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The Importance of Internet Marketing

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Aug 022011

Internet marketing is rapidly increasing in today’s online society, and is something that all businesses should do. Today I want to give you some quick facts on how internet marketing would be of great benefit your business:

- 24/7 online presence. You never have to close up shop at the end of the day or for holidays.

-It’s more convenient for visitors to browse your products and services than to drive to your place of business.

-You can attract prospective customers who are already searching for what you have to offer.

-You can expand your target audience and customer base.

-You can gear special offers to specific audiences.

-Content can easily be added or changed.

-Boost your sales, and increase repeat-customer loyalty.

-Improve your competitive edge!

If you don’t have internet marketing and your competitors do, they have a leg up on you. They are able to quickly reach a wider audience and gain more customers, as well as all of the above. Don’t become the underdog – start internet marketing for your business!

Visit comstar.biz or call us at 262-953-6000 for more information.

Preparing Your Press Release

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Jul 012011

Press releases are used to share something newsworthy about your business with the public. But there is a secret use for them as well! You can use press releases to advertise your business, create more links to your site, and have another page to show up in search engine results. Here are some aspects of press releases that every new press release author should know.

To start off, there are two things to keep in mind when writing a press release: short paragraphs and your audience. Use language and words that the average person will know the meanings of, and keep your paragraphs short so they are easy to read or scan.

First, let’s tackle the news aspect of the release. You can literally turn anything about your business into news. For example: a new website, new location, new desks, bigger parking lot, fancy name tags, etc. Take your topic and turn it into a great headline – “More Customers at the Scissor Store Allows for Parking Lot Expansion.” See how easy that is? It’s instant news!

Now it’s time to sneak in your advertising. You can easily do this by quoting someone such as a co-worker, yourself, a customer, and so on. As long as you have their permission, anyone’s words are fair game. “Scissor Store started out small, only serving local art supply stores. Now we are reaching out to schools, businesses, and more craft stores throughout the city and surrounding areas.” The quote gives your news story a nice edge. Plus, it shows just how much your scissor store has recently grown.

It’s important to have fun when writing an online press release. They don’t have to be as serious and structured as a print press release, so enjoy writing! Make your news story fun, and find some creative ways to sneak in some company advertising. Your possibilities are endless! It also never hurts to add in a couple keywords and a link or two.

Once you release your story, don’t expect to get waves of people coming to you for business. Things like this take time. The more press releases you write, the more will show up in search engine results, and the more links there will be that lead to your site. You will build up a large amount of credibility, and people will start to see that your business is the place to go.

Enjoy writing your press release!

Make Your Website an “Oreo Cookie”

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Jun 142011

I recently finished reading a book by Dan Furman, “Do The Web Write.” In it, Furman talked about being an “Oreo.” I found it humorous that he thought we should turn our businesses into one of America’s favorite cookies, but he proved a very valid point. I would like to share this point with you.

In his book, Furman stated that “store brand cream-filled cookies” are nothing like the real Oreo. Oreos have a distinct flavor that no other cookie can match. Same with businesses.

There are thousands of businesses that state what services they offer on their website, and that’s fine. But they never talk about anything that makes them unique – they have no distinct flavor (clearly, they must be store brand). When writing for your website, write about what is unique to your business. What is something you can do that no one else out there does? This can be anything, big or small. It could be something serious, like the fact that you can complete a project 2 days faster than any other competitor in your city. Or, it could be something more lighthearted, such as saying your customer service team always answers the phone with a smile and goofy clown hats on their heads.

Adding a touch of personality to your site will help you to stand out from others, and potentially gain you more business. Showing that you are not another standard company and that you can offer a truly unique experience is what will give you that competitive edge. Say what you do, and why you do it best. Be creative!

Now, go be an Oreo. No more of this store brand nonsense!

Understanding the Basics of Web Hosting

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Oct 182010

A hosting service company allows individuals and businesses to make their websites visible and accessible on the World Wide Web.

Comstar is a Hosting Services Provider. We provides several aspects of hosting including website hosting, email hosting, DNS hosting, and server hosting (which is often called colocation).

Hosting a website means providing space on a server that is connected to a high speed, high bandwidth, internet connection out to the virtual world. For most website hosting a website shares a computer with several other websites. For colocation we would put your computer into our data center. In that case your site has its own computer, but it is still connected to our high bandwidth internet connection.

Websites have to be physically located on a server somewhere on the network in order to be viewed and visited by browsers. If you have developed a website on your own personal computer, you must then complete the process by uploading, or transferring, your site to a hosting provider.

Besides hosting websites you can also talk about hosting email. Often email hosting is provided by the same company that hosts your website. But email can be hosted by another provider. While most hosting plans include email hosting too, keep in mind that email and websites are independent functions. They can go together, but they don’t have to.

Hosting, whether it is a website or email or both, needs to start with a domain name. A domain name is used in the web address and the email address. For example, the domain we use for our primary corporate identity is comstar.biz. So our primary website address is www.comstar.biz and an example email address is myemail@comstar.biz.

