Internet Marketing: Are You Forgetting Something?
August 26, 2008
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Do your Internet marketing efforts exhaust you? Like many other freelancers and small business owners, are you just too strapped for time and money to go out and look for more work? If so, maybe you’re forgetting to focus some of your Internet marketing efforts on your existing customers.
Make More Time
Lack of time is the enemy of most freelancers and small businesses. Often, when they’re busy, they won’t do any marketing at all. But when one or two major sources of work dry up, they panic.
Don’t let that happen to you. Make it a priority as early in your business as you can to free up your time as much as possible, so you can concentrate on marketing. Monika Mundell shares some great ideas on freeing up your time in this post: The Dark Side of Writing.
Make More Money From Your Existing Customer Base
Next, look at ways that you can make more money, or sales from the customers you already have. People who already know and trust you, are far more likely to buy more from you than complete strangers. And if you’re a freelancer, the trick is being able to sell the type of additional products, or services to your existing customers, that won’t cost you too many additional hours of your own time.
Believe me - this is possible and it’s worth it. In the past, I’ve been able to cut my customer base dramatically and make treble the amount of money from fewer customers. It really does make life far easier.
So, how do you come up with additional products or services that your existing customers may be interested in?
Listen To Customer Feedback
According to Akemi, feedback from the customers you have already is an important key. Akemi provides Akashic Record Readings. She is able to access your Akashic records and discover important information about your past lives, which may be affecting you now. She provides a wonderful service - I wrote about my soul reading experience here.
Trouble is, Akemi is the only person doing the technical work in the business - she doesn’t have others doing the soul readings for her. She has to go away and do the actual reading, then discuss her findings with her customer over the phone.
One day, after doing this, a customer asked Akemi if she would be able to provide a written report, as he would struggle to remember the results of his reading after the telephone consultation. So Akemi began providing this written report to all her customers.
It costs her little in additional time, as she has to write down her findings before speaking to the customer anyway. But she is able to charge an extra 21%. And an amazing 80% of her customers request this additional service, so she’s increased her overall profits by 16.8%.
Partner With Others Or Subcontract Work Out
Sometimes, partnering with others, or subcontracting work out, can enable you to offer additional services to your existing customers, without costing you too much additional time.
John Hoff runs EventureBiz, a webhosting and design business. And he knew many of his clients would benefit from incorporating their business. However, this can often be expensive. So a family member came on board to help him offer incorporation and living trust services to his existing clients.
Look at your business through the eyes of your customer. What other products or services might they need that you could offer them? Why not ask them?
Can you think of other ways you can increase your sales, without spending more time? Do you have any questions you’d like to ask? Or do you have a marketing challenge that you would like advice on?
Online Networking: Do I Hide From People Like You?
August 24, 2008
In a recent discussion on business networking, a few folk shared their opinions on what they liked and didn’t like. Tom of Delightful Work said he preferred online networking to structured events. And Monika of the Writers Manifesto and Ellen of Wilson’s Words and Pictures, both mentioned that they don’t like to “lick ass”.
I totally understand what they mean. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ve got to suck up to folk you’re not particularly keen on, in the hope of getting a bit of work and a few referrals. And for that reason, I tend only to network with people I like.
It’s good to get to know like minded people online, in your industry, with whom you can develop a trusting relationship. I find that far more rewarding than hanging out at some networking event, or golf club, with folk I don’t enjoy being with.
And the easiest we can do this, is by simply making connections with folk we want to connect with, without any assumptions of what they can do for us.
In fact, we should forget what people can do for us altogether. It’s far easier to cultivate genuine relationships, if we think about what we can do to help the other person, without any expectations of gaining something in return.
I get requests in my inbox everyday from folk I either don’t know at all, or people who’ve made just one comment on my blog, in the hope of getting my attention. They’re usually asking me to Stumble this, Digg this, review this, or whatever. And if they knew me at all, they’d probably know that I can’t Stumble anything, as I’ve been banned.
Sometimes the same people send requests everyday. And as you probably know, receiving daily requests to Stumble and Digg someone’s stuff is annoying enough when you actually know them. But when it comes from someone you don’t know at all, it’s even worse.
