FREE marketing course
21 techniques that will help you improve performance of your web site
Direct marketing is *the key* to success on the Internet. That's why we recommend you to invest
most of your time and money into this area. In this course we will show you 21 marketing techniques
that will (if you use them) bring you more new customers and increase interest of your existing ones.
Are you serious about your website?
First of all we must clarify something: Internet is no "get rich quickly"
scheme. It takes a lot of hard work, time, trial and error to start seeing results, but
one thing is for sure - if you learn and work you can be very successful!
21 tips for optimizing your website
- Tell your visitors how can you solve their problems and why is buying from you a better choice
On your index page (in the header) make clear what is it that you are actually offering them and what makes you
better then your concurrence. Be innovative, come up with a new concept, don't just copy what others do.
- Do not rely on only one stream of income
Business which relies on only one source of income is more likely to collapse. We have seen many "dot com"
companies in last year who ran out of business simply because they relied only on advertising or selling
one product.
- Stay in touch with your customers after the first purchase
Make sure most income comes from repeated customers. Attracting new customers is an expensive sport.
- Reduce page load time
Do you think people have time to wait for your logo and your designer's masterpieces to load?
Be realistic. People want fast information. Reduce the time your pages need to load.
- Do not use all the newest technologies
Flash and Real audio can add amazing interactivity to your site, but are people really prepared to
download all the plugins? "Technic freaks" maybe, your customers NO. Keep it fast, keep it simple!
- FREE is key to success
Most companies make a big mistake - they want to sell their products directly from
their ads. Be smart, offer people something for free and then try to sell your products
to the ones who respond to your advertising.
- Collect e-mail from your visitors
If you have your visitors e-mail you can get in contact with them later and offer them new products.
DO NOT SPAM them! Send e-mails ONLY to people who signed up for your
newsletter (offering something for free is again a good technique to make people sign up)!
- Place headlines on all your pages!
People when they browse your site first read the headlines on the top of every page (like the red one
on the top of this page). If they attract them
they continue reading down the page (it worked on you, didn't it? :-) Headlines are THE MOST POWERFUL marketing tool! Pages without a headline loose
90% of their value! Use headlines.
- Learn how to write "sale letters"
You have a great site with thousands people visiting you every day but still
very few decide to purchase anything. It's time to learn how to write
effective "sale letters" and sending them to people who joined your newsletter.
- Automatically use signature in all your letters
Most e-mail programs allow you to setup a signature that will be included at the bottom
of every e-mail you send. USE THEM! A good signature includes your name,
web site title and URL, your e-mail address, etc.
- All marketing material should include a one sentence description of your site
Include a short description of your web site in all off-line marketing material. Consider this as
small free ads.
- Test your adverts
How do you know which adverts are generating sales and which aren't without testing them? Test your ads.
- Give your visitors possibility to send you feedback
Be thankful for every critic your customers/visitors send you and correct things
that bother them. This way you will adjust your offers to their needs and thus sell more.
- Let all your letters be personal
When sending e-mails to customers mention their name in them, thank them. This way they will feel much
more appreciated than otherwise. Be friendly.
- Do not compete with large companies
If you tend to compete with Amazon or eBay you are in for a big disappointment. Instead
take a new approach that will make you more interesting, offer unique products and services.
You can also beat them in your customer support.
- Offer warranty on your products
If you do not trust your products do not expect your customer will. That's why let your products
have 100% warranty.
- When describing your products focus on the customer
People buy benefits that your product brings not the product itself. They are not interested
in details about your company or products. All they want to know is how *they* can benefit
from buying your products! Tell you visitors what you can do for the not how great your offer is.
- Get a domain!!!
If you want your site to look professional ( = sell) you MUST get yourself a domain name.
How can you expect people to trust you if you can't even afford to buy a domain? Getting a domain is
a very simple, important and non-expensive process.
- Your site navigation must be simple and clear
Your visitors must browse your site with ease. Navigation must be simple and clear!
Pictures which don't actually mean something are turning away more visitors than attracting.
- Paid hosting has great advantages over free hosting
If you want to start a business you *really should* get a paid host. Free hosts are slow, unreliable,
they are putting banners (or even worse - popups) on your pages, they can shut you down whenever they want, etc.
With paid hosting your site will definitely be more professional, reliable and will attract new customers.
Many people refuse to buy things from sites hosted on free servers simply because they feel like they can't trust them.
Hosting your site on paid servers is not expensive at all. Get a paid host.
- Let prejudices not scare you
If you want to get some new ideas have a look at your concurrence, how they are doing things and what could
you do even better.
If you have been advertising you products in one magazine for the last 10 years this doesn't mean that
another magazine can't do the job just as good or even better.
If everyone is telling you something cannot be done, prove them wrong
We also recommend reading our How Help desk Software can increase your earnings article.
Klemen Stirn
YOURsoft
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