If you have ever wondered if an ecommerce website would be good for your business, but have shied away from doing it because it seemed difficult, then the e-guide ‘Selling Online Basics’ could be the solution you are looking for.
There are hundreds of e-books, reports and self-professed ‘how to’ guides that are supposed to explain how to set up an ecommerce website. Few actually match up to expectations.
So, for me, it is a refreshing change to find an e-book that does actually show you, in detail, how to create an ecommerce website. What’s even better though is the author, Karin Hermans, not only gives easy to follow instructions, she also reveals how to do it economically – like for FREE. Karin’s premise is to get an ecommerce website set up and see if it works for you before investing too much time or money in the project.
For anyone who is considering an online presence for their existing business, but is not 100% convinced it is right for them, this is the ideal way to ‘test the water’.
The guide (which is only £7.47) describes how you can use and combine 4 free online software programs (all free versions of award winning software), plus one ‘pay-when-you-sell’ program to get your Ecommerce shop up and running in no time at all.
Step-by-step, with a multitude of screenshots, Karin guides you through the account opening processes and shows you how to link the programs together – and it is a lot easier than you might think.
In fact I worked through the instructions she gives in her ebook and I was impressed with the amount of detail she included.
You can get your copy at Selling Online Basics, where she explains how BBC’s ‘Britain’s Next Best Thing’ was the inspiration behind this guide.
~ Carol Bentley
Businesses who do not claim their Google Place listing may risk having it hi-jacked by hackers, spammers or competitors, as has already happened in the USA (see article Widespread Hijacking).
More importantly businesses that are ignoring their Google Places listing are missing a vital marketing tactic. A completed and well optimised listing is more likely to appear on the first page of local search results. This is because Google has a greater trust in the information entered after a listing has been claimed and verified.
Is Your Business Listed?
Your business may already be listed because Google uses publicly available information, such as details in telephone directories like yell.com, to create the listing. But all it is likely to have is your business name and some basic details. There will be nothing to encourage browsers to look more closely at what you offer; no marketing details.
Why Claim Your Listing?
When you claim your listing you can add marketing descriptions, keywords, photos, videos – a whole raft of promotional material – to make your business highly visible and attractive to potential buyers. And once you’ve claimed your listing Google gives you a whole host of analytics, including how many times your listing has been seen and how many visitors are clicking your listing to find out more.
This is an ideal way for every business in the UK (and other countries) to be seen on Google even if they do not have their own website set up – this is effectively your free website on Google.
How To Claim Your Listing
You will need a Google account if you haven’t already got one. Google recommends creating a Google Places account using an Google email address that you don’t mind sharing with others or passing along, in case you ever sell your business and need to transfer ownership of your listing.
(You can create a Google gmail account at mail.google.com/mail/signup)
Once you’ve got your gmail account set up…
Go to www.google.co.uk/places (or search for Google Places to find your local Google Places if you are outside the UK).
- Sign in with your gmail account
- Choose the country you are located in
- Type in your business telephone number
If Google finds your business is listed it displays details for you to edit.
If your business is not listed Google displays the form for you to enter your details.
In both cases you can add /edit:
- Business Name, telephone and contact details
- Business address (you can stop your address being displayed if you work from home)
- Business description (200 characters) and business category (up to 5)
- Your website, if you have one
- Where you carry out your business – on your premises or at your customers
- Opening hours
- Payment methods you accept
- Photos to display your products / services
- Video clips to promote your business
- Additional details, such as local parking facilities etc.
Once you’ve completed your information Google will ask for verification. They send you a pin number, by phone or SMS text. Entering the pin number confirms the listing.
Now, whenever you are logged in to your Google Account and you go to Google Places, it shows your display stats for the business.
May I ask a favour?
I think claiming your Google Places listing is important for any business, but especially for small businesses such as privately owned retail outlets, that don’t regularly interact with the Internet. So please tell any business owner you know about Google Places listings and encourage them to claim theirs before someone tries to use it to damage them.
Thanks.
~ Carol Bentley
When writing sales letters it is very easy to get too enthusiastic with a product or service description – especially when writing about your own business.
How often have you seen a letter or web page that just seems a bit OTT? Outrageous, unbelievable, over-the-top claims throw up barriers, even if the offer is genuine. Even if we are careful about making genuine claims we can sometimes slip into gobbledygook without even realising it!
So what, exactly, is gobbledygook?
The dictionary definition is: Unclear, often verbose language, usually bureaucratic jargon.
