She expects to be home from work, she works at a nearby college, for the rest of the week. This got me thinking about Small Businesses and how they are affected by the local (geographical) weather.

Does YOUR small business have a WEATHER POLICY?

• Is it CLEARLY stated on your website?
   
• Can it be easily found? In other words, is there a clearly marked, direct link somewhere on all of the major pages of the site?
   
• If it is tied to a local policy, such as that you close if the local school system closes, have you provided a LINK to an online resource that would provide that information — such as the local school system website or the weather emergency listing for a local TV station?
   
• Have you CLEARLY identified WHAT School System you are referring to? Remember, with the internet you need to think GLOBALLY. Can an out of town visitor, trapped in your area because the airports are closed, easily figure out whether you will be open or closed?

I know that in my niche of Needlework, stitchers crawl out of the woodwork in bad weather to get to my local needlework shop, for fear that they will be trapped without a stitching project to work on.

I can easily imagine a stitcher in a local hotel, waiting for airport traffic to resume, making the effort to get to Meredith's (my LNS) to buy a new project, because she didn't bring one with her OR she finished it OR she can work on it for some reason.

I am sure that many small offline businesses might have similar scenarios…

So, does YOUR small business have a WEATHER POLICY? Even if you aren't in an area that has snow, I am sure that you are affected by the weather or other events in some way, and having a policy in place is just good planning!

I firmly believe that Twitter is one of those online marketing opportunities that you NEED to make time for! While creating and running a Twitter marketing plan does take thought and effort, there are many tools and methods available to make it easier to accomplish your Twitter tasks… and as it stands now, Twitter has the potential to become an extremely important part of YOUR online marketing puzzle.

Why Twitter? you may ask. Because of the way Twitter works — people CHOOSE to follow you — TWITTER is 100% Permission Marketing!

Now, often when I explain all of this to busy offline business owners, like yourself, they look at me with bafflement and ask

    *Don't these people have LIVES?*

    *Why would anybody want to do this?*
   
    *I don't have time for this!*, they wail!

My answer is simple… *You are not your customer!*

WHY do you market?

The point of MARKETING is to reach your targeted audience with your message.

Twitter provides a powerful method to accomplish this effectively AND efficiently.

For a plethora of OFFLINE Twitter marketing techniques, check out my new Survival Guide – Twitter for Offline Businesses.

http://surviveandconqueronline.com/TwitterForOfflineBusinesses.htm

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

For retailers, this is true on several different levels. One of the most powerful of these is the fact that many of your customers have secret fantasies about owning a *cute little shop*. Do they want to know the brutal realities involved? No! And you know what… that's OK…

The mere fact that they occasionally flirt with the idea offers you an incredibly effective, versatile, and subtle marketing strategy.

This is just one of the topics that will be discussed — in depth — in the upcoming webinar – How to Wow!

Even more exciting, the webinar format offers you the opportunity to participate by typing in your questions!

Here are more details on the How to Wow! Webinar.

Sharing the road to success!

Tink
 

I wanted to share a recent email I got from a SurviveAndConquerCoaching member:

Subject: just took lesson 1 for Strategies for Online Retail Success!

I signed up for your basic level membership when you first talked about this on the quiltdesigners list… then it was ‘later’, ‘I dont have time right now’, etc.  I really wish I had MADE the time from the beginning.

You have really opened my eyes, just in the first lesson!  I just wanted to thank you for starting this up!  As soon as I have the funds available I’ll be upgrading.

Thanks Tink!!

Angela R McIntyre

Laughing Cat Designs Etc.!

**************************

NOW! On to what’s new this week at SurviveAndConquerCoaching.com:

Tactic # 7 has been added to the series on List Building called List Building Tactics and Tactic # 6 has been removed from the BASIC Level Membership. There are 24 Tactics in this series.

This week’s Cheat Sheet is *Why Blog?* It will be available to BASIC members for just a week.

A NEW Video Tutorial has been added to the BASIC-Video Vault. It explains *How to Create a PDF file Using Free Software*. It will be available to BASIC Level members for about a  week.

