The LuxMob Info Tags

It is considered that to be successful in the Design and Decorating business, that nearly 90% of leads should come from referrals. Why do we constantly throw money at other forms of marketing, when a good referral system can give you the highest return on your investment and a consistent flow of leads?

You must adopt a referral mind set. Everything you do in your business should be to develop a system of getting referrals.
Ten reasons to focus on referrals:

1) Unlike advertising, your results from a referral program can be easily measured. Referrals tell you exactly who referred them.

2) Referrals are the best return on your marketing dollar.

3) With every referral, your client is giving a great testimonial on your behalf.

4) Happy clients are the best sales force that a company can have, they become your advocates!

5) Each time a client gives you a referral, you have an opportunity to make them look like a hero.

6) A flowing pipeline of referrals puts you at ease.

7) Clients feel that they are reducing their risk of making a bad decision when they buy from a referral.

Phone messages to a new prospect usually gets returned if it comes through a referral.

9) Trust is obtained faster through a referral.

10) Referral marketing is your best opportunity to success!

You have heard of the lifetime value of a client? Think about the value when the same client gives you several referrals over time and those referrals give you referrals.

How do we generate referrals? First and foremost you must have an excellent client fulfilment system. Unless the job is done right, even your own mother won’t refer you!

Are you communicating often with your client before, during and after the job? This is critical to instilling the gospel of spreading the word, “We want referrals!”

I believe that you must get your clients to complain! If they don’t complain, you won’t know their problems and you can’t fix it. If one client is having a problem, maybe others are too. You may need to fix your system. Research shows, if clients don’t complain, they are likely to go quietly to the competition. Unhappy clients, tell others, a reverse referral.

In order to generate referrals you must find your “center of influence,” who is your target market? In our industry its women 35-65. Do you know that 85 percent of all consumer buying decisions are made by women. Your task is to find them, and to create a message that appeals to this segment.

How to find them:

1) Try Cross Promotional Networking and distribute brochures at other noncompeting businesses that serve the same clientele. Offer to cooperate and display brochures at your place too. If you don’t have a showroom, create a “Friends” book of useful and referable businesses.

2) Go to networking events of where women go. Don’t waste your time on trying to network to the wrong market. When you find such a group, have a great 10 second announcement to introduce yourself.

3) Offer your services as a speaker to women’s groups. Prepare a non-sales, informative decorating seminar. Organizations are always looking for interesting topics for their meetings.

4) Testimonials are a must for any handouts or web site content. The challenges I have heard are, that it is difficult and time consuming to get them. It shouldn’t be, in fact, the best testimonials are short quotes from your customers. “I love my drapes,” or “This is better then I expected!” and so on. Record the quotes, and the name of the customers on a page and don’t forget to ask for permission. Testimonials will instill confidence.

5) Print “I Love Referrals” heart stickers and put them on all your correspondence.

6) Create a Designer Referral Card System. Start with a thank-you card, a month later, send a referral card, and for each month keep in touch with your client with birthday cards, holiday cards, decorating idea cards. The more you stay in touch, the more she will remember you when someone asks for someone she knows to help them with decorating.

There are three types of referrals:
1) Unsolicited, from doing a good job.
2) Word of mouth, from people who know of you, but didn’t do business with you.
3) Solicited, from your clients after a job well done.

The Advocate Referral System

How do you ask your clients for referrals?
During a visit after the installation, ask her:

*Was she happy with the value you have provided?

*Is there anything where you can improve to make the experience better?

*Is there future work to be done?

*Ask her for birthdays of her family members.

*Ask her for a name of a friend or family you can call.

* Have a small gift as a Thank you.

Neil Gordon learned from his grandfather how to cut roller shades at the tender age of 10. As a third generation retailer he learned from his parents and grandparents, the subtleties of running a housewares business. These powerful role models taught him great lessons in the value of making their customers happy and coming back for more. The years growing up in a housewares store in New York prepared him for his eventual career in the field of decorating.

At the age of 28, he started his first business as a custom drapery workroom to the trade located in Boca Raton, Florida, where he built a successful window treatment company.

In 1991, he relocated back to his childhood roots in New York and established Decorating with Fabric. Decorating with Fabric is a custom workroom, fabricating window treatments, bedding treatments and upholstery. During the past 14 years, Decorating with Fabric has created fabulous treatments for thousands of delighted clients throughout the eastern seaboard.
You can contact Neil at The Designer’s Coach http://www.thedesignerscoach.com

Without a shadow of a doubt, the easiest way to increase the bottom line of your business is to survey your clients.

Now that my be your existing data base or to survey your target market, if you do not know what it is that people want to buy then How in the hell do you know what to sell to them.

This statement seems logical “Ask your clients what they want and then sell it to them”

But time after time people go into business and sell what they make rather than make what they can sell.

It’s mind boggling when you talk to people who have just started a business thinking I have a great idea that everyone will want.

So be it, it might be a good product but a little due diligence will go a long way.

How about doing a little market research to see if there really is a demand for your idea that you think there is.

The best part is, now with the Internet you can do market research without breaking the bank.

How many business ideas could you have saved time, money and the frustration of not pursuing it, if you did some research to really find out whether or not you were going to make any money in the first place?

There is a software program called: http://www.flycatcherpro.com it is free to use and allows you to do exactly what I have been talking about.

