How To Determine What Kind of Online Business Suits You

Starting an online business is simultaneously simple and challenging. Working on the internet eliminates many of the problems that sink businesses, like overhead costs, employee insurance and location selection. But at the same time, it provides its own set of obstacles.

Have you seen those crazy little square boxes on websites and catalogs and wondered “what in the world” they are?  Me too!  They are QR Codes or Quick Response codes.

According to PCMag.com the definition of QR Code is:

A two-dimensional matrix bar code that is used to identify products. It can store up to 4,296 alphanumeric or 7,089 numeric characters. Depending on the level of error correction applied, it can restore from seven to 30% of the missing data.  Read the rest of the definition at PCMag.com.

So basically it’s a new code that businesses use to help their customer locate them.  Mobile phone users can snap a picture of the code and be taken to a specific product or service or to the businesses website.  On my iPhone, I installed the QR App and when I access the app, it automatically brings up my phone’s camera for me to snap a picture and then uses the code to take me to the site that the code is directing me to.  It’s pretty cool!

You can also get a custom QR code for your business at Google Places.   It is a great way to show off your website or products in advertisements, catalogs, flyers or emails.

Here is my code for Tasting The Internet -

Give it a try, take a picture and see what happens.  But remember you might need a special application to make it work on your phone.

if you are like me and many other online business owners, you are always looking for ways to get your business noticed. We build profiles on social media sites, join forums, write blog posts and articles, and many other things to get noticed online.

I just recently stumbled on another way to get my brand noticed and drive traffic back to my website. It’s called follr.com and it is an online social media business card platform.

I actually found it through a link at Ezine Articles. I was pleasantly surprised by what you can accomplish through the free account. Of course, there is a paid premium version if you want more features. But for me the free version is just fine for now.

Take a look at my online social media bussiness card at Terri’s Online Business Card

Go make one for yourself and share the link with us in the comment section below.

I can’t wait to take a look at yours and then share it with my online friends!

With the number of websites and blogs being added to the internet each and every day, the importance of sharing links online has become even more crucial. If you want to have a chance at being ranked on the first few pages of Google for your keywords, you must start to build up your incoming and outgoing links so the search engines will find and index you.

Here are some free, reliable ways to share links and build your presence on the web. And the best part – you can get started with these methods right now!

Using the Retweet option for Twitter

Everyone is getting involved with Twitter, from celebrities to common housewives. If you would like your information and comments to be passed around to more people, encouraging others to “Retweet” your post is a great way to go. If you are sharing a link, and someone Retweets your post, your link is then passed on virally for even more to share and click on. You can ask your Twitter friends to “RT” or “ReTweet” your post by just adding “Pls RT” to the end of your post.  And of course, you want to always return the favor.  Anytime you see something of interest that your friends on Twitter have posted, ReTweet it for them.  They will most likely return the favor for you.

Sharing on Facebook

You can share on Facebook using several methods. Write a post in the “what’s on your mind” box, otherwise known as “The Publisher” on your wall, or write a post on your WordPress blog and submit it to Facebook using the Notes feature or even better, using Networked Blogs to import your post into Facebook.  Not only can you post your website and article links right on your Facebook profile, but you can also create Fan Pages for sharing even more relevant links that will all point back to the pages you would like to rank for in the search engines. Encourage your friends and fans to share your links with their online friends who can benefit or enjoy what they read, this can propel your links to even more pages and websites online.

StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious

These are social bookmarking sites. It’s just like marking your place in a book, but you’re doing it online. With these sites though, you simply share a link, others will then find it, like it, buzz it or rate it. In this way, your link is kept out where it can be found and not buried, in turn giving more people the option to read it and pass it along. There are many links shared on these types of sites every day. The more people end up linking to you, the more opportunity you have for your pages to be indexed quicker in the search engines.

Commenting on Blogs

Commenting on blogs can be both fun and beneficial. When you comment on someone else’s blog, you are given the opportunity to leave your website address or URL. This gives you another link that the search engines will find leading back to you. The more incoming links you have, the more Google will keep coming back to index you. Writing guest posts on other people’s blog works in much the same way except that you often will get more people clicking over to your link to see what you are all about after enjoying your blog topic.

There are also other means you can use for link sharing online today. Write articles with links to your website, blog or Squidoo lens and put them in article sites such as HubPages and Ezine Articles. Participate in forums and benefit from link exchanges in more than one way. You receive backlinks by putting your website address in your signature that is placed at the bottom of each post you create.  Also, look around the forum and see who has a blog that would work well with your information, products or services and ask if they would be interested is exchanging links so you each benefit.

Building your web presence through link-sharing and backlinks is an ongoing process, but if you follow these tips, it will make the task much easier.  And by the way, I hope you will leave a comment below and share this blog post with your online friends.  I’ve made it easy for you, just click the links below which will link to your social media profiles.

Are you trying to make a name for yourself in the online world? Do you know the best way to go about it? Do you know the importance of branding yourself, and getting your name out there everywhere you can? These are just some of the things you should be thinking about when you get started building an online presence. Whether you want to be known for your services, or for your products, becoming an online celebrity is a must for creating a successful business.

Many small business owners do not know where the best places to go to build their presence online. While there are the popular places such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, there are also tried and true ways to get the most from your time spent. No one has hours to waste just chatting, joining groups and trying to get to know people. If you learn the tricks and tips that can get you working in the right direction, you will begin to see the power of networking.

