The Five Most Commonly Encountered Off putting E commerce Errors

•Those Telltale Typos
   by Marcia YudkinTo be or to be. That's how one of the most famous sentences in the English language began several years ago in a new edition of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Six professional proofreaders failed to catch the mistake, which received national publicity and gave the publishing company a red face.Similarly, the Wall Street Journal once devoted eight column inches to ridiculing a conference on critical thinking that sent out a press release referring to the conference's world renown...

•Merchandising on the Web and Off
   by Marcia YudkinNow that I have several new products coming out in succession, I've beenthinking a lot about how best to feature them at my Web site. My thoughtshave turned to how supermarkets and department stores highlight certainproducts, and I've found useful analogies between catching the attention ofa customer wheeling a cart up and down the aisles and a shopper on the Web.Here are some merchandising techniques you'll find in bricks-and- mortarsstores and their counterparts on the...

•The Benefits Of Branding
Branding is the process of creating distinctive and durable perceptions in the minds of consumers. A brand is a persistent, unique business identity intertwined with associations of personality, quality, origin, liking and more. Here’s why the effort to brand your company or yourself pays off. 1. Memorability. A brand serves as a convenient container for a reputation and good will. It's hard for customers to go back to that whatsitsname store or to refer business to the plumber from the...

•Five Product Development Strategies For Recession Profits
Recession? What on earth are you talking about! That’s the riposte you’ll be able to give when you understand what to do to ride out bad economic times and emerge triumphant. Commerce has not ground to a halt, after all. People and companies are just much more choosey about where and how to spend. If you’ve experienced any kind of slowdown recently, use your extra time to put in place these five smart recession-fighting product development strategies. Then smile as competitors are still...

•Before Your Web Site Makeover Goes Live A Checklist
The web designer shows you her final version of your long-in-the-making revamped site. You click around and can hardly believe how gorgeous and rich it is. “Love it! Launch it!” Oops, not so fast. Too many times I’ve seen that sentiment lead to frantic scrambling, even to disaster. Before making your revamped site live, use this checklist to make sure you’ve caught or prevented horrible new-site glitches. 1. Timing. Never, never launch your new web site on a holiday, weekend or even on a...

•The Three Biggest Mistakes First Timers Make When Developing Information Products
“Is it really worth developing information products instead of spending that time and energy working for clients?” I’m often asked this question, and the answer is yes… as long as you avoid the top three mistakes I see others make when creating their first infoproduct. Mistake #1 is starting too big. People think they should start out writing a book, or something of that length and complexity. But your first book can take years to finish. The same delay can happen if you decide to start out...

•Postcard Marketing Model 12 Generate Immediate Cash Flow With Special Offers
You’re having a slow week or a slow month. Or you see a week or month looming that’s been slow in the past. Or you’re not sure why, but no one seems to buy on Tuesdays. Or you have a whatever that no one wants to buy at full price. Postcards to the rescue. Postcards today are fun, colorful, eye-catching, cheap, quick to send and effective. And when you send established customers cards bearing a special offer, they bring in fast cash. Design your special offer to be at least very appealing...

•Postcard Marketing Model 18 Increase Web Site Traffic
In the early years of the World Wide Web, simply announcing a new web site earned attention. Postcards bearing a snapshot of the home page sent to a company’s list of customers or to targeted strangers therefore got results. Today you need a more imaginative approach to use postcards as a means of driving traffic to a web site. With inventiveness that’s keyed to keen interests and urgent needs of your market, postcards still perform with panache. Here’s why. First, postcards enable you...

•Three Keys to a Recession Proof Business
“It’s the economy.” Are you putting up with a drop in revenues because of the economic downturn? In fact, a worldwide financial crisis does not have to send your own business into a discouraging spiral. Smart business owners and managers minimize the damage from a business slowdown with three crucial strategies. 1. Diversify. Beware of depending too much on one, two or three clients. Never allow your prosperity to get tied too closely to the fortunes of a very few others – no matter how stable...

•Information Products Fifteen Factors That Boost Their Perceived Value
Although the going rate partially depends on the target market, ebooks currently tend to sell for $29.95 to $49.95. Single audio recordings fall in the same range. Length isn’t necessarily a multiplier. For instance, if you produce an ebook that is three times the typical length, you can’t necessarily charge $89.95 to $149.95. People would be suspicious that the additional content was redundant, or that you’d increased the length through large type, a lot of white space or wordy writing. So...