This is one are that an off line marketer can gain some ground rather quickly. Depending of course, on the location of the offline business.

If your business allows for face to face contact with your prospects and customers….you have a leg up.

A neatly dressed smiling individual makes a better impression than a line of text.

We all have done business with the grumpy “clerk”….not much fun. But the pleasant, friendly helpful person is long remembered.

If they are providing a quality product or service to the customer.  And doing so at a reasonable price, that all adds to the creditability factor.

When your customers have the chance to see and touch a product that is well made the reputation is easier to establish.

Years ago, when I sold my furniture at craft shows, many sales were made after the prospect felt the smooth finish of my products. As time passed and I returned to the particular area, customers would return to by more pieces. In some cases they would refer friends………

The establishment of creditability……….

It takes a little time and pays off well…………

Online Creditability………

That is a little different….and can be more difficult……..

You lose the value of the face to face…….

But you do not lose the value of the quality product….as long as you continue to produce that way…

Service and quick response is also a very positive factor………

Response to a prospect’s question can be quick and easy when you consider the speed of the net…..

The internet provides a few things that will really help an online business…..

For example, social networking………If you use it….remember your business image……

Friendly and professional……

A blog can be very effective……. (like this one….lol)……..

And so can forums……..I my opinion….the gold mine of creditability……

Find the ones that match your business and participate…..be active….help people….

Do not sell…..

For an example…Google search my name…..Jim Gillum…….I usually have a large number of results, with most of them connected to forums……

For marketing information from a small growing forum try www.marketingforums.net

And www.v7n.com/forums , which is one of the largest on the net. Both are very friendly and contain quite a bit of information.

Generally for new marketers, gaining a good reputation just takes a little time. It is something you should start building as soon as you decide to put together your own business…

Whether it is online or offline. Many of the basics are identical.

Good luck

Until next time

Jim Gillum

Build your site or…… do SEO?

I normally try to stick to work at home business without toomuch discussion about using the internet.
Not because I don’t know how, simply because I do not want to add to anyone’s information overload.

I have been building websites since the mid 90s and have been doing SEO since then too.

What is SEO? In simple terms, search engine optimization, which prepares a website to rank high in the search engine index. At least that
is what it is supposed to do.

How do you do it? And how do you learn it?

SEO is far more complicated than many folks realize, most are only familiar with the bare basics
and sadly believe they are experts. (I spend time in webmaster forum and see them.)

I would like to keep this discussion rather light and try to just touch some of the basics.

Building your site…can be mind bending. Can you write code? Or do you have site building software? Will you hire someone to build a
site for you?

Those are questions for you to consider and choose an option.

SEO is something that anyone who intends to operate a web business should understand. A site that simply serves as an ad for an offline
business, may…I said may not be as important.

But if your entire business is on the web…..you should really develop a better than average understanding. Hiring a good company to do
the optimization for you would be expensive and to work properly, it should be ongoing.

If you are new to web business and are learning, just add SEO to your learning list.

OK…The answer to the question……

My opinion is based on common sense, experience and research. Do them both at the same time.

Again, based on my time in the forums, most people publish their site and then worry that they have a low rating in the search engines and
no traffic. No traffic means no business and of course, no cash flow.

Another opinion based on research. The website builder, the graphics creator and the content provider are different people. The last to
arrive on the scene is the SEO expert.

That is like building a house upside down and expecting it to work.

Time for that second cup of….coffee….

Follow along with this.

The codes for the site, all the content and the graphics will impact the SEO of the site. As will the overall site design.

Therefore, they should all be done at the same time.

Some of the things done to the site are for the search engines and others are for humans. People spend money …search engines do not.
(We can talk about other forums of promotion later in the posts)

Currently, the number one engine is Google and will be the focus of our discussion. If you rank well in Google you should also do well in
the other most popular engines. Works that way for me….

The codes that people do not see, tell the browser how to display your site. Like the color of the background, the text, which font to
display and the size and color.  They also tell the engines what your site is about, mostly by using meta elements called meta tags.

The site content is the part that provides the information that your customers want to find. The engines use that as well to help rank
your site. In this area some of the factors include, placement of bold words, word usage relevant to the subject of the site.
The location of the words that are the key subjects of you site.  And also the number of words.

(Keyword usage and research would fill a book)

Graphics to attract people, and to make your site look professional. And graphic tags for the engines.

