Women Grow Business

Without a doubt, one of the most important considerations when building a business online is implementing a plan for search engine optimization (SEO). Although supported by your marketing activities such as blogging, networking, emails and newsletters, SEO is a primary tool in making your site visible to online shoppers.

There are a few key steps to creating an effective basic SEO plan:

1. Choose the right keywords
The very first thing to do is determine which keywords will be the most effective at drawing visitors to your site. It is a simple concept: find out which words people are using when searching for your product online and determine which ones will most effectively draw relevant visitors to your site.

The trick is to think like a shopper, not an industry insider, when brainstorming terms.

For help, utilize the Google Keyword Tool to uncover key search terms related to your product.

2. Properly utilize the keywords already on your site
There are several places that you should be sure to include your keywords: within the text on your website pages, title tags, meta description, meta keywords and H1 tags. Since each of these plays a different role in the search engine process for evaluating and ranking websites, it is important that you don’t overlook any of them. For example, while the search engines will use the meta keywords to index your site, potential customers won’t see them. However, customers will see your title tags (which will ideally contain your company name and a short description of your site contents utilizing your keywords) and your meta description i.e. think of the short blurb that appears beneath each of the results during a Google search.

A blog is another way to incorporate your keywords into your site and provide fresh content for the search engines. Plus a blog also gives you the ability to communicate directly with customers and potential customers and show the human side of your business.

3. Create backlinks
Search engines will rank your site more favorably if it finds links to your site on other relevant sites. By relevant, I mean it logically pertains to your product. For instance, I sell contemporary furniture and lighting at 17th and Riggs so I strive to have furniture industry websites and blogs link to my site. One way to obtain the backlinks is through providing feedback and information on other relevant blogs.

(Image Iris Feedback by Tie Guy II, Creative Commons)

Of course, it is also a fun way to keep up to date with the latest industry news, innovations, etc., and of course a great way to build relationships with others in similar lines of work.

Refining your plan
I recently met Pat Shah of SurchSquad, a provider of SEO services at the Grow Smart Business Conference – DC’s regional small business event this year. Pat offered to perform an audit of my ecommerce site to determine where I could improve my SEO plan.

His in depth look at my ecommerce site
It was eye-opening and provided me with a few targeted items I could do to improve my search engine results.

One of them was to conduct a keyword study as described above. I had done this before, but had not necessarily put myself in the shoes of a potential shopper as I should have done.

Pat explained my site incorporated “words/terminology that describe your products, but does not match what surfers are looking for.” As an example, he explained the term ”home furnishings” has over 60,000 daily searches… The tags on your site say “furnishings” or “high quality home furnishings,” but not “home furnishings” alone.” He instructed me to “better align the text… with actual search queries, not product offerings.”

Since I have several hundred products
I need to change the data for each individual product. And I’ve decided to approach it as a process – updating several products a day, optimizing the descriptions and tags properly to make them as effective as possible.

One of the best things about SEO is that you have complete control over the information on your website and therefore the ability to control your rankings in the search engines to a great extent.

So even incremental changes could improve your results.

I hope this has provided you with a basic idea of how to go about optimizing your ecommerce website. For a more comprehensive look at the basics of SEO, I suggest referencing Pat’s small business SEO guide.

Free to you!
He’s also been generous enough to offer to field questions and to provide a free SEO/site consultation for Women Grow Business readers. You can reach him at pat(at)surchsquad(dot)com.

Do you have any tips or SEO must-dos to share?

More from:

• Rebecca Malik’s e-commerce series at Women Grow Business;
• Deborah Ager and more on SEO campaigns for your business;
• Education Center at Network Solutions: 6 steps to strengthen your online presence – SEO and more.

Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

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Sometimes I have a tendency to overcomplicate things.
For example, when creating a strategy for my e-commerce business – an online contemporary furniture store – I became overwhelmed with the perceived complexities of the project.

However, it boils down to a few very basic points.

