Check out this simple trick to turn the Amazon search engine into actionable intelligence
When we think of online searches, we think of Google, but Amazon is right up there with the biggest search engines and, in fact, more than half of all product searches begin on Amazon. However, if you sell anything that is also sold on Amazon, I’d like to suggest special way you can take advantage of Amazon’s search feature: Search for your products and then closely examine all the items Amazon says were purchased together with each product of yours. Do you offer those items? Do your sales associates understand how these various items relate to each other? You can use this information to merchandise your store better and also train your team to cross sell. Also, look at the “After viewing this item, customers bought…” This tells you that there may be a similar item that is proving to be more popular with buyers than what you are offering. Maybe it’s a higher-priced product with more bells and whistles. That could increase your profit margins. For example, I did an Amazon search for the popular NutriBullet blender and below you’ll find some of the items that were purchased along with it on amazon. You can see from this graphic that a number of recipe books and accessories are popular items that sell in tandem with the blender. If you sold the NutriBullet blender or a similar item, this would give you good insights into which companion books are most likely to sell well. Do your team members have some slack time on their hands? Giving them a list of products to look up on Amazon and note related items in a spreadsheet would be a good exercise. You could then take the information they uncover and analyze your merchandising. It would also give your employees an introduction to cross selling and...
read more53 free courses to boost your business knowledge, skills
Do you know what MOOCs are? MOOGs were one of the first musical synthesizers, but MOOCs are something else entirely. The letters stand for Massive Open Online Courses. These are generally college-level classes offered by universities around the world. Did I mention that they are free? Class Central is a clearing house for hundreds – if not thousands – of these courses, and the site is well worth exploring. I have put together a list of business courses that are starting this month. I think that many of the computer and data courses would also be valuable for business owners and leaders; if you agree, do a little exploring on Class Central. I didn’t want the list posted here to get too long. When you find courses that aren’t starting soon, you can sign up to get notified when a new section gets underway. As I recently wrote, if you aren’t improving your skills and knowledge your value is depreciating, so make it a goal to find at least one of these MOOCs in the coming months and knock it out! By the way, they are also great for bolstering the folks on your team. The Location Advantage Esri via Independent Corporate Finance Indian Institute of Management Bangalore via edX Asociaciones Público Privadas: Implementando Soluciones en Latinoamérica y el Caribe IDB ( Inter-American Development Bank ) via edX Innovation publique et pensée design, l’innovation sociale au service des territoires ESSEC Business School via Coursera Competitive Advantage: Using Information to Build Business Success Deakin University via FutureLearn Influence University of Pennsylvania via Coursera Contract Management: Building Relationships in Business University of Southampton via FutureLearn Formal Financial Accounting University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera Digital Leadership: Creating Value Through Technology University of Reading via FutureLearn Social Enterprise: Turning Ideas into Action Middlesex University London via FutureLearn Open Innovation Durham University via FutureLearn Online Business: Digital Marketing for Success RMIT University via FutureLearn [New] Capstone: Creating A Sustainability Proposal University of Colorado System via Coursera Entrepreneurship II: Practices and Approaches University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera Accounting Analysis I: Measurement and Disclosure of Assets University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera Managing My Financial Journey The Open University via FutureLearn Innovation: the Fashion Industry University of Leeds via FutureLearn Innovation: the Food Industry University of Leeds via FutureLearn Innovation: the World’s Greatest University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 1: Vision and Opportunity University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 2: People and Networks University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 3: Customers and Competitors University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 4: Business Processes University of Leeds via FutureLearn Starting a Business 5: Managing Finances University of Leeds via FutureLearn Leading in the Digital Age Boston University via edX Social Media Marketing Boston University via edX Starting a Business 6: Funding Your Business University of Leeds via FutureLearn The Economics of Agro-Food Value Chains Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich) via Coursera Marketing in an Analog World University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera [New] In Action – Integration Framework for SAP Business One via openSAP [New] Tourism and Travel Management University of Queensland via edX [New] The Free Cash Flow Method for Firm Valuation Columbia University via edX [New] Evidence-Based Technology Management Australian National...
read moreThis week in small business: Your important questions answered!
You have questions, we have answers. Confused a bit about Google’s local business listings? Sherry Bonelli will set you straight. Wonder what to do when you get into a rut? Hira Ali will “de-rut” you. And, if you question the importance of content marketing, hear what Max Greene has to say. Leadership, management, and productivity In a rut? Hira Ali gives us three simple steps to rewire our brains to get them to do what we want then to do. Entrepreneurs and small business owners need to be able to make decisions on the fly. That’s why I wrote this sponsored post on the most important financial ratios for making quick assessments. Sometimes a small thing can make the difference between success and failure, says Richard Agu, and he gives us five tips for overcoming common obstacles. Marketing and sales Kelly Shelton’s SEO is a Small Business Necessity serves as a great introduction and overview of the various dimensions of SEO that are important to small business owners. And to complement that, check out Sherry Bonelli’s Search Engine Land piece on the common questions local business owners have about “Google My Business.” Are you hitting the three content-marketing “musts” that Chris Parbey covers in his article for EdgyLabs? In this audio, Amy Porterfield discusses seven ways she’s collaborated with friends and influencers to boost profits. If you’re still a doubter, you need to check out Max Greene’s article on why content marketing is so important for growing your business. Free is good! 10 of the most effective, free online marketing tactics, by Hazel Jarrett. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Jen Hacker tells us the story of entrepreneur Melissa Mash whose success was “in the bag” once she set out to solve a problem she faced every day. It’s a sad reality for many entrepreneurs: depression. Sanchita Dash offers ideas on how to fight...
