How to Create a Profit Making Home Page on the WWW
and How to Handle all the Prospect Leads You're Going to Get!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Unless you're living in a cave, you keep hearing and reading about the Internet and its World Wide Web. Indeed, what was not so very long ago an unknown communications device used principally by scientists and the Defense Department is now a mainstream marketing tool. Why, both the BOSTON GLOBE and NEW YORK TIMES now publish full-page Internet directories and run syndicated columns with Internet News...
There are Internet cafes springing up in cities nationwide that play Web Home Pages on a big-screen television while you sip your capuccino. And in my ultra hip Harvard Square neighborhood, cool kids now have t-shirts featuring their Home Page addresses as a means of snagging Saturday night dates. Yep, the 'Net is hot, hot, hot. No wonder. Recent estimates have upped the number of people with Web access to 50 million worldwide; 250,000 more get access weekly.
There are a ton of benefits to Web advertising:
It's cheap. Advertising prices on the Internet are substantially lower now than just a few months ago. Some examples?
Charge to develop your basic Home Page: $45-$100
Additional per page charge: $15-$40
Six months "rent" for your Home Page: $100-$300
Six months Home Page with fax-on-demand: $170-$350
12 month "rent" for your Home Page: $180-$600
12 month Home Page with fax-on-demand: $280-$800
You're selling your product around the world, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. People tune into the net at all times. This means you're NEVER closed!
You can change your message every day if you want. Consider standard advertising. Once you've run it, that's the way it's got to stay. Not with the 'net. If things change with what you're selling, you change the ad. It's as simple as that.
You don't need to be computer literature to profit from the 'net. A lot of people mistakenly think you've got to have a computer... or know a lot about computers... to profit from the Web. Wrong! You don't even need to have one.
Should You Be On The Web?
The real question isn't whether the Web makes sense as an advertising vehicle. It does. In fact, it's the most significant development in marketing since the advent of television. And, unlike television marketing, the Web's available to all marketers worldwide at low cost. That's why the Web may be the most significant marketing tool developed to date.
The question is whether you should be using the Web to promote what you're selling. It's time for you to have your own Home Page if any of the following apply:
Anyone selling any product or service nationwide.
Anyone selling any product or service worldwide.
Anyone with a catalogue of any kind.
Any prime supplier of any product. (Now is your opportunity to sell direct to the consumer.)
Any distributor of any product. (Now is your opportunity to promote yourself nationwide and worldwide).
Any network marketing independent distributor or company.
Any publication with advertisers. You can give people access to your Home Page as a benefit of purchasing space in your publication.
If you find yourself on this list, the Web's in your future... and so is the development of your own "Home Page". It's as simple as that.
What's A Home Page? How To Develop One That Makes You Money
It's time for a couple of helpful definitions. The Internet is infinite space. The World Wide Web is a graphical interface that enables you to communicate within this space. The Web is divided into both Malls that are collections of Home Pages and individual Home Pages. You need a Home Page for your message... and you need a Mall to promote your Home Page to
prospects (who are called "visitors" on the Internet).
The worst thing to do is to set up a Home Page that isn't part of a Mall. If you do that you have to do all the promotion yourself. Most people not having inexpensive promotional means at their disposal find this the kiss of death.
Personally, I do not find the phrase "Home Page" either helpful or descriptively accurate. I like the word "store" instead. You see "page" implies something static, something that can't be changed. But this isn't the way a Home Page is at all.
Properly understood a Home Page is like an infinitely expandable store. However, unlike traditional stores, this one..
Never closes
Can be visited by an infinite number of people simultaneously
Exists all over the world, anywhere there is a computer accessing the Web.
If you think of your Home Page as a store with infinitely expandable shelf space, you're already well ahead in the game of knowing what should go into it.
Think for a minute. If you ran a store, would you..
Leave all the goods in the same place all the time
Make no offers
Leave the window displays the same forever?
Of course you wouldn't. You've been to enough stores in your life to know that store owners are constantly thinking up ways to make their merchandise more enticing... to create offers that sell... to make their stores interesting, fun places that we want not only to visit once but to return to time and again. Well, when you're running a World Wide Web Home Page, that's what you've got to do, too!
Here are some tips to help you achieve what you want, namely getting prospects into your Home Page... getting them to buy now... and getting them to return on a regular basis.
Make your headlines client-centered. Make sure they are based on my "You Get Benefit Now" formula, informing prospects what they get and making sure that that's a benefit to them.
Keep your sentences short and snappy. Dumb people on the Internet dump words on people. They throw as many words on a page as they can, essentially saying, "I wrote this stuff. I'll be damned if I make it easy for you to read it." This, of course, is fatal. One reason the Web is so popular is because it's fast and easy. Think of the sleekest, funnest thing you've ever done. That's the way the 'net should be.
Break up your message into short paragraphs carried by action verbs. This is the essence of all good writing. It's imperative for success on the Internet.
Speak directly to your prospects. The Internet is direct, intimate. It's a perpetual conversation between "you" (the prospect) and "me" (the marketer).
Break up your copy with graphics, logos, color pictures, flashing messages. Internet copy is compelling copy. You can (and should) run a full-color picture of what you're selling... and you can put a flashing message next to it like "Act now and get <this
special benefit>," or "only 20 of these left. Call <number> today to get yours."
Use bullets. Bullets on the Internet are crucial. Internet visitors look for the key points. Snag them with a bullet... and if they're interested they'll take the time to read the rest of your information.
More Profit-Making Tips For Your Successful Home Page
Make an offer. Smart people on the Internet make outstanding offers... and change these offers regularly. But make sure you're positioning the offer properly and presenting it for maximum impact. Don't just say "Free audio cassette," for instance. Instead say, "Free 30-minute audio cassette gives you 16 money-making steps for developing a profitable home-based
business." See the difference? The first says, "free thing," the second focuses on the benefits you'll get by having it. Remember, people always want benefits!
Use testimonials. As in any other kind of successful copy, sprinkle your Home Page with testimonials of people who are successfully using what you're selling. Make these testimonials specific and believable... and make sure to use the name of the person providing the testimonial whenever possible. Don't have any testimonials? Start asking your customers for them!
Keep stressing the need for speed. Even if you have an infinite amount of product available, stress scarcity... and the need for speed. "Available only to the first 16 people who call," or "only 2 left. Call NOW!" The Internet mentality is a fast-moving mentality. You must use this to your advantage.
More Enhancements To Juice Up Your Home Page
In addition to these sensible copy devices you should also be using these three technologies to improve your Home Page:
Fax-on-demand
E-mail
Hyperlinks to other sites
Let's look at each of them.
Fax-On-Demand
Personally, I'm incredibly excited by fax-on-demand. Here's just one reason why. Yesterday, I walked in the door from a business trip to find a stack of mail and phone messages. And the phone was ringing when I opened the door. When I found out what my customer wanted, I simply said, "Do you have a fax?" When she told me she did I told her to call my fax-on-demand to get all the information and to call me back if she had any questions. Later that night, when I was less frazzled, she called back after having read the material and she bought the service I was promoting on my f-o-d. Quick and easy.
Here's what this incredibly useful technology can do for you:
People call at their expense to get your sales information. This cuts your expenses.
Enables you to put all crucial information about what you're selling -- including an order form, remember -- in a place where anyone with a fax machine can access it.
Ensures people get access to your sales information 24 hours a day. How much of your sales information are you disseminating at 3 a.m.? If you answer "not much," it's because you're not using fax-on-demand technology.
I like fax-on-demand, too, because it separates the serious prospect from the tire kicker. Someone serious is going to get the information, review it, and call back either ready to buy or with serious questions. The tire kickers don't follow up and get lost, which is just the way I like it.
You can -- and should -- put fax-on-demand technology to work as part of your Home Page. Tell people who visit you Home Page that they can get more detailed information simply by dialing your f-o-d.
E-Mail
We've all familiar with e- (or electronic) mail. You can use this feature in your Home Page, too. When you sign up on the Web you can get a Web Site Address. This enables people to access your Home Page. It's like a direct-dial number to your Home Page. You can also get e-mail capability. This enables visitors to leave you messages. This is a very useful feature because the serious prospects will leave you serious questions which you can answer on your way to closing the deal. And, remember, you can access your e-mail responses at anytime!
Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks enable you to connect Home Pages. Lots of people, for instance, who have individual Home Pages have added a Home Page in a better promoted Mall. Instead of dismantling or abandoning their original Home Page, they simply hyperlink it to their original page. Hyperlinks are simply ways of connecting two things that are not otherwise connected. What's more hyperlinking is fast, easy and inexpensive. Hyperlinks between pages provide a smooth flow between different areas of information allowing for better organization and making the entire presentation more "user friendly" to the reader. They also provide interactivity and add depth and variety to the presentation.
A Few Follow-Up Tips
As I've stressed through this report, people using the Internet are used to speed. This has produced a prospect who is at once more demanding and more impatient. But has not increased the amount of money he/she has to purchase what you're selling. Thus, in considering how to deal with Internet prospects, you need to consider two words -- assess and fast.
Here's my rule of thumb. Just because someone wants something fast doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to give it to him fast... or at all. I understand that the Internet has upped the speed of things. And I'm willing to move just as quickly in response... but only after I've been assured that I'm dealing with a real prospect and not just another 'net surfer.
Thus, you've got to do everything you can to assess prospects and, once you've determined the person you're dealing with is worth speed, then move fast, fast, fast to make the deal. Thus..
Never hesitate to ask people on the 'net if they're looking to buy or just looking to look. Remember, real customers ask tough questions. Lookers are vague.
If you don't feel you're getting anywhere with a prospect, say "What will it take to get you to buy today?" If the answer's unsatisfactory, drop the connection.
Use e-mail and fax-on-demand technologies whenever possible to get your sales information out. They're cheap!
One last thing, just because someone on the 'net asks you to send material doesn't necessarily mean you have to do it. Use your brain. Good prospects use the Internet to make real connections as quickly and easily as possible. They know you need to know something about them and they're willing to cooperate. The surfers are just like time-wasters anywhere else... asking for your time and trouble... willing to give you nothing. Just because the net is fabulous technology doesn't mean that basic common sense doesn't apply. In fact because the net makes it so much easier to connect with so many other people, you've got to get wiser faster about where you'll invest your scarce resources.
Last Words
In case you haven't noticed, I'm sky-high on the Internet. It's fun, it's fast, and it's a cash hose of profitability. What's more, it's just at the beginning of its developmental potential. In the very near future here are the kinds of enhancements we'll see:
Even clearer, cleaner presentations with colorful backgrounds
Real time interactions with advertisers where your questions get answered immediately and you more detailed electronic information about what the advertiser is offering
Three-dimensional advertiser presentations (now rare) will become standard features.
And a whole lot more that's turning the Internet into an advanced form of television, only a television where you, the advertiser, have your own program and where you can change it every single day -- all at unbelievably low cost. No wonder this is the most exciting thing happening in the entire world of marketing and why you'll be an Internet advertiser real soon yourself!
Dr. Jeffrey Lant is the #1 distributor in two Network Narketing companies, Ad-Net and Gourmet Coffee Club and head of the fastest-growing organization in a third, The Staff of Life. Whatever opportunity you're in, he can help you make more money from it. Get his 148-page resource..
MULTI-LEVEL MONEY: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO GENERATING, CLOSING & WORKING WITH ALL THE PROSPECTS YOU NEED TO MAKE REAL MONEY EVERY MONTH IN NETWORK MARKETING ($25.95 postpaid; $45 with 55-minute audio cassette).
Also, use his quarterly 100,000 circulation Sales & Marketing Success Card Deck featuring the lowest prices in the industry and Nationwide Lead-Generator program. Need marketing communications? Use his 480 page resource..
CASH COPY: HOW TO OFFER YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE SO YOUR PROSPECTS BUY THEM... NOW! ($39.50 postpaid), or use his National Copywriting Center to provide personal consultation and assistance. To order or for information, call (617) 547-6372 or write JLA Publications, P.O. Box 38-2767, Cambridge, MA 02238. Don't forget to ask for your FREE YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION to his quarterly 40-page Sure-Fire Business Success Catalog!
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