This chapter will cover some of the most common forms of online marketing today, including search engine optimization, search engine marketing, comparison shopping sites, online display advertising, and affiliate marketing programs, among other tactics. In order to be a successful online business owner today, you will have to be familiar with some, if not all, of these techniques.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for your online startup. Search engine optimization involves registering your site with major search engines, such as Google (google.com) and Yahoo! (yahoo.com), and then working to constantly maintain and improve your ranking/positioning with each search engine so your site is easy to find and receives top placement.

The first step is to register your website with the major search engines. This can be done, one at a time, by manually visiting each search engine and completing a new website recommendation form. The process is time consuming and often confusing. An alternative is to pay a third-party submission service to register your site with hundreds of the popular search engines simultaneously.

In addition to accepting submissions from website operators, many search engines and web directories use automated “spiders” or “crawlers” to continuously search the web and gather details about new websites (and updates to existing sites). How these automatic listings are gathered, cataloged, and categorized is based in large part on how your website uses meta tags and keywords throughout the site.

Meta Tags

Meta tags have three parts: the title of your site, a description, and a list of keywords. The information you provide (by incorporating it into your site’s HTML programming) is used to categorize your site’s content appropriately. In addition to the site’s description, title, and list of relevant keywords within its HTML programming, you will need to incorporate a text-based description of your site, which also uses keywords to describe your site’s content.

The better planned and more comprehensive your meta tags are, the more traffic you will ultimately generate to your site once it gets added to a search engine. Experts say the description should be a sentence or two that describes the content of the web page, and it should use the main keywords and key phrases found on this page. In addition, the maximum number of characters should be 255.

If your e-commerce turnkey solution does not automatically incorporate meta tags into your website, there are many free online tools that allow you to create them and the appropriate HTML programming. You then cut and paste these lines of programming into your site with ease. No programming knowledge is required. To find these tools, do a simple search of the phrase “meta tag creation.”

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Want to learn more about how to use meta tags? Check out the following link: searchenginewatch.com.

HIGH RANKINGS

After your site gets listed with a search engine and appears when searches are conducted by surfers, you then must keep your listing up-to-date and take whatever steps are possible to maintain and improve your listing.

Meta tags can help you score high rankings, but perhaps the best way to score high in search engines is to have good, solid content, especially with regard to the terms for which you want to be found. Experts say it is also important to continually add new content to your site.

Good page titles are extremely helpful. A good page title usually includes five to eight words per page and does not include filler words such as “the,” “and,” and “a,” which are the most common examples. Remember: Because a page title will appear hyperlinked on the search engines when your page is found, you should entice searchers to click on the title by making it a bit provocative. The best way to do this is to use some descriptive keywords along with your business name. The words people are most likely to search should appear first in the title (this is called “keyword prominence”). Other tips:

• Make sure your keywords are in your page headline and subheads.

• Make sure keywords are in the first paragraph of your body text.

• Use keywords in hyperlinks.

• Make your navigation system search engine friendly.

• Develop several pages focused on particular keywords.

SEO can be a time-consuming process you do yourself, or you can hire an SEO expert to handle it on your behalf, which will probably generate better results faster. If you want or need to have a listing for your site appear on the search engines quickly (as in within hours, not weeks), seriously consider using paid search engine marketing programs to supplement your free listings. We discuss these programs below.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING

Many online startups also invest in search engine marketing programs that allow them to pay to place their sites in the top results of search engines. Basically, every major search engine accepts paid listings—also known as “pay-per-click programs”—that are usually marked as “Sponsored Links” on the websites.

SUBMIT YOUR SITE TO ONLINE DIRECTORIES

Try submitting your site to online directories, because listings in these directories help search engines such as Google find, index, and rank your site. Your first step should be to list your site for free in the Open Directory Project (dmoz.com), which is overseen by thousands of human editors. You also may want to try Yahoo! Directory Submit service (docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/submit.html ). For a $299 annual fee, Yahoo! guarantees that within seven business days, a member of Yahoo!’s editorial staff will look at your site and consider it for inclusion in the Yahoo! Directory. Just keep in mind that payment does not automatically guarantee inclusion in the directory or site placement.

These programs allow you to bid on the terms for which you wish to appear. You then agree to pay a certain amount each time someone clicks on your listing. Costs for pay-for-placement start around a nickel a click and go up considerably based on how high you want your site to appear—and competition for keywords has the biggest bearing on that. For example, a bid on “jewelry” will result in payment of a few bucks a click if you want to get on the first page of results. But if you are promoting say, pearl necklaces, you may be able to get on top paying just a dime a click.

Key programs are from Google (Google AdWords program; adwords. google.com), MSN Search (Microsoft adCenter; adcenter.microsoft.com), and Yahoo! (Yahoo! Sponsored Search, a service offering from Yahoo! Search Marketing; searchmarketing.yahoo.com). These programs charge a nominal fee to get started.

