AT LAST!! - The New Dreamcatcher Travelogue Online Events Calendar for The Tourist Trade!!!
June 3, 2008 by admin · 3 Comments
Looking for something to do on your travels?
Do you want to avoid the crowds or spending hours on the web trying to find something to do?
Our Dreamcatcher Travelogue Online Event Calendars with the inclusion of blogs and video’s, will tell you what is going on anywhere across the USA.
Dreamcatcher Online Event Calendars has launched the first of a collection of “Dreamcatcher Travelogue Calendars” to add to our already existing and growing online event calendars.
The Dreamcatcher Travelogue Calendars are stunning and exciting calendars for the tourist trade. They highlight and display events at all the places you will want to visit and enjoy. We have incorporated advertisements, articles, video’s and photos on the Dreamcatcher Travelogue Blogs for each and every beautiful state and/or area, including notes and descriptions of attractions and events in each area.
The Dreamcatcher Travelogue Online Events Calendar will incorporate all the tourism districts as part of the total USA experience where you’ll learn about the different festivals and celebrations that take place across the USA. These events are a great way to enhance and fully experience your holidays!
Contact Claudia duPreez for full information at claudia@dcmrktng.com and also visit our website at: www.dreamcatchercalendars.com - If you join the Dreamcatcher Calendar Club it will enable you to RSVP all events, book a limo or rent a car. You can view, organize, and recieve email notifications regarding your chosen events. Optional features include the the ability to add your own events to the calendar… for FREE!
About Dreamcatcher Marketing and Dreamcatcher Online Event Calendars:
Dreamcatcher Marketing is dedicated to creating wonderful experiences for our customers and specializes in unique and creative marketing solutions that assist each individual business to expand the exposure to their specific target audience – everything from promotional products, internet marketing, mixers and special events.
As part of Dreamcatcher Marketing’s ongoing commitment to continually add features of value to the business as well as the media and event industry, DREAMCATCHER CALENDARS are proud to be the first and only Hybrid-Interactive advertising online calendar… providing businesses, associations and entrepreneurs the opportunity to reach a global audience by placing their advertising and events in the most exciting interactive platform on the internet today…utilizing a combination of banner advertising, event listings, blogging and video through a host of custom calendars that provide information from music to travel to Real Estate and more.
Because the calendars are integrated and linked together, the exposure for its members, advertisers and sponsors will be tremendous and will grow as more people become aware of this exciting new marketing platform.
When you advertise on the Dreamcatcher Calendar…. Your banner ad will appear on the Dreamcatcher Calendar of your choice and membership to the Banners or calendar section of the Dreamcatcher Online Calendars will include the following advantages: You become part of the Dreamcatcher Marketing and Dreamcatcher Calendar E-Newsletter and blog * Calendars will be displayed on Dreamcatcher Calendars and be linked to Dreamcatcher Marketing and all participating advertisers’ websites * Members can add/edit their own event/show schedules on the calendar * Each event will be linked to a pop-up window with the full event/show details that can be printed (this can be the flyer brought in to get selected discounts on door prices, products etc.) * Events can be added personally to visitor’s Outlook Calendar, Apple iCalender, Mozilla Sunbird Calendar and any other calendar with .ics or .vcs support * List events to alert others and generate publicity * Each event will have an RSVP connection where they can RSVP online for your events/shows * RSS Feed available to notify clients of all new events listed * MP3’s can be linked to your site on the pop-up window * Limo and car rental services appear on each pop-up window for visitors to book when visiting the events * Members can do their own changes on their Account area (i.e. change passwords etc.) * Everyone will be able to view your events at a glance * With the easy use of a button, events can be repeated on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis * Printer friendly pages can be generatied showing daily, weekly, or monthly events.
Are you ready to enjoy these benefits and utilize the expertise of our experienced and proven marketing team….. or would you like to create your own Custom Branded Calendar? Contact us NOW!
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Last Minute International Deals
Be Part Of the Exciting World Of Travel - Start Your Own Online Travel Agency Today!!
June 2, 2008 by admin · 9 Comments
Dreamcatcher Travelogue and YTB brings you the perfect opportunity to transform your life by combining the powerful information handling capability of the Internet with the world’s most dynamic product – travel - and the personal touch of independent, home based business people. YTB has joined these three trends together in a flawless combination. By utilizing our simple strategies and proven techniques we can show you how to leverage your time to generate a residual income 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The elements of honesty, morality, and “being in the right place at the right time” are all in place today at YTB - and we plan to revolutionize the travel industry. Come join us as we change the way the world travels!
Your Business
The YTB companies offer two unique and powerful opportunities, that of referring travel agent or “RTA” and that of independent marketing representative or “REP”. The travel agent opportunity has an initial fee under $500 and a monthly license fee of $49.95. There is no fee or travel agency purchase required to be a REP. You may choose to participate in one or both opportunities.
