|
|
|
Online Success Simplified: 5
Must-Have Tools for a 6-Figure and Beyond
Business
by Sandra P. Martini
In building
and growing an online business, or one with a strong online
component, there are several must-have tools which will allow
you to not only have passive revenue, but to enjoy multiple
streams of it.
Here's a quick rundown of the most
basic tools (there are other, more advanced tools which will
be covered in a separate article):
1. A Shopping Cart.
An online shopping cart allows you to sell digital
products, have them automatically delivered to your clients
and automate the follow-up so you're not sending emails all
day and night.
I use and highly recommend KickStart
Cart as an all-in-one shopping cart and autoresponder service.
The Pro Version is $99.00/month (U.S.). If you're not yet
offering products, you can get the Starter ($34/mo) or Basic
($59/mo) versions.
And in order to easily accept
MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover Card, you'll
want to link your shopping cart with a merchant account using
a payment gateway.
2. An Email Marketing
System/Service.
An email marketing system allows you
to send ezines, solo e-mails and contact your prospect list
whenever you wish.
While you can, and many people do,
use your shopping cart for this, I prefer to use a separate
system (due to deliverability issues) and use Constant
Contact.
I continue to test deliverability between
Constant Contact and Kickstart Cart (which is one of the
1ShoppingCart brands - they all have the same issues) and, for
now, remain with this choice.
3. A Website, Blogsite
or Other Opt-in Page.
In any online business, your
primary goal is to have ideal prospects sign up to your list
so they can receive your ezine and other information.
The way to make this happen is by placing an opt-in
box on a website, blogsite or single opt-in page.
The
one you choose is completely up to you as all have been proven
successful. The nice thing about a blogsite is that you can
get it up and running quickly and inexpensively and your
hosting is usually included.
If you're doing it
yourself, I recommend TypePad for blogs/blogsites as it's
easy-to-use and has responsive support staff.
4. An
Incentive to Sign-up.
People are busy. We all receive
too much in our email inboxes these days and will only part
with our information if there is something in it for us: a
special report that we're interested in, an audio series which
will give us new information, a checklist that would be handy
to have.
You need to have some incentive on your
website/blogsite/opt-in page in order for people to part with
their names and email addresses.
The
report/audio/checklist is WHAT you're giving them. Your ezine?
It's the bonus gift they receive as a result of requesting the
report.
5. A Mentor.
If you're starting out or
currently stuck in your online business efforts, you will want
to strongly consider partnering with a mentor who can keep you
focused and accountable while guiding you through the
distractions (and there are MANY!).
You'll want to
chat with a few different people to see who you best resonate
with.
The time and money spent with a good mentor will
save you hours and thousands of dollars in learning and
mistakes, not to mention how much sooner the revenue will
start coming in!
The above is by no means a complete
listing of everything you'll need in your business, but these
5 tools will see you WELL on your way to a 6-figure business.
The next item? You'll have to wait for the next issue
for that! :-)
My Request to You
If you've read
the above and are shaking your head saying "I've done/have all
of the above and STILL nothing's happening", then it's time to
reevaluate:
Is your Incentive something your ideal
client is interested in? If you're getting lots of traffic to
your site, but no one's signing up, the answer is "nope", or
you're not presenting it correctly.
Is your ezine
providing information and content which is relevant to your
ideal clients? If you're seeing a lot of unsubscribes, it's
time to revisit what you're doing.
Do you have a
mentor (or coach) who gives you broad strokes, but doesn't
provide the actual steps of what you need to do when in order
to move forward? If so, you need to ask if this is the right
person for you at this time.
You, and only you,
control your business and your level of success. What do YOU
want and how much do you want it? The right tools will get you
there so much
faster!
=================================
For the past 5
years, Sandra Martini has been showing self-employed business
owners how to get more clients consistently by implementing
processes and systems to put their marketing on autopilot.
Visit Sandra at http://www.SandraMartini.com
for details, compelling client testimonials and her free audio
series “5 Simple and Easy Steps to Put Your Marketing on
Autopilot”.
|
|
|
