Do something different

We always talk about how to design a good website. Refer my article on Planning a website for your business.

What I am going to say today is the power of good writing will attract visitors better than many pictures and soapy sales articles. There are lots of business with websites that do not except payments online. They do it via cheque or credit. They even trade internationally. So if you are a new comer and cannot handle all the electronic web payment stuff, just market your website and if people are interested, they will contact you.

A good article in a website and correct key words can make wonders. You have to describe the specific item or service you are offering. You can do it in a very interesting manner. A reader must feel curious about what you are saying and keep reading on. And if it is really interesting, he might then try searching for your specific product or service and you might be able to do a sale. Many websites lack this ability. Almost all websites look the same to many customers. A different website will attract a customer during their search, and that will influence buying.

It should not always be a website. I have seen people doing business with blogs. If you describe your product in a very influential manner interesting to the readers. For example, if you are selling clothing or fashion jewelry, you just have to write some articles very interesting about them. Tell in your article why this fashion is important. Some people like to imitate celebrities, why not tell that a certain celebrity model wore this to that particular party and so on. Check Laling's blog of Fashion.You have to do some research on your potential customers and write your article according to that. If you are selling uniforms or professional clothing this will not work, they will reject your article immediately.

If you are selling ladies make up kits, little articles on herbal treatments, natural facials, beauty tips and tricks will interest the potential customer. They might not buy at that point. But there is good chances of them keep returning to get new tips from you. Already you are offering free advice to your customers. Keep them encouraged in all the little articles you write by saying I will be back with more tips in my next article. Your frequent customer will tend to buy from you. At this point good customer service is really important. Only a satisfied customer will return to buy from you or refer others to you. Angry and frustrated customers will give negative feed backs about your service. All the time and effort you spent in preparing your website or blog will be of no use if your customers are frustrated. So be prepared at any time for a sales order. Assure your customer how long it will take to process the order and deliver the item. Display your terms and delivery time in your website. If you have a currency calculator it will help your offshore customers to verify their payments.

I have found that daily tarot readings on the web do not influence people very much. They are all the same and people get fed up. Most of the time they lure you into it and then you have to pay for the rest. But if some one tells you what Astrology is and what aryurvedic and holistic medicine has to do with it, will you not be interested in knowing more? You dig further to know what Astrology really means just click here to reed how Dr Teja explains Astrology.

For a beginner a blog will be a wonderful place to promote your service. Just leave your contact details and start doing business. Submit your blog to search engines and blogging communities. And I must say never limit yourself to internet. Just advertise locally and you can get more results. Usually at the beginning a website might not give you the results you expected, but with time it will grow. Satisfied customer recommendations and an up to date website will make your chances in the web grow.

Multilevel Marketing is not for me

Some people get rich through this Multilevel Marketing, but an overwhelming majority is not. That is the truth in this fake.

Most of you already know what MLM is. It was MLM that propelled both Herbalife International and, more recently, Equinox International to the top. Usually MLM people know how to lure people into their trap by promising things that people crave for. All of us except those who are enlightened crave for things. The main thing we crave for is Money. Without money we cannot do anything. To earn Money you have to work hard, most people do not like to work hard if they are not passionate about their job. More than fifty percent of us are dissatisfied with our jobs. So it is easy to take advantage of your mental condition, “Earn money while you are sleeping” What a funny thing to say. Yet it makes you more inquisitive, what a wonderful thing, “earn money while sleeping” You keep on reading. Again it says “you can earn a six figure income without spending much money”. That is easy money. People get lured by this type of advertisements.

You then sign up for this program. While signing up you are asked to introduce your friends to this so you could earn a high commission on their sales too. Unlike most businesses, an MLM company pays you a commission not only on your sales but also on the sales of all the people you've brought into the network, either directly or indirectly. So if someone you recruit goes out and recruits a bunch of terrific salespeople--and they recruit more terrific salespeople--you stand to make a fortune. In fact, some people do. The more you recruit, the more your commissions will be if they succeed. Unfortunately this is not the fact.

These companies know that most people cannot make it. So why not take the chance and grab some money. They ask you to buy some products ranging $100 or more. “You will be provided with all the training material” that’s what they say in the advertisement. But you finally find out you have to buy the material, so this is the company’s second level of income, not bad they earn a lot because your recruits will do the same and imagine what the earnings of the top most five or six will be. They are surely earning money while they are a sleep.

You are lured more and more without you knowing through their e-mails, free offers, and lot of fancy suggestions that they already know will not work for you. But you still keep going. You spend on PPC campaigns, e-mail campaigns and websites. But how many of you are good at sales and how many of you succeed. The company and people on top know this and they make sure that they earn from you before you drop out.

