This is the part of the process where a good software program, like the full version of WordTracker or Market Samurai, really comes in handy.  But if you only have one or two websites and you only do this process occasionally (which you should update your research every 6 months or so because phrases go in and out of popularity), then you can get good results by using the free Google keyword tool.

So surf over to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. This is Google’s free keyword tool and it is the model on which all other tools are based.  Google is currently Beta testing a new interface, which I don’t use because they limit your results to the top 100 keywords. As you’ll see, in really competitive niches, I will often look at 300 or more keywords and phrases, so the new interface makes it a pain.  So for now, if I’m going to use Google, I immediately click on the link at the upper right hand side of the page that says “Previous Interface.”  

Once I’m there, here’s the basic process that I have found works for me and my clients:

         1)  Select the second choice “website content” in the first section. 

         2)  Type in your website address in the search box and hit “get keyword ideas.”    This will create a list of what keywords Google is currently associating   with your site.  It’s not unusual to see some phrases that really don’t apply.

         3) For each “section” go to the bottom and hit the “add all” link.  This will create a  list of selected keywords in the right hand bar.

         4)  Compare this generated list with the list you created on your own.  Add any missing phrases to your list by scrolling down to the bottom and hitting the “Add Your Own Keywords.”

CAUTION:  DO NOT EDIT the list at this time.  Even if some of the phrases are just wacky, don’t remove them yet because they’ll just get added back in.

         5)  Once you’ve completed this list, hit the “Get more related keywords” box.   This will automatically move those keywords into the “get keyword ideas” box at the top of the page.  Type in the Captcha and hit “get keyword ideas.”

         6)  Go to the bottom of each section and add any new keyword ideas to your selected keyword list.  Again, don’t edit, just add. 

         7)  Repeat this process until very few new keywords come up – often takes 3 to 5 repeats.  You should now have a list of 200 to 300 or more potential keywords.

         Once you are satisfied that you’ve gotten more keyword ideas than you could possibly use hit the “get more related keyword ideas” one last time.  This time, though, go through the list in the top box and delete any obviously non-relevant words or phrases.  

         9)  Once you’ve edited your list, click on “Filter my results.”  Select the box that says “don’t show new ideas, give me data on my selected keywords” and then hit “Get Keyword Ideas.”

         10) NOW is when you really start to edit and refine.   Click on “Global Search Volume” heading.  This will sort the results according to volume.  Everyone is different, and your actual numbers will depend on your target audience, but I typically will remove every word or phrase that has more than 150,000 searches per month.  Those words and phrases are just going to be too competitive and it’s going to be almost impossible to get ranked for them, at least in the short-term. I then usually scroll down to the bottom and look at the phrases that say “Not Enough Data.”  I will remove all of these, too.  (Now, you are removing them from your list on the right hand side, not from the results box.  If it’s too confusing, you can go ahead and repeat steps 5, 8-9 to get rid of the phrases in the main results box.)

        11)  Find the box at the top of the results that says “Match Type.”  Change the selection to “Phrase.”  You’ll see the number of searches change.

        12)  Then you can start to evaluate the keywords and phrases you have left.  Look at the Advertiser Competition column.  Solid green means the phrase is very competitive, that alot of other sites are targeting those same words.  The gold is in the phrases that are NOT solid green, so start with those.

        13)  Now is when it gets fun.  Open up a new tab in your browser and open up a Google search box.  Type the phrase:  allintitle: followed by the search term you are interested in within quotes e.g.  allintitle: “divorce rules Ohio”.

        14) When the search results come up, look at the top right hand side of the page.   There will be “Results 1 of XXXXXX sites.”  This is the number of competing sites for that particular keyword or phrase.

         15)  Do this with every potential keyword phrase.  As you pull up the results, look at the sites that come up.  If Google is pulling up well-established competitive sites, it’s going to be hard to compete.  However, if the Google results are Wikipedia, and Ezinearticles.com, and directory listings, then, even though there may be more than 50,000 competing websites, they could be “soft” competitors and there is opportunity for you to dominate the phrase with an aggressive SEO campaign.

        16)  Create a spreadsheet that shows you the phrase, number of global searches, and number of competing websites.  You may also want to make a note of the top 3 or top 5 search results.  Look at the data.  Though there is no hard and fast rule, it is a common theory that the “sweet spot” for SEO is a search term or phrase that gets at least 2,400 global searches per month and has less than 50,000 competing sites. With dedicated SEO promotion, a site can often appear on the first page of Google results of a sweet spot term in less than 30 days.  If you’ve got one or two keywords that fall into that category, congratulations, you are on your way to online success.  Keep this data and compare the results in 6 months.

