WAHMCart Blog

Competition is a given in the marketplace. No matter how novel your product, you will have imitators springing up seemingly overnight. You must establish the differences between your product and that offered by your competition – this will help you to retain current customers and draw in new ones.

Remember that consumers have a lot of choices. You have to convince them of the merits of buying from you instead of from a competitor. Think about what your product offers that no one else’s does. Once you know what to say, make this a part of your marketing materials; this is an important message to get across to current and potential clients alike.

What features are included in your product, but not that of your competition?

Perhaps you are in the cosmetics business; maybe your products include a mirror in the lid of each case for easy application. If yours is a less tangible product, such as EBooks, you can include extras like checklists or top 10 ideas for whatever your chosen niche happens to be.

Think of the benefits which your product can offer to consumers. Will it make their lives easier in some way; will it perhaps save them time? Again using the example of cosmetics, you can go with the “all in one” angle, or sell kits which are already put together of common cosmetics. With EBooks and other digital products, you can sell customers on the point that your books are easy to read and can be adapted to a number of different uses.

Remember that price is one of the most important considerations in marketing any product. That said, most people are willing to pay a little more for a product which they feel is superior in quality. Before you price your product in an attempt to undercut the competition, consider your target market – are they willing to pay more a product which is perceived as having an added value? You can try selling your product at one price and if it doesn’t perform as well as expected, you can always lower it later.

Customer service is also something which will make not only your product, but your entire business stand out from the crowd. Your customers will feel appreciated if you make a habit of following up on all xorrespondence in a timely manner, giving them an added value with useful free information and the occasional customer appreciation event.

Setting your company apart from your competitors is a must for business success. Your product will soon come to build a reputation for itself. People will just know that your product is the best available and come to you without even considering your competition.

© 2008 Regina Baker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Regina Baker is the Ecommerce Advisor at Wahmcart.com, ecommerce solutions for small businesses. Ready to jumpstart your ecommerce business? Grab her free ecourse at http://Wahmcart.com

When it comes to having a website that is properly optimized for search engines, backlinks are a necessity to online success. There are several different components that assist in the area of having a website that is considered to have good optimization for all the popular websites like Google, Yahoo, Lycos, Ask.Com, AOL, MSN, and more. These components include keywords, the density of keywords within the physical content, quality, and backlinks.

Here, you will learn quite a bit of information regarding this important component of your website. You will learn what they are, how to get them, and even why they are important!

What Are Backlinks?

Many individuals are quite curious to learn more once they hear of backlinks offering a solution to increasing their overall page rank. Backlinks are actually quite simple to define. They are basically just links that are considered to be incoming to a particular website, article, picture, video, or any other type of media that is on the internet. You may also look at them as a link that is received from one particular area on the internet to another specific area on the internet. These are received and sent to what is referred to as “web nodes”. Web nodes include online directories, domains that are
considered to be top level, and even basic websites.

Backlinks are known by several other names when it comes to the virtual world, these names include:

1. Inward Links
2. Inbound, or Inbound Links
3. Incoming, or Incoming Links
4. Inlinks

How Do I Get Backlinks?

There are several creative ways to get backlinks to your website. One of the methods that I find to be most effective is by creating an article marketing campaign that can provide you with several different places to add small reciprocal links back to the page that you are trying to increase the overall ranking of. Here’s an example:

Let’s say that you have a website that promotes natural remedies for depression. We will call this website “BowlingSample.Com” (just for the sake of providing an example).

Now, we want to get backlinks to BowlingSample.Com through the means of an article marketing campaign. We research free places to submit articles and we come up with eHow.com and AssociatedContent.com. So, these two websites are the places we will submit our articles for the article marketing campaign.

We will want to create articles geared around bowling balls, shoes, gloves and anything pertaining to bowling, and more. Once the articles are completed, we will want to submit them.

Now, you will run across resource sections where you can provide links to other websites. This is where you will want to provide a backlink to the website that you want your visitors to visit. If you submit one article to eHow.com and one to AssociatedContent.com, you will have two backlinks!

Now, wasn’t that easy?

Why Are Backlinks So Important?

