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HOW TO SELL AND MAKE MONEY ON YOUR WEB SITE
You want to open a Web store, you want to sell and make money
on Internet. It is the same as if you have opened a retail store.
You have hired professional designers and contractors and your
store is being built to perfection. On the grand opening day your
store is ready, you have uploaded the Web pages on your server
and the store is making money. Is it really that easy?
IT IS HARD TO MAKE MONEY ON THE WEB
Your Web store is like a beautiful retail store built in the
middle of the desert. Just by uploading your files, your visitors
count and your sales will be zero. You need to build the
roads to your isolated store, you need to post signs to bring the
people, you need to run your Web store as any regular retail
business.
The problem is that there are thousands, millions of other stores
built in the same desert with the same goal in mind, to make
money. Some of them are connected to their visitors with narrow
dirt roads, some with seven line highways. Some of them are small
Mom and Pop stores, some are giant super stores with millions of
dollars in advertising to back them up.
HOW CAN YOU SOLVE THIS PROBLEM
How can you succeed, how can you build highways to your small Web
store and make thousands of Internet users to came by and walk in
and visit you. And finally, how can you make your hard earned
visitors to become your customers and fulfill the goal of any
commercial enterprise, to become profitable, to make money.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR WEB STORE FRONT
You can build your Web site yourself or you can hire a professional.
Either way building a business has little to do with Web designing itself,
as much as building of a retail store business has to do with architectural
design or electrical contracting. Building a business
requires your continuous envolment and more effort you put into it more will
you get back.
There are no final answers to becoming an enterprenuer, as there are
no exact formulas on how to make money. Please follow carefully
the steps recommended below and you will
get closer to learning the secret of becoming a successfull Web merchant.
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1. TEAM WORK BUILDING YOUR WEB SITE
IMPORTANT:
Building any successfull business requires TEAM WORK
Whether you want to build business online or offline the best way to do it
is to hire professionals for each step involved in it's building. If you
are building retail store would you ask your carpenter to install it's air
conditioning system. Applied to Web site it means you should hire different
people to build different aspects of your online business. HTML should by
handled by HTML specialist, graphics by professional graphics designer,
marketing by Web marketing specialist and so on. You may want to do it
yourself but it only means that you have to specialize in all of the
Web design and marketing aspects. If you are serious about success do
not hesitate to ask for outside help. Incomplete Web business project
will cost you much more in the long run than if you have done it
right at the first place.
- HIRE PROFESSIONAL HELP
- FIND BEST PEOPLE FOR EACH STEP INVOLVED
- DO IT YOURSELF BUT DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK FOR HELP
- DO IT RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING
Doing it yourself or hireing professionals, you always demand the best
quality you can get. If you feel certain aspect of your Web site is not what
you would like it to be, do not hesitate to change it. If you dont like a logo
or a graphic button on your page do not accept it as a temporary solution.
The time to do your Web site is right NOW if you want it to function as a
business. Difference between success and failure is in accepting shortcuts.
Our advice is do it right or don't do it at all.
ASK YOUR FRIENDS FOR HELP
Do not forget that your Web site will be judged by thousands of different
people. If you want them to like it, make sure that you first test it on your
own friends. Beautiful graphic or logo you have spent hours to build may
not appeal to you as it would to other people. The value of any work of
art is measured only in how much it appeals to all or at least most of
the people.
TIP:
Always check for references when you are hiring a help or even listening
to advice from anybody. Talk is cheap, so professionals you hire or ask
for help must WALK THE TALK.
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2. BUILD YOUR IDENTITY ON THE WEB
IMPORTANT:
Your visitors should feel as though they have stepped in into a recognizable
place and firmly believe they have found what they were looking for.
Your Web site must have IDENTITY of it's own. Whatever subject your site
is about, build it as a brand name. When visitors see any page of your
site you want them to instantly recognize who you are and what is it about.
Give it a name of it's own, build it's own brand equity. More importantly
you want them to remember your Logo as they would any famous brand name. For
example, when browsing this site we want you to associate web promotion
and marketing with our web site as you would Nike with sneakers or
Mac Donalds with hamburgers. If you can offer
more and better for less than your competitors, your Web site (name,
logo, quality, price) will be remembered. As a name brand it will be
recommended to others and will bring you visitors who will take it
seriously. Brand name
means CREDIBILITY and if you want your visitors to feel at ease
shopping on your site they must feel that on the Web you
are what they were looking for.
