Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn | Guy Kawasaki

When Guy Kawasaki blogged about the Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn, LinkedIn had 8.5 million users in 130 industries. Since then we’ve grown to over 12 million users covering 147 industries, but many of Guy’s suggestions on using LinkedIn (see below), still remain a great way for professionals to strengthen their online brand reputation and leverage their professional network. Happy Reading!

1. Increase your visibility.

By adding connections, you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile first when they’re searching for someone to hire or do business with. In addition to appearing at the top of search results (which is a major plus if you’re one of the 52,000 product managers on LinkedIn), people would much rather work with people who their friends know and trust.

2. Improve your connectability.

Most new users put only their current company in their profile. By doing so, they severely limit their ability to connect with people. You should fill out your profile like it’s an executive bio, so include
past companies, education, affiliations, and activities.

You can also include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials, which would be awkward if not downright strange, as
an attachment.

3. Improve your Google PageRank.

LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.

To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in
search engines, use this link in various places on the web, For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.

4. Enhance your search engine results.

In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.

If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site. To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”

5. Perform blind, “reverse,” and company reference checks.

LinkedIn’s reference check tool to input a company name and the years the person worked at the company to search for references. Your search will find the people who worked at the company during the same time period. Since references provided by a candidate will generally be glowing, this is a good way to get more balanced data.

Companies will typically check your references before hiring you, but have you ever thought of checking your prospective manager’s references? Most interviewees don’t have the audacity to ask a
potential boss for references, but with LinkedIn you have a way to scope her out.

You can also check up on the company itself by finding the person who used to have the job that you’re interviewing for. Do this by searching for job title and company, but be sure to uncheck “Current titles only.” By contacting people who used to hold the position, you can get the inside scoop on the job, manager and growth potential.

By the way, if using LinkedIn in these ways becomes a common practice, we’re apt to see more truthful resumes. There’s nothing more amusing than to find out that the candidate who claims to have caused some huge success was a total bozo who was just along for the ride.

6. Increase the relevancy of your job search.

Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find people with educational and work experience like yours to see where they work. For example, a programmer would use search keywords such as “Ruby on Rails,” “C++,” “Python,” “Java,” and “evangelist” to find out where other programmers with these skills work.

7. Make your interview go smoother.

You can use LinkedIn to find the people that you’re meeting. Knowing that you went to the same school, plays hockey, or shares acquaintances is a lot better than an awkward silence after, “I’m doing fine, thank you.”

8. Gauge the health of a company.

Perform an advanced search for company name and uncheck the “Current Companies Only” box. This will enable you to scrutinize the rate of turnover and whether key people are abandoning ship. Former employees usually give more candid opinions about a company’s prospects than someone who’s still on board.

9. Gauge the health of an industry.

If you’re thinking of investing or working in a sector, use LinkedIn to find people who worked for competitors—or even better, companies who failed. For example, suppose you wanted to build a next generation online pet store, you’d probably learn a lot from speaking with former Pets.com or WebVan employees.

10. Track startups.

You can see people in your network who are initiating new startups by doing an advanced search for a range of keywords such as “stealth” or “new startup.” Apply the “Sort By” filter to “Degrees away from you” in order to see the people closest to you first. [Republished from: Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn via "How to Change the World" -- Guy Kawasaki's blog]

Guy is known for bringing the concept of technology evangelism to the masses through his pioneering work at Apple’s Macintosh group. In addition to blogging the above post earlier this year, he has also blogged on topics ranging from LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover to LinkedIn and the Art of avoiding an Asshole Boss.
[Source: Guy Kawasaki's weblog -- How to Change the World - http://blog.guykawasaki.com ]

How to Harness the Marketing Power of Blogs

I’m sure you’ve heard about one of the biggest things to hit the web in the last few years: blogging.

A “blog” (derived from the term “web log”) is basically just a website with two key differences: First, it’s extremely easy to add information to it. A blog is like an online journal, so you just log in, type what happened today, post it, and you’re done! Second, you can add a simple little feature that automatically tells a whole bunch of other websites that you’ve made an update to your blog–every time you make a change.

However, what you may not know is that a blog can also be a very powerful marketing tool for your business, and some people actually earn an income just from blogging alone.

The fact is, blogging is fast becoming an extremely important strategy for any online marketer. An effective blog can:

• drive swarms of traffic to your main website,
• generate more product sales,
• create an additional stream of advertising income,
• be a great customer service tool,
• and much more!

Blogs have an informal, conversational style, and readers can join in by commenting on each post. Blogs can be chatty, informative, opinionated and often humorous, and it’s this “human” aspect of blogs that draws many people to them.

But the best part about blogs is how accessible they are to everyone. Blogs are free (or very inexpensive) to set up using services like Bloggeror TypePad. They’re also easy to use (you can literally create your own blog in less than five minutes) and easy to promote with all the new tools and resources that have been created specifically for blogs.

How You Can Use a Blog to Accelerate Online Success
The fact is, blogs are no longer just online diaries of people’s personal lives. Both online and offline businesses can use blogs to take their products and services to a wider audience, increasing their traffic, leads and sales.

