- Part 65

Blog » Archives for

Author Archive

Problem with Downloading the Free Marketing Plan Guide

By Charlie Cook | February 23, 2005

“At the time I received this e-mail I did not download the free marketing plan guide. Now when I tried I get the link the file cannot be found and I’m sent to the home page of the website. Can you tell me how to access the free marketing plan guide?” – Robin E.

In mid-December I replaced the free marketing plan guide with a completely revised and updated version and a new download link. To get it just enter your name and email in one of the sign up forms on the site or use this link to get the free marketing plan guide and my marketing newsletter full of ideas you can use to attract more clients . – Charlie Cook

How Can I Get More Customers and Team Members?

By Charlie Cook | February 23, 2005

“I’ve signed up at www.a——–.com to sell P—T— products (name withheld at company’s request), how can I get more customers and team members?” – Nadine

I get a lot of requests for help from others like you who have signed up for a “home business opportunity” only to find it wasn’t making them money. The post below is about the same topic.

I’d love to help you succeed but the harsh reality is that online businesses such as the one you’ve joined rarely provide anyone but the initial owners with a profit and are essentially scams to get you to sign up. My advice is to move one and focus on building a business from something you love and know about.

Recently I received a similar request from someone struggling with their online business. John had three different web sites up for four years and only made one sale. I asked him what he really enjoyed doing and he said he loved repairing and debugging computers. I suggested he pursue this as his primary business. There’s a demand and he is already an
expert.

Why not do the same? Pick something you already know about, have an aptitude for and use your passion to become successful. The 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing manual shows you how to identify and market your small business. – Charlie Cook

How Do I Evaluate An Internet Business Opportunity?

By Charlie Cook | February 22, 2005

“What are some of the questions that someone should use to evaluate an online business opportunity? Or should one start with the idea of marketing one’s own expertise, and develop additional services based on what people who want and need one’s expertise, also want and need in addtion?” – Chuck Hartman, Iowa

If you are looking for a way to make money online, and who isn’t, the best place to start is with what you know. Yes, there are too many online businesses that you can sign up for that will are billed as instant profit centers. These run the gamut from selling vitamins, to gifts, to selling phone services. Can you make money by tagging along with someone elses online business?

I’ve been marketing online and helping small business owners with their online marketing strategy for almost a decade and I have yet to hear of a single person who has actually made a profit by signing up for one of these online businesses. Questions to ask in evaluating an online business might include:

– How will I market the business?
– How wil l differentiate my online business from all the other people doing the same thing?
– Do I know enough about marketing this business to make my e-store more frequently visited than all the others combined?
– Given my responses to these questions, what is the true profit or loss potential associated with this business venture?

As a rule, I suggest most people who are looking for an online business idea avoid joining the typical dubious business ventures commonly marketed online. Instead, learn how to market your knowledge or passion and turn it into a profitable small business. I show you how to do this in The 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing manual. Order your copy to get your small business marketing plan in gear. – Charlie Cook

How Can I Find Which Keywords People Use?

By Charlie Cook | February 16, 2005

“Where can I reverse look up the words people are using when they are looking for your products?” – Buck Buckingham

I use the Keyword Suggestion tool at Overture to get a rough idea of how many people have searched for a set of keywords in the last month and related keywords. Once you’ve identified the keywords people use in looking for your products or services you may want to use them in your elevator speech.- Charlie Cook

Feedback on “Broker Leads” or Any Leads for that Matter?

By Charlie Cook | February 16, 2005

“What is your recommendation as to the efficiency and cost effectiveness of buying leads?” – Jim Lauraitis

If you buy leads you are working on the assumption that your role in marketing your business is to search out prospects. Hence, you are looking to buy leads. While you may find an occasional live lead, your can also waste a lot of time and money buying and chasing leads.

Wouldn’t you rather have your prospects searching you out and contacting you?

I don’t buy leads. Instead I use and help others implement an offline and online marketing strategy that generates leads. This marketing strategy results in qualified prospects, contacting me. My problem isn’t having enough leads, but rather, having enough time to follow up with all of them. With my lead generation system all I have to do is take orders and follow up on prospects’ inquiries.

This marketing strategy is mapped out in The 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing and I’ve detailed how to implement it online in Creating Web Sites that Sell. – Charlie Cook

Avoiding Spam

By Charlie Cook | February 9, 2005

“My email box is being overwhelmed with spam. Someone is putting “microfish” or “ab123″ in front of my url to create email addresses like microfish@charlie.com as the return address for spam emails they are sending. Yesterday I received over 9,000 returns to my my email box. What do I do?” – Philip

About six years ago when I had my popular site SearchIQ.com, which I sold to CNet, I had the the same problem. A number of spammers had found my email address on the site and started to use it deluging my inbox with thousands of emails. The simple solution is to set your email to only specific email addresses. When you do this, all others such as dasfy09p7@charlie.com will be rejected by your server and you won’t be bothered by them.

