When someone visits your website, is it all about you? Do you talk about how you work, your qualifications, your past customers? The truth is, Nobody Cares About You ' yet.



When you are networking, emailing, direct mailing, blogging, etc., is it all about you and how you work?

When people are first touched by your marketing message, they are really only concerned about themselves and their problems. They want solutions to their problems and they want their needs met. Initially, your education, your process and experience are the last things they care about.

For example, today I was looking for a way to repair my washing machine. I went to the manufacturer's website and the only thing on my mind was how to get my washing machine fixed as fast and inexpensively as possible. I did not care about their huge new product line or their store locations. However, if my washer could not be repaired, then I might be interested.

In another example, I received a sales letter email from an information products expert, selling me on his teleclass. In the first 7 sentences, he said I or me 11 times. If I hadn't been interested in the topic, I would have deleted the email before I finished those 7 sentences.

Your first tasks in marketing include making an emotional connection with the prospect so you can begin to build a relationship, and giving them information on solving their problems and fulfilling their needs. By focusing on the prospect, your target prospect will stay on your website long enough to actually read what you worked so hard to write!

An appropriate target market comes into play in a big way here. If you are trying to appeal to everyone, your message gets watered down so you can appeal to lots of people. This is worse than talking about yourself! By narrowing the aim of your message to a narrow segment of the entire marketplace, you can then make that vital emotional connection that keeps your prospect interested enough to join your mailing list, make a purchase or tell someone else about you.

If you have ever gone to a business networking meeting, you have certainly heard people recite their laundry list during their introductions. It goes something like this, "Good morning; my name is Sue Smith and I have been a real estate agent for 17 years. I help people buy and sell homes in the blah blah area, so if you know anyone who is looking to buy or sell a home, please tell them about me."

As soon as the next person begins their intro, you have already completely forgotten what's-her-name. She has talked about herself, has no target market and has not addressed the problems or needs of anyone.

Get to know your target very well and you will understand their problems and their needs and can then address them in all your marketing. One of the most important places for this information is on your website ' all pages of your website! While the home page is of utmost importance in keeping visitors interested in all you have to offer, you need to remember that your entire website is there to market your business ' not just the home page.

Even your 'about me' page should be marketing your business. Remember, your prospects care about solving their problems and meeting their needs; nobody cares about you!

Copyright (c) 2008 Audrey Burton