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7 Internet Marketing
Mistakes Which Are Destroying Your Business
By Terry Dean
Below are 7 Mistakes
which you can constantly see many Internet businesses making over and over
again. Each of these mistakes can easily cost your business thousands or
tens of thousands of dollars yearly. As a matter of fact, I
see many internet businesses out there that have next to no chance of
success because a couple of these problems are at the very heart of their
business. If your business is
built on a weak foundation, there is no way it will be able to produce
maximum income for you even if it does somehow survive. Mistake #1: You
have a short-sighted vision. Do you have a long
term plan for your business or are you just trying to make it through the
month? I know marketers who
have a 1 year plan, 5 year plan, 10 year plan, and even a 50 year plan for
their business...What does your plan consist of? A lot of people are
making fun of Amazon.com because of the fact that they lose an average of
$3.00 per book that they sell. Do you realize though what their long term
plan is?
Every single day they
are using their large financial backing to take up more and more of the
book market share. They are quickly becoming the most well known bookstore
on the earth...and every other bookstore is beginning to feel the pressure
from them. I am definitely not
suggesting to you that you need to start losing money to gain customers,
because most of us small businesses just couldn't afford that tactic. What
I am suggesting to you is what you learn the lifetime value of a customer. It is 7 - 10 easier to
sell a product to an existing customer than it is to sell to a new
customer. How are you building the relationships with your current
customers? Are you seeking out and finding new products that meet other
needs and wants they might have? Are you treating your current customers
as your most valuable asset in your business? Mistake #2: You
aren't willing to think outside the box. For many internet
marketers, they only see two types of advertising. Number 1 for them is
free advertising such as free links, free classifieds, newsgroup
participation, and more. Secondly, they see paid advertising such as
banner ads, offline advertising, and paid links. What about finding
people in your business to endorse your products or services to their
customers and splitting the profits? Jay Abraham and Mike Enlow both list
this as the most powerful marketing tool in existence...do you even know
about it? Press releases can get
traffic to your site almost overnight if you have something that people
want or need...have you worked with the media to get some Free traffic? Have you considered
setting up your own affiliate program? This is the quickest and easiest
way to expand the sales of any successful product or business. Let other
people start selling it for you! Mistake #3: You
have fallen in love with the wrong product. Have you fallen in
love with the wrong product? It is interesting to note that in the Direct
Mail Bootcamp, where a Dozen Top Marketers gathered together to discuss
the recipe for marketing success, one of the main reasons for failure that
they all agreed upon was...falling in love with your product or service. I understand that your
product may be your baby, but you will have to be willing to give it up if
it isn't what the market wants. Every day the world market is changing and
you have to be changing right alongside it. It may be that demand for your
product is declining...if so, are you willing to give it up and find a
product people want? Start asking some
questions of your web site visitors or ezine readers. Ask them what it is
that they want. What is it that they are looking for? You may find out
that you have been barking up the wrong tree and trying to sell them
something that they don't really want (Even if it is what they need).
You will go broke
trying to sell people what they need...if it isn't what they want! The
actual statistics are that only one out of every seven products turns out
to be a winner. Go with the odds and be willing to change if your market
WANTS something different. Mistake #4: You
don't have a Unique Web Position. What makes your site
different than everyone else's? Why should they visit you instead of
somewhere else? Why should they buy from you instead of the competition?
If you can't answer
those questions in one quick sentence, then you don't have the type of UWP
you need to succeed in today's worldwide business environment
Spend some time and
visit the competition. What is it that you do better than them? What is it
that you offer different from them? For example, in the internet marketing
sites out there, so many of them are only me-too sites. What are you going
to do to make yourself different than the rest? Is it better prices,
better services, free stuff, quicker results, etc.? Mistake #5: You
haven't researched your market enough. Do you know what it is
that your market wants? Have you ever taken the time to go back to your
customers and ask them why they bought from you in the first place? Have
you spent time in discussion groups, mailing lists, and newsgroups to find
out what problems people may be having or what they are looking for? If you don't know why
people buy from you, how can you target them correctly or write a sales
letter that will hit their hot buttons? I will give you the answer to that
one...you can't do it. Concept is more
important than ad copy. Coming up with exactly the right concept (or
angle) for your product will make OK ad copy sell like crazy. A poor
concept could never be made profitable even by the best copywriters out
there.
Mistake #6: You
aren't dealing with people as individuals. Don't talk to
everyone...deal with individuals. I believe in automating as much of the
sales process as possible, but there still comes the time that you have to
deal with people like people. We run the numbers on our sales statistics,
but people are not just numbers.
Always remember the
human element. Those aren't just email addresses out there. They are real
live individuals who have wants, needs, and desires just like you. Deal
with them that way. Be willing to
help...Be willing to give away free information...Give away free
samples...Be someone that people like.
Mistake #7: You
give up too soon. This almost goes
without saying, but many individuals give up too soon. I have seen
hundreds of individuals make some of the mistakes above on their sites,
lose a little money, and then give up in disgust believing that the
internet just doesn't work. I am not just dealing
with your entire business either. Sometimes people give up on advertising
too soon. They don't test it enough. Instead of believing that a certain
web site isn't a good place to advertise or that a certain ezine doesn't
bring in responses for you, did you try editing your ad first. I have seen
ads double, triple, or even have as high as 10 times or more effectiveness
on the same sites just by a couple of changes. What do you do now
that you know these 7 deadly internet sins? Read through
them...Take them to heart...Make changes in your business if needed. Don't
just walk away from this and say, "That was a pretty good article." Use it
and let these tips help you in your business. Then, email me about
it. I want to know if this article helps you or if there is anything else
I can do for you. Send an email to
Terry@bizpromo.com anytime. Terry Dean, a 5 year
veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You
Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses
Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More: |
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