Are you trying to sell your product online with little or no success? Are you spending lots of money advertising all over the web and getting very few sales? Well, maybe it's time you try something a little different. Try not selling your product! You read that right. People do not want to be sold to. They do like to buy things, however.
So what are you supposed to do? Well, I will try to keep this article short and to the point, without a lot of confusing jargon to make it longer. I have been reading everything I can get my eyes and hands on about online business. The one thing that sticks in my head is this - If you build it, will they come? Build what, you say? Build an online place where people will want to visit; an online community. And, if you do it right, they will come!
How do you do that? There have been many books written on this subject. You may want to check out some at your local library. Here's a really good article that sums up this idea remarkably well.
First, you must identify your target audience. Who are the people that will be interested in your product? What would bring these people together? What do you think their interests are? If you have to, do some research or take a survey.
A Message Board and a Chat Room are basically a must for any online community. Also, lots of free information about their interests. A Links page where you can list links to other sites that may be of interest to them. You should include a form for them to submit their input. See what they like or dislike about your community. Ask them what else they would like to see at your community. Members like to be involved in their community, either online or offline.
Also, you should have a "Tell a Friend" link. This way they can tell others that they know who would be interested in joining your community. A "Tell a Friend" link could be a prewritten letter about your online community that sounds like one friend telling another friend how great it is! All your current members have to do is copy and paste this letter into the body of an email. Or, they could write their own letter of recommendation. There's nothing better than free advertising!
After you have your online community established, you need to let people know it's there. There are many ways to do this. One good way is to find an e-zine that accepts articles from subscribers. Make sure it fits in with the topic of your community and/or products. Then you write an article to submit to the e-zine. Make sure it is professionally written. Mistakes reflect poorly on your professional image.
At the end of the article, you can include a link to your community. Remember, do not try to sell them anything in the article. You just want them to visit your community. First, get visitors, then turn visitors into customers through valuable relationships.
Another way would be to form a partnership with another website owner. One that, again, fits in with the subject matter of your community and/or product. Here, you would exchange links or advertising space with your new partner. Just send a letter to the webmaster of the site you're interested in exchanging links with and ask them if they would be interested too. Some will, some won't. Some might not even write back. DO NOT get discourage, forget about them and move on to the next one.
There are websites that focus mainly on this kind of partnership. Some people call it a Joint Venture (JV). These websites have members who are interested in finding a JV partner. All you need to do is find one or more that interests you. Most of these websites will take care of all the detail work of setting up the partnership, keeping track of who is partnered with who, if anyone is trying to cheat, etc.
There are many other ways of gaining attention for your website. Some are free, some are low cost and some are high cost. There's more information about this topic than can be written in one article. There's entire books dedicated to each of them.
John Layton has been publishing websites since 1998. His latest website, The Rebel Computer Guy (http://www.geocities.com/jlaytonjr1), has many resources and learning tools for the online business newbie. You may use this article for your own e-zine, newsletter, website, or whatever purpose you need. All I require is that you use the entire article, including the resource box giving me the credit. I would appreciate, but do not require, an email letting me know that you are using it and where I can find it. The Rebel Computer Guy website has lots of information about working on the Internet. Topics include; Guide To Working On The Web, Learn How To Write HTML, Ebooks and Reports, Classified Ads, Articles, and lots of Tips. There's also a Links section and a What's New section. Perfect for beginners. For more articles visit my articles page at http://www.geocities.com/jlaytonjr1
recurring cleaning service Mundelein ..There are many different approaches and techniques required when optimising... Read More
We all know the value of getting links to our... Read More
So, you've spent hundreds of thousands on a state-of-the-art website.... Read More
So, you have a great product or service, yet your... Read More
We all know that generating traffic to your site is... Read More
Nowadays there are just too many people trying to give... Read More
Finding quality traffic though effective website promotions is the number... Read More
How to get FREE traffic and vistors to your website... Read More
1. Make all or part of your site into a... Read More
"How Can I Double My Sales?" - that must be... Read More
With all the buzz going on about the importance of... Read More
Online statistics shows that about 10% from online visitors make... Read More
As the saying goes in the business world "The Customer... Read More
Let others help with your marketing efforts. You can have... Read More
Every webmaster knows the importance of incoming links to a... Read More
Some education is essential to enlighten you about this form... Read More
Increasing website traffic is certainly your goal if you have... Read More
Want to Make Free Money on the Internet?One of the... Read More
It appears that most webmasters have come from the world... Read More
It is an open internet promotion secret that the more... Read More
What are web site keywords and how do I go... Read More
A funny thing happened to me three months ago. I... Read More
If you want to get something from others, the fastest... Read More
For the sake of this article let's forget about search... Read More
Every website needs a link exchange program. Every week, set... Read More
tidy up service Buffalo Grove ..This is the first article of a three-part series. I... Read More
Digital Economy : What Is e-Marketing : Internet Search Engines... Read More
The subject of referral traffic may be a bit elementary... Read More
Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this topic outlined some... Read More
Why would you pay for advertising if you could just... Read More
There are two types of tools I sometime use to... Read More
With all the buzz going on about the importance of... Read More
If you have a website the chances are you receive... Read More
The longer your website visitors stay, the more they will... Read More
This is the 2nd day of "Free Traffic Course" and... Read More
The keyword marketing guide to a linking strategy that packs... Read More
A prospective client asked me to view his web site... Read More
Linking - what a mess if you don't know what's... Read More
The future of online business rest in one word: traffic.... Read More
Their is an old Saying it goes something like this... Read More
Do you want to generate more orders at your website?Here... Read More
If you are only looking at Search Engines too send... Read More
In the world of Internet Marketing, and Web site promotion,... Read More
It's a strange world, this place we call the internet.... Read More
Do you know that you can promote your home business... Read More
Considering all of the money you spend on promotion and... Read More
There's nothing new about using joint ventures to get traffic... Read More
It's all about location, location, location!In the past...back in the... Read More
How To Get At Least 50 Visitors A Day Free!Every... Read More
Gary Halbert once said that the ONLY advantage he wanted... Read More
Traffic Building |