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SITE-SELL! Issue #004
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SITE-SELL!
The World's Most USABLE E-commerce E-zine
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>A free, twice-monthly e-zine dedicated to showing you ...
> ... how to MAKE YOUR SITE SELL!
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September 16, 1999
Issue #004
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PLEASE SHARE THIS E-ZINE WITH FIVE FRIENDS...
... AND ZERO COMPETITORS! ;-)
OR SEND YOUR FRIENDS TO...
>> http://www.sitesell.com/site-sell.html
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> SMART IDEA!...
One smart reader came up with a brilliant strategy. Here's
what she said...
"You know, after reading your collection of overwhelming
testimonials, and your guarantee, I asked myself...
'Why wouldn't I pay a mere US$17 for MYSS!? I'll buy it and
examine it immediately. If I don't like it, I'll simply ask
for my money back right away! That way, it won't even be a
negative cash flow since the refund will wash out the
charge.'
She went on to say...
'But you know what? No way I'm asking for my money back --
your book is simply way better than ANYTHING out there!'"
At first, dear reader, this strategy kind of worried me.
But then I realized that we do, in fact, have the most
impressive collection of 5-Star reviews from gurus, and
delighted comments from readers, that you'll ever see...
http://www.sitesell.com/testimonials.html
And the GUARANTEE really does make it "all reward and no
risk."
http://www.sitesell.com/guarantee.html
Even so, if you've been sitting on the fence about MYSS!,
*DON'T* make a final decision yet. Just take the full
version of MYSS! home for the night or weekend and try it.
Here's what to do...
1) Buy and download it...
https://secure.sitesell.com/order.html
2) Examine it right away. Breeze through all the chapters.
Look up an issue that has been worrying or puzzling you in
the Index, to see how well MYSS! covers it.
3) If MYSS! is not everything that you had hoped, *PLEASE*
ask for your money back. You can ask for your money back
anytime you like (yes, even years from now!). But *IF YOU
DO IT RIGHT AWAY*, you'll never actually pay for it since
the credit and the debit will cancel each other out.
https://secure.sitesell.com/order.html
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Each issue of SITE-SELL contains USABLE
content in 1 or more of these categories...
CATEGORY IN THIS ISSUE
SITE-SELL XPRESS --> YES
HANDS-ON SITE SELLING --> YES
SITE-SELL! SPOTLIGHT --> NO
BEST OF THE REST --> YES
TEST YOUR SITE --> YES
Next issue... mastering the Search Engines!
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SITE-SELL XPRESS -- News
What's new in the world of sitesell.com...
--
1) The MYSS! BOOK.............................
The printed version will be made available to existing
owners of the electronic version of MYSS! starting tomorrow.
We'll phase it in slowly, to existing book owners first --
as you'll see in a second, shipping molecules is a heck of a
lot tougher than shipping electrons.
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HANDS-ON SITE SELLING
Based on our own experience, this column features original,
in-the-trenches info that you can *USE.*
--
"Everyone has a book inside, waiting to get out."
I can't remember who said that, but it's a message that has
always stuck with me. As an individual with a unique set of
life experiences, you do indeed have a book somewhere inside
of you. We all do.
Obviously, my book got out. And sooner or later, yours
will, too. And when that happens, sooner or later...
You'll be faced with the same hard decision... should I
publish a printed version? Which leads us to the title of
this article...
> WHY SHIP MOLECULES WHEN YOU CAN SHIP ELECTRONS?
A short preface...
>From DAY 1, I have held the following about selling on the
Web...
----------------------E-COMMERCE AXIOM----------------------
Launching a Web business is far simpler than a "real-world
business." To succeed in a Web-based venture, you only have
to make good on three STEPS, each one directly under your
control...
STEP 1 -- Develop a great product & position it for Web sales.
STEP 2 -- Build a site that SELLS with deadly effectiveness
STEP 3 -- Attract targeted traffic to the site.
