There's a fortune to be made selling on the web - and you can have a slice of the cake if you know what you're doing. In this article I will share with you four big selling secrets that will get that cash flowing in the right direction.
When someone lands on our website, how can we turn their interest into a sale? There's much more to it than charm and trust: we need a whole armoury of tricks and techniques to persuade the visitor to part with their cash. Here are four classic ploys that are so effective they're practically industry standards:
Immediate call to action
Make it obvious what you want your customer to do: if you want them to click on a button, make sure that the button is prominent and unmissable! Get them to take action immediately, not some time soon or next week, as they may never visit your page again.
How do you do that? Indicate that the product is in short supply - in fact time is running out fast: you're only going to take on a limited number of clients - you can't allow too many items to be sold... If the customer doesn't act now they're going to miss out on your hot product that everybody wants. No one wants to be left out, especially if it's smart to buy your product. If they don't act now they'll miss it and they won't be smart!
Stress the benefits, not the features
Your product may have any number of special features, but what counts is the ways in which it will make the customer's life better. People don't want to know what's in their breakfast cereal - but they need to be shown that eating it is their gateway to happiness, and belonging to that happy smiling family. They don't want to know the horsepower and thermal wattage of their electric drill - they just want to know that it will deliver the perfect, effortless hole (which will give them more time to enjoy the good life).
To emphasize the benefits, use pain
If you don't use that toothpaste, you'll have tooth decay and gum disease. If you don't use that disinfectant, the nasty germs will get you. If you don't buy the product that's cool to buy, you won't be in the "in" crowd.
Make it clear that if the customer doesn't buy from you, they'll be missing out and the pain will remain. If they do buy, their pain will be eased. It's even more powerful to play on possible pain than possible gain. When they buy from you, their worries will be banished forever.
Why teachers are well-placed for Internet Marketing
You may not know much about marketing yet, but generally:
- teachers are intelligent and receptive
- teachers are good at instructing and simplifying
- teachers are good at persuading
- teachers are aware of the power of words
- teachers are not easily fooled
- teachers can find time in the holidays
- teachers are good at staying motivated
Have a look at my e-zine article which deals with each point in greater depth. Find out about YourNetBiz.
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Make Money Online with Twitter - The Wise Person's Start Up Guide
It's the fastest growing social network and a great way to keep in touch with friends - we know that much. But with all those tweets flying around, surely it's impossible to keep up with more than a handful of followers? Well, yes you can, but the methods are probably different from what you think! This article shows you how Internet Marketers use twitter to promote their business and build success while they sleep.
Internet Marketers don't just tweet for fun - they use twitter to collect followers, to establish a rapport with them, to build trust and to be genuinely helpful (by responding to other users' questions and proposing solutions to their problems). And serious twitter users don't just send out general tweets to everyone - there are techniques for getting straight to the hottest prospects!
Setting up your twitter account for Internet Marketing
1 use the name you need to be known by.
2 upload a personal photo - users need to see that you're a real person.
3 use a non-standard background to stand out from the crowd.
4 spend time on a great profile with a link to your website or blog.
Collecting Followers
Follow others, see who they follow and collect like-minded people who are suited to what you are selling. You're looking for people who already want your product. Most people will follow you back (perhaps using an automated tool like socialoomph). Some may even read your message, read your profile and click your link.
An automated system such as twollo will find people and follow them for you. Once you get going with interesting and retweetable tweets, using the kind of keywords that people might be interested in, even more people will decide to follow you.
Responding
When someone follows you, send them a welcoming message that is intriguing enough to make them want to check you out (but don't try to sell them anything at this stage). Socialoomph will do this for you automatically.
When you follow someone, they will usually send you a welcoming message, thanking you for the follow. Send them a message back - unlike normal tweets, these direct messages appear in people's e-mail as well as within twitter.
Whenever anyone sends you a direct message, send them a direct message back. You want to get into conversation with people, after all.