The next step you can take is to remove your email address from your site and use forms instead. That way you’ll make it harder for the spammers spiders to find your email address and use it. – Charlie Cook

My Biggest Search Engine Positioning Mistake

By Charlie Cook | February 8, 2005

It is in the past so I can admit it. I made a huge search engine positioning mistake that was a drag on my site traffic and it took me forever to figure it out. As the author of one of the first books on search engine positioning it was a little embarassing to say the least. Here’s the mistake I made and how to avoid it.

Originally my marketing site could be found at www.charliecook.net. This site benefited from some top search engine placements in Google and other popular search engines thanks to applying the few simple guidelines I detail in Creating Web Sites That Sell . Traffic from Google was growing steadily, that was until I made the following mistake.

About ten months ago I rebuilt my site and moved the content to the current location at www.marketingforsuccess.com Thanks to my strategy of using articles to attract prospects and my huge distribution list of online and offline editors who publish my articles, my website traffic continued to grow, but I noticed I couldn’t find my site in Google. Yikes, what was going on. Preiously I’d been in the top 10-30 spots for every one of my keywords.

During the last six months I’ve worked closely with a search engine postioning firm to try and fix this situation and get listed in Google again. After trying a variety of tactics which worked to boost my listings in every other search engine, we tried removing all the original pages from my www.charliecook.net site. I had left them up under the assumption that since they were originally well placed they’d continue to draw traffic which would be automatically forwarded to my new site. Big mistake!

It turns out that Google didn’t like having similar content pages on both my sites, even though the first had a permanent redirect on it to my current site. About a week ago I removed all the pages from my initial site, resubmitted it and my current site to Google. This week my site is back in the top 10-30 positions in Google for most of my keywords.

Lesson learned. If you create a second site for your content with a new url, after a month or so, delete the original and just have the domain forward to your new domain. Want to learn how to avoid more web marketing mistakes, check out Creating Web Sites That Sell – Charlie Cook

Should I Develop Products Based On Themes?

By Charlie Cook | February 2, 2005

“I have a growing gift basket business and I’m trying to focus on serving the small business and service professional market. Give me a theme and I can develop a great gift basket. I did one recently for a car dealership. Should I focus on developing theme baskets to grow my business?” – Barbara in Virginia

Theme baskets are a great idea but remember the only reason your clients buy them is to solve a problem or achieve an objective. Small to mid-sized businesses like car dealerships have two concerns you can help them with. They want to build customer loyalty and motivate employees to top levels of performance. A gift such as your gift baskets is a great way to do this.

Just remember, don’t lead with how great your theme baskets are. Market to your prospects concerns about improving customer loyalty and employee performance and you’ll sell many more theme baskets. While you are at it, instead of selling individual baskets, give companies a discounted rate on a hundred when they pay in advance. Help your auto dealership give a gift to each new customer when they buy a car. They’ll build customer loyalty and you’ll both grow your businesses. – Charlie Cook

How Much Do You Charge An Hour?

By Charlie Cook | January 21, 2005

“Charlie, I’m not at a point where I would like to talk on the phone with you but can you tell me what you charge per hour for advising me? – Jim

I never quote rates without first having a conversation with a prospect. In order to determine my fees I need to know what’s involved and the results you want to generate. I need to know a bit about your business, what you do, how you are currently marketing your business and what your objectives are. I look forward to working with you to grow your business when you’re ready.

– Charlie Cook

How Can I Get My Blog To Be Noticed?

By Charlie Cook | January 21, 2005

“Hi Charlie! First off your info is great! By taking your suggestions I stumbled upon blogging as a marketing idea. I use blogger.com also. My blog is named Nashville Real Estate. Blogging is an excellent chance to establish yourself as an authority to create public confidence. How can I get my blog to be noticed more? Again thanks for all the great info!” – uminor

Here are a handful of tips for getting your blog noticed.

1. Include links to your blog on every page of your web site.

2. Mention a couple of your most recent blog posts in your ezine and a link.

3. Submit your blog to all the relevant blog directories.

4. Include your blog url on your business card.

5. Write articles in your area of expertise and include your blog link.

(Hey I should start doing that too.) – Charlie Cook

« Previous Posts

Newer Posts »