Online Wars

When you are looking to launch something online , the best thing to do first is research – but that speaks for itself! You need to find out who else is selling what you are selling, if its working for them, how they are getting traffic, etc.

Firstly start with searching on google for what it is you are selling. Lets play with a few examples;

Lets first say you are a window cleaner, and you live in nottingham, england. You should first start by doing a few searches online for window cleaners in nottingham. [click]

Now the first thing i notice is the Google local business listings – make sure you are listed there right now! This is the first step to getting exposure online.

The second thing that i notice is there are only  (at the time i wrote this 19:05 11/06/09) 3 websites on the first page of results that are actual windows cleaners – the rest are directories such as Yell.com that have listings of window cleaners in the nottingham area. So my second tip is get listed in as many of them as you can.

I then notice there are a few google ads for people who are not in the natual listings. Google ads are ok for some industries, and crap for others. Its kind of a quick way to get yourself exposure on the internet, but a LOT of people (like me) pretty much comp[letley block out adverts (i actually use a firefox plugin that actually stops them from loading) as i search for things to find, i dont want to be shown them. I will say though that for certain products or services Adwords work VERY well and help make many people, lots and lots of money.