Let’s look more closely at a few of the extremely powerful ways your business can benefit from a blog. With an effective business blog, you can:

• Humanize your business. Because a blog is much more informal than other websites, you can write posts in your own voice and give your business more of a human face. This helps reassure prospective customers that there’s a “real person” behind the website who’ll take care of their needs. It also allows you to inject much more of your own personality into your online business than your main sales site could do.
• Improve your customer service. Your blog can act as a kind of interactive FAQ, allowing your customers to submit questions and you to answer them. You can also provide product updates, how-to articles, and other information of relevance to your customers. Prospective customers who see your blog will be encouraged by your commitment to good customer service.
• Give your target market the information they’re looking for. With its automatic archiving feature–by date and category–a blog is a fantastic content-management system. It’s easy for you to post new information on a regular basis, and it’s easy for your visitors to find the information they want. With a well-written, regularly updated blog, you can become a reliable resource in your industry and build a following of loyal readers who depend on your content. These people will be your best potential customers.
• Drive traffic to your sales website. If you already have a website, a blog can give your traffic levels a real boost. For starters, your blog will attract new visitors that you can then redirect to your main sales website through links and special offers. But an even more effective technique is to use strategic keywords and links to specific sales pages to dramatically improve the search engine rankings of both your blog and your main website.
• Build your credibility and establish yourself as an industry expert. You can give your credibility a real boost by regularly posting valuable and relevant information on your blog. It’s a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your subject area, and allow your visitors to feel much more comfortable buying from you.
• Promote your products or services. You can actually sell products directly from a blog, or you can use your blog to mention new products and direct visitors to your sales website.
• Generate extra income. There are now several advertising programs available, such as Google AdSense, that allow you to monetize your blog and generate an extra revenue stream.

3 Key Tips for Starting a Business Blog
Excited yet? You should be–blogging’s not just a winning strategy, it’s also a lot of fun! The beauty of blogging is that you can easily incorporate it into your daily schedule of tasks. You can even blog when you’re on the road.

But what does it take to become a really successful blogger?

1. Great content: If your content isn’t interesting and relevant to your target market, your blog won’t work. It’s as simple as that. You’ll be surprised, however, how easy it is to find things to write about if you really put your mind to it. It could be news articles about your industry, product updates, interviews, personal insights into topics of importance to your target audience, and much more.
2. Regular updating: I won’t lie to you: there are some days when I really find it hard to find the time to post a new article. But if I don’t post, no one will come back. It’s like subscribing to a daily newspaper but only getting a copy delivered now and then! So post often and your audience will keep coming back. And regularly adding fresh content to your blog also gives you a boost in the search engine rankings.
3. Your own distinct voice: It’s important that you write in your own voice. A blog is no place for formality and corporate speak. It’s more of a forum, a place where ideas can flourish and topics of current interest can be debated. You don’t even need to be a brilliant writer; you just need to be able to relate to your audience and give them good content.

Final Thoughts
Starting a blog can take as little as five minutes. Of course, starting a blog is the easy part; turning your blog into a strategic tool that drives traffic and sales to your online business is a completely different matter.

Building a truly effective blog that keeps people coming back again and again takes a lot more than five minutes; it takes time and dedication to develop a blog that keeps your audience coming back for more.

By Derek Gehl

Derek Gehl is Entrepreneur.com’s “E-Business” columnistand the CEO of the Internet Marketing Center, an internet marketing firm that has helped thousands of people learn to start and run their own online businesses. He is also author of the online guide, Blogging for Dollars

How to Effectively Use Testimonials

What do people who’ve actually purchased and used your product or service think about it?

Answering that question is one of the most fundamental tasks your website needs to accomplish–and it’s as simple to do as it is important.

By using testimonials (reviews and comments from your satisfied customers) in text, audio or video format on your website, you not only answer the question, you also transform your sales pitch into a credible, unbiased recommendation for your product.

Overcome Buyer Skepticism
Adding testimonials is probably one of the easiest ways to improve your website, and a good one can generate more selling power than some of the best sales copy out there.

So why are testimonials so effective?

• Testimonials build trust. Whether your customers are raving about what your product has done for them or about the great service you gave, they’re telling your visitors first and foremost that they had a positive experience with your products and company.
• Testimonials aren’t “salesy.” Because testimonials aren’t written in your “voice,” they stand out in your copy as candid and unbiased accounts of how well your product works.
• Testimonials overcome skepticism. A good testimonial has the power to convince even your “tough sell” visitors that your product or service really made a difference in your customer’s life–and can help them, too.

How to Choose the Right Testimonial
When you’re choosing testimonials, there are a few key ingredients to look for that make the difference between an ineffective testimonial and one that sells. Here’s an example of a glowing, but ultimately ineffective testimonial:

“I love this product! I can’t get enough! I’m so glad I bought your stuff and I’ll definitely be back to get more!”

What could be wrong with that? It sounds like you have a happy customer on your hands!

But what does this testimonial really tell your visitors? Does it prove the product works, or explain exactly how your customer benefited from using it? While the feedback is definitely positive, the testimonial doesn’t provide enough detail to have any real impact on your visitors.

Here’s an example of the kind of effective, benefits-driven testimonial that’ll turn a visitor into a customer:

“I used the methods you told me to use, and for three days my phone’s been ringing! I sold over $3,500 in goods and services in three days! It’s the first time in five months that anyone had really purchased anything.”

What makes this testimonial so powerful? Let’s break down the elements of an effective testimonial in more detail:

• A good testimonial is filled with benefits. A comment like, “This product is great!” is nice to hear, but it doesn’t tell visitors what your product can actually do for them.

• You want the benefits of what you offer to be front and center in every testimonial: “This product doubled our profits in a month!” or “This product made the pain in my back disappear completely–and did it fast!” or “We’ve never seen any product that could get the rust off our car without damaging the paint–until now.”

• A good testimonial substantiates your claims. If you say your product can do something, your testimonials should back up your promises, complete with actual facts and figures. How much money did your customers save by using your product? How much time did they save by using your service? How did it solve their problems or improve their lives?
• A good testimonial is from someone your audience can relate to. You want your visitors to see that your product helped someone just like them. Make sure your testimonials come from someone with whom your target market can identify.