Backlinks are essential to online success due to the fact that they assist in creating popularity for your website. In addition to this, when search engines crawl websites, they determine which websites have the largest number of backlinks. When this occurs, it creates a popularity rank when it comes to
search engine ranking. Naturally, the higher that your page and other media online ranks, the more successful your website will be!

© 2008  Regina Baker

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?  You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Regina Baker is the Ecommerce Advisor at Wahmcart.com, ecommerce solutions for small businesses.  Ready to jumpstart your ecommerce business?  Grab her free ecourse at http://Wahmcart.com

I’m bragging on our Wahmcart Developer! He is super talented and get’s the job done!

Announcing Wahmcart’s LATEST Features:

Zero Amount Sales!

Now you can promote your free ecourses, teleseminars, free ebooks, anything free products or services!

Example: You’re promoting your free ecourse but want your affiliates to be able to do the same and get credit for doing so.

Here’s what happens. When the affiliate promotes the free offer and someone ‘clicks thru’, that person is now cookied to that affiliate! So if the potential customer purchases later, the affiliate gets the credit!

Is this the same as Pay-Per-Click? (Pay per Click is a type of marketing where advertisers or website owners pay a set amount to their affiliates every time their url and or ad is clicked by a prospect) No, not just yet, we’re working on that too!

However, in the meantime affiliates will get credit and commissions IF the prospect returns to the site and purchases something later. Currently the feature is NOT in place to pay affiliates a certain amount of cash for generating a ‘click’.

How Is This Done?

Let’s say you’re promoting your free ecourse and you want your affiliates to help get the word out. All you have to do is create a 0.00 amount product, then create a text link and or graphic pointing to that 0.00 amount product (make sure you have a page setup on your website with the ecourse, etc information.) You inform your affiliates to log in to their affiliate account to grab the new links and that’s it!

I don’t know about you but I have to agree with the world’s first billionaire, J. Paul Getty when he said, “I’d rather have 1% of 100 people’s efforts, than 100% of my own.”

Simply put, this tool is an awesome way to get the word out by more people at one time!

Make sure you’re subscribed to updates (look to the top right of the screen and subscribe) for Wahmcart’s Lastest Features - Part Two.

Managing your affiliate program doesn’t have to be hard.

My friend Angela Wills knows all about Affiliate Management. That’s why she’s created a series on teaching others how to generate income with our affiliate programs.

You’ll Learn the techniques and receive the tools you need to stop leaving money on the table. Discover how to setup a program, communicate with your affiliates, provide the proper resources, and recruit affiliates without the hassle and in less time than you think.

In 26 weeks you can be a top performing affiliate manager. You’ll receive, tips, lessons, advice, and fill in the blank resources to help you bring income through running an affiliate program that your affiliates will love.

If you have an affiliate program with non-producing affiliates, this is definitely a resource you should invest in.

For a limited time, Angela is offering her Audio & Video for Starting an Affiliate Commotion, it’s a webinar she hosted on July 4th.

Check it out at no charge here

Got questions about Affiliate Management? Ask them here

Yes, been there and done that drama!  On top of the fact, my budget doesn't allow for products that cost a fortune just to learn how to launch a product or service.  Quite frankly, most small businesses don't have the funds to invest in these products because if they did, they would.

You might be able to relate to this $firstname, you write your first report, ebook, perhaps launch your coaching service or get ready to sell your first teleseminar, sit down and wait… and wait for the sales to roll in. And, they don't. At least not like you hoped they would.

Unfortunately I won't promise you that you'll suddenly have every person knocking down your door, but I can guarantee you that this new report by Jimmy D. Brown will get you thinking outside your 'own' box.

• No big list?

• No guru friends?

• No super affiliates?

• No problem.

I'm a huge fan of Jimmy D. Brown.  Why?  Because I've been studying Jimmy's products now for a couple of years and to tell the truth, he gives some pretty compelling information that even the higher products don't!  Jimmy gives it to you straight, and if you follow his method of following proven principles, you'll see the results too!

Jimmy just released a new report titled, 'Piggyback Product Launches'  [3 Sure Fire Ways To Get a Steady Steam of Free Traffic For Any New Product].  While I've been a member of his ListsandTraffic.com membership for sometime now, I'm pretty familiar with everything he talks about in this new report.

