Storytelling: Emotional Marketing

Recently, I started off a blog post by saying “Imagine opening up a store in a mall somewhere…” In a few sentences, I told a story designed to evoke an emotional response from the reader. In the past, I’ve suggested that readers should participate in a storytelling exercise in order to sharpen this particular marketing skill. I encourage you to try that exercise. In addition to that... read more

If You Don’t Take Control Of Your Site Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later

Imagine opening up a store in a mall somewhere, and just when the profits start rolling in, the mall decides to close down forever, but they don’t tell you. In fact, they not only fail to inform you, but they place tons of dynamite around the mall, and completely blow it to smithereens. Your store is gone in a flash, and no matter what you do, you cannot get your store and its inventory back, nor can... read more

eBusiness Tips: Getting Revved Up

Advice for those considering making their living online: I gave some quick tips recently on making a living online, which included: Make a plan, but don’t plan too long. At some point, you just have to jump in and get started. The sooner that is, the better. After you check out the rest of the tips there, it’s useful to see what other experienced folks from ’round the web have to say... read more

The Truth About Working From Home

So many people have misconceptions about those of us who work from home. Allow me to share a quick moment from my present-day life to make the point. My household is an extended family household, with one adult child, and two grandchildren living here. The grandkids call me “MawMaw” which is the common name for grandmothers here in Cajun country. Last week, some random adult (I forget who)... read more

Setting Up Your Home Office

I rarely discuss the actual physical space that I work within, here in my home office. I’m not sure why, because it is certainly relevant, but I think that after all this time, I tend to just take it for granted. However, after reading a few interesting blog posts over on Randy Duermyer’s HomeBusiness blog, I thought it would be fun to explore this topic a little more. First, I recommend you... read more

So You Want To Be A Web Designer?

Lots of people want to be web designers. In fact, web design is very likely the first (and maybe only) thing that everyone thinks of when asked how people make money online. Tell someone you meet on the street, when asked what you do, that you work on the Internet, and I’ll bet that person will assume you mean you’re a web designer. Now you and I know that’s only one of many ways to make... read more

How to Install Google Website Optimizer on WordPress for Affiliate Offers

The following is a guest post by Jason Capshaw It is much easier to double your conversion rate, than it is to double your traffic. One of the key components of conversion rate optimization is testing. Google Website Optimizer was built for that very reason and is designed to give you the ability to test different ideas against each other in real time and see what works and what... read more

eBusiness Tips: Making Decisions

Making decisions when starting or running an ebusiness can be almost scary. But those decisions still have to be made, scary or not, so let’s take a look at some wise words ’round the web that deal with the decision-making process. 10 things you won’t learn in school Analysis paralysis is a term used to describe the situation where the deeper you dig into a topic the more questions you have. ... read more

Selling on Your Site: Shopping Cart Solutions

If you plan to sell products on your site – either tangible goods or downloadable goods – you need a shopping cart. Deciding which cart to use is, in my opinion, as fun as pulling out your own hair, one clump at a time. Choosing the right cart is extremely hard, and frankly, it’s impossible to list all the choices out there. There are far too many; just run a search if you don’t... read more

eBusiness Tips: Convert, Convert, Convert

In case the title didn’t give it away, these wise words from ’round the web all center around conversions. It’s great to get more traffic to your site, but don’t forget about the traffic once it gets there. At that point, it’s all about conversions. Don’t sell a product? You still need to convert something, somewhere, somehow. What do you want your visitors to do? Sign... read more