Ok, you've got your webpage up and running and you have submitted your site to
search engines, now it is time to make that money! Right? Well then, how come your virtual cash register has that hollow ring to it everytime you open it? Your site is not making sales and there are at least 8 reasons why and 8 simple fixes you can implement in order to immediately remedy anything you are doing incorrectly. 1.You have relied on a passive promotion strategy to get word out about your site. Many of you assume that simply putting up a website will cause tons of visitors to flock to your site with cash in hand practically begging to buy your products or services.
Sorry, a passive marketing strategy may bring you in a trickle of sales or absolutely none at all. Alternatively, by utilizing an active marketing strategy, you do not wait for visitors to come to you, you do everything in your power to bring targeted visitors to your site. Active marketers utilize methods such as ezine advertising and article submissions to targeted ezines in order to draw traffic to their site. They will also use free publicity tools such as press releases in order to get word out about their site to an audience that cares.
2.You do not offer a simple and secure method of online ordering or accept different forms of payment.
This could be easily solved by getting set up with a merchant account provider that enables you to accept checks and all major credit cards and provides you with a secure website to process transactions automatically. The best company for this in my opinion is ECommerce Exchange. You can learn more about them here: http://www.qcaffiliate.com/qc/goldbar
3.You do not have a method of capturing your prospects names and email addresses when they visit your site.
Get this set up immediately and start building a mailing list of interested prospects.
The best way to do this is to offer a mailing list that people could subscribe to. You could offer either a newsletter about a topic that interests your audience or even a small tips sheet that sends people interesting and useful information related to topic of your website. When you've built up your list to over a few hundred people, then you can begin to send commercial information regarding products and services you offer. As long as you are also offering quality information for free, your audience will be more responsive to your commercial solicitations.
4.You do not offer enough methods for people to contact you.
You should offer people as many different ways of contacting (and ordering) from you as possible. Here are some cost effective contact methods you can implement: most natural one on web is of course email. However, you should also include your phone number for those who prefer to speak with a human being. If you have one, provide a fax number. There is an inexpensive fax solution available from a company called JFax. They will allow you to receive both fax and voice messages in your inbox for an extremely low monthly fee. To learn more visit: http://www.j2.com Lastly, you should always list your snail mail address on your website.
5.You only advertise online.
Big mistake. There are millions of people offline who might be interested in your site and your information. They are often more likely to order immediately as opposed to someone who surfs web regularly and who knows they can always "come back sometime in future".
One of best ways to reach an audience and bring them to your site is to put your URL and your email address on every piece of correspondence you send out. I know of one person who adds his URL to every bill he sends out hoping that it will cause someone to visit. The best part is that this type of promotion is free so you have nothing to lose. One of most effective offline advertising techniques involves getting your ad onto a card deck that reaches a targeted audience. This is a great way to spread word about your site to many interested prospects who otherwise may not have had chance to find out about you.
