Every year that goes by it gets both easier and harder to make money on the Internet. It gets easier, as more resources and knowledge become available and it gets harder, as more and more people enter the marketplace selling the same or similar products.
Today I’ll review the basics required for success to see how we measure up.
You Need A Salable Product
You would think I wouldn’t need to even say this, but the truth is over 90% of the products we see advertised on the Internet don’t sell well enough to earn a profit.
A salable product is a product with an existing and motivated market that has the ability and inclination to buy. What you don’t want is the second or third best product in any niche market.
A good product should be at least 50% profit. If you intend on advertising your product it MUST sell for enough to pay for advertising out of your profits.
If you can control your product you have more options and will make more sales as a result. The more unique your product is the less competition you will have. It’s better to acquire more customers than on the highest profit possible per sale.
You Need Access To Your Target Market
So you have the ideal product and you have identified a target market of motivated buyers. You have to be able to reach them with your message or they won’t even know your product exists.
If your product is too inexpensive you won’t be able to afford to reach your potential buyers.
A potentially good product might sell for $25 to $200 with a profit of $25 to $100. Products near the lower end must be in more demand and products at the higher end must be targeted more carefully. For example, not everyone that wants to own a motor home can afford to buy one. Don’t waste time or money reaching folks that are not qualified to buy your product.
Develop your own USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Your USP is a clear statement why you are the unique preferred source for your product, service or information. Communicate your USP to all your prospects in all of your marketing, if they remember nothing else they must remember your Unique Selling Proposition in order to have a reason to return.
You need To Earn Their Trust
Trust has become more an important factor each year. People tend to trust marketing that doesn’t require hype to get the message across. Our prospects want reliable, verifiable information in order to make an informed buying decision with confidence.
Believe it or not, people want you to earn profit, but you must earn their confidence first. It’s important to build a clean simple website, write brief informative sales letters and ad copy and offer options to get more free information. Good Information, and free content, are important sales tools.
Good products have a way of selling themselves, give your prospects the facts and tell them why it’s in their interest to buy your product.
You need to Follow Up
Almost 100% of the costs associated with marketing go into acquiring that first contact. However, only a very small percentage of people buy on their first visit.
Your first and most important challenge is to earn a return visit, a bookmark, an email address, or the relationship may end at that first visit.
Good relationships develop trust over time and establish your expertise. One of the best ways to establish a good relationship with your prospects is to offer free information related to your expertise. It’s also important to ask for feedback.
You may sell your prospect on the value of your product or service but if they can’t find you again when they decide to buy they may buy an inferior product from someone else.
Probably the most effective technique is to offer a series of content rich follow-up email messages that go out automatically over a few days or weeks. Your follow up system’s purpose is to offer compelling content in bite-sized chunks. Your follow-up system works your prospects like a street actor. Offering them enough information to hold their attention, and long enough to EARN the opportunity to pass the hat.
You Need Repeat Business
Since almost all of your costs are associated with that first sale your most profitable sale will always be to your existing satisfied customers. The real work is earning their trust, and after you have earned it you are considered a preferred provider for related products.
If you offer products and services to your existing customers, make double sure you have purchased them yourself and you are 100% satisfied. Never sell a product to anyone you don’t already own and recommend; that’s common sense but people continue to sell products they don’t know all the time.
Don’t get greedy or take advantage of your trusting relationship with your existing customers, it only takes one bad recommendation or disappointment to lose a trusting customer.
Consider selling products that must be purchased again and again. Direct and network marketers have long understood the value of selling products that get used up and are purchased again and again. Amway built an empire selling soap; everyone uses it and buys it over and over.
Services and memberships may be renewable, and make excellent follow up products for your existing customers. Your customers will welcome your special offers for related products and services even if you don’t own or control the products yourself.
Better customer service and stronger relationships make satisfied customers, which earn referrals, which can be a huge source of new business.
You Need An Ongoing Source Of Fresh Leads
In order to grow, you’ll need a program in place to acquire constant stream of new prospects. Your products will not sell to everyone, so it’s important to have an effective and affordable client acquisition program.
Prime the pump; roll over a significant portion of your profits into new markets and into new products for newly identified markets which you may have overlooked when you started.
Consider creating a referral reward plan to show your appreciation to those who give you referrals and encourage them to send you even more customers in the future.
Summing Up
These are the most timeless and important considerations in developing your Internet Business. In order to be successful we must learn to treat our business like a business – not a hobby.
Contrary to the hype you read everywhere, it’s not easy to be successful in any business. If it was easy, anyone could do it, and everyone would be successful.
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Robert Smith owns a full info site about investment clubs. Check Out his site at http://www.ez-investment-clubs.com
