Up Selling Your Products And Services For More Cash!
Many Internet businesses have sometimes overlooked the obvious profit strategies within their business. I know I have and only the other day was I reminded by Brendan Nichols to include up sells on my website before a customer finalises their order. If you want to increase your profits without having to look for new customers add this one strategy correctly and I can guarantee you that you will have more money in your bank at the end of the month.
I Don’t Know What Up Selling Is..
To define what up selling is, lets have a look at the definition from Wikipedia:
Up-selling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, but up-selling can also be simply exposing the customer to other options he or she may not have considered previously. Up-selling can imply selling something additional, or selling something that is more profitable or otherwise preferable for the seller instead of the original sale.
In the context of an Internet business we can apply up selling on your website just before a customer finalises an order or at any thank you page. It is quite simple to do and sometimes very easy to overlook and it provides the opportunity to increase your profits with minimal or almost no effort.
How To Use An Upsell In Your Business?
Let’s start with an example to understand where up selling can fit into your Internet business. I am sure you have heard of McDonalds? Next time you buy a burger from them pay attention to how the 15 year old asks you for an up sell. Here is what happens. You order a Big Mac, French Fries and a drink, and it gets processed, then the cashier asks you, “Would you like to upgrade your drink and French Fries to a large for an extra fifty cents?”. You don’t hesitate and answer yes, since it’s only an extra fifty cents and you get more of what you wanted. Bargain isn’t it? Well, McDonalds already had the sale and by adding one little thing into their marketing they immediately increase their profits. This is up selling at McDonalds.
How can we apply up selling to your Internet business and increase your profits? Try it on your order pages or thank you pages. For example, “Buy this product, and get one year free technical support. Check this box to get lifetime support for an additional $29.95.” This allows you the opportunity to make almost an extra $30 from each sale. It is very easy to add to your processes and can make a huge difference on your profits. It is even easier once it is automated which is made possible from an Internet business.
Another way to increase your profits with up selling is to include sales sheets with the packaging of your physical products. Include an offer for free bonuses, which will drive traffic back to your website to take up the offer. Once they are on your website you can offer them one-time offers or repeat the up sell process again on other items. See how easy it is to include this simple strategy?
It’s Easy Cash, Why Don’t More Internet Businesses Use It?
The reason is that most business owners are either not aware of this strategy or have put it off and chased after other opportunities to look for new customers. If you have a database of customers who are not currently purchasing from you at least once a year, then you have an excellent opportunity to up sell your products and services. Take action and don’t let procrastination overtake you. This one strategy can can be your most profitable marketing tool for your business.
On the flip side if you already have implemented this into your Internet business, I commend you! If you want to read other strategies available check out my series on Spreading The Word: Turbocharge Your Traffic.
Tyrone Shum
Up Selling For Profit
Backlinking Your Internet Business To Success
Recently, one of my readers commented and asked me to write an article about backlinks. Rather than just give you a definition of what backlinks are, I wanted to share with you how to use backlinks to promote your Internet business and how it will benefit you over the long-term. Additionally backlinking is another SEO strategy you can add to your list of activities and it does require consistent effort. If you can outsource this to someone, I would recommend it and you can focus on the dollar productive activities.
What Are Backlinks?
Wikipedia defines backlinks as:
“Backlinks are incoming links to a website or web page. In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, the number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page (though other measures, such as PageRank, are likely to be more important). Outside of SEO, the backlinks of a webpage may be of significant personal, cultural or semantic interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page.”
Simply it is a link from another website linking back to your website with a keyword.
How Does Backlinking Help Your Internet Business?
Backlinking and SEO go hand in hand when it comes to promoting your Internet business. The more backlinks you have to your website, the higher chances your website will be displayed on the first page of a search engine (such as Google). An important thing to note is how you go about getting quality backlinks. It is possible to get a lot of backlinks to your website, but if it is not relevant then your efforts are being wasted. Therefore, when getting a quality backlink to your website, make sure the word or phrase is relevant to the link. Let me give you an example, if you have a website based on nutrition and you write an article on women’s health, make sure that your linking keywords are “women’s health” and not nutrition. Google awards you for relevant phrases linked to relevant websites by ranking you higher.
