If you were to launch a website today, it would be one amongst billions of websites already online and whatever you might be selling, chances are, it would one amongst tens of thousands of similar sites already in existence. Sounds hopeless? The good news is that most of your competitors simply set up a website and leave it at that because they either have a brick and mortar business setup and rely on the website to provide additional business or simply have a website because it’s the ‘in thing’ to do. Internet search engine marketing is therefore essential to beat your competition and making your website count. This article will show you how.

How does a search engine work?

To understand Internet search engine marketing, we need to understand how a search engine works. First off, a search engine sends small automated software to any website that has been ‘submitted’ to it. This software indexes (or catalogues) the website, reads and stores the list of keywords used in the website as well as the number of times each keyword has been used. It also does some other tests based on which, the search engine will either accept or reject the website.

Now let us assume that a prospective customer is searching for “customized Sports Shoes”. The search engine reads its index for two things – (i) how times the word “customized Sports Shoes” has been used by all websites, (ii) how many websites have used the keyword. The search engine then precedes to list out the sites in order of keyword density i.e. the website that has used the keyword the highest number of times will be listed first and so on. Of course, this is an ultra-simplified version of what actually happens, but broadly, that is how a search engine works.

Why do you need Internet search engine marketing?

In a single word – competition! You need Internet search engine marketing to beat the competition by ensuring your website is listed within the first five pages. Any website that is listed beyond the fifth page stands little chance of having any business from search engines.

Internet search engine marketing uses various techniques to promote ‘visibility’ of the website by enhancing its search engine rank so that the website is listed with the first five pages of the search engine result. You can also aim for pole position but the Internet search engine marketing costs would be quite prohibitive.

There are two forms of Internet search engine marketing

One form of Internet search engine marketing is to target the search engine itself and the other form of Internet search engine marketing is to use keywords to devise Paid Internet search engine marketing campaigns.

In the former, the website is improved by strategically using or enhancing the use of keywords so that the website receives a higher ranking and appears within the first five pages of the search engine results and as near to the top as possible. In the latter case, Internet search engine marketing makes use of keyword triggered paid advertisements to ensure visibility of the website.

Business to Business advertising

With fears of recession having now being laid to rest, business establishments have once again begun to spend on marketing their products and services to other business establishments i.e., business to business advertising is slowly looking up again. In fact, according to the latest Forrester report, manufacturers plan to spend 6.7% more on business to business advertising in 2011 than they did in the preceding year. Increasing business to business advertising spends is a vital indicator of business growth and potential.

The same Forrester report also mentions that in 2011 business to business advertising is aimed more at lead generation, product marketing, product management, and product branding. Manufacturers and service providers seem to have realized that in order to position themselves with potential corporate and institutional buyers they must position themselves in new interactive spaces as well.

A study conducted by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) indicated that roughly 69% of the business to business advertising will be through increased use of digital video advertising (DVA) because the manufacturers and service providers felt that business to business advertising via digital video advertising was more traceable and easier to target. Also, with new technologies available, digital video advertising was less expensive and hence more cost efficient.

The Forrester report further pointed out that tech service sector would increase their business to business advertising by as much as 17% while Business and professional services would increase their business to business advertising spend by 4.3% and Finance and Insurance by 5.9% and manufacturers would increase their business to business advertising by 4.3%. The new statistics on business to business advertising is hardly surprising when considering that the tech industry was least effected by the recent recession. But increased ad spends by the other industries indicates a robust business recovery.

In all this we should not fail to notice that the Forrester report pointed out that a significant portion of the business to business advertising would be spent on product branding and despite being a young platform, as much as 7.4% of the business to business advertising money would be spent on community and social marketing. All in all, business to business advertising will definitely see a significant revival in 2011.

