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Why No-One Else Cares About Your Business

by Craig.

I hate to break this to you but no one cares about your business. They don’t care how long you’ve been in business, they don’t care how many staff members you have and they certainly don’t care that you have 23 mouths to feed at home. They just don’t care.

They’re only interested in themselves. I don’t mean this in a selfish way… this is just how we’re wired. We are trained to look after our own interests first and foremost because - let’s face it - no-one else is going to.

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

So when people visit your website they’re constantly asking themselves one question: “What’s in it for me?” As is commonly said in marketing circles the clients favorite radio station is WIIFM. This means you have to always be answering this question in your website visitor’s mind.

All they really care about is the results your business can provide for them. So make sure you’re always focusing on their needs and wants… not your own. If you satisfy the visitor’s needs and wants then you can worry about your own after that.

It’s all about benefits

A lot of people talk in terms of features of a product… rather than benefits. A common marketing example is the person who goes to the hardware store to buy a drill. They’re not there to buy a drill so they can still it on a table and have it look pretty… they want to have a hole.

The features of the drill obviously support this result but they need to be converted into benefits so the buyer understands why that feature is important. A great example is how Apple marketed their iPod. They didn’t worry too much about how many gigabytes it had… they simple said “1000 songs in your pocket” which explained a benefit in terms everyone could understand.

Focus on the result

In this way you need to focus on the results your product or service provides your clients. You need them to picture that result in their mind and how much better it’ll make their lives. When they start to visualize the benefits they’re going to receive you’re halfway to making the sale.

To make this more powerful you also need to add emotion into the mix. While we may think we’re very logical purchasers the truth is we buy on emotion and then justify with logic. This means we buy stuff based on how the product and result it gives us will make us feel.

Quick copywriting cheat

Another quick tip I have for you to improve your website copywriting is to make sure you use the word “you” a lot. This means you’re talking directly to the person reading and not spending too much time talking about yourself. So have a look through your website and see if you’re using “you” over “I” or “we.”

What you do next

Go and read your website now from the perspective of a potential client. Is the copywriting focused on the benefits it’s giving you? Are you talking in terms of what the visitor wants or is it all about your business?

It’s the things like this that may seem insignificant that can really make a big difference when combined together. And the best part is you don’t have to be a master copywriter to start using them.

If you’d like to learn more about discovering the benefits your product or service offers plus all the other components that will get your website selling then check out my Automated Selling Machine course.

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Posted in: Influence, Marketing foundations, Marketing principles, Sales, Websites, conversion.
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Using Headlines To Grab Your Visitors’ Attention In 3 Seconds Or Less

by Craig.

Studies show that when a visitor arrives at your website you have between 3 and 7 seconds to grab their attention. Obviously this is a small window so you have to do everything in your power to ensure your visitor starts reading your content. This is achieved through a great headline.

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

We’re all familiar with headlines as we see them in newspapers and magazines on a daily basis. No-one opens a newspaper and reads the entire thing from page one to the end. They skim the headlines and see what’s of interest to them.

It’s the same with your website. People are browsing around the internet and are looking for clues that your website is worth spending time on. You can provide this clue by using an attention grabbing headline that makes them want to read more.

Common mistakes

The first mistake I see with most websites is not having a headline at all. You need to ensure you have a headline that stands out by using an eye-catching color and bigger size. Your headline needs to draw the readers’ eye to it immediately.

Next is the common “Welcome to…” statement that people use. Here you are using precious words to communicate something of little interest to your visitor. First they want to see if you have anything of value to offer.

Last but not least is making the headline all about your business. I hate to break this to you but your visitors don’t care about your business. They only care about what you can do for them which we’ll talk more about in a second.

So let’s take a look at some ways to improve your headlines.

Headline tips

The first tip is to learn from the professionals. Magazine publishers are experts at creating headlines that sell their magazines. So next time you’re in the supermarket have a browse of the magazine rack and see what headlines you might be able to use for your website.

As we talked about above you should try to explain the major benefit of visiting your website in the headline. This might be the main benefit people get from doing business from you but remember it has to be unique and grab attention. “We fix your plumbing problems” may be a benefit… but it doesn’t exactly make me desperate to know more.

