Setting up an online business is affordable and easy. You don’t need to learn the technical stuff (although it helps) like HTML advanced coding or programming. In some cases, you don’t even need your own product to sell because there are many affiliate programs like Clickbank and Commission Junction. (Sign up if you qualify, then use a chunk of code with your tracking ID, and you can sell their merchants’ products on your site.)

The main problem now is how to design your website to attract your online customers. The term design sometimes deludes many entrepreneurs to focus on creativity alone. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Here are some of the common design blunders that may affect your online business:

No General Outline

Some entrepreneurs set up websites without knowing its importance or connection to their small business. You should have a clear purpose for putting up the website. Some use it as a support to motivate customers to visit their brick-and-mortar business while others rely on the website itself as the main source of income. This will greatly help you create an appropriate design and publish suitable content.

Too Techie

With thousands of cool fonts, eye-catching colors, and flashy web templates, there is no limit to your creativity. However, it is not just about you and your likes but your dear customers. These things, while very creative, will often distract your online customers from reading your product offerings. Keep things simple yet effective.

Simple Things Matter

In our effort to come up with an attractive site, we might forget the basic elements such as use of the back button, posting contact information, not checking broken links, and failure to update our website regularly. Learn what customers are searching for in a website. Also, find out from BloggingStocks what you can learn from iPod about killer designs and gather insights from our Logo Design Blog.

If you talk with your customers and ask them what sets your company apart from your fierce competitors, do you think they can tell the difference? If not, you should try to differentiate your business. Mavenblog expounds on how to make your company unique in terms of price, focus, product/service, and customer service. As a supplement, included below are the 4 easy steps you can implement in your business:

Step 1. Know Your Enemies

Differentiation is worthless if you don’t have a standard to compare with. You should gather all info about your direct and indirect competitors, like marketing materials, web content, prices, press releases, and even financial statements if available. This will help you find the chink in their armors and dodge their strong points at the same time.

Step 2. Look in the Mirror

Find out if you have something to offer that your competitors can’t. If you have, make a list of these things and proceed to step 3. If not, you will need to make some adjustments to be unique. Use the weaknesses of your competitors as your guide towards differentiation.

Step 3. Hype the Difference

Create compelling marketing campaigns anchored on your uniqueness and its benefits to all your customers. Consistency is vital to your success here, so make sure your all your initiatives are always well connected.

Step 4. Be True to Your Word

Don’t just say it, prove it! A clever marketing strategy can lure customers to trust your company and try your products. If there is a wide gap between your promise and performance, all your efforts will be wasted. Do your utmost to delight every customer.

There are numerous ways to convince your customers to patronize your products. When dealing with your online and offline customers, what you say is as important as how you say it. For instance, Landing the Deal talks about using the hypothetical situation technique to persuade someone to do what you want them to do. Below are other different techniques you can combine to convince your dear customers:

Storytelling

We talked about storytelling recently and how our minds are conditioned to be easily stimulated with a good story. When dealing with your prospective customers try to share some real success stories and if possible show some testimonials from these people. You might also set up a bulletin board of testimonials in your office and on your website.

Scarcity

Our fear of losing something is a very good motivator. Use deadlines and that classic yet powerful phrase “limited offer only”. A common mistake made by some entrepreneurs is not going all the way with this approach. You should make your threat credible to your customers by either increasing the price of your product or pulling it out of the market temporarily. You can always have a come back in a “due to insistent public demand” approach.

An interesting news came up yesterday and it’s about Wal-Mart’s decision to drop its tagline “Always Low Prices” and adopt a new one, “Save Money. Live Better”. The retailing giant wants to deliver a more emotional brand message instead of highlighting its price advantage.