Where Can I Find Out How Many Backlinks My Site Has?
All search engines offer a backlink look-up tool that you use to find out how many backlinks your website has. All you have to do is type in link:www.yourdomain.com into the search form. Just replace yourdomain with the URL of your website or webpage.
How Do You Get MORE Backlinks To Your Internet Business?
There are many ways to get more backlinks and it comes down to how much time and effort you are willing to put in to building them. I would allocate no more than an hour each day on these activities as it is a long-term process and will not happen immediately. These are just some of the methods I currently use build backlinks to Internet Business Path:
- Submitting your link/site to article and blog directories
- Do link exchanges with other sites and blogs
- Comment on blogs related to your topic or industry (Remember to contribute to the conversation and not just one line comments that will SPAM the blog)
- Sending a press release with your website link into publicity channels
- Post in forums (make sure to include your signature with a link to your website)
- Write guest articles or reviews for people and include your website link
- Build more websites and link them altogether
If you consistently apply all the methods above, you will build up a huge network of backlinks. Remember to contribute your thoughts and not to simply post a one line comment with a website link. You will not only build your reputation but also link to lots of new people online.
Tyrone Shum
Hunting for more backlinks
Why Your Internet Business Needs An Email List?
Over the Easter Long Weekend I spent time with family and had a very relaxing time pursuing my hobby. I also was in the mood to write, so I added another 12 email newsletters for the Dragonboat email list which has about 400 subscribers. I have set them to be sent out monthly using an automatic followup service, and each newsletter will provide my subscribers valuable information about Dragonboating techniques, nutrition, fitness and upcoming Dragonboat events happening across the world. So why have I told you this and what is so important about having an email list?
The Importance Of Having An Email List?
This list that I have built and maintained for over three years generates over $100,000 in revenue alone and I simply write one email a month to provide valuable information to my subscribers. Furthermore, this list is not huge compared to other lists I have built in the past where I have had thousands of subscribers. This least has about 400 subscribers and if you do the calculations, each subscriber spends on average around $250. I don’t tell you this to brag about my email list, but it should tell you how important it is to have and maintain an email list.
Many business seminars I have attended talks about the importance of having a list and how each person or client on your list is where money can be made. A coach and mentor I have learned business strategies from is Brendan Nichols, also known as “Australia’s laziest entrepreneur”. Brendan is an Australian entrepreneur and business coach who was trained by Robert Kiyosaki from Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I personally know Brendan and he is definitely the real deal who practises what he preaches. I highly admire Brendan for what he teaches turning difficult business principles into simple action steps for anyone to apply. This where I learned how to build a profitable email list.
Brendan taught me how to maximise profits from each client and to create a client priority list from my email subscribers.
“The principle of maximisation is to increase the amount of purchases from clients you already have.”
If you want to learn how to build a list please read Generating Leads where I show you some methods on how to capture leads onto an email database. Also a great case study to read is at Yaro Starak’s blog: Building An Email List
How Will A Targeted Email List Make A Difference To Your Internet Business?
Before you can maximise profits from each client your email list needs to have targeted customers or have customers who want your product or service. There is no point in having thousands of subscribers on a database who are not interested in what you have to offer, it is a of waste resources. Therefore your goal right from the beginning when asking people to subscribe to your list is to offer them something they want. In my case, people subscribe to my database to receive information about dragonboating and they receive a free eBook about dragonboat paddling techniques and equipment when they join my email list. Obviously not everyone will subscribe to this list unless they are involved in the sport or are looking to purchase dragonboat equipment.
When you create a targeted email list, it is becomes an excellent tool for building stronger relationships with your subscribers. I consider a person who opts-in to my email list a high quality prospect who will ultimately purchase a product or use our services in the future. This is why promoting to a targeted email list allows you to focus on narrower topics and reuse content over and over again as each new subscriber moves through your sequence of emails. As a result of this, you have structure and a refined system that requires less work and produces more income.
Maximising Profits From Each Client
Whilst you are building a targeted list of email subscribers you will constantly look at ways to maximise profits from each customer providing them with valuable content and offering your products and services in conjunction. Here are three hot profit maximisation tips to help you increase your income:
- Look for add-ons products or services to upsell or use additional promotions
- Develop an upselling script e.g McDonalds: would you like fries with that or a soft drink?
