Selling online can be a bit tricky. Many people are lured to the web by the promise of reaching huge numbers of people with little to no marketing budget. In the fifteen years I've been marketing products and services on the web and helping other market theirs as well I've learned it all comes down to these 7 things you must have to sell online.
1. A website
This seems basic enough but a lot of people are opting to try and run businesses from Facebook pages or Twitter accounts these days. Those types of services can be helpful marketing tools and give you new ways to engage with your audience but if they're the only place you have online it won't look legitimate to potential customers.
Hiring a web designer is not a solution. They take too long to get things done, they're too expensive, don't understand the needs of your business, and are often unreliable. The best thing you can do is sign up to build your own website at WebStarts.com. I built the service to solve this very problem.
2. Targeted web traffic
Some people have been mislead to think by putting a website online people are going to magically find them and begin buying their products. This couldn't be further from the truth. When you first put a website online nobody is going to find it without proper promotion. T
The best way to get traffic online is to rank well on Google. Getting on the first page of Google is difficult and highly competitive. Fortunately there are some things you can do to increase your chances. WebStarts comes with the tools you need to get listed and begin moving up the rankings right away. We even provide $75 of free advertising with Google Adwords.
3. A lead form
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make all the time is paying for advertising and then failing to capture contact information from the people who came to their website. To capture contact information you have to have a form on your landing page. However don't assume people will just hand over their contact information. Be prepared to give people a big incentive to fill out that lead form.
Try to create a high perception of value for the thing you're giving them in exchange for their contact information. A discount coupon, free trial, or free product are just a few ideas I've seen work over the years. Remember the more information you ask for on your form the less likely someone is to fill it out. Try to keep in short and sweet, only asking for the minimum you need to follow up. Maybe that's just a name, phone number, and email address.
4. A way to follow up
Following up with each person who visits your website is key. There are tens of millions of websites on the internet. Chances are they're not going to remember visiting yours unless you remind them. If you're gathering phone numbers be sure to call your prospects early and often. When you call them try to present value. Maybe you can give them some free advice or invite them to an event. Whatever the case don't make them regret giving you their phone number.
The best way to follow up is email. You can send emails for very little money and they're not as intrusive as a phone call. The same rules apply however. Be sure to present value when you contact people through email. You don't want people marking your emails as spam. Spam filters are too good these days. Your emails will never get delivered if even a few people accuse you of spamming their inbox.
5. A way to take money
Taking money is where the rubber meets the road in business. When you're transacting online that means accepting credit cards. At WebStarts we've partnered with a company called WePay to let you instantly begin accepting credit cards from your website. The rates are highly competitive and straight forward. Traditional merchant accounts require a tedious underwriting process and often times take days to improve. In addition they can have hidden fees.
Paypal makes a nice secondary way to take money but most people will not feel comfortable doing an online transaction with a company that only takes Paypal. You can sign up to accept credit card payments in WebStarts by clicking on the Apps tab in the editor view and choosing sell products from the drop down menu.
6. A way to deliver your product
Whether you're selling digital or physical products you'll have to have a way to get those into your customers hands. This means you'll need a good customer management system that allows you to track orders and inform customers when their orders have shipped.
7. A way to track your results.
Last but not least is a way to track your results. You have to know which ad dollars are paying off and which are going to waste. You have to know which marketing statements are increasing your conversion rates and which are scaring your customers away. At WebStarts we provide a complete web statistics package that can help you track every aspect of your online business.