In today’s business market, it is essential to get ahead of your competitors. The best way to do this is to use the Internet as a marketing tool. In this chapter, I’ll give you some crucial explanations of how to get started on the Internet.

Using the Internet in business

There are many different ways of using the Internet to your advantage when marketing yourself as a self-employed chef or catering business. If used correctly, the Internet is a cost-effective business tool, and provides a great way of reaching thousands of potential customers with just the click of a button.

Here are just a few ideas of how the Internet can be used to your commercial advantage:

Using the Internet, you are can obtain up-to-date, high-quality sales opportunities that are not readily available elsewhere.

Fast changing industries such as the food business can gain immensely by finding out about the latest trends, what the market is buying and being able to respond to it before their competitors.

Businesses that mail out to many different customers can gain financially. With post, or even fax, you pay for each separate mailing or call. With electronic mail, the cost of sending to people is virtually free!

With the introduction of pay-per-click advertising, new businesses with little or no experience can sell their products or services straight away;

There are so many different advertising opportunities on the Internet. For example, you could use the ‘affiliate marketing’ system to promote your products and services. This is something that can be used to great success within businesses;

With the Internet there are very few overheads involved. You do not need a huge office or lots of employees to start your Internet business.

More and more businesses are using the Internet as a place to advertise and sell. The great thing about the Internet is that it is fast, easy to use, the number of users is growing every year, your overheads are low and you don’t have to directly interact with the customer. Many people are setting up businesses from their homes and it is possible to make lots of leads quickly and easily.

image Chris’s tip…
I strongly believe that EVERY business should have some form of online presence. If you want to start a catering business or become a self-employed chef, but don’t have much money to get started, you should seriously consider setting up an online presence for yourself. You can start from home and you will have very few overheads!

The Basic Benefits of E-Commerce

The benefits of e-commerce include:

Increased sales – this is the first thing that people consider when starting with e-commerce;

Decreased costs – your overheads are low;

Increased profits – due to the fact that your overheads are low on advertising;

The size of your market expands from regional to national, or national to international;

You can reach a specific target audience through pay-per-click advertising.

HOW TO GET STARTED ON THE INTERNET

Terminology

The Internet is filled with different and sometimes confusing terminology. Here are a few terms to help you get to grips with basic definitions:

URL

Definition: The URL of a webpage includes everything that appears in the address log of your browser, such as http:/ and everything that comes after it when you visit a webpage. URL is short for ‘Uniform Resource Locator’, or simply ‘website address’.

Domain name

Definition: The part of a website address that identifies the site as belonging to a particular domain, and can be used to locate organisations or other entities using the web.

Blog or Web Log

Definition: A blog serves as a form of personal journal for any individual on the internet. These can either be public or private.

Browse

Definition: Browsing refers to the act of exploring or searching for useful links and pages on the internet.

Browsers

Definition: Browsers are software programs that enable you to view www. pages, for example Chrome or Firefox.

Cache

Definition: In browsers, the “cache” refers to the space where your internet viewing history is recorded.

Cookie

Definition: A message that is sent from a web server computer, to your browser. The information sent is then stored within the browser. When your computer interacts with the original server, the cookie will be sent back to the server, allowing it to respond according to what was in the original cookie.

FTP

Definition: File Transfer Protocol. This refers to the ability to transfer entire files from one computer to another, whilst keeping them intact for usage.

Host

Definition: A computer that provides web documents to clients or users.

HTML

Definition: Hypertext Mark-up Language. This is a language based in computer code, which is used for all web based formatting, including textual content, images and applications. Whenever you look at a web page, you are looking at the final product of endless reams of HTML code, working in conjunction with your browser.

IP Address or IP Number

Definition: (Internet Protocol number or address). An IP Address is a unique number, consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, for example – 199.118..245.2. Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP address. Most machines also have one or more domain names, which are far easier for people to remember.

Purchasing a Web Domain Name

The first step to getting started on the Internet is to purchase and register a domain name. It is important that your domain name is unique, as internet users will access your website using this. For example, the domain name for the becomingachef domain name is: www.becomingachef.co.uk.

The domain name .com is the largest top - level domain in use, and has even entered the common English language. Since the mid-1990s, there has been no restriction on who can register .com domains.

I have indicated other examples of domains that you can purchase as follows:

Examples of domain names:

.ac.uk - academic (tertiary education and research establishments) and learned societies;

.co.uk - commercial/general;

.gov.uk - government (central and local);

.ltd.uk - limited companies;

.me.uk - personal;

.mod.uk - Ministry of Defence and HM Forces public sites;

.net.uk - ISPs and network companies;

.nic.uk - network use only;

.nhs.uk - National Health Service institutions;

.org.uk - non-profit organisations and charities;

.plc.uk - public limited companies;

.police.uk - police forces;

.sch.uk - schools (primary and secondary education).