What is a YTB Independent Marketing Representative?
A person who has signed an Independent Marketing Representative agreement with YourTravelBiz.com is called a Representative.
(We will use the term “Rep” from now on). Reps may sell online Travel Agencies, enroll RTAs, and sponsor other Reps. Reps earn commission on personal online Travel Agency sales. Reps do not receive travel credentials and cannot sell travel.
What is a YTB Travel Network Referring Travel Agent?
A Referring Travel Agent (RTA) is a person who has purchased an online Travel Agency in an agreement with YTB Travel Network of Illinois and pays the $49.95 monthly license fee for a personalized online travel website and its “Back Office”. (We will use the term “RTA” from now on). RTAs refer people to their website (online Travel Agency) to book travel and earn commissions on travel booked through their personalized site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT http://www.ytb.com/dctravelogue NOW!
Information about YTB International, Inc
Current Operations
YTB International, Inc. provides Internet-based travel booking services for travel agencies and home-based independent representatives in the United States, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada. It operates through three subsidiaries: YourTravelBiz.com, Inc., YTB Travel Network, Inc., and REZconnect Technologies, Inc.
The three distinct, wholly-owned subsidiary divisions operate as follows:
YourTravelBiz.com, Inc. (and subsidiaries)
YourTravelBiz.com, Inc. (“YTB Marketing”) conducts business through recruitment, enrollment, training, and support of its sales force. There are currently approximately 341,305 (as of 3/31/08) independent contractors, known as Independent Marketing Representatives (each, an “IMR”), who are responsible for selling on-line travel agencies to RTAs, most of whom work from their homes. IMRs are compensated via a multilevel marketing commission structure. An IMR might utilize a number of methods for attracting new RTAs, including the use of informational meetings and events, newspaper advertising, and one-on-one meetings with individuals seeking a home-based business enterprise.
YTB Marketing was created to market travel agency websites to RTAs in a referral marketing program that incentivizes IMRs to sell on-line travel agencies. RTAs are also independent contractors and are provided with training materials and onsite training at various locations throughout the United States. YTB Marketing charges an initial license fee of $449.95 plus $49.95 per month, on a month-to-month basis, for RTAs to own and operate an online travel site, and YTB Travel (as defined below) can also earn additional transactional compensation from travel purchased off each website.
YTB Travel Network, Inc. (and its subsidiaries)
YTB Travel Network, Inc. (together with its subsidiary YTB Travel Network of Illinois, Inc., collectively, “YTB Travel”) business is comprised of arrangements to sell airline tickets, cruise packages and other services, plus travel sales, from the approximately 138,814 (as of 3/31/08) RTAs’ web sites which it hosts. YTB Travel handles travel processing, document distribution and travel commission payments, including tracking transactions for each of the sites. RTAs are schooled through travel training courses. This training is accomplished through a combination of company conference calls, e-training modules and hands-on certification seminars.
REZconnect Technologies, Inc.
REZconnect Technologies, Inc. (“Technologies”) includes a “brick and mortar” travel franchise system and provides YTB technology software and services to the travel industry. Technologies builds reservation systems using proprietary applications for suppliers within the travel industry. Technologies sells and services travel stores within the travel industry and includes RezCity.com, an online city guide and travel store. Technologies operates under the following brands: Travel Network, Global Travel Network and Travel Network/Vacation Central. The Technologies’ consumer driven websites provide strong content and booking ability, with over 60 booking engines incorporated into any one site, covering all aspects of the travel industry.
Ronny•C Photography - dedicated professional photography services
May 25, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Ronny•C Photography is dedicated to providing quality professional photography services. Whether it be for modeling, product shots, pictures of your favorite pet, your wedding or any other event, you can count on them to provide stunning images. As a husband and wife team you get the benefit of two sets of eyes looking out for your best interests. This is great during modeling shoots when you need everything to be just right. During events you get the benefit of a second camera at no extra charge. More angles means more shots and a better chance at capturing those special moments. They provide top-notch digital equipment, lenses and lighting. Shoots can be done in their studio, or on location. After the shooting is done they bring each shot in for digital post production to make every great shot even better.
Contact: Ronn & Susie Canzano - 626-201-7942 - ronn@ronny-c-photography.com
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About No Cost Printing.com
Our mission is to serve you; to give your organization a top-notch first impression.
No Cost Printing.com is designed to bring the quality of an advertising agency to organizations who are not able to bear the exuberant expense of an advertising agency.
No Cost Printing.com has established a system that streamlines thousands of other organizations just like yours into one order, giving you unbelievable buying power. Most of our system is automated saving you even more money. Thank goodness for our team of phenomenal programmers working night and day making this revolutionary way of printing possible!!
