  |
|
HOME Archives Subscription Money Chatter Services Advertise Area Rugs Iphone Shop Iphone Gossip Criticizing Power Selected Sites About Us Contact Terms and Conditions 
|
You've Got To Get On Base If You Want To Score. How to Turn Every Visitor To Your Website Into A Customer! (Well, almost.) Part 2 One Base At A Time. By Tatiana Velitchkov © 2002 In the first part of this series you were introduced to a new theory that, if worked right, you can turn every visitor to your website into a customer. Or almost all of them. Just like in baseball, you don't try to hit the ball out of the park with every at bat. Ted Williams didn't hit homeruns like Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, or even The Babe, but he is the best overall hitter the game has ever seen. Noone since Ted Williams has hit over .400 in a season. When he went to the plate he wasn't thinking homerun, he was thinking, "Get on Base, Ted.". You have learned so far, that there are tools you can use to keep each visitor going from one base to the next until you get them to homeplate and the sale has been made. Now, it's time to learn how to use those tools, keep your website in front of that one visitor and turn that visitor into a customer. How Do You Keep Them Running The Bases? In baseball, the runners keep running once another batter has gotten their hit. Your website has to keep that one visitor moving along the route you have laid out by getting their own hits. When a new visitor lands at your website, they are in "look, but don't buy" mode. They are there for more information about your product, not necessarily to buy it. Directing the visitor to do what you want them to do, other than buy, is the first step, or first base. It's All In The Email Address The main objective of your sales page should be, not to focus on the sale, but to get that visitors email address. That doesn't mean that you don't put the best sales copy together that you can to sell the product on that first visit, it just means you shouldn't rely on that first visit sale. Homeruns do occur. Just ask Barry Bonds. What I'm talking about is the first step in turning that visitor into a customer. The Tools There are several different tools you can use to keep your website and product in front of that prospective customer for a long time to come. Use of all of the various methods of keeping in contact with your soon to be customer is a must. Adding more if need be in order to stay in contact. This is in no way an all inclusive list, just some of the ones that are more common and easier to use. -- Ezines Yes, even though there are over 250,000 ezines flying around the 'Net right now, you can greatly benefit by offering a free subscription to every visitor. Ezines are still extremely effective in turning "not so sure" visitors into customers. -- Ebooks By offering free ebooks at your site, you are not only keeping your website address in front of the visitor, but you are also showing your expertise in the chosen topic. If your product is an ebook also, offering a short version, or a couple chapters, can quickly lead to a sale of the full version. -- Report Like ebooks, reports are a great way to get to homeplate faster. You are showing the reader how much you know about a particular subject. -- Course Courses are one of those special weapons that should be used a lot. You have a lot more potential to turn a "on the fencer" into a customer. Courses can be spread out, through the use of an autoresponder, over as many days as you want. On average, most courses are about seven days in length. Seven days of repeat exposure can work wonders. There are a lot more tools at your disposal but these are the ones that are most common and can be used in a variety of ways. Batter Up! Putting together a string of hits to reach home plate can be extremely difficult. Most players would be ecstatic over a two game hit streak. If you don't land a sale with the first time visit, then you need to go on a multi game hit streak until you do land that sale. Side Note Keep in mind that the sale is your main goal. You might have to work at it for awhile, keep thinking two steps ahead and coming up with new, innovative ways to keep the visitor interested, but your main goal should always be that sale. End Side Note Like I mentioned earlier, you want that email address. The key to the whole thing is that email address. When planning your sales copy you want to include at least two different methods of capturing that email address. Most websites have a place to subscribe for an ezine, and while still effective, shouldn't be your main objective for the first time visitor. Let's say, for example, you want to use the free ebook and a 7 day course to get your visitor to first base with. Two different kinds of free informational products, that work hand in hand with your main product or service, can make the process of landing a customer a lot quicker. It's A Win-Win Situation! Your main product is an ebook dealing with some aspect of Internet Marketing. The visitor is at your site because of an ad they read or saw your listing in a search engine. They are there because they want MORE INFORMATION either about the particular subject or about your product. By giving more information in the form of free products, you are creating a Win-Win situation. Win For The Visitor The Visitor wins because they are receiving what they want. They want more information about the subject, and your product. You are giving them free information, they are learning more, and you are letting them know how they can get even more information by buying your product. Win For You You, too, are getting exactly what you want. By providing the means for each visitor to learn more and not having to pay for it, you are lining up a string of hits that any big leaguer would be envious of. Putting The Ball In Play! Writing the sales copy of your website is quite demanding. You need everything to flow and lead each visitor by the hand to get them to do what you want. Using action phrases like "By downloading this free ebook now", "Sign up for the Free 7 Day Course today", and "Click here and read two free chapters", are great forms of coaching the visitor. Create non-intrusive opportunities to place nonchalant action phrases within your web copy to get the visitor to react the way you want them to. -- While listing the benefits of your product -- In the introductory of your product -- Within a small story about your product -- After testimonials -- Even before the actual sales link of your product The places to get the visitor to take action are limitless. Persistance is another key to getting your main objective completed. Remember, you want the email address. So, before giving away anything obtain the address in a quick form before redirecting the visitor to the download page or thank you page. Hit after Hit after Hit... Once you have the email address, you have the key to Emerald City. Let's say the visitor has elected to sign up for your free 7 day course. During the period of the next seven days, or however you decide to spread out each lesson, they will be provided with... Quality Information The know-how to do something And the means to finding out even more information. Within each daily lesson of your course, you will have made reference to other methods that you have set up. References to the free ebook, to a report, to your ezine, or even a special updated course that picks up where this one leaves off. Of course, you're also dropping in links to your overall sales page for your product. But, if the person reading your course isn't sold yet, you need to keep them going around the bases until they are. In each subsequent tool that is requested, you will again be leaving links to other places for more information. Always leading up to the sale of your product, but leaving another route to take. Will this work with every visitor? At the beginning I said that you could turn every visitor into a customer....Well, almost all of them. © Tatiana Velitchkov About the Author: Tatiana is the publisher of: http://www.TheFortunesEzine.com, the FortunesEzineWeekly at http://www.TakeYourFortune.com, and owner of the traffic-solution slam advertising sites http://www.Guaranteed-Hits.com and http://www.Guaranteed-Hits.net |