----------------------E-COMMERCE AXIOM----------------------
Not coincidentally, MYSS! devotes an entire volume to each
of these three critical steps. Selling on the Web really is
"do-able" -- but you have to *DO IT*, and you have to do it
*RIGHT.*
Let's back up to STEP 1 above -- in MYSS!, we cover
everything you could want to know about brainstorming,
judging, developing, pricing, and testing new product
concepts for the Web. "The 16-Point Checklist" in particular
has received terrific comments -- it really keeps you on the
"straight and narrow."
Lately, we've worked so hard on getting the print version of
MYSS! ready for release, that I've been asking myself why
the heck I decided to ever issue a print version!
After all...
o sales of the Electronic Version are terrific (50-100
books per day).
o our automated, real-time verification and electronic
shipping makes the whole process effortless, allowing us
to concentrate on upcoming products
AND most importantly...
o Feedback from readers is simply inspiring -- it's great
starting every morning with wonderful letters in the
E-MAIL IN TRAY. I've long since stopped adding testimonials
to the site, or that page would go forever.
So yes, I ask myself...
"Why the heck did you ever want to ship paper molecules when
electrons travel so fast and effortlessly?"
The answer is as obvious as it is important...
> ********Customers want it.********
The #1 Rule that supercedes all else is to always stay
customer-focused.
People who own the Electronic Version of MYSS! write to say
how much they love the readability, and its super-usability
compared to paper. The index and TOC make finding what you
want a real snap. Interlinking between the volumes and out
to the Web make it the ultimate reference book.
But HEY...
"I'd like to read the book lying down, too."
OR...
"I want to yellow-highlight it and make notes, but that
really messes up the monitor! "
OR my favorite...
"I'd love to keep a copy by 'the throne.'"
(Hmmm... not exactly sure what THAT last one means -- hope
he plans to READ the paper while seated!)
Bottom line? Customers want the printed version. So we're
offering it. Now, we knew that producing a hard copy of
MYSS! and distributing it would be more work than the
Electronic Version. But we underestimated just HOW MUCH more
work!
We've learned a tremendous amount. We'll write a full
article about how to develop, produce and ship printed
products in a future edition of our sister publication,
SALES FROM THE EDGE. For now, here's a summary of the issues
that you must handle well if you want to sell printed
products on the Web...
-----SIDEBAR-----
Keep this for future reference. I guarantee that if you're
interested in selling on the Web, sooner or later you'll
consider a book.
-----SIDEBAR-----
PRINTING ISSUES...
o sourcing -- get competitive bids, especially if this is
your first time. Printers love the smell of first-time
publishers --> easy money. So be careful -- better still,
get someone with experience to help.
o the actual printing of the book -- Change layout? Digital
or offset? Color? Binding options? Our final product is
beautiful -- I'm fiercely proud of it. But it took a heck
of a lot of preparation and sourcing to get to this point!
o first run -- how large? This is a huge decision. How
much risk are you willing to take? If you produce too
few, you may not be able to meet demand. If you produce
too many, you many end up with expensive kindling for the
fireplace.
o turnaround times -- know these in advance. If you can't
meet demand, you're in trouble. So how quickly can you
turn an order for more books into more inventory?
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FULFILLMENT ISSUES...
o inventory -- where do you plan to store the books? Careful
or your whole inventory can be lost. Monitor daily orders
carefully -- develop a strategy for staying ahead of demand.
Tie your inventory to your order taking and shipping. The
key is always to automate as much as possible.
o picking-and-packing -- organize the people necessary to do
this, 7 days a week.
o shipping -- there are many ways to ship (Postal, UPS, FedEx,
and a host of other couriers). Lots of investigation to
do here (more on this below).
o in-house or use a third party fulfillment company? There
are advantages and disadvantages. We chose to keep it
in-house -- since we're growing this business rapidly, we
decided to bite this bullet now and retain control, rather
than build up a dependency on a third party.
-----
PRICING ISSUES...
All of a sudden, there are two pricing issues, not one. How
much are you going to charge for the book? And how much for
shipping and handling (S&H)?
The cost of production of your book is almost irrelevant.
Pricing of products is well covered in MYSS!. Suffice it to
say that our pricing is more philosophical in nature...
