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7 Ways to Leverage Your Business Via the Internet

7 Ways to Leverage Your Business Via the Internet

The landscape of internet marketing is changing. It takes more than a brochure website (a site that merely tells what you do) to capture new customers.

People expect more and they deserve more.

It’s up to you to clearly educate potential customers and hand them the “what’s in it for me?” in a well packaged website with compelling copy.

The fact still remains that utilizing the internet to your advantage can increase your profits.

That’s why it’s important to clearly define the purpose of your website and familiarize yourself with the different web marketing techniques available.

Here are 7 ways you can make your website more profitable.

1. Know the purpose of your website and understand the importance of your copy. Your website should be all about your customers and what you offer them. Of course, you will share your expertise, products and services too. At the same time the main message needs to be customer centered. It’s also important to have a separate marketing plan for your web presence.


For example: Vera Randall, founder of Seattle Design Group has a website that features website designs by Seattle Design Group but also explains the importance of a strong web presence and what that can do for your business. Furthermore, SDG has a solid marketing plan to entice both new customers and group members. By reading the copy you get a clear picture of what SDG can do for you. Viki Viertel, also known as The Business Buddha, has a website that showcases ways to help her end user by offering a special report. Both sites have solid plans in place but employ different marketing and ecommerce approaches.

Take action: Review your current website copy if you already have a site in place. If you are in the planning stages, build a clear navigational outline so you’ll start out on the right track. Take it a step further and determine what you want your website to do. Create measurable goals that work with your online marketing plan.

2. Create a symbiotic relationship between your website and all of your marketing materials. It is vital to include your URL (uniform resource locater otherwise known as web address) on all marketing, advertising and promotional materials. It’s even better to take it a step further and give potential customers a reason to visit your site.

For example: The promotional materials for Write On ~ Creative Writing Services all point potential customers to the website. Pens, brochures and even proposals contain my business URL so people will visit the site to learn more about my products and services.

Take action: Review your current marketing and promotional items. Is your website address included? If not, make a note to include it when you reorder. The easier it is for customers to connect with you, the more business will come your way.

2. Offer something of value for no charge. Once you’ve invited customers to your site, make it worth their time. You can take advantage of permission based email marketing by requesting email addresses in exchange for a special report or article based on your expertise. (Note: there are affordable software programs to manage the opt in process and avoid SPAM.)

For example: James Roche’, also know as the Info Product Guy, has an opt in request in the top left hand corner of his website homepage. A clear offer to learn more about his product or services at no cost is a sure way to begin the online business relationship.

Take action: Review your website and ask yourself if you are offering valuable, complimentary information to potential customers. If you aren’t, create something today. If you are, does it need to be updated?

3. Continue the relationship. Keep in contact with your permission based email list by offering an electronic newsletter (often referred to as an ezine). A monthly presence, at a minimum, is recommended.

For example: Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero of Red Hot Copy, offers a free ezine to her subscribers. This is the beginning of her online sales funnel. Subscribers get to know her through her publication and the online business relationship begins.

Take action: Research various email delivery programs and discover what will work best for your business. Make a plan to keep in contact with your list, at a minimum, monthly.

4. Leverage your expertise via online article marketing. Article marketing is an effective way to share your knowledge and gain free exposure for your business. Simply write your article, create a signature block with a link to your URL and submit your article to online article marketing distribution sites.

For example: Visit your favorite article marketing site. Search for a topic of interest and read one article. Follow the website link in the signature block to learn more about the author.

Take action: Write an article on your area of expertise, create your signature block and submit the article today.

5. Share your news. Create press releases for noteworthy business accomplishments with tie-ins to other national news or happenings. Submit the releases to online press release distribution sites. You can gain national exposure and increase traffic to your website. Remember news is previously unknown information.

For example: I submitted a press release about being the featured member of the week for both the National Association of Women Writers and the Association of Web Entrepreneurs. Distribution of the release resulted in the local Chamber of Commerce requesting I speak at a luncheon event.

Take action: Consider your business and make a list of recent accomplishments. Think of ways to tie your achievements in with national news. Craft a press release to submit today. If you don’t have recent news, keep this in mind for future accomplishments.

6. Create tiered offerings to sell online. Create lower-end and higher-end offers for your sales funnel. This is recommended for both product and service oriented businesses. A customer who makes a small investment to begin with is more likely to return and make a larger purchase.

For Example: Offer an eBook for a reasonable price of $19.97 as an entry offer. Be sure to include additional offers that include audio and sell for more.

Take Action: Make a list of products or services you can package and sell online. Start creating today!

Finally, always deliver more than is expected.

With that being said, here is a bonus online marketing tip.

Invest in an online shopping cart and merchant account. This is particularly important. Once you begin driving potential customers to your site you want to make purchasing as easy as possible for them. Remember, your website is really about your customers and the “what’s in it for me?” Not ready to take this step? At the very least, consider a Paypal account to process online orders.





7 Ways to Leverage Your Business Via the Internet - To learn more about this author, visit Lisa Manyon's Website.

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Jeff Foster
WebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas.  We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing
- Visit Jeff Foster's Website

Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals.

She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com   Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences.  Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

Read Steph's Blog
Meet Steph and Dave
Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich
- Visit Stephanie Robey's Website

David Barr
David Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website

Jay Kubassek
(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek)  In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.

 

As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)

 

Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. 

 

Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper.  Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website

Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website

Casey Gollan
Casey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website

Kim Castle
With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website


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Lisa Manyon
(Visit Lisa's Website) Lisa Manyon specializes in POWERFULLY communicating your marketing messages to increase results. She’s a Professional Copywriter dedicated to making life easier for business owners and entrepreneurs by knocking one more thing off your “to do“ list. Manyon is the Copywriting Expert for The International Association of Web Entrepreneurs. Get a Free Copywriting Action Plan & discover 7 Power-packed Insider Tricks of the Copywriting Trade to Dramatically Increase Sales of your Products & Services http://www.LisaManyon.com

Lisa Manyon is a Gold author on EvanCarmichael.com
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