Web Design Barnstaple: The Idea Behind The Business - Updated for July 2016

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Obviously, the first place to start with any business is to come up with an idea. What, exactly, is up for sale and what is the best way to attract the customer to the product? This has been the main focus of all businesses, whether online or brick and mortar, for centuries.

For those who already have a traditional business, this is the obvious place to start. Even businesses that primarily work in the “real world” can benefit from having an online outlet, if for nothing else than to reap the benefits of the worldwide marketing aspect.

However, one of the most common mistakes that a “real world” business makes when transitioning to an online outlet is that they become what is known as a “brochure website,” where the website itself offers little information other than scanned brochures and directions to the store itself. While there is some merit to be had in this sort of website – and it is, indeed, better than no website at all – this doesn’t maximize the potential that the Internet has in furthering the cause of businesses.

For businesses who are looking to transfer from the “real world” to the digital one, it’s recommended to consider looking at the website as if it was the main focus of the business, rather than a peripheral concern. If a business owner was starting from scratch with a website and trying to sell the product, how important would the website itself be? It would be vital, because the website is the medium that sells the product. Websites who have “real world” businesses should view their site in the same way.

For those who are looking to start an online business from scratch, the most important thing to do is research. What are competitors offering in the field? How much are they charging, and what do their websites look like? Try Google searching for others who are offering the same things that you would like to sell, and check out their quality and pricing.

Next, sit down and consider how you can improve upon what your future competitors have already brought to the table. Do most of the sites you see have uninspiring websites or difficult navigation? Take note and make sure not to make the same mistakes when it’s time for you to launch your own site.

Remember that your online business doesn’t have to necessarily be unique in order to be successful. It just has to be a more appealing option to the consumer than the others already on the market. Take note on what your competition is doing and envision making it better. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel to find success – but if you can package it better or get it out faster, that’s a major step in the right direction!

Web Design Barnstaple: Facebook – Changing the Way You Advertise On the Internet - Updated for July 2016

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The internet offers great opportunities for prospective entrepreneurs. If you want to make extra cash, but you don’t want to quit your current job, then the internet is the place that you will want to go to. Online businesses are continuing to boom today and two businesses that many people are now making a lot of money from is internet marketing and affiliate marketing.

Here, you don’t really need to have the product to sell. You will be marketing for other people who have the product or service. You make money advertising their offers.

Internet marketing may seem easy but it’s really not. Even if you are experienced as a marketer on the real world, you will see that internet marketing is a new kind of marketing that will need new skills and new strategies.

If you are new to internet marketing, then you might want to know about Facebook marketing.

Unlike any other types of internet marketing, Facebook marketing is a lot easier but is as effective.

Basically, Facebook is a social networking website. Today, this particular website is now one of the most popular in the world. In fact, there are over 60 million subscribers and is continuing to grow very rapidly. With this kind of traffic, you know that this website is definitely the place to market in.

The next question that you may ask is how marketing in Facebook any different from other types of internet marketing. Basically, Facebook marketing is also internet marketing. But in Facebook, you will already have the traffic you want. Also, you have the tools necessary for you to market your website as well as the products or services your affiliate is trying to sell.

In Facebook, you first need to try and create your own network. You can easily start out adding your old friends, colleagues, and relatives in your network. Once done, you can now expand and start building new relationships, join groups that is particularly interested in what you are marketing, and after all these things are done, you can start marketing by using some of the great applications or tools that Facebook provides.

And, the best thing about all these things is that everything you read is absolutely free. For this kind of internet advertising, you don’t even have to pay a dime.

In Facebook, you can also use its official marketing tool called Facebook Ads. This is a pay per click advertising tool, which means that you need to spend money. Although this is the case, you will see that Facebook Ads is definitely well worth the money.

Also, instead of starting out with a hundred dollar a day budget for your Facebook Ads advertising, you will see that Facebook Ads can let you start advertising in as little as 10 dollars a day or even 5 dollars. This is great if you are just starting out and is still experimenting with your advertising ideas as you don’t have to invest quite a large sum of cash for it.