One of the best things about Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaigns is that they can be created and launched with a very low budget. At least initially, you will probably want to experiment with a few different ad variations and keyword lists until you create an ad that has a low cost per click and high click-through rate. Once you have formulated one or more ads that generate results, then you should invest hundreds or thousands of dollars into that ad campaign. Spending thousands on a campaign that ultimately generates poor results wastes your money and does not generate the traffic to your site that you want and need.

Although there are myriad choices out there and the concepts may seem confusing, many online startups swear by paid search programs. As long as you plan your campaigns carefully, budget properly, and read the fine print, they can really help you improve your reach.

Lord of the Rings

Another marketing technique you might want to think about is participating in a webring. Generally speaking, a webring is a collection of websites that is joined together in a circular structure. When used to improve search engine rankings, webrings can be considered an SEO technique.

To be a part of the webring, each site has a common navigation bar that contains links to the previous and next site. By clicking next (or previous) repeatedly, the surfer will eventually reach the site where they began; this is the origin of the term webring.

However, the click-through route around the ring is usually supplemented by a central site with links to all member sites; this prevents the ring from breaking if a member site goes offline.

Webrings are usually organized around a specific theme, often educational or social. Webrings usually have a moderator who decides which pages to include. After approval, webmasters add their pages to the ring by “linking in;” this process requires adding the necessary HTML or JavaScript to their site. Try it—you might like it.

COMPARISON SHOPPING SITES

Attracting qualified traffic, people who are already interested in buying your product or service, is fundamental to your success. That is why online business owners should know about comparison shopping sites, also known as “shopping bots.” Shopping bots are similar to search engines, except that instead of finding information, they help shoppers find the products or services they are seeking.

Shopping bot sites list specific product information so that shoppers can compare features and prices. This feature means that shopping bots can be an excellent way for your potential customers to find out exactly what you have to offer—and how to get it. Best of all, shopping bots can be a great place for business owners who are struggling to stand out in competitive markets to capture the eyeballs of qualified potential customers. Best of all, shopping bots are a less expensive alternative to the more popular pay-per-click ads like those from Google AdWords.

Though shopping bot sites differ slightly from each other, registering your site and products with most of them is usually pretty easy. In terms of cost, some work on a pay-per-click basis, while others expect a commission on the sale and, sometimes, a listing fee. Which sites are the leaders? Try AOL Shopping (shopping.aol.com), BizRate (bizrate.com), Google Product Search (google.com/products), NexTag (nextag.com), PriceGrabber (pricegrabber.com), Shopping.com (shopping.com), Shopzilla.com (shopzilla.com), and Yahoo! Shopping ( shopping.yahoo.com).

The drawback of these sites, however, is that the potential customer will oftentimes be looking for the lowest price possible, and if you are not offering it, they will simply shop elsewhere. But if the products you are selling have a high profit margin, or you are willing to compete with countless other online merchants based mainly on price, price comparison websites can be an extremely viable sales tool.

This type of service also benefits merchants that focus on providing top-notch customer service, because the majority of these comparison shopping sites display customer ratings or rankings. A savvy web shopper will know to visit an online merchant that has both the lowest price and the best customer feedback, all of which is displayed when they use a comparison shopping site.

ONLINE DISPLAY ADVERTISING

Another tactic you may want to use to get visitors to your online business is online display advertising, which allows you to purchase ad space on other websites that might appeal to your target audience. Your ads can incorporate text, graphics, animation, sound, and even video to convey your marketing message. Unlike traditional print ads, however, web users who see your online display ad can simply click on the ad and be transferred to your website in seconds in order to gather more information or to make a purchase.

Running online display ads on popular websites costs significantly more than using SEM ads. What your ad says and the visual elements used to convey the message (the overall look of the ad) are equally important. Thus, in addition to spending more to display your ads, you will probably want to hire a professional advertising agency or graphic artist to design the ads themselves to ensure they look professional and are visually appealing.

Depending on where you want your online display ads to appear, size requirements, ad content specifications, and how much you pay will vary dramatically. In addition to choosing appropriate websites for your ads, you will need to select the exact placement of your ad on each website’s page. Online real estate has value, based on the potential number of people who will be seeing the ad and the physical size of the ad (which is measured in pixels).

In general, the more people who might see your ad, the higher the ad rates will be. Depending on the website, however, you may have to pay based on overall impressions (the number of people who simply see your ad), or you may only be responsible for paying a predetermined fee only when people click on your ad. Another alternative is to pay a commission when a website referral results in a sale. The payment terms are typically created by the individual website.

The best way to find websites to advertise on is to put yourself in your target customer’s shoes and begin surfing the web in search of sites that offer content that is appealing. Next, determine if those sites accept display advertising, and request advertising information if they do. Sites that accept display ads typically have a link on the home page that says “Advertise Here” or “Advertising Information.”