Don’t forget to download the October 2008 WordPress Plugin Report, while it is available.

If you haven’t downloaded the newest Short Report – The Offline Business Owner’s Guide to Making the MOST of Local Portals & Directories! — grab it now! It is 11 pages with 10 question you should be asking about your Portal and Directory opportunities. There are more and more of these coming online, and they represent excellent marketing opportunities… IF you know the right questions to ask.

Just a reminder, if you are using WordPress for ANY type of site, the new Survival Course – Create an Effective Web Site YOU can Operate Yourself (even if you know NOTHING about the Internet) is a worthwhile read. It is available in Web Page format as part of Academy – Basic or as a PDF download.

http://surviveandconquercoaching.com

Sharing the Road to Success

Tink

I have a specific Premier Level, just for the Needlework and Quilting industry, Y&T-PREMIER.

The BASIC Level is for everybody, no matter what offline industry they are in.

I am adding new information and resources weekly. The biggest challenge for me has been organizing all of the topics I will be covering. I have reams of paper (yes, I know I could do it digitally, but I visualize better on paper — with color coded ink!LOL) with the next 12 months laid out. As long as Guido doesn’t eat them, all will be well!

Until the end of August, Y&T-PREMIER and the regular PREMIER Level have a special introductory price.

To compare memberships, check out the Compare Membership page.

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

When talking with my clients, I find that many of the less technical minded site owners don't even know how to access their stats, let alone interpret them.

The truth of the matter is that web site stats can help a savvy business owner overcome one of the most daunting differences between Offline and Online business — getting to know your customer!

The other unpalatable truth it that YOU, the business owner, are the person best placed to interpret those stats!

Believe me when I say that I can relate to the eye rolling numbness that can overtake you when trying to make sense of all of those numbers, charts, and graphs — I am a designer by training — I like and understand pretty pictures, but numbers are my downfall!

The good news is that as Google and the other Search Engine become more and more focused on giving a web surfer a positive and useful internet experience, the tools that they are creating to do this are providing more and more interesting and useful data for those of us who are numerically challenged.

Long tail and organic search are our friends, and being an intuitive thinker is an advantage when following those stats.

The only way to learn to interpret your web site stats is to look at them regularly… and often. I liken it to watching a slow train wreck! LOL

Each time you look, the less fuzzy the overall picture will be! One of my long term goals for 2008 has been to watch my site stats carefully and regularly, and what I am observing has been a real eye opener.

I won't be teaching my Search, Search Engines and Web Site Statistics in June at TNNA, but the ebook covers most of the class material — you just don't have me at the front of the room nattering on! *VeryBigGrin*.

To encourage y'all to start following your site stats, I have given a special discount on the ebook.

Go here: http://surviveandconqueronline.com/Special.htm and use the coupon: AprilShowers

Feel free to pass the link and coupon along to others in the industries. I'll probably leave this offer up 'til the end of the month.

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

I’ll be teaching at Columbus!

I submitted a large number of classes, so I am waiting for the official announcement about what I will be teaching. In January, I was scheduled to teach one class twice. It will be interesting to see if that is the case this time.

I DID submit several new classes — depending on which, if any, get chosen, I may be a busy bee, between now and then!

I really enjoy teaching at TNNA, so no matter what classes, I am looking forward to it.

I got an email last week from one of my January 2008 students. She said:

*quote*

I took your class about software for shopping carts at TNNA in Long Beach. Loved your class by the way, it was like taking a college class in 3 hrs. You rock. You’re so full of it!

*end quote*

Needless to say, I smiled for hours!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

In the course of the show, I was asked many questions about doing business on the internet… in my classes, in the aisles, and at my booth. Often the questions are regarding how business is set up within common internet industry business models.

A common example is that most web designers handle all of the details regarding the web sites they design/develop, including registering the domain and providing the hosting. From the designer/developer’s point of view, this business model is very attractive and a good money producer.

However, from the point of view of a small business owner, this scenario can be fraught with many hidden dangers!

