I recently got a call from a good buddy of mine.  It went something like this:

"hey, can you check out my new website and tell me what you think"

"Ok, yup here it is, um, great, well, it looks nice but it won't sell anything"

"Well, what do you mean, we just had it professionally designed"
"Well for starters, there is no headline, no call to action and no sales copy"

See, my buddy is a computer network specialist.  He has a company that operates locally in his city and provides networking solutions to other companies.  They will go in and maintain a network, set up security, set up software and so on in their clients place of business.  He has a buddy who is an advertising guy - builds websites and the likes.  So here he is with his new website all set up.

The website looks very corporate, tells a litle bit about what they do - describes some of their services.

I said, OK, right now your website looks like all the other websites out there in your field.  Why should a client do business with you above any and all other options available to them?

He couldn't answer.  See, this is the USP - the Unique Selling Proposition.  What is it that sets you apart - what makes you different, why should anyone do business here?  He never defined what he does or what he sells.

Next question, where is your call to action?

"my what?"

What is it you want people to do once they come to your site?

"Oh, well, I don't know, I thought I just had to put up a nice site"

(oh, please)

See, my buddy doesn't even have a clear, defined sales process.  I said, OK, let's work backwards here.  How do you get new business?

"Well, all I know is that if I can meet with a prospect, there is a pretty good chance I can close them"

OK, now we are getting somewhere.

"OK, so if that is the case, then your website needs to sell a meeting.  You need to irritate a problem that your client would have and then offer to solve the problem by coming in to their business and having a free consultation.  Your website needs to sell the free meeting.  Then you can close them"

Now he was starting to see the light.

See, BEFORE you get started on all of this, you need to take a minute and clearly define your sales process.  What steps do you want your prospect to take?  Make them easy steps to take, tell them what to do, hold their hand as they do it.  Guide them along.  If your business works when you have a meeting with a prospect, then any marketing you do needs to be focussed on getting that meeting.  Print advertising, website, all need to be targeted towards getting that meeting.  The first thing that the prospect should see when they come to your website should be a good headline - one that draws them in and irritates the problem.  The solution to their problem needs to be for them to invite you to a meeting, and then make it very easy for them to set up the meeting right there.

If you can sell face to face, then your website needs to set that up.

It is too bad my buddy didn't ask me for help BEFORE he set up his site.  What a waste of a website

Your USP is your Unique Selling Proposition.

This is the identity that you create that sets you apart from your competitors in your marketplace.  This is the answer to the question in your customer's minds "why should I do business here?".

One thing that you have to remember though, as you develop your USP, is that you need to make sure that your USP addresses a concern that actually exists in your marketplace.

If your USP boasts something about your business that you think is important to you but none of your customers find important, then you have missed the mark.  If you have a Pizza shop and you are bragging about how fast you can deliver the pizzas but most of your customers are walk-in customers and they actually come there because of the taste of your pizza, then you have missed the mark.  You are promoting a feature of your business that is not relevant to your customers.

As you set up your USP, make sure that you not only identify and address important features or benefits, make sure that they are the features and benefits that your marketplace is actually looking for.

Do you use PayPal to process your customer's payments? If not, you are one of the few people left on the planet who aren't taking advantage of this wonderful resource.

PayPal's multi-million client base is growing at the extraordinary rate of 28,000 new accounts daily, and their payment processing system is sheer perfection. Still, you may wonder why you should use PayPal to process your payments. What's in it for you? It's a fair question, and you deserve some good answers.

Versatility and Ease
PayPal is the most widely accepted payment system in the world. At the time of this writing, it is available in 38 countries, and the company has plans to continue expanding its services around the globe. That means you can do business on a global scale and get paid the same day.

The user-friendly interface makes it a breeze to sign up for a free consumer account, which allows the sending, receiving and requesting of payments. It's free and easy for all those happy potential customers to buy from you and pay you immediately for your product or service.

Upgraded PayPal accounts can even accept credit card payments without having to sign up for merchant accounts with credit card companies. Being able to accept cash or credit card payments opens you up to a wider client base.

Speed and Security
Using PayPal is a dream for buyers and sellers alike. Their checkout system allows for a quick and seamless online transaction that simply processes a payment with the click of a button. Your customers can even pay you from their mobile phone rather than waiting until they get home to their computer. No more waiting for a cheque in the mail. That alone is a good reason why you should use PayPal to process your payments.

Although much of the world now has at least some idea of how to stay safe online, many people are still nervous about the security risk of making purchases. PayPal's payment processing takes that worry away with their aggressive security measures. They use only secured servers and information is encrypted. No one ever sees the consumer's financial data, not even the person or company receiving payment. Customers can relax and feel safe using PayPal to complete a transaction with you, as their details cannot be stolen.

If a consumer has dealt with a verified seller and feels there is an issue with that seller, PayPal will step in and investigate. Their account holders are offered buyer protection and Safeweb Insurance. This is another feature that helps you to establish trust with clients, especially if they have never dealt with you before.

There are so many incredible reasons why you should use PayPal to process your payments. The ease, versatility, speed and security all make for smooth transactions that will leave both you and your customer happy.

Automate your digital product delivery and increase the security of your downloads with a unique piece of software at www.minisite-sales-system.com 

If so, then this is the place to be.  We are all about growing your small business, marketing your small business and most of all, seeing your business make money!

If you are looking for a way to grow your small business, then I first want you to stop and think about something…

When your customer leaves your place of business, how are you making money off of them?

