Introduction
In today's
lesson, we're not only going to discuss the THREE
KEY INGREDIENTS every website needs to make sales, but I also
have a little surprise in store for you...
Together, we're also going to begin building
our very own fictitious "Virtual E-Store".
And it's not only going to be just any
e-store - but an e-store that kicks butt!
I know you'll find the whole process not only
ultra-informative, but it's going to be a lot of fun too...
you'll see ;-)
In each of the remaining lessons in this 12
part course, we're going to continue constructing our
"virtual store" - building on strategies and
techniques we learned in previous lessons. Once you've
completed all 12 lessons you'll know exactly what you need to
do - and how to do it - to build your own site that
continuously MAKES THE SALE!
Just as I shared with you in Lesson
1 the exact strategies I personally used many years ago to
build my first "Online Pet Shop" into a $60,000 a
year money maker, you too will know how to implement you're
very own "Profit Nuggets" into your own
website.
In my humble opinion, learning by example is a
far better teaching method than simply telling someone how to
do something. So, by building our "virtual
e-store" together, you're going to get a "front row
seat" so I can demonstrate exactly how you should begin
setting up your own website. Best of all - unlike most
of the other sites online... your site will be a SITE THAT
SELLS!
So let's jump right in and get started.
We've got a site to build ;-)
A few things
we need to consider before we start our site construction...
What are we going to call our
"fictitious" e-store?
What products and services are we going
to offer?
How are we going to get traffic to our
store?
Who is our target market?
How will folks find us - or even know
we exist?
How many different income streams can
we produce from this one site?
I like to refer to this first step as our
"Game Plan". Every business needs a
game plan before they should ever begin to build.
You've heard the term "If you build it
they will come!" DON'T BELIEVE IT! You need a
specific game plan in order to generate traffic to a new
website (especially when your budget is very limited) and more
importantly...
You need to know what you
plan to do with the traffic once it begins to arrive at your
storefront.
Just like any good recipe, you already have
the basic ingredients you need to build your site from our
previous lesson...
In lesson
1, we learned:
We need a domain name
A web builder software program
A shopping cart
An affiliate program
An autoresponder system to follow up with
our web traffic, and...
A reliable drop shipping company to supply
us with quality products for "BACKEND" Sales.
Now it's time to start adding our "Special Herbs And
Spices" to make our website recipe hot, spicy and full of
flavor! A dish you just can get enough of!
Building
Our Virtual E-Store From The Ground Up
First and foremost, it's imperative to your
success to remember that building your customer list and establishing
a relationship with them is your primary focus!
That's it!
End of story! BUILD YOUR LIST!
Your customers are the foundation of your
business... and a solid foundation is KEY! Just like
when building a house, if you don't have a solid foundation
it'll collapse faster than a straw house in a hurricane
without the proper- solid foundation. That's why it's
extremely important to be sure to start building a solid
foundation (your customer list) and plan and then expand on
that foundation.
Okay... let's move on...
Before we can begin building our "virtual
e-store" we have to decide who are customer will be - in
other words... who we'd like to target. In my opinion,
there are three key ingredients I always consider
before deciding upon a target or niche'.
What are the three
KEY ingredients I always look for?
An easily targeted "laser tight"
market
Interesting content to write about in the
marketplace
Products readily available to generate
both front and backend sales
Okay... So now it's time I take the reigns and
make our first decision about our "Virtual
E-store"... After all... this is my course ;-)
Since one of my favorite pastimes is cooking,
I'd like to build our e-store around this subject. So,
let's take a few minutes and see if we can't look at the three
key ingredients as they pertain to a "cooking theme"
for our site...
1
An Easily Targeted
" Laser Tight" Market
Obviously... WAY TO MUCH COMPETITION
online for a website only focused on cooking in general.
We could throw that thought right out the
window....
But luckily we don't have to dismiss the idea
all together...