• If you sell primarily to seniors, for example, ask your customers if you can include their age along with the testimonial. If you’re selling to moms with children, ask if you can mention how many kids they have or include a photo of their family.

• A good testimonial is credible. Accompany each testimonial with the first name, last name and hometown of each testimonial-giver to show that your endorsements come from real people. Always try to include a photo as well.

• And if you can, take it to the next level by including audio or video testimonials for maximum effect. Do anything you can to help your visitors connect with your testimonial-givers on a personal level.

• A good testimonial endorses the key benefits of your product. It’s fun to hear that your super-duper floor cleaner smells nice or that the bottle doesn’t drip–both things that matter to people who would consider using your product. But have you established that it cleans their floors well?
• A good testimonial is comparative. Did your customers try another product that didn’t work before they found yours? You want your visitors to know what your product can do that other products can’t. Choose testimonials that set your product apart from your competition.

Now that you know what you’re looking for in a testimonial, how do you actually gather the reviews you need from your customers?

Getting Great Testimonials–Even if You Haven’t Sold Anything Yet
If your customers have given you positive feedback on your product already, then you may already have some great testimonials to add to your site. However, if your customer response is a little scarce–or if you’re just starting out–getting testimonials from your buyers might take a little more effort.

So how do you collect the testimonials you need and keep them coming as you grow your business?

One easy way to collect testimonials is to include a link on your site with a form that allows your customers to give you their vote of confidence: “Tell us how this product changed your life!” or “Click here to let us know what you think!” Put this link next to some testimonials that you’ve already gathered to give customers an example of the kind of feedback you’re looking for.

A more effective method is to create an autoresponder that contacts your buyers after they’ve purchased your product to ask how they’re enjoying the product, as well as giving them a chance to offer feedback on their experience with your business.

And, of course, anytime you receive a great letter or e-mail from a customer, ask them if you can use their comments on your website to recommend your product to others. If they were happy enough to let you know, they’re bound to want to spread the word.

If you haven’t yet begun selling your product and have no feedback yet, offer your product or service for free to a select group of customers in exchange for their thoughts on the product or some details on their experience with your site. The impact that testimonial will have on your bottom line will be well worth the initial expense.

Strategies For Using Your Testimonials Effectively
Once you’ve got some testimonials to share with your visitors, you need to make sure you’re putting them to the best possible use on your site. Always make sure that you:

• Include your best testimonials front and center on your homepage, like in your sidebars, or even above your headline.
• Place some testimonials right in the middle of your homepage sales copy to keep your readers focused on your credibility as you outline the features and benefits of your product.
• Set up a whole page dedicated to your glowing testimonials, as well as including snippets of their comments throughout your site. Be sure to put a link to your testimonial page next to each of those snippets.
• Include testimonials on each and every page of your website. No matter where your visitors click, you want them to find a positive customer review of your product or service.

Now let’s look at a few mistakes to avoid when using testimonials on your website:

• Don’t edit your testimonials to exclude a comment or add information you want to hear! If you can’t post a comment “as is” and feel comfortable with it, it shouldn’t go up.
• Never use a customer testimonial without permission.
• Never, ever invent testimonials! This is fraud, plain and simple, and lying never results in a positive impact on your business.

Final Thoughts
If you’re not using testimonials on your website, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful, easy-to-use and cheap marketing tools available to you.

Most of us would rather act on a referral from a friend than make a purchase based on a sales pitch alone. We want to know that the product actually works before we take the leap to buy, and we’re bound to put more trust in someone who has already used the product successfully than the person trying to convince us to buy it. Using glowing, fact-filled testimonials on your website will let your visitors know that you’re worthy of their trust.

Derek Gehl is Entrepreneur.com’s “E-Business” columnistand the CEO of the Internet Marketing Center, an internet marketing firm that has helped thousands of people learn to start and run their own online businesses.

Growing Your Biz by Reaching More Customers

 

When Tiffani Kim noticed female customers of Tiffani Kim Institute Medical.Spa bringing in husbands and boyfriends, she started reaching out to the male market. After renaming men’s manicure/pedicure  treatments “sports buffs,” instituting couples’ nights to encourage women to introduce men to the Chicago spa and otherwise exploring the new demographic, Kim, 47, reports that a significant portion of the 80-person company’s revenue now comes from men. “It will never be like the women’s spa business,” Kim says. “But it has gotten to be a good 30 percent of the business.” To bring your company’s offerings to a new demographic market, consider these tips.

1. Do no harm. “Don’t expand in such a way that it’s going to get you hurt,” says Clarkson University marketing professor Larry Compeau. Appealing to a new demographic requires changing something about your offering. Before doing it, make sure the changes won’t alienate the customers who got you where you are. Retail businesses should be especially aware of how a new group of patrons can change the experience for existing customers. Kim clearly had to make sure that having increasing numbers of men in her spa didn’t turn it into a boys’ club.

2. Look before you leap. “Do your homework first,” Compeau urges. “Make sure the new demographic market values your product.” Your market research could consist of hiring a research company, talking to potential customers in the demographic group or, as Kim did, just paying attention to what goes on at the front desk.

3. Go slowly. Kim modified her offerings incrementally over a period of years to make sure the effort and risk were worth doing more. That’s the way to go, according to Compeau. “I’d advise changing as little as possible at the outset to see how the market responds.” The last things to change should be the hardest to undo. You won’t know for sure if the new demographic will really be profitable, not to mention whether diluting your offerings will affect profits in other areas, until you try. And you don’t want the experiment to be irreversible.

