The whole point of setting up business On-line, is to make sales for your business.

Taking that in to consideration, here I go …

Static Websites

A Static Website also called the Brochure website, consists of a number of web pages, and needs to be developed and designed by a professional.
Unless you understand HTML, it’s very difficult to add pages to this type of web site yourself.

For small business owners, in my opinion, a Static website on it’s own, is a waste of money, because more than likely, only people that know what your website address is, will visit your website.

Why?

Because in the majority of cases, Static Websites do not do well at getting a good ranking in the Search Engines.

Most of your potential customers/clients won’t know your website address, so if they also can’t see you when they search in the Search Engines, your website will just gather virtual dust.

A CMS Based website, (CMS stands for Content Management System) is far better.

It can be used as it is, if your budget is non existent, but it can be developed and designed by a professional to make it look good.

This type of website basically allows you to add more pages to your website later, without understanding HTML and some are very good at getting listed in Google.

In my opinion, by far the best CMS to use for a small business owner is WordPress, if it is done correctly.

Phone book type Online Directories

Basically, in order to get people that would be interested in what you have to offer, to visit your web site, you need to go where the people are Online.

One of the latest trends is Online “Phone Book” type Business Directories that you need to pay to get a listing in.
There are thousands on the Internet and even in Ireland there are more than you would expect.

I’ve been on the Internet since 1994, so I’ve seen everything and I can tell you for a fact that 90% of these are a waste of money.

Why?

The majority of them will send no visitors to your website.

The main decider as to what you should spend your money on for anything Marketing related is, and always should be …
“Will you get visitors to your web site?” and if it’s a Yes,
“Was it worth the money you spent getting them?”

I use Google Analytics on all my website and my clients websites and in case you don’t know, this allows you to see where visitors to your website came from.

I have seldom seen a Business Directory in the recorded data, with one notable exception and that is ShopIn.ie.

ShopIn.ie has a list of 25 things that you can do with your paid ShopIn.ie listing to get more business, which includes plenty of things ShopIn.ie will do for you.

Yes, ShopIn.ie are going to actively bring people to their website, in fact they have gone as far as to state that your money is used to Promote you.

Interesting concept … you pay for a listing and they pool part of that fee to promote you.

So before you spend your hard earned money on a listing in an Online Business Directory, ask yourself “What am I getting?”

What do YOU think?

Leave me a comment.

Six months work and well worth it.

As I mentioned before, I’m starting with Google Adwords coaching and mentoring for Small Business owners.

I’ll add more as I go.

Please check out my new page, Internet Business Coaching, it has all the info.

Thanks

Eoin

There were a few technical issues at the start of the week and I wasn’t happy to open until I got everything right.

Also, I’m using iTunes to deliver my content and because of that, I have to wait to get it manually approved by iTunes staff, so as soon as I get the e-mail from them, I’m good to go

I would like to thank everyone for their support and interest in my coaching & Mentoring program, it’s good to get feedback even at this early stage.
It’s been almost six months of work to get this far, but I think it will be well worth it, for me and for my future Clients.

The next update will be that the doors are open.

Eoin

UPDATE: 3:30 PM GMT;  All the test went well, so my Coaching & Mentoring program will open at 9 AM EST  (1 PM GMT) tomorrow.

I’ll have a definite Start date for the first program soon, I’m just waiting for some technical information before I can my decision. It will be start on either March 23rd or March 30th.

I have decided that it will have two separate Modules, a 4 week Search Engine Optimisation Module and a Google™ Adwords Module, which will be for 6 weeks.

Update: I have decided to make one module, to combine both and this will be a 6 weeks Google™ Adwords Module.

I had a Social Networking Module planned, but decided to start with two modules, rather than doing too much by trying to do 3.

I sent out an announcement to my early bird list during last week, so if you’re on the list and didn’t see it, just contact me and I’ll send you a copy.

Eoin

As I’ve already mentioned in another post, running a business “on-line” is new to me, so I invested in getting the knowledge I needed and since November 2008, I have been on a Coaching Program with Alex Jeffreys, who lives in Cardiff, Wales.
He has been coached by one of the big names in on-line in Internet Business, Rich Schefren.

Monday February 16th, was our last official Coaching Webinar, so it was time to decided where to go from here …. ????

For me, I realised that the choice of “what to do now” was staring me in the face, but I didn’t really decide until last nights Webinar with Alex.

• I have over 14 years experience in Internet Business, that I normally use to help people use the Internet for their business.
• I’ve been learning Internet Marketing since then also and I already run my own successful Internet Business Consultancy at www.InternetMarketingClinic.ie
• I have a Trainer Skills Certificate, from the Irish Institute of Training & Development and I’m a Microsoft Master Instructor, the highest level of certification available from Microsoft™, for Microsoft Office™.
• I stay up-to-date with the many changes in Internet Business
• I really enjoy helping people.

So I already know how to teach people …..

I have something worthwhile to teach …

and I like helping people.

So as I mentioned at the start of this post, I decided to do is start my own Internet Business Coaching / Mentoring Program, to show people what they need to do to build their Internet Business, or build their existing business on the Internet, using “How To” videos and a weekly Coaching call or on-line webinars.

This is not the same type of Coaching Alex does, so it’s not a copy cat, it’s the niche that I have found exists.

I’m know working on how to do structure the Coaching Program so that members can get a return on their investment quickly and I expect to have the final details within a week or so.

So if you are interested in my Internet Business Coaching program, check out the link below.

Thanks,

Eoin

Update Note: The Internet Business Coaching / Mentoring program is now open.