What we can do is break down the
subject of cooking into a more laser targeted "pinpoint
focused" niche'. This way, we would still be
able to capitalize on the market.
So let's see if we can't get a little tighter
focus and dig deeper into this niche'...
How about cooking... but more
specifically targeted to a specific gender?
The male "cooking" population would
definitely be an easier "LESS COMPETITIVE" market to
target than the female market... Wouldn't you agree?
But I'm only assuming - I didn't actually look
into it.
And there are a lot of Chefs who are males -
even more than women...
But I think that there are probably more women
cooking the "family meals" than there are men.
Should we just specifically focus on the men online who
like to cook for their families?
Good thought... we'll keep that in mind!
Now I think we're starting to get somewhere!
But I still think we need to get more
specific. We want a "pinpoint" targeted site!
Why? Why do we have to be so
"Laser" targeted?
Ahhh.. patience my astute student!
Once we've completed this entire course,
you'll completely understand the need to tightly define our
market ;-)
For now - Let's keep digging...
What about the diet craze? How about
desserts? What about fried foods or baked dishes as a
main focus? We could consider just offering
"Southern" cooking ideas or ethnic dishes. We
could focus on just appetizers, snacks, or finger foods.
What about cakes, pies, or sweets in
general...
Our options are really limitless!
And it's all part of the brainstorming
process - trying to define a laser tight niche'...
Here's a thought...
I recently made up my mind to lose some weight
so that's something that really interests me right now.
Perhaps we could run with something focused on weight loss...
Can we focus on low-carb meals for men?
We could... but I think there's still way to
much competition online for "weight loss" in
general... albeit man or woman...
But let's see if we can't run with the
"weight loss" theme since there's a huge demand
online for "low carb" meals right now (and I am
personally interested in the subject)
We need to keep brainstorming and continue to
dig further...
We really need to find an ULTRA RESOURCEFUL
extremely laser targeted niche...
Wait a minute... I have got a great
idea!
You know what I really enjoy more than
anything else when it comes to a good meal?
I love it when my wife and I have some time
alone and we plan a nice romantic dinner together (NO KIDS!)
and turn off the lights, light a few candles, and just talk
over a good bottle of wine and a nice delicious meal!
I especially enjoy cooking those types of
meals for her!
NOW THAT'S LIVING!
The only problem for me lately has been trying
to cook up a nice romantic meal and still watch how many
calories and carbs I'm eating. (I think I just love food TOO
MUCH!)
Perhaps there's a way we could focus our site
around some of those topics!
By Golly... I think we're getting close...
Okay... so what do we have so far?
First, we're going with a cooking theme.
Second, we're going to focus the cooking
around "everyday folks" who REALLY like to
cook - almost as a hobby of sorts.
Third, we'll try to keep in mind the
"healthy conscious" aspect of cooking since so many
folks are watching their weight and eating healthy.
Fourth, ROMANCE! If we could come up
with a game plan to focus our cooking website around all those
things, I think we'll definitely have a winner!
Remember the three areas of interest (KEY
INGREDIENTS) that we want to make sure we incorporate?
Let's review...
What are the three KEY ingredients?
A "laser targeted" market
Interesting content to write about in this
marketplace
Products readily available to generate
both front and backend sales
Excellent! You're a brain-child!
Do you think we could laser target a niche' in
the cooking category, focused on folks who like to cook as a
hobby, who want to eat healthier, and (my favorite) are
looking to spice up the romance in their lives?
Guess what... I think we'll hit a HOMERUN!
I think we've definitely found our laser
tight niche'. Now let's look into our second Key
Ingredient...
2
Interesting Content To Write About
What could be more interesting than "good
food" and increased romance, all while maintaining a
healthier lifestyle? Plus, as I mentioned earlier, I
don't think we'll have much competition on that topic... do
you?
You see... because we took our time and had
our thinking cap on before we ever began to build and plan our
site (our game plan), we can now design a site that's not only
informative but also entertaining - focused around a
"hot", interesting, "PINPOINT targeted market!
You always have to keep one very important
aspect of Internet marketing in your mind at all times.
We discussed this in Lesson 1 briefly as well.
The Internet is the Information Highway!
It always has been... and always will be!
Never lose sight of the fact that folks are
searching for information online. Therefore, when
considering a theme for your website, you'll always want to
keep in mind the fact that your site will not
"PRIMARILY" be providing products for sale, but more
importantly... HIGH QUALITY,
INTERESTING CONTENT! Sales will then come naturally!
Like I said, I like the topic of cooking.
Therefore I know I'll find working on a website related
to cooking both fun and relatively easy to maintain and keep
updated with fresh content.
I also like to consider myself a
"romantic" (although my wife may disagree!)
Add to that the fact that I'm also trying to
live a healthier lifestyle... and I think we've found
the perfect combination!
We will want to plan our site around a lot of
valuable, interesting, informative, free content to attract
visitors, so this second ingredient is very important (and
we'll talk about this in more detail in later lessons as
well).
Just remember this...
On the Internet - Content
Is King!
So, regarding our SECOND KEY INGREDIENT
when considering our website theme with respect to "Interesting
Content To Write About", I think we've passed the
test!
Two Ingredients Down... One To Go!
If we pass the third test, I think we'll have
a winner!
3
Products To Generate Both Front And Backend Sales
Well, I think we could find plenty of
cookware, flatware, perhaps custom initialed chef aprons,
novelty chefs hats, dinnerware, glassware, small appliances.
You name it - I'm sure we could get it!
PLUS - and here's a goldmine!...
We could eventually even add some
"romantic" gifts when sales really start to take off
- like chocolates, fine wines, even roses and such that we can
offer via an affiliate program like 1-800-flowers!
Yes... BRILLIANT I KNOW!
We'll definitely find ways to create multiple
streams of income from this little gem of a site - GUARANTEED!
It's important to remember that the actual
products you'll be offering your customers is your last
concern when starting out!
I know that may sound crazy to you, but it's
very true. Pick a laser tight theme, make sure you could
offer good interesting content, help your visitors solve their
problems and strive toward strengthening their lives in some
way!
Your last step - your least concern at
first - should be finding products to offer for sale.
Sound crazy? Well, I think you'll change
your opinion once we're done building our "virtual
e-store"!
On a
side note: I also have a few GREAT ideas for additional
income streams (BIG MONEY MAKERS) for our site... but we'll
have to wait on those for future lessons. I don't want
us to get too far ahead of ourselves just yet...
So, we've got a highly targeted market to tap
into...
We're convinced we could write quality,
entertaining, informative content for our site...
And, we can easily find a drop shipping
supplier for our product sales...
Hocus Pocus... I think we have a winner!
So,
why don't we raise the curtain and unveil the
name of our new site...
roll please....
A candle light cooking theme focused on fine
meals, fine wines, juicy desserts, and ROMANCE! And
because we added the "LITE" into our theme, we can
even throw in a section for those "healthy
conscious" eaters too!
Now let's reflect back for a minute and
think about something...
Imagine if we simply decided to setup a site
dealing with the topic of cooking.
So, we ventured out to setup a
"superstore" and to find every supplier imaginable
who would drop ship cooking supplies for us to make sales.
After we completed all our product research and setup accounts
with all our drop ship suppliers, we then decided to
build a HUGE site with all the "bells and whistles"
and start promoting it in the search engines everyday.
It could be quite exciting! We may even
spend months designing the site - or worse yet - thousands of
dollars hiring a web designer to build our dream website.
And guess what... It turns out looking
awesome! Boy... are we proud!
We've got credit card processing, PayPal all
setup, a whole database of high tech "goodies"!
Tell a friend, A Newsletter about cooking, Impressive photos
of our products, etc., etc.... Quite Impressive!
