Michigan Health Coach

As website owner, your customers cannot see your face. They cannot hear your voice when you are recommending your products, and they cannot see the emotions on your face when you are telling your customers what benefits they can derive out of your services and products.

The Internet is a level playing field for every entrepreneur, internet marketer and merchant out there. The sheer connectivity means that you can reach every individual in the world. You are not limited by geographic constraints and anyone can be your customer or client.

This is precisely why you should over deliver. When every competitor of yours has access to everyone in the market, your only way of winning the battle is to over deliver, again and again. When you   over deliver, you present yourself as a person with the customer’s interest at heart. You become a trusted friend and not a greed-driven marketer out looking for their money. Over delivering is simply your only way to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

You can start over delivering by providing superb support for your customers. How many times have you been turned away with rude answers when asking about a certain product you purchased? Compare that with the number of times you have been provided very good service, as if you're being helped by a personal friend. The ratio is just off balance, proving how scarce good customer support is. By providing excellent support to your customers and answering to their every needs patiently, you will gain customers that are fiercely loyal to you because they know you have their best interest at heart.

When you provide excellent customer support, you're already ahead of most of your competitors. Take it a step further and think: in what other ways can you over deliver to your customers?

One very good way is to give your customers a pleasant surprise when they make a purchase from you. For example, if a customer buys your cooking utensils, you might throw in a bonus recipe book for them. However, do not use the bonus as an incentive for the customer to buy your products. Your products must be good enough to make the customer buy it in the first place, and the bonus must serve as a surprise element; you must not announce it beforehand.

The final way is to build a long-lasting relationship with your customers. If a customer buys regularly from you, you should send greeting cards during birthdays and on every holiday, be it Christmas, New Year, Easter, even Chinese New Year! Your customer will again remember you as a friend, not a business associate, and will prefer your business above other merchants because of the warm relationship.

So, remember to start over delivering today!

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Building a Customer Base

Let me ask you a question: do you think it is easier to sell your product or services to a complete stranger or to a person you have had contact before; whether it's an email conversation, forum participation or even an existing customer relationship (i.e. he/she has bought something from you)? Without doubt, it would be harder to sell to a total stranger who does not know whether or not you are an honest seller, and whether or not they should trust your words and believe that your product or services will truly benefit them.

This is precisely why you should build up a customer base -- a group of people who trust you and will most likely buy a product that you offer to them. This will ensure that you have a recurring and consistent source of income. When you release a product or make an endorsement, you have a group of people always ready to hear what you have to say.

There are several sources that you can tap into to start building a customer base. For example, you can participate in an online discussion forum and give advice and help for free. It won't be long before people start to recognize your name and stop and listen when you have something to say. You will become a valuable friend and teacher, and gain the trust of these people. Would you buy something your close friend recommends or would you rather buy from someone you have no prior experience with?

Another way to build a customer base is to build a mailing list. There are a trillion methods to collect subscribers, but when it's boiled down to the very essence, it's all about proving your value to the crowd and offering an incentive to make people become part of your mailing list. A typical example would be a website loaded with freely available, helpful and quality articles on a certain subject plus a "special report" that can be downloaded for free provided you give your email address. The rich content provides value, and the "special report" is the extra incentive.

Yet another source for your customer base, which is often forgotten, is your existing customers. If you bought this product from this particular person and he answered patiently to your every question, would you buy from him again in the future? Definitely. When a customer has given you his money, that's not the end of the affair because by keeping in touch with him and developing a flourishing relationship with him, you will have a lifetime source of income.

Imagine if 100, 1000 or even 10000 customers are waiting to grab your newest products even before they are released! Hence, it's vital to build a customer base because it simply saves a lot of time and effort.

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Business is doing a pretty good job of catching up to the technology created for it. One popular term you’ll find within that arena is eCommerce. What is it all about and why should you care?

eCommerce is simply conducting business online. There are many ways to transact such business. Think of how you conduct business in the physical world. You go to the bank to make deposits; you visit the grocery store or retail shops to make purchases; you go to the gas station to fill up your car’s tank. Each of these activities represents a commercial transaction.
 

