Who Else Wants to Skyrocket Their Online Sales?

Friends,

About 50% of people who contact me requesting sales copy for their websites are absolute newbies. They have no previous sales experience and no marketing experience. So how the heck are they ever going to make it with their fledgling web businesses? Sadly, many don't and become totally disallusioned with the Internet. But if only they would take in some sound advice.

I've been a professional copywriter for more than 15 years and I've seen literally hundreds of different business models. Some good, some not so good. Some of my clients have gone on to make incredible amounts of money and some have failed miserably. Those that have made it, simply followed the rules. Now listen up, because I'm only going to say this just one time.

"Many online business owners continually make the mistake of focussing solely on the sales of their products or services. Then wonder why they end up spending all of their profits on advertising costs.

And many online businesses today, whether large or small and regardless of whether they sell products or services, completely miss their targets. Some online businesses fail miserably, simply because they misunderstand the principles of successful e-commerce. Many individuals and companies tend to focus solely on selling and nothing else. That’s a big mistake.

And quite often it can be a very costly mistake. When products and services are not selling as well as expected, many online business owners tend to make many more mistakes. They may reduce the prices of their products or services and hope that this will lead to more sales. But it only results in them making less profits.

They may spend more on advertising, wrongly believing that this will bring more sales due to more exposure. But it just ends up costing them more and further reducing their profits on any possible sales.

Some online businesses will go to any length to make sales, or increase sales, and that includes having their whole website redesigned, stocking a larger range of products, giving away endless discounts etc. etc. Any of these actions might increase their sales slightly, but they’ll never hit the big money league if they continue to adhere to this type of marketing strategy.

So, what is the answer?

Well, let’s get right back to basics. Every online business owner must ask themselves these simple questions:

1. What kind of person will buy my products or services? The obvious answer is…The kind of person who is interested in your products or services. So rule #1 is: Find and target your market.

Next question:

2. Will my customers buy on their first visit to my website? Answer: Most will not! So rule #2 is: Follow up with your customers. And the best way to do this is to encourage them to sign up to a free newsletter, which should contain valuable information about your company’s products and services. It’s important for online business owners to remember that people surf the Internet for information. Simply give them the information they want and eventually they’ll buy your products.

Next question:

3. How should I deliver my newsletter and how often should I send it to them? Answer: Set up an autoresponder and send them your newsletter at least once a month. These days any online business can be fully automated so there’s no excuse for not keeping in touch with customers. Your newsletter should contain interesting information, product offers, product reviews, perhaps a survey and just about anything else that might make your publication appear friendly and acceptable to your market.

Next question:

4. How do I get traffic to my website without spending all of my profits on advertising? Answer: Fill your website with valuable and interesting content. This is where many individual online entrepreneurs and marketers score way ahead of their competition. A website that has lots of interesting content will outsell any website promoting similar products or services…every time…guaranteed!

Whilst large companies tend to rely solely on expensive advertising to bring traffic to their websites, the savvy Internet marketer can get 10 times more traffic for free. Writing and submitting articles to article directories has proved to be the most cost effective online marketing strategy of all time. But that’s not all. Writing interesting and informative descriptions of products and services based on the benefits of those products or services will outscore any type of ad…every time…guaranteed!

So what have learned here?

● Online business owners must first, fully focus on targeting their market.

● The #1 priority of any online business is to build a list of customers and prospects.

● You MUST follow up with your customers, befriend them and keep them informed.

● Automate the whole process of capturing email addresses and sending out newsletters.

● Fill your website with interesting and informative content, which includes articles and product descriptions.

Instead of focusing completely on making the sale, change your focus to befriending your customers then sales will surely come. If you haven’t heard it said already, “the money is in the list”. Build a list of responsive prospects, keep them entertained and informed then the wealth that every online business owner craves will come…guaranteed!

It really is that simple. Just focus on building a list, and not outright selling.

If you had a list of say 10,000 subscribers to your newletter, and you then decided to go for a sale with a product that you know for sure your prospects will be interested in, you will make serious money. So, let's say your target market is gardening. It could be absolutely anything but I'll use gardening as asn example. Your list are receiving your newsletter each month, which is filled with tips and useful information right?

Okay, so you write an ebook about how to keep your garden in tip-top condition spending just 2 hours a week. Make sure you list all the benefits of discovering this vital information and remind them what they could be doing with all the time they save.

So you send out a friendly, sales-pitch-type email to your list offering them a big discount on your new book. You tell them you're going to sell it for $37.95, but they can get it for just $29.97. From 10,000 subscribers, you get an immediate 5% positive response. That's 500 sales!

500 x $29.97 = $14,985

Follow up with 10 -20 of those that didn't buy and offer to give them a free copy of the book in return for their testimonial. So let's say, in comes 8 positive testimonials. Copy these into an email, together with your original offer and send it to all those that didn't buy first time. Chances are you will convert another 5%. That's 475 additional sales!

475 x $29.97 = $14, 235

That's a total of $29,220. If you did this or something similar every month you'd pull in around $360,000 a year. And if that isn't enough, just create another website, target a different market, follow the same format and repeat the process. Simple or what?"

Moral: GET LIST BUILDING

Till next time.

Bill
www.knight-writer.co.uk