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In a self-service world, a world of immediate gratification, No Cost Printing.com is making possible custom products without the wait. We offer business cards, postcards, letterhead, envelopes, flyers, brochures, you name it we got it! You can select from thousands of ready-made, full-color designs you can totally customize it by changing things around, changing colors, moving text or if you love the card as it is just type in your personal information and watch it appear on your design palate. The sky is the limit at No Cost Printing.com. You also may start from a blank canvas and let the creativity flow or upload an already completed design. You may add logos or photos to any of the templates or custom designs.
It’s really a very simple process. You design cards for your organization, approve them, and pay for them all in about 30 minutes (unless you’re the artsy type and design for hours). After your order is placed you may access your account at any time to view your order status and see when your product has shipped. At any time you may view all your previously purchased items, re-edit them to fit your currents needs or just re-order as is.
When you place your order, your design flows directly from your desktop through our Internet gateway of high-tech stuff right to our servers with a print ready file waiting for us to grab and go.
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No Cost Printing.com offers such tremendous quality, with unbelievable convenience, and cost effective pricing; making our printing site a valuable resource for small, medium, and large sized organizations around the world. Contact: www.NoCostPrinting.com,
Visit www.dreamcatchercalendars.com to all avents and shows or register and place your own shows and events!sales@nocostprinting.com or Phone: 949-488-0593.
How to Generate a Never-Ending Avalanche of Super-Qualified Leads Who are Looking to Buy Exactly What You Are Selling
May 25, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Two-thirds of these sales are generated through a two-step process. The first step is to collect a qualified lead. The second step is to deliver your sales pitch. Maybe you will deliver your sales pitch with a follow-up sales letter. Or maybe you will deliver your sales pitch with a personal spoken sales presentation – either over the phone, or in person. That will depend on the type of product your are selling. The point is, you want to collect your qualified leads as cheaply as you possibly can.
But before I launch into how you do that, let me note that lead generation programs generally will not work well for low-priced items with small profit margins, such as magazine subscriptions – because the economics don’t work out. But if your profit margin on the product you are selling is $100 or more, a two-step or multi-step sales process is usually best . . . because once the item you are selling crosses this price threshold, you’re going to lose most of your impulse buyers. Plus, your bigger profit margin means you can now afford a multi-step, drip, drip, drip marketing approach. Okay, so let’s cover first the classic way this has been done in direct marketing for decades – even before we had the internet and before we had computers.
What you did – and what you can still do very profitably right now – is run a little ad that says something like this:
Get Your Free Book
Faith & Freedom:
The Christian Roots of American Liberty - Just Call 1-000-000-0000 - This 354-page book documents the strong Christian faith of America’s founding fathers. More than that, this book proves that the source of America’s heritage of liberty is the Bible and Christian theology. This book refutes the myth promoted by the ACLU that Christianity is the enemy of freedom and proves that Christianity is the source of our civil liberties
This ad also had a little photo of my book. And notice that the word “Free” was in red. This was small ad — about 3 1/2 inches by 2 inches. Nothing at all fancy about it. I ran this little ad in Christian magazines and publications. And I built a very large mailing list this way. In fact, I used this list to help me build the Christian Coalition in the 1990s . . . which grew into one of the most powerful political organizations of that decade, raising $27 million dollars a year. Plus . . . I used (and continue to use) this list to market all kinds of books, products and causes that are of intense interest to Christians. This list has generated tens of millions of dollars over the last 15 years or so.
Now . . . let’s check on the economics on what a lead generated this way can be worth. Let’s say it costs me $500 to run the ad. I then would receive 1,000 requests for the book. So it cost me about 50 cents a lead, factoring in just the cost of the ad. But I had some other costs as well. I did not use a toll-free number, so I did not have that cost. But, once the volume of calls got too heavy, I paid a service bureau $1.50 to capture the name, address and contact information. It also cost me $3.50 to fulfill on the request . . . because there was the cost of the printing the book, the book-rate postage, envelope and cover note. So the cost of generating the lead was $5.50.
But . . . look at all the ways I can use this lead. I can market all kinds of similar products to this name. I sold, for example, a video series on America’s Christian heritage for $97. With follow up sales letters, I was able to persuade about 20% of these names to buy this video series. I was able to build a big part of the 2,000,000-member Christian Coalition with these names. I was able to rent these names to other Christian organizations and businesses about once a week. In all, I calculated the one-year value of each of these names to be about $50.
In other words, I would pay $5.50 for the lead. And on average this lead would return $50 in profit to me during the course of the next 12 months. And, over time, each of these names would return on average about $100 in profit to me. So that’s a pretty good way to invest $5.50. $5.50 turns into $50 in 12 months . . . and $100 eventually. Probably a lot more than that. But I stopped calculating. That’s a whole lot better return than I ever got by investing in a stock. Mutual fund managers boast when they can return 15% a year on their investments. So that’s the classic way lead generation programs work in direct marketing. And, by the way, this still works just as well today.
