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105 Ways To Make Money From Home
Five Smart, Effective Ways to Boost Website Profits
By: Angela
You've probably heard the saying, "work smarter, not
harder!" -- well, there's truth in that saying and you
can use it to increase the profits from your website:
1. Create an Upsell.
One of the best known examples of an upsell is when you
walk into a fast-food restaurant. Let's say you order a
burger combination that includes a small order of fries,
which sells for $0.99 on its own. A large order of fries
sells for $1.99. When the cashier asks you if you'd like
to change to a large order of fries for just an extra
$0.49, she's upselling you. Many people jump at the
chance to get the large fries, because they feel like
they're getting a good "deal".
Offer a premium version of your product as well. Test
various scenarios to see how best to present your
upsell. For instance, you could offer a choice before
the customer places an order, to give him the option
of choosing a product that's within the price range
he's willing to pay. Or you could present the upsell
after he's already made the decision to purchase
(eg. after he's pressed the 'order' link), because
once he's decided to buy he may be more amenable to
an upgrade.
2. Add a Subscription Service.
Subscriptions are a great alternative to one-shot sales,
since they offer the benefit of a residual income stream.
If customers like your service, they can renew year after
year - and there's relatively minimal time, effort and
cost required to keep them as customers. It's far cheaper
and easier to keep happy customers than it is to acquire
new ones.
Some ways to create a subscription service include:
* Offer a printed copy of a premium newsletter service.
For example, it could be based on your free email
newsletter but with more detail, or with coupons or
discounts that readers would not otherwise receive.
* Popular site? Charge an annual fee to sites that want
to appear in your links or resources directory. This
helps to weed out "casual" link requests while also
paying you for the time required to review links for
approval and to maintain the directory.
* Create a service that's available to subscribers only,
and offers information that isn't freely available to
others visiting the site. For instance, let's say your
site specializes in finding executive-style condos.
People who visit your website are presented with all
the details - photos, rates, amenities, and so forth.
The only thing missing is the contact information for
each rental. If someone is interested, he or she pays
a suscription fee to be able to view the contact
information for all the condos on your site.
There are plenty of other ways to create a subscription
service. Use your imagination!
3. Fire Bad Customers.
Most customers are wonderful, but there's always a small
percentage of them that end up costing your business far
more time and effort than is justified. For instance,
someone may constantly demand special treatment yet be
unwilling to pay for it. Another might be extremely rude
to you and your employees. The good thing about operating
your own business is that you can choose not to deal with
these types of people.
Some people are just impossible to please. Know when
to cut your losses. Be professional and polite, but
also firm, when you let your customer know that you
don't want his business. If you're so inclined, you
can even direct him elsewhere.
4. Cultivate Relationships.
People buy from other people. Establish yourself and
your business as a trustworthy and credible source of
information and quality products or services. Offer
fast, responsive, and helpful customer service - and
even try to go above and beyond what your customers
expect. Web businesses that venture outside of the
internet and into the 'real world' can help them to
stand out from the competition... even if it's
something as small as a thank-you card in the mail.
Publishing a newsletter is a popular way to keep in
touch and develop trust. Although it can be time-
consuming, it helps to keep your business in the
forefront of your readers' minds. When they're ready
to do business, your company is more likely to pop
into mind.
5. Follow-Up With Prospects and Customers.
There can be any number of reasons why someone won't
buy immediately, even if they're interested. They
might be waiting for the next pay cheque. The dog
may be barking to be let in, or maybe dinner is
burning. Whatever the reason, people do get distracted
from their original intent to purchase. Many people
are also naturally cautious and prefer to do more
research or mull things over before making the
decision to buy. By following up with a prospect
you're more likely to catch him at a time that he's
ready to make a purchase.
Many businesses will also follow up with existing
customers to offer their backend products. For instance,
someone who has purchased a dog training book may also
be interested in purchasing a complementary video that
demonstrates these dog training techniques.
There are lots of excellent autoresponders available to
take away the tedium of manual follow-ups. One excellent
choice is ListMailPro, which offers many helpful
features, including unlimited lists. Read more here:
http://www.onlinebusinessbasics.com/listhost.html
_________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Angela is the author of Online Business Basics, a practical
guide to marketing a business on a beginner's budget. This
guide offers loads of instantly useable tips and links, in
a down-to-earth style that even marketing "newbies" can
understand! Pick up your copy at:
http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html
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This article is free for republishing
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com
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