A simple formula to use is the “Who Else Wants To…” approach. All you have to do is add your major benefit to the end. For example my headline might be “Who Else Wants To Increase Their Website Sales Without Needing More Traffic?”

What you do next

Headlines don’t have to be complicated and you’re better to have something rather than nothing. So come up with a few headlines right now and then choose one to put on your website. Make sure it’s bold and eye-catching as well and you’ve taken a big step forward to retaining visitors on your website.

Of course once you attract their attention you need to be able to back it up. Your first paragraph should carry on from the headline and explain more of the benefits they’ll receive from your business. Once they understand the benefits you can start to move into why they should choose you over all other competitors.

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Posted in: Marketing foundations, Marketing principles, Websites, conversion.
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What is an information business?

by Craig.

Starting an information business online is not very hard at all. But before we start you may have a few questions like:

  1. What is an information business? And then…
  2. How do I add this to my current business?

So here’s some quick answers…

What is an information business?

An information business (or information marketing) is exactly like it sounds. It’s the process of selling information to other people.

However rather than spy secrets or anything involving the CIA we’re talking about taking your accumulated knowledge, wisdom and experience and then selling it (in our case over the internet). This could be knowledge from your profession, your business or even a hobby or sport your enjoy. You’d be amazed at just how valuable your information can be to other people.

How do I add this to my current business?

If you’re an author, speaker, coach, trainer or consultant then you already deal in selling information. All we’re talking about is packaging it up in a way where you don’t have to be there to deliver it every time. Basically adding a passive (or semi-passive) income source to your current business.

For others you might not even realize quite how valuable your information is to other people. There are people selling information about obvious subjects like personal development, health, weight loss, building wealth, real estate, relationships and dating to name but a few. People like Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki are well known information marketers for most of us.

But there are also information businesses selling products about improving your golf game, programming a PID controller microchip (talk about niche), how to build a chicken coup and even those helping others get better at computer games. Yes… there is hope for all those computer gamers out there! But the sky is the limit when it comes to what kind of information people will invest in.

Starting an information business is now easy

You’ll be amazed when you realize just how easy (and cheap) it is to start an information business. In fact you can now get a website up selling your products for under $50 per month if my rough maths serve me well. And that’s just to buy your webhosting, domain name and an email autoresponder service. Creating the products you’ll sell can actually be done for free in most cases (not including the years you’ve taken to accumulate the knowledge).

But this isn’t to say it’s a walk in the park… you should still treat it like a real business that requires marketing. “If you build it they will come” certainly doesn’t work for a website and it won’t work for your information business. However website traffic doesn’t have to be difficult if you understand the real truth behind it that most people miss completely.

Why should I bother starting an information business?

The benefits of selling information are quite mind blowing and everyone I share this with is amazed with the possibilities. I did a workshop on this stuff and the participants all gave great feedback. I’ve created a short video from my presentation notes that you can watch here to get the full picture.

But as a teaser you should know that delivering your product costs your very little so information products are very cheap to produce. And the price on your information should represent the value you deliver. So if you deliver incredible value to a person’s life you end up getting paid very well indeed.

What you do next

To learn more about the full value of your information and what starting an information business can mean to your income…

Watch the full video here

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Posted in: Business models, Products.
Tagged: · · · · · · ·

How to write an effective email (with example)

by Craig.

I hate how most people do email “newsletters.” They suck for the readers as they don’t provide value… and they don’t make any sales so they suck for the business as well. Today I want to give you some quick tips on making your emails work.

Here’s a quick email I had someone send out to promote my event that got some good responses. So here’s the email and then I’ll break down the lessons for you in a second:

Sender: Craig Dewe
Subject: Want to be like Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki?

Tony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki and all top internet marketers
are able to make such a difference in the world (and rake in
the big bucks too) because they’re experts at selling their
information. And the best part is you can join them.

If you’re an author, speaker, coach, trainer or consultant (or just
have knowledge to share) then web marketing was basically built
for you. Selling your own knowledge in the form of information
products is one of the most lucrative and high leverage ways to
make money.