AFFILIATE MARKETING PROGRAMS

Want to immediately generate cash from your online business? Try an affiliate marketing program. From Amazon to OfficeMax, leading online retailers are eager to pay you for driving sales their way. How? By putting their link—such as a banner or text—on your site.

For every click-through that results in a sale, you earn a commission, anywhere from 1 to 10 percent for multi-channel retailers, or 30 to 50 percent in the software sector. In some cases, you can collect a commission on all sales that take place up to 10 days after you send someone to a site. For example, if a customer visits your site and clicks on the leading online company’s banner ad and does not buy anything right away but purchases something a few days later, you will still get credit for the sale.

In some cases, you are compensated even if the visitor does not buy anything. You are paid just for having driven traffic to the merchant’s site. This method is not as popular as the former programs, however. The affiliate’s reward varies from merchant to merchant and program to program, depending on the terms of the merchant’s offer.

There are many independent, third-party affiliate program agencies that will help you create and manage your program. Using any search engine, enter the search phrase, “Affiliate Marketing” or “Affiliate Program.” LinkShare (linkshare.com) continues to be an industry leader when it comes to administering an affiliate program. Other companies include Associate Programs (associateprograms.com), Click Booth (clickbooth. com), Commission Junction (cj.com), and Commission Soup (commissionsoup.com).

Supposedly, the idea for affiliate programs—where big merchants enlist small sites as a de facto sales force—got its start in 1996 when a woman talking with Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos at a cocktail party asked how she might sell books about divorce on her website. Bezos noodled the idea, and a light bulb went on. He realized the potential benefits to both were great, and the result was the launch of Amazon’s affiliate program, one of the industry’s most successful.

The primary appeal of affiliate marketing is the fact that it is always tied to performance. Marketers are not paying for relationships or placements that do not work. It is not without risk, nor is it always the most cost-effective in the long term, but dollar for dollar, it is usually a good investment.

How big is affiliate marketing? Although it is not as big a part of their overall sales and marketing program as paid search or e-mail, affiliate marketing is an effective strategy to build broader brand awareness and drive motivated buyers to business-to-consumer e-commerce sites, say web retailers participating in the latest Internet Retailer (internetretailer.com) survey.

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The information and message communicated in all of your advertising, marketing, public relations and promotional efforts should always be consistent with the content on your site and be targeted specifically to your target audience.

Most web retailers have already made a multiyear investment in affiliate marketing and count on a network of several thousand affiliates to drive visitor traffic, according to the magazine’s survey. For instance, 43.2 percent of web merchants who took part in the survey indicated that their affiliate marketing program is at least four years old, compared with 23.2 percent who said they’ve had a program in place for two to three years, and 10.5 percent with programs only about a year old.

For you, getting a share is simple. You put a few links on your site to any of the thousands of e-tailers or online firms that offer commissions to affiliates, and as surfers click from your site into your affiliated site, you earn money. Basically, you are getting paid for leads, which a practice as old as selling and one that makes sense for everyone involved.

GOOGLE ADSENSE MAKES SENSE

Recently, one of the more significant changes in affiliate marketing has been the emergence of Google’s AdSense (google.com/adsense). AdSense allows anyone who publishes online content to display text-based Google AdWords with a simple cut-and-paste format and receive a share of the pay-per-click payment. AdSense ads are similar to the AdWords ads you see on the right side of the page at Google.

There are many pluses to using AdSense. Proponents say AdSense is simple and free to join, you do not have to use different codes for various affiliate programs, and you can concentrate on providing good content, because Google does the work of finding the best ads for your pages from 100,000 AdWords advertisers.

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Yahoo also has its own advertising option for small publishers called Yahoo Publisher Network (publisher.yahoo.com). As with Google’s service, Yahoo’s self-serve product displays text ads deemed relevant to the content of specific web pages. Advertisers pay only when a reader clicks on their ad.

The payment you receive per click depends on how much advertisers are paying per click to advertise using Google’s AdWords service. Advertisers can pay as little as 5 cents per click or as much as $10 or $12 in profitable niches, perhaps even more. You earn a share of that.

A key reason for the success of AdSense is its revenue model: It is a cost-per-click model versus a cost-per-action or cost-per-sale model. In other words, for affiliates to get paid, visitors to a site just have to complete their click instead of having to complete a transaction.

E-MAIL MARKETING

For many online business owners, e-mail is a great tool for building traffic because it gets results: Customized e-mail can generate response rates upwards of 6 percent—sometimes as high as 30 percent.

Many online startups use e-mail to create a relationship with their current customers or prospects. A great way to start an e-mail list is to ask your visitors or customers to sign up and to permit your company to send messages to them.

What should be included in the content of an e-mail message? Many boutique owners send offers, coupon specials, and product updates to their own list of customers and site visitors who have given them permission to contact them. Personalizing the subject line and the message also may increase your results.

