An open letter to SendOutCards.com

May 28, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 15 Comments
Filed under: Customer Service, Opinions, Web Services 

A few minutes ago, I logged in to my account at SendOutCards.com in order to send a card to a friend.

I have been a satisfied customer for a number of years, and have regularly purchased points that are used for sending cards. I currently have over 800 points paid for and accumulated.

Today, I noticed that they have decided to expire all the points I don’t use by October 2012,

That’s just wrong.

And, that’s why I wrote an open letter to SendOutCards on my Facebook profile.

I am reproducing the text of that letter below, in order to have a copy where I can find it.

Here’s what I wrote:

I just logged into SendOutCards.com for the first time in awhile and was very confused by the change in the interface. I finally figured out how to use it to send a card.

I noticed that my points are going to expire in October 2012 and I’m very upset and disappointed by that. I paid good money for years to build up my supply of points and now SOC has arbitrarily decided to put an expiration date on them.

If my points expire before I can use them, I will stop being an SOC customer. I will stop recommending you to my friends and clients.

It’s just that simple.

I had big plans on using the service with Murphy Gold as I get stronger, but this definitely puts a damper on my enthusiasm.

I still like using the service, when I can figure out the changes, but I don’t like it when a company decides to steal from me, and that’s exactly what you will be doing if you expire my points.

Sincerely,

John L. Dilbeck

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Your online business: A business mindset

May 20, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 13 Comments
Filed under: Act On Your Dream!, Affiliate Marketing, Sitesell and Site Build It, Success and Failure 

A few minutes ago, I was reading Ken Evoy’s blog and was very impressed with this post:

A business mindset and other lessons

In his post, he refers to an email he received from one of his customers, Louann (owner of wedding-flowers-and-reception-ideas.com), who was thanking him for what he, the team at Sitesell, and SBI had done to impact her life in a very positive way.

Then he offers eight lessons and an insight into his philosophy. I found her letter and his lessons to be touching and valuable.

I am delighted when I read that someone is having real success with their online business, and Louann has worked hard for several years on a site based on her passion about weddings, receptions, and flowers. Now, she is reaping the rewards for all that hard work.

Her site is about a subject that she loves and understands. She has developed real knowledge of her subject and presents it well. If you are interested in wedding flowers and receptions, you’ll find a wealth of knowledge on her site and links to lots of products you can purchase for your wedding.

What she is not doing…

She’s not trying to tell you how to blog, or make money online, or do any of the other things that most people associate with an online business. She’s not telling you that it is important to promote your business on MerchantCircle, LinkedIn, Yelp, FourSquare, or other similar sites.

Notice the lack of hype. No long form sales letters.

She did not invent a whole new thing. She did not write a book and then look for readers.

She doesn’t market on Facebook or Twitter. She doesn’t have a membership section on her site. She doesn’t have a mailing list or a newsletter.

What she is doing…

What does she have? A large, well-organized site that provides what her readers are looking for.

She uses a very simple design. Two columns. No widgets. No fancy javascript menus. Just a simple, easy to navigate, tier-structured website.

Then, she presents information for free and gets paid for advertising and commissions on sales.

She is providing information for people who are interested in wedding flowers and receptions and she is actively selling them the products they want to make their own wedding dreams come true.

She has identified a niche for which she has passion, interest and knowledge.

She has built a site dedicated to providing what people are looking for in that niche.

People find her site in the search engines and buy the products she provides.

Everyone is happy.

That’s a great example of niche marketing that is completely unrelated to the “make money online” niche.

She provides information that people are looking for. Have you ever wanted to know how to fold napkins into fancy designs for your reception? I haven’t. But some people really, really want to know how to do that. They can learn it on her site.

There are a number of designs available and they link to individual pages that show step-by-step directions and videos.

How much does it cost to get the information?

Nothing. It’s provided for free.

Each of those pages is designed around a particular keyword phrase that people are already looking for. She used the tools in SBI to research those keywords and then designed and wrote pages to put her information in front of people who were already looking for it on the search engines.

When her visitors were happy with the information she provided for free, they were more inclined to trust her and to buy the products she sells: wedding gifts, floral arrangements, photo gifts, and other products related to weddings and receptions.

Years of hard work is rewarded…

I think she has done a great job.

I’ve read many posts on the members-only Sitesell forums where she has discussed building her site with other people who use SBI. (We refer to ourselves as SBIers.)