Businesses also conduct transactions between one another. They buy or lease equipment and exchange services. Businesses usually send invoices to be paid at a later date instead of asking for upfront payment.

In the virtual world, commerce is conducted in much the same way with the use of various technologies to meld it all together. eCommerce has become popular for a number of reasons:

• Convenience
• Speed of transactions
• Large numbers of businesses and consumers using eCommerce methods

A business is only as successful as the number of customers they attract. With more and more people using the Internet for more than just surfing, businesses have found a new avenue for increasing their sales. But, like anything else that is new, they have to gain their customer’s trust. The way to do that comprises the ins and outs of setting up an online business.

Purely online businesses rely on eCommerce for their livelihood. Physical businesses have discovered that eCommerce expands their markets globally (depending on their product line). The Internet opens up an entirely new audience of consumers with infinite niche possibilities.

All of this can result in a head rush but before you look through the crystal ball and predict dollar signs in your future, selling online is simple in concept but not necessarily in production. Knowing the nuances can make the difference between a successful enterprise and on that barely scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

There are many decisions to be made before embarking on the eCommerce ship. Planning and strategy are important here. But, to your advantage, there are many resources available to get you going in the right direction.

Use the resources at your disposal. They can help you do everything from marketing to setting up the type of site that you need to conduct your business to choosing the right product line to market online.

For more tips, advice, resources and invitations to free teleseminars designed to help you expand your client base and increase profits, visit www.CherylHeppard.com

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Online businesses use their sites as information destinations and also to sell their products. When it comes to making the sale, customers need to know which forms of payments you accept. In eCommerce, there are several choices for you.

When you walk into a store, you want to know if they will accept your currency. Most places in the United States accept credit cards, in particular, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Local businesses accept checks, credit or the almighty dollar.

Answer this question: Where will your business be conducted? Anyone whose business is open to international buyers will want to consider their payments closely so that no customers are alienated. To that end, here are some popular forms of payment.

Credit Card Payments

As we said, many people accept plastic. If you want to, display it prominently on your checkout page. One thing to remember with credit cards is that fraud does occur. You could wind up with charge backs because of fraudulent or unsatisfied customer situations.

When accepting credit card payments, the business owner needs to create a merchant account with a bank. The bank processes payments between the merchant’s business and the customer’s bank for a fee. Compare bank policies on transaction fees and charge backs before choosing where to open your merchant account.

Using credit cards is considered a B2C transaction. This means that the transaction occurs between the business and the customer.

Third Party Payments

Payments that use a third party to complete the transaction are typically P2P, meaning person to person. This is how it works.

When the transaction is made, a third party takes the money from the buyer’s account and deposits it into the merchant’s account. A popular example of this is PayPal.

Anyone can set up a PayPal account for free. All you need is an email address associated with the account and an actual bank account to link to it in case of low funds in the PayPal account. Most customers doing business in marketplace-type settings have this type of account.

Money is transferred without any personal financial information changing hands. The transaction takes place in real time so the business owner knows that the funds are there and the products sold are paid for. Merchants have options when using PayPal to set up their merchant account. Currency exchange is offered so international buyers or business owners receive payment into their account in their native currency.

Payment type is a consideration when doing business online. Accept payment forms that are widely used but provide you with the greatest confidence and least hassle. Everyone doesn’t believe that the check is in the mail.

For more tips, advice, resources and invitiations to free teleseminars designed to help you expand your client base and increase profits, visit www.CherylHeppard.com

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A website that is set up to sell products such as digital downloads, services, or physical products is called an eCommerce site.  Many health and wellness practitioners don't take advantage of the opportunity to optimize their profits by turning their website into a lucrative income stream.

If your eCommerce site will be used to run a virtual store, your customers will need to be able to select the items they want as they continue to shop. In other words, they need a shopping cart. Learn about buying shopping cart software to enhance your online business.

