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I was just reading the newly published 2008 Holiday Survey provided by the National Retail Federation, and found some interesting facts about what people plan to do this year. With the economy and political scene in turmoil, retailers both online and off-line are anxious about to expect during the biggest money-making part of the retail year.

There’s both good news and not-so-good news for retailers. Part of the good news is that there really isn’t any BAD news - shoppers are only expecting to spend a bit more than they did last year, about 2.2% more. Hey, at least they’re still planning on spending, and adding a bit over the prior year! The average US consumer is planning on spending about $836 each on holiday spending, which is up just under 2% from last year.  This is better than many business owners expected, as the possibility of decreases in holiday spending were very real. And the actual numbers will tell the real story, after the holidays are over…

The survey deals with shopping across the board and is not specific to internet retailing. But the report has some very interesting observations of the data. There were two paragraphs that caught my attention.

Though shoppers choose to visit stores for different reasons, consumers say one factor will play the biggest role in buying decisions this year: price. According to the survey, 40.0 percent of shoppers say that sales or promotions is the largest factor when determining where to shop, while another 12.6 percent state that everyday low prices are most important. Other consumers rated selection (21.5%) and merchandise quality (13.4%) as the primary factor. Only a handful of consumers said they are making buying decisions based on a convenient location (5.6%) or helpful customer service (5.2%) this year.

And this paragraph (emphasis mine):

As the Internet becomes more of a mainstay in the retail landscape, Americans are heading online to compare prices, research retail locations, and look for gift ideas before heading to stores. Although the number of people buying gifts online is expected to remain flat over last year (44.2% in 2008 vs. 44.3% in 2007), shoppers will rely on the Internet more than ever to browse for holiday gifts and research products. According to the survey, the Internet will influence 33.6 percent of holiday purchases, up from 30.2 percent last year and 28.9 percent in 2006.

What does this mean for those of us who are trying to make a living on line? There are a couple of things that leap out at me.

The first is that shoppers are using the internet more and more each year, and the conversion from researcher to buyer is expected to increase.  We tend to forget that there are still the majority of shoppers out there to do NOT shop on the internet, for a whole variety of reasons. But they are comfortable in conducting research online, and using tools provided by e-tailers on their websites to find out more information - even if it’s just to find the location of the nearest brick and mortar store. With familiarity and use comes comfort and trust, and those are key elements in triggering a buying decision.

The second thing that caught my attention was the thought that websites that don’t offer what shoppers are looking for - and right now what they want mostly is ideas, product and pricing research (aka CONTENT) - are going to be stuck in the start gate.  We’ve all been hearing this for some time now from the internet gurus, and if you’ve been paying attention at all you’ve noticed a lot of activity of the downgrade variety taking place at Google and the other search engines. The reason is lack of content, the stuff that makes it worthwhile for people to visit your site. If you ain’t got it, you’re not going to be getting your slice of the pie.

Although the current economy certainly makes people more price-conscious, I don’t believe that this is a short-term trend. I do believe that as people have more choices available about where and how to shop, price comparisons will be made across a wider and wider network. With that can come information overload, to be sure, and people will retreat to where they are most comfortable when this happens.

This year consumers have made it clear that bargain prices are more important than store location, or even quality of product.  They are going to look on the internet to find gift ideas, and the price points for the items they’re interested in.  They are willing to come to your e-store to find this information, and that gets them much of the way there on the road to making a purchase. Remember, they’ve indicated that they’re flexible on where they buy their items! This is a golden opportunity for online businesses to capture the interest and hopefully the dollars of these shoppers. But if you have no research, no product information, no way to spark their interest and get them loaded up with shopping ideas, you will not capture these customers. He or she who is without content shall perish (figuratively speaking!).

Take a hard look at your website. Make a list, even mentally, of all the features you offer visitors. If the only thing you come up with is your inventory, you’ve got some work to do. Provide those seekers and shoppers with information on what you’re selling. If it’s a niche site in an area of particular interest to you, then you should start writing about your area. Beef up that content and make it easy for shoppers to learn about your product line, and help them make decisions. If you can’t write, then hire it out. It’s important enough to your future business that you will have to invest time and/or money to make your site worth visiting.