The successful ones are the exceptions, however. The overwhelming majority of people who come into the network fall by the wayside. MLM uses the method of giving the idea that any one can be a good salesperson. “You need not have a degree or experience, anyone can do this” Well you find out the fundamental falsehood of this after you drop off. At that time you might have probably spent more than $1000. Loosing money is not the end of the problem, by this time you have probably involved your friends and relatives. They have also lost their money, so be prepared to face an angry lot.

Everybody cannot be a good salesperson. MLM companies know this. Most people will never be good enough at selling, let alone take home a six-figure income. To be a good salesperson, you need qualities that you simply cannot get from a tape or a seminar telling you how to connect with people and ability to handle rejection. Most of all you have to enjoy selling. Most people don’t. It is harder than your dissatisfied job with an employer.

Few people actually turn out to be good salespeople. They wind up selling a significant amount of the company’s first product line. What ever the product that’s good for the company is good for them too, particularly those who got in early and stayed with the program. But their success comes at the expense of the other people, who waste their time and money pursuing a goal they can never reach. I find this disgusting.

Anyone who can make millions in MLM can do the same in another type of business, one that doesn’t require you to take advantage of other people. Selling is not this bad and destructive. Good salespeople provide a service to their customers, and not eat them out. They generate the revenues that pay other people’s wages.

A good salesperson can start his or her own business and they don’t need multilevel marketing to get rich.

Cost Effective Advertising

Advertising is the link between the supplier and the consumer, communication and information, the medium and the message, but how do we make it more cost effective.

Cost effective methods of advertising is very important because you will have to add the cost of advertising to your product. Your aim should be to sell the product with minimum price margins while covering all other costs you have incurred.

How do you do this?
Analyze the benefit of your product. Who has the need for your product? Discover your potential customers and Isolate particular features of your product to pin point for your customer’s benefit when you advertise. Target your market.

Concentrate on where the most people of your segment can be reached. If you want to sell women’s clothing, it will not do in daily paper very well. Just research a women’s magazine or news paper, and even from those, find out where your particular fashion or product would be most appropriate. And also research the popularity of the magazine. Most women buy women’s weekly, placing your add in that will be very much effective than placing it in a newspaper or Fashion magazine with very few readers. It is same as placing your advertisement on internet. You have to find the specific niche and even from that specific niche, the most suitable one. For women’s clothing, you have to find a niche for Fashion or clothing, according to your customer view point, and then find a particular interesting site where women would be most likely to read.

Some times the circulation of the paper or magazine of your choice will be more than half compared to other papers or magazines, but half of the readers may only buy it for the pictures, a quarter for the sport and the rest will buy mainly for the crossword. So don’t be deceived by massive circulation. Do a research first. Call the advertisers and inquire how many responses they got. If you can do a free survey for the readers of the paper or magazine, you can clearly decide weather it is worth advertising on it.

I have seen that most people tend at least to get one or two responses from a simple newspaper than advertising on the Internet. But you should not miss the web, you will be successful according to your advertising campaign and search engine ranking. Do not waste your money on banner ads. People get irritated by them and you will never get a response.

Make your ad very simple so that readers can clearly identify the product. Newspapers and magazines – will probably take most of your budget. Your aim should be to reach the bulk of your audience. You can find community magazines to advertise your business, probably if it is a niche for your target audience. Otherwise it will be waste of money. Probably garage sales and specific services in the area can get a good response through community newspaper and your local news board.

A way of advertising without expenditure in the web is placing your clothing or what ever product pictures in a free blog. Make it attractive. Find sites with lot of traffic. Submit your blog there. If you are very creative and have a target in your mind, you can lure people to your website. Make a good story or yarn that will tell something interesting related to that product. It is vise not to try marketing guru method of story telling. You must be very creative to attract a reader to your blog.

If you are doing a service business, place your blog in a community site that attracts lot of traffic from your area or country. Make it interesting with stories related to your business, so that people will continue coming to your website. You might get some recommendations from your readers even if they are not in need of your service; they will direct people who are searching for a service.

Placing your ad in Yellow pages is very effective for some service type business. This way you can get exposure throughout the year. In all cases you should try to minimize your costs and maximize your profit. You should be able to cover the cost of your advertisement by your sales.

You can advertise using direct letters, E-mails and leaflets. You have to be very careful of the way you describe your business using this method. Use minimum words with most important details that would interest your recipient. They will probably do a short scan and throw it away, so it is very important that your description is eye-catching. Why not offer a free item if they buy your product. Ex: Pizza leaflets. I love to have them; they contain mouth watering pictures and clear descriptions. When you take the leaflet to them, they will offer a pizza to you for a low prize. And with that, they will give you another leaflet so that you keep going to them often. You feel like, I must not miss this chance of reduced prize. And even more, they offer you amazing low prices if you order during an off-peak hour. That is one of the most effective way of advertising I have seen. You can try this in your website and offline promotions, so that customers keep coming to you again and again. But your service should be really good and on time. Otherwise customers will not come to you again. In a website if you have software that automatically process sales orders and letters with minimum human participation, you can prevent many errors.

