For small businesses The Internet is a wonderful tool , but many people are still very disappointed concerning the results they have.
The real truth is the web can be effective depending on how the Internet strategy is designed. There is one big error that most business make from the very beginning: they didnt understand that The Internet = Communication!
Of course, they are aware of the importance of communications, but have they applied that knowledge to website strategy
What most people use the internet for
I am sure about the answer we shall receive most of the time : They got on The Internet to sell product or service !! Of course the answer is right, but they often forget that the process is most important than the objective itself, and turn their web page into an Internet storefront, going to be disappointed at last.
On the other hand, from the above answer a second conclusion is rising: rarely people come on the internet to buy something. And is true also, as time as, excepting Amazon and a few select websites no one is making a killing selling strictly on-line.
Because people still like to see, to touch and to check goods the main activity of potential buyers is not to *buy* on the internet but to *collect information about a product or service*.
In that circumstances the number one goal of Internet sales strategy should be to give to potential buyers the information that will influence their final sales decision. People come to website looking for information, not for a storefront or a shopping cart. That means the storefronts and shopping carts can be important parts of the strategy - but they shouldnt be the main strategy.
Lets have a simple example.
I hope that some of you who read this article will click on the little link at the end to become new subscribes of my eZine. Lets say this could be my goal. But in order to reach your membership, Im first giving you a large dose of free and useful information.
Why As Hamlet said, this is the question!
Think of the benefits this article provides to me. By reading it:
1. I can show you that I know what I know.
2. Ive created a dialogue ( built a relation) with you.
3. Ive increased your confidence in me.
4. Ive given you something of value for free. (you have no obligation to give me something in return).
Remember that the process is more important than objective In other words, what I have done: Ive initiated a relationship with you. I did not ask you to be my subscribers. But by giving you this information, Ive initiated communication with you and, quite possible, I increased your confidence in me. At the bottom of this article there is a brief note regarding me and my eZine without any command. Because I hope you already trust in me, you might think that my product is good also, and because the sign up is also for free, may be I do convinced you to click the link to my MCF Newsletter.
In the same way, this weekend eZine offers constant a lot of information for small business on the Internet, about the Internets and its secrets, about many available jobs I am informed, refreshes your life with pieces of good humor. I continue to communicate with you in mutual benefit.
Conclusion:
The great advantage of the Internet is *not* your ability to sell your product along side companies that are ten times your size, but your ability to *get information* to potential buyers about your product!
Think all the time of a potential buyer of your product or service. Is your website giving them the information they need If they are permanently stormed by the sharp buying competition, are you giving them all the detailed information they need to choose you
Remember that the process is more important than the objective.
Valerian Dinca is editor of . This is not like other ezines, you get what you need when you need it.
Whatever type of online business you are running, one of the most vital things to remember is that you should test everything!
The beauty of the Internet is that you can test countless different ways of running your business without it costing you a small fortune (or indeed, anything at all). This is a huge advantage over traditional offline businesses and something that should be taken advantage of. Think about it, lets say you have an offline business and you want to take an advertisement in a local newspaper. Once you have agreed the layout and text of the advert with the publisher, thats it - you cant change it once the newspaper has been printed if you dont get the results you were hoping for.
In complete contrast, with an Internet business, you can change your sales page and online advertising at any time which means you can tweak every little detail to ensure that you are making maximum sales and getting the very best value for money from your advertising.
In general, when making changes to any website/sales page/advert etc, it is best to make only minor alterations rather than a major overhaul. The reason for this is that if you change everything on a page and it affects your sales, you wont know EXACTLY what made the difference. If you make one or two small changes at a time, you can see precisely which one made the difference to what your visitors/customers do when they get to your site. Remember, even tiny changes can make a huge difference - seriously - just something as simple as changing a headline can increase or decrease sales significantly.
Having said that, from time to time, I do think it is a good idea to give any website or sales page a major transformation, just to see what happens :-)I have numerous sales pages and sites that havent been altered for years yet still produce sales everyday. Though, in fairness, there is no reason why they shouldnt since most visitors to the pages in question arent aware that they havent been changed for so long and as long as the product is up to date and of high quality it really shouldnt matter.
With this in mind, I have recently set about re-writing some of my sales pages and if you have some pages that you havent touched for a while, you might want to consider doing the same thing. One of the main things that occurred to me when I started re-writing my sales copy was that my own ability and experience has grown vastly since I first wrote the copy in question and like anything, the more you do something, the better you get at it. I am sure that this is the same for many of my subscribers - they have a sales page that was written when they first started working online and it works - it makes sales BUT the person in question now has a lot more experience than they had when they first wrote the page and is therefore capable of doing the same job a lot better....
To give you some idea of the impact that re-writing a sales page or re-designing a website can have, I have noticed that some of my new pages are generating 25% more sales than the old ones!! This isnt the case with all of the new pages and it is likely that I will revert back to the old pages in some cases but as I said at the start of this article, it is all about testing.
Even if it takes you a day to write some new sales copy, isnt it worth taking the time to give it a go That one day of work could increase your income by 25% or more for the next year (or even longer)!
At the end of the day, even if you dont want to completely change your website or sales pages (this also applies to your eBay auction sales pages etc), then I cant stress strongly enough the point that you should be making regular minor changes to try and improve your sales ratio.
Remember, it only takes a few minutes to make a small change to your site and it wont cost you anything. This is a luxury that offline businesses are not usually afforded so you really should ensure that you take maximum advantage of this edge.
Copyright 2005 Richard Grady
Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: