A statistic I see quoted a lot is that only 5% of those operating small businesses over the internet are making any real money. Many never even break even. Let’s take just a moment to look at why that might be.
Most people operating a business over the internet use the copycat principal. They see how somebody else is running their business and then copy them. This would be great if they copied the right business. If a business technique or plan is working for someone else, there is no reason to believe it will not work for you too, if circumstances are duplicated. The problem is – far too many people are copying techniques used by those who aren’t having much luck. Rule number 1 should be COPY THE 5%.
Actually, the 5% are all to happy to share their success secrets with you – and do every day. The 95% read these shared secrets but don’t apply them. What are some of these secrets we’re talking about?
– Develop and use good headlines in your ads. The headline is what gets your copy read. Spend some time developing effective ones.
– If you are trying to sell something, tell the prospect what Benefits are in it for him.
– Follow up. It’s relatively difficult to sell a big ticket item from a small classified ad, or even from a web site to first time visitors. Therefore you must have a way to capture their email address and follow up. People are often interested in an item, but forget about it before getting a chance to act on that interest. It’s your job to refresh their memory.
– Professional image is everything. There are over 350 million pages floating around in cyberspace. Yours must be professional looking to instill confidence in your prospect. That generally means having your own domain name on a professionally hosted site.
– Repetition. You don’t see this one mentioned too much, but a prospect needs to see your offer many times before it registers consciously. That’s why you see the same ads over and over in the newspaper and on tv. Once you have an ad that works, stick with it and make sure it’s in front of the prospect when he is ready to order.
– Relationships make sales. We are social beings. We buy from those we know and trust. This means giving as much as you take. An example of this would be posting helpful suggestions on bulletin boards, or pointing out spelling errors you notice on a website. If you are helpful, when the person helped is in the market for a product similar to yours, you will be a natural choice to order from.
This is call to action for anyone not in the 5% to join us. Go back and look at your business practices. Ask yourself if you are following the lead of the 5% or of the 95%. If you are not sure who the 5% is, they are the names you have seen since your first day surfing the internet. Several of them have written books or courses. They all have large, frequently updated, easily navigated websites. They all offer lots of helpful information on their websites.
On the other hand, the 95% are the ones placing classified ads promising you’ll make $100,000 overnight. Their websites are loaded down with tons of banners on each page (making the page so slow to load that most visitors leave before the page has even loaded). Use the copycat principal and other proven techniques, but make sure you’re doing it right.
Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing for
over 9 years. Take advantage of his uncanny insights and
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