Give 'em a Taste (and they'll likely come back for more)

Give 'em a Taste (and they'll likely come back for more)
By: Alicia Forest

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the original ice cream shop that offers you a taste of any flavor ice cream you want before you make your decision on which scoop you are going to enjoy.

Giving you a taste (or as many tastes of different flavors as you'd like) is a brilliant way to ensure that you not only order a cone at that moment, but it's also a way to bring you back to try more flavors on another day.

You can use this brilliant marketing strategy in building your business, too. Offering your prospects a taste of what it is that you provide is a proven and easy way to get people to become part of your community, and part of your marketing/product funnel (the funnel is the "journey" (that builds a relationship over time) that your clients follow from the first visit to your website, where they enter by giving you their contact information, down through each level as they make their way through each purchasing step in the funnel). By offering them a sample, you're giving them an opportunity to get to know you without risking anything more than perhaps a bit of time.

In your marketing/product funnel, the taste you are giving your potential clients is at the top of the funnel, the widest part. The taste is your freebie/complimentary/gift offering and is your first (and usually only!) opportunity to engage your prospect. Your taste needs to be something of value that you offer for free to people who visit your website in exchange for their contact information, usually their name and email address.

This is often one of the most overlooked steps in building an online business. A prospect needs to see your message many times (it ranges anywhere from 5-10) before they will feel confident enough to risk handing over their money to you. In order to build a relationship with people you need to be able to contact them again, which means your goal is to capture their email address before they click away from your website.

If they leave, it's unlikely that they will come back, so don't lose the opportunity to welcome them into your community, your funnel. They landed at your website because they were looking for something (usually a solution to a problem they are having, right? :)). Give them a taste of the solution you offer. And remember to make it easy for them: make your sign-up form or email so obvious that they'd have to trip over it not to notice it (yes, that includes pop-ups and the like, because even if they annoy you as much as they do me, they work!).

So, what can you offer of value in exchange for their email address? A newsletter, an ecourse, an audio clip, or a special report, are all good options. Personally, I like the offer of an ecourse AND an ezine. You give them a taste of what your services are like with the ecourse, and then you keep in touch with them on a regular basis with the ezine. The ezine allows you to build a bond with your readers in a uniquely personal way, letting them get to know, like and trust you over time, with you having to build that bond one-on-one.

So, one caution is to not offer any one-on-one interaction with you at this level. You want to leverage your time, and offering free consultations or one-time meetings with you is not a good use of your time. Let them get to know you over the course of your freebie offering. When and if they become serious about you and your products or services, they will move further down the funnel (from free to fee) without you having to "sell" them on what you provide during a complimentary session (how nice is that?).

So what is your taste going to be? Here are some other ideas:


Write a Top Ten article about the benefits of your products and services, convert it to a PDF file, and offer it as a special report.
Record a short audio about the three key things your niche needs to know about X.
Create a mini ecourse that encompasses the five steps to getting started for your market.
or Create a quick-start guide that helps your market focus on how to get started.


Once you've given them a taste, they will likely come back for more, eventually turning from a prospect to a client. Creating a taste of what you provide is easy and it's fun. Try it and watch what happens!

Author Bio
Alicia Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Licensed Coach, & Founder of www.ClientAbundance.com, helps coaches and other solo service professionals to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately make more money. For FREE tips on how to create your own Client Abundance, visit www.ClientAbundance.com

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3 Easy Ways to Get More Blog Comments, Build Engagement and Boost Traffi...

Write Website Copy That Sells - Try a Little Flesh with Your Flash

Write Website Copy That Sells - Try a Little Flesh with Your Flash
By: Paul Matthews

Your website looks great: solid words, easy navigation, graphics just so, and maybe even a bit of flash with some multimedia. 

But customers are not buying.

You wonder if it's the writing. How can that be? You remembered the two key mantras for website content - "write for the search engines" and "write for the medium." You used appropriate keywords to help search engines find you and traffic is up. Surely, customers enjoy reading your content because you laid it out with the internet in mind using short sentences, brief paragraphs, and bullets to list your key points. Customers might be reading, but they still are not buying.

