Internet Business is just like any other any business and you have to treat it as such or else you will be putting it in jeopardy.
Every business needs capital, so does yout internet business. By the way, internet business is just referring to business done on the internet, basically, marketing of products.
Apart from capital, you need to advertise your website or blog so as to be seen. without beign seen, you cannot make any sales. It is when people see your website or blog and see what you are promoting, that you can make sales.
A website is very essential if you are going to go places with your internet business. A website is your presence on the internet. Just like you will need an office for your offline business, so also you will need a presence on the internet and this can be achieved through owning a website of your own.
Naturally, you will also need to host your website and this will require you having a website hosting account. There are many of them out there and you could get a good one that will provide with a good service.
One other resource you need is a mentor who will be able to guide you to success. Mentors help you get to your goals faster and if you are just starting out, you need somebody to guide you.
These are by no means all that you need to suceed on the internet, but they sure can give you a headstart in your internet business.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
10 Questions You NEED to Ask If Your Site Isn’t Making Any Sales
"If you are not moving closer to what you want in sales (or in life), you probably aren’t doing enough asking."
- Jack Canfield
Dear Business-Builder,
Imagine: After months of hard work, your website is finally live. You’ve officially been open for business an entire week. And yet you haven’t made any sales.
Not. One. Single. Sale.
Argh!
Don’t despair. We’ve all been there. In fact, this is one of the most common problems new Internet entrepreneurs ask me to solve for them.
Here’s something that’ll help ease the pain of turning a "dud" site into one that rakes in the profits: Derek Gehl’s surefire "My Website Ain’t Making Money!" troubleshooting checklist.
If you recently launched a website and aren’t getting the results you expected, you need to ask yourself every single question on the list below, starting with number one. Once you can answer "yes" to all 10 questions, I guarantee the sales will come rolling in.
1. Is there actually a market for your product?
By that I mean are you POSITIVE you’re selling a product or solution people are actively looking for online - and not finding? That’s the formula for a successful Internet business. And that’s the first question you should answer … even before you set up a website.
The best way to do that is with keyword research. (Our favorite keyword research tools are Keyword Discovery (keyworddiscovery.com) and BeBiz (bebiz.com).)
2. Are you getting enough traffic?
If you’ve had only 100 visitors and haven’t made a sale, be patient. Before you can begin to assess your website’s effectiveness, you need to have had at least 1,000 unique visitors (not page views).
3. Are you getting targeted traffic?
If you’ve had 1,000+ visitors to your website and you still haven’t made a sale, find out where your visitor traffic is coming from.
The best way to get top-quality traffic to your site is by bidding on extremely targeted keywords for your pay-per-click (PPC) ads. (By "targeted," I mean keywords that speak directly to the people who are most likely to buy your product.)
If you drive 1,000 visitors to your site - using targeted keywords in your PPC ads - and you still don’t make a sale, then you know the problem isn’t the quality of the traffic you’re getting.
It’s your website.
So let’s take a look at that next …
4. Is your headline effective?
If the page you’re driving traffic to with your PPC ad doesn’t have a compelling headline that clearly communicates a powerful benefit, your potential customers aren’t going to stick around for your offer.
Writing a better headline is typically the easiest way to fix a floundering website. If you get more people to stay on your site and read your offer, more people will buy your product.
5. Are you distracting your visitors from your main sales message?
You need to get rid of everything that doesn’t keep your visitors focused on your main offer. This includes links to other websites, Google AdSense ads, banner ads for other products, free articles that don’t support the sale … the list goes on.
6. Are you using testimonials effectively?
Testimonials are one of your most powerful selling tools. Nothing says "Buy it now!" like an unbiased third-party recommendation.
If you don’t yet have any testimonials, give your product to a few friends and ask them to provide you with testimonials on how well it worked for them.
7. Does your guarantee take away the risk of buying?
A good guarantee is essential - especially when you’re selling on the Internet.
Unless you’re a major brand that your customers already trust (like Sony, Wal-Mart, Pepsi), you need to let them know you’ll stand behind your product. So reassure them that if they’re not 100 percent satisfied, they can send it right back for a full refund. And remember, a longer guarantee usually results in more sales - and fewer refunds.
8. Is your price too high? Or too low?
Most people know that if you price your product too high, you’ll hurt your sales. But this can also be true if your price is too low.
People get suspicious when the price is far below what they were expecting. They think it’s probably "too good to be true" - and, as a result, they don’t feel confident making a purchase.
9. Is your ordering system easy to use?
Just because you can figure out how to navigate through your ordering process, that doesn’t mean your average customer can.
To make sure your ordering system is "user-friendly," find a few friends who aren’t very Internet savvy and get them to order your product. Watch over their shoulders and take notes. Where did they get stuck?
