Small Business Information

Have you tried geotargeting yet? There are a few merchants out there who provide some form of geotargeting in the creatives that they provide but, if you’re like me, you may think that it’s not all that effective.

I know in my situation every time I see a geotargeted ad on a page I’m visiting I’m supposed to be sitting in a town I’ve either never heard of or is so far away that it makes me want to laugh instead of buy something.

If you want to know more about geotargeting then you’ll find this article interesting and there are a couple of links in the article and down in the comments that are definitely worth following.

Internet users can be a fickle lot; sometimes they’re here and sometimes they’re somewhere else. Some sites are hot and then they’re cold and social media seems to make the situation worse.

But is that really the way things are going?

A recent study by Nielsen/Net Ratings has shown that over the last four years there has been a steady shift in what surfers are doing online. Four years ago 46% of an internet user’s time online was spent in communication. These days 47% of an internet user’s time online is spent visiting content sites.

You can find more interesting statistics about Internet usage here

Let’s forget the pretty pictures and solid sales text that you’ve got on your site for just a moment. Instead let’s look behind the gloss and glamour and see what you’re directory structure on your site looks like.

Is it neat, logical and does it include search engine friendly directory and file names? If it isn’t like that then you should spend some time reading Web Analytic Pilots from Hell - 7 Maddening Site Mistakes

I’m a firm believer in the idea that the language of selling can vary depending on the person you’re selling to. I’m not even sure that the fundamentals stay the same in all situations.

So what language do you use when you’re trying to sell a product online? Who are you talking to? Is it really the person who might be interested in buying your product or do you use a generic language to sell all your products to all your potential customers?

If you were selling a business to business product would your language be the same as if you were selling something to a consumer?

And how much effort do you put in to combining the web design to the language that you’re using?

SEO with Usability: What the People Want is more than just a piece about search engine optimisation. It will encourage you to think about the language you should use on your websites when you are trying to sell something.

A couple of days ago I wrote about a great little Firefox add-on that enables users to synchronise their bookmarks across a number of different computers. You’ll find that post here.

Today I want to tell you about Firebug. This is a great tool that allows you to edit code live on a web page. While the main tool works in Firefox there is a lite version for those who use Internet Explorer and the major browsers.

My thanks to WebbyOnline for the tip about these two add-ons

If you’re like me and work with several computers in a day then you will have found that synchronising yourInternet bookmarks can be a problem. However, there is a solution to that problem if you use Firefox.

The solution is an add-on called Foxmarks and you can pick it up by following the link. It not only synchronises your bookmarks across all your computers but it keeps them synchronised. It also keeps a master list on file so you can simply download it if you upgrade to a new computer.

We’re told that baby boomers are cashed up and ready to retire and have fun … but are they really?

Do they really have lots of money to spend? Are they really ready to retire and gently grow old?

Well according to modern-day thinking that’s exactly what’s going to happen … but is that modern-day thinking or modern-day fantasy?

If you read a report mentioned on Small Business Trends you may begin to think that maybe we boomers are going to be doing something else other than retiring. The Intuit Future of Small Business Report is here and I suggest you read it because it offers a different view what the marketplace might look like in the next few years and that’s something you should be prepared for.

If you’re a writer and are looking for ways to develop your income then you might find this article interesting.

It’s now been made official, StumbleUpon has now been bought by eBay … much to the horror of many StumbleUpon members.

From an online marketing point of view StumbleUpon is a valuable source of paid and unpaid traffic for websites. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the paid traffic continues to be available after eBay takes full control of the company.

From a search engine point of view the purchase gives eBay control of the beginnings of a search engine that has interesting possibilities.

 Do you want to actually make a sale or do you want to make them feel like running away and hiding.

Have you ever thought what message you’re sending when you’re marketing a product to women?

Whether you’ve thought about it or not here is an interesting post - from a woman - that you may find helpful.