entrepreneur
6 Little Known Ways To Increase Sales
We all want more sales in our business I’m sure you’ll agree. After all, why did many of us start a business in the first place if not to make money and gain financial freedom to have the time to do the things we want, when we want.
You will often read all about traffic and conversion rate and these are critical to your bottom line, so you need to ensure that your sales process is as optimised as it can possibly be.
Well, please read on to find out about 6 little know ways to increase sales. The good thing is that none of these take much time, but any one of them can add considerable sales to your bottom line. Or try all six, and see your sales explode.
Your Prospects Don’t Trust You
Provide your real contact information, including name, company name, snail mail address (physical is better than P.O.) and phone number.
Why? Because your prospects are afraid you are not who you say you are.
On your ‘about me’ page, provide all of this info again, along with photos of you, any employees you have and maybe even your location. Make it super easy to trust you and you’ll get more sales.
Elevate Your Prospects’ Status to Make More Sales
People want to prove they are better than others and have people look up to them. This isn’t bad, it’s just human nature. And you can use this tidbit of knowledge to make more sales, too.
Play up to this tendency to feel more important. Show prospects how buying your product will raise their status among peers, friends, family, etc. Show them how important they will become as a direct result of buying your product.
Have Your Sales Message Come from A Peer
One of the ‘secrets’ to boosting response of your sales message is to have it come from a peer of your ideal prospect.
In other words, you want your message to come from someone of the same group you are selling to.
Are you selling to women in their 40’s? Have your message come from a woman in her 40’s. Selling to investors? Have your message come from another investor, and so forth.
You can likely take any promotion you are running right now, change the message to come from the prospect’s peer, and increase your response considerably.
This technique is even more important when you are selling to someone who is highly skeptical. Nothing melts resistance faster than hearing a message from someone you perceive to be very much like yourself.
Split test this and see the response – I think you’ll be shocked at the increase in sales you experience from this simple technique.
Focus On The Benefits Of The Benefits!
You already know how important benefits are to the selling process.
Features are great, but it’s the benefits that sell.
For example, that weight loss book is pretty, and it has 300 pages – those are features. The benefit is the reader will lose weight if they follow the plan laid out in the book.
But what are the benefits of the benefits?
In the above example, ask yourself what are the benefits to losing weight?
For example:
- Looking better
- Feeling better
- Becoming more attractive
- Living longer
- Fitting into clothes they already own
- More confidence
- Turning heads and getting dates
And so forth.
Talking about just the main benefit – in this case, losing weight – isn’t enough.
You want to dig deeper and expound on all the benefits your customers is going to get, and then paint a picture of their new life after they use your product.
Tell Stories
Every product has a story buried somewhere – you just have to dig it out.
For example, look at this headline from John Carlton:
“Amazing Secret Discovered by One-Legged Golfer adds 50 Yards to Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks and Slices… And Can Slash up to 10 Strokes from Your Game Almost Overnight!”
I have zero interest in golf. None. Yet after reading this headline, I want to know about the one-legged golfer.
Now imagine if I did golf – and imagine what all the golfers who read this headline did. Yup – guaranteed, they couldn’t help but keep reading to find out about that one-legged golfer.
That’s the power of a good story.
Encourage Micro-Commitments
The more a person commits to something, the less likely they will change their mind.
For example, if you can get someone to opt-in to two or more of your lists, they are more committed to staying on your lists.
And get this… they are also more likely to make purchases, too.
It’s a principle of psychology that the more a person commits to something, the more likely they are to stick with it for the long haul.
For example, someone might say they are going to start running. But all they do is say it – they don’t do anything else – and within a week they’ve forgotten all about it.
But if that same person buys new running shoes and clothes, visits running websites, subscribes to a running magazine and joins a running club, then I can about guarantee they’re going to run.
It’s the same with your lists. If you can get subscribers to opt in to multiple lists, they become more committed to you and to the niche or topic itself.