Congratulations, you’ve just learned the basics on how to conduct keyword research.  Next week, we’ll look at what to do once you have your target keywords selected.

Here’s to your success,

 Trina

The key to getting your site or profile found in an online search is keywords.  Period.  Whether it’s on Google or Bing, or even LinkedIn or Twitter, what words you use and how you use them will have a major impact on your results and ultimately, your online success.

Choosing the “right” keywords is part art, part science.   There are dozens of programs out there that will generate words and phrases for you.  I’ve used WordTracker, Market Samurai, and Good Keywords, in addition to the very accessible free Google Keyword Tool.  They all have their flaws and their biases.  But like so many programs, the outcome is only as good as the input.  “Garbage in, garbage out” as the saying goes.

The place you have to start is getting into the mind of your potential site visitor.  What words or phrases would they type into a search box if they were specifically looking for you but didn’t know your company name?  I don’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble, but few people with any sort of search engine experience will type in just “dentist” if they are looking for a new family dentist.  I know, I know, I hear you.  “But Trina, Google says “dentist” was searched 13,000,000 times last month.”  It was.  And those people received in their results the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wikipedia, the ADA, and many directories for dentists.  Plus the local results for Google maps.  If you truly wanted to compete on the word “dentist” then concentrate on getting listed in the right directories, and get a listing on Google maps, don’t try to use the phrase as the keyword on your website.  It is more likely your ideal new patient would type in Dentist Clintonville or Dentist Clintonville Ohio, which had 36 searches.

So the first step is to create a list of all the phrases you “think” a visitor would type if they were looking for you, your products or your services.  Think of phrases that are 2 to 3, even 4 words long.  If you take a common phrase and narrow it, you’ve created a “long-tail keyword.”  Long-tail keywords are going to bring you lots more of targeted, specific traffic than the general, short-tail keywords.  An example of a short-tail keyword phrase would be “family dentist.”  “Family dentist Columbus Ohio” would be an example of a long-tail keyword. 

The next step, if you are running Google Analytics on your site (which you should), go to Traffic Sources report section and look at the list of keywords in the right hand column.  Click on the “View Full Report” under the list to see all of the phrases people have been typing and ended up on your site.  Aren’t you amazed at the variety?  I know I am.

The third step is one that many people skip.  Take a look at your competition.  Type in the phrases you think people are using, and the ones you pulled off Google Analytics into a Google search box (or Yahoo, or Bing, it doesn’t really matter) and then click on all of the competitors.   Put your cursor somewhere on the page near the top but under the header and right click.  Select “View Source” and up pops their site coding.  Near the top, you should see their meta tags.  Look for “meta name = keywords” and then copy down all the words and phrases they are using.  Then go back to their site and read their home page, looking for those words or phrases.  Make a note of how many times each phrase appears.  Now, it’s true.  Some sites will have 20 keywords in their tags, and only 2 of them show up in their text.   That’s not good optimization, but who am I to judge?  Now, with most blogs, it’s a different story, but that’s for another day.

You’ll now have a list of what you think people search for, and what your competition thinks people search for.  Next week, I’ll review what to do next.

So, what tricks or tips do you have to find the “right” keywords?  Do you believe your keyword selection is contributing to your online success?  If you’re willing to share, please let me know.

Until next week,

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  Yep, you guessed it.  I’m going to be offering a seminar in July:  “The Key is Keywords.”  Details are being worked out now.  Stay tuned.

And I’m here to tell you — Facebook advertising is the real deal.  You can target demographically and geographically, it’s cheaper than Google, there’s less competition, and small business owners are seeing results.  I just ran a little ad myself — I had a simple landing page offering a FREE Report and asked the respondents to fill out a short survey about their current online marketing activities – and got 6 very high-quality business leads in about 36 hours, for less than $100 ($82 to be exact).  I’m excited.

Facebook Ads provide two ways to advertise on the pages of Facebook. You can create an ad campaign that links to a landing page within your Web site, or you can advertise something on Facebook, such as your new Business Page or an application you have developed. You can also employ a Social ad. This shows your image and text alongside the social action you take on Facebook pages.