Now . . . think about this. Suppose you use this exact same approach, but you remove the $3.50 it costs to fulfill on the book . . . because you fulfill the book electronically over the internet.Instead of delivering a printed book by way of snail mail, you deliver it in the form of an ebook over the internet. So now, instead of your lead costing $5.50, your lead costs only $2.00 – the cost of the ad plus the cost of capturing the name over the phone. But now, let’s say you eliminate the cost of the phone answering service and instead send your lead to a landing page on the internet that you have built specifically for this purpose. So now, instead of a lead costing you $5.50 each – a lead costs you 50 cents each. Now – even at $5.50, these leads are extraordinarily profitable. But at 50 cents a lead . . . well, you can do the math. Your lead is now just one-tenth the cost it used to be in the old days, before we had the internet. Can you see why online marketing is so lucrative and frankly, so easy?
Now, the one cost you really can’t get away from is the advertising. You have to pay for that – whether it’s with print ads, or online advertising, or with direct mail . . . or with sweat equity delivering fliers door-to-door or or doing PR campaigns to generate free media coverage, or whatever. But the point is, you’ll have to pay for advertising one way or the other to generate your leads – either with cash or with sweat equity. But once you’ve figured out how to capture the names, addresses and contact information of your qualified leads cost-effectively (just like I described), you now have a near limitless resource for future profit. You now have a business that can grow almost infinitely.
Now this is essential. You need to keep offering your qualified leads products that are very similar to whatever the free product was that brought them in to start with. Okay, now let’s go back to my little ad that offered my book for free – FAITH & FREEDOM: The Christian Roots of American Liberty. Let’s look at what it is that made these leads work for just about any Christian product or cause that I wanted to sell to these leads. Specifically, let’s look at what we know about people who answer an ad like this:
1) We know these names are committed Christians because I am running this ad only in publications that are read by committed Christians.
2) I know that they are responsive to direct marketing offers because they have just answered my direct marketing offer.
3) I know that this is a new name. Remember, your strongest names are always your most recent names – those who have responded to an offer recently.
4) I know they have bought something through the mail because that’s how Christian magazine subscriptions are sold. They are sold by direct mail.
5) I know they wanted my book because they just went to the trouble of picking up the phone and ordering it, or they just spent time to go to a computer and landing page and have filled out the information.
6) I know that their address and contact information is accurate because they want to receive my book.
In other words, these are just about the most qualified leads you can get if you are selling information products aimed at Christians. And it turns out these names were also great for building the membership list of the Christian Coalition . . . and for many other conservative and Christian organizations as well. Plus, I never need to pay to rent a list. Renting a list, remember, can be pretty hazardous. Unless you have a lot of experience, it’s very difficult to really know what it is you are renting. You can get burned by renting lists if you’re not an expert. So this method of building your list of super-qualified leads is just about the safest system for building your list known to man. And it’s pretty simple and easy, as you can see. In fact, I don’t think life gets a whole lot simpler and easier than this. Okay, so how do you start out if you don’t have a big advertising budget – which most of us don’t when we are first starting out? And what businesses might this work well for. Well, let’s say you are an attorney, or an accountant, or a realtor, or a dentist. Let’s say you put an ad in the Yellow Pages where all your competitors are running their ads. By the way, one of the best ways to figure out where to run your ad is to find out where your competitors are running their ads.
You then run your ad there. This allows you not to have to re-invent the wheel. Your competitors are running ads in those places because their ads are probably working. So now your market research is basically done. For the purpose of this illustration, we’ll say you are going to run your ad in the Yellow Pages – right where all your competitors are running their ads. But your ad is not going to look like an ad that’s run by your competitors. And your ad is not going to look like all those high-design ads that are produced by ad agencies. Those ads do not work very well.
Your ad is going to say something like this.
The Nine Most Common Costly Mistakes
People Make When Hiring An Attorney
Call 1-000-000-0000
To get your FREE special report
Or get your special report online by going to:
www.xyzxyz.com
And you can have your report right now.
And that’s it.
Now you know the following things for certain about people who answer an ad like this:
1) They are actively interested in finding a lawyer.
2) They probably need to find a lawyer right now.
3) You now know how to reach this person.
You can now get on the phone with this person and start a conversation. You can also put this person on your list to receive your monthly newsletter – which will be packed full of useful information on how to avoid costly legal problems. Now . . . your ad will be even more effective if it zeros in more precisely on exactly what it is your searcher is looking for. Most people are not just looking for just any lawyer, they are trying to solve a particular legal problem. So if you are a divorce lawyer, and if you only want to hear from people who need a divorce lawyer, then the headline of your ad should say . . .
The Nine Most Common Costly Mistakes
People Make When Hiring a Divorce Attorney
Something like that.
By the way, your competitors are going to hate you for running ads like this because they will interpret these ads as criticizing them. But who cares? An ad like this will pull at least five times better than all the other ads for attorneys you see around it in the Yellow Pages.
