With the creation of the Internet, it has become easier thanever to start a business, especially online.
You can automate all of your business processes, and with aprofessionally done web site, you can have a 24/7 salesmanhandling most of the work for you.
The downside is that business is becoming more and morecompetitive. Especially if you are marketing affiliate programs,you can be competing against thousands of others to sell yourproducts or services.
Before you begin your web site, and before you make a sale, youneed to make a plan. Below are six steps you can take to giveyou the competitive edge in your small business.
1. Choose a customer Now Im sure you may think I have itbackwards. Maybe you think you should choose your product first.
The problem with choosing your product first is that you may nothave a market to sell to. You want to make sure you have amarket to sell before you choose the products you are going tosell.
You want to do your research.
The easiest way to do this is to visit sites that can give youinformation on demographics. Demographics are pieces ofinformation about different groups you can use to create yourmarket.
There are many sites you can use to gather this type ofinformation, but here are three to help you get started:
http://americandemographics.com/
http://www.freedemographics.com/
http://www.consumerinternetbarometer.us/
Now these sites will give you information primarily on USmarkets, but there are plenty of sites you can use to findinformation on countries outside the US. The secret is to narrowyour search terms. For example: international demographics, orinternet demographics.
2. Choose a product Once you have a market in mind, then youwant to choose a product.
You have several options here: affiliate programs, resellrights, or create your own.
Now I wont get into the pros and cons of each because thatsnot what this article is about.
What you want to do here is make sure that you choose a productthat matches perfectly with your market.
You can search for the above terms in a good search engines tofind what you are looking for.
3. Make it an offer your customer cant refuse Once you have amarket and product in mind, its time to craft your offer.Regardless of what type of product you choose, youll havecompetition.
The secret here is to create something of value to add to yourproduct. It should always be something no one else has. It couldbe a free report or ebook, or some additional software.
Whats important is to make your offer so valuable your visitorwont want to go somewhere else to buy the product.
4. Create a great sales letter Now maybe you have chosen to sellsomething that already has a sales letter. That means a greatdeal of the work has already been done for you.
However, there are a couple of things you should know firstbefore you use that sales letter.
If its for an affiliate program, theres nothing you can do tochange it. The way around this is to write a review for theproduct that appeals to your specific market. Then include alink to the sales page for the product.
If you are reselling a product, rewrite the sales letter foryour target market. Make it appeal to the market you are sellingto. Just make sure that its ok to do rewrites before you go toall that trouble.
If youre marketing your own product, then youll have to do thesales letter from scratch. Keep your market in mind, make itpersonal, and emphasize the benefits of the product to yourtarget market.
5. Make it easy for your customer to buy This also ties intoyour sales letter.
Be clear with your customer what your product is about. Make theweb page quick loading, and give your web page only one purpose,i.e. to make the sale.
When you create your web site, you want to make it as easy aspossible for your customer to purchase the product.
This means having links to a payment method and making thoselinks easy to find.
You have a lot of options here, but the important thing toremember is that your sales letter should point to where to goto make the purchase.
Accept credit cards and make it easy for your customer to usehis/her card to make the purchase.
6. Automate the process When you create your web site, youll beamazed at the number of tasks involved in running it.
If youre giving away a free report, use an autoresponder. Youcan also use the autoresponder for automatic follow up. Justmake sure you include at least seven follow up messages.Customers seldom buy the first time, and youll want to capturecontact information up front.
Use a credit card processing method that doesnt require you toanswer every email.
Check your links and make sure they work. Nothing is morefrustrating for the customer than to buy the product and not beable to access it immediately.
Automate every process you can and make sure it works. That way,youll only have to handle the email, which, as I have foundout, can keep you pretty busy.
Once youve created your offer, market it. Let everyone knowabout it and keep doing your follow up. Once you capture thatcustomer, you can keep marketing to him/her over and over. Thiswill increase your sales.
Repeat these steps and keep them coming back for more.
Jinger Jarrett is a former newspaper reporter and militaryjournalist who currently spends her time writing, marketing, andconsulting. You can get her free ebook: 7 Traffic Generators forMaximum Traffic and Sales free here:
Many people dont have the time or skills to writeand create ebooks to give away to their web sitevisitors. Giving away ebooks from your web sitecan easily increase traffic and sales. Why notcreate promotional ebooks for other people touse so they can promote their web site.
First, you will need to write and create your ownebook to give away to your visitors. If you dontwant to write one, you could ask permission touse another writers articles or material. Be sureto include your text or banner at the beginning ofthe ebook.
Once your ebook is uploaded to your web siteyou can allow people to download it and giveit away to their web site visitors. Your ad willcontinue to be spread all over the internet.
You can take this strategy one step further tomake it even more powerful. Allow people tosign-up to get a version of the ebook with theirown text or banner ad included in it.
With their own ad included in the ebook, theyll workharder to promote it. That means your ad will beseen by even more people. Its now a win/winsituation for you and your visitors!
Part 2
How To Create Urgency So People Buy Now
You must create urgency so people will buy yourproducts or services now. They may not revisit yourweb site or see your ad again.
How do you do this You must use a limited timeoffer. Limited time offers stop people from puttingoff buying your products or services. It stops themfrom procrastinating.
There are many different types of limited time offers.Here are a few.
Limited Time Price OffersFor example, Order Now! While the price is still low.
After Dec 23, 2004 this price will go up to...
Limited Time Discount Offers
For example, Order before Midnight,
Nov. 5, 2004
and you will get 25% discount!
Limited Time Free Bonus Offers
For example, Order before
April 2, 2005 and youll
get a free bonus!
Limited Time In Stock Offers
For example, Order Now! While supplies last! After
Oct. 31, 2004 we cant guarantee we will have anyleft in stock.
Im not saying everyone will order the first time theysee your ad. They may not be interested in yourproducts or services. It depends on your ad and theperson reading the ad. If they are interested, usually,limited time offers will make them buy now.
And one last thing NEVER and I mean NEVER use those java scripts that says this offer will end by midnight on the current day. And when you come back a few days it still there the same offer. If you are going to do this you haveto end it that night. If not it will damage your creditabilityand your business. Which you do not want!
Good Luck with your promotions:)
Tim B. Miller
Get My FREE eBook Profitable Web Traffic Generators
Proven And Free Ways To Get More Traffic For Your Online Business!