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How To Turn Those Casual Visitors Into Regular Customers:
Make Your Web Site The Online Resource For Your Target Market!
Traffic. And lots of it.
It's the dream of every netrepreneur. You lie in bed at night, staring at the
ceiling, dreaming up new ways to lure your target market to your web site. Why?
The answer is obvious: traffic equals sales. If nobody comes, nobody buys. It's
a simple formula for success, right? Well, maybe not…
The problem is that your
first time customer… even your first time visitor… is always of the highest cost
to you. You've had to spend your hard earned advertising dollars to get them there.
It's the repeat customers and visitors that are really worth the big money.
If they're coming back to check out your site, your products, your services, or
your information again, you have clearly developed a relationship with them. You
have established credibility and trust. Once you've done this, the chance that
these repeat visitors will buy from you increases exponentially!
So perhaps the question
you really should be asking yourself is how you can turn those one time buyers
and casual visitors into regular customers!
There are a number of ways
that you can go about this. Backend products and newsletters are two of the key
techniques, but I've discussed both extensively in my "Insider Secrets" Course.
(Click
here to learn more about these critical marketing strategies.)
Instead, today I would like
to take a moment to discuss the value of turning your web site into a vertical
portal… making your web site the online resource for your niche market.
Now I'm sure at this point
many of you are feeling pretty confused. Vertical Portal? What's that?
Let me start by first explaining
what a portal site is. A portal site is basically an entry page onto the Web.
Yahoo! and Excite, for example, are both portal sites. They are designed to attract
a large, general audience by offering a broad range of information including weather,
stocks, news, and horoscopes, as well as services such as shopping, free e-mail,
and entertainment updates. Referred to as "horizontal" portals, these sites are
designed to draw repeat visitors from all walks of life.
On the other hand, "Vertical"
portals, also referred to as "Niche" portals, are developed with a very specific
market in mind. A vertical portal focuses on a small portion of the general
audience, striving to meet their needs for information, products, and services
by becoming the online resource for that segment.
So what does this mean for
you? Well, imagine this for a moment…
Let's say that your web
site is devoted to selling mountain bike adventure tours in Utah to middle-aged
couples. Since you took your business online, you have devoted a considerable
amount of time and effort to developing an effective marketing strategy and you
have enjoyed an increase in clientele. Unfortunately, you're still not achieving
the kind of sales that you had expected. After taking some time to survey your
visitors and clientele, you conclude that the biggest hurdle you need to cross
is the trust issue. Couples are leery to travel across the country -- or across
the world -- to partake in an activity that is potentially dangerous with a guide
whom they've never met before.
How can you establish your
expertise and prove your credibility? Simple! Turn your web site into a vertical
portal…
Become the online
resource for travelers interested in mountain biking in Utah! Provide maps
of the area and biking trails… include articles about the local terrain, safety
issues, biking techniques and gear… list links to accommodations that cater to
mountain bikers… provide links to bike dealers… and much more! Visitors to your
site will easily recognize you as an industry expert, and will be far less apprehensive
about purchasing your tour package.
You see, vertical portals
are organized around a product type, an industry, or a topic area. They
give you an advantage over a simple commerce site because they focus on providing
quality information instead of just selling a product. I've said it before and
I'll say it again… People come online in search of information, not to
buy something! This is an important point that cannot be stressed enough.
Let me give you another
example…
Instead of operating mountain
bike tours in Utah, let's say that you have developed a site devoted to selling
marine supplies to avid yachters. From compasses to rain gear to sails to inboard/outboard
motors, you name it, your site sells it! Unfortunately, while your competitive
prices and range of products appeal to the average yachter, there is nothing that
really differentiates you from similar sites out there.
So how can you crush
your competition? By turning your site into a vertical portal…
Become the online
resource for yachters! Turn your site into a "sticky" community -- make visitors
want to come back again and again -- by providing links to regatta schedules,
a directory of yacht clubs, links to yachting magazines, weather information,
maps and charts, travel information, news, an online forum or chat room, reviews
of equipment… and the list goes on!
By providing your visitors
with compelling information that speaks directly to their interests and
needs, you develop a site to which people will return again and again. Be it to
check out your review of a particular motor, or to fill out an entry form for
a local regatta, visitors will return to your site and develop a relationship
with you. You will have established your industry expertise! So who do
you think they will go to the next time they need to purchase marine supplies?
You, of course!
Turning your simple commerce
site into a vertical portal is an exceptionally powerful marketing strategy.
You not only create a sticky community to which visitors are drawn again and again,
you also develop a powerful relationship with these people… a bond of trust
that can easily translate into an explosion of sales!
Of course, there are a few
pointers that you should keep in mind when making this transition…
- Your timing must be
impeccable. In other words, do it now! Next week, next month, next year… it
may be too late! Get in and establish your dominance before your competitors beat
you to the punch. You can easily capture your share of the market (and then some!)
by taking the initiative and becoming the industry leader.
- Don't just talk the
talk… walk the walk! If you want to be taken seriously -- and trusted -- as
an industry expert, then you need to be an industry expert! This means
that you need to know your industry inside out. You need to read everything you
can get your hands on… you need to communicate with other leaders in your industry…
and you must be prepared to continue this learning process as long as you are
maintaining your site.
- Reduce costs by removing
the middleman. People appreciate good value, and removing the middleman is
a great way to provide your customers with competitive prices that keep them coming
back for more. But this doesn't just apply to your products and services, this
applies to all products and services promoted by your site.
- Keep them coming back
for more. Ensure that your site contains quality, compelling content that
caters to the needs of your community. It is really important that you never lose
site of this because a site that is unfocused is doomed to fail! Communicate with
your customers and visitors through questionnaires, online forums and chat rooms.
Add features, products, services, and information that directly correspond with
their expressed interests.
- Diversify your income.
Vertical portals have fantastic income potential… if done correctly. Once you've
captured the attention of your target market, you're in the perfect position to
begin diversifying your streams of income by developing other products and services
that focus on their needs and interests. Affiliate programs are also a fantastic
and EASY way to diversify… just be sure that you remain focused on your market.
Remember: General
portal sites such as Yahoo! are not capable of keeping up with every topic. Take
advantage of this key weakness by bringing your targeted community together
with the specific products, services, and information they need. By turning your
site into the resource for your industry, you'll not only be establishing
your expertise, you'll be developing relationships that will keep people coming
back for more… more information, and more importantly, more product!
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