Not to mention how it supports and builds all the aspects of your
current business. More authority and credibility, more followers
and most importantly… more loyal clients.

And the best part is you can find out exactly how to do it here…

http://www.webmarketingoutlaw.com/knowledge

Talk soon,

Craig

Keep it personal

Let’s start with the email from field. I use my name Craig Dewe because I want to have a personal relationship with you. If I wrote my email from some random company name you’d probably file me away with all the junk newsletters you get.

I also write in a very personal way. I don’t want to appear like a big faceless company (I’m not one) because most big companies
are boring. Think of all the company newsletters you’ve subscribed to in the past… we’re they fascinating reading or a snore fest?

With this goes my feeling that your emails should be plain text or at least look like plain text. I laugh at companies that create email templates with pretty images and fancy designs. First off most email programs have images turned off so they just leave big holes in the email and second it’s like waving a big giant flag that says “This is NOT a personal email!”

Sorry! No one cares about your business…

The next thing is the subject line. If you have a boring subject no one is going to read your email. Included in this are subjects like “XYZ Business Newsletter” as no one cares about your business’ news… they want to know what’s in it for them. Always focus on creating value for your subscribers at all times.

The job of the subject line, the from name and the first few lines of the email (as displayed in a preview pane) are to get the email
read. In this email I got attention by mentioning names that 99% of my market know… and hopefully created a little curiosity as well. Remember that your lovely email is useless if nobody bothers to read it.

Make sure you get your message across

I then tied this message to how people can become just like Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki by becoming information marketers. Now many people might not know what information marketing is (and it may sound a little boring) but by explaining it in a different way more people should understand it. It also becomes a lot more interesting with a frame of reference people can relate to.

Part of your job as an authority in your market is to simplify the process for others. No one is impressed by your big fancy words or ability to sound intelligent. They want value and that means giving them information they can use.

Don’t get ahead of yourself

Once the email is opened the next step is to get someone to take action. I like to give them a link to click and that’s there action step. So all the email has to do is get them to click the link inside.

I don’t try to sell my products and services via email. I don’t confuse people with endlessly long emails (this started as an email and then moved over here as it got too big). All I want to do is give people enough information so they can decide if they want to click the link.

Be clear about what they do next

If I want you to click a link I want to make it plainly obvious and easy to do. That’s why most email newsletters fall down… they confuse the reader with too much stuff. I usually have one link and I repeat it twice if not three times so it’s always easy to click on.

The best places are the first time you mention the action you want them to take, then maybe further down the email after another call to action and finally right at the end of the email so if they read all the way to the bottom they don’t have to scroll back up to find the link.

Note: The email above was a short one so I only put one link… there’s a balance between making it easy to find and slamming them over the head with it.

Help keep them focused

Once they click the link they’re taken to a page about my event: http://www.webmarketingoutlaw.com/knowledge

The job of this page is then to show them my event is valuable and that they should attend. Notice that I have an entire webpage to now explain and sell the value of the event. Imagine trying to do all that in an email! Or worse just giving them a random event name and a price without explaining what they’ll get out of it.

The page (known as a sales page) also has one focus and that’s for them to sign up or leave. There’s no other menu navigation for them to start browsing. There are no other distractions… just a simple yes or no decision.

Bonus lesson in selling

You’ve probably heard that you need to sell the benefits… not the features. But still a lot of people don’t understand what a benefit is. Here’s an example:

Feature: Learn how to build an information marketing business
Benefit: Make money online by selling information products

See why this can be a confusing distinction? The benefit isn’t that they’ll learn something… it’s what they can do with that knowledge. And it’s very important to describe what true benefits your business is offering.

Want to learn more stuff like this?

This is exactly the type of thing I’ll be teaching at my workshop so you can see that it’s more than just for potential information marketers. All business owners can do with having a more responsive email list. It’s nice when you can send an email and know sales are going to come in.