How to tweet and get into profitable conversations
In my article titled "Making Money Online with Twitter - Advanced Tweeting Techniques" I show you what kind of thing to tweet, and I show you how to find conversations that will lead to conversions!
Internet Marketers don't just tweet for fun - they use twitter to collect followers, to establish a rapport with them, to build trust and to be genuinely helpful (by responding to other users' questions and proposing solutions to their problems). And serious twitter users don't just send out general tweets to everyone - there are techniques for getting straight to the hottest prospects!
Setting up your twitter account for Internet Marketing
1 use the name you need to be known by.
2 upload a personal photo - users need to see that you're a real person.
3 use a non-standard background to stand out from the crowd.
4 spend time on a great profile with a link to your website or blog.
Collecting Followers
Follow others, see who they follow and collect like-minded people who are suited to what you are selling. You're looking for people who already want your product. Most people will follow you back (perhaps using an automated tool like socialoomph). Some may even read your message, read your profile and click your link.
An automated system such as twollo will find people and follow them for you. Once you get going with interesting and retweetable tweets, using the kind of keywords that people might be interested in, even more people will decide to follow you.
Responding
When someone follows you, send them a welcoming message that is intriguing enough to make them want to check you out (but don't try to sell them anything at this stage). Socialoomph will do this for you automatically.
When you follow someone, they will usually send you a welcoming message, thanking you for the follow. Send them a message back - unlike normal tweets, these direct messages appear in people's e-mail as well as within twitter.
Whenever anyone sends you a direct message, send them a direct message back. You want to get into conversation with people, after all.
How to tweet and get into profitable conversations
In my article titled "Making Money Online with Twitter - Advanced Tweeting Techniques" I show you what kind of thing to tweet, and I show you how to find conversations that will lead to conversions!
Make Money Online with Twitter - Advanced Tweeting Techniques
Twitter is everywhere, but how can you use the power of twitter to build your online business? In this article I show you how to tweet for profit, and how to turn other people's tweets to your advantage.
I'm assuming here that you're familiar with the basics of twitter. If you haven't already got started and would like to know how to optimize your twitter account for Internet Marketing, read my article entitled " Making Money Online with Twitter - The Wise Person's Start Up Guide".
Tweeting (sending out updates)
If your tweets invite responses, people will be more likely to answer! Just as you would at a party, ask questions and try to appear more interested in the other person than you are in yourself. Find out about them and look for ways to help them.
Interesting tweets often include links to other things available on the net: articles, pictures, videos, websites, blogs... Use these kinds of tweets in addition to your sensible advice to establish your reputation as an expert in your field - the kind of person who can help others.
When you read a really interesting tweet that you want to share with others, you should retweet it. People love having their stuff retweeted; it's flattering.
If you don't see anything to retweet and can't think of anything yourself, use sites such as "stuff to tweet" or digg, where you are bound to find something interesting, but (unless it's really brilliant) try to keep it relevant!
Don't use tweets to plug your own stuff more than once in a while, or people will feel you're too pushy. When you do promote your own site, be subtle, but make sure you mention some kind of must-have free offer - perhaps a pdf report. Ideally this free gift or report holds the answer to someone's problem, so you have a legitimate reason for suggesting they check it out.
Getting into discussions
This is the important part: use "search twitter" to listen in on other people's conversations. Type in a keyword that's important to your business and find out who is discussing it already.
If you use the advanced search facility you can specify strings of words, and maybe a question mark as well - so you can find who is asking a question about your area of expertise. Results come up not just of people (anywhere in the world) who are asking right now, but also an hour ago or last night or a week ago.
Remembering that you're helpfully offering expertise (and not trying to puff yourself up or hard-sell your product), you can join in these conversations and suggest solutions to the problems that people are discussing.
At the same time, other wise twitter users will be doing the same thing and searching for what you're discussing. They may well decide to follow you, or send you a direct message asking for your opinion.
