You've put your business on the web and now you're ready for the millions
of orders you know will flood in! Well, I hate to burst your bubble but it
doesn't quite work like that. Like any business, your online business
requires your time, energy and persistence. The good news is that the
skills you need are easy to learn and a pleasure to implement. Here are 7

tips that work for all skill levels:

1. Check your site. You MUST list every possible contact method. Your
visitors MUST be able to reach you. I find that listing all my phone
numbers, fax numbers, e mail addresses and a page entitled About Us is
essential. In your About Us page, put up your head shot. This personalizes
your web site.

2. Promotion, promotion, promotion. You must spend at least two hours
every day promoting your business. The best time to do this is first thing
every morning. If you have the funds to advertise, then use PPC's (Pay Per
Clicks). I'm not going to advertise their names. Just put PPC in your
locator bar and decide which ones suit you best. If you have no
advertising funds, then use the free ad sites and the Free For All sites.
Same routine: put FFA in your locator bar and jump through the necessary
hoops.

3. Now, when you've done all the preliminary advertising work, you need
to reach your niche market. This is more complicated. If you sell say,
parchment book marks, put "parchment book marks" in your locator bar.
Visit every site that comes up and contact the users of that site by all
permitted means. These are as diverse as message boards, blogs and
articles explaining your product.

4. Deal with e mail ONLY in the evening. "But why?" you ask. "I love
reading and answering my e mails." Right! That's the problem. E mail is
time consuming. You must devote early morning time and energy to your
promotion. You can read and answer e mail after business hours when your
energy level is low you can take as long as you want, without impinging on
your other business duties.

5. Get new business cards. You need to print not just your name and
business address but your web address, your email address and your logo or
slogan, if you have one.

6. Link with other sites complementary to your business. This is easy.
Just bring up the site and write a note to their contact person suggesting
a mutual link. You'll find that they will be delighted. Link popularity is
very important for search engine optimization.

7. SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Many pundits consider this to be
the most important strategy for boosting your internet business. Make sure
your key words are absolutely relevant to your site and your product.
Manually submit your site to as many search engines and directories as
possible. Do NOT buy an automatic submission package. The search engine
spiders ignore all automatic submissions. This manual submission procedure
can, all by itself, take the whole two hours you allocate each morning but
it's essential to the health of your site

Patricia R. Moynihan is the Irish lawyer who founded Dealon Bracelets in
1976. She is a noted speaker on alternative health care and internet
marketing. You can reach her at her web site
http://www.dealonbracelets.com

Learn more about this author, Patricia Moynihan.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Tips for a successful internet business?
We want to hear your view. Write now!