As an online retailer, it’s fair to say your business is about generating revenue from the sale of goods. Just as in traditional retail, this is the result of ensuring two fundamental activities are taking place – ‘traffic’ and ‘conversion’ i.e. you have shoppers visiting your online store and they are turning into buyers.

On driving traffic
There are many ways that you can drive traffic to your site and many consulting companies that are ready to provide you with expertise in any of them. However as I see it, basic traffic can be derived from the following:

1. Site optimization
The key words you use throughout your website are what ensure that when a shopper uses search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) to find an item that you carry, they will find you. It is simultaneously a simple process (including words that describe your site/products) and more complicated (such as competing for key words with other vendors).

It may help reading-up on a good overview of the basic steps to give a better understanding.

2. Advertising
A popular mode of online advertising is Pay Per Click (PPC), which allows you to obtain prominent page space on search engines. You can also list your products on Amazon to utilize their popularity or place ads on social network sites such as Facebook or MySpace. I’ve found Amazon where your products are viewed by folks (who are actively browsing for products like yours) to be an effective way to generate traffic at a reasonable cost.

3. Customer interaction
It’s important to engage and interact with your customers. The word of mouth factor can be an effective way to create traffic. On top of this, the more you learn about your customers, the better you are able to determine what they are looking for and thereby tailor your site to more effectively meet their needs. Some popular methods of communicating with your customers include your company’s blog, Facebook and Twitter. Distinguish yourself by being quick to respond and be transparent. I also recommend using Google Alerts to track when folks are talking about you/your business so you can be sure to respond.

So now that you have driven visitors to your site, you need to make sure that you convert them into buyers.

On converting traffic to buyers
You can project your sales by utilizing a conversion rate – the percentage of your site’s visitors that will become buyers. A goal of all online retailers is to increase this conversion rate.

Some ways of doing this include:

1. Provide clear product descriptions and quality images. Especially when selling a tangible product, having these are important. It ensures the buyer has a good understanding of the product and thereby the confidence to purchase.

It has also been shown that videos demonstrating the product are also helpful in instilling confidence and thereby converting shoppers into buyers.

Certain manufacturers whose product lines I carry only provide a basic image. From experience, I know shoppers will not purchase an item that’s not clearly portrayed. So often I’ve found in this case, the best option with some of these products and vendors is to not carry them — unless you can obtain better images yourself.

2. It is important to make sure your site is easy to navigate. This includes the checkout process. It is also key your customers can find what they are looking for on your site. Outside of a basic search function, custom search fields can be created to make it easier for people to find exactly what they are looking for.

3. Ensure the visitor will feel comfortable shopping with you i.e. think personality here. Imprint your personality and/or your brand’s persona within the various facets of your site. It is key to have a company blog so you can show the personality behind the storefront and interact with visitors. Videos have proven to be helpful in this aspect as well. User reviews are extremely useful in convincing a shopper about the quality or relevancy of a product for them, as well as sharing positive shopping experiences.

4. Consider that shoppers are concerned about safety when shopping online. It is important to show customers it’s safe for them to disclose their personal information — such as contact and credit card data. Use services that certify the safety of your site and thereby put your visitors at ease. VeriSign, McAfee and Kikscore are a few to consider.

That’s my initial plan to traffic and conversion — both so integral in creating revenue. Approaching the process in this logical way has helped me to create a systematic plan to building my company.

What else do you think is key in growing your online retail operations?

More from:
Rebecca Malik and her e-commerce series on Women Grow Business.

Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

(Image Traffic Trails by InvisibleKid2007, Creative Commons)

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It’s essential for your business efforts.
Last month I wrote about gaining focus in your business and thereby making the most relevant choices in your daily activities. This is essential for making significant headway with your efforts.

However, if you struggle with staying on task as many others and I do, it is useful to identify the pitfalls you face so that you can plan to avoid them.

