BlogSmall business, Marketing, Promotion and Web Design

When choosing a Content Management system for your web site it is usually a good idea to ask yourself - what is the problem you are trying to solve?

Most people (as I noticed on several message boards) make same mistake - they try to figure out what software they need to make money online. “I want to create a community, what software do I need?”. First of all - what kind of community is it going to be? Writers? Photographers? Make-up artists? Everyone has a different requirement, and different level of knowledge. Photographers are a little easier to please, as they are used to complicated and cumbersome camera controls, but try to cater same interface to a community of models and make-up artists (same industry, after all) and you will be hit with an outcry for mercy.

Management 101: Before offering a service think - what is the problem the service is going to solve. If you have the answer to this question - you will find tools in no time.

Popularity: 14%

You might also be interested in reading this:

• Small business in Chicago (November 27, 2007): Yesterday I have returned from a Thanksgiving trip to Chicago. Aside from matrimonial errands (my friends were getting married) I had a chance to communicate to a lot of different people from various social groups. Aside from regular chit-chat I was inquiring on the cost of living. Obviously you can get data from various web [...]
• Retail Online (January 21, 2008): These are the features ranked according to the number of top 500 retailers that are using them (as per Internet Retailer Magazine): keyword search daily/seasonal specials enlarged product view what's new affiliate program advanced search online gift certificates rich media outlet center email a friend coupons/rebates top sellers site personalization alternative payments store locator wish list customer reviews catalog quick order mapping product customization Interesting enough as well that most consumers (according to Forrester) are willing [...]
• Small business survival - 5 DON’Ts (January 2, 2008): During the course of creating e-Commerce web sites we get a lot of similar questions. This post contains five major DON'Ts for starting E-commerce entrepreneur. This is not, by any means, a concise guide, just answers to most commonly asked questions. Don't be afraid of Google, Yahoo and anyone else. It has been said numerous times [...]
• Researching The Cooperation (March 4, 2008): Researching the competition is easy. Researching the people who you plant to work for is somewhat harder. You don't want to rise suspicion, alienate people who you plan to work for or ask wrong questions. More then that - you want to get honest answers. Not that your future cooperation (sorry, I couldn't figure out [...]

During the course of creating e-Commerce web sites we get a lot of similar questions. This post contains five major DON’Ts for starting E-commerce entrepreneur. This is not, by any means, a concise guide, just answers to most commonly asked questions.

Don’t be afraid of Google, Yahoo and anyone else. It has been said numerous times - don’t think about search engines, think of your target audience. If you are in the business of selling widgets - write couple of good reviews on latest widgets, provide decent photos, build a reputation of a vendor who knows its widgets and not just sells stuff. Google likes good content as do your customers. One reason why I prefer to shop at Amazon and NewEgg - is because I can read reviews (including those of customers) and see lots of pictures.

Don’t be afraid of competition. Whatever you do (or decide to do) - there always will be a competition. Think of the ways you can do better then competition. Target niches, provide more information, stand out. If you sell what everyone else sells (like knock-offs, replicas and such) - be one step ahead, write a review, describe why people buy knock-offs, why yours are better then a shop next door.

Don’t forget to follow-up. This way your customer will know that you are serious seller, even if you sell one dollar widgets. Sending e-mail is as inexpensive as it could be. Even follow-up e-mails can be automated (schedule sending of an e-mail in your e-commerce system to your customers, 7 days upon successful finalizing of the order).

Don’t force your customer to register in order to check-out. Always offer a no-registration check-out option. You still be able to collect all the information about a customer you need, but you will save them a minute or two during checkout process and (this is more important) save them a hassle of remembering their password next time they are at your virtual door. They will register once they realize they return often enough.

Don’t overwhelm  your customers with all the current promotions and e-mails. Maintain a database of how many times you have e-mailed each customer. Try this trick: if you have sent out around seven promotions and a certain customer never visited any links from those e-mails - generate another e-mail that will ask the customer if he/she wants to unsubscribe from future e-mails. Unsubscribe automatically if no responce is given. Chances are hight that all your promotional correspondence ends up in Spam bin, so there is no reason to overload your servers or pay for e-mail delivery for this customer. On the other hand - it may alert customer and enact him/her to actually confirm subscription and look closer to your deals.