4. Consider multibranding. It’s what Toyota does with Lexus and what countless other corporations do with their own brands. Entrepreneurs can reach new demographics without alienating old ones by giving new offerings different identities. It can be as simple as a restaurant using the same kitchen to serve two dining rooms, each with its own entrance, signage, pricing and demographic market, Clarkson says.

5. Look at everything connected with your business and its value proposition to see how it might be modified to enhance its appeal to a different demographic. While it’s easy and sensible to do as Kim did and change little more than the label affixed to new offerings, you might need to do more. Look at your pricing, associated services, promotional techniques and even distribution methods. Everyone knows Toyota makes Lexus, but you can’t go into a Toyota dealer and buy a Lexus, Compeau notes. The products have completely separate distribution systems, which helps keep them separate in the minds of completely different demographics.

Improve Your Online Customer Service

 

Even if you master each and every one of the internet marketing strategies out there–sales copywriting, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing and the rest–they’re not worth a dime if you forget about customer service. It’s a strategy that all truly successful business owners understand and pay careful attention to because the one thing all successful businesses have in common is satisfied customers.

There’s an old saying in business: A happy customer will tell one or two people; an unhappy one will tell 10! So it pays to keep your customers happy–especially when doing business online.

Online, a seriously ticked-off customer might not just tell 10 people; they might also write a lengthy rant on their blog, post comments on other people’s blogs, write a negative review of your site on a shopping website, or criticize you on forums and message boards. Or all of the above.

And worse, once something’s been written about you online, it’s very difficult to get it removed. This means that any prospective customer who decides to do a search on your business name could come across it.

So while good customer service might cost a bit of time and money, bad customer service online could cost you dozens of prospective customers. Think how much losing even just 10 sales would cost you, and compare it to the extra sales you’ll gain from making your customers happy.

What’s really interesting is that many case studies show that building good customer service into the operation of a business increases a company’s efficiency as well as its sales. Here are some simple strategies to help you improve your customer service:

Step #1: Automate your sales process to keep customers in the loop.
Use autoresponders to thank your customers for their order, welcome them to your opt-in e-mail list, and send them order confirmations and other transactional emails like “your item has shipped” notices. Customers have come to expect these courtesies, but not everyone online bothers.

You can even add an element of surprise to these customer-service e-mails by including a coupon for money off their next purchase or some extra information they’ll find relevant to the product they’ve just bought. You may also want to ask if everything is all right with your customers’ purchase or if there’s anything further you can do.

This kind of follow-up can relieve any possible feelings of buyer’s remorse and reinforce the positive feelings about your business your customers had when they originally bought from you.

Step #2: Create a comprehensive FAQ page.
An FAQ page answers most of the questions people might have about your products or services. You should also create an FAQ e-mail address, such as info@mysite.com, and keep track of the questions that customers or site visitors actually ask, then answer them and put the answers on your FAQ page.

With those common questions taken care of, you’ll be freed up to spend time giving personal attention to the visitors who need it. The more quickly you handle their concerns the more impressed they’ll be. And you’ll also stand out in the crowd–a recent Pelorus Group study found that a shocking 42 percent of retail sites take five days or longer to respond to customers.

It’s often the times when you respond to a customer’s concerns promptly and personally that generate a huge amount of goodwill for your business–and referrals. Even angry customers can be turned into devoted fans if you pay attention to them, acknowledge your mistake if you’ve made one and fix their problem.

Step #3: Make it easy for people to contact you.
There will always be times when a customer needs to talk to or e-mail someone directly, so don’t hide your contact details away in a dark corner of your website, and always provide contact information on every message you send out.

You may also want to create a customer service page on your site that includes your FAQs, the names and e-mail addresses or phone numbers of people who can help, and other relevant information.

I’m often surprised at how many people with small e-businesses really don’t want to talk to customers and actually make it hard for people to get in touch. But the worst thing you can do is look like you’re hiding or just don’t care.

Step #4: Personalize and segment your e-mail messages.
I can’t say this often enough: Use your customers’ names in your e-mail subject lines and in your messages. Only 4 percent of marketers personalize and segment their messages, according to Jupiter Research, and yet personalized messages have almost twice the click-through rate of bulk e-mail.

As an e-business owner, you can personalize and segment your communications with customers in many ways, including:

• Personalizing emails with names and other pieces of information you collect
• Sending customers personalized birthday, anniversary or special occasion offers
• Sending customers details of new products you know they’ll be interested in (in its recent “Consumer E-Mail” study, DoubleClick reported that 43 percent of the respondents would respond to “purchasing recommendations based on past purchase behavior”)

The more details you can collect about your customers, the better you can serve them with laser-targeted offers, thank-you messages and information that’s relevant to their needs and wants.

This is where your e-mail management software makes your life easier. It can do the segmenting and personalizing for you, so you can spend your time thinking of more ways to target your marketing.

Step #5: Ask your customers how you can serve them better.
People love taking short surveys, and it’s been shown that customer satisfaction is rated higher among people who’ve been asked what they want, even if their answers haven’t been acted upon. Just asking what your customers want and how you can make your service better makes them feel listened to.

Actually acting on their suggestions and improving your service is gravy!

Remember, good customer service doesn’t have to cost much. You don’t have to spend a fortune giving away free products or large discounts. Even a small gesture like thanking customers for their business can help maintain a positive vibe around your business. And automating your everyday customer service tasks frees you up to respond to real concerns or complaints–making your overall customer service even faster and better.

