love. It keeps your site current and fresh. It adds another dimension to your site and shows people that you are interested in them. It can include a range of topics which can promote discussions and further interest in your site.
A completed site
An incomplete site will mean that people think you are either not trading or that you are not a very reliable business. Make sure that all page are completed and that your site has credibility. Using a website builder makes this process much easier and there is online help available.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
So what should your business website have to make sure that you get noticed, generate new business and enhance customer brand awareness?
Well of course you need to make sure that it’s aesthetically pleasing and that you think about colours, layout and so on. But there are other essentials which people fail to acknowledge and we have listed some of them here. Without them, your website could create a negative experience for visitors and fail to give you the return on your investment that you are looking for. They are not complicated essentials and they are by no means rocket science but they are, nonetheless, important.
Contact details and map
How is anyone going to find you if you haven’t put your contact details on there? You need your name, your address, a telephone number and an email address. People won’t spend hours looking for you and trying to trace you – they’ll just go elsewhere and find another site. It sounds basic but make sure you have these details on your site and that they are clearly visible from the home page as well as other pages.
Having a map of where you are gives customers peace of mind that you actually do exist and that they can find directions to you using a postcode search, perhaps on Google.
A ‘contact us’ form
Give customers a chance to contact you in their own time and from the comfort of their own computer. These forms mean that they can fill out a simple form with questions they may have and you can either call or email them back. Plus it saves them the cost of a phone call. Please ensure that you do respond - sounds obvious but it’s essential!
Photos and videos
Make sure you add a photo of you and your team if you have one. No it’s not being vain! It means that people can see who you are and it assures them that you are real! The more ‘authenticity’ and ‘reality’ you apply to your website, the more drawn in people become and the more they are likely to think that you are a genuine business which has its customers in mind.
Using relevant video footage can add a three-dimensional look to your site and is just another way to show people that you are real and that you understand their needs.
Newsletters and sign up facilities
Newsletters are a very important part of any business, particularly if you’re a new business. Sending out regular newsletters is a way to involve your potential audience. Allow them to sign up and opt out of your newsletters and you can then draw them in with a capturing, well-written letter on a regular basis.
Customer feedback and testimonials
One of the most powerful selling tools comes from word of mouth from others. If potential customers can see that others have used you and were happy, they are more likely to use you themselves. The feedback and testimonials will ‘speak’ directly to your audience and add yet another dimension. And don’t make them up! Make sure you get genuine feedback which can be accounted for.
Email to a friend button
Allow your visitors the chance to email the link to your site to a friend. What better way to get noticed than if someone else says to their friend “hey look what I found”? It can save you a lot of effort in getting the message out there.
Social bookmarking buttons
Social bookmarks are public web pages which allow you to list the links to all your favourite websites. They are a way for customers to tell others about you and that they like you. There are countless social bookmarking sites out there now and can be found with a quick Google search.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn links etc.
Again, it’s all about bringing the personal touch into your website and giving people the chance to ‘interact’ with you. These links will mean that your visitors can tell their friends about you and share your website link with others on their own Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages (to mention just a few). It’s all about networking and having a presence. Gaining brand recognition; being noticed and being recognised.
Blog
Give people the chance to see what you have been up to and what you have to say. Using your own blog can be a great way to enhance SEO for your site and introduce regular new content which the search engines love. It keeps your site current and fresh. It adds another dimension to your site and shows people that you are interested in them. It can include a range of topics which can promote discussions and further interest in your site.
A completed site
An incomplete site will mean that people think you are either not trading or that you are not a very reliable business. Make sure that all page are completed and that your site has credibility. Using a website builder makes this process much easier and there is online help available.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Design a new Twitter background for EzWeb123 and win $100.00!
It's official - our twitter background (http://twitter.com/EzWeb123) is completely dull :-)
As such, we're launching a competition for someone to design us a more appealing one.
In the process the winner will win a cool $100, plus enjoy the 'fame' of having their masterpiece permanently displayed on our twitter page.
To enter, you need to do the following:
1. Get inspiration from our home page: EzWeb123.com.
2. Include our logo and strapline 'Over 2 Million Websites Built Using SiteMaker'. You can grab our logo from our home page.
3. Be big, clear, bold
4. Use our colours (see home page)
5. Convey the message that anyone can easily build a website with EzWeb123.com.
6. In your design, include a link to our website: www.EzWeb123.com
7. In your design, include a link to this Blog: http://ezweb123.blogspot.com/
8. Make sure that the logo and information is displayed over to the left in a column. This is so it will be visible.
9. Save your design with the .jpeg file extension.
10. Email your entry to: peter@ezweb123.com
Terms:
* Competition Closes: Midnight February 1st 2010.
* Winner will be chosen shortly thereafter and paid via Paypal.
* You can enter as many entries as you like to try and win.
* All entries will be published both on the Blog and on our twitter page as the competition progresses.
Finally...
Why not follow us on twitter - you'll be kept up to date on all entries, plus can get all member updates going forward.
Thanks and good luck!
Peter
EzWeb123.com
As such, we're launching a competition for someone to design us a more appealing one.
In the process the winner will win a cool $100, plus enjoy the 'fame' of having their masterpiece permanently displayed on our twitter page.
To enter, you need to do the following:
1. Get inspiration from our home page: EzWeb123.com.
2. Include our logo and strapline 'Over 2 Million Websites Built Using SiteMaker'. You can grab our logo from our home page.
3. Be big, clear, bold
4. Use our colours (see home page)
5. Convey the message that anyone can easily build a website with EzWeb123.com.
6. In your design, include a link to our website: www.EzWeb123.com
7. In your design, include a link to this Blog: http://ezweb123.blogspot.com/
8. Make sure that the logo and information is displayed over to the left in a column. This is so it will be visible.
9. Save your design with the .jpeg file extension.
10. Email your entry to: peter@ezweb123.com
Terms:
* Competition Closes: Midnight February 1st 2010.
* Winner will be chosen shortly thereafter and paid via Paypal.
* You can enter as many entries as you like to try and win.
* All entries will be published both on the Blog and on our twitter page as the competition progresses.
Finally...
Why not follow us on twitter - you'll be kept up to date on all entries, plus can get all member updates going forward.
Thanks and good luck!
Peter
EzWeb123.com
Thursday, 7 January 2010
How to create a website for your beauty salon
So you can cut and colour people’s hair, exfoliate skin and make women beautiful but you also need a website that’s cutting edge and manicured to perfection so that it will draw in those customers and generate business for you.
Your website can contribute to the marketing mix of the common Four Ps – price, place, product and promotion. You can proportion these elements as you see fit in your website, depending upon what you want from the final outcome.
So let’s get down to business on how to create that perfect website for your beauty salon and get those customers queuing up around the block.
1. First of all, get yourself a website builder. There are many of them out there online and they offer a range of free options, with additional add ons. The website creator tool will allow you to create your own professional looking website within moments and you will be part of the World Wide Web, selling your wares to an audience as big as you want it to be. Update it anytime you need to and make sure you tell people where to find you. Be visible!
2. You’ll want to include in your website a ‘products and prices’ page so that your customers know how much you will charge them before they book with you. And make sure you’ve done your homework so that your prices are competitive. Maybe offer something unique – a few specials. Keep this page up to date as paying customers will hold you to it!
3. Including some positive video footage of staff at work in your salon would be a useful addition to one of your web pages so that potential customers can interact with your site and see for themselves the look and feel of your boutique and what they can expect from the whole beauty experience. Show them how special they could feel if they came to your salon.
4. Your website may also want to include testimonials and customer reviews. This could be an area where they can leave feedback about the service they received from you. You can monitor it to make sure that nothing untoward is posted and the positive feedback will be a great referral marketing tool for future custom.
5. A gallery – now what could be better for a salon website than photos of what you can offer in terms of treatments and so on? Pictures of happy clients or even models showing off your fantastic expertise. This could turn out to be your main seller and visual aids are always more effective for this sort of service than walls of text. Splash them with lots of colours that capture the essence of relaxation and all things beautiful.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Your website can contribute to the marketing mix of the common Four Ps – price, place, product and promotion. You can proportion these elements as you see fit in your website, depending upon what you want from the final outcome.
So let’s get down to business on how to create that perfect website for your beauty salon and get those customers queuing up around the block.
1. First of all, get yourself a website builder. There are many of them out there online and they offer a range of free options, with additional add ons. The website creator tool will allow you to create your own professional looking website within moments and you will be part of the World Wide Web, selling your wares to an audience as big as you want it to be. Update it anytime you need to and make sure you tell people where to find you. Be visible!