- BUILD YOUR WEB SITE AS A BRAND NAME
- GIVE IT A NAME OF ITS OWN, MAKE IT A BRAND
- NAME AND LOGO MUST TELL CLEARLY WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT
- OFFER MORE BETTER AND CHEAPER THAN YOUR COMPETITORS
- BRAND NAME GIVES YOU MUCH NEEDED CREDIBILITY
EXAMPLE:
Would you purchase a Rolex watch from a street vendor or would you go to a well-established brand name jewelry store.
IDENTITY IS ANYTHING THAT IDENTIFIES YOU AS YOU
Identity comes from: background color, logo, the site's name, the
style of artwork, page layout and so on. All of these should be crafted to
appeal to your target audience.
SAY IT LOUDLY:
This is the site about Web Marketing. On the Web we are it.
The Ultimate!
Do not feel ashamed of saying it loudly on your Web site. If you yourself don't
believe you are the best, how could your visitors believe you. Remember, have you
ever seen a commercial of any kind where the advertised product or
service were not claimed to be the best, the Ultimate!
TIP:
Make building and maintaining your Web site Identity or brand name
recognition as your constant priority. Business success will definitly follow.
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3. FIND YOUR NICHE ON THE WEB
IMPORTANT:
Golden rule of Web Marketing: Go after narrow, well-defined
NICHE
Choosing a well defined, targetable niche is like staking a claim
to your corner of the Web. Word NICHE comes from nature (biology). It is simple,
if you find a good niche, food comes to you. To fill a niche means you
live room for nobody else. Like, we have tried with T-shirt Web site and found
tens of thousands of competitors on the Web. Than we found a dogshirts niche
and now for certain dog breeds
www.dogshirts.com is the only
place on the Web to find a T-shirt of that special puppy of yours.
Destill the essence of whatever your niche is and scream it at the top
of your lungs. Convince your visitors that at what your niche is you are if
not the ony one on the Web than at least the best of what is available.
NICHE is what makes your online business stand out from others
- CHOOSE A WELL DEFINED TARGETABLE NICHE
- SCREAM YOUR NICHE AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS
- CONVINCE YOUR VISITORS YOUR NICHE IS UNIQUE
If you sell books, would you post a sign "WE SELL BOOKS" and compete with
AMAZON.COM or would you say "WE SELL HARD TO FIND BOOKS ON ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
MYTHOLOGY" and compete with nobody.
TIP:
When establishing your site's identity, don't focus on the audience,
focus on the NICHE and the audience will follow.
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4. GET VISITORS HOOKED TO YOUR SITE
IMPORTANT:
Your site must have a reason to make people visit, it must have a
HOOK
A good example of a hook is to have a contest going on where you may
ask visitors to answer some questions or to find an object hidden
somewhere in your pages or ask them to send you a good joke.
If you have the time to spend with your site, very often the best results
occur when you can offer something new every few days, like a joke
of the day or an event of the day and so on.
- YOU NEED THE HOOK
- PROMISE NEW FEATURES
- PROMISE NEW PRODUCTS
- KEEP THE PROMISES
- HAVE CONTESTS
- HAVE DAILY EVENTS
It is up to your imagination to explore this subject and find a
new and unique way of entertaining the visitors at your site.
It is the same as with TV viewers holding a remote control in their
hand, only here it is even faster. They switch channels or Web sites
by clicking on their mouse in a split second.
Anything that looks like:
- WIN A FREE GIFT
- FREE GIFT WITH PURCHASE
- FREE DOWNLOADS
- FREE SAMPLES
- TRY IT FOR FREE
- SPECIAL SALE
- BUY ONE GET . . .
- LINKS TO FREE ONLINE UTILITIES
- LINKS TO FREE SERVICES ON THE WEB
- LINKS TO FREE . . .
Will get visitors attention and make them want to visit you.
OFFER OUR FREE 'SITE TUNE-UP' MANUAL AND EARN COMMISSION
This site you are visiting now is a typical example of a value-added site.
