Sales from the EDGE
Back Issue #037
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Sales from the EDGE Issue #037
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Sales from the EDGE
Breaking Through the "White Noise" Of Selling on the Net
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>From time to time, the EDGE publishes important updates that
you need to SELL on the Net. Most "latest and greatest" Net
marketing & sales developments simply waste our time. Today's
"hot new technology" is tomorrow's "whatever happened to?"
Occasionally, though, something comes along that STICKS. It
might NOT even be NEW... but we need to be reminded. When
that happens, the EDGE cuts through all the "white noise" of
Web marketing. It explains the issue and outlines clearly
how YOU can best take advantage of it.
SALES FROM THE EDGE is sent to SiteSell product owners.
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June 24, 2003
Issue #037
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
o SITESELL NEWS...
1) SBI!'s HTML Editor Compatibility Launches!...
Leaves Traditional Web Hosting Obsolete!
2) Webmasters... Use SBI! to Build *YOUR* Business...
Announcing a New Site, Just for You
o FEATURED ARTICLE...
1) The State of "Small-Small Business"
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>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SITESELL NEWS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>-News-
---1---
>-News-
SBI!'s HTML Editor Compatibility Launches!...
Leaves Traditional Web Hosting Obsolete!
Once in a great while, something comes along that changes
the way business is done on the Net. That something, of
course, is Site Build It! (SBI!). It has snuck up on the
Net, slowly at first, with its first incarnation directed at
affiliates.
But Site Build It! has been building momentum...
Thousands of "Small-Small Businesses" (SSBs) of *all* sorts...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-businesses/
... are using SBI! as their online business-building,
profit-generating weapon. A quick peek at the SBI! Alexa
survey results tells the tale...
http://buildit.sitsell.com/sbi-businesses/traffic-alexa.html
Yes...
51% of SBI! sites rank within the top 6% most popular sites.
30% rank within the most visited 3%.
17% score in the top 2%.
SBI! boasts a much, much higher percentage of highly
trafficked, successful sites than any other Web host on the
Net. When every dollar counts, that means our clients are
more successful, more profitable, and more satisfied.
But, of course, *we* never are! :-) So...
Once in a very great while, something comes along that will
actually end the way "things have always been done"...
Conventional Web hosting is about to become obsolete.
That *something* is SBI!'s brand new HTML Editor
Compatibility module. It has the unprecedented potential to
further revolutionize business-building on the Net, pushing
the SBI! "envelope" yet further ahead of everything else.
**********************************************************
And what is the HTML Editor Compatibility module, exactly?
**********************************************************
SBI!'s HTML Editor Compatibility module allows SBIers to
upload HTML pages (built offline in their favorite editor),
directly into SBI!.
For example, Paul Crane, SBI! Product Manager, used
DreamWeaver to brand his SBI! site...
http://www.diet-supplement-review.com/
... with the same "Look and Feel" as his content site and
his Yahoo! store...
http://www.ultimatefatburner.com/
http://www.utimatefatburner-store.com/
Full design flexibility, *and* Paul is as happy as a pig in
u-no-wat, working with his beloved DreamWeaver.
As well... SBI! supports many "supporting" file formats
-- beside images (.gif, .jpg, .png), you can upload Flash,
PDF, Mpeg, MP3s (and many others) into SBI!.
Bottom line? Now you can not only have your cake and eat
it, but you can get an extra layer of icing, too!
The HTML Editor Compatibility module allows you to plug your
own HTML pages created with client-side editors (like
DreamWeaver, FrontPage, GoLive, etc., etc.), directly into
SBI!, *while retaining complete access to SBI!'s
success-breeding back-end functionality.* Functionality
like...
o keyword brainstorming
o integrated Search Engine Optimization module
o proprietary Search Engine submission -- submissions are
monitored for crawler visits, and are resubmitted (according
to each SE's exacting protocols) if a page is either not
crawled, or is dropped from the database (can you say
"Google Dance"? -- no problem, SBI! simply starts the
relisting process over again and has been very effective in
overcoming the dance).
o keyword ranking and keyword searches reports (for SEs
AND Directories AND PPCs!) prevent you from ever having to
perform a manual keyword search again! Rankings and actual
page performance are *not* the same thing -- SBI! reports on
*both.* No need to do all that manually.
o built-in double opt-in HTML e-mail newsletter
functionality. Delivers your newsletter to your subscriber
in the format preferred by his/her e-mail client! Plus, the
integrated SpamCheck module ensures the mail "gets through."
o "single click" Pay-Per-Click research, and mass bidding.
