Making Money From Your Web Site Traffic
Owning a website is not just about the design. There are things you need to consider in order for you to profit. One of those is website traffic. With it you are sure to make money and extend the life of your online business.
Site visitors are like customers in a supermarket. The more visitors you attract the more money you are going to get. Many web browsers are incidental shoppers. They see something they like and buy it. But how can they buy your product or service if they do not even know you exist? For that reason, it is essential to increase your web site traffic.
The first step should be learning how to convert your website visitors to paying users. How? By persuading your visitors to use your site repeatedly.
A good advertisement can be placed over the internet, newspapers, daily journal, magazines and media. The purpose of the advertisement is to attract visitors so make it persuasive.
Visitors love to read articles. Make sure that the articles and other content on your website is worth reading. You can do it yourself or find a writer with good reputation, as they can produce articles of quality. Effective outsourcing is an important part of growing your business.
Your website should only contain a particular subject. If your website is for buy and sell, it should only contain descriptions and specifications of the product you are going to sell. Using unrelated content will ruin the overall theme of your website.
Start a community forum where your visitors are free to exchange ideas and messages. With this, you are able to know the things that concern your visitors and create topics from it. Interesting topics are usually derived from the forum themselves and this gives your visitors reasons to keep coming back.
If possible offer a special day to chat with someone famous. You can invite a personality to join the forum so your visitors will have the chance to chat with him or her.This should be people who have made a name for themselves in internet marketing and online business or whatever subject your website covers. They can share their expertise and knowledge.
Contests, promotions and give away freebies also attract more visitors. Make your special price interesting, it will catch the attention of the visitors. Advertise your promotions online and off so more people will be aware that your website exists.
Write for other websites that accept freelance articles. This allows you to place your name and URL at the end of your article or small resource box, which will link the readers to your website. What do the best resource boxes have in common? They get the reader to take action by clicking the link. Give as much thought to the resource box as you do the article.
Some visitors are very particular on the reputation of a website so place quality articles and content from your pages. Avoid making comments about other websites, as this can lead to a negative image about you and your business.
More more web site traffic means more visitors and profits. Take action with these tips and you are sure to earn as much as you expect.
Daryl Campbell is your internet marketing guide for more tips, tools, resources, free video coaching and up to the minute information. Make the business of growing your business easy and fun at http://winthemarket.com
Techniques To Help You Close Sales
Have you wondered why, despite being able to describe the benefits of the products you are selling, the customer did not buy? You were told not to sell features but the benefits of the product, and that is exactly what you did. Yet you are not able to close the deal. What is that missing element that is needed?
The answer may be that the benefits you described are not benefits that apply to the customer. The question is what is in it for the customer to be interested in what you are selling.
If you are selling to a business organization, focus first on the business requirements that are driving this deal. Whatever you sell had better give returns to the business. Otherwise, this might be your last sale to this organization.
Once you know the business needs, connect them to the benefits that your product can offer. This means you must know your product’s features and related benefits. If you already know your product well, that is half the battle won. If not, you must find out. If yours is a technical product, a user-based understanding is all that is needed for a sales person. Later, you can bring in technical expertise as needed.
The next thing to do is to establish the needs of the business that your product can meet. Present this from the customer’s perspective and your chances of closing the deal are very much increased. There will, of course, be competitive products and prices to be considered.
Having described the concept, how can you do this in a well-organized way? In this case, first list all the product features and their related benefits. Now for each of the benefits, write down what is the business need that can be met. Once you have written all of these down, convert these to questions that you can ask the customer.
You will find repetition in this first version. Clean it up and organize the questions in a natural flow. Note down also the benefits and features along with the questions.
You can now use this questionnaire when you meet the customer. If required, you can also discuss benefits and features of the product. Getting quantifiable information will help in the business justification later.
When the customer sees that you know your contents, you can expect a better response as the customer knows that you are not wasting any time. The respect you show for the customer’s time is a very good basis to build a good customer relationship.
This technique will help you establish which benefits will help the customer based on the business requirements as established by the customer.
The next step is for you to understand the customer’s industry and to be able to articulate the trends and why requirements not articulated by the customer should also be considered. Typically, customers appreciate this additional knowledge that you bring to the situation.
So far, it has all been about value to the business. Successful selling also needs empathy to human needs. Quite often, the person you are selling to will be well versed in the operational aspect of the job, but will have a limited knowledge of the industry direction. They are typically driven by the daily operations. While they may know industry directions, they normally appreciate any specific information that will help them.
The impact of technology has made people look differently at how a business can be successfully transformed. Here again, is another opportunity for you to be of value to your client. It is not sufficient that the customer buys a good or great product. They also need to know how to use it such that they can maximize the returns on the investment.