While it is a big commitment in time, publishing a monthly e-mail newsletter is one of the very best ways to keep in touch with your customers, generate trust, develop brand awareness, and build future business. E-letters can contain industry news, in addition to news about new products or special offers you may want to promote. In general, it helps you collect e-mail addresses from those who visit your site and make a purchase—or are not yet ready to make a purchase. Ask for an e-mail address and first name so that you can personalize the newsletter.

The best way to get people to respond to e-mail, however, is to follow the law. In 2004, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003) was signed into law. The law requires commercial e-mail messages to be labeled and to include opt-out instructions and the sender’s physical address. It also prohibits the use of deceptive subject lines and false headers.

A good way to get folks to opt-in to your e-mail list—which, of course, they will also have the option of opting out of—is to offer a free monthly e-mail newsletter.

Content is wide open, but effective newsletters usually mix news about trends in your field with tips and updates on sales or special pricing. Whatever you do, keep it short; probably 600 words is the maximum length. Another key: Include hyperlinks so that interested readers can, with a single mouse click, go directly to your site and find out more about a topic of interest.

CAN-SPAM UPDATES

On July 7, 2008, the FTC put into effect new rule provisions surrounding CAN-SPAM. In general, the new rule provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act include changes to the unsubscribe requirements, clarification to the definition of “sender,” and the permission to use a valid post office box address to fulfill the CAN-SPAM Act’s requirement for a physical address to be displayed in the e-mail. Additionally, the FTC provided clarity to the types of entities that are obligated to comply with CAN-SPAM, including non-profits and individuals.

For more information on the CAN-SPAM Act and the new provisions—as well as advice on how to minimize the risks of e-mail marketing, check out a whitepaper titled “Email Marketing CAN-SPAM Compliance” from e-mail software and services provider ExactTarget at email.exacttarget.com/ETWeb/canspam.aspx. The whitepaper addresses the practical and legal aspects of the CAN-SPAM Act and provides advice on how to minimize the risks of e-mail marketing.

Keep in mind that there are targeted e-mail lists that consist of people who have agreed to receive commercial e-mail messages that you can rent. In general, these lists cost $40 to $400 per thousand, or 4 to 40 cents per name.

One good idea is to do a smaller e-mail test first to determine the quality of the list. You will probably want to find an e-mail list broker to help you with this project. You could save money, your sanity, and get experienced help for no additional cost.

Because maintaining an e-mail list can be time-consuming, a solution to common mailing hassles is to use an e-mail service provider. When choosing an ESP, the ESP should be an expert on all things e-mail and should share this information proactively to improve the effectiveness of your e-mail. It should also understand and be able to advise you on legal issues from a best-practice perspective in all the markets where you send e-mail messages—including other countries. The provider should offer support when needed by you, not when it is convenient for it, and it should be able to help you implement advanced tools such as dynamic content and web analytics into your e-mail campaigns. Finally, it should offer reports regularly that show how a particular campaign is performing for you.

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Want to learn more about CAN-SPAM and how it affects business e-mailers? Check out the following link at the Federal Trade Commission’s website: ftc. gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ ecommerce/bus61.shtm.

Three good choices for online business owners just starting out include: Constant Contact (constantcontact.com), ExactTarget (exacttarget.com), and Topica (topica.com). These services maintain mailing lists and on your schedule send out the mailings you provide.

A lot of the grunt work involved in e-mailings is handled by these services, which leaves you free to focus on the fun part: your message. Keep it simple, keep it sharp, and always use e-mail to drive traffic to your site. Do not make the big mistake of trying to cram your website’s entire message into every e-mail. Nobody has the patience for that. E-mail should stick to headline news, with the full story residing on your website.

There is no reason to guess at whether or not your list is succeeding. Just track site traffic for a few days before a mailing and a few days afterward. Effective e-mail ought to produce a sharp upward spike in visitors. How big a spike hinges on your usual traffic, the size of your list, and your personal goals. A good target, though, is the 6 percent response rate.

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Want to use e-mail in a whole new way? Then buy a text ad in an e-mail newsletter—not yours, but someone else’s. Some of the best buys are small text ads in e-mail newsletters targeted at audiences likely to be interested in your products or services. Or consider exchanging e-mail newsletter ads with complementary businesses to reach new audiences. Just be sure that your partners are careful where they get their mailing list or you could be in trouble with the CAN-SPAM Act.

If you do not see an increase in traffic, take a hard look at what you are mailing. Is it succinct? Focused? Does it encourage readers to click through for more information? If not, odds are you need to hone your message to encourage recipients to click through.

Another possible reason for less-than-desirable results is that your mailing list is bad. Send a vegan mailing to a list of self-proclaimed steak lovers, and you are knocking on the wrong door. The best way to build a targeted mailing list is to make it simple for site visitors to sign up to receive your e-mails. By doing that, they show they are interested enough in your message to indicate they want to hear more from you. Those are the folks who should be stimulated by your e-mail newsletter to click through for more info, at least sometimes. Keep working on both your newsletter and your list, and it will happen for you, too.