Take a hard look at your product line and pricing strategy. It’s awfully hard to compete with Wal-Mart and Target and Costco on prices for many things. Especially when their buyers don’t have to pay shipping.  If prices are what people are focusing on, then make sure you are competitive and that you educate your buyers on why they’re getting a good deal from you! Buyers appreciate value more than most other things, and they need to believe you offer it to them. You need to tell them! Get to work on running sales and promotions to entice buyers. Better hurry though - about 40% of shoppers say they plan to start Christmas shopping before Halloween!

With every challenge comes opportunity. The current environment is ripe for those who are willing to push forward with the next iteration of The Internet. By itself, it no longer has the high gee-whiz factor that it used to. In fact, many if not most shoppers and purchase-influencers today have either had the internet their entire lives or for most of their “shopping lives.” It’s no big deal. Tailor your messages to these buyers, give them what they want, and you will be rewarded.

People with a burning desire to know their and their clients’ Google page ranks are watching the ranks jump up and down today, as another revision takes place. When the dust settles, there will be some cheers and plenty of boo-hoos as thin, spammy sites take another whack and drop in page rank. I’ve even heard a few folks say that they’ve gone to a ZERO page rank - now that’s painful.

But the writing (pun intended) has been on the wall for a year or more now, for those who know how to read and who are paying attention. Google in various ways has signaled their intent to downgrade sites that do not offer their readers a worthwhile experience. Simply selling things isn’t enough. You need to supply CONTENT and you need to be CONNECTED to quality sites in your area. What you offer and who you hang out with is critical to a site’s being ranked well, or you risk being stuffed into Google’s ever-filling Zero-Page-Rank-Basement (or worse, getting de-indexed!).

I have to confess right now. I HAVE A COUPLE OF THIN SITES THAT ARE IN THE BASEMENT!! Yes, even someone who tells clients DON’T DO THIS, is guilty of harboring some thin affiliate websites. When I first started affiliate marketing, like most newbies I got caught up in the excitement of the new idea, the new niche, the cool domain name, fresh colorful web designs… you get the picture. After all that, putting in my affiliate links and pulling in products was kind of the wrap up. I had every intention of beefing it up with content and links, but the allure of a new niche beckoned and off I went.

So now after all this time, these poor sites that never really got optimized for success, are dwelling in Google’s basement.  Am I upset? No, because I made no effort to practice what I preach and the results were inevitable. At some point before the domain names expire, I may take another look at them to see if they are worth salvaging, but it’s important to recognize that not all your internet business attempts will succeed. Cut loose and move on.

Anyway, to all the boo-hooers out there wondering what they’re going to do, it’s time to get serious about your site’s content. You say you can’t write? And you don’t have anyone working for you who you could spare, even if you had someone who could produce quality organic seo oriented traffic?  Then that leaves you with looking for outside talent who specializes in website content.  You can’t afford not to outsource. The site-ranking machinery is grinding up whole businesses who thought all they had to do was provide products and a shopping cart.  If you are a medium or small business owner, your success depends on giving your visitors and shoppers much more than that. Grim, but true.

We’ve had some requests to add a secure Contact Us page, so here it is!  Send us an email with any questions you might have about our writing services, research capability, niche research, help in adding content to your affiliate site, or any other requests you might have. We’ll respond as quickly as possible!

Since this site is still a work-in-progress, we don’t have all of our services listed or described yet. We’ll be doing that over the next few months as we develop bundles of services and pricing packages for those who want a package deal. We’ll also be fine-tuning the a-la-carte services as well. We believe that this will make it easier for you to evaluate us and make decisions regarding your writing service needs.

Custom projects of course are always priced based on what the client wants done, so it is impossible to list a price. But some projects are fairly standard, and we have no problem in disclosing our prices and what is included. We think that this lets buyers compare one provider to another in more of an open-market spirit, which we firmly believe in!

photo credit: danielbroche

With every news source pounding nails into the coffin of recovery prospects for the US economy, you’d think the doom and gloom would have caused brick & mortar businesses to roll up into a budgetary ball and glue their money into their wallets. People are losing their jobs, or being part-timed, so the consensus is that Santa ain’t comin’ this Christmas because Santa’s broke too. It’s no secret that companies have held off spending money on expansion until the economic murk clears a bit. So are businesses indeed planning to ride it out while curled up into a little ball?

