My fiancé Rebecca (also a small business owner) recently expressed her frustration with trying to keep up on the news articles, blogs, magazines, and trade journals she’s interested in. I understand the stress of information overload, so showed her how I use iGoogle to help manage it.

iGoogle takes only 5 minutes to setup.

iGoogle is my favorite online productivity tool. It allows you to easily add widgets to personalize your Google homepage. Widgets are little tools such as to-do lists, calendar and weather info. One of the most powerful uses for widgets is to summarize news, blog & magazine headlines. You can create different tabs to organize your widgets into different categories.

Getting Started

iGoogle takes only 5 minutes to setup. Follow these easy steps to get started.

1. Go to www.google.com.
2. If you don’t already have iGoogle activated, click on the iGoogle link in the top right corner.
3. You will be prompted to create a homepage by selecting interests and a theme.
4. If you have a Google account (such as Gmail) login. Otherwise create a new account.
5. Now that you’re logged in, your iGoogle settings will be saved and viewable from any computer you login to.

Organizing Information

So how do you organize information now that you have a personal iGoogle? The easiest way is to use RSS Feeds to subscribe to blogs and news sites that you are interested in. Feeds are headlines and summaries of articles so you can quickly scan through many different feed headlines and only click on the articles you are interested in. Having your feeds in one place is much more efficient than going through your bookmarks and manually visiting each website looking for interesting articles.

Let’s practice by adding the Bizlift Blog to your iGoogle.

1. Add a tab called “Business”. If you leave the “feeling lucky” box checked, iGoogle will add related content.
2. Return to this article and click on the “Subscribe by RSS” link in top-right corner.
3. You will have several subscription options. Click on the Google button.
4. Click on Add to Google homepage button.
5. Verify that the Bizlift Blog is shows up.

You can create as many tabs as you want and drag the widgets into the appropriate tab to keep it organized.

Other Productivity Widgets

Some of my favorite widgets are:

• To-Do List – A simple list to prioritize and check-off tasks.
• Days Since – Easy tool to keep track of how many days have passed since you last did something. You can use it to keep track of the last time you watered plants, changed car’s oil, or called your mom. It’s also great for keeping you motivated while changing habits. For example you can use it to see how long you’ve been cigarette free or when was the last time you missed a day of exercise.
• Weather – Plan your activities for the week and adjust to weather conditions as needed.

iGoogle is really powerful when you start using Google’s other online applications like Google Calendar and Gmail. These apps have widgets that allow you to see recent emails or check for upcoming appointments at a glance.

Summary

• iGoogle allows you to customize your Google homepage.
• Feed Widgets summarize article headlines for easy scanning.
• Tabs allow you to organize widgets into categories.
• There are many types of widgets available including tools, entertainment, and information.

iGoogle Feed Tutorial

For more information on using iGoogle for RSS feeds, here is a video tutorial I found on YouTube.

If you have any questions or tips you’d like to share, please leave a comment.

There are two critical rules that will transform your web site into a money making machine:

1. Drive Targeted Traffic To Your Site
2. Drive Users To Complete An Action

These two requirements are intertwined. Success with one element is almost useless without the other. No matter how beautiful and functional your site is, no one will appreciate it until you drive traffic to it. On the other hand, all the traffic in the world won’t earn you any money if your site is poorly designed and an ineffective sales tool.

Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Site

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Some SEO “pros” charge a ton of money for placing your site within the top-10 results of major search engines. The secret they’re not telling you is that anyone can receive top placement by using obscure keyphrases that probably won’t generate much traffic. Before paying for someone to promote your site on search engines, ask them about the popularity of the keyphrases, and the kind of traffic you can expect. Also ask for references so you can verify that their SEO services are legit and effective.

Viral Marketing
The name might sound scary, but it’s a safe and powerful way to generate traffic. It’s based on the same principal as the classic “word-of-mouth” promotion. The idea is to offer an entertaining or informative free service on your site, and encourage visitors to tell their friends about it.

The viral techniques we implemented brought thousands of visitors to the site.

Common forms of viral marketing media include virtual postcards sent by email, and tools to share informative articles or video clips that automatically send emails with links.

