Training Topic Suggestions?
January 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Hello fellow petrepreneurs and mentor club members… I get several emails everyday, asking questions about certain pet related business start-up topics… as well as suggestions for posts. These are greatly appreciated (both by myself and by the other readers with the same questions), but I simply am not able to keep up with these questions and suggestion as they pour in via email.
So, I humbly ask that you submit your questions and suggestions for post topics here, in the comments section below.
I cannot promise an answer … in fact, in many cases, I won’t be able to answer all your questions. However, I will read this every day, and I will use some of these questions for future post topics … I promise!
More Content = More Sales
January 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
As part of a Petrepreneur Monthly Mentor Club exercise I asked for volunteers that would have me review their site for profit holes - I chose a successful online wholesaler (think eBay) with a tight Ferret niche.
Their ‘neatly designed’ main content site had a grand total of only 9 pages - this was the first problem (more on that later).
Add to that, two of those 9 pages were the obligatory “About Us” (i.e. about them) information, and an additional page was a Contact form with absolutely no sales copy on it.
Leaving a whopping 7 “Product” pages (which they had segmented into pretty logical categories)… all listing multiple products — about 200 of them — most with little more than a single line of descriptive text.
If you have any experience with direct marketing you can probably guess what kind of sales their main content site is currently generating. Virtually Zero, Zip, Nada! If it wasn’t for their eBay and Amazon business they wouldn’t have a business.
It’s a shame too, because, ‘Ferret Fanatics’ are screaming for information.
I’ve written extensively about creating your own information product, defining profitable niches, and engaging fellow pet fanatics through social media and your own blog.
Even in today’s chaotic business market, in my opinion, information products are still the fastest and most profitable avenues to start to turn your passion for pets into “lifestyle” income. And I say this as I still (almost daily) consult with industry heavyweight physical product manufacturers and marketers, treat bakers, pet focused network marketing companies and the more traditional service providers (groomers, vets, pet food delivery/concierge, etc) that are all showing strong earnings.
But the one key ingredient each of these businesses have is CONTENT - without which I believe they would be struggling to survive the recent economic insanity.
Compelling content (or INFORMATION) really is king on the Internet and it’s becoming even more important in old line service and retail businesses. Ultimately when marketing your physical products or services, the more fascinatingly descriptive content you provide, your results (sales, new clients, etc) will almost automatically improve.
So what did I tell this company?
Well I obviously had a lot to say, but here’s the Reader’s Digest version:
1) Start again! In my opinion (well actually the results don’t lie) the current site is a total waste of time. First start with a direct sales framework and redesign the navigation so the focus is all about… the visitor, not the company.
2) Give each ’product’ it’s own sales page with very descriptive (but not boring) product spec’s - I even suggested they use a J. Peterman approach by providing specifics on how products have helped fellow ferret fanatics enjoy their furry friends more, or how the product solved a common problem (odors…), and where possible give case studies and live example of actual results achieved (pictures, audio and video are great sales people).
And ideally have a lot more than one page for each product category — maybe even separate web sites with their own domain names. Having separate domains allows you to target specific keywords more closely, not only will this help with actual sales of the site, but it helps with organic search engine rankings - generating massive amounts of free traffic. With online direct sales, the old saying “the more you tell them more you sell them” is VERY TRUE!
3) Add some new features that compel visiting prospective clients to inquire about your products or services. The old run-down “Contact Us” page… Phooey! How about a little form on every page, where the title of the form ties into the product itself?
Also, maybe most critically, test, test, test… until the conversion rate (visitor to purchaser) is above 5% — then test some more.
These ideas were just the tip of the iceburg - and if you have a site or business you would like help getting started or taking it to the next level get your membership into the ‘Petrepreneur Monthly Mentor Club’ and your site may be one that I choose to work with on the next case study for the other members.
