Part 2 : Networking and Newcomers

You're a member of the Learning Fountain Network. Tell us a little about that and why you joined...
I found Paul Siegel's Learning Fountain Network when applying for awards for my website. The "Learning Fount" award is for those sites that use the Web to teach and inspire others. After earning that award, I signed up for his small business discussion list and became involved in a great community of web-based professionals. The list was my introduction to web community building. It eventually led to other connections as my participation introduced me to other online entrepreneurs, more business, and additional communities, newsletters and ezines.

Paul introduced the Learning Fountain Network last year as a follow-up to the Learning Fount award. The award winners are invited to join a networking and referral list which brings members new business by building a community based on the three key ingredients of Excellence, Honesty and Ethics in business. Another element of the group is a strong respect for individual privacy online and each member agrees to a strongly stated privacy policy as a condition of membership. I highly recommend the group to small business owners online.

Is networking the most important source of clients for you, or are there other, better, lead generation techniques?
Networking began as the most important source of clients for me, but now it is writing articles for distribution that brings in the business. Just over a year ago, I started an article distribution list meant primarily to get my own work seen. At the time, there weren't many lists like it that connected online writers and web publishers, except those few offered by ezine directories. The latter required you to visit the directory website to post articles for consideration. I designed my list as a moderated mailing list in which I approved all posts by writers, in order to maintain a level of quality and attract large list publishers. Excellent small business articles by a great community of recognized writers are emailed to the latter on a regular basis. I'm one of the little guys on the list, but still my work is picked up regularly by major online publishers.

The other lead generation success comes from acting as an online "expert" on small business and online marketing. As a contributor to Workz.com, my articles are sent to their subscribers and posted on their site.

Appearing as a small business expert at AskMe.com attracts customers too. When I solve someone's problem or provide resources and links that help them, they often decide to hire me to deal with similar problems. The posts (answers) are also available in site archives for those that want to look up highly-rated answers to commonly asked questions.

Let's talk now about newcomers to ecommerce. What are the areas where expectations differ most from reality?
The expectation that everything can be had for free is the most unrealistic thing the web has created. My first website cost me about US$1400 over four years ago (including design, production and hosting) and I thought it was a steal at that price! I'd hate to tell you how often I have to explain to small business entrepreneurs that it costs at least that much now (and usually more) if they are serious about doing business online. The biggest shock to many is that there are ongoing marketing expenses involved.

Online networking, content development and regular updates to the site need to be done. Email needs to be answered quickly. Search engine positioning, ad testing and ezine production, distribution and archiving needs to be undertaken constantly. Linking campaigns need to be launched and affiliate or referral programs established. You don't just post a site and forget about it -- that's a recipe for disaster!

And what are the main questions that these newcomers are asking?
Besides the common questions of how to choose a good web host, how to set up a merchant account, how to get listed and rank well in the search engines? Those are the main questions, but after that it ranges quite widely. I've been asked how to get a tax-id # from the US Internal Revenue Service (call them and ask for the forms to apply), how to gather statistics on website traffic, how to make online forms work, what software is best for particular basic needs, how to upload web pages, etc.

None of it is complex stuff, it's just not easily found all in one place. Inevitably I end up referring a lot of those questioners to articles in my ezine archive, where I've answered many of the questions in some detail, or provided links and resources on many of the most common issues. One of the interesting byproducts of answering these questions for the beginner is that I end up writing new articles to address specific new questions. I go research the answer and then share it with as many people as possible, by distributing that article through the Free Content list, adding particularly relevant pages to my own website and submitting it to the small business portals I write columns for.

Those who are simply promoting themselves often manifest themselves as unwanted spam in the emailbox, in poorly written articles full of affiliate links and as low-rated experts at places like AskMe.com or ExpertCentral.com. The latter sites have a ranking system that asks users to rate the answers. You'll find that those who are highly rated generally provide good advice. Workz.com and Guru.com only accept columns from reviewed and trusted sources. It's fairly certain that those providing advice via email that you didn't ask for, or in ezines with poor content full of affiliate links, are only acting out of self-interest. Large lists like the one from AddMe.com and DEMC have publishers that know great content from thinly disguised self-promotion, and "experts" will generally have an affiliation with some substantial and trustworthy companies.

I was thrilled to get just a paragraph in the December 1999 Entrepreneur Magazine, and very quickly posted it on the WebSite101 home page to help visitors know they could trust the advice offered there. Testimonials from happy clients with contact information, full names and website or email links will distinguish the trustworthy experts from the rest.

Continued...