Let's face it ... We've all found ourselves in the similar position of wondering what we could do to make our website more successful and capitalize on the tremendous opportunities we know exist online. If you happen to be over the age of 35 this "technology stuff" might have you feeling completely overwhelmed and wondering how you will ever "get it" enough to make money online.
Well I can tell you succeeding on the web is much easier than you would expect. This article will deliver on the promise made in the title and will teach you the six steps necessary to be successful online. Even better than delivering on the promise ... I guarantee you it is much easier and more logical than you've ever believed. So, for all you 35+ geezers out there (me included), just follow the formula, take action, Seydel harmonica and you will be amazed at the results.
Step One: Define your Internet Initiative
I am quite sure you've all heard the saying, "If you don't know where you are going, you'll never get there." Well that applies to your online business as well. If you don't take the time to clearly map out what it is you'd like to achieve online, you will severely diminish your chances of achieving any type of success online.
You need to decide EXACTLY what it is you are looking to accomplish online. Whether your objective is to generate a certain dollar amount in sales, generate more new leads, or to clearly communicate a message to your visitors. Whatever your objective is, you need to write it down and use it as a guide to everything you do online. When you are putting together your plan ask yourself at each step in the process, "Is this going to help me achieve my goal of (insert initiative here)?"
Step Two: Get to know your Buyers
If you don't fully know and understand what is important to your "Buyers" your chances of succeeding online are going to be very low. The old days of one way communication and a simple sales process are over. The Internet has made doing business much more complicated and shifted the position of strength away from the seller and moved it to the buyer.
Just take a second to review the difference. In the old days if you went shopping at your local department store and were looking for something very specific. If you were looking around for several minutes and simply couldn't locate the item you might look around for someone to help you. If you didn't find someone right away you would search harder before giving up and leaving. You might have spent as much as an hour looking around before you decided to move onto the next store.
Let's look at how things are now. You go to Google and type in the name of that same item. You are presented thousands of options as to where you can purchase that item in less than a second. If you happen to click the top listing and find yourself NOT FINDING the exact item within the first 3-4 seconds, you click the back button and are off to the next store.
This can be extremely frightening if you let it. IT doesn't have to. Although the Internet brings complication to the picture, it also brings many different opportunities to understand what is of the highest importance to your potential "buyers." Don't be scared ... Just LISTEN to what is important to your "buyers" and make sure you are taking action to provide it to them!
Step Three: Hang out where your buyers do and PAY ATTENTION
Your "buyers" have a plethora of places to communicate with other like-minded people. There are forums, blogs, social media sites, industry publications, and a number of other places where your buyers are asking questions in their own words. They are clearly stating what is important to them in making their buying decision. The majority of these places are open to everyone. The anonymity of the Internet allows you to go hang out in these places and monitor the conversations these "buyers" are having. There couldn't be a better opportunity to get an extremely clear picture of what you need to provide to create a happy customer base, than to listen to their words.
Step Four: Learn from your competition by spying on them
Similar to how the Internet provides you the ability to anonymously review what your "buyers" are discussing, you also have the opportunity to conduct anonymous espionage on your competitors. I know this sounds sneaky, unethical, and possibly even dirty. Well, it isn't!
Everything that happens online is tracked and the amount of data which is stored is incredible. There are tools available which can help you uncover the specific strategies your competitors have implemented and in some cases you can tell how successful these strategies are. I have provided links to some of these tools below in the resource box so you can TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION following this article and begin to keep a close eye on what your competition is doing. You can learn from their mistakes and possibly use this intelligence to find a way of reaching your "buyers" better.
Step Five: Develop and follow a clear plan
If you've ever studied successful companies and worked to identify the most important ingredient in their success, I am sure you've found they all took the time to create a business plan. If you've found that this common element is something they all have, I am sure you realize it is not very smart to expect your website will be successful by simply turning it live.
If you set a clear objective for your website, understand what is most important to your potential "buyers," hang out where your "buyers" hang out so you can understand the language they speak, and take the time to understand how your competition is catering to the wants and needs of the customers you are competing for ... You have all the information necessary to create a successful strategy.
This step in the process is FAR TOO IMPORTANT to not spend time on. Treat your online strategy as though you are writing a story that leads to the perfect ending. If you follow every step of the story, you will absolutely achieve this perfect ending. Don't make the mistake of rushing through and possibly skipping an important ingredient.
Step Six: Test, modify, and test some more
Back in the days before the Internet companies incurred a large expense in creating advertisements, company collateral or even product packages. Once these pieces were created, the either needed to be used or if the message didn't work, they were thrown away and there was a further investment that needed to happen to get the message re-crafted.
Thank God for the Internet! You now have the ability to create a message and gather data which will prove that message as successful or not within days or, in some cases, hours. Additionally, the expense required to craft and post a new message is extremely low and in some cases non-existent. Now that you know this, it is important to monitor the results incurred by your messages and if you find they aren't working well, or as well as you'd like, you can change it quickly and efficiently.
You now have the six steps required to GUARANTEE your success online.
Pete Brand
Co-Founder Mindscape at Hanon McKendry http://www.mindscape-hm.com
Pete Brand is the creator of the Mindshare Process which, if followed, can guarantee online success. This process can help your company move from the point you realize you need a site, through each step in the process and help you create a website which will lead your customers to become raving fans of your company, product, or service.
Come download your free copy of the Mindshare Guide to Online Marketing
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