The internet also offers thousands of very targeted e-mail based discussion lists, online forums, blogs, and Usenet newsgroups made up of people with very specialized interests. Use Google Groups to find appropriate sources (groups.google.com). Do not bother with newsgroups that consist of pure spam. Instead, find groups where a serious dialog is taking place. Also, be sure not to use aggressive marketing or overtly plug your online business. Add to the discussion in a helpful way and let the signature at the end of your e-mail message do your marketing for you. People will gradually get to know and trust you, visit your site, and do business with you.

TRADITIONAL MEDIA

For some online startups, traditional media—used in conjunction with e-mail, search, and other digital marketing tools—is very effective. For example, try promoting your online business through display or classified ads you purchase in trade journals, newspapers, and the Yellow Pages, among other venues. But be sure to prominently display your URL in any advertising. In fact, view your website as an information adjunct to the ad. Use a two-step approach: First, capture readers’ attention with the ad, and second, refer them to a URL where they can obtain more information and perhaps place an order.

Also look carefully at small display or classified ads in the back of narrowly targeted magazines or trade periodicals. Sometimes these ads are more targeted, more effective, and less expensive than online advertising.

In addition, consider other traditional media to drive people to your site: direct mail, classifieds, and postcards, among other ad vehicles. TV can be used to promote websites, especially in a local market. Additionally, make sure to take advantage of any public relations opportunities. Send press releases to trade reporters or local news organizations. Many of these organizations love to write about small, successful businesses, especially those selling interesting items. But there is more to it then just randomly calling reporters in your industry. Here are some tips for getting press for your online business.

• Do your homework. Target television programs, cable programs, newspapers, and trade magazines, among other media vehicles, that fit with your products or services.

• Create a professional-looking press kit. Approach this as you would applying for a job. Create a cover letter addressed to a person. Find this person on the masthead of the magazine or the credits of a TV show. Add a few pictures of your merchandise—or yourself, if you are selling a service—a bio page, and your contact information, and you’ve got the basics. For a really professional looking press kit, you may have to use a freelancer. Note: Because many people today prefer an e-mail press kit, think about turning your press kit into a PDF document and sending it—with a cover letter—via e-mail.

• Tell a story. This is a key task. How do you create a compelling narrative ? By sharing a little bit about yourself on your bio page. What is your design inspiration? Why did you start an online business? Write a quick one or two lines about your marketing philosophy or about the merchandise you sell.

• Be timely. Remember that TV shows and magazines work about three months in advance of airing or print. Newspapers (do not forget local publications) have a shorter lead time, with one exception: Do not submit something that talks about holiday gift guides in November, as they have set these issues months before.

• Be patient. Take the time to evolve your business image and learn to edit your descriptions. Learn about the industry and discover your niche. Do not worry if you are not in the black yet. It takes time to grow a healthy business. Keep your goals realistic while still having the stretch goal of world domination.

• Be professional. Respond in a timely manner to queries about your shop, keep the casual chatter with reporters to a minimum, and remember, relationships are everything.

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Do you include your URL on your stationery, cards, and other literature? This no-brainer is sometimes overlooked. Make sure that all reprints of cards, stationery, brochures, and literature contain your company’s URL. And see that your printer gets the URL syntax correct. In print, include only the domain.com portion.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND ONLINE BUSINESSES

Internet marketing has given birth to social media marketing, and it would be wise for online startups to take notice. What is social media marketing?

Basically, it is a form of internet marketing that seeks to achieve branding and marketing communication goals through participation in various social media networks such as MySpace (myspace.com), Facebook (facebook.com), and YouTube (youtube.com), and through social web applications, such as reddit (reddit.com), Digg (digg.com), Stumbleupon (stumbleupon.com), Flickr (flickr.com), iLike (ilike.com), Wikipedia (wikipedia.org), Squidoo (squidoo.com), and Twitter (twitter.com). It also includes working within 3D virtual worlds, such as Second Life (secondlife.com), ActiveWorlds (activeworlds.com), Moove (moove.com), and There.com (there.com).

Social media marketing is part of the umbrella term “Web 2.0.” This is a trend in web technology and web design where a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and “folksonomies” facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users. The central theme of these sites is user-generated content with the social aspects of allowing users to set up social communities, invite friends and share common interests. The communities or social sites can also become areas where a company can generate revenue through targeted advertising. Because these areas offer a very impassioned group of people interested in specific things, advertisers are interested in them. Social media marketing also refers to the blogs, wikis, podcasts, or RSS feeds that online business owners use on their websites or in other communications with customers and suppliers.

In general, the goals of each social media marketing program or campaign differ for every business or organization, but most involve some form of building an idea or brand awareness, increasing visibility, and encouraging brand feedback and dialogue, in addition to selling a product or service.

