Resources for the Internet Business Owner
One of the biggest mistakes an Internet Business Owner/Manager makes is not keeping abreast of Internet marketing developments. The Internet is constantly changing and evolving into a a very targeted tool for businesses. If your website is a brochure web site it can't make money for you. Check out some of the resources below for educating yourself on how to make money on the Internet.
The most important thing to remember is the Internet is not a mass market. It acts like one, but its not!
The Internet is about connecting business products or services with the people that want to buy those products or services. Doing this in the past was impossible. Today with the Internet it can be done through the development of interactive communities.
Below are useful websites to help you better understand the Internet and your online business.
Link Popularity
This website will tell you how many other sites link to your site. The more quality sites that link to yours the better position you get in Google. [click here]
Overture Keyword Search
Use this tool to determine the popularity of key words that describe your product or service. [click here]
Marketing Newsletter
Sign up for this cutting edge newsletter that will keep you abreast of new developments in Internet Marketing. [click here]
Internet Marketing Services
Learn how to build an interactive community that attracts customers that want your product or service. [click here]
Dnstuff.com
Useful for DNS searches.
Findforms.com
Thousands of free legal forms are at your fingertips with our one of the kind legal forms search engine. Simply type in the name of the form you are looking for and press the "Find" button. Search results with a $ in front, indicate premium forms.
Trade marks and patents
U.S. Government trademark office
Trillian
Instant Messaging (IM) enables real-time access to colleagues and clients, which makes it a much more efficient communication tool than voicemail or even email for many professionals. However, cross-platform issues have plagued many users, and new business-oriented IM tools are popping up all over with enterprise-specific features like anti-virus protection and secure message transmission. So let's keep it simple; if you would like to graduate to a true cross-platform IM product with a number of useful features, consider Trillian. It lets you simultaneously connect with the five most popular chat clients on the Web: Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, MIRC and AIM. By importing your passwords, buddy lists, various client preferences, and other chat specifics into its own interface, Trillian acts as a single hub for all your chat traffic. A nice feature for consultants is the fact that Trillian keeps a log of conversations a user has had with another person through its "Message History" option. The basic software can be downloaded at no cost; the enhanced "Pro" version costs $25(US).
USIT.COM
Jakob Nielsen has been called the "world's leading expert on usability." His site is a fantastic resource for those who want to stay up-to-date with usability trends and news. Sign up for Alertbox, and you will receive a biweekly notice when a new column is published. At the site, you will find lots of resources and news, as well as links to (fee-based) reports on usability as related to email, Web design, Intranets and more.
Wi-Fi-free spot directory
Marketing professionals on the go will want to bookmark this site, which is a guide to no-cost wireless Internet access hot spots around the world. Hot spots can be found in independent coffeehouses, hotels, airline VIP lounges, city parks, college campuses, and at selected retailers and restaurants such as Panera Bread Co. and Apple retail stores nationwide. No-cost hot spots (not surprisingly) are highly coveted but impossible to find when you really need them - like when you need to get a report to your boss or client, pronto. So, if you want to know where the complimentary hot spots are in your area, or in a place you'll be visiting, check this site out and do a little advance planning. If you're in New York City, for example, you can take advantage of complimentary access if you find yourself in the middle of the hot spot rooftop network that extends between Avenue A and Avenue B from 2nd to 10th Streets in the East Village. Who knew? In southern California, no-cost beach access is yours. Now that's what we call the Internet marketing consultant good life.
Bplans.com Business Calculators
This site offers business and marketing calculators that you can use to quickly and easily evaluate different aspects of your business. Here you will find very straightforward conversion rate, email ROI and PPC ROI calculators as well as more general cash flow, starting costs and break-even calculators. These tools are much simpler than some of the other calculators you will find on the Web, so if you just want to run some quick scenarios without inputting tons of data, they are a good choice. [click here]
Sample Size Calculator
How many people do you need to survey in order to generate a meaningful result? This Sample Size Calculator will help you find out.
Can-Spam Act
If you still don't have a handle on what the new US email regulations cover under the law popularly called CAN-SP@M, this PDF guide will help you understand the high points. The graphics are not the most attractive, but the 27-page document has solid, easy-to-understand content. The most helpful part is an email delivery checklist which covers every aspect of an email campaign, from content to list and delivery management factors needed to comply with the law. Once you think you have the key points down, test yourself with the eMarketing Association's quiz, which can be found at http://www.emarketingassociation.com/canspam_quiz.htm.
SBDCNET
Do you take full advantage of the business counseling, programs and resources that are available to you from US government agencies such as the SBA (Small Business Association) and the SBDC
Snippy
If you move between email, the Web and documents all day long, collecting snippets of must-save information along the way, this tool may be your new best friend. Here's how it works: Download the Snippy software at no cost (a 30-day trial is available), and install the software on your computer.
Resource for creating a brand
Copyscape
Copyscape is a tool that searches for copies of your content on the Web. Simply input a URL from your website and - up pops a list of sites where the page's copy (or portions thereof) has been posted verbatim. Click on the link, and your copy is conveniently highlighted on the referred website so you can determine whether or not it has been presented with permission or credit. To use this tool, you must input individual URLs in the search box; in other words, to search for all the content on your site you would have to conduct a search page by page. However, this publication found multiple infractions on the very first try. Since there is no cost to use Copyscape, it could be quite a valuable resource. Copyscape is powered by Google Alert technology and uses the Google Web APIs (there is no affiliation with Google, Copyscape is simply using Google for its database). Should you find that others are using your copy without your authorization, links to copyright laws and resources are available below the search results. [click here]
Internet Copyright Issues
This is a good resource for copyright information and the impact on your online business. [click here]
Spam keywords
This site lists spam keywords you should never use in your e mail. [click here]
Color Blind Test
A good place to check if you are color blind. Your frustration with a web designer could be that you are color blind. If so, trust your designer [click here]