What is shopping cart software? It is represented by the icon of a basket or shopping cart at the top of your product pages. It lets customers know that they can select as many items as they want to buy and put them someplace until they are ready to checkout.

The shopping cart online is similar to your shopping cart in the grocery store. You can place whatever you want into it, remove items you decide you don’t want and keep a running tally on the untaxed cost of the items before hitting the checkout.

But, to incorporate a shopping cart into your store, you’ll need the software that enables you to do so. Until you look, you’ll never know how many shopping cart software packages there are out there.

Features of Shopping Cart Software

When it comes to buying software, you want to get what you pay for. There is more to setting up shop online than just displaying the icon. Many people are frightened by software especially when the instructions use long words.

- Choose a software package that is easy to install. The use of wizards guides you through each step with help menus available in case you get stuck or have a question. Shopping carts can be integrated into websites where no store existed before.

- Choose a package that is search-engine friendly. You want customers to be able to find your learn about your products. Use optimized keywords throughout product descriptions. Images that have the option of being viewed as thumbnails and as larger images are great for attracting customers.

- All shopping carts don’t have to look the same. Software that allows you to customize your shopping cart and your store let you field your own style. This includes types of buttons to navigate your way through the store and pull down menus.

There is a price to buy the software. Depending on your needs, this price can run from a little over $100 to over $1,000. For small businesses with few products, the most expensive shopping cart on the market is not feasible.

Shopping cart software programs are designed to meet the various needs to the merchant. In addition to what the features discussed above, it helps you to:

Create and input coupon codes
Manage inventory
Track shipments
Keep a customer address book
Web hosting
Set up a merchant account/gateway
Create reports
Establish secure payment network

There are many considerations for shopping cart software. Choose the one that works best for the lowest fee.
 
For more tips, advice, resources and invitations to free teleseminars designed to help you expand your client base and increase profits, visit www.CherylHeppard.com

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Creating Content that is Relevant for Readers and Search Engines

Want your website to stand out? Pay attention to the kind of articles that you upload. Readers want to be on the cutting edge of topics and that is where you’ll want to be to increase your traffic.

Content usually takes the form of articles, blog posts, audio and video too. The first requirement for content is that it be relevant to the topic of your website. If your website is about selling crafts, then the articles that you supply to your readers are going to need to revolve around that subject. In other words, don’t be talking plumbing if you cater to crafty moms.

Be Creative

There is a lot of content out there these days so it is not easy to come up with something new. One way is to start with the basic information and add your special touch. Personal experiences go a long way to connecting with your readers and also providing them with information that would be hard to get anywhere else.

Use your failures as fresh content. Did you try to combine a couple of marketing techniques that absolutely didn’t work? Create an article that highlights what readers “shouldn’t” do. What did you learn from it? Create an article that gives tips for success using that technique.

Your content can be spun off into other types of website media. Create videos and audio files based on your content. It is a way to reach a wider audience who are more attracted to other ways to present relevant information.

Don’t Forget the SEO

Now that you have written ideas for your content, decide which keywords would work best in those articles. These are what will make the search engines stand up and take notice. But, in the interest of your readers, your articles will read better if the keywords appear naturally. Don’t try to force them in spots where it sounds like you are just adding words to appease the search engine gods. Your readers will be turned off by such contrived content.

Special Features

Your content will serve three purposes: keep current readers happy, satisfy SEO requirements and draw new traffic. To meet the latter, try using these options in your content:

·     Bulleted points

·     Optimized article titles

·     Numbers in your titles

Readers usually scan articles first to see if they are relevant. When numbers appear in the title, they know that they will find a certain number of things that can help them. Bulleted points make for easier reading as do subheadings. Optimized catchy titles make them want to click on your link instead of others in the search results.

Is your content doing all it can for your readers and the search engines? If not, read this article again and then refit your articles to do the best job they can.

