Archive for marketing

Persuading Your Site Visitors Takes Some Detective Work

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010


By Karon Thackston © 2010, All Rights Reserved

While watching a TV show the other day, one scene in particular caught my attention. In this police drama, the detectives were trying to figure out where their suspect would have gone after escaping custody. “If we’re going to catch this guy, we’ve got to know who we’re dealing with. Has anybody built a profile yet?” “What are you waiting for? Get on it!”

The same applies to writing copy. In order to persuade your site visitors into taking the action you want them to take, you have to know who you’re communicating with. Simply putting fingers to keyboard and writing what you want them to read doesn’t work nine times out of 10. Yet, surprisingly, most people never fully discover who their target audience consists of making it all the more difficult to speak to them in their language.

Don’t Write ABOUT You. Write TO Your Site Visitors.

The biggest mistake most people make when writing copy is to “we” all over themselves. “We” do this and “our” products do that. “We” offer those and it’s all about “us.” I will never understand why site owners ignore their visitors that way. Would you do that if a prospective customer walked into your office and stood in front of you? Certainly not!

Your site visitors have all the money so you should cater your site to them. A website, after all, is not an ego-fest. It is a platform for engaging and persuading your customers and showing them how you’re capable of solving their problems.

Making the Target Audience Discovery

What steps do you take to unlock the mysteries of your target customers and what they want you to do for them? Here are three easy ideas for finding out more about the people you’re communicating with through your website.

1. Ask

Yes, it’s really that simple. Using Survey Monkey or one of the many other free online survey tools, create a short questionnaire. Do you remember all those questions that have kept you up at night? Now’s the time to get some answers. When you create your survey, use multiple choice questions so visitors can complete the task quickly, but always leave a field for them to type in their own answers or comments as well.

2. Lurk

Visit forums where your customers might hang out. You don’t necessarily have to join; just lurk. You’ll be amazed at the load of marketing intelligence you can discover simply by visiting the same sights your prospects do.

3. Read

Association magazines. Industry newspapers. Your competitors’ websites. All these are excellent outlets for gathering information about your target audience. In particular, letters to the Editor, complaints and testimonials are chock full of tidbits that give you insight into who your customers are and what they really want.

Never assume you understand your target audience. That’s taking a huge risk. Make the time to do the research and be certain you comprehend their wants and needs as well as what type of copy they respond best to. When you do, you’ll find it easier to write copy that converts better than you ever thought possible.

Karon Thackston is author of the Step-by-Step Copywriting Course, (5th edition). When you’re ready to write professional-quality copy that speaks to your target customers while also boosting your search rankings, click over to http://www.CopywritingCourse.com . Also subscribe to Karon’s copywriting blog at http://www.MarketingWords.com/blog.

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How to Get UNSTUCK

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

A little while ago I sent an email to my list asking for questions and struggles being faced regarding making money on the internet.

A few people replied to me that they are stuck.

I hear ya.

I get stuck too. Read More→

Angela, What Do You Do?

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Business Woman Working at Home on CouchLately I am getting the question “Angela, What do you do?” on a fairly regular basis. So, I thought I should write a post on it.

The straight to the point, short version of what I do:
I help small business owners make money online.

How do I do that?

Well, I wrote a post back a few months ago called ‘How I Make Money Online’ and it does Read More→

When you are in business for yourself, especially one that is conducted online, you’ll find there are a number of different things for you to learn about that can save you time and make you money. Outsourcing is by far one of the more exciting things to discover and put to use.

All too common is the business owner who feels they have to do everything themselves in order for things to go smoothly in their online venture. This couldn’t be farther from the truth! In case you’re curious about why so many online business owners are singing the praises of outsourcing, keep reading to see just five of the many benefits it can obtain.

More Value for Your Time
When you own an online business, one of the most important things to remember is how much your time is really worth. When you think about the dull or repetitive tasks that you are doing, you’ll find this work is not worth your high per hour price tag! When you outsource, you’ll pay someone else to take care of those responsibilities while you give attention to the more important, Read More→

There is no new Marketer’s Mojo Talk Radio this week because the Marketer’s Mojo Virtual Conference is running all week. We’ll be back next week with Leslie Truex, Author of the Work at Home Success Bible.

Yesterday was Day 1 of the Marketer’s Mojo Virtual Conference and it went off wonderfully.

