Your First Author Website

ou know you need a Website to help promote and sell your book but don’t know the technical details to make it happen. Relax, it isn’t as mystical as it seems. There are four steps you’ll need to take in order to get a Website developed and “live” on the World Wide Web:

1. Register a Domain Name
2. Write and Develop Your Website Content
3. Hire a Website Designer/Developer
4. Sign Up for a Hosting Plan

1. Register a Domain Name

The domain name is the address you type into your browser: www.YourWebsite.com. There are several domain extensions to choose from. (.com, .us, .net, etc.) You will generally want to register one or more .com domains. Many authors register versions of their own names (including common misspellings) as well as their book’s title or subject matter. You must go through a registrar (or one of a registrar’s affiliates) to register domain names. A domain costs from approximately $7 to $35 per year, depending on the registrar and current discounts. For a list of accredited domain registrars, type domain registrar into any search engine or visit:
http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html

Once you’ve chosen a registrar, search to see if the names you want to register are available. If they are not, the registrar will often suggest alternatives. After deciding on your domain names, purchase them by following the on-screen instructions.

2. Write and Develop Your Website Content

You will be responsible for your Website’s content -- the text, pictures, and logos. You may hire one or more copywriters, editors, or graphic designers to help with the work. But you are the ultimate expert on yourself and your book, so you must be intimately involved with content development. To generate ideas and get your “creative juices” flowing, start by exploring other authors' Websites. Make note of features you’d like to include or offer on your own site. For example, sample chapters, discount for multiple purchases, premiums (such as t-shirts, bookmarks, or book bags), audio readings, etc. Other things to consider when developing Website content:

Overall structure (i.e. which pages you will have in your site and how they fit together): Structure will be driven primarily by your site objectives. A Website that sells your book, for example, may have these pages: About the Book (as home page), About the Author, Contact, Store, and Privacy Policy

Text on each page: On the Web, short paragraphs read better than long ones. Experts typically recommend 250 – 1500 words per page.

Call-to-action: Know what you want to accomplish with your Website and what actions you want visitors to take (read about the book, buy the book, contact the author, etc.). Encourage visitors to take action with links in the navigation, within text, and near the top of pages.

3. Hire a Website Designer/Developer

Website development and design involve putting together your Website’s overall structure and artistic look. There are several ways to accomplish this. You may find, for example, that your registrar offers an inexpensive site builder program that allows you to build your own Website step-by-step online. Site builders, however, rarely live up to expectation and/or meet your needs. Some common issues: frequent “glitches,” slow program response, minimal directions or customer support, poor search engine optimization features, and inflexible or limited design options. I recommend you avoid these site builders. Instead, hire a design firm or Website developer to help with your Website.

For a higher-end site you may want to hire a firm to create and develop your Website around a custom design. A lower-budget alternative is to forego custom design and hire a Website developer to create your site around an existing Website template. Some Website developers offer their own pre-made templates as part of their development packages. Others develop around a purchased template.

Design and Development Costs

Design and development costs for your Website can run the gamut from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on Website features, quality, size, and design. In general, the more pages and the more custom graphics and design in your site, the higher the cost.

Finding Developers and Templates

Many people find a Website designer or developer through word of mouth. There is also a list of some St. Louis area firms here: http://www.marketingtool.com/channel/webfirm/b.435.g.6579.html

If purchasing a template, expect to pay anywhere from zero (for a very basic, one-page design) to a couple hundred dollars (for a multi-page, high-end site design). Type Website template into any search engine to find a variety of template options.

4. Sign Up for a Hosting Plan

A Website host “rents” file storage space to you on a Web server, generally provides email services (so you can have “@MyWebsite.com” email addresses) and takes care of the technical aspects of making your Website visible on the World Wide Web.

After choosing your approach to Website development and working with your developer to decide features, you have enough information to look at Website hosting packages. Most hosts charge a monthly fee, which varies widely depending on features and account size. Your Website developer or designer can help you choose a host and plan that fit your needs. You can also research numerous hosts at www.websitehostdirectory.com.

You know you need a Website to help promote and sell your book. Now you know how to get one!

About the Author

Bobette Kyle is Webmaster for the St. Louis Publishers Association. She draws upon 15+ years of Marketing/Executive experience; online marketing and Web development experience; and a marketing MBA as inspiration for her writing and Website services. Bobette is also author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business." Additionally, she offers starter Website development services. For more information, visit: http://webmarketingplace.com/startersite.htm

Target Market - 3 Big Reasons You Need To Know Yours

Rule Number One when writing marketing materials is "Know Your Target Market." There's a lot of foundational work to do before you ever put a word on paper but this is the place to start.