Some of the other things I’m going to cover are:

  • Why most websites are built backwards and what to do about it
  • The 2 big questions that will decide your success or failure online
  • How to build a following of people who love what you do
  • How to know exactly what your market wants to buy… every time
  • Techniques to create information products that anyone can do (and I do mean anyone)
  • My simple 6 step formula for selling online
  • Why most people think about traffic in completely the wrong way
  • How to ensure your website always has a steady stream of new visitors
  • And how to convert those visitors into lifelong clients

Or as one big benefit: How to make more money from your website :)

Anyway… you can find out more here: http://www.webmarketingoutlaw.com/knowledge

You can also drop me an email if you want to know if this is right for your business. Remember - I’m a real person - and not some faceless company :)

P.S. If you’re not in the area and want me to turn this into an online presentation then also drop me a line. The more interest people show the more likely it’ll happen.

Click here for more about the workshop

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Posted in: NZ events, Sales, conversion, email.
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Business Owners: Tired of the web marketing bs you’ve been fed?

by Craig.

When I start working with a client my first job is to undo the current mess that passes for their website. I find time and time again that my new client has been led up the garden path by well meaning (mostly) advice that has little to do with making sales from their website. This is a huge pet peeve of mine… people giving out advice when they have no idea what they’re talking about.

I regularly encounter websites that simply make no sense. The website seems devoid of all purpose and the navigation is confusing and unwieldy. I find ecommerce websites that put barriers to people buying and we’re not talking about little dinky web design companies here… we’re talking about some who claim to be all about selling online.

Repeat after me… building a shopping cart is not the same as selling online.

I had to snap sometime!

I was recently asked to do a webinar on web marketing and decided to use the provocative title…

Why all the advice you’ve ever received about selling online is wrong

The truth of the matter is most websites don’t sell anything. They don’t sell and they don’t generate leads for the business. Guess what? If your website isn’t helping your business then it’s useless… no matter how pretty it looks.

You should be mad too

If I was a business owner I’d be pretty upset about this. Most of the people I encounter have invested a lot of time and money into their website to come out with a small trickle of sales… if any. They’ve been sold on the potential of the internet, they understand it’s out there… but they can’t find decent advice to make it work for their business.

So it’s time to give you some real advice on making money from your website. From someone who does it on a day to day basis and gets results… I’m not a web designer, web programmer, search engine expert or social media guru. I make my living simply by increasing your website’s results.

I have no problem with web designers in general

I don’t mean to whinge about web designers in general… I get on great with most of the web designers I work with because we have a common goal… success for the client. What makes me mad are web designers (who might be great at designing websites) who claim to be web marketing experts as well. They end up giving advice that has no foundation in reality and does nothing for your business.

The same goes for search engine optimization specialists who optimize your website for keywords that no one searches on! Their excuse is they got you to number 1 in Google for “rubber ducky extreme action sports” but how many people are searching on that? And will they buy anything if they do?

Unfortunately people like this create a bad name for those who are really able to help your business achieve results.

Oh oh… now you got me started…

I also love the new fad of social media gurus who think because they manage to get a large following (by simply following other people first) that they can give your company advice on your new “social media strategy?” First - if your website doesn’t sell - social media isn’t going to help. And second… where are the sales figures tracked to your social media efforts?

Spending hours chatting to people might be fun but is it actually making you money? Allow me to channel my rage through this video I found the other day… (warning: they say bad words but it’s very funny)

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

But wait… I have a point!

Sign up for Why all the advice you’ve ever received about selling online is wrong here

In the webinar I’ll be covering:

  • The Pyramid of Website Success and how you’ve been told to build your website backwards
  • How to make your website an Automated Selling Machine (no fancy programming required)
  • The best source of traffic that’s free and has nothing to do with Google

We’re going to start off by asking some questions I believe are fundamental to website success… yet most people don’t realize they exist. Then I’ll give you a simple formula for increasing your sales and how it can be used in any business. If you’re a follower of mine you’ve probably heard some of this before (but have you taken action?) however I have something new for you as well.

The traffic strategy I’ll reveal is so ingenious I could barely contain my excitement when I discovered it. It’ll change the way you think of traffic entirely and enhance your results dramatically. Then if you use the technique to it’s full power (which you set up once and it runs forever) your website will never look back.

Yay! More internet marketing hype?

