Practical Tips for Online Retailers

Okay, you did it! You now have a store out in the Web Ocean, but basically you are krill in it! So the first step is to get listed in as many search engines and directories as possible!
Now for most of us, we don't have the money in invest in a comapany doing it for us and for some we don't even know what a search engine and/or directory is :)
So to make easy for you, here are some great sites that have a list of sites to put your Web Site on.

#1 ) Info Vilesilencer:

http://info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=seo-friendly.php
This is a directory list that gives you LOTS of directories to get you out there. It also gives you a heads up on which ones are free and which ones you have to pay for.

#2) Free Web Submission:

http://freewebsubmission.com/

I personally love this site because they have a list of search engines and directories along with their rankings and if you scroll to the bottom of the page you will see that you can put your URL in and Free Web Submission will do the work for you on 20 sites! That makes life sooo much easier!

#3) Borolook

http://borolook.com/dir_submit.asp

This one is set up well, they have it where you click on the directory and it shows up under the listing, so you never lose the site you started at! Lots of directories from different countries too. They also have paid and free directories and from what I've seen they have 431 directories you can put your web site on! Take your time though :)

#4) 2Space.net:
http://www.2space.net/
You manually submit your MAIN page, but they offer a passport for free advertising, analytics, how the web sees you, page rank and more. Very useful.

#5) http://www.isedn.org/

I just found this one, it has a quick submission to over 200 search engines, and it looked as though they were other engines and directories that I have not placed my site on. So go to this site for even MORE exposure. They let you place 5 URL's in total.

Now remember, that it does take some time to get listed on these sites, so be patient! But I will say, take the time to do this! All your hard work will pay off.

I know what you're thinking.... how can Squidoo help me get traffic and sales on web site? Well the short answer is that Squidoo can get you to the top of search engines! Yes, you read it right. I didn't think it was possible until I did a search for one of my keywords and my Squiddo lens was on the top page and my web site was on a different page.
Squidoo can be a REAL source to promote your business. It doesn't take long for your lens to be indexed by search engines ( about 48 hours) . Squidoo is LOVED by the search engines and therefore you can make a lens promoting your business that WILL BRING TRAFFIC!

Now it took me a while to figure Squidoo out, because I'm the type of person that is totally hands on, I don't like reading instructions ;) but I have figured out how to use this medium to get my "Brand" out there and for people to find my company and know what we sell and how to use our products ( my company sells niche items that could make it hard for customers to really know how to use them).
So here are some suggestions to get your business noticed through Squidoo.

First, start with what you want your lens to be about. Let's say you sell watches, you can make a lens showcasing the different types of watches out there and add a link to your store or each individual product. Squidoo has a LInk List where you can post a link to any catagory or product you are showcasing.( name your link-like this: business name- product name, that's where the "Branding" comes in, people will associate your company with the particular products) Squiddo also has RSS feed that you can use to show off a line of products.

When you make a lens, be sure to put keywords that descibe your company, products or service you provide. For instance my lens title is "Glow, Light Up Party Supplies,Flameless Candles at fireflygn.com. Although that might look like a long title, it does have the keywords I need to get my lens seen by people doing a search.

Show Off Make sure in each talk module you put a picture. People need to see the product or service you are talking about. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Add Links: This is very important! If you are using your lens to promote products, you can talk about the product and add a link direstly to your product page. People don't like surfing through lots of product when they are interested in one item.

These are just a few suggestion to get you started making your lens. Squidoo is a fun place to be creative and it can also be a great place to promote yourself.

The point is: If you don't use Squidoo to promote your business you could be floating adrift in the World Wide Web Ocean! So get started! Click on the Make a Page and find out for your selves how easy it is to get to the top of the WWW food chain.

The key to having a successful online business is of course TRAFFIC! The more traffic you get the greater the odds are you will get sales. With that said, I felt the need to talk about the KINDS of advertising that's out there and what places should you go to get your web site to the greatest number of people.
First let's talk about Pay Per Click. There is Google, Microsoft, Yahoo that are the main places to go for PPC Advertising. I think that Google is a place that has a most searches, but I have noticed that the charge for each click (in my case) has gone up considerably.