- Create a special priority client list to offer them special offers and pre-launch events. e.g. If a sale starts on the 1st Decemeber, they can take up that special on the 25th November as a VIP client and get in before the rush.
The key to successfully maximising profit from each client is to ask the question, “what can we do for our clients that they can’t do for themselves?”. Essentially we are creating value and offering them a service to save them time and resources.
The true power of building an Internet business with a targeted email list is to leverage the website as the traffic creator and relationship starter, and then finish the process with email marketing to generate your income.
There’s a lot of subtleties to this system but I guarantee you the results will speak for themselves.
Tyrone Shum
Building Targeted Email Lists
eBlogging 101: Getting Your Internet Business To Stand Out From The Crowd
Since the inception of eCommerce websites there have been a growing number of brick and mortar businesses expanding their sales online. With this growing trend it means more competition and less market share. I have mentioned that eBlogs are becoming more popular as well (an integration of an eCommerce shop with a blog) and I spoke more about it in the post I wrote: e-Commerce With Integrated Blog (e-Blogging). The question Internet businesses face is: how do you stand out from the crowd?
Design and User Friendliness
This is almost too obvious but I still see poorly designed websites lacking user friendliness and easy to use navigations. A well designed website is easy to use, looks professional and instils confidence in potential customers. This reassures them that they can safely buy on your website knowing their products or services will be delivered on time. Furthermore a professional website conveys high quality and strong branding, just how you would attend a business meeting in a proper suit and not a pair of Billabong shorts.
Ease of use of your website is equally important. If a potential customer can not navigate through your website easily and find the information they are looking for, they will go to the next website on the list. It is very easy to lose a sale because of poorly designed navigations. One way to test the ease of use of your website is to watch friends and family while they complete a few simple task of purchasing and finding specific information. A few things to observe are:
- Do they have to keep backtracking through the website?
- Can they find what they are looking for quickly?
- Can they easily click on images to enlarge the product?
- Does the search function work and return the appropriate results?
- Are the images of high quality without sacrificing time to load the website?
- Is it easy to add items to the shopping cart?
- Is the checkout easy to use?
Additionally, ask them for their feedback and thank them for their time. Be sure to take these findings and implement them to your website. Once you get this right, you will have a higher conversion rate.
Show Your Testimonials
Testimonials is a powerful tool for any Internet business. In the past I’ve utilised this tool to promote and market my products for Dragonboating and it increased my sales by two fold simply by having them displayed. Prospective customers will also feel confident to purchase from you because they see positive feedback from others. With the right mix of testimonials including website’s easy of use, quality of product, speed of delivery and fast resolution of issues, it will cover all aspects of the buying process for a prospective customer. So next time when a customer receives their product, follow up with them 7 days later and ask them to write a testimonial for your website.
Help Customers Find Your Delivery And Returns Information
It’s important to show a link to your delivery and returns page which should be displayed prominently on your website. Most customers want to know whether or not you can deliver to their location, how much it will cost them and how you will handle returns if there is a problem. I have had customers tell me how frustrating it is to find the cost of delivery at the end of the check out page, which is why I have it clear displayed on the website. It shows you are transparent and operate with integrity. This builds stronger trust with your customers as well. They will thank you later in repeat and referral business.
Extra eBlogging Tips
With these basic principals in place, your eBlog should start appealing to more customers. We want to give them that extra incentive for them to buy from you because you will be competing with other popular websites in the marketplace.
Offer Customers To Join Your Loyalty Program: A great way to attract more customers and to keep them coming back for more is to encourage them to be part of your loyalty program. In the past I have set up e-Commerce websites with an option to reward them with 1 point for every dollar they spend. The more points they accumulate, the more chances of earning a nice reward. Your customer will be able to exchange their points for a new gadget – an iPod for example or a product in your range.
Reward Purchases: You can reward customers who come back and order from you by giving them a discount on their next order. The more purchases they make, the more discounts they receive. It encourages them to purchase from you every time.