Even PPC rankings are reported!
o the value-exchange network, which facilitates the
exchanging of links between pre-qualified, quality sites.
... and of course, lots more! Much, much more...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/index.html#FEATURES
http://buildit.sitesell.com/compare/
I don't have to tell you how earth-shattering this is.
Whether you happen to be a super-savvy Web professional or a
Net marketer with some HTML experience, SBI!'s HTML Editor
Compatibility module is the "Holy Grail" of Web marketing.
Now you can simply pop your own HTML page into SBI!, like
bread into a toaster, and instantly access the entire,
integrated suite of SBI!'s business-building tools!
-----SIDEBAR-----
Those who have only basic HTML skills can
also benefit from the HTML Editor
Compatibility module. They too can build
pages more efficiently. How?
These users can have SBI! create the HTML for
a selected SBI! style template (which can be
totally customized using SBI!'s graphic
tools). They can then work on this template
directly in their own HTML editor! Great
productivity!
And for those SBIers who don't yet have a
grasp on the whole "HTML-thing," SBI!'s
integrated SiteBuilder module, powerful
enough to accommodate all but the most
demanding design specifications, remains
intact. By using SiteBuilder, a "newbie" can
easily create and maintain an attractive,
*effective* online business and compete
head-to-head with savvy pros. Actually, they
beat most pros (those pros who do not use
SBI!)...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-businesses/traffic-alexa.html
... and take a look at the up-to-the-minute
Alexa results for these straightforward
Sample Sites...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-samplesites/
"Straightforward" works.
SBI! "levels" the playing field and allows
*everyone* to focus on the only thing that
really matters...
Building a business.
After all, you shouldn't need to know how the
telephone works to make a business call,
right? This remains the core SBI! philosophy!
-----SIDEBAR-----
Here's the bottom line...
Now it's possible to "pop" the most complex, table-formatted
HTML designs into SBI!, thereby effectively putting *all*
your site promotion and management duties on autopilot,
while retaining *total* control over the layout of your
pages.
What do you get when you cross a current state-of-the-Net
WYSIWYG ("What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get") HTML Editor with
Site Build It!? Think...
o greater productivity, as you work with your familiar
HTML Editor and graphic software
o total design control -- use your own tools to build
the look and feel of your dreams
o the value of SBI! tools (automation, productivity,
creativity, integration) that no other company provides...
Brainstorming and researching tools $200
Web Hosting $240
Domain name annual renewal (Automatic) $15
SEO analysis software $100
Submit unlimited URLs to Search Engines $120
Ranking Reports for Search Engines $240
Unique Keyword Search Reports for Search Engines $120
Ranking Reports for Directories $240
Unique Keyword Search Reports for Directories $120
Search Engine Optimization $200
Pay-per-click research and mass-bidding $220
Click-in and Click-through Analysis $200
Opt-in HTML/Text E-zine subscription and delivery
(E-Newsletter, including SpamCheck and OpenRate) $240
Value Exchange $180
All the tools, all in one place. For details...
https://secure.sitesell.com/build/order.html
----
In a nutshell...
HTML Editor design flexibility and productivity
+
SBI!'s proven system and targeted traffic
=
****Total control, productivity and success****
No matter what you want to accomplish design-wise, SBI! can
handle what *you* can throw at it.
Why does this render traditional Web hosting obsolete?...
Traditional Web hosting provides nothing more than your own
little "cubby-hole" in cyber space. You want bells and
whistles? You have to start by opening your wallet.
You want to build a profitable, vibrant e-biz for yourself
or your clients? Sit down, pull up a chair... you're going
to be awhile. After all, you've got a near-endless list of
tedious tasks that must be performed first... and then over
and over again! (Not to mention the huge array of expensive
third party tools, software, and plug-ins you have to
purchase, learn, and kludge together. But, even in the end,
it will never approximate SBI!).