So… what do I do as a business consultant? Do I go with the flow and offer advice based on the common business models?

I always answer every question by first asking myself *What would I tell Lisa?*.

Lisa is my BF/Cousin and a single mom with 2 daughters in college and no financial help other than from her own business.

Lisa was the inspiration for my Disaster-Proof Your Online Business Survival Guide and Workbook.

She called me at midnight (my time) to say that she didn’t have access to her web site to change the registration for an offline workshop. Her workshops are the financial backbone of her business, so this was a MAJOR business crisis!

As it turned out, we were able to get the issues resolved. Lisa’s web developer had sent Lisa the important info when she changed web hosts, so SHE had acted responsibly. Lisa had carefully kept the email that was sent, even though she wasn’t sure exactly what it all meant, so SHE had acted responsibly.

The problems had arisen because Lisa had not realized the importance of being the person controlling the information, decision-making, and action-taking concerning her web site.

So, there you have Lisa’s story, but this post was actually prompted by a question on a quilt industry business group and the answer I gave.

Someone was asking which of two reputable companies she should entrust with her online business. She was looking at it from both the financial aspect, and from the point of view of the different services offered and benefits derived. These certainly are important considerations, but, in my opinion, they are not the deciding factors I would use to evaluate things if Lisa called with the same question…

Any way… what would I tell Lisa?

For a serious business person such as Lisa (meaning her family’s finances depend on the business), I would recommend that Lisa operate her web site from her own hosting account, being sure that LISA owns her domain AND the hosting account and that they are NOT with the same company.

If Lisa owns and controls the domain registration and hosting (at separate companies), she would be able to move her site to a different hosting company, should the need arise for whatever reason. While it may be a PITA, her business has an excellent chance of surviving long term…

If everything is is someone else’s hands, she would most likely be starting over from scratch.

If Lisa were to decide to use one of the above mentioned companies, I would tell her to register and maintain her domains herself. I would tell her to have the company involved tell her what the new nameservers need to be and then Lisa should go in and make the changes!

When it is YOUR business, YOU need to control ALL aspects of it, whether you are Lisa or some other business owner!

Most small business owners are clueless about the internet and it becomes easy to allow someone else to take control and *just handle it* . I tell my clients to think about this in the same way they think about their bank accounts. They may not know all of the Ins and Outs of banking, but they certainly make sure that they are in control!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

The subject is Preparing Products for Presentation on the Web. Whoa! Try saying that 3 times – fast! I’m teaching only one session in Long Beach and the class is already half full.

My classes are in lecture format, so I put a high limit on the number of seats available– in this case, there are 50. Going by the enrollment figures, there is strong interest in the topic.

Most of the folks attending this class are not technologically sophisticated. I also know that in many cases, the attendee may not be the person who will be doing the actual work down the road.

Most of my intended audience consists of folks who own successful OFFLINE businesses that they are taking ONLINE. Every day they make business breaking decisions about the internet. Both literally and figuratively, *The buck stops there!*. Knowing all this, I am working very hard to explain the WHYs of doing something – not just the HOWs.

Today I had a blinding realization about the best way to approach the HOWs of doing business online and why the WHYs are soooo important..

There is a lot of information available about how to do business Online. Much of it is focused on solving specific problems and as a result it deals with the HOWs, which is appropriate.

However, for many Offline business owners, knowing WHY to do something gives them the knowledge they need to make the BEST decisions for their businesses about HOW to do it. Unfortunately, this is where everything starts to fall apart.

As we all know, the Internet is a technological marvel. It is technology personified. In addition, much of it also deals with technological subjects. For obvious reasons, most of the pundits are technology geeks (and I say this in a kind and loving way! LOL). As a natural progression, technology pervades almost all explanations regarding HOWs and WHYs, no matter the topic under discussion.

This is completely understandable… but not always a good thing for the unsuspecting, technologically challenged Offline business owner trying to make sound Online decisions!

What I realized this morning is that most business owners need WHYs that are Technologically Independent.