Links
Needless to say, your site and your blog will invite people to join you on twitter, and your twitter profile (and many of your direct messages) (each of which is a URL in its own right) will link to your other stuff. This is all good for Search Engine Optimization.
Use what you learn
You will inevitably gain valuable insights from listening in on conversations and finding out what people are tweeting about. These insights will help you add focus to your business and they will provide you with material for new tweets, blogs and articles!
I'm assuming here that you're familiar with the basics of twitter. If you haven't already got started and would like to know how to optimize your twitter account for Internet Marketing, read my article entitled " Making Money Online with Twitter - The Wise Person's Start Up Guide".
Tweeting (sending out updates)
If your tweets invite responses, people will be more likely to answer! Just as you would at a party, ask questions and try to appear more interested in the other person than you are in yourself. Find out about them and look for ways to help them.
Interesting tweets often include links to other things available on the net: articles, pictures, videos, websites, blogs... Use these kinds of tweets in addition to your sensible advice to establish your reputation as an expert in your field - the kind of person who can help others.
When you read a really interesting tweet that you want to share with others, you should retweet it. People love having their stuff retweeted; it's flattering.
If you don't see anything to retweet and can't think of anything yourself, use sites such as "stuff to tweet" or digg, where you are bound to find something interesting, but (unless it's really brilliant) try to keep it relevant!
Don't use tweets to plug your own stuff more than once in a while, or people will feel you're too pushy. When you do promote your own site, be subtle, but make sure you mention some kind of must-have free offer - perhaps a pdf report. Ideally this free gift or report holds the answer to someone's problem, so you have a legitimate reason for suggesting they check it out.
Getting into discussions
This is the important part: use "search twitter" to listen in on other people's conversations. Type in a keyword that's important to your business and find out who is discussing it already.
If you use the advanced search facility you can specify strings of words, and maybe a question mark as well - so you can find who is asking a question about your area of expertise. Results come up not just of people (anywhere in the world) who are asking right now, but also an hour ago or last night or a week ago.
Remembering that you're helpfully offering expertise (and not trying to puff yourself up or hard-sell your product), you can join in these conversations and suggest solutions to the problems that people are discussing.
At the same time, other wise twitter users will be doing the same thing and searching for what you're discussing. They may well decide to follow you, or send you a direct message asking for your opinion.
Links
Needless to say, your site and your blog will invite people to join you on twitter, and your twitter profile (and many of your direct messages) (each of which is a URL in its own right) will link to your other stuff. This is all good for Search Engine Optimization.
Use what you learn
You will inevitably gain valuable insights from listening in on conversations and finding out what people are tweeting about. These insights will help you add focus to your business and they will provide you with material for new tweets, blogs and articles!
Monday, 10 August 2009
Ten ways to get leads for your online marketing business
No one will have any reason to visit your site until you direct them there. People who arrive at your "landing page" and look at your site are called "traffic". People who show enough interest in you or your product to "opt in" to your list (leave their name and email address) are called "leads" or "prospects". Many gurus consider that your list is your most valuable asset. Here are ten proven ways of getting traffic.
How do you get traffic? Here are some proven ways:
1 Online Listings, many of which are free. People really do read these, but be careful - you will inevitably be contacted by sharks who try to sell unnecessary services to you.
2 Adwords. In the notoriously risky world of "Pay per Click", you write a short ad which contains a compelling message full of the "keywords" that your customers will be using in their Google searches. The ads appear at the top of search results (with a pale coloured background) and to the right of the page. Each time someone clicks on your ad - thus getting sent to your "landing page" - you have to pay google. Get it right and you can make a fortune. Not quite right and you will lose one.
3 Newspaper advertisements: don't bother with local papers if your product comes with a hefty price tag. Ads in national papers can be expensive, so again you have to know what you're doing, but they do work. Agencies such as New Horizons can get you a discount and provide sound advice.
