All Ping

To say that ecommerce is the future for a new business is putting things a little strongly. Ecommerce is one avenue down which a new business might be well advised to go. In actuality, it’s one part of a much larger map – the same map all businesses have always been bound to follow which is nominally known as ‘The Marketplace’.

The simplest way to describe the market, for any business, is like this: it’s where the people most likely to want a business’ products and services spend their time and ultimately their money. So in order to capture the sales it needs to stay alive, a new business has to define its marketplace and follow it.

It is absolutely true to say that more marketplaces are finding more of themselves shifted into the online sphere, or at least replicated there. This is because the generations who do the spending are at least in part represented by what’s called a “digital native”.

Digital natives are anyone who was born in the age when the internet and digital connectivity were commonplace – so in basic terms, anyone who is now around 15 years old, maybe 20. A digital native will automatically look to the online world, usually through a smartphone, to gather information and to make purchases – or at the very least to get the information he or she needs to make a purchase in the “real world”.

It is important, before this discussion goes further, to make a more direct definition of “ecommerce”. Technically speaking, ecommerce is the actual sale of goods and services online – that is, a person has to get into a checkout and use an online payment service or his or her own bank account to transfer funds electronically and complete a transaction.

In reality, though, the idea of ecommerce is probably more wide-ranging. What, for example, of the person who goes into a shop, then calls up that store’s website and asks the sales staff to match its online prices in the flesh? Is that not ecommerce too?

The point is, the real purpose of a modern ecommerce site goes beyond simply selling products or services and leaving things at that. A website is all things to all customers. It’s the place where all the advertising material in the real world, pertinent to the brand owning the site, ends up pointing.

In essence, the real thrust of the future is this. A brand that sells things, any company that will at some point ask prospects to become customers by actively transferring monies from their account to the account of the brand, would be foolish to avoid making that provision in its website. But its site is more than just a shop. It’s a place to be, somewhere where the brand personality, which is technically what makes prospects into customers in the first place, is given the space it needs to express itself.

It’s all about engaging. Consumers want to feel that they are art of something. The website is where they go to do that.

As mobile gains an edge, search engines are pushing for local, location-based results for queries. This way, users are able to utilize on board apps for tracking down a storefront, finding contact info and calling directly from a page, and checking out online reviews. One of the best ways to optimize for this market is to play up Google+ Local and Places.

The Place for Business

Google Places is a way to add business listings to search queries. More likely than not, any given business will already show up in one aspect or another. But like with any other Web-based marketing tactic, it is important for you to take complete control of how people find and view your company. First, Places has companies provide accurate contact information before entering a verification process.

Businesses also have the opportunity to register for AdWords directly through Place’s Business Bungalow, or control panel. AdWords is a pay-per-click service that can help a company’s inorganic search results by pulling up a listing in a query. You’re able to target demographics and adapt keywords to changing markets, but business’ will find these campaigns expensive without natural, organic search results power.

Check out Brand’s Command Center to see how they build a network of positive reviews and incoming news and links to their customers. Even if you aren't looking to improve your branding or online reputation through paid services, the chart below will still give you a good idea of how you can surround yourself and your blogs with positive articles and link building around your sites. Integrating new content, search engine tracking, knowing when/where your band is mentioned and continually building new incoming links are all great ways to improve your brand/blog awareness online.

Local Focal Points

Google+ Local is more of a social media platform than a listing service. However, every scrap of exposure helps in the long run. By creating a business page/profile, you are able to circle up with industry-related companies and connect with consumers just like you would on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. However, unlike these other social media platforms, Local is Google-friendly. When an everyday user queries a search for a clothing store in their area, for example, results with Local tie-ins increases the chance of upping page rankings. But as mentioned before, it is important for companies to cover all of their bases instead of counting on one service rather than another.

The Rule of Two

For almost every enterprise out there, it is helpful to register both Local profiles and Place listings. The more control you have over your own brand’s positive online exposure the better. In essence, both platforms allow companies to share business NAP info (as in name, address, and phone numbers), company images, comments, and reviews. According to Search Engine Watch, the most important feature out of the two are Google Map listings, an advantage even Web-based businesses can use by adding URLs and consumer ratings.

Whether you are an online blog, personal brand or a land based local business, be sure to take advantage of all the link building and branding opportunities you have at hand to better improve your reach and reputation online.

The idea is great, but during short “investigation” what niche I should choose and which keywords should I pick out, the basic question appeared: “what kind of site should I create; the authority site or niche site?”

The answer on that question is very important: I don’t have a lot of time to play around with another thin niche site. On the other hand – authority site needs even more effort…

First part of this year clearly show us that we have to really think about our business model –Google Penguin overturned SERPs, Amazon closed down some affiliate programs and turned off some accounts. What’s more – there was a lot of bans in the most lucrative program for niche sites – Google AdSense. And nobody knows why…

Blogosphere was boiling with anger and site owners were shuddering with fear. Do you remember that? Did you lost some traffic or maybe your AdSense account was also banned?

Okay, no more complaints and hassles – lets go to some news and facts.

Last week there was a debate on AdSense Flippers between Steve Scott and Mike Thomas about pros and cons of niche and authority sites. Both of them have their own arguments for and against, but I have the impression that nobody wins this debate…

In this post I want to share with you my point of view about niche and authority sites and my business model. At the end I will ask you about your opinion and your preferences – niche or authority sites?

