Print Article for : Make A Profitable Website

Your Online Guide » Guide to Technology » Web Site Development

[M56]Make A Profitable Website

by John Abbott, Joh

1. Keep it Simple. Your site should be interesting, informative, simple and produce ACTION on the part of the visitor. Your website should really only do TWO things: produce a sale and/or capture an email address. Fancy graphics, differenct fonts, and colors can be difficult for the reader. Also, a lot of "bells and whistles" can slow down the loading of your webpage, causing your visitor to LEAVE. Keep it simple, make it fast loading and make the sale or get the email address.

2. Make use of auto responders. Most of the time, you will NOT make a sale on the first visit to your website. That is why you MUST capture the email address so you can follow-up. But NOT manually-use an auto-responder. An auto responder is a systematic way to send folow-up emails to those who did NOT buy on their first visit to your site. Once an auto-responder system is set-up, it can easily and effortlessly follow up for you. There are many good autoresponderers such as Aweber or Get response. Do a search for "auto responder" to find them. See what successful marketers are using and follow suit.

3. Use an URL that is easy to remember: An URL is a Uniform Resource Locator or the words you type in to find a website. Usually the shorter the better. If you are using an affilaite website, you may want to register a separte, simple domain name and then just use an URL redirect to forward visitors to your website.

4. Make it SIMPLE for your customers to pay. The days are long gone when a customer will get an envelope, address it, put a check in it and mail it to you. Over 90% of all online business is done with e-commerce, using credit cards. You can use Paypal, Google Checkout, Clickbank, etc

5. Bring more credibility to your site with testimonials. If you have satisfied customers, ASK them to send you a testimonial(with a pic if possible.) and then put those on your webpage. If you are NEW in business and do not yet have testiomonials, be creative to get some-GIVE your product or service to some friends or a fellow internet marketer to TEST for you. Ask for their HONEST feedback. If you have a good product or service, you should have no trouble getting 3-5 testiomonials very quickly.

6. Add a phone number. For many reasons, if you add a phone number to your website, it adds tremendous credibility. You have several choices here-YOU can answer the phone yourself(many times that is the BEST way-at least during business hours) or you can have a recorderd message, or you can HIRE a service to answer the phone for you. But by giving a phone number, you send the message that you are a REAL business and as such, you will be treated as one.

7 Make it PERSONAL.The internet can make business seem very COLD and impersonal. But YOU can change that by adding a bit of YOUR personality to your website. Add a picture of YOU to your website. share some of YOUR passions, etc. People want to do business with a PERSON not a COMPANY. You are looking to create a relationship with your customers, so let them get to know YOU!

There you have it, By following these 7 secrets, you are on your way to becoming a wealthy marketer!

Is it because everyone told you to get your own website now that you're in business for yourself?

And now that you have your own site, what are you supposed to do with it?

Unfortunately, many small business owners fall in to the trap of developing a website without any thought as to what a website can do for them. So the website sits there, acting as an online brochure, and bringing in little if any business.

Over time, the questions start coming in. Why did I build this site? What can I do to make my website more profitable? If those questions have begun creeping in to your thought process, welcome to the possibility of creating a website that will work for you.

Creating a profitable website really starts with 3 things.

1. Create a plan.
You've seen the websites that have a lot of information, and they keep you coming back again and again. You keep returning because they answer questions about your business, or help you discover solutions to every day problems. They're informative and fun!

These sites always began with a plan. They knew their audience, and they delivered specific items to that audience. How do you create a website like that? The answer is simple. Start with a great foundation; then continue to build.

You see, most business owners put up a site, and let it sit there for weeks, months, or even years without a single change. That's not a website. That's a brochure. A website is meant to grow with your business. It's meant to have pages added when you create special promotions. It's meant to have pages added when you have new ideas. It's meant to keep your readers up to date on what's happening with your business.

If you start with an online strategy that has you placing one new page on your website every week, you'll create over 52 new pages a year! Think of all the information you could provide your customers with 52 new pages.

2. Discover your target audience.
Now that the number 52 is out there, do you find that a little overwhelming? How could you possibly add 52 new pages to your website this year? It's really an easy task.

Think about who your target market is. Is it a 42-year-old woman, working full time, has kids at home, and is trying to build her financial portfolio for retirement? Is it a 35 year old man, married and starting a family, wanting to spend a few hours a week pursuing his dream of sailing? The more detailed you can make your descriptions, the easier it will be to begin to build pages on your website exclusively for your target person.

Open up a new word document, and start writing directly to your customer. Create an article that speaks to your target client. Tell them about a particular investment strategy. Teach them how to get involved in hobbies. Provide them with helpful tips on how to build a life full of passion. Write directly to that person, and tell them what you would say if you were speaking to them in person.

And if you have trouble writing, invest in a tape/digital recorder, and speak to your target person. Then translate it back to text when you have your ideas formulated.

Place this information on your website. Consider creating an articles section or a frequently asked questions page. Both will allow you to continually add resources in an easy way.

3. Get in front of the people that will help you Get Known.
The more you grow your website, the more people will rely on you as an authority in your industry. And invariably, as your site grows, you will begin connecting with other people both in your industry and in complimentary businesses. It happens naturally.

The Internet is an incredible resource that offers you hundreds of ways of advertising your business. Most methods are of low or no cost, and merely take an investment of time to learn how to accomplish the tasks.

Just like you network and consistently look for new places to place a brochure in your local market, your web address is the same. Make a commitment to placing links to your website in many areas online. Not only will this help grow your references online, it will also help build your business in numerous different markets. And the powerful thing with links is they can last months - or even years. It's an amazing way to build your business for the future!

Article Source : Pg. 144

About Author

Both John Abbott & Lori Osterberg are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

John Abbott has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Medicine and Web Development. Starting a successful internet business is easy if you follow these secrets. For more info visit: . John Abbott's top article generates over 165000 views. to your Favourites.

Lori Osterberg has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Small Business and Ideas for Scrapbooking. . Lori Osterberg's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.