Think about what you typically say to potential customers. Which words do you choose? Which angle do you take to stir their interest and sell your product? It’s very important to consider these things, since the words you choose can significantly influence your income.

Never Knock the Competition

One mistake many people make is knocking the competition in the hopes of boosting positive perception of their own business. It’s a bully’s attitude and one to avoid.

A better idea is to tell people why your product is good – better than the next business’s – without dragging them down in the gutter. By doing so, you show that you have integrity and respect for your competitors and that you believe in the value of what you sell.

Never Make People Feel Stupid

“You’re not doing that, are you?” Patronizing people is a common mistake. It makes people doubt themselves and feel embarrassed and silly. They haven’t done anything wrong. They just didn’t choose your products or services, that’s all.

Acknowledge that potential customers have been doing X action or using Y product and make them feel like this decision was fine – because it was. You can then point out how your product or service offers more value or better results.

Never Forget Initial Contact

When you’ve been in contact with a potential customer already and have a second opportunity, recall a detail about the initial encounter. Otherwise, you leave the customer feeling like he or she is forgettable – not a good feeling.

Want a trick for those moments when you just can’t remember a thing? Ask, “Did you have that shirt on last time when we met? No? Oh, well I really like the color. It suits you.” The person feels flattered and memorable – and may be more in the mood to listen to you!

Never Ask Too Many Questions

Some people try to determine the needs of potential clients by flinging out a hundred questions and hoping one sticks. Avoid asking too many questions; ask the right questions and listen to the answers.

Make sure that the questions you ask have to be answered by more than a yes or no. Pay attention to what the person says to determine needs, hopes and desires. Narrow in to what the person really wants and then provide it.

Never Seem Desperate

No matter how badly you want this consumer to become a customer, never appear desperate. Desperation turns people off and doesn’t sway many into becoming a loyal customer. Be confident, be honest, be forthcoming and be ready to let go.

Your goal in marketing is to create a positive and memorable consumer experience, even if the person didn’t become a customer at the moment in question. The more favorably people perceive your business or offerings, the more likely they are to think of you the next time they want to buy.

1. Phrases and Keywords

People search the Web using particular words and phrases they hope will lead them to the sites they want. To be sure they find your site, select words and phrases that are simultaneously popular enough to use, but unique enough to your business to help your target customer find you. A popular phrase that brings up millions of pages will be useless, as will a phrase that might find only your business, but that no one knows or would ever think of when searching.

2. Tempting the Googlebot

All search engines use armies of small programs called “bots” that search the Web, read pages, analyze contents and place their findings in various indexes that supply results to searchers. Your job is to provide the bots with a sitemap and to use files, such as robots.txt, to limit where they search your site. Choosing the right hosting service for a new site is also important, as is understanding the crucial role that bandwidth plays in site performance.

3. Getting Your Pages Right

Writing the appropriate keywords and phrases for your site is decisive. Remember Google parses websites differently and presents them with less priority if their pages are very similar to many others. A professional copywriter may be useful to ensure you’re making the best use of every element. The challenge is that your pages must be accessible to search engine bots while remaining user-friendly and readable.

4. Linking So that It Counts

Google does not publish its exact algorithm for ranking websites, but it does pay attention to the sites that link to and refer to your site. The route to a good Google ranking is to get a high quantity and quality of links to your pages from important, relevant and reliable sources. Make sure you have not inadvertently created suspicious-looking pages or traffic.

5. Google’s Paid Ads

Keep in mind that a lot of the cost of Web advertising is wasted. If you decide to pursue it, be sure the material is written correctly. To put paid ads in perspective, see them as a useful adjunct to a solid campaign for good organic search-result rankings. Be careful which words you purchase and how much you pay. Don’t get stuck in a situation where you pay for hundreds of thousands of meaningless clicks. Be cautious when you build the landing page, the one that searchers will see first when they click on your ad. Make sure it helps your customers easily access whatever you offered them in the ad.

6. The Rising Power of Maps

Increasingly, search engines emphasize maps and geography-based searches. To boost your website visibility think about such relevant features as declared language and geographic optimization. Use coding standards so that customers from around the globe can find you, read your text in their own languages and learn where your stores are. Don’t forget to target local customers since people are drawn more strongly to Web ads from nearby businesses than to those from distant businesses or those of indeterminate location.

7. Using Google Analytics

Track and analyze the traffic your site generates. Google provides excellent tools to understand how your customers work with your site. You can activate Google Analytics by adding a bit of code to each page you want tracked. Google also supplies Webmaster Tools that help you monitor your search rankings. These toolsets are evolving and continue to be enhanced. When you really know how people use your site, you can fine-tune your organic and paid advertising, as well as revising your site to become more attractive and effective in converting Web searchers into customers

Procrastination

Putting things off is a killer, especially where marketing is concerned. You need a plan and a time management system in place. Prioritize your tasks and keep lists of everything that needs doing. And no matter how much you don’t feel like doing something just get it out of the way and never leave it until the next day!

Striving for Perfection

You’ll likely never have a “perfect” website, product or service but you know what? It doesn’t matter! It’s important to get started as soon as practical to move forward. You can tweak things as you go along, and improvements will come later but if you try to get everything “right” before you go live then you’ll never get go forward.

Wasting Money

This one is important especially if you don’t have money to burn! Don’t get caught up jumping from opportunity to opportunity or buying everything that lands in front of you. You’ll be surprised how much you can get for free. You don’t need half the stuff you see out there. Try to control your emotions and think before you buy. Write a list of pros and cons, and make sure that the product or service is essential to you.

Not Spending Enough

Unfortunately you have to spend a little. It won’t be much starting out, but you will need more as you grow. The bulk of your expenses will be on promotion. If you’re paying someone to create your product or you’re buying resell rights then this is another expense.

Wrong Markets

This is a tricky one. If you are dead set on conquering a certain market you could end up on a long and expensive journey that is doomed to failure. Do some research first. A so-called niche market is a good find but only if this niche will spend money! Avoid choosing broad saturated crowded markets as your competition will be tight.

Lack of Growth

You must continuously grow yourself and expand your mind. Learning is essential. If you don’t you’ll be stuck with the same skills and ideas and you’ll never even notice when you are bogged down in complacency and routine.

Doing It Alone

You can do it alone but it is harder, and without support you are more likely to fail. It doesn’t have to be much. Online forums, for example, are an amazing source of ideas and