FAQ’s
Frequently Asked Questions
On this page we want to provide you with answers to some of the common questions that people have regarding the building of a website and optimizing that website for the search engines.
Product Research
Publishing My Website
How Do I Start My Product Research
The first step to doing your product research is to pick a few areas you are interested in as category areas. Put each idea on a separate piece of paper and then brainstorm on all of the different ideas of products that you could sell in that category area. Make sure not to evaluate any ideas initially. That is, any idea that comes to you, write it down on the paper. Later on we will evaluate the ideas. Try to get as many ideas as possible, spend sufficient time to get all the ideas possible in each category.
The second step is to go to www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html and enter in the different keyword phrases that people would type into the search engines to find the product you have on your list. To the right of each keyword phrase you will see a number representing the number of times someone has typed in that keyword phrase into one of the search engines. Ideally we want items that have between 1,000 and 50,000 searches done in approximately 1 month. Keep track of that number on a paper or my preference is on spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel on the computer. Something like this:
| Product Idea | Estimated Profit per Sale | |
| Keyword phrase | Demand from reverse search tool |
Competition from Google
|
Let’s take a look at how we get the competition from Google .
Bring up a Google search page and enter the the special word allintitle: and then the keyword you are trying to research such as “propane camping stoves” and then click search.
| allintitle:propane camping stoves |
After clicking on the search button Google will return a number of results int the form Results 1-10 of about some number of websites.
the some number is the number you want to keep track of as your competition from Google.
As you keep track on f this information on all your products, from your research you will start to see things that have a good demand from the Keyword Discovery keyword research you’ve, that have a good estimated profit per sale and lower competition. these ideas will be the one that look like the better products to work with.
In terms of the competition there is no exact number to use, you just want to look relatively at the numbers to see what has lower competition.
You can also compare some of the keyword phrases on Google Trends at www.google.com/trends to see what the trends have been for some of the keywords. Take a look at that as well. Return to Top of Page…
How Do I Find My Product Niche?
When it comes to marketing your business, finding the right niche to market your product is essential. A niche is a specialized area that you can focus your marketing on. When you specialize, your business is more likely to succeed.
Think, look around you and come up with ideas, ideas are all around you, search the web for some ideas, if you look you will see them. Make sure that you’re always writing your ideas down. When you think of all the ideas make sure you start writing them down, you will have so many you will not remember them all. You need to give to your customers what they really want. Just offering a product which you think will sell will not get you anywhere. Here’s the process to find your niche business Find a niche product or service you are passionate about.
This will greatly improve your chances of being successful. Why? Because it’s the only way you’re going to be able to devote the kind of time and effort to create a meaningful web site, build up the right traffic, generate worthwhile income, and enjoy what you’re doing.
Choose a niche product you are knowledgeable about.
Reflect on what skills, hobbies or products you know the most about. If you don’t have the knowledge yet, then choose a niche product that you would love to promote, and then spend the necessary time to research it, so you can eventually become an expert in your marketing field.
Define your niche market.
Do the necessary research to see if there is a market for your niche product. To create a profitable business for your niche product, you need to ask yourself these questions:
Is there sufficient demand for it?
If you choose a field that is too broad it may be hard to stand out from the competition. For example, camping equipment could be your niche product. Well, unless you are a large corporation such as Sports Authority (a large retail store), you won’t stand out from the crowd. However, a more highly targeted niche product could be Kids Camping Equipment.
Use keyword tools such as the Free Keyword Suggestion Tool (http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html) to find how many people are searching each month on keywords related to your niche product. Do your research. This is perhaps the most crucial aspect of finding a niche. Many failed businesses result from choosing the wrong niche. The business owner may choose a niche that is too popular and wind up competing against millions of others. Or, they may find a niche that is too small to turn a profit. Don’t start your business or begin marketing your product on impulse; this results in a lot of wasted time, money, and effort. Instead, make sure there is enough of a market for your product that it can bring you money without drowning in the competition. Return to Top of Page…
Is my product niche saturated?
If your product niche is narrow enough and you have done your research to see if there is a demand for the product, then your product niche is probably not in a saturated market. There are some areas that are hard to break into so it’s wise to check the competition. You can use Google to check the competition by using the keyword “allintitle:” followed by the keyword you are researching. for example in the search bar on Google, if I were researching propane camping stoves, I would type:
| allintitle:propane camping stoves |
Then I would see how many websites Google returns in the results. the numbers are relative so there is not an exact number to look for but generally speaking if the competition is less than 500,000 then you have a pretty good chance. As you look at your results from the reverse search tool and then the competition you want to look for those items with good demand but less competition. Some things should start to stand out as better opportunities than others.
Another helpful tool would be Google trends to see what the trends have been for some of your keywords. You can get to it with http://www.Google.com./trends
Beyond those there a thousands of products you could choose to sell on a website. Return to Top of Page…
When I’m ready to Publish what things do I need to do?
Here is a check list of things that need to be done be for you publish your website.
- Call StoresOnline at 801-434-8582 and:
- Finalize your hosting agreement (Authorization & Debit Form from customer Support)
- If your domain name was not purchased through Stores Online request that your domain name be entered into the StoresOnline internal database and point your domain name to your license # and website.
- If your domain name was not purchased through Stores Online login to the account where you have your domain name registered and point the name servers to NS1.STORESONLINE.COM and NS2.STORESONLINE.COM. Watch the video at YouTube entitled “Changing the domain name servers.”
- Contact your merchant processor and finalize your agreement with them so that you can set-up merchant processing on your website.
- ECI-Pay at 1-800-836-9406 VIP # www.eci-corp.com If you don’t have your VIP # contact StoresOnline to get that VIP #.
- Check with Authorize.net if you need a merchant processor
- Make sure you have your State Sales Tax and Shipping rules entered.
- Go to Products tab at the top
- click on Price Sets tab on the right
- Edit the US, Canadian or AUS Price set, which ever ones you have .
- In the ordering rules you should have shipping rules set as well as any applicable Tax rates set.
- Make sure your processors are set up.
- Go to Products tab at the top
- click on Processors tab on the right
- Make sure you have an entry for each processor you are going to use, e.g. ECI-pay, Authorize.net, Paypal Pro, regular PayPal
- Make sure that each processor has the login information input to enable processing.
- While in the Products go to Price sets on the right.
- Edit each Price Set and click on Payment methods
- Make sure that you have entries for each payment method you are going to accept, e.g. VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Card and Paypal
- Make sure that each payment method is assigned to a processor.
- Click Done to get back to the tabs at the top and then click on the Pages tab at the Top.
- click on the Forms on the right.
- Edit the Order Form and click on Elements to the right.
- Edit the Payment element and check the appropriate options for the CVV2 for your processors. If you are not sure, check CVV2 is displayed, and CVV2 is required.
- Contact StoresOnline at 801-434-8582 for a final “Site Review” before publishing and they will check for broken links, spelling errors and verify the payment processing is working, etc.
That should complete the final steps to publish. If all final steps have been completed, Click on the Publish tab at the top and then check the box that you Agree to the Terms, and then click on the Publish Button to publish your website. Your website should be published in just a few minutes. If this is the first time your website has been published then it may take 24 – 73 hours before you will be able to see it on the internet. You can republish as often as you need when you make changes to the website. Return to the Top…