If you’re a realtor, the headline on your ad would be . . .
The Nine Most Common Costly Mistakes People Make When Hiring a Realtor
And you should test this headline against . . .
The Nine Most Common Costly Mistakes People Make When Buying a House
Call 1-000-000-0000 To get your FREE special report.. Or get your special report online by going to: www.xyzxyz.com And you can have your report right now.
The reason you’ll want to test these two headlines is that “people by results, not features.” They don’t by drills, they buy the holes that drills make. So, yes, people do look for realtors, but only because they want to buy or sell a house. Notice that there are really only two things that matter in these ads: 1) the attention-getting headline and 2) the offer of the Free report. “Free” is just about the most powerful word in advertising and marketing. If people are looking for the information you are offering, free is the right price for everyone. That’s how you build your list of super-qualified leads. Now, keep in mind that some products and services are “need it now” products and services. Others are not. If someone is looking in the Yellow Pages for a lawyer, or a plumber, or a dentist, they need it or want it now. People look in the Yellow Pages for services they need or want now. So if you are a “need it now” businesses, you must be set up to follow up instantly with your lead with a phone call and with email. And have a letter ready to mail that day.
And, as always, be sure to add your leads to your printed monthly newsletter list that arrives by postal mail – the cheapest, most cost-effective and most productive marketing you will ever do.
To Your Success in Business and Happiness in Life,
Ben Hart - Your 21st Century Marketing Coach . . .because everyone (even Tiger Woods) needs a coach
Visit: www.dreamcatchercalendars.com for more events or register and add your own shows or events - for free!!
Maxwell DeMille’s Cicada Club
May 21, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
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17 Website Design Mistakes That Kill Your Sales - Part two
May 15, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
By Ben Hart
I have assembled here a checklist of 17 mistakes to avoid when designing your website if your primary goal is to make money with your website.
Mistake #9 – Frames
Don’t use frames in your website. Search engines don’t like them. They also increase the time it takes for your site to load. Pages using frames often can’t be printed. Not all browsers support frames – especially the older versions of browsers. If you reader likes an article they read in a frame, they often can’t book mark it.
Mistake #10 – “Mystery Meat” Navigation
This term, I believe, was coined by Vincent Flanders who runs a good site on website design provocatively called www.webpagesthatsuck.com.
The term “mystery meat” refers to processed meat (i.e. hotdogs, baloney and school cafeteria meat) where you have no idea what’s really in the meat. Flanders is referring to navigation buttons on websites that don’t tell you where they will take you.
Mystery meat is also produced by links that don’t explain what they are until your mouse rolls over them. Website designers love these rollover links because they look cool. But they create frustration for the site visitor. Make it easy for visitors to know instantly what your site is about and where the link s will take them.
Imagine if you could not read a road sign until you got out of your car and kicked it. Then the instruction would flash into view. Navigation links should be like road signs, telling your reader exactly what will happen if she clicks on the link.
Mistake #11 – Navigation Buttons in Odd Locations
This is another favorite trick of site designers trying to show how artsy they are. They put navigation buttons in strange locations – behind balloons, floating around in the air, or sideways so you have to twist your head to read them.
This is like putting the Table of Contents somewhere in the middle of the book or maybe inside the dust jacket instead of at the front of the book where you expect to find the Table of Contents. Put the main site navigation buttons where you’d expect to find them – either along the top of the page (preferred) or down the left side of the page.
Mistake #12 – Confusing Navigation Structure
Don’t require your visitor to have to figure out how to get around your site, like a puzzle to be solved. Have a simple, clear navigation structure.
It’s frustrating for visitors not to easily be able to find what they are looking for on your site, or to know exactly where they are going when they hit a link. The visitor then gets lost in your site and can’t figure out how to get back to the original starting point. Imagine if a grocery store had no rhyme or reason to how it organized its products – just put products on the shelves randomly. Lots of sites are organized like that. Actually, it’s lack of organization.
Too many links on your home page also creates a “mystery meat” effect by confusing your visitor. Have no more than eight buttons on the index of your home page. Fewer than eight is better.
Mistake #13 - Music
Unless you are a band selling a song, having music start playing automatically when your visitor reaches your home page is a very bad idea. It’s cheesy and screams “high school. A kid must have designed this site.” Plus people have their own tastes in music – most of them different than yours. Having music play on the home page of your site might be just about the fastest way to cause the majority of your visitors to hit the exit button as fast as they can.
Mistake #14 – “This site requires [browser name] version x or higher.”
Imagine if you have a TV that’s not configured for High Definition and every channel you turned to required High Definition TVs. I don’t watch much TV, so that’s what my TV is like. Don’t require your visitors to have the latest, greatest, most up-to-date browser. Your site should be designed for your low-tech visitors. Not everyone keeps up to speed with the latest.
