Steve's Biz Blog

Seth Godin recently published a new blog entry titled “License to Stall”. It’s a good read, and useful to anyone who is finding their marketing effort more difficult than necessary. Recommended.  Here’s the link.

Although many people may have the same name as you do, only one of you will be able to own the .com version of that name. For many people with common names, it’s already too late – http://johnsmith.com is already taken, for example. But all is not lost if your name is already in use as a domain. Here are a few tips:

• Use a name with a different suffix (the technical term is tld).  For example, if the .com name is take, try using .net, .us, .org, .info, .ws, .me, .tv, or one of the many tld’s available today.  Although not everyone will remember your web name as easily as the universal .com, the search engines will recognize and index domain names with any tld.
• Try using a hyphen in your domain name (john-smith.com).  It is rumored that search engines slightly favor hyphenated names, so you may find this to be a small benefit.
• Use a nickname if people tend to know you that way.  JackSmith.com or JackieSmith.com may be available.  You also may find your initials will allow you to find an acceptable domain name, especially if you are known by those initials.
• Usually even the most common names can be combined with another word to make a domain name.  For example, at the time of this writing, JohnSmithBlog.com was still available.  Good words to use – blog, home, site, team, co (or company) are all recognizable and memorable.
• When publishing your domain name in print or on the web, use JohnSmith.com instead of johnsmith.com.  This helps people to see the natural break in the words.  It’s amazing how many web sites fail to capitalize on longer web names by forgetting to use capital letters to break up the words in their domain name.  Domain names work equally well, whether or not they are capitalized.

You get the idea.  Experiment a little with your name, and you can usually find a domain name that will be recognizable by search engines.  Once you have your domain name, point it to your bio page at your main web site, or develop a one-page personal web site, and feature a nice link to your main site (or the site you are currently promoting).

Your domain name will be worth thousands of dollars to you, over the years, just for the simple annual fee involved to register the name (less than $15.00).  It’s the least expensive advertising you’ll every buy!

“Steve Pickering, here with a brief note.  If you’re having trouble finding a good domain name for your business, or personally, I offer coaching to assist you in finding the best names to use.  Please send me an email, and I’ll be happy to help.  My fees are very reasonable.”

January is coming, and for many businesses, the traffic cycle changes.  Retailers hate January because it’s so much slower than the previous two months.  Some other businesses are back to normal because everyone is back to work, and serious (at least for a few days) about their New Year’s resolutions.   Still others have a great January planned because their business cycle makes January a month of demand.

Whatever your business, consider having a “Sunset Sale” at the end of January.  Why?  It helps people to think of you.  Promote your sale during the entire month of January.  Talk about it.  Write about it.  Tell your local newspaper about.  Send a press release to someone at the Wall Street Journal.  Have a pre-sale for your best customers.  Cross-promote with other businesses to generate extra traffic and to share expenses for advertising, supplies, prizes, etc.  Run your sale all night, or 24/7 for the last week of January.  Invite people into your establishment for tea and cookies, coffee and donuts, or hot dogs and sauerkraut.  If you’re on the internet, offer a free e-guide, or 30 minutes free consulting, or a list of unique links.  Build your e-mail and snail-mail lists.

The key thing is, do something different, and do it at a time when no one else is doing something.  That way you’ll stand out.  Make people feel a little bit better about themselves because they see you hustling and making things happen.  Don’t wait to have a Valentine’s or President’s Day Sale because everyone is promoting then.  If you do your “Sunset Sale” well, you’ll have so much business in February, you won’t need to compete for share of mind.

Who knows what will happen?  Any action during a slow business period is noticeable to your employees, your customers, your prospects, the press, etc.  Just do it.  It works.  Try it, you’ll see.

P.S.  You don’t need to name it a “Sunset Sale.”  Make something up that’s catchy, that will make people notice.  It could just as easily be a “Sunrise Sale” or whatever you want.  Be creative, be outrageous, maybe even a little crazy.