What is my favorite buzzword lately?

Profile.  That’s my favorite buzzword these days.  Why?  Because profile means everything when it comes to sales on the Internet.  Even if you have the very best item that can be sold on the net, if people don’t know who you are, they probably won’t buy from you.  They don’t trust you, that’s why.  You see, there are so many “get rich quick” internet schemes out there, that people are very wary of being scammed.  A lot of people worry that if they use their credit card to buy something from an unknown person on the Internet, the number of their card may be stolen, and they will be out a lot more money than the cost of the item you are selling.

There is, however, a way to build trust with potential customers, and make them more likely to spend money on your website.  That way is through building a profile on the Internet.  If you are well enough known on the Internet, the potential customer will feel like he is a friend, and he will have a lot more trust in you compared to if you were unknown.

Let’s look at me, for example.  I’ve been active on the Internet for about 14 years now.  I’ve had lots of web pages and such online.  But, I didn’t have much of a profile until the last year or two.  A few years ago, few people knew who I was.  Even today, there are millions of people who have no idea who I am.  However, because I am mainly involved in publishing websites about Mindanao, and about Living in the Philippines, there is a group of people who know who I am.  If somebody wants to find out about Mindanao, the odds are that they will end up on my Mindanao Blog.  If you go to Google and other big search engines, and search for “Mindanao” my site is the number one result that comes up most of the time.  If it’s not number one on that particular day, it’s number two.  Because of this, most people who know about Mindanao know who I am.  It’s obvious to me, because when I go out in public (here in Mindanao, where I live) people come up to me and ask if I am “Mindanao Bob.”  I’ve had my Mindanao site for 12 years now, but it wasn’t very active until about 2 years ago.  I never updated it.  I didn’t use it to build my own profile.  Likewise, if somebody is interested in moving to the Philippines to live, they probably end up on my Live in the Philippines Blog sooner or later.  These blogs help build my profile, they make it where people know who I am.

In addition to the blogs I have mentioned, I also operate a number of e-commerce sites where I sell goods and services on the Internet.  You can see a list of some of my e-commerce sites on the sidebar of this blog.  On my WowPhilippines site, I have a photo of myself, and a “message from the owner” that people can read.  I get a lot of people who e-mail me and say “when I saw your picture on the WowPhilippines site, I knew who you were, because I read your blog all the time.  As soon as I saw you there, I knew that I could trust WowPhilippines.”  I get e-mails like this every day.  It’s because of my profile!

If you want to earn money on the net, you need to build a profile!  How do you build a profile?  Put up a site and share information with people.  Your site will go unnoticed for quite awhile before people find it.  Here’s a tip on how you can get a quicker start - do some guest blogging on big websites.  For example, for one of my blogs, I am working on building a team of people who can blog on the site with me.  These people will be asked to post one post per week on the blog.  In their post, they can link to their personal site, which will help them gain a profile, by letting my readers know who they are.  They can build up a level of trust with my readers, by showing them that they have knowledge, are trustworthy, and nice people.  As my readers find a level of trust with these new writers, they might go over and check out the websites that are operated by the writer.  It’s a great way to build a little profile quickly.

If you are serious about making money on the net, you need to get busy building a profile, so people will know who you are!

Is e-commerce going into decline?

According to a recent article in the New York Times, e-Commerce is entering a period of stagnant sales, or even decline until the end of the decade.

Has online retailing entered the Dot Calm era?

Since the inception of the Web, online commerce has enjoyed hypergrowth, with annual sales increasing more than 25 percent over all, and far more rapidly in many categories. But in the last year, growth has slowed sharply in major sectors like books, tickets and office supplies.

Growth in online sales has also dropped dramatically in diverse categories like health and beauty products, computer peripherals and pet supplies. Analysts say it is a turning point and growth will continue to slow through the decade.

The reaction to the trend is apparent at Dell, which many had regarded as having mastered the science of selling computers online, but is now putting its PCs in Wal-Mart stores. Expedia has almost tripled the number of travel ticketing kiosks it puts in hotel lobbies and other places that attract tourists.

The slowdown is a result of several forces. Sales on the Internet are expected to reach $116 billion this year, or 5 percent of all retail sales, making it harder to maintain the same high growth rates. At the same time, consumers seem to be experiencing Internet fatigue and are changing their buying habits.

Frankly, I wonder if this isn’t mostly affecting the big stores online.  I operate a number of small e-Commerce sites, and I have seen no stagnation or decline in sales.  In fact, so far this has been a record year for my businesses.  So, I have to wonder - am I the exception, or is this mostly the big guys that are experiencing this.

For me, I feel that if you find a good niche market that others can’t fill easily, you are in good shape.  No matter what the trend is, if you have a niche that is difficult to find elsewhere, you will do well.  That is how my various businesses online are, there are only limited places where you can get the things that I sell.  I feel confident that my businesses will continue to flourish.

What about you?  If you already have an online business, how are sales for you?  If you don’t have an online business yet, does this scare you away from having one?

Tips on Customizing the Look of your Blog

If you have a Wordpress blog, as I have recommended, you have virtually an unlimited number of customization options!  You can change the look and feel of your blog on a whim without knowing how to do any programming or anything like that.

The biggest thing you can do to change the look of your blog is by changing the theme that you are using.  The theme is what gives your blog it’s general look.  For instance this blog is using a theme that is kind of a basic look with a black header, lots of white space, etc.  the theme also dictates that there is the main area where the blog post is located and there are two sidebars on the right.  Other templates may have only one sidebar.  Others may have the one sidebar on each side of the post.  The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

When you install Wordpress, you can go into the Administrative area and click on “Presentation” in the light blue bar at the top of the screen.  From there, you will see a selection of 2 or 3 themes that come with Wordpress.  Just click on the one that you like best.  But, there are hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of Wordpress blogs out there, surely there must be more than only 2 or 3 themes available, right?  Well, not to worry!  There are thousands of free themes to choose from.  If you are into computer programming, you can even write your own theme that is custom, only for your use.  If you aren’t a programmer and still want a custom theme, you can always hire somebody to do the job for you.

For most people, they will go to a repository site that has many themes to choose from and choose one that they like.  Perhaps the most comprehensive site for Wordpress Themes can be found here.   Just go through the thousands of themes available, choose the one you like best and download it.  Next, you will need to upload it to your web hosting account, under the /wp-content/themes folder.  Once you have it uploaded, you can go back to the Presentation area of the Wordpress Admin panel and select the new theme that you just uploaded!  It’s that simple!

Certainly there are lots of other ways to customize your blog by adding widgets, your own photos and other things to spruce up the blog a bit.  As you can see on this blog, I have a little cartoon caricature of myself up on the upper right column.  You can basically make your blog anyway that you choose!  The key is that you need to install the blog and play around with it.  You may not be an expert, but just play with trying different things.  If they don’t work just as you hoped, delete them and start fresh.  You can do it, just don’t be afraid to try!