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

Only a very small proportion of visitors to your website will buy straight off – experience shows that most will require 6 to 7 contacts before they’re ready to purchase.

So how are you to arrange to be in contact with prospects on a regular basis? The answer is by email. And this is why the whole objective of the initial landing page of your website must be to BUILD A LARGE EMAIL LIST of prospects and customers.

Once you have an email list, you can make regular contact with your prospects and customers and begin to make SERIOUS MONEY.

So how do you capture email addresses? List-building expert Duss Rogers offers you the following suggestions…

1 - Offer A Freebie

You have to give in order to get. If you want people to offer up their email address, you`re going to have to offer up an incentive – it’s known as an ‘ethical bribe’. Nothing works better than something that`s complimentary (you spell that F-R-E-E). You can give away no-cost reports, books, software, or even sample pages or chapters of a book.

2 - Use Pop-Ups

Pop-ups are one of the most common methods you can use to capture email addresses and build your email list quickly and with ease. Simply construct a web page containing code for a form and set the page to open (pop up) when visitors ENTER OR EXIT your site.

Make sure the pop-up offer is something that`s valuable enough to motivate visitors to take time to give you their contact information. Your offer can be a complimentary report, download, or ebook that arrives instantly through your autoresponder to their email inbox when they give you their email.

-Tip: If you need a pop-up, you can find one free by doing a search on Google for “free popup generator”. Many browser systems now block pop-ups but there are many systems which still work well.

3 - Use Postcards

If you have a mailing list that contains snail mail (street) addresses, convert it into an email list by sending out a postcard and inviting people to VISIT YOUR WEBSITE to receive a gift of some kind — a report, a discount coupon, etc. Visitors don`t have to pay in order to receive their

gifts, they simply need to enter an email address.

- Tip: In the US, postage is much less expensive for a postcard than a standard-size letter. (Not only are they economical, postcards are more likely to get your message across since the consumer doesn`t have to open an envelope.)

4 - Subscriber Box On Every Page

This is a clever trick that so many people overlook. Put a RESPONSE FORM ON EVERY PAGE of your website offering a newsletter or other freebie. This will increase the number of email addresses you capture exponentially.

Why? When search engines index the pages of your website, a visitor may come directly to a page other than your home page.

If you only have a subscriber box on your home page, you`re missing the boat, not to mention the thousands of visitors who bypass your homepage.

5 - Contests

Contests very often prove to be a good way to generate traffic and buzz for your business. Create a contest and put a form on your site or in a pop-up box. The entry “fee” is their email address.

-Warning: Not all the people who sign up for your contest are good prospects. Many are just contest “junkies” — people who are only looking for freebies and have no intention of buying a product or service.

-Warning: If your prizes are cash or large-ticket items, you should be sure to check with local agencies to make sure you`re not violating any contest laws.

6 - Display Your Autoresponder Address

Most people give their website link when they place solo ads, ezine ads, or other marketing messages. To be one step ahead of the game in collecting email addresses, LIST YOUR

AUTORESPONDER ADDRESS instead of your URL. This way you can capture email address and funnel them into your follow-up sales letters.

7 - Just Ask

If you`re chatting with a prospect on the phone or a potential customer stops by your place of business, don`t be shy: ask for an email address or business card (which usually includes their email address).

Okay, you know what you want…you know what you need. It`s time for you to set your traps and CAPTURE THOSE EMAILS!

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

Tell people clearly the purpose of your web site.

And make it rapidly and absolutely clear to them why they need to stay on the site - what benefits will they receive?

When people visit a web site and have to figure out what it’s about, they quickly get frustrated and leave.

So you should tell them right in the title, “Welcome To Ted Dixon’s Horse Training Center”.

Then immediately let them know the key benefits that they’ll get from your website. So, for example, you could publish a sub-title or description right below it like, “Learn the Horse Whisperer’s Inner Secrets!”

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

“My website looks very nice — but I don’t get any enquiries or sales from it”.

How many times have you heard that?

My first website — a property site — cost me far more than it should have, because I didn’t really know anything about selling on the web. I put the site before the customer.

I hunted around until I found someone who seemed to offer the kind of site I was looking for. She produced a nice-looking website (she was a graphic designer!) — but one that was subsequently described to me by a copywriter as being ‘typically corporate in approach’ — all about ‘us’, with no great appeal to a visitor, no single focus and no convincing call to action.