As I write these words, nearly half of America still uses dial-up for the Internet connection. Not everyone lives on the Internet. They use the Internet to send and read email, check sports scores and do a little research sometimes. Make your site accessible to them.
Mistake #15 – Too much Java Script
About 10 percent of people do not enable Java Script on their computers. So you should design your website so that it can be read and enjoyed by these people.
Now, you might need some Java Script on your site for sign-up forms and other interactive features. But use Java Script sparingly. Search engines don’t like to see too much Java Script.
Java Script is sometimes used by crooks to hijack information in browsers and other dastardly purposes. Java script is also used for pop-up ads, to change the appearance of scroll bars, to create rollover navigation (“mystery meat” navigation) and other annoyances. JavaScript is a very powerful tool. Judicious use of it can enhance the appearance and usability of your site. Use it poorly and you’ll annoy your visitors and the search engines. If you are running a Google AdWords campaign, a Java Script pop-up ad on your site can cause Google to disable your Google ad campaign.
Mistake #16 - Absolute Font Sizes
Do not set your font sizes with absolute values (i.e. 12pt, 15px, etc). Instead, use the relative sizing that HTML supports: +1, -1, etc. or small, x-small, etc. in CSS. Doing this will allow the user to increase or decrease the size at which the text appears in their browser. Users who have poor vision or high-resolution screens will thank you for it.
Mistake #17 – Making it too difficult to buy
Make it as easy to buy from you as possible. Sites often require too much information from the buyer. And filling out the order form is a multi-click process. The first page you provide your name and email address. The next page you provide your address. The next page you provide your credit card information. The process takes too danged long. There’s too much friction.
Half the people who are trying to buy abandon the process half way through. It’s just too danged difficult. People shop on the Internet primarily because it’s convenient.
Always strive to reduce friction to buying. Amazon’s one-click purchase system is one of the best at this. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says the one-click purchase system Amazon pioneered is one of the secrets to Amazon’s success. Make buying super-easy and super-simple.
You can also choose various levels of credit card verification. You can require an exact match of your buyers name, address and phone number, a CVS number, plus throw in another verification code or two. Or you can require just credit card number and expiration date. That’s all I require – a credit card number and an expiration date.
Because I choose the lowest level of verification (just card number and verification date) I pay a higher transaction fee (about 1.5% higher) than if I required all the other possible verification steps. But I cut way down on my shopping cart abandonment rate. I get more sales. I have yet to have anyone claim fraudulent use of their credit card. My gut tells me all the panic over identify theft is overblown — just like the Y2K scare never materialized, and most other scare mongering.
Now, I realize my sites are pretty ugly. They are not going to win any “design awards” — which go to the prettiest sites. I’m no graphic artist. But my sites do generate $87,000 in sales per month for me. So they do a good job of selling.
Still . . . as I review my list of 17 mistakes, I see indeed that my sites have some of these problems. I can see that I need to retool. Mostly I need to simplify. Always strive to simplify your site.
Seventeen reasons people buy - Part Two
May 15, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
By Ben Hart
The #1 reason people buy
In the previous section (Part One) I list 17 motives fueling the desire of people to buy something. But almost all of these can be recast and placed under one motive.
The most powerful motive of all is fear.
People are very insecure about their place in life. Are people searching for love, or are they more afraid of ending up alone? Stopping something bad from happening is always a more powerful motivator than causing something good to happen. I exercise not so I can look like Mr. Universe, but because I fear looking like Jabba the Hut. I want to make more money not so I can buy more things, but mostly to guard against going broke.
I use Rogaine because I fear losing all my hair. I’ve lost most of my hair anyway, and I don’t think the stuff works. But I fear what might happen if I stop using it, so I keep buying the junk. I think I’ll just shave my head and rid myself of that concern once and for all.
Desire for power is a subset of fear. So is anger. People are angry because they are not in control. Short people (i.e. Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot) seem more interested in power than tall people (Thomas Jefferson, George Washington). People want power and get angry mostly because they are insecure—which is a variation of the fear motive.
Your sales letters will perform far better if you talk about, or imply, all the bad things that will happen to your reader if he fails to answer your letter. If you receive a letter from the IRS or an attorney, you are very likely to open it—far more likely than a letter from Bloomingdales.
People fear the IRS, fear lawsuits, fear getting older, fear dying, fear failing, fear loneliness, fear nature, fear getting sick, fear God, fear going to Hell, fear being left behind or left out, and fear being fired. They fear not keeping up with the Joneses, fear not amounting to anything in life, fear for their kids, fear not being understood, fear other people, fear walking down the street, and just generally fear life. Woody Allen built a career on making movies about people’s fears, insecurities, and neuroses.
The news media sells almost nothing but fear, because news organizations know that fear sells.
Rarely do we hear a positive news story. Mostly we hear stories about disasters, crimes, wars, typhoons, disease. People contribute to causes mostly because they want to stop something bad from happening.