Not exactly. I read an interesting article this morning published by ECommerce Guide. It was a little ray of sunshine in my inbox, as it reported that while companies everywhere are hanging on to their cash, the one place they are spending is on eCommerce. Senior managements have read the writing on the wall and concluded that their target market (read: people who are still spending at a pretty good clip) is more internet-focused than the old style (and older) shopper. But with gas at over $4 a gallon, even the geezer generation is thinking twice about making a run to the mall or store, and are comparing the costs of that trip to placing the order online. Companies are seeing gold in them thar Internet hills, and are tooling up.

A recent white paper released by The E-Tailing Group titled “No Retreat! Investing in E-Commerce, Despite the Times” revealed that while companies were cutting back, they weren’t cutting their e-commerce investments. Companies generally were planning on being quite aggressive this year in building or beefing up their internet commerce areas.

The big reason for aggressive investments is because this sales channel is growing, and growing strongly. With research shops predicting 15%-17% increases in e-commerce spending in 2008, and gas prices passing the $4 gallon mark, companies can’t afford to be left behind. Traditional sales channels like in-store purchasing and catalog orders are facing some shaky prospects this year, so companies who want to flourish need to build that online sales channel just as fast as possible.

An interesting fact is that many of these companies, beginning in the late 1990s when many finally became convinced that the Internet was here to stay, put into place rudimentary systems to help position them for the oncoming online onslaught. Just in time for the big dot.com bust, I might add…

So the big internet dream got put on hold, but now that online retailing is an established AND GROWING fact, they want to get into the game again. To do that, they have to upgrade their systems (or start from scratch), build an online presence and brand if they don’t have one already, educate and inform prospective customers that there are READY AND ABLE to lighten their wallets! What else do they need? Good websites with beefy content that will appeal not only to the younger shoppers, but also to older consumers who want substance, not eye-popping gee-whiz graphics.

They need good organic SEO-friendly content that also appeals to human visitors. They need sales materials geared toward the immediate delivery required of an e-commerce operation. They need product descriptions, and comparisons of their widgets versus those of the competition. They need a good story about their company, their mission, their staff. It’s not enough to lift it intact from their annual reports (ARRGGHH!) and plunk it into the website, it needs to be modified so that it will grab the attention of their sites’ visitors in the nano-second these folks allot to such things.

Do you think the in-house corporate types will be able to transition their message and product line into the internet channel? Will medium- and smaller-sized companies even have a chance to develop first class content in house, while still running their day-to-day businesses AND ramping up for internet sales? My guess is…. no, they won’t be able to do it alone.

Which brings me to my favorite theme: THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BE ALIVE AND FREELANCING! Not only do existing online businesses have to re-tool their websites to keep King Google happy, but we have a lot of newcomers in the market for professional, high-quality content, sales materials and other marketing collateral to stake their claim in this brave new world. Not to mention web design, website building etc. As freelancers, we need to be ready to make our pitches and get our piece of the pie.
There is no shortage of work out there for the foreseeable future. Everything that we can help our clients do in getting noticed, attracting search engine attention and a steady stream of targeted visitors are things that we need to be doing for ourselves. We are our own best customers, because if we can’t attract some attention from this flood of buyers who need and want what we’re selling, then we might as well hang it up. We need to lead by example and “work the steps” to internet success ourselves before we can expect to sell it to others.

The time is now. In the 1990s, there was huge interest in the internet as the wave of the future for shopping, lifestyles, finance, communication and a whole lot of other things. I was there, and it was an exciting time. We couldn’t wait to become part of the electronic and digital age. But the hype ran ahead of the technology, and by the end of the 1990s our lives hadn’t really changed that much.

Over the last 10 years the technology has advanced, our attitudes have changed, and it is now possible for for the Internet to become a helpful part of most peoples’ lives. As freelancers, we can help make it happen, and bring success not only to our clients, but to ourselves.

My RSS feeds and inbox has been flooded lately with posts from internet marketers and owners of affiliate websites about the death of the “thin affiliate” (websites with little or no content that are solely designed to funnel you and your money to another website where you will buy stuff). And how webmasters without substance to their sites are going to get flushed down the Google.  About time, I think! And instead of worrying about how my own affiliate websites are going to do, I’m very excited about the opportunities available as a professional freelance writer.

