Have you got those old "Internet Marketing Blues"? Here's how to get yourself on the fast track to success. According to the World Internet Usage and Population Data that as of there were approximately 1,262,032,697 online computer users as of November 2007?
Let's stop and think about those numbers.. there are more than 1 billion people online right now… that's pretty amazing, isn't it?
Now think about this… of those more than a billion people, how many of them have stopped at your Website and/or purchased one of your products or services?
Are you depressed yet?
Get your chin up! If you take the time to put together an Internet Marketing campaign, you'll stand a much better chance of making connections with at least some of them!
Let's start by looking at the three stages visitors to your Website go through after they type in or click your URL.
1. Just looking
2. Thinking about buying
3. Ready to buy
Let's start with - Just Looking
People at this stage have something on their minds. They want something, usually information, and they're probably not thinking about systematic keywords, or features of a particular product or service. They're probably using very general one or two word searches to get more information about a subject, niche or topic.
The best way to reach a visitor to your Website at this point is to provide them with lots and lots of general information. Some ways of doing that would be:
* Writing articles about the topic
* Reviewing different products or services
* Offering a free, informative newsletter about the topic
* Doing regular Podcasts
* Doing free teleseminars and interviewing experts in the industry, or arranging to be interviewed.
The thing to remember is you need to provide lots of broad information. The more questions you can answer for your visitor right now – the more they're going to remember you as they move through the buying cycle – and the more they're gong to perceive YOU as the expert in your industry or niche.
The Second Stage - Thinking about Buying
People who are in this stage of the cycle already have the information they were looking for during stage one. They understand the basics, and now they're looking for reasons to justify their purchase – they want to be convinced that they need it!
Something to keep in mind is that the larger and more expensive the purchase is, the more logical reasons you'll need to be able to give them.
To engage visitors who are thinking about buying, you'll want to provide easy access to all the features of your product or service. If you're selling televisions for example, this is where you'll want to have lots of customer reviews, descriptions of the different benefits and features of the product and answer all the "how to" information.
You want to make it easy for someone to find out how they can buy your product or service, how you ship it, how much shipping costs and what your guarantee and return policy is.
You'll want to give them the logical reasons for justifying the purchase at this point. But don't forget that you need to keep showing them what your product or service is going to do for them at the same time – so be subtle, but push the benefits here too. Make the facts available, but steer them towards making an emotional decision to buy.
By answering their "how" questions, you'll not only continue moving them through the buying cycle, you'll also help to guarantee that you're the one they're going to want to do business with, because you've shown them how easy – and secure – you've made the buying process.
The Third Stage - Ready to Buy
If you've done your job right, the people who are ready to buy will move quickly and smoothly through your sales process – and come out on the other end as your new customer!
Here's how you are going to attract visitors who are ready to pull out their credit cards:
You've answered their "what" and "how" questions and they're feeling safe about making an informed decision. So now you want to appeal to your visitor's "emotional" side.
Here's where you want to start piling on all the benefits and goodies and feelings of scarcity and urgency!
Make sure you're providing your visitors with "future pictures" to get them thinking about what your product or service is going to do for them, and how it's going to make them feel.
Here are a couple of concrete examples: If you're selling lawn services, for example, you're not really selling lawn seed. You're selling pride in yourself and in your home. You will be the envy of all your neighbors because of your beautiful yard!
Or if you're selling tooth whitener, you're really not selling whiter teeth. You're selling sex appeal and beauty and being instantly more attractive to the opposite sex. You're appealing to the person's needs to look good, smell good and to have people think that they care about the way they look, smell and feel.
See how easy that is?
When you're piling on the benefits, don't forget to take all the risk off the buyer. Offer a rock-solid guarantee – and be very clear about exactly what your guarantee is. show that you are taking responsibility for their security in when they choose to buy from you.
You'll want to add a sense of urgency or scarcity to your sales offer. Items need to be time-limited or only available in limited quantity. People hate to think that they are going to miss out on a bargain. And add enough relevant benefits that your visitor feels like they'd be acting follishly if they pass on taking your deal.
That's really all there is to it. By following these simple steps, you'll be able to turn those steadily-depressing, low-down, mind-messing internet marketing blues into a "Happy Happy Joy Joy!" song as you watch visitors to your Website make your virtual cash register sing its money song!