FUNDAMENTAL SOCIAL MEDIA STEPS

Here are some fundamental steps to take with social media:

• Declare who you are to the online community. If not, nobody will know you and most people do not like associating with total strangers. A great way to do this is to create an “About Us” page and list your achievements and skills.

• Spend an hour every week developing your online social network in MySpace or Facebook. Invite a few of these new friends to write blog articles at your site about your products or services.

• Install free blog software and start publishing at least one article.

• Write articles on your site and blog and provide an action button for each article in your site. The action button takes users to the submission page of the bookmarking sites.

• Provide a forum at your site for users to discuss your products and services. Do not delete negative comments, because they provide insights into the improvements needed to serve your visitors better. However, censor hateful and meaningless content. Then register your forum at Board Tracker (boardtracker.com), a forum search engine. Allow users to review and rate your products. This will help you in inventory management, because you may want to discontinue low-rated products.

• Provide RSS feeds for your new products, blogs, and forum postings, among other items. An RSS feed provides teasers of your contents. Users will use RSS readers to scan your teasers and visit your site for more information if the teasers draw their attentions.

• Publish all your feeds at FeedBurner (feedburner.com). FeedBurner provides media distribution and audience engagement services for RSS feeds. It also provides an advertising network for your feeds. If you have quality contents, you will be able to utilize it by using Feedburner services.

• Provide embedded links to your posted videos in your site. This will save your bandwidth and storage space because the videos reside in the video sharing sites.

• Create how-to or new product videos and post these videos in social video sharing sites such as YouTube and Google video. Provide a few start and end frames in these videos to introduce your site with your site URL. Post these videos using titles, teasing descriptions, and appropriate tags to make them discoverable.

• Besides videos, use social photo sharing sites to share pictures related to contents in your site. Use the same title, description and tag techniques discussed earlier for social video sites.

• Provide a “Send to Friend” feature for all products and services you offer. This feature is a link that sends the article, product description, and other information to a recipient by e-mail. For starters, Yahoo provides a service called Yahoo! Action Buttons (publisher.yahoo. com/social_media_tools) that adds links to your website for users to share, save, and blog about your website. Essentially, they make the Yahoo action buttons use Delicious.com (delicious.com) for social bookmarking, and Yahoo! Search Blog (ysearchblog.com) for blogging. It also has a print feature.

Social media marketing is here to stay and it brings profound changes to web surfers’ experiences. It is the right time to implement features that will make your site social media friendly.

STICK IT TO ME

Creating a site that is “sticky” is the dream that keeps website builders going. When your site is sticky, visitors hang around. That means they are reading and buying—and you can bet that every minute a surfer sticks to your site translates into greater brand awareness for you. The stickiest sites have good content that gives users reasons to linger, to absorb more of what you are offering. In addition, sticky sites are easy to navigate.

If you want to sell more products or services to customers who arrive at your website, you need to offer a selection of products or services that people will fall in love with. But in addition to that, the “usability” experience your visitors have while shopping on your website is crucial. Remember, because you are not there in person to guide them through the sale, your site has to do that for you. Make sure to remove any barriers your customers might have in getting around your site, finding what they want, and checking out.

THE TRUE COST OF FREE SERVICES

Before signing up with any social networking sites, take a close look. What stage is the service in? If it is in alpha, it might change considerably when (and if) it reaches its final form. How much traffic does it get? Alexa (alexa.com) can give you statistics. Finally, what do you receive for contributing free content?

Be careful not to underestimate the true cost of free services. If you sign up for too many and spread yourself too thin, you are losing time you could devote to other aspects of your business. Look at the traffic logs provided by your website’s ISP, or install tracking software to find out which of these services actually refers visitors to your website; StatCounter (statcounter.com) and ShinyStat (shinystat.com) offer free versions, as do many others.

Your online business does not have to have all of the following functions, but usability studies show that these features increase online sales. Adding even a few of them to your site can help you sell more products and services.

Website Features

• Site map

• FAQ (frequently asked questions)

• Site-search or product-search feature

• Contact form/easily visible e-mail address

• Size chart/other help with choosing the right product size

• Clear website navigation links

• “About” page that introduces the product designer and establishes a relationship with customers

• Wish-list feature

• Refer-a-friend/tell-a-friend feature

Product Images

• Ability to zoom in / click to enlarge images

• More than one view of each product, including close-ups of details

• Images showing all the colors or other options available for a particular style

On-Site Marketing

• Featured item page

• Clearance sale page

• Promotion of best selling items

• Online-only sale

• Targeted gift ideas (for example, stocking stuffer gift ideas, teacher gift ideas, and niece gift ideas)

• Volume discounts (save money when you buy more than one of an item)

• Cross-selling (recommend and link to related products on your site)

• Testimonials/customer reviews

• Gift certificates available

Checkout/Payment (if selling merchandise):

