Website Building for Beginners Blog

Selling a product through a website can be done very quickly if you follow the right steps.  It is even better if you have exclusive rights to that product.  That way, you stand to make more money and also have something to offer other vendors ( affiliates).

Don’t worry, this is easier than it sounds.

First off, you have to offer something that people are searching for.  Second, you have to have something that people can’t easily find elsewhere.  And third, you have to make it easy for them to buy it immediately.

An information product is a great fit for selling through a website.  Most people are on the internet to get information.  And an information product is fairly easy to create.  A friend of mine built one during his breaks at work, in one afternoon. ( yes it needs polishing, but the framework is there)

You could sell a physical product, but tell me, how often have you done what I did this afternoon?

I am looking for a new bike.  I searched the internet and found some reviews and prices.   Then I looked at a reputable sports site and found the bike I liked.  Did I buy it?  NO!  I’m going to a local store to look it over.  Then, I may buy it online, or if the store can match the price, I’ll buy it there.  But I can’t tell you when I bought the last training manual in a store.  I buy them all online.

Online Information Products are hot and still selling like crazy.  People are looking for specific information and, if presented right, are ready to pay for it.

Of course the devil is in the details.  It is like a parlour magic trick.  Once you see how it is done, you smack your head and go ” Oh yes, of course, how easy!”  Note: this is always done after the trick is explained…. such is life.

I’ve followed and learned from a lot of experts over the years.  Eban Pagan taught me to build according to the seekers’ wishes.  Howie Schwartz taught me how to find what people were looking for.  Eric Holmlund taught me the technical details and software needs.  But I still needed someone to put it all together.  Enter an old mentor….Mark Joyner.

He has just put together a very successful training program on how to produce an information product, with simple instructions on how to build the infrastructure to sell it.  And …. how to do it in a simple effective manner.  The Mark Joyner touch of genius.

His program is so successful that it has caused a bit of an embarrassment.  People ( ordinary people like you and me ) are succeeding at a rate far beyond the programs description.

OK…. yeah yeah…sales pitch alert eh?  Well take a look at this video and you will see why I’m signing up:

Mark Joyner’s Simpleology Info Product Course ” Embarrassing” successes

I’ll tell you my personal reasons for wanting to buying this course.

I over think things.  I get all the information and tools and chew on every detail.  I have a hard time just doing the project.

Mark’s gift is his ability to simplify things.  So instead of going through all my courses on how to write the best sales letter, and how to structure an ebook, and what equipment is best for doing video blogs, etc etc…; I’m just going to relax and use this fill in the blank system.

Do I think the first products will be beautiful?  No.  But they will be out there.  Helping people and making money.

The great thing about information products sold on the internet is that I can always go back and tweak and update both the product and the website features.

So take a look at Mark’s video and see if this will work for you as well.

Good Luck!

There are some great video tutorials being produced by a couple proven internet marketers.  Both of these mentors are producing material that can be used by people just beginning to build websites and looking to start building some online income.

Eric Holmlund has been steadily adding to a series of video tutorials using an ebook product as the focus of the lessons; however he makes sure that you can apply every technique to a variety of online marketing projects.  I’ve held back on telling too many people about what Eric was doing because he originally intended to use this series as a product in itself.  I didn’t want to dilute Eric’s sales by directing people to the project while it was still in the free stage.

But with the lessons nearing the 70 video mark, I have noticed that there is a built in revenue source.  As people move through the lessons, they need various tools.  Eric supplies some affiliate links for these tools ( and yes he makes it clear that they are affiliate links).  I’ve bought quite a few pieces of software and services through Eric Holmlund because I like him and his generous nature.  You can start with the internet marketing lessons at  http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson1/ .  Make sure to set up a folder or filter on your email service to store all the lessons.  I believe that Eric is going to wrap things up at 100 video lessons.  And yes I’ll probably buy the DVD set if and when he sells it.  I still refer to the lessons that he did with Joel Comm’s Instant Adsense Templates.  They are better than anything I’ve seen on how to use common software tools.