Now the ongoing SEO would submit your site to engines, place links throughout the web and do other forms of promotion that is intended to
help the site rank high in the engines. And also bring traffic to your site.

The finalreasoning…

If all of these factors (and many more) are taken into consideration from the very beginning of the project. The chances of success
are greatly improved.

The website is not disrupted by changes that might have to be made for the site to comply with SEO.

Can you do all this? Will you be overrun by new material?
Will you think you are going crazy?

Yes to all…..but you will have a much better handle on your own business and be less likely to get ripped off by some web slicker…..

No one was born with a business already in their head…itis all learned…

Until next time..

Jim Gillum

Time….not enough or too much……..
You must control your use of time…….it is easy to watch the days slip away and weeks can be gone before you know it…….

And to make matters worse….if you are retired and not pushing to fund the normal daily expenses, it is easy to just let it happen…..

I left Florida to visit my lady friend in Michigan…ended up getting married…..
And doing a lot of sight seeing around the area…..

We live in an area that is mostly farmland and forests……beautiful…we watch the deer eating in the backyard…too easy to let time get away……

Don’t fall into that trap……….although in this case it is a good trap…..
None the less….business suffers…….followers lose patience and move on ….and it could leave your creditability at question……

But wait!….There’s more………I have been taking some great photos for my art site……(Need to get that finished)…
Been doing some Michigan fishing…..a little different from Florida…
And watching the deer eating in the back yard…..

It has been great for the mind and a real attitude boost…..

I am still active in several marketing forums and I think I am helping some folks..
I also do moderation in four of them now……also think I am helping the forums….
I always did like teaching…..

Well, I …I mean we will be heading back to Florida in a few weeks and I will get back to more regular posts…..

Until then. Take care and keep learning
Jim Gillum

Well you do have a product…don’t you?

Maybe yes maybe no…but it is the basis to move forward and develop your business.

There are many sorts of technical or scientific methods that can be used to determine the saleability of a product.

Then there are some tried and true “off the cuff” systems that can give you a good idea about your “stuff”.

A Case Study

Let me give you an example from past experience. We were working on a line of gift items for children. Home produced products. Some made of fabric some made of wood.

I took addresses from the yellow pages of gift shops in a reasonable driving range from home. Then I packed a fancy decorated cardboard container with an assortment of our products.

Since I was not familiar with the shops, I had to play it by ear, as to whether or not they handled children’s gift items.  

Anyway, I targeted the owners or managers and gave them my best sales pitch. Most of them bought. In a day and a half, I sold more than we could put together in a week. Some would become regular customers.

This strengthened the saleability status of our product line. The future reorders would also confirm that our products would continue to sell.

Pros and Cons

This has an advantage over direct sales because it shows that the products will sell when you are not there to make sure. They sell themselves.

On the other hand, if you can present your products in person to your prospects you can gather direct product feed back.

The most valuable are the non-buyers; you can tactfully ask why they don’t like it. That would give you the opportunity to consider any modifications.

And you can likewise determine the features that attracted the buyers and use that positive information in your marketing program.

You might try some test marketing by doing something similar with your product. Of course, that is going to depend on the product.

And……. finding the right location to do the test.

If you are thinking flea market, you might want to reconsider. Most people shop there looking to find bargains. But you can still get a feel for the public response to the product.

Just don’t expect to get your asking price.

And the whole point of the exercise……..

Think outside the box……many successful business people don’t follow the same road travelled by others………..that is one reason they became successful…….

I hope this helps to get you and your head pointed in the right direction…..

Until next time…………

Jim Gillum

There has been discussion about what is selling versus what is marketing for many years.

We can start by taking a quick look at the definitions…….

Marketing

The commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service

Selling

The exchange of goods for an agreed sum of money

If you accept these definitions selling is part of marketing. Over the years, I have met several people who were selling products and described their business as marketing. It seemed as though they wanted to disguise the real business.

As time went by, it became obvious that the description they offered was accurate.

How does this apply to your business?

Well, you have a product (or service) that you would like to exchange for money. That is pretty basic. Selling in its purest form.

Getting your product in front of potential customers, that is marketing. You market, so that you can sell….

Does that make sense to you? I would certainly hope so.

I know…..you can’t sell.  You can’t sell five dollar bills for a buck a piece.

Then……..find another business…..in fact get a job. It all comes down to selling….and spins off of marketing……

Passive Selling

Really……..although, on the bright side, there is such a thing as passive selling.

