Up On the Monitor, click, click, click…

Welcome Entrepreneurs!

We've been making a list, and checking it twice. Some of you have been naughty, but most of you have been very, very nice. And that's why Santa has a bag o' tools and tips for you for this holiday season.

Tool of the Month: How to get Google to love your site!

Having a site map is important when it comes to search engine optimization. Here is a tool to help you put one on your site. SiteMap Generator

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

They Showed Us The Money.
August was hot in Dallas this year for more than one reason. The Millionaire's Summit held at the Hyatt DFW attracted Internet entrepreneurs from all over the country. The Summit was a literal melting pot of Internet marketing champions sharing ideas and secrets to success with each other. We will be sharing many of the new ideas and techniques we discussed in the months to come here in our newsletter.

Here is a picture of The Internet Marketing Center President, Derek Gehl and Startup Essentials Co-Founder, Steve Mayes during a break at the 2005 Millionaire's Summit.

If you are new to StartUp Essentials, Welcome Aboard! We fully expect 2006 to be our best year ever for Internet business growth. This coming Christmas season will see a 28% increase in online sales over last years record year. If there ever was a time to get your online business started it is now. The wave is just starting!

Life After Christmas: Looking Forward With Your Internet Business

By Steve Mayes

Do you ever feel like a fish sometimes, constantly surprised at that bubbling treasure chest at the bottom of the tank? Every year we find ourselves saying, "It's Christmas Time already?". We know it's coming. It's the same time every year. But it always surprises us how quickly time has gone by.

We all know what Christmas time means for business owners, including those of us in E-Commerce. It means sales, and lots of them. So there is lots of preparation and hype and even some hysteria leading up to the big event. As Internet Business Owners it's hard to fight the thought, "Is there any point in even having a website after Christmas is over?"
Life After Christmas!

Of course having an optimized site that is converting lots of business during the holiday shopping season is a good idea. But it's now time to think of life after Christmas. Typically, the first quarter is a HUGE quarter for Internet sales. Plus, there are more brand new computers waiting to be opened sitting under Christmas trees right now than at any other time in history. All those people, some brand new to the Internet, will be surfing and shopping and buying in the first quarter. Are you ready for them?

If you don't want to have to spend money on Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns then your other options are the "free" engines which return organic search results. While this is usually less expensive in the end, even if you hire a good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company, and the average return per visitor is higher, it also takes a little longer to get results.

With PPC you could start driving traffic in a couple days, but with free submissions it could take a few weeks or several months to get indexed and start ranking. If you're in a competitive field it will take longer because you have to move up in the rankings high enough to get noticed by your customers. And since about 80% of traffic comes from the top listings on the first page, you'll want to be on the first page of results.

So, if you want to take part in the estimated $123 billion in sales in the coming year, you need to start working today to get results.

Preparation Tips for the New Year:

1. Check with your supplier to make sure they will have stock. There is nothing worse than making a sale just to find out that your supplier is out of stock. Some suppliers are re-stocking right after the holiday season.

2. Plan on spending some money on marketing. This is the quickest and easiest way to get targeted traffic. Some good choices for consumer product sales would be pay per click advertising, email campaigns, and banner ads. Be sure to track your results!

3. Get wish list software on your site. Kids and ladies love to build their wish lists online these days. If they see something they like on your site they can have an email wish list sent to the person most likely to buy it for them.

4. Build your list. Don't let all those visitors leave your site without at least getting them added to your list. Then you can market to them again and again.

5. Optimize new content pages targeting New Year keywords. Think of the people that will be searching for the term "New Year Resolution". Use that to your advantage and optimize some pages on your site including what you would expect people to use.

6. Offer "After Holiday" Sales categories. Make it easy for the person who is looking for after holiday bargains to find them on your site! Give them some links to help them out like: Ladies gift ideas, men's gift ideas, after-holiday blow outs, etc.

Santa Has Business Building Toys For All the Hard Working Girls and Boys:

Find Products To Sell Looking for the perfect products to sell online? Sometimes they can be hard to find. So, to help you start your research, here are ten top places to look...

Add a Human Touch to Your Web Site Why aren't more people making purchases from your website? Hint: A little human interaction on your web site may close the sale...

The News is in the Mail E-mail newsletters can help you spread the word and keep in touch with customers. Here are some tips for doing it right...

Pop Art Pop-up ads are annoying, distracting -- and, occasionally, highly effective. The trick: using them in just the right place at just the right time...

If You Build It, Can They Find It? Tips for shining a searchlight on your company's web site...

Optimum Diet for Good Health? Protecting yourself from Cancer, Stroke Heart Disease and many other illnesses may be easier than you think...

Looking for traffic to your site? At any given moment there are 78 Million people on line. And in order for you to get your share of these people who are looking for your products to visit your website, you will need to become proficient at creating a successful traffic program. Click on the link for an excellen tool to help you.

Click Here for more traffic to your site: Your Ad Blaster - Massive Email Traffic Program

Have a safe and happy Holiday season. Plan on making 2006 your best year ever.

Helen Keller said "One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar." Don’t let fear keep you from soaring up where you belong.