What happens when you define your target market and become intimately acquainted with their needs and problems?

1. Prospects who read your materials will know exactly why they need you

There's a big difference between marketing to just anyone who crosses your path and a target market of seniors over 65, who own their own homes. A senior over 65, who owns her own home, has very specific needs. When you know her needs you can develop a sharply focused marketing message that makes her feel you're talking directly to her. And guess what? When she feels that you understand her, she'll be more willing to do business with you.

2. It gives direction to your product or service

"The Apprentice" is a hit TV series where two opposing teams are given a business project to complete. In the first episode of the second season, their assignment was to develop a new toy for Mattel, the largest toy manufacturer in the world. During the project evaluation, a Mattel executive said: "In this business you always want the kids to steer you." In the end the losing team was told that their idea showed a lack of understanding of what children want and like. Bingo! They had not paid attention to their target market - children. And they lost.

When you define your target market and know their likes and dislikes, you can direct all your ideas and resources towards this group. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, your business will gain focus.

3. It's easier to plan an effective marketing strategy

Knowing your target market helps you decide how and where to promote your business. If you're targeting doctors, then you can decide how and where to find doctors to talk to. On the other hand, if you're targeting corporate executives, it's clear that you won't achieve your objectives by hanging out with small business owners.

The result: less time wasted running down marketing cul-de-sacs, more time dedicated to finding and talking to your perfect clients.

Have YOU identified your target market?

Targeting Your Best Customers Improves Your Marketing Plan Success

Your best customers are those customers who purchase frequently enough, the products or service you provide, to be profitable. This type of customer generates regular income and is a very desirable customer for your business. Making an effort to target customers like these will rapidly increase your income while creating stability for your organization.

Identifying Your Best Customers

While a marketing plan outlines general characteristics of your customer base, only by concentrating action on your best customers will you achieve the greatest returns. While your marketing plan provides guidelines for marketing, knowing who your best customers are helps you turn those guidelines into actionable steps relevant to these customers needs. Relevancy is the key. The more your message talks to the needs of your best customers, the more likely they are to listen to you.

Since your best customers have to be found, here is a simple strategy for identifying them. This method can help you develop details for your marketing plan and support plan implementation. Based on a method often used in direct mail, Recency-Frequency-Monetary (RFM) measurements can provide a simple but accurate picture of your best customers.

1. Get a list of all customers sorted by Recency. Recency is the number of days since a customer last purchased. Sort this list with the most recent first. (For each of these reports, if you have many customers just get the first two pages or those in the top quintile.)

2. Get lists of all customers sorted by Frequency (number of individual purchase transactions) and Monetary (total dollar of purchases), these lists should be sorted in descending order.

3. Compare each list selecting those customers who are in the top of each list. These customers represent your best customers.

While this is a simplistic method for determining your best customers, it works well for most companies to improve customer targeting. The method that will work best for your organization may be more complex. For now, just gather the customers as identified here.

Discovering Your Customers' Needs

Armed with this list of your best customers, it is time to learn more about their needs to enhance your plan and fuel your targeting efforts. To learn more about your best customers use the three-step extraction plan, of which you have already completed step one.

1. Identify – using the method described earlier, the key is to simplify your customer list to those most constructive to your company.

2. Survey – in order to target you must know what this group wants, desires, and needs to reach their own business objectives.

3. Test – putting what you have learned about your best customers into action with your marketing plan. Note those things that work and those actions that did not.

Implement this three-step extraction plan repeatedly; best done quarterly if your market dynamics change frequently, but can be done as little as once a year for more stable markets. The key is to survey your customers’ regularly, highlighting the concerns of your best customers in your implementation. This process gives you rich details about what your market wants so you may give it to them.

Targeting Your Best Customers

You will want to concentrate on your best customers for a number of reasons. These reasons include:

• Your best customers are more likely to buy your products or services,

• These customers are more profitable to serve over their lifetime,

• Best customers are less expensive to acquire in comparison to new customers,

• In many cases you have already established a relationships with them,

• They are a great channel for new business referrals that close,

• Your track record has proven you can serve them with success,

Orienting all of your marketing communications to speak directly to these individuals will help you achieve your business objectives quickly. Most importantly use your website to target these individuals (a website is extremely flexible and is easier to track than other marketing communications.) The more you know about your best customers, the more you can provide a message that conveys your products benefits to them.

