They provide you with a simple way to implement effective online marketing using a tutorial approach that is easy to understand. And speaking of tutorials, they have lots of those too! Everything from Copywriting to Email Marketing to SEO and more. There is a whole lot of useful information on their blog! A lot of it is geared toward bloggers, but their information is applicable to online business owners, even if you don’t have a blog (but if you don’t, why not?!).

So hop on over to their blog and check out all of their information. I recommend you subscribe today! Just click on the image (above) and that will take you directly to the Copyblogger blog.

The guide includes two parts. Part 1 is all about Wholesaling, including info on pricing, choosing products, developing your wholesale terms and so on. Part 2 focuses on Trade Shows, everything from choosing shows and applying, promotion, and what to do while you’re there.

Click on the guide cover image above to go to Megan’s blog to purchase your guide. It costs $39 and you can pay with Pay Pal or credit card.

From her ABOUT page:

At crafting an MBA, the goal is to help you polish those basic skills (like business planning and bookkeeping), develop a marketing plan (online and off), and help keep you up to date with trends in the business world – while also helping develop skills specific to a craft based business (selling online, craft shows, trade shows, and promoting your portfolio).

She also has a free eBook, The Best of Crafting an MBA, available via email, along with many wonderful tips and information on her blog for the creative-minded business owner. Just click on the image above to be taken to the CMBA blog. I guarantee you it will be difficult to not find helpful information there for your business.

IttyBiz offers several free eCourses on Marketing that are available via email. Just click the image above to be taken to their eCourses page and from there you can sign up. Be sure to check around their blog while you’re there. They have some really helpful blog posts and tips for anyone who runs a small business, be it online or off!

I just wanted to share an advertising opportunity for those of you who make or sell creative items, handmades, and/or primitives on your website. Creative Times Magazine is currently running a sale on two of their regular advertising spots: 125×125 Website Ads, and 150×150 Issue Ads. Both of these ad spots are on sale right now for $5. These ads sell regularly for $10 each, so that’s a great 50% savings for you. This is a limited time offer, so if you are interested in this affordable advertising, act now! Their eZine is downloaded by thousands of people for every issue–so you can reach a lot of people for a very little amount of money.

Just click on the image above to go directly to CT’s advertising page, where you can find all the details.

Now that the holidays are over, this becomes the time that many retailers dread because there is usually a significant drop off in sales, both online and off. It can be a major challenge to entice customers to spend money shopping after all they spent over the holidays. But this doesn’t mean that there aren’t things you can do right now to help your business and/or your website and plan for the year ahead. So here are 7 Business Tips to help you start the year off on the right retail foot.

1. INVENTORY: This is a great time to tally up your business Inventory and analyze what your best selling products or services were. This is an ideal way to help you gauge and plan your inventory for the year ahead. If you have things that didn’t sell well, mark them down and get rid of them. And for things that sold really well, now is the time to make sure you have adequate stock on hand. Use your Inventory as a tool to help you avoid products that didn’t bring in sales, and to help you optimize the ones that did well for you.
2. TAX PREPARATION: Nobody likes or enjoys tax time (at least nobody that I know). But during the slow post-holiday retail period is the best time to plan for tax time. Gather your receipts, bank statements, expense sheets, and anything else you might need to get a productive start on your business taxes.
3. ADVERTISING: You need to advertise to bring in traffic and sales, especially during off peak times such as this. So analyze which advertising avenues worked best for you in the last year, and which ones you might need to improve upon in the coming year. And start planning your first quarter advertising strategies now.
4. SEO: This is the perfect time of year to analyze your website and/or blog’s SEO efforts and see if you are on target for the months ahead. Optimize your website so you are getting the best results possible with the Search Engines. For a little extra help, be sure to read our recent post called Title Tags: Make the First Word Count. Also check out our SEO 101 page, and our Meta Tags page. And don’t overlook our Link Building information either.
5. SALES: If you sell seasonal/holiday products you’ll likely be marking all those products down in hopes of moving out that inventory to make room for new merchandise. But be sure not to overdo it and mark down too many other things. Discounts are great incentives for getting website traffic, but too many this time of year can seriously hurt your bottom line. So just don’t go overboard on the discounts.
6. NEW PRODUCTS: Now is the time to add new inventory and/or services to your website or store. But, of course, the challenge is in deciding what and how much to buy, or make, as the case may be. We all feel the pinch after the holidays, so the best thing to do is set a budget for yourself and stick to it. But customers want to see new products, what type of store you have, so make sure you have something new to offer them when they pop by.
7. CLEAN UP: If you’re like me, your office or work space is a mess this time of year. I tend to let things go at the end of the year, until the holidays are over. So now is a great time to clean up your office, work space, studio, or craft room (or all of the above!). Clean up and get organized while you  have a little lull in sales, and you’ll be starting the year off right.