4 Build a great website full of "Keywords", with lots of links to and from it, and to a blog with constantly changing content. The art of setting your site up so that Google will put you at the top of the list is called "Search Engine Optimization" or "SEO". There is a whole industry surrounding this and there are plenty of opportunities to spend money trying to achieve it. Take care!
5 Article Writing: this is free and it can be extremely effective if you've got more time than money. To begin with, write short articles about anything at all that people might be interested in, include a link to your website and submit the articles to sites such as Ezine Articles. You can check which articles are read most, which get the most "clicks" and which are taken up by people who need material for newsletters. Then home in on the more profitable areas and concentrate on a successful "niche".
6 Create short videos and post them on "youtube". Include a link to your website in the description (so that people can click on it), show it on screen and mention it in the video as well. Get involved in user groups and discussion forums. The service is free and you can also use "youtube" videos on your own website.
7 Join social networking groups such as facebook, myspace, twitter and betternetworker. Have fun posting lots of zany messages and establish yourself as a sociable, active contributor. Use your popularity to stir up interest in your product and encourage other users to visit your page and click on your link.
8 Read discussion forums about whatever "niche" you're into. Post informed observations and answer other people's queries in genuinely useful ways that establish you as an expert. Subtly invite readers to click on your link.
9 Newsletter lists subscriptions: collect the email addresses of people who are interested in your niche and send them regular newsletters which include promotions.
10 Start a blog (free from blogger) but make sure the content is well written, entertaining and relevant. Add new, valuable content as often as you can - this can include audio and video, photographs and all kinds of "gadgets". Make sure that important keywords are included in the title of the blog, in the title of each post and in the text itself. Include lots of links (all this helps with the SEO). Promote your blog with Ezine articles, social bookmarking, submitting it to directories, video marketing, RSS feeds, your e-mail signature and comments in other people's blogs.
How do you get traffic? Here are some proven ways:
1 Online Listings, many of which are free. People really do read these, but be careful - you will inevitably be contacted by sharks who try to sell unnecessary services to you.
2 Adwords. In the notoriously risky world of "Pay per Click", you write a short ad which contains a compelling message full of the "keywords" that your customers will be using in their Google searches. The ads appear at the top of search results (with a pale coloured background) and to the right of the page. Each time someone clicks on your ad - thus getting sent to your "landing page" - you have to pay google. Get it right and you can make a fortune. Not quite right and you will lose one.
3 Newspaper advertisements: don't bother with local papers if your product comes with a hefty price tag. Ads in national papers can be expensive, so again you have to know what you're doing, but they do work. Agencies such as New Horizons can get you a discount and provide sound advice.
4 Build a great website full of "Keywords", with lots of links to and from it, and to a blog with constantly changing content. The art of setting your site up so that Google will put you at the top of the list is called "Search Engine Optimization" or "SEO". There is a whole industry surrounding this and there are plenty of opportunities to spend money trying to achieve it. Take care!
5 Article Writing: this is free and it can be extremely effective if you've got more time than money. To begin with, write short articles about anything at all that people might be interested in, include a link to your website and submit the articles to sites such as Ezine Articles. You can check which articles are read most, which get the most "clicks" and which are taken up by people who need material for newsletters. Then home in on the more profitable areas and concentrate on a successful "niche".
6 Create short videos and post them on "youtube". Include a link to your website in the description (so that people can click on it), show it on screen and mention it in the video as well. Get involved in user groups and discussion forums. The service is free and you can also use "youtube" videos on your own website.
7 Join social networking groups such as facebook, myspace, twitter and betternetworker. Have fun posting lots of zany messages and establish yourself as a sociable, active contributor. Use your popularity to stir up interest in your product and encourage other users to visit your page and click on your link.
8 Read discussion forums about whatever "niche" you're into. Post informed observations and answer other people's queries in genuinely useful ways that establish you as an expert. Subtly invite readers to click on your link.