Instead of PPC I placed my products on Froogle which is now called Google Base:
http://www.google.com/base

you can upload all your products and it will be part of a product feed, the best part is that it's FREE! I found I get just as many hits from Froogle (and sales)as I did paying for Google Sponsored Ads. When you are first starting out, your don't have the advertising dollars that all the big companies have, so you have to find cost effective ways to get your store out there.

Yahoo is another place for PPC, which is cheaper than Google,(but they just recently raised their minimum bid) but I found a place that actually Partners with Yahoo and they are WAY CHEAPER! If you are looking for a PPC company with low cost and low start up visit this site: http://www.enhance.com/
I have had alot of success with this site when it comes to getting the traffic, and with it sales.
Another site I have had success with is MIVA: http://www.miva.com/us/
they too have low cost and low start up, so my traffic all together has increased dramatically for the same cost as Google and Yahoo campaigns.

Microsoft, in my opinion,is to expensive for the small business, you are too restricted on keywords and the site itself is very hard to navigate. I heard recently that they are in talks with Yahoo to merge, so maybe you might want to wait.

One other thing I want to say on this subject, most of the time when you first start out online, you get credits for the Major Search Engines to Advertise, I think you should use these credits because again, it's all about traffic. The important thing to remember is to put as many keywords (as well as negative ones) that relate to your site or products.

Here's a great way to get your site known and that's through Classified Ads. Most of the time, they are free and you can place your Ads for up to 6 months. This is a very cost effective way to get your products to the people.

Here are a few of the places I have found that are Classifieds or Web sites that let you Advertise for free:

http://www.webclassifieds.us
http://flugpo.com/home
http://www.bigfreelist.com
http://www.usfreeads.com
http://businessfreead.com
http://www.zoocaro.com
http://towersearch.com
http://dallas.kijiji.com (this is a local classifieds web site)
http://www.2space.net/passport/
http://www.12freeads.com/index.php
http://www.blujay.com/?page=index
http://www.salespider.com/index.php
http://www.wrigglecookie.bravehost.com/
http://www.ipromote.com/( their advertising is paid but you can list your company for free)
http://www.betterbizlist.com/members/index.php

There is another site that has all kinds of listing for classified ad sites, it is a great resource:
http://www.trafficrank.com/

As you can see, there are plenty of places new companies can go to promote their site, without breaking the bank. Little by little, you will become the big fish you want to be! Keep Swimming.

Being new to E Commerce, I have had to learn the hard way that you need to be smart about getting your website out there for people to see. Of course, for new businesses, like mine, there is not alot of money to use for advertising or promoting yourself.
Well I have good news,there is a way to help your site be popular! it's One Way Linking.
One Way Linking is exactly what I said, It's a popularity indicator. The more links you have pointing to your site,the better you will do on search engines.
There are different types of links, One Way or "Regular Links" and Reciprocal Links. Reciprocal Links are not as valuable as One Way Links. They are not bad, just not as strong a "vote" for your site.
One way linking has a stronger "vote." The places you are indexed in will point to your site, making you more popular with Google,Yahoo, Microsoft and other Search Engines.

One thing I want to caution you about, DO NOT pay for one way links, there are plenty of directories that give you "Regular Links" for free.
Now I know you're asking, how do I find these directories? You can do a search for "Free Link Directories" or you can try these sites:

http://www.directorymaximizer.com/seo-friendly-directories.php

They have a service you can pay for, or you can use their list to link to the directories and manually input your info. I made a Word Doc with all the information to make it easier for me to submit to alot of directories. I try to place my site on diectories consistently, which has been paying off.

http://www.submit-away.com/submit-urls.htm

This site has all kinds of different places you can submit to.

http://borolook.com/Free_Directory_Submission_to_10000.asp

This is probably the best laid out site, they have all the directories on top, and as you click on them, the web page opens on the bottom, so you don't lose you place. With over 1,200 directories to list on, this is probably the largest list I've seen.