Michelle MacPhearson is another real life internet marketer ( a person who makes some income from websites).  She too has a knack for teaching.  I love her fast paced no nonsense style.  She is producing some cutting edge instructional videos right now as a supplement to her Crowd Mountain membership site.  The videos are just what a beginner needs to get a successful website up and running.

The free video lessons are accompanied by some free software which also helps in the marketing design of the websites.  It is one thing to build a website, but it is also important to have it designed in a way that attracts the attention of readers and search engines.

The big selling feature that Michelle MacPhearson has, is her ability to filter all the “make money online” promotions and give you the straight goods.  I heard her talk about how the goal of Crowd Mountain was for her to test and filter all the new technical advances and promotional techniques so as to allow website builders to stick to making money.  What a great idea!

I can’t tell you how much time I waste trying to figure out if a new piece of software is necessary or just a useless part of some big promotion.  ( as a side note, I must tell you that I recently tested some exit software on my main http://www.websitebuildingforbeginners.com website and it killed my search engine and newsletter traffic … )  I will happily let people like Michelle do the techie testing.

You can see what Michelle Macphearson is up to and also sign up for her complimentary training videos and software at her
Michelle MacPhearson Blog .

The expected sales (or response rate) of any Internet marketing activity is seldom talked about by people trying to sell you products to make money online.  But there is an industry standard.  It goes back to the old days of direct sales marketing ( the ” junk mail” and magazine ads ).

Direct sales professionals shoot for a response rate of 1-3%.  You can do things to improve your odds by using all the technical analysis software and marketing skills programs that are being sold in the ” make money online” emails you get.  But as a beginner, it is best to use this as a standard to measure your success.

Also remember to break down the response percentage into all the various subgroups of activity that a browser undertakes on the way to makeing a sale.

1. They must choose your link on a search engine’s first display page.  ( odds 1 in 10)
2. Once on the site, they must  stay on for an appropriate length of time to read/hear/see your offer and decide whether to act. ( 30%)
3. Having decided to act/click on your offer, they must then complete the shopping cart ( if you are selling a specific item) 50%  OR
4. If you are selling an affiliate item, they must be willing to invest time and activity to start steps 2 &3 over again. 30%

Now you can see why so many internet marketing experts keep chanting ” the money is in the list”.  They need to drive thousands of proven buyers back to the shopping cart to make those amazing bank statements you are shown in their promotions.

So is it pointless to expect to make any money on the Internet without serious investment and manipulative behavior?  Not if you get some good basic habits and expectations set up before you begin.

And also there are the WILD CARDS!

Here is another under reported fact about making money with a website:
YOU SELDOM KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO BE THE MONEY MAKER

This is why it is important to keep putting up content and offers and shifting design, and on and on and on.  I’ve heard many successful people talk about the surprise they got when one article or one product offer suddenly hit the jackpot.  Also, it seems that when a search engine locks on to that one recommendation, it will keep sending people and ranking you higher as the clicks keep coming in.

Now I’m not talking about the big Jeff Walker designed promotions.  I’m talking about everyday websites.

Here is something to work on:

1. Decide who you want to be looking at your website.  Build a persona ( eg. 36 yr old woman with 1 child and wanting to have at least one more soon, living in the Midwest in a 2500 sq ft house with a family income of $52k .  Attends local church groups & PTA.)
2. Build a website around her interests.  Be as specific as possible (  called a “long tail keywords” ) eg. fast efficient green household cleaners, healthy eating for midlife pregnancy, etc.
3. Decide what action you want her to take on your website.  eg. click on adsense ads as she searches for more information, click on amazon product features ( books, products etc) , buy an ebook from clickbank, join a coaching program…….
4. Sign up for all the appropriate programs and start by putting one revenue choice on your website.
5. Keep adding articles and other info resources ( RSS feeds, you tube vids) until the search engines decide that you are serious and start sending you traffic.
6. Play around with the other income streams until you find a good balance.
7. Give yourself a big fist pump when your sales hit %2.  And then fine tune things to squeeze even more out  of your site.