Popularity: 25%

You might also be interested in reading this:

• Retail Online (January 21, 2008): These are the features ranked according to the number of top 500 retailers that are using them (as per Internet Retailer Magazine): keyword search daily/seasonal specials enlarged product view what's new affiliate program advanced search online gift certificates rich media outlet center email a friend coupons/rebates top sellers site personalization alternative payments store locator wish list customer reviews catalog quick order mapping product customization Interesting enough as well that most consumers (according to Forrester) are willing [...]
• WordPress or Joomla? (January 4, 2008): When choosing a Content Management system for your web site it is usually a good idea to ask yourself - what is the problem you are trying to solve? Most people (as I noticed on several message boards) make same mistake - they try to figure out what software they need to make money online. "I [...]
• Small business in Chicago (November 27, 2007): Yesterday I have returned from a Thanksgiving trip to Chicago. Aside from matrimonial errands (my friends were getting married) I had a chance to communicate to a lot of different people from various social groups. Aside from regular chit-chat I was inquiring on the cost of living. Obviously you can get data from various web [...]
• Offline-Online Promotion For Small Businesses - Part 3 (January 17, 2008): Small businesses, especially those that are not geographically "challenged", should not limit themselves to small-scale marketing tools. Coupons, flyers, business cards, comp cards - it all can work for geographical regions of a small scale. Sending out postcards or distribute flyers can get really expensive as your targeted location grows in size. These marketing tools [...]

You didn’t think that Skype has improved much since July, when I wrote this post. Right, me neither. However, the page at the URL posted has changed, creative folk at Skype is still going bananas. This time - about Skype Pro.

What’s a Skype Pro? Oh, that’s easy - “Skype Pro™ is our all-singing, all-dancing bundle“. That’s merry, but what are the features that included in Skype Pro, you might want to ask. I did, and here is the answer: “It’s jam-packed with everything you need for one low monthly fee”.

But what are the features that this jam-pack is jam-packed with? I bet you will find the answer just the easy way I did. Here’s how:

1. Go to Help section, click on Knowledge Base
2. Just for kicks - search Knowledge Base for words “skype pro” - returns no results at all
3. Scroll almost all the way down or use your browser’s Search function for “skype pro”
4. Click on “More Skype Pro Topics”
5. First article on results page - “What is Skype Pro?” - has the information that should be sufficient to make that decision. To be exact, the following is the full content of the article: “Skype Pro is Skype’s premium subscription that offers the easiest way of getting the most out of Skype.“. If you are, for some weird reason, still unsatisfied - click on the link for more “jam-packed” blabber.

Now, I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade here, but to me this looks like a worst usability I have ever seen. Soviet programmable calculators circa 1987 were friendlier then Skype’s web site. And if you think I am exaggerating - try searching Knowledge Base for words “What is Skype Pro”. See the answer for yourself.

Popularity: 15%

You might also be interested in reading this:

• WordPress or Joomla? (January 4, 2008): When choosing a Content Management system for your web site it is usually a good idea to ask yourself - what is the problem you are trying to solve? Most people (as I noticed on several message boards) make same mistake - they try to figure out what software they need to make money online. "I [...]
• Small business survival - 5 DON’Ts (January 2, 2008): During the course of creating e-Commerce web sites we get a lot of similar questions. This post contains five major DON'Ts for starting E-commerce entrepreneur. This is not, by any means, a concise guide, just answers to most commonly asked questions. Don't be afraid of Google, Yahoo and anyone else. It has been said numerous times [...]
• Small business in Chicago (November 27, 2007): Yesterday I have returned from a Thanksgiving trip to Chicago. Aside from matrimonial errands (my friends were getting married) I had a chance to communicate to a lot of different people from various social groups. Aside from regular chit-chat I was inquiring on the cost of living. Obviously you can get data from various web [...]
• Retail Online (January 21, 2008): These are the features ranked according to the number of top 500 retailers that are using them (as per Internet Retailer Magazine): keyword search daily/seasonal specials enlarged product view what's new affiliate program advanced search online gift certificates rich media outlet center email a friend coupons/rebates top sellers site personalization alternative payments store locator wish list customer reviews catalog quick order mapping product customization Interesting enough as well that most consumers (according to Forrester) are willing [...]