The targeting available for Facebook Ads is awesome.  You can choose  the location, gender, interests, relationship status and other demographics of your target audience.  For my test, I chose to target women, in Ohio, who were business owners and involved with service professions, like attorneys, accountants, insurance sales, etc.  And sure enough, every response I got was from a woman, from Ohio, and all but one is in an industry I was targeting.  And my guess once I dig a little deeper into her background, I bet I find she is or was connected somehow to a law firm.

In creating a Facebook Ad campaign you will need to decide which type of ad you want to run and provide the link the ad will lead visitors to.  The link does not appear in the ad — it’s behind the scenes.  The entire ad is a hotlink to the URL you select.  The ad title is restricted to 25 characters while the  text (body) must fit in 135 characters. If you choose to include a photo (which I recommend), it needs to be 110 by 80 pixels.  And like any good ad test, you should run at least 2 versions, if not 3 or 4 versions, to make sure you are getting the absolutely best response rate you can.

Very similar to the Google model, Facebook Ads can be run on a Pay for Clicks (CPC) or Pay for Views (CPM) model. During the ad creation process, you set your daily ad budget and the maximum bid, which is the most you are willing to pay per click. CPC ads are displayed in Facebook’s Ad Space, Home Page (or both), while CPM ads are shown only in the Ad Space. Facebook selects the best ad to run based on the cost per click or impression and ad performance.

After creating the ads you want to run, Facebook will approve your ads for use and suggest a max bid if you have bid too low.  This seems to take anywhere from 4 hours to 24 hours, which is very comparable to Google.  Through your Ad Management Page, Facebook provides ad data so you can track your progress, change the audience, or adjust other metrics as the campaign progresses.

And here’s a little tip for the day (you’ll never be able to say I didn’t help you out after this) — do a search for FREE Facebook Ad Credits and you’ll find several companies out there willing to give you $50 to $100 in Facebook advertising credits.  I did it — I took a $50 credit to test with — so my $82 campaign only cost $32 — and it would have only cost me $0 if I had shut it down a little earlier.

So go ahead, try it.  You just might find a new PPC platform that really performs for your small business.  If you need help coming up with a strong headline or ad copy, just ask me.  I’ll give you three or four versions for you to test for a very reasonable $80.00 — I’ll even do the set-up for you, if you want.  Call me at (614) 753-5979 or email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com and I’ll do what I can to help you succeed.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  Plans for Speed Networking at being finalized.  May 18 is the target.  Stay tuned!

P.P.S.  If you’re in the Columbus Ohio area, make plans to attend the How to WOW! Now seminar on April 29, 2010.  Local celebs like Gabe Speigel, Ryan Bauer, Bruce Heinemann, Shelley Moore, and Andrew Catapano are going to talk through the process of going from having a dream about owning a business to starting a business and then promoting your business online.  A portion of the proceeds from the night is going directly to Junior Achievement.  Make your plans now — it WILL sell out.

To our surprise, we were interrupted by two young women, complete strangers. “Excuse me, but can anyone tell us how to get to the convention center?”  For those of you who are not from Columbus, you may not know that this past weekend was The Arnold Classic, an international body-building and health & wellness convention started by none other than Arnold Schwartzenegger himself a dozen or more years ago.  These two ladies were from out of town and had gotten lost.  They had zigged when they should have zagged.

We gave them directions, pointed out where the restrooms were in the building, and scratched our head as to how or why they would have chosen this building to come in and ask directions.  We marveled a bit at the gumption of these two travelers, pulling into the parking lot of an office building on a Saturday, going in the door, climbing the stairs to the second floor until they found an office with the lights on and door unlocked.  Finally, one of the ladies in my group said, “Well, I guess they were thinking outside the box.”

Exactly.  They were thinking outside the box.   On that street there are no fast food restaurants nor gas stations.  There are a couple small retail stores, office buildings, industrial warehouses, and apartments.  These two ladies had a need for directions and the usual suspects were nowhere to be seen.  So they thought a little differently and came up with a solution.

If you run a small business, you need to occasionally think outside the box. Determine what outcome you want first (directions) then open you mind up to all the possible ways you can achieve your outcome .   If they had been closed to all possibilities but getting directions from a gas station (which we speculated would have been the case if a man had been driving, but that’s another topic lol), they could have been driving around lost for quite a while because there aren’t many stations in Grandview and they are hard to find.    But they were focused on their outcome, not the method of getting there.  When they saw a group of cars parked outside of this office building, they took the calculated risk that someone inside would be able to help them.