2. You’ll want to include in your website a ‘products and prices’ page so that your customers know how much you will charge them before they book with you. And make sure you’ve done your homework so that your prices are competitive. Maybe offer something unique – a few specials. Keep this page up to date as paying customers will hold you to it!
3. Including some positive video footage of staff at work in your salon would be a useful addition to one of your web pages so that potential customers can interact with your site and see for themselves the look and feel of your boutique and what they can expect from the whole beauty experience. Show them how special they could feel if they came to your salon.
4. Your website may also want to include testimonials and customer reviews. This could be an area where they can leave feedback about the service they received from you. You can monitor it to make sure that nothing untoward is posted and the positive feedback will be a great referral marketing tool for future custom.
5. A gallery – now what could be better for a salon website than photos of what you can offer in terms of treatments and so on? Pictures of happy clients or even models showing off your fantastic expertise. This could turn out to be your main seller and visual aids are always more effective for this sort of service than walls of text. Splash them with lots of colours that capture the essence of relaxation and all things beautiful.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
How to create a website for your Vacation Rental
Trying to sell your vacation rentals in the old fashioned way? Don’t just do it in the directory – do it online with your own professional-looking website.
OK so you need to compete out there with the big fish when it comes to selling your vacation rentals. You need to build yourself a website.
There are many free website creators and builders out there which you can register with free of charge. You can be up and running within no time and you can then tell the world about who you are and where you are. Creating your own website has never been so easy and it is possible to create something very simple but incredibly effective.
Once you have the hang of your new website, you will want to amend it at regular intervals to keep it fresh. You should consider using search engine optimization techniques (SEO) which will drive traffic to your site – these could include the use of keywords in your site content, writing and posting short articles elsewhere on the web which are keyword rich and generic but point towards what your company is offering, and so on. SEO is quite a specialist field these days and so you should do your homework about it when building your site, although a lot of website builder packages come with the offer of SEO assistance. It’s not difficult – it just needs some thought.
So here’s what you should think about when trying to build your website specifically for your vacation rental business:
1. The website creator means that you have total control of building your own site in very easy steps with ready-made tools built in for ease. Update it anytime you need to, from anywhere there is internet access, and make sure you tell people where to find you. Use your site to say “this is who we are, this is what we offer and this is where you can find us”. Get your name, address and contact number on the home page and on all pages of your site.
2. Build yourself a gallery page. It’s really easy to do and the use of pictures of happy clients is always a winner. Visual aids are always more effective for this sort of service than walls of text because people want to see for themselves what they are paying for. Splash them with lots of colours that capture the essence of vacations, relaxation and fun for everyone!
3. You’ll want to include in your website a ‘vacation sites and property type’ page, with prices included, so that your customers know what types of rentals you are offering and for how much. Keep this page up to date at all times as paying customers will hold you to it! As with any tourist, they’ll be looking for the cheapest deal and will want to see what amazing offers you have so consider a ‘special deals’ page as well.
4. Including some positive video footage of, let’s say, a tour around some of your properties gives potential customers the chance to interact with your site and see for themselves the look and feel of your rentals. Show them what they will get for their money and why they should come to you. Interaction within any website gets a positive response because people want instant gratification and they feel drawn in by moving visuals.
5. Your website should also include testimonials and customer reviews. This could be an area where customers can leave feedback about the service they received from you or about one of your properties in particular. The positive feedback will be a great referral marketing tool for future custom.
Use the directory as well if you want to for more local tourism but to reach a wider audience, the internet is the only place to be!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
OK so you need to compete out there with the big fish when it comes to selling your vacation rentals. You need to build yourself a website.
There are many free website creators and builders out there which you can register with free of charge. You can be up and running within no time and you can then tell the world about who you are and where you are. Creating your own website has never been so easy and it is possible to create something very simple but incredibly effective.
Once you have the hang of your new website, you will want to amend it at regular intervals to keep it fresh. You should consider using search engine optimization techniques (SEO) which will drive traffic to your site – these could include the use of keywords in your site content, writing and posting short articles elsewhere on the web which are keyword rich and generic but point towards what your company is offering, and so on. SEO is quite a specialist field these days and so you should do your homework about it when building your site, although a lot of website builder packages come with the offer of SEO assistance. It’s not difficult – it just needs some thought.
So here’s what you should think about when trying to build your website specifically for your vacation rental business:
1. The website creator means that you have total control of building your own site in very easy steps with ready-made tools built in for ease. Update it anytime you need to, from anywhere there is internet access, and make sure you tell people where to find you. Use your site to say “this is who we are, this is what we offer and this is where you can find us”. Get your name, address and contact number on the home page and on all pages of your site.
2. Build yourself a gallery page. It’s really easy to do and the use of pictures of happy clients is always a winner. Visual aids are always more effective for this sort of service than walls of text because people want to see for themselves what they are paying for. Splash them with lots of colours that capture the essence of vacations, relaxation and fun for everyone!
3. You’ll want to include in your website a ‘vacation sites and property type’ page, with prices included, so that your customers know what types of rentals you are offering and for how much. Keep this page up to date at all times as paying customers will hold you to it! As with any tourist, they’ll be looking for the cheapest deal and will want to see what amazing offers you have so consider a ‘special deals’ page as well.
4. Including some positive video footage of, let’s say, a tour around some of your properties gives potential customers the chance to interact with your site and see for themselves the look and feel of your rentals. Show them what they will get for their money and why they should come to you. Interaction within any website gets a positive response because people want instant gratification and they feel drawn in by moving visuals.
5. Your website should also include testimonials and customer reviews. This could be an area where customers can leave feedback about the service they received from you or about one of your properties in particular. The positive feedback will be a great referral marketing tool for future custom.
Use the directory as well if you want to for more local tourism but to reach a wider audience, the internet is the only place to be!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Monday, 4 January 2010
The importance of social bookmarking
To bookmark something used to mean to put a slim strip of leather in between two pages and save your place for later. Oh no, not anymore! Social bookmarking has become an important way to enhance your website’s traffic and some people will still be blissfully unaware of its uses.
You will constantly be referred to the term ‘search engine optimisation (SEO)’ these days and you may well be wondering what it is. Basically, it’s a way of generating more traffic to your website by making it easier to be found by search engines and move up the search rankings.
Social bookmarking is just one method of SEO. You’re not actually sharing the contents of your website with others; you are merely sharing the reference to it and effectively saying to people “hey look; here’s my website and here’s the link”. In essence, you are using it as a marketing tool.
Specific social bookmarking sites allow you to add your website link and then the sites order them for you and save them for sharing with others. As you load your website link into one of these bookmarking sites, you can add metatags using specific keywords which relate to your own business or service; helping to enhance your SEO once more.
One of the advantages of a social bookmarking site is that people can use them to find sites which even the search engine spiders have not yet found in their trawls. They have been uploaded by a human being and they are listed for you to browse through. The bookmarking sites can also rank your site as to how many times it has been bookmarked by other users.
Another advantage of social bookmarking sites is that they are controlled by humans and humans can view, read and analyse your website. This human interaction at the other end means that your site is not relying purely on the complex internal workings of an automated search engine to find your site.
There is an ever growing list of sites out there which come under the classification of being social bookmarking sites. Before reading this article, they may just have been a serious of names which you have often been spammed about and thought “I have no idea what they are for or what they do”. Now you know that you can use one or all of them to promote your own website more effectively with the clever use of SEO!
Do a random search on ‘social bookmarking sites’ and see how many names come up!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
You will constantly be referred to the term ‘search engine optimisation (SEO)’ these days and you may well be wondering what it is. Basically, it’s a way of generating more traffic to your website by making it easier to be found by search engines and move up the search rankings.
Social bookmarking is just one method of SEO. You’re not actually sharing the contents of your website with others; you are merely sharing the reference to it and effectively saying to people “hey look; here’s my website and here’s the link”. In essence, you are using it as a marketing tool.
Specific social bookmarking sites allow you to add your website link and then the sites order them for you and save them for sharing with others. As you load your website link into one of these bookmarking sites, you can add metatags using specific keywords which relate to your own business or service; helping to enhance your SEO once more.
One of the advantages of a social bookmarking site is that people can use them to find sites which even the search engine spiders have not yet found in their trawls. They have been uploaded by a human being and they are listed for you to browse through. The bookmarking sites can also rank your site as to how many times it has been bookmarked by other users.