You see, even big companies are shifting away from using price and focusing more on relationship or emotional marketing. Why? Because some studies conclude that emotions excites our minds 3000 times faster than any logical arguments! More importantly, relationships are built through emotions. You may want to try some of the tactics below to make your business more heart-warming:

Highlight the Benefits

Whether you’re talking to a customer, writing your brochure or designing your website, you should always hype up the benefits of your products and avoid focusing on the features. If you’re selling a car, for instance, don’t say it’s equipped with 220 horsepower V8 engine, front-side airbags, and anti-lock brakes. Instead, pitch about family safety and worry-free driving. If you have emotional testimonials from your customers, that will also do the trick. Include them in your brochure or websites to establish emotional connection and credibility.

Use Colors Properly

What comes to your mind when you see color green? Usually it’s money or eco-friendly products. It may appear trivial but colors can trigger different emotions. Using the right color combination in your promotional materials might actually increase your sales and conversions. Visit Color Wheel Pro to know the different color meanings.

Learn how Better 4 Business applies emotional marketing and Small Business SEM’s analysis on what Apple’s marketing can teach small business.

The teen and young adult markets offer lucrative opportunities but you have to be ready against intensive competition. There is only one word to capture the essence of teen marketing – COOL. Although business experts find it hard to define coolness, brands like iPhone,YouTube, Apple, and Google exemplify the so-called “x factor”. Below are some basic tips to help your small business get that enigmatic coolness:

Go Beyond Demographics

The teen market is very tricky and many entrepreneurs made the fatal mistake of lumping together all the teens as one big target market. Inside this seemingly homogeneous market are subgroups with diverse needs and wants. The 13-year olds are very different from the 15 or 19 year olds. Decide which teen subgroup to target first and customize your marketing campaign accordingly.

Partner with Gadget and Gaming Websites

An interesting study from eMarketer advises marketing guys to take advantage of the teen proclivity for using consumer electronics and entertainment devices, and for visiting websites about gadgets and gaming.

Over two-thirds of people in this age group own PCs, DVD players, home stereos, mobile phones or handheld devices. Additionally, one-quarter own MP3 players and Internet-enabled or camera phones. But gaming presents the best opportunity for marketers who wish to reach this audience. Over 90% own a gaming device, and three-quarters play online and offline games on their PC.

Be a Teenager

See the world from a teenager’s perspective to make your content and communication approach relevant. Know what magazines and social networking websites they read, favorite movies and TV shows, celebrities they love to hate, and other activities. Try hanging out at Starbucks and you might pick up some valuable information about this market.

Having troubles coming up with a good name for your small business or new product? Don’t worry for there are several strategies available at your disposal to ignite your creativity. The latest trend today, according to Entrepreneurs Daily, is using gobbledygook names like Wakoopa, Imeem, Xobni, and Frengo.

Some of you may even be irritated as to why we should give a damn about names if we can offer great customer service and run effective marketing campaign. To borrow the words of Karen Post, a great name is like extra octane in a brand. In some cases, it can make or break your brand.

Here’s a classic example that came from the book entitled Classic Failures in Product Marketing about having a wrong name:

Hunt-Wesson, one of the largest and most successful food companies in the US, decided to enter the French-speaking Quebec market in Canada. Aiming to localize its brands, it directly translated one of its product lines, Big John, to French and it was called Gros Jos. However they failed to dig deeper and evaluate this new brand name. Later on, they discovered that Gros Jos is a slang term for “big breasts” in French Canada!

In general, you should pick a name having emotional appeal, personality, depth, and very sticky to customers’ minds. Moreover, there are at least 10 different ways to name your business or products and you can read them all at The Name Inspector.

Needless to say, branding is essential for your company to stand out from the crowd and differentiate against the competition. However, some entrepreneurs believe branding is as simple as placing an advertisement or buying a logo. Without them knowing, they are signing their own business suicide note. In case you’re wondering about the things to avoid in branding, you can check them out below:

1. Using business jargon. It will impress your colleagues but will confuse your customers. Which do you prefer?
2. Not knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Follow the 5th of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: seek first to understand then to be understood.
3. No specific target market. The old dictum you can’t please everybody remains true even today.
4. No marketing plan. Without a plan there will be no direction. You might end up confusing and annoying your customers due to your inconsistent product claims and promises.
5. Trying hard to be different. Don’t be different for the sake of being different. It must have a rationale and added value to your business.