• Accept credit cards

• Accept debit cards

• Accept PayPal

• Accept checks/money orders

• Redeem gift certificates

• Loyalty/repeat customer/club discount or bonus

• First-time buyer discount

Shipping/Delivery (if selling merchandise)

• Option to buy online, then pick up the order from your studio

• Free standard shipping

• Free upgrade to a faster shipping method

• Holiday shipping deadlines calendar

Customer Service

• Personalized e-mail or autoresponder messages (with a customer’s name and possibly other personal details inserted)

• Faster order fulfillment option

• Free gift wrap

• E-mail newsletter to keep customers updated on your products, news, events, and specials

• Blog to keep customers updated on your products, news, events, and specials

• Privacy statement

• Assurance of secure online payment

Basically, your website needs to give people the most user-friendly online shopping experience possible, while making them feel completely secure about buying from your site.

TAPPING INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

One of the lures of the web is that once your online business is up, you are open for business around the world 24 hours a day. But do not be too quick to believe the hype at face value. Yes, you are open 24/7, but international sales may prove elusive, and even when you land orders from abroad, you may wonder if they are worth the bother. Shocked?

There are excellent reasons for many online businesses to pursue global business aggressively, but before you let yourself get dazzled by the upside, consider the negatives. When you understand to what extent foreign customers represent their own hassles and you have decided that you still want them, you will find the information you need to grab plenty of international sales. After all, despite the headaches, many overseas buyers purchase many items online.

Here is the root of the problem with selling internationally: Whenever you ship abroad, you enter into a complicated maze of the other country’s laws. Assuming you are in the United States, you know Uncle Sam’s laws, and you know that one advantage of doing business in the United States is that barriers against interstate commerce are few. For a Nevada e-tailer to ship to California is no more complicated than putting the gizmo in a box and dropping it off at the post office. With some exceptions, few e-tailers collect sales tax on interstate sales.

Sell abroad, however, and it is a quick step into a maze of complexities, including customs. Generally, it is up to the buyer (not you) to pay any customs owed, but make sure your buyers know that additional charges—imposed by their home countries and payable directly to them—may be owed. You can pick up the forms you will need at any U.S. post office.

Some countries also charge a national sales tax or a value-added tax (around 20 percent on many items in many European countries). Again, as a small foreign retailer, you can pretty safely not worry about collecting these monies, but your buyers may (and probably will) be asked to pay, and they need to understand this is not a charge on your end.

Mailing costs, too, escalate for foreign shipments. Airmail is the best way to go for just about any package, and that gets pricey. A onepound parcel post shipment to Europe costs more than $10, for instance. Insurance, too, is a must for most shipments abroad, primarily because the more miles a package travels, the bigger chance of damage or loss. Costs are low (insuring a $100 item costs about $2.50 with the U.S. Postal Service), but they still add to the charges you have to pass on to the customer. Add up the many fees—customs, value-added taxes, postage, insurance—and what might initially seem a bargain price to a buyer can easily be nudged into the stratosphere.

Getting authorization on foreign credit cards can also be time-consuming. Although many major U.S. cards are well entrenched abroad (especially American Express and Diner’s Club), and validating them for a foreign cardholder is frequently not difficult, this process can be fraught with risks for the merchant, so be careful.

TIP

It is tempting: Declare that an item is an unsolicited gift, and the recipient often does not have to pay any customs charges. The amount that can be exempted varies from country to country; usually it is $50 to $100. However, do not make that declaration even if a buyer asks (and savvy ones frequently will)—they are asking you to break the law.

If you are still not discouraged, do one more reality check to make sure international sales make sense for you. Is what you are selling readily available outside your country? Will what you sell ship reasonably easily and at a favorable price? Even with the costs of shipping factored in, will buying from you rather than from domestic sellers be a benefit to your customers ? If you pass these tests, you are ready to get down to business.

Step One in getting more global business is to make your site as friendly as possible to foreign customers. Does this mean you need to offer the site in multiple languages? For very large companies, yes However, the cost of doing a good translation is steep, and worse, whenever you modify pages—which ought to be regularly—you will need to get the new material translated, too.

Small sites can usually get away with using only English and still prosper abroad. Consider this: Search for homes for sale on Greek islands, and you will find as many sites in English as in Greek. Why English? Because it has emerged as an international language. A merchant in Athens will probably know English because it lets him talk with French, German, Dutch, Turkish and Italian customers. An English-only website will find fluent readers in many nations. But keep the English on your site as simple and as traditional as possible. The latest slang may not have made its way to English speakers in Istanbul or Tokyo.

TIP

When is a foreign customer not a foreign customer? When he or she wants you to ship to a U.S. address (perhaps an Edinburgh father sending a birthday gift to his daughter at a Boston college) or when the customer is an American in the military or diplomatic corps (shipping to their addresses is no different from mailing to a domestic address). Do not judge an e-mail address by its domain. The address may end in “it” (Italy) or “de” (Germany), but it can still be a U.S. order.

