Karri Flatla is a business graduate of the University of Lethbridge and principal of snap! virtual associates inc., a virtual consulting firm providing business communications and Internet marketing services to the progressive entrepreneur. Karri also produces Outsmart, the email newsletter for small business with big purpose. Visit http://www.snap-va.com for more information.
Let's get one thing straight: much as we like to play God, Internet marketers are not the omnipotent beings some people think we are. The Earthly truth is that we're just some really driven people with a lot of knowledge about working the web to your advantage. And most would agree that this knowledge, when put into action, is worth a few bucks. Of course, it's easier to continue believing in the omnipotent marketer. As in, if you pay someone enough money to market your business for you, then that person is accountable for your business' failure to turn a...
I'm probably going to lose a lot of Friends with this post, but I need to get some stuff off my chest about Facebook. If you're a real Friend, you'll listen without judgment. If not, it was nice Facebooking with you. I hope there are no hard feelings left in my wake....
I admit, I've been relatively slow to catch on to Twitter. At first it just seemed like a lot of background noise with no real purpose. Silly almost. Like, um, Facebook. Except with Twitter the discussion becomes more relevant as time goes on, not less. The conversations, even inane ones, retain a degree of rawness and truth, cluttered and disorganized as they may be....
Are we so accustomed to the vastness of modern media that we've forgotten consumers are always a click or two away from a zillion and one alternatives to our humble offerings? Today's consumer is on high alert for answers, answers, answers. There is little reason to gamble away time trying to get those answers out of you the seller when better answers—easier to find answers—are so tantalizingly available....
For some reason business owners forget that closing a deal means asking for the sale. Yet, how do you ask for a sum of cash that remains undisclosed to the prospect? Even if the goal of your site is to just elicit inquiries, an absence of critical information deters impatient users with pent up desire for some simple, honest information about the product or service they are looking for....
Unfortunately, most resolution lists read like a Martha-Meets-Oprah-Make-Your-Life-Really-Special instruction sheet. I’ve prepared a different kind of list, one that’s pure octane and 100% sugar free—with nary a saccharine euphemism in sight. The politically correct should step aside. The rest of you should strap yourself in and keep your mouth closed—there’s gonna be some dirt flying....
A good marketer will evaluate your online venture holistically and then allocate finite resources to those tactics that will have the most impact toward an agreed upon end. Just know that the "end" does not suddenly arrive one day like a freight train roaring through your home office....
Anyone who says that niching will exclude too many potential buyers doesn’t know why he is in business in the first place. Moreover, a prospect pool with no common reason to buy from you is a headache that will cost time, money, and more patience than your sanity can afford. Get over your desire to be popular with the whole wide world and instead choose a niche....
Most people loathe writing, cannot write, do not have time to write (well), or all of the above. Factor in things like SEO, usability, and the need to say a lot with a little, and you have a frustrated author with a shortage of clients. Fortunately, common sense rules on the Internet....
As a frequenter of online forums, I am concerned to see so many newbie entrepreneurs so dangerously invested in their Google rankings. While no one likes to watch their rankings drop like a stone from a top ten position, facing negative profits and the sleepless nights that follow thereafter is entirely unnecessary....
While top ten rankings are a worthy goal, shelling out money to an SEO that makes such pie-in-sky claims will leave you frustrated and probably wishing you had spent your cash on something more useful, like snake oil....
Your website's content is a microcosm of all things marketing. Your content should be the heart and soul of your web-based business unit, even if that unit is part of a larger offline framework....
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