Free Directory List:
http://www.free-directory-list.com

This is a subject I felt had to be discussed, nowadays it seems impossible to get good service! But guess what? This is the perfect way for you to stand out in the crowded .com world! Offering good customer service is in my opinion even more effective than ads, classifieds, promotions PPC or anything else you can think of to get your business off the groud. Why? Because people LOVE personalized customer service!
First, think about ways that you can improve your service. Make a script you can go by when you talk to customers that will help guide them to purchasing. They need to see the reason WHY they need what you have. Be personable, "smile" on the phone. Sometimes you can really make someone's day. I know that might seem hard, but you have to take people in stride, the point is they will notice HOW you treat them.

Come up with a "Campaign" to woo customers.
Most online stores overlook doing thing like:
E mailing your customer after the order has shipped, just to see if everything went well. I always send a coupon offering a discount on their next purchase. Being in touch will pay off!
Sending Cards or Calenders toward the end of the year to all your customers just to wish them the best for the New Year. This is just something personal that people appreciate.
Sending customer promos to ONLY the people who have ordered in the past telling them how much you appreciate their business.
Send Newsletters about new products or information about products or services you have, it will give you an edge passing good information on to your clients or customers.

Last but certainly not least, offer help to your potential clients or customers, give them ideas, info,the potential your products or services have. Even if they don't order from you, they will definately remember your service and WILL COME BACK in the future.

Take my advice and you will definately get the feeding frenzy started on your site!

When I first started my store it was around the Holidays, I thought, "we are going to be sooo busy and everything is going to be great!" Let me just say, I quickly learned that I was being eaten alive by all the other competition out there. I thought, "How am I going to compete?" I tried everything, sales, promos, buying leads, not much came from it, a few sales but not consistent.
Then one day I came across Shopit.com, which is a social ecommerce network. I had put a page on Facebook, (which I might go into some other time) so I thought this would be another way to get my web page known. Needless to say, I love this place, it has given me access to so many more people who would have never found me organically or even on my CPC campaigns. Also,listing is UNLIMITED. Giving me the ability to to expand my business into other product lines that didn't seem to fit at my main site.
I have now 4 stores ( I have my own chain, haha) my main store, a store on Shopit, eCrater and BluJay. All of these stores are free to list and support PayPal and Google Checkout, a selling point for potenial buyers. You also have the choice to accept other forms of payment.
Now one tip I want to give you that is VERY IMPORTANT, whenever you start another store, use your web sites URL as your storefront profile. The reason for this is to improve your ranking in Alexa, which in turn makes you easier to find! For example, My web site URL is fireflygn, my stores all have the same name as the profile. When I go to Alexa and put my URL in, all the store pages come up, and I noticed my rank improve almost 2 million!
The other benefit to having these other stores is people who are searching for a product you sell, will see your Shopit store or eCrater store BEFORE they see your main store because these stores rank higher than yours! Now your getting to be a bigger fish! Swim on :D

I know what your thinking "I'm not a writer!" "I've got nothing to say." That is simply not true. Let me ask you a question, what do you like about your company? What do you like about your products or services? What do you want potential customers or clients to know about you and your company? These are all things you can write about! The thing that we new etailers NEED is people to know who you are as a company and the products or services you sell.
Take for example green products, they are very popular right now and say that your company sells products that have benefits for the environment. Well let's be real here, you can't put all that in a 35 word ad! You need to have an outlet to let people know about the benefits of your products. That's where a PR campaign comes in.
I recommend Squidoo as being the diving board for you. If you don't have a lens GET ONE! I was really daunted at making a lens for my company,I didn't know what to talk about, but I have found that it has been GREAT. People are really looking for answers to new product questions or just questions in general that they don't get on web sites. This is a way to get YOU out there! You can be the person who gives the answer to "Why?" "What it is?" "Why is this so popular?" etc.
If there is anything I could tell you, I would say write about why you like this stuff. Explain the use of your products or services, then people become comfortable with you and what you have to offer.
Don't be fooled into thinking that you will be catapulted into fame or something, like anything else pertaining to business it does take some time to gain a following, but again, hard work pays off.
Okay now I've convinced you do this thing, now what? Where do I go to promote myself? I'm glad you asked (haha) Here are some places I found that have helped me:

http://www.pr.com
http://www.prlog.org
http://www.prlog.org
http://www.mybloglog.com
http://www.blogshowoff.com
http://www.articlesbase.com
http://www.articlesearcharticle.com