Another advantage of social bookmarking sites is that they are controlled by humans and humans can view, read and analyse your website. This human interaction at the other end means that your site is not relying purely on the complex internal workings of an automated search engine to find your site.
There is an ever growing list of sites out there which come under the classification of being social bookmarking sites. Before reading this article, they may just have been a serious of names which you have often been spammed about and thought “I have no idea what they are for or what they do”. Now you know that you can use one or all of them to promote your own website more effectively with the clever use of SEO!
Do a random search on ‘social bookmarking sites’ and see how many names come up!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
How to boost web traffic with landing pages!
You’ve heard of a landing page. So what exactly is it and how can it help to promote your website?
A landing page is a web page which the customer lands on when he or she clicks on a link from a specific promotion or advert - it may or may not be the home page of your website. Because it is used to drive custom to your website and promote your services, a landing page should always contain sufficient information to capture your audience and it should relate to the promotion in question.
The landing page will make use of specific keywords or phrases so as to enhance search engine optimisation and it will very much mirror your homepage. Unfortunately, Google takes a dim view of creating a stand-alone landing page with its sole purpose to drive traffic to other sites and so all landing pages should be part of a fully-functioning website.
So how to create a landing page:
1. Find yourself a website creation/builder package. There are plenty of free ones out there that will allow you to create your own site. They will then allow you to add on features as you build. Using a website builder package makes it so much easier and you have all the tools at your disposal with online help and easy-to-follow instructions for a great looking site.
2. Make best use of keywords and phrases in your landing page so that it will be featured highly in the search engine rankings. Make your landing page the page which is the most informative and describes best what you have to offer. Like we said before, it needn’t be your homepage; it depends where you are linking from and what you are trying to promote. You may decide that your promotion needs to link to your ‘services and products’ page and so you would make this your landing page.
3. Keep it simple! Don’t over complicate your landing page or you will drive customers away. They are easily bored these days! It needs to get to the point within about 5 seconds or they’re gone.
4. Keep the content original. Don’t copy and paste from other websites because Google or other search engines can pick up on this and frown upon it. Even the search engine spiders are becoming more and more sophisticated so genuine materials only please! Besides, it will come across as more authentic if it’s from the heart.
5. Try using video links. A landing page with video links is always a great way to interact with customers. They are drawn in by visuals and they feel a part of your site more quickly than if they are faced with a wall of text.
Make sure the link to the landing page works! Sounds obvious but how many broken links have you clicked on in your endeavour to find out more about a special offer or promotion?
Good luck with building!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
A landing page is a web page which the customer lands on when he or she clicks on a link from a specific promotion or advert - it may or may not be the home page of your website. Because it is used to drive custom to your website and promote your services, a landing page should always contain sufficient information to capture your audience and it should relate to the promotion in question.
The landing page will make use of specific keywords or phrases so as to enhance search engine optimisation and it will very much mirror your homepage. Unfortunately, Google takes a dim view of creating a stand-alone landing page with its sole purpose to drive traffic to other sites and so all landing pages should be part of a fully-functioning website.
So how to create a landing page:
1. Find yourself a website creation/builder package. There are plenty of free ones out there that will allow you to create your own site. They will then allow you to add on features as you build. Using a website builder package makes it so much easier and you have all the tools at your disposal with online help and easy-to-follow instructions for a great looking site.
2. Make best use of keywords and phrases in your landing page so that it will be featured highly in the search engine rankings. Make your landing page the page which is the most informative and describes best what you have to offer. Like we said before, it needn’t be your homepage; it depends where you are linking from and what you are trying to promote. You may decide that your promotion needs to link to your ‘services and products’ page and so you would make this your landing page.
3. Keep it simple! Don’t over complicate your landing page or you will drive customers away. They are easily bored these days! It needs to get to the point within about 5 seconds or they’re gone.
4. Keep the content original. Don’t copy and paste from other websites because Google or other search engines can pick up on this and frown upon it. Even the search engine spiders are becoming more and more sophisticated so genuine materials only please! Besides, it will come across as more authentic if it’s from the heart.
5. Try using video links. A landing page with video links is always a great way to interact with customers. They are drawn in by visuals and they feel a part of your site more quickly than if they are faced with a wall of text.
Make sure the link to the landing page works! Sounds obvious but how many broken links have you clicked on in your endeavour to find out more about a special offer or promotion?
Good luck with building!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Why haven’t you completed your website?
An incomplete website will sadly send customers away as fast as they found you in the first place. Would you want to walk into a half-built shop with only half of its products lying around and a half-hearted shop assistant slouching over the counter?
An unfinished website tells the visitor that you’re not serious about what you do, that you are unprofessional or even that that you may have closed down. An incomplete site looks sloppy and a mess and you would no more buy from someone with a half-built site than you would from the shop at the beginning of this article. Search engines also take a dim view of sites which are incomplete so you could be missing out on vital rankings.
The easiest way to build a professional looking website of your own is with the help of a web-based website creator or builder. You can be up and running in no time at all and start to promote your services straight away at no cost. To update your website as you go along, you can go back into the website builder and simply fiddle around with your site from anywhere in the world with internet access. Completing your website will mean that your visitors can have full usability as soon as they reach you. It’s no good them finding you, only to realise that your online store isn’t yet set up or that your prices page is missing.
Aim to get your website pages up and running at the same time. Don’t build the home page and then leave it for a month before attempting the other pages as you will lose business but you’ll also lose the momentum for building it in the first place. Have a plan up front before you build and then get the basics of each page in. You can always enhance it at a later stage but at least have the bare bones of what you’re about in there to begin with.
If you don’t like writing and find yourself stuck for words more often than not, then there are also website builders out there which offer content creation services – known as copywriting to those in the trade. They will help you to create the words for your site and use search engine optimisation techniques to make sure that your site is found by others. The content of your site is vital. Poor grammar, bad spelling and uninteresting content will make your visitors run a mile – never underestimate the power of positive language!
Think of your site as the shop in this article. You don’t want them to walk out. You want your site to be brand new, enticing to customers and give them the whole ‘customer experience’ in one hit.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
An unfinished website tells the visitor that you’re not serious about what you do, that you are unprofessional or even that that you may have closed down. An incomplete site looks sloppy and a mess and you would no more buy from someone with a half-built site than you would from the shop at the beginning of this article. Search engines also take a dim view of sites which are incomplete so you could be missing out on vital rankings.
The easiest way to build a professional looking website of your own is with the help of a web-based website creator or builder. You can be up and running in no time at all and start to promote your services straight away at no cost. To update your website as you go along, you can go back into the website builder and simply fiddle around with your site from anywhere in the world with internet access. Completing your website will mean that your visitors can have full usability as soon as they reach you. It’s no good them finding you, only to realise that your online store isn’t yet set up or that your prices page is missing.
Aim to get your website pages up and running at the same time. Don’t build the home page and then leave it for a month before attempting the other pages as you will lose business but you’ll also lose the momentum for building it in the first place. Have a plan up front before you build and then get the basics of each page in. You can always enhance it at a later stage but at least have the bare bones of what you’re about in there to begin with.
If you don’t like writing and find yourself stuck for words more often than not, then there are also website builders out there which offer content creation services – known as copywriting to those in the trade. They will help you to create the words for your site and use search engine optimisation techniques to make sure that your site is found by others. The content of your site is vital. Poor grammar, bad spelling and uninteresting content will make your visitors run a mile – never underestimate the power of positive language!
Think of your site as the shop in this article. You don’t want them to walk out. You want your site to be brand new, enticing to customers and give them the whole ‘customer experience’ in one hit.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Five woeful website mistakes you should avoid like the plague
We've all been guilty of at least one of these horrendous web hiccups. If you're new to website building, read our five woeful website mistakes you should avoid.
Bad colours
There's nothing worse than browsing a website that makes you feel physically sick. Get your colours matching. It's easy. Stick to three or four different colours.
Awful navigation
Keep it simple. No one likes getting lost when browsing. Take a look at this monstrosity of a website for a good example of how not to do it.
Endless chunks of dull text
Keep the length of text you write to a bear minimum. Take a look at any of the articles over at BBC news. You'll notice each article is chopped up in to lots of short paragraphs. Don't waffle and don't be afraid to be ruthless with your editing. If it's not necessary, get rid of it.
Animated gifs
Avoid using animated gifs at all costs. They look amateurish and serve no purpose whatsoever. It's often one of the first things a newbie website builder will upload to their new website but seriously, don't even think about it. Ever.