Phew! Expensive! Tedious. Time-consuming.
No wonder most online SSBs die.
On the other hand, SBI!'s combination of comprehensive,
time-saving, integrated features and low annual fee make it
the proverbial "no brainer." For example, our clients love
the Search Engine module, which submits, spider-tracks,
index-checks, and re-submits each page as necessary... all
according to the exacting tolerances of each SE! It also
delivers a Keyword Rank Report and a Keyword Searches
Report for every page -- the later displays the top 100
keyword searches that "found" your page.
SSB owners love features like this (and this is just one of
them) because they are invaluable. And, of course, it saves
them from doing it... by hand... week after week... for
hundreds of pages... for many Search Engines!
Naturally...
Behind all this invisible e-business building functionality
lies the same high-quality, fast, reliable Web hosting you'd
get anywhere else. But that's the easy part.
Simply renting some bandwidth and space on a server through
a Web host dooms 99.9% of SSBs to failure. Better off not
to even start -- you're doomed without the process and
without the tools.
Speaking of "process"...
Did you know that the Action Guide, in customer surveys,
ranks consistently in the Top 3 features (and that's saying
a lot, considering the SBI!feature set!). Why? Because it
takes readers step by step through a READY-AIM-FIRE process
that works. It works over and over again... all you have to
do is follow the process and use the tools.
The hosting element of SBI! is so insignificant as to be
absolutely inconsequential. Sure, you need Web hosting to
do business online, just like you need a phone to make a
business call. But it is what transpires on the phone
*during* the business call that matters, not what type of
phone you have. So it is with SBI! -- it lets you focus on
your business, not the technology around it.
In the same way that phone companies no longer have massive
arrays of switchboard operators, get ready to say goodbye to
the way Web hosting is done.
And get ready for this kind of success...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-businesses/traffic-alexa.html
>-News-
---2---
>-News-
Webmasters... Use SBI! to Build *YOUR* Business...
Announcing a New Site, Just for You
Are you a Webmaster? Are you thinking about starting your
own Webmaster business? Use SBI!, together with your HTML
Editor, graphic software and other software of choice to
build professional *and* successful Web sites for your SSB
clients.
Full details at our new site, built just for Webmasters...
http://webmaster.sitesell.com/
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>> THIS ISSUE'S FEATURED ARTICLE
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---1---
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The State of "Small-Small Business"
For those of you who know me, it will come as no surprise
that one of my all-time favorite, "top 10 desert-island"
e-publications is John Audette's I-Sales discussion list.
It's a vibrant, active list, whose members comprise some of
the world's greatest Internet pioneers and innovators. Each
issue is packed with thought-provoking, inspiring material.
If you're not a member, you are missing out BIG-time.
Subscribe to I-sales at...
http://www.adventive.com/
-----SIDEBAR-----
My other "desert island" picks?...
Allan Gardyne's APn (AssociatePrograms Newsletter)
http://www.associateprograms.com/
THE #1 affiliate newsletter, bar none.
A unique, clear, honest, knowledgeable
voice in the wilderness.
--
Ralph Wilson's Web Marketing Today
http://www.wilsonweb.com/
Web Marketing Today is free.
Web Commerce Today is not.
Together, you have Web marketing
totally covered.
--
Danny Sullivan's SeachEngineWatch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
Pick up Danny's paid e-zine and you'll
have all you ever need on anything to
do with "search."
--
Of course, these "desert island" picks would
only do me some good on a desert island if I
had solar power, a sat hookup, and my
laptop... or if I was in Anguilla...
http://www.anguilla-beaches.com/
(Sheesh, what a dad won't do to get his
daughter's site promoted!)
-----SIDEBAR-----
John Audette recently returned to I-sales after a brief
respite as moderator. He had apparently grown tired of
waxing his vintage Porsches, and his tan no longer need work
at his Maui condo. So he is back in the saddle!
The epitomy of the successful Netrepreneuer, John has built
and sold (for a *significant* dollar figure) not one, but
two successful, highly profitable e-businesses. In a recent
post, John mused about building a small Net-based "hobby"
business around his condo in "Wailea," a beautiful and
exclusive Hawaiian resort enclave.