By Derek Gehl

Increase Your Online Sales

People are always coming up to me and asking, “What can you tell me to help increase my internet sales?” And all too often, when I ask them to tell me about their business model, I discover they’re selling only one product. So I ask them, “Have you ever considered selling backend products to your customers?”

Backend products are simply other products you can offer to your existing customers after they’ve made their initial purchase. Because you know what they’ve already bought from you, you should have a good idea of other things your customers would likely buy. And that should make it easy for you to think of new things they’d want to purchase. In fact, by adding just one more product to your site, you can increase the lifetime value of your customers–and increase your revenue–by 30 to 50 percent.

Here’s an example: The other day, I got an e-mail from Amazon.com telling me about a new internet marketing book they just got in stock. They knew I might be interested in it because I’d bought other internet marketing books from them before. And I was interested in that new one, too. In fact, as soon as I got the e-mail, I immediately clicked through to the site, checked out the book and bought it. And in doing so, I boosted my lifetime value to Amazon by another 20 bucks.

Lifetime value is simplythe income generated by a single customer over the course of your relationship with them. If you sell only one product–and if it’s something that doesn’t need to be reordered–then your customers’ lifetime value will be limited to the net income that comes from a single sale of your product.

But if you sell a wide range of products, your income can grow exponentially. In fact, I’ve bought maybe one book a month from Amazon over the past five years at an average cost of $20 each–meaning my lifetime value to them so far is about $1,200.

And selling to existing customers is easier and cheaper than selling to strangers because you’ve already cultivated a relationship with them. You’ve put in the time and money to:

• Get their attention
• Establish your credibility
• Build their trust in you
• Overcome any resistance they may have to buying online
• Close that first sale

On top of that, you now know what your customers like. The important thing to remember is, the backend products you offer have to be things your target market is going to be interested in. So how do you find the killer products that make this strategy so profitable? It’s a lot easier than you think. For example, you can:

1. Offer products that complement your initial product. For instance, if you sell golf clubs, offer your customers a golf club bag to carry them in. Or you could sell golf balls, golf tees, golf shoes, golf training videos–the list is endless. 
2. Sell more of the same product at a discounted price. If your product is refillable or needs to be regularly replaced, this strategy works especially well. For example, if you sell things like printer cartridges or batteries, you’ve got it made. But even if your product isn’t refillable, you can show your customers you appreciate them by offering them a special discount on the product they’ve already bought. That way, if they like the product, they can buy it as a gift for family and friends.
3. Use paid subscriptions as backend products. If you’ve established yourself as an expert in your industry, you can build on your reputation by offering a subscription to premium information, available only to members. For example, if your main product is a fly fishing kit, you could sell a subscription to an exclusive course on advanced fly fishing techniques as a backend product. You could deliver this paid-for content through a members-only website or by e-mail.
4. Try splitting up your current product. For example, if you were selling a book on how to organize your home, you could offer a basic version for $9.95 to generate a large volume of sales at a low price. Then, 30 days later, you could offer your customers an advanced, expanded version that includes home office management and scheduling software for $29.95 or even $39.95–and increase your profits dramatically.
5. Try selling your customers an upgrade to their product. If they’ve used and liked your basic model, your customers will be open to receiving offers for an upgraded version. For example, if you sell e-books that teach people how to use a particular piece of software, you can sell updated versions to previous buyers when the software package in question is upgraded.
6. Write a book or create a video. E-books are great backend products with high profit margins. Consider writing a short book on a topic related to your product or service. For instance, if you sell gourmet puppy food, you might consider writing a book titled “Training Secrets That Will Have Every Puppy Housebroken and Learning Basic Obedience in Less Than One Week.” You could even offer a special video that complements your product or service: If you sell barbecue equipment, you might offer a video that teaches people how to perfect their barbecuing techniques.
7. Offer someone else’s product. Probably the fastest–and easiest–way to add new products to your site is to join another business’s affiliate program and recommend their products in exchange for a percentage of each resulting sale. Selling affiliate products can be a very lucrative way to increase your sales, especially since you don’t have to spend any time or money developing a new product of your own.

The bottom line is, if you’re not offering backend products to your customers, you’re losing out on a lot of potential income.

 

By Derek Gehl

8 Opt-In Offers Your Visitors Can’t Refuse

 These days, consumers know that their personal information is gold, and they won’t give it to you unless you give them a really compelling reason to opt in to your list. And it’s definitely worth your while to give them the incentive because a good opt-in e-mail list will start generating profits for you immediately–and continue to do so well into the future.

Your opt-in incentive should:

• Offer specific benefits
• Relate to the reason people are visiting your site in the first place
• Give visitors a reason to look forward to your e-mails or keep returning to your site

There are tons of different incentives you can use to encourage people to give you their personal information, but not every offer will suit every website or business.

Most people think of newsletters right off the bat, for instance. But for some businesses, a free newsletter just won’t work. Suppose, for example, that your site sells washers and dryers. You’re going to be hard pressed to come up with interesting, relevant information about laundry for your free newsletter every month.

Before you start a newsletter, think about how much relevant information you can deliver to your audience and how much time you have to put it together so it can be delivered regularly. If it turns out that a newsletter isn’t a good fit for your business, here are eight other ways to collect your prospects’ e-mail addresses:

1. Offer a free course.
If you have a lot of know-how in your field, you can turn your “expert” status into a free multipart course. Ask yourself what kind of information visitors are seeking when they come to your site and what you can teach them.

Your course can contain text, audio, graphics–even video–whatever suits the material you’re delivering. Just send your subscribers a link to the web page where your course can be found. Unlike e-mail, your website doesn’t put any restrictions on how much rich media you can feature.