The choice of domain name for your business is totally down to you. One of the important things to remember is that it should be catchy and easy to remember. An example of this is ‘How2become’, as it says exactly what it does, and it is easy to remember. Try to think of a good name for your website.

image Chris’s tip…
Exact Matching Domains (EMDs) do not have as much weight as they used to in terms of ranking better through natural search engines. An example of an EMD might be an entrepreneur who is selling BOSCH power tools, and then decides to buy the domain name www.boschpowertool.co.uk. EMD’s used to be very effective at getting lots of traffic through natural search listings; however, things have now changed. This does not mean to say you shouldn’t have one, but don’t rely on it to get you good rankings anymore.

Once you have decided on your domain name, you need to see whether it is available for purchase. The Internet has been operating for many years and you may find that someone has already registered the name that you want You may need to change your first choice slightly, or even put in an offer for the domain name you are looking for. Once you’ve done the latter, you can find out how much the owner is intending to sell it for, and try to persuade them to lower the price. My advice to anyone who is starting out in business is to buy a domain name that is available for a low annual cost. Most .co.uk domain names can be purchased for around £1.99 per year. The .com version of domain names can cost anything up to £10 per year. There are many different web hosting sites where you can search for and purchase domain names.

Here is a list of some of the more commonly used web hosting sites:

www.oneandone.co.uk

www.domainmonster.co.uk

www.reg-123.co.uk

www.webfusion.co.uk

To search for a domain name is simple. Just enter the name of your chosen domain into the search bar on any hosting site, and it will tell you if it is available or not.

Hosting

Web hosting clients upload their websites to a shared (or dedicated) web server, which is then maintained by their ISP, to ensure a fast and stable Internet connection. The majority of domain registration companies will also offer web hosting, in exchange for a small fee.

Building a website

Whether your business warrants a website or not, only you can decide. Before you make your decision, remember that more and more people are using the Internet each year. Internet traffic is growing every day, which means you could, as a result of this, gain more customers to your site. Whether you intend to trade on the Internet or not, I would still advise that you get yourself a website. You can use this to keep customers informed about all of the services and products you are selling. Customers can also have easy access to your contact/address details and can be kept up-to-date on your products and services, via a weekly or monthly newsletter.

One of the hardest decisions you will need to make is deciding how to create your website. You may decide to do it yourself, in which case there are a great number of web-hosting companies, such as www.oneandone.co.uk, who will provide you with a complete web creation package. However, I would only recommend that you build your own website if you have knowledge of such systems. Speaking from personal experience, it can be extremely frustrating if you don’t.

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When getting a website built, I advise that you get it built by a professional. However, this does not mean that you have to pay thousands to get your website built. There are many website services out there where you can also build your own, if you choose to. A great example of this is www.1and1.co.uk.

Other great websites to visit where you can build your own website include:
www.MoonFruit.com
www.Wix.com
www.GoDaddy.com
www.FatCow.com

If you don’t want to try and build a website yourself, then consider posting a job on upwork.com. There are many talented professionals on these websites, who will design and create a website for you at a fair and affordable rate.

Paying someone else to build your website

There are literally hundreds of companies out there who will create your website for you, all at different costs. If you are selling a product via the Internet, then it is certainly worth paying a professional company to do the work for you. Before you part with your money, make sure you pay them a visit first and ask them questions about the service they can provide you. It is also worth getting a ‘branding session’ with the company, so that they can get a feel for what type of service you are hoping to provide. Whilst they are the web design specialists, you are the only person who knows what you want.

Here are some of the more important questions that you might wish to ask a web designer, before you agree to a contract:

What timescale will my website be completed within and will there be a contract to back this up?

Are there any ‘hidden costs’ that I need to take into consideration?

How qualified is the web designer?

Will he/she keep me updated of any progress?

What is the turnaround time and cost for any future alterations?

image Chris’s tip…
When hiring someone from an outsourcing website to design and build a website for you, I recommend that you create a ‘mock up’ of the style and functionality you want, in PowerPoint presentation form. It is advisable that you spoon-feed the outsourcer, so that he or she knows EXACTLY what you want them to do in terms of website design and functionality.

Internet Advertising

Once you have your website, you will want to direct traffic to it. Traffic is another term for visitors. If you are selling your product predominantly via the Internet then you will definitely need traffic. Don’t expect people to find your website just because you have one. You have to go out there and advertise the fact that you have a website. There are a number of ways that you can do this:

Search Engines

Major search engine sites such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask are widely used by Internet users. Google accounts for over 70% of all usage, and is therefore the most profitable of all the search engines. A search engine does exactly what it says –it ‘searches’. The user of the site types in a word or phrase, and the search engine provides him or her with a number of choices. Some of these choices are provided via natural listings, and the remainder by sponsored links.