Small business establishments will continue to focus their business to business advertising using traditional media whereas the larger manufacturers and service providers are keen to try out non-traditional media including social networking and the internet. This too is along expected lines because small businesses have lesser margin for error and trying out new avenues of marketing and are therefore bound to stick to tried and tested methods of business to business advertising. Large manufacturers and service providers on the other hand have larger budgets and therefore enjoy a wider playing field. Large manufacturers and service providers can afford to allocate their business to business advertising budgets to traditional as well as non-traditional methods. In fact, if it weren’t for the large manufacturers and service providers, non traditional methods of business to business advertising might never have taken off.

B2B Social Media Advertising

B2B or Business to business advertising is the marketing of products and services exclusively to bulk consumers such as business establishments, hospitals and other institutions and even government bodies. Although business to business advertising does include advertising to dealers and stockiest, when we refer to Business to business advertising, we generally exclude this category because wholesale dealers and stockiest are not consumers. Business to business advertising to wholesale dealers and stockiest is purely on the basis of the popularity of the product or its potential and profit margins for the wholesale dealers and stockiest for pushing the product to the retailers. Business to business advertising to wholesale dealers and stockiest therefore requires a different approach altogether.

The basic fundamentals of business to business advertising are the same as those used when advertising to small consumers. The difference is in the way the product or service is presented. For example, all business establishments require filing cabinets. Typically, they buy two types of filing cabinets – fire and burglar proof and ordinary cabinets that may simply have a lock. A business to business advertising for cabinets would not only need to be able to provide both types of cabinets but should be better priced than the nearest rival. Apart from that, the ability to provide the cabinets in custom sizes with the client’s business logo as well as the name of the department would be an additional incentive.

Business to business advertising therefore is advertisement that primarily offers two incentives; a more competitive price and customization of the product – the latter being offered without any additional costs to the client. You might wonder why the same is not offered to the small customers. The reason of course is the expected size of the order. While individual customers might buy one or two units, business establishments, hospitals and other institutions and government bodies would generally buy thousands of units. The profitability and size of order dictates the size and value of the offer.

Given the potential size of each business order, whenever you plan a Business to business advertising it obviously needs to be carefully put together. It needs to be racy, appealing and at the same time present a compelling reason for the business client to buy the product or service. When putting together Business to business advertising, you have to also remember that your business client will in all likelihood, be fully aware of your product or service as well as the competitors products and services. Business to business advertising can be carried out via newspapers, magazine, direct mail, catalogs, television adverts, F.M. radio marketing, special sales promotions, billboards and the internet. Business to business advertising is also often carried out at an individual level in social clubs. Indeed, it is often said that more sales is done through “old boy network” than through high profile business to business advertising. “Old boy network” refers to contacts and word of mouth references. Securing business orders oftentimes also involves paying commissions or giving gifts to the purchase managers.

B2B Advertising Put Together

The concept of business to business advertising

Before you proceed with your business to business advertising, think of the concept that you are going to adopt. Your target business customer needs to have a compelling reason to buy your product. Remember its all about your business customer and not about you. You might think your product is great but ask yourself the question why would your target business customer buy it?

Remember your business client got out of bed with corporate problems, goals and other things on his mind. Your business to business advertising is therefore vying for attention amongst many other things and therefore needs to present a compelling reason that’s important to your business client to buy your product.

Don’t bore your business client

Your business client is already looking at dull reports, bank statements and all sorts of other boring pieces of documentation so don’t add your bit to it. Instead present your business customer with a glitzy, racy business to business advertising presentation that will make them say “wow”. They will welcome the break in their routine. In all this, don’t forget to present a compelling reason for them to buy your product. In fact, that is the next point I shall dwell upon.

After you have their attention, present them the reason to buy

Now that your business to business advertising has succeeded in grabbing their attention, complete the process by presenting them with a convincing and compelling reason to buy your product. Present the biggest benefit first otherwise they will quickly lose interest. Presenting the best compelling reason to buy the item makes them think about it. Once you present the most compelling reason first, you can then move on to other reasons for buying your product. Remember always to think from your customer’s point of view.

