Here’s How You Can Easily Determine The Success Of Your Business
Topics: track analyze, marketing tols, step by step guide, strategic marketing, marketing strategy
Have you ever stopped to think what the Internet means for your business?
Many have this wild imagination that once they can set-up a website, thousands of dollars will start pouring in… Only in rare cases this is true, and only for those who take the time to understand what the internet really means to their business.
WHAT IS THE INTERNET?
The internet is like a telephone, it’s like a fax machine, and it’s like a TV… In short, it is an advanced medium of communication, nothing more.
This may seem obvious, but after browsing through the web, studying everything I can (As I like to do very often), I have come across many business websites that made me really wonder… “Do these people understand why they are in business in the first place?”
I too fell into the same category years back, my first website was nothing to write home about, but at the time I felt it was the ultimate and that it will bring me closer to my millions… I was clearly wrong.
HERE’S WHAT I DISCOVERED…
Although running a business online may be different in many ways from running one offline one, a major constant still relates both: You are still dealing with real people.
IMAGINE THIS…
You go into the business of selling mobile phones. Your first step is to register the company name, give your shop a name people can remember, pay for a nice location, you put up the signboard that tells people what you do. You then stack up your products for sale, set up competitive prices, hire a sales person to handle clients inquires and you’re ready to go…
NOW WHAT NEXT?
Assuming you paid for a location where there is a lot of traffic, people visit your store daily and you make a few sales… You are excited about your first sale… then you receive a second order. As time goes by you receive some more orders and at the end of the month you find out that you made good sales, enough to pay your rent and still leave you with extra cash to spend…. The same thing happens the next month.
IS EVERYTHING OK?
Put yourself in the shoes of the shop owner and relate the above scenario to your website:
Hmm let’s see…
- You have a great product/service
- You have proper website for selling
- You offer great prices
- Your have substantial traffic
- You made enough sales to cover up this month’s cost and still came out with a profit.
SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
If you haven’t figured it out I’ll tell you.
But first I’d like you to try to answer as many questions as you can from the list below:
- How many clients came into your store this month?
- How many didn’t buy?
- Why is it that some people made a purchase?
- Why is it that others didn’t?
- Have you sold all you can? Is this the best possible sales figure you can come up with each month?
- What efforts have you taken to make sure each client made the best decision?
- Have you seen what your competition is doing?
- Will someone who visited your store and didn’t buy, come again?
- Why will they come back?
- Do you know who your clients are?
- Do you know why some months are better than others?
- What effort has your sales staff made to convert visitors into clients?
HOW MANY OF THE ABOVE QUESTIONS WERE YOU ABLE TO ANSWER?
If you were not able to answer all the questions above, it means that you have left your business in the hands of faith, hoping that things will work out just fine … This is the worst thing that can happen any business!
In the scenario above I took an offline store as an example, you noticed things still worked out well initially without much effort, but on the internet things don’t work out exactly that way… There is no right location for your website. You need to market your business online so people can find it, and that too is a challenge for many.
However, unlike the traditional offline business activities, results online are easier to measure using different tracking tools. So you never have to leave your business to faith.
THE FREE TOOLS YOU NEED TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS
Tracking, measuring and analyzing your online activities may sound expensive, complicated and hard work for many. However there are tools ready to help you make the process simple and best of all they are free.
Here are two free useful tools to consider:
1: GoogleAnalytics is an excellent tracking tool that really gets specific when it comes to tracking and measuring results. Google has now released the power of Urchin for free. You will need to apply for an invitation code before you can signup to use the tool. But this tool is well worth the wait.
2: Your web host should provide you with free tracking tools for your entire website. The following are some tracking tools most host provide.
- Analog
Analog produces a simple summary of all the people who have visited your site. It is fast and provides great lightweight statistics.
- Awstats
Awstats produces very pretty stats.
- Webalizer
Webalizer is a more complex stats program that produces a nice variety of charts and graphs about who has visited your site. This is probably the most popular stats engine available today.
With a combination of the above mentioned tools you can give your business meaning.
Become organized and have a vision! Track everything you can so that you can understand your target market and what you clearly need to do to make things happen for your business.
Edward Hadome is a rare hybrid manager, strategist, writer and web developer. His specialty is psychology of online buying behavior. Visit “4 weeks Step By Step Marketing program” at www.4weeksmarketing.net where E-Marketers quickly build for free, a real personalized profitable action plan.