Hit counters
It's always good to see how many people are viewing your site but there's no real benefit and it can work against you. If your site shows it's had 28 hits, it doesn't really give the visitor the impression your website is popular does it? Do yourself a favour and use an invisible hit counter or, even better, sign up to Google Analytics.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Bad colours
There's nothing worse than browsing a website that makes you feel physically sick. Get your colours matching. It's easy. Stick to three or four different colours.
Awful navigation
Keep it simple. No one likes getting lost when browsing. Take a look at this monstrosity of a website for a good example of how not to do it.
Endless chunks of dull text
Keep the length of text you write to a bear minimum. Take a look at any of the articles over at BBC news. You'll notice each article is chopped up in to lots of short paragraphs. Don't waffle and don't be afraid to be ruthless with your editing. If it's not necessary, get rid of it.
Animated gifs
Avoid using animated gifs at all costs. They look amateurish and serve no purpose whatsoever. It's often one of the first things a newbie website builder will upload to their new website but seriously, don't even think about it. Ever.
Hit counters
It's always good to see how many people are viewing your site but there's no real benefit and it can work against you. If your site shows it's had 28 hits, it doesn't really give the visitor the impression your website is popular does it? Do yourself a favour and use an invisible hit counter or, even better, sign up to Google Analytics.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
How to design a good website
Website design means different things to different people. A computer programmer is going to see website design quite differently than a graphic artist would. However, there are some common features of all good website designs.
Place only good content on your website. A good website design begins and ends with the content on the site. No one is going to stay on your website if the content is not useful, compelling, or interesting. Your page should be a unique experience for visitors and should not be the same as every other website out there. There is no way that you will keep traffic coming to your site if your content is not appealing.
Don't have any annoying or unappealing images or backgrounds on your website. Your website doesn't have to be some sort of artistic masterpiece, but it also should not give people headaches when they look at it. You know that you have all seen those types of websites that you can't look at for more than 30 seconds without getting dizzy or having to squint. When coming up with your website design, be sure that you don't have any annoying backgrounds or unappealing features like clashing colors or unreadable text.
Make things easy to find. Not everyone who uses the Internet is computer savvy. In fact the majority of people who are looking for information on the Internet are totally computer savvy. If you want people to keep coming back to your website, you need to make is so that everything is easy to find. Even if you do attract computer savvy people to your site, they don't want to waste time having to look around to find what they need.
Keep your website design consistent. Again, it doesn't matter what color scheme or theme you choose, but make sure that you keep it consistent throughout your whole website. Your website design should not differ from one page to the next. This only confuses your visitors. Also, place common features such as links to other sites or the contact information in the same place from page to page.
Make your visitors feel welcome. If you want to keep people coming back to your website, you need to roll out that welcome mat to them. Be sure to include feedback forms and a contact page in your website design so that you readers can get in contact with you easily. Reach out to your readers and listen to their ideas and feedback.
Try applying these basics to your EzWeb123.com website and you shouldn't go far wrong.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Place only good content on your website. A good website design begins and ends with the content on the site. No one is going to stay on your website if the content is not useful, compelling, or interesting. Your page should be a unique experience for visitors and should not be the same as every other website out there. There is no way that you will keep traffic coming to your site if your content is not appealing.
Don't have any annoying or unappealing images or backgrounds on your website. Your website doesn't have to be some sort of artistic masterpiece, but it also should not give people headaches when they look at it. You know that you have all seen those types of websites that you can't look at for more than 30 seconds without getting dizzy or having to squint. When coming up with your website design, be sure that you don't have any annoying backgrounds or unappealing features like clashing colors or unreadable text.
Make things easy to find. Not everyone who uses the Internet is computer savvy. In fact the majority of people who are looking for information on the Internet are totally computer savvy. If you want people to keep coming back to your website, you need to make is so that everything is easy to find. Even if you do attract computer savvy people to your site, they don't want to waste time having to look around to find what they need.
Keep your website design consistent. Again, it doesn't matter what color scheme or theme you choose, but make sure that you keep it consistent throughout your whole website. Your website design should not differ from one page to the next. This only confuses your visitors. Also, place common features such as links to other sites or the contact information in the same place from page to page.
Make your visitors feel welcome. If you want to keep people coming back to your website, you need to roll out that welcome mat to them. Be sure to include feedback forms and a contact page in your website design so that you readers can get in contact with you easily. Reach out to your readers and listen to their ideas and feedback.
Try applying these basics to your EzWeb123.com website and you shouldn't go far wrong.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
How to Target Website Traffic And Profit With Yahoo Answers
Getting website traffic these days can be a bit cumbersome as there are so many different ways to do it. Although there are many effective ways to accomplish getting traffic to your website, Yahoo Answers can be added to the list as one of them...
Yahoo Answers is very similar to forums in the way that you can ask questions and receive answers from everyone who is signed up. You can also profit from participating in this group of people just like forums as well by being able to target website traffic through trust.
Yahoo Answers is basically a way to ask questions about any topic and get relevant expert advice and answers. There are a few forms of questions available which are open questions, resolved questions and undecided questions.
Yahoo Answers runs on a point basis. You get 2 points every time you answer a question and 10 points every time one of your answers is voted "best answer". When starting out, you are allowed to answer 20 questions a day. There are various levels you can achieve and the higher level you are, the more questions you are allowed to answer. You want to get as many points as you can so you can increase in level and therefore, get unlimited questions daily.
You make money with Yahoo Answers by searching for questions that are related to your niche or your opportunity. Once you find these questions try to be the first to answer them which will give you a better chance to be voted as the best answer and gaining you more points. You can do this by choosing the "open questions" which are the newest. The faster you gain points, the faster your level will go up resulting in more questions that you can answer.
Once you have gained authority on your niche and have increased your level, you can start including "relevant" links (your internet income opportunity) in your answers and generating target website traffic to your website. Be careful when doing this. You should only include the links if it is relevant to the question and do not spam every question with your link. This would not be considered good website traffic marketing and will only make you look unprofessional and might even get you banned from Yahoo Answers.
Try promoting your EzWeb123.com website this way, it can really work, providing you are careful to not go overboard.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Yahoo Answers is very similar to forums in the way that you can ask questions and receive answers from everyone who is signed up. You can also profit from participating in this group of people just like forums as well by being able to target website traffic through trust.
Yahoo Answers is basically a way to ask questions about any topic and get relevant expert advice and answers. There are a few forms of questions available which are open questions, resolved questions and undecided questions.
Yahoo Answers runs on a point basis. You get 2 points every time you answer a question and 10 points every time one of your answers is voted "best answer". When starting out, you are allowed to answer 20 questions a day. There are various levels you can achieve and the higher level you are, the more questions you are allowed to answer. You want to get as many points as you can so you can increase in level and therefore, get unlimited questions daily.
You make money with Yahoo Answers by searching for questions that are related to your niche or your opportunity. Once you find these questions try to be the first to answer them which will give you a better chance to be voted as the best answer and gaining you more points. You can do this by choosing the "open questions" which are the newest. The faster you gain points, the faster your level will go up resulting in more questions that you can answer.
Once you have gained authority on your niche and have increased your level, you can start including "relevant" links (your internet income opportunity) in your answers and generating target website traffic to your website. Be careful when doing this. You should only include the links if it is relevant to the question and do not spam every question with your link. This would not be considered good website traffic marketing and will only make you look unprofessional and might even get you banned from Yahoo Answers.
Try promoting your EzWeb123.com website this way, it can really work, providing you are careful to not go overboard.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Friday, 1 January 2010
Do I really need a Business Plan?
What’s the point of a business plan?
Even if you are not planning to borrow money or seek investors for your new business venture, should you still write a business plan? Writing a business plan not only helps you to establish whether your idea is a viable one but it also helps you to lay out a direction for the future of your company. Without it, your business could simply meander along with no real direction and with no means of measuring its success.
It may not be an easy process but going through with writing a plan could force you to think carefully about your business overall and whether the model will work. Once complete, you'll have a much better idea of whether you can make your venture work and whether you still really want to go ahead with it. Before you invest your own time and money into any idea, wouldn’t you rather have done a plan first to make sure that you know it can work?
There is now software available which can help you with writing a plan so it does not need to be such a mind-boggling task. There are online sites and a whole host of self-help resources out there which will help you to draw up a plan and carry out an analysis of your proposed ideas.