You see, your customer has value to your when they are in your store or office but they also have value to you afterwards.

The trick here is to collect their contact information.  Did you do that?  Most businesses don't.  Why not?

The secret here is in the follow-up.  If your customer or client is a happy one, then why not sell them something again?  Send them an offer next week, next month, on their birthday, at Christmas, see, whenever you can.  And, best of all, the offer doesn't even have to be for your own business, you might partner with another company that serves the same market and do a joint venture or cross promotion!  A lot of companies don't think of this.

Ok, so let's say you offer a service, you are a massage therapist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, etc.  How often should someone use your services?   Once a month?  Once a week?  So, if someone hasn't been there for 3 months, why haven't you followed up with them?  Send them a cupon or a special offer to get them back in your door.

Let's say you offer a seasonal service to homeowners.  You offer a lawn cutting service.  Partner up with someone who offers snowplowing services and take a 10% commission for referring the business to them.

Auto shop?  Well, when someone comes in for service you are already writing down their name and address along with the information about their car, why not send them a reminder when their engine is due for a oil change or when their tires should be rotated?  Even better, let's say the customer was in last week and got some work done.  You noticed that their brakes were getting down but should be good for another 5,000 miles, great, make a note and send them a reminder in 2 months to come in and get their brakes fixed.  Send them a letter like "tired of your brakes squeaking?  Come in for a check-up".  The guy's wife probably came home the night before and said, "honey, I think the car is making a funny sound".  What a chance for a sale.

All you have to do here is go an extra little step and remind the customer to come in and use your service. They will even thank you for it!

Tags: affiliate marketing, niche marketing, article marketing, internet marketing, internet marketing tips

I think that the more important question than how to get traffic is "What are you going to do with that traffic once they come?".

And, strangely enough, more people wonder how to get more traffic and worry about all kind of different tricks and gimmicks than worry about servicing that traffic once it gets here.

What is the purpose of your website?  What is your conversion rate from viewer to opt-in to sale to backend sale?  Did you know that if you could tweak each of those steps just a bit, you could double the amount of money that you make with the same traffic you are already getting?  It's true.  If you could push your visitor to opt-in conversion rate from 40% to 50% and your opt-in to sale conversion rate from 25% to 35% then for every 100 visitors you go from (100 x 40% x 25% = 10) 10% visitor to sale conversion to (100 x 50% x 35% =  17.5%) 17.5% visitor to sale conversion.  You just increased your sales by 75%.

The more steps in your sales process, the bigger difference this will have to your final result.  If you would just leave your conversions alone, you would have to increase your traffic by 75% in order to increase your sales by 75% and that can get expensive.  First, work on your conversions and aim to increase each step of the sales process just a little bit.  It adds up very quickly and soon you will find yourself making more money with the same amount of traffic instead of worrying about getting more traffic.  Once you have this streamlined, then go out and get more traffic.  You will be rewarded many times over!

There is a funny mindset amongst some internet entrepreneurs and marketers that things online should be free. And this affects their businesses. Many people are drawn to the notion of free traffic to your website. Now, there are a few ways of get "organic" or "search" traffic and certainly it is nice when it happens but how does this come into play in a business model?

There are a few built-in downsides to the idea of free traffic. One is that it normally takes some time to build up. SEO or Search Engine Optimization can take months to produce results. First you have to put up your site, make changes, wait for results and repeat. Sounds easy enough but the search engines take time to produce the results and this whole process could take 3-6 months. Now depending on the purpose of your website, this might be acceptable, but if you are running a real business, you are sitting there loosing potential revenue as you wait around for your "free" traffic.

Let's compare that to paid traffic. Now understand that there are a number of sources of paid traffic available. You could buy advertising through Google Adwords on a Pay Per Click (PPC) basis, you can buy advertising on blogs or a lot of sites that get a good volume of traffic. Often these are based on the number of visitors such a site receives. You can buy advertising in online newsletters or ezines and so on. But, there are some distinct advantages to paid advertising.

First, you are in control of it. You can turn it on and off at will. Flip the switch (start paying for ads) and traffic comes in. Turn off the switch (pull the ads) and traffic stops. When you are ready to handle more sales, you turn up the volume of ads going out. No problem. When you are relying on free traffic, it can be unpredictable and not the best business model.

Secondly, with paid advertising, you can track your ads very easily. You know which ad or publication someone come to you from, you can get a good idea of what they searched for and what is going to interest them. This knowledge can help you build a better product or service because you can learn to target your customer better. When you are running a proper business, this information is very valuable to you because the better you can tailor your product or service to your customer, the more effectively you can market it.

I guess the biggest problem that people have is that they don't have a good plan or do proper testing before they get started. See, if you have a product or service that sells for X dollars, you need to know how much money you can spend to acquire a sale for it. Then you need to look over your conversion rates and how to improve them. See, a lot of people think that more traffic can solve their problem and boost sales. Well it can. But a more compelling offer and a better converting site can do it faster and cheaper. If you start at the beginning of the sales process and increase the conversions from surfers to clickers, from ad views to sales letter reads, from sales letter reads to sales, if each of these steps is slightly improved, then you start to see an exponential growth in sales for the same amount of traffic or the same number of visitors.

Once your site or sales letter converts traffic to dollars like a well-oiled machine, then turn up the traffic. Now you can go and pay for ads to get the word out. And when people find you online through an organic search, that is a bonus. But don't waste your time sitting there waiting for it.