I hope these tips will help you start your new year off right for you and your business…7 things anyone with an online business can do to help get on track for the year ahead.

Wanted to let you know about a great product I have been using to keep my PC running smoothly.

PC Matic is a safe and easy to use application that performs critical computer maintenance – at the click of one button. You will never again have to run multiple programs to maximize the performance, stability and security of your system. It’s a great PC tool, especially for those of you that don’t know a whole lot about computers and need a little help.

Follow the link below to get started with a Free PC Matic diagnostic scan.

https://cart.pcpitstop.com/go.asp?id=500920&referuid=3693596

The scan will provide you with a custom analysis detailing issues that might be negatively impacting the performance, stability and security of your PC. You will then have the opportunity to automatically fix the issues with a 1 year subscription for PC Matic. Note: No fixes or changes will occur on your computer unless/until you purchase the software. But you can at least use the free scan to see details about any changes being suggested for your PC.

As a bonus, if you subscribe I will get 6 extra months added to my current subscription. But if you decide not to subscribe, hey, that’s OK too.

But at least give the free scan a try; it is a great application and keep in mind it comes with a 30 day money back guarantee if you do decide to purchase. And know that PC Pitstop has been around for 10 years, and I have been using their various tools for over half that time. So I trust them.

Meta Tags can be so confusing when tending to your website’s SEO. So I thought I’d give a few tips on writing your site’s Title Tag. You might think that would be the easiest one, because most people put their business name as their Title Tag. But that’s actually, in most cases, the least beneficial thing you can do as far as SEO is concerned.

Title Tags are not meant to be your business name or title; they are meant to attract the search engines, and also potential customers. And in a lot of cases, your business name has very little SEO appeal. For example, let’s say you sell used books, and say your business name is Between the Shelves. That doesn’t exactly tell Google or potential customers what you sell. And in fact, since the first word of your Title Tag has the most relevance and most importance for Google, the word ‘Between’ is really a poor choice as the first word for your Title Tag. And as a result, your Title Tag would rank much lower than other used book websites, especially if they have the word, ‘Books’ as their first Title Tag word. So they are going to appear higher up in the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages) and will likely get the website traffic that you want!

Your Title Tag’s first word should have the most importance and relevance to what you sell in your store. So, if books are what you sell, then the obvious choice for the first word in your Title Tag should be ‘books.’ That’s probably one of, if not THE first keyword for your website too, so all the better if it’s the first in your website’s Title Tag.

And speaking of keywords, which are good to have in your Title Tag, don’t make the mistake of cramming your Title Tag full of too many keywords; or worse yet, an endless string of them. Google (or any SE) doesn’t like that and considers it spamming. The Title Tag should probably have only one or two keywords, so make them count and choose your most important one or two (at the most).

Then you also need to say something something else in your title, as briefly as possible, to get Google’s and searchers’ attention. You have 63-70 characters (which includes spaces) to get the attention of anyone who sees your website in the SERP’s. That is all that will display of your Title Tag. So you have to make those characters count. So the goal is always to get an important, relevant keyword at the front of the tag, followed by some important info about your store or service, that will grab the reader’s attention and make them choose your store’s link as the one they click on and visit from those results.

Using our used bookstore as an example, here’s an option.

Books – Used and New with the best prices Between the Shelves.

I managed to work in the business name at the end of that Title Tag example, which isn’t even necessary. But I liked the way it sounded. And it comes in at 62 characters, which is right where I want it to be to have the full Title Tag displayed. It gives you an idea too of how you can still work in the name, if you like, while keeping the important keyword at the front of the Tag…and still making it inviting to anyone searching for used books on Google and finding your link in the results.

So to sum it all up, here’s what you need for an effective Title Tag when creating your website’s Meta Tags:

• A relevant, important keyword at the front of the tag.

• One or two keywords, at most.

• Some important, inviting information about your store or service.

• Less than 70 characters, including spaces (63 should be your target number).

I hope this helps you master the art of writing a good Title Tag for your website. Meta Tags can be confusing, but with time, research, and a lot of patience, you can get your website’s SEO exactly where it needs to be.

I’m not sure how many of you need or use stock photography in your online business, but if you’re interested in a great resource, I often use iStockphoto. Photos are always a great way to enhance your business (or personal) blog or website and can be used in so many ways. So if you’re looking for stock photography, be sure to check out iStockphoto. Just click on the image above to go to their website. Check out what they have to offer.

When added to your website, this tool will allow your customers to not only send simple feedback, but they can also use it to create screenshots of your site (for example, if they get an error message or if there is a problem in your store they aren’t sure how to describe), and it generates an email to you any time a customer uses it. There is lots more information on their website, which you can find by clicking on their logo (above). They have a demo version on their website too so you can see how it works.

This may be a great feedback tool for you and your customers!