When you enter a web address into a browser or send an email to someone, the domain is translated into a numerical IP address by something called DNS or Domain Name System. The numerical address tells where to go to find the web site or where to send the email.

Again, DNS is an independent function from the web and email hosting. The DNS could be provided by a company other than your website host or your email host.

Here at Comstar we can keep everything under one roof giving you one point of contact. We offer website hosting, email hosting, and DNS hosting. We manage it all for you so you can keep working, doing what your business does, without having to give the internet technology another thought.

Web Genius Summit – volume 1

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May 282010

The Web Genius Summit has just concluded the first set of 12 interviews. You can read about the first six sessions in the previous post at Web Genius Summit Update.

This current post will give a recap of the final six interviews of volume 1…

The second half of the series kicked off with Erik Stafford. Erik is an internationally recognized expert in internet marketing and building easy website sales systems. He took us back to some of the internet marketing basics to help you build a stronger online presence for your business. His program Faster Webmaster is still available.

Kyle Battis showed us the power of teleseminars to teach others, create a following, and add additional revenue to your bottom line. Much of the Web Genius Summit teleseminar series was based on the things that Kyle told us about. You can learn about teleseminars through the My First Teleseminar series.

Then we had Susan Hill. Susan learned to create opportunity in a small niche by employing experts at various tasks using Elance. You can use Susan’s experience and advice to propel your business forward too. She has a book called Elance Made Easy available for download now.

Ben Mack, marketing strategist extraordinaire, taught us the benefits of thinking and planning ahead, not just one step but two. How do you take your customer or your business from where it is at right now and move it to where it will be? Thinking two products ahead, two sales ahead, two promotions ahead helps you capture more money in a systematic way. This call closed out with an invitation for ecommerce owners to start planning Cyber-Monday with Christmas in July.

David Deutsch is an A-level copywriter and one of the top direct response marketing consultants in the U.S. He told us several million dollar marketing secrets and how you can Think Inside the Box! to generate profitable new ideas for your business. Did you get in on million dollar secret #3? If not, click the link at David’s name to see how you can grab his ideas system and get the out-of-print book with 20 different secrets as a bonus.

The final episode of Web Genius Summit volume 1 was carried by Brian McLeod. Brian is a direct-response copywriter, sales trainer, and creative marketing consultant who helped to bring all the pieces of the Web Genius Summit together, showing how you can integrate your offline marketing and your online marketing efforts for maximum impact! Not only that, but he also introduced masterminding as a way to add a new profit stream to your business.

While you’ve already missed these interviews you can register now to be invited to participate at no charge in volume 2 starting later this year. In the meantime, upon registration, you’ll have the option to purchase volume 1 so you can get caught up on all these great lessons. Details at www.webgeniussummit.com.

Web Genius Summit Update

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Apr 232010

Now that we’re half way through the first set of guest experts on the Web Genius Summit, I would like to take a few minutes to summarize what you may have missed.

In case you’re not familiar with the Web Genius Summit, let me first give you a brief description… I am interviewing business and internet geniuses for 60 minutes each. By listening in you get to discover strategies that will help your business too.

Some of the geniuses on the calls are authors, some are coaches, others are business people who have unlocked the key to internet success in their own business. All are experts sharing their experience…

Mark Joyner was our Web Genius headliner. He is a #1 best-selling author of over a dozen books. He is recognized as a pioneer of e-commerce and is responsible for inventing and popularizing technologies we take for granted such as remotely-hosted ad tracking and ebooks. While we discussed a number of great topics for business, he presented one factor that would allow your business to take off like a precision missile.

Lewis Howes and Sean Malarkey joined us to discuss social media. As LinkedIn and Twitter experts they helped us to define how to dominate social media in your niche without wasting all your time.

Brad Sugars came on board as a business coach to discuss strategies to grow your business now. Brad is best known as the founder and CEO of ActionCOACH – a business and executive coaching firm that presently operates in 26 countries spanning six continents. Brad is currently on a nationwide tour. See if he’s visiting your area. Register for free with ticket code SMIL010 at www.businessisboomingtour.com!

Ann Convery taught us how to reach the Primitive-Brain — the one that triggers every buying decision your visitors make, and drives results on your website and in social media. Ann has a class starting in May called “You’re so Brilliant! Why Don’t They Buy?“ It’s likely that her class would make an immediate and perceptible difference in your business. Get registered now!

Ann also wins our Guest Expert of Distinction Award based on the extreme density of great information and from excessive positive feedback from our listeners!

Howie Jacobson, the author of AdWords For Dummies, showed us how to get better results for less money using Google Adwords. Yes, you need to understand how to write your ads so that they attract buyers and repel everyone else!

Pat Marcello is an author who wanted to sell more books. In the process she turned to internet marketing and became an expert in blogging and search engine optimization. Pat talked about what’s important in SEO and how to use blogs to drive traffic, creating trusting, eager buyers.

