Friday, October 29, 2010

4 Step Checklist For Online Marketing Success

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Bill Platt



Many online business owners want to make the process of developing a successful online business harder than it needs to be...

The truth is that a simple 4-step checklist can lead anyone to online profits:

1. Create or Tweak your Offers;

2. Get Traffic -- Attract Targeted Visitors;

3. Analyze Results; and

4. Repeat Steps 1-3.

Create Or Tweak Your Offers

There are literally hundreds of business models that you can use in this step...

The four business models undertaken by the majority of online marketers are:

1. Service Creation and Marketing;

2. Affiliate Marketing;

3. Buying Wholesale and Selling Retail;

4. Product Creation and Marketing.

The first two are the easiest for the new online marketer to get started...

  • Service Creation and Marketing

  • I got my start by creating services and selling services... I started out as an article ghost writer, and over the years, I have ghost written for some very famous people...

    Eventually, I got involved in Article Syndication to make my ghost writing more attractive, and eventually, Article Syndication became my primary business...

  • Affiliate Marketing

  • With Affiliate Marketing, there are several affiliate networks that bring together product vendors with affiliate sellers. Those networks include: ClickBank.com, CJ.com (Commission Junction), PayDotCom.com, RapBank.com, ShareASale.com and Amazon.com

    As an affiliate marketer, it is your job to sell products and services from other companies, for a commission on the sale...

  • Buying Wholesale and Selling Retail

  • When it comes to Buying Wholesale and Selling Retail, most people go to sites like WorldWideBrands.com or Doba.com... However, I lost interest in those services when a lot of the companies I contacted could not sell the products I wanted -- at prices better than Wal-Mart...

    Forgive me if my thinking is backwards on this, but if I can get products cheaper at Wal-Mart than I can get them for at the wholesale distributors, then I find it hard to believe that they were offering me wholesale prices...

    However, I met a fellow online who deals in real wholesale buying, and he recently made his knowledge available in a report called the Holiday Goldmine. I have read his report -- it is very good at sharing details I was not able to find elsewhere. You can buy his report here: HolidayGoldMine.com

  • Product Creation and Marketing

  • When you can start creating your own information products, you can pretty much build a solid future, selling yourself and your knowledge...

    When you find that you possess a solid selling product, then you can explore becoming a product vendor on any of the Affiliate Network sites... Solid products can make a lot of money, when other marketers want to help you sell them...

    Kevin Riley teaches people how to create and sell their own products at his website here: ProductCreationLabs.com

    Get Traffic -- Attract Targeted Visitors

    I used to get so mad when people told me that getting traffic is the easy part...

    I just wanted to reach through the computer and strangle them when they said that...

    Why?

    If it was so darn easy to get traffic, why did I have to work so darn hard to get it?

    Of course, after a decade of learning about how to get traffic, I can agree that getting traffic is the easy part... DON'T try to reach through your computer to try to strangle me!!

    Hear me out...

    There are dozens of methods to bring traffic to your website, through free and paid methods, and there are hundreds of thousands of websites from which you can derive that traffic!

    When you begin to understand the methods and the strategies used by professional online marketers to deliver traffic to their websites, then you are on the road to being able to deliver as much traffic as you want to your website as well...

    If you want to learn more on this subject, consider my report shown at the end of this article that outlines 35 Proven Traffic Generation Strategies... The report has received tremendous reviews and is titled, "Multiple Traffic Streams: The Magic of Attracting Buyers"...

    It also teaches how to better target your Traffic Generation activities to ensure that you are spending your resources only on strongly-targeted visitors -- the people who are most likely to buy what you are selling...

    Analyze Results

    I am constantly amazed at the number of new online marketers who have yet to understand that THEY can analyze their results as easily as the professional marketers can...

    Your Traffic Statistics are perhaps the most important business intelliegence that you have in your possession...

    If your website has a cPanel login, as is common at most of the major web hosting companies, then you will also have access to AW Stats... In the absense of everything else, AW Stats is a pretty good program for determining the quality and sources of your websites' traffic...

    If you have the money to invest, a better website analysis software is the one found at HTTP-Analyze.org

    While HTTP-Analyze is perhaps the best, most professional webmasters rely heavily on Google Analytics to track their results and conversion rates on specific sources of traffic... www.google.com/analytics/

    What you want to learn from this process is: where your traffic comes from, how the traffic was derived from those locations (if you don't already know), how much traffic came to your website from that source, and how many people bought from you and came from a specific traffic source...