The Big 5
The following are 5 of the biggest distractions aka “time sucks” I face and that I know others face daily. I also suggest a proposed solution for minimizing the effect these distractions have on your productivity.

Time Suck #1: Disorganization.

Solution: Get organized and get in control.
When you have a plan in writing and in front of you, you always know what your next task is. You are prepared to execute without wasting time and energy wondering what you should do next.

Use the ABC method, or a system of prioritization that works for you, to design your schedule.

Label your most important activities – that is, the ones that will have the biggest impact on your bottom line – with a giant “A” and attack.

Label items that need to be completed in a timely manner but are not critical with a “B”. Then label with a “C” tasks that can be done at your leisure or when you feel your attention span waning. We each have a time of the day when we are best able to hone in and focus on what needs to be done – use this time to build a structure that will support you throughout the rest of your day.

The disorganization carries over to your desktop and worktop. For me, having a stack of unidentified papers or an unfiled document floating on my desktop distracts me to the point where it is nearly overwhelming. You may have a different reaction but at the very least, if you file as you go or file on at a regular time, it will save you time searching for things later.

Establish a solid filing system for both your paperwork and your desktop. Make it fun with colorful files, clear labeling, etc. I met Kim, a professional organizer at Put It Away, at a recent DC Unintentional Entrepreneur event.

She suggested using Evernote for organizing emails, notes, files, and web pages on the fly. I’ve since given it a try and love it.

You can avoid collecting a series of open browser tabs by tagging articles and pages for later review and send emails and notes to your Evernote account from your handheld for easy access.

There are also virtual filing systems such as Virtual Filing Cabinet 4.0.1 and cloud computing options like The Rackspace Cloud that some people swear by. They both seem like fantastic ways to better organize your documents and files.

Time Suck #2: The infamous email popup.

Solution: I hate to even address this well-known problem but am writing this after checking my email for the 3rd time in 30 minutes. For me, once I get moving, I have no problem continuing the forward motion. It is when I stop that I have to start a slow pedal uphill again, with the front wheel of my ten-speed constantly wobbling and pulling me toward the ditches on either side of the road. Don’t undermine yourself!

Just turn off the automatic notification and designate times for checking, writing and responding to email.

I suggest allowing yourself to check email a certain number of times per day – after all, if somebody has something truly urgent to contact you about, they can call you.

Time Suck #3: Doubting your abilities.

(Image Free Jump by Jinto, Creative Commons)

Solution: Goodness knows how much time we spend every day questioning ourselves and making excuses for our actions or lack thereof.

Let’s collectively vow to make decisions based on what honors our goals and makes us happy and execute unhesitatingly and unapologetically.

Most of us are as likely to be our own biggest enemy as we are to be our own strongest advocate. Choose the kinder route and believe in yourself. Use positive reinforcement throughout the day and especially when you catch those feelings of self-doubt creeping in.

Time Suck #4: Not taking an honest look at your behavior.

Solution: It’s easy to get pulled into daily routines and create habits that are more comfortable than they are moving you in a positive direction.

Vow to be a little tougher on yourself when it comes to honoring your valuable and limited time.

Sure it’s ok to surf the Internet, but not when you are procrastinating in the face of looming projects. Recognize how much more value and joy the activities that align with your goals bring you and set aside some downtime for little indulgences.

Time Suck #5: Agreeing to participate in activities that don’t support what is important to you.

Solution: We have the choice to make our family, our business and ourselves our priorities. Social and networking events are obviously important, but make sure your participation has some real value for you.

While I adore meeting new people and seeing friends, I admit that I find myself over-committing my involvement in some activities out of pressure.

That puts unnecessary constraints on time and takes me away from moving ahead on key projects. Save yourself both the time and frustration and commit to activities judiciously.

One more major distraction: daily monitoring
In addition to the above, a major distraction for most people is handling the daily tasks that must be completed to keep your personal life running. For me, a big avoidance/distraction is monitoring and dealing with the paperwork of the finance-related aspects of my life. I’m currently test-driving a finance organization tool and working to implement a better system for keeping things organized and straightforward so that I can focus my energy on my business.

