When you start a business on the net, whether it’s an herb business or not, be prepared to spend some money. So many small businesses will send in information to free sites, but they often refuse to spend even $10 to get an upgraded listing. Or $25 to join and get information.
I understand. It took me a while too to spend money because I thought everything good was free. Nope. Maybe it was when I first spent money and got some incredible information that I realized the world wasn’t as I’d thought. Sure, I’d received good information from several sites. And my sales had increased. But nothing overwhelming.
But then I looked at people that were successful (meaning they made serious money from their website, or promoted themselves well). And most of them belonged to an association (or several). And they used it. A lot of people join a group (for example mine), and then do nothing because they think that’s all they have to do, belong.
Wish it really did work that way. I joined Stompernet and Third Tribe this year. And the resources are incredible. They don’t send me an email every other day with some new “opportunity” to spend more money, but they send me an email (video link) every month with what’s new on the site. There are webinars (not open to the general public), things it would really help if I do, etc. It’s then up to me to do these things. No one cares if there’s too much to do with things like the house, websites to work on, etc. Here are the resources, now it’s up to me to do them.
That’s why so many people complain that they just don’t get it. They get in a flurry of activity and send in a bunch of listings but fail to even pay attention to what’s required. They spend some hard earned money and join some groups, but then don’t do anything that’s recommended. Even when that’s why they joined, to be given things that would improve their business.
I host web sites, mostly herbal. When I set up a site I give the business a list of things they should do to promote their business. And these things change with new information. It used to be enough to have a really great web site. But Google now looks at how much new material goes up. That’s why it’s really important to have a good blog….it shows recent activity. That’s one example.
And I try to follow up and find out if they’ve followed up on my suggestions. I wouldn’t care if they did other things that they found that worked better for them. But that usually they did nothing. They’ve been too busy. And they don’t understand that the world isn’t going to wait while they get their act together. Very sad.
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