A topic that came up in two recent consultancy calls with Mastermind Program Members was using the correct spelling and language for your target market – and then directing them to the appropriate affiliate website to make their purchase.

Let’s look at a physical product that can be marketed through a Hub and Mini-site strategy – for instance ‘Media Centres’ (but don’t ask me what they do!).

First question… Who is my target market?

Second question… Where are they?

Third Question… What style of language do they use – ie how do I need to ‘speak’ to get their interest?

The Center of The Matter

Let’s look at media centres – or is it centers…? ‘Media Centre’ is the British English spelling… The Americans would refer to a ‘Media Center’.

To see what I’m talking about, do a Google search on the term ‘samsung media center’… When I did this, the first result was for ‘Samsung United States’, using the spelling ‘Center’, and so on down the list. When I spelled it ‘centre’, some UK suppliers appeared in the top few listings who did not appear for the other spelling (along with Samsung USA again!).

Now Google’s search algorithms are clever enough to get round the spelling question, so ‘center’ comes up even when I type in ‘centre’ – particularly as that is the spelling used by the manufacturer. And Google directs me to search using Google.co.uk anyway, whereas in the USA, they’ll be using Google.com with it’s algorithms set to focus on US-based searches.

What The Domain…?

But all this becomes more important when you’re selecting your Domain name for a Mini-site, doesn’t it?

If you choose ‘SamsungYH-999GSMediaCentre.com’ as your domain name, and use this spelling on your web pages, you’ll get British-oriented (UK) traffic – if indeed you get any, as Samsung don’t call it this (they use Center). If you want to target American traffic, you’d need to use the ‘Center’ spelling.

You can check on sites like Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk that focus separately on the US and UK markets and see what comes up for ‘Samsung YH-999GS Media Centre’. For my search, Amazon.com returned ads while Amazon.co.uk didn’t.

Now, if I live in the USA and I’m looking for a ‘media center’, I’ll expect it to be sold, and delivered within, the USA. I don’t know what these British pound thingies are (and the price converted into dollars is higher) and I don’t want to wait three weeks (or pay for) my purchase to be shipped across ‘the Pond’.

And vice-versa. If I buy on-line in the UK, I want it to be delivered tomorrow from a UK supplier (but see ‘Side Note’ below).

So make sure your supplier/portal matches your market… and your target product.

Side Note – Arbitrage: It’s sometimes cheaper to buy in US$ and get it shipped from the USA – subject to taxes, duties, warranties, servicing requirements, etc… So there can be opportunities for ‘arbitrage’ for uncomplicated products, by sourcing/shipping them cheaper from the US than consumers can buy them in the UK… but let’s save that for another blog post!

Divided By A Common Language

And don’t forget to use the appropriate words that your target market uses. Terminology can change between countries, states and even counties. An example I came across recently was the terminology used by different State administrations for corrective driving courses for speeding offenders in the USA. Nearly every state calls it something different (I don’t have space here to list them all!) – so you’d need state-specific web pages if you were marketing this product…!

The Moral Of The Story: So, when you’re selecting your domain name, make sure that you’re targeting your market correctly, using the right spellings for the market – and as used by the product supplier – and that you’re directing your prospects to the most appropriate seller.

This isn’t really complicated – but I hope the above will help you focus on getting things right rather faster than if you have to find out for yourself… the hard way!

PS: See my blog post “The Anatomy of Great Copy ” on how to find some of the answers posed above…

Happy marketing!

John Thornely
Internet Tycoons

Starting up your own web business can seem daunting if you’ve never done it before. But there are a few simple concepts that will guide you and make sure everything you do contributes to building an effective – and profitable – business!