You find a place where a large number of people pass by during a given time frame. Display your products and then wait for someone to pass by and buy what you have to show.

Like a flea market, busy street corner……..or a store…….

You could also use a website, where the potential exist for millions of people to stop in, examine your products and hopefully buy some of what you have to offer.

Now Marketing

OK…we have solved your selling problem, now let’s figure out how to get all those people to see your products.

That would be marketing. Actually a little more complicated than that sounds. It covers a broad array of subjects. I can’t really cover the whole process in a blog post but I can touch some of the basics.

Marketing includes the appearance of your product, the name of your product and the advertizing of your product. Just to point out a few segments.

The product must “look” good, must be attractive to your prospects. The name must also be attractive and accurate.

Try to but yourself in your prospects shoes and view your offering from their perspective. Would you be interested in it? Does it fill the prospects need?

Who would buy something named “Glop”? Then consider, there is a product named “Gunk®” that has been around for years and sells well. Go figure…..

The advertizing part can be very involved and expensive….or not. Again depending on your choices. Television ads and commercial production can be costly, while free classified ads on the net are…well, free…

With practice, you can write your own copy for your advertizing and promotion. It does take some skill but you can learn.

Here is where your motivation and drive come into play. You can study and learn the methods available to promote your business both on line and off line. That will be up to you.

Or you can pay someone to do it for you. Again, that can get pricy…..

That is just a taste of marketing…a small taste…….

Probably the most important part is determining that salability of your product. Do people actually want to buy what you have to sell? If that answer is no……move on.

I hope, once again, that this post can help you a little. Building and operating a business can be rewarding and frustrating at the same time.

Remember, take the time to do your research and spend some time learning….It will pay off in the long run and the short run………

Best to you

Jim Gillum

Since the beginning of this blog I have made some attempts to follow a logical path of progression to build your business….

That has failed miserably….. (Following a pattern)

So I may as well continue that pattern and just dump out some more information, which I think will help you along your way.

Most businesses, on line and off line, provide a product or service. You give something in exchange for money……….

There are those sites that contain something of interest like games, sports scores, how to articles and other similar such information. Some are membership sites and charge a fee. Others place ads all over their site in the hopes that you will click on a link and buy some product. That way the site owner can collect a commission for sending you to the sales page.

We are all probably pretty familiar with those kinds of sites. They do make money. But….that is a subject for a whole nother article…..

OK…your product….we have touched on this before…I think…

Anyway…….you can take a look at your skills and hobbies. Is there anything marketable?

Do you make something that people will buy…Will it be practical to sell it from your home, either out the front door or on the internet?

Is it something you can make at your home?

Think about it from the business owner point of view.

How many cookies can you bake and sell in one day from your kitchen? Enough to develop into a fulltime business?

In the real world…most likely not….

In many jurisdictions, the standard home kitchen would not past health department approval. Get the point.

Can you make and sell 50 pound flower pots and ship them to your customers? Simple answer is yes….from a practical viewpoint….probably not.

Fifty pounds each……hard to handle …a real pain to ship or deliver.

Bottom line…….choose things that make sense……things that a normal person can do.

It will help to prevent you from quitting after a few days because your project is too hard.

Hey, I am not suggesting that you are dumb … but in the excitement of moving forward with a new project it is easy to sometimes overlook the obvious.

That is a good reason for a larger project to take on a consultant. A fresh pair on neutral eyes can many times see things from a different perspective. Be careful asking family or close friends, that can backfire…big time.

I can not tell you exactly what you should select for a product or service. If I could predict the best products, that would be a great business for me.

The great predictor ….send me money and I will give you the winners…..Duh… It does not work that way……sadly for both of us.

Let’s pretend that you need a product….

You have limited special skills…….

What to do?

There are several methods that have worked for many years with some degree of success. The first is to find a product that is selling well and duplicate that product.

For instance, hamburgers. There are many places that make and sell burgers. Most are making money. Mainly because people buy and eat hamburgers.

Or, develop a better version of the popular product.

For example, a bigger better burger. One that has extras that are not available from the other burger companies. Maybe different ingredients or “better” ingredients.

Or develop a completely new burger. One made out of turkey instead of beef.

Or….present the old product in a repackaged upgraded version……Print new in red on the package. Give it a new name. “The Florida Burger.” Now better than ever. Point out the features that have been obvious for years but not mentioned by your competitors.

Like…made fresh daily…..served hot……free dressings…….packaged to take home. All things that were normally always available, but never pointed out.

