Your 5-Step Cycle for Endless Internet Sales! Part 1

This week I’m attending the Glazer-Kennedy Information Marketing Summit in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland. While I’ll be in sessions learning more about the latest in marketing, I’ll post a two-part article by Ali Brown on how to boost your sales using a standardized process. Part one covers the first two steps. Part two will cover the last three steps. So check back for the second installment.

Your 5-Step Cycle for Endless Internet Sales! Part 1
by Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen”
Many people seem to think that selling on the Internet is a complete mystery. Funny how we see the Net as its own entity instead of just another marketing channel.

When I meet people and they say they’re going to start an “Internet business”, I get worried. It’s as if that’s all they need to know — not what they’re selling or who their customers are. (I mean, when faxes first came out, did you hear people saying they were just starting a “fax business”? Not really.)

The Internet is just another type of media that can sell for your business, and it follows a sales cycle like any other. It’s not magic … it’s a process.

But once you WORK that process, it CAN work like magic!

So let’s look at the five basic parts of the Internet sales cycle:

1. Collect Leads
Who are you looking for? Your answer should match your ideal client or customer. (Please don’t say that’s “everybody”!) Do you market to women? Men? What ages? What professions? Certain areas of the country or world? What publications do they read? What interests do they have?

The answers to these questions will help you determine where and how you can find these folks. There are tons of ways to get leads online: search engines, pay-per-click ads, banner ads, articles, blogs, directories, and other types of advertising and promotions.

2. Get Them in Your Funnel
Once you’ve found who you’re looking for, you need to get them in your “sales funnel”. On the Internet, that means get them on your list. The best way to make this easy is to offer a free ezine or e-course.

On your website, getting visitors on your list should be your #1 objective! Why? Up to 99% of your first-time visitors will not buy from you or even contact you. They’ll take a quick look and then click away, and you’ve lost them forever. These people are already valuable prospects — they took the time to find your site and are interested in the subject matter or products you deal with. Does your home page or landing page give the visitor a bazillion choices? If so, ditch the clutter and give them a compelling invitation to sign up for your ezine or e-course.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publishes the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 20,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com