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March 1, 2010

Think online, go offline

You’ve bought a couple of training courses, read some articles here and there and are subscriber of one or two email lists? Well, I have good news for you. I hereby declare you an online marketing expert.

Expert… me…? Yes, and this is why: Expertise is a relative measure, and you know a ton more about online marketing than 97% of the small business owners in your town. So here are some ideas to start with:

1. Offer local business to list them in Google local for let’s say $50 a piece. That will take you 30 minutes the first couple of times you do it, but by third or so, less than 15 minutes.

2. Set a squeeze page and autoresponder for them… let’s say, $100 a piece. The traffic whould come from their current advertising. They just need to forward a url to you and that will provide them a new way to measure the response rate of their current marketing budget.

3. Setup a Facebook fan page for $100 a piece. This is great for the hospitality and services industry. You can combine this with other discounts, freebies or current promotions, or make something special for the Facebook fans.

4. Make some video content (you know, the flip cam you bought “for business” and haven’t used) and charge them $75 per video uploaded to the “very own” Youtube channel. Video testimonials are great for a Youtube channel, viewers care for what the product or service can do for them, not how many years your customer has been in business.

Any route you choose to take will require the same basic elements:

1. Professional looking forms to collect the customers information.

2. Business cards. Include the words online (or internet), marketing and consultant, advisor. Something along those lines.

3. A small 3 to 5 minutes presentation of the service you are offering. Don’t overuse techincal jargon. Just outline the features and explain the benefits.

Getting customers

The best source is the either the local newspaper or the phone book. Look for businesses that have a website listed and visit the website before contacting the customer. Write down a few improvement tips to share during the conversation.

You can also start with people you already know and ask them for referals. This is the best way to go if the idea of “cold calling” freezes you.

Here is a good rule of thumb when it comes to contacting potential customers: The first contact should be always over the phone. If you try to contact them via email, you will just be “another” marketer, not the local expert.

If face to face deals are not your thing -and many people go to online marketing for this exact same reason-, you can always partner with someone to close the sale for you… you know, the social butterfly type. Remeber, the more people make money on the process, the bigger your business will get.

You get the idea… you are way ahead of the local business owner. Set goals, make a plan and… Take action!

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February 28, 2010

Tips For Creating Powerful Headlines That Sell

You have mere seconds to capture a prospect’s attention. One of the single most powerful tools you have to accomplish this task is your headline. There are several keys to a compelling, and selling, headline and a few tips to help you get the job done.

#1 Tap into Your Prospects’ Emotions

According to psychologists our buying decisions are based first and foremost on our emotions. Use headlines which offer your readers a strong emotional benefit or reaction. Some possible emotions are:

For example, The 20-Minute Step that Will Make You a Business Genius taps into readers’ desires to feel smart and powerful.

Other emotions you can tap into are a desire to feel:

1. Attractive
2. Sexy
3. Assertive
4. Confident
5. Energetic
6. Pampered
7. A sense of belonging
8. In control of their own destiny
9. Wealthy
10. Proud
11. Respected
12. Safe

#2 Make it Active

To compel it’s important to use active language – language that shows movement and commands attention.

For example, “Stop Your Sugar Cravings Today With This Simple Step,” is a fine headline however it doesn’t command action nor does it really tap into any emotions. However, “Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.” Conquer is an active and emotionally powerful word. Readers receive the benefit of feeling powerful and in control and it commands action.

#3 Let Your Reader Know They’re Important

The word YOU is a very powerful word. It let’s your reader’s feel as if you’re talking to them specifically and interested in solving their problems, issues and helping them achieve their desires. Instead of using I, Me or We in your headlines, use You. Using the headline example above compare the two options
“Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.”
“Conquer Sugar Cravings with Our System”

People want to know what’s in it for them and when they can assess that information in the headline, they’re going to be compelled to continue reading your copy and making a purchase.

Here are three more ideas for powerful headlines:

* Make a promise – Earn $1000 a day
* Make it newsworthy – New program guarantees you’ll earn $1000 a day.
* Ask a question: Do you want to ensure your financial future?

Three Simple Steps to Write Headlines That Sell

So now you have some ideas about what types of headlines sell, how do you begin to write those powerful headlines?

Step One: Get to know your audience intimately. What are their hopes, dreams, desires, and problems? Understanding your audience will help you create an emotional and powerful headline directed specifically at your audience.

Step Two: Determine how your products or services are going to make your prospects’ lives better or solve their problems. For example if you sell fitness equipment and your audience struggles with feeling attractive then you can create a headline that highlights a specific benefit your fitness equipment offers to solve that problem.

Step Three: Write ten to twenty, yes twenty, possible headlines. Not only will this give you practice writing compelling headlines, it’ll help you hone in on that perfect headline. And if you think you have a few winners you can always test them for conversion rates to find out which headline is more effective.

Marketing and copywriting experts consider your headline to be the most import element of any effective marketing piece. Take the time to craft a compelling, and selling, headline and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

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February 26, 2010

Google Is A Pain In The… Pocket.

Think about what you have to do to build up a nice income online with Google.

You either have to…

A. Work for months SEO’ing your site, building backlinks, adding new content

or

B. Pay out the wazoo to get good traffic from the almighty Google.

That’s not all folks!

For only another 20 hours of your day, you get to…

Spend several hours doing keyword research…managing your visitors, learn
new techniques to stay on top AND for some of you, still work a full time J.O.B.!

For only another 20 hours of your day, you get to…

Spend several hours doing keyword research…managing your visitors, learn
new techniques to stay on top AND for some of you, still work a full time J.O.B.!

And if that wasn’t enough, you also run the risk of all your hard work thrown
down the Toilet because Google decides to up and change EVERYTHING about how they operate…

Sounds like a nightmare, right? Well, checkout the way around that my fellow marketer David Bulok is teaching…

Don’t forget to post your comments!