So, let’s say your niche is dogs. You might ask your new subscribers to opt in to a special course on potty training, another course on bad behavior modification, another course just on their particular breed of dog and so forth.
By getting more of these micro-commitments from your readers, you greatly increase the odds they will become your customers and even purchase from you multiple times.
Now how great is that? Fantastic, I think you’ll agree!
OK, there you have it; 6 little know ways to increase sales. Which ones are you going to put into practice today to boost your sales? I hope you will try at least one, if not all 6.
Why You Should Be A Content Creator And Not A Marketer
Labels are important. Most important are the ones that we give ourselves. How you define yourself will color the way you see yourself, and this in turn is going to influence the way that you interact with others, your happiness, your confidence and much more about you.
This is particularly true for people who are entrepreneurs and internet marketers. If you’re someone who works online, then you will be doing something that isn’t easily defined and that many people won’t really understand. What is it you do again? How do you make money without leaving the house??
And it also changes the way you feel about the work you do and the kind of path that you will end up pursuing.
But here’s a thought; have you ever considered shifting the way you describe yourself away from ‘internet marketer’ to ‘content creator’ instead?
Yes? No? Well here are a couple of reasons why you should be a content creator and not a marketer.
What’s in a name?
You might be wondering how you can just go ahead and change your label if you’re still doing the same job. Isn’t a content creator something entirely different from a digital marketer?
Well, not really! In all honesty, they are essentially the same, but the perception is very different.
These days, content marketing is the most effective option for any brand wanting to increase its visibility and status online.
Content marketing is necessary for SEO (because SEO is predicated on having content for Google to crawl) and it is synonymous with social media marketing (because one of the most important aspects of social media marketing is sharing content through your various channels).
And if you’re a content marketer who creates articles and videos for a blog, then chances are that you have the precise same goals as the marketers: getting your content seen.
The only difference is that a content marketer is someone who puts the ends first, whereas the content creator puts the quality content first. They put the value first. The content creator builds a brand and then promotes that brand with great multimedia content.
The marketer on the other hand looks at the market and asks how they can make money…
Why being a content creator is better for you
The thing is, the content creator – ironically – actually often makes more money.
That’s because they have a brand they believe in and they are putting more work into their content.
Both these things are not lost on readers who will end up wanting to spend more money as a result. And thanks to Google’s more recent changes, they’re not lost on the search algorithms either…
Then there’s the fact that content creators are happier. Why? Because they are working on something they love.
Success doesn’t come online quite as quickly as some marketers will have you believe. It takes a lot of time and even more work.
If you’re going to avoid letting this crush you and make you miserable, then you better ensure that you are doing it for the love and not because you have to!
Think about all the most wealthy and famous people online. How did they get there? From pedaling ‘make money’ eBooks? Or by creating an amazing YouTube channel and sharing a vibrant personality and talent for writing and production?
Content creation and marketing go hand in hand and rely heavily on each other, but by labeling yourself as a content creator rather than a marketer will change peoples perception of you, but perhaps more importantly, it may change your perception of yourself and that is priceless!
The Secret To Making Money Online
The Secret To Making Money Online
If someone were to ask you what the #1 ‘secret’ to making money online was, what would you say?
Any guesses? I’m sure that you can think of many answers to this question, I know I can!
Maybe you’d start by saying it’s to find a starving crowd. Or perhaps the best way is to build and nurture a list. Or to get in on the beginning of a hot new trend.
All of these are good answers.
And all of these are wrong. That’s a rather sweeping statement I know, but please bear with me for a minute!
THE big secret to making money online is one that crosses all niches, applies to all markets and marketers, and works just about every single time to make REAL money.
It’s how six and seven figure incomes are almost always earned and it’s also how YOU can begin earning 6 figures in the next 12 months.
Now then – before I reveal this ‘secret,’ let me warn you that you might have heard it before; in fact I can virtually guarantee it.