She has helped others along the way, too, by providing great advice to help us build our sites and attract new visitors. And, eventually, to make sales and profits.

I hope you’ll go read Ken’s post and follow the link to read the email she sent him.

A business or a website…

Back in January, I addressed part of the difference between making money online and building an online business:

Make money online vs. Build a business online

Louann provides a great example that shows the difference between making money online and building an online business.

Well done, Louann! Congratulations on your success.

Act on your dream!

JD

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Facebook plus Google equals Business

May 18, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 6 Comments
Filed under: Advertising and Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Business Networking, Facebook, Marketing, Sitesell and Site Build It 

Where are the two best places to promote your business if you want to be found by new customers?

Think a moment. Where do you search for things you want?

That’s right. Facebook and Google.

Sitesell will help your business get found on these two sites.

Sitesell has tens of thousands of customers around the world who use their tools and strategies to build websites that get found. They’ve been doing this for over 10 years — and that’s how long I’ve been one of their very satisfied customers.

I personally recommend Sitesell. I’m a satisfied long-term customer and a happy affiliate.

Their new service is targeted to people who own traditional offline brick and mortar businesses and want to be found in their local area.

I think it could be useful to some online-only businesses, if you want to target a local area, instead of globally.

If you own a business and want to promote your products and services locally…

Sitesell has introduced a new service to help you market your business on Google and Facebook.

Facebook has become the most popular way to promote your business by engaging with your customers and prospects using a Facebook page for your business. There are a few things you need to know in order to use Facebook effectively for this type of marketing, and there is a bit of a learning curve.

Sitesell offers two levels of service. One helps you get started. Or, if you prefer, someone at Sitesell who already knows how to do all this will work with you to target your market and offer and then do the tech work for you.

I think it’s priced very reasonably. If I were doing this type of service, I’d charge more than they do.

The more I know about building an online business, and promoting offline businesses online, the more I value what I’ve learned from the talented folks at Sitesell.

It’s also why I use their tools to promote the businesses that are owned by my clients. For example, Murphy Gold is powered by SBI, one of the services offered by Sitesell.

You already know how important it is for your business to be found on Google when someone is searching for the products and services you offer. Right?

Now that Facebook has exploded onto the scene, it’s time to promote your business where people are flocking.

Look over the offer. If you have questions, call the number listed on that page. They will answer your questions for free. Really.

No obligation. Really.

They WILL NOT stick you on a mailing list and bombard you with offer after offer, never-ending upsells, and breathless hype about new product launches, as we see so many other companies doing.

These folks are the real deal. They specialize in helping people build online businesses and now they’re extending that service to helping you promote your business on two of the most popular sites in the world: Facebook and Google.

Right now, before you forget or get distracted by all the other things you have to do, go and check out their offer.

Is this something that will help you promote your business better?

You’re a responsible business owner. Due diligence is important, and I always recommend researching a company before doing business with them. You can learn more about Sitesell on their Facebook page.

See why thousands of people “Like” Sitesell on Facebook and read what they are saying about the company and the services they provide.

If you have specific questions about Sitesell and their services, their Facebook page is a good place to ask. (It also lets you experience how a company can engage with prospects on a Facebook page.)

If you are an affiliate marketer and want to earn commissions while helping local business owners…

You can earn a commission by becoming a Sitesell affiliate and promoting their services and products to people you know in your local area who want to use Google and Facebook better.

Most small business owners do not have the technical skill and knowledge that’s needed in order to get the most out of Facebook. Some do very well on their own, and others do not.

It’s that second group that you can help the most by letting them know how Sitesell can help them.

I use Sitesell’s tools every day to promote my business and those of my clients, and I’ve been considering helping them do a better job with their Google and Facebook presence. Now, I don’t have to do it. I can just explain how it will help them and then refer them to Sitesell Services.

It’s a win-win-win situation.

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Are learning curves stopping you from making a profit?

May 11, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 17 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, Webhosting 

I was going to post this as a reply to a comment Delena Silverfox posted on the Weebly adds collaborative website editing post I wrote a few days ago, but I decided to make it a post of its own.

Here’s part of what she said:

…You make a lot of reeeeally good points here. Like the learning curve with self-hosting services. That’s the biggest reason I’ve kept my blog(s) on Blogger rather than anything else.

