Selling online has come a long way since its beginning days in the early nineties. PPC and SEO campaigns, viral video, and blogging are just a few of the promotional vehicles that e-tailers have at their disposal to help them increase their exposure and move their bottom line. But according to veteran Internet marketer Ken McCarthy, of http://TheSystemSeminar.com, online marketers sometimes miss it when they forget that selling online is still about serving the customer.
A Solid Foundation
Advises McCarthy, whose strategies have helped thousands of online retailers achieve success, ?Everything that works in Internet marketing works because it follows traditional sales principles. Don't become so focus on implementing the latest and greatest marketing technologies that you lose sight of serving your customers. At the end of the day, this is still a customer service business ? regardless of what you sell.?
When your main sales venue is the Internet, it can be easy to forget that you're still in the retail business, the same as if you had a storefront on Main Street. Your marketing methods may be different from those of a brick and mortar retailer, but the most important element of your business is, and will always be, your customers. Marketing can help you get their attention and interest, but you're going to have to provide them with good old fashioned customer service to earn their confidence and loyalty.
3 Steps to Successful Service
The common denominator that McCarthy sees among his students who realize the greatest success is that they understand the importance of benefiting their customers, and providing them with something that's of value to them. The following actions can help you lay a solid foundation for good customer relations:
? Carefully consider your offer and make sure it presents a real value to buyers.
? Present your offer in the clearest possible way.
? Concentrate on your solving your customers? problems.
For instance, if your customers want to buy golf clubs, make it easy for them to find and evaluate the products that they're looking for ? make your navigation simple and your pictures and descriptions clear. Provide them with a good deal and fast shipment. Help them resolve any issues that arise. A happy customer will be a repeat customer, as well as being an excellent word of mouth advertisement for your E-Biz ? which is still the most effective marketing method around.
First Things First
The Internet is a phenomenal tool for entrepreneurs and retailers, and it offers numerous advanced techniques for promoting your products and your eCommerce store. But none of these techniques mean anything without a focus on developing top notch customer relationships. States McCarthy, ?We're in a modern business, but at the same time, we're in a very old fashioned business. The idea of providing excellent service seems too simple to some people. However, very few of the students that I see succeed are technical wizards, but every one of them believes that their customers are their top priority.?
In the early years of the Internet, only large companies with broad name recognition could take advantage of the new medium's vast marketing potential. While search engines such as Google were still in their infancy, small businesses were mostly left out, and were forced to stick with traditional advertising methods, many of which were rapidly becoming obsolete.
For years, these trends have hurt small businesses. Today, however, it's becoming more and more possible for small businesses to regain marketing ground that was lost during the years in which the Internet was growing into the dynamic medium it is now.
These last few years have been nothing short of a revolution for online marketing of small businesses. This, of course, is an aspect of larger social and cultural shifts facilitated by the Internet. More than ever, the individual voice can achieve exposure equal to that of powerful corporations. Think of the ubiquitous blog phenomenon, as well as websites like YouTube and MySpace -- no voice is too small or insignificant to be heard around the globe.
As a small business owner, you may already have a sense of the changing times, and maybe you've added a blog to your website, on which you write about issues related to your business. If used well, this blog has pleased your regular, established customer base. This is great -- yet it does little toward building site traffic and expanding your market.
There are tons of Internet advertising techniques you already know about, and these are somewhat useful, but most of these techniques do little to earn the long-term trust and respect of new customers. If you're interested in reversing this trend in a creative way, you might want to try article marketing.
Article marketing is an innovative strategy that can generate new, long-term customers. For detailed information, do a Google search for "article marketing," and you'll find some helpful websites that can lay out the details for you
In short, you'll be generating solid Web content -- always a hot commodity in today's constantly-updating cyberspace -- and, through "About the Author" boxes attached to your content, you'll draw a growing number of potential customers to your website. It's similar to the blogging you may already do, except the article marketing service will help to spread your content through many different corners of the Web.
It's about going back to the basics. What originally drew you to your business? Likely, it was your knowledge and passion for your field. And once you had started your business, how did you first attract your now-loyal customers? Most likely, you simply talked with them, and earned their trust. Article marketing can help you do this with thousands of new customers.
The key to drawing customers is to show that you have an expert and insightful perspective on your field. You can do this by writing short, informational articles. Start with things you know about, and do a little research, if necessary. Make your articles around 600-700 words, and use them reveal insights about your field that your customers should know.
Try not to write your articles as advertisements for your business. If your articles are well-written and informative, your "About the Author" box will be all the advertising you need.
This is the leveling power of the Internet. Though your business may be small, you can use your knowledge and expertise to compete with big corporations, whose marketing budgets may be a thousand times larger than yours.
Of course, today's search engines still favor larger companies in some ways. Basically, the more times a website is linked by other websites, the higher it will climb in search results. That's why, for instance, Amazon -- which gets linked practically everywhere -- is always at the top of search results. However, as you've probably already figured out, you can utilize this system, along with article marketing, to place your website higher.
Both Chris Malta & Robin Cowie & Tiva Kelly are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Tiva Kelly has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Finances and Small Business. Tiva Kelly is an expert at article marketing and offers support to authors at Article Marketer, a highly popular article distribution service. Leverage this. Tiva Kelly's top article generates over 450000 views. Bookmark Tiva Kelly to your Favourites.