In fact, some online marketers have to hear this a dozen times or more before it really starts to sink in and that’s because the most powerful techniques often masquerade as something a bit boring. Or tedious. Or uninteresting; after all, taking a wheelbarrow full of cash to the bank is exciting but earning it is often something altogether different. And people also hear it so often that it becomes rather blase and it doesn’t get taken seriously which is a BIG mistake!
OK are you ready for the big reveal?
Here’s the ‘secret…’
“Find a profitable formula – and then SCALE it up.”
Yup. That’s it. Pretty simple, I know.
Yet 98% of marketers will never do it. And 97% of marketers will stay broke because of it.
Let’s say you spend time making the perfect product for a super hungry niche. You tweak the offer to get it converting sky high. You bring on affiliates to help you promote. Everything is in place. You launch, you have an extremely profitable week…
…and then what?
For most marketers, they will turn their attention to creating the next product and doing the entire process again. And because of that, they will leave a tremendous amount of money on the table.
If your offer sells for $19 and you’re converting at 5%, then you’re making $95 for every 100 people you send to your site. This doesn’t even include the list you’re building and will market to over and over again.
Now then, if you can buy those 100 visitors for $40, you’ve just make a profit of $55.
Buy 1,000 visitors and you’ve made $550.
Buy 10,000 visitors and you’ve made $5,500.
But wait, there’s more!
What if you add a backend product? Just one sale per 100 visitors of a $100 product increases your profit from $55 to $155.
10,000 visitors? $15,500 profit.
You can also add coaching, continuity (membership) programs, etc. for even more profit.
Are you following me here?
Let’s use an analogy: Someone invests 3 months to open a hair salon. They have a big grand opening with lots of customers. And when that dies down, they close shop, move across town and do it all over again.
Yeah, that would be pretty crazy. Yet that’s what 98% of online marketers do; they create a product, launch it, have a great week and then start all over again, and they wonder why they are still struggling.
So what’s the takeaway?
- Invest time in building a profitable, high-converting funnel.
- Test it out and do the math – how much can you spend on advertising and still make money?
- Start by investing small and ramp your way up.
- Don’t forget to build your list – your funnel is your upfront money, and your list is your “go to” money. That is, whenever you need funds or simply want to boost your income, you can go to your list and make them an offer.
What will derail you in this process:
- Getting lured away by the glamour of creating another new product funnel when you should be scaling up the one you already have.
- Fear of spending money to make money. Yes, spending $1000 or more to make sales is scary. That’s why you want to start small, make sure your entire funnel is working, and then scale up. And up. And Up.
Your biggest mistake – would be brushing this advice off. Don’t be that person who thinks, “Yeah, yeah, heard it all before!” You may have heard this information/advice before but have you actually implemented it?!?
Fortunes have been made simply by creating a profitable funnel and then scaling it up.
FORTUNES.
As in nearly 7 figures made from one Clickbank product…
Per MONTH.
That’s right – 6 Pack Abs at the pinnacle of its success was earning over $11 million per year. So, it works plain and simple!
Now, your results will vary; there is never any guarantee but isn’t it nice to have this information and now you (hopefully) understand the power of it, you can actually take action on it!
Winning Tactics For Increasing Conversions
Winning Tactics For Increasing Conversions
Increasing conversions begins at home.
Many marketers believe that they have a traffic problem, but this is rarely the case. Traffic is everywhere! You can find free traffic via social media and forums or you can pay for traffic via advertising. However, if your visitors aren’t buying, then traffic isn’t going to help! You need to be able to convert your visitors into buyers and there are a few solid principles that you can follow to increase your chances of this.
By the way, if you want a handy resource to refer to about increasing your conversions I have a great free checklist that will become an incredibly useful tool for you, and you can get it here.
K.I.S.S. i.e. keep it simple
You need to ensure that people who reach your website are able to take immediate action, without being confused in the process. Guide them by the hand and show them exactly what you want them to do; don’t assume anything.