It's commercial purpose is to get customers for a Web Consulting service.
The business goal is to make money and be profitable. But on the other
hand, it provides a valuable free service to all visitors.
The wealth of information, hundreds of tips, trade secrets are all
value-added services offered for free. That is the reason you came here
to visit us. Give your visitors similar value-added services and they will
come in numbers too. Once you have them inside your store or inside your
Web site, than their numbers will work for your success.
OFFER LINKS TO FREE ONLINE UTILITIES LIKE:
Get all the important <META> tags for your Web page.
Copy (CTRL-C) and paste (CTRL-V): Your Name, Web page Title,
Description and Keywords in the form below. After submitting your info,
just copy (Edit-SelectAll and CTRL-C) and paste (CTRL-V) the results
into your Web page HTML.
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Just Copy and Paste the HTML code
below into your page and our server will handle the rest.
<CENTER>
<FORM ACTION="http://www.web-consulting.cc/cgi-bin/tags.cgi" METHOD=POST>
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME=".mail_subject" VALUE="Web-Consulting Meta Tags Generator">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME=".email_target" VALUE="info@web-consulting.cc">
<TABLE BORDER=0 BGCOLOR="#EAEAEA" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=12>
<TR><TD>
<B> Name:</B><BR>
<INPUT TYPE=text NAME="name" SIZE=30 MAXLENGTH=100><BR>
(will be placed in your <B>AUTHOR</B> tag)
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<B> Title:</B> (max 100 characters)<BR>
<INPUT TYPE=text NAME="title" SIZE=60 MAXLENGTH=100><BR>
(will be placed in your <B>TITLE</B> tag)
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<B> Description:</B> (max 200 characters)<BR>
<INPUT TYPE=text NAME="description" SIZE=60 MAXLENGTH=200><BR>
(will be placed in your <B>DESCRIPTION</B> tag)
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<B> Keywords:</B> (max 1000 characters)<BR>
<TEXTAREA NAME="keywords" COLS=52 ROWS=7 WRAP=off></TEXTAREA><BR>
(will be placed in your <B>KEYWORDS</B> tag)
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN=CENTER><INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE="Submit">
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</FORM>
</CENTER>
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5. YOUR SITE MUST LOOK PROFESSIONAL
IMPORTANT:
You must look PROFESSIONAL whether you are or not!
WEB DESIGN MEANS MORE THAN PRETTY GRAPHICS
Proffesional Web site design requires talents that rarely
exist in one person. The team you need should at least consists of
professionals with these different skills:
- TECHNICAL SKILLS (HTML,Java,CGI)
- DESIGN / AESTETIC PERCEPTION
- MARKETING SAVVY AND BUSINESS SENSE
For our commercial projects we always assemble a team of professionals,
each specialized in it's own narrow field. As a company we are
best in Web Marketing and making your site perform as a business.
To do business on the Web you must remove visitors fear of doing
business online and you can only do it by looking professional.
Professionalism means CREDIBILITY and if you want your visitors to feel
at ease shopping at your site they must feel that on the Web you
are what they were looking for.
- STRONG IDENTITY
- OBVIOUS CREDIBILITY
- SUPERB GRAPHIC DESIGN
- EASY CLEAR TEXT
- EASE OF NAVIGATION
- LOGICAL NAVIGATION
- ACCURATE INFORMATION
- WORKING LINKS
- FAST LOADING
CREDIBILITY:
Everyone is equal in cyberspace. You must establish credibility with your
potential customers before you can hope to do business online.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOUR SITE POSSESS
Apart from superb design, your site must have some added features
that would distinguish it from thousands of other "normal" sites.
You must have a special attitude to accomplish that "impossible" goal.
Think what else can you do and add to your site to make it best.
Your site must possess:
- WEB SITE USEFULNESS
- VALUE ADDED SERVICES
- DESIGN INGENUITY
- SPECIAL FEATURES
- UNIQUE APPEAL
EXAMPLE:
Would you purchase a ROLEX watch from a
street vendor or would you go to an upscale expansive looking jewelry store.
TIP:
When thinking of ways of how to improve your site or how to make
it look professional, it's good to have a strong, positive attitude.
You must deeply want to make it "perfect" and special.