John's post about his new site, waileavacation.com, asked
for advice from his I-sales constituency about how to best
build traffic to it.
"What a perfect example of the sort of site that is perfect
for SBI!... and the exact problem that most SSBs face," I
thought. It got me thinking about the sad state of small,
small businesses on the Net... no traffic, no business. No
business, no profits. Site dies.
Over and over and over again, most small businesses are
doomed, before they even start. As a group they are
under-served and ignored -- "thanks for your money, here's a
corner of our server, knock yourself out."
One thing led to another, and I ended writing the following
article for I-Sales, which John published in Issue #1746 as
the "Featured Post," a rare honor.
I received some wonderful e-mail from that piece, the kind
of comments that brings tears to my eyes. (Hey, I cry at
movies, I can't help it!) It's particularly relevant to
today's discussion, so I've included it below, along with
additional commentary at the end. Think about this article
-- the key to your own success on the Net lies within.
===========================================================
Hi John (and all),
Regarding your comments about SEO and "Making a New Site
Findable"...
You commented that you were astounded that the domain name,
"waileavacation.com," which *IS* a beauty, was available.
Of course, it's a beauty for a select number of people who
have something to market on the Net... in other words, for a
NICHE. And niches are where the small-small business person
can still (and will always be able to) "succeed." Which
brings up two definitions...
1) Small-small business (SSB) -- we use this term to mean
any 1-10 person small business. It's a subset of the "SME"
space, which one tends to generally think of as "larger
small businesses and up." SSBs include an infinite variety
of niches, grouped into major categories...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-businesses/
Much like the universe itself, the "niche-space" is forever
expanding, with the number and variety of services and
products growing geometrically. And it is the small-small
business, the REAL backbone of our economy, that is there to
CREATE and FILL those niches. It's this same diversity that
makes the Web so fascinating, and that provides the SSB with
so many great opportunities on the Net.
--
2) "Succeed" -- while some SSBs merely want to augment an
offline, local business with local clientele (ex., my
landscaper), others want to create entirely new Net-based
businesses. So each SSB defines "success" in its own way.
But THE underpinning engine of success, no matter how it is
defined, is traffic.
If your site does not generate large amounts of warm,
targeted, willing-to-buy traffic, it does not exist. Much
like the proverbial faraway tree in the forest... if nobody
hears that tree fall, did it make a noise? Well, if no one
visits your site, does it exist?
--
So, for SSBs, it is *ALL* about niches and traffic. How to
combine those two?
Create content, FIRST. Instead, everyone jumps to "get the
money." Then they wonder where the visitors are. Instead of
putting the (shopping) cart before the (content) horse,
build a site full of SEO'd topical pages -- each topic
should relate to the theme/niche that relates to your
business. SEO'd topical content is the lynchpin for building
free, targeted traffic AND then PREselling this traffic.
Of course, for most small-small businesses, that's easier
said than done. The average small business person can't
begin to cope with everything that is required to succeed
online nowadays. And yet, it CAN be done.
Take a look at sites built by our flagship product, Site
Build It! (51% of our sites end up in the top 6% of all
sites on the Net). These are sites that are largely built by
regular business people... with an absolutely amazing
diversity (genuine small businesses, not money-making or
get-rich-quick sites)...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-samplesites/
You'll find two of my favorite sites there, one that I'm
determined to try one day... rent-a-villa-in-tuscany.com
, and my 14 year-old daughter's site on Anguilla. Her
site gets more traffic than the official Anguilla Tourist
Board's... created by an expensive New York agency. Compare
"anguilla-beaches.com" with their far bigger (and much more
expensive) site, "anguilla-vacation.com" at Alexa.com.
John, while travel sites are just one niche that SBI!
masters wonderfully, these two sites demonstrate well the
approach I would suggest for waileavacation.com. Create
loads and loads of information about Wailea and Maui,
starting with some intelligent keyword research as
recommended by Christian Neilsen (I-sales, Issue 1744).
Build upon that with high-value, interesting, "I live
there," personal, useful, credible content -- let your
personality shine through. In other words, PREsell. What
is PREselling?
