The Biggest Secret To Internet Selling Isn’t Really All That Secret

If you are like so many people who are new to internet marketing you probably are pulling your hair out wondering what the secret to internet selling is. Your site is up, you’re getting traffic from the PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign you started but you’re simply not making enough sales to support the effort.

The truth is the very thing that makes the internet such an ideal home based business opportunity is the same thing that makes selling on the internet so difficult. The internet is this huge global market that reaches nearly a billion people each month and it requires a relatively low financial threshold to start up an online business. That’s actually a pretty attractive situation right?

The problem is millions of other people find it attractive as well. There is monstrous competition regardless of what niche you happen to be in. The fact of the matter is there are so many choices that you really have to be able to differentiate yourself in order to keep a visitor on your site for more than 5 seconds much less get a sale.

So how do you do that? How does this internet selling work?

Well the best long term strategy is not unlike any brick and mortar store might use. You build relationships with your visitor. You treat them as customers, not just anonymous clicks on your site and the best way to do that is to give them something of value just for visiting.

Some studies suggest that it takes 5 to 7 visits to a site before a customer actually buys. How do you get them to visit that many times? Once again, give them something of value. Imagine for a moment that you had a site that specialized in pet supplies for dogs. Odds are every item you carry and advertise on your site is also carried on other sites and maybe at a lower price point. But what if your marketing effort stressed a free report on “How to Get Rid of Your Dog’s Fleas Naturally” or “How to Treat Kennel Cough”.

By focusing on providing free information of value, rather than trying to sell dog supplies, you start the process of developing a relationship. When the visitor arrives looking for their free report, you ask them to fill in their first name and a valid email address so you are assured you have permission to email them. They do this and that automatically sends them a welcome email and a link to the report for download.

Now you have the start of a list and this list is where you make your sales.

Think about it. How much does it take for you to write a five or six page report, save as a PDF and put it on a page for download? Get a good auto-responder service and now you can have that new visitor scheduled to automatically receive 5 to 7 emails, each with solid information on pets, and each pitching a product of yours. The trick to effective internet selling is in the lists.

And don’t be surprised to get emails back from the people on the list. They may have general comments or thank you for sharing the info or have a question about one of your products. Take care to answer these in a timely fashion because customer service is another way to differentiate you on the web.

And once these visitors buy their first dog supply item, where do you think they are going to go first when they want another? They are going to go to the site that built credibility by providing value ahead of the sales pitch. And that is the secret of internet selling today.