10 Reasons Why People Don't Buy

Last week I asked what you thought was the hardest part of having an online business and 50% stated that converting visitors and subscribers to customers was the hardest.

Let's assume you've got a quality site, a quality product, targeted traffic, a list and a good sales page. But you're not getting many sales and you want to know why - right?

So today we'll cover the 10 most common reasons people don't buy.

1. You're not getting the target market your aiming for.
2. When people visit your site or read your ezine they are looking for free info and not planning to buy anything.
3. You are trying to sell something your visitors and readers need but don't necessarily want.
4. You don't make your product offer enough times.
5. Your price is either out of their budget or so low they doubt the quality of the product.
6. Your sales page may not be as good as you think it is.
7. Your conversion rate isn't bad - you just don't get very much targeted traffic.
8. Your buying process is either obscure or too complicated.
9. You're advertising your sales page and not your ezine.
10. You're too soft sell.

Which of these apply to your business?

That's what you have to find out and here are some pointers.

1. Do some research.
   * Find out if your readers are the target market for your products.
   * Find out what your readers want - not need.
   * Find out how much traffic you're getting.
   * Find out where your traffic is coming from.
   * Find out if people actually buy what your selling online.
   
2. Do some testing.
   * Try changing your sales page.
   * Try different prices.Ask someone in your targeted market to read your sales page and ads. Then ask them if it made them do what you wanted them to do. If it didn't, find out why not.
   
3. Count how many times you've offered your product to your readers. If you offer it once, that's not enough. If you've offered it multiple times, review items 1, 2 & 3 above.
   
4. Find out if you're too nice. Examine what you give away for free and what you are trying to sell.Remember, your site visitors and ezine readers think they already have everything they need.

To sell your product you have to put it in front of them where they can see it, it's attractive, it captures their attention and it sounds like something they want. Then tell them what to do and make it easy for them to make the purchase.

Maybe they won't buy it the first time you offer ... but if you offer it a few more times and keep pointing out how they will benefit from having it, you should make some sales.

To Your Success,
Susan

Where Are You Sending Your Traffic?

One of the many things you learn when you have your online business is that you are always learning new things. And, believe it or not, even the experts read info products written by others to discover new techniques to increase their profits. (OK, some of them have others reviewing the products and they just read the summary for new ideas.)

Now I am like you, getting new things and reviewing them myself. And 1 of the things I did a few months ago was join a brand new program to learn some techniques for getting traffic through writing.

Today I want to share 1 of the first lessons given in this program. Unfortunately I can't give you the entire 13 PDF report or copy it into the newsletter ... But ... I can give you a summary of what it teaches.

1 of the first surprises in this report is the sad fact that most people who write articles and submit them to article directories and ezine publishers to get traffic to their site aren't getting very much traffic from all this effort.

Why?

Because they aren't doing it right.

No, the report isn't selling a tool to send your article to a gazillion directories or ezines. Instead, it tells you how to increase traffic with the articles you write no matter how many or how you submit them.

Within the report there are 7 steps to drive traffic to your site by using content. Today we are going to briefly cover 6 of those steps.

1. Determine your goal.
   Most people write articles to get traffic to their site but that's not the goal of the successful online marketers. They don't want more site visitors - they want more names on their mailing lists. They may need more site visitors to get more names BUT getting more "leads" is what they really want. So here's the real goal for submitting your article:
   
   Create and publish content that will get targeted prospects to join your mailing list.
   
   
2. Set up a list management system - better know as an autoresponder system.
   The report suggest you have 2 lists: 1 for subscribers and 1 for publishers who use your articles.
   
   
3. Capture email address of the readers.
   Because this is why you submitted your article you need to know the best technique for getting readers to join your list.
   
   And the technique is - Provide additional information on your site.Here are some ways to get readers to visit:
   
   * Provide references to your content or ebook in the article.
   * Only submit part of the article and have them read the rest on your site.
   * Tell them they can get additional information about the topic of the article with a link to your site in your bio that's included with your article.
   
   
4. Use curiosity.
   The link you include should not point directly to the additional information. Instead it should point to a "squeeze" or "capture" page. (You know, a page that promotes the additional free information and allows them to read it after they've entered their email information.) In addition to the free information, you may even want to add an additional incentive like a free gift if they sign up.
   
   
5. Spice up your bio that's included with the article.
   Because everybody and their brother is an expert on your topic and they all have the best whatever it is your promoting don't copy their bios for your own.Be different. Add some humor, offer a free gift relevant to the article or say something that will peak the readers curiosity. Your bio is your little ad to get targeted visitors to your site.
   
   
6. Use the same resources over and over again.Create several subscriber "squeeze" or "capture" pages and use them over and over again as you write more articles. (You can see 1 of my bios at the end of this article. By the way, if you sign up for the report you'll get 3 unadvertised bonuses on the Thank You page - even if you don't confirm your subscription! Of course you won't get the report unless you confirm and that's what you signed up to get.)

Writing content to drive traffic to your site is hard enough so if you're going to do it, do it in such a way that you get as many targeted prospects to join your list as possible.

To Your Success,
Susan

PS Today's tip comes from 1 of the resources made available at:
TrafficWriting.com where Kevin Bidwell teaches how to
"Get Read and Get Paid."

Is Your Headline Working?

To make money on the internet you have to sell something.

To sell something you have to have people read either your sales page, you ad or both.

Your sales page headline and your email subject line are responsible for getting 75%, 85% or maybe even up to 95% of you copy read.

So what makes a good headline?

You have to use some psychology and use words that will grab the attention of your reader. Words like: Discover, Secret, Reveal, Save, ...

You have to use some psychology and make a statement that offers them something they think they "need" to know.

You have to use some psychology to get them emotionally involved.

You have to be truthful because once they start reading your sales copy they won't stay around if your sales copy doesn't stand behind the headline. (The one exception to this is when use a "stupid" headline and then explain, up-front, that you were just getting their attention. This sometimes works but not always.)

Because there's a lot of information about what make a good headline, let me tell you a few of the things that make a bad headline.

1. Using the word "Buy." - No one is looking for a way to spend money so don't send them away by telling them to "Buy the Best ..."
2. "Let Me Tell You" - No one wants anyone to tell them anything. They may want you to reveal or share information - but they don't want you to "Tell" them.
3. The word "Things" is much to broad. Be more specific when your write your headline and tell us what those "things" are. Are they secrets, ways to do something, tips, tactics, etc. ?

I once wrote an example headline with no product or sales page. And even though I explained it was just an example of how to get someone's attention, I had readers write and say the headline took them to a page not found.

Here's the example I wrote:

"Shhhhhhhh .... Want To Know A Secret?"

Remember, when you write your headline write something that would make you want to read it. If you can't get your own attention then it's doubtful you'll get anyone else's.

To Your Success,
Susan

PS Need some help writing a good headline?
Check out "Advertising Headline Templates That Make You Rich" because it may be exactly what you need.