You will never know where or how far your networking can take you. There are specific steps you can take to achieve your goals much faster if you only learn the secrets.

If you want to learn from the best, you need to follow the leaders in your field. Search them out, listen to what they have to say, follow the steps they give, and create the success that they promise you can have if you work hard and follow their lead. Beware of so called leaders online today that are all talk and can’t truly back up what they say. They may want to mislead you by sugar coating things and paraphrasing other things to make themselves sound more important than they are. You don’t have the time to waste on these types of people.   You’ll know a true leader by their accomplishments and the quality of the information they share.

One such leader who has proven her worth in many ways, is Joanne Quinn-Smith, aka TechnoGranny. Joanne has four internet radio talk shows, and created a new media platform long before Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn were popular. She has been awarded the National Small Business Association (SBA) Journalist of the Year Award for her efforts in the new media. This marketing maven is searched out high and low for her remarkable speaking and teaching abilities.

Now for a limited time, you can grab a copy of her teleseminar “Becoming an Online Celebrity” and learn how to make your personality shine through the crowd, building a platform where people will soon be seeking you out for your skills and talents.

Grab your copy now for just $17!

“Becoming an Online Celebrity”

If you liked “Learn the Secrets to Branding Yourself Online! ” please share it with your online friends by clicking the links below.

Getting people to your page is just the first part of having a successful and profitable site. Making them stay there, is another matter. Website statistics just isn’t about driving traffic to your site, but it’s about making people want to stay there and come back over and over again. Bounce rates, which is defined as the percentage of visitors to any given site who arrive at a page and quickly leave before looking at any other page. Therefore, the lower the bounce rate of a site, the better.

So how does one keep visitors from ‘bouncing’ away? Here are a few simple tricks to keep your audience riveted to your website.

Optimize your site

No one likes to be kept waiting, least of all people who can leave your site at the click of a button. A site that loads quickly and pulls up all the information anyone and everyone may need will make it easier for visitors to poke around your website.

Clear and Intuitive Navigation

There’s nothing worse than arriving in a new city and not know where north, south, east and west are. Think of your website as a new place for visitors to explore – make sure the roads are well planned, and road signs clear and concise. A visible navigation bar, labeled accordingly and no broken links are essential to keeping visitors to your site.

Have relevant content

According to a recent study by BBC News, an average Internet user spends less than a minute per website. How can you keep people longer than that? By giving them what they need, of course, through relevant content. If you run a website about fashion, then make sure from the homepage that your design and content reflects this.

Keep content fresh and updated

A soap opera writer once said “Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry and make ‘em wait.” The same could be applied to your content – keep people interested and coming back for more. Having something new each day (or even every few hours) will keep people on your pages.

Have all the tools available

Web 2.0 is all about interactivity and socializing. Many blogs and sites make it easy to share links and content to their own social networking profile and interact with other users. You can install some simple tools directly on your website. Skysa, for example, installs a non-intrusive navigation bar on your site that lets visitors quickly access sites like Facebook and Twitter right on your site, without directing them away. (see mine below)

By making these few simple changes, you’ll see less visitors bouncing and more people sticking around your website.

With the Internet being a ubiquitous (ever-present) part of our daily lives, getting your business online is essential for any company. Whether you’ve been in business for 10 years or 10 minutes, your potential customers will most likely ask for your URL or email address. If you haven’t started building your website or getting on Facebook, then don’t worry; it’s not too late.

If you’ve been around for a while, then it’s easy enough to translate your branding and marketing online. It’s just a different medium, and it’s important you synergize what you do on the web with your brick and mortar business, to maximize your branding efforts. If your web marketing is part of your initial marketing strategy, then it’s important to get your branding done before you make any designs or buy up any online real estate (i.e. your domain name.) This will save you money in the long run, as you won’t have to change your website address or completely redesign your pages.

What you need to get started is a basic website. First, take care of the practicalities – get your website address or URL. (visit GoDaddy.com through our link in the sidebar) Hopefully, your business name hasn’t been taken by anyone else yet. If your first choice has been taken, then try to come up with something that’s easy to remember. Next thing you have to think about is the hosting – this is where you’ll be parking all your files for people do download onto their computers.

Next, you’ll have to think about the design and functionality of your site. Do you just want your information there, or do you want the extra bells and whistles – shopping carts, videos, payment processing, etc. (visit our Services page or contact us to help with this step) Do your homework and find out what people (your customers) would look for in a webpage. Do check out your competitor’s site and try to see what (and what doesn’t) work.

You’ll also need some compelling content for your site. With design and content, it’s always a chicken-and-egg argument and it really depends on you and your timeline. Of course, designers will probably ask for an outline to help them get started and give them an idea of how long programming will take. When creating content, you have to make sure it’s appropriate for your website and audience, while taking into consideration SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the keywords to be used.

When everything comes together, make sure your website is fully functioning and bug-free; there’s nothing worse than going to a website that doesn’t work. A good design company will include this in their services, including testing across different web browsers. And so do we

After you’ve gone through the site, you’re ready to publish! Start letting people know that your site is up, whether through email or just telling your customers when you see them. Integrate your URL into your collateral to make sure everyone knows where to find you on the web.

We’re happy to work with you on building your online presence, just give us a call at 865-223-5804 or contact us by email.