For example, if you are sending people to a landing or squeeze page, you want the incentive offer to be bold, upfront and centre and the opt-in form above the fold, so they don’t have to scroll down to see your opt-in form.
It is absolutely critical to make sure you’re using a powerful headline to grab their immediate attention, and are featuring benefits via bullet-point style so that the information is broken down, easy on the eye and simple to digest.
Here are some other things to bear in mind:
Make Visitors Do Less Work.
If you are sending visitors to a squeeze or landing page, it’s important that you only ask for the information that you absolutely need. The more information you ask for, the less likely they are to opt-in. People guard their personal details jealously and with good reason.
Keep it Simple (again)!
Bearing the previous point in mind, your opt-in form should only ask for their name and email address to minimise objection and increase your opt-in conversion rate. Remember that you can segment your lists later when your subscribers begin to open and respond to your various email campaigns, but to maximize opt-in rates, you need to keep it really simple.
It shouldn’t take your visitor more than a few seconds to fill in the required information, so they can subscribe to your list.
Minimize The Need For Too Much Navigation
Keep the page crisp and clean so that you don’t confuse visitors about what action they should take. A confused visitor will likely leave the page and may never return so you need to make it as straightforward as possible for them. Remove ALL unnecessary words and navigational options.
Spend more time on an awesome headline than on graphics because a compelling headline will capture their attention and convince them to continue reading every single word on your page until you have closed the deal. It really is that powerful and can persuade visitors into becoming buyers, and makes believers out of the sceptics. Simply put, less is more.
Copy What Is Working For Others
Become an avid study of successful landing and squeeze pages from competitors within your niche and save yourself time by designing your opt-in pages around what has proven to work. You really do not need to reinvent the wheel here and if you know a page is working for someone else, then it makes sense to use a similar formula in your offers.
Offer An Irresistible “Bribe”
You need to ensure that you are offering something of clear value that resonates with your target audience. Don’t try to be something to everyone on one squeeze page. Create different offers/pages for different types of potential customers. This way you can really start to segment your lists up front so that you’re really able to connect and communicate with specific customers via your email sequences which are tailored to their specific interests. This can have a massive effect on open rates and engagement as you are writing specifically to their wants/needs/desires/concerns.
OK, you have put all the above into action. Great, so what is next; how can you increase conversion rates even more?
Well, next, you need to understand the importance of a powerful USP and how it’ll set you apart from the competition. And believe me, it’s a game changer.
Do you know what an USP is?
Basically, it’s what will allow you to stand out from your competition so that you’re able to maximize sales and build a brand recognized for value.
Arguably, one of the most important elements of branding is to find your company’s Unique Selling Proposition, or USP.
Some people call this the Unique Selling Point. Either way, your brand needs to offer something that makes you different – something they don’t, can’t or won’t offer – to differentiate you from your competitors. What is it that makes you different or unique? Why should someone choose your company or products over your competitors? You really need to spend time figuring this out and then you need to integrate that USP into your sales copy as well as all other aspects of your sales funnel. It needs to be everywhere, in all aspects of your copy, blog posts etc. so people can see it and (hopefully) resonate with it.
Most likely, your product will already have a USP; your job is to identify what that is, and highlight it in your sales copy and marketing campaigns.
It all begins by evaluating your product objectively. Ask the following questions to help you find its USP:
- How can it improve someone’s life?
- How can it help your prospect?
- What does it offer that other products fail to provide?
- Is your product easier to use than the competitions?
Now, it goes without saying that before you even think about creating your USP, you need to know your target audience. Again, here are some questions to get you started:
- What is most important to them?
- What are they struggling with the most?
- How can you truly connect to your target audience?
- What is their greatest challenge?
The closer you know your audience, the easier it will be to develop a USP that means something to them. This process will enable you to create an ideal customer avatar; give them a name too! The more you know about this “person”, the better.