Proof is in the pudding

When you are running your business to business advertising, do not forget to prove your statements. Be armed with facts and figures or be armed with a demonstration. Do not under any circumstances ask your corporate customer to “trust you” or to believe you – it’s a guaranteed switch off and your business to business advertising will fail. Always be prepared to present overwhelming proof to back up your claims.

Be specific

You’ll be amazed at how many business to business advertising campaigns end with a phone number or a email or a URL. Sure you expect them to call, write to visit your website and then what? Instead end your business to business advertising with an offer. “Call now on xxx-xxx-xxxx for a free sample delivered within 24 hours” or “visit our website to avail of a special inaugural discount on your first order” and so on. Offering your business client something specific gives them the reason to call you or email you or visit your website. Remember, unless you present them an inducement to action, nothing will happen. Always therefore end your business to business advertising with concrete offer and a call to action.

B2B Advertising

Business to business advertising – how does it differ from ordinary advertising?

Business to business advertising basically refers to advertising aimed and directed at business and corporate customers. With a few exceptions, the items sold to business are the same as those sold to individuals. The main difference between business to business advertising and advertising aimed at individual customers is the size of the order. Typically, individual customers buy very small volumes and have to pay a retail price for the product whereas the business customers buy in high volumes and pay a wholesale price for the same product.

Why wholesalers and manufacturers should pursue business to business advertising

You would be amazed to know that less than 40% of wholesalers and manufacturers vigorously pursue corporate customers or indulge in business to business advertising. Quite simply, they fail to realize the potential right under their noses. This happens because of the misconception that corporate or business customers do not buy their products. For example, last year only $170,000 was spent in business to business advertising promoting personal hygiene products to the corporate world. Now consider this; there are millions of Americans going to work i.e. when they are not at home they are in their offices. Office and business establishments too require personal hygiene products such as soaps, shampoos, sanitary napkins, hair gels, shaving creams, hand towels and so on. Because there is not much business to business advertising in personal hygiene products and no effort at promoting these items to the corporate houses, the purchase managers end up buying these items in retail by calling up the local supplier.

The potential for business to business advertising

Business establishments buy just about everything that individual customers buy. Their maintenance departments require hardware tools and consumables, they require electrical items and consumables, the office cafeteria requires food stocks and cooking implements, the stationery section will require stationery products and so on. All this business is at present being garnered by the local retail suppliers.

Given the potential size for each order, a conscious effort has to be made to ensure that your business to business advertising must be ultra-sleek and captivating. Ditch the dull business to business advertising of yesteryears. The idea that advertising to businesses requires a different approach is totally obsolete and false. Businesses are run by humans – the same humans at whom we aim glitzy ads for the purchase of cars and consumer durables. When it comes to business to business advertising, somehow we tend to forget that these very same individuals might also be CEO’s or purchase managers in the corporate world and instead aim some dull ads that look like they might be made in the 18^th century. If nothing, the very potential size of the order should make the wholesalers and manufacturers think twice.

So the next time you do some business to business advertising remember to make it as sexy, glitzy, and racy as any other ad that you might aim at individuals.

Business to Business Advertising

Business to business advertising is no different from any other

Okay, first off, a business to business advertising is absolutely in no way different from any other advertisement. Because you were selling to corporates rather than direct consumers, a separate advertisement category called “business to business advertising” was created that’s all there is to it. A separate category does not entitle a different approach. When you sell luxury goods you are selling to them to a select category of people. In the case of business to business advertising, just think of the corporate group as a different bunch of people.

Spruce up your business to business advertising ads

I have seen plenty of business to business advertising and most of it is dull and lack luster, as if people who make the decisions in business houses are not humans but some sort of robots. The common argument that the corporate decision makers simply go by hard facts rather than the sleek approach of the business to business advertising is totally out-dated and obsolete. When you sell a super luxury car to the CEO of a company will you prepare a dull pitch? If not, then why prepare a dull business to business advertising pitch when you sell him office security or whatever? After all, the person is the same in both cases.

