Marketing From The Heart: Issue # 3

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====================================================== Marketing From The Heart: Issue # 3
http://www.doublein26weeks.com
By Tom St. Louis "The Shortest Distance Between You And Greater Profits(tm)" October 31, 2001 ====================================================== Today's Tip: Internet Myths and Secrets

Way back in 1996, a large Canadian advertising firm paid me $10,000 to find out if the Internet was just a bunch of hype, and whether anybody could make any money on it. I did my research and came back to them with three conclusions:

1) It is real and it will grow
2) Great content is the most important determiner of relevancy
3) The Internet will be the most powerful and most profitable direct response marketing medium in history.

At the time, purists wanted to maintain and preserve the "sanctity" of the Internet. They considered commercialization to be an unforgivable blight against the utopian ideal of information sharing through the exalted "network of networks". Of course I disagreed. And the web has grown geometrically every year since then. But most companies have no idea how to make money on the web. The sites they put up are nothing but electronic brochures and their strategic thinking is weak or non-existent. Web developers, who are calling the shots in most cases, know nothing about marketing and it shows.

HOW THE WEB HAS CHANGED:

The web has changed and it is becoming easier and not harder to make money on it. The following are a few Myths and Secrets to help steer you to a profitable web presence.

Web Myths #1: The Bookmark Myth. New site owners believe that "If we build it, they will come, and once they come, they will come back again and again". A lot of webmasters put up great looking, navigable sites, and they are losing their shirts. Somewhere on the site it says, "Bookmark this site!" Understand this: THEY WON'T COME BACK, even if they love it. and if you have no way of following up with your visitor, the odds are heavily stacked against you ever selling them anything. Remember this: "Out of site, out of mind". If you don't believe me, check your own bookmarks. If you are like most people, you don't even know what many of those bookmarks are anymore, or why you bookmarked them in the first place. And, even if you do know what they are, you don't go there any more.

Web Myth # 2: The content Myth. At one time, the web was new and people were excitedly exploring a new frontier. We all would go back again and But great content is not enough anymore, and your website should no longer be based on great content! Unbelievable but true.

Web Myth # 3: The "Who We Are Myth". I'm astonished at how many otherwise sophisticated companies fall into this delusion. The first goal of most misguided sites is to tell you "About Us". That is as wrong-headed a decision as you could ever make in your marketing, and the blame goes to the webmasters, who, as I said earlier, know nothing about marketing. Here's the real skinny about how to make money on the web.

Web Secret #1: A WEBSITE IS A NAME CAPTURE MECHANISM. Period! Your goal is to capture their contact information so that you can repeatedly communicate all your great value, content, offers, information. You can capture their contact information before they come into your website. Or you can capture their information in exchange for a great information resource, and then send them more information via autoresponders. These are a couple of the basic strategies, but remember, capturing the names is your mission. And forget trying to get people to bookmark your site.

Web Secret #2: YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD BE A SALES LETTER. And, the letter should follow the proven principles of direct mail. This is direct marketing, pure and simple. Direct marketing refuses to wait six months or three years until your "brand" catches on or your name gets "out there". Learn about the principles of response or hire a professional copywriter, but stop falling into the "who we are, what we do, and how to reach us" trap.

Web Secret #3: YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD MAKE ONE COMPELLING OFFER. The sole purpose of your site is to get a prospect caught in the net of an amazing offer. It's not about you at all, but about what they are going to get, or what you are going to do for them. If you have five products, then put up five websites. New web address are very cheap, and a one-page website costs very little - especially without all the unnecessary clutter.

Web Secret #4: FLASH IS DEAD! Have you seen a flash website? The first time, it's exciting, the second time not bad. The third time, it's ho hum and after that, you frantically look for the "skip intro" button. Flash, and all the other bandwidth hogging, browser-slowing doodads are just sophisticated and expensive variations of the content myth. "If we have no content, maybe we can dazzle them with Flash", they must be thinking. And the webmasters, who (did I already mention this?) know nothing about marketing, sell it because they like doing it. It doesn't work. To prove this, check out the sites that make money, like E-Bay. They are clean, load quickly and get right down to the business of helping you. Remember, your website is there to make you money. The best way to make money is to turn your website into a compelling offer that captures the prospect's name, allowing you to strategically and sequentially follow up with all your prospects, and make money!

Go to Issue # 4

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For assistance setting up a website or converting your site to a money making machine, call 416-269-4694; or, e-mail: response@zerald.com ======================================================