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February 14, 2010

How to Quickly Increase Conversions and Sales

Creating a winning proposition for an online business is accomplished by establishing and executing goals, strategy, and proven marketing tactics. Equipped with these three (3) major components of business planning, an online marketer can expect to see business growth resulting from increased conversions and higher sales.

So, exactly how do you pull these three major elements together?

Start with goals

First, creating goals is the most important place to start. Maybe your goal is to become the largest online seller of products or services in your particular niche. That’s an awesome and commendable goal. Maybe your goal is to launch a brand new product concept to the world –which is also admirable. Perhaps your goal is to increase conversions by 200% within 6 months or something more lofty and aggressive.

But now that you know your goal, how do you achieve success?

A winning combination

You must have a strategy that includes marketing tactics if you want to succeed. Think of it this way.

There are three components of a successful and powerful marketing plan.

  1. Goals are the big picture. A goal tells you where you want to go and it is the vision of success that you have for your future. It’s the inspiration and motivation that keeps you focused and it’s what makes you want to jump out of bed to hit the keys and enter cyberspace every chance you get. It’s what keeps you from straying in your business endeavors.

    2. Becoming the #1 seller of Product X is a goal.

  2. Strategy is an idea about how you can achieve your goals. It’s a more general idea of how to get where you want to go and it is a conceptual plan for success. Maybe your goal is to become the #1 marketing expert in a particular niche. You plan to do that by offering a unique service that accompanies your product or by offering an alternative way to utilize your product.

    3. Or perhaps you plan to do it by including value-added products or services with every sale. Maybe you want to be the “go to price” guy. You may want to make 100% money-back guarantees with no questions asked. Regardless of the “how”, you are now thinking about strategy and ways to increase your exposure, conversions, and sales. There may be multiple strategies to support your goals and that’s fine. It’s even expected.

    Creating a new way to optimize Product X is a strategy.

  3. Tactics are those individual actions, activities, and plans that help you achieve your goals and are based on your strategy. Now we’re down to business.

A tactic is a real action that helps you implement your strategy. Tactics are when you really get down to work. They are derived from a clear understanding of your potential customer, the target audience needs and desires, and a thorough analysis of your product’s strengths, benefits, and value.

But they are also created with knowledge of the competition, what makes your product unique, how you separate yourself from the competition, and what the market is looking for not only today, but tomorrow! Just like strategies, there may be more than once marketing tactic to accomplish the strategy and once again, that is the expectation.

Tactics allow you to demonstrate how your product can be diversified or how it can be leveraged in multiple ways for others to receive value or benefits in some way. Tactics may include creation of videos, blogging, promoting your business in one more than one language, creating content that optimizes keywords, re-engineering a website to make it faster or more user-friendly, or other specific actions that help you accomplish your strategy and achieve goals.

Execution is critical

Online marketing tactics should be simple and expertly executed. Knowing how to create the three components of a winning online business will drive conversions and sales to new heights. Use an engaging combination of basic marketing tactics and augment them with advanced marketing tactics that have proven successful time and time again for the fastest road to success.

Before you approach your business with a “we’ll wait and see” approach, evaluate your goals and create marketing strategies and tactics that ensure success for the long-term. Increased conversions and sales will follow.

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Positioning as an Authority for Marketing Success

Online users are searching the Internet for information, products, and services every minute of every day. With the intense competition and wealth of information available on the Internet, people do not want to spend their time visiting a site that they do not believe is high quality, credible, and worthy of their time. They’ll allow you 8 seconds to grab their attention and that starts the beginning of a relationship – or breaks it.

Proven marketing tactics become increasingly valuable today with the increased competition and skepticism of many web users. If visitors do not perceive a site is high integrity, they quickly click their heels and scamper to another website because they know there are many more.

But people who believe your site has something valuable to offer and that is highly credible will stay around long enough to learn more. They’ll search your content for more information and as they become more intrigued by the content they begin to trust you and what you have to say. If you’ve deployed a marketing tactic that establishes your credibility, you are ahead of the race.

Think about your own buying patterns. If you do not believe you can trust a business, you are most likely to avoid stopping by to browse the products. It doesn’t matter if the business is offline or online. You want to know that you are talking to an expert in the niche.

And that’s how online web users feel too.

There are too many credible resources for them to waste their time on a site that does not meet their expectations of quality and credibility.

So, exactly how do you increase your credibility and attract a wider audience?

First of all, you must position yourself as an authority and as someone who truly understands what the customer needs. You must quickly develop a sense of authority by including valuable information, data, statistics, and compelling content on your website. It’s not just about the product you have to offer, but it’s about your own ability to respond to their needs and questions.

And it’s about your personal experience with the particular niche.

Having credentials related to a particular field can go a long way towards increasing credibility.

But so can experience and connections through a network of similar experts. Many marketers fear the mention of other experts in their field because they assume they will lose business to them. But people appreciate a marketer who is confident enough to talk about others who offer solutions. It actually increases your credibility and helps build a sense of loyalty.

When people know they can come to you for answers and that you will also redirect them to other credible resources, they are most likely to see you as a partner. Having relevant links to reputable websites that also offers information and solutions on a particular niche actually increases your credibility as an expert in the field.

In today’s world of technology, people have a vast array of resources available to them through the Internet. They don’t have to settle for one product or service anymore. They have freedom and flexibility to shop around and if they do not believe your site or products are credible, they will do exactly that.

Before you lose another customer to the click of a mouse, check your own content and information to see if it exudes confidence and credibility. If not, it’s time for an over-haul of marketing tactics that position you as an expert in the field.

Marketing tactics that include positioning yourself as an authority are more likely to land you at the finish line as the winner.

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