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6. BUILD RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR VISITORS
IMPORTANT:
The secret to good customer relations is: FEEDBACK
The best way of getting a feedback from your visitors is to provide
a simple e-mailing form on one of your pages. All you need to ask for
is an e-mail address and a name. It gives visitors a chance to communicate
with you and it will give you many added benefits.
Very often their suggestions will give you a valuable imput on how
to improve the performance of your site or they will discover mistakes
or lost links for you. Sometimes the best ideas will come from the
most unexpected sources. The most valuable marketing tool is
information you can get from people who are actually using your site
as it's day to day visitors.
Always respond promptly to all questions your visitors have for you.
Even if they do not directly require an answer it is very good
habit to respond with a short and polite notice of "thank you for
visiting us".
- PROVIDE E-MAIL FEEDBACK FORM
- MAKE A LIST OF RESPONDENTS
- SEND THEM YOUR PROMOTIONS
- CHECK ON THEIR IMPUT
- ALWAYS RESPOND ON TIME
Make it simple and just provide e-mail form like this:
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PLACE IT on your own Web site:
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Just Copy and Paste the HTML code
below into your page and our server will handle the rest.
<CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Garamond, Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">
<B><FONT COLOR="#C80000">PLACE IT</FONT>
on your own Web site:</B>
</FONT></FONT></P>
<CENTER>
<FORM ACTION="http://www.web-consulting.cc/cgi-bin/web2mail.pl" METHOD=POST>
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME=".remove_indexing" VALUE=1>
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME=".mail_subject" VALUE="E-mail Form">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME=".email_target" VALUE="you@yourdomain.com">
<TABLE BORDER=0 BGCOLOR="#EAEAEA" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=8>
<TR>
<TR>
<TD ALIGN=right><I><B>Name:</B></I></TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE=text NAME="aaName" SIZE=43 MAXLENGTH=200></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD ALIGN=right><I><B>Company:</B></I></TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE=text NAME="abCompany" SIZE=43 MAXLENGTH=200></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD ALIGN=right><I><B>Site URL:</B></I></TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE=text NAME="acURL" SIZE=43 MAXLENGTH=200></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD ALIGN=right><I><B>E-mail:</B></I></TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE=text NAME="adEmail" SIZE=43 MAXLENGTH=200></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD ALIGN=right><I><B>Phone:</B></I></TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE=text NAME="aePhone" SIZE=43 MAXLENGTH=200></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD ALIGN=right VALIGN=top><I><B>Message:</B></I></TD>
<TD><TEXTAREA NAME="afMessage" COLS=38 ROWS=7 WRAP=on></TEXTAREA></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2 ALIGN=center><INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE="Send"></TD<</TR>
</TABLE>
</FORM>
</CENTER>
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(Don't forget to replace you@yourdomain.com with your own e-mail address)
HOW TO ANSWER VISITOR E-MAIL
It is always preferable to answer to each visitor separately. It does
not look good on the header of the e-mail your visitor will receive
if there is a long list of recipients. The proper way is for your
visitor to feel that he got a very special attention from you and
e-mail that was prepared for him only.
TIP:
Ask openly your visitors for their suggestions. They may discover a
new exciting feature to add and improve your site that you have been
looking all along.
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7. GUARANTEE CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION
IMPORTANT:
Make your GUARANTEE
visually impossible to miss
As in traditional businesses guarantees are the best way of boosting
customer confidence. With all the uncertainty surrounding e-commerce,
it is more important then ever to offer guarantees.
YOU MUST CLEARLY CLAIM THAT YOU ARE:
- PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE
- ON THE NET PERMANENTLY
- STANDING BEHIND OF WHAT YOU CLAIM
- WILLING TO RESPOND PROMPTLY TO ANY MAIL
IMPORTANT:
If you are confident of your products or services, you have no reason not to stand
behind them. A guarantiee demonstrates your confidance and makes
your customers more comfortable.
TO GUARANTEE YOUR CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION
Use this free services to prove your visitors that
you are who you claim you are and that you care about
your customers.
TIP:
Your Web site will get visitors it needs and the recognition it
deserves. The whole purpose of building a Web site is to get
people around the world to come and see it. Together we can make
it purposeful, we can get it noticed and by the way make you some
money (
cash commissions).