Stay tuned!

Do you have some distractions you face or suggestions for handling any of the above? I’d love to hear from you!

Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

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It’s in the heat of summer.
We’re surrounded by swimming pools, baseball, and sweet iced tea. But as small business owners, what was a few months ago a distant event has now become a present deadline needing our attention.

(Image Santa in the Summer Street, Kewel Shang, Creative Commons)

Welcome to planning for the holiday rush!
Before time slips too far away, I wanted to offer some thoughts for those gearing up for that time of year from an inventory and small business perspective.

Inventory-related
1.) Since I sell furniture, this tip comes to mind. Holiday orders are placed months in advance – many times at the spring gift and furnishing shows. For many reasons, vendors will choose to sell and display any strictly “holiday” items very selectively since they aim to lower investment risk by keeping minimal stock.

2.) Choose and/or showcase more items that one would consider gifts (by pricepoint, item category, etc.) as well as smaller items that ship in boxed packages that aren’t necessarily holiday in theme so if they don’t sell out over the holiday, they can be carried into the New Year.

3.) Educate yourself on various manufacturer’s policy for stocking holiday goods. Given the buying cycle, many manufactures offer only a certain amount and sell out of these items as early as the spring gift and furnishing shows. Therefore, unless you have ordered certain items well in advance you will not have the option to feature them in your store.

Thoughts on merchandising
1.) For your e-commerce business, consider merchandising to highlight holiday items and include “holiday” as a category and search term.

2.) Determine holiday promotions based upon industry trends/buyer expectations and your own business model.

3.) Take advantage of any upselling opportunities.

Regarding Web site function for your business
1.) Monitor site function to ensure everything is working properly prior to the holiday season.

2.) Use Google Analytics to monitor customer behavior so that changes can be made as necessary.

Question to you:
What resources do you use to keep things running smoothly? What helps prepare your business for customers during holiday seasons?

More from:

• Rebecca Malik’s e-commerce series on Women Grow Business.
• The Chief Home Officer and how small businesses can holiday plan now, in August.

Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

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My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you’ll win…. Channel your energy. Focus.
Carl Lewis

Contemplating direction

For the past few weeks and months, I’ve been contemplating the direction my online store should take in terms of product offerings and business strategy (image Contemplation by Arsian, Creative Commons). Two major questions I have looming are:

• 1) Do I build upon the existing products I currently carry or do I refocus on a single (best-selling) product category, such as lighting?
• 2) What can I change about my marketing activities to increase my businesses visibility?

Two such seemingly simple questions bring an endless number of additional concerns to mind revolving around such things as branding, related design changes, and implementation costs. In your business, you may regularly face situations that seem poised to put you into a tailspin of confusion, indecision and the resulting inactivity – or activity focusing on something besides the main problem at hand.

Avoid loss of momentum
There are a few very simple steps that you can implement to stay focused and on track to making the best choices for your company.

1) Operate with an overall theme in place.
Everything you do should play into the ideal or theme you’ve created and help you in your efforts to make this ideal a reality. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last, refers to this as core values which act as your “ultimate background DNA framework within which you have discipline.”

Use your core values or theme as your barometer when choosing which daily activities to pursue.

2) Create well-defined goals.
These goals should support your theme and coincide with your core values. Be specific and focus on a few major goals at a time. Utilize one of the many handy goal-tracking programs available, such as Goals on Track, to help you get your goals in writing.

3) Break your goals down into manageable steps.
I’ve found that I will flounder when presented with a broadly stated step such as “edit the website.” Instead, break it down into something specific such as: “Create new three-column product layout for website.” Focusing on something specific and immediately actionable will eliminate the ‘what next’ stumbling block and provide encouragement as you see yourself ticking off these smaller, though still key, steps to success.