So, the next time you try internet marketing to market your website, you might want to try marketing on Facebook. Here, you will see that you will have everything that you will ever need. From traffic to tools to great advertising programs, Facebook will be able to provide it all.

Web Design Barnstaple: Sales Funnel Basics - Updated for July 2016

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Sales funnels are often talked about in internet marketing
circles, but not always defined. Quite simply put sales funnels
are put in place because the marketer is trying to get the
potential customer to take a certain action in every stage of
the sales funnel that will eventually lead to a sale or multiple
sales.

For example, if you imagine the shape of a funnel, then you know
its extremely wide open at the top and as you move lower into the
funnel it gets extremely narrow.

As a marketer you are trying to get as many people as you can
into your sales funnels because it’s much easier to maintain a
customer than it is to acquire a customer.

Once you have a customer in your database, then as a smart
marketer you can continually offer products and services to that
person, which means more and more money in your pockets if they
should take you up on your offers.

A simple sales funnel might be that you have written an ebook
that you want to sell on weight loss. If you can get people to
your website, then you can show them a sales page that offers
your particular ebook on weight loss. If they make a purchase,
then they get the ebook on weight loss – the end of the sales
funnel.

But what a smart marketer might try and do instead of the above
example is develop a lasting, long term relationship with their
customer. So instead of sending the potential customer straight
to a sales page, they offer them a free mini ecourse on How to
Lose 20 pounds in 10 days, naturally and without exercise. And
all they have to do to get the course is submit their email
address. That would be the 1st stage of the sales funnels this
marketer has in place.

The mini ecourse offers great information that is beneficial to
their customer and the more the customer reads the more they
start to trust. After the mini ecourse is over you might offer
them a low priced product that the customer can purchase. The
2nd stage of the sales funnel. And depending on what action that
person takes will lead them to another part of the sales funnels.

Suppose you have a higher priced product that is closely related
to your low priced product you offered, but has so much more
value. You are not going to offer that product in the earlier
stages of your sales funnel because if people don’t know you
they don’t trust you and they certainly won’t buy from you. So
sales funnels build trust and ultimately sales. However you
decide to build your sales funnel think about what you want from
your customer at every stage of the funnel and how you can
profit while still offering value for every stage of the
process.

CALL TO ACTION

Web Design Barnstaple: Sell It With Copy - Updated for July 2016

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What’s just as important as the quality of your product and the organization of the site it’s located on? The copy that sells it, of course!

Consider your copy the same way you’d consider yourself before going on an interview for a job. You’d be clean, you’d look professional, and you might even rehearse a little bit about what you were going to say. Your copy should present itself like it’s going in for an interview as well – this is your business speaking for itself, after all!

What are the cornerstones of good copy? Well, let’s start off with the obvious – good copy is first and foremost well organized and free of grammatical errors. If your copy is hard to read and misspelled, it looks unprofessional which sets off red flags in the mind of your customers. Don’t let the incorrect usage of semicolons drive away potential revenue. Also, if nothing else, be sure to run everything through spellchecker before putting it up.

But if you want your copy to truly pop, you’ll need to do more than make sure that you cross your Ts and dot your Is. Good copy can accurately describe the product or services that you sell, as well as inform the customer why your product and services are better than what’s offered by the competition. It paints you, the seller, as credible and honest, and it adds a touch of urgency to the transaction, convincing the customer that it’s in his/her best interest to make a purchase as soon as possible. Good copy is convincing, but not overbearing.

There are two obvious ways to go about getting good copy for your online business. The first is writing it yourself. The second is outsourcing. The first is definitely the cheaper way to go, and even if you are utterly incapable of designing a website, it’s likely that you know how to work a word processor and use spellchecker. You could write your own copy very persuasively and well.

But this is another area in which potential online business owners should not scrimp. Be honest with yourself. Will you be able to represent your services and products to the extent they deserve – and need to be represented in order to be profitable – with your writing abilities?