You can significantly improve your targeting online by providing what your best customers say they want. Your content and site structure can further support their needs giving them a reason to return for future visits. In today’s economy, your website serves as a gateway for your best customers to get more out of their relationship with you.

Integrating Best Customer Targeting Into Your Marketing Plan

While you now have a usable strategy for identifying and learning more about your best customers, consider what constitutes marketing plan success. It is simple; your marketing plan will contain certain objectives for a certain period of performance. Meeting these objectives before the period defined is success – it sounds very simple, but so few create a usable plan yet alone targets their best customers.

Not any customer will do; in fact, your best customers will change over time due to seasonal conditions, changes in your industry, or even your company's perceived value. Each quarter when you revisit your marketing plan, you should recalculate a list of your best customers. While the criteria for selecting best customers may not change, you will soon notice how dynamic this list can become.

Through out the year you will benefit from contact these best customers and prospects with characteristics similar. Using what you learn about this elite group can be used to place advertisements, promote your company, or even gain new customers. This endless cycle of continual improvement means big growth for your organization.

Targeting your best customers solidifies your niche while making your marketing plan easier to implement. This entire strategy orients your company towards those most likely to purchase. You will fulfill the objectives of your marketing plan and success will be yours – now get out there and let your best customers know you are here for them.

7 Pricing Strategies That Improve Profit

Pricing strategies are a sometimes-overlooked part of the marketing mix. They can have a large impact on profit, so should be given the same consideration as promotion and advertising strategies. A higher or lower price can dramatically change both gross margins and sales volume. This indirectly affects other expenses by reducing storage costs, for example, or creating opportunities for volume discounts with suppliers.

Other factors also determine your optimal pricing strategy. Consider the five forces that influence other business decisions: your competitors, your suppliers, the availability of substitute products, and your customers. Positioning how you want to be perceived by your target audience is also a consideration. Price a premium item too low, for example, and customers will not believe the quality is good enough. Conversely, put too high a selling price on value lines and customers will purchase competitors' lower-price items.

Some pricing strategies to consider are ...

Competitive pricing.

Use competitors' retail (or wholesale) prices as a benchmark for your own prices. Price slightly below, above or the same as your competitors, depending on your positioning strategies. Note you must collect competitor pricing information by observation rather than by asking them. Otherwise it could be seen as collusion, which is illegal in the U.S.

Cost plus mark-up.

This is the opposite of competitive pricing. Instead of looking at the market, look at your own cost structure. Decide the profit you want to make and add it to your costs to determine selling price. While using this method will assure a certain per-unit margin, it may also result in prices that are out-of-line with customer expectations, hurting total profit.

Loss Leader.

A loss leader is an item you sell at or below cost in order to attract more customers, who will also buy high-profit items. This is a good short-term promotion technique if you have customers that purchase several items at one time.

Close out.

Keep this pricing technique in mind when you have excess inventory. Sell the inventory at a steep discount to avoid storing or discarding it. Your goal should be to minimize loss, rather than making a profit.

Membership or trade discounting.

This is one method of segmenting customers. Attract business from profitable customer segments by giving them special prices. This could be in the form of lower price on certain items, a blanket discount, or free product rewards.

Bundling and quantity discounts.

Other ways to reward people for larger purchases are through quantity discounts or bundling. Set the per-unit price lower when the customer purchases a quantity of five instead of one, for example. Alternately, charge less when the customer purchases a bundle or several related items at one time. Bundle overstocks with popular items to avoid a closeout. Or, bundle established items with a new product to help build awareness.

Versioning

Versioning is popular with services or technical products, where you sell the same general product in two or three configurations. A trial or very basic version may be offered at low or no cost, for example, with upgrades or more services available at a higher price.

Make smart use of these pricing strategies and your bottom line will soar!

How to Secure Your Business Card......

How to Secure Your Business Card Into the Hands of Your Clients to Maximize Sales

How many times have you had your business card thrown away upon handing it to your client or customer? Your customer may want to do business with you, but may look upon your ordinary business card as something of a nuisance, something that would clog their wallets or purses with worthless cardboard paper. In the end, you lose additional potential business, as they would of referred you to their family and friends who are in need of your business. You are long forgotten in their minds.