About 7 years ago, in preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, we created a humorous site to introduce visitors to the unique quirky culture of Utah. The viral techniques we implemented brought thousands of visitors to the site. A selection of irreverent and humorous Virtual Postcard were a hit with Utah locals and Mormons around the globe. Online voting for favorite models to make the Top-12 cut for a calendar was another big traffic generator. The models and their friends campaigned vigorously bringing a slew of free traffic to the site.

External Links
Using “Reciprocal Links” is a great way to increase traffic. Just seek out sites that share a similar audience. Contact them and ask them if they would like to exchange links.

Google and most major search engines base your site’s ranking on “Link Popularity”. This means that the more links on other sites that point to your site, the higher your rankings will be.

Online Advertising
If you decide to advertise with banner ads, keep these rules in mind:

1. Stay away from sites that charge a flat rate per month, unless they can demonstrate a high volume of traffic. It’s easier to know what to expect if you pay for impressions, usually purchased in quantities of 1000.
2. Be wary of paying to have your banner displayed on a site that displays multiple banners per page. These multiple banners visually compete for attention reducing the effectiveness of your advertising. Purchasing a high number of ad views on such sites can help compensate for the reduced effectiveness.
3. Have your banner designed by a professional. Poorly designed banners lack professionalism and credibility, and won’t generate much traffic.

Bidding for keywords on search engines is one of the most cost-effective forms of targeting. First, you only pay for actual clicks. Second, the audience you are advertising to is actively searching for your service or product. Third, you don’t need to spend thousands; you can start getting results with an initial investment as low as $50.

Affiliate Programs
Affiliate Programs are a great way to generate sales. Other websites promote your product or service, and you pay only for completed orders or leads that they send to you.

You can set up your own affiliate tracking software, or pay another company to handle your affiliate program for you. Some sites that offer this service are Commission Junction and LinkShare.

Drive Visitors To Complete An Action

Professional Design
Your website is your online identity. Visitors will often judge your company’s professionalism and competency by the appearance of your website. A site that appears to be designed by an amateur can hurt your credibility. It can sometimes be better to NOT have a site, than to have a poorly designed site.

Identify Specific Audiences on Frontpage
On the web, you only have a few seconds to grab the attention of the average web surfer before they move on to another site. Keep text on the frontpage brief, and use highlights to draw viewers deeper into the site.

Use vertical markets or specific solutions that your viewers can quickly identify with. For example when working with a Call Center client, we had a brainstorm session and listed the different markets that require call center services. We then created a link for each market on the frontpage.

A good example of identifying specific audiences on the frontpage is IBM which links to different sections for diverse audiences such as Executives, Developers, and Journalists.

Create a Linear Path for Each Audience
The web is a collection of interlinked pages. The very nature of the web can make for interesting and random navigation. To keep viewers from straying, it’s important to give them a linear path that starts as soon as they identify with an audience or solution on the frontpage.

The flow should start with content that generates interest or evokes an emotional response. This should be followed by facts and information to validate the initial interest. The process should come to a close by giving the user an action to perform.

Give Visitors an Action to Complete
It is important to give a sense of closure to the experience you’ve created for your visitors. This could be, for example, a feedback form to fill-out, entering a credit card, generating a phone call, or subscribing to a newsletter.

Everything you’ve put into your website comes down to this one crucial point. To increase the ratio of completed orders, make your customers comfortable. Studies have shown that simple things like reminding viewers that the form is secure, displaying a money-back guarantee, and having a Privacy Policy can drastically increase sales conversion rates.

Do you have any experiences with generating online sales that you’d like to share? I appreciate all comments, so please leave one below.

Editor note: This is a basic primer intended for readers interested in setting up a website for their business. If you already have an established online business presence, you may prefer to skip this article and read the Is Your Website A Money Making Machine? article.

Taking your business online should be a pivotal part of any business plan, and it’s easier than you might think. Here are 8 steps to get your online business up and running successfully.

1. Domain Name – This is one of the most important decisions you will make while setting up your website. The domain name serves as your address for your website and every email account. It also helps with keyword rankings on search engines. Try to register a .com domain for your business as it is the most common extension. If you use another extension like .biz, .pro or .ws, visitors will have to remember both the first part of your domain name and the extension, which increases the chance of them typing in the wrong website address. NetworkSolutions (a VeriSign company) was the leading domain registrar. Their prices start at $35 per year. There are now many other registrars that provide the same service for much lower prices.