read moreIs YOUR value depreciating unchecked?
With very few exceptions, business owners include a depreciation schedule when they file their taxes. We become very familiar with these forms. They are black-and-white evidence of the relentless loss of value. Brian Tracy he points out that there is perhaps an even more important item that continually loses value that never shows up (at least directly) on your depreciation schedule: Your ability to earn. If you’re a business owner, some of the assets you depreciate year-after-year can impact your ability to earn and the lesson here is that you must continually be assessing upgrades to your means of production. A friend of mine is a fan of the History Channel program Mountain Men. One of the “mountain men” profiled in the show has a sawmill in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s actually an antique sawmill, more than 100 years old. There is certainly some appeal to using old equipment and doing things the way the old-timers did them, but none of that appeal has anything to do with productivity and earning power. My friend once mused that the original owners of the mill probably put it out to scrap when a better model hit the market, yet this mountain man refuses to upgrade. So, don’t be a some kind of “mountain man” who is reluctant to change because “we’ve always done it that way around here!” That’s not the most important point I want to make however. Here’s the message I’d like you to take to heart: Just as your equipment can become obsolete, so can you! If you don’t make a concerted effort to improve your knowledge and skills, business practices will pass you by. And, with the pace of change today, your earning power can depreciate at a faster clip than ever before in history. You must adopt Nike’s attitudinal slogan of “Just do it” and apply it to your willingness to acquire new skills and knowledge…and not just today, but also tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, and so on. With the Internet, conferences, and so many universities reaching out to business leaders today, the availability of avenues for growth are incredible. Be sure to get yourself plugged in! This critical concept of continual improvement is also central to my book, The One-Percent Edge: Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success (affiliate link). While I don’t solely focus on personal development, I “take apart” your business function-by-function and show you how to find ways to make continual improvements. That’s the way to reverse your earning power depreciation!...
read moreWhat digital marketers can learn from the baseball playoffs
I’m no expert in baseball, but I’ve noticed something that happens every year during the major league baseball playoffs: When the series is on the line, managers use their best pitcher even if he hasn’t had the amount of rest required between starts. How does the manager know who is best? If you have any exposure to baseball, you know the answer to that question: It’s in the pitcher’s statistics. The manager will look at the pitcher’s ERA, his record against the opposing team, his home vs away record, and other telling pieces of data that let him know who should perform best when the team’s fate is on the line in one game. We need to take the same approach with our social media marketing, email marketing, and content marketing. Find your strongest performers and concentrate your efforts in reproducing similar content or campaigns. However, while finding your strongest performers is pretty easy, determining why they performed well is not as clear cut. You need to analyze your “super star” marketing pieces on a variety of attributes. Subject The topics you feature in your social sharing; the information you convey in your blog, videos, and podcasts; and the focus of your newsletters will be one of the most important attributes you analyze. Collect these over time, ranking them and looking for trends. Format Within each of the media you use – articles, videos, audios, emails, posts – consider the format of the content. Among these are formats such as: How to Lists In-depth analysis Short reads Tips, tricks, hacks Humorous Can you find formats that perform better than average? If nothing else, it’s a good idea to know what doesn’t work with your readers. Headlines In many cases, when you find winning formats, you’ll find winning headlines; especially if lists and tips are popular with your prospects. But, in addition to this, look for other headline attributes. For example, when I sit down to see how well this article performs, I’ll note that my headline references sports and also something that is currently in the news. A headline might be funny or dramatic, or it might be inspired by the kind of clickbait headlines that perform so well in advertising. Data analysis All the major social media platforms offer analytical tools you can use to measure the performance of your posts over time. Further, you should have Google analytics installed on your website and be using it properly to give you the insights you need. Set aside an hour or so every couple of weeks to dive into your analytics and keep track of what you discover each time. You could put together a spread sheet to capture the top five, 10, or 20 pieces of content and posts each time you do your analysis. You could also do the same thing with your worst performing content. Trends may not jump out at you the first time you do this, but after a few sessions, you should start to learn some important lessons. One more thing. You may think that your prospect base will get tired of a certain topic, format, or headline writing approach. I suggest you go back to the example MLB managers set when they are facing elimination: stick with your proven winners until they...
read more