Turns out, it was a successful endeavor because we did indeed know how to get to the convention center, they got to use a clean, uncrowded restroom, and we got them in the right direction quickly.

You will find that there are so many more paths to small business success if you will just be willing to think outside the box and try a different approach on occasion. Sure, tried and true methods still work, but so can new ways.  You just have to be open.

If you ever need someone to facilitate a marketing brainstorming session, or need help coming up with creative and innovative new ways to promote your product or service, especially utilizing the internet and social media, give me a call at 614-753-5979 or email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com and I’d be glad to help.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S. Mark Your Calendars.  SPEED NETWORKING Coming MAY 18, 2010.  MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW.

In talking with small business owners who are struggling to find success, I am often struck by how strongly they resist change.  In my role as small business consultant, I seem to have to bite my tongue at least twice a day so I don’t blurt out that Dr. Phil one-liner, “So, how’s that working for you?”  I try to listen, give constructive suggestions, and try not to over-promise on how I can help their small business grow, but it’s so hard when I see what great potential there is with offline relationship-building techniques complemented by online social networks and online marketing techniques, and so many small business owners don’t.

Take the insurance agent I recently met.  He has been a small business owner selling property/casualty/health insurance for almost 12 years.  The past 2 years have been the hardest of his career.  He is struggling to find new business.  Where does he currently get most of his clients?  The majority of new business comes from a half-page ad he runs annually in three yellow page-type directories, but the phone doesn’t ring as much anymore.  The other main source of new business are leads he gets from his parent insurance company.  Where do those leads come from?  Those leads are people doing online searches, of course, not people looking in the yellow pages.  Lightbulbs coming on, anyone?

Does he have a website?  Yeah, the one the company put up for him almost 5 years ago – and it’s never been updated, at least not by him.  Does he promote it?  Not really.  Ever think about a blog? No, too time-consuming.  ”Are you on LinkedIn?” I asked.  ”I think so,” was the reply.  I looked him up.  Yeah, he has an incomplete profile and only 12 connections.   Facebook? That’s for kids.  Twitter?  Doesn’t get it.

“So what steps are you taking to encourage your current clients to refer more business to you?” I asked.   Nothing systematic, it turns out.  I didn’t have my laptop with me at Panera, but if I had, I would have made him sit through THIS VIDEO right then and there.  Ah, live and learn.  He got a follow-up email from me AND a thank you greeting card is on the way, so he’ll be exposed to the information that can literally turn his current customers into a dynamic referral machine.  Will he take action?

“What networking events do you regularly attend?”  None.  He used to be involved in the local Chamber, but not now.  I suggested a couple groups that he may want to check out, but he has young kids so evenings are spent at home.  Some of these groups meet in the morning or over lunch.  No enthusiasm.  I don’t want to say the guy was negative, but I think all he could see was the desperation of shrinking business, not the excitement of growth.  But he’s not willing, right now anyway, to hire me to help him.  The pain isn’t great enough — yet.

On my way home from my meeting with him, I was listening to a CD I had gotten a couple years ago from my good friends, Dave and Linda Brincks, of ActionCoach International, entitled 6 Steps to a Better Business, featuring ActionCoach founder Brad Sugars.

One of the things Brad talked about was overcoming resistance to change.  (Sidenote: I once said I wanted to be like Brad Sugars when I grow up.  I still do.  He imparts a lot of common sense.)  Turns out, there’s an actual scientifically-proven mathematical formula that governs when an organization – either an individual, small business, or even the largest corporation or government in the world — overcomes resistance to change.  It was actually introduced back in the 1970s by corporation efficiency expert Peter Drucker and then mathematically proven by the team of Gleicher, Beckhard & Harris in the late 1980s.

Anyway, the formula is stated something like this:

Dissatisfaction + Vision + Action > Resistance to change

Basically, in order to overcome the resistance to change, there has to be a certain level of dissatisfaction, often rising to the level of actual pain, the small business owner wants to alleviate. But pain is not enough.  The small business owner will continue to do what he or she has always done despite the pain unless there is also a vision of what their business can look like after the pain is removed.  That’s where a business consultant like me can help.  I help refine, or maybe even completely define, the vision.  But envisioning the result is not enough.  There has to be action.  Meeting with me may have been my insurance agent prospect’s first step.  But he doesn’t yet have the vision.

I have my work cut out for me with him.  Only when all three elements are in place: 1) enough pain, 2) a clear vision, and 3) action will he be willing to let go of his current ways to doing business and try some new things.