Technologically Independent? What in the world do I mean by that?

Technologically Independent means that the WHY question for any issue has been analyzed down to its most basic components.

Technologically Independent means it is a question that can be answered no matter what the current technology is and the answer will be reliable no matter what future technology entails.

Huh? Let me give a couple of examples to illustrate my point…

In my Product Preparation class, I will be discussing specific issues such as the commonly recognized need to optimize photographs for the internet. There is no point in putting up a print optimized picture of 300 dots per inch, if good resolution on a computer monitor is only in the 72-96 pixels per inch range.

The file for the 300 dpi picture is much larger than it needs to be, it will take longer to load, and there will be no appreciable improvement in picture quality.

This is an issue that most web site How To Manuals discuss and many of them explain ways to accomplish this in varying degrees of detail.

OK… that all makes sense, but let’s take a moment to look at two different ways to explain the WHY of it.

The Technologically Dependent version of WHY says:

Product images displayed on a web site should be optimized for a compute monitor, not for print reproduction on paper.

The Technologically Independent version of WHY says:

Product representations should be optimized for the medium/device on which they will be displayed/interpreted.

Let’s take a moment to analyze these two approaches in a bit more detail…

The Technologically Dependent version of WHY, stating that *product images displayed on a web site should be optimized for a compute monitor, not for print reproduction on paper* assumes the following:

1) The product is being represented by an image (at this time in technology, there is also an underlying assumption that the image will probably be 2 dimensional)
2) The image will be displayed on a computer monitor
3) The alternative version of the image is one that can be printed on paper

The Technologically Independent version of WHY, stating that *product representations should be optimized for the medium/device on which they will be displayed/interpreted* is taking the position that:

1) There is not a specific form of product representation being discussed.

We could be discussing a photo, a drawing, a video, a holographic representation, a psychically projected image or even some other type that doesn’t exist yet. Note that we are not assuming that the image is a 2 dimensional representation, either

2) The medium/device is unspecified

It could be a piece of paper, a computer monitor, a hand-held computing device, a device capable of receiving a projection of some kind, or anything else that future technology may involve!

3) There is no alternative version of the image under discussion

… the WHY has been distilled to its simplest form.

Another example from my Product Preparation discussion concerns one of the two elements needed to successfully sell products.

The Technologically Dependent version of that element states:

To successfully sell products Online, you need an effective, functional web site / blog

This assumes:

1) The product’s sales vehicle is the internet

2) The delivery method to be used on the internet is a web site / blog

The Technologically Independent version of that element states:

To successfully sell products, you need an effective, functional presentation

This can be applied to printing on paper, billboards, audio, video, holographic or psychic projection, or any method or technology that hasn’t even been dreamed – yet.

If the WHY has been reduced to a Technologically Independent analysis, it can be applied to whatever technology is out there, now or in the future.

This means that the astute business person (either Offline or Online) has a fighting chance of being able to decide what is best for his or her business. It is not necessary to understand the ins and outs of the technology in question. Once the decision has been made, knowledgeable tech people can be hired to implement that decision!

So… what does a savvy, but overwhelmed business owner need to do?

When you are looking for HOWs to solve problems, take the time to find the WHYs, if possible. When you are studying the WHY, try to distill it down to a Technologically Independent explanation.

Technology is changing fast and furiously. Your time is valuable. Seeking out a HOW answer and ignoring the WHY will mean that a year or two down the road you will be looking for another HOW about the newest technology. In many cases, the WHY behind the two HOWs may actually be the same!

Life is short, don’t keep doing the same work over and over!

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

*****
Tink Boord-Dill uses her many years online, her carefully honed problem-solving skills, and her ability to explain complicated issues in an easy to understand fashion to help Offline Business Owners put their businesses Online, successfully.

Visit her online at MarketingEdgeForYarnAndThread.com and read her column, TechSupport, in American Quilt Retailer Magazine.
*****

=== WEBMASTERS & ONLINE PUBLISHERS ===
You are welcome to use the above article on your website, newsletter, or ezine, as long as you follow these simple rules:

1. The article may not be changed.
2. The author byline must stay in place
3. The copyright notice must stay in place
4. The links in the article or signature block must be in place and LINKED PROPERLY to our website.