There are many different strategies that you can use to create a USP for your product. Direct marketing legend Dan Kennedy uses a specific question that he needs to answer to identify the USP and that question is, “Why should I choose to do business with you versus your competitor?” The very reason that you created a product in the first place could hold the key to defining your USP.
Think about how your product is different than others on the marketplace; how does it add more value? How does it address a question, concern or simplify a process, such as reducing a learning curve, saving your customers time or money?
Your USP will differentiate you from your competition; more than any other aspect of a marketing campaign ever will.
Follow these simple strategies and I can virtually guarantee that your conversions will increase. And this will result in more opt-ins so you will have a bigger list to market to and hopefully more sales and profit for you.
So, get it done! 😉
11 Things You Should Know About Internet Marketing
11 Things You Should Know About Internet Marketing
Using the internet to promote goods and services for your business is generally known as internet marketing or online marketing. This process may also be referred to as electronic marketing, e-marketing and e-commerce.
Internet marketers use a wide variety of strategies to make their business visible to their target audience, or niche. These strategies include SEO (search engine optimization), blogging, direct marketing, email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing and the list goes on.
There are many advantages and disadvantages that come with internet marketing as a business model and we are going to be looking at a few in this article.
Advantages
There are many advantages that come with having an online internet marketing business and these include cost, reach, technology, 24/7 availability of products/services. These are primarily customer advantages, but the business benefits include reliable data collection, quick competitive analysis and personalisation.
1. Cost
Compared to traditional brick and mortar or offline marketing, it is much cheaper to promote your business online using the internet and this is especially true about advertising. In fact, there are many ways to promote your business online for FREE! Unlike traditional ad media such as the TV and newspapers, your online ad spend will be a fraction of what it costs to promote a business traditionally. As well as being cost-effective, internet marketing is also time-saving because it takes less time to find prospects, turn them into buyers (hopefully) and complete their transactions.
As there are little to no overhead costs, the returns on investment (ROI) that comes with online marketing far exceed that of traditional marketing. If you have a good target market and laser focused marketing strategy, you will get higher and (sometimes) instant returns on the money you spend when placing online ads. And don’t forget that many of these techniques are completely free and will still yield good returns.
Staffing costs will also be lower when compared to a more traditional offline business. Hiring costs for virtual assistants is far less than on the high street and you can outsource all over the world!
Cash flow is also often improved. As consumers pay for the product before it is dispatched, this helps to improve the cash flow for the company, making sure that the business can pay any suppliers and other costs (such as online marketing tools) on time.
2. Reach
There’s also the advantage of being able to get in front of a global audience with your online business (unlike a traditional business that is normally restricted within a specific boundary of operation). This opens up so many new opportunities and even allows you to compete on a global scale, even with the big guys! If you already have a traditional business, it is a good idea to move some of your operations online, so that even if your offline office is closed for business, customers and prospects will still be able to visit your website and place their orders.
3. Technology
The amazing technology that powers the web, and also your online business is one of the major benefits of hosting your business online. And the technologies are only going to get better and more sophisticated as time goes by. With reliable auto-responder services, you don’t have to worry about your emails being delivered (email marketing) to your target audience in a timely manner; delivery is almost instant! And you can even schedule emails to go out on a daily/weekly basis on autopilot! On the other hand, the traditional direct mailing system can take days, or even weeks to deliver mail to their destinations, especially when you are mailing globally.
4. Availability
There is no time restriction on when a consumer can shop online because the internet is always available. Many online sales now start at midnight on a particular day encouraging customers to shop all hours of the day. For example, many retailers will start post-Christmas sales on the 26th of December at 00.00, but many consumers are starting to shop even on Christmas Day itself!
5. Data collection
Every time a customer interacts with your business, that interaction is captured. The business can then use this data in a number of ways. To start with, information can be analysed to find out which are the most popular products/services being sold. Secondly the data can be used to assist in segmenting their customers, profiling them and sending customers promotional material based on past buying habits. This can even go a step further with potential customers, as you can now retarget them with ads based upon their browsing history, so they see relevant, targeted ads tempting them back to buy.