You need to be able to justify why your product will give better returns. If necessary, you may also need to meet others in the business to show how your products will have an impact on their business.
Presenting your product information, features and benefits and the quotation for the product is just not enough. You must articulate how the products uniquely benefit the business. You must be able to provide information and data related to the business. You know how it will help their business. If you can do this very well, they will even sometimes call on you to ask your opinion because they know you care about the success of their business, and not just on the sales and commissions.
There will be other challenges, especially regarding prices. Even if the product price is lower than the competition, if you cannot relate the value of your product to the business’s needs, it will be tough to close the sale. With the kind of value proposition that you can bring to the table, you will stand a much higher chance of closing the deal.
One exception will be when you find out during the investigation stage that the customer is not ready for your products yet or does not need them. Be big enough to walk away. You would have established your credibility. When the customer does need your products, he will call you because he knows that he can trust you.
Take some time to prepare a questionnaire as described above, if there is none right now. Use it to understand the customer’s business requirements. Then present it based on the unique customer requirements. With these techniques, you will get the customer’s attention because you are helping to solve their business issues using your product. You stand a much better chance of not only winning the deal, but building a rapport and trust with the customer for the longer term.
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Be Successful News, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business. http://www.BeSuccessfulNews.com
Grow Your Internet Business With an Ecourse
The secret of growing your internet business: Create a website that’s more than a calling card. Use your website to create a list of qualified subscribers who agree to accept your email messages. Ideally, build trust by sending them messages regularly, typically through an ezine or podcast.
But as a new internet business, you might have just 5 names. Don’t get discouraged. Many millionaire marketers joke about beginning with a list that included their mother and their cat.
But what do you do with those 5 names? Creating a good ezine takes a lot of work.
A few years ago you could send out an ezine every month or two. Now there’s so much clutter you need to have your name in front of readers every week or two.
So you’re facing a big chunk of time every single week, whether you’re reaching 5 readers or 5 thousand. What can you do while waiting for your list to grow?
The answer: Create an e-course.
An e-course is a series of short “lessons” sent to subscribers, one at a time, over a period of days, weeks or months. You send them through autoresponders, using the same program you use or ezines and other e-mailings.
Website visitors sign up through an opt-in program, giving you their names and emails. Most important, they give you permission to send them a series of messages.
When designing your ecourse, you need to decide how many messages or “lessons” to include and how often you will send them.
How many? Typically marketers send 5 to 7 messages for one ecourse. If you send more, readers may begin to tune out. What began as a novelty can become a nuisance.
Readers are busy. So they’ll send your course to a special folder, with good intentions to read “later.” As your lessons pile up, readers begin to think, “I have a lot of reading to do! When will I get time?” They may even trash your messages without reading or decide to unsubscribe. Now they’re gone forever.
With 5 to 7 lessons, you keep their workload manageable.
Fewer than 5? You probably won’t have time to build a connection with your readers. Advertisers say you need to connect 5 to 7 times before readers remember you.
One marketer created an e-course with 87 lessons, sent one day at a time. She was promoting a high-end product so it made sense to target readers who would actually appreciate so many emails. And she delivered extremely high-quality content.
How often? Typically website owners send messages every day or every other day. When you leave larger gaps, your readers may forget who you are.
Readers who stay with your course till the end are probably seriously interested in your topic (or are seriously compulsive about finishing what they start).
To motivate readers to stay with you, create messages that follow this checklist.
(1) Length 350-500 words. Readers are more likely to come to the end of a shorter message than a longer one. You can always include a link to a page on your website.
(2) One specific tip. Give readers a single takeaway point in each message.
(3) One exercise. Include a thought-provoking question or assignment that will challenge your reader. As readers get involved, they want to learn more – and that means calling you.
(4) One action item. Invite readers to learn more by subscribing to an ezine or following a link to a sales page.
(5) Valuable content. Each message should include content not easily obtained elsewhere. Avoid mentioning prices or details of an offer. Instead, direct readers to a sales page for follow-up.
Of course, each message also includes your resource box: your one-sentence elevator pitch, your basic contact information and a low-key call to action. Your call to action might be “Subscribe to my ezine.”
Leverage your ecourse. Expand each message into an article for your article marketing program. Post your messages into your blog (you might revise for an edgier tone with more examples). Keep a file of messages for the day you’re ready to create your first ebook.
Once you reach 100 or 300 ecourse readers, you invite them to subscribe to an ezine or podcast. Once you reach 1000, you can begin to call on your list for teleclasses and special offers.
Now you’ve taken the first steps to grow your Internet business – painlessly.
