When building a website there are many things you must take into consideration. You have your web hosting, web design, aquirement of products and services to market, marketing of those products and services, etc. and ALL are very important.
What I would like to do with this article is explain how you should decide which products and services you need to market from your website.
First thing to consider is what type site are you planning to build(market) and what are your hopes and plans for your online business? There is a key word here...."PLAN." If you don't have a "PLAN" get one! You're wasting your time otherwise. If you think you are gonna just "poke around" aimlessly in the dark and build a successful internet business FORGET IT. It's very, very unlikely to say the least.
Do you want to have a very narrow, focused site that is only designed to get visitors to buy one or two products or join one program, possibly yours? Or do you want to have a website that offers lots of, quality, up-to-date content and market an array of information, products, and services for the visitor to choose from?
Regarding the website that only markets one program and/or one or two products and services... these are usually brief, to the point, and try to close the sale or sign-up the prospect right away. They may make you want to go back once or twice to look closer but they generally don't encourage regular return visits. You get a domain and market your product, service, or afilliate program OR you could market someone else's product, service, or affiliate program. If you do a site like this you have to be able to convey excitement and command folks to take action NOW. A great deal of your traffic will be a one time visitor. If you miss the sale the first time, many of your visitors WON'T be back. These sites are quite often of the "hard sell" type.
On the other hand you could build a much larger site that offers lots of free content, encourages regular return visits, and offers multiple programs, products, and services.
It's really up to YOU...both have advantages and disadvantages, and you can be successful with either type.
But before you actually start to build the site you must decide which one is right for you.
If you choose the single program site you are going to need the absolute best copy writing possible, whether that's from you or you have to hire a professional copy writer. If it's any less than "top notch" you'll fail...PERIOD. And one more thing...the first draft probably won't be sufficient. You're gonna need regular tune-ups from time to time. There are only two things you want to do with this website... get the sale and/or recruit.
If you are relatively new to online marketing and do this type of site it is my best advice to tell you NOT to use
a new affiliate program of your own. I know that's
contrary to what some are teaching, but to be perfectly
honest you won't have the credibility or knowledge to
make folks want to buy your products or join your
programs if you are new to online marketing. There are
some really good, credible opportunities available
currently from solid, well known, credible companies.
No need to get involved with a flimsy, "fly-by-night"
program that does not have a good reputation. And
no need for you to create an inferior product, service,
or program before you have the knowledge and skills
to do a REALLY good one.
If you do an already established program you just
market, Market, MARKET! (ie. make sales and
sign-up recruits.) However if you are doing your own
affiliate program I can assure you that you'll be doing
MANY things besides marketing, and most of those
things don't directly pay you money.
After you have some experience and have gained some
knowledge start all the affiliate programs you want to
start, but don't let it be your first project online. Get
some expertise first!
The second type site I mentioned is a larger site that
offers free content to visitors and promotes multiple
products, services, and programs. One of the main
benefits of these kind of sites is that they promote
return visits and an ongoing business relationship.
A large site with lots of free content will draw visitors
back regularly. These sites usually offer resources that
are of value to small business owners and cause the
visitor to drop in regularly, maybe even DAILY! Add a
free ezine subscription to that and you have the perfect
ongoing business relationship. Your chances of getting
sales and sign-ups from this type site are greatly improved,
because your visitors are coming back to your site regularly
and your ezine allows you to email your visitors that
subscribe regularly with updates, additions, and
changes.
When it comes to actually choosing which programs,
products, and services to promote, here is my very best
advice. STAY AWAY FROM GET RICH QUICK FOR
DOING NOTHING SCHEMES!! Think credibility! Promote
programs that sell software, books, web hosting,
technology products, and other reputable services that
work. Look for full names, mailing addresses, phone numbers,
etc. When it comes to references, look for references that
give a name, website, and/or email address. I just don't
believe a program that uses "LB from Virginia made $10,000
after joining this program" as a testimonial. And I would
encourage you not to believe it either.
For a visitor to look deeply into your site and consider
buying or joining they have to believe in you and they have
to believe in your product, service, or program. Folks
nowadays have their "scam radar" on high alert at all
times, and rightfully so! Be honest and straightforward.
If you can't promote your pogram honestly and believe
in it yourself, get a new one right away. Or else you
will surely fail AND ruin your reputation at the same
time.
--------------------------
Leon Brickey is webmaster and owner of
http://www.appalachianmarketing.com At Appalachian Online
Marketing you can find everything you need to turn your
struggling business into an explosive moneymaker! Free
subscription to Absolute Internet Marketing Resources Ezine
containing the most current, up to date online marketing
resources on the planet.
ezine-subscribe@appalachianmarketing.com?subject=art-sub.
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Thanks for reading.