Other options: Press release, Exhibitions, displaying your ad in your own vehicle. Giveaways like calendars with your business and web address and many more methods according to your imagination.
No matter how you advertise, your ad should be eye-catching. You need to think how people’s instincts work.

• Many people read the head line only. Ads with a headline that promise a benefit will have a more chance of being read by four times as many people.
• The reader’s eye follows form illustration to headline to copy, so lay out your ad in that order.
• Photographs are more believable than drawings, and the bigger the illustration the more the ad is likely to be noticed.
• Putting in the price is very important.
• Putting large chunks of capitals discourage readers.
• Color is more important than size.
• Only 5 percent of your readers may actually read your ad.

This is the fact. So you must be very careful before you spend on an advertisement. The main force of your sales effort will probably be through advertising. Advertising will not shift a bad product more than once or create a new market. It must be backed up by sales literature, order forms, a sales force, stocks, distributors and a strategy.

Be successful with your Website

For a Small business to succeed in their e-venture, there website is very important. It should be attractive to the surfers, must be able to keep the surfer there for a while and make the surfer do a purchase. Companies that do successful business have developed a stronger brand image with community feel: Visitors feel at home and wanted. The site is constantly changed with up to date news, comments and offers. These are mostly niche products and services. They work best on the Internet. No matter how the technology has developed, research has proven that still business to business transactions are likely to be more remunerative than business to consumer.

If you do decide to go online, resources must be found to make your site interesting and up to date to keep people coming back. Your website should be lively, provide information and encourage interactivity.

Objectives of a website for a small firm

• Should provide information (technical support)
• Sell produce (e-commerce)
• Ask for new names (e-mail enquiry form).
• Solve problems (“frequently asked questions” – FAQ).
• Provide a forum for debate (user groups).
• Encourage requests for catalogues and quotations.
• Show what’s in stock.
• Reach new customers around the world and communicate better with a firm’s existing customer base.
• Send direct e-mail offers out to a mailing list

For a website to be effective, good software skills and marketing skills of a designer must be combined. Remember that the site visitors are only a click away from losing you. The more you concentrate on niches; you are isolated and can benefit and increase the chance of you getting a good search engine ranking.

A basic website has a clear home page and contains all the relevant contact information with the banner headline at the top of the page emphasizing the main benefits of using your company. Visitor should not be left in doubt for about what to do. Your design contents must reflect what is different about your firm.

Traffic will be slow at first. But as most web business say, it will be likely to increase in three or four month’s time. You must give a feel of community, a closer relationship than is possible with cold off-the-page advertising. Because the Web is instant and available, customers expect swift response. If e-mails or deliveries are not made within a day or two the whole benefit of online trading will be lost.

• Avoid great slabs of text. Leave plenty of white space around text and pictures. Use a white or pale background to aid legibility. Text should not fill more than twice the width of the screen
• Home page is the first impression. So ‘click here to enter’ is best avoided. Design throughout should be simple and look easy to navigate. You should place full address and telephone numbers on the home page so that the visitor may not waste time clicking through to find them.
• Make obvious what to do next. Add a ‘go’, or ‘log-on’ or ‘submit’ button. ‘Search the site’ is also very useful when the website gets bigger.
• Avoid long questionnaires asking for detail that will only irritate. Ask only the basic contact information so that you can e-mail later with special offers. Think of simple forms that will encourage response.
• People find banner adds irritating and you will probably get no response for these.
• Avoid large graphic files that will take ages to download. Customers do not have time to wait hours for your site to download. A menu index in each page will be useful so that the user can navigate easily through your site.
• Build an interactive forum where visitors can comment on their problems and ask for advice.
• Include easy order and inquiry forms. Do not forget to say ‘your information will not be given to any third parties’ this will help overcome resistance.
• Links are important both from and to your site. Look for compatible but non competitive sites and e-mail them a request. Best sites will be your local trade associations, councils, buying groups clubs or special interest lobby.
• Your brand image must be carried throughout your website. Visitors are prepared to pay for if you have a well developed brand image.
• Install a visitor counter, so you can not only measure how many hits you get, but which pages are most popular. It will also show where the hits came from. A hidden counter is better in my opinion so your visitors will not be given unnecessary information.

Try these tips and see how they work. My best wishes.

Also Read Garry’s announcement about (An Update On My New Site launch)