Add some fire to your business to business advertising

While I was working on a science project during my high school days, my dad once said to me “son, your teacher doesn’t care how much you know about the science behind the project until she knows how much you care about the project”. Over the years I came to realize that the same truth applies to advertising also – especially business to business advertising. The corporate honchos sitting in front of you need to know and feel that you believe in your product. They need to see that enthusiasm in your eye and in your business to business advertising pitch. So for heavens sake, stop those dull ads that explain in detail how the darn thing works. Yea sure they want to know about that too, but not initially. They need to know the details only after they’ve been sold on the idea or product.

Treat your corporate customers to something nice

Take a look at all the business to business advertising ads you see out there. The ads are laid out as if you are teaching some school kid why your filing cabinet is better than the competitors. For God’s sake, the business to business advertising even has bullet points for advantages and highlights. Are the corporate decision makers not swayed by sleek movie presentations or sexy business to business advertising with racy music? Then why on Earth would you prepare business to business advertising with the dull bullet points? When it comes to business to business advertising, remember one simple rule – the people sitting in front of you are people i.e. humans who are easily swayed by sleek quality and also bored with dull presentations. So next time you are at a b2b advertising meet, breathe out some fire.

There are different types of Shopping Cart Software and they differ not only in the complexity and features being offered but also in the technology or coding platforms used. Perhaps the simplest of Shopping Cart Software is a JavaScript Shopping Cart Software. With a little HTML knowledge you can install a simple JavaScript Shopping Cart Software and even make some minor customization changes.

The JavaScript Shopping  Cart  Software  essentially uses  cookies to store customer purchase information. Whatever computation the JavaScript Shopping Cart Software does, it is done via the customer’s own browser. For this reason, the JavaScript Shopping Cart Software is said to use “client side scripting”.

Since everything happens on the ‘client side’ via the client’s own browser, there is very limited communication between the client’s browser and your web server. This results in JavaScript Shopping Cart Software having very limited interactive ability.

The JavaScript Shopping Cart Software can also be very slow and often unreliable because your customer might not only use different browsers, but might also use obsolete browser version – one in which the JavaScript Shopping Cart Software might not work well. So while plenty of free JavaScript Shopping Cart Software is available on the net and it is easy to install and use, the JavaScript Shopping Cart Software might not really be an ideal choice for the serious businessman.

The next type of Shopping Cart Software available is the cgi or Perl Shopping Cart Software. This is requires you (or your web designer) to have knowledge of Perl scripting. It also requires the presence of the Perl (cgi directory) on your web server. Perl Shopping Cart Software requires some knowledge, skill and experience to modify as well as install.

The most common web hosting platform today is the PHP web hosting platform. Because of this, most of the Shopping Cart Software available is written in PHP and designed to be used on Linux web servers. PHP is even more interactive and sophisticated than PERL and therefore needs considerable knowledge, skill and experience to install and modify to suit your requirements. PHP Shopping Cart Software is easily integrated with MySQL database. Integrating your Shopping Cart Software with a database is ideal because it can easily pull out information from the database and make your Shopping Cart Software even more interactive, efficient and a pleasure to use.

In many ways PHP Shopping Cart Software is ideal because it is economical to purchase, economical to use because it requires a Linux web servers and these generally cost much less than other types of servers. Also, there are many more PHP web designers, web developers and web masters than for other coding platforms.

The next type of Shopping Cart Software is the ASP Shopping Cart Software. The ASP Shopping Cart Software is almost identical to the PHP Shopping Cart Software. The only difference being that instead of PHP this Shopping Cart Software uses ASP coding platform and a Microsoft Windows Web Server. It also uses MsSQL or Ms Access database. It is as versatile and interactive as the PHP Shopping Cart Software but costs a bit more to purchase and use. The additional expenditure is because the ASP Shopping Cart Software uses the Microsoft platform which is generally a bit more expensive. The one advantage that Microsoft database (MsSQL) has over its Open Source Rivals (MySQL) is that, it is generally considered to be bit more secure. However, if your database is not going to store sensitive information such as customer credit card numbers, etc. then MySQL should do quite well.

