Key words are critical -- so I have been told. They are the words that describe your product or service. They are words people use to search for your product or service. They should run through your Web page content, in the page title, in the Meta description, through online advertisements, in links to your site, in newsletters, in blogs, online articles, and anything else online. Keeping those search terms consistant throughout several sites helps your site in the search engine rankings, which in turn helps increase the amount of traffic to your site.
Google Ad-Words has a key word generator. Brainstorm with colleagues or friends to come up with key words you think might be ones people use. Then look at your web site statistics to see what ones people use the most.
Look at your competition's site. Check out the Meta tags and other words used within the content of the competition. It's easy and avaialble!
Meta tags (behind the scenes list of descriptive words -- key words -- at the tops of a web site) are still a piece of the SEO (search engine optimization) pie, but are not weighed as heavily as they once were. Content is key, and key words should be used in that content as close to the top of the page as possible.
If you hire someone to design your site make sure they have experience creating e-commerce web sites. Newbies might not be aware of how important those words are. Look at examples of their work and check out other Web sites to find things you like and don't like.
Technology changes everything. Now people are spending time on Facebook and other social media sites. Blackberries and iPhones are becoming more and more popular. Web sites will have to be adapted to meet the needs of the hardware and software being used today. Key words and search terms will be a part of the search process as technology carries us along.
Technology has changed dramatically in the past 9 years since I started Maine Warmers. Hundreds of millions of Web sites have been added, several search engines have been purchased by Google, and Social Media is now the place where people go online. In order to sell my microwave heating pads I have to be aware of those changes and adapt my marketing plan to keep my Neck Warmer page up high in the search engine ranking system.
Good luck with yours, and if you want to share some key word tips please leave a comment.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Planning a Successful Online Store
Nancy Fraser said, 'It may feel more productive to be DOING, but it is actually more constructive to be PLANNING."
Before redesigning the Maine Warmers' web site, I debated about whether or not it was worth the time, effort, and expense.
Should I have hired out the new design? I was told not to spend my time doing that -- to let the people who know web design do it. "You don't have to know how to build a car to drive one," was the argument. I did not follow that advice because web site sales are the majority of the business and being able to make changes and updates when I want to without having to pay someone for that service is critical. I have training and expereince in web design after creating and managing Maine Warmers.com for several years. Also, creating the content is a huge part of the design, and I would have to do that part anyway.
The goals were to make the site clear and simple to navigate, to show the products and uses, and make ordering easy and secure. Sometimes a fancy site can be misleading or take up so much band width with Flash and photos that viewers tire of the download wait and move on.
With customer demographics in mind I gathered my team to decide what needed to be included in the site. We looked at the competition and other web sites we liked and didn't like. I talked with other people and considered what I had read and hear about usability over the years. Then, taking advantange of the slow summer season I set upon the redesign.
Betsy Hanscom, owner of Maine Warmers, LLC created her first online store in 2000 for the sale of microwave heating pads and gentle ice packs. She sells wholesale to gift stores offline. Stores that carry Maine Warmers are listing on the web site on the "Where to Buy" page. Cozy Sheep and Dachshund Neck Warmers are a few of the items sold on this site and make perfect well gifts.
Before redesigning the Maine Warmers' web site, I debated about whether or not it was worth the time, effort, and expense.
Should I have hired out the new design? I was told not to spend my time doing that -- to let the people who know web design do it. "You don't have to know how to build a car to drive one," was the argument. I did not follow that advice because web site sales are the majority of the business and being able to make changes and updates when I want to without having to pay someone for that service is critical. I have training and expereince in web design after creating and managing Maine Warmers.com for several years. Also, creating the content is a huge part of the design, and I would have to do that part anyway.
The goals were to make the site clear and simple to navigate, to show the products and uses, and make ordering easy and secure. Sometimes a fancy site can be misleading or take up so much band width with Flash and photos that viewers tire of the download wait and move on.
With customer demographics in mind I gathered my team to decide what needed to be included in the site. We looked at the competition and other web sites we liked and didn't like. I talked with other people and considered what I had read and hear about usability over the years. Then, taking advantange of the slow summer season I set upon the redesign.
Betsy Hanscom, owner of Maine Warmers, LLC created her first online store in 2000 for the sale of microwave heating pads and gentle ice packs. She sells wholesale to gift stores offline. Stores that carry Maine Warmers are listing on the web site on the "Where to Buy" page. Cozy Sheep and Dachshund Neck Warmers are a few of the items sold on this site and make perfect well gifts.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
E-Newsletter -- Part of a Marketing Plan
Convincing people to sign up for your electronic newsletter takes knowing who your readers are. Age, location, gender, education level, and average income can be important in considering your message.
Give them what they want. Most people want to learn something from a newsletter and be entertained. Use humor and photos whenever possible. Keep it short and sweet. I don't like to click on links from a newsletter. I want to see it and read it -- no waiting, thank you. Sometimes that is not possible, and I will click the link if I know the article is something really important to me.