I know that may sound hypey and I’ll be the first to tell you there are no magic bullets on the internet. I don’t usually talk much about traffic but this one (non-technical) concept will make you sit up and go “AHA!” In fact if you don’t get wowed I’ll send you an imaginary cookie (your choice of flavor).

Anyway… you can sign up here

Why all the advice you’ve ever received about selling online is wrong

Thanks for reading my lovely rant… I’m going to go and take some deep breaths in the corner now. See you on the webinar.

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Posted in: Humour, Marketing foundations, Marketing tactics, Reviews, Sales, Success, Websites, conversion, website traffic.
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How to increase your webstore sales

by Craig.

First off I should probably mention if you own a webstore - which is basically a catalog type website listing heaps of products with a shopping cart - then you’re probably not selling as much as you could be. It seems to me that this is the most difficult way to sell online for the sole reason that you give the visitor too many choices. You basically make sales to people who know what they want while the browsers disappear through the cracks.

Now since most of the people who hit your website are browsers in the beginning you can see why this is a serious problem. Luckily there are several ways to increase your conversion rate of visitors to buyers. The biggest secret is to stop trying to sell everything and focus on particular products instead.

The truth is you don’t want people to buy first time

Now this may sound like a weird statement but let’s explore it. Approximately 1-2% of visitors who arrive on your website will buy the first time. So you have the choice to focus on the 2% of people who are impulse buyers or the 98% who aren’t.

The good news is we can still sell to our 2% of people while maximising our results with the other 98% as well. All we have to do is add some form of data collection to our website so we can begin to build a relationship. Generally the most effective way to do this is to offer a gift in exchange for their email address but this process can also be done via social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Stop trying to get into their pants before you get their phone number!

If you walked up to a stranger on the street and asked them to have sex with you I’d say your odds of success are pretty slim unless money is involved. But if you started a pleasant conversation, got their phone number and went out on a few dates your chances increase significantly. It’s exactly the same with visitors to your website.

Once you have a way to communicate with your visitors you can start to build a relationship with them. By offering them good value in the right way they will grow to like and trust you. And people are much more likely to buy from those that they like and trust.

Give them a reason to buy now

Most stores have hundreds of products available for the same price all day every day. It’s far to easy for a visitor to your website to say “I like that but I’ll buy it when…” You can insert whatever excuse you want at the end but the fact is people won’t buy from you unless there’s a reason.

If I sat on the footpath outside your house selling water I probably wouldn’t have a very successful business. But if one day your house starts burning down I bet I’d have a very eager customer ready to buy everything I had. The product’s the same… but suddenly your desire and urgency went through the roof.

Make them an offer they can’t refuse

This is why all big retailers are always having sales. They know they need an urgent reason for you to come into the store. And once you’re in the store you usually walk out with something.

You can do the same online by creating special offers of your own. You can take the obvious route and discount but you can also combine products together to make special packages. Then simply make those packages available for a limited time.

Just rinse and repeat

By making regular special offers on different items and packages you’ll increase your sales dramatically. Part of what makes this so effective is people love a great bargain and hate missing out. But you don’t need a degree in psychology to do this… you just have to watch your sales figures.

One week you might have a special appealing to a particular interest of your followers. The next week it could be something else. This way you also cover all the wants and needs of your subscriber base.

What you do next

Put together a special offer for your current subscribers or customer base. You should also read this post called 7 tips to improve website conversion today and make sure you hit all the points outlined there. Then just hit the send button and watch what happens.

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Posted in: Marketing principles, Marketing tactics, Sales, Websites, conversion.
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How cool is this? Google puts your ads on TV

by Craig.

That’s right you can now make your very own commercial and Google will help you place it on cable TV stations (with more to come I’m sure). Imagine being able to make your own little infomercial (with less cheesy smiles) and have a massive TV audience. I think we’re going to be hearing a lot about this in the future.

Here’s a video showing how it works with an experiment:

Thanks to Frank Kern’s post where I found the video.

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Posted in: Advertising.
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How to increase website sales

by Craig.