Previous Articles Highlighter:
5 Effective Local Search Engine Optimization Tips (1)
If you get the formula right the first time the next time you conduct a search using the local search terms, you will be able to see the response for yourself.
7 Ways To Get Your Blog Noticed (2)
It's an online domino effect, but you have to start the process. Discuss Topics with Your Readers Be engaged with your readers and you will keep them coming back for more.
What Are Affiliate Programs? (3)
The primary concern is that your website is a valuable source of information for the visitor. If you can remember that, the rest will easily fall into place. There are two ways to join an affiliate program.
Deciphering Web Hosting For Video Sites (4)
You can avail of good services for as little as five dollars. Many of these cheaper services provide plenty of storage space. If your video uses flash, you will be requiring some extra software.
The Best Way Of Advertising On The Internet (5)
PPC ads can also be another method of profitable advertising online. You have to use the space of the PPC ads effectively to get the maximum result. Use keywords in the ad and make the title and ads attractive.
Link Building: How To Promote Your Content As Link Bait (6)
You can always add a link to your website and most of the article directories will let you submit articles for free. One of the premier article directories is ezinearticles.com Link Building Step#3 Social Responsibility: This has a very prominent place in the world of business today.
Here's Why You Should Write Product Reviews (7)
It basically tells your potential customers that, "I have tested the product and here is my experience with it." This is the kind of information people want to get before they buy a product or service.
Multi Level Marketing Is No Longer On Trial (8)
People helping people is the only way any marketer is ever truly going to be successful and produce a residual income for life. Learn from Network Marketing - MLM veterans who really care about your success.
How To Get High Quality Private Label Rights Articles (9)
This will increase the traffic to your site and in turn, generate more revenue for you. You may be wondering exactly what Private Label Rights Articles are. Well, they are basically articles ghostwritten by various authors who don't claim the rights to them.
Email Marketing Software Boosts Sales With Landing Pages (10)
Don't Oversell Your Product and Scare Your Customer Off While this point does tie into the "less is more" philosophy, it does warrant its own section because all too often businesses will attempt to cram every teeny tiny bit of information onto a webpage.
How To Effectively Distribute Your Juicy Short Reports And Hot Articles (11)
This way you do not let the people who have only recently joined your list lose out. My final note is to make sure your content is always easily accessible.
Embracing Online Marketing: 4 Ways To Reuse Content And Boost Your Book Sales (12)
Keywords: Alex Mandossian, online marketing, book marketing, internet marketing, internet marketing strategies If you want to boost your book sales, it's time to embrace the power of Internet marketing to spread the word about your book.
How To Find Hot Selling Products. (13)
Expectations, on the other hand, are values associated with a product or service. Expectations are actually part of "wants" but they become extremely important when products are not differentiated.
How To Grow A Massive Opt-in List Almost Overnight (14)
Be aware of what people are trying to look for. People always on the lookout for fresh and new things. Be the one to deliver this to them.
Why Ad Tracking Is So Important (15)
An ad tracker will also show the statistics of people who frequently visit the site. You can also find out who among the visitors stumbled upon the site through an affiliate.
Contest Ideas For Your Affiliate Program (16)
Having a program that entices the participants to have the person with the most improvement shown as the winner are great incentives For whatever contest you choose, there are a whole slue of prizes that you can choose from.
Striking It Rich With Pay-Per-Click Advertising (17)
Remember, the more in demand a particular keyword is, the more expensive it will be. So, if you're selling a specific brand of wool socks, you might consider bidding on "Sheepspride Wool Socks" rather than just "wool socks." Chances are you'll pay much less and, if your customers are specifically looking for that brand, they'll find your site quickly and easily.
Should You Manage Your Own Affiliate Program? (18)
If you have the time and resources, it may be best to manage your own affiliate program at some point or another just so you have some idea as to how things work.
Internet Marketing Via Blogging (19)
You'll be surprised how far afield your name can start to spread once your blog becomes more established. Even though the main purpose of your blog probably isn't to make money, you'll soon find that your profits will start to benefit as a direct result of having one.
Narrow Your Focus In Affiliate Marketing (20)
Sean Rasmussen is a stock market, property investor and internet marketer. He enjoys helping others learn these skills and makes these resources available. His affiliate website is at www.wealthcreationaffiliate.com and his internet marketing blog at www.wealthcreationaffiliate.com.au
Newer Articles Highlighter:
About Article Marketing - Something You Need To Know (1)
As a result what I usually do is to submit an article by joining the distribution programs. At the same time I will also write different versions of the same articles and submit them manually to about ten articles sites of high PR.