The speakers were as follows:

  • Angela Wills (me), Topic – Marketing Your Service Business Without Sacrificing Your Sanity
  • Shawna Lee Coronado, Topic – I Love What I Do – How Creative Branding and Marketing Saved My Business During A Recession and Can Save Your Business Too!
  • Sandy Forster, Topic – From Welfare to Millionaire: How a struggling single mom took her passion and turned it into a successful internet business – and YOU can too!
  • Donna Kozik, Topic – Become a Published Author, 5 Fast and Easy Steps
  • Crissy Herron, Topic – Connecting With Your Audience

There were some common themes running through all the sessions and I’d like to recap some of the fantastic tidbits I took away. I know each person who listens to the calls will take away other information as it relates to their current situation because all speakers had so much great info to share.

Here are a couple of my real take-aways from yesterday:

1. Be a Big Fish in a Little Pond

One thing that’s really important in marketing your business online is that you stand out from the crowd.

The easiest way to do that?

Get out of the crowd!

It makes so much sense to stop marketing your business alongside of so many others, in places where your voice is small, and start going to places where your message is new, fresh, and unheard.

Examples of this:

- Offline – Many offline businesses have no idea how to make money on the internet. The idea is amazing to them yet they haven’t had many people offering them information on the topic. Be the person to bring the message to this market and you’ll stand out.

Crissy Herron had some great examples of how to get offline and attend events, get featured in magazines, approach local groups that would be interested and more.

- Stop Preaching to the Choir – Shawna Lee Coronado talked about getting creative in your marketing and start really thinking outside of the box with WHO you market to. Instead of going to people who’ve heard your message over and over again, find people who need your message but haven’t heard it yet.

2. Write Your Book

Both Donna Kozik and Sandy Forster talked about the benefits of writing a book and how it immediately gives you authority and gives you an advantage over your competition.

I’ve wanted to write a book for quite some time now but have had no idea how to get started. I have so much information I’d love to share in a book but felt like it was overwhelming just trying to think of what to include!

Well, Donna made it really easy with her suggestion to go ‘an inch wide and a mile deep’ with your book topic. I realized I don’t HAVE to share everything I know in just one book and in fact I just SHOULDN’T do that or I’ll also overwhem my readers!

The advantages of writing a book seem almost endless:

  • Establishes you as an expert instantly
  • Gets you more speaking engagements
  • Gets you more media attention
  • Is a fantastic marketing tool
  • Allows your readers to get to know you

So, based on this first day of calls you can expect a book from me sometime this year! There – now I’ve got accountability right here on this blog.

There was so much to learn from all these speakers I definitely need to listen again so I’ll be loading all the mp3s into my ipod after the seminar is over!

Today we have six great speakers and I’m really looking forward to it.

Blogging For Business: How to Blog

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Yesterday was day 1 of the 5-day release of a report on Technorati called the State of the Blogosphere Report.

This is year number five for the report and what’s different this year is that not only is Technorati reporting on the number but they also surveyed 1.2 million bloggers, asking all kinds of questions about blogging and how it affects their lives, business and time.

The report is free to read and will be released bit by bit over the next five days.

One conclusion that is stated in the report is that blogging is now mainstream and part of our daily lives. Just a few years I remember myself I didn’t even really know or understand what a blog was – how quickly do things change in the internet marketing industry!

From the report:

What is a Blog? The Lines Continue To Blur

Wikipedia defines blogs as:

  • A Blog (a contraction of the term “Web log”) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
  • The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs. Since all blogs are on the Internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked. Discussions “in the Blogosphere” have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.

Here’s a REALLY interesting statistic:

133 million blogs registered with Technorati

7.5 million posted in last 120 days

1.5 million posted in last 7 days

900 thousand posted in last 24 hours

Even though there are millions and millions of blogs out there, less than one million are posting daily according to these results.

The report also talks about how profitable blogging is for those surveyed, how blogs are being used for product reviews, the demographics of bloggers themselves and also includes interesting quotes from some high profile bloggers. Check out day one here.

Angela Wills
Angela Wills

p.s.

Free Download – Beginner’s Guide to Blogging


What It Is:
Weekly email tips on how to make money from your blog, build a loyal readership and write content that compells! Plus a free bonus Beginner’s Guide to Blogging report.

Who It’s For:
Anyone new to blogging.

What It Covers:
- What Is a Blog?
- What Types of Blogs Are There?
- What Do You Blog About?
- How Do You Make Money With Blogs?
- How Do You Start Blogging?

How To Get It:
Enter your name and email below to get instant access!

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