A bit of a put-down, heh?

And — more importantly — no great traffic as a result! Even though the site eventually reached a Google page ranking of 3 (by reason of the large amount of information I put up on it), it didn’t bring in the punters.

Was this the web designer’s fault or mine?

The answer is — both! It was a case of ‘the blind leading the blind’. I hadn’t really worked out who my targets were and how to win them over, and she didn’t understand enough about commercial marketing to make me do this before even starting out on formulating the website. She ‘did’ corporate brochures!

All About Us – Not You!

The typical website out there is ‘all about us’ and little or nothing about the visitor or what they actually want. Never forget that someone only visits your website because they are looking for information or to solve a problem or need. Think about it — what are you looking for when you browse the Web?

This is why the standard ‘corporate style brochure’ on a web page really doesn’t work. Your website needs to capture your visitor, entice him/her to stay and browse further — no matter what business you’re in!

You can actually do this very easily: create a site which is full of information — full of ‘nuggets’ the visitor gets an immediate benefit from — and where they’ll want to return.

Mouthwatering Detail

Develop a site that describes, in mouthwatering detail, how your product or service

creates the exact results they’re looking for.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in — whether you are directly selling a product, building a list of prospects or a public service website — you still need to fulfill your visitors’ needs and involve them, if you want them to return to your site and find it valuable.

The Big Myth

And here’s a BIG MYTH. Most businesses’ websites will not make a sale on a prospect’s first visit — unless you make them an ‘irresistible offer’ so compelling that your visitor just can’t go without buying (which many single-page sites can do, with good copywriting).

Typical ‘conversion rates’ that the experts achieve are only in the range 1 to 5% of visitors — so 95 to 99 of every 100 visitors to your site are likely to leave without buying.

So your website should focus on starting a relationship with your prospect, so that you can convert perhaps another 20 – 30% of your visitors over time. You need to engage with your visitor and make it worthwhile for them to do two things:

· Opt in to your ‘free offer’ and

· Return to your site later to buy.

If you succeed in getting your visitor to opt in, you can build your relationship — and this is primarily about building his/her trust in you — and encourage him/her to return to your website, for instance using a series of emails sent out by autoresponder. Tests typically show that it may take anything from 5 to 10 contacts with a prospect before they trust you enough to buy.

Clear Site

One of the most successful commercial website styles is one that looks like a letter. It can be a single site or multiple-page site (each ‘page’ can be hundreds or thousands of words long).

Each page should look like a letter and each should aim to promote a single product or service — gently but inexorably leading your visitor through to a specific action, whether it be to opt-in, download a free report that contains more information or to purchase.

Unless your site is purely for information, it should not have numerous links and buttons at the top or down the side of the page, which can distract the reader and lead them away from your site.

The exception to this (for example, see the diabetes site mentioned above), is where the whole of a multi-page site acts as a carefully crafted sales machine, focused on getting the visitor to opt-in and return again.

Lead Your Prospect

Interwoven into the text (‘copy’) on your site, you should have links to request your free report or whatever is being offered. These links, scattered throughout the letter, lead to a form for the visitor to complete, so you capture (as a minimum) their first name and email address, with permission to stay in touch.

Getting this permission (hence ‘permission marketing’) is absolutely necessary if your visitor is located in a country that has ‘data protection’ or privacy policies, such as the UK.

And don’t worry about what to give as a ’free report’. This can be distilled sections of a few chapters of your information product (if that’s what you’re offering) — some marketers simply adapt sections of the sales letter on their web page!

You can use this direct response website approach to identify your target audience — visitors literally ‘hold up their hand’ by requesting your free report (although there are quite a few ‘freebie seekers’ out there, too).

Once you have your visitor’s contact details, you can nurture a relationship with informative emails until he/she is ready to purchase from you.

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

If you want to succeed online, you have to have a strategy (or theme, a purpose, or community) for your website, with a central focus on a specific WANT that your prospects have. Then, you find products which follow along the theme.

So, the three keys to creating income from ANY web site and ANY theme, according to Terry Dean, are:

1. Have a lead product that people WANT.

2. Have freebies at your site that follow the theme.

3. Have multiple backend or supporting products for the theme.

You can’t develop a business around a single product. Even if you are promoting a single product upfront, it is not the product that people want.