I am convinced that building relationships is the way to build a successful small business today.  Whether it’s offline relationship-building activities, like consistent communication strategies like SendOutCards, or newsletters, or even one-on-one personal networking, or it’s online relationship-building activities like email, blogging, and social media strategies, no small business owner is going to be able to really experience the success he or she seeks without embracing a new vision and overcoming  resistance to change.

If you are dissatisfied with your current business, and are ready to seek out a new vision, then take that action and call me at 614-753-5979 or email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com.  I’m ready and excited to help.  A more successful small business is in your future.

Until next time,

Here’s to helping you reach your Success Point,

Trina

Are you doing enough to convert each contact into a buyer?

Sometimes you meet a prospect when it’s the         wrong time for them.  You give them a business card, or a link to a website, and hope for the best.  But they never call, they never respond.  But eventually, they will be in the place where they need or want the service your small business provides. That’s why it is so important for every small business to have a prospect contact follow-up plan in place.

Let’s use a financial planner as an example.  Everyone needs a financial planner in their corner.  They need that extra set of eyes looking at their financial situation, helping them make good financial decisions.  But many people do not.  There are many reasons:  some people say that financial planners are too expensive, or they don’t have enough money to make it worth their while, or financial planners only want to sell them insurance – they’re not really interested in doing what’s best for the consumer.

For whatever the reasons, the market for financial planners can be resistant to hiring a new planner.  But then the prospect loses his job and now has to make a decision about his IRA.  Or the prospect receives an inheritance and doesn’t know how to invest it.  Or the prospect has a new baby and wants to set up a college fund.  He vaguely remembers meeting a financial planner a couple months ago, but doesn’t remember much about him.  He turns to an internet search or asks his brother-in-law at church and that financial planner never gets the call.

So what’s the smart financial planner to do so that he does get the call instead of his competitor?

Create a prospect contact follow-up plan.

For most service-related small businesses, every prospect you come in contact with should receive at least three contacts from you within the first month of the initial contact.  This reinforces the initial information on what your services are and what sorts of situations you can help with.  It could be two letters and a telephone call.  It could be two telephone calls and one letter.  It could be two emails and a telephone call.  It could be a letter, an email, and a telephone call.  You decide what works best for you.

After the initial month, you need to decide whether you want to keep in touch with these potential clients monthly or quarterly.  Do not go more than four months without contacting them again.  Work out a plan.

For instance, your follow-up contact plan may be something like this:

Initial Contact – Day 0

Follow-up Letter with a Free Report on why Retirement Planning is more complicated today than ever before – Day 3

Follow-up Telephone Call, did you read the report, can I answer any questions? – Day 10

Follow-Up Letter, Touching Base – Day 30

Letter or email, Financial Topic of Interest – Day 60

Postcard, Special Offer – Day 90

Telephone Call – Checking in, Can I assist you in any way? – Day 120

Letter or email, Financial Topic of Interest – Day 150

Survey (print or online) – Day 180

Postcard, Special Offer – Day 270

Unexpected Greeting Card – Day 360

Your ongoing contacts should not be overbearing or needy.  They need to be warm and friendly.  They need to be informative.  All you are trying to do is stay top-of-mind with these people so that when they or someone they have frequent contact with needs your services, they will think of hiring you first.

There are several tools on the market that can help you make your prospect contact follow-up plan easier to manage.  I personally use iContact for email marketing.  They provide great templates for newsletters, they have a decent autoresponder system, their survey platform is easy, and they are affordable.  Plus, they offer a 15-day trial to start, so there’s no reason not to try them.  Check them out.

For real reach-out-and-touch someone relationship-building, I personally use SendOutCards.  Check out a great video on how their service can really boost your business at http://NewReferralGrowth.com You can send out 3 customized greeting cards for free on me.  I highly recommend it to anyone in personal or professional service industries where competition is high and relationships mean the difference between success and struggling, especially realtors, financial planners, insurance agents, accountants, attorneys, day spas, hair salons, and the like.  It’s also terrific for everyone in direct sales and even companies like Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, Tupperware, and other similar programs.  Plus, it’s great to never miss a family or friend’s birthday or anniversary again.

There is no “right” way to stay in touch and there is no secret formula that will guarantee success.  But set up a follow-up contact plan, follow it consistently with every prospect you meet, and in time you’ll reap the rewards.