I think there is a bit more to it than that because there is a lot of confusing terminology creeping into our everyday language, jargon that really doesn’t make any sense at all. I often see jargon being used as a way of ‘blinding with science’. Not such a good idea because creating confusion in your prospect’s mind rarely turns them into a customer.
So why am I talking about gobbledygook? Well, after my post last Friday about making sure your messages are clear, I was intrigued by a question in an email I received from one of my LinkedIn groups that asked:
“What words make you cringe when you see them in copy?”
I guess we all have our favourite phrases or cliches, even if we avoid using industry jargon, but some of the language we use in our writing can set the BS bells ringing unintentionally and that, of course, can prevent a sale or response.
How can we check that what we have written is OK; that we are describing and explaining our offer in a way that is acceptable and isn’t likely to be seen as BS or gobbledygook?
Reading through the comments left by other members of the group I discovered two potentially useful tools:
The gobbledygook grader page also has a link to The Gobbledygook Manifesto, by David Meerman Scott, that reports on what are the most frequently used gobbledygook words – makes interesting reading.
Before you send out that all important letter or upload your crucial web page copy it may be worth using these tools to give it a quick checkover and then see if you agree with the results.
By the way, I ran this post through the gobbledygook grader and (phew!) I’m glad to say it got a 0 count of gobbledygook verbage. 
~ Carol Bentley
When I sent out the invitation earlier this week to subscribe for my weekly copywriting and marketing articles I took it for granted that everyone would know that they were free – a gift. So much for my communication skills because when I sent the same invitation to my offline database I received this email:
Hi Carol,
What is not clear to me is whether you are offering these articles for free or at a cost, or only to people who have bought something from you.
Regards,
Hasse Nyman
Well, I sat there and thought “That will teach you to be clearer in your messages!”
This was my reply:
Hi Hasse,
That is a great point you’ve made! I’m so used to giving gifts (like these articles) that it did not occur to me that someone might think there is a cost.
So – the answer is they are yours, simply by subscribing.
Now, you might be thinking – why would I do that? Well, sending you a weekly article allows me to help you with your copywriting and marketing and allows me to further or create a relationship with you. Hopefully, in the long term, you may decide you would like to buy something from me – but you do not have to.
Does that answer your question?
Kind regards
Carol
Why am I sharing this with you? Because it is so easy to assume that people reading (or listening) to your message are on the same wave-length and fully understand what you mean. But that’s not always the case, especially if they’ve not had any communication with you before – or perhaps not for some time.
That’s why it is so important to make sure that you fully explain any offer you may be making.
I think the simplest way to do that is to ask someone who doesn’t know anything about your product or service or offer to read or listen to your presentation and check if they ‘get it’. If they don’t, well you’ve got some more work to do, haven’t you?
It’s a salutary lesson for me and I’m grateful that Hasse took the time to check with me.
Hmm.. I wonder how many others were unsure? I think I’d better pop a quick note to let everyone know there’s no cost, so if you’ve already read and subscribed to the articles please ignore the follow-up note I’ll be sending.
(BTW – if you didn’t see the original message you can read it and see what the articles are – and subscribe for them – at PG-Articles).
Have a good weekend.
to purchase an email list or gather email addresses from websites to use in your marketing – and you are in the UK – then you need to know about the new legislation that is coming into force later this month. Anyone sending unsolicited – ‘spam’ – emails is risking a fine of up to £500,000.
Any ethical marketing professional will advise you to gather emails for your promotions through tried, tested and legitimate methods. That can be offering free reports or information in exchange for their email address and permission to keep in touch.
In some cases people will put a false email address thinking they’ll be taken straight to the download page.
Using double opt-in is a way of making sure an email address that is supplied is valid and the person it belongs to did ask for your info. (Double opt-in is where you send an email asking them to confirm their request before supplying the gift you’ve offered).
But even then people sometimes forget that they gave you their email and / or they might not be expecting more emails from you after they get the report. This means if they report your emails as spam you could find yourself facing an investigation. That’s why it is crucial that you can prove the email was collected legitimately – another reason for using double opt-in.
To avoid mistakenly being accused of spamming make it clear when you offer the free report or ebook that you will be sending them more information unless they ask to unsubscribe.
I’d also recommend mentioning in your first message that you will be sending more emails. Including a note in each of your emails of the date they subscribed, why they subscribed and the email address they used can also minimise undeserved reporting.