I refuse to shut people out by charging hundreds of dollars
for MYSS!. The Web is just too big an opportunity to deny
anyone a true chance. So what are we charging for our
printed version of MYSS!, a book that everyone agrees is the
best single resource for selling on the Web?...
> CAD$45 which translates to USD$30!
As for your S&H pricing...
o pick-pack-and-ship is labor-intensive (there's a word that
I truly detest... "labor-intensive" -- it feels like you're
back in the Stone Ages... OK, pre-Net ages). Factor labor
into your pricing.
If you're a one-man band doing it yourself, don't factor
your time as zero! The whole project must make economic
sense after you factor ALL costs in at fair market value.
o cost of packaging -- boxes, bubble-pack, tape, etc. It all
adds up -- be professional and itemize every last inch of
tape and wrap into a spreadsheet.
o cost of shipper -- you've got to boil this down to a small
number of clearly different options. Best is to keep it
simple, usually "Regular Mail" and one courier. If U.P.S. has
different rates to 20 different cities in the U.S., K-I-S-S
-- average them and offer only a SINGLE "next day" price, no
matter where the customer lives in the US. Same with
different areas of the world. This takes some
VERY CAREFUL consideration.
Once you have all the S&H costs factored in, you have to
decide if you want to make a profit on S&H or not? We
choose not to -- our goal is to share MYSS! with as many
people as possible, not to squeeze the maximum dollars out
of people. But, judging from the price of US$17 for the
Electronic Version and US$30 for the printed, you already
know that! ;-)
-----
SECURITY ISSUES...
o Regular mail is less secure than courier. A UPS parcel never
leaves the UPS system, for example, until the signature of
receipt. So that's pretty secure. But people also ask to
be shipped by regular mail -- it's cheaper.
However, packages sent by mail tend not to arrive at the
destination in certain countries. That means that you
have to send all over again, leaving you out-of-pocket.
And no matter what the country, since there's no signature,
dishonest people may simply claim never to have received your
package.
o Credit card scams -- certain countries are notorious for
buying with bad or fabricated card numbers. Naturally, they
want it shipped the fastest (i.e., most expensive) way, since
they're not paying anyway... YOU ARE!
Remember, now that you are shipping molecules, when you get
dinged, you're not simply out the non-cost of a digital file.
You're out the cost of S&H and the cost of production of the
book! So think security issues through!
-----
Quickly review all the issues outlined above. What do you
notice? None of them even exist for digital products! (OK,
except for the credit card scam -- but even there, the risk
is far, far less.)
Hmmm....
-----
Now, I only write what I have experienced. So this story is
not done yet. For example, research on the Net says we can
expect to sell anywhere from one-fifth (according to some
sources) to five times (according to others) as many PDF
files!
Not too hard to project starting volumes with that kind of
precision, right?
And if we sell five times as many hard copies as Electronic
copies, does that mean we'll depress Electronic sales by 80%
or that the Printed version will create purely add-on sales?
Or some mix of the two?
Frankly, I don't know. I will in a couple of months. So
we'll be expanding on all of these concepts, and wrapping up
the whole story, in a future edition of SALES FROM THE EDGE.
For now, we're starting gingerly...
The printed version will be made available to existing
owners of the electronic version of MYSS! starting tomorrow.
We'll be mailing to small groups of our PRE-ORDER list
first. Once we have shipped that list, we'll ease the
printed order form onto the site, ready to pull it (if need
be) until we increase our production and fulfillment
capabilities.
Finally, we'll let our affiliates know about it so that they
can actively start promoting it. Naturally, the active ones
will automatically earn commissions on sales of the printed
books to EXISTING owners since 98% of our sales is driven by
our 5 Pillar Affiliate Program. That's why we can afford to
ship existing customers quietly and first -- the "lifetime
customer" concept takes the pressure off affiliates to
compete with each other for existing customers when a new
product hits the market. The 5 Pillar Affiliates don't have
to worry when we do a "private, controlled launch to
existing Electronic MYSS! owners (who have placed
PRE-ORDERS) first. Commissions are incurred automatically.