Fix whatever problems they encountered - immediately - because your potential customers are encountering them too.
10. Do you have good sales copy?
If you aren’t using well-written sales copy to sell your product, you’ll never achieve online success. It’s that simple. Your product isn’t going to sell itself! You need to have the right words to do the job.
So there they are … the 10 questions I ask whenever I look at a website that’s not turning visitors into sales. Once I’m able to answer "yes" to all 10 questions, I always see a substantial improvement in the site’s conversion rate.
Contributed by Derek GehlGuest ContributorTHE TOTAL PACKAGE
This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.
- Jack Canfield
Dear Business-Builder,
Imagine: After months of hard work, your website is finally live. You’ve officially been open for business an entire week. And yet you haven’t made any sales.
Not. One. Single. Sale.
Argh!
Don’t despair. We’ve all been there. In fact, this is one of the most common problems new Internet entrepreneurs ask me to solve for them.
Here’s something that’ll help ease the pain of turning a "dud" site into one that rakes in the profits: Derek Gehl’s surefire "My Website Ain’t Making Money!" troubleshooting checklist.
If you recently launched a website and aren’t getting the results you expected, you need to ask yourself every single question on the list below, starting with number one. Once you can answer "yes" to all 10 questions, I guarantee the sales will come rolling in.
1. Is there actually a market for your product?
By that I mean are you POSITIVE you’re selling a product or solution people are actively looking for online - and not finding? That’s the formula for a successful Internet business. And that’s the first question you should answer … even before you set up a website.
The best way to do that is with keyword research. (Our favorite keyword research tools are Keyword Discovery (keyworddiscovery.com) and BeBiz (bebiz.com).)
2. Are you getting enough traffic?
If you’ve had only 100 visitors and haven’t made a sale, be patient. Before you can begin to assess your website’s effectiveness, you need to have had at least 1,000 unique visitors (not page views).
3. Are you getting targeted traffic?
If you’ve had 1,000+ visitors to your website and you still haven’t made a sale, find out where your visitor traffic is coming from.
The best way to get top-quality traffic to your site is by bidding on extremely targeted keywords for your pay-per-click (PPC) ads. (By "targeted," I mean keywords that speak directly to the people who are most likely to buy your product.)
If you drive 1,000 visitors to your site - using targeted keywords in your PPC ads - and you still don’t make a sale, then you know the problem isn’t the quality of the traffic you’re getting.
It’s your website.
So let’s take a look at that next …
4. Is your headline effective?
If the page you’re driving traffic to with your PPC ad doesn’t have a compelling headline that clearly communicates a powerful benefit, your potential customers aren’t going to stick around for your offer.
Writing a better headline is typically the easiest way to fix a floundering website. If you get more people to stay on your site and read your offer, more people will buy your product.
5. Are you distracting your visitors from your main sales message?
You need to get rid of everything that doesn’t keep your visitors focused on your main offer. This includes links to other websites, Google AdSense ads, banner ads for other products, free articles that don’t support the sale … the list goes on.
6. Are you using testimonials effectively?
Testimonials are one of your most powerful selling tools. Nothing says "Buy it now!" like an unbiased third-party recommendation.
If you don’t yet have any testimonials, give your product to a few friends and ask them to provide you with testimonials on how well it worked for them.
7. Does your guarantee take away the risk of buying?
A good guarantee is essential - especially when you’re selling on the Internet.
Unless you’re a major brand that your customers already trust (like Sony, Wal-Mart, Pepsi), you need to let them know you’ll stand behind your product. So reassure them that if they’re not 100 percent satisfied, they can send it right back for a full refund. And remember, a longer guarantee usually results in more sales - and fewer refunds.
8. Is your price too high? Or too low?
Most people know that if you price your product too high, you’ll hurt your sales. But this can also be true if your price is too low.
People get suspicious when the price is far below what they were expecting. They think it’s probably "too good to be true" - and, as a result, they don’t feel confident making a purchase.
9. Is your ordering system easy to use?
Just because you can figure out how to navigate through your ordering process, that doesn’t mean your average customer can.
To make sure your ordering system is "user-friendly," find a few friends who aren’t very Internet savvy and get them to order your product. Watch over their shoulders and take notes. Where did they get stuck?
Fix whatever problems they encountered - immediately - because your potential customers are encountering them too.
10. Do you have good sales copy?
If you aren’t using well-written sales copy to sell your product, you’ll never achieve online success. It’s that simple. Your product isn’t going to sell itself! You need to have the right words to do the job.
So there they are … the 10 questions I ask whenever I look at a website that’s not turning visitors into sales. Once I’m able to answer "yes" to all 10 questions, I always see a substantial improvement in the site’s conversion rate.
Contributed by Derek GehlGuest ContributorTHE TOTAL PACKAGE
This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.
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