Ecommerce Seek

Being an internet marketer or internet entrepreneur, you might have encounter countless self proclaimed Internet marketing experts, tons of e-products such as e-books and software that makes extraordinary claims. But how do you know which is the best deal and not a fraud or just a rip off? Well, here are my tips to help you consider yourself.

1) Never Buy On Impulse

One of my first purchases of information products was this massive bundled pack containing literally hundreds of products worth thousands of dollar, all with master resell rights. It was an offer that I could not refuse. I bought it on an auction site at the moment I first came across it. After making the purchase, I randomly did a quick browse and came across the same product offered by another seller at 90% lower the price I have already paid for. I was of course angry at myself as I have overpaid for a product that I can get at a far lower price. However, I learnt that a simple search either on the auction site or the internet can save me huge sums of money. Most of the sale pages constructed by the sellers are to attract potential buyers to buy on impulse. That is how they cash in. It is our own responsibility to be smart consumers. This tip works not just on e-products but literally anything that is being sold online. All you have to do is just copy the name of the product and just do a quick search on search engines. At times, you will be surprised with the results.

2) If In Doubt, Ask

While reading a sales letter or page, you might be a little confused or unsure of the terms used. For example, if the publisher offers Money Back Guarantee but did not specify the terms. Just contact the publisher with your question. If the publisher is a reliable source, you should receive your answer within 24 hours or less. If you do not receive a reply, just give the seller a miss as it shows that the seller does not maintain it’s sales page and how can you be guarantee a good customer support after purchasing the product when the publisher can’t even reply to your pre-sales e-mail.

3) Age of the Product

Try to verify the age of the product. Don’t just look at the phrases such as “Just Release” or “Brand New” and certainly don’t believe the date on the sales letter as it is generated by scripts that updates itself daily or synchronizes with the date on your computer. A few simple steps such as looking at the date of the copyright usually in the footer of the page can roughly tell you when the product is released. It will usually look something like this “© 2000 Super Marketer. All Rights Reserved”. This clearly indicates that the product was released in 2000. Some marketers do not update their sales pages once it has been released. Besides that, just send an e-mail enquiring about the date of release. The reason of avoiding buying old products as some of it might contain irrelevant information as you might know that the online world keeps on evolving and for a product release in 2000 to be relevant with this year, there is only a slight possibility. However, some products are released with latest updates making it just fine.

4) Be Careful with Master Resell Rights

Master Resell Rights is definitely an added bonus to any products. To those who are unfamiliar with this term, it is the rights given to you by the author or publisher to resell the products. Most e-products have this as an additional bonus as it adds value to the product. You can then resell as much of the product as you want at either an agreed price or a price that you decide. However, some publishers charge extra for the reseller rights. The only downside to products with Master Resell Rights is that it might not have any resell value as it has long been on the market and considered outdated or the competition of people selling it is too much. Besides that, just do a quick search on the item on a search engine because you might get it for a much lower price from another reseller.

5) Money Back Guarantee

Most people after making a purchase are just left disappointed with the poor quality of the product being nothing like what it is mentioned in the sales letter. However, most people forget about the Money Back Guarantee that is being offered. Use it and ask for a refund within the agreed time frame. For example, ask for a refund within the first 30 days of your of 30 Days Money Back Guarantee. Never wait until the last minute to ask for a refund. There might be delays on the communications and it could surpass your Money Guarantee Period. However, some products might not have Money Back Guarantee and hence you should choose your products wisely.

Visit http://digital-resale-rights.blogspot.com for cool products available for resale. Well, that’s about it for now. Do keep on the look out for my other articles in the near future. I look forward in hearing from you. Do send me your constructive feedback or questions.

Benny Ong XXX

Benny Ong is a serial web entrepreneur and is always looking for innovative ways to promote his online business and start new ones. Some of his success stories are http://www.hostonfire.com and http://www.tele88.co.uk Read more about Benny Ong at his blog at http://www.bennyong.com Benny Ong looks forward to hearing from you.

Tags: WebSites, Hints & Tips, Online Business, Digital Resale Rights, What Not To Buy, Ebooks, Benny Ong

Tags: Benny Ong, Digital Resale Rights, Ebooks, Hints & Tips, online business, websites, What Not To BuyBenny Ong, Digital Resale Rights, Ebooks, Hints & Tips, online business, websites, What Not To Buy

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Cyber Monday refers to the first Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend in the United States. This is supposedly the biggest online shopping day of the year. But is it?

A retailer I work with had their best day of the year so far on the Monday after Thanksgiving, 2005. But does that make it Cyber Monday?

It turns out that this particular retailer historically has done as much as 2-3 times more revenue per day over the 2-3 weeks following Cyber Monday.