They want the BENEFITS they receive out of the product.

When designing your site, think about that ever abiding “WANT” or “GOALS” that your prospects have with them continually.

Things such as: more money, weight loss, online success, being sexually attractive, self-defense, etc.

These ultimate benefits are what your prospects are really seeking.

So, don’t base your business just on products.

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

Blogging can be the cheapest and one of the most effective ways to profit from the Internet. Here’s how…

What the blog…?

Web Logs – or ‘Blogs’ for short – started as a simple means for providing an online journal or diary, where an individual lets the world know how they think and feel about certain things. If you are a member of facebook.com, myspace.com, or any other social networking site, there’s a good chance you have been writing in a blog – and maybe didn’t even know it!

Blog marketing?

Blog marketing is the use of a blog or blogs to produce traffic for the purpose of monetizing that traffic. Using a blog to market a product or merely as a means of producing online income is much cheaper than using a website. This is because a number of free blog services are available that almost as good as having your own website that costs you plenty!

Because blog marketing has few barriers to entry, it is an excellent way for a beginner to get into the Internet Marketing business.

Due to both the human and Search Engine demand for quality content, it’s very possible to make serious money from creating, promoting, and maintaining blogs.

Turning a blog into a cash machine is relatively inexpensive and can be done by anyone who understands the basics of marketing and the Internet.

Monetise!

So how should you monetize your blog??

Well, that rather depends on what your objectives are and how you’re going to use your blog. The simplest system is to write blog articles that include an affiliate link for them to buy a range of other people’s products.

Or, if you’re looking to build a list of prospects, you can include a ‘name squeeze’ box, where you offer something of value (a free ebook report, software, etc) in return for the visitor’s contact details (name, email address, etc). You can then follow up with an offer that monetizes the list – or you can sell your list to appropriate traders (maintenance, double glazing, office equipment, holidays, property, etc), who pay you for each name supplied.

Topical Passion

Many marketers suggest starting a website on a topic that you are passionate about. But think about it… If you want to make a lot of money on-line you need to blog about profitable topics, ie those with a lot of potential traffic.

This means you need to do 4 things:

1. Identify topics or niches with a lot of traffic potential

2. Constantly add fresh quality content to your blog

3. Get lots of free traffic to your blog

4. Monetize that traffic

So what topics should you pick that will generate a lot of traffic??

There’s no point in starting a blog unless it is geared towards an in-demand, profitable topic. And remember that it’s fairly common for blogs to outrank other websites competing for the same keywords because your blog regularly delivers fresh, quality content.

Also, just because a topic has a lot of competition doesn’t necessarily mean it is not worth starting a blog about – you actually want to work in a busy topic area! See ‘Find Your Niche!’ and other articles in this issue of Web Biz Insider on how to do this.

Once you’ve determined your niche, you’ll need to derive some Keywords that people will search on to reach your blogsite – again see other articles in this issue for some ideas! Then you need to set up your blogsite!

Free Blogsite!

There are many free blog services available but the free Blogger service provided by Google (http://www.blogger.com) is perhaps the best for starters, for ease and simplicity, to create a content-rich blog. The other services available mostly either don’t allow affiliate links display adverts on your blog/website. Blogger allows you to advertise affiliate programs or whatever you want on your blog and places no ads of it’s own on there.

To create your blog, you’ll need a Google account – if you don’t have one go to: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount, then go to Blogger and follow the instructions to create your blog.

Hot Tip: When you’re setting up your blog, make sure you use your Target Keywords within your URL of your niche blog and in the Title and Description. VERY Important!)

Join Up!

To be really successful at blogging, you’ll need help and support from a community of like-minded people, regardless of what specific Internet business model you decide to operate. So, sign up to one of the many online business forums to support your success. Some you might consider include:

www.bloggerforum.com – Free
www.warriorforum.com/forum – Free
http://forums.digitalpoint.com – Free
www.forumknowhow.com – $ monthly

If you choose a topic with good traffic and spend some time learning about your chosen topic, promoting your blog and adding great content, you should have no problems getting traffic to your blogsite. Then it’s up to you how you monetize your visitors.