Test potential market places or survey your existing client base to find out exactly what they are looking for in your product or service and how you can tap into their mindset and deliver more than they expect.

It’s a win-win for everybody

What do you have to lose?

Scott Patterson was been involved in Marketing for the last 14 years applying techniques he was able to learn for the masters to grow not only his own businesses but many of his clients businesses anywhere up to 600% in 3 months. “These results truly are possible if you just stick with the basic principles”

http://www.flycatcherpro.com/

Book marketing experts know that authors who get excited about landing an interview may lose sight of the goal, which is not to gain media interviews but to sell books. And it’s sad but true that an interview does not automatically generate sales. Effective interviews generate sales; ineffective interviews merely produce idle talk.

The author who can generate sales from a television or radio interview is the author who knows how to relate to the specific audience listening to that show. A book is sold when one listener “clicks” with an author because there is recognition of a common need or experience. Multiply those clicks of recognition, and you multiply sales.

The challenge for all book marketers is that authors are skilled in interviewing other people; they are not skilled in being interviewed themselves. The skills needed to generate sales from interviews are best obtained through media coaching or media training.

Media coaching will give authors the skills to learn how to use the media, not just to convey your message but to compel people to buy your book. As a book marketing expert, I can pitch an author’s story and line up a TV or Radio interview. But most authors won’t be able to amaze listeners and compel them to buy without being trained by a media coach.

A media coach will show authors how to leverage interviews to create book sales, how to feel more comfortable on air and how to relieve the stress and anxiety that can come with interviews. A good media coach also will teach the secrets behind creating effective sound bites conveying the benefits they would get by buying the book.

Specifically, a media coach will reveal tips and let you practice these tried and true techniques, including:

 How to control the interview
 How to insure your message will be effective
 How to employ bridging techniques to get back on track
 How to deal with pitfalls that come up during an interview
 How to answer the tough questions
 How to look your best on camera
 How to sound your best on radio
 How to pitch your message to the host and listener
 How to pitch without sounding like you are
 How to compel the media to discuss your book
 How producers and media people think and how to use that knowledge to your advantage
 How to relate to a specific audience
 How to leverage an interview into book sales
 How to get free publicity on TV and Radio
 How to get the media to hate you (by not returning their phone calls)
 And, how to get invited back

Media coach Jess Todtfeld, who is a former producer for Bill O’Reilly of FOX-TV’s The O’Reilly Factor, says that every interview is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to connect with an audience, to get your point of view to the masses. Most people don’t realize that it must go beyond that. You must motivate the audience to take an interest in you and “do something.” Whether it’s buying your book, going to your web site, or just finding out about you, you must compel them to take that next step. Todtfeld has seen many people use to media to get what they want, but many authors and amateurs make some of the common mistakes. He should know, he’s booked more that 4,000 TV segments with politicians, celebrities and actors on two networks. http://www.successinmedia.com

Radio Interviews provide a tremendous opportunity for authors or anyone with a story to tell. Radio interviews are great because they can be done anytime out of your home, office or automobile (if you aren’t driving). But like any successful marketing venture, radio interviews don’t just happen. Here are some very useful suggestions:

 Be on time. Call the station exactly at the time they tell you, and be at your phone waiting if the station is going to call you.

 Disable call waiting: dial *70 and then call the number. This disables call waiting for the duration of the phone call. As soon as you hang up, it will be reactivated.
 Be self-assured. Remember you know your topic inside and out. Be confident in your ability.
 Smile, smile, smile, whether on radio or TV - SMILE. You’ll feel better, and for TV you’ll look better too.
 Research the show and tailor your message accordingly. Just Google the host’s name and station. Is it a national audience or a small town in Ohio? You need to know.
 Practice your sound bites. Communicate your main points succinctly.

 Be prepared for negative comments, from the host or listeners.
 Be informative and entertaining without directly pushing your book. Make the audience “want more.”
 A kind word about the host can go a long way. It’s good manners and good business.
 A persons name is sweet music to them so commit to memory the name of the host and use it throughout the interview. When taking calls, use the names of callers too.

The last time I talked with Michael Dresser, a well-known media coach http://www.mymediacoach.com Michael told me that there are some realities he makes sure all of his clients know about the media. Dresser says “an interview is an acquired skill. It is a process with a strategy working toward a fixed finish line. Bring your message to the audience in a way that is real for them. Do this by using stories and anecdotes that allow your audience to see themselves in your interview message. Interact with your audience on a one to one basis. Think of a radio interview as an intimate conversation with a friend and not a conversation with thousands. If you stay with the process, the influence and effect of your message will match the intent you had going in. It’s important to go into the interview with a positive attitude and energetic manner. You must be entertaining, informative and persuasive, or you will talking to an empty microphone.”

I pay attention to Michael Dresser because he has been a nationally syndicated radio talk show host for 23 years, and has interviewed thousands of guests. He understands what it takes to be a great guest and understands what prevents someone from achieving that level of success in the interview process. Dresser helps people he coaches to keep their answers short, to stay focused, and to develop a message that will produce results. If you invest in a media coach, use someone like Dresser who was in the game and knows how it’s played.

