I have surveyed online business owners a number of times over the years. I have discovered a common thread in the problems that the majority of them are experiencing. 1) They are frustrated with the amount of traffic they get to their websites. Can you identify? 2) They are concerned that their online presence is not generating enough leads and new customers. Does that describe you? 3) They are upset with themselves (or vendors) for... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Dan Nickerson) In preparation for writing this article I thought I would look for a great quote about learning from your mistakes. You know what...that was a mistake, because honestly there are a ton of them online. They all boil down to one basic principle: You can learn far more from your mistakes than from your successes. Continue Reading

Failure. The word is laced with negative connotations. That's why I think failure gets a bum rap. Failing at something is not necessarily a bad thing. It just means you are trying. And it means you have found a way to not succeed. Thomas Edison went through thousands of experiments before his first lightbulb was illuminated. Ben Franklin is quoted as stating, "I didn't fail the test, I just found one hundred ways to do... Continue Reading

Starting your own online business is a lot like a long journey. You will need perseverance, stamina, and some faith, and you will reach your goals. But lots of people burn up all of their energy right out of the starting gate. Have you ever gotten really excited about a business idea or an online mentor, thrown a lot of money at it, and then never done anything or really learned anything from it? There... Continue Reading

Recently I went to one of my favorite restaurants for a quick lunch. I called in an order of Chicken Tortilla soup to-go and went to pick it up. While I was there I observed that the restaurant was not busy. It SHOULD have been busy, being lunchtime. But it wasn't. It was then I asked to see if the owner was there. I wanted to speak with him for his benefit. He came out... Continue Reading

You've probably seen the .li tweets that have been flying around Twitter lately. And if you're like me, you're probably finding them irritating already. Continue Reading

You've come up with a business idea you believe will rock the world. You have built your website... it's so beautiful it brings a tear to your eye. You are the expert in your field and you've got something to say. Now you just need someone to say it to! It's no surprise that the best way to become recognized is to be interviewed by others who want to leverage your expertise for a newspaper... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Stephen Pierce) Which one of these results would you love to have? Continue Reading

If you have an online business and are looking to increase traffic to your website and therefore sales, there are some things you should be doing on a regular basis. Call them your daily or weekly online calisthenics. You should be posting articles on other sites, building your list and reaching out to them with pertinent deals and updates, staying active on forums in your niche, taking advantage of the press release resources out there... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Fletcher Groeneman) It can be said that consumers are persuaded to purchase by their perception of the product and not by the actual product itself. What promotes the idea that every need can be satisfied with the goods or services from a given company? Effective and creative advertising is a skill that every corporation desires yet few succeed in mastering. What makes some ads so successful and others just pathetic? A... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Jared Newgent) In measuring traffic, there are numerous classifications for the type of traffic that is measured. Traffic can have many names for the same classification depending on where the info is gleaned from. To avoid confusion, instead of using terms interchangeably, I will be using the terms that Google has used in their documentation for AdWords, AdSense, and Analytics. One such classification is Unique Clicks. What is determined as a... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Fletcher Groeneman) Last time we discussed the first step in the process of branding, "know yourself." This time I would like to build on that foundation. If you feel you have a solid idea of what you or your product wants to become, it is time to learn how to best present it. While it's true you may have a great product, every product has its weaknesses. The good news is... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Andrew Albritton) Last week we talked about getting your Google AdWords account set up and the overall importance of SEM. This week we'll focus on optimization. Continue Reading

A 2006 study found that viewers made subconscious decisions about the quality and credibility of web pages in just 1/20th of a second. In this blink of an eye, viewers did not have enough time to read text or even recognize photos, but instead were reacting only to the site's layout. Even when the participants had more time to look at the site, the research found that they only attempted to reinforce this initial conclusion. Continue Reading