We also had the pleasure of a bonus call with Audrey Kerwood. Audrey is an ecommerce expert who showed us the 8 factors that every high-converting ecommerce site must have. Watch for an announcement about Audrey’s ecommerce 3-day training seminar coming in July. I’m going to be speaking at this event!

While you’ve already missed these interviews you can still get in on new ones that follow. Registration to listen in on the calls is FREE! Get on the guest list now and you’ll be invited to participate in our future calls. Plus the existing calls are being put into a library of audios and transcripts. You can pick these up at a great price.

Isn’t it time you learn what you need to move your business to the next level?

Web Genius Summit

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Feb 152010

As an website development and internet marketing firm we often get questions like:

“how do I get more people to purchase on my website?”
“should we be using Twitter?”
“is search engine optimization really a good thing or just a waste of money?”
“how can we show up on the first page of Google?”
“what good is blog anyway?”

Instead of taking the time to answer all of these individually, I decided that it’s time to get some experts together. Let’s combine the knowledge of a bunch of Business and Web geniuses and give access to business owners and entrepreneurs everywhere.

We’re launching the Web Genius Summit with a great list of experts who can drill down to specifics and answer all your questions on their topic.

Registration for this teleseminar and webcast series is FREE! So get on the guest list now and take your business up a notch or two.

Your Customer is Waiting

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Jan 152010

What is your customer waiting for? YOU!

Do you want to connect with them? Of course you do! That’s what your business is all about. You need to reach out and connect with your customers (and those who want to be your customers).

I talk about blogs a lot, and write about them too. They are really great for connecting with your customers and prospects. Sometimes I’m not sure if my message sticks.

So, this coming Thursday, January 21, at 8:00 a.m. Comstar going to have a 2-hour seminar on blogging called “Blogging – Connect in 2010.” Register for the blog seminar.

You’ll discover answers to questions such as:

Why would we want a blog?
What would we write about?
What results can we expect?

Having a blog for your business might be the smartest thing you can do right now to move your business forward in 2010. We’ll show you why and how to get results!

Once you register we’ll provide access to an anonymous survey that will allow you to submit questions in advance.

We were going to charge a nominal fee, but we decided the information is too important to charge for. So, consider it a thank-you for continuing to trust us with your website needs.

This is not a seminar held over the web. You have to be present to enjoy. It is being held in the training center at Citizen’s Bank of Mukwonago just off Hwy 59 on the south side of Waukesha. Doors open at 7:45 a.m. The session starts promptly at 8:00. We promise to have you out the door before 10:00 with your head swimming in powerful blog info.

You need to understand the importance of blogging so you can decide if it will be good for your business. We’ll provide good information so you can make that decision.

Seating is very limited so register right now while you’re thinking about it. To get in for free, advance registration is required! Only the first 70 to respond will get a seat. After that we’ll take the registration down.

The Evolution of Online Stores, Part Two

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Dec 292009

As eCommerce and online sales revenues have grown over the past 15 years, so have the tools to develop, stock, and maintain an online store. Where once all online stores were developed as custom sites that had to be maintained by your web designer, today the most successful stores start with a full-featured eCommerce engine that is then customized by your web developer and managed by anyone on your staff familiar with Microsoft Windows applications.

At one time, if you had a web design firm develop your online store you had difficulty moving your website to another host, making your website a virtual prisoner to them. We have found that due to bad experiences with other vendors, those who are coming to Comstar bring this up as a major concern. (We, of course, do not use a proprietary eCommerce approach, so that our clients could take their website to any Microsoft compliant hosting provider.)

Today there are so many eCommerce engines that they cannot be counted. One of the challenges we face as web developers is choosing the right one for our clients’ needs. We do this by conducting workshops with our clients to find out about their business model and how it aligns with their vision of their online store. Then we match the solution to their vision.

While specific features can vary, all eCommerce engines we put into play have much the same basic functionality, utilizing best practices to build assets for our clients. They all include a familiar shopping cart experience, large and small photos, descriptions, an ability to pay through a payment gateway, etc.

The solutions we use most have additional features that can be turned on as needed, such as a Featured Product area, a Top Seller area, or cross-selling of products. Coupons, discounts, and special pricing for designated customers are often utilized, valuable features, as well. Emailing customers, supporting Affiliate sellers, and contacting vendors can be especially important. Inventory control, order fulfillment, and shipping are also a big part of any eCommerce solution that can benefit from professional advice.

That’s one thing about my job at Comstar, I see lots of ideas for online businesses. Some you wonder about and some you just know will be big money-makers. But you know none will succeed without an ability to generate sales online, 24/7.

As you contemplate selling online or improving your online sales in the coming year your online store will only be an asset if it is both useful and gets used by buyers looking for what you offer.

Check back for more info on how to build a real asset of an online store in Part Three!

The Importance of Internet Marketing

Preparing Your Press Release

Make Your Website an “Oreo Cookie”

Understanding the Basics of Web Hosting

Web Genius Summit Update

Web Genius Summit

Your Customer is Waiting

The Evolution of Online Stores, Part Two

Tools to Help You

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