You Don’t Have To Do Anything For…
August 12, 2008 Cheap Digital Ebook Store, Cheap Digital Ebooks Info, Tips and Updates No CommentsHey there,
Remember when I told ya that August is this website First Year Birthday?
Well, it’s August (in fact it’s almost two weeks in August)! And you know what, I really hope that you would not have to do anything on this special occasion, except reading this post, of course…
There’s no special discount thingy for you to buy…
There’s no ‘08-08-08 Only’ for you to tremble on your feet to rush for…
And, BEST of all, there’s nothing for you to download!
I really want you not to do anything here other than keep reading the post, and you want to do that because I’ll be spilling out the ‘hidden’ lessons which building this site had thought me for the past 12 months.
I’ve paid for the lessons with my sweat, blood, and cash, and I have all the intention to share them with ya at no cost. So here goes…
Lesson #1: A website is more than just a webpage and domain name.
Out of all things, I consider this lesson as the most important. Why?
When I took the offer from a fellow marketer to install and host this ‘cheap ebook store’, I gave little or minimal attention to the whole picture of web building. I figured that the domain and hosting were reasonably priced, and the script installation was free.
I don’t want to bargain with that. So I pursued.
But if I look back to those ‘defining’ moment now, and if I can get into a time-machine, I’d like to go back and straighten a few things out. Things like:
- Come up with a business model or business system before I even begin to consider the offer. Do I want to earn my revenue with Resale Rights? Selling my own digital, downloadable products? Or what? Obviously, I’ve overlooked such things.
- Carefully and thoroughly choose my domain name. I chose ebook-at-karungwang for the sake of branding but it carries little weight on Search Engine Optimization. People online are looking for solution, and my chosen domain name says little or nothing at all on what they’re looking for. I gather that people type ‘cheap ebook’ more than they type ‘ebook’.
- Clearly define my target market. Am I targeting newbies? Advanced marketers? Affiliates marketers? Resellers? Boys? Girls? 30 years-old? Teens? I was not so clear with the criteria.
What about the webpage?
This is an e-book store, and since I didn’t have a clear business model, it really didn’t matter if I put the store as my Index page or in other directories. By right, if I did my due diligence, maybe my current website setting is not the most optimize setting. But that will largely depend on my biz model.
If I choose to promote resale rights products, maybe my current model will work. But if I choose to promote my own product, maybe a direct response page will fit nicely.
I said maybe because I did not test it out, which brings me to the next lesson…
Lesson #2: Test everything out.
And I mean everything.
From the web design, from the SEO strategies and the conversion…test everything out.
How to carry out the testing?
PPC or pay per click immediately comes to mind. Slap a few ads with Adwords and see how the responses like. That will quickly give ya a ground to work with. It will answer the question like:
- are you in the right niche?
- Are you targeting the right crowd?
- Are you optimized?
- What keywords or key phrases that they’re looking for?
- Can you expend on that?
- Or, should you narrow it more?
PPC can provide you with immediate, measurable result.
How long should we test?
2 weeks to one month. That will provide ‘just nice’ time frame for you to work with.
Then what?
Improve, improve, and improve some more.
That’s why it’s important to have a goal, a desired ‘quantified’ objective in the beginning. It will keep you on track and steer you to the right direction or provide you with a clear destination.
And be prepared to learn my deepest ‘hidden lesson’ of all…
Lesson #3: It’s all about marketing.
Yup. That’s it. That’s the deepest hidden lesson of all.
I often take for granted the fact that my ‘cheap ebook store’ is a product. Since I can’t do much with the creation of the product now, the most critical thing left for me to focus on is actually promoting my e-book store.
I’ve send some emails asking a few renowned marketers how to do this. With all due respect to their expertise, none of them gave me a specific framework to work with, even though I’ve explicitly asked for it.
None…
Does it hurt?
Not really. I went back to Lesson #2. This is one variable I can control. I can’t control the marketers but I certainly can control what factors that contribute to ebook store success. And I think, since this ebookstore is uniquely mine, I and only I can determine what I to do with it, and how it should be done.
The online marketing world is cluttered with Generals and ambiguity for all that I’ve known anyway. So to be specific, let me find it out my way.
Who knows, others will come to me for advice.
Ok.
After all have been said and done, allow me to summarize my website One Year Birthday celebration with the following actionable ebook store optimization tips:
1. Decide on a profitable, proven, revenue generating business model.
2. Choose your domain name (and hosting) wisely. Aim for a good natural SE ranking.
3. Test your plan out: on a small scale first.
4. Make improvement based on your finding from the test.
5. Align and network with like-minded people (even if they’re not replying your mail. Learn something from them).
6. If everything else fail, dare to be unique.
End of lesson.
Stop reading and start doing.