For more infoormation on how to utilize your website to increase profits and expand your business, visit my website and download your free ebook and other resources: www.CherylHeppard.com

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A website can be more than just your window on the cyber world. It is your base of operations and can also be a source of rich information about your business. Use site stats to help you improve how you run your business.

What to Look For

There are lots of website stats for you to look at to improve your rankings with the search engines. Each one can tell you something useful about how your business is currently doing.

1.      Page views – How many people look at each page of your website? You can check page views on a monthly basis to see what portion of your website is the most popular. Maybe certain pages are more popular at different times of the year due to seasonal product offerings. You can also learn what items are doing well and which ones are dragging down the bottom line.

2.      Unique visitors – Your site may get many visitors each day but they could be the same person coming back more than once. Unique visitors are first time visitors to your site and not repeat ones. The more unique visits you get the more potential customers you are coming in contact with.

3.      Links – These can be outgoing links. If someone clicks on your Digg icon to bookmark one of your articles or blog posts, you can find that out as long as you have the right software set up on each page of your site. Any ads you post can also be tracked to see who clicks them. Programs like Google AdWords will track those stats for you so you can get paid.

4.      Sales – You can track how well your shopping cart does each month. See when sales do down or up and see how many people used the shopping cart but didn’t make the sale. Compare statistics to track product buying trends to predict future sales.

5.      Keyword analysis – Each page can be dedicated to one or two keywords. By looking at page views you can analyze how well your keywords are working. Using a different page for different keywords also allows you to know which ones are underperforming for you so you can try a new tactic.

Google Analytics is a free program that you can use to measure these and other website stats. Having so much information at your fingertips can help you rise to the top of your business niche and stay there.

For more tips, advice, resources and free teleseminars designed to help you improve your website and increase profits, visit www.CherylHeppard.com  

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5 Things to Avoid When Optimizing Your Website Pages

Search engine optimization can be one of the hardest and most rewarding tools in your business arsenal. It helps with marketing, advertising and selling your products or services. Because it is a wide category, there are plenty of places where you can go wrong with it. Here are just five of them.

Under-Using Your Website - Optimizing your website involves every aspect of your site. Most people think that the only important part is the content. Optimizing content is only one piece of the pie. When you concentrate on content and not on leveraging all areas of your site, you are robbing your own pockets.

You will get visitors if your content is on point, but the search engines can rank you even higher if you used keywords in other places. Articles have titles, pages have headlines and pictures have captions. Learn to use them all to your advantage.

Keyword Overload - Search engine bots are smarter than most people give them credit for. Using keywords too much will cause them to just skip over your content and thus give you a lower ranking for those keywords. It seems like you could use as many as you wanted in an article and that would make you more visible but it’s not true.

Search engines recognize when people are cheating by overstuffing their articles with keywords. Content that is well written will stay within the allowable keyword density. And, those keywords will show up naturally throughout the article so it doesn’t sound like it was thrown together just for the keywords.

Keyword Density - You can have too few keywords as well as too many. Some people write their content without even thinking about keywords. You might have a strong article that talks about cutting edge information but without something to help the search engines look upon you favorably; no one will ever read it. Using the word once or twice in an article is not going to cut it.

No Variety - For better optimization, a website doesn’t use just one keyword. If you started with the word “chocolate”, your entire website wouldn’t be based on it. People use a variety of similar words alone or in combination to find what they are looking for with search engines. If you make and sell chocolate fudge, there are better words to use: fudge, Candace’s fudge, how to make fudge, etc. it’s like throwing all your eggs in one basket if you don’t diversify your keywords.

Reciprocal Links - While it is true that backlinks can increase your search engine ranking, all links are not equal. And search engines like organic links better than simply offering reciprocal link sharing. You want others to link to you because they like your product and what your website presents to others. Using quality content on your site, in article directories and on social bookmarking sites can increase your quality inbound links for higher ranking.

Start out on solid footing with SEO. Learn how to avoid common mistakes that first-timers make by visiting www.CherylHeppard for more tips, advice, resources and free teleseminars designed to help you improve your website and increase profits.

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