Offer incentives -- a give-a-way or inclusion in a drawing for a prize. Specials for "subscribers only" may help increase the number of those who sign up to receive your newsletter. Talk with people like your customers and ask them what they want. If you have the means, do a survey.
Tried and true recipes sometimes are fun or a review of a great restaurant (if it is a local newsletter), relevant book, or links to articles with expert information.
Set a tone and try to keep it consist ant. Don't advertise a monthly newsletter if you cannot meet the deadline. Advertise it as an occasional newsletter.
Do not send SPAM. Develop a permission-based newsletter. Do not send emails that allow others to see every one's email addresses. That's worse than SPAM! Allow people to unsubscribe when they want. An email contact management program or service, such as Constant Contact, helps to manage the information and saves you time -- hours you could spend enjoying life.
Keep track of how many newsletters are opened. How many sales are brought in by the special you offered.
Quality is more important than quantity. Start small and build a following by offering people what they want. Be sure to put links to your web site and other pages that are important for your readers. Include your contact information. Have fun with it and your readers will enjoy it. Let them know it is okay to share it with others -- especially if you offer a sale item.
A newsletter is usually part of a marketing plan. It help build name recognition and customer loyalty. Plan first, then take steps to begin sending an electronic newsletter.
Betsy Hanscom writes a monthly e-Newsletter for her company, Maine Warmers. She has a drawing once a month and sends a free warmer to a person whose name was picked from the list of all subscribers. This month's winner won a Cozy Polar Bear.
Give them what they want. Most people want to learn something from a newsletter and be entertained. Use humor and photos whenever possible. Keep it short and sweet. I don't like to click on links from a newsletter. I want to see it and read it -- no waiting, thank you. Sometimes that is not possible, and I will click the link if I know the article is something really important to me.
Offer incentives -- a give-a-way or inclusion in a drawing for a prize. Specials for "subscribers only" may help increase the number of those who sign up to receive your newsletter. Talk with people like your customers and ask them what they want. If you have the means, do a survey.
Tried and true recipes sometimes are fun or a review of a great restaurant (if it is a local newsletter), relevant book, or links to articles with expert information.
Set a tone and try to keep it consist ant. Don't advertise a monthly newsletter if you cannot meet the deadline. Advertise it as an occasional newsletter.
Do not send SPAM. Develop a permission-based newsletter. Do not send emails that allow others to see every one's email addresses. That's worse than SPAM! Allow people to unsubscribe when they want. An email contact management program or service, such as Constant Contact, helps to manage the information and saves you time -- hours you could spend enjoying life.
Keep track of how many newsletters are opened. How many sales are brought in by the special you offered.
Quality is more important than quantity. Start small and build a following by offering people what they want. Be sure to put links to your web site and other pages that are important for your readers. Include your contact information. Have fun with it and your readers will enjoy it. Let them know it is okay to share it with others -- especially if you offer a sale item.
A newsletter is usually part of a marketing plan. It help build name recognition and customer loyalty. Plan first, then take steps to begin sending an electronic newsletter.
Betsy Hanscom writes a monthly e-Newsletter for her company, Maine Warmers. She has a drawing once a month and sends a free warmer to a person whose name was picked from the list of all subscribers. This month's winner won a Cozy Polar Bear.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Planning is key to marketing an online store
Getting found among the millions of Web sites on the World Wide Web seems insurmountable and is critical to survival as an online store. Marketing a web site on your own takes time, lots of learning, and many steps.
Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water when it comes to marketing my web site. But then I pull out the written plan and see what has been accomplished and where I am headed. The marketing plan is now longer than ever and continually grows.
Planning is key. The plans can and do change over the years as the Internet changes, the search engines change, business models change, and people change their online shopping habits. If you don't like change running an online store is probably not the job for you.
Read books, do Internet research, and attend workshops to learn the latest about Internet marketing.
The first part of most plans would be to register a site on search engines. Ten years ago there were 15 or 20, now it is just a few big ones like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. It could take a few months before your listing shows up -- unless you pay cash for an immediate listing.
Important key words in the text of the site and meta-tags are critical and should be repeated through any online advertising, articles, or press releases.
Links back to your site are important but if they aren't relative to your site they won't help much. Key words within the site linking to yours are factored into the algorithm Google uses to bring up sites in organic searches.
Paid advertising -- Pay Per Click -- is an option to help a site get found right away. A PPC campaign boosted online sales immediately for my site. I worry though about fraud even though Google says they keep a close eye on fraudulent clicking.
EBay was another form of marketing and advertising. Now I use Online Auction to create traffic and links back to my site for a flat monthly fee of $8.
An e-Newsletter has had good results. It's a great way to build a following, show new products, and sell.
Blogs are another way to drive people to your Web site if you have something to teach or if your blog has entertainment value.
Social networking is a relatively new phenomenon but has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years. Word of mouth is what it seems to be about. I need to read and know more about it. A lot of people are extolling social media -- Twitter & Facebook -- as great marketing tools, but I have yet to see any definite results from our efforts other than creating a list of fans.