It’s not like I don’t like helping people - I do. But I’m a human being and like most other folk, I like people to get to know me, before asking me to do things for them. I don’t want to be someone’s social networking prostitute and I bet you don’t either.
Have you experienced any bad online business networking practices? Have you found yourself hiding from certain types of people?
Image Credit: M. Keefe
Related Reading
Business Networking: Are You Sticky?
Are You Lost In Social Networking?
Is StumbleUpon Going Down The Tubes?
Social Networks v Content - Who Is King?
Internet Popularity - Are You Faking It?
August 23, 2008
If the Internet was a popularity contest would you consider yourself a faker? Lots of websites and blogs seem to be faking it until they make it. But does it really work - and why?
Untwisted Vortex ran this article on How To Expose Fake RSS Subscriber Numbers. It seems that many bloggers do fake their subscriber numbers and it’s a fairly easy thing to do.
Lately, I’ve seen blogs with similar traffic to mine claim to have between 10 and 100 times as many subscribers. Either that’s lots of folk not coming back, or they’re faking their subscriber numbers. But why on earth would anyone want to do that?
I guess a lot of it is to do with perceived popularity. If you make your website or your blog seem popular, plenty more people will want to visit it and subscribe. It’s human nature - the vast majority want to follow the crowd. And it’s not just those who fake their RSS stats that do this.
Anyone who does something to drive a huge amount of traffic to their website or blog, to increase their site stats, could be accused of faking it, to make their website seem more popular. But where does it all end? Marketing is essential in any business and any activity that is designed to bring more people to your website, falls under the umbrella of marketing.
I personally don’t publish subscriber numbers on this site. But is there really anything wrong with making your business appear more popular, so long as you can deliver the goods? What do you think? Is it ok to fake it until you make it? And are some ways of Internet Marketing more ethical than others?
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Related Reading
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Image Credit: PShutterbug
Web Site Marketing: What Stealing Taught Me
August 22, 2008
I first learned about web site marketing by stealing. I was desperate - it was the 90’s and there was far less information online about web site marketing then. I had a basic web site on a free web host (not recommended). And I also had a good idea of what my visitors were looking for. But aside from that, I was clueless.
So I decided to resort to stealing. It’s something I still do today - and you can do it too, if you want to improve your life.
I Stole To Learn About Web Site Marketing Because I Was A Skinflint
When I began my search, I did come across an internet marketing course. And although the product sounded appealing, it was quite expensive and I was a skinflint. But I really enjoyed the sellers newsletters and I spent a long time studying them, trying to work out why I kept reading them.
Then when I’d sussed it out, I stole his ideas to sell my own product online. *note - I was so pleased with the results that I did go back and buy the original product later on.
Stealing Isn’t Copying
Now notice I’m saying I stole his ideas - I didn’t copy. And the product I sold bore no resemblance to his. All I did was study how he did what he did, so I could learn how to sell my own product. And you should do the same thing too, if you want to learn about web site marketing, or anything else for that matter. Study and copy someone who is brilliant at doing what you want to learn.
Don’t Be A Clone
I’m not suggesting that you become a clone of that person. After all, you’ve got to bring your own originality to anything you do. But learning from someone who is excellent at what you want to do will not take away your own originality.
You Can Steal From Anybody
If you want to be a brilliant novelist - read books by brilliant novelists. Study the novel from cover to cover to work out what they do to get readers to keep turning to the next page. Type pages from their books, to get used to creating brilliant writing.
If you want to be an amazing salesperson - watch other brilliant salespeople to discover how they do it. Find yourself a mentor who’ll let you watch them work, read books by great salespeople, or get one of their videos.
If you want to be a brilliant web designer - seek out the best website designs and work out what makes them so good.
If you want to be an excellent swimmer - watch the best swimmer in the pool and copy their technique.
If you want to be good in bed - practise a lot. Unless you’re into that sort of people watching.
Did you ever steal from anyone to master web site marketing, or any other skill? Do you think it’s ethical to steal from others in this way? Or do you worry that you’ll become a clone if you steal from the best in the field?
Image Credit
Stealing by Ben Scicluna
Further Reading
Are Criminals Better Entrepreneurs?
The Recipe: 26 Practical Resources For Starting An Online Business
7 Must Do’s Before Starting An Online Business
107 Great Resources For Entrepreneurs