Chances are your site copy has been optimized for technology not people.

Even on the internet, selling is still about connecting to people. So how do you press the flesh across broadband? Start where brick and mortar relationships do - trust. Why not become the trusted provider in your marketspace?  You can use words to raise your credibility in at least 25 different ways.

Here are two of them:

1) write the way customers speak and 
2) replace your pitch with a theme. 

People instinctively trust strangers who speak like them. If you find this article useful, how would you tell someone? Are you really going to say, "I read an unusually amazing article that fundamentally increased my sagging sales"? Not likely. Weak copywriters, not people, use too many modifiers. "Amazing,"  "fundamentally," and "sagging" weaken trust.  How's your site for modifiers?

Give it the finger test. 

You might not want fingerprints on your screen, so I suggest printing a copy of your homepage content. Now, put your baby finger on the first modifier you can find. Put your ring finger on the next adjective or adverb. Repeat until you run out of modifiers or fingers. If your page is a handful, you've got too many modifiers and your copy is hype heavy, not trustworthy. In addition to giving readers copy that matches how they speak, it helps to give them time to get to know you.
             
Customers need time before they trust. 

They will get used to your site in tiny steps, so hold off selling; buy some time. Have a theme for your site, introducing your offer only after your customer feels comfortable. Themes are a subtle form of repetition because they continually reinforce a single concept. Repeated exposure to an idea usually makes it familiar and safe. Remember the first time you used instant messaging or the family car - not so scary now.

Let's say your site is selling dental floss.

Instead of listing the benefits of DentaThread, you could tie the presentation together under the central idea "Some people have nothing to smile about." The opening section could point out how the discomfort of gingivitis wipes the grin off a person's face. Another segment would show how ugly cavities make someone too self- conscious to smile. Yet another piece would reveal how the high cost of root canal causes an individual to frown. In this way, three versions of one idea help the site grow on the visitor: one idea, three versions. Does your homepage have a theme? How many chances does your site give visitors to get comfortable with you?

In this article, I tried to use the language of my readers and hang it on a central idea, trust. Did it work? Did it help? If yes, I guess I proved my point. If no, I have 23 more ideas to go.

Author Bio
Paul Matthews is The Rezon8or specializing in high resonance copy that sells... all click, no slick. For a FREE site copy analysis and a chance to win a FREE homepage makeover go to www.therezon8or.com

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http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/online_business_articles/write_website_copy_that_sells.htm

Marketing Strategy: How To Write Copy That Turns Website Visitors Into C...

Royalty Free Music In Webdesign

Amongst the key elements many people like to use in their online marketing presence are the inclusion of images and music. This great article by Russell Brewer looks at considerations of using music free of royalty payments.

Royalty Free Music In Webdesign
By: Russell Brewer

Online commercial music is everywhere! New and innovative audio applications include background music for Podcasts, Flash developers, Backing tracks for video, Independent Films, Documentaries, Narratives, Animation Sequencing, Television/Radio - just to name a few. This broad market has opened due to the fact that copyright law prohibits the use of licensed music without the collection of royalties by traditional non-profit organizations such as ASCAP & BMI. Unsigned and unknown artists now have the opportunity to bring their music right to the end user, thereby bypassing the corporate entertainment machine. No longer do the CEO's decide what will be heard. Musicians today can utilize the Internet to bring fresh new products to a fertile market. This brave new world is a win-win for artists as well as music supervisors, project managers, and small companies seeking audio content on a budget. Traditionally, companies requiring audio content would be required to go through conventional means, many times paying $1000's to use small portions of audio. Today, there is a host of websites available that sell Royalty-Free Music for a one-time fee. Project managers can purchase Royalty-Free Music by the track or opt to obtain entire audio collections for a modest fee. Typically, fees range from $10-$20 per track or perhaps $50-$75 for albums.