There has been much controversy over the amount of information that is being collected online by various companies. This is of particular importance when it comes to social networking sites and there has been many a debate as to whether customers should be able to opt out of that information being shared to third party users.
6. Competitive analysis
Any business owner knows that it is important to analyse your competitors. The internet allows businesses to analyse their competitors’ online strategy quickly and easily. You can keep an eye on what new products they are releasing, react to any price changes, or use the internet to discover all sorts of secondary data on your competition. The internet allows you to react quickly to any change in a competitor’s strategy, and enables you to try to provide a service that at least matches, but preferably beat your competitors. Just keep in mind that they can do this too!
Browsing competitor websites can also provide a wealth of background information about the business such as:
- Accounts and trading activity
- Company objectives, culture and ethos
- The size of the company
- Where they are located physically (if appropriate), number and type of sites that the business operates from
The internet often has information about your competitors (and you) which is prepared by independent organisations which are not connected to competitors so the data should be reliable.
7. Personalisation
When customers log into their accounts, a business can make their web experience almost unique. Using a membership portal which requires them to login is definitely a preferred option here as there are so many benefits, from offering special offers to that particular customer, offering an add-on to their recent purchase, (much like Amazon does), or by allowing the customer to personalise their own products, like Nike does with their trainers. Personalisation allows the business to form stronger bonds online with customers who they don’t have any physical interaction with, and this helps to form long term online relationships thus ensuring customers come back regularly.
Disadvantages
Not everything is rosy! There are always going to be some disadvantages to any type of business and internet/online marketing is no different. Some of these include loneliness, motivation, no face-to-face contact, and once again technology!
1. Loneliness
Do not underestimate this! Many people dream about working from home and living the “laptop lifestyle” but it can be pretty lonely working on your own, especially in the beginning when you may see little reward for your efforts. Try to involve those closest to you such as a spouse, family and friends.
2. Motivation
This is intrinsically linked to point 1. If you are lonely, not seeing much reward for your efforts, and have negative people surrounding you (we all do), it can be very difficult to stay motivated. This is a trial which pretty much ALL online entrepreneurs MUST overcome to become successful, but this is a very real danger and can have a serious impact on your relationships, but you need to hang in there because the rewards are well worth it!
3. Face-to-face contact with customers
This is a real downside to online marketing; the lack of a tangible physical connection. Limited face to face contact really is one of the major drawbacks of internet marketing because nothing beats having a potential customer in front of you. Businesses that are solely based online aren’t usually able to build strong personal rapport with their customers. As a result, there is the possibility that they may lose some of their customers to more traditional competitors who use strong customer service tactics. But the good thing is that more and more people are turning their buying power online for the convenience it provides so all is not lost!
4. Technology(!)
Ah, so you have probably noticed that this can be an advantage AND a disadvantage! The virtual nature of internet marketing increases marketing complexity. When you are just starting out it can quickly become confusing when trying to choose which online marketing techniques will become profitable.
Customers also face complexities in the aspects of shopping online and may have security concerns leading the un-informed consumers to stick to conventional buying rather than enduring such online purchase complexities.
And there are such a myriad of tools to accomplish a particular task that it can quickly become overwhelming. Just look at the number of auto-responder services, domain name providers, hosting providers, page builders and it can quickly lead to despair. In fact, this is probably the number one reason why many budding entrepreneurs give up before they even really get started which is a real shame.
Don’t be one of those people; if you want to learn more about the technical basics of having an online business, I have a fantastic free report that you can download here.
So, there you have it. 11 things you should know about internet marketing broken into the advantages and potential disadvantages of internet marketing and running an online business. I’m sure you will agree that the advantages definitely outweigh any potential pitfalls. So, what are you waiting for? Go out there and claim your slice of the online pie, and if you want to remove the confusion around the technical aspect of running an online business, then download the Internet Marketing Startup Report now.