Media coach and speech trainer TJ Walker http://www.speakcast.com says that because talking to the media is like no other conversation you will ever have, it requires your full concentration and all the skills you can muster. Because of that demand, Walker puts his students through a live interview that he videotapes for instructional purposes. “The camera doesn’t lie,” stresses Walker. “You will learn how to look your best on TV — if not on the first take, then by the 20th take. There is no way to ‘fake it’ in my one-on-one training course. You will be in the hot seat, the lights will be shining in your eyes, and the microphone will be stuck in your face. Although not always relaxing, the videotaping will turn students into a media pro, ready for any type of media situation.”

Among the types of opportunities an author should be trained to face, says Walker, are live television and radio, ambush interviews, TV and radio talk shows, celebrity appearances, in-studio interviews, newspaper interviews, editorial board meetings, radio talk shows, Internet interviews, edited news programs, training videos, phone interviews, infomercials, press conferences, spokesperson training, and book tours.

Walker’s views are based on 22 years of training CEOs, Prime Ministers and Nobel Peace Prize winners in addition to training managers and staff in client companies such as Microsoft, Bank of America, Unilever, and McDonalds. TJ is the most widely published and produced media trainer in the globe, with more than 50 books, training videos, CDs, and software programs to his credit. I consider TJ Walker’s book, Presentation Training A-Z, to be a must-read.

I’ve heard TJ Walker say many times, and I agree with him that the successful author will carefully analyze what radio or TV shows to book. In book marketing, a book cannot be promoted without first identifying who the readers are in advance of a single sale. Find the reasons why that reader will read that book and then craft a message to be conveyed to information sources that reader relies upon.

Don’t bombard the market with propaganda but send out promotional information to selected streams that reach specific persons. That approach has always worked and always will. Salesmen know that you can’t sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo because he has no need of one, but you’d have a shot at selling him thermal underwear. So follow Walker’s advice — know your niche and then select the TV or Radio Show that your niche audience listens to or watches.

To successfully market a book, determine who will read it and then target that media directly. By way of example, one of my clients has published a book of poetry. Now the average person won’t buy a collection of poetry. However, certain people love poetry, so we aim our book marketing efforts for this client to poetry magazines, poetry web sites and poetry societies.

Book marketing expert Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a marketing and public relations firm that specializes in book marketing and author promotion. For more information contact him at scottlorenzezinecoaching@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090 or visit: http://www.westwindcos.com/book

If you’ve never had the experience you’re very lucky….

You just joined a great new MLM company and are excited and ready to go, you e-mail your sponsor to find out what’s next.

Days pass…

No response.

You try again but still nothing.

So, how do you avoid this terrible fate?

I’m glad you asked, here are the 3 ways you can use to find your perfect MLM sponsor:

1. Find out if he’s active

Nothing drives me crazier then joining a company and finding out my sponsor isn’t doing anything to work the business.

If the company has a scoreboard or ranking site, see if he’s on it. Check out his websites in Google and see how they’re set up.

The important thing is to make sure he’s making an effort

2. E-mail or Call him

Take a minute “before” you join up to e-mail or call him with questions.

Ask him whatever you like and see if he responds.

Don’t think you’re bothering your prospective mentor, if he’s the right person he won’t mind.

3. Find out how long he’s been with the company

Another thing you’ll run into is finding a sponsor that’s been with the company a week and has no clue.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to be new but the “blind leading the blind” isn’t going to help anyone.

When you’re sending him the e-mail from step 2 just ask him how long he’s been with the company and see what happens.

*Remember*

The relationship you’re forming will be lasting a really long time, you want to be sure he’s the right person to help you build your team.

Follow these steps and soon you’ll find a sponsor you’re happy with that will help you take your new MLM business to the next level.

Copyright 2004 John Stafford

About The Author

John Stafford is the author of: Laser Guided Traffic Tactics - Discover How to Instantly Get Multiple Streams of Targeted Traffic to Your Website Starting Today

So, you’ve joined that great money making scheme, and you’ve
even got a few members in your downline. So, now what? How do
you keep your sign-ups interested and working for you? And, yes,
I DO mean working for you. When you start out on a program, you
are effectively becoming the MD of your own organisation, and
all of those below you need your motivation, guidance and
assistance if they are to make money for themselves and, in
turn, make money for you.

The biggest mistake you can probably make is to think that once
you’ve got your sign-up, the hard work is over. You’ve got your
sign-up and you’ve made a couple of dollars, so why worry? Well,
as any experienced marketer will tell you, a sign-up commission
is fine, but the real bucks are made when your sign-ups start
signing up, and the residual bonuses start pouring in.
Therefore, when you’ve recruited someone into your program, the
work has only just begun.

One of the biggest problems you will find is that people join
your scheme, and then do nothing. It is surprising, but as much
as 90% of your downline will probably remain inactive. So, why
do these people join? Well, there can be many reasons. Some
people join programs out of curiosity, some to get the freebies
that were on offer, whilst others just don’t know what they’re
doing!

It’s up to you, therefore, to motivate your recruits into
action. Now, this is not necessarily as difficult as it may
seem, provided that you remember the 3 golden rules:

1. Communication. 2. Communication. 3. Communication.

There is nothing worse than joining a new program and being left
to it with no advice or help from anyone. So, it is important to
start off on the right footing, by communicating with your new
program member from the outset - and keep it going. Here are 5
ways that you can achieve this.