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

Armand Morin is perhaps the best-known internet marketer of all. With over 9,000 websites in 400 niches, his businesses are expected to bring in over $30M this year — all with a staff of just 6 people! So when Armand speaks – I listen!

And listen I did when he spoke at the Internet Success Bootcamp I presented recently in London. I interviewed him to find out just how he does it and I’d like to share with you some of the pearls of wisdom I gleaned – as they are exactly what we teach, here at Internet-Tycoons.com!

Armand started up on the Web in 1996 when the Internet was a new thing - there wasn’t anyone to show him what to do, so he just learned by trial and error.

However, as he noted… “People starting today have so many advantages, with lots of guidance and simple systems to follow, there’s never been a better time to start a web business! The Internet is changing fast, and change always means opportunity! So get out there and get started!”

Armand went on to note that… “for people starting up now, Information Products are by far the easiest to get going with — but keep away from ebooks on ‘how to make money on line’ — it’s too competitive. Go for a niche where there is a sizable community of people hungry for information on that niche topic.”

“As an example, when the new film of HG Well’s ‘War Of The Worlds’ came out, I sold the book in ebook form — nobody was advertising on Adwords and it was really popular. And I got the book and the rights to sell it completely free, in the Public Domain. We used Adwords and many other ways to market the book.”

“We also put seven Jane Austin books up on the web too, at the time the film ‘Becoming Jane’ was out. The same with Oliver Twist. You can pick up the rights to a whole range of books and publications at one of the Public Domain resource sites like www.Gutenberg.org absolutely free!”

Doesn’t he make it sound easy? So what’s the secret to Armand’s success? Well he let me in on it — and this is very confidential between us…

Armand Morin’s Secret System…

‘Highlight — Copy — Paste’.

It’s as simple as that – from the mouth of the Master Internet Marketer!

“Everybody tries to make it more complicated and makes it difficult for themselves.

“As a result, they don’t get started! Sure, you need to know a bit about web technology but that shouldn’t get in your way, as you can get other people to virtually everything for you.

“I’m not talking plagiarism here — but you DON’T need to be clever — just use material that’s out there and adapt it to suit!

“Look, I had an idea for a useful piece of software one Sunday. By that afternoon I had someone writing the software for me through Elance.com. It was finished within a week and I launched it at $99 a week later and made $83,000—it’s still makes me around $5,000 a month! The simplest ideas are the best!

“The average paperback book will cost you say $15. But people will pay more for ebooks — anything from $27 to 97. By adding an audio version — record yourself reading the ebook — and making a few adjustments, you can make it into a ‘home study course’ — and people will pay $297 to $497. People are hungry for knowledge!”

When I asked Armand what he thought had made him so successful, he responded:

“The real difference between me and most people trying to do business on the internet is approach and focus:

· Most people are looking to make millions

· I’m looking to make only $300!

“I set up websites that will make me just $300 a month. So that’s around $3,500 a year. Not a fortune! But if you set up 100 of these — it’s now a very nice income! And they really don’t take long to set up, particularly if you outsource all the work!

“The odds of you making a website and generating a million dollars from it are tiny!

You may not want to hear that but it’s true — think about it!

“On the other hand, anyone with very little experience and a few hours of training can develop the skills needed to create a $300-amonth income. Then you just need to replicate it 10 times and you’re making $3,000 a month. Duplicate it 50 times and you’re making $15,000 a month! Hire someone to do it for you.”

And that’s exactly what we show you how to do at www.Internet-Tycoons.com!

So I asked Armand the easiest way to get started with a $300-a-month website.

He responded… “Eventually, if you want to make real money, you’ll need your own products. But the easy way to get started is by selling other people’s products — as an Affiliate. It costs nothing and you can even get paid without having your own website!

“Commissions on information products average 35% to 50% — just go to www.Clickbank.com and sign up completely free. Look for products in your chosen niche and select one that seems popular and sells well and gives you a sensible return — you want to make a reasonable margin on your promotional costs.

“All you need is to drive traffic. You can advertise with Adwords but there’s a better way, that’s free! Using the Article Traffic System, you can get links to your website from thousands of other websites and ezines that people read daily. It’s very simple:

• Write an article on your topic — or hire someone to do it for you on Elance
• Submit it to an Article Directory — there are lots on the Web but the best-known is www.ezinearticles.com
• Post your Article to your own Blog — you can get blogsites free but I prefer to put it on my own website with Wordpress.
• Send the article to newsletters — there are many newsletter directories on the web — just do a search for your niche.

