As a means of increasing my affiliate products income, as of the date of writing this, I've been going to topic related websites in order to secure interesting products and services I may offer to others for a commission. Because I'm already Clickbank merchant, using them to pay my own affiliate partners and take my orders, I did my search for other merchants using the same service.

What I found is this: The great thing about the internet is anyone can try to start making money by making a sales web page. The bad thing about the internet is anyone can try to start making money by making a sales web page.

That's right folks, with no training whatsoever you to can get started and make many of the same mistakes I've seen on some of these websites some of which may still even be uncorrected on my huge whatever you need discount type site.

Here are some of the conclusions I developed while studying these sites for product inclusion and sales potential:

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Use Your Title Tag

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Home Page doesn't give anyone including search engines enough with which to work. Would you open the door to a building without sufficient signage? Then why should a prospective buyer click on the link on a search engine that says Index?

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Description tags Come Second to Importance

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This is the description that search engines will use. It's your job in your description not just to describe, but to sell me on the idea of clicking on your link to visit your site. If your sales pitch sounds better than your description then put some of that pitch into your description tag!

Two book stores happen to be located side by side. Both have attractive store names, but one is offering comfortable chairs and coffee as you browse. The other store may offer the same thing but how do I know that without the description of the benefits of going into that book store? Which store would I go into? Which link would you click? The one describing benefits or the one with just the title?

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A Large Font Descriptive Compelling Title

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Okay, I'm at your page, you have about five seconds to get me to stay on your page and keep reading, listening, watching etc..

This title obviously attracts martial artists, boxers and those interested in self-defense.

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Graphics

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Due to an experiment in making my sales pages copy and paste able into emails some of my pages are lacking graphics. Graphics include a book cover please. Some of my older books still lack book covers and I'm finding a good titled, colorful book cover will attract attention, give prospects more confidence in your product and therefore potentially increase sales.

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Samples

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When I go to an off line book store, I'll read the cover, read the inside flap, table of contents and flip through pages. Admittedly, I'm still correcting this in some of my own ebook, but I see the importance in giving the public the same options as they would in an off line book store. Providing a downloadable free version of your ebook would give your prospects the same privileges as if they trekked through the rain, paid $3.00 per gallon for gas and drove to their local book store. An on-line version with the page linked should be considered as an alternate option.

This will help with search engines and help with a problem I myself have. I will often download a sample of a product and sometimes not look at it for over a month. 'What's the hurry', I think to myself, 'it's on my hard drive.' Sometimes I feel reading it online will tempt me faster to buy.

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Customer Service

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Okay you're at the book store and you have a question about a book or you can't find the book you're looking for. So you look for the staff, which are no where to be found. What do you do? Well hopefully go to my book store, but probably go to the the next book store down the street, find an attentive staff member, get your questions answered and buy your book there. By the way, which book store will you refer your friends to?

My fellow authors and business friends, all of this is true on the internet, only your competitors are only a click away not a block away.

Don't worry about spam, you have filters just like a book store may have a staff member to screen calls. Worry more about having better communication with your guests than your one click away competitors have with theirs.

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Post Visit Contact

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Ever notice how book stores will do everything possible to stay in contact with you and get you to come back. They know you may not buy that expensive book, CD or DVD on your first visit. Being a multi-product store as opposed to a single product as some of you are including myself, the book store will send you offers and discounts in both snail mail and email. Every book store and coffee shop I walk into has a card for me they punch every purchase I make and after a set number I get a free product.

Do not forget about your prospects after they buy or after they leave your site.

The big point here being you're losing a lot of sales and future sales without offering incentives to stay in contact with your previous visitors as well as making it to their advantage to revisit your site due to fresh content. Do you archive your newsletters on your website with a link to those archives on the newsletter you're sending out? Do all of your newsletters contain a clickable link to your sales page. Giving prospects a chance to read your archives could peak their interest enough to buy your product. The links to your sales page will help your search engine ranking a bit as well.

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Conclusion

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Familiarity leads to comfort, comfort leads to confidence, confidence leads to increased sales and happy clients confident enough to buy again from you and refer others to your website. The next time you go to a successful book store or comparable off line store similar to your product or service, think to yourself, are my guests offered the same benefits?