Let's suppose that you are the owner of a used car lot that has been in business less than 3 months. Typically, you're running your ad in the local newspaper and radio stations, and expect many customers to walk in through your door wanting to do business with you. Newspaper and radio advertisements are effective yet expensive media outlets. You also spend a lot of money on additional forms of marketing, including business cards, but don't seem to have any effect on generating more customers. Money thrown away. You might as well throw your money in the toilet and flush it. In a moment, I will reveal some tactics that you can use, to turn your business card into a viral marketing machine!

Many small and large business owners, think that having basic information on their business cards is enough that will make people keep them and share them with others, thus bringing in more business. Entrepreneurs, especially, are in the mindset that having a business card to pass around to strangers will bring in more than enough customers that are dying to buy their product or service. Reality check: Think Again!

One of the most important feature that you can place on your business card is a headshot of YOU. Remember that you are not just selling your products and/or services to your customers. You are also selling YOU. Having a headshot placed on your business card is the first step towards creating an effective business card. People want to see who they are dealing with and when they come visit your shop or your place of business, they will know who you are so they won't have to ask around, asking people where to find you. They will already know what you look like and know you when you greet them.

Whatever you do dress properly for your headshot. People expect to do business with a professional and not someone that just walked in from the street. If you have a tight budget and can't afford a headshot, go to your local mall, and have your headshot sketched for you. There are machines in all the malls in the United States that sketch your face and upper body for you. It's only $3-5 dollars. Take the sketch and scan it into your computer. Send your headshot to the business printers as a digital file and have them print it on your business card, along with your name, title and website information. Unless you have a place of business where customers have to come in, DON'T put your address, cell phone and telephone numbers down. Some people will take advantage of your information and harass you. Whenever possible, direct people to your website for more information, and have them contact you through email.

There is more to it than that. What about the blank side on the back of your business card? This is where it gets fun. As I have stated in my e-book, the back side of your business card is where the fun begins, and people will appreciate you more. They will have fun during the sales process and make sure to put your business card first and foremost in a special place, right in their wallet or business card file. You have to place something fun on the back of your business card that will keep people intrigued and excited, especially when it is something that relates to them, or has personal meaning. When you do something meaningful and exciting in the eyes of your clients and customers, they will run off with your card, and immediately show it to their family and friends. They, in turn, will approach you to help them with their needs (or recommend someone who might need your product or service) so that they can get one too! It spreads like fire, and that is only the beginning of successful business card marketing for your business.

www.goarticles.com

by Robert Marsi

Internal Dental Marketing Strategy REALLY Working?

I recently had perhaps one of the most interesting coaching calls I have ever had.

First, the client tells me, "The newsletter isn't working." This coming from a seasoned dentist who has been doing a newsletter for YEARS suddenly thinks his 20+ new patients a month from referrals are due to something else... a Care To Share card. Yes, those work, don't get me wrong.

So, my advice was, "Hey, quit doing the newsletter and see what happens." Bad advice, but I want to prove a point.

Reminds me of a private client who insisted that, after 6 months of patient newsletter internal marketing, that patients were referring to him because he had a new location, new carpet and so on. Well, that HELPS, but believe me, since he stopped last month, I'm betting money he'll be back once referrals die off because he stopped asking for them!

In this day and age, one gets what one asks for. Nothing more. BUT, a lot less if they stop asking!

LESSON: If things are really cooking in your practice, but you're not sure WHY, the best thing to do is keep on doing what you're doing! Don't stop doing what seems to be working even if you can't put your finger on it.

Anyway, back to the coaching client. He also insists he needs more new patients. Last month he saw 49 NEW patients. He's already working 40 hours a week CHAIRSIDE and 50 hours a week total. He claims his biggest problem is more new patients. Yeah. Right. Oh, and he takes just two weeks of vacation each year. This poor fella is going to be burnt out before he's 45.

This is a sad situation. In his mind, it's about jamming more new patients in the door. Really, it is about generating more production from the almost 50 new patients.

He claims their biggest barrier to treatment acceptance: FINANCING. Well, gee. Problem solved. Here's how to add $500,000 per year in production without adding another 50 new patients per month: YOU FINANCE THEM!

And no, not through DFP or CareCredit. You finance them yourselves. So, in reality he has a systems problem, not a marketing problem.

ACTION-TO-TAKE TIP: Have you CORRECTLY diagnosed the problem(s) affecting your practice's ability to grow? All the new patients in the world will not help if your systems are designed to handle what you already are generating!

www.goarticles.com

by James Erickson