These are a few of the sites, but if you want more just Google Search "Submit Press Release" and you can find more places to go.
Just remember, Press Releases are seen by a huge crowd, if someone subscribes to a feed that your article is placed on, they will get access to it. This is also FREE, which when your new, you want to be a cost effective as possible.
Happy Swimming.







Use this code to encourage your site visitors to submit Site Reviews for your site:
The Isle of Squid

Blogs Directory

Social Netwoking or Online Networking is a great way to connect with others in the same field as you and they can help grow your business by referring you to other people they know who are looking for what you have.
There are many new and even niched Networks that will fit anyone's need.
Some of the ones I have come across are:

Start up Biz:
This is a netwoking site specifically for business people. It has lots of useful information to help you start a business, grow a business and what it takes to be successful.

Savor The Success:
This is an excellent networking site for female entrepreneurs. You create a business profile and can network using their Connection page There is tons of advice and help available as well as PR opps that can really get you noticed!

Home Space Biz:
This too is a Networking site where you create a profile, join groups, post to Forums and network with other Home Based Business People.

WO Zone:
This is a new one I can across, but it growing quickly and they have alot of different arenas you can promote yourself or your company . They also have a socail side, with fun groups for just about anything. I really like this site because they make you feel welcome and encourage you to participate.

Adland Pro:
This one is very popular. There are lots of people you can connect with here and of course they have plenty of places you can promote your business as well.

The Baker's Dozen:
If you are in the Wedding Industry, This a the perfect place for you! All of the people networking are in that field and you can really make some good connections. You create a profile,download photos and videos, but it is important to be a participate daily. I personally think it's worth it.

Remember that the more you place yourself in these environments, the more you will learn about marketing and growing your business and get the exposure you need to succeed!

Just Keep Swimming....

Just because you have an online store doesn't mean you're not a legitimate business. Most people are looking online for businesses in their area, and creating a profile on different business listings can help you build from your epicenter.
Having a profile gives consumers confidence about who you are, if they see your business listed on Yellow.com or other local area listings, they are more likely to purchase product from you. A listing or listings will also help you gain exposure on the web! Which is a great thing right?
So where do you get started? Well I mentioned Yellow.com, they have free listings and it's easy to put a page up. They also seem to approve you quickly,which can bring in local traffic quickly.
Another place I found is Merchant Circle. They have free listing, that looks like a web page, but you can be reviewed and rated. You can pay for services as well, but you don't have to. I have had a good response to my listing, so I definately recommend this site.
Here's another one:
kudzo.com
They are having a promotion that you can get an upgraded profile free for a year. It is very detailed, and gives you alot of options, like photos,deals,videos etc. to promote your company.
As I find more places to promote, I'll add them, but for now, I'd love to hear from you, have you found a business listing page you want to tell us about? Leave your comments below.
Together we can rule the WWW ocean.

You Tube is a powerful force, you can't deny it. But how can you use it to promote your business? I'm sure the first question is "How do I make an ad if I don't have a video camera?" Well, I don't have a video camera either ( I know it's sad) but I do have pictures of products and Microsoft Movie Maker! You can use these to make a commercial to promote yourself.
You tube has an Alexa Rank of 3! Excellent source to get your company's products and/or service out there.
Follow some simple steps:
Make an ad, create an account with your company name, PLEASE Read their terms, they will take you off if you are putting bad stuff up!
JOIN GROUPS! That's a good start to getting your videos out there. The people will come, I have really surprised how many people have seen the commercials I put up.
Again, You tube is FREE (we all love that!), so get out there and show them what you've got!