Posted by Darby on June 25, 2009 under Tools | 
Gaining Access to the Hidden Web
When most people think of search on the internet they think of Google. And In fact Google will find MOST things for you.
But there are parts of the internet that Google won’t find for you, and services that you don’t know about. And these can be critical for your success.
For example you need to know about how often different keywords and their synonyms are searched for. Google won’t tell you that. However to succeed in a competitive business you need to know how potential customers are searching for your products.
You Need Searchit
Search it is a tool which has been developed by SBI the best web solution for small business.
Search it is a free service that links to many specialised search services on the web. It can help in of many phases of your online business
- business planning
- niche selection
- keyword brainstorming and evaluation
- domain name selection
- Sourcing images and content
- spying on your competition
- finding suitable blogs and directories to link with
In fact Searchit is a suite of thirty or so search tools that can help you in all aspects of your web business.
Best of all it is free. Why, because it shows how a well constructed website, like those hosted by SBI needs to be backed up by careful research if it is to get any traffic from the web.
Get your copy from here
Download it, read the advice and save it as a bookmark. You’ll find yourself using it on a daily basis as you plan, build and expand your business.
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.