I’ve tried hosting with HostGator and GoDaddy, but when I got my URL and hosting, then went to the dashboard of my services and realized I knew absolutely nothing about how to actually get a site up and running, my projects were dead in the water. I just don’t understand how it all works. My brand of geek is more the sci-fi and gaming variety of geek….

Delena, you bring up a very good point — learning curves.

When I first started blogging, it was as a hobby. Later, it became an integral part of my marketing business. It was much more effective when blogs were new and there were few competitors. Now, my blogs convert much poorer than my tier-structured websites. That’s why I’m putting much less effort into blogging this year.

Every time we encounter something new on the Internet, there is a learning curve. Some things are easy to use — like Twitter. But, there is still a learning curve involved in learning how to use each of them effectively for our business and/or personal purposes.

For several years, I tested every blogging platform and every social networking site I encountered. Most were a complete waste of time and diverted me from actually working my business. Yes, my business is marketing online, so it wasn’t entirely wasted, but it did not help in producing revenue.

If I were in a different business, all of that effort would have directly competed with actually working my business and that would have been a Bad Thing.

I’ve known lots of small business owners who wasted months of time and put up really lousy websites, when they could have paid a pro a couple of thousand dollars and would have had something that looked good, attracted visitors, presented good calls to action, and produced results.

On the other hand, lots of small business owners tend to be generalists and do-it-yourself-ers. Many are highly skilled in several areas. I’ve seen lots of excellent blogs and websites that they built themselves.

In many instances — perhaps most — we’re better off getting better at what we’re already good at, rather than trying to improve those things we don’t like to do or are not good at.

So, each of us has to decide for ourselves where our skills are strong and where they’re weak. Also, we have to consider what we enjoy doing and what we can’t stand.

Then, time, energy, skills, interest, and profit have to be factored into your own personal equation to help you decide what you should do yourself and what you either don’t do or hire someone else to do for you.

It’s a case of penny (dollars) wise and pound (time) foolish. The one thing that small business owners all have in short supply is time and that’s what is frequently squandered in a misguided effort to save a few dollars.

A blog can be a really good thing for a business and I believe that a website is a requirement, but I don’t think everyone has equal talents when creating and maintaining them. In many cases, business owners would be much better off hiring a pro to build and maintain their websites, and hiring a professional writer — who understands the psychology of marketing — to write the pages and blog posts.

I just don’t see much of this being done by most small business owners.

To me, it makes good business sense to pay someone $500 (for example), if what they do produces an extra $1,000 (or any amount over $500). Not only does it produce a profit on its own, but it frees up the owners time to do things directly related to the business (or have time for a nap or a day off now and then).

I’m way off topic for a blog about affiliate marketing. These days, I’m splitting my time between affiliate marketing and promoting local small businesses. I see some similarities and big differences.

For those of us who earn our living by publishing on the Internet, it can be a very wise investment of our time and energy to learn how to build good, productive websites and blogs. That’s a core part of our business.

For other business types, it can be a huge distraction filled with multiple learning curves.

For those of us whose geekiosity runs to tech things, this can be a good way to build a business helping local folks who don’t understand it.

(Technogeeks usually have poor people skills. It’s a stereotype, because it’s true more often than not. They are wise when they team up with a marketinggeek who knows how to sell. Apple would not have been the same if it hadn’t been for Steve Wozniak teaming with Steve Jobs, both of whom were geniuses in their own realms.)

For folks whose geekforce runs to other things, I think blogging on Blogger and building websites using tools like Weebly makes a lot of sense. I just don’t see any reason why you should have to face the hassles, uncertainty, and displeasure of doing the tech things you don’t want to do.

I do think it’s a good thing to invest in a domain name you own and can market. You can publish through Blogger to your own domain. (You may need to hire someone to set it up for you, if you’re completely baffled.)

You can have your own domain name with Weebly, too. If you register a domain through their service, they’ll set up all the tech stuff for you. If you register a domain through a different registrar, you’ll have to do it yourself, or at the risk of sounding like a broken record, hire someone to do it for you.

I think it is important to learn all you can about your business and effective ways to promote and market it, but I think there is a limit that you reach at some point. Promoting your business and the products and services you offer is important. Very important. Learning to market your business more effectively is a good path to more profit, but don’t waste time when you don’t have to.

Are all the learning curves stopping you from making a profit?

Act on your dream!

JD

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