To carry out just a quick assessment or executive summary of a business idea will only give you a very brief overview and will not go into enough depth about whether the business could be viable should any extenuating factors get in the way – and let’s face it, there will be many!
In your business plan, you can expand it to include critical factors such as contingencies should you need them. You can work other factors into it that needn’t be too complicated but will give you a good idea of where you might be in, say, five years’ time. It will help to focus your mind on your goal and show others how you plan to keep yourself afloat.
And once you have your plan, it is never lost. All good projects or ideas start out with a plan. The plan then changes as it goes along if need be and you can keep reverting back to the original plan to track and measure your successes or failures.
Of course, having a plan does not ensure success and some would argue that a full business plan for a small venture is not necessary; that your time would be better spent on getting your business up and running rather than worrying yourself with laborious documents. However, you can make your plan as minimal or as in depth as it needs to be, according to the size of your proposed venture.
But bear in mind that, as with any plan, it could be seen as a restrictor and actually remove the entrepreneurial spirit in which the business idea was first created. You should always remember than any plan can be broken, changed or amended at any time and that it’s important for small business owners not to lose the importance of free will.
So, ‘to plan or not to plan?’ – that is the question.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Even if you are not planning to borrow money or seek investors for your new business venture, should you still write a business plan? Writing a business plan not only helps you to establish whether your idea is a viable one but it also helps you to lay out a direction for the future of your company. Without it, your business could simply meander along with no real direction and with no means of measuring its success.
It may not be an easy process but going through with writing a plan could force you to think carefully about your business overall and whether the model will work. Once complete, you'll have a much better idea of whether you can make your venture work and whether you still really want to go ahead with it. Before you invest your own time and money into any idea, wouldn’t you rather have done a plan first to make sure that you know it can work?
There is now software available which can help you with writing a plan so it does not need to be such a mind-boggling task. There are online sites and a whole host of self-help resources out there which will help you to draw up a plan and carry out an analysis of your proposed ideas.
To carry out just a quick assessment or executive summary of a business idea will only give you a very brief overview and will not go into enough depth about whether the business could be viable should any extenuating factors get in the way – and let’s face it, there will be many!
In your business plan, you can expand it to include critical factors such as contingencies should you need them. You can work other factors into it that needn’t be too complicated but will give you a good idea of where you might be in, say, five years’ time. It will help to focus your mind on your goal and show others how you plan to keep yourself afloat.
And once you have your plan, it is never lost. All good projects or ideas start out with a plan. The plan then changes as it goes along if need be and you can keep reverting back to the original plan to track and measure your successes or failures.
Of course, having a plan does not ensure success and some would argue that a full business plan for a small venture is not necessary; that your time would be better spent on getting your business up and running rather than worrying yourself with laborious documents. However, you can make your plan as minimal or as in depth as it needs to be, according to the size of your proposed venture.
But bear in mind that, as with any plan, it could be seen as a restrictor and actually remove the entrepreneurial spirit in which the business idea was first created. You should always remember than any plan can be broken, changed or amended at any time and that it’s important for small business owners not to lose the importance of free will.
So, ‘to plan or not to plan?’ – that is the question.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Do you really need a 40 inch TV?
You walk past some people’s houses which are two up two down terraced, lovely little havens of peacefulness, but without the room in which to swing a cat and there, spreading across one of the entire walls, is this giant, cinema-sized plasma screen thing.
If it were any bigger, it may well take down the entire wall and next door’s with it. So why do people insist on buying TV screens, LCD etc., and systems which are bigger and better than ever before? What is the fixation for this craze that has swept the modern world?
Blame marketers for it if you like but hey, we don’t have to buy them. Yes we are told that if we buy one of these obscenely huge TVs we can have the life we’ve always wanted and we can watch TV in better definition and never miss our favourite programmes ever again – but no one is actually forcing us to go down to the shops and buy one – so why do we?
Are our eyes all really that bad that we can no longer see our TVs if they are under 40 inches wide? Why do we feel the need to recreate the cinema in our front rooms when we can watch a standard-sized TV perfectly well? Isn’t the message the same? Why do we need to see our favourite characters as outsized versions of the real thing?
Is it the kids? Are they putting us under pressure to buy them? Well, as parents, isn’t it our job to tell them to be quiet and ask for a colouring book instead? Or maybe it’s the parents who want these colossal screens attached to their walls so that they can strain their necks and watch the X-factor in HD, in order to keep up with their neighbours who have just gone one better and bought a 50 inch version.
Can these ever growing, surely ‘genetically modified’ abnormally large TVs be a healthy option for our children? I mean, we rarely go out of the house as it is these days without also encouraging our kids to sit in the house piling on even more weight through eating popcorn and sitting rigid for five hours on the sofa in a room the size of a bus shelter. Staring at these monstrous screens can also surely only be damaging their vision over a long period of time. We’ll breed a generation of visually impaired young adults if we are not careful, who can only recognise a loaf of bread in the shops if it’s 6 feet tall.
By bringing the fun of the cinema into our homes, are we not taking away the pleasure of actually going to the cinema and spending a day out with the family? We’ll be hiring virtual ushers next to stand in our hallways with torches and an ice cream tray, picking up the litter as we go to bed.
Does bigger always mean better? Why is it that we feel the need to go one greater all the time and make things as super duper as we can? Why can we not be satisfied with what we have and accept that the TV we have, which is already 28 inches, is perfectly acceptable and, for the amount of time we actually need it, is more than adequate.
Where will the craze end? Will we have to start raising the ceilings and strengthening walls in the building process of our homes in order to cater for the possibility of a full multi-plex in every room? No, not one in every room….surely not!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
If it were any bigger, it may well take down the entire wall and next door’s with it. So why do people insist on buying TV screens, LCD etc., and systems which are bigger and better than ever before? What is the fixation for this craze that has swept the modern world?
Blame marketers for it if you like but hey, we don’t have to buy them. Yes we are told that if we buy one of these obscenely huge TVs we can have the life we’ve always wanted and we can watch TV in better definition and never miss our favourite programmes ever again – but no one is actually forcing us to go down to the shops and buy one – so why do we?
Are our eyes all really that bad that we can no longer see our TVs if they are under 40 inches wide? Why do we feel the need to recreate the cinema in our front rooms when we can watch a standard-sized TV perfectly well? Isn’t the message the same? Why do we need to see our favourite characters as outsized versions of the real thing?
Is it the kids? Are they putting us under pressure to buy them? Well, as parents, isn’t it our job to tell them to be quiet and ask for a colouring book instead? Or maybe it’s the parents who want these colossal screens attached to their walls so that they can strain their necks and watch the X-factor in HD, in order to keep up with their neighbours who have just gone one better and bought a 50 inch version.
Can these ever growing, surely ‘genetically modified’ abnormally large TVs be a healthy option for our children? I mean, we rarely go out of the house as it is these days without also encouraging our kids to sit in the house piling on even more weight through eating popcorn and sitting rigid for five hours on the sofa in a room the size of a bus shelter. Staring at these monstrous screens can also surely only be damaging their vision over a long period of time. We’ll breed a generation of visually impaired young adults if we are not careful, who can only recognise a loaf of bread in the shops if it’s 6 feet tall.
By bringing the fun of the cinema into our homes, are we not taking away the pleasure of actually going to the cinema and spending a day out with the family? We’ll be hiring virtual ushers next to stand in our hallways with torches and an ice cream tray, picking up the litter as we go to bed.
Does bigger always mean better? Why is it that we feel the need to go one greater all the time and make things as super duper as we can? Why can we not be satisfied with what we have and accept that the TV we have, which is already 28 inches, is perfectly acceptable and, for the amount of time we actually need it, is more than adequate.
Where will the craze end? Will we have to start raising the ceilings and strengthening walls in the building process of our homes in order to cater for the possibility of a full multi-plex in every room? No, not one in every room….surely not!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
The importance of business failure
Some of the world’s most successful business men and women have not made it on their first attempt you know. Some of them have had to fail on more than one occasion before they have made it to the big time.
Success comes in all shapes and sizes and there is an element of luck involved with any success story – right place, right time and all of that. No one who has ever made a success of their lives would ever tell you that they have had an easy ride all the way there and that they didn’t have some failure.
Failure is as much a part of success as the end product is – without failure, and an element of reality, we can never understand what it is truly like to be successful. Some of the biggest and wealthiest entrepreneurs have had to pick themselves up from failure before they finally made it.
