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 maid service Buffalo Grove ..Before you start reading this article I must warn you... Read More
If you could get high quality traffic that would grow... Read More
If you agree that traffic is the true currency of... Read More
Suddenly your site's traffic multiplies. You get "Money Waiting" emails... Read More
Unless you're building a baseball diamond in the middle of... Read More
The number one problem new website owners have is, "How... Read More
Considering all of the money you spend on promotion and... Read More
A reciprocal link is when a web site links to... Read More
The longer your website visitors stay, the more they will... Read More
One of the most common needs of online business owners... Read More
Want to know the #1 misconception among Internet marketers and... Read More
There are many tactics you can use to increase traffic... Read More
FAQ pages are an often overlooked way to generate free... Read More
Alright, so you have a website but are lacking visitors?... Read More
The keyword marketing guide to a linking strategy that packs... Read More
Since everyone is so obsessed with ways to increase our... Read More
Every webmaster knows the importance of incoming links to a... Read More
1__MESSAGE BOARDSIntroduce yourself smoothly, by posting informations and be available... Read More
Do you know that you can promote your home business... Read More
Who else wants traffic that buys? I for sure do,... Read More
This interesting idea is likely to drive your competitors nuts.It... Read More
Why on earth would anyone want to install a piece... Read More
There are many ways to cheat traffic exchanges and generate... Read More
One of the most popular ways to generate free traffic... Read More
It is worth looking at some values and strengths of... Read More
premium house cleaning Glenview ..I had an email exchange with an SEO client today... Read More
Creating a simple links page to exchange links for the... Read More
There's nothing new about using joint ventures to get traffic... Read More
Now that more emphasis (to get better ranking in SERPs)... Read More
There are a number ways you can go about marketing... Read More
I`ve had people come to me and say "Traffic Exchanges... Read More
We all need traffic. It's the life-blood of an online... Read More
The subject of referral traffic may be a bit elementary... Read More
When I started getquotes-it.com in 2003, I knew... Read More
Whether you are an affiliate marketer, a website designer or... Read More
It used to be that simply having a website meant... Read More
Internet is an ever evolving business platform. Doing business on... Read More
There's no shortage of ways to spend money promoting your... Read More
The results of the social bookmarking experiment I have been... Read More
Today there are so many web sites on the web,... Read More
Webmasters look for ways to get a higher ranking with... Read More
For many months after I put up my new website,... Read More
To increase web site traffic, you first need determination, a... Read More
1: Original and Fresh Content Present your visitors content they... Read More
Have you noticed that your banner ads rarely get clicked... Read More
The trick to making it REALLY big on the internet... Read More
If you are only looking at Search Engines too send... Read More
Bill Huang sits down at his computer. As he connects... Read More
There's a stiff wind blowing in a new direction on... Read More
Just imagine ... your website having high PageRank and a... Read More
Traffic Building |