To make your site more user-friendly for foreign customers, put up a page—clearly marked—filled with tips intended especially for them. If you have the budget, get this one page translated into various key languages. (A local college student might do a one-page translation for approximately $20.) Use this space to explain the complexities involved in buying abroad. Cover many of the hassles we just discussed, but rephrase the material so it looks at matters through the buyer’s eyes. By all means, include the benefits, too, but do not leave anything out, because the more clear a customer’s thinking before pressing the “Buy” button, the more likely he or she is to complete the transaction.

TIP

Want a no-cost translation of your site? Offer a link to PROMT-Online, a free online translation service ( translation2.paralink.com). Before putting this up, however, ask friends—or pay an expert—to take a look at the translation. These types of services usually offer excellent translations, but you do not want your site’s translation to be the embarrassing exception.

In the meantime, routinely scan your log files for any patterns of international activity. If you notice that, say, Norway is producing a stream of visitors and no orders, this may prompt you to search for ways to coax Norwegians into buying. Try including a daily special “for Norwegian mailing addresses only” or perhaps running a poll directed at Norwegians.

Clues about foreign visitors will also help you select places to advertise your site. While an ad campaign on Yahoo may be beyond your budget, it is entirely realistic to explore, say, ads on Yahoo Sweden. If you notice an increase in visitors (or buyers!) from a specific country, explore the cost of mounting a marketing campaign that explicitly targets them. At the end of the day, whether you reap substantial foreign orders or not is up to you. If you want them, they can be grabbed, because the promise of the web is true in the sense that it wipes out time zones, borders and other barriers to commerce. That does not mean these transactions are easy—they can be challenging, as you’ve seen—but for the e-commerce entrepreneur determined to sell globally, there is no better tool than the web.

OH CANADA!

Although Canadians still lag a bit behind U.S. consumers when it comes to online shopping, that is starting to change. According to a June 2006 survey by J.C. Williams Group (jcwg.com) of 1,312 Canadians who had purchased online in the past six months, 32 percent made five or more purchases, and 68 percent made one to four purchases. Canadian e-commerce is growing substantially as well, with total e-commerce sales totaling $32.4 billion ($39.2 billion Cdn) in 2005, up 38.4 percent from 2004.

“U.S. retailers are looking for expansion possibilities internationally, and Canada is a friendly way to test systems and processes in an initial expansion strategy,” says Maris Daugherty, senior consultant of multichannel practice at J.C. Williams Group in Chicago. “In addition, U.S. retailers are not too far from home, there is untapped demand in Canada, and many Canadian retailers have not yet included e-commerce among their sales channels.”

To design a website that meets the needs of Canadians, use a single e-commerce platform that supports all countries. “The platform should have the ability to be centrally supported with localized content areas and processes defined by country, so the customer can choose their country of preference when they arrive, and it will then be customized by specific cultural options,” Daugherty says. “In Canada, that would include language options in French or English, total pricing including sales tax and shipping charges represented in Canadian dollars, and customer service hours that reflect Canadian regions with availability to both English- and French-speaking agents.”

STELLAR CUSTOMER SERVICE: DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

The great thing about the internet is that anyone can set up shop. Of course, that means you have to compete with the big guys—and customer service is no exception. “Customers today are very savvy,” says Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group inc. (e-tailing.com), an e-commerce consulting firm in Chicago. “They expect best-of-breed customer service everywhere they shop on the web. They do not care if you are smaller.”

Each year, Freedman’s firm tracks the top 100 e-tailers on 11 criteria relative to customer service and communication. The most successful online e-tailers offer the following:

1. Toll-free number. “This is pretty critical today,” says Freedman. “If a small business does not offer this now, it should think about it.”

2. Keyword search. According to Freedman, “People today are used to searching for things online, and they want a seamless search experience on the websites they are considering buying from.”

3. Timely answers to e-mail questions. “A small e-tailer should probably strive for 48 hours,” says Freedman, who adds it is important to personally address customer queries instead of just sending automated responses.

4. Four or fewer days to receive a package via ground shipping. “A small e-tailer should try to strive for five business days,” says Freedman. “And they should make it very clear—in all their communications with their customers—what their shipping policies are.”

5. Six or fewer clicks to checkout.

6. Inventory status. While real-time status is best, “[Let] your customer know within 24 hours if the product they are ordering is in stock or is not in stock,” says Freedman.

7. Online shipping status. “[Offer] a link to UPS or FedEx so that they can check their orders on their sites,” says Freedman.

8. Order confirmation in the shopping cart.

9. An e-mail order confirmation with the order number included.

10. Recommendations for other products and features during the shopping process. “This is a standard for the larger merchants, but something that small e-merchants should strive for,” says Freedman, who adds doing so can help you increase order size.

11. Clearly displayed customer service hours. This is especially important if you have limited customer service hours, says Freedman.