Mr James Dyson for example – he built over 5,000 prototypes of his revolutionary hoover before it could be marketed! And now, the Dyson hoover is a household name and everyone wants one! There must have been times when he wanted to give up but he didn’t. He understood that it was not going to work without effort and some set backs.
The late Anita Roddick – the founder of The Body Shop. She had several failed attempts at business before she launched the world-famous Body Shop brand which is also a household name.
Even the world-famous Simon Cowell went bankrupt in his 30s when he invested in his employer’s firm and it went bust – he claimed he had just £3 in his pocket but he built it all back up again. This experience will have made him more business savvy and a lot cannier.
Having been through the bad times, it makes you stronger and it helps you to see where you are going wrong, where you need to focus and it builds your character. You need to be pretty tough skinned to be in business and you will need to learn how to take criticism and deal with setbacks.
Life is, as they say, one long learning curve and this is so true. The more you know, the more you realise you don’t know. Every day, we learn something new and we learn from our mistakes. To error is human.
If you know what it is to have failed, then you will have an advantage over those who have only ever had it easy. You will be stronger for it and will be able to use your experiences to enhance your strengths.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Success comes in all shapes and sizes and there is an element of luck involved with any success story – right place, right time and all of that. No one who has ever made a success of their lives would ever tell you that they have had an easy ride all the way there and that they didn’t have some failure.
Failure is as much a part of success as the end product is – without failure, and an element of reality, we can never understand what it is truly like to be successful. Some of the biggest and wealthiest entrepreneurs have had to pick themselves up from failure before they finally made it.
Mr James Dyson for example – he built over 5,000 prototypes of his revolutionary hoover before it could be marketed! And now, the Dyson hoover is a household name and everyone wants one! There must have been times when he wanted to give up but he didn’t. He understood that it was not going to work without effort and some set backs.
The late Anita Roddick – the founder of The Body Shop. She had several failed attempts at business before she launched the world-famous Body Shop brand which is also a household name.
Even the world-famous Simon Cowell went bankrupt in his 30s when he invested in his employer’s firm and it went bust – he claimed he had just £3 in his pocket but he built it all back up again. This experience will have made him more business savvy and a lot cannier.
Having been through the bad times, it makes you stronger and it helps you to see where you are going wrong, where you need to focus and it builds your character. You need to be pretty tough skinned to be in business and you will need to learn how to take criticism and deal with setbacks.
Life is, as they say, one long learning curve and this is so true. The more you know, the more you realise you don’t know. Every day, we learn something new and we learn from our mistakes. To error is human.
If you know what it is to have failed, then you will have an advantage over those who have only ever had it easy. You will be stronger for it and will be able to use your experiences to enhance your strengths.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Is my business successful?
So you dreamed about having your own business and being the master of your own destiny. But why do you want these things? What do you believe will follow from being a successful business person?
How do you know whether or when your business has become successful? What factors determine this success and how can you measure it?
Some people would argue that success means money. Some would say that, unless you never have to check your bank account again before you buy anything, you are not successful. Money, material things and a certain type of lifestyle are what some would say are the measures of true success.
Some, on the other hand, would argue that success can be measured in many different ways and what makes one person happy does not necessarily make another happy. There are those who would love to be millionaires and there are those who are already millionaires but have not yet found ‘happiness’.
There are indeed many very wealthy people around but many of them seem yet to be looking for happiness. So it could be argued, therefore, that money does not make you happy.
Success of your business to you may mean that you now have a comfortable lifestyle. It may mean that you have managed to design and sell a certain product which has given you brand recognition for something that you have a passion for. It may mean that you are reaching people who you always wanted to reach. Success for you may mean that you have managed to help someone and make a difference to their lives through your business.
Whatever success means to each of us, there is no doubt that society tends to measure success in terms of the car that we drive, the house that we live in and the clothes that we wear. Others judge us by our covers whether they admit it or not, and so we strive to be what other people want us to be in order to fit in. It follows, therefore, that we start to measure our own success by the car that we drive, the house that we live in and the clothes that we wear – which can be a dangerous game to get in to.
So what makes a successful business in general terms? Is it one which is turning over millions; is it one which has become a household name; is it one which is turning over steadily each year and surviving the economic climate; is it one that has grown and has employed lots of staff; is it one which stays small but provides excellent service to its regular customers?
Whatever form success comes in, it is clear that it means different things to different people and it becomes ‘horses for courses’. A company could make millions but, in the process of doing so, makes thousands of people redundant and breaks every moral code in the business – or a company could make just a few thousand each year but that few thousand has allowed its owner to provide a better lifestyle for his or her family.
How do you measure your own success?
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
How do you know whether or when your business has become successful? What factors determine this success and how can you measure it?
Some people would argue that success means money. Some would say that, unless you never have to check your bank account again before you buy anything, you are not successful. Money, material things and a certain type of lifestyle are what some would say are the measures of true success.
Some, on the other hand, would argue that success can be measured in many different ways and what makes one person happy does not necessarily make another happy. There are those who would love to be millionaires and there are those who are already millionaires but have not yet found ‘happiness’.
There are indeed many very wealthy people around but many of them seem yet to be looking for happiness. So it could be argued, therefore, that money does not make you happy.
Success of your business to you may mean that you now have a comfortable lifestyle. It may mean that you have managed to design and sell a certain product which has given you brand recognition for something that you have a passion for. It may mean that you are reaching people who you always wanted to reach. Success for you may mean that you have managed to help someone and make a difference to their lives through your business.
Whatever success means to each of us, there is no doubt that society tends to measure success in terms of the car that we drive, the house that we live in and the clothes that we wear. Others judge us by our covers whether they admit it or not, and so we strive to be what other people want us to be in order to fit in. It follows, therefore, that we start to measure our own success by the car that we drive, the house that we live in and the clothes that we wear – which can be a dangerous game to get in to.
So what makes a successful business in general terms? Is it one which is turning over millions; is it one which has become a household name; is it one which is turning over steadily each year and surviving the economic climate; is it one that has grown and has employed lots of staff; is it one which stays small but provides excellent service to its regular customers?
Whatever form success comes in, it is clear that it means different things to different people and it becomes ‘horses for courses’. A company could make millions but, in the process of doing so, makes thousands of people redundant and breaks every moral code in the business – or a company could make just a few thousand each year but that few thousand has allowed its owner to provide a better lifestyle for his or her family.
How do you measure your own success?
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Website Traffic - quality or quantity?
Fantastic! You’ve had 400 visitors to your website this month. 400 hits! That’s up 200 on last month. But hang on – no one has actually emailed you or asked for your services or bought anything from you. So who were these 400 visitors and why did they leave your website as soon as they’d found it?
Well, you need to concern yourself with ‘quality’ of hits before quantity of hits. Now the law of probability suggests that the more hits you have, the more likely one of them is going to convert into business for you. However, why have 400 hits which are of no use whatsoever when you could have 100 hits which are quality-based, focused, and specifically targeted from sectors of the market which are likely to want your services?
To ensure that you are receiving quality hits as well as quantity, you need to enlist the help of search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques which are aimed around making sure that traffic to your site is generated from areas of the market that you know are going to be interested in your product or service. This means making sure that you are using SEO techniques which not only use the correct keywords but are also listed on sites on the internet which are more specific to your audience.
For example, if you have a gardening service, you want any SEO techniques that you use to include words such as plants, garden, shrubs, flowers etc. but you need any articles that you write or blogs that you create to be strategically placed on sites which hone in on the interests of gardeners and gardening businesses. There is little point, in this instance, writing articles about gardening and putting them on a site in a category for hair and beauty.
What you want from as many of your site hits as possible is for them to translate into sales. You can only make this happen by making sure that you are getting your marketing spot on and that you know who your audience is. Checking out rival websites is one way to work out how they do and it and how you could match, or beat them. Spend time writing clever articles for yourself which are keyword rich and then post them onto sites that allow you to submit articles on just about any subject under the sun.
Get used to using SEO techniques and you will find, over time, that the hits to your website, although they may not soar through the roof, will be hits from genuinely interested customers who will stay with you and will be there for a reason – i.e.: they want your product or service!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Well, you need to concern yourself with ‘quality’ of hits before quantity of hits. Now the law of probability suggests that the more hits you have, the more likely one of them is going to convert into business for you. However, why have 400 hits which are of no use whatsoever when you could have 100 hits which are quality-based, focused, and specifically targeted from sectors of the market which are likely to want your services?