9 Newsletter lists subscriptions: collect the email addresses of people who are interested in your niche and send them regular newsletters which include promotions.
10 Start a blog (free from blogger) but make sure the content is well written, entertaining and relevant. Add new, valuable content as often as you can - this can include audio and video, photographs and all kinds of "gadgets". Make sure that important keywords are included in the title of the blog, in the title of each post and in the text itself. Include lots of links (all this helps with the SEO). Promote your blog with Ezine articles, social bookmarking, submitting it to directories, video marketing, RSS feeds, your e-mail signature and comments in other people's blogs.
Seven ways to find a product for your online marketing business
So you want to make money on the internet, and you’ve heard that there’s a fortune to be made, but you’re not sure what you should be selling? Here are seven areas to consider (but don’t try to do everything – one would be enough).
1 You could promote a physical product that you can make or buy for significantly less than your retail price. Find out how to use eBay effectively by studying one of the many handbooks available.
2 Alternatively, make a deal with a local shop to promote their most desirable product on the internet for a significant percentage. You could start with a "blog" (they're free from blogger.com) although a proper website generally looks more professional, and image is everything.
3 Or go to a site like clickbank, choose an eBook (on a subject that you know about) which is backed up by compelling advertising copy (this is all available free of charge), and then promote it. No postage or packaging costs are involved and you receive a commission for each sale - this is called "Affiliate Marketing".
4 If you have the knowledge and the confidence, you can write your own eBook. Convert it into a PDF file which your customers can download. Perhaps do one that you give away for free and make a second eBook available for sale. Get affiliates to sell it for you.
5 Watch the free videos that promote some of the more credible information/life-skills products, then buy a whole system for less than the price of a tank of petrol. Some of these (virtual) packages come with their own training, marketing system and back office.
6 When you sign up to a high-end, top-tier product, you'll find that the package includes hundreds of eBooks on many subjects, to which you have the rights and which you can sell, keeping all the revenue. Many of them are very useful marketing resources which you will want to use yourself.
7 This one's for serious marketers only: go straight to the top tier and join a high-end outfit. Since the asking price will be substantial, only committed customers will be interested, but a single sale will put a lot of money in your pocket. Follow-up emails and calls can be done for you, the back office is stuffed with video tutorials, eBooks and valuable information and the sales pages are slick. The only thing you’ll need to do is to advertise to attract traffic to the site.
1 You could promote a physical product that you can make or buy for significantly less than your retail price. Find out how to use eBay effectively by studying one of the many handbooks available.
2 Alternatively, make a deal with a local shop to promote their most desirable product on the internet for a significant percentage. You could start with a "blog" (they're free from blogger.com) although a proper website generally looks more professional, and image is everything.
3 Or go to a site like clickbank, choose an eBook (on a subject that you know about) which is backed up by compelling advertising copy (this is all available free of charge), and then promote it. No postage or packaging costs are involved and you receive a commission for each sale - this is called "Affiliate Marketing".
4 If you have the knowledge and the confidence, you can write your own eBook. Convert it into a PDF file which your customers can download. Perhaps do one that you give away for free and make a second eBook available for sale. Get affiliates to sell it for you.
5 Watch the free videos that promote some of the more credible information/life-skills products, then buy a whole system for less than the price of a tank of petrol. Some of these (virtual) packages come with their own training, marketing system and back office.
6 When you sign up to a high-end, top-tier product, you'll find that the package includes hundreds of eBooks on many subjects, to which you have the rights and which you can sell, keeping all the revenue. Many of them are very useful marketing resources which you will want to use yourself.
7 This one's for serious marketers only: go straight to the top tier and join a high-end outfit. Since the asking price will be substantial, only committed customers will be interested, but a single sale will put a lot of money in your pocket. Follow-up emails and calls can be done for you, the back office is stuffed with video tutorials, eBooks and valuable information and the sales pages are slick. The only thing you’ll need to do is to advertise to attract traffic to the site.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)