BusinessWeek this down in an online column published on November 29, 2005 called Cyber Monday, Marketing Myth:

Contrary to what the recent blitz of media coverage implies, Cyber Monday isn’t nearly the biggest online shopping or spending day of the year. It ranks only as the 12th-biggest day historically, according to market researcher comScore Networks. It’s not even the first big day of the season.

For most online retailers, the bigger spending day of the season to date was way back on Nov. 22, three days before Black Friday. What’s more, most e-tailers say the season’s top spending day comes much later, between around Dec. 5 and Dec. 15.

Why the December 5th to the 15th?

1. We procrastinate,

2. But we realize online orders have to be shipped.

What can you do to take some stress out of your online holiday shopping?

1. Make sure you’re ordering products that are in stock.

2. Choose expedited shipping

3. Work with retailers who provide shipping tracking numbers, so you can pick up on any shipping snafus.

4. Work with credible retailers. Merchant ratings on sites like Shopping.com could help you determine who’s credible in addition to the major online retailers.

5. Don’t procrastinate.

Ed Kohler is the executive producer of Technology Evangelist, a blog covering technology, software, hardware, and web marketing.

Tags: holiday shopping, ecommerce, online retail, web marketing

Tags: ecommerce, holiday shopping, online retail, web marketingecommerce, holiday shopping, online retail, web marketing

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This may not be a popular view, but I think writing a web site is very similar to writing a piece of direct mail. I’m not talking about smash-and-grab fliers. I’m talking about those large mailings with brochures, a four or eight-page letter and a reply card.

And no, I’m not saying that the experience or the approach is identical. There are numerous differences too. But the similarities are significant, and can guide us in how we write for the web.

Here are some similarities:

1. We can guess that our conversion rate will be pretty low. In the area of one to two percent. More, if we do a good job.

2. We have very little control over the sequence in which people will read the information we provide.

With a direct mail piece, people might start with the letter, or the brochure. And who knows where their attention will settle first within either one. You never really know which part of a direct mail brochure people will read first. And the same goes for a web site. (If you have ever sat in on a web site usability test, you know what I mean. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out why people choose particular links or pathways through a site.)

3. We know we are losing readers at every stage of the process and have to write in a way that is clear, engaging and compelling.

This is very true for both direct mail and web sites. Of the hundred people who start reading, we will lose the interest and attention of almost all of them before the ‘task’ is completed.

4. We can identify significant ‘danger points’ when it comes to losing a reader.

In a direct mail piece we know we lose readers at the end of pages…at the end of page one of a four-page letter for instance. Or after someone has completed reading a page in a brochure.

Online, we know we are losing readers when they read or skim a page and don’t click forward one step closer to completing a task.

5. We know that we lose a significant number of people at the point of completing an application or purchase. They get that far and then back away at the last moment. This is very true for both direct mail and the web.

Now for one very significant difference between direct mail writers and web writers.

Direst mail copywriters KNOW all this and write accordingly.

- A direct marketing copywriter pays very close attention to the end of each page in a letter, writing in a way to pull people forward to the next page.

- A direct marketing copywriter looks through years of test results to write an application or purchase form that will yield the best results. (As does the DM designer.)

- A direct marketing copywriter writes in a way that is deliberately and carefully both compelling and informative.

A complex product takes several pages to sell. Knowing that, a copywriter needs to cover a lot of information for readers with a very fragile level of attention. The writer has to write in a way that is fluid, engaging, informative and persuasive.

- A direct marketing copywriter knows that key benefits and offers need to be repeated throughout the package. When you know that most readers don’t read every word, you need to repeat key messages so that everyone gets to read them more than once.

What’s my point?

I have two points to make.

First, there is a degree of sophistication in writing good direct mail that is rarely evident online yet. DM writers understand the nature of their medium and their readers in minute detail. At least, the good ones do.

However, online, while the quality of writers may be good, the sophistication with which they apply their craft just can’t compete right now.

For instance, it’s very rare to find a web page where you can see how carefully the writer and designer have worked together to maximize the number of people who click forward to another page.

In time, all this will change. It’s just a factor of the relative immaturity of the online medium.

My second point is that DM copywriters live or die by results. Every single day. And to give themselves the best chance of success, they study the successful work of others, and they obsess over test results. DM marketers test everything and are always learning.

This is the second element that hasn’t got up to speed online. It’s so easy to test everything and anything online. We should be doing more of that and adding to our knowledge of what works best in given situations.

By way of wrapping this up, online writers can learn a great deal from DM writers. (The same is true for online designers, who can learn a lot from DM designers.)

Both media depend on action, repeated actions - whether it is paper pages being turned or links being clicked.

Good DM writers are masters at driving action. We should learn more from them.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess Voice site. You’ll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.

Tags: copywriting, direct mail packages, direct marketing, conversion rates, direct marketers,

Tags: conversion rates, copywriting, direct mail packages, direct marketers, direct marketingconversion rates, copywriting, direct mail packages, direct marketers, direct marketing

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