“Within days or weeks, you’ll be getting free traffic just through natural search rankings. And the best thing is that you can automate most of it, although I like to do the research and the basic web pages myself.”

And just to put this in perspective, Armand noted… “Look, I have around 9,000 blogs out on the Internet, in 300 or 400 niches. How many of those do you think I write myself? We use automatic feeds and outsource the work.”

So what’s the easiest way to develop your own product?

Armand’s view is that he simplest way is to write an ebook, which you can do with no expertise just by interviewing one or more experts, transcribing it and publishing it! The ‘expert’ can be anyone from your local DIY expert or cat breeder to a well-known author or personality.

You need to convince people to contribute to your ebook and they will normally want something in return — whether it’s new customer referrals, or publicity, or whatever.

Armand adds that “my ‘Down and Dirty’ method of ‘writing’ your own ebook very quickly simply is by gathering together other people’s articles on your niche subject. Pick your subject, search for articles on it and collect 50-70. Email each author asking to include them in your new ’book’ (don’t say ’ebook’).

“Two thirds will say yes, so just compile each article in a logical format, remembering to include all the relevant credits you’ve agreed with the authors. How many topics can you do with this method?”

When I asked him about Membership sites, Armand smiled broadly! “Sure! Membership sites produce a recurring income from each particular niche. You just need to make sure you offer great value to make sure the members stay with you!

“I have around 3,000 members paying $29/m, a further 3,500 at $39/m and then 200 members of our premium sites at $500/m and 30 getting on-to-one service from me at $1000/m. That totals around $350k/month or over $4M each year!

So you can see why Membership sites are an attractive business model to him!

With all this, I asked Armadn what drives him — surely it couldn’t be the money?

“Look, I have a great deal — a lovely house and a great family! But there’s more that I want to achieve – this is not the last home I’ll have – I don’t have everything I want and I’ll go on to achieve those things.

“But to succeed, you need vision and goals – my business is very competitive , so I need to be very focussed! When will I think ‘I’ve made it’? Well, I recall Phil Phillips – who wrote the very successful book ‘Body For Life’ – said that “at $100M, I felt that I’d made it”! But I love giving back to the community—and helping other people be successful on the web!”

And Armand’s parting advice to anyone starting up today…? Just 2 Words:

Don’t Think!

Don’t add your own opinion to what works. Success leaves traces – copy the traces. “Just do exactly what I say – I’ve done it all and I know what works! Everything you need to do has already been done – just copy it!

“The longer it takes from idea to fruition, the less likely you are to succeed. So move quickly – you can start making income on line in less than one day! Where else can you do that?”

What more need I say?

Just Do IT!

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

Your goal in starting your own business should be to build a profitable commercial enterprise that works without you.

After all, systems should run a business, not the owner – and you don’t just want to exchange one job for another!

So, you should be looking to implement the systems and strategies that are most appropriate for your particular business’s needs (increase profitability, systems, controls, etc).

You need to assess the business in the five key profit generating areas:

• Lead Generation,
• Conversion Rate,
• Average Sale,
• Average Number of Transactions per customer, and
• Profit Margins.

Those areas are highlighted in the following equations:

Lead Generation x Conversion Rate = # Customers

# Customers x Avg. Sale x # Transactions = Revenues

Revenues x Profit Margins = £ Profits

These determine the profitability of any business, in any market, in any industry.

So stay focused on the things that matter!

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

To be successful on-line, as in any business, you need to build three things with your customers – CTR: Credibility, Trust and your Relationship. And there are two further words which should be central to your whole web business approach… but we’ll come to those in a moment!

Credibility: When your prospect reads your ad or your website sales page, you want to make sure he believes any claims you make about your product or service. Because, if there’s any doubt in his mind, he won’t bite, no matter how sweet the deal. In fact, the “too good to be true” mentality will virtually guarantee a lost sale…even if it is all true.

Building credibility is all about showing that you – or your product – have a proven track record. There are many ways of building credibility and this requires you to give ‘social proof’ of the reliability and benefits that you and your product provide.