-----
As you've seen, shipping molecules is a heck of a lot
tougher than shipping electrons. Is it worth all the
effort? Well...
Everything in e-commerce is an experiment. I'll let you
know in a few months. :-)
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BEST OF THE REST
This section only contains especially important Web
sales-getting articles from other e-zines (we subscribe to
over 100 of them). Only major stuff "makes the cut."
--
The forkinthehead newsletter has slowly grown on me to the
point where it has become one of my favorites. You never
know what you'll read in there next... From techie-oriented
articles on e-commerce uses for SQL to some solid, original,
against-the-current type of thinking.
Today's article contained some of the best thinking I've
read in a long time. Clean and simple with some cutting
humor, I've edited Linda Cox's "10 Great Myths" down to my
favorite and most important five...
Linda uses the analogy of your Web business as a hot dog
stand located on the information superhighway, sitting there
along with millions of other shops, malls, cafes, stores,
restaurants and, yes, hot dog stands.
+
GREAT MYTH 1: Free Sells
So your hot dog stand offers something for free... what?
Napkins? Great. Wow. Excellent.
Remember that your freebie is kinda lame and everybody kinda
knows it and nobody is really forking over actual cash out
of gratitude for free napkins.
MORAL: Free is highly over-rated.
+
GREAT MYTH 4: Drive Your Hit Counters Insane!
Hit counters don't actually go insane... netrepreneurs do.
If you want your hit counter to go insane, tell it about
your childhood.
Any traffic generating trick that works will stop working
next week when everyone is doing it and no one is falling
for it.
MORAL: Tricks are for dogs.
+
GREAT MYTH 6: It's Come As You Are
It's okay to work in your underwear in your partially
remodeled basement as long as everyone assumes you're
wearing a suit in a high-rise on Success Avenue.
It's NOT okay to broadcast your slovenly habits to the world
at large via ill-formatted email, poor spelling, sloppy
grammar and inept punctuation.
You see, if I'm gonna buy a hot dog from you--a scary
prospect at best--I wanna be pretty dang sure you're not a
shortcut kinda guy, know what I mean?
MORAL: Don't slouch.
+
GREAT MYTH 9: Get Rich Quick
The internet is still real life. Cyber doesn't mean fantasy.
WWW doesn't stand for Whatever We Want.
Set up an honest business, cook a decent hot dog, pay for
advertising and don't quit your day job just yet.
MORAL: Get rich slowly.
+
GREAT MYTH 10: Free Marketing
I saved this point for last to emphasize it.
Over fondness for free marketing methods is the number one
killer of sweet dreams on the net...
But wait!
You CAN send 100,000 spam-free e-mails a month with your own
free-for-all links page, right?
And you CAN reach tens of thousands with multi-submitters and
free classifieds, right?
And you CAN email millions by subscribing to hundreds of
opt-in group lists, right?
And 94 million netizens WOULD swallow a little spam to get
to one of your hot dogs, right?
Sure!
And you CAN eat out of dumpsters, right?
But do you?
MORAL: Uh... don't be an idiot?
-----SIDEBAR FROM KEN-----
You can experience a fork in the head (hmmm, why does that
sound odd) at....
>> http://www.forkinthehead.com
While Linda is new to me, I love the way she writes and
thinks. She has a unique voice. Catch the other 5 "Top Ten
Myths" at...
>> http://www.lindacox.com/
-----SIDEBAR-----
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TEST YOUR SITE
A challenge to you, dear reader. Go to your site right now
and test it. Here's what to do...
--
Review Linda Cox's GREAT MYTHS. Are you relying on any of
them on your site? Are you using any of the useless
traffic-building tactics?
If so, correct right away. Smart, hard, and persistent work
wins the day on the Net -- not quick tricks and free stuff.
Really... in the long run, your sales will thank you for it.
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Back issues available at...
>> http://www.sitesell.com/site-sell-backissues.html
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Written by Ken Evoy, M.D.,
President of SiteSell.com Inc.
(c) and ™ SiteSell.com Inc. All rights reserved.