    Once you understand how many people came from one traffic source and how many of those people bought from you, then you can calculate your conversion rate for each traffic source... This information will assist you in making good decisions about where to invest your advertising resources in the future...

    Repeat Steps 1-3

    With your analytics in hand, you can make intelligent decisions about how to tweak your offer to get better results on the next pass...

    At a certain point, you will want to introduce split testing, so that you can take a proper measure of two sales pages or squeeze pages side-by-side to see which one will produce better conversion rates for you...

    All great success stories were founded upon minor improvements made over and over...

    It is said that Howard Hughes helped his dad's company go from a small dsitributor of canning for the food industry to one of the top canning companies in his day, by making one simple change to the processes they used...

    Howard Hughes is said to have made one minor change to the way that his company closed the cans used to package food, and that change reduced the cost of cans by 2/3rds of one penny. Hughes gave 1/3rd of the savings to his customers and kept the other 1/3rd of a penny for himself...

    This one minor adjustment in his processes helped make Howard Hughes the richest man on the planet during his lifetime -- 1/3rd of one penny at a time...

    Closing Thoughts

    The simple concepts outlined in this article will help anyone, who has the ambition to do so, to become successful selling products or services online...

    The 4-step method defined in this article will very literally work with any business model used online...

    Too many people get lost in methodologies, and this only serves to short-circuit their success...

    For example, I am an article marketer, but article marketing isn't the only thing I do to promote my online businesses...

    I am also pretty good at SEO, but I would never invest all of my resources into Google or any other third-party website... When your business model relies only upon Google, you will find yourself only one algorithm change away from bankruptcy...

    In my Multiple Traffic Streams report, I define 35 Time-Tested Strategies for Traffic Generation, and of those, I use 12 of them regularly... My top-performing website gets one-quarter million unique visitors and 1.25 million page views per year...

    The point in this article is to show you know how you can accomplish the same or better results, if only you have the ambition to do so...




    About the Author:
    Get your copy of the "Multiple Traffic Streams: The Magic of Attracting Buyers" Traffic Strategies Report at: http://thephantomwriters.com/multiple-traffic-streams/ Written by Bill Platt, owner of http://thePhantomWriters.com/


    Read more of Bill Platt's articles.

    Retire From Your Full Time Job With The Best Internet Business To Start

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Ryan Parenti



    Do you know how many people are quietly earning a six or seven figure income from information publishing?

    People like you who are earning it from the comfort of their spare room, with no employees, no overhead and almost pure profit?

    Without a doubt the best way to make money online is to sell information products. Why?

    You don't have any costs to produce products, it is easy to do, and you can get started today. The trick to building an internet business is to have the right frame work in place.

    Here Are The 4 Steps To Building A Cash Pulling Information Empire

    1. First you need to develop a product to give away for people to join your mailing list. You can create an ebook, and audio, or video solving your markets biggest problem.

    You give this to them as an ethical bribe in exchange for them to sign up for your mailing list.

    This is important because you need to follow up with your prospects for long term success.

    2. You need to develop a product to sell. I highly recommend a high quality product that you sell for less than it is worth.

    You see... the goal is to build life long customers and have a wide range of information products to sell. You want to "get them hooked" with a nice low priced product that gives them more value than they expected.

    3. Give your customers a chance to buy another product at a reduced price during the order process. Similar to how McDonald's has "would you like fries with that?" You need to add an upsell in the order flow.

    This will easily increase your income by 30%!

    After they purchase give them the chance to buy closely related products for a deep discount. Many times they will buy and you will increase your profits with this one simple step.

    You can also downsell your upsell if they don't buy. Here is how to do that.

    If they do not take the upsell you can give them a chance to buy the same thing at a lower price. This will increase your income even more.

    BUT WAIT!? Why would I sell my products for a lower price? Well, when you are selling a digital download it is OK to sell it at whatever price you want. That is why information marketing is king.

    4. After they have consumed your product you simply create and sell more closely related products to your growing base of raving fans.

    It is important that every customer turns into a raving fan. You do that by giving them an insane value for a low low price.

    Well, it doesn't have to be a low price but it should be an amazing value - an irresistible offer. It is very important that you have a high quality product that over deliverers.

