If you are moving your existing website, or starting a new phase of your existing business, please do not shut down operations on the old website.

Check with your new web host and designer to make sure you can build the new website on an IP-based address. This way, while you’re building the new site, you can continue to operate your business through the old site.

Why do I mention this?

I just spoke with a client today who stopped selling products on her old website while waiting for her new site to go live. She has now lost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, that she could have been earning while the new site was being built. Even if your designer tells you that your site will be up and going tomorrow, always expect the unexpected and make sure you have a backup plan in the event that your new site takes longer than expected.

Your best bet is to always keep your existing website up and going until the new site has been completed, tested, any issues worked out and tested again. Only then should you shut down the old site and transfer operations to the new site.

Popularity: 68% [?]

At about 9 a.m. this morning, I will have turned 35. Woohoo!

Honestly, I am excited to be older, and am looking forward to what the next 5, 10, 15 years will bring. I feel that I’m much wiser, I know who I am and I know what I want to do. And I’m on my way to getting it done.

So, with this in mind, I’d like to offer up a gift to you, my loyal blog readers. (Thank you!)

The winner of this contest will receive:

1. A free copy of Presenting Your Products
2. One month membership in the Product Seller’s Club
3. One free 1 hour coaching session

Here is what you need to do to apply:

First, think of the one online physical product seller whom you most admire.

Now, imagine that you can sit down with her and ask ONE VERY IMPORTANT question. This question, if you had the answer, would make a huge difference in your business.

Who would you ask, and what is that question?

Once you have that person and question in your mind, please post here, letting me know who she is and what you would ask her.

Popularity: 46% [?]

A poster on a forum I frequent asked how she could promote her business without feeling like she was pressuring her prospective customers.

She is not alone. Many WAHMs struggle with selling their products and promoting their businesses. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been taught to not “brag” or insist that others view things as we do.

Whatever the case may be, I think we can promote our businesses and sell our products without hard selling. Here are some ideas:

1. Make sure our prospect is already interested in our product. If you’re selling cloth diapers, and the person you talk to is interested in cloth diapers, chances are, she’ll be thrilled to hear what you have to say. You can do this by involving yourself in groups online and offline where people interested in your products congregate.
2. If appropriate, use your product publicly. If you’re selling baby slings, wear your baby in your sling. There is a good change people who are interested will approach you for more information. When they do, answer their questions and let them know you sell the slings. Make sure you give them a business card with your website address on it.
3. Include your website in the top social bookmarking sites. This will enable people who are interested in your product to find you.
4. Create a blog to educate your prospects about your product and industry. Offer to teach classes in person. This will put you at the top of your prospects minds when it comes time for them to buy.

Technorati Tags: hard sell, internet marketing, offline marketing

Popularity: 42% [?]

My friend, The SEO Guy Roy Montero and I put together an audio report last week about researching your target market.

So many work at home moms make the mistake of starting a business without really knowing who they are selling their products to. I saw this happen time and again with my own clients, and so decided to figure out why some WAHMs are successful and some aren’t.

My experience and research over the years has taught me that those people who do their research ahead of time are more successful and make fewer mistakes than those moms who just put up a website and hope people show up.

As a matter of fact, those moms who are most successful started out with a target market in mind first. They knew exactly who they were going to sell to — and then figured out what they were going to sell. (And in most cases, these WAHMs were members of that target market to begin with and already knew many people in the market before they started their businesses.)

So, Roy and I put together this audio report to help you understand how to research and get to know your target market. I’m still in the process of editing it and plan to release the report on Thursday.

So, if you’ll bookmark this post — or subscribe to the Product Seller’s Talk Radio feed, or email notifications, you’ll be among the first to know when I release the report Thursday.

Naturally, I’ll update this post as well.

UPDATE 1/17/2008: My computer, on which this audio file resides, is having issues. I’ll have the report up as soon as I can bring the computer back online. Thank you!

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My husband had to work late last night, so I decided to do some early spring cleaning. If you’re reading this post on my site, you’ll see what I was up to — if not, just head over to MichelleWatersOnline.com and you’ll see the new layout.

What was previously a two column layout with a header and footer is now a three column layout with two right side columns. I love this setup for a blog/podcast site because it allows me to put more information and graphics on the side. With enough web 2.0 white space, the extra information doesn’t seem too clutters.

I also shortened the header, so you can see more information without having to scroll.

I think the whole site looks much cleaner than before, and is more up to the standard that I wanted.

So, if you have any thoughts about it, if something isn’t working right on your browser or if you have any ideas, just let me know here. Thank you!

Technorati Tags: web design, web 2.0, whitespace

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Popularity: 21% [?]