Web Success Secret #4) Monetization Will Flow When All Steps Have Been Followed.

You may be a bit surprised to learn that monetization is the last of the 4 steps.  Many business owners position monetization as their first goal.  Everything they do from conception of the business is geared towards making money.  After all, that is the point of owning your own web business, right?

When I first learned of the four step approach to making successful web businesses, I was a bit skeptical.  I have never heard of such a risky business idea- think of making money as the last goal.  That sounded absurd to me! In all of my small business education the emphasis was on profit charts and balance sheets and projected annual returns.  Being online does change some things.  One of those things is how you start and run a long term and profitable business.

Following the process of starting a web business often involved very little capital.  The risk is typically much lower and the return on investment arrives in a shorter time span.  Because of this you have a unique advantage to allow the natural progression of your site visitors come into play.

Let’s back up a bit and review.  People search for information, not products, online.  They are not looking to spend money.  They type in their search query at the search engines.  Your site should be on the first page.  You should know how to provide a killer title and description that makes the potential visitor want to click on your site.

Once they are on your site, their objective has not changed.  They still want information.  So give it to them.  As you provide valuable content that satisfies your visitors, you should be developing trust and positioning yourself as the expert.  Make recommendations to your products or services. This is the natural progression of an online visitor.  They want information, they find you, they receive answers from you, they develop trust in you and think of you as an expert.  It is only when those criteria have been met that you gain customers.

Let me repeat that last line because it is the most important line in the entire 4 part series: it is only when the first three steps have been met that you earn income. The goods news is once you finish the first three steps (content, traffic, and pre-selling) you will continue to pull in hot, targeted traffic from the search engines month after month.  All of this traffic is totally free!  No advertising costs! Monetization naturally occurs.

There are a few things you can do to help increase your conversion rates:

- Only recommend 2-3 services or products.  Having more than this makes it difficult for your visitor to decide which is best for them.  It is also very difficult for you to recommend them all.

- Place graphics of your product or service on each page of your content website.  This allows visitors to see your offerings more than once.

- Write a monthly newsletter and provide excellent content.  Also provide a special on one of your services/products.

- Test everything- price points, graphics, sales page, etc.

As I mentioned earlier, it is best to work smarter and not harder.

Previous parts
4 Secrets to Turn Any Business Into a Successful Web Business- Part 1
4 Secrets to Turn Any Business Into a Successful Web Business- Part 2
4 Secrets to Turn Any Business Into a Successful Web Business- Part 3

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Welcome back to “The Five Stages Of The Buying Cycle” series. In the previous part we discussed the “Grow Interest” part. Today we carry on with the “Build Credibility” part.

This is the stage where you convince your visitors that your product is the right choice for them. Actually, when done correctly, they convince themselves!

This is probably the easiest stage to accomplish because your product really must OVERdeliver on every promise. Create a ton of impressive landing pages and videos to help you. Show off your product’s delighted customers and other evidence of powerful results and you’ll make the sale!

The old phrase “people buy on emotion and justify with logic” is very evident during this stage. They need to feel the “emotion” from happy customers and find solid “logic” in the extensive proof of success, and comparisons with competitors, that you deliver. And you can deliver… in spades.

Build emotion as you build your “logic case.” Challenge your visitors to find proof of success. Challenge them to find a package so complete or a company that really cares as much. And…

Remind them to return to your product one last time if they are ever tempted to fall for “the lure” of any other system. If they compare, if they weigh the proof, your Conversion Rate will soar.

By the time your visitors complete this stage, they should (must!) understand that your product is so much more than…
Your product changes lives in so many ways, beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Naturally, your visitors also want to be sure that your product is the best…

Previous parts:
1. Introduction
2. Get Attention
3. Grow Interest

The seven eBooks below follow up with this post. You can get them free just by replying or giving a comment to this post. RECOMMENDED!!

For the next five days we go through the five stages of the buying cycle. Today we start with an introduction. I strongly recommend to grab the seven free eBooks that go along with this series. You can get them at the bottom of this post! Okay, here we go…

Your visitors arrive on your site (or read your zine, blog, etc.) at various stages of readiness to buy your product!…

1) Get attention!

Use landing pages designed to create awareness and get attention for customers who are…

* completely unfamiliar with online marketing
* slightly interested in online marketing or building an online business
* considering if/how to make money online
* failing at current efforts and looking for a better way (a huge category)
* seriously looking for ways to make money online (but don’t know your product yet).

2) Grow interest!

Once customers know about your product, they are ready for the next set of specialized landing pages! These people may be…

* interested, but want to know exactly what the heck your product is or does
* seeking more information about the process and tools
* ready for benefit-focused copy that is specifically relevant to them.

3) Build credibility!

At a certain point, your pre-customers move from info-gathering to credibility-seeking! These prospective new lifetime customers are…

* currently evaluating various online marketing products, including your product
* considering your product, but are unsure or otherwise have questions
* seeking reassurance about your product (history and position)
* comparing your product to others (ex., “Get Rich Quick” and old-fashioned Web hosting).

4) Involve!

Some customers are extremely careful, diligent info-seekers. Repeat exposure to high-value, free information and tools is perfect here. These folks are…

* getting closer, but need more exposure or “comfort” about your product
* procrastinating, so stay in front of them with free tools and info
* thinking seriously about your product and just need reassurance.

5) Close the sale!