1. Send a welcoming letter to all new sign ups. If someone has
joined your program, thank them for doing so. Let them feel
welcome and a part of your team. Make sure that they are fully
aware of how the program works, and offer help and advice if
they need it.

2. Answer all queries quickly. If somebody DOES ask for help,
don’t ignore them, or it will be the last you’ll hear from them.
Even if you don’t know the answer immediately, a quick note back
to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out”, will be much
appreciated. But, do remember to get back to them as soon as you
can.

3. Don’t get frustrated with basic or idiotic questions. Bear in
mind that what appears to be a “stupid” question to you may not
be to somebody new to the Net - we are not all HTML/marketing
geniuses! Just remember, if they are contacting you, then at
least they are they are communicating with you.

4. If your program has a “Email your downline” facility - use
it! Email your people often. Tell them the latest news on your
program or give them hints and tips. If you haven’t got much to
say, then tell them a joke - tell them anything. Just remind
them you are there.

5. Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself. It’s always a good idea
to save some of your messages, and repeat them periodically.
Remember that your more recent recruits won’t have seen your
earlier messages, and it never does any harm for your long-time
downline members to re-read an earlier email. Conventional
wisdom states that a person needs to hear a message SEVEN times
before they will buy into it.

As stated, communication is the secret to managing your
downline. You Internet program is a business like any other.Like
all businesses, its most valuable resource is the people who
work for it. Therefore, since people like to talk, talk to them!

This short email in opt tutorial shows you some of my favorite
tips and techniques for dealing with new subscribers to get them
hooked so they stay in your list.

The main goal of email in opt tutorial is to explain how to
develop a communication process with your new subscribers to
build trust.

One of the biggest aspects of online business is trust, and how
you are perceived. If you make a bad first impression, or come
off as someone just in it for the money, people are smarter than
that. They’ll see it coming a mile away, especially with all of
the scams and people getting ripped off today.

Email in opt tutorial is composed with two main parts if you
neglect one part things will go wrong. Please give all parts the
required attention.

Part one of email in opt tutorial - make sure you have a
system ready to take action!

Note: Don’t buy or rent a mailing list unless you make sure
the subscribers in the list know they will receive your
marketing messages.

Before you buy, rent email list or start collecting email
addresses from your web site, you need to have a solid system in
place that will allow you to communicate with your list and
allow them to get to know you and trust you.

Most of subscribers you will receive are new online users and /
or new businesses starters. They are info seekers. They opt in
because they want information about your product or service now.
They won’t wait for tomorrow to receive it.Use autoresponder to
offer free valuable information via email! All you have to do is
create your own series of email training to educate your
prospects.

- Get quality autoresponder service. You obviously can’t do this
on an individual basis, because it would be nearly impossible as
your list gets bigger, but you can easily do this through your
automatic responder services.Use addtracker to track your
potential clients foot steps and adjust your marketing efforts
accordingly.

- Make sure you have your tracking systems in place so you know
what’s going on once the promotions begin and the traffic hits.
Don’t do any guesswork. You need SCIENTIFIC numbers telling you
what’s going on, what’s happened and what you need to do to
increase sales and profits.

Part two of email in opt tutorial - How to structure your
autoresponder messages.

Don’t ruin your business by sending out 50 or more follow up
advertising messages. People are becoming very careful about
requesting anything for fear of being spammed to death for doing
it.

- Teach your subscribers.

Set up seven parts autoresponder email course. Each course
contains helpful information and quality gift related to the
course theme.

Email courses are a very good way to build your reputation as a
provider of useful information. Setup an email course series a
bout a hot topic. Give quality information in the course. Don’t
advertise any product during the course phase. Don’t show your
subscribers you are here only for money. Instead, invite them to
visit your website to see your special marketing offer, your web
site update, your quality free information, etc… and the ways
are endless to put your offer in front of your potential
customer.

In each course you may send a free quality brandable ebook or
software where you advertise your affiliate programs. Allow your
subscribers to brand the product with their name to help them
make money they will think you for doing so.

- Show them you are a real person.

Put your contacts info including your email address, your
physical address, phone number, etc… in all your outgoing
messages to make it easy for your subscribers to contact you and
feel they are dealing with an authentic marketer. Show them your
photo, your family photos or your employees’ photo. Send them to
where they can read about you.

- Let Your Subscribers Know You.

After your email course series is over hook your subscribers
with your follow up messages series.

Set up a series of follow up messages. You can set up a whole
series of follow up messages that show your potential customer
that you are concerned with their satisfaction and you are here
to help them succeed.

In your first tree messages or so do not promote any product or
service you are selling at all. These three messages are
designed to open an unstoppable dialog between you and your
potential customers to build relationship and trust.

Instead of sales pitches, you’ll be sending out to your new
subscribers a series of emails that talk about anything you want
but no product promotion. You may talk about yourself, your
likes & dislikes, your favorite hobby, what you do for a living,
any websites you have, etc. You can even talk about your family
and friends if you want.

After they receive your emails that talk about what you have
chosen to talk about. Invite your subscribers to contact you in
a friendly manner. Let them know you are there to help them. Ask
them to send you emails talking about anything and everything
they want to talk about. Your subscribers won’t contact you on
their own if you don’t invite them.

