Be unique and thrive

Take a look around the mall next time you are out shopping. Did you notice how many stores are selling the same things such as furniture recliners, but only a few seem to have anyone looking at them?

Competition is a funny thing. It scares off the weak and only the strong usually survive.

When I was shopping for a car buffer I was constantly told about the same product. Why? Because they had branded themselves through quality and great customer service.

You need to set your business apart and be different. I know a guy who makes pro skateboards for a living. He has been doing it for years and makes good money because his products are so unique.

So what can you do to set your business apart?

Fast tips to start a business online

Are you looking for a basic and easy to understand plan for online marketing? Here is a three step plan anyone can use:

Find a money making niche

This is a powerful source to find those hidden niches:. http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

Here you will find an unlimited amount of ideas by seeing the “hot trends” that people are searching on. You will be surprised at what people are searching on. From a baby doll stroller to the season’s hottest camping table, to baby onesies

Buy a domain name and get it hosted

Don’t skimp here. Register your domain name and be sure to use a reputable hosting company.

Setup a blog using WordPress and signup for Adsense

By going to the WordPress.org forum you will have all the help you need to setup your blog and put Adsense ads on it.

Now start writing and adding content. Or hire a ghostwriter to create it for you.

Now keep adding quality content and focus on one or two ways to promote your blog until you have mastered them.

Excuse making leads to failure

Have you heard or used these excuses as to why starting a business online is way too hard?

It takes too much time!

When I got started marketing online, I was earning a college degree and working full time. If you learn to prioritize, you will find that there is always time. For instance, instead of watching your favorite TV show, that time could be used to work on a part time online business.

If you are willing to make sacrifices now, you will reap the rewards well into the future. Would you rather carry a backpack with wheels or a regular suitcase? Which is easier?

On line marketing costs way too much money!

Many of the best online marketers I know of, started out with very limited budgets, and slowly grew their business. Patience and prudent planning always win the race to success.

Marketing online has to have one of the lowest risk factors you will ever encounter for starting any business. So why would you deny yourself of this opportunity?

I really am not an expert on any subject!

You don’t have to be an expert like a multimaster tool to start marketing online. There is so much information out there, that you can easily become an expert on any number of topics within a few short months. As an example, if you so desired, you could become an expert on boy shoes, if you studied enough about the subject. However, if you are still uncomfortable with writing, you can always use a ghostwriter to create content for you.

Of all the excuses I have heard, the ones above have to be the worst. For almost any excuse someone can give me as to why they can’t market online, I can come up with 3-4 reasons why they CAN.

How marketing online has evolved

The Internet has evolved so fast that people can add content within minutes. If you wanted to tell your cooking class about your favourite skinning knife or art class about the best art easel or home décor class about a cool new hanging lamp it used to take hours to create the page and upload the content.

Today it only takes a matter of minutes.

It makes me wonder where we are headed next. What new innovations will make something that is so time consuming today, take only a matter of minutes 10 years from now?

Don’t be scared to create new product ideas

Should you develop your business around your passions or is there another way to make money online? I hear this question all of the time and there is no right answer. It all depends on the person.

Some people like to collect crystal lamp from the turn of the century, others are into sports and music. Yet others are into creatingpillow inserts and couch pillows.

One thing I tell all of my clients is to find everyday problems people have, then create a solution. Why? Because people want solutions to the problems they are faced with. Who doesn’t?

One of the easiest ways to uncover these problems is to simply observe everyday life. I can brainstorm dozens of product ideas by simply watching TV for a few hours. The same can be said for reading magazines or listening to the radio. Once you open your mind to finding and resolving these problems, the ideas will flow!

Are your customer relations up to snuff?

Marketing online requires some really thick skin, as I found out many years ago. No matter how many customers you satisfy, there is always that one insane customer who makes you hate them all. Or that your organic shampoo is a fraud because it didn’t make their hair grow back.

There are crazy people out there and thus, there will be crazy customers. It simply can’t be avoided. You could invent the perfect cat tower and still have a customer complain.

Here is how I solved this problem with my own business. I started to communicate more with my customers and learned they were not just data on a screen. Each customer was a real live person with his or her own individual hopes and dreams. I even managed to get many angry customers to apologize for their behaviour and many of them happily gave me their business again and again. I even had one customer who had returned a broken ceiling fans with lights become one of my best customers.

If you set a policy of total and complete customer satisfaction, realize that not everyone will be happy with your products or service. You can only control so much about what makes a happy customer, the rest is something you have to just accept to move forward and run your business well.

How to properly link your site

Today I want to talk about the importance of a canonical url and how it effects your search engine rankings. As an example, if you have a coin purse site, you would want to use the same url for every page.

Canonicalization is basically the process the search engines use to pick the best url for your Website. As an example you can have the following urls leading back to your site:

www.yoursite.com
yoursite.com
yoursite.com/index.html

The search engines perceive each of these links as a separate url.

So why exactly should you be worried about this? If you are using various forms of your urls, it can have a negative effect on your rankings. You don’t want the search engines trying to go fishing for your urls like your site was a koi pond.

If you are guilty of improper url linking, you aren’t alone. A majority of marketers are making this crucial mistake every day simply because they aren’t aware of it. However, this is easily correctable.

You want to make it as easy as possible for the search engines to determine which url you prefer. Never, ever leave it up to a robot to make a decision about your site that you have total control of. Your rankings could fold up like a cheap futon bed. In this business you need every little edge you can get over the competition.

Can price changes increase profits?

One of the biggest shocks to many new marketers is how you can raise prices on physical products such as a double din car stereo or a bamboo cutting board, and even digital products, but increase sales.

An old marketing genius I once knew, was able to sell hundreds of thousands of copies of an ebook he previously gave away.

The hilarious part is, while he got a only a small amount of comments about his ebook while he was giving it away, he was floored with rave reviews when he sold it. This is because when people had to pay for the content, it became much more valuable to them. It rose in value like an old muscle car.

Believe it or not, this happens all of the time.

This is way I always encourage my clients to constantly test their product prices; especially raising the prices. If a product is selling poorly, something as simple as a price change can boost your sales, as people may perceive it to have more value if the price is raised.

Now if sales are still stagnant, then perhaps your sales letter needs work.