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Internet Marketing Strategy For Home Business Promotion
Mon 13th Nov '00
In this issue:
1. INTRODUCTION
==>Moving host.
2. PLACES TO VISIT
==>Web sites for you to visit.
3. TOOLS AT NOW SELL!
==>Useful tools to make your life easier.
4. MARKETPLACE
==>Check out special offers and deals here.
5. FEATURE ARTICLE
==>"Three Models of Shoestring eBiz Success"
By Rob Spiegel.
Scroll to the end for subscription details.
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X INTRODUCTION X
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Hello,
What a week! And I'm not talking about the US election (which -
with its re-counts, law suits and miraculously appearing ballot
boxes - is fast rivalling the ratings of favorite soap operas
worldwide).
The events that were to shape my week, began with an email from
my host. A brief note, to inform this "valued customer" that his
web site had been taken off-line. Apparently, he's one of those
spammer types. He must be. He's accused of "advertising and
distributing mass emailing software."
For the second time, access to my site had been summarily
removed. No notice. Previously I was accused of spamming - with
Biz Bits! Yet again I was apparently, "guilty until proven
innocent." I wasn't happy.
As on the first occasion, I complained, and two days later the
site went back online. However, this time I'd had enough.
Within five minutes of first learning the site was off-line, I
had opened an account with another host (WestHost, whom I
wholeheartedly recommend) and initiated the domain transfer.
I've been intending to move for quite some time (and had already
thoroughly researched hosts), but wanted to completely redesign
the site off-line first. Having yet to make a start, I had no
option but to transfer the site as is.
Not that it is a five minute task to move a site containing over
400 files. There are always problems. Having a copy of the site
on my local hard drive made uploading the regular pages
straight-forward enough.
All of the CGI scripts, however, needed updating with new path
information and required permissions setting once on the server.
Fortunately, although there are still a few minor problems,
overall the transfer went quite smoothly.
But I was far from satisfied. I knew that if I didn't do it
immediately, it could be months before I got around to a
re-design. I decided to leave the site 95% operational, and work
on a fast redesign instead.
Taking advantage of the pressure created by the urgency of the
situation, for the remainder of the week, I worked flat-out to
come up with a new, clean design (nothing radical, but one which
will hopefully better serve the user, search engines and myself).
The main templates and component parts are now ready, so I've
allowed myself a short break; to write to you, and attend to some
of my un-answered email. For the first time, Biz Bits almost
didn't go out at all! (If you've just subscribed, this issue is
actually two days late!)
BB
You'll notice that this issue is a little slimmer than usual.
The most noticeable omission is the TIDBITS news section.
Initially, I planned to cut it for today only. On reflection,
however, I've decided to suspend it indefinitely.
It's a section I quite enjoy putting together, but - as I'm sure
you can imagine - reviewing a week's worth of news, from multiple
sources, takes several hours. And then it needs editing and
formatting (plus I always end up with more items than I can put
in!). I think my time could be more usefully applied in other
areas.
Taking a moment to write and explain why they had unsubscribed
earlier in the week, two kind readers provided me with another
reason. Both cited email overload as a major problem. Both also
referred to the TIDBITS section and number of out-bound links
which they don't have time to investigate. Both complimented me
on my articles, and thanked me for the useful information I had
shared.
Whilst these are only two readers, I have noticed (from
click-through data) that the number of subscribers reading Biz
Bits later in the week is increasing. From additional feedback,
as well as my own experience, this is usually a sign of email
overload. You put larger emails to one side "for later," when you
have more time. Unfortunately, that often means you never read
them.
I've also been hearing a lot of discussion on the topic of using
brief outlines in an ezine, to link to a complete article online.
It would appear that the majority of people don't follow the
links. Time, and inconvenience being the major factors. My
personal experience mirrors that: I seldom follow an ezine intro
to read an article online.
Having down-sized once already (though still struggling to stay
under the AOL 25K limit), a further reduction in size might be in
Biz Bits' better interests. I'm going to see what the response is
like to a smaller issue and faster read. If you have an opinion
either way, drop me a line.
My apologies - the article that should have been in the last
issue, still isn't ready! To be honest, with the events of the
last week, not a word has been added. Expect it to appear next
week. Rob Spiegel has come up with another excellent article in
its place.
Nor did I have time to search out five new sites for PLACES TO
VISIT as I usually do. Instead I've included a selection of great
sites owned by friends.
BB
Tell me what YOU think! Send your feedback, comments, what you
like, what you hate, etc., to me at: mailto:azam-nowsell.com
TTFN
Azam
PS - Have you visited the Newbie Club yet? No matter how good you
THINK you are with Windows, this is a site you'll definitely
come away from having learnt something. Free guides, ebooks
and tutorials, all bursting with pictures to make everything
doubly clear.
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Your Privacy:
I greatly value your trust in me. I will never, ever, under any
circumstances give or sell your email address to anyone. Period!