In this introductory phase of the process, keep sending to your
subscribers a quality information and gifts that they can’t find
elsewhere. When people see you as a provider of good information
that they can use and profit from, then your reputation and the
reputation of your company becomes more credible.

When this happens people will be more likely to buy your
products and services or indeed the products or services you
recommend them.

As soon as the communication starts up between you and your
subscribers, start collecting information about your
subscribers. Information like what business they are involved
in? What are their concerns and fears? Their gender, age, where
they live? What’s their problem?

Once you have built trust and collect information….

At this time start sending promotional messages that promote
quality products. Do not promote any product before you try it.
If you try to promote a product you have never used, it will
show. The visitor will see and feel the lack of sincerity and
your reputation will suffer accordingly. If you follow these
techniques you will build a quality email list of ready to buy
subscribers.

Permission email marketing is an art. Permission email marketing
is not a hard science. Without question, email marketing is the
most affordable and effective tool in your marketing arsenal.

You can use email marketing to maximize all of your other sales
and marketing activities and improve the return on investment
(ROI) of every dollar you spend to obtain new business.

If you want to buy targeted email list do it wisely. Do not send
messages to these lists unless you are sure that they know they
will receive marketing messages from you.

Whenyou’re trying to develop an income from affiliate programs, don’t fall into the trap of only promoting information products or
tools aimed at Internet marketers.

Many people, even those who have been in the game a long time, get stuck in this niche and never leave it. They forget that there’s a whole wide world of buyers out there just waiting to be sold to.

I guess it’s natural for many people to start off selling marketing ebooks, member only sites, and related products. After all, it’s what they’re interested in so they tend to think everyone else is. But really they’re playing in a very small arena.

Another reason is that these products are pushed into their faces all the time…in newsletters like mine

People also tend to promote products in the very narrow Internet marketing niche because they generally pay a much higher affiliate percentage, often 50%.

All well and good, but we’re all selling to each other and competition is fierce.

I hate using that clichéd expression “think outside the box” so I won’t.

But what you need to do is take a good look around the net. Study what people are buying.

Remember how in last weeks newsletter, and in the week before’s I talked about building 2 mini sites a week… saying that if they all only made $50 a week after a year you’d end up with a weekly income of over $5000?

http://www.ozemedia.com/newsletters/issue271.htm

http://www.ozemedia.com/newsletters/issue270.htm

Well the health related mini site I built just over 2 weeks ago has really taken off, and last week it grossed $5695 paying me $348 in commissions. See screenshot.

It’s doing well because:

Competition for sales is fairly low in this niche. (you’ll find that nearly EVERY niche has lower competition that the overcrowded marketing niche.)

It’s a tangible product that people spend big sums on.

Health is a huge industry…most of us want to live to old age. I’m nearly there We’re an aging society so demand in this field will keep growing.

Now $348 is nothing startling, and I expect this to grow as the site does better in the search engines. But my total costs have been under nine dollars for the domain name, and around $25 on Google
Adwords.

I can’t really take hosting costs into consideration because I pay just $29 a month to host up to 200 sites

The money spent on Google Adwords will not be ongoing. The way I currently work is to list a site with one or two of the pay-per-clicks until they take off in the no fee search engines. See Allan Gardyne’s Pay Per Click Search Engines site for advice on using them

The downside, if it can be called a downside, is that commissions are usually much lower in this and other niches.

But that’s got to be balanced against the fact that there are a lot more potential buyers in this (and numerous other) fields, and that people often spend bigger sums.

So even if you only make 3 to 8 percent on sales of big item products it can soon add up.

The aforementioned Allan Gardyne, who does VERY well marketing to marketers, is someone who really understands the importance of targeting other areas.

Take a look, for instance, at this site his assistant Rupert built using Site Build It.

It’s making around $1000 a month in affiliate income but the affiliate program the site is linked to, Tiger Direct, only pays 3 percent.

So as usual I’ve taken a long time to get around to the point of all this, which is you’ve GOT TO look at expanding into other niches.

Tip 1:

Look at using Nichefinder to help you locate profitable niches to build sites around.

Tip 2:

Wordtracker is another very useful tool. I’ve got an annual account I use several times a week

Tip 3:

Read my book Mini Site Profits to see how I’m doing it.

Tip 5:

If you want to build a text based site like Allan’s, which ranks very high in the search engines, and you’re not comfortable doing it all on your own use Site Build It.

2. Value Exchange.

And while we’re talking of Ken Evoy’s Site Build It, he’s just released a new free service which helps you find exchange links for your sites.

By entering your site details it registers your site (which doesn’t have to be a Site Build It one) as a site that is willing to exchange links with other sites that have a similar theme/topic content (the engines weight a link less heavily if the linking site is not of a similar nature to yours)

It also searches for similar sites, ones with topical content that relates to yours.

Like I said, it’s a free service, so make use of it.

About the author:

Phil Wiley is the author of the best selling book Mini Site Profits www.minisiteprofits.comand writes the free weekly Letter from Phil at www.ozemedia.com

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“Dan, I need your help. The copy on my website sucks. It must. Nobody is buying my product…” Or ordering “my ebook”… Or signing up for “my course”… Or booking “my services.”

People tell me all the time that their websites “doesn’t convert.”

