Scott Lindsay's Articles in Online Business

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Ecommerce And The Blue-Collar Peasants? In medieval times the common laborer was thought to be less able to understand certain elements of civilized society. These men and women were not allowed to learn to read nor could they attend houses of worship because they were considered incapable of understanding what they heard. Yes time after time these peasants were the basis for stories of renown and wonder. It is said that a peasant who listened to a sermon outside a church gathered bits and pieces of the Christma... Social Bookmarking And The Hub Of Business The act of social bookmarking is becoming something more than a potential tool for online marketing. Many entrepreneurs are finding social media sites to place business information in an informal setting. Once you finish developing your social media site the marketing potential is just beginning. Obviously you hold out hope that visitors will drop by your online presence, but you may want to go fishing for friends. In some social media environments you are allowed to... Internet And Business Online For All Ages If you were to suggest to some members of our population that you thought they could take their business online you may get an unusual response. For some the notion that you can conduct business online remains a foreign concept. You might as well be asking them to go and start a new colony on the moon. The hurdle seems way too high and the fear of the unknown remains a powerful deterrent. For many individuals there is a disconnect between the tangible and the unseen. For t... Online Auctions And The Law Of Supply And Demand An online auction can be a great way to market your business, but it can also be a place where you can deliver hard to find items at a substantial profit. Take for instance the Nintendo DS Lite. In the Christmas season of 2006 and 2007 the hand held game systems were in high demand. Store shelves emptied just as quickly as units became available. Customers heard, “Sorry we’re all out,” more often than any of them wanted to. For the online business owner it was possible ... Internet And Business Online – The Biff Blasters 17 Motivation A fourteen year-old boy is fairly desperate for cash. After all he’s got a video game habit that doesn’t come cheap and mom and dad aren’t willing to pay for every new game he wants. Suddenly it occurs to the young man that there beats within his chest the heart of an entrepreneur. What he lacks in skills he makes up for in determination. He can mow and chances are pretty good his dad will let him use the family mower. It’s a start and his motivation is cash. He uses th... Internet And Business: Online Passion Is The Vein The human body is a complex piece of machinery. The blood that we have coursing through our veins carries oxygen to all parts of the body, delivers hormones and other signal messengers to the body and works to eliminate waste from the blood stream. In short our bodies could not exist without a blood supply. The same concept is true of the entrepreneur in home-based and online business. Passion is the vein that carries the lifeblood of the entrepreneur. Passion is the co... Ecommerce And The Reluctant Business Owner Ecommerce is the business of online business and it can be a radical departure from traditional brick and mortar business. It can be difficult for some business owners to make the move from a more traditional business environment to cyberspace. What you don’t see in online business can be unsettling. Things like… * You never see the customer. * You may never know when a customer is online. * You may never have to personally handle any transactions. * You have to l... Internet And Business Online – How Are You Amplifying Your Business? A group of enthusiastic cheerleaders perform their cheers just in front of the stands. The home crowd most often looks beyond the cheerleaders to the action on the field. Cheers from the crowd erupt as the favored team gets a touchdown. Even a first down is reason to celebrate. What is it that helps that cheerleader get their message of support across to the fans? A megaphone. This simple tool is used to take a message and amplify it so that it can be heard. Once the cr... Ecommerce And Planned Obsolescence Have you ever heard of the term ‘planned obsolescence’? Prior to 1920 products were made with the intent to stand the test of time. These products were sturdy; often hand machined, and ultimately provided the best in long-term value. The problem experienced by business owners and craftsmen was the lack of return customers. You see, you could have all the satisfied customers in the world, but if you could not get them to return as repeat customers the longevity of your busi... Ecommerce – The Variety Spice The manager of a superstore was surprised to see his newest salesman ushering a man out the door with multiple signed contracts in hand. The customer left with a new boat, SUV and enough new tackle to outfit the boat for an extended period of time. The man actually seemed very happy with his purchase and the new salesman almost seemed like the customers best friend. The manager was impressed and was curious how the young man had convinced the customer to make so many expen... Ecommerce – Flex Those Marketing Muscles John (or Joan) Q. Citizen probably don’t think of how certain decisions in the business world affected them. The primary thing most are concerned with is making sure they have enough money to pay the bills. Gas prices rise, but they don’t automatically think of the higher grocery prices they would soon be paying. They just knew things were tighter now than they have ever been. Unions demanded more money, but they didn’t automatically think of how that might affect the p... Ecommerce And The Altered Main Street When you get right down to it the fusion of the Internet and business is a bold lesson in abstract thought. Consider your grandparents and the work they did. Their employment could have been on the farm, in the factory, in a store or in the work of their hands. If your grandparents were business owners most of their customers were face-to-face. They may have gone to church with your grandparents or attended school games and concerts. They knew each other and that made m... Link Popularity And Pursuit Of