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X PLACES TO VISIT X
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http://www.i-Cop.org
I've mentioned the value of iCop (International Council of Online
Professionals) to your business before. You also want to sign-up
for Monday Memo. In a sea of Internet hype, the ezine of
straight-talking iCop president, jl scott, ph.d., is a refreshing
change. I've been a subscriber for a year already.
http://www.AdCopywriting.com
Home of Joe Robson, a successful copywriting wizard with 30
years experience. Joe is author of the best selling "Make Your
Words Sell!" web copywriting course (featured at the top of this
issue), and his site is packed with free tutorials to help you
get more from your words.
http://www.eBooksnBytes.com
One of a collection of sites owned by Eva Almeida which provide a
range of resources for anyone creating and marketing ebooks. Here
you'll find everything from advice, software and reviews, as well
as links to other resources.
http://www.Ezine-Marketing.com/
This Ezine directory and search engine is one of several sites
owned by Amber Jalink. With a direct link from Amber's new
ecommerce portal and PPC search engine, it could soon prove a
valuable place to be listed free.
http://www.SiteTipsAndTricks.com
Tips and advice on building a winning site from Bob McElwain,
who's been marketing online since way back in 1993. Subscribe to
his STAT News for more marketing strategies and promotional
methods that work.
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"TRUST YOUR E-COMMERCE TRANSACTIONS TO
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X TOOLS AT NOW SELL! X
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Promotion Tools: Click Here
* Keyword Research Tool
* Meta Tag Maker
* Free Automatic Search Engine Submit
* Rapid Manual Search Engine Submit Tool
* Position Analyzer to check site rank in the SEs
* Link Generators
* Multi Search Tool
HTML Tools: Click Here
* Multiple Pop-up window code generator
* Multiple MouseOver image generator
* Frames code generator
* Simple CSS template
* 216 Web color palette and codes
* HTML Special character codes
* Useful cut & paste Javascript, and more
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"DOES YOUR PC DRIVE YOU CRAZY?"
Wouldn't you like to know how to make your PC do exactly what you
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X MARKETPLACE X
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Marketplace Available In Email Version Only.
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X FEATURE ARTICLE X
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"Three Models of Shoestring eBiz Success"
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By Rob Spiegel
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only Internet business journalist
who follows the activities of small companies on the Web. Most
business writers rarely cover the subject, and when they do, they
usually ask why small companies haven't moved more aggressively
to the Net, or else they focus on the small company as a consumer
of products over the Internet. Apparently, they don't see the
proliferation small sites as a big ecommerce story.
This isn't too surprising, given the dramatic stories of big
enterprises breaking out all around. Bertelsmann buys Napster.
Pets.com crashes and burns. The result of this coverage is the
impression that the Internet has failed to live up to its promise
for anyone, let alone small companies.
Let me say it clear. Let me say it again. On the Internet, the
niche entrepreneur rules. Small companies have the best chance
of grabbing a well-defined specialty line and making the Internet
profitable as a means for finding customers and selling them
products and services.
We're beginning to see some trends on the types of Net business
models that work for small entrepreneurs. Here are the leading
business initiatives for small Web enterprises. We begin with
the least successful and move to the most successful.
The Net-only model
This is the toughest model for success, but its not out of
possibility by any means. The roughest aspect of the pure dot
com is that it's usually launched by a business novice. Lack of
business experience is the single reason this model is
difficult. The Net-only company is typically run by an
entrepreneur who has little background running the functions of a
small business, from budgets and marketing to staff management
and customer service.
The solution to this challenge is to bring in a grown-up with
domain and business experience. In other words, for a fishing
site, make sure you bring in a retired small business owner who
is an avid trout fisher to serve on your management team.
The Web as a business addition
This is a play by a company already experiencing success as a
traditional company. Lands End is an example of a company that
has successfully expanded its business onto the Internet. Like
most catalogs, the company began doing little more than putting
their catalog pages online.
Over the past couple of years, though, the company figured out
how to take its brick business and transform it into a successful
Web effort. This requires a real understand of how Internet
buyers shop and what they expect from a great Web retailer.
Lands End wasted little time creating a site for Internet buyers
that serves their needs with the right product mix and great
service support. The foundation for this initiative is the past
successful experience of the company.
The site as business support
Using a Web site as a support vehicle for a business that is
already up and going is no-brainer for small business. You
succeed by using your Web site to serve your existing customer
base while also reaching out to new customers and new markets.
The early examples of Internet success came in the form of Web
sites being used to help customers interact more successfully
with retailers. Once you have a functioning service site in
place, it's not difficult or expensive to utilize basic
affiliations marketing to reach new markets.
By the way, if you want to see some of these business models at
work, go to the Yahoo! shopping section and search under a niche
topic such as chocolate or fishing. All three of these business
models are represented in the Yahoo! stores. This is also true
for stores in all other malls and Web sites out there
independently in the cyber world.
You want to succeed on the Internet? Start watching the
activities of niche sites. As for all the gloomy stories coming
from the giant sites: forget about it!
Rob Spiegel is the author of The Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide
to the Best Home-Based Businesses (St. Martin's Press) and the
upcoming Net Strategy (Dearborn). You can reach Rob Spiegel at
spiegelrob@aol.com.
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