If you ask a web designer how to increase website sales you’ll probably be met with a blank look. In the worst case scenario they might start talking about redesigning your website to match current online trends or current design principles. The problem with this is… web design doesn’t sell anything.

It’s hard for business owners to finally admit to themselves that their brilliantly designed and fantastic looking website isn’t selling anything. By this point they’ve sunk thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars into the project and are yet to see a result. Website sales come trickling in but it’s nothing compared with their offline methods.

So how do you really increase website sales?

The first step is to accept that web design and selling online are two completely different fields. Let’s compare it to art:

First you have the artist who toils away behind closed doors creating their masterpiece. They’re not worried about how the art will sell or it’s commercial viability… they’re just engrossed in the creative process. This is just like your web designer.

However while the whole “starving artist” persona is fun for a while any smart artist realizes that if they want to make a living from their work someone has to sell it. But rather than spend their time out in the streets trying to sell their own art they call on the help of an art gallery… a place dedicated to selling art. And this is where I come in for your website… I’m a person dedicated to making online sales for your business.

Salesmanship in html

Selling stuff is not an accident although it might seem that way sometimes. There are carefully laid down rules of selling that have existed for over a hundred years. Now while these rules are sometimes improved upon and refined the basics are fairly simple:

  1. Find someone who wants what you have
  2. Make them a win/win offer
  3. Give them a reason to act now

It doesn’t matter whether we’re doing this in person, in a letter, over the phone or online. The principles remain the same and you just have to adapt them for the media you’re using. So why do most websites fail to sell much of anything?

Let’s start at the very beginning…

When you’re selling in your store you have a basic idea of what each customer wants and how to provide it to them. You probably have certain things you say all the time and you tend to get the sale more often or not. So why does this not follow through onto your website?

If you look at most websites you find that they’re completely different to the selling experience in your store. They rabbit on about your company and provide a whole bunch of boring information that your visitor doesn’t really care about. And the problem with a website is people don’t have to be polite due to social convention (like when faced with a hapless salesperson)… they simply click on their back button and leave your store forever.

Taking your offline sales pitch online

Once you identify what is actually selling your products in your store you can take the same approach online. You just have to refine it down to it’s core essence and get rid of all the extra junk that might give someone a reason to leave. Your online sales message has to be clearer and even more effective than your store version.

The reason for this is the extreme Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) we all seem to suffer from nowadays… especially online. It’s easy for someone to be browsing your website, checking their emails, updating Facebook, Twittering, reading the news, watching YouTube and any number of other distractions can pop up along the way. You’ve simply got to have a message so compelling that you drag their complete focus back to your website long enough for them to complete the transaction.

How do you know what works?

By now you might be thinking that selling online is really, really hard! And in some ways you’d be right. But there are a lot of advantages to selling online.

One of these advantages is the level of testing we can do. If you’ve ever wondered if you should use one word versus another in your sales pitch you can now easily test this online using free software tools. You can test everything including headlines, copywriting, offers, guarantees, pricing, images, calls to action and anything in between.

Don’t get overwhelmed!

Of course you don’t have to go this extreme (it’s usually recommended to test headlines, the first few paragraphs and your offer) but it’s great to know the power is there if you want it. The truth is a few little changes (like adding an effective headline instead of “welcome to our website”) can make a huge difference to response. You just need to apply some selling logic to your website.

There are other things like creating great offers and using strong guarantees that will boost your results online. I talk about many ways to do that throughout my blog and my subscribers receive plenty of examples as well. There are also plenty of resources about selling available around the internet and in these weird things called books.

What you do next

You now know how to increase website sales… work out what it takes to make a sale in your store and then transfer it online. And I’m not talking about the people who walk in, pick up what they want, pay and walk out the door (your website hopefully already caters to these people). We’re talking about the people who you actually have to sell to.

By outlining your offline sales process you can start to outline your online sales process. Then it’s just a matter of testing and refining the various components. It’s really not that hard if you learn about selling and this is why I’m able to take any website and increase its sales as soon as I upload the changes.

And you’ll find the same if you take the time to apply the advice written here and in other places on the blog.