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8. CHARGE CUSTOMER ORDERS ONLINE
IMPORTANT:
If you are serious about doing business online your Web site needs a reliable ONLINE
PAYMENT PROCESSING service.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PROCESS PAYMENTS ONLINE
Your Card Services Provider should issue you a merchant identification
number and network access and should deposit your funds directly into
your existing bank account. You have no need to change banks or your
bank account.
You need the ability to accept and administer secure credit card
transactions directly from your existing commerce web site.
All you should need is the link to extend the shopping basket on your
site that easily interfaces with the secure credit card payment acceptance
form and gateway.
All orders should be processed in real-time. When a customer completes
the order form, the purchase transaction data should be encrypted and
submitted to gain an authorization. The customer should receive
notification that their order has been approved within seconds.
WE FOUND ONLY ONE COMPANY OFFERING IT ALL
Cardservice will maximize the effectiveness of your website...
by offering Secure On-line Real-time Credit Card Processing!
- You can void, credit, capture pre-authorized transactions
- You can provide customer returns and settle daily transactions
- You can access detailed reports of previous transactions.
- You can process transactions 24 hours a day anywhere on Internet
NEW:
Get a FREE SHOPPING BASKET with inventory
features when you choose real-time processing option (all for only 49.99/month).
FRIENDLY NOTE:
If you have decided to seriously get your Web business of the ground.
If you want results, than your Web site needs professional Payment
Processing Service.
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IMPORTANT:
The only way to win your customers, to make them buy and at the same time feel
good about it, is to create the right
PERCEPTION in their mind, of your online business
PERCEPTION ABOUT YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
IMPORTANT:
Dont just tell your customers what you want them to hear about your products
or services. Try to tell them what they want to hear about them, and feel
good about it.
Just saying loudly that your products or services have the best price
or are the best value is not enough. For simple reason that any of
your competitors is saying exactly the same thing. You must give
your visitors a valid reason why your products or services are better.
As a step further you must make sure your visitors deeply feel the benefit
of purchasing from you and at this moment in time. When describing
your products or services to visitors, do not make it look like you are arguing
with them. The best way of persuasion is to make them discover for
themselves what the benefits are. Use your previous customers testimonials
to prove your point for you.
RIGHT PERCEPTION
is to arouse in your visitors an eager want for your products or services
- JUST SAYING LOUDLY YOU ARE THE BEST IS NOT ENOUGH
- YOUR COMPETITORS ARE DOING JUST THE SAME THING
- GIVE A VALID REASON WHY ARE YOU THE BEST IN BUSINESS
- SHOW CLEARLY THE BENEFIT OF IMMEDIATE PURCHASE
- MAKE YOUR POINT SO IT DOESNT LOOK LIKE ARGUING
- LET THEM DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES THE BENEFITS
- USE PREVIOUS CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS
EXAMPLE:
Check out our 'Site Tune-up' Manual Web page. Find out how will it
BENEFIT you and why you need to purchase it right NOW.
PERCEPTION ABOUT YOUR PRICE
Before you decide to make pricelist of your products or services you
need to do some investigative work. Spend some time investigating your
competition to find out the average online price for what you intend
to sell. If you take the highest price you find online, for your price,
you may use it only if your Web site is much more professionally looking
than your competitors. Lowest price will do it only if you see no other
way to be better than your competitors. Our advice is to settle for
the median price for your service or products. Make a test by asking
your friends to comment on your prices. If their answer is that your
price sounds reasonable you are on the right track.
- INVESTIGATE YOUR COMPETITORS PRICES
- GET THE AVERAGE ONLINE PRICE
- SETTLE FOR MEDIAN PRICE
- ASK YOUR FRIENDS FOR COMMENTS
- REASONABLE IS THE RIGHT ANSWER
VERY IMPORTANT:
You shouldnt have to say on your Web site that your prices are the best or
the lowest. Your prices should be as such, that when visitors are seeing them
for the first time, they should immediately perceive
them as REASONABLE
TIP:
Never criticize, condemn or complain about your competitors. You want your shoppers
to have a good feeling about your products or services and not just a bad feeling about
your competitors.
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10. OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
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