The Edge In online business we often discuss the idea of ‘edge’. This elusive ‘edge’ is what you apparently need if you want something better than your online competition. So we are advised to pursue this ‘edge’ with everything we have. ‘Edge’ apparently is something closely linked with the proverbial Fountain of Youth. It can feed into the very elements needed for long-term success in online business. So we talk about the ‘edge’, we yearn for the ‘edge’ and we pay money to f... Ecommerce And The Supersized Value Meal Summary: Consumers understand that the money they have at their disposal is a commodity every bit as much as the goods you have in your e-store. You have to earn their trust, provide exemplary customer service and provide the information they need or they will keep looking for the value added service they feel is deserving of their business. There was a time when questions were referred to the encyclopedia or someone smarter than you. Subtly this idea has been almost snuff... Traffic Building – Avoidance Therapy When a site owner wants to develop increased site visitation they often rely on help from online companies that offer traffic building assistance. The sales pitch is aimed squarely at online businesses that may be in the average or below average sales category. The inference is often that there can be a significant return on investment and that even a small portion of converted customers will more than pay for the investment. Most of the customers that use traffic build... Ecommerce – Top 7 Trust Builders Many new ecommerce businesses have little idea the impact of trust marketing will have in their online business success. For most customers the value of trust is important. This is why certain businesses continue to grow online while others do not. In a very simplified sense online businesses that grow give their customers reason to trust them while many others do very little to instill trust. Where does that trust come from? 1. Always work to improve Search Engin... Ecommerce – Customer Satisfaction And The Bottom Line What every ecommerce business wants most is for an online user to type in their credit card number and make a purchase of a product. You can have the best-developed site of its kind, yet if no one is buying you simply have a really nice website. When it comes to ecommerce how do you encourage site visitors to move from passive interest to a consumer of your product, service or information? The short answer is to simply prove yourself trustworthy enough to the custome... Autoresponders – The Power Of Instance Access In most traditional businesses you will likely find a receptionist who can either answer business specific questions or can route customers to the appropriate department for assistance. In more automated offices a voice mail system can alleviate much of the guesswork in locating the right department (although the process can seem a bit impersonal). Some of the larger email companies also have manned phone lines, but for many ecommerce business owners the cost of hiring a ... Ecommerce – Entrepreneurial Perseverance "It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it." - Vince Lombardi How does ecommerce differ from entrepreneurialism? Well, the former is dependent on the latter. What this means is that for every ecommerce business there is an entrepreneur that had to balance risk and reward and determine to move forward with a business plan, proposal and ecommerce site. Entrepreneurialism is bolstered ... Ecommerce – What Makes You Unique? I stumbled across a website with a unique marketing angle. The use of ecological interests has resulted in improved marketing capabilities. In the case of the site I visited it was a jewelry company that specializes in recycled gold and diamonds. The premise seems to be that there are significant gold and diamond supplies available so the need for the mining of these precious gems and ore may be reduced or even unnecessary. The reasons are many, but one of the key argumen... Ecommerce – The Stats Tell A Story According to U.S. Government reports ecommerce continues to improve dramatically, “Total e-commerce sales for 2006 were estimated at $108.7 billion, an increase of 23.5 percent (±3.3%) from 2005.” This is not surprising when you consider that 60% of all new small businesses have an online presence. This is further enhanced when you take into account the meteoric rise of online users. In 2001 there were approximately 142 million online users. By 2006 there were approximatel... Entrepreneurialism – The Right Formula Kim Snider is the host of Financial Success Coaching on KRLD in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. In one of her wonderful blog entries (Kimmunications) she defines success in entrepreneurialism this way, “One is E + S + I = FS and the other is .2(S) + .8(M) = FS. For those of you who don't like math, I can picture your eyes starting to glaze over now, but stick with me. I am not about to get all nerdy on you. “The first is a formulaic expression of something [I have said] before... Ecommerce – What Do You Offer? If your ecommerce store provides customers with significant product choice you might be able to make life easier for your customer. In turn, you will likely experience an increase in online business profit. Many ecommerce sites develop an online catalogue that may be fairly comprehensive, but may also lack a satisfactory listing of your full line of merchandise. As ecommerce sites continue to grow it is important for you to develop a full listing of all your products. I... Autoresponders – An Online University One of the ways I process marketing ideas is to visit as many sites as possible. By doing this I get to see some of the best and worst in online marketing. Recently I discovered a unique way to use autoresponders. The premise is brilliant in execution, successful in gaining membership, but somewhat vague in overall information. The site owner purchased a second web address that spoke to one facet of their online business. This information was knowledge based and execut... Autoresponders – Make Sure You Respond Autoresponders can be a great way to interact with customers in a hands-free way. It is ideally suited to providing visitors with a specialized ecource or newsletter. In fact, online businesses are finding autoresponders a wonderful marketing