Oh, and do make sure that every email you send has an easy way for your subscriber to stop the messages if they wish – either with an unsubscribe link or with instructions on how to prevent further emails.
If you are looking for an email delivery service that can handle all of that for you, as well as giving great statistics on open and click through rates, I highly recommend Aweber. I’ve been using their services since 2005. [That is an affiliate link].
You can read more about the new legislation, which applies to text messaging and marketing telephone calls as well, at Information Commissioner Gets New Powers
~ Carol Bentley
Whilst doing some research for a client I spoke to one of their customers. I asked if there was anything specific he would like my client to do.
He said:
“keep in touch, let me know about enhancements to the system we’re installing. The previous company didn’t do that and we wasted nearly a year looking for a new system only to discover the enhancements that had been introduced into our existing one did exactly what we wanted. But we didn’t know.”
Are your customers looking elsewhere because they don’t know you can deliver what they want? Are you putting them through the anguish and hassle of searching for a solution with your competitors?
If you are not letting them know about changes in your business, product or services you might be doing just that.
3 Good Things Are Happening…
That’s why I’m letting you know about changes we’re making that could be of interest to you..
First: We are embracing more of the 21st Century communication style starting with a free iPhone/iPod app for this blog. You can download it from iTunes at Bite-Size Marketing Tips
Second: I’m also working with a colleague to create a powerful mobile communication system that makes marketing to your customer and prospect base infinitely easier and more personal. It’s still in the early stages of development and I’m very excited about it.. I promise you’ll be amongst the first to know what it’s all about – keep a look out for more info in the next few weeks.
Third: Over the last 6 months or so I’ve been studying the video marketing explosion and have specifically concentrated on how B2B videos work. That research and studying has given me the skill and insight of how to write a good B2B video script.
Like all marketing activities there is a structure to crafting a good video and the words used are just as crucial as those you use in a sales letter.
If you are planning to create video marketing clips and need a script written for you do get in touch using this enquiry form. Enquiring does not create any obligation on either side
Well, that brings us up to date for the moment except for one other thing…
What advice or help would you like to see on offer? Pop your ‘wish-list’ into the comment section below – thanks.
~ Carol Bentley
Even if your business doesn’t actively use social marketing as part of its business development strategy, you still need to consider the impact it has when your customers share their experiences online.
How businesses interact with their customers has always affected business results and never more so that in the 21st Century.
In the 1900s good customer service – that everyone expects – was hardly mentioned in conversations.
Customers that received an outstanding service probably told some of their friends and colleagues – giving the business a little bit of good publicity – but only whilst it was fresh in their mind.
When people had a bad customer experience they told everyone they met; friends, colleagues – anyone who would listen – and often over a longer period of time. Bad news spreads, but the damage caused was limited to the social and business circles those customers moved in.
Now – in this modern age – the impact your customers can have on your business – both good and bad – has exploded exponentially because of the Internet.
In a survey commissioned by technology provider Avanade, 1,998 UK consumers were asked their thoughts on customer service, as well as how they complain to the company concerned.
41% of people still phone the company to complain and 63% also use email, but a significant proportion (20%) will go online to grumble to friends and family as well!
The figure rises to 36% for 18-24 year olds so it is a trend that looks set to continue.
(You can read more about the survey at Poor Customer Service)
People who get a great service from their supplier can share that experience with others -even people they’ve never met or spoken to – via social websites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. The views they express can go viral in seconds and can give a real boost to your business reputation and – eventually – sales.
I reckon this is the type of tweet all businesses crave:
And the same is true if you disappoint your customers. The damage your business can endure when a bad experience is reported can ultimately destroy your business.
Take a look at United Airlines’ Angry Customer
Whilst many business owners realise that social marketing – using ‘people power’ to spread the word about their products or services – can be a brilliant marketing strategy, not everyone realises how damaging it can be as well. More so because, unlike a negative newspaper article that may eventually be forgotten, anything ‘published’ on the net is there, for anyone to find, virtually permanently.
How Do You Avoid Bad Publicity?
Well, the most obvious answer is to constantly supply fantastic service and buyer experience
But we are all human and mistakes happen, so the next answer is to make it extremely easy for your customers to let you know if they are disgruntled with you. If you’ve created a great, open relationship with your customers there probably isn’t a barrier to communications and that gives you the opportunity to resolve any concerns they have.
So – the bottom line is, whether you like it or not, social media can have an affect on our business and it would be wise to keep that in mind.
~ Carol Bentley
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