Charles Denault III

So you’ve spent hours on end (or thousands of dollars) developing your e-commerce website to sell your killer products, but you just can’t seem to get the amount of traffic you want! What do you do? Buying traffic doesn’t help you out at all and is just a bad idea in general. Well throughout my research I’ve developed a solid list of tips and tricks to getting your site noticed.

1. Niche Forums: Go ahead and register on all of the forums that are in your niche. Put your website link in the signature of each post and go through answering questions people have. The more links you have out there, the more chances someone will click it. Do this on a regular basis.
2. Site blog: This one may seem obscure for many people. Create a blog and regularly post to it. The posts can be anything from product tips and reviews to promo-codes for your store. If you post promo-codes, be sure to post them around the forums as well!
3. Yahoo Answers: Post answers to questions on Yahoo Answers and Google Answers with your link as the source. It’ll help curious people click their way to your products.
4. Facebook Page: If you haven’t already, try creating a facebook page for your business. Invite all your friends and offer promo-codes and do a giveaway every now and then. Use status updates and facebook ads to promote your page. *It should be noted that facebook’s newsfeed algorithm doesn’t display pages if the user isn’t engaged or if it doesn’t think it’s relevant. I’ve noticed solid traffic increases though.
5. Product Manuals: Upload all of the product manuals to your website in HTML format. This will help will long keywords and give users another reason to visit your website.
6. Review Section: Let users write and upload reviews about your products.
7. Post Reviews Elsewhere: Write reviews about your products on other review websites. If you have a webcam, videotape yourself reviewing your products. Post all over!
8. Create a place page: If you’re marketing to a specific geographic region, you can create a free Google Place page, which will help with negative results.
9. Froogle/Base: Add your products… it can’t hurt.
10. AdWords: This is a no-brainer, but often skipped because of the prices. It’s worth it to advertise with AdWords, especially if you choose to have results on the Google Search Results pages. Suck it up and spend the money.

And that’s all for now!

Amidst writing my latest business plan, I’ve begun to dive deeper and deeper into the minds of consumers. Asking myself all sorts of questions to ensure that I cover every possible topic and scenario. Well here’s one for you…

What’s your primary product?

Before we even go over your answer, lets have a look at some very successful businesses.

Polo Ralph Lauren: They sell clothes, right? No. They sell status. Do you really think they have $40.00 into each shirt that you buy for $50? Absolutely not. It doesn’t cost them any more than it does a no-name brand that’s selling similar shirts at Wal-Mart. You’re buying the status that’s affiliated with the brand.

Cologne Companies: You think they’re selling that oil based fragrance in that little bottle? Nope! They’re tapping into an emotional need of consumers. They give the consumers the idea that they’ll feel needed/wanted/more attractive when they wear the fragrance. And once again, it doesn’t cost them nearly anything close to what they’re selling the goods for.

McDonalds: You better be learning by now… What are they selling? GOOD! They’re selling convenience! Surely, you don’t find their products to be the best tasting around, yet millions of people buy their food every day! That’s because their primary product is convenience. They make it so easy for us, with our super busy lives, to get a quick satisfying meal with an extra 500 calories.

So when you go to look at your business, ask yourself what your primary product is? What is it that your customers will really be after? It’s so difficult for a start-up to pull out the price card, because their competitors are so established that they can most likely do it more efficiently than the start-up. You want to focus on something that you know you can provide and if you can come up with a unique primary product, with standard secondary products, well then I think you might just be on the right track.

So I wanted to make something similar to the Macbook Air Splash Page on Apple.com

I found the result to be super simple!

Before your content you simply need a div like the following:

<div id="overlay">
<!-- Your content goes in here -->

</div>

The CSS is as follows:

div#overlay {

background-color:#1f5a84; /* can be whatever you want */

z-index:1000;

position:absolute;

top:0;

left:0;

}

$(function() {

var width = $(window).width()

var height = $(document).height();

$(“#overlay”).width(width);

$(“#overlay”).height(height);

$(“#overlay”).delay(2000).fadeOut();

});

What’s this nonsense? Mixing people with business? Why would anyone do such a thing? Business is supposed to be cold hearted. I want to talk to a foreigner when I call for phone support.

Sorry, but I believe that entrepreneurs are doing something wrong these days. The little guys are so wrapped up in making themselves appear bigger than they really are. Sure, as consumers when we first visit a website we judge it by it’s look and layout. If things are scattered around, we move on. But what about two equally designed sites, one just has a corporate feel while the other is homey. I’d rather buy from the little guy, as long as he presents his products in a nice manner which reflects good business that will deliver in a timely manner.

I think that when people hear that “business image is everything” (which it is) they get the idea that they’re supposed to try and look like the big guys. They’re trying to be the Domino’s while I want to be the Papa John’s. When I am working out a new business plan, I try to devise a clear and concise system of how I am going to brand myself. I always try to give my business a feel of being professional, efficient, organized, and focused. I do that in such a manner where I can also portray myself as being a big as I really am… which generally isn’t never has been huge.

I’ve noticed a trend with the branding of some of the dominating companies out there as well. Go back to our Domino’s analogy. They’re going back to the basics with their latest campaigns. They’re letting consumers send in videos and pictures of their pizzas when they got them delivered. This hardcore advertising and rebranding campaign has now made me, as a consumer, recognize the CEO of Domino’s. Just that alone gives it a more personal feel. Seeing the guy behind it all makes me feel more comfortable when dealing with their stores.

So keep that in mind when you’re writing your next business plan. Ask yourself how you’re going to give your business a professional yet personal brand? Ask yourself how you are going to make your customers connect with your brand and recognize it? How are you going to convert consumers into customers?