    Here Is The Easy Way To Create Raving Fan Customer Who Buy Everything You Have To Sell!

    Simply take your prospects from where they are to where they want to be.

    Every step of your marketing should take them one step further to their desires end result. When you get people closer to their desired end result not only does their trust in you increase but also their desire for your products. Here is an example:

    Let's say you work in the dating market selling information products teaching men to get over their fears when approaching women and teach them how to build a real quality life long relationship.

    An ethical bribe to get someone to join your mailing list would be something like "10 Easy Ways To Talk To A Women And Get Her Phone Number."

    Your prospect comes to your site downloads your report and joins your mailing list then goes out and gets a girls phone number. He is excited and but has NO IDEA what to do next.

    Luckily 2 days later you send him a message in your mailing list sequence telling him what to say on the phone to get her to go on the first date.

    He uses the technique and is one step closer to his desired end result.

    Not only does he now trust you be he also has increased his desire for your product!

    Now your prospect has gotten results in advance and instantly goes to your website and buys your training course on "How To Create The Fairy-tail 1st Date That Will Leave Them Wanting More."

    That is how you build an internet business :)

    The only question is are you ready to start generating your own cash windfalls?


    About the Author:
    Want to know more about creating cash on demand? Simply listen to this free audio and hear a real step-by-step case study of how to go from zero to internet cash machine immediately: http://BuildOnlineWealth.com/crazyfreeoffer/ Written by: Ryan Parenti


    Read more of Ryan Parenti 's articles.

    Do Nice Guys Fail In Internet Marketing For Online Businesses?

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Ryan Parenti



    Todd was in trouble. Our internet marketing training for online business was selling like crazy. Orders were coming from everywhere. We were able to get outside help, but it wasn't enough.

    We stopped advertising, but the orders still kept coming and we were in way over our head.

    OK, I know what you're thinking "how is that a bad thing?" but we didn't have any system step up for product fulfillment and we under estimated the impact our marketing would have.

    The truth is if you want to build a real business, it needs to be scalable. Here are the lessons learned from that fatal day and the take aways you can use to build your business the right way.

    1. You Need To Figure Out Yourself Before You Grow A Business

    You need to know yourself and exactly what your good at. This is important because if you are not good a HTML then you do not want to build and grow your business by doing HTML.

    Instead you should clearly define, understand, and build a business around your strengths.

    2. You Need To Find The Big Money Opportunity (The Market)

    Look at the market to find out what to sell. The goal is to determine what they want then go out and give it to them.

    The market will show you where the big money opportunities are.

    The money is in developing a clear vision of the biggest opportunity in your target market then developing an action plan to take advantage of it.

    3. You Need A Compelling Offer

    Your offer (what your trying to sell) must be of high value and provide a high return on investment. It almost must be positioned in a way that compels people to take action and purchase your offer.

    You want to create an irresistible offer that provides a solid benefit and deliver it in a believable fashion.

    4. Develop A Marketing System

    Marketing your product or service is the way you get the word out.

    Advertisements, SEO and email marketing are all effective ways to find and retain new prospects.

    Discover which avenue of marketing you will take, then execute it masterfully.

    5. Build YOUR Business With Help

    You need to scale your business by determining profitable actions then turning them into automated systems of duplicate-able and unmanaged creation through the help of smart, dedicated and qualified employees.

    I am telling you to discover what actions make you money then train and employ others to complete these actions on a daily or weekly basis (if possible).

    Make sure your team members carry the same vision of business that you have.

    You are paying more for their mind and creative thinking than any brute work, so it is essential that they understand where you want to go so they can help you get there.

    First a quick word of caution: When many people think of hiring help then they of getting the cheapest labor when the truth is you need to find and hire the right people, then do what it takes to keep them.

    Good people are very hard to find and you need these people if you want to have a successful business.

    6. Everything Should Be Reduced Down To A Number

    You can and should measure every aspect of your business so you can determine what is working and what isn't.

    Track sales conversions, employee performance, how you're doing, and the level of success you are achieving towards your goals.

    You can't improve anything you can't measure.

    So track everything you can so you can make incremental improvements to your operational systems like marketing, sales conversation and lifetime customer value.

    7. Alliance Partners Increase Growth Rapidly

    The easiest way to grow your business is by leveraging other people's resources. You can do this by developing relationships with other related businesses.

