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Below are
7 Mistakes which you can constantly see many internet businesses
making over and over again. Each of these mistakes can easily cost
your business thousands or tens of thousands of dollars yearly.
As a matter of fact, I see many internet businesses out there that
have next to no chance of success because a couple of these problems
are at the very heart of their business.
If your business is built on a weak foundation, there is no way it
will be able to produce maximum income for you even if it does somehow
survive.
Mistake #1: You have a short-sighted vision.
Do you have a long term plan for your business or are you just trying
to make it through the month?
I know marketers who have a 1 year plan, 5 year plan, 10 year plan,
and even a 50 year plan for their business...What does your plan
consist of?
A lot of people are making fun of Amazon.com because of the fact that
they lose an average of $3.00 per book that they sell. Do you realize
though what their long term plan is?
Every single day they are using their large financial backing to take
up more and more of the book market share. They are quickly becoming
the most well known bookstore on the earth...and every other bookstore
is beginning to feel the pressure from them.
I am definitely not suggesting to you that you need to start losing
money to gain customers, because most of us small businesses just
couldn't afford that tactic. What I am suggesting to you is yhat you
learn the lifetime value of a customer.
It is 7 - 10 easier to sell a product to an existing customer than it
is to sell to a new customer. How are you building the relationships
with your current customers? Are you seeking out and finding new
products that meet other needs and wants they might have? Are you
treating your current customers as your most valuable asset in your
business?
Mistake #2: You aren't willing to think outside the box.
For many internet marketers, they only see two types of advertising.
Number 1 for them is free advertising such as free links, free
classifieds, newsgroup participation, and more. Secondly, they see
paid advertising such as banner ads, offline advertising, and paid
links.
What about finding people in your business to endorse your products or
services to their customers and splitting the profits? Jay Abraham and
Mike Enlow both list this as the most powerful marketing tool in
existence...do you even know about it?
Press releases can get traffic to your site almost overnight if you
have something that people want or need...have you worked with the
media to get some Free traffic?
Have you considered setting up your own affiliate program? This is the
quickest and easiest way to expand the sales of any successful product
or business. Let other people start selling it for you!
Mistake #3: You have fallen in love with the wrong product.
Have you fallen in love with the wrong product? It is interesting to
note that in the Direct Mail Bootcamp, where a Dozen Top Marketers
gathered together to discuss the recipe for marketing success, one of
the main reasons for failure that they all agreed upon was...falling
in love with your product or service.
I understand that your product may be your baby, but you will have to
be willing to give it up if it isn't what the market wants. Every day
the world market is changing and you have to be changing right
alongside it. It may be that demand for your product is declining...if
so, are you willing to give it up and find a product people want?
Start asking some questions of your web site visitors or ezine
readers. Ask them what it is that they want. What is it that they are
looking for? You may find out that you have been barking up the wrong
tree and trying to sell them something that they don't really want
(Even if it is what they need).
You will go broke trying to sell people what they need...if it isn't
what they want! The actual statistics are that only one out of every
seven products turns out to be a winner. Go with the odds and be
willing to change if your market WANTS something different.
Mistake #4: You don't have a Unique Web Position.
What makes your site different than everyone else's? Why should they
visit you instead of somewhere else? Why should they buy from you
instead of the competition?
If you can't answer those questions in one quick sentence, then you
don't have the type of UWP you need to succeed in today's worldwide
business environment
Spend some time and visit the competition. What is it that you do
better than them? What is it that you offer different from them? For
example, in the internet marketing sites out there, so many of them
are only me-too sites. What are you going to do to make yourself
different than the rest? Is it better prices, better services, free
stuff, quicker results, etc.?
Mistake #5: You haven't researched your market enough.
Do you know what it is that your market wants? Have you ever taken the
time to go back to your customers and ask them why they bought from
you in the first place? Have you spent time in discussion groups,
mailing lists, and newsgroups to find out what problems people may be
having or what they are looking for?
If you don't know why people buy from you, how can you target them
correctly or write a sales letter that will hit their hot buttons? I
will give you the answer to that one...you can't do it.
Concept is more important than ad copy. Coming up with exactly the
right concept (or angle) for your product will make OK ad copy sell
like crazy. A poor concept could never be made profitable even by the
best copywriters out there.
Mistake #6: You aren't dealing with people as individuals.
Don't talk to everyone...deal with individuals. I believe in
automating as much of the sales process as possible, but there still
comes the time that you have to deal with people like people. We run
the numbers on our sales statistics, but people are not just numbers.
Always remember the human element. Those aren't just email addresses
out there. They are real live individuals who have wants, needs, and
desires just like you. Deal with them that way.
Be willing to help...Be willing to give away free information...Give
away free samples...Be someone that people like.
Mistake #7: NOT HAVING THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE.
This is probably one of the biggest mistakes made by novice internet
entrepreneurs. Remember, knowledge is power. If you know something
that your competition doesn't, you are already 10 steps ahead of them.
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