Internet Marketing Q&A - Issue 10

It’s time to answer another set of questions from my readers. You’re in that group, so you get the benefit of the great questions your peers ask me.

A lot of people wonder why I do this. There are really three big reasons…

First, I care about whether you succeed or not. Internet marketing really isn’t rocket science…once you know what you’re doing. Before you “get it”, though, it helps a ton to have somebody actually answer real questions that real people ask along the way.

Second, even after you’re an “expert”, it’s great to get new ideas from other people. You never know when an answer to a question will press just right button in your brain…and boost your profits.

Third, I get literally thousands of emails every week, and it’s impossible to answer them all. So I set up this system to help me manage email better, while still giving you the information you need.

So read on, and I hope you enjoy the learning.

————- CURRENT ISSUE ————-

Lots of people think doing business on the Internet is very different from doing business “offline”. Not really. They both boil down to one thing: selling. In the end, what really counts is getting prospects to become customers by buying your product.

In this issue, I’ll answer some questions about how to sell.

1) I’ve got my product ready to go, but nobody knows who I am. How can I convince people to buy when I’m not famous? (asked by Louisa Duren)

ANSWER: This is easier to do than people think.

Don’t get me wrong…having some name recognition DOES help you sell. Some people buy my products, for example, simply because they know who I am, and they were told that my last product was good. And that’s the key for new sellers like you.

People buy from sellers they know. Since you’re new, most people don’t know you. That means you’ve got to put some effort into making them feel like they do. Your main tool is social proof.

You’ve probably seen testimonials on sales page. That’s a kind of social proof. Case studies are another. Having people review your products in marketing forums is another.

If you have social proof, selling is a lot easier. But how can you get it? Here’s an easy strategy.

You can give away some copies of your product for free and ask for reviews.

This is exactly what it sounds like. You give people a free copy, and you ask them to give you feedback. When you get some positive feedback, you ask that person if you can use what they said as a testimonial on your sales page.

You’re giving up the profit you’d make on a few sales, but the benefit you get can be huge. The testimonials you get from reviewers can make your sales copy sound great.

You don’t have to be famous to do this either. For example, you can go to your favorite marketing.

“Hi everyone, I’d like to give 10 people a free copy of my new product. All I ask is that you give me honest feedback about it. If you like it, I may ask to use your comments as a testimonial on my sales page. So send me a private message if you’re interested, and the first 10 people are in!”

Even if nobody knows who you are, most people like the idea of getting something for free. That just might get you the social proof you need to convince some prospects to become buyers.

2) How can I use scarcity to sell more of my product without using phony scare tactics, like “the product might disappear at any time”? (asked by Max Goquen)

ANSWER: Using phony scare tactics is almost always a bad idea. Honesty is a better policy.

The most effective way to do this is to come up with a scarcity tactic that’s honest and sounds reasonable. That creates genuine urgency to get some prospects off the fence they’re sitting on.

What you want to do is have a good reason behind the scarcity claim you’re making. Anybody can scream, “Quantities are limited!” You need to do more than that.

For example, one way to create scarcity is to limit the number of copies of the product you sell. But why are you limiting it? That’s where you need a good reason so your claim doesn’t sound like hype. You might say something like this.

“I struck a deal with a contributor to this that I would sell only 125 copies, so when they’re gone, they’re gone. Don’t wait and miss out on this. When the doors close, I can’t make exceptions.”

Assuming you actually did strike a deal with a contributor like that, you’ve got a great scarcity claim to make.

The point is, you don’t want to whip prospects into a buying frenzy based on a false sense of urgency. If you develop a reputation for doing that, your scarcity claims will lose their effectiveness. You’ll also get a reputation as somebody who screams about scarcity when it’s really not scarce.

And by the way, when you make a scarcity claim, stick to it! If you say you’ll take down the sales page by next Tuesday, don’t leave it up until Wednesday. That will ruin your reputation fast.

3) Sales pages are full of crazy “value” claims. How can I value what I sell without just making up numbers? (asked by Huge Blakely)

ANSWER: Making up numbers isn’t always bad, but making up numbers that don’t make any sense can kill you.

It’s sort of like scarcity claims. You want to make claims that are reasonable, preferably backed up by some facts. If you do, your claims will come across as genuine…because they probably are.

For example, you can slap any old price claim on an ebook you sell, but does it make sense?

If you’re selling an ebook about how to write affiliate promotion emails, you can say it’s worth $997, but that probably won’t sound reasonable to people. It might actually be worth that, but it’s a tough case to make.

So how do you determine what a reasonable value is? There aren’t any rules like “ebooks aren’t ever worth more than $37″, but here are some suggestions for valuing things:

* The more material you offer, the higher the value. An ebook that’s only 15 pages long probably has a lower value than one that’s 100 pages.

* If you’ve sold something before, the previous sale price is a supportable starting point for value. That video course you sold for $97 is probably worth it, assuming some people bought.

* Audio and video tend to be perceived as more valuable. You can make a case for a higher value for videos than you can for an ebook, at least most of the time.

* If the topic is new and hot, the perceived value is higher, so you can place a higher value on it. An ebook about how to build a list probably should have a lower value than an ebook about how to profit from YouTube, for example.

Like I said, there aren’t really any rules about assigning values to things. What really counts is that you can back up your value claims, and that they seem reasonable.

And one last point…

Make sure the total value of what you offer isn’t so crazy high that people question what your product is worth, based on what you’re actually charging.

For example, let’s say you offer a product with multiple components, and the value adds up to something like $8,917.

That’s great, but if you’re only charging $37 for the product, people might wonder if your product is junk. They might say, “It can’t really be worth that if he’s only selling it for $37.”

It’s probably smarter to knock your value claim down a bit to make your price look good, but not too cheap.

4) How long should my sales copy be to convince people to buy? (asked by Alana Mertz)

ANSWER: This is a very common question, and there’s a very easy answer…

You copy should be as long as it needs to be, and no longer. That’s all there is to it.

Now, most of the time, longer copy gives you more space to make a solid case for your product. That can be particularly important for a product with a high price point (you have to overcome more potential price resistance).

But don’t assume that longer copy will sell better. Sometimes shorter copy does a superior job, because you’re not making people read a lot before they decide.

This is a place where testing is a must. Write copy that seems long enough to make your case, then test it to see if making it longer or shorter sells better. That’s the only way to know for sure.

———-

All right, that wraps it up for this time.

If you like getting answers to questions like this, ask your own question! You can submit your question by filling out the simple form at:

http://www.michaelrasmussen.com/questions/

Every couple weeks or so, I’ll go through the questions and pick out 5-6 to answer in an email to people on my lists.

Your questions are what will make this email helpful, so please keep them coming. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer your question, but if the same question gets asked several times, I’ll try to answer that one. So don’t think, “Somebody’s probably asked that already.” Maybe so, but it’s worth asking anyway.

All the best,

Michael Rasmussen
CEO, BulletProof Marketing, Inc.

P.S. If you know any Internet marketers who would enjoy this article, just send them an email with this link:
http://www.michaelrasmussen.com/internet-marketing-qa-issue-9

About the Author

Michael Rasmussen is a successful Internet Marketing Consultant and author of many top-selling eBooks. Michael has been marketing online since the early days and he knows what it takes to make money and succeed online. Stop by his Web site and subscribe to his Free monthly newsletter full strategies and techniques for successful web site promotions that can help YOU! Go to http://www.MichaelRasmussen.com

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