| 8 tried and true steps for attracting
visitors to your site--and getting them to buy.
As an internet marketing guide, a lot of people ask me how to start and grow an
online business. I tell them this: There's a proven sequence of steps you can
follow to guarantee your success. How do I know? I've seen thousands of people
start and grow online businesses following the same exact process.
Step 1: Find a need and fill it.
Most marketers make the mistake of finding a
product before they have a market. But unless people are actively searching for
your product online, you'll never make a sale. The trick is to find a group of
people with a common problem they're trying to solve and then solve it.
Thankfully, the internet makes market research
easy. Here are some easy steps for researching your market:
- Visit online forums to see what questions
people ask and what problems they’re trying to solve.
- Figure out which keywords a lot of people
are searching but not many sites are competing for.
- Check out your potential competitors by
visiting their sites and taking note of what they’re doing to fill demand.
After you've done this, use what you’ve learned
to create a product for a market that already exists--and do it better than your
competitors.
Step 2: Write sales copy that sells.
On a website, your copy has to do the selling
for you. There’s a proven formula for writing sales copy that'll take visitors
through the selling process from the moment they arrive:
- Arouse interest with a compelling
headline.
- Describe the problem your product can
solve.
- Show them why you can be trusted to solve
the problem.
- Add testimonials from people who've used
the product.
- Talk about the product and how it benefits
the user.
- Make an offer or a guarantee.
- Create urgency.
- Ask for the sale.
Throughout your sales copy, focus on how your
product or service is uniquely able solve people's problems or make their lives
better. Think like a customer and ask, what's in it for me?
Step 3: Design and build your website.
Once you’ve got your market and product and
you’ve nailed down your selling process, you’re ready to build your site.
Remember to keep it simple. Your website is
your online storefront, so be sure to make it customer friendly. You have less
than 10 seconds to grab a visitor's attention before they're gone. Some
important tips to keep in mind:
- Use a plain, sans-serif font, like Arial,
on a white background.
- Make your navigation clear and simple and
keep it consistent throughout your site.
- Only use graphics, audio or video if they
enhance your message.
- Include an opt-in offer so you can collect
e-mail addresses.
Step 4: Use search engines to drive targeted
buyers to your site.
- How do you get traffic to a brand-new
site? Pay-per-click advertising, which has two advantages:
- The ads show up on search pages
immediately.
- They allow you to test different keywords,
headlines, prices and selling approaches.
Not only do you get traffic immediately, but
once you've figured out what keywords are working best, you can use them
throughout your copy and code, which will help your rankings in organic search
results.
Step 5: Establish an expert reputation for
yourself to drive even more traffic to your site.
People use the internet to find information. If
you provide valuable information for other sites to use--and include a link back
to your site--you’ll get more traffic and better search engine rankings. Some
ideas for establishing yourself as an expert include:
- Give away free content, like articles,
videos or other useful information, and distribute that content through
online article directories and social media sites.
- Include “send to a friend” links on your
site's valuable content.
- Become an active expert in industry forums
and social networking sites where your target market hangs out.
If you use these tactics, you’ll reach new
readers. But even better, every site that posts your content will link back to
yours, and search engines love links from relevant sites and will reward you in
the rankings accordingly.
Step 6: Use the power of e-mail marketing to
keep in touch with your visitors and turn them into buyers.
When you build an opt-in list, you’re creating
one of the most valuable assets your online business can have--permission to
send visitors e-mail. Why is e-mail marketing so valuable?
- You're giving potential customers
something they've asked for.
- You're developing lifetime relationships
with people in your target market.
- The response is 100 percent measurable.
- It's cheaper and more effective than
print, TV or radio advertising because it's highly targeted.
- It can be almost entirely automated.
Anyone who visits your site and opts in to your
list is a very hot lead. And there's no better tool than e-mail to let you
effortlessly follow up with those leads.
Step 7: Increase your income through
back-end sales and upselling.
One of the most important internet marketing
guidelines is to develop every customer’s lifetime value. At least 36 percent of
people who have purchased from you once will buy from you again if you follow up
with them. Closing the first sale with a customer is by far your most difficult
task--not to mention your most expensive one. So here's how to get them to buy
again:
- Offer products that complement their
original purchase.
- Send out electronic loyalty coupons they
can redeem on their next visit.
- Offer related products on your "thank you"
page.
If you reward customers for being loyal,
they'll become even more loyal to you in return.
Step 8: Start an affiliate program to
maximize your sales and revenue.
Once your business is up and running, it's time
to launch your affiliate program. Affiliates are people who promote your
products on their sites for a cut of the selling price. Every time they send you
a buyer, you pay them a commission.
An affiliate program is a simple,
low-maintenance way to grow your business. Once you get your program set up, all
you have to do is share your marketing materials with your affiliates and send
out checks when they make sales.
By doing this, you don't have to go out and
spend money on advertising--your affiliates do the advertising for you. Better
yet, you only pay them when they make a sale.
The internet changes quickly, but the principles of how to start and grow a
successful online business have changed very slowly in the more than 10 years
I’ve been in the business.
If you’re just starting out, stick to the sequence of steps in this quick guide.
If you’ve been online awhile, do a quick review and see if there’s a step you’ve
been neglecting or never got around to doing in the first place. You can’t go
wrong with the basics.
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