Niche Sites

Pros:

• easy to set up
• low money investment
• low time investment
• if you have experience it’s almost automatic for you to earn money from it
• you can outsource the whole process
• faster ROI (Return on Investment) –first earnings appear after 1-2 months

Cons:

• in most cases only one source of traffic: Google (you can lost it in minutes)
• in most cases only one source of making money (you can lost it in minutes)
• probably lower ROI

Authority Site

Pros:

• easy to set up
• a lot of possibilities of earning money
• at least few sources of traffic
• your online effort (authority, brand) may be used in the real world
• probably higher ROI

Cons:

• long-term ROI (real money appear after 1-2 years)
• you can’t outsource a lot of tasks related with your authority site
• huge amount of time is needed to establish your authority, social proof and brand

Okay, and how about my business model?

As you know (if you don’t know it, please read section about), I have some websites on Polish market – few dozen niche sites (mostly in financial market) and one vortal (also on financial market). It works very well for me at this moment, but unfortunately a lot of traffic comes from Google. And big brother G. may change some rules in the future and … (uncensored words appeared)

Traffic for my niche site will come from:

• SEO (organic traffic)
• Mailing list (from my authority site and from separate lists)
• Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, other if appropriate)
• CPC Ads (Google AdWords, Facebook Ads)
• Authority site (posts)

The same will be with income– below you can see main sources of income for my future niche sites

Each niche site will earn money on:

2—5 related affiliates programs

My own e-product (probably ebooks or training programs)

Ads in CPC model (Google AdSense or something similar)

Ads in CPM model (only for niche sites with more than 10k page views per month)

I know that this model is very time-consuming and may take about one or even two years to see a results. But it should work. I hope…

Social media applications such as Twitter can be effectively utilized as a tool for freelancers like yourself to promote your services. In a time when the world is connected through the internet, failing to employ such a simple strategy to connect with your potential and existing clients is a waste of opportunity. Remember that you are promoting to the rest of the world each time you post something in Twitter.

The content then, is what matters. You can update your existing clients on your latest projects and network with freelancers like yourself. In your Twitter, you may link your followers to your professional blog where they can further explore your work and even better, re-tweet it to their own network. All these can bring you more business in the long run as these people go on to recommend you to potential clients.

Here are five possible ways to make good use of Twitter for your freelance business:

1. Connect With Relevant People

As you would probably agree with me, social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook have definitely facilitated our access to such opportunities to exchange knowledge and insights to an unprecedented level. To effectively utilize such access, you must first connect with the right people to obtain valuable information from. For instance, following the tweets of designers would update you with some of their latest work, from which you may find inspirations or ideas for your own design.

Besides, there will always be things you can modify and improve about your business, be it the design of your work, marketing strategy or even the capacity of your web server. Twitter, being a great tool to network with people of the same field, is your key to refining your business. This is because freelancers like you are now able to share tips and critique each other’s work and approach. Such online relationships, although casual, can do wonders for you by widening your perspective on how things can be done.

2. Draw People To Your Blog

Twittering is a good way to inform your followers on any updates to your portfolio blog. However, the benefit of using Twitter goes beyond the purpose of simple notifications. Each time your followers get informed about your latest work or design, they may also send out a Tweet after checking out your site. This is especially when your work shows extraordinariness and your followers want to comment and compliment about it.

Through a networking apparatus like Twitter, your blog gets promoted exponentially. This way, your blog, along with your awesome work, gets free publicity to more prospective clients. Also, supposing you have set up a Twitter account solely for your freelance business(which is advisable), then those who follow your Twitter are likely to be those relevant people you want to associate with your business. Once these people tweet or re-tweet about it, their followers are also the target audience you would want to promote your business to. In this manner, your blog isadvertised freely and specifically to those that matters.

3. Find Prospective Clients

A major component of Twitter is its search function that enables users to search for other users to follow. There, you can search for specific topic or interest and get a list of Twitter accounts for your consideration to follow. If you are looking for prospective clients, then this is great tool for yourself to get acquainted and develop a professional network with other freelancers or potential clients. Strike a conversation by replying to their tweets. It works the other way round as well. Having a Twitter account yourself, people are able to search for you and request to follow your tweets.

Don’t be surprised to receive messages requesting for your freelance services. They might have come across your tweets after combing through potential freelancers on Twitter, saw your work on your site and got impressed. Either that or they might have seen some random tweets of users who were following you and subsequently check out your blog.

In any case, such bi-directional search between yourself and other potential employerswould no doubt open up doors to more opportunities.

4. Establish Your Brand

Once you have a decent number of followers, it becomes a must to update them on your latest work so that they get constant reminder of your business. Focus on your specialty from the various services you provide and your followers will know what to expect from your updates. If, for instance, you’re a freelance web designer who is an expert in doing up creative typography for sites, then perhaps you can emphasize on the font design of your latest works in your tweets.

At the end of the day, it’s all about creating that association between what your business does best and your business brand. Once people can tie your brand to your brand’s selling point (in this case, the typography of web design), then you have established your brand well. As your followers consist of existing clients and potential ones as well, it is crucial to build a good reputation for your business and let the good words get spread throughout the entire network.

5. Be The Expert

If you want to get more referrals to clients through the internet, you need to build a name for yourself. To do that, post insightful updates to your Twitter and give your audience what they want to know. Providing meaningful comments on other’s work as well as your own will impress upon your audience that you’re passionate and serious about what you do. Besides, sharing your thoughts about designs is the first step to getting priceless feedback from other freelancers.

Not all of us will eventually be considered as experts simply by giving our personal takes on designs and such. But if you managed to get there, your personal work will be taken more seriously. Your followers would be more likely to tweet the work of someone who is deem as the expert or the leader of the field. The end result is that you’ve earned yourself a good reputation, and that’s great because more people will hear of your work. This includes potential clients for your business.