STOP…..I am not suggesting that you should go into the burger business. Simply replace the burger with the product that you are considering, to try to generate some ideas that will work for you.

As in past posts, I am trying to help you get some of the creative juices flowing. I don’t have all the answers. And do not claim to have.

But, in the past fifty years I have seen a few things that have helped me…..I hope they will help you…

Until next time,

Jim Gillum

]]> http://for-new-marketers.info/blog/work-at-homea-product-for-your-business/feed/ 1 http://for-new-marketers.info/blog/work-at-home-on-the-internetbasic-tools/ http://for-new-marketers.info/blog/work-at-home-on-the-internetbasic-tools/#comments Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:57:49 +0000 Jim Gillum http://for-new-marketers.info/blog/work-at-home-on-the-internetbasic-tools/ Once again we will go over some of the information that we touched on an earlier post….. 

Of course, work at home is basic. Then we discussed whether or not you wanted an internet business or a business that is simply advertized on the net. A web presence, so to speak.  And…Will you build your own site or have it built for you. 

In either case there are some basic things, components, which we all need to get the web thing going.  After you have chosen your domain name, you will have to have a hosting service to host your site or blog. It is probably going to be very helpful to also have an autoresponder service. 

I highly recommend the service in this banner….from the unselfish marketer. I have been doing business with his company for quite some time….the service is awesome, for the rare times I have had to contact them. Click the banner now!!   

Fact is, to have a business; you have to offer something in exchange for money. That is a very basic part of your business.
 

Of course, there is nothing to say that you can not offer a value for free. For the basis of this discussion, we will focus on a business that we all hope will make money.
 

In some earlier posts there have been mentions of a business plan. Step one would be to determine what product or service you will offer as the base of your work at home business.
 

Obviously you should pick something that you are familiar with and can discuss in an intelligent manner. Maybe from your hobby or a prior business experience.
 

Then you will have to decide what your position will be in the supply chain.
 

And what the heck does that mean? If you are going to be in business it is helpful to understand some of the terms.
The supply chain is the “life path” of your product. It would start at the raw materials used and move on through manufacture, sales, (wholesale or retail), distribution and affiliation or franchise.
 

Wow….not really that hard.
Now you have to pick a spot in that chain. Will you mine the raw materials, make it into a product, do some of the processing or just buy the product and sell it.
 

You decision is one of the most important parts of starting your business. It will determine many components of your business. The amount of space needed, any special tools or storage needs….. And the amount of money you will need to get started.
 

Another consideration, and an important one, is whether or not you will have an online or offline operation.  Maybe you will want a combination of both.
 

For example, you can make a product and sell it directly to consumers through a website. Or simply us your site to advertize your product for local sales. Or both.
The choice is yours and will effect how you construct your business plan.
 

Selecting that product or service can be tricky. If you select something that people do not want or will not pay to have, then your business will fail.
 

Remember, just because you like it does not mean that others will, not only like it, but will pay to have it.
 

Time to do your research. Some businesses are obvious. A lawn service is normally accepted by most people. In certain parts of the country it is very seasonal and very competitive. It is however, an acceptable business, from a business point of view.
 

On the other hand, if you like to collect and polish snail shells, you would have to determine that there are enough buyers for polished snail shells to support your business.
 

OK …Ridiculous, but you get the idea.
 

You have to find out what people are buying and then determine if you can provide the product at a better price or with better service.
 

Not all good ideas are sellable; some have a very limited market. For example, Wave Energy Harvesters are a very limited specialized area.  (I am working on a marketing plan for those.)
 

So……To repeat what has been written in several earlier posts. Do your research. It can make the difference between failure and success.
 

Until next time,
To your success,
Jim Gillum

A very commonly asked question……..I see it in some of the blog comments and in posts on some of the forums.

Think about it…..

I have posted this before….maybe it was too complicated to understand or my explanation was not quite clear………

You can work at home by running a business from home. Simple enough. And yet…..not all that simple.

First you will have to decide on what type of work at home business you want to have. Then you have to figure out what you can actually do. What skills do you posses that are worth money?

If you are new to my blog or have not read all the posts (yeah right)…this has been mentioned in several posts. But worth touching upon again.

Since you are reading this on the net, it may be safe to believe that your interests my lean toward something internet related. (I did not say assume…never good to do that..lol.)

Of course, offline business can benefit greatly by using the web to advertize.