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For example, have you ever used the “Search” box on ScottFox.com? (It's in the right side bar.)
Adding this type of custom search box to your web site can help your visitors find your products and information more effectively - and this custom search tool is F-R-EE from Google!
With a simple account set-up at Google, you can create, copy, paste, and publish a customized version of the Google search tool that specifically helps your visitors to search your own web site pages.
Try visiting ScottFox.com to use the Search Box any time that you’re looking for advice on an e-business or online marketing related topic. Odds are good that I’ve covered it in a previous blog post here on ScottFox.com!
Custom search is an inexpensive way to upgrade your web site's functionality and help your potential customers for FR-E-E. Highly recommended!
p.s. If you would like my help in improving your web site, learn about my personalized web site design review videos here.
Free Ad Network Behavioral Advertising Opt-Out Tool
Thanks to Seth Godin, I recently found this fr-ee (but not very well publicized!) behavioral advertising opt-out tool at the Network Advertising Initiative web site.
Visit here to run a quick, fr-ee diagnostic of your hard drive. It will reveal many of the advertising network cookies you have picked up in your web surfing.
A few clicks and you can opt out of the behavioral advertising programs delivered by their member companies. Opting out of these programs should reduce the amount of your personal surfing behavior data that advertisers can use or share across web sites in their attempts to target you with relevant advertising.
http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp
Note: This opt-out won't delete the cookies, stop cookie data collection, or stop you from seeing web ads when you surf online, but it should keep the ad companies from using the data they collect to more precisely target the advertising you see online. So, don't use it if you like the ads you see getting increasingly aligned with your personal interests, but do use it if you'd prefer to limit information sharing and see generic advertising instead.
You need to meet Dan Janal. Dan is the "Fearless Leader" of PRleads.com, a great online PR service that he bills as "the fastest, easiest, and most economical way to get publicity."
Listen to this fre-e podcast episode of my E-Commerce Success Radio Show to learn how the world of public relations really works. Any online business deserves press coverage - Dan's experience, and his PR Leads service, can help you learn how to get it.
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We talk about:
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Listen to the E-Commerce Success Radio Show online or Download an MP3 here.
p.s. If this kind of modern online marketing info is helpful to you, be sure to check out my new book, e-Riches 2.0! It's the best-selling "plain English" guide to Web 2.0 marketing...
[Check out all the other great online marketing podcast shows available F-REE in the Scott Fox E-Commerce Success Radio Show archive!]
He was kind enough to shoot a video where we discuss opportunities for your e-business and my new book, e-Riches 2.0.
Hello Scott,
First of all, we love your book "Internet Riches". It gives some great advice. We also look forward to reading your new book, e-Riches 2.0.
Our company was started in 2007 and we have built our customized website to a professional level and we are receiving orders online, which means customers are viewing our site. Herein lies our problem.
We have been working with a search engine/optimization marketing company which we are not entirely happy with as the optimization progress is too slow. The key to our growth and success is the search engine optimization. We know we need to find the right talent to push us forward to the next level to improve our page rankings and attract more customer traffic.
Can you give us advice on what to look for in an SEO company and how to find one we can trust?
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Jessamyn A.
Hello Jessamyn,
Congratulations on the success of your e-commerce web site to date.
You are right that improving your site’s SEO can help increase your traffic. Unfortunately, you are also correct that it can be difficult to pick a reliable SEO consultant to help increase your search engine rankings.
Here are my recommendations for finding the best SEO consultants:
I hope these tips are helpful. Your attention to improving your web site’s SEO rankings is a smart move that will help your e-business make more money online.
Best regards,
Scott Fox
p.s. Thanks for your interest in my new book, e-Riches 2.0, too. Order it now for special fr-ee bonuses AND my latest, best advice on marketing your business online!
p.p.s. If you'd like to save thousands of dollars in SEO consultant fees, try learning the easy tactics that the professionals use. My best-selling Special Report"Free SEO in Plain English" is available for instant download in the Scott Fox Shop right now.
Try Scott Fox's new 
Avoid this fatal e-business mistake...
There are two basic business models on the Internet for you to choose between for your e-business web site: Product Sales vs. Advertising.
You can sell your own products. Or you can promote other people's products and get paid through advertising. It's really not much more complicated than that.
A common web site strategy mistake, however, is to confuse the two. This business model confusion can kill your business!
Your web site's goal is to make customers take an action. If you're not clear on what action that is, you need to rethink your strategy and your site's presentation.
If you think your site's call to action is clear, but customers are not converting as you'd like, your site's message may not be as clear as you think it is.
For example, if your web site mixes promotion of your own products with ads for third-party products delivered/sold on third party web sites, you are likely confusing customers, as well as yourself.
Which is the Best Business Model - Product Sales or Advertising?
Selling your own products should have much higher profit margins than selling products for others. It comes with its own obligations and costs from production, fulfillment, and customer service, however.Advertising can be a highly profitable business model because of its lower production costs. Instead of manufacturing and shipping goods, you can focus on lower overhead tasks like writing copy and creating graphics that attract visitors. However, the average click from a Google Adsense Text Ad is not likely to pay you nearly as much as sale of a product of your own.
So, instead of trying to be "all things to all people", try narrowing your site's focus to one or the other of these two approaches. We all trust experts more than generalists. Make sure that your web site clearly communicates your expertise and provides a direct call to action that potential customers can take to follow the guidance you share.
For product-based businesses, this usually means using your credibility to point visitors toward a product that addresses their problems. For advertising-based businesses, this means that you need to continue to produce content that attracts repeat visitors (some percentage of whom will click on your ads).
Doing both is hard...
in commentary, e-commerce strategy, online advertising, startup advice | Permalink | Comments (4)
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