If any environment is good for service businesses like mine, its one of fear and uncertainty, where the boat is really a-rockin’ and the status quo is about to be stomped on.   If you can offer the cure, things will go well for you if you can just get seen by the sick and dying…  The disease is Illiteracy on the Internet.

Wikipedia defines illiteracy as

The traditional definition … the ability to read and write, or the ability to use language to read, write, listen, and speak. In modern contexts, the word refers to reading and writing at a level adequate for communication, or at a level that lets one understand and communicate ideas in a literate society, so as to take part in that society. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has drafted the following definition: “Literacy” is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. (Emphasis mine)

This last definition is the one that nails it as far as internet communications goes. It is the perfect definition of The Cure for the Thin Affiliate, the Weak Website, the sleazy sales-a-thon website that has you hitting the back button as fast as you can.  It is what will make great websites out of mediocre ones, and even breathe some new life into a weak, thin affiliate site so that it has a chance of flourishing.

What makes me so excited is that the majority of people in this country are illiterate according to the UNESCO definition. Yes, Johnny can read and even write a bit.  But Jane & Johnny have no clue how to “identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use”
the goldmine of data and information out there in order to save their websites.  It looks as though many webmasters are in a similar situation.

It always surprised me how few people I met didn’t like to read. Ever since I learned to read, I loved it. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. Not only was it entertaining, but I learned fun things about topics I never would have delved into, like pre-Civil War society, railroad lanterns, vintage radios, and collectible dolls.

But probably the most important thing I learned from reading was how to write. By absorbing the hidden grammar lesson in every well-written paragraph, I was able to snooze (or goof off) during all those boring English classes!  I knew that when the time came to take the tests, I’d be able to handle them with no problem.

Life as a freelance writer has its ups and downs, but its never boring. And with the marching orders from the Kings of Google to beef it up or be gone, there are more opportunities than ever available to writers who can create custom content for a web-full of entrepreneurs who don’t want to see their livelihoods de-indexed away.  The key is to create meaningful content for a variety of areas, from techy gadgets to retirement homes.

Custom research for highly targeted articles, sales literature for a line of products, news blips to feed a busy website, copywriting of all flavors, even resume writing for “redeployed” web business workers will all be in demand.  Quality writing will be in demand as the hurdles for relevant content get higher and higher.  The penny-a-word providers who can barely speak the language will not be able to save the Thin Affiliate or Weak Website because the challenge is too great and the cost of failure is too high. Buyers of writing services can’t afford to cheap out on quality, not this time. When you’ve run a successful business online for years doing the same old thing, which suddenly not only isn’t good enough but is actually being penalized, your views on “budget” tend to change.

So bring it on! Let’s see how the internet changes when there is more meaningful content and useful information to be found. Let’s say good-bye to the trashy, flashy websites who just want to suck the money out of your pocket. Let’s make affiliate marketers valuable members of the internet sales teams who contribute more than a chute for hapless visitors to fall into to get plucked. Let’s really make Content King!

And for us freelance writers … Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

“If you don’t know how to bark, get a dog!”

With the flood of websites popping up daily, one thing is certain. Most will be abandoned or shut down within a year. There seems to be a belief that if it’s on the internet, it will succeed - whether by bringing in thousands of dollars a day in passive income or retail sales, zooming to the top of the search engine rankings within a couple of weeks, or some other measure. The fact is, this doesn’t happen.

Over the years, search engine managers have sought to bring more meaningful content to their users. With more and more junk sites out there, they can’t provide quality search results if all they have to search through is poorly written, full of typos, full of inaccurate information, or outdated.  So the algorithms they use to pull up websites based on search terms get adjusted and poor quality sites (as defined by the search engines) are weeded out. The search engines need to deliver quality content to their users, and so do webmasters.

As an internet entrepreneur who’s been around for a while running my own retail sites as well as a number of affiliate niche sites, the need for quality content became more and more urgent. No longer could you just throw products or services out there and expect to succeed. Visitors expect more, and the sites that deliver it are the ones that will succeed. The others will go down and no one will miss them.  One skill I’m happy to have been given and had the sense to develop was an ability to write well. I can put meaningful content into my sites and they do well. But ask me to design and program a website to put all that content on? Forget it! I am a zero when it comes to techy stuff, except for some very basic things. But I need the expertise, so I hire people who know how to do it for me.