tool. Many businesses use an autoresponder on email inquiries. However, there is a problem that can develop when using standard email autoresponders. The premise is that the customer can receive an immediate response letting them know... Entrepreneurialism – Pothole Avoidance If you’ve ever thought of becoming an entrepreneur you should know there are dozens of online companies willing to provide assistance in helping you launch your big idea. That’s the good news. The bad news is not all of these sources are worth the time and money you might invest. Then again, that’s a common cautionary take in all of life’s pursuits I suppose. So, where exactly does one go to learn more about starting their own business? Certainly the access of online ar... Ecommerce – Delayed Gratification “People often say that motivation doesn’t last, Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar Humanity desires acknowledgement and we’re not used to delayed gratification. We want what we want – and we want it right now. There is an unfair proposition in online marketing. This inequality can be found in list building, blogging, site promotion and virtually every other area of establishing a web presence. For the site owner there is no ... Ebooks – Residual Prosperity The use of ebooks as an affiliate revenue stream can be a solid business platform especially for a virtually hands-free business providing residual income. Many businesses utilize some form of affiliate revenue source for products they either don’t want to carry on items that have a solid track record. There are two primary types of ebook affiliate revenue programs. Flat Rate/Commission The first is a traceable link that provides an accounting for all sales deri... RSS – Cutting Edge Content The use of a Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feed can ultimately offer business owners the opportunity to feed self updating knowledge-based content to your website visitors. Agreements can be worked out with applicable third-party websites that allow content to be updated on your website without your intervention. This third party information can provide industry related news or recent applicable blog entries related to your industry for your site visitors to feast on. ... Ezines – Goldie And The Bear Ezines Once there were three bears that lived in a far off land. Each had their own weekly ezine and worked hard to make their ezines the best possible. Papa Bear included knowledge-based content on fishing and the role salmon play in the North Pacific ecosystem. Mama Bear included knowledge-based content on the role of doily making in a burgeoning cottage industry related to bed and breakfast establishments worldwide. Teen Bear wrote a stream of consciousness ezine that r... Ecommerce – Making The Move From The Back Room In the heart of a man in a major urban city there beats a dream. This dream includes the proverbial white picket fence and prosperity. He finds a product he is sure will be a best selling item. He does quality research on the item and sees enormous profit potential so he acquires an unlisted phone number and operates his business from a basement apartment located at the back of a house in an undesirable part of town. There are no signs located outside his apartment and each d... Affiliate Revenue – Making Money The Hands-free Way I’m not sure it can be classified as ‘big business’, but there is a movement that had provided residual income to many online entrepreneurs. This method of hands-free residual income is a form of affiliate marketing and can help site owners derive affiliate revenue. The Basics Research – Find a subject or product that may be niche oriented. What you are looking for are products, services or information that have niche potential. The reason a niche keyword or phrase ... Ecommerce: Elements Of A Good Hire There is a belabored cliché that says, “It’s lonely at the top.” This reference is for business owners and leaders. It even applies to ecommerce. The reason leadership is lonely is often because the leader of any organization must make decisions that will not please everyone and it’s often easier to not develop friendships with your employees than to risk losing that friendship because of decisions you may have to make. However, the good news is leaders can learn from t... Ecommerce: Historically Speaking Ecommerce was seen as a passing fad or gimmick when the pioneers of the process began. Certainly being tied to a computer screen to make a purchase you would need to wait for wouldn’t hold the interest of consumers. Yet inroads were made and sales were conducted. One of the prevailing difficulties associated with early online transactions was the safety of personal financial information. As hackers gained access to non-encrypted data it was a rallying point for many ecomme... Ecommerce: Ensuring Delivery In the early days of ecommerce it was more likely that you would have direct interaction with an online business. Before the advent of shopping carts and online credit card transactions you might have been advised to call the online business phone number and place your order over the phone. Packages may have arrived with a hand written mailer and a note of thanks enclosed. As a customer you might have even been saddled with the task of sending a check and then waiting for the... Ecommerce: Sweat Of The Cyber Brow When you own a storefront you pay attention to displays and how your product is presented. You will also pay attention to sales flyers and product descriptions. Sales associates will be well versed in what products are new and what products are well suited to accent virtually any purchase. In a clothing shop this means knowledge of what clothing choices work well together and what accessories will work well with a given ensemble. In a cosmetic shop is may be helping a custome... Ecommerce: The Positive Negative There are so many positives in opening an ecommerce business online. For instance your business can be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and it can be open on holidays even when you are personally enjoying the festivities. Ecommerce is typically much less expensive to start than a brick and mortar counterpart. In many ways it may seem like a no-brainer to rush headlong into an ecommerce store. However, some of the negatives should also be considered. For instance, you...