If you’ve been in business for a number of years, you can point to this and your hundreds or thousands of satisfied customers, providing testimonials from customers to whom your product has brought specific benefits or success.

But even if you’re just starting out and don’t have a ‘track record’ yourself, you can use a variety of ways to build credibility and increase the perception of believability – because, after all, it’s the perception you need to address up front!

Here are some tried and tested methods that will help boost credibility:

• Avoid baseless ‘hype’ – make sure your copy is accurate and truthful.
• For existing customers, who already know you deliver as promised, emphasize that trust.
• Include testimonials of satisfied customers – include full names and locations, if possible.
• Use 3^rd party testimonials (endorsements of the product type or solution by industry experts) or “lift notes” (brief notes or letters from a person of authority, possibly a celebrity).
• Pepper your copy with facts and research findings to support your claims (credit all sources).
• If you can swing it, adding a celebrity endorsement will always help to establish credibility.
• Give your own credentials or background (and photo) – or those of an expert if you’re using her/his real or ‘implied’ expertise (relating to your product or service, of course).
• Cite any awards or third-party reviews the product or service has received.
• Tell them a lot of your widgets have already been sold – “10 million people can’t be wrong”.
• Include a GREAT Guarantee or return policy and stand by it! You may give more refunds, but if you sell three times as many widgets as before, it may be worth it – crunch the numbers!
• Reveal a ‘flaw’ about your product (that’s minor or isn’t really a flaw). This helps alleviate the “too good to be true” syndrome and builds trust and your reader will start to subconsciously believe that you are revealing all of the flaws…
• If you advertise a deadline, don’t keep changing your deadline – you’ll reduce credibility.

Trust: There are two simple words which should be absolutely central to your whole approach to marketing on the Internet: Underpromise and Overdeliver.

Just tell people you will give them one thing and then give them what you promised plus a little bit more. The results of adopting this simple philosophy and incorporating it into your Internet business can be truly remarkable.

What makes this concept so incredibly powerful for Internet Marketers is that it doesn’t really take a whole lot of additional effort to give people more than what they expect. The huge value we deliver on our training courses and to the Internet Tycoons Mastermind Group are examples of this.

But by spending just a little bit of extra time giving you a few things you did not expect we established ourselves as someone who not only delivers what we promise but gives you even more. Ultimately this translates into a rock solid reputation and long term customers (you) who will buy from me over and over again. All of which equals more value for you and more profits for us!

Basically, you need to be kind and generous – and to do this genuinely. But in this business being consistently generous results in more than just a personal feeling of satisfaction, it results in huge profits. The benefits of practicing the underpromise and overdeliver philosophy far outweigh the extra effort and expenses on your part.

Kindness really does pay – and on the Internet it pays in a big way!

Relationship: The third pillar of your internet business is your relationship with your prospects and customers.

You’ve probably heard it said many a time that ‘the money is in the list’. Well, this isn’t the way of the world. People buy from people – people they Know, Like and Trust. So just think ‘KLT’.

So the key is to build an excellent relationship with your customers – and ‘the money is in the relationship’ is a rather more appropriate approach to your business.

How to do this? Well, there is plenty of free advice on the web about building your relationship with your customers. But the crucial thing is to get in touch – and keep in touch at least once or twice a month – with your customers and prospects.

Make them know you value both them and their business – but do this in a genuine way, without hype and fluff. Give them value!

It’s amazing that less than 10% of businesses actually follow up with their customers! When was the last time you had an email from your local shops, dentist or hairdresser?

Web technology provides a wonderful platform from which to develop your relationship with your customers.

You can set up your own web log, or Blog (see ‘Blogging For Profit’ on page 14) and you can personalise email very effectively using autoresponders to stay in touch with your customers (more on autoresponders in an upcoming issue of ‘Web Biz Insider’).

But you need to make it personal in order to build your relationship – there are any number of companies that send you their standard brochures and expect you to be ecstatic, aren’t there (perhaps your bank comes to mind)?

Two of the easiest ways to generate greater profit in your business are to get your customers to buy from you more often and to increase the average value of each purchase!

And, if your customers appreciate your relationship with them, they are much more likely to do both!

So, get inside your customers’ minds and think how you can build your relationship and boost your profits!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

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