(Not sure what “conversion” is? It’s that “magical” transformation that turns a site visitor into a product/service buyer)

If you’re a website owner who’s unhappy with the business your Internet presence is generating, I wouldn’t be surprised if you think your copy is the culprit, too. A lot of people think that if there’s a problem with conversion that the sales copy must be at fault.

This is WRONG THINKING…and potentially fatal to your website’s success.

Don’t misunderstand me… My business is copywriting. It’s my bread and butter. (Also my caviar and champagne!) I come from a traditional sales and marketing background where the emphasis is on “words that sell.”

The world’s most brilliant sales letter for the world’s most incredible product won’t necessarily generate the through-the-roof results you might expect. The truth is that turning a casual site visitor into a “here’s my credit card take whatever you want” buyer takes MUCH MORE than just effective copywriting.

Converting prospects into clients and customers takes more than a super headline… More than a list of “what’s in it for you”… More than an ironclad guarantee and more than a page of testimonials from celebrities and authorities.

This isn’t a war that will be won with words. You need more…much more.

If you think of your website as a high-powered sports car, your sales letter is the engine. But as any racer on the NASCAR circuit will tell you, without the right fuel and other essential components, an engine can’t run smoothly and a car will never be first to the checkered flag.

I don’t care if you have the most powerful “engine” in the world…the greatest sales letter ever written. If you’re not taking advantage of technology and leveraging human psychology in your sales and marketing efforts, you’re simply out of the race.

I usually wear my copywriter’s “hat” when I do the rant and load you up with lots of ideas for creating great sales messages. The how’s and why’s…the do’s and don’ts… the nuts and bolts.

But this time around, I don’t want to focus on the engine. Instead, we’re going to make a “pit stop” to look under the hood of “killer” websites and talk about everything that’s working to power their success.

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Conversion Secret #1 - Less Can Be More (Why the QUALITY of Your Traffic is More Important than the Quantity)

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The number of people that visit your website is meaningless if they don’t buy anything when they’re there. You can have ten thousand people hitting your site a month, but if they’re looking for camping equipment and you’re selling baby strollers, you’re not going to convert a single visitor.

And if you’re paying per click, this will kill you. Your marketing dollars are going up in smoke.

On the other hand, you can have less traffic, but if they’re targeted, you’ll have a very high conversion rate. If your baby stroller site has a banner ad at a baby formula store, chances are the people who click through will be more likely to buy from you.

Here’s something you MUST keep in mind: “more likely to buy” doesn’t mean that they will buy. That’s why tracking your traffic is so important. You have to know exactly where your traffic is coming from.

Are they from Per-Pay-Click? Are they from affiliates? Are they from offline marketing? What percentage is from what promotion? Unless you know the answers, you can’t build on your success.

You can’t improve something you can’t measure.” W. Edwards Deming, management expert.

A steady flow of QUALITY traffic and information about where it comes from will affect your conversion rate just as much as the quality of your sales message.

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Conversion Secret #2 - Don’t Let A Good Answer Get Away (Exit Poll)

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No one expects a 100% conversion rate, of course. You may dream about it, but, depending on what you’re selling, if you’re getting a 2-3% conversion, that’s pretty damn good.

Okay, you’re not converting 97% of the people that come to your site… But does that mean that their visit has to go into the “lost cause” column? No way!

If you paid to have those people visit, you can’t just let them get away! You need to get some kind of return on your investment. Why not do an exit pop-up survey, asking them why they’re not buying?

Want to really get a visitor’s attention. Use an audio pop-up. When people leave your site you can have a pop-up with an audio portion like this:

“Wait, before you go, could you please help me out? I’m not trying to sell you anything, I just need some information. Could you tell me the single biggest reason that you’re not giving us a try today? What’s the ONE reason that’s stopping you from purchasing (my product name)? Just fill out the box below and click on the submit button. Your opinion matters to me..”

Boom! You’ve just created your own “consumer feedback forum” and you haven’t spent a penny on some high-priced focus groups. Once you get a bunch of responses to your exit poll, you’ll be able to identify patterns in what people say. Use what you learn to make the changes that you know for certain will bump up your conversion rate.

Success and failure shouldn’t be based on guesswork or assumptions. It doesn’t matter what you think is the reason people aren’t buying. It doesn’t matter what I think is the reason people aren’t buying.

The only thing that matters is what your customers think…that’s the “pulse” of the marketplace and the lifeblood of your future business. And with an exit survey, your customers will tell you what you need to do in order to convince them to buy your product!

People consider me a marketing wizard because I’m so good at market research. Well, I may be a “wizard,” but I’m not a genius, and I certainly didn’t earn my Ph.D in marketing. That’s because you don’t have to be marketing genius to get your finger on the pulse of your industry.

Here’s the secret: I am not the marketing wizard. You’re not the marketing wizard. Your CUSTOMER is the marketing wizard.

All you have to do to learn the “mysteries” of more sales is ASK your customers… And make sure you ask the people who decided not to be your customers, too.

Just ask and they’ll tell you. Then take what you’ve learned, incorporate it into your sales message, and watch the “no sales” turn into “sales” so fast that you’ll get a speeding ticket for all that fast-moving, fast-buying traffic!

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Conversion Secret #3 - Take a Tip from the Tortoise (slow and steady wins the race)

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Far too many Internet marketers try to close the sale with one step. Are you one of them?