If you need assistance in creating a prospect follow-up contact plan, or other marketing ideas, please let me know.  I would love to help.  Email me at SuccessPointConsulting@hotmail.com.

P.S.  If you are in need of a financial planner in the Columbus, Ohio, area, give Augustus, aka A.W., Abel a call at 614-389-2075.  Check out his website at awabelfinancial.com.  I’m working on some changes for him so check him out now, and then again in a couple weeks!

But eventually, our new online business owners doesn’t feel so good.  His credit cards balances are bloated and credit limits are maxed.  He’s committed to several hundred dollars a month in website hosting , autoresponders, co-op advertising plans, and other various programs and systems.  He has 100 emails a day flooding his four email accounts, each one touting another sure-fire marketing program to buy.   He signed up for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Tagged, Friendster, and four other social networking programs.  He starts to spend time, not on building a business, but reading and deleting emails and tweets, writing on walls, bouncing around the internet to see if that NEW marketing system fills in a blank in his business plan he didn’t even know was there.  After two months, he becomes so discouraged by his lack of progress and overwhelmed by the sheer effort of just trying to keep up, he quits.

It’s okay.  Most of us have been there.  You are not a failure as an online business owner, you are human.  But you are also proof that online marketing works.

While there is no one solution that is perfect for everyone, here are four easy steps that should take you from overwhelmed newbie to money-making pro in record time.

1)  Make a Business and Marketing Plan and Stick to It

Finding your way through the myriad of opportunities online can be a daunting task.   And having the perseverance to work through the chosen program until you succeed is the difference between business success and failure.

Write out a game plan before you even buy your first domain name.  Do your due diligence.  Check out. your online competition.  Do an online search and see if the marketing program or online income system is getting good reviews in forums, on Squidoo, HubPages, in articles, and on blogs.  You have to read every review with a grain of salt, of course, but in my experience, I have not found a single program that didn’t have both pros and cons discussed somewhere.

Your first decision needs to be what kind of online business you want for yourself.  Some of your choices are:

1)  Promoting other people’s digital products as an affiliate

2)  Recruiting other marketers in a Multi-Level Marketing program

3)  Promoting your own products on your own websites

4)  Purchasing other people’s products to re-sell on your own websites or Ebay-type sites

Any of these business strategies can be successful.  There are people making hundreds of thousands of dollars each year doing each of these strategies.  But you can’t do them all at once.  It will make you crazy, unfocused, and ultimately, unsuccessful.  The marketing strategies that make digital-product affiliates successful are not exactly identical to the online marketing that works for Ebay.  There are similar concepts, but the devil is in the details.  Pick one type of online business and commit to it.  The other types of programs will still be out there after you’ve mastered your first choice.  The beauty of the Internet is that there are no limits.  Conversely, the problem with the Internet is there are no limits.  Give yourself the best shot at success.  Pick one online business, make a plan, and then work the plan until you succeed.

2)  Learn All You Can

Becoming a successful online business does not happen overnight.  Do not believe any program that says it’s easy.  If it says you are going to plug-in this program and viola’ you’ll make $30,000 in the next 3 months, it’s most probably a scam.  Could it happen?  Sure.  Will it happen for you if you are a complete newbie?  No.

3)  Set an Initial Budget and Stick to It

It’s so tempting.  Every program on the internet sounds like a winner.  It’s just another $197, and look, I’ll get $5,000 is free software that will let me beat Google Adsense at its own game.  Really.  Before you buy that first program, set a budget.  Do not spend a dime over that initial set budget UNTIL you have made your first sale.  This is a cardinal rule, and you shall not break it.  It doesn’t matter how tempting the offer sounds, if you have to spend more than you have budgeted, you can’t buy it.  Period.  There are tons of ways to promote products and services online for free or at little cost.  But even at a little cost, it can add up quickly.  The free methods take a little more time and effort to see results, but it’s worth it.

4)  Take Advantage of Any and All Support Offered

The most successful online business owners are the ones who reach out and take advantage of any and all help.  They participate in forums, they read blogs, they continually read and learn.  Take advantage of coaching programs if it’s within your budget.  If it’s not in your budget, use the free resources until you have made enough money to afford coaching.  The answers and solutions are out there.  You can find it if you look.

Building an online business takes time and effort, but for many, the rewards can be enormous.  Just stay focused and don’t give up.

If I can help you develop your online business plan, or create your online marketing strategy, please let me know.  Helping small businesses succeed is what I do.