One great company to check out is http://www.innerrhythmstudios.com/ - Inner Rhythm Studios is a collective of artists that boasts a wide range of musical genres and styles. They sell Royalty-Free Music and music loops for programs like Sony Acid and Apple Garageband. Serving the online community since 2003, they have a very talented staff of musicians. Another great benefit of purchasing music online is the fact that most content is now available as a digital download! Inner Rhythm Studios allows visitors to listen to the collections before they buy. Once a collection is chosen, payment is processed through Paypal and the download begins. Instant content delivered in CD quality!

Here are a couple of things that you want to keep in mind when shopping for Royalty-Free Music online:

1.) How do the samples for the track that you are interested in sound? Today, it is possible to produce very high quality MP3's for online review. If the samples sound low quality, then beware. There are some pretty shabby sites out there trying to pawn off substandard content. Let your ear make the decision.

2.) Make sure that contact information is easily available just in case you need technical support. Problems can occur when downloading and it is convenient to have an immediate response if trouble occurs.

3.) Know the format that you need. Online audio content is available in a variety of formats. From MP3 to .wav, Apple AIFF, or standard CD format - make sure that you communicate your needs to your online music provider.

4.) Check out their blog! Many commercial music sites today have interesting facts about their artists, the music, and the latest studio happenings.

5.) Read the license! All royalty-free music should come with a 'read me' file or a license agreement. Royalty-Free Music can be used in any project, but cannot be resold as music by itself. The content must be used in some sort of production. Most companies require an additional license for projects that sell in excess of 5000 units. Read the fine print!

6.) Join royalty-free music forums or sign up for a newsletter. If you work with audio on a consistent basis, it's always nice to know what is new. Newsletters and forums can provide project managers with up-to-date libraries fresh out of production.

7.) Keep it real! There are some ancient collections out there! Make sure that what you are buying was'nt produced in 1987!

So there you have it! Remember, it's all about the music!





Author Bio
Russell Brewer - Sound Engineer and Webmaster - www.innerrhythmstudios.com You are free to use this article on your website or in your ezine as long as you do use it in its entirety.

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http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/web_design_articles/8051-royaltyfreemusi.htm

4 Must Use FREE Digital Marketing Tools | Deepak Singh

Top Five Reasons to do a Website Redesign

Top Five Reasons to do a Website Redesign
By: Stephanie Diamond

Small business owners need to monitor whether their investment in a website is providing a good return.  Are your products and services easy to buy?  If they aren't, you are wasting time and money and probably doing more harm than good.

Ask yourself the following five questions to see whether it's time for a redesign:


Has the size of the site grown substantially?
If your site continues to grow and change like most business sites, you need to evaluate whether it's still meeting your objectives. As you add new products and services you need to re-organize your information.  In addition, you should consider adding multimedia information (audio, video) to sharpen your message.

Is some of the content outdated or unnecessary?
Does your website have up-to-date content?  Someone should be revising spec sheets, changing promotion dates and adding new material weekly.  If your website appears static, it looks like you're not a serious business.

Is the most important content buried below?
Here's where you need to do an "easy to buy" audit.  By that I mean you need to evaluate how easy it is to find information and actually buy your products.  This sounds like common sense, but we've all purchased online and know that it can sometimes be frustrating.

Are you using the latest technology, instead of hard-coding?
If you created your website more than 18 months ago, you are probably due for a technology update.  This is also true if you started with a very basic site and "hard-coded" everything.  Ask your webmaster whether he has some suggestions.  You can be sure he will.

Does the home page design suit your current business objectives?
Does your website communicate the depth and breadth of your current business?  If you have changed the focus of your services, added new products or want to communicate a different face to your visitors, consider a redesign for your overall website.


Author Bio
About Digital Media Works
Digital Media Works, Inc. (www.DigMediaWorks.com) is an Internet marketing and design firm that specializes in solutions for high tech and e-commerce companies. A seasoned 25+ year management/marketing professional, founder Stephanie Diamond is experienced in building profits in a broad range of product and services businesses. She created a highly successful line of multimedia software products that sold millions of copies for America Online, and has developed unique business strategies and products for a variety of companies, including AOL Time Warner, Redgate New Media and Newsweek, Inc.

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http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/web_design_articles/website_redesign_five_reasons.htm