    There are many advantages of joint ventures and having an affiliate program can easily increase your income times 10.

    Structure your business to allow other people to sell and grow your business with you, by creating and promoting an affiliate program and developing joint venture relationships.

    8. Develop Product Creation Systems

    Set up a team of people to create your products. Perhaps you might need one person to do the market research to see what people are buying and to do keyword research.

    Once completed they can then hand over the information to a person who creates graphics and a sales page. Then they can forward the information to a ghost writer who completes the product. This can all happen seamlessly once you develop the system.

    Identify which types of products you will create, then develop a team (or a system) to create and market you product for you.

    9. Build a Business That Your Completely Free From

    Develop systems within the business that make sure profitable steps are taken without you having to do them. Try to set up your business so the business will build without you.

    This was the mistake Todd and I made. The day to day operational issues, like product fulfillment, needed to be delegated.

    If I only I knew then what I knew now we could have avoided the horror of a business that does too well - like a train going too fast and running off the track.

    So the answer is "Yes!" nice guys finish last... if they don't have the proper system set up.

    The only question is are you ready to improve your system?


    About the Author:
    If you are serious about increasing sales, traffic and affiliates on autopilot without spending a small fortune setting it all up go ahead and download this free audio and learn the exact steps you need for increased internet profits: http://BuildOnlineWealth.com/crazyfreeoffer/ Written by: Ryan Parenti


    Read more of Ryan Parenti 's articles.

    Wednesday, October 13, 2010

    Success in Business is Easier – if You Can Live Without This

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Scott Bywater



    It's no secret that acknowledgement is something we crave more than anything else.

    In fact, I've heard that acknowledgement is sometimes more important than money when it comes to running a team.

    So by all means, we should all do everything we can to acknowledge those around us.

    It is important.

    And we all like to get acknowledged as well.

    But be careful here...

    Because if you NEED acknowledgement from the outside then you are putting yourself in danger of relying on an outside force for your motivation and happiness.

    I can remember one of my first jobs selling cleaning chemicals door to door...

    I got verbally abused... I got thrown out of places... and I got virtually no acknowledgement.

    I also sucked at the job.

    And my boss didn't acknowledge me either.

    And while I left after a couple of months, it taught me to be inner directed. And to rely only on myself for acknowledgment.

    In the next job I became a star after being mentored in a telemarketing office I worked with...

    And I went to an office in Sydney where I thrived, thanks to a guy called Adam Rosewarne who was very good at acknowledging my talents.

    Don't get me wrong - if you can find people who acknowledge your skills and talents you are far better off.

    But don't depend on it.

    If I had depended on it when I started my business, I never would have got off the ground.

    For a year or two I went around selling ads with little credibility, cold calling, etc...

    ... and hardly ever got acknowledged.

    Even when I hit home runs for a client.

    But I got good at acknowledging myself... when I wrote a good ad... when I made a sale... when I received a referral...

    You see, acknowledgment is like anything else.

    If you need ANYTHING from outside of you, you are depending on a force you cannot control for your happiness.

    Far better to be inner directed and depend only on meeting your own demands.

    And a funny thing happens once you start acknowledging yourself - eventually others start acknowledging you too.

    One thing you might like to do is to start an acknowledgement list and start tabulating everything you do on an excel document or something that you are proud of yourself for.

    Things like phone calls made, marketing campaigns implemented, critical action steps taken, and stuff you have learnt.

    In fact, you might like to start learning something right now that you can acknowledge yourself for. Just hop along to http://www.scottbywater.com/internetsecrets/ and learn how to actually make a dollar out of the internet.


    About the Author:
    Scott Bywater is a direct mail copywriter and the author of Cash-Flow Advertising. To get access to his highly prized complimentary copy of "7 Ways To Get More Customers" (valued at $29.95) and to join his controversial and insighful "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter where you'll uncover the truth about why most ads and sales letters don't work (and how to make yours stand out from the rest) head on over to his web site at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/


    Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.

    Sunday, October 10, 2010

    Never Be a Cheap Date

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Scott Bywater



    Up until the last couple of years, I used to give my time away freely.

    In fact, I would spend up to an hour on the phone with people who had not even paid me a cent.

    It was frustrating and it was annoying - because while a certain percentage of those people did move forward, there was a lot of time wasted dealing with those who wanted to pick my brain at no charge.