4) Keep your focus and motivation by reminding yourself why you’ve chosen these particular goals.
Perhaps that means visualizing the ultimate outcome such as a beautiful new website design, lots of new customers for your product or reminding yourself that it will bring you financial freedom or allow you to help others in the way you’ve always dreamed.

5) Stay on track by measuring your progress.
Setting benchmarks for your progress will give you the opportunity to evaluate your efforts and make sure you are taking action in the most effective way.

[Setting benchmarks] will also allow you to bask in pride as you recognize how far you’ve really come in realizing your goals.

Employing these five simple steps has helped me stay more focused in even the most distracted of times. And ultimately, more focused means more effective in the pursuit of your loftiest business goals and overall pursuits.

What are your tips for staying focused?

More from:

• Rebecca Malik’s series at Women Grow Business;

More on events for your business:

• GrowSmartBusiness hosts its first ever conference. The #1 goal: help small business owners succeed.

Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

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The Internet has put unlimited resources at our fingertips, providing anyone who might desire it with the ability to start a Web-based business. What makes an online business so attractive has much to do with the connectivity the Internet has given us, amplifying the power that a single individual or company might have.

This creates at least 5 outstanding benefits to doing business online.

1. Teamwork Baby!
Starting an online business requires the expertise of many. It’s tough to imagine that any one person would be able to handle the many major requirements of starting and running a business (including technical, marketing, financial, customer service, compliance) at a proficient level.

Thus, even if you are a one-person show you will need to enlist and be open to the expertise of others to be the huge success you were meant to be.

Given the accessibility to great minds and skilled professionals on the Internet, it’s now a snap to find help that fits your needs perfectly. There are many vendors to help support different areas of small business, such as My Business Assistant, which provides technical, financial and administrative support.

2. More than a drop in the bucket.
Of course some moments will be frustrating and the results of your efforts aren’t always immediately apparent. However, a great surprise awaits you in the handily integrated and accessible nature of operating a business online: each small step feeds the others. For instance, relationship building by simultaneously posting on your blog, the blogs of others, and the use of Twitter and Facebook results in an incredibly effective synergy.

Properly applied, this synergy can produce quick and cost-effective buzz very effectively, perhaps even more so than traditional marketing efforts.

All of this is something you, as a small online business owner, can easily manage. Matrix Group’s Joanna Pineda has more tips on creating a cohesive content strategy for your social networks and web site. Also, for a motivational talk on the power of social marketing, watch Guy Vaynerchuk’s presentation Uncorking Your Brand With Social Media. He discusses and provides examples of how the Internet is word-of-mouth marketing “on steroids”.

3. Do unto others.
The Golden Rule is just as relevant online. I consistently see folks who really put themselves out there ultimately reap the benefits of their goodwill. Whether they’re helping others build their businesses, spreading the word about important causes, or sharing knowledge and encouragement, their positive energy, efforts and words show the rest of the online world what a great person this would be to do business with or pass on a lead to… you get the idea. Jay Berkowitz, online marketing expert and CEO of the Ten Golden Rules says that you must “give to get”. Visit his website and pick up a copy of his book for valuable guidance in building your brand. I highly recommend it.

4. Know what your customers want.
Any business owner knows the value of feedback from your customers. The myriad of communication tools available to you online allow you to easily communicate with your online visitors. It is easy to set up a blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts for your business so that you can interact directly with your customers and followers. There are also many tools for collecting data from your site’s visitors. Key Survey and Disqus are just two of many online survey options.

Collect this data religiously and take action by applying customer feedback to your business.

5. It’s in your hands.

[image Palm of Your Hand by Nat Olly, Creative Commons]
We are all in control of our own destiny, and I can’t think of a better example of this than when conducting business online.

With so many options and resources out there, it is a ‘if you can dream it, you can do it’ scenario.

Once you have a goal in mind, the flexibility of the Internet allows you to endlessly tweak your business plan as you like. By learning from those around you, keeping a positive attitude and working steadily toward your goals, you are unstoppable. So don’t hesitate – go forth and enjoy the power and the benefits of operating an online business!