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., helps service professionals transform their websites from Internet presence to Internet profits. Fr^e download: 7 Best-Kept Secrets of Websites That Attract Clients http://www.yourcontentstrategist.com/subscribe.html
Five Easy Steps to Maximize Your Sales Conversion and Squeeze Every Last Penny from Your Visitors!
There are countless ways to optimize your web site.
The problem is, most marketers are still focused on “optimizing” their site for the search engines… but not for sales.
What good is a top-ten listing for “internet marketing” if 400 visitors come to your web site from the search engines and buy nothing?
Sure, you can build your list. But again, if you’re thinking “I must optimize my site to get a higher listing” instead of putting your highest priority into squeezing the most possible money from each visitor that arrives to your site… you’re wasting your effort.
Even in the case of a list-building name squeeze landing page, you need to put your focus on “optimizing” your page to get the most amount of visitors possible to sign up and get on your list!
Here are five excellent techniques you can deploy right now to begin maximizing your conversions for more and better visitors, leads and sales:
1. Make your visitors feel like they’re dealing with a professional – And no, this doesn’t mean your site has to look like the next Amazon.com… in fact, the more simple, clean and straightforward your site looks and feels, the better your visitor feels. Your site is most often the only impression your visitor gets of you… If your site looks ugly, badly formatted and unprofessional… guess how your visitor feels about you? No fancy graphics are needed. Just keep it clean and clear.
2. Your sales copy will make or break your visitors’ buying decision. Get creative. Some people talk better than they write, and others write better than they talk… so try both. Use a timeless writing method called “freewriting” to get over the creativity-killer known as “Writer’s Block.” Open a blank document or get out a piece of paper and start writing the first thing that comes to mind… even if it’s “I don’t know what to write. I still don’t know what to write… it’s coming soon, but not yet… coming… I’m thinking of… something… ahh… here it comes!”
Believe it. You will absolutely begin writing something and whether or not it makes sense at first – keep writing.
Understand this. Writing is a two-step process. Most people fail to grasp this concept and then give up because they “can’t write.”
The two parts of writing are:
A) The Creative Step
B) The Editorial Step
Don’t overlook this point. It can transform you into a copywriting virtuoso almost overnight if you can get this concept.
Step one, the Creative Step is when you freewrite. Don’t use the backspace key, no matter how bad your judgmental mind wants you to. Just keep writing. Nothing has to be spelled right… nothing has to be in order. Just write and know you’re in the creative process.
Step two, is the Editorial Step. In this step, you go back over the content you’ve just written and you move paragraphs and sentences around to flow better… you use spell-check or a dictionary to get everything spelled correctly and in an acceptable format… this is why you never hit the backspace key while in Step One – because you save it for the second step! Do this and your writing skills will soar.
Another “trick” is to call your best friend on the phone and sell your offer to him or her. Record the call and have it transcribed.
You’ll have the best parts of your copy already written!
Now, go find the last web site you bought from.
Something in that copy made you want whatever they were selling.
And you bought it.
But why?… Study this and you’ll learn the art of compelling people to take action using words alone. This is about the most powerful skill you can ever possess, as it literally gives you the ability to create money from thin-air whenever you want, and wherever you so choose.
Master copywriter Brian Keith-Voiles once mentioned his “secret weapon” technique for writing truly killer copy on demand… Find a master copywriter’s work, take a pen and piece of paper and literally write the entire copy from start to finish on that paper. There’s something that happens kinetically when you do this and you actually begin to feel what the writer was feeling and thinking when he wrote the copy!
Once you’re done, you will feel like you’ve just been through a 13-week intensive course on copywriting mastery… guaranteed.
3. Offer “early-bird” bonuses and special gifts for those who take action before everyone else – You’d be surprised how much faster a product sells when early-bird bonuses are introduced into the equation. Take a few products with Resell Rights or Private Label Rights, write up a single paragraph of compelling copy for them, put a dollar value on them and label them Early-Bird Bonuses…
Offer them to your first xx number of fast-acting customers. After xx have been sold, keep the copy but insert a “SOLD OUT” or “EARLY-BIRD BONUS IS NOW REMOVED!” on the page to let your visitors know you mean business. They’ll take you seriously from that point onward. Buyers love this and you can scope them out quickly just by using this invaluable selling technique.
4. Split-test every action you want to increase – Actions mean number of click-thrus, number of visitors, number of sign ups, number of sales… any “action” you want your visitor to take can easily be increased and if you’re patient, can go as high as you want.
The average online web site sales conversion is just under 1%. That’s less than one out of every 100 visitors buy the product… yikes.
When I write copy, I never get less than 5%-10% sales conversion right out of the box. It’s a skill that took me six years to master, and about 24 hours to learn the right way to do it. It’s psychology on paper… salesmanship in print… it’s persuasion with words alone.