To ensure that you are receiving quality hits as well as quantity, you need to enlist the help of search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques which are aimed around making sure that traffic to your site is generated from areas of the market that you know are going to be interested in your product or service. This means making sure that you are using SEO techniques which not only use the correct keywords but are also listed on sites on the internet which are more specific to your audience.
For example, if you have a gardening service, you want any SEO techniques that you use to include words such as plants, garden, shrubs, flowers etc. but you need any articles that you write or blogs that you create to be strategically placed on sites which hone in on the interests of gardeners and gardening businesses. There is little point, in this instance, writing articles about gardening and putting them on a site in a category for hair and beauty.
What you want from as many of your site hits as possible is for them to translate into sales. You can only make this happen by making sure that you are getting your marketing spot on and that you know who your audience is. Checking out rival websites is one way to work out how they do and it and how you could match, or beat them. Spend time writing clever articles for yourself which are keyword rich and then post them onto sites that allow you to submit articles on just about any subject under the sun.
Get used to using SEO techniques and you will find, over time, that the hits to your website, although they may not soar through the roof, will be hits from genuinely interested customers who will stay with you and will be there for a reason – i.e.: they want your product or service!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - EzWeb123.com
Saturday, 26 December 2009
What Is Google Analytics?
Google analytics is a free web-based service which gives you up-to-the minute website traffic statistics and marketing effectiveness figures. So how can it be helpful to a website owner?
Well, you’ve set up your website but how do you know who has visited it and how effective it is? It may look good to you and your mum will have told you that it looks lovely – but as a business tool, is it working and having the desired effect of bringing in customers and getting you noticed? That’s where Google analytics comes in handy.
The analytics will allow you to see who is viewing your site (and sometimes where they are based in the world), so again you can see whether there are any trends or patterns around who is most likely to hit upon your site and for how long they visited each time. It will also tell you which pages they viewed so you can see which are the most popular and which pages are perhaps not working for you.
You can set up email campaigns which are targeted at your chosen audience and then Google will tell you who has opened them, read them and how many ‘click-throughs’ to your own website you’ve had on the back of them. This enables you to revise your campaigns as you go along so that you know exactly where your marketing tactics need to be improved.
Like any other web tool, it’s relatively easy to set up and use but there are also add ons which you can select if you want to get really involved. It can actually become quite addictive!
On the back of your statistics, you may decide to revise your website completely or just target specific areas which you feel need to bring in the customer further. You will soon get a feel for which bits are working and which aren’t.
You can set up Google analytics to work in conjunction with other Google money-making sites such as Google Adwords, Adsense and so on. Additionally, this allows you to improve your return on investment (ROI) for the business and you can determine which visits to your websites are converting into sales for you – this is a huge enhancement and a very useful tool for any business person. Website hits are all very well and good but we want them converted into referrals and ultimately cash.
So if you’re a natural ‘curtain-twitcher’ and can’t resist wondering what others are up to, then Google analytics is for you and your website! It’s not spyware because it can’t pinpoint who your customers are and where they live exactly – but it can tell you how popular your website is and who is bothering to read your email blasts. Watch those campaigns turn into hits and your hits turn into cash.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
Well, you’ve set up your website but how do you know who has visited it and how effective it is? It may look good to you and your mum will have told you that it looks lovely – but as a business tool, is it working and having the desired effect of bringing in customers and getting you noticed? That’s where Google analytics comes in handy.
The analytics will allow you to see who is viewing your site (and sometimes where they are based in the world), so again you can see whether there are any trends or patterns around who is most likely to hit upon your site and for how long they visited each time. It will also tell you which pages they viewed so you can see which are the most popular and which pages are perhaps not working for you.
You can set up email campaigns which are targeted at your chosen audience and then Google will tell you who has opened them, read them and how many ‘click-throughs’ to your own website you’ve had on the back of them. This enables you to revise your campaigns as you go along so that you know exactly where your marketing tactics need to be improved.
Like any other web tool, it’s relatively easy to set up and use but there are also add ons which you can select if you want to get really involved. It can actually become quite addictive!
On the back of your statistics, you may decide to revise your website completely or just target specific areas which you feel need to bring in the customer further. You will soon get a feel for which bits are working and which aren’t.
You can set up Google analytics to work in conjunction with other Google money-making sites such as Google Adwords, Adsense and so on. Additionally, this allows you to improve your return on investment (ROI) for the business and you can determine which visits to your websites are converting into sales for you – this is a huge enhancement and a very useful tool for any business person. Website hits are all very well and good but we want them converted into referrals and ultimately cash.
So if you’re a natural ‘curtain-twitcher’ and can’t resist wondering what others are up to, then Google analytics is for you and your website! It’s not spyware because it can’t pinpoint who your customers are and where they live exactly – but it can tell you how popular your website is and who is bothering to read your email blasts. Watch those campaigns turn into hits and your hits turn into cash.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
Why Bankers Don't Deserve Bonuses!
If you have been living in a hole for the past year then you may be forgiven for thinking that the credit crunch is a new type of biscuit. However, this credit crunch has hit us all in one way or another and has seen the biggest worldwide recession for many years.
So just who is responsible for this one; who is responsible for creating so much national and international debt? Some would say it hit us as far back as 2007 but statistics show that it was more likely to be early 2008. And the bankers are being blamed – yes, the very people who receive millions each year in extortionate bonuses whilst the rest of us suffer through an economic downturn.
Despite the recession, top level bankers have continued to receive millions of pounds in bonuses over the past year. Now most of us get a bonus at work if the company performs well or if we perform well. Banks and bankers have done neither and yet they have still been allowed to cream off ludicrous amounts of money and take it as a god-given right to an incentive just because of the position they hold; something that does not sit well with the rest of the world when they consider the banks responsible in the first place for the start of the recession.
Some would argue that the bankers, who made irresponsible decisions over public borrowing, caused the collapse of the economy and should be subject to the same reviews as anyone else in their own jobs. If they underperform, they get axed; simple as that. Lending more money that is actually viable to do so, and causing the onset of more and more home repossessions, leaving people stranded and financially hard-up is hardly a responsible way to conduct any business.
The Governments in the US and the UK are now clamping down on the bankers’ bonuses and making it clear that they do not support huge incentives for people who are not capable of doing their jobs properly. Some politicians are obviously more in favour of this than others but it is a step in the right direction.
Those at the top in the banking industry are, in effect, taking risks with other people’s money and they have proved that they can get it very badly wrong! And who suffers? Well it’s not them by the sound of things. If we, the public, are to suffer, then why should a banker at the top of his ivory tower receive such a large payout? What gives them the right to suggest that they are worthy of this money?
There has been a suggestion that the representatives of the banks should decide on who gets a bonus at the banks. So this could mean the general public also getting a say. Power to the people and all that! There has also been talk of paying back some of last year’s bonuses which won’t go down too well with Mr HBOS.
Hey, if the top guys and gals at the banks have consciences and morals, then maybe they’ll give back that money and spread it around the rest of us. Or maybe we’ll just have to wait until the recession is over and count our blessings that we made it.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
So just who is responsible for this one; who is responsible for creating so much national and international debt? Some would say it hit us as far back as 2007 but statistics show that it was more likely to be early 2008. And the bankers are being blamed – yes, the very people who receive millions each year in extortionate bonuses whilst the rest of us suffer through an economic downturn.
Despite the recession, top level bankers have continued to receive millions of pounds in bonuses over the past year. Now most of us get a bonus at work if the company performs well or if we perform well. Banks and bankers have done neither and yet they have still been allowed to cream off ludicrous amounts of money and take it as a god-given right to an incentive just because of the position they hold; something that does not sit well with the rest of the world when they consider the banks responsible in the first place for the start of the recession.
Some would argue that the bankers, who made irresponsible decisions over public borrowing, caused the collapse of the economy and should be subject to the same reviews as anyone else in their own jobs. If they underperform, they get axed; simple as that. Lending more money that is actually viable to do so, and causing the onset of more and more home repossessions, leaving people stranded and financially hard-up is hardly a responsible way to conduct any business.
The Governments in the US and the UK are now clamping down on the bankers’ bonuses and making it clear that they do not support huge incentives for people who are not capable of doing their jobs properly. Some politicians are obviously more in favour of this than others but it is a step in the right direction.
Those at the top in the banking industry are, in effect, taking risks with other people’s money and they have proved that they can get it very badly wrong! And who suffers? Well it’s not them by the sound of things. If we, the public, are to suffer, then why should a banker at the top of his ivory tower receive such a large payout? What gives them the right to suggest that they are worthy of this money?
