Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My business runs primarily online and I`ve run into a lot of problems and complexities because of that.

Is your business primarily online? What have been your greatest challenges, areas of confusion, etc.?

Have a great day,

Steve

The Oxford Program - http://www.TheOxfordProgram.com

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"Life is short. Love your work." Steve Bohler, MS The Oxford Program Founder/Head Coach http://www.TheOxfordProgram.com

I think this may be everyone`s concern is Targeted Traffic. However, I think knowing where to spend your advertising dollars are most important. You may have a great product, but advertising can kill the cow. Fortunately, analyzing statistical reports have helped determine if the advertising you are doing is giving you a higher conversion rate.

Yes, advertising is difficult. I do a lot with Google Adwords, but it`s driving the business into bankruptcy.

I also have difficulties with copywriting and crafting the site for optimal persuasive appeal. It`s hard to see your site from the fresh eyes of your customers.

Steve

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"Life is short. Love your work." Steve Bohler, MS The Oxford Program Founder/Head Coach http://www.TheOxfordProgram.com

Hi Steve

Steve I have been promoting affiliate programs online for 4 years. It took me a long time to work out how to promote cost effectively.

I found its better to do general un targeted advertising.

I get 98% of my traffic from surf for traffic programs and because this creates volume it help get me search engine and other traffic.

Steve... See some of what I do here http://www.helptosucceed.love-au.com/

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Regards Michael Clayton (rexiedexie)

My Affiliate Articles & Web Page Traffic

I agree, and only would change the word being used. Instead of "marketing," which is fine and valid, I`d rather use "visibility." It means essentially the same thing, but there are subtle yet profound differences.

Our biggest challenge is that---visibility. In the old days, you opened a store and the biggest population you had to deal with was your town. Maybe it was a small city, but it had borders. Now, with the Internet, that same store is opening up in front of the entire online world. It`s an exponentially bigger "arena."

I see it as the difference between river (or ocean) fishing and lake fishing. When you fish in a river, you have 1 opportunity to catch any given fish, as it swims by on its way down river (unless it`s a salmon). There are no borders, other than the two river banks, and at each end there`s pretty much unlimited space for the fish to go someplace else.

The ocean`s even worse, except there are vast schools of fish, far larger than anything possible in a river or lake.

That`s the Internet. But in a lake, like a town or city, there`s at least a surrounding border. You may not catch a fish every day, but at least you know there`s a finite population, and only a finite area of water. They can run, but they can`t get away...! LOL!

I`ve gotta say....I prefer lake fishing. :-D

Marketing means signs, posters, catchy phrases, gimmicks, or what have you. Fine...and in a relatively enclosed space they`re the first thing you`d try. But "visibility" introduces the greater area in which even marketing must be visible.

If you`re on a lake and in trouble, you shoot off a flare and "probably" someone will at least see it and wonder what it is. But if you`re in the middle of the ocean, you easily can go totally unnoticed, even if you shoot of a surface-to-air missile.

In a river, you could shoot off a flare, and someone on the banks would notice. But by then, the current has taken you a long way from wherever the rescue attempt begins.

It`s why I like this new term, "viral marketing." At each point of visibility, it returns the viewer to the location of the product. More importantly, it "somehow" stimulates each viewer to pass along the same information. I DON`T mean viruses, trojans, and malware!!

Viral marketing, if I understand the term, refers to the vector by which a marketing campaign proliferates. It means a manipulated form of word-of-mouth. I may be wrong, but someone can correct me if I am.