Do you run an ad in some ezines, post a couple of Pay-Per-Click ads, then sit back, relax and wait to enjoy “the show”? Do you assume that people will notice the ad, read the ad, get excited by the ad, go to your site, read your sales pitch, pull out their credit cards and buy from you?

Do you expect to accomplish all that with ONE STEP? Give me a break. What are you thinking?

That’s like you’re trying to have sex on the first date.

You might get away with it. (You might get some sales and be profitable) But chances are, without a little coaxing from you at every step in the process, you’ll be going home alone.

Take it slow, will ya?

Show some class. Have some manners. Get to know each other. Share some stories. Make a connection. Develop a relationship before you try to close the “deal”. People buy from people they trust. So you’ll make a lot more sales if you take the time to develop a solid relationship.

How do you convince website visitors that you’re one of the “white hats”? Start building that relationship. One way is by giving more than you get.

Give them a free report. Give them a free mini-course. Give them a free ebook. Give them a free chapter. (Are you getting the idea that “free” may be the most important word in relationship-building on the Internet?)

Bribe them and get them to give you their name and email so that you can follow up with them using an autoresponder. And don’t forget to make it simple.

One easy-to-use option is a hover ad that drops down on your visitor’s screen when they visit your site, inviting them to “opt-in” to your free offer. Why a hover ad? Testing shows hover ad gets more attention than traditional pop-ups.

A more advanced way…and to some a less “savory,” but extremely effective way…to capture contact information is to make your home page an opt-in request.

Basically, a visitor can’t get to the rest of your site without providing contact information. You qualify them before you let them read your sales pitch! That’s pretty brilliant if you ask me!

The opt-in doesn’t have to be fancy. And it definitely shouldn’t be very long. Just a killer headline and some equally killer benefits. That’ll do it.

A good example of this kind of approach in action can be found here: http://www.extremewebcopymakeover.com

Don’t blow it! When you follow up with them, you don’t just want to pitch them. You want to deliver value in your autoresponder messages. Educate them. Teach them something. Then just have a little plug at the end.

Remember I said that people buy from people they trust. If you’re constantly selling things, then you’re a salesperson…and your motives are immediately suspect.

But if you’re constantly giving things away, sharing ideas, giving more than you’re getting, you’re a valuable resource…a good friend…a trusted advisor. (There’s the secret password — trust!)

And the beauty is…what you give away doesn’t have to cost you a penny.

Let’s say you’re selling an ebook, you can actually take the first 3 chapters of your ebook and turn them into a series of autoresonder messages. This is a great way to give them a taste of what you’re selling and to prove that you’re the “real deal.”

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Conversion Secret #4 - Hear Ye, Hear Ye (Audio on the Internet)

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When I talk about copywriting, I often talk about how important it is to engage the reader’s senses. Make them see with word pictures… Make them feel with hot-button language. The more senses that are involved, the more likely it is that your prospect will be sold.

Using audio on your site is a sense-sation.

With audio, you appeal to a completely different sense than the average site. The web is full of visual appeal, but with audio, you suddenly connect with a visitors ears with a whole new component — a verbal component.

Your spoken words will strike an emotional chord with visitors and connects on a “human” level in an otherwise electronic world.

And here’s something that every website needs: excitement. Because it’s rare, audio is unusual and attention-getting. It’s brand new, instead of the “same old, same old.”

(This won’t be true forever, of course, but for now, you can take advantage of audio’s scarcity.)

Your audio features don’t have to be limited to you. You can also use audio testimonials. Instead of just having a written testimonial, why not offer a “listen to what this satisfied customer” opportunities and add audio testimonials to your sales page.

Don’t let your fear of the unknown or a fear of failure hold you back. You don’t have to be a techie to utilize and implement these technologies. If you’ve got the will, I’ll show you the way:

This is a list of website conversion tools that I use and recommend to my clients so that they can add “bells and whistles” quickly, easily, and inexpensively.

http://www.danlokrecommends.com

Okay, now my secrets are your secrets. The same tricks and techniques that I’ve used to achieve astronomical traffic conversion levels are now at your disposal.

They’ve been tested and refined and re-tested. They’ve worked for me…and they’ve worked for my clients (who, by the way, paid me a fortune to implement them on their behalf).

I know they’ll work for you. Let me know when they do. I’d like to add your success story to an upcoming issue of the Rant.

Stay Lok-ed and loaded for success,

Dan Lok

Copyright 2005 Quick Turn Marketing International, Ltd.

About The Author

Dan Lok is known as the “Website Conversion Expert”, with a proven track record of selling over $17.3 million dollars of merchandise and services. Dan has resuscitated copy that was previously in “critical condition” and helped his clients to double and triple their conversion rates… some as much as 417%!!! More than 150 websites have been “Lok-ed” and loaded for Internet action. Go to: http://www.WebsiteConversionExpert.com

If you knew the secrets to wealth and unlimited personal success were waiting for you behind a closed door, would you open it?

Of course you would!

You’d do whatever it took, even if that meant breaking it down with a flaming battering ram!

Well, here’s that door.

On the other side you’ll discover the “secret” that the most successful names in Internet marketing already know - how to build an ever growing list of loyal online subscribers.