The mistakes above are appetizers. In fact, you can find another 7 deadly branding mistakes from the blog of Patsi Krakoff.

Expanding your business is a major step towards sustain the life of your business. However, there are many barriers towards expansion. You might find yourself lacking in terms of financial resources or the appropriate business skills. On these occasions, you may want to engage in a strategic alliance.

Yes, you heard it right. Don’t be afraid of this corporate jargon, for it can potentially save your business. In basic terms, strategic alliance is any agreement between 2 companies to share their resources for the purpose of generating more revenues.

Don’t think that because you have a small business doesn’t mean you can’t enter in strategic alliances. One possible type of alliance you can explore is called Cross-Marketing. This refers to a partnership with unrelated businesses serving the same target market to generate sales or increase awareness. For instance, a starting marketing consultant might want to partner with a local magazine targeting entrepreneurs. Under the cross-marketing agreement, the consultant must write marketing-related articles weekly for the magazine readers for free.

You might wonder about the benefits of this set up. For the magazine publisher, this means more high quality articles to entice readers to subscribe. The best part is it doesn’t need to pay the marketing consultant! On the side of the marketing consultant, the benefits to him are exposure to build his credibility and free advertisement. As the subscribers grow, the consultant can get more referrals. The latest live example of cross-marketing is the partnership between Apple and Starbucks to sell music through retail stores.

Aside from strategic alliances, Integrity Business Blog lists other ways to expand your business.

Part of what we, entrepreneurs, are thinking every single day is how to make our startup business stand out from competition. You might feel disappointed and skeptical after months or years of trying, but the game continues.

An article from the Wall Street Journal mentions that the younger entrepreneurs are facing bigger challenges ahead. Standing out from the crowd is cited as one of the 5 important strategies to increase the odds of success when pitching to investors. Here are some practical tips to help you shine above the rest:

Patience

Before you learn any strategies and tactics connected with this area, you should try patience. There are no shortcuts in building your company identity and it will definitely take some time before you can earn the respect of your customers

Establish Contacts with Your Community

You should get in touch with different organizations related to your business to promote your business to your prospects. Business consultants, for instance, should network with the members of local chambers of commerce, business clubs, and professional groups. Be active in looking for speaking opportunities to promote your company.

Pre-Sell Your Business

You should ask your customers to sign up to your newsletters. Then, start offering free articles that do not promote your products or services. (Or at least not a hard-sell.) The objective here is to create an impression that you are an expert in your field and they should trust you. With the right content, you will have higher chances of closing a deal. Don’t imitate other businesses that use newsletters as their advertising billboard.

Via YoungEntrepreneur

Launching a new product is one of the toughest challenges faced by many entrepreneurs. It entails a lot of creativity, determination, and clever planning. You should keep your campaign focused, consistent, and simple all the time. It would greatly help if you have a catchy tag line and a creative logo to attract your customers. Here are some practical buzz marketing initiatives you may want to try:

Public Relations

One of the proven strategies to create a buzz is using press releases. There are several websites where you can submit your press releases and you can see them at Yahoo! Small Business Directory.

It is advisable that you partner with an experienced PR firm to effectively manage your campaign. Try working with a small agency so you earn more attention. In case your promotional budget is small right now, here is a simple guide on how to write a press release.

Industry Events

Actively participate in industry seminars and trade shows related to your target market. Spend some money decorating a really glitzy booth to create a good impression. You should try to make your logo the center of attention all the time. Equally important is the product presentation you will make once you convince your potential customers to visit your booth.

You might also want to visit Conversion Marketing and learn another type of buzz marketing known as petition marketing.