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Research
Are people actually buying your widgets from other sites? To find out, you could check stock of stores and Web sites, ask for friends' opinions and find more data online, in media and at the library. If it turns out people are not buying very many widgets these days, now may be a good time to change you business plan. Also research what your competitors are doing and if there is any way to improve upon their business models.
Web Site?
After you have a business plan and done some research, it is time to begin building your business. Though it is not essential for a web entrepreneur to have a web site, for our purposes we will assume one will be required. Other methods of making money on the web are quite possible, such as by creating an opt-in mailing list or selling products though services such as eBay.
Host and Domain
In order to have a web site one must have a host and a domain name. Think of the host as the home of your web site and the domain, such as www.widgets.com, as its address. Domain names can often be registered for less than $10 per year. Free hosting is even available, but a user of such services is required to have the host's banners on their site, which is not particularly desirable.
A host should have reliable customer service, have very high uptime, meaning your site is accessible on the web as close to 100% of the time as possible, and give your business room to grow. You don't want your host to crash if you get ten thousand visitors in one day. If you need programming or ecommerce, you will want to make sure your host will support your needs. Server stats are also very handy.
Build It
After you have a home and address for your web site, you will need to build it. There are two roads you can walk down. Many web entrepreneurs choose to build their own sites and learn as they go. This is often desirable if you are interested in HTML and programming, have time to spare and don't require a professional polish. Many sites that make money promoting affiliate programs attract an audience that expect a rough, non- professional site to lead them to a polished sponsor site where they will spend their money.
The other road is to have a professional design your site for you. This is the best solution for many. Like a construction worker who knows the best way to build houses and can do it better and faster than the average layman, so it is with web design. If you are planning on selling a product or service directly, it is essential to have a sharp image by which your potential clients will judge you. With so much information and so many web pages available, surfers often move on after only a few seconds. A professional design will ensure you will be making the most of each visitor that views your site.
Now you have a plan, a product or service and a web site to sell it with. This is all very nice and all, but without people viewing your web site, you can't make any sales. You need a solid marketing plan to get the visitors to you site, by which you can make sales.
And that's the subject of our next article.
At the end of his long career as a thief, he was asked why he kept robbing banks even though somewhere, somehow he was sure to get caught again. His answer was:
"Because that's where the money is."
We can learn from Willie. Yes, he was morally wrong, but he certainly understood his chosen profession.
The question is, 'Do you understand your own Web business well enough to know (and go) where the money is?'
Copywriting Technique for Web Business
If you've been online for awhile you don't have to look very far. Top marketers like Ted Nicholas and Jay Abraham have proven that it's at least 5 times easier to sell again to your existing customers than it is to prospect, identify and capture a new customer.
So 'where the money is' is in your own database. Simply contact your past customers and ask them to buy something else. If you gave them real value and excellent service in the first place, why wouldn't they want to buy from you again?
If you continue to offer high-value products and the service your clients expect, then THEY are your 'bank'. Which brings us back to Willie Sutton and the second lesson he teaches us.
You see, when Willie was first starting out on his bank robbing career, he was terrible at it. People could see him coming from a mile away. Whistles would blow before he could even get started, and he'd be forced to run away to 'rob again another day'.
But Willie didn't give up. No, he was dedicated to becoming the best bank robber that he could be. After some painful self-examination he realized that in order to succeed, he would simply have to blend in. So he did something clever:
He disguised himself as a bank guard, and his reign of successful robberies began. Over the years his many disguises made him notorious, and he became known as as 'The Actor'.
Which is exactly what you need to be - the favorite actor for your target audience.
You can do this through the words, thoughts, and feelings you use in your Web marketing copy. The single most important message you can convey to your target market is that you 'feel their pain ', and you have the best solution for their problem.
This is how you can sell almost anything, regardless of whether you have personally experienced the product or service. Naturally you will (always) be better at selling if you believe in what you offer. But of greater importance is understanding what your customers want, and why THEY feel they need it.
So disguise yourself as your customer. Walk in their shoes for awhile and feel their pain. Apply this copywriting technique for Web business. This is the right way to craft your Web marketing message because it reveals the benefits your customers most want to hear.
PS - thanks, Willie.