If you understand the difference between a travel brochure and a tour guide, you will have no trouble selling online.
One gets a “so-so” mediocre result; the other engages the site visitor making them a fan and a friend.
One lies among hundreds of others; the other creates an unforgettable experience.
Nevertheless, let me give you the three biggest “rookie” mistakes webmasters make in trying to sell a product or service online and, hopefully, guide you to a solution. Here they are:
- They are fishing in an empty pond.
- They do not know how to write like an 8th grader.
- They don’t know how to tell a story that communicates less pain and more pleasure.
Fishing in an empty pond. (NOTE: If any of you repeat this story, I’ll deny it till my death.) Back in the late 70?s when I lived in St. Louis, I used to go to a place called “Bush’s Wildlife” to fish. This place was about 5,000 gazillion acres with about 64 ponds stocked with catfish and other such species. Best of all, it was FREE. I did not like fighting the crowds, therefore, a fishing friend and I found a secluded pond all to ourselves. In the next 4 hours, I got the best sales lesson of my life. Toward the end of the day with nothing to show for our efforts (other than sunburn from Hades and worm smelling fingers), a game and wildlife officer approached us asking what we were doing in the area. “Fishing,” I answered. Duh, you goofball, is what I thought. “You mean practicing,” the officer said with a big smile on his face. “This pond does not have any fish and has not been stocked in years. Didn’t you read the signs at the park entry?” I commented, “Sure, I knew that. We were just practicing our casting for later.”
That was the day I gave up fishing and took up selling. I am sure all the game and wildlife officers are still laughing to this day. Within four hours of practice fishing, I learned about FREE, crowded niches, using the right bait, and other miscellaneous stuff. However, all of it means squat if you are fishing in an empty pond.
Are you fishing in an empty pond?
If you sell cars that suck gasoline to the tune of six miles per gallon when gas hits $10 per gallon, and your market is not a bunch of rich people, you might be fishing in an empty pond. Read the signs.
If you are using the wrong bait, (i.e.: you are trying to market an e-book while your competitors are selling videos like crazy in your niche) you might as well be fishing in an empty pond. Read the signs.
If your pond is the size of a child’s pool in your backyard and you have 1,000 fishermen standing on the banks elbowing each other, you might as well be fishing in an empty pond. Read the signs.
I’ve already taken up too much of your time…
Next week, I will show you how communicating like an eighth grader in written form will blow the doors off any “get ‘em to click here” strategy you have ever used.
Or, you could get all 3 strategies plus my “sure fire checklist” right now by subscribing to “Webmaster Alert” right there on the top right side where it says “subscribe”.
Until we meet again,
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