Once you’ve developed the course, you can use delayed autoresponders to e-mail it to your subscribers at specified intervals, exposing them to your business and your offer repeatedly. And the best part is, you’re contacting them with information they’ve specifically requested.
     
2. Offer a free e-book.
An e-book doesn’t need to be hundreds of pages long to be useful. An information-packed e-book can be as short as eight to 10 pages and still provide major value for your opt-in subscribers.

You can also make your e-book viral by encouraging your customers to send your e-book to others. Your message can spread like wildfire–and help you attract tons of highly targeted, potential customers.
      
3. Offer downloadable articles.
If your site contains a lot of useful, original, content-rich articles, one of the best ways to collect e-mail addresses is to require that visitors to your site opt in to your list if they want to download those articles in full.

As long as you offer useful information and as long as the downloadable articles contain something that people can’t get for free in the version you’ve posted on your site, you can expect to get a ton of sign-ups using this strategy.

Now maybe you’re not comfortable writing, or your business isn’t suited to a written opt-in incentive. The following opt-in offers don’t require much writing at all:
      
4. Offer other “downloadables.”
Articles aren’t the only items you can offer for download on your website. Why not offer e-cards, screen savers, desktop wallpapers or templates that your visitors can use in exchange for their opt-in information?

For instance, if you sell books about pet care, you can offer e-cards or printable greeting cards with photos of cute animals. Or if you sell beach home rentals, you could easily create a screen saver with pictures of some of your most beautiful destinations.

You can even offer a free monthly subscription or members-only area for these special items.

5. Offer a regular contest, puzzle or game.
Depending on the kind of business you run, there’s a multitude of different options for this type of opt-in incentive. Some examples include:

• A contest to win one of your products. But remember, don’t offer to give away the primary product you sell. People will enter the contest hoping to win–and leave your site without considering an actual purchase.
• A contest to win an item (or a coupon for a percentage off an item) related to your product. Say you sell party favors–hats, toys and streamers. You could hold a contest to win a free birthday cake from a bakery in your area or a coupon for a party rental place.
• A weekly puzzle, game or quiz. The type of puzzle is up to you. You can set it up as a contest and draw a name from the winning entries to award a prize, or you can require that people give you their opt-in information to get the answer.

6. Take a survey.
Surveys give you a good excuse to appear in relevant newsgroups, forums or related newsletters and provide a link to the survey page on your website. Let participants know you’ll send them the results if they give you their name and e-mail address. Because participants have to come to your site to fill out the survey, you should be able to take advantage of all that new traffic and generate a significant number of new opt-ins. 
      
7. Offer a members-only forum or discussion board.
Members-only forums and discussion boards can be a major draw for people in niche markets. You can step in and provide a place where like-minded people meet and discuss their hobbies or their concerns.

Besides attracting opt-ins, this will also give you a great opportunity to learn more about your customers and what kinds of products or services you can develop to further meet their needs–and grow your business. You’ll need to establish some community rules and moderate the forum, but in the meantime, your subscribers will be creating valuable content for you.

8. Offer members-only specials.
One of the easiest ways to encourage visitors to opt in with their personal information is to offer them a chance to save money. It can be as simple as something like this: “Do you want to receive our special MEMBERS-ONLY offers? Every month we bring exclusive deals to our subscribers that you can’t get anywhere else! To start saving now, just sign up below.” This is a great way to drive opt-ins and sales and to make your potential customers feel appreciated before they even buy your products.

There are many different opt-in incentives available–you just need to apply a little creativity to choose the one that’s right for you and your target market. The first step in creating a solid opt-in strategy is to consider the people you want to opt in to your list. Just as the best businesses are created in response to the needs of a specific niche market, so are the best opt-in offers. With some customizing, any one of these ideas could build you a highly targeted opt-in list.

By Derek Gehl

Making Your Website Cozy

 

Pamela Huber-Hauck, 46
Spirit Work Knitting and Designs, Rochester, New York
Projected 2006 Sales: $375,000
The Business: When Pamela Huber-Hauck left her management position at a telecommunications company to follow her passion and open a yarn shop, her well-honed business acumen served her well. Huber-Hauck’s knowledge of what her clients wanted, as well as the fact that knitting and crochet were on the upswing, created an environment for explosive growth. The startup she launched in 2003 moved from a tiny, 400-square-foot storefront into a 2,400-square-foot facility by the end of her second year in business.

As Huber-Hauck explains, the store became the priority. “Our whole strategy around the brick-and-mortar store was finding what we could do that’s different and innovative,” she says. “We brought in couches and seating and coffee and spa music. We shifted our focus away from [the] website.”

The Challenge: When business had fallen 40 percent by early 2006, Huber-Hauck knew she needed to find new revenue streams. However, the online yarn market was already dominated by a few sellers who were doing it well, and Huber-Hauck wasn’t sure how to transform her website (www.spiritworkknit.com) from a place to learn about upcoming in-store events to a full-service online retailer of yarn and related accessories.

Even though Huber-Hauck was spending as many as 10 hours a week updating her site with new images and information, that time wasn’t paying off in increased sales. ProStores business advisor Mike Miller says the problem was two-fold. “First, it was hard to tell when navigating if you could actually purchase products,” he explains. “Second, we had to [take] the warm, fuzzy feeling of the retail [store] and put it in the online setting.”

The Solution: The new site places the retail experience first. “My site was primarily a marketing tool for local customers,” Huber-Hauck says. “The redesign placed the emphasis first on shopping, then on communication and community building.” But that doesn’t mean she’s abandoning her commitment to the local market, adding, “The new site will allow us to leverage technology, e-mail marketing, etc. that will help us stay connected with local customers, communicate in a timely manner and drive sales.”

