The
World's
Most Usable E-commerce E-zine
Back to Back Issues Page
SITE-SELL! Issue #018
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SITE-SELL! The World's Most USABLE E-commerce E-zine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >A free, occasional e-zine dedicated to showing you... > ... how to SELL on the Net! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ August 2, 2001 Issue #018 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >ALL-TIME FAVORITE SITE-SELL! ARTICLE If a friend forwarded this copy of SITE-SELL! to you, here's our readers' all-time favorite SITE-SELL! article. It's a powerful example of how to makeover your own site to... ..... SELL on the Net! :-) http://articles.sitesell.com/bhh/ If you like what you see and want to keep getting more of the same, please visit... http://myss.sitesell.com/s-ezine.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >READER'S CHOICE... Care to see the VERY BEST ARTICLE (according to reader feedback) from each of our OTHER two e-zines?... http://articles.sitesell.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >TABLE OF CONTENTS o SITE-SELL! Xpress News 1) MYSS! On Steroids... Watch For MYSS! 2002 o Featured Articles 1) Are You Focused? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SITE-SELL XPRESS NEWS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----- --1-- ----- MYSS! On Steroids... Watch For MYSS! 2002 Make Your Site SELL!, THE best (already a "classic" according to Ralph Wilson and many other gurus) and most comprehensive resource for *Selling On The Net*, is getting a face lift! Actually, it's more like a TOTAL BODY LIFT! Since its launch as SiteSell's inaugural product, MYSS! has been hailed as the bible for selling on the Net. Wonderful feedback continues to come in from enthusiastic customers. -----SIDEBAR----- Wants some proof? Take a few minutes and read our testimonials... > http://myss.sitesell.com/s-testimonials.html -----SIDEBAR---- What perhaps is most astounding is that even 2+ years after its launch, Web marketers are STILL sharing the same highly respectful comments about MYSS!. This remarkable book has stood the test of time. And on the Internet, where things change in the blink of an eye, that's no small feat. MYSS! is a testimonial to the fact that the *fundamentals* of selling successfully on the Net are the same today as they were in 1998, and as they will be in 2008. Yet much *has* changed over the last few years. Just to name a few... Search Engines have begun to adopt the pay-per-inclusion model (you must pay to be included in their indices) in droves. The Pay-Per-Click SEs have become the cornerstone to any comprehensive traffic-building plan, and *Theme-Based Content Sites* will be critical for delivering quality traffic from the SEs. Opportunities for the netrepreneur are expanding on a daily basis. For example... o The cost for hosting, domain names, and advertising continues to drop. o Third party merchant accounts are cheap and numerous -- this gives anyone, if they so desire, the ability to accept credit cards online in less than 5 minutes. o Cheap digital solutions offer instant automated downloading for infoproducts. o Person-to-person payment solutions make running a Net auction business elementary. E-commerce has boomed, busted and will boom again. It represents a fantastic opportunity for all small businesses, from stay-at-home mom to multi-million dollar startup. The only thing mined by most dotcoms, so far, has been "fool's gold." That's why there's plenty of gold left in them thar hills! MYSS!... the best is about to get a whole lot BETTER! Totally updated. Major new sections. Entirely new volume on e-stores. Coming early September 2001. Stay tuned! -----SIDEBAR----- There's no need to wait for the launch of MYSS! 2002 to get your e-biz started on the right foot! All existing owners will be able to upgrade their old copies to the updated version for a small upgrade fee. So, if you have not bought MYSS! yet... What are you waiting for? http://myss.sitesell.com/ -----SIDEBAR----- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FEATURED ARTICLES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------- ---1--- ------- Are You FOCUSED? I'm often asked what I think is the biggest contributing factor to success on the Internet. It's not a difficult question. Any guesses? No... it's not a huge advertising budget. No, it's not the mastery of Search Engine optimization. And no, it's not a brother-in-law at Microsoft. To be successful on the Internet, you only really need one thing. It's FOCUS. The best way to illustrate the importance of focus is to take a foray onto the Net, and make note of the zillions of sites that lack a single iota of this essential element of success. What does your research show? To make it online, you need to... o Focus -- On Your Target Market One of the biggest mistakes many beginning Net-marketers make is to try to market to everybody. The misconception is simple... the larger the percentage of the online market you can appeal to, the more sales you will make. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. When you market to everybody, you market to nobody. To successfully sell online (or PREsell, if you're an affiliate) you have to narrow the FOCUS of your selling or PREselling efforts to a select group of people. FOCUS on the needs, desires, and emotions of your target group, and provide an extremely satisfying solution for them. --- o FOCUS -- On Your Products/Merchant Partners Following along the lines of the "marketing to everybody" error is the misguided "marketing everything" approach. It's easy to see why this is done... A beginning netrepreneur decides to join the affiliate program of a merchant who sells cell phones. S/he figures that visitors to his Web site will be in one of four categories... 1) do not own a cell phone 2) do own a cell phone 3) are interested in purchasing a cell phone 4) are not interested in purchasing a cell phone Figuring that a only small percentage of visitors will be interested in a cell phone, the netrepreneur makes a horrific (but common) mistake... He pitches an entirely unrelated product. Perhaps a membership to a "personals" site. Or a weight loss miracle product. A get-rich scheme. Not unlike the batter who swings wildly at every pitch in the hope of hitting something... He hits nothing. The visitor sees only a low value, zero credibility sales site, and clicks the "Back" button on her browser before you can say... well, before you can say anything. If cell phones are your niche, FOCUS on providing your visitors with alternate but RELATED products. Offer cell phone accessories, hands-free options, batteries, cases, face plates... you get the idea! --- o FOCUS -- On Giving, THEN Taking For the most part, people use the Internet for research purposes. A person interested in a cellular phone, for instance, might well be interested in the benefits that different models offer. He may also be interested in comparing costs, or costs in relation to benefits. Perhaps warranty and service options? By GIVING (providing unbiased information and informative reviews), you earn the opportunity to TAKE... by offering a click-through to a merchant partner's site. If you expect a visitor to put money in your pocket, FOCUS on giving them something *first*. --- o FOCUS -- On Daily/Weekly Time Allotted to Building Your Online Business Most of us build our online businesses on a part-time basis. And when you're already working full-time, sometimes it's darned difficult to come home and work some more. Yet it's important that you FOCUS some of your precious energy on exactly that. Building a successful Internet business requires a long-term commitment. Pledge an hour minimum per day, and you'll start to feel the building momentum in a month. --- o Focus -- On Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), Or Your VPP (Valuable PREselling Proposition) At last count, the Internet was comprised of well over a billion (that's BILLION, with a capital "B") Web pages. What distinguishes your page from all the others? Out of all the millions of Web sites out there, why would anyone choose YOURS to make a purchase? FOCUS on presenting *your* Unique Selling Proposition clearly and distinctly so that you easily stand out from your competitors. And... If you are an affiliate PREselling a merchant partner's products, FOCUS on presenting your Valuable PREselling Proposition in a way that distinguishes you from other affiliates PREselling the same products as you. Identify the strongest benefit that will make your visitor want to click-through to the merchant partner's site. -----SIDEBAR----- Want to succeed with an affiliate business? Want to be YOUR OWN BEST AFFILIATE? The only way is to PREsell properly. To supercharge your PREselling efforts, sign up for the FREE Affiliate Masters Course... >> tams@sitesell.net -----SIDEBAR----- FOCUS... is the key to absolute success on the Internet. WITH it, you're unstoppable, and the world will be your oyster. WITHOUT it, your Web site will fade deeply into the cyber-underworld and never become a sought-after pearl. Build a priceless business... get FOCUSED! Have a great rest of your summer. See you on MYSS! 2002 Launch Day! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SITESELL PRODUCTS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Make Your Site SELL! "The definitive work on making any Web site SELL!" http://myss.sitesell.com/ Make Your Knowledge Sell! "Turn knowledge into income -- sell your brain on the Net." http://myks.sitesell.com/ Make Your Price Sell! "Price with complete confidence & double your Net profits." http://myps.sitesell.com/ Make Your Words Sell! "Want to sell MORE? Become an e-persuader." http://myws.sitesell.com/ Make Your Net Auction Sell! Going, going, GONE! Get into the Auction Action! http://mynas.sitesell.com/ Site Build It! "Build income through content." http://buildit.sitesell.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back issues available at... http://www.sitesell.com/site-sell-backissues.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TO UNSUBSCRIBE To unsubscribe, go to the following URL and enter your e-mail address. If you use more than one e-mail address, be sure to enter the same one that you used when you subscribed. http://www.sitesell.com/unsubscribe-ss.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WANT TO CHANGE THE E-MAIL ADDRESS AT WHICH YOU RECEIVE THIS? http://www.sitesell.com/change-email.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Written by Ken Evoy, M.D., President, SiteSell.com Inc. (c) copyright 2001 SiteSell.com Inc.