Advertising 101: Selling, The Right Way

Before we begin, go to your website. Go ahead, pull it up right now. Try to look at it with the eyes of the newcomer. Remember, they don't care if you can build stunning websites online; they want to know the benefits of your product.

Strangers have only one question about your website -- "What's in it for me?" If your website does not explain the benefits of your product or service, your customers will move on without a second glance. Let's use an example from real life - a home study course. I could go on for hours about all the features of my new home study course, including the audio and video tutorials, the CD-ROMs, the manual and transcript, and more.

Big deal. Chances are, you don't care. And why should you? As a busy consumer, you want to know, "What can this course do for me? How will it improve my life?"

You don't need to know the features; you want to know the benefits. I could say that it will teach you how to:

- Find profitable niches

- Create a moneymaking website;

- Get your website on the Internet;

- Choose the right kind of website for your product;

- Select the domain name and web hosting package that works for you;

- Attract a steady stream of clients to your site;

- Create a shopping cart to make buying easier;

- Recommend other products, and make large commissions doing it;

- Give your website a professional look.

Doesn't that sound better? Well, yes, but I'm still missing the point. I'm giving my clients good information, but I'm not truly giving them benefits. I need to put myself in their shoes.

Think about your customer and ask yourself these questions.

- What do your customers really want?

-How will listening to audios on the secrets of Internet marketing help them get out of the crushing debt they are facing every day?

- How will listening to these audiotapes, full of Internet marketing secrets, help them reduce their debt?

- How will following the transcripts help them to gain the financial freedom they desire? In studying your customers, you will learn their desires.Perhaps they seek freedom from debt, or from those dreaded nine to five jobs they hate. Maybe they want freedom to pursue their passions and live their dreams. And some may wish the freedom to educate their children in entrepreneurship, in the hopes that their children won't have to suffer unpleasant jobs, dictatorial bosses, and low wages. They would jump at the chance to make $2000 dollars in an Internet business. And so would you.

So, what is the point of all this?

You may list features on your web page, but you sell benefits. The features of a wedding ebook are that it is 67 pages long, that it contains interviews with caterers, pastors, wedding coordinators, and florists, etc. Or that it comes with a money- back guarantee.The benefits of this wedding e-book are that your wedding will be beautiful, that you will not spend money needlessly, that you will save money, that you will be the envy of all your friends and that your wedding will be as unique as you are!

Think of a commercial for a sports car. Do they ever talk about gear ratio, horse power, bucket seats, CD players, under coating or all that stuff? No, those are features. Car commercials sell benefits. You usually see a middle-age man looking very successful, even smug, and he's burning down the highway. Of course, the highway's always winding along a mountain road down the coast.

Now really, are they selling the car or the image? Bingo! It's the image. The only thing missing from the commercial is the image of that same man being admired openly at his high school reunion, chased by beautiful women and envied by all the men.

I admit that's an extreme example. But it does illustrate the point I'm trying to make. Your website needs to answer the question, "What do I get out of this? How will this benefit me personally, professionally, or otherwise?"

I can show you how to make a web site, but so what? I have to show you how that course will benefit you. How it will create passive income so you get out from under that mortgage. How it will create a stream of income that may replace your day job over timet o that you can have more choice in when you spend time with your family. Or how it will teach your children a skill that will allow them to pursue their passions in life, combining work and passion.

Now that is a concept!

Article Source: http://www.rightbiz.com

Stephen Beck shows families how to www.buildingsitesthatsell.com/ "> build sites that sell . For a free CD discussing the steps for a successful internet business, visit Start Home Business right now.

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