So what's a Piggyback Product Launch?  Jimmy says,

"A “piggyback” product launch is to use the existing leverage
of someone or something else to launch your product."

In other words, if you don’t have a list, an affiliate program, a network of partners, etc., you can “piggyback” off someone who does in order to successfully launch your product.  Jimmy tells you exactly how to do this!

I truly encourage you to grab this low cost report , apply what he tells you and watch for results.  You'll be glad you did.

All the best!

Regina Bakerbr

your ecommerce partner

Is there a way to have fields other than those you are providing in the create form section?

My client would like additional info other than just name, email and phone. Instead of Company for example, could we say Agency?

Yes. Once the form is created, you can then add the fields you want. For example, when a form is created it looks something like this:

input type=”hidden” name=”cf” value=”subscribe”
input type=”hidden” name=”listid” value=”1521″
input type=”hidden” name=”adminid” value=”132″
input type=”hidden” name=”subscribe” value=”1″
input type=”hidden” name=”redirect” value=”"
input type=”hidden” name=”subject” value=”"
input type=”hidden” name=”send_results” value=”1″
table border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″

input type=”submit” value=”Subscribe”

All you have to do is add in the above area after Subscribe:

input type=”phone” value=”Phone”

But, make sure it’s within the “form” tags.

Will this info be captured via the list? I think I saw something in the support area saying custom fields would not be captured.

You can add additional fields and the results will be mailed to you if you choose. However, only First Name, Last Name, Email, Company, URL, and Phone will be stored in the database.

I’ve recently joined WahmCart’s affiliate program. I noticed the program you have set up to rebrand the PDF report and I love it. I have one right now and it’s okay - does the job - however, I simply *love* the one you have. It’s so simple!

I’m looking for one to make available to our affiliates. Is there anyway I could possibly ask you to share your trade secrets?

Absolutely! You can grab it here: http://wahmcart.com/custompdf/

Are You Reaching The Female Market?

“Most industries and marketers have finally figured out something: Women have wallets, and women do make independent, big-ticket purchasing decisions.” says Joanna L. Krotz, author of, the Microsoft® Small Business Kit

An article in the Los Angeles Times reads: “Women pack a wallop when it comes to their purchasing power.” Here’s how they stack up financially:

• By 2010, women will control more than half of private U.S. wealth, or about $14 trillion.
• By 2020, that number is expected to rise to $22 trillion

read more here

You have products that are perfect for the female audience but you don’t know how to reach a large sector of this market.

Now There’s a Solution!

Affiliate program owners and managers can feature their program at the Moms Affiliate Expo.

This is the first of it's kind!  Be a part of something exciting and new while reaching a market that you possibly couldn't tap into alone.

Become an Exhibitor or Sponsor: September 11, 12 & 13 - 2008

If you run an affiliate program that would appeal to site owners who reach moms, sign up as an exhibitor to secure a media rich listing on the Mom’s Affiliate Expo website.

Learn how to monetize your blogs, podcasts and websites with Women owned products and services!

For additional information on this awesome event, visit The Moms Affiliate Expo.

• Ready to learn more about Affiliate Marketing?  Click here

Everyone who has an ecommerce website knows the importance of having a reliable shopping cart as part of an automated business. Shopping carts that are easy to navigate and have secure credit card processing will eliminate customer frustration and will build consumer trust in your business.

WAHMCart is a full-feature shopping cart that has become the favorite shopping cart among work at home moms, men and small businesses during these last two years. It is with great pride and caring for the work at home mom that we developed this secure shopping cart with its unlimited autoresponders, customized designs, tracking capabilities, recurring billing options, and affiliate software.

Basically, everything you need to build an online ecommerce business is included when you purchase WAHMCart. This was important to owner and creator Regina Baker, a fellow work at home mom who felt there were too many complicated and expensive options that work at home moms just did not understand nor have the time to figure out when they were first starting their businesses.
Another reason WAHMCart has so many happy customers is their impeccable customer service. No question is silly and email responses are quick. Customer service reps will even help you set up your cart for your customer’s easiest shopping trip.