Telemarketing As A Career (2)
As salespeople, telemarketers are underpaid and hardly receive any form of training. Unfortunately, telemarketers are not trained to handle personal abuse or to deal with rejection, which they encounter at some point or the other, during their careers.
How To Find Top Authors Around The World To Write Articles For You (3)
With the internet you can use writers from all over the world so you don't have to bound by geographical limits. These services also check the articles to be sure that they aren't duplicated or copied from elsewhere on the internet.
Introduction To Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising (4)
When composing your PPC ad, remember - its only job is to generate enough interest to get the click. Never try to sell directly in the PPC ad, that's a task best left for your salespage where you can use all the words you need to state your case!
Participate In Forums To Drive Traffic To Your Website (5)
The trick is to participate in the forums without spelling it out for other community members that it is a way for you to attract customers. Gain the trust of community members by participating in forums where you can answer questions and add value to the conversations.
Exclusive: Autoresponder Access To Secret Pages! (6)
For instance, you can grant access to only a lucky few, or you can have a time limit for accessing the pages. You can grant access to secret pages on your website with an autoresponder.
Getting The Right Exhibition Equipment (7)
There is nothing worse than turning up to an exhibition or an event of some sort whereby the hosts look stressed out. A smile goes a long way. Experienced event organiser Shaun Parker looks into the importance of picking the right exhibition equipment for your company event.
I Want To Create My Own EBook - How Do I Come Up With A Fantastic, Eye-Popping Title? (8)
Topics: information products, ebooks, ebook creation, write your own ebook, sell your own products Do you already have a fantastic title written down for your ebook? No? Well, a good title will get noticed.
Significance Of Web Site Design And Maintenance (9)
And, again, to remain alive in the arena of business that is in intense competition, web site design should always be considered. Developing your own web site can be a good step to push your company in progress.
Benefits You Can Get From Web Site Design (10)
So, hire a website design company to have it done for you. Remember also to choose the one that is proven to provide you a kind of service which your company really needs.
Do You Need A Website Designer? (11)
Either option is a good, but the best answer to that question will really depend on your personal situation. Here are some points to consider when choosing a website designer.
Hello? Hello? Is There Anybody Out There? (12)
5. When you reply, make it a personal reply. In other words, the reply comes from a person, not a nameless, faceless "Customer Service Department". 6. Thank the person for their comments.
Your Identity - Picking A Domain Name To Register (13)
Choose the proper extension for what you're doing and let your site's integrity sell itself. What's in a name? Everything. Careful and thoughtful picking and use of the name for your web site will help keep your enterprise on the top of its game.
Marketing With Ezines - What REALLY Works? (14)
The internet is fast paced. People want the most amount of information in the shortest possible time span. Keep your ads short, sweet and simple. While "the next big" marketing trick is soon to come your way, you now know what really works online.
Writing An EBook - How To Think Up A Grand Plan For Your EBook And Structure Your Chapters (15)
You can do this same process with any topic you want to do it with, over and over. Create some questions on your topic and research the answers. There's your ebook!
Multi Level Marketing (MLM) - Does It Work? (16)
Most of us are smarter than that and would have quit after a few months and maybe only lost $1000 down the drain, but this person was persistent and did not want to fail.
Home Business: Get Paid To Prospect And Start Making Money Now (17)
Prospects will feel that "they will be taken by the hand and lead in the right direction." So, throw away your contact lists and stop approaching family and friends. Now that I have done this very thing, I enjoy a level of freedom from stress of the never-ending cycle of prospecting I used to do.
Beware Of The Scam Artist? (18)
These people are usually people who jump ship to every new program out there on the internet. If a new program comes out, they jump in it, take all you hardworking people looking for a genuine business opportunity with them and proceed to suck you dry they then move on to the next program.
Affiliate Marketing - A Road To Prosperity (19)
It can also help in the affiliate's conversion rates. There are lots of resources to sort out. Ads, banners, button ads and sample recommendations to give out because the marketer knows that this is one way of ensuring more sales.
The USP Of Web Design (20)
Topics: web design, small business website design, USP, unique selling proposition While surfing the internet, one question used to strike my mind continually - why do some websites have thousands of visitors everyday and others can't quite make the grade?
Permalink to Here’s How You Can Easily Determine The Success Of Your Business