Make a list -- a plan -- ways to drive people to your web site. Many times there are offline things that can be done to drive people to a site. You'll never be able to do all the things on your list at once unless, of course, you have a large staff. Over time, you can implement a variety of marketing activities that should show results.
I will share more on Internet marketing plans in future posts. If you get a stiff neck sitting at the computer -- reading too many blogs -- you can go to Maine Warmers and find a microwave Neck Warmer to relax the stiff muscles.
Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water when it comes to marketing my web site. But then I pull out the written plan and see what has been accomplished and where I am headed. The marketing plan is now longer than ever and continually grows.
Planning is key. The plans can and do change over the years as the Internet changes, the search engines change, business models change, and people change their online shopping habits. If you don't like change running an online store is probably not the job for you.
Read books, do Internet research, and attend workshops to learn the latest about Internet marketing.
The first part of most plans would be to register a site on search engines. Ten years ago there were 15 or 20, now it is just a few big ones like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. It could take a few months before your listing shows up -- unless you pay cash for an immediate listing.
Important key words in the text of the site and meta-tags are critical and should be repeated through any online advertising, articles, or press releases.
Links back to your site are important but if they aren't relative to your site they won't help much. Key words within the site linking to yours are factored into the algorithm Google uses to bring up sites in organic searches.
Paid advertising -- Pay Per Click -- is an option to help a site get found right away. A PPC campaign boosted online sales immediately for my site. I worry though about fraud even though Google says they keep a close eye on fraudulent clicking.
EBay was another form of marketing and advertising. Now I use Online Auction to create traffic and links back to my site for a flat monthly fee of $8.
An e-Newsletter has had good results. It's a great way to build a following, show new products, and sell.
Blogs are another way to drive people to your Web site if you have something to teach or if your blog has entertainment value.
Social networking is a relatively new phenomenon but has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years. Word of mouth is what it seems to be about. I need to read and know more about it. A lot of people are extolling social media -- Twitter & Facebook -- as great marketing tools, but I have yet to see any definite results from our efforts other than creating a list of fans.
Make a list -- a plan -- ways to drive people to your web site. Many times there are offline things that can be done to drive people to a site. You'll never be able to do all the things on your list at once unless, of course, you have a large staff. Over time, you can implement a variety of marketing activities that should show results.
I will share more on Internet marketing plans in future posts. If you get a stiff neck sitting at the computer -- reading too many blogs -- you can go to Maine Warmers and find a microwave Neck Warmer to relax the stiff muscles.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
My Biggest Fear Came True
My biggest fear has come true. I worried that if I re-designed my web site I would stop getting orders. I went ahead and redesigned it – trying to keep as much of the header information the same so people could still find Maine Warmers in Google searches.
I muddled through hours of classes for 6 weeks learning Dreamweaver CS4, thinking it would be intuitive (like the old Macromedia Dreamweaver). It wasn’t. I think the people who wrote the code for this program must have taken lessons from those who wrote the Federal tax code.
I studied the 800 page DREAMWEAVER CS4 The Missing Manual for 3 months beyond that. I talked with a variety of people about what was important to them when they looked for products and purchased online, and I looked at a variety of e-commerce web sites. I experimented with different designs, keeping in mind usability and accessibility. I drew out a plan, arranged it in MS Publisher, and created a re-designed site in the new $400 Dreamweaver CS4 program. Then I created another site and another, finally ending up with one that met my goals of organizing and compacting information into a smaller area, looking decent and consistant.
I have had a number of people review the site to make sure it is working well and to help me work out a few bugs. But it has been four days without an Internet order and that is a mystery and a worry. Determination and resourcefulness will help me root out the causes and fix them, but it will mean more 3 AM problems solving sessions until the orders begin to come in again.
---
Maine Warmers is an e-commerce store selling microwave heating pads and iced packs. People find the site by searching for Neck Warmers and Back Warmers to help relieve sore muscles.
I muddled through hours of classes for 6 weeks learning Dreamweaver CS4, thinking it would be intuitive (like the old Macromedia Dreamweaver). It wasn’t. I think the people who wrote the code for this program must have taken lessons from those who wrote the Federal tax code.
I studied the 800 page DREAMWEAVER CS4 The Missing Manual for 3 months beyond that. I talked with a variety of people about what was important to them when they looked for products and purchased online, and I looked at a variety of e-commerce web sites. I experimented with different designs, keeping in mind usability and accessibility. I drew out a plan, arranged it in MS Publisher, and created a re-designed site in the new $400 Dreamweaver CS4 program. Then I created another site and another, finally ending up with one that met my goals of organizing and compacting information into a smaller area, looking decent and consistant.
I have had a number of people review the site to make sure it is working well and to help me work out a few bugs. But it has been four days without an Internet order and that is a mystery and a worry. Determination and resourcefulness will help me root out the causes and fix them, but it will mean more 3 AM problems solving sessions until the orders begin to come in again.
---
Maine Warmers is an e-commerce store selling microwave heating pads and iced packs. People find the site by searching for Neck Warmers and Back Warmers to help relieve sore muscles.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)