The Online Shop Designer Blog

I often hear people say that they would like to earn a passive income on the Internet. Well yes, I think we all would!

But I can’t help but feel that there is a little bit of blind optimism at work here. In fact it rather reminds me of another catch-cry for “the paperless office” about a decade back. Great aspirations but short on substance.

Passive after all means “not participating readily or actively; inactive”.

Making money on the Internet usually involves selling products or services (either your own or others, as in affiliate arrangements). To do this it is necessary to attract a large number of visitors to your website. There are many ways to do this but they generally come down to:

• paid search engine traffic e.g Google Adwords
• or natural search engine traffic brought about by optimising web pages.

Both require very careful product and/or service research, precise keyword analysis, constant testing,  ongoing monitoring, feedback and continuous adjustment of all processes from marketing through to final product or service delivery.

It is not starting to sound too ‘passive’ is it?

So, is there to be money to be made on the Internet? Absolutely!

Is it likely that the money could be described as passive income? Well, no.

I am sorry if I have burst a bubble. No doubt many hopeful souls have already branded me as a heretic. It is just that I have a rather more down to earth appreciation what the Internet has to offer. In the end, from a business perspective, it is a fantastic marketing and sales channel. But like every other form of business it is highly competitive and success comes through intelligent application and hard work.

Sorry

There are many ways that a website can be promoted. All too often we automatically consider online marketing streams. For many businesses however this doesn’t make a lot of sense.

If your market is essentially local – a common situation with a lot of service based businesses – then car signage that features your web address is a smart idea (a short, memorable web address is best). Every time you drive around your area or park at the local shopping centre your name is out there in full view of “the locals”. When a potential client gets home it is a simple matter for them to log on to your website and check out your services.

And compared to other forms of advertising it can be quite cost-effective. All good reasons to give it some thought. If you would like to discuss your situation with a specialist in car signage simply contact me and I will be happy to refer you to a highly professional family business in whom I have absolute confidence. They are based in Melbourne’s outer east but are part of a network that can do installations in most part of Australia.

All CMS Made Simple sites developed by TOSD now use TinyMCE as the standard editor. And a very nice editor it is too!

If you are new to TinyMCE you may like to download the  tinymce editor quick reference. It lists all the common icons (buttons) and their usage.

Yes, it’s a common question. And one that is usually directed squarely at the web designer by a frustrated client. What is often not well understood is that for a web site to work well there is usually input required from the website owner, the website designer and other specialists in the field of marketing and copywriting. In other words it is a partnership.

Usually when a site owner says their site does not work it means one of the following:

• They are not appearing in search engine results
• They are getting insufficient traffic to their site
• They are getting insufficient enquiries
• They are getting insufficient sales

Here is a snapshot of common reasons why a website does not work.

Not appearing in search engine results

This is a common problem – particularly for new websites. The solution will normally encompass:

• Keyword research
• Content written around the results of the keyword research
• On page optimisation for the selected keywords
• Off page optimisation designed to generate quality inbound links
• Social networking

Typically this may require input from the owner, web designer, copywriter and a specialist Internet Marketer.

Insufficient website traffic

Remember the saying ‘quality rather than quantity’ ? I have come across some site owners who obsess over the number of hits their site gets. But hits don’t buy products and services – customers do.

Having said that however, if you attend to the items in the previous paragraph regarding keyword analysis and search engine optimisation (SEO), not only will your traffic increase, but the resultant visitors to your site will be better qualified.

Insufficient sales or enquiries

Getting customers to your website is one thing, getting them to take an action that will lead to a positive outcome is quite another. Generally the big issues are these:

• Visitors must be able to easily find what they want
• Having found it, the quality of the content presented for their consideration must make them feel compelled to take action.

The first is directly related to structure and navigation. It requires a seamless, logical process flow from the home page to checkout (or enquiry form etc)

The second, relating to the content, is equally important. Does your product image just provide a wide angle view of the whole product, or does it provide a close up of that particular unique feature that sets it apart from its competition?  Does your content simply ‘describe’ the product or service, or does it provide compelling benefits related to its use and the customers application?

Where do I start – what steps should I take?

You can always simply hit the Net and research, research, research. Sometimes though research will still be only part of the answer. In the end the person executing the work must have the required skillset. If time is important and you need a professional result consider taking a shortcut . . .

1. Contact me for a free appraisal of your situation.
2. Depending on the outcome I will be happy to either provide assistance with any web design issues that may arise, or refer you to specialists in other disciplines who I know and trust.

Recently there has been an increased demand for simple, inexpensive small business sites that are easy for clients to manage. To address this need I have developed designs that utilise the excellent Flyspeck Editor. www.wfelectrical.com.au is one such example.

For those of you who have one of these designs, who who may be considering a site based on this page editing system, the following download is now available:  tosd_flyspeck_help.