Many people opt to outsource their copy just as they outsource their web design. Just as there are people who have dedicated themselves to the art of making web pages, there are those who make a living out of writing the copy that fills these pages. Many of these places are also versed in writing copy that will make your website appear higher in search engine rankings, which is a worthy consideration as well.

Either way, be sure not to forget about spellchecker.

Web Design Barnstaple: Facebook Marketing – Are You Using It in Your Business? - Updated for July 2016

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As a business owner, you know that you are constantly wondering how you can attract more clients. If you own an online business, the answer to your traffic problem is internet marketing. You need to remember that without marketing, you will never be able to get targeted traffic into your website. Today, any kind of business, whether online or offline are now using internet marketing in order to expand their reach for new customers.

Internet marketing is not quite as easy as it may sound. You have to consider the fact that you need to work hard in order for you to attract targeted traffic into your website. You need to make a lot of good articles to read that is related to the products or services that you are selling and you also need to join forums and the discussions in it. Also, you need to get your website to be attractive.

Whatever you are selling, internet marketing is a hard task to do, but when it works, it is well worth the effort and money.

However, thanks to social networking website, such as Facebook, you will see that internet marketing is a lot easier than ever before. First of all, in all social networking websites, Facebook is one of the most popular websites. Here, you will already have the numbers you need. This means that it already has traffic. With millions of subscribers logging and out each day and also millions more registering each day, you can be sure that you will be able to get your fair share of targeted traffic in this website.

In Facebook, you will see that all kinds of people with different social backgrounds join. Also, the members themselves will try to separate themselves from distinct groups. The fact that Facebook will allow people to create and join groups you will be able to easily find your target customers.

Whether the group is separated by age, school, gender or interests, you will see that you will find all sorts of groups here in Facebook.

Another great thing about Facebook is that it will provide every member with the tools needed in order to communicate with their network. These tools can be considered to be great tools for you to use in order to advertise or market your products or services to other Facebook subscribers. From applications to news feeds and blogs, you will see that Facebook will be able to provide it all.

Now that you know about Facebook, the next question would be how to market in it. The first thing that you need to do is subscribe in Facebook. After subscribing, you may want to try adding your old friends. Invite them to join Facebook to start building your network.

Then, try joining groups with interests that is related to the products or services that you are selling.

Use the tools in Facebook to attract people to view your profile page. Add videos, pictures and applications.

Basically, this is how Facebook can help in marketing your products or services. It will readily provide you with traffic and the tools you need to market, but it is entirely up to you to do the marketing itself.

You have to figure out how to properly use the tools in order for you to effectively market your products or services. These are the things that you need to remember about Facebook.

Web Design Barnstaple: Creating A Great Squeeze Page - Updated for July 2016

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In the two minutes it takes to read this post, you’re going to learn some excellent tips for creating a great squeeze page. If you don’t know what a squeeze page is, it’s not because you haven’t seen one. You just didn’t know that’s what they’re called.

They are pages designed to squeeze contact information from your prospects, thus turning them into members of your email marketing list. That’s not the way you’ll refer to them though. You’ll call them subscribers to your newsletter.

The number one key to creating a great squeeze page is, you absolutely must have an ethical bribe to get people to give you their email address. This enticement needs to be valuable, because these days, people are a lot more reluctant than ever to give out their email address.

Targeting plays a huge role in the choice of your gift. For instance, if they came to your page from a Google search about information on Rottweilers, don’t offer them a free report on how to groom poodles. Your enticement will usually be a free report, ebook or audio that helps them solve a problem or answer a pressing question. Something of high perceived value.

Your gift can also be software, but again it needs to be targeted, and thought of as highly valuable. Some marketers even offer deep discounts to their products on their squeeze pages. The operative word, is deep. Whatever you choose, you should be able to deliver it digitally. In other words, via a download link in your email and it should be worth their time since they subscribed to your list.

Until you become advanced in the art of creating a great squeeze page, you should keep your pages from having too much text on them. Make the font fairly large and use black text on a white background for best results. It’s also good to have an image or two, but don’t crowd the page too much.

The latest research has shown you can get higher opt-in conversions by not asking for name, and instead just asking for their email address.

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