We call all our family and friends to give
them the web address. They're quite impressed as well!
We tell everybody we come in contact with that we're a BIG
BUSINESS OWNER and to check out our website when they have
time.
Our store has over FIVE THOUSAND products!
Now, all we have to do is sit back and let the
Internet work it's magic! We've got a super site online
so - of course folks will find it! The search
engines would be crazy not to list our website in the top 10
searches for cooking or cookware.... right?
Heck, we've got 114 pots and pans sets, 12
uniquely designed cutting boards, 122 varieties of steak
knives, 16 different wine bottle openers, 7 electric fryers,
31 high tech microwave ovens, 14 toasters, 6 blenders, 4 deep
fryers, 16 spice racks, 11 espresso machines, 3 cappuccino
machines, 44 flatware sets, 85 ceramic canisters, 25 different
cookie jars... and the list goes on and on!
If someone surfing the net is looking for
anything related to cooking... rest assured they'll be buying
from us!
So we sit back and wait..
... and wait...
...and wait...
...and wait...
Our e-register hasn't rung once! There
must be a problem with our credit card processor!
Nope...
... that all checks out fine.
Maybe our shopping car is having a problem...
WRONG AGAIN! Our cart is working fine...
Maybe our prices are too high? Let's
lower 'em a bit and we'll certainly start seeing orders pile
up.
So we lower our prices and flash "ON SALE
NOW" signs all over the website! Now we're
practically giving away our products for little to no profit
but that's Okay! We're sure going to make it up on volumes
of sales we'll have coming in now!
Weeks go by... still NO SALES! Months go
by... Still no sales!
So what do we end up doing?
We could hire a search engine expert (a few
thousand bucks there) to give us a good ranking in the search
engines...
We could hire a web design consultant to
analyze our site to see if there's anything more we could do
to improve sales (a few more thousand there).
We could hire some top copywriting guru to
re-write the sales pages and "HOPE" that will
increase sales.
The list goes on and on...
But needless to say... we end up doing what
most new online entrepreneurs do...
We give up our dream of owning a profitable
business online and go back to looking for another way to make
a living.. Usually another J.O.B!
Trust me! 99% of hard working,
determined, intelligent people starting out online go through
this exact scenario. I'm talking about "soccer
moms", hard working dads, entrepreneurs, small business
owners, grandparents, sisters, brothers - all hard-working,
honest, GOOD PEOPLE!
So, where did they go wrong? They had
all the high tech products stocked to the ceiling. They
paid a web designer to build a flashy "state of the
art" website. They stayed focused and dedicated.
They offered sales and FREE shipping! They even dropped
prices to a bare minimum...
They thought they did everything they were
supposed to do! They read all the e-books and spent
hundreds - if not thousands - on info products and seminars
guaranteed to teach them the "secrets" to making it
big time on the net.
So why aren't they depositing rolls of cash
into their bank account everyday?
It all comes down to one cruel aspect of doing
business online...
BECAUSE NOBODY CARES!
SO WHAT!
There are hundreds of websites just like
theirs all over the Internet!
The question is...
Why should I buy from YOU?
What's in it for me - THE CUSTOMER?
I'll tell you
where they went wrong right from the start...
They failed to pinpoint a
highly-targeted laser tight niche...
They didn't offer me any Quality,
Informative, Entertaining content...
And all they did was try to sell me
something! I DON'T WANT TO BE SOLD ANYTHING!
If I want to but something... I'll go to Wal-Mart!
Thank goodness
we're smarter than that!
And in lesson 3, we're going to continue on
building our e-store and begin adding a few more "profit
nuggets" that'll be sure to get our site off on the right
track...
So, until next time..
See you at the top,
Mick Phillips
Mick Phillips
P.S. I'd Love to hear your
comments or any feedback about this course. Please send
me your comments to admin@mb-digitalenterprises.com
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