Here are some of the tips we’ve given in recent Consultation calls…

• Your Goals: Spell out your objectives in starting a web business, as they are what will keep you going through thick and thin… Map out the development of your web business against your goals, so that every element of what you do represents another (identifiable) step towards achieving your goals. Occasionally stop and look back at what you’ve achieved and give yourself a pat on the back, identify what needs adjusting, and learn from your experiences.
• Your Strategy: The beating heart of your web business is your business strategy. This is all about identifying a niche that you can target effectively, monetise and dominate and then working out how to do this most cost-effectively. Where do your prospects ‘hang out’ and how can you reach them? What ‘Irresistible Offer’ will bring them flocking in? Can you use viral products or videos to market your offer? How do you keep your customers coming back for more?
• Your USP: What’s different about you/your offer/ your approach – why should someone follow you or buy your products? You need to have some unique offering or angle that ‘stands out from the crowd’. SOS – the ‘Same Old Stuff’ may bring in the odd customer but we all look for something New, Different or Better all the time, don’t we? Look through your prospects’ eyes.
• Your Funnel: To maximize the benefits from your work, try to identify suitable products that represent steps through your funnel – from freebie to front-end product, mid-price, high-price, etc. You don’t have to have all these in place when starting out, but mapping out how you’re going to lead your prospects through your funnel will help make sure every element of what you do is productive in building your business and everything makes a coherent whole.
• Your offer: See how you can make the offer on your website (your free report) ‘irresistible’ – ie a no-brainer for people to sign up for! Then try to make sure that the expectations of those that sign up for it are exceeded, so that they want more! Again, look through your prospects’ eyes.
• Your Website: You have 6 to 10 seconds to grab your visitors’ attention – and hold it! Your headline should immediately ‘answer’ their problem and there should preferably be a relevant graphic that reinforces this. Your call to action (the ‘Most Wanted Outcome’) should be clear. Think about the changes you could make to increase conversion (reinforce your ‘irresistible offer’) – and keep testing them.
• Monetisation: The whole purpose of your web business is to make profit (by helping others), so try to think of all the opportunities to make a sale – I covered 16 at the Mastermind Workshop but web biz expert Rich Schefren says there are at least 45 different opportunities…!

Sure, it may look complicated but the final ‘bonus’ tip is KISS – Keep It Stupidly Simple! Oh so many businesses have failed because they got too clever or too complicated. Keep it all absolutely as simple as you possibly can – and simple enough that your prospects and customers can clearly see ‘What’s In It For Me’ and why they should do business with you!

Oh – last thing… Nothing will happen without taking Action. Small steps at a time… As the Chinese Philosopher, Lao Tze, said: “The journey of a thousand miles is started with a single step…” So start taking those steps…!

All the best with your web business…

John Thornely
Internet Tycoons

We could all do with more hours in the day, couldn’t we?

But how can we get them?

Ask Yourself!

· What activities are wasting my time? eg, if you watch TV for 3 hours a day, you could have an extra 20 hours a week to start your own business!

· What tasks are you doing that someone else could do for you? Most things you need to do in an internet business can, in fact, be outsourced.

· Who else can you involve to help you? Who can you ‘outsource’ to, partner with or get advice from?

· Are you doing the most important things? You should be – and giving the rest to someone else!

7 Steps To More Time

Answer the questions below honestly and commit to them.

1: Where do you waste most time at the moment?

2: How can you save or create more time?

3: What tasks can you delegate or dump?

4: Schedule time in your diary to take action – when?

5: When (regularly) are you going to review your goals?

6: How will you reward yourself for achieving these?

7: How can you learn from other peoples mistakes?

Above all else, if you want to succeed, you must commit to take these actions.

The thoughts we choose to think
are the tools we use to paint the canvass of our lives.
Louise Hay

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

How can you tell whether your terrific new brain-child idea is a killer or a dog?

Well, as any seasoned marketer will tell you, there are no sure-fire ways. There are NO right and wrong answers in marketing – there is not a single expert who can tell you whether your new product will fly or sink!

As an example, a very seasoned marketer and copywriter I know admitted to me recently that he launched a new product last year that he was convinced would sell like hot cakes…

Did it? No – it bombed!