In my next blog I shall further explore the World of Shopping Cart Software.

In my previous blog on Ecommerce hosting, I began writing about the features that should be part of any quality Ecommerce hosting plan. This week I continue with the same blog on selecting a good Ecommerce hosting plan and Ecommerce hosting retailer.

Along with adequate bandwidth, adequate Ecommerce hosting space, the correct type or operating system of your Ecommerce web server, you also need:

A secure server included in your Ecommerce hosting

If your Ecommerce website requires the customers to enter any sensitive information or your Ecommerce website is to store any other type of sensitive information (for example, paid reports), than you absolutely must host your Ecommerce website on secure Ecommerce hosting space. A secure Ecommerce hosting web server is one that needs a ‘https’ URL to access any of the web pages stored on it.

Along with the secure Ecommerce hosting space server, you will also need to buy and install (your Ecommerce hosting space retailer can do it for you), an encryption and security certificate. This is available for purchase from third party vendors and can be purchased online.

The security certificate is usually issued after testing the secure Ecommerce hosting server and is made out in the name of your company or business.

Some Ecommerce hosting retailers offer shared security certificates – stay away from those. If your Ecommerce website is hacked a shared security certificate provided to you by your Ecommerce hosting retailer will offer poor legal and financial protection.

Content Manager included in your Ecommerce hosting

If your Ecommerce hosting plan includes free use of a good quality content manager with adequate features then that is definitely a big plus.

Ecommerce Cart or Shopping cart included in your Ecommerce hosting

Another big plus would be if your Ecommerce hosting plan included the free use of a good quality, easy to install, customize and use ecommerce cart.

Availability of a readymade ecommerce cart would greatly reduce your web design fees. However, you might want to give the readymade ecommerce cart a good look over and test run before you decide to use it. Technical glitches in your new Ecommerce website will cost your dearly and also create a rift between you and your web designer.

Payment Gateway included in your Ecommerce hosting

To make their Ecommerce hosting plans more attractive, some Ecommerce hosting retailers are even offering to include a payment gateway in your Ecommerce hosting plan. Do read the fine print. What might look like an excellent deal might turn sour once the cash registers start ringing and you find a big percentage of your revenue being eaten up due to unfair rates and terms applied by the payment gateway that came bundled with your Ecommerce hosting plan.

Terms of use of the Ecommerce hosting

Very few customers bother to read the terms of use. An Ecommerce hosting plan that seems excellent and very competitively priced might not look so good once you read the terms of use of the Ecommerce hosting.

Have you been ‘Googling’ for Ecommerce hosting and ended up being unsure of which Ecommerce hosting plan is ideal for your application? Or unsure of which Ecommerce hosting retailer is worthy of your money? Well then, let me help you decide and select the right Ecommerce hosting retailer and the right Ecommerce hosting plan.

First off, if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution in yourEcommerce hosting plan then you should be looking for these features:

• Unlimited bandwidth or bandwidth that is no less than Your Ecommerce hosting space times 25. So if you figure you need roughly 1GB of space for your Ecommerce website, then your bandwidth requirement would be in the region of 25Gb per month.

What is bandwidth in relation to Ecommerce hosting?
Bandwidth in relation to Ecommerce hosting is the amount of data transferred between your website and your customers.

For example, if your homepage file size is 25Kb and there are another 500Kb of images within it, than anyone who visits the homepage of your Ecommerce website would have downloaded 525Kb and then some more data. The total of all such downloads from all the accessed pages on your Ecommerce website by all the customers who visited your website in a month would be the total bandwidth consumed for that month. Now all customers won’t be visiting all the pages of your Ecommerce website. So as a rule of the thumb, your bandwidth is calculated as total space occupied times 25. So you might want to look at the amount of bandwidth being offered in your Ecommerce hosting plan. You might need to look at any marketing campaigns that you intend to launch because more the marketing, more the customers who might arrive at your Ecommerce website and consequently, more the bandwidth requirement.