    That was when I got smart.

    And I started charging for those initial strategy sessions.

    At first I was a little concerned of the change - would people stop contacting me? Would they stop dealing with me, etc?

    But I was quickly proven wrong.

    Here's what happened?

    I saved at least a few hours a week. I doubled my conversion rate. Plus I made a few dollars even if people didn't go ahead.

    At the end of the day, I stopped being a cheap date and started demanding those I deal with respected me and my time.

    That means I get to deal with better people... people who are pre-disposed to dealing with me.

    And believe me, there is so much more respect in the process when you make your prospects jump through a few hoops to get to you.

    To prove my point, I violated this principle a few months ago when I had a prospect I thought could have big potential. So I didn't charge him for that initial conversation.

  • He picked my brain.

  • He questioned my fees.

  • And then to top it all off he tried to find out about all of the people I use so he could no doubt do the same to them.

  • And when I told him I'd be happy to provide him with that once he went ahead, I never heard from him again.

    The message:

    NEVER BE A CHEAP DATE

    And learn how to market so people come to you valuing your service and predisposed to buy from you.

    Better for you because you'll save time and make more while experiencing less frustration.

    And better for them because they'll respect you more and actually trust what you have to say.

    But one thing you need to be able to do in order to achieve this is write.

    And write well - to sell.

    And one of the best places you can go to learn how to do this is http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow


    About the Author:
    Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter with extensive experience in B2B and B2C writing. Mr Bywater is the author of Cash-Flow Advertising and More Customers Made Easy. You can gain access to his copywriting and marketing tips via his entertaining and eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/


    Read more Articles written by Scott Bywater.

    Saturday, October 9, 2010

    Direct Mail: Why Business Owners Don’t Use It

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Scott Bywater



    Want to know why most business owners don't do direct mail even though it's probably one of the most effective marketing methods?

    Well, there's two reasons:

    1. It's more difficult than e-mail

    You've got to format the letter, get it right, hire a list, send it off to a printer and a mailing house, etc.

    Much easier to click send and fire off an email.

    BUT... and it's a very big BUT I myself am guilty of - direct mail will generally get you a far better response than email.

    And while it may not be convenient, it's most certainly effective.

    2. There's no sales reps selling you direct mail

    When was the last time somebody knocked on your door and asked you to buy some direct mail?

    But I'm sure you've received a phone call from your local newspaper... phone directory... or a local charity wanting you to buy advertising, right?

    Truth is, most of us are lazy when it comes to our marketing.

    So we wait for someone to knock on our door... being reactive rather than proactive.

    Well, it's time to change all that.

    ... because pro-active marketers are the one's who make the dollars.

    Not the ones who wait for someone to say "advertise here" have I got a deal for you.

    Because the bottom line is even with a little knowledge you will be able to get far better results than the person who is selling you the advertising, except in the very, very, very rare case that the ad rep is educated.

    So take control of your marketing today.

    Be proactive - Not reactive.


    About the Author:
    Scott Bywater is an advertising copywriting expert and the author of Cash-Flow Advertising. To gain access to all of his copywriting tips on how to get more customers via his eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter, simply head on over to his web site at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/


    Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.

    Thursday, October 7, 2010

    Write Winning Headlines While You Sleep?

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Scott Bywater



    Want to get an extra 6-8 hours of productivity every day?

    Then try this little trick...

    Every night before you go to sleep, ask for an idea.

    For instance, if you are writing an advertisement, say to yourself...

    I really need an idea for this headline.

    And then forget about it, turn off the light and enjoy a well earned rest.

    It sounds crazy, doesn't it.

    I mean how can you do anything while you are asleep.

    You're dead to the world, right?

    Well, not quite.

    Your subconscious mind is actually ensuring...

  • Your blood is pumping

  • You are breathing

  • Your body temperature is being monitored

  • And dozens of other things are happening to keep you alive. So surely it can work out a headline or two for you by the morning, right?

    There is a statistic quoted at some seminars that we only use 10% of our minds.

    And this is a way to use more of it.

    Of course, if you flood your mind with more education about how to get more customers and write winning ads then your mind will have more to draw on while you're flat on your back and enjoying dreamland ;-)


    About the Author:
    Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter and the author of "Cash Flow Advertising" and "More Customers Made Easy". Although Scott is accepting very few clients, he generously shares his experience on copywriting at his web site at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/


    Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.