How does the car salesman stop you from walking out of the showroom?
“Another guy also loved this car and says he’ll be back later today with his down payment. If you don’t buy it now, this car will be gone this evening.”
Or . . .
“This deal I’m offering you expires at the end of the month, which is today. We’re actually losing money on this price. We’re only offering this price today so we can meet our sales quota for the month because if we meet our quota, we get a bonus from GM.”
I’m sure you’ve heard these or similar pitches before.
The salesman is using fear (your fear of losing out) as a way to persuade you to make an immediate decision.
People buy not so much to gain something, but because they fear losing something important if they don’t buy.
Key Elements of a Good Headline
1) Grabs Attention
2) Creates Intrigue
3) Makes a Huge Promise
4) Irresistible Offer
5) Specific
126 Headlines That Have Generated Billions of Dollars in Sales
INSTRUCTIONS: Just pattern your headlines after these greatest-ever headlines and watch your sales zoom skyward.
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Never Accept A Real Estate Contract That Contains These 5 Words
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Which Group Are You In?
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Free Book:
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And How __________ Overcomes Them All.
Nobody Should Be Allowed To Have Anything To Do With Advertising Until They’ve Read This Book At Least 7 Times
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Whose Fault Is It When Children Disobey?
Six Closely Guarded Secrets Of The Diamond Industry… Revealed At Last
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Free To High School Teachers–$6 To Others
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It’s A Shame For You Not To Make Good Money — When These Men Do It So Easily
What Nobody Ever Tells You About _______________.
Profits That Lie Hidden In Your Farm
Do You Have These Symptoms Of Nerve Exhaustion?
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The Best Color To Paint Your House For Faster Sale
If Your Pharmacist Goofs, You Could Be Dead.
How To Protect Yourself–Takes Just 3 Seconds
7 Fast Ways To Stop A Headache…Without Drugs
Pierced By 301 Nails….Retains Full Air Pressure
Why Some People Almost Always Make Money In The Stock Market
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Take These 10 Defensive Measures, And You’ll Save Way More Than $600
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The Most Common Tax Mistake (You’re Probably Making It Now)
Discover The Fortune That Lies Hidden In Your Salary
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And 3 That Don’t
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Don’t Go Into Business Until You Memorize Them
Do You Do Any Of These Ten Embarrassing Things?
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Hands That Look Lovelier In 24 Hours — Or Your Money Back
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The Crimes We Commit Against Our Stomachs
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If You Were Given $200,000 To Spend, Isn’t This The Kind Of ___________ You Would Build?
Last Friday…Was I Scared! My Boss Almost Fired Me!
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Where You Can Go In A Good Used Car
Check The Kind Of Body You Want
Doctors: Put An Easy $341,450 In Your Pocket Every 12 Months… Without Doing Anything More Than You’re Doing Right Now
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The Big Hairy Secret That Big-Name Brokerage Houses Don’t Want You To Know About Their Mutual Fund Selection Process (Hint: They Don’t Have A Process)
76 Reasons Why It Would Have Paid You To Answer Our Ad A Few Months Ago
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Are You Ever Tongue-Tied At A Party?
How A New Discovery Made A Plain Girl Beautiful
A Building Flaw That Can Cost You $10,000 In Resale Value If You Buy From The Wrong Builder.
You Can Laugh At Money Worries — If You Follow This Simple Plan
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Here’s A Quick Way To Break Up A Cold
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If You’re Renting A Home Or Apartment With A Payment As Little As $550, You Can Qualify For A Brand New Home In Just 6 To 18 Months
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How Much Is “Worker Tension” Costing Your Company?
Who Ever Heard Of A Woman Losing Weight — And Enjoying 3 Delicious Meals At The Same Time?
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How to Survive An IRS Audit If You’ve Been A Sloppy Record-Keeper
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A Wonderful Two Years’ Trip At Full Pay —
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Right And Wrong Farming Methods —
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Enjoy!
17 Website Design Mistakes That Kill Your Sales - Part one
April 28, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
By Ben Hart
I have assembled here a checklist of 17 mistakes to avoid when designing your website if your primary goal is to make money with your website.
Mistake #1 - Opening your website with a Flash page
Opening a website with Flash (a mini-movie) can be very cool looking. Website designers and graphic artists love them because they are so pretty and showcase their technical skill. But Internet surfers can’t stand them because they are searching for information.
A Flash page (which often takes a long time to load) stands between the surfer and the key information she’s looking for — also between your reader and your sales pitch.
When people type keywords into a search engine, they are looking for information. No one types “only show me sites with Flash page introductions.” In fact, if a searcher gets to your site and is greeted with an elaborate Flash presentation, half your visitors will leave your site before they ever get to your sales presentation. Search engines also hate Flash pages. Search engines are interested in content and in delivering information to searchers.