So not even the experienced marketers get it right all the time!

But yes, there is a way of making absolutely certain-sure that you have developed a winning product…

As web entrepreneur Nick James explains, it’s quite simple:

You allow the punters to tell you whether or not they want your product….

And he’s deadly serious when he says that the only certain way to be sure is to test your product in a suitable, email broadcast, newspaper ad or direct mail campaign…

The punters will pretty soon tell you whether or not they want to buy or not…. Either you will get lots of orders, or you will just about break-even, or you will hardly get any orders at all. You just wont know until you test!

Now, do you want to know the single most powerful piece of information in the product development and/or direct marketing business?

This information is worth more than everything I have previously told you, put together. It’s this:

Believe the punters - not yourself.

There. I really don’t like to tell anyone not to believe in themselves…

But in this particular instance, you must put all your faith in the punters.

It doesn’t matter how much of a ‘pet’ your product is. It doesn’t matter how much your old mum and your friends tell you it’s a GREAT product. It is wholly irrelevant that you have seen scores of adverts for similar products at a higher price. - If the punters don’t respond to your advert, then you must drop that product and move straight on to the next one.

The only exception to this is if you have a modest response, and you think you made a slight mistake… (say by advertising in completely the wrong place, or too expensive, etc.).

In this case, it might be worth testing again. If this second attempt also fails, then drop the product immediately.

Don’t try and second-guess the punters.

Don’t worry too much about how or why the punters didn’t buy your product. You will probably never work this out… I never can!

The greatest mail-order gurus in the world often find themselves scratching their heads in disbelief at what works, and what fails. They are continually amazed that their ‘dead-cert’ product flops completely, and their rank outsider, no-hoper product which they whacked-in for a quick test, results in bulging mail-sacks.

There is often no rhyme or reason to this. Who knows why the punters will go for a product, or leave it alone? It could be one word in the copy, a ‘feel’, the picture, the price, their perception of your ability to deliver…. ANYTHING. You’ll never find out.

Now the big difference between a winner, and a loser is that the winner will listen to the punters no matter what he thinks. If the punters tell him that his red-hot favorite product is a lame dog, then he’ll drop it immediately. Losers will back their hunches right down the line until they go broke.

They just know that this product is a winner…. If the marketing fails, then they attribute it to the media, or the day of the week, or the price, or the delivery time. They don’t believe that the punters could ever reject such a super product.

So they promote it again, and again and again until they have lost a very great deal of money. Then they believe. But even after all this, they still harbor a sneaking suspicion that if they’d just altered the coupon shape, or increased the money-back guarantee to 30 days, or…

You get the idea….

To become a direct-response winner, you MUST believe the punters…

The punters KNOW – you only BELIEVE.

This principle can be summarised in this vital concept:

MILK YOUR WINNING PRODUCTS, DROP YOUR LOSERS.

Source: http://www.ebizhelpers.com/article~cat~ecommerce-general~articleid~4047.htm © Nick James.

John Thornely

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Try using these ‘Bucket-Brigade’ phrases in your copywriting to ‘refresh’ the reader’s attention and link your paragraphs together…

1. A word of caution:

2. Add this to…

3. After all,

4. Again,

5. Also,

6. Although,

7. Am I right about you so far?

8. And best of all…

9. And don’t forget

10. And get this…

11. And guess what?

12. And here’s some great news for you:

13. And in addition to that . . .

14. And just think,

15. And like I said:

16. And look at this:

17. And now you can…

18. And now,

19. And remember…

20. And that doesn’t take into account…

21. And that’s just the beginning…

22. And that’s not all…

23. And that’s why

24. And the result?

25. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

26. And to prove it, here is…

27. And we don’t stop there

28. And what if I could take…

29. And what’s worse…

30. And what’s more

Look out for more suggestions in future blog posts…

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com