The same is true for good content. It can be purchased just like everything else can. And just like everything else, the content can be brilliant or it can be worse than no content at all. In fact, web content written incorrectly can actually damage your standing with the search engines, or even get you banned. Yikes! This is important, folks. The wrong writing on your website can get you booted off the web if the writer isn’t skilled at correct, ethical, SEO-enhanced writing your internet empire could be toast.

A qualified internet content writer can save you time, save you money, MAKE you money, and keep your site out of trouble.  Finding the right professional can take a little searching, but it is well worth the effort. Like so many other businesses that pop up whenever an opportunity strikes, there are many websites that are job-boards for writing assignments. Writers pay a fee to have access to these postings, and submit proposals to the buyers. There are also “content-in-a-box” software packages that allow you to slam together some content in minutes.

The writers’ boards bring a lot of talent to one place. Many skilled writers prefer to freelance rather than work a 9-5 cubicle job, and they offer their talents at reasonable rates. These boards also draw some truly awful writers, many of whom can’t even speak or write well in the language of the website. On the other hand, they will work for peanuts and allow you to slap some content into your site quickly. Perhaps the search engines will be fooled for a while, but eventually that bad writing will get a smack-down and so will your website.

A job worth doing is worth doing right. You get what you pay for. You reap what you sow. There are lots of catch-phrases that apply here, and just because they may seem trite doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention. If you are serious about being a player on the internet, you need a quality site. Quality content and quality links are the two main factors that drive search engines’ page rankings. Neither are developed without a little time, effort, and investment.

In the non-internet world, freelance writing generally goes for between $1-$2 per word, depending on where it is placed in the piece.  The internet writing super-stores will generally run much less, especially if you settle for bids from non-English speakers! Independent freelance writers, who may or may not be part of a full service Search Engine Optimization (SEO) shop, will generally be higher, but so will the quality. Cost is not the only factor you should consider when hiring an expert to do a job.

When evaluating potential writers for your project, the first step is to make the project and objective crystal clear. Instead of saying the project is to “get top Google rankings” which is vague and says nothing about what you want the person to do, state it in concrete terms like:

Write 3 different articles on snowmobiles: how to buy them, how to ride them safely, and snowmobiling vacations. Each article to be about 500 words long, written in American English by a native speaker, and have a 3% keyword ratio. Deadline is 2 weeks.

This leaves little room for confusion.  This is the task, and the deliverables if done correctly will put you on your way to moving up in the search engine rankings. How to assess a writer’s skill? Here are some suggestions for the key variables:

• READ THEIR WORK! Whether you look at their samples they’ve posted on a writer’s job site or request specific samples, READ it! Does it make sense to you? Can you understand it? I’ve found some really astounding errors, typos, bad grammar, and poor editing on showcase sample pieces posted to entice potential clients. If they are too stupid to realize that they’ve just showcased their incompetence, then they’re of no interest to me.  Unfortunately this is fairly typical of the kind of work you get from the writing websites, but there are also very talented writers there so do your homework! If you set your specs correctly, the bad writers won’t bother applying.
• Ask about turn-around time and workload. Can your project be done in your timeframe? Sometimes it’s worth waiting a bit for a good writer to have time for your project rather than settling for someone less skilled.
• Find out about their research process. If your project involves the writer having to do research to collect  a lot facts, statistics, pros/cons, reviews, etc., expect to pay more depending on how much research they have to do. Academic writing for example is very research intense and often requires access to paid databases or advanced statistical skills - you’re going to have to pay for this. Most research for website content though doesn’t require that level of research.

The most important is samples of their writing. Even their emails to you are important clues about the writing style and skill of the writer. If the samples seem brilliant but their emails are full of errors, watch out. This person could be skimming content from other websites and not producing their own work at all.

If you are a serious internet entrepreneur, particularly a niche affiliate marketer, you will more than make your money back by hiring a professional writer. Ideally you will find someone with whom you can work on an ongoing basis, so you can focus on what YOU do best. If you don’t know how to bark, then you’d better get a dog!