Of course, this is not news to WAHMCart’s current, loyal customers. WAHMCart has earned it’s reputation as the work at home mom’s shopping cart because it delivers the features and services it promises without flashy gimmicks. WAHMCart even rewards its customers with the opportunity to become an affiliate and earn money each time a new client joins.

This is also a great opportunity for affiliates to promote this opportunity and see an increase in affiliate sales this month.

Other WAHMCart services such as List Importing, One-on-One Consultations, and Complete Implementation will also experience a
price increase on August 15th but these are services that make WAHMCart unique.

These services are just another way WAHMCart rises above its competitors on the service scale.

Thank you to WAHMCart’s valued customers who have put their trust in us to provide an outstanding shopping cart for your business. You have trusted us for two years and that trust has not been taken for granted. In order to serve you better and to increase the value of WAHMCart, we have many more plans to announce and look forward to continuing our work together.

If you’re having challenges understanding how to advertise online, the information I’m about to share with you will change all of that!

So many people think that when they get online and just put up a website, that’s all that needs to happen. Kind of like the phrase ‘build it and they will come.’ NOT!

Unfortunately, online business doesn’t work that way. It’s so different than a brick and mortar presence because having a physical store brings more attention to your business simply because, people are always driving around noticing the signs hanging out front and drop in just to see what’s on the inside.

However, online marketing is so much more different than that. In order for someone to find your site that way, they need to ‘google’ keywords in order to find what they’re looking for AND, if your website is not on the first couple of pages of that search, your chances of being seen are slim to none.

So how should you advertise on line?

Very carefully! I know you’ve probably heard a lot about ‘targeting your market’ and ‘usp’ (unique selling proposition) phrases and, it’s true. Targeting people who are looking specifically for what you have to offer is one of the main keys to getting your business seen. When you advertise to your target market, the results can be phenomenal! The downfall is when you advertise all over the place in newsletters, ezines and directories that are not complimentary to your niche. However, advertising in directories are a plus (even if they aren’t specific to your business), I’ll tell you about that a little bit later.

Having the luxury of ‘tracking’ your sales is powerful! Why? Because it lets you know if your advertising dollars are being spent in the right place. My friend, Alice Seba says, “One of the best tools available to you as an internet marketer are your tracking and testing tools. These help you know if you’re making the right decisions concerning your business.”

You’ve also probably heard the phrase they use in real estate that it’s all about, ‘location, location, location’ right? When you’re an online marketer, it’s all about, ‘testing and tracking and ‘tweaking and improving.’

Alice created a small report called “Online Advertising - More Bang For Your Advertising Buck.” It’s a short 18 page report but packed with solution oriented
information that will teach you exactly how to advertise online. She even gives you writing tips on how to write your ad as well as where to advertise and how to test and track your advertising dollars.

If you really want to see a difference in your advertising budget or want to know exactly how to advertise online, you need this report! I can provide this report to you for $12.97, however, I’m not going to do that. I recommend that you consider joining Alice’s “Sweetie Saturday Report Club” where you can get this same report for only $9. Sure you’ll pay $9 every month (for different topic reports) but believe me, you will not be disappointed! And, if you don’t want to go that route, just let me know and I’ll give it to you for $12.97

Grab it now for only $9

Online Directories are AWESOME for Backlinks!

Backlinks are incoming links to a website or web page. In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, the number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page. Outside of SEO, the backlinks of a webpage may be of a significant interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page.

In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web page, directory, website, or top level domain. Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links.

A while back and somewhat still commonly done, is the method of asking people to swap links with you. Way too time consuming for me! Online directories are great for this… but, I’m not telling you just to place your url in any directory and all over the place.

NOTE: “We must be careful with our reciprocal links. There is a Google patent in the works that will deal with not only the popularity of the sites being linked to, but also how trustworthy a site is that you link to from your own website. This will mean that you could get into trouble with the search engine just for linking to a bad apple.” Read more here

Make sure you do your due diligence (research) or outsource it to your VA.

Next week, we’ll learn more about back links and I’ll give you a few top notch directories to consider.