Please share what excites you about the power of doing business online!
I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

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Dropshipping removes all inventory ‘issues’ right? Think again.
As an ecommerce site that primarily depends on dropshipping (shipping products directly from the manufacturer to the end user) and keeps few products in storage, inventory management might seem as if it’s someone else’s problem. After all, dropshipping is all about not handling inventory, right?

There is no doubt that the benefits of dropshipping are high (image Ice Drop Shadows by Via Moi, Creative Commons): –minimal expense for upfront inventory, low product storage fees and reduced risk of getting stuck with unsold merchandise.

However, to successfully execute, you need to manage both your own inventory (however minimal that may be) as well as closely track the inventory of each of your manufacturers.

Bamboo Cloud Chandeliers: reviewing my own inventory practices
A recent experience encouraged me to review my own practices for managing inventory.
DailyCandy, a popular lifestyle site, contacted me on a Monday afternoon, asking for details on our Bamboo Cloud Chandeliers for their Spring 2009 Green Guide for our local market (Washington, DC) to be published on Wednesday morning.

I immediately knew that I had exactly ZERO in my own stock.
And panic struck when I realized that I wasn’t entirely sure whether the manufacturer had them either. A quick phone call confirmed that, gulp, two of the four available styles were out of stock. Their next delivery was arriving in 5 weeks — an eternity in the eyes of many online shoppers.

Not about to give up the opportunity for publicity…
I did the best I could with the situation and noted the delay prominently in the product description so that it would be obvious to visitors. In addition, I added an extra week to be certain that it would reach the customer well within its expected timeframe. I knew this meant possibly turning off some potential buyers but those that purchased it would be tickled with the fact their delivery arrived on or ahead of schedule and also would be more likely to become repeat customers.

So, in summary, if you have an ecommerce site, I have learned it’s important to do the following:

• 1) Be very aware of (a) standard lead times for packing and shipping each of your manufacturers in-stock items and (b) how long it will take them to restock products that they have sold out of. Both can vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. Note lead times clearly in each product’s description. Generally speaking, I always overestimate in case of any unforeseen delay.
• 2) Make sure you are receiving regular stock updates and changes from your manufacturer and syncing it with the information presented on your site. These updates will show both “out of stock” items as well as those with “low inventory”, enabling you to have some advanced warning of possible product availability issues.
• 3) Weigh the value of keeping your most popular items in stock against the cost of storage. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to ship someone their order with just a few clicks of your mouse and not depend on someone else’s timely fulfillment.
• 4) Realize that your customers assume that everything is in stock unless you inform them otherwise. Not setting their expectations by giving them complete information is setting your customer and yourself up for disappointment.

By giving visitors complete details up front you are empowering them to make the best decisions for their needs, which ultimately results in a happy customer.

Do you have an ecommerce business?

Please share your thoughts on how to best handle your inventory and your customers delivery expectations in the comments.

Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

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Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

As a follow up to my last post The Frugal Startup, I wanted to share some social media and marketing ideas to help you get started on your way to effectively building online visibility for your business.

1.) Blogging tools, tips, and online social networks

If you are serious about building your online presence these days, it may be almost a requirement to create your own blog. In addition to putting a face on your company, blogs are an excellent way to keep your site’s content fresh and keyword rich –- both of which the search engines love.

It also is a start to building community online around your business.

(below image Socially Awesome by Manu Contreras, Creative Commons)

You’ll want to research the platform options as they vary greatly (with some of the free blogger platforms being WordPress and Blogger. If you plan to have paid advertisements on your blog, be sure to choose a platform that allows this.

And ideally, your blog should be integrated into your website (if the blog itself isn’t your primary website).

