Posted by Darby on March 31, 2009 under Getting Traffic, Squidoo | 
Squidoo is a rapid way to increase your reach on the web. You create a minisite (lens) about some small niche.
In that site you can
- Link back to your main site
- Capture leads
- Make a little money on the side via affiliate programs
Squidoo allows members to create Lenses. These are one page sites devoted to a small niche, say “wine tasting parties in Austin, Texas or the “emerging wineries in the Grand Valley Region of Colorado”
How to Build Your First Lens
Ready
Choose a topic that you know something about. That way you won’t have to do much research and you wont damage your credibility by making a boo–boo.
You should also prepare a short outline about what you want to say. Squidoo lenses are like all other pages on the web - if they don’t have something to say then they will be rarely visited and certainly won’t induce people to click through to your main site.
Make sure the topic is related to your main business. You want to attract readers who may interested in becoming customers.
Aim
Go over to Squidoo and sign up for a lens. It’s very easy, quick and free.
Chose a name with hyphens, its easier for humans and search engines to read. So use ‘wine-bars-in-austin-texas’ rather than ‘winebarsinaustintexas’ the address of your lens will be www.squdidoo.com/wine-bars-in-austin-texas
You can opt to take any cash you earn or donate to charity. Actually it doesn’t matter as you can change your options later. Lenses are very easy to update, both in content and settings.
FIRE!
Now you are ready to go.
Once you have registered for your first lens you will be taken to the editing page for your first lens. The instructions are fairly clear, but there is a bit of learning to do at first.
Don’t get too hung up on what you do first up. It’s very easy to edit your lens.
You will use mainly Text Modules to start with. There are dozens of types modules but a good lens needs only a few. If you don’t understand what a module is about just skip it. You can come back and add it later if you wish.
Use the Guestbook module. Feedback from your readers is extremely valuable, and it makes your lens look alive.
If you have an existing blog you can display the contents of your blog on your lens.
Write clearly and check your work for misspellings and typos, remember you are trying to build credibility.
It is a good idea to finish with a text box with a short message including a link to your main site for further information.
In your first lens you will be prompted to insert a bio. make sure you mention your major business with a link of course. A photo adds credibility.
Maintaining your lens
You can log in to your dashboard from time to time and check on the stats etc for your lens(es)
If your lens is doing well add a module or two from time to time. Fresh lenses rank better.
If you lens is not doing well you can tweak it a little but don’t waste too much time on it. You may be better just leaving it and starting another lens from a different angle. You can have as many as you like.
Link to your lens from appropriate places on other lenses, blogs and websites you have.
Check the referrers stats on your main site to see if your lenses are generating any traffic for you.
Posted by Darby on March 30, 2009 under Building a website |
Many people just starting out with a home based wine business are told ” you don’t need a website”, or are given a free “website” as part of the the sign up process. This “free” website looks just like the company website with a few mentions of your name and your photograph in a corner. It is connected to your account in the business, and you get the credit for sales and recruitment from it.
I call these websites “cookie cutter” websites. They are rolled off the production line looking exactly like all the other cookies. They are then ‘personalised’ for each consultant as www.companyname.com/johnsmith
I strongly recommend you build your own website.
What’s wrong with cookie cutter websites?
These websites do no harm in themselves but they represent a waste of an opportunity. Your own website can be used to process your prospects into customers or a downline.
Cookie cutters attract very little traffic on their own but they must be promoted.
How does Google see a cookie cutter site?
Remember what business Google is in. It provides a service for searchers by sending them to quality information, not generic sales pitches. It makes its money by giving millions of searchers what they want - information, and exposing them to advertising along the way. Cookie cutter websites don’t contain useful and unique information. In short Google would lose its customers if it shared them with you.
Companies give their consultants cookie cutter sites for several reasons
- they look smart
- they cost virtually nothing to replicate
- the consultant may lack the skills to build their own site
- they are a useful way to recruit more consultants
- they are a convenient way for the company to track sales and pay each consultant
- consultants who use them are locked in to the company
Ok, it looks like a good deal for the company and so it is. That’s why virtually every MLM uses cookie cutter sites.
So why don’t I like them?
Firstly I don’t think the personalisation works. I am not convinced by a photo on the corner of the landing page and and an ‘about me’ page that is obviously just someones name plugged into a company template. To ad insult to injury many of theses about me contain further sales blurbs.
More importantly the pages capture all of your leads for the company, not you. You might be able to use the leads to sell stuff from the company, or as a downline for the company but they are not your leads. Consider what might happen if the company goes bottom up - a not implausible scenario. Your downline and your customers will disappear, or you’ll have a task to retrieve them.
A cookie cutter site will not get you the biggest and best source of the best leads - search engine traffic. People who find you because they are interested in what you have to sell are much better than people you accost in the street. These people only come to you via search engines, and the search engines will only send them to you if you offer unique content. Cookie cutters don’t churn out unique content
Finally these sorts of sites reinforce the idea that you can just put up a website and people will just come running to your door. It just will not happen that way.
A website with my name on it?
Many companies suggest you register a domain with your name, say www.john.smith.com, and then redirect it to the cookie cutter site. This is marginaly better, it is more convenient for your selling campaigns, but most of the problems of a cookie cutter site are still there.
The best solution: build a website that is unique, that you own and control. It takes more effort, but it is worth while in the end.
Posted by Darby on March 29, 2009 under Affiliate Programs, Making Money |
This article examines affiliate programs which can act as your main or supplementary source of income. You really need to have your own website if this is to work for you. For information of how to get started with your own site see this article
The Hows and Whys of Affiliate Programs
- One of the most popular methods of making money on the net is via affiliate programs.
- If you own a website or a blog you are a publisher.
- Advertisers or merchants have products for sale.
- There may or may not be a program in the middle eg Commission Junction who manages the relationship between the publisher and the merchant.
- If you are a publisher you can make money if a visitor to your site clicks on a link and goes to the advertisers site and makes a purchase you will receive a commission on the sale. In some cases you will be paid just for the click, in others you get paid only on sales.
Pros and cons of Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs are quick and easy to set up and they can make you a considerable amount of money. But most likely you will only get a trickle of money unless you optimise the process, from getting the prospects on to closing the sales.
More information
Affiliate Masters Course Cover
Learn about Affiliate programs with this Affiliate Masters Course
Wine Related Affiliate Programs
See this information and recommendations about affiliate programs you might like to join. It will help you select appropriate programs for your site or blog.
Posted by Darby on March 28, 2009 under About this site |
Are you a winery owner, sales person, wine retailer or a member of a wine sales network. Perhaps you are looking to start or expand a home based business. Read on…
This site aims to help you sell wine online, just like it says in the title.
Many people are trying. What works for you? As this site develops we will distil some of the best ideas, advice, tools and programs.
I am not attracted to glossy ads or overdone websites. The theme of this blog is quite simple. It aims to convey information, not be feast for the eye.
Bottom line is I want to help your bottom line.