A Flash page is a big stop sign to both your readers and to search engines.
Mistake #2 - Requiring readers to click a link rather than scroll to finish reading the information or sales presentation.
The award-winning websites want all information on a page to fit on your screen because it looks neater and tighter — more award winning. But it’s easier for readers to scroll than to click a link.
Scrolling allows readers to hold their finger on a button and scan your headlines and subheads. If something grabs their interest, they can read (without clicking). Clicking and waiting for another page to load takes time. It’s annoying to a reader. It’s a stopper — kind of like intermission at a long movie or play. If the movie isn’t much good, the Intermission is often when I leave, for good.
The average time a surfer spends on a Website is about six seconds. Don’t waste time by making your reader click and wait to read. Put the entire article, your entire presentation on one page, even if your reader must scroll and scroll and scroll to read everything on the page.
Mistake #3 - Too many graphics, not enough attention to copy
Copy sells. Pictures and graphics are supporting exhibits for the copy. The award-winning websites are all graphics-heavy — and beautiful to look at.
Copy sells because copy is needed to provide your readers reasons and compelling arguments for why your readers should buy and buy now. And copy allows you to start building a relationship with your reader, essential for having any chance of closing a sale. The Bible has no pictures, no photos — just lots of text. And it’s the bestselling book of all time.
People search the internet for information (text), not graphics or pretty layouts. No one types “beautiful site” as a modifier to keywords describing their topic of interest. Plus, search engines can’t read graphics and so can’t index graphics. And graphics take time to load.
What you want for you site is a nice, clean professional layout that’s almost all text.
Mistake #4 - Lack of focus
So often I get to a website and can’t quite figure out what the website is selling or what I’m being asked to do. Websites should be dedicated to selling one thing or one service, or asking your reader to take one and only one action (even if the only action is to read the article).
If you sell many different products and services, you should have many different Websites dedicated to each product and service you sell. The reason is, when people search the internet with their keywords, they are looking for one and only one thing. They will buy from the website that is selling that one and only one thing — because it appears to visitors that this is your area of specialty.
If you have a plumbing problem, you want a plumber to fix it — not a jack of all trades handyman. If you have cancer, you want to see a cancer specialist, not a general practitioner. So if you fix roofs and pave driveways, have two websites, one dedicated to fixing roofs, the other paving driveways. Narrow has always been the gate to paradise in direct marketing. This is even truer in the age of the Internet, where people are looking for your service or product with highly focused keyword searches.
Mistake #5 - “Welcome to My Home Page”
This is a little like starting your sales letter with “Welcome to My Letter” or the book you are writing to “Welcome to My Book.”
I see “Welcome to My Home Page” all over the Internet. I guess these people think this sounds warm and friendly — like “Welcome to My Home.” Don’t do this.
Your home page should feature your main sales presentation. It should launch right in with an attention-getting headline. It should look exactly like a sales letter you might get in your mailbox — except, instead of an order form and reply envelope, you’ll have links or buttons that say “Click Here to Order” that will take readers right to the credit card form.
When the average surfer spends 6 seconds on a Web page, you don’t want to waste time with pleasantries. Launch right it to the performance — the sales pitch.
Mistake #6 - No attention-getting headlines or subheads.
Web surfers are scanners. A headline is like hand that taps your scanner on the shoulder and says “look here.” Headlines and subheads tell your scanners what all this text is about. And it’s good for your headlines to say something unusual — if possible “human interest.” Here’s a pretty good one: “How My 10-Year-Old Daughter Earned $750 Last Week with Her New Online Business.” Free offers make good headlines, i.e.: “Here’s Your Free . . .”
Headlines are what suck your readers into your copy. If your headlines are fascinating, your readers won’t mind reading a lot of small print to get the details.
Mistake #7 - Boring Writing
You can’t sell by boring your reader. Your headline is designed to get your scanner reading. But if your first sentence is boring, your reader will go on to the next site. The easiest next step for a reader to take is always to stop reading and go onto something else that’s more interesting. Each sentence must be so interesting that your reader reads the next sentence. Stephen King is a master of this.
He writes 800 page books packed with tiny print. But the stories are so interesting that people cannot get enough. They can’t wait for his next book to come out. What makes for good writing is the story you tell and the facts and details you include. There are no boring subjects, just boring writers. The great salesmen are great storytellers. Everyone wants to listen because they always have interesting things to say. Interesting writing makes for great salesmanship.
Mistake #8 - Failing to build copy around the keywords and phrases your customers and prospects are typing into search engines.
The search engines want to make sure your website is in line with the keywords you’ve selected to include in your Meta Tags and with the keywords people are typing into search engines. What makes a search engine valuable is that it does a good job of taking searchers to websites that are exactly in line with their keyword searches. You want your site high on the list of search results listed for the keywords you’re using to bring people to your site.