2. Hosting – After you have registered your domain name you will either need to set up your own web server and high-speed Internet connection, or find a hosting service for your site. You should be able to find a reliable hosting solution with little or no setup fee and no long-term contract for about $20 per month. Be careful with the really cheap services that offer a monthly fee of $10 or less. While there probably are some decent ones, many bulk-hosting companies pack so many clients onto one server that they sometimes experience technical difficulties including lost email and downtime.

3. Internet Payment Gateway – Most online transactions are done by credit card. To authorize credit card payments online, you will need an Internet Payment Gateway. PayPal and Authorize.net are among the leading providers.

Standard payment gateways also require a credit card merchant account to deposit the online payments you receive. Even if you already have one for a physical retail store, you will probably need to setup a new one that works with a gateway. You can also find combined offers that include both merchant account and payment gateway through one provider.

4. eCommerce Software – Basic “no-frills” shopping cart hosting ranges from about $20 to $50 per month, while licensing for advanced solutions costs tens-of-thousands of dollars. My favorite solution is the “Open For Business” project, or “OFBiz” for short. This software had great up-sell and cross-sell features for increasing sales. It also comes with tools for multiple employees to login and handle phone, mail orders, and customer service. The most amazing thing about this software is that it’s FREE. To learn more about OFBiz, visit their website at www.ofbiz.org.

5. Secure Certificate – To protect your customer’s private information, you will need to encrypt their credit card numbers before it is sent across the Internet. A secure certificate allows your server to accept encrypted connections, also known as Secure Socket Layer or SSL connections. Your certificate also verifies your company’s identity, so customers can feel comfortable knowing who they’re sending their information to.

To view the certificate information of a secure site, click on the padlock icon, or in Internet Explorer go to the File menu, select Properties, then click on the “Certificates” button.

VeriSign is the leading issuer of secure certificates. Their standard encryption (128-bit SSL) starts at $995 per year.

Thawte is another company that issues certificates, and is actually owned by VeriSign (but shhh…they don’t mention it on their sites). While VeriSign is the premium brand, Thawte is their generic brand. A 128 bit cert from Thawte starts at only $149.

You can get certs for less (our certs are $99/year), but some businesses feel the extra $900/year is worth being able to display the VeriSign logo on their site.

It’s not enough to just put your business online, you need to successfully compete online.

6. Web Design – Your website is your online identity. Visitors will judge your company’s professionalism and competency by the appearance of your website. A site that appears to be designed by an amateur can hurt your credibility. It can sometimes be better to NOT have a site, than to have a poorly designed site. It’s not enough to just put your business online, you need to successfully compete online. Avoid the generic template sites and hire a professional designer who can build a good looking and effective website.

7. Updates – Once your site is up and running, make frequent updates. Visitors want to find current information and search engines like Google favor sites that are constantly being modified. Remember that your website is your online identity. You wouldn’t go for months without showering, shaving or changing clothes, so don’t neglect your website. Keep it fresh.

Rather than hiring a developer to make your updates, you might consider building your site using Content Management System (CMS) software. This allows you to login and use an online editor to update or add new content.

A quick and easy way to frequently add fresh content to your website is to add a blog to your site. Blogging software allows you to make updates and additions like CMS software, but is simpler and easier to use. If your contact info and products or services don’t change frequently, then you can leave the bulk of your site the same and use a blog to keep visitors updated on new happenings.

8. Market – Now that you have an online presence, it’s time to bring on the traffic. Make sure you promote your website URL everywhere. Place it on your business cards, advertisements, and email signatures.

For more info on increasing traffic and converting more sales through your website, check out our Is Your Website A Money Making Machine? article.

Obviously, there is much more to each of the 8 steps but now you have the basic idea of what it will take to do business online. Come visit again soon for more specific information in future articles.

Here’s wishing you success and good fortune as launch your online business. Please feel free to post a comment and share your experiences with any of the 8 steps, we’d love to hear how it’s going for you.