    Wednesday, October 6, 2010

    Why Sales Without Marketing is DUMB

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Scott Bywater



    I remember when I first started out in sales I used to set up a meeting and I would get there and the person sitting across from me would be like:

    "Well, convince me"

    ... and I would be like a telemarketer on steroids trying to show them why I had the best solution in the world for them.

    Can you relate?

    I started out as a cold-call salesperson and a cold call telemarketer, so that's all I knew.

    And while it does work... while it is a numbers game...

    it is NOT the most effective way to sell.

    And over the long term, you shouldn't be running all over town talking to unqualified prospects who have this "convince me" energy about them.

    Instead, you should...

    CONVINCE THEM BEFORE YOU GET THERE

    And how do you do that - that's right, through marketing and education.

    For instance, if I was selling a web design service what I would do is create a report called something like:

    "The 7 Mistakes You are Making With Your Advertising Right Now - and How They are Costing You a Fortune"

    And then I would have a paging service take the call ... a distribution house mail out the report...

    ... and a handful of letters after that... followed by a series of emails like this one.

    And then those interested... those people who were predisposed to deal with me...

    Would call me. And they would be interested. And in order to talk to me I would charge them for that initial phone call.

    And do you know what would happen -

    My conversion rates would go up.

    My time would not be wasted.

    And my clients would get a better service because I wouldn't be wasting my time with people who weren't predisposed to deal with me.

    But here's the question:

    Do you have the discipline to implement this? Do you have the courage to charge for your time?

    Or will you say...

    "I don't have the time"

    And will you then think...

    "How can I charge for my first consultation. Nobody else does"

    Yes, that's right and that's why the average small business owner earns crap money.

    If you're sick and tired of dealing with people who don't appreciate your product or service... who don't respect your time... and of chasing your tail dealing with people who aren't predisposed to dealing with you, then I urge you right now to make the commitment to...

    LEARN HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF - NOT JUST SELL

    The good news - you can get started for peanuts at: http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com

    And the first lesson alone will show you how to write that lead generation ad to get the ball rolling.


    About the Author:
    As a direct response copywriter, Scott Bywater strives to educate business owners on how to generate more leads, get more of the "right type" of customers, differentiate themselves from their competition, and convert their leads into sales via his underground and "outside of the box" strategies. You can get his copywriting and marketing tips delivered to your inbox via his eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/


    SEO Lessons from Local Businesses

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Trey McMartin



    More than once in the six years that I have been providing SEO services for websites, I have had the opportunity to discuss with individual business owners their search engine optimization needs.

    Now and again, I run across an individual business owner who is quick to say that SEO is absolutely worthless. When confronted with such an absolute statement, I like to press for details.

    It has been my experience that people who speak in negative absolutes will have a horror story to share.

    In this article, I am going to detail some of the stories I've heard, which frequently tells more about some of the people in our industry, than it does about the effectiveness of search engine marketing.

    PROBLEM #1 - "I rank number one in Google, and yet, I have never earned a dime from my website..."

    When I first heard this story, I was very surprised... After all, if your SEO company did good keyword research, there is no reason why you should not be getting traffic and a few sales from a top ranking in Google.

    I pressed for more details... I learned that the company who built the website also did the search engine optimization...

    It only took a couple of minutes to learn that the website design company optimized this fellows' website for the name of his company... There was no other optimization performed on that website...

    LESSON #1 - It is rather pointless to optimize a website for the name of the company... The only consumers who will be searching for the name of your company are existing customers...

    But, if your company is unknown to the general public, then the people who would like to buy your products or services will not be able to find you among your competitors...

    If you sell widgets in Tulsa Oklahoma, your future customers will be typing "Tulsa Oklahoma widgets" into their favorite search engines, trying to find your business... And if your prospective customers cannot find your business, your business does not exist in their minds...

    PROBLEM #2 - "I had a company build a website for my business, but I have never received a single customer for my business, through my website..."

    Are you sure?

    Asking this question is not meant to offend you, but rather to get more details as to how you track incoming business...

    If you are the average off-line business owner, who has built a website to promote an off-line business, chances are real good that you probably have never received a single customer from your website...

    However, if your website does not request for your prospective customers to let you know how they found out about your business, then chances are that people who did find you through your website would never tell you that...

