Anatomy Of A Website Sale In 3 Steps
In the “real” world, businesses often operate brick and mortar stores, physical outlets that their prospects can actually visit. These prospects can review the items personally and such can aid them in deciding whether or not they’d buy them. The experience is more intimate. It is more hands-on and as a result, the conversion rate for such a system is quite high (unless of course, the store is disastrously designed and it is selling obviously sub-par products).
This is something that online businesses do not enjoy as with everything else on the World Wide Web, the experience is merely virtual.
Prospects can review products by looking at pictures and reading its features. Sometimes, they can rely on the favorable words of other users, as is the case with testimonials and recommendations. Digital products can boast of better results, because some of them can actually be tested beforehand, as is the case with demo versions of popular software programs. Overall, however, online businesses are at a disadvantage somewhat as they can only offer a less personal experience for the prospective customers.
One of the goals of a digital enterprise, hence, is to replicate the system employed by brick and mortar businesses and it is hoped that such will likewise replicate the rather high conversion rates of their physical counterparts.
Part 1. The Website – An Online Business’ Digital Store.
A store is very, very important for any enterprise that attempts to sell something. Having the goods ready for the prospects’ perusal and immediate purchase is not only convenient for the latter, it also streamlines the business operation. The store becomes the conduit between the business owner and the customers. It is that place where they meet. It is that place where they exchange their pleasantries. It is that place where they can build relationships – no matter how temporal or lasting. It is that place where sales are actually made.
If “real” world businesses can rely on physical outlets, web businesses can rely on digital stores. These digital stores are represented by what we call websites. A website is still an Internet Marketer’s number one tool. It is his base in the online world, a place where all his ventures congregate. It is where he can offer his products, and where he can get paid. Additionally, it plays an important part on how clients will view his business. It goes without saying that an excellent website would be a good reflection of the Internet Marketer himself.
Many people believe that a site that is loaded with cool features like streaming movies, audios, and the likes will rake in more visitors. This has been proven false in recent years. The maxim to follow, really, is “the simpler the better.” Bear in mind that you will want your site to be as accessible as possible. This includes considering prospective visitors with slower connections.
So, build a functional site with any applicable program like Macromedia Dreamweaver or MS Frontpage. You could even use MS Word if you feel that the other programs are too complicated. A website is composed of several web pages. These pages are linked together in such a way that they form a unified whole. The anchor of these pages is what is called an index page. The index page should be the very first page that your visitors will see, and it should have links to all the other pages on your website. For our purposes later on, this index page shall be referred to by its more “internet marketing-esque” designation – a landing page.
Your pages should have good, quality, original content. People surf the web for information. They will go to your site if you have good and quality information to share. That your content is original and can never be found anywhere else is also a plus. And search engines love original content as well!
Part 2. Domain Name, A Web Hosting Service and Automation
When you have decided to build your own website, you will need two things:
- a domain name; and
- subscription to a web hosting service
Your domain name is your address in the World Wide Web. When choosing a domain name for your affiliate marketing campaign, please bear in mind the following guidelines:
- The domain name should be relevant to the field you are engaged in.
- The domain name should be easy to remember.
- The domain name should be catchy.
- As much as possible, choose the extension “.com” or if it is not available anymore, choose “.org,” “.info,” or “.net.” These are the acknowledged extensions that people never forget about.
You will also need a web hosting service like this. Basically, you should be looking for 3 things from the web hosting service you are considering. These are:
- Storage space – or how many files you can store in your account. Do not settle for anything less than 50MB.
- Bandwidth limit – or how much data transfer can be accommodated by the web hosting service. Do not settle for anything less than 15GB per month.
- Excellent technical support – your website is your business partner. You will want it to be live all the time. In the event that it’s down, the web hosting service should provide IMMEDIATE assistance to bring it back up, as your business relies on it.
Once you’ve uploaded your site to the host’s server, you’re live and ready to rake in those visitors! The problem is, you can’t be in front of your PC the whole day. You have to automate your site so that it can take care of business on its own. Remember: automation is everything!
You’re most likely making a website to make money, so you’ll need a system that can take payments. Several payment methods can be individually integrated into your site. You could sign up with PayPal, or ClickBank, and start accepting payments made through those widely used payment systems.
Part 3. And Traffic To Come Your Way
Your best efforts will all be for naught if you aren’t able to generate a lot of traffic for your website. Think of it this way: If you are operating a brick and mortar retail shop and no one visits your store, will you be able to bag some sales?
The same applies for a digital enterprise. You need visitors.
The more visitors you are able to generate for your website, the more sales you can win. And the more sales you can win, the higher your commission rate will be. So I want you to always remember this fact, as it is very true in any type of online endeavor: you need visitors. Lots of visitors. Lots and lots of visitors.
Now, how are you going to get visitors for your website? There are many tried and tested strategies that totally produce astounding results. Not many websites are getting the visitors they need because not many webmasters know about these strategies. A lot of web publishers are still stuck up with false conventions such as:
- The “build it and they will come” philosophy. They are under the impression that people will find their websites for as long as their pages go live.
- The “borrowed content is alright” philosophy. They are under the impression that the most important thing is to actually have content on their web pages. It doesn’t matter if such content is duplicated by another website.
- The “leave it as it is” philosophy. They are under the impression that a website, by itself, will prosper as time goes by.
These are all fatal ways of thinking, and they will not serve your online enterprise. The fact is this: your job does not end after your website goes live. You will have to continue working to ensure that it will be self-sufficient. This is the foundation of automation, one which you should aim for from the very beginning.
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