OK time for me to get back to it and take my own advice.  Check out our main website building training site for more articles and step by step advice.

Colin

What a RUSH!  The world was literally beating down the door to get the 5000 headers yesterday.  Here is the link for the $37 special that they are probably regretting right about now. It took me a day to get mine.

They really weren’t ready for the demand and sent people to an old index page for the free version of the xheader program.  But why would you want to just have 500 free website  headers and editing software, when you could get 10X for such a low price?

The result was overloaded servers and emails flying to me from people asking where the 5000 headers were hidden. ( under the “buy” tab on the index page).

Also people have been asking about the $37 discount.  How long is it valid?  I asked Melissa and she said that this was a one week offer.  But considering the initial overload on their servers, I have a hunch that they may let this go for a few more days, just to help people who were locked out at the beginning,  get in on the deal.  This isn’t what they said.  This is just my guessing.  Of course they could go the other way and decide to cap it right on schedule.  After all, it more than exceeded their expectations ( and I think they are kicking themselves because of the price point).

I’ll keep my ear to the ground and let you know about any updates.

Some have asked me about the worth of buying graphics that thousands of other people are also using.

Remember that these professionally designed headers cover a wide range of categories.  This limits the amount of similar website users.  Also you get to manipulate them a bit to make them your own.  And really, unless you are a fortune 1000 company, you just want that header to tell the viewer that your website is worth reading.  Grab the attention and trust and move to the content.

Also I was asked about whether it wouldn’t be simpler to just build our own headers.  ( I cover the free tools for this on our website)

Experience has shown me that even the simplest website header takes hours to assemble.  And for the beginner, this also means extra hours learning all the different software involved.  Frustration and abandonment soon follows.

Many of you have been following me for a few years now and have admitted that you still don’t have a website up.  The reason is because of all the frustrating technical roadblocks.  By using a pre made professional header, you remove one of those roadblocks.

The last question I’ll address is regarding the quality of these headers and the software.  The answer lies in the company that is selling them.  Intellimon has a long history of delivering software that is high quality and easy to use.  This is not some guy who went on elance and bargained hard for a bunch of slapped together stuff.  We are talking about the company that is behind my favorite programs ( XsitePro , and The Complete Guide to Websitebuilding Video Course )  These are gold standard programs!

OK enough said.  I finally got my 5000 Header & Software package this morning.  Get yours here through this link I’ve tested.

Thanks for your patience & Good Luck!

Colin

This is amazing.  I’m in! The # 1 killer of website building now has a solution.

My friends at intellimon have upgraded their popular xheader software with a library of 5000 ( yes you counted the zeros correctly) headers.

What this means is that you can instantly overcome the biggest hurdle in developing a website…… procrastination…..

I’ll let you in on a very big secret to internet success.  One that I’ve only heard mentioned by experts in private conversations.

Most people fail in getting websites up and running ( and perhaps making money) because they are too obsessed with making everything perfect.  And the biggest stumbling block is the header.  After all, it is the ” face of the website”.

I’m guilty of this.  I have three websites sitting idle just because I’ve been meaning to build ( or buy) an appropriate header.  I just can’t get my cheapskate personality to go hire someone and pay $200 for professional graphics and a logo.

But I bet I’ll find something appropriate in a batch of 5000 headers!

Then all I have to do is use a simple color matching tool such as colorpick and put up good looking panels for a polished look.  If the website takes off after I build up traffic, I can think about hiring a designer to remodel the site.

Do you get the sequence I’m proposing?

1. Choose the domain
2. Pick an appropriate header
3. Fill in the borders with a matching color
4. Publish and build up content
5. Drive traffic
6. Set up an income stream ( adsense, affiliate program, drop ship)
7. Reinvest income to polish up the site using experts.

The xheader pro is a great way get this process going.

’nuff said I think.  I’m heading off to get my copy.  It goes on sale today.

Get the Xheader Pro through this link.