    If more than one person answers the phone at your business, chances are just as good that someone may have mentioned finding you on a website, but no one conveyed that information to you...

    In your business, you should have systems in place to track and record where new customers have found your business... To do otherwise is like driving your car in the fast lane during rush-hour traffic with a blindfold over your eyes...

    LESSON #2 - If you are not asking your customers how they found your business, you will never know what kind of advertising is producing profits for your business, and which advertising is sucking the wind out of your business...

    PROBLEM #3 - "I spend a great deal of money on PPC listings (pay-per-click) to get my business in front of search engine users, because after spending tens of thousands of dollars on SEO, I could not rank in the search engines at all..."

    What keywords were you trying to rank for in the search engines?

    "Travel. I have a travel business based in Oklahoma City OK that caters to business professionals..."

    Have you ever noticed the caliber of companies who rank on page 1 in Google for the keyword: travel?

    Those are companies who spend millions of dollars per year to market their businesses online and off-line... Do you have a marketing budget that will allow you to effectively compete with Travelocity, Expedia or Priceline?

    Besides that, where do the majority of your customers work and reside?

    "Oklahoma City of course."

    If that is the case, why would you spend your limited marketing budget to target consumers who would never buy from you, because they are outside your local marketing area?

    "I never really thought about it in that way..."

    Most of your competitors are making the same mistakes that you are... That is to your advantage, because when you start to market your business in a more realistic and cost-effective manner, then you will be able to compete with your competitors, while spending far less money than your competitors are spending...

    LESSON #3 - If you operate a local or regional business, do yourself a favor, and stop trying to compete in the national marketplace...

    Final Thoughts...

    Listed inside this article are three lessons that could potentially help your off-line business to find new customers and to generate new sales, as a result of your online advertising...

    Depending on the average ticket price of purchases in your store or service business, how much could an extra 20, 50 or 100 new customers bring into your business each month? You do the math...

    You could spend the next ten years learning what we have learned to maximize the effectiveness of your online advertising... Or you could employ us to work on your behalf to support your local business in your local marketplace...




    About the Author:
    More consumers are ignoring their phone books and searching for products and services online... If you don't want to compete for those consumers, your competitors will thank you... We primarily provide Local SEO Services to businesses in Oklahoma and Texas... But we are happy to serve any brick-and-mortar business in the United States... Contact http://MysticMountainMedia.com/ at 1-405-225-8932, 9am-4pm, Monday thru Friday. Author: Trey McMartin.


    Read more of Trey McMartin's articles.

    Sunday, October 3, 2010

    Overcome Sales Objections Fast - Just Do This

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2010 Scott Bywater



    On Saturday, I went to a bike shop with my family to purchase a new bike for my son who is now so very proud that he can ride his bike.

    And loves going down hills and turning the pedals and getting his first taste of "having wheels."

    Anyway, when we got there the guy at the shop was talking to us about this brand called Giant.

    Now my wife and I hadn't heard of Giant as we are not really bike people.

    So my wife was like: Who are Giant?

    And that's when the sales guy had the right answers right on the tip of his tongue to answer our objection.

    But it wasn't just answers, it was the undeniable proof which could not be argued with.

    I forget the exact figures, but in a nutshell he told us...

  • A high percentage of riders on the Tour De France used these bikes.

  • They manufacture a high percentage of bikes across the world.

  • So tell me, why were we so convinced in a matter of seconds?

    It's really quite simple: He gave us COMPELLING PROOF.

    Had he said...

    Giant is great because each bike has 36 gears... and we sell a lot of them and I personally love them... etc, etc.

    ... it would have been like "so what" and felt like a hypey sales pitch.

    But when you are presented with the facts... the proof... he presented us with... it's difficult to argue with.

    So my question to you is: how much research have you put into your project to get facts like this which simply sell your product or service in an instant... and overcome objections so easily?

    If you haven't, then when would now be a good time to do something about it?

    You'll find plenty of other ready-to-apply advertising tips just like this when you get your hands on http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow


    About the Author:
    Scott Bywater is an income boosting, results focused direct response copywriter and the author of Cashflow Advertising and More Customers Made Easy. His popular ebook "7 ways to get more customers" has been downloaded by over 8,247 business owners over the past five years. You can get your hands on it by heading on over to http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/


    Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.