If your Ecommerce website is successful and you feel you need more bandwidth, you can always buy it from your Ecommerce hosting retailer.

• Adequate Ecommerce hosting space. To find out how much Ecommerce hosting space you would need, total up all the file sizes that you would need to upload (or ask your web designer about it) and multiply the figure by 2. So if the total all files sizes you would be uploaded is 1GB then you would need 2Gb of space (the additional 1Gb is for future expansion of your Ecommerce website).

While calculating Ecommerce hosting space, you need to find out from the Ecommerce hosting retailer whether space required for emails will be included within the quantum of Ecommerce hosting space purchased. If yes, then you should multiply total of all file sizes by 15. So in our example, you would require 15Gb of Ecommerce hosting space.

• Linux or Windows or DOTNET or WordPress?Ask your web designer whether you need a Linux Ecommerce hosting space or a ‘Windows’ Ecommerce hosting space or some other Ecommerce hosting space. Price differences if any would be marginal. All operating systems offer more or less the same features. WordPress however, is more geared towards blogging and blog publishing.

I shall continue this topic in my next blog.

Ecommerce hosting is a relatively new term and has been coined to describe hosting that typically includes or offers to include an ecommerce cart, a content manager, a payment gateway system and a secure web server. A typical ecommerce hosting will either have all these included in the offer price or, might offer each of these features for additional payment. The bundling of these ecommerce features or availability thereof within the ecommerce hosting plan offered, is called ecommerce hosting.

Of late, server space retails at almost the price of peanuts (or even cheaper). This has resulted in cut-throat competition amongst ecommerce hosting retailers. While on the one hand this might appear to be good news to all those who are in the process of creating an ecommerce website, in reality however, it has resulted in retailing of ecommerce hosting that is accompanied by little or no after-sales-service which is a critical component of any web hosting including ecommerce hosting. If the email server on your ecommerce hosting fails or God forbid, your ecommerce website itself has been compromised due to technical snags with the ecommerce hosting, then you should be able to call or email and receive service in 24 hours or less. While almost all ecommerce hosting services automatically acknowledge your request for technical support, very few actually attend to your request for support within the mandatory 24 hour period. Those that do often send you some canned answers that almost always fail to address your concern. In the meanwhile, you might not only have lost a few thousand dollars in revenue, you could have lost a few valuable customers as well.

How to recognize fly-by-night ecommerce hosting retailers?

For starters, I’d recommend you stay away from all hosting companies that are not based in developed countries (exception being Russia). The laws governing web hosting or ecommerce hosting in developing countries is very slack. These ecommerce hosting retailers therefore have no fear of the law and hence have little incentive to offer you quality services. Of course, that is not to say that all the ecommerce hosting retailers based in developing countries are bad. Indeed, some of the ecommerce hosting retailers based in developing countries are so good that they not only offer unbeatable plans at unbeatable prices, they also bundle excellent 24×7 technical support to go with it. But finding these companies by doing a mere search on the net would be a hit-and-miss opportunity.

The developed countries too have their fair share of bad apples. If an ecommerce hosting retailer’s website looks like a template or the information or ecommerce hosting plan details are skimpy, then its best to avoid these ecommerce hosting retailers. If the ecommerce hosting plan has all the features we’ve mentioned and costs less than $15 a month, then it probably does not include technical support and so should be avoided. Also, the quality of the features being offered with each ecommerce hosting plan might probably be below standard.

It is important to realize that adequate bandwidth, 24 x 7 technical support, web server software, monitoring staff, ecommerce hosting hardware all cost money. While sharing the services and hardware with several customers does bring down the price, too much sharing (and therefore very low rates), brings down the quality of the ecommerce hosting.