Gwen Moran is Entrepreneur’s“Retail Register” and “Quick Pick” columnist.

Breaking into a Niche Market

 

Elena Neitlich, 39; Andrew Neitlich, 40; & Cari Whiddon, 38
Moms on Edge LLC, Osprey, Florida
Projected 2006 Sales: $55,000
The Business: Best friends Elena Neitlich and Cari Whiddon were discussing the challenges of teaching their children how to behave. How can parents be consistent with consequences? After all, it’s not easy to make a little one take five in the middle of a shopping mall. Soon, an idea began to take shape: The Original Naughty Spot–a portable mat with a timer for timeouts.

Whiddon and Neitlich carved out time to develop that idea and others by parking next to each other at the local Wendy’s with sleeping children in the back seat or taking their cordless phones into their closets for a few minutes of uninterrupted discussion. Soon, Andrew Neitlich, Elena’s husband, came onboard as a partner and director of operations. The business officially launched in 2005.

“Our site was up in September, and we got our first order in October,” says Elena. “When people placed orders, Cari sent out an e-mail that said we didn’t have our products in yet, but people e-mailed back and said, ‘We’ll wait.’ That’s when I knew we had something special–when people wanted to purchase [our products] without us having them in our hands.”

The Challenge: Because the company specializes in niche products–“products for peace, quiet and good behavior,” says the tag line–educating customers and getting them to the site were key challenges. ProStores business advisor Angela Troy says, “Children’s items are so competitive. There are numerous hits for ‘place mats,’ so we needed to be sure that the right keywords were being used.”

The Solution: The redesign includes enhanced graphics and a cleaner look. The ProStores team added featured products to the home page, which helps educate customers on the types of products the company specializes in. Other additions include a shopping cart that’s easier to use, an online retail order form and price list, more shipping options and free shipping promotions, and a much easier back-end interface. Links to eBay make managing auctions simpler, and a blog keeps customers entertained and informed and gives them another place to provide feedback.

“Revamping an e-commerce site is not just about web design,” says Whiddon. “It is about a comprehensive strategy to attract prospects, convert them to customers, and manage the back-end order and fulfillment process. We have become much more aware of the importance of various online marketing options, as well as the potential [for] PR.”

Marc Desrosiers, 50
RaceWax.com LLC, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Projected 2006 Sales: $100,000
The Business: Marc Desrosiers liked watching his son’s ski team race but didn’t like dipping into his pockets regularly for $50 bars of race wax and $100-per-bottle speed additives. As a chemist, Desrosiers recognized that the ingredients in those pricey products were actually relatively inexpensive.

When his son decided to test ski waxes for his science fair project, Desrosiers did some experimenting of his own. He purchased some of the ingredients and began creating his own ski wax, which he distributed to his son’s racing team.

“They were thrilled that I was able to give them some of the stuff that they pay a lot of money for,” Desrosiers explains. “Then they said, ‘Hey, you should sell this stuff.’ I had the idea that I would put up a website and send [prospects] a small sample [for free], and if they wanted more, they [could] buy some from me.” Since that nondescript launch in 1999, Racewax, which specializes in affordable ski and snowboard wax products, has been featured in a ski trade magazine and has fielded orders from around the world.

The Challenge: Desrosiers felt that his lack of business training was holding him back. After reading about using eBay as a marketing tool, he gave it a try, and his sales volume steadily increased. However, there was no strategy or comprehensive approach to his marketing or branding, especially on his website, www.racewax.com.

ProStores business advisor Lin Shearer says this is another case where looks matter. “In the product line he’s in, a cool logo is going to go a long way on patches [and] decals,” says Shearer. “He needs to create a true corporate identity.”

The Solution: Sporting a hot new logo created as part of the makeover, Desrosiers’ new site is now far more functional, even allowing customers to accurately compute shipping from many countries. He’s learned a great deal about search engine optimization from the consulting sessions and webinars in which he participated. Plus, the ability of the site to capture more customer data from both his eBay auctions and his direct sales will boost his ability to market his business. Says Des-rosiers, “One of my goals, along with the management of customer information and inventory, was just to be able to use information technology to do a lot more and make my busy life a little easier.”

Time for Change

Never underestimate the power of a good makeover. That was the message behind the e-Business Boost Challenge, sponsored by Entrepreneur magazine and ProStores, an eBay company and full-service e-commerce solution for SMBs.

However, this makeover wasn’t about fashion and grooming. Instead, the winners, who were announced on June 13 at the annual eBay Live! convention, held this year at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center in Las Vegas, received a complete overhaul of their online sales efforts. More than 500 entrepreneurs operating online or through brick-and-mortar stores submitted entries describing their businesses and products as well as why they needed an enhanced online presence.

“We wanted to [encourage] business owners to take advantage of a powerful small-business web solution designed to establish and build an online presence,” says Julian Green, director of ProStores. “We are eager to educate entrepreneurs who want to further develop their businesses but don’t know how to actualize their growth potential through online sales channels.”

Over a five-month period, the six winning businesses were evaluated, and professionals from Entrepreneur, About.com, PayPal, ProStores and eBay provided consulting services to each business, teaching them how to ramp up their online and offline marketing efforts and business operations. In addition, each winning business received a website overhaul from ProStores, complete with integrated e-commerce functions and a one-year subscription to ProStores’ Business tier service. Here’s a closer look at the six winners, their online challenges and the striking makeovers.

Maggie Vasilyadis, 27
Essenceology.com, New York city
Projected 2006 Sales: $25,000
The Business: Maggie Vasilyadis knows all about makeovers. Working in the cosmetics industry for nine years, she noticed a distinct trend toward more natural beauty products. “I saw this big change coming, with a lot of demand for natural products, and wanted to start right away,” she explains. So she downloaded a website builder from Yahoo! and created her website in less than a month, launching in January 2006 and sourcing products by turning to trade magazines and attending trade shows.

The Challenge: Essenceology.com is run on a very small budget, and Vasilyadis works on it part time while holding her day job. She wasn’t thrilled with the design limitations of the site builder she chose and felt her site could be cleaner and easier to navigate.

According to ProStores business advisor Richard Lawrence, the online beauty products space is very crowded, and Essenceology.com needs some basics to survive. “Essenceology must have a sophisticated web design that will allow it to compete with the major beauty product sites,” he says. “The company is focusing on a fast-growing niche in the beauty products industry: natural and organic products. Unlike her competitors, [Vasilyadis’] products are very reasonably priced. [She] has a good eye for the types of beauty products that are in demand, as she shops the world looking for the best values.”

The Solution: The key word in the redesign seems to be clarity. The new site, says Vasilyadis, keeps the clean look of her previous endeavor but adds many new features for consumers’ convenience, including clear descriptions of each product and its use, along with better organization of products by category. The site also captures more customer and sales information for future marketing efforts. Checkout is seamless, using ProStores’ interface with PayPal, and Vasilyadis can easily add products as she finds more that fit her mix.

“I learned that I don’t have to do everything myself,” Vasilyadis says. “My expertise is in the beauty industry, not in building and designing a site. With help from ProStores, I was able to have control over the design and administrative options to build a site exactly as I pictured it. With more professional design, more consumers will trust the site, and there will be [fewer] abandoned carts.”

Adding E-Commerce Capabilities

Patrick Coughlin, 45
American Diamond Importers, St. Clair, Michigan
Projected 2006 Sales: $1.8 million
The Business: In 1988, Patrick Coughlin carved out a nice niche selling diamonds at wholesale prices to insurance companies that needed to replace lost or stolen gems. When a local retail jeweler came on the market four years later, Coughlin saw a chance to expand and purchased the shop, entering the retail jewelry marketplace. Still, it took a while for customers to catch on that the store offered more than just diamonds, and the name, American Diamond Importers, didn’t help. In 2005, Coughlin decided it was time to create a website to help spread the word about his business.

The Challenge: Initially, the site was just an informational website about the company with no e-commerce functionality. Changing that, says ProStores business advisor Jen Mouritsen, was the big challenge. “The first hurdle was turning his site into a full e-commerce solution and getting his customers to be able to find him and buy online without having to make a phone call,” she explains. “As we move into the integration with eBay and getting ProStores up and running, we need to be sure that he has feedback and support to keep running the business effectively online.”

The Solution: ADI’s new website is fully optimized, and Coughlin has had a crash course in how to make his site rank higher in customers’ online searches for fine jewelry. Now customers can immediately see the wide variety of offerings his company has and easily make purchases. Because the new site allows him to reach out to customers in other states–and even other countries–Coughlin says he’ll be able to keep their business, even if they relocate.

“Optimization, spiders, sponsorships–it’s like I’ve learned a whole new language,” Coughlin says. But he expects that language to pay off in a big way. “When you turn on the news here, it’s hard not to get depressed. Michigan’s economy is in the dumpster because of all the news coming out of the car [industry],” he explains. “We were expecting to do $1 million in online sales next year, but now we expect to double that. We’ve already hired six new full-time people to handle the increase, and if all goes according to plan, we’ll probably hire another six more. That’s great news for our area.”

Warren Tracy, 49
The Busted Knuckle Garage, Prescott, Arizona
Projected 2006 Sales: More than $300,000
The Business: When Warren Tracy stumbled out of bed in the middle of the night in August 1996 and scrawled a foggy idea on a piece of paper, he didn’t realize he had just started his next business venture. A year later, Tracy refined and trademarked that late-night doodle to launch The Busted Knuckle Garage, a gift company that now offers 150 distinctive, branded items for car and motorcycle enthusiasts.

Tracy started getting the word out by promoting skin-care products for mechanics and other hands-on types, such as the river guides he worked with at the Grand Canyon. He began publicizing his products through back-of-the-book advertising in an automotive magazine, and sales increased. When the business picked up some momentum, he quit his job, sold his small collection of cars and motorcycles, and refinanced his house to get the capital he needed to grow the business.

The Challenge: Revenue growth has been steady since the company’s founding in 1997–Tracy has licensed his trademarked name to other manufacturers and closed a 3,400-store distribution deal for a major automobile parts retailer–but Tracy knew sales through his website could be stronger.

“We created retail demand for [our] product and focused on wholesaling to stores and catalog companies,” Tracy explains. “We didn’t really customize the website to any great extent but watched it grow every year. Someone needed to come in with tools and bring it up [a] level. I raised my hand and said, ‘I’m not the one.’”

The Solution: Spearheaded by ProStores director Julian Green, the team created a slick new look and a more functional shopping cart for the site, as well as back-end functions that capture more customer information and sales data, allowing the site to handle a greater volume of sales seamlessly. “Through ProStores, Tracy will be able to list items on eBay as well as other comparison shopping sites [such as Froogle and Shopping.com],” says Green. “Managing and updating those listings will help drive traffic to [his] products.”

Tracy expects the site and other marketing will result in an uptick in referral business: “I believe we’ve built something so friendly and so inviting that new and existing customers will be extremely motivated to tell their friends and family what they’ve discovered.”