The entire process funnels down to the final two landing pages. These pages shift from PREselling to SELLING. “Get the sale” from customers who are…

* ready to buy your product but have not made the final commitment
* 99% of the way there and are merely looking for the final reason to buy
* all the way there and are merely looking for the Order Page!

The above stages are meant to help you think about your customers’ mindset stages within the buying cycle. Keep in mind that they are not discrete stages…

* Each customer is at a slightly different place in the buying cycle.
* One customer buys within 24 hours of “attention-getting,” another may take months.
* And of course, you don’t deal with just one customer at a time. Of 1,000 visitors, each will be at a slightly different spot along the “Attention-to-Order” process.

So… your job is to move them all ever-closer to the final two “closer pages.” How do you address all of their needs?

* By understanding who your customers are and what they need (some only need 1 exposure to your product by you, but it needs to be the right one!).
* By choosing the appropriate landing pages to blend into your editorial content.
* Through repeat exposure, reaching them in different ways with different messages.

Your “time to sale” and Conversion Rate are directly related to how well and how many times you reach your target audience through different landing pages.

The seven eBooks below go along with this post. You can get them free just by replying or giving a comment to this post.  RECOMMENDED!!

With all the changes in Google AdWords and the increased competition these days, organic SEO looks more and more attractive to most of us.

The key is for your website optimization to out-perform your competition, without over spending with an online marketing consultant (or without taking up too much of your time if you’re going the do-it-yourself route).

Remember, affordable Search Engine Optimization is about increasing quality traffic, then

• converting
• that traffic to a sale or a sales lead.

If you miss these points I describe below, your SEO goals of increased conversions will tank, even if you have a Number 1 Google Ranking.

I often notice these missed areas when I’m Coaching a business owner about their Web site and their need to increase sales and sales leads.

So, here are 3 points for you to review that I hope will help your SEO goals of increased conversions.

What’s Above the Fold Counts Most, so Consider Monitor Resolutions

Living in the world of TV remote controls and browser back buttons, we have to capture our website visitors’ attention ASAP. Our visitors aren’t going to give us much time before making a decision to stay or to leave our website.

As much as this subject is discussed these days, it’s amazing the number of sites I review that have critical information missing from “above the fold”, in that area visible before your visitors scroll down.

This is the area to briefly summarize what people can do on your site and make your best case for your guests staying on your website and not clicking away. This may also be the area to place your contact information.

Keep in mind that what’s above the fold on your monitor will likely be different from what’s above the fold on the monitor for someone visiting your website. Browser resolution is set differently for various computers.

For instance, on my website, I know the top resolution of my visitors is 1280 by 1024 (53%) and the second most popular resolution is 1024 by 768 (37%). I get this information from my site’s analytics script, although not all analytics programs provide this critical information.

Since I make sure my site looks great for these 90% of my visitors and make sure I communicate reasons to stay on my site above the fold (my value proposition), I draw more people into my site, encouraging them to scroll down.

Remember to cross test your site with recent versions of the most popular Web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and maybe even Google’s new Chrome.

These steps raise my conversion rate and they will raise yours, too. And increasing traffic and conversions is the whole point of affordable search engine optimization, whether using an online marketing consultant or d-i-y, right?

So, don’t miss this important step.

Carefully Select Your Type Size and Font and Remember that White Space is Your Friend

I’m astounded by the improper text choices made by so many website owners today. Is there really any good reason to make people squint at your website, struggling to get the information they need?

Consider reviewing The Easy to Read Standard at Information Architects (you can Google it). I would encourage you to review the size of your text, the white space between your letters and words and between your paragraphs and headings.

Designers often believe whitespace is your enemy; if you want people to understand your message and stay on your website, whitespace is in fact your friend.

Also consider that fonts with serifs are easier to read than fonts without serifs.

If you want to successfully convey your message to as many of your site visitors as possible, then make it as easy for them as you can. When we’re talking about increasing conversions, it’s all about the numbers and appealing to the largest number of people possible.

Use Opt-in Email or Blog Postings to Maximize Your Sales

All website owners would like for people to buy from their website the first time they visit. But is that realistic?

Consider these statics from the National Sales Executive Association:

• 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact;
• 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact;
• 5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact;
• 10% of sales are made on the 4th contact (and)
• 80% of sales are made on the 5th – 12th contact.

For most businesses, if you don’t offer an opt-in contact, like a regular email newsletter or blog postings, you’re missing out on most of your potential sales!

When setting up an opt-in Internet marketing campaign, you should offer incentives to subscribe. To entice people to opt-in, you can offer:

• special pricing for email list members
• a first look at new products
• ability for customer to select subjects and emails they receive (controlling the frequency of contact by choosing which of your lists to be on)
• promise not to share email or other personal info with other companies

Using opt-in contact allows you to significantly increase conversions by introducing yourself over time to your potential customers, in a soft-sell manner.

Website optimization is important; the goal is increased Internet traffic, sales and sales leads. But whether you’ve hired an online marketing consultant or you’re doing the process yourself, Affordable search engine optimization by itself doesn’t accomplish those last points of increased sales and sales leads.

You’ve got to remember to design your website to alleviate visitors natural apprehensions and make buying from you as easy as possible.

Properly mapping out the above the fold area of your Web pages, using appropriate size text, using adequate whitespace and offering an opt-in process to nurture your buyers will all help you accomplish the real goals you have with SEO and website optimization: increased sales and more sales leads.

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