Do-It-Yourself Ecommerce

First and foremost, how can you help your visitors? How can you solve their problem? How do you attract and hold their interest? How do you get your message across? What makes you better than your competition?

This is the area that will initially take up most of your time. Once you’re up and running more of your time will be spent on marketing, but you must continue to add new content.

To understand web site content management, imagine your home page is like a store window… it should grab their attention, intrigue them, persuade them to come in and look around. Once inside, showcase your product or service by showing people what it can do for them.

You also want to establish a relationship with your visitors by showing them that you understand their problems and want to help.

Content is HUGE. It’s the most important aspect of your Internet marketing strategy. It’s what search engines look for on a web site. It can be used to create articles linking back to your web site. It can be used in email campaigns to your customer base. The more content you create, the better. That’s why I recommend starting out with a business that you are knowledgeable and passionate about.

The next thing is SPELL-CHECK your content. If you want to market to wealthy, educated clientele you shouldn’t come off as a high school dropout. It doesn’t build trust. Most HTML editors will spell-check for you.

Microsoft Word will check spelling AND grammar, but it’s a pain to convert anything in Word to HTML. (I know you can save Word documents as HTML pages, but the code it produces is truly horrific.) An option is to use Word to create your content, save it as a plain text document (.txt) in Notepad, then copy and paste it into your HTML editor where you then format it.

Another option is to hire a freelance copywriter at someplace like Elance. You provide an outline of what you need and copywriters can bid on the project. If you prefer to have your own message in your own words, you may just need a copy editor to clean it up a little. Your site is the window into your business – make sure it shows professionalism.

TIP: You can also use Elance to get your graphics like a logo and letterhead for your business for not a lot of money.

As I said, the more content, the better. Don’t limit yourself to just what you think you will need for your web site.