Subscribers who know and trust you, who eagerly look forward to hearing from you again and again.

Subscribers who want to buy from you - buy your products, buy your services and join your affiliate programs.

And just as importantly, subscribers who will attract paid advertisers to your ezine each and every issue.

(Some ezine publishers collect thousands of dollars per issue from advertisers desperate to reach the right audience! And soon these advertisers could be beating a path to your subscriber list!)

In short, having your own opt-in list is the gold standard of the Internet. The bigger it is, the more successful you will be.

It’s really that simple.

I want to show you how to make your list really big. How to obscenely multiply it again and again. How to use that list to find the success you’ve been looking for, on a scale you never imagined was possible.

(Don’t Have A List Or An Ezine Of Your Own? Well Now You Do, Because I’ll Give You One For Free Too!)

In short, I’m offering you the “flaming battering ram” you’ll need to knock down all the obstacles standing between you and online success.

So please, no matter what else you do today, read this complete message. Then judge for yourself just how valuable my free offer can be to you.

Your Viral, Unstoppable List Builder!

It’s called Ezine Fire.

It’s fast, and it’s easy to use. You can get started in minutes. And it’s completely free - it will never cost you a penny.

More important though, it’s unstoppable. Your list will continue to increase indefinitely once you sign up. http://www.ezinefire.com/Home/redirect.php?master=647

****** Tips for Publishing a Great Newsletter or Ezine

Publish regularly and on time.

Give your readers quality content - not rehashed or well-worn articles that have been published hundreds of times already.

Do a GOOD JOB - proper editing, spelling, formatting all make a difference to your image as a professional. Use a hard-carriage return to format all your lines up to 60-65 characters.

Personalise your issue for your subscriber. If your email management software allows it, include a field so that your ezine is addressed to your subscriber by their firstname.

Email yourself a preview and proofread it carefully. Make sure all the links are working fine. You’ll be surprised at how much you have to clean up even when you thought it was ready to post.

Let someone else - a family member, a friendly publisher - read your issue before you decide to post it. It will help you see things through a reader’s point of view.

Give your newsletter a personality - TALK to your readers as you would normally talk. Be yourself and let your sense of humour and uniqueness show through in your writing.

Write your own articles often and share your experiences of internet marketing with readers. Writing your own editorials will help you brand your ezine and establish your reputation as a publisher.

Don’t milk your list for all its worth by publishing too many ads or too many affiliate links

Publish your readers articles and always ask for feedback from your readers to improve your ezine

Stick to publishing a text ezine or if you just love HTML, always offer your subscribers an online or text option.

By Fernando Soave Copyright © 2004

About The Author

Fernando Soave is the author of “Cutting Edge MLM News.” He has been in marketing for 20 years and is helping individuals succeed online. Visit his site to find out how you can get free reports. http://www.cuttingedgemlm.tk

fernando.soave@skynet.be

Are you interested in Return On Investment? If so, then you need to know the importance of B.L.U.F., a common sense sales approach to drive the bottom line. You’ll save time, increase your close ratio, get more business and gain referrals. You’ll be impressed by how little effort it takes and how much your prospects will appreciate it. This article will explain how utilizing B.L.U.F. saves time, produces sales, and referrals.”

Your time and your prospects are valuable, so don’t waste either. If you’ve set up the meeting properly, you already have a good idea what the prospect needs. The prospect has given you the meeting, the first buying signal. Set your meeting for no more than twenty minutes. Pre-meeting rehearsal will save you time. You will project confidence, knowledge and credibility. Many sales people attempt to “wing it” based on their experience. Once introductions are complete, BLUFF begins… Bottom Line Up Front. You state all of your objectives and those of the prospect. There are three key points that you must ensure that you touch on at this point.

Key Points
-Rehearse your presentation
-Ask for their business
-Stick to your timeline

During your meeting, you must ask key questions to ensure your success and help your client with their buying decision. Use open and closed questions. Open questions encourage people to share their ideas, experiences, perspectives and opinions. They provide an opportunity to learn specific information that you need and valuable information you may not have known you need. Open questions often begin with words like “why”, “what” and “how”. Closed questions limit the range of answers that are possible; often the only answers are “yes” and “no”. Alone, this one step will help increase your close ratio. Last, proactively listen.

Key Points

-Ask key questions
-Use Open and Closed questions
-Listen to your clients

Once you’ve closed the sale, don’t stop. Midways through the completion of the project propose another project. At this point, you should have a better understanding of your client’s needs, and future needs. You have gained their trust, shown your ability to deliver and established a relationship. The first project allows you to build rapport with your client. Providing better customer service than you would expect yourself will develop more opportunities. Remember to tell your clients that the best form of praise is a referral, and then ask for them. Notice I said, “them.” The plural form. Ensure to ask for several.

Key Points

-Midways proposal
-Ultimate Customer Service
-Ask for referrals

You can see why using the Bottom Line Up Front is so important and easy to use. You’ll save time in your presentations, get what you ask for…business and referrals. All of this translates into sales, your Bottom Line Up Front.

Wesley A. Ford is co-founder of Immediate Impact, Inc., a multimedia company and much more. To learn how to make an immediate impact for you or your company, go to www.immediate-impact.com. To learn more about the B.L.U.F. System, contact Wesley direct at wes@immediate-impact.com.