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Posted in: Marketing foundations, Marketing principles, Sales, Websites, conversion.
Tagged: · · · · · · · · ·

Bad beliefs can cost you dearly

by Craig.

A few months ago I identified a belief within myself that work = bad. On reflection I realized that it came from all those Rich Dad Poor Dad books by Robert Kiyosaki and the belief they formed that I never wanted a job. Unfortunately I took this one step further where…

job = bad
job = work
therefore work = bad!

The truth is I’ve never been particularly good at maths so messing up this formula isn’t much of a surprise!

The belief runs deeper

Since I do internet marketing there’s been a lot of reinforcement of this belief by marketers trying to sell me products. While “sitting on the beach while you make money” sounds like a nice idea it really does a lot of damage to our lives. Because while you can make money while sitting on the beach or while you sleep… is that really how we want to live our lives?

I would say when it comes down to it most of us want more fulfilling lives… but that doesn’t necessarily mean doing less work. It’s a choice of how we spend or time and what “work” we actually apply ourselves too. It can come down to a simple definition of the word “work” which we’ll get to in a second.

Have you ever fought against yourself?

The frustrating thing about our beliefs are how they can block us from what we really want. Personally I’ve found that most of the battles I’ve fought in my life haven’t been with outside invaders… they’ve been with myself. I’m constantly amazed how I can reveal little blocks in my thinking that hold me back from the result I desire.

And - believe it or not - the result I desire is hardly ever sitting around doing nothing.

Poking holes in the fantasy

I think most people have this fantasy of not having to work and having plenty of money to spend. But the reality of the situation is if we really spent all day sitting on our butts we’d get bored very quickly. I don’t know about you but I always find myself having to do something during holidays or I go a little crazy.

A month or so back my girlfriend and I went to the beach and I hadn’t bought a book or anything to do. I did my best to sit there quietly and “relax” but I got bored very quickly. I ended up exploring the beach and building a sandcastle to pass the time.

Because who says relaxing has to be sitting there doing absolutely nothing. Maybe relaxing for me is doing some activity that isn’t work related. But then if I enjoy my work activities who says I can’t be “relaxing” all the time?

An interesting viewpoint

A friend mentioned to be today a belief of one of New Zealand’s top NLP experts. He had said something to the effect of “NLP is my number one hobby.” Just by changing the language associated with his “work” he’s changed the game completely.

This leads back to doing what we’re passionate about… what excites us. If we really focus on the work (or hobby) we enjoy then we can’t help but be successful. Sure there’s going to be some icky tasks along the way but if we look at the big picture our working lives become a lot more pleasant.

How does this affect you?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say if you’re really honest with yourself you can find bad belief systems that are stopping you from attaining what you want in life. I know I’ve found them throughout my life (and continue to find them) even though I would be considered by many to be a fairly high achiever. The reality is that we’re constantly fighting these battles with ourselves no matter what level we’ve reached.

So I suggest looking at your life and what beliefs may be holding you back. Then try some different strategies for removing them. From my own experience having a coach (actually multiple) has helped me face my inner mind much more quickly and effectively and I would recommend the same to anyone reading this.

Anyway… hope this all makes sense as my chain of thought meandered a little in the process of writing this. Another helpful (and therapeutic) tip can be to get your thoughts out on paper. If you do it without the usual internal censoring you might find out some useful stuff about what your beliefs really are.

Hope you enjoyed reading my dear diary moment… please share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.

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Posted in: Mindset, productivity.
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Ask and you shall receive?

by Craig.

I’ve taught many of my subscribers that most people start a business the wrong way round. Now I’m not pointing fingers as I’m guilty of it too but why do we insist on creating products and then finding a market for them? It’s much easier to find out what people want and then provide it to them.

Imagine if you could find out exactly what your clients wanted before you actually went through the trouble of creating it. And if you could do it with a simple survey. Now while this approach isn’t foolproof it’s a lot better than putting on a blindfold and throwing darts at the target.

So here’s a product idea that’s been rolling around in my head for a while. It would be great if you could answer these quick four questions about it and then we’ll see if it gets created:

The Quick Four Question Survey

Thanks in advance!

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Posted in: Marketing foundations, Products.
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