Talk to your provider about the technicalities of doing so. Include your blog information in your profile on networking, business, or community sites relevant to who you are or what you do. Some popular ones that I like are LinkedIn (with more on creating great LinkedIn profiles at Chris Brogan’s place), Facebook (with more ideas for Facebook business uses and related profile tips at Success Blog Net), Savor the Success, and, of course, Women Grow Business.

2.) Favorite resources to market your business online

• Social Median: sends you news filtered to fit your interests
• My Venture Pad: gathers business information and insight
• Delicious: provides a place to share your favorite websites (including your own). In addition to posting your blog to Delicious, you can have your feed from your Delicious account post to your blog.
• Google Webmaster: serves as the control center for your web presence
• My Blog Log: tracks online blog communities
• Backtype: allows you to follow and share comments across the web
• 7 Main Street: creates an online marketplace for your products and other sites relevant to your product or field
• Twitter (where you can share very brief posts about any topic or what some call “microblogging”): Imagine the ability to post a quick status about, say, a project, event, great new idea, or even a link to interesting online news — all under 140 characters or less. Well that’s Twitter! Take a few minutes to explore it’s capabilities and you will recognize it as a fantastic tool to keep up with a large community of users, follow news and trends. It is a great way to learn about new tools and companies you may otherwise have never found! Here are some good Twitter guidelines too for getting started for your business.

The key to making the most of both your blog and social networks is to treat them as the community they are.

There is give and take and the more effort (comments, posts, shared thoughts, etc.) you put into it, the more you will get out of it (increased awareness of your brand and message, contacts to potentially work with or help you, and of course, better search engine rankings). Also, be wary not to use these networks as overt marketing channels as that is often considered spamming.

3.) Know your customers with online surveys and questionnaires
Its important to stay in touch with what your visitors and customers think of your product or service, as well as the workability and appearance of your website. To help you do this, there are many products out there to help you gather and sort feedback from your visitors. Collect important feedback from your visitors with companies such as Kampyle, 4Q Survey, Survey Monkey, or Constant Contact.

4.) Tools for Customer Relationship Management
To organize all of the new leads you’ll get from these sites and make the most of them, use a product such as Sugar CRM, (free versions available) or SalesForce. They will enable you communicate with your contacts in an organized way so that you don’t lose any of the opportunities you’ve worked so hard for.

5.) Learn what your website visitors really want through site analytics
Track your traffic down to the smallest detail using the wonderful (and free!) Google Analytics. Here you will see much more than simply how many visitors your site is getting, including what sources these visitors are coming from, what pages they are going to, and where they are leaving your site. This is an amazing tool to help you improve your site. Other options include Have a Mint and Omniture.

I found the above really helpful and hope you will too. I’d love to hear if you have any other suggestions or comments about the above.

More from:

• Amber Naslund at Altitude Branding on measuring and valuing data related to your online presence;
• Solutions Are Power and Steve Fisher’s tip-rich, actionable steps for enacting small business marketing plans;
• Grow Smart Business and its small business index; see how your business compares to competition on a range of issues.

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Guest post by Rebecca Malik, president of online contemporary furniture business 17th and Riggs. Rebecca thrives off of beautiful home design and explores related conversation at her blog The View from 17th and Riggs. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband (…and growing pet family). Rebecca welcomes your visit at her blog or www.Twitter.com/RebeccaSM.

Laser-like skill at cutting costs
My husband often chides me about my frugality but I know deep down he is grateful that I am so darn cost conscious. Of course, when I was preparing to launch my new company, an e-commerce site called 17th and Riggs, I applied my usual laser-like cost cutting measures to every step.

I’m passing these on in hopes that you’ll be able to utilize them to keep your start-up costs to a minimum. In addition to those I’m listing, I hope you’ll share your tips and cost-saving techniques.

(image Vintage Coupon by Ha! Art By Heather)

Starting your e-commerce website: lessons learned from cookie-cutter templates
I started my online furniture company with a basic hosting package and a template. I took advantage of a special offered by my hosting company that waived both the set up fees and the first month’s fees for my e-commerce hosting package and merchant services (to process credit card payments).