As long as you follow these rules exactly, you are legally allowed to reproduce this content on your own websites. If you do not follow these usage guidelines however, you will be in violation of copyright laws and subject to fines of up to $250,000.

Please note however, that you may NOT reproduce any of the content found on our web site. Only the articles clearly marked are allowed to be used by other online publishers.

If you have questions, comments, or feedback about this article, or the usage rights noted above, please feel free to email us at any time!

Online marketing (and selling) is very complex and all of us are looking for ways to decipher its complexity. One tempting method is to look for parallels between the Offline and Online worlds and then apply that Offline reasoning to Online situations.

Now, as a former Theater Scene Designer, I was trained to use metaphor as a problem solving tool. Comparing apples to apples can be very effective, but in many cases, applying Offline reasoning to Online problems is more like comparing apples to screwdrivers.

What brought this to mind was hearing (third hand, I will admit) about a company that is planning on selling digital products online. OK… that is good. I sell digital products online and know that it is a viable business model.

What concerned me was hearing (again, third hand) that this company did not plan to show the book pricing until the item is added to the shopping cart.

As it was explained to me, the reason was that they were following the example of “real books” whose pricing is located either on the back or inside the front jacket, so viewing the price requires a little work.

Hmmmm… OK, let’s think about this…

I see this as faulty logic for three reasons. (Truth be told, I quit looking after these three, because I had other things I needed to do. LOL)

My thoughts —

Problem #1 – Following the example of “real books” only works if you understand WHY it is that way and your product and its selling mechanism are the same as “real books”.

With real books, putting the price on the back or inside the front jacket encourages the shopper to pick up the books. Many times this leads to looking more closely at the book, opening it and reading an excerpt, looking at the table of contents, the index, or, better yet, any illustrations.

The potential customer is interacting with the book, building a relationship with the book, and once that happens is more likely to want to give it a good home (meaning purchase it, for any of you poor souls who are not *book people* … smile…)

With a digital product, displayed online, this won’t happen…

While a digital product may have the same intellectual content as a physical printed version, the differences in its physical manifestation – it is a file on a computer, not a physical book– make this an excellent example of comparing apples to screwdrivers.

Problem #2 – Pricing on digital products can vary greatly.

With a physical product, it is easy to guess a ballpark price.

I don’t expect to pay the same for a beat-up second hand paperback book as I would for the newest, large, lavishly illustrated and beautifully printed coffee table book.

Pricing digital products is much less obvious. Often it is difficult to separate the issues of physical creation and manufacturing costs from the value of the intellectual property that the digital product contains. As a result, it is very difficult to predict accurately what the product cost will be.

Problem #3 – Online purchasers are wary about being taken advantage of or scammed.

Many folks are not aware that it is safe to back out of a purchase even after you have products in an online shopping cart.

Many are afraid that simply starting the transaction will commit them. Will they be willing to start the process, simply to find out the price? I doubt it!

One of the most important elements of successful online selling is creating customer comfort and trust. For that reason, it is important that an online merchant provide open and comprehensive information about a transaction BEFORE the transaction begins. This includes information such as a detailed description of the item, photograph of the item (if applicable), the format/size of the item, shipping charges, exactly how the transaction will take place AND the product’s price!

I believe that asking the customer to start the transaction before establishing the price is a poor marketing strategy.

Thinks of how differences between countries and cultures can affect business. In some parts of the world, black is the color of mourning, in others, white is worn to honor the dead. To someone wishing to show proper respect, wearing the wrong clothing can send a disrespectful message nonetheless.

There are many knowledgeable Offline business people who are moving Online and bringing with them a wealth of knowledge and breadth of experience from which all of us benefit.

The danger lies in NOT recognizing that Online is a very different universe than Offline. It is important to learn about this new Online world before incorrectly applying business principles from the old Offline world.

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink