Redbox Biz Blog

A website is like a shop. You cannot expect to open your shop and have dozens of people flocking in to buy when you have not promoted your shop enough. Many people think they can be easily found online. Sorry, but the bad news is, your website is among the millions of websites in cyberspace. If you do not promote your website, you can’t be found.

So the question I get asked again and again is this: “I don’t get traffic to my site and I haven’t sold a thing since I opened my online shop! What happened?”

My answer: “You did not pay enough attention to your marketing and promotion. You did not attract enough of the right people to visit your website.”

But before that, here are some basics to be noted.

1. Get your metatags in order.
Metatags or the right keywords ensure that your website pops up whenever a search is done. Most websites do not have relevant metatags. They have metatags but that’s just about it. Some are too generic. So finetune your metatags first. While you’re at it, ensure your web text is rich in these keywords. I am not asking you to blatantly insert a keyword in every other paragraph but write the right words.

2. Your photos must entice.
If you are selling products online, get sharp photographs of each product. Nothing is worse than some blurry product photo. Don’t know how to take good product shots? Start with a solid colour background. Nothing is worse than a white/cream/beige background. Try solid black for instance. You don’t need to paint your wall black. Use black paper taped to the wall. Shoot close-up photos. Shoot in good lighting. If all fails, try getting a good photographer for some studio shots.

3. Your website text must sizzle.
Just because you can string together a sentence does not mean you can writing sizzling copy or text for your website. There’s a lot of psychology involved in writing. It must appeal to the emotions of your customers. No emotion, no nothing. If your text reads like the text of the next gazillionth websites online, thrash it out and start again. Learn how to write better. Check out books on web copy. Or look for web copywriters.

So how do you promote and market your website? Here are some ideas which I have used and found to be interesting, relevant and effective.

1. Spread the word about your website. Don’t be shy. Being shy won’t make you money.

2. Give people a reason to visit. Offer them something free, good, useful. Give samples if you must. Start somewhere.

3. Sponsor or give away your products to contests. It’s a small investment with big returns. It helps get the word out there that you’re generous, your stuff is good and you are credible.

4. Find complementary businesses and offer them a win-win proposition. Join and promote together. No one said you have to go at it alone.

5. Get to know some media people. Talk to them first. Don’t be pushy and demand that they interview you. Once you are on a comfortable level with them, you can get featured in the media and use these media articles as your arsenal.

6. Be innovative with your marketing. Try classifieds advertising, try flyers insertion, try using bumper stickers. Try a number of ways. Don’t say you don’t have money to advertise. If you don’t advertise, you won’t get anywhere. Period.

7. Keep your client relationships fresh and exciting. Don’t forget that happy clients are more likely to refer other people to you. Tap these relationships for more. Don’t be afraid to talk to your clients and ask for help. Most people love helping other people out.

8. If something is not going right, analyse all angles. Why aren’t people buying from you yet? Are you hitting the right market? What’s with your product? Too fancy? Could you have a scaled-down version? Too complicated? Could you write an info sheet to help people use it better? Too common? Can you personalise it to make it unique? Is it seasonal? Can you sell it out of the season?

9. Maintain contact with all potential customers. Yes, everyone of them. All of them. You never know if one day they decide to buy and you’re right in front of them.

10. Can you get other people to sell for you? Offer them a big, fat commission. If online, get them as resellers or affiliates (if you need a reseller or affiliate-tracking software, contact me). Whenever customers are referred to you via your banner on some reseller/affiliate’s website, you pay the said referrer. The more generous you are, the more people want to sell for you. Some give up to 50% in commissions.

So there you are, 10 ways you can use immediately to do something about the lack of sales on your website. If you don’t want to miss out on more goodies, sign up for my free ezine to keep updated on these info and tips. Just go to Redbox Studio and look out for the Free Newsletter sign up box on the left.

I think I am moved to write this post for a number of reasons. There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the Internet because it is hailed as the future of the economy. If you are not online, you’re outdated and you’re old news. But embedded in this excitement is hype. HYPE is “blatant or sensationalised promotion”. Hype is good if you know that hype, at the end of the day, is plain hype. Hype without action is pure drivel anyway.

But that’s exactly what most people, caught up with hype, don’t realise. They are buoyed by the money signs - “Wah, you can make money while you sleep! Wah, don’t need to do anything also can make money” and etc.

I blame it on the so-called Gurus of Internet. (Say, there are more Gurus than Followers these days you know. Anyone with a hint of Internet experience can appoint themselves as the Guru.)

So you get all these Gurus offering free seminars with sizzling titles such as “How I Made Millions While Lounging Around Like A Lizard” or “What Other Gurus Won’t Tell You Because They Don’t Know” or “How You Can Also Make A Million Without Doing A Thing…Guaranteed”.

The key is, grab these money-hungry-want-to-go-online-but-dunno-how-and-dunno-why by offering a free introduction seminar where you tease them a bit more with the riches for their taking. Then you knock them over with a proposition - pay RMX,XXX for the more detailed seminar and learn the true secrets no one’s telling you about. Take these juicy secrets, go home and start making a million.

What this does is that these seminars give false hope to certain people. Certain people who are easily influenced by hype and the idea of making money without lifting a finger to do work.

First of all, this is what I keep repeating: if you want to start a business, regardless of whether it is online or offline, you must be prepared to do work. Yes, put in the effort.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. And the same Internet gurus who are reputedly making millions, well, they are still making most of their money through their seminars which cost a good four-figure (ahem) “investment”. These days, why call it “price” when you can play a little with words and re-label it as “investment”? Being politically-correct or plain beating around the bush, really, it’s how you call it that makes people willing to fork over their wallets/credit cards.

If some people are looking for a fast buck or a faster way to make money, why not try MLM? I could imagine a 100 or so easier ways to make money.

But that’s the problem isn’t it? When everyone’s going around screaming “Take advantage of the Internet…buy, sell, be rich overnight” like headless chickens, when your IT-illiterate neighbour is supposedly trotting off to the next (yes, there are so many seminars these days) seminar to learn MORE secrets, you find yourself a bit left out and decide to join the “revolution of money-making” online.

I used to have this friend who attended every Free Internet Seminar he could go to and yet keeps asking me “What other secrets are there to doing biz online?”. I tell him in all seriousness that there really aren’t that many secrets (but then again, if you’re dim as hell, anything you don’t know IS a secret!). The secret is to get out there and take action. Theory is fine but there must come a time when you need to take action. Well, I told him, put those ’secrets’ to work! He has yet to do so as he is still waiting for that BIG secret of making money on the Internet to whack him on the head with inspiration.

“Put in effort? You mean, actually… like… WORK?” People can’t stand it when I tell them this fact about doing a biz online. They just want to hear stuff like “Hang around in your pajamas and watch your cheques coming in your post”.

“But that’s too hard! Making money online should be easy, well, at least easier than my day job!” They whine. Well, I guess that’s why they keep attending the same old seminars. To pump themselves up but forever stuck because they can’t get past the hype to take action. They just want to feel good bouyed by the idea that they’ve collected yet another ‘Internet money making secret’.

So I am sometimes amused, most times perturbed that the Gurus have attracted a darn lazy group of seminar attendees - people who want fast money without wanting to work for it.

What’s wrong with working hard for your money anyway?

Has it become THAT denigrating to do a day’s honest job?

Having a website is just like having a physical shop. But most people don’t realise how the overall look and feel of one’s business website can affect one’s customers.

I’ve written about this many times so now it’s time for me to refer to you an article on “Looking Good On The Web: Turning website traffic into business” by Janet Attard of Business Know How.

Click on this to read the article.

This time around I thought I’d post something by Ron Kaufman which I believe applies to every business, everywhere. I first attended his “UP Your Service” seminar a couple of years ago and was highly impressed. Went out to the local bookstore and got two of his books. He is the maestro of customer service! He’s based in Singapore and comes ever so often to Malaysia to give his customer service seminars. If you have the chance, go for it. He “opens” your eyes to the little things which matter.

Below is something I’ve extracted from his e-zine. If you want to know how to sign up for his e-zine, scroll all the way down. Continue reading »