There has been a suggestion that the representatives of the banks should decide on who gets a bonus at the banks. So this could mean the general public also getting a say. Power to the people and all that! There has also been talk of paying back some of last year’s bonuses which won’t go down too well with Mr HBOS.
Hey, if the top guys and gals at the banks have consciences and morals, then maybe they’ll give back that money and spread it around the rest of us. Or maybe we’ll just have to wait until the recession is over and count our blessings that we made it.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
The Pros and Cons of Business Partnerships
Being the master of your own destiny and your own empire seems like a wonderful concept. You have a business idea and you want to make it work but there may be times when you cannot do it alone. Should you look to get into bed with a business partner or is remaining a sole trader going to be more beneficial in the long run?
Going into partnership with someone requires a long thought process. Going into business with a friend requires an even longer thought process! If it doesn’t work out, you could end up losing your business and your friend. So think carefully before you consider letting someone else in on your business idea.
Of course, there are many pros to having a partner in business. In an ideal world, you can share the workload and the profits. In an ideal world, the partner will have ideas that you had not thought of and vice versa. Your business could grow more quickly with the help of another person. You can share the risks as well as the costs and benefits. You can complement one another’s skills and be there for one another to offer morale and support when times are tough.
But what if it goes wrong? Well, you don’t have total control over the business for a start. If you are the type of person who likes to control every situation, then you will need to learn to share and share alike. You will need to work as a team and think like a team with a common goal.
What if you fall out with one another? There are bound to be times when you don’t see eye to eye and you will need to be able to resolve these disputes amicably, with the best interests of the business in mind. Are you the kind of person who can do this? Maybe you need to sit down and work out whether you really are the type of person who wants to go it alone or who likes the idea of a partnership.
There will be times when one or more people in the partnership don’t appear to be pulling their weight as much as the others. This can lead to friction. People are different; people work in different ways and there is always a chance that you might end up frustrated at someone else’s lack of motivation or cooperation. Again, you need to be prepared for this and it’s a good idea to set out ‘roles’ for each partner up front so that you are all clear on where you stand and what your responsibilities are.
Do a check on your prospective partner(s) because they may not be who you think they are. If your business partner runs off, you are liable for his or her debts as well as your own. You need to make sure that you trust this person completely. Make sure you have spoken to past employers and colleagues about them and find out as much as you can about them.
Get legal help from the outset. Make sure you have a lawyer and an accountant involved and that everything is done above board and not by word of mouth and on trust.
Whatever you decide, go with your instincts but make sure that you have done your homework.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
Going into partnership with someone requires a long thought process. Going into business with a friend requires an even longer thought process! If it doesn’t work out, you could end up losing your business and your friend. So think carefully before you consider letting someone else in on your business idea.
Of course, there are many pros to having a partner in business. In an ideal world, you can share the workload and the profits. In an ideal world, the partner will have ideas that you had not thought of and vice versa. Your business could grow more quickly with the help of another person. You can share the risks as well as the costs and benefits. You can complement one another’s skills and be there for one another to offer morale and support when times are tough.
But what if it goes wrong? Well, you don’t have total control over the business for a start. If you are the type of person who likes to control every situation, then you will need to learn to share and share alike. You will need to work as a team and think like a team with a common goal.
What if you fall out with one another? There are bound to be times when you don’t see eye to eye and you will need to be able to resolve these disputes amicably, with the best interests of the business in mind. Are you the kind of person who can do this? Maybe you need to sit down and work out whether you really are the type of person who wants to go it alone or who likes the idea of a partnership.
There will be times when one or more people in the partnership don’t appear to be pulling their weight as much as the others. This can lead to friction. People are different; people work in different ways and there is always a chance that you might end up frustrated at someone else’s lack of motivation or cooperation. Again, you need to be prepared for this and it’s a good idea to set out ‘roles’ for each partner up front so that you are all clear on where you stand and what your responsibilities are.
Do a check on your prospective partner(s) because they may not be who you think they are. If your business partner runs off, you are liable for his or her debts as well as your own. You need to make sure that you trust this person completely. Make sure you have spoken to past employers and colleagues about them and find out as much as you can about them.
Get legal help from the outset. Make sure you have a lawyer and an accountant involved and that everything is done above board and not by word of mouth and on trust.
Whatever you decide, go with your instincts but make sure that you have done your homework.
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
Starting a business on a shoestring
There was once a perception that only those with money could make money; that only those who had financial backing could start up their own business. Let’s have a look at why this is not the case.
Many entrepreneurs have gone on from nothing, with very little cash, to make a lot of money from their ideas. The key factors to their successes are the right idea, a good business plan and the desire to make it work. You can have all the money in the world to throw at a new business in the first instance but, if you don’t have the business savvy to make it work, then you may just be throwing money down the drain.
There are online companies that can help you to grow your business venture on a shoestring. It depends on the type of business you are hoping to run so choose your business idea carefully. Why not stick to a business in an area with which you are already familiar – stick to what you know. And if you do have to borrow, then borrow wisely and do your homework first. The last thing you want is to owe money that you can’t afford and end up losing everything you had your heart set on.
Working online is one way to keep your set-up costs down and give the impression that you are a larger business than you really are. Once you have set up a website using a free package, you can be up and running in no time, with very little money required.
Keep your costs to begin with as low as you can; be a miser, stop being a consumer for a while and learn that you cannot reap the rewards at the outset. A lot of hard work will have to come first and so you need to tighten your belt and park that idea of driving a flash car just for the time being!
Work from home; work from your garage, your kitchen and so on. Advertise in free online business directories and make the most of all free advertising opportunities that come your way. Use free stationery printing offers. Basically, get as much as you can for free! Join clubs, join online networking sites and get the word out there at no cost.
Website builders give you the option to trade online and set up an online shop (an e-commerce solution) so that your customers can buy from you any time they like. You become instantly accessible and, being part of the world wide web, you are able to grow beyond your wildest dreams if it works out.
To begin with, source out work which will allow you to get paid in cash quickly. You can’t afford to wait for 30 or 60 days before being paid if you have started your business on a shoestring. You need it now.
And once your business starts making money, then you need to put some of this aside for future growth as opposed to spending it on personal things. There will be plenty of time for this later down the line when you are raking it in! You need to think work, work, work; business, business, business and be thinking ten steps ahead.
Plough as much of your earnings back into the business as you can and watch it grow. Watch your shoestring turn into a fully fledged profitable business!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
Many entrepreneurs have gone on from nothing, with very little cash, to make a lot of money from their ideas. The key factors to their successes are the right idea, a good business plan and the desire to make it work. You can have all the money in the world to throw at a new business in the first instance but, if you don’t have the business savvy to make it work, then you may just be throwing money down the drain.
There are online companies that can help you to grow your business venture on a shoestring. It depends on the type of business you are hoping to run so choose your business idea carefully. Why not stick to a business in an area with which you are already familiar – stick to what you know. And if you do have to borrow, then borrow wisely and do your homework first. The last thing you want is to owe money that you can’t afford and end up losing everything you had your heart set on.
Working online is one way to keep your set-up costs down and give the impression that you are a larger business than you really are. Once you have set up a website using a free package, you can be up and running in no time, with very little money required.
Keep your costs to begin with as low as you can; be a miser, stop being a consumer for a while and learn that you cannot reap the rewards at the outset. A lot of hard work will have to come first and so you need to tighten your belt and park that idea of driving a flash car just for the time being!
Work from home; work from your garage, your kitchen and so on. Advertise in free online business directories and make the most of all free advertising opportunities that come your way. Use free stationery printing offers. Basically, get as much as you can for free! Join clubs, join online networking sites and get the word out there at no cost.
Website builders give you the option to trade online and set up an online shop (an e-commerce solution) so that your customers can buy from you any time they like. You become instantly accessible and, being part of the world wide web, you are able to grow beyond your wildest dreams if it works out.
To begin with, source out work which will allow you to get paid in cash quickly. You can’t afford to wait for 30 or 60 days before being paid if you have started your business on a shoestring. You need it now.
And once your business starts making money, then you need to put some of this aside for future growth as opposed to spending it on personal things. There will be plenty of time for this later down the line when you are raking it in! You need to think work, work, work; business, business, business and be thinking ten steps ahead.
Plough as much of your earnings back into the business as you can and watch it grow. Watch your shoestring turn into a fully fledged profitable business!
Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com
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