Regardless of what your skill is to write killer copy, you can always make it ten times better if you want. It just takes a little patience and some split-testing software. For the sake of being clear, I’ll give you a simple example…
Did you know Google Adwords has an automatic built in split-testing feature? It’s true. Instead of writing just one ad, write two.
Google’s software automatically rotates both ads evenly and sends the same amount of visitors to each. This is a GREAT way to split-test your classified and Top Sponsor ads to see which gets the best response before you go out and place ads in ezines and newspapers!
5. Here’s a powerful conversion technique to increase sales… limit them. This may sound crazy at first, but you get several advantages you wouldn’t normally have by using this technique…
For instance, you’re selling a digital info-product for $67… think of something you’d like to buy with the money you’re about to make from this promotion… say, it’s a brand new HD enabled big-screen TV. The cost is $1,594. Instead of selling your info-product directly, you sell access to it from a password-protected members area. This could be as simple as a hidden web page on your site.
You do the math and figure you need 24 sales at $67 per sale to buy the TV outright… so, you limit “access” to the info-product and make it available for the first 25 members only. This creates high demand through scarcity. If you give a good reason for limiting access (i.e. because you’re doing this promotion for that big-screen TV) it’ll skyrocket your conversion because you’re giving a reason “why.”
This satisfies the customer and quiets the mind’s critical nature… “why is he selling access to only 25 members?”… because you want a TV!
The greatest thing about limiting access is that you can “re-open” the doors for another promotion anytime you want something else. Your prospects who didn’t buy before see you’re serious, and you’ll get even more sales the next time around…
These conversion techniques are powerful ways to squeeze the maximum amount of money from every visitor you get to your web site. It’s never about quantity, it’s about the quality of each visitor you have now.
Jason Mangrum is a list building professional with over 50,000 responsive members, trained in the art of Hypnotic Writing and known as one of the top marketers in the world. This web site achieves an astounding 86% SALES conversion. See this to learn how it is done: http://dimesale.jasonmangrum.com
Using Online Video To Become A More Effective Sales Person
When marketing online there are some advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that you can completely automate the sales process and sell 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year without one smidgen of human input. It can be a completely hands free business. That in itself is precisely the reason why I became an online entrepreneur and started my own business via the internet.
But selling via the internet also has some downsides, some restrictions that until now have been difficult to overcome. Here are just three (3) of these restrictions.
1) Lack of trust. For the success of a sale there needs to be a trusting relationship between both parties. On the internet this is extremely hard to achieve.
2) Lack of attention. With so many distractions online it is very hard to get your prospects attention to turn them into a customer.
3) Limited marketing methods. When it comes to selling online you are generally limited to copy and graphics, that’s it. Yes audio is starting to make an appearance although on very few sites, but most online marketers are missing the biggest opportunity.
In a real world situation the salesperson would normally dwarf each of the above limitations and make the sale but not so when marketing online… your website is your salesperson.
Zig Ziglar writes in his book “Secrets of Closing the Sale”
“The professional understands that logic is aimed at and appeals to the eye. Emotion is aimed at and appeals to the ear. That is why, when humanly possible, we not only tell people what our merchandise or goods will do but we demonstrate at the same time.
We’ve been conditioned to believe what we see instead of what we hear. The eyes have truly been called the “windows of the soul” – the minds eye believes what it sees. The eyes are the only one of our sense organs which connect directly to the brain. For this reason, logically we accept more readily what we see than what we hear. However, we are moved into action by what we hear. Remember, our “feeling” brain is ten times as large as our “thinking” brain, so “tell ‘em” and “show ‘em” and your chances of selling them are greatly multiplied.”
There you have it from the hand of one of the greatest sales people and teachers, the problem with marketing online. You can’t “tell or show” your prospect anything via the internet, thus reducing your chances of making the sale, without using new video technology and the good news is the timing for this is perfect.
If you want to reach, right into your prospects brain then you must do it via the eyes and the ears and the best way to do this online is via streaming video. Using video you can explain the best parts of your product to your prospect as if they were right there with you but it can be done completely on auto pilot.
The problem is that putting video on your web site has been related to brain surgery because a lot of people have made it a lot more complicated then it really is. If you are looking for an easy step-by-step guide on how to create, convert and show video online then I highly recommend Videoese. It’s an affordable video guide where everything you need to know is laid out in simple terms so that anybody can put video online.
Online video is the way of the future for marketing via the internet and the best time to start is now.
Paul Kleinmeulman is a full time internet marketer. He walks his talk by using the principles he teaches at http://www.Videoese.com on his own sites for increased relationships and higher conversions. He loves using video and highly recommends it to everybody.