Transferring your business online is not an overnight phenomenon. It takes work. I know work is a four letter work that a lot of people don’t like to hear but work is work. We all need to do it. In Success Magazine, Jim Rohn said, “formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” Here are 3 tips to help you grow your online business. Read the rest of this entry

Are you a brick and mortar business that wants to grow? Are you in the service business? In this day and age, a move to the internet is your next step. Because of our modern technology, many potential customers will research online for the information they are looking for. Whether it is to find a product, find a repair man, or find a phone number for either of these, customers are looking online to get answers. If you are not even listed online how can you get those customers to call you? Transferring your business online is your next step. Read the rest of this entry

Blogging is still the best way to transfer your business online. It’s also a great marketing tool. When was the last time you posted to your business blog? I realize that I haven’t posted in a while. Getting back into rhythm won’t be easy but I’m going to try. Put your excuses behind you like me and get busy. Read the rest of this entry

Do you plan to protect yourself and your computer? A back up system should be in place for everyone. I have an external hard drive that I use. I back up all my files to it. I know that’s a great place to start. I read that having an online backup system is also a good idea to invest in. I haven’t taken that step yet, but I may in the future. Read the rest of this entry

What is the first thing you should do to transfer your business online? How much time do you spend marketing your business now? Most businesses probably spend 50% of their time marketing. How much time you spend will directly relate to the amount of traffic you have coming to your blog.

The first step should be to set up a blog and post often to it. The search engines love new content. To post frequently means you will move up the ladder on the search engines. You will get picked up more often by the search engines than someone who only spends one hour a month. The more you post, the more traffic you get. More traffic mean more sales.

Posting to your blog is a marketing strategy. If you post every day for 30 days, you will be doing what some people call ‘power blogging.’ They are drawing more traffic and potential customers to their site. How often will you post to your blog? What is your marketing plan for today?

Once you decide which blogging platform you will be using, you will need a name for your blog. You can start by using your business name. If it is a common name, it may not be available. But if it is unique, chances are good that it will be available. For instance, if your business name is Joe’s, there is already a restaurant by that name. But if your name is Joe’s Auto Mechanic Shop, it may be available. So have some options available when choosing your domain name.

I recommend you search for domain names over at Go Daddy. They have good deals there and are easy to search names. You may become known by your domain name which is OK if that is your business name. You can always purchase another one but why waste the money of purchasing one and not using it? You can change to another blog at a later date but it gets very complicated and you may loose some of your posts and content. Make sure you are happy with your domain name before purchasing one.

If you will be using Typepad, then you are ready to start blogging. If you are using Word Press, you will need to find a hosting company to host your blog before starting. What domain name have you chosen?

One of the first steps you need to take to move your business online is to decide whether you will have a blog or a website. A website is one that is static. It is set up and very little changes are made to it. A blog, short for weblog, can be changed and added to anytime. Having current information on your blog will help with your search engine rankings which I will talk about at a later date.

Once you decide, it’s time to get started. On a static website, you can provied information such as your location, hours of operation, and products or services you sell. If you decide on a blog, a blog must be hosted. Typepad hosts their blogs on their site. Word press must be hosted at a hosting company. I don’t recommend the free blogging services. You are writing these blog posts to expand your business. The free services can be taken down at any time and you will loose all your information. Once your blog is set up, it is easy to make daily posts.

The ideas are endless since you already have a business established. Your present customers are your ideas for blog posts. What problems did you solve for a customer this week? What did a customer ask you on the phone this week? Do you find your self repeating the same information? Maybe that information would make a good blog post. Each blog post gives out new information to potential customers. Start blogging now!

Moving a business online takes time and know-how. In Jeanette Cates book, she describes how to achieve online success. Not only does she give you ideas, she gives you 101 of them! Pic two or three of them to get started. Once you accomplish those, you can add another two or three. Don’t wait. Start today!