Bulk Discounts: If you sell products that people buy in large quantities consider offering a bulk discount rate. It’s a great way to encourage larger orders and higher turnover of product for your Internet business. We love to think that we have saved money, even though we have spent twice as much to get that discount. Aldi, the supermarket chain is a classic example of buy in bulk and save, which encourages shoppers to spend more.
The UPOD principle (Under Promise, Over Deliver): This is a principle I practise all the time in my businesses. Let’s say you offer normal delivery to deliver a product, which takes between 3 – 5 days to receive. What if you sent the product overnight via courier and it arrived the next day. Would your customer be ecstatic to receive their product earlier than expected? Of course they would! They would refer it to their friends and family because of fast delivery and good customer service. This is the under promise and over deliver (UPOD) principle that you can apply in your Internet business.
There are a lot of similarities between a brick and mortar business compared to an online business. Businesses that offer good products and excellent customer service are able to capture market share much faster with smarter techniques. They will be the businesses that succeed and do well online. Gone are the days where you just put an eBlog website and hope for the best. You need to implement strategies and be smart to attract good quality customers for your Internet business, then you will reap the rewards.
Tyrone Shum
eBlogging 101
Farming Your Crop Of Clients
When I was working in real estate many years back we used a term called “farming”. If you refer to the term “farming” from Wikipedia:
The term farming covers a wide spectrum of agricultural production work. At one end of this spectrum is the subsistence farmer, who farms a small area with limited resource inputs, and produces only enough food to meet the needs of his/her family.
In real estate we used to be allocated to an area with around 2,000 properties that we would prospect, manage and sell our services to. Being focused on one area I would become the expert and people living in the vicinity would come to me for advice to sell or buy their property. This does not happen overnight and requires a lot of time and effort to “farm” an area, just like a farmer would spend time harvesting his crop. A farmer would spend many hours on the field planting the seeds and making sure the land was fertile and then wait many months before anything would start to happen. The same is true in business and I experienced it first hand when I was working in real estate. It took me almost 6 months before anything happened and I constantly kept marketing and promoting myself in the area using the same proven techniques. I did have doubt over the first few months because nothing was happening and I asked other successful agents for advice, but they kept insisting to stay persistent and focused on the same area.
The result was many sales and referrals. In the beginning I received 4 properties to sell totalling to commissions of about $50,000 for the month. Happening all at once, I didn’t really know what to do and showed I cared and respected them. The later months sales continued to grow and I kept doing what I did – farming the area.
Farming Crops Are Just Actions To A Result
You will find very many similarities with running an Internet business to farming an area in real estate. The key to succeeding in farming your crop of clients is to present a consistent image to your target market. The more they see of you, the branding of your business will stick like glue and they will forever remember you. But to get there you have to take action. It’s not about randomly firing out advertisements and sending out emails to people for the sake of emailing. You have to formulate a strategic plan that will market to your targeted audience and provide value. For example whilst working in real estate, the way I created a brand for myself was to write an article for my weekly letterbox drop. Firstly I gave great real estate information to people in the area and secondly I made sure my face was next to the article so when they read it my face was marketed with the information. Hence when they wanted to sell or buy a property, they would come to me because they started to see me as the expert in the area.
Here’s a three step approach to farming a crop:
- Work out which is your target market.
- Formulate which type of marketing would be best to present to them.
- Take lots of consistent action to market your business.
Consistency Is Key To Farming
I have probably mentioned it many times already in this article, consistency is key. To succeed in your Internet business you need to provide value to your clients and show that your business is constantly available (not you personally, your business). This means constantly marketing and providing valuable content that will generate traffic to your website. Emailing them at least every month with great information and asking for referrals after every transaction. This will ensure your farming efforts will continue to grow with the same amount of work or even less as it gets easier.
Become The Expert
When you have strong rapport with your clients it is easy for you to become the expert in the targeted area. They will come to seek advice and ask for referrals for related areas which you may not cover. This allows you to establish strong links with affiliates or business partners to offer other services and products which you can receive commission as well. It keeps your clients happy and your business will continue to grow.
Farming your crop of clients is a very effective means to grow and sustain a long term business because you establish strong links with clients and also raise your business to become the expert in your industry. If you haven’t decided how to market your business, start growing your farm and take action today.
Tyrone Shum
Business Farmer