Basically, warm up your visitor by OVERdelivering what s/he
came for... information. That visitor will start to like
and trust you. Soon, whether you're renting a luxury condo
in Wailea or golf tours in South Africa, selling juggling
products or high-end audio equipment, providing
screenwriting services or cookie recipes, you'll have a
following... warm, willing-to-buy folks who will sign up for
your e-zine and buy what you are offering (whether you are
an affiliate, selling an e-book, or offering a service).
"Give, then take." Hmmm... where have I heard that before?
Oh yes, right...
http://www.adventive.com/sweet16/priciple10.html :-)
--
Of course, you have a second audience (beside your
prospective customers), too.. the Search Engines (i.e.,
their hyperactive little spiders) and the Directories (their
over-worked human editors). Let's look at each of these...
1) SEs are in business. Their product? Delivering
relevant, sharp search results. Help them do that. But if
you trick above, it is just as
possible today as it was five years ago.
Hope this helps with waileavacation.com.
All the best,
Ken Evoy
President, SiteSell.com
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
=============================================================
Pssssst! Ken here, I'm back!
So what's the moral of the story?
OK, beside the fact that I forgot Sweet 16, #2...
NICHE WITH PASSION
http://www.adventive.com/sweet16/priciple02.html
By the way, if you have never seen John's Sweet 16
principles for building a successful business online, you're
missing some of the most important, experience-based,
success-proven thinking on the Net...
http://www.adventive.com/sweet16/
So I'll ask again... what's the moral of the story? :-)
Small, "Small-Small Businesses" have specific and unique
circumstances that generate distinct needs to reap online
success. Unfortunately, their needs are not being met.
SBI! is the first and only approach that understands the
needs of the SSB sector. We've lived in the small, small
business space for the majority of our existence. Even
today, Paul Crane, SBI! Product Manager, continues to
run his online business as part of his job description.
Why? Because *we must remain our own customer.*
The only way to understand the SSB space is to be there.
And as we grow, we cannot leave that space behind. We
cannot do "focus groups" to understand -- ha! We have to
continue to *live the experience* and listen to our
customers.
Many of you are surprised and impressed to be surveyed by
us. It seems like we are constantly running one survey or
another, to know what you're thinking and doing. Again, it
keeps us totally plugged into the trenches -- anyone who
comes to work at SiteSell does not work in an ivory tower.
>From our unique vantage point, we *KNOW* the needs that are
critical to the success of the SSB online...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-businesses/
Things like tight budgets. Time constraints. A million
things, personal and business, banging on you at once.
A less-than-thorough understanding of tech and SEO
issues. A feeling of being overwhelmed, at times.
If a company does NOT understand issues like this, it can
never address them, let alone care about them. All it can
do is say...
======================================
Thanks for your money, here's a corner
of our server, go knock yourself out.
======================================
If you do understand the issues, you *can* build a system that
overcomes them. Every Web hosting company on the Net would
kill for results like these...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/sbi-businesses/traffic-alexa.html
The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is delicious.
(Between pudding and having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too, I'm
getting hungry, so time to wrap this issue up!)
Site Build It! was built from the ground up, with SSB needs
*always* on our minds. SBI! is the only product of its kind,
the only product created to specifically address the needs
of SSBs online. The only product that delivers...
Web sites that WORK.
Few SSBs accomplish little more than providing an additional
tax write-off to their accountants. In the end, all but a
very few succumb to a slow, painful cyber-death.
It's not the case for SBI! clients, however. Whether you
do it yourself, or hire a Webmaster to do it for you (at
a fraction of the cost of conventional Web designing and
hosting), you *CAN* succeed on the Net...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/
Wishing and guaranteeing you success in your SSB ventures!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SiteSell Discount Directory~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.sitesell.com/discount-directory.html
Please bookmark this page -- it's the only page that you
will EVER need to buy SiteSell products at an owners-only
discount. For owners of SiteSell products ONLY, it provides
discounts on all products, except for MYSS! 2002 -- if I
reduced the price on it, I'd have to pay *you* to buy it!
;-)
SiteSell Discount Directory
http://www.sitesell.com/discount-directory.html
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Contact info: E-mail us at support@sitesell.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Written by Ken Evoy, M.D.,
President, SiteSell.com
(c) copyright 2003 SiteSell.com
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