Natural Search Listings

Natural search listings are listings that appear at the discretion of the search engines, which do not incur a charge to the listed site. In most search engines, these are the “main” results.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) refers to the process of increasing visitors to your website, via increasing your website ranking in the listings of search engines such as Google. In simple terms, the higher your website is ranked in the search listings, the better the chances of people viewing the site. Similarly to web developers, there are a huge number of talented SEO specialists out there, who can be hired at a cost.

Here is a useful set of websites and services that offer search engine optimisation services:

97th Floor

www.97thfloor.com

Adapt Partners

www.adaptpartners.com

Agillian

www.agillian.com

Ayima

www.Ayima.com

Blind Five Year Old

www.blindfiveyearold.com

Conversion Factory

www.conversionfactory.com

Conversion Rate Experts

www.conversion-rate-experts.com

Distilled

www.distilled.net

EricWard.com

www.ericward.com

High Rankings

www.highrankings.com

iAcquire

www.iacquire.com

Internet Marketing Ninjas

www.internetmarketingninjas.com

Keyphraseology

www.keyphraseology.com

KeyRelevance

www.keyrelevance.com

Page Zero Media

www.pagezero.com

Search Engine College

www.searchenginecollege.com

SEER Interactive

www.seerinteractive.com

SEOgadget

www.seogadget.com

SEOinhouse.com

www.seoinhouse.com

seOverflow

www.seoverflow.com

Squarespace Inc.

www.squarespace.com

Stephan Spencer

www.stephanspencer.com

Techipedia

www.techipedia.com

Trackur

www.trackur.com

User Effect

www.usereffect.com

Vertical Measures

www.verticalmeasures.com

Verve Search

www.vervesearch.com

image Chris’s tip…
There are many companies out there who will offer cost-effective ‘link-building’ services for your website. Be very careful about employing a company or individual who offers this type of service, unless you are 100% certain they are genuine and reputable. You can easily get penalised by Google for having poor backlinks directed to your website, and sometimes you can even get banned!

To learn more about Search Engine Optimisation and link building, visit www.MOZ.com

Sponsored Links

Sponsored links are a form of ‘paid advertising’ on Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo or MSN. They are predominantly text-based ads, appearing at the very top and on the right hand side of search engine results. How far up you appear on the listings of a search engine will be dependent on the search engine’s own criteria, how well your adverts perform and how much you are willing to pay each time somebody clicks on your advert.

Using pay-per-click advertising, you can create your own ads and choose keywords – which are words or phrases related to your business. When people type in one of your keywords on a search engine, your ad may appear next to the search results. The beauty of this method is that you are now advertising to an audience that’s already interested in your business. People can simply click on your ad to learn more about you, and hopefully will make a purchase.

The problem you have to overcome with this method is getting people to actually buy your product after they have clicked through to your site.

image Chris’s tip…
Google is, and always has been, THE place to get high quality traffic. Whilst it is still worth placing sponsored adverts on Yahoo and other smaller search engines, I would advise that you concentrate your efforts on Google, as this is where the majority of traffic lies.

SPONSORED LINKS, TIPS AND ADVICE

Make sure that your adverts are relevant:

It’s really important that your adverts are relevant to the words and phrases you are bidding on. For example, if you were selling a wedding catering service, you would not want to bid on the phrase ‘Fire Brigade’. Instead you would want to bid on keyword phrases such as ‘wedding caterers’ or ‘event catering’ etc. A good strategy used by many experienced pay-per-click advertisers is to match the advert with the phrase or keyword you are bidding on. By doing this you are more likely to increase your click through rate, and therefore generate more traffic to your site, at a lower cost.

Test the market first:

If you decide to sell your product via Internet search engines, make sure that you test the market before you start spending hundreds of pounds on your advertising campaigns.

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when advertising through sponsored links is that they waste money when starting out. They want their ads to be right at the top of the tree, and are prepared to pay heavily for it. It is far better to bid at a low price initially, and test your adverts to see if they create a good click through rate. If the click through rate is good, and you are still not selling anything, then you may need to make some changes to either your product or your website in order to change this.

Do not bid high prices on your adverts before you know that you have a product that people want to purchase. It is pointless spending £8 on advertising for every product that you sell for £5, as you would be losing £3 per sale! Start your bids low and only increase them once you know that your product sells.

USING THE INTERNET IN BUSINESS

Attend an Internet marketing course at

www.internetbusinessschool.com