I customized the template as much as possible given my non-tech background and created a logo using basic software I already had (Paint and Word).

After uploading and entering the detail for my various products, it was clear the cookie cutter template did not reflect the level of design and quality of the furniture I was carrying.

I simply couldn’t expect someone to visit my site and feel confident enough to invest in a piece of furniture or even trust me with their credit card information.
Ultimately, I knew I wanted a site that reflected my style (and was an online home for my business that made me proud). Using the following tools, I have been able to keep my costs low while taking my site to the next level.

Cost efficient tools that helped improve my website & business.

• Craigslist: for finding local service providers

It’s an unintimidating way to find local service providers of any kind. However, you can expect to get responses from across the board in terms of professional level and pricing which can be overwhelming. You can overcome this by asking plenty of questions. It also helps to have a very clear idea of what you want and to know the basic technical jargon to communicate this (I recently found a very helpful Adobe Flash tutor by placing an ad on Craigslist).

• Elance: for finding web designers for your site

Post your design or web development project on this site and you will receive proposals from interested and experienced professionals around the globe. You can view portfolios and read reviews to thoroughly compare vendors before moving forward.

As added security for both parties, funds are held in escrow by Elance and released at the completion of each phase.

The vendor I ultimately chose was willing to do a quick mock-up of my site prior to officially getting started. There are several other companies similar to Elance that you can look into as well, like Odesk and Guru.

Knowing what you want: a note on my logo re-design
It actually was included in the project scope by my Elance vendor. Since I could describe exactly what I wanted [while working with that vendor], I was able to avoid commissioning another vendor i.e. a graphic designer at that point.

• Social media: for expanding your network


Friends and associates can be great sources of referrals. Even still, utilize the power of social media tools like Twitter and Linkedin to expand your reach (and ideally, garner recommendations from a broader scope of knowledgeable folks).

• 99designs: for designing future iterations of your logo


I’m considering sources that poll the creativity of a broad range of designers, such as 99designs.com. Similar to Elance, you simply register your design need on the site along with the amount you wish to pay. Then interested designers submit options for you to choose from.

• Doba: for drop-shipping product

I keep my inventory level at an absolute minimum by taking advantage of manufacturers that are willing to ship directly to customers i.e. drop-ship. I don’t personally work with services like these, [but to relay another resource] Doba is a source of products for drop-shipping. For manufacturers that do not drop-ship, I contract with a warehouse to receive and store these products and fulfill my orders.

A note for smaller businesses looking for a good warehouse partner
If you are starting out on a smaller scale it is a bit trickier to find a good partner since many of these warehouses are tailored to working with large retailers (or those moving lots of smaller goods such as electronics and books). However, several [warehouses] that I found were happy to work with small firms such as mine.

Be sure to ask for a full overview of their services and charges as they can vary significantly.

• Research SKU issues: for storing & shipping product

I actually stopped my partnership with Shipwire because of their imposed minimum quantity per product SKU number. And since the nature of my product requires I am able to ship and store individual units, I switched to a company called We Fulfill It — who ships any quantity of product needed.

Remember! seek the best customer service possible.
I’ve got to say that We Fulfill It is simply outstanding in terms of customer service as well. Ideally, any company you choose will be able to guide you in how to ship your items in the most logical, cost efficient way and pass on their special shipping rates.

Of course, cost is only one of a variety of factors you will need to consider. The real focus should be on quality.

Investing time into finding the right options for your company upfront will give you a solid foundation on which to build your business.

Coming soon: social media marketing ideas for your business
I’ll discuss some social media and marketing ideas in a follow-up post here at Women Grow Business. Until then, do you have any cost-cutting suggestions or tools that you used for starting your business?

Please share!

More from:

• Ultimate Small Business Trends and small business voices on Twitter;
• ReadWriteWeb and the future of business networking with LinkedIn.

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