Complejidad de la delimitación de los culturemas

Your Web site is a delivery vehicle for your message, just like postcards, tele-marketing, newspaper ads, or direct-mail packages are delivery vehicles. And like these other devices, the Internet has its own checklist of requirements you must follow to make any campaign a success.

To begin with, there are four functions of any Web site that must be fully operational before you launch any sales or marketing campaign (and in or-der to take full advantage of the strategies that follow this tutorial). These functions needn’t take long to develop, but they must be in place.*

Function 1: Your Web Site Must Capture Prospects’ Names

In the very first strategy that follows this tutorial, you’ll be reading about dis-tributing a free report that drives readers to a “name squeeze page” at your Web site. This squeeze page is designed to do one thing only: convince visi-tors to provide their names, e-mail addresses, zip codes, and other informa-tion in order to access a free online tutorial, audio interview, downloadable checklist, e-zine subscription, or other instant giveaway that has value.

To create your squeeze page, start by writing a compelling headline about the material visitors will be downloading for free. Then describe the actual item they’ll receive, explain who you are, tell them why you’re providing this item free, and mention testimonials from others who have benefited from the material. Then feature a fill-in form and give visitors exact instructions for completing it—along with a promise that they’ll receive their information in-stantly.

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* To see these functions in action, please click through the individual pages of my Web site for authors at www.howexpertsbuildempires.com.

While this seems like a lot of copy, even giving away free stuff on the In-ternet takes a lot of convincing these days—mainly because registrants know that they’ll be e-mailed advertisements and promotions later.

Once they fill in the form, visitors should be taken to a simple confirmation page that tells registrants how to download the free item. This confirmation—

or “thank you” page—should also feature information on a lower-priced, entry-level product (if you have one available), then provide a link where vis-itors can read more about it.

Along with giving the visitor access to the free item—or if the free item is a series of reports or tutorials—you should immediately add the registrant’s e-mail address to an autoresponder that delivers prewritten generic messages every two or three days. Within these messages should be other helpful infor-mation and—starting with the fifth or sixth message—marketing copy about the first product or service that you plan to sell to these subscribers.*

Function 2: Your Web Site Must Sell Products and Services

Remember that in Chapter 3,“Writing Ads That Make the Phone Ring,” I de-tailed how to write the elaborate direct-response copy that generates Instant Income? Well, virtually all successful Internet marketers use this same kind of direct-response copy to sell their products and services online. They think of a Web page as just another delivery vehicle for these sales letters—except that the letters can be read on a computer screen.

You’ll be writing a lot of copy as you create your Web site, but if you divide your writing effort into creating these three sales elements, it will make your task easier.

Sales Element 1: A Sales Page That Compels the Visitor to Buy

In crafting this sales letter—which begins with a compelling headline and continues through all the components of a well-written direct-response piece—take as much time as you need to tell the story and offer proof of why

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* You can subscribe to a stand-alone autoresponder on a monthly basis or use the autoresponder function that is included with your shopping cart (more about shopping carts later in this chapter). All autorespon-ders will manage your opt-in list and let you send out single messages, too.

the reader must buy your product or service. Don’t worry about the length.

Instead, focus on providing all the compelling copy you learned to write in Chapter 3, “Writing Ads That Make the Phone Ring.”

You should also include proven credibility builders, such as testimonials from past customers, video or audio testimonials (which are even more com-pelling), photographs of your product or service in action, scans of letters or documents that make your case, and so on.

Somewhere in the first quarter of the sales letter, offer your free news-letter, short course, or other autoresponder giveaway, and include a fill-in form that readers can complete instantly without clicking over to a separate page. Sprinkle your sales letter with phrases such as “click here now to order”

that —when clicked—take the reader to a secure shopping cart.

At the bottom of the sales page, put your company’s name and address, your copyright line—for example,“© 2007 Success Resources International”—

and the following links:

Place Your Order By Phone | Policies | Become an Affiliate For Media Professionals | Contact Us

Sales Element 2: A Shopping Cart That Instantly Captures Orders

A shopping cart allows visitors to your Web site to click on links embedded in your sales letter and buy your product on a secure page that captures their credit card number and other order information. If an affiliate originally gen-erated the visitor, the shopping cart will credit that affiliate with the purchase so that you can pay a commission on the order. The shopping cart I use not only processes my online orders but also manages my entire affiliate program, even reporting on how much to pay each of my affiliates each month (more about affiliates in a moment).*

Sales Element 3: A Thank-You Page That Upsells Other Products

Once visitors complete their order, you can—and should—elect to take them to a thank-you page where you congratulate them on their purchase and tell

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* The best shopping cart I’ve found (and the one used by countless Internet businesses) can be found at the Instant Income Resources Page (www.instantincome.com/resources.html).

them how their order will be shipped (or how to download it online). Smart Internet marketers also add an upsell offer to their thank-you page that buy-ers can click on to make an additional purchase.

Function 3: Your Web Site Must Recruit Affiliates

Once you have your shopping cart operational, you can write a page that re-cruits others to help you sell your products and services. On the Internet, a joint-venture partner is called an affiliate. And throughout the Instant Income strategies following this tutorial, you’ll find proven steps for broadcasting powerful promotions to your affiliates’ customers, members, students, clients, and subscribers.

Ideally, your affiliate sign-up page should contain a personal letter from you introducing your affiliate program in language that convinces another Web site owner to promote your products and services. The letter should also contain a link that takes readers to your shopping cart’s affiliate sign-up page to register.

Once prospective affiliates register, you can approve or reject them* and provide tools that they can use to promote you. The most common tools in-clude banner ads and announcement e-mails that direct readers to your sales page.

Function 4: Your Web Site Must Promote Media Exposure

Because I’ve worked with so many celebrity entrepreneurs, I’m accustomed to writing Web pages that facilitate media exposure—in print, on the radio, via speaking engagements, on television, and, of course, all over the Internet. You, too, can benefit substantially by adding a single “For Media Professionals”

page to your site that contains links to the following small documents and features:

➤ Your electronic press kit, or EPK, containing your biography, company history, previous articles, suggested radio-TV interview questions, and contact information, distilled into a PDF file.

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* You should never approve an affiliate whose customer list, promotional tactics, or business activities would detract from your product or service.

➤ Free prewritten articles that visitors can publish in their newsletter, magazine, or newspaper. (Put multiple articles in a single Microsoft Word file for ease of downloading, but describe them separately on your media Web page.)

➤ A fill-in form that allows journalists to request an interview or guest appearance.

➤ A link that lets the media download color photos of you and your prod-ucts or services (ideal for printing with your prewritten articles).

➤ A link to your affiliate sign-up page (for e-zine publishers).

It’s Only About $500 for a Six- to Eight-Page Web Site . . . Honest

While these functions seem elaborate, the reality is—if you have just one or two products and services to sell—your Web site needn’t be any larger than about six to eight pages. Plus, you can always add other pages as needed. The four functions discussed here are just the basics.*

And here’s another bit of good news: once you develop the content, getting your pages created and uploaded to the Internet by a professional shouldn’t cost more than about $500—particularly if you hire one of the many compe-tent design firms outside the United States via Web sites like www.elance.com and www.guru.com.

The truth is, if you’ve thought through all the copy, drawn a map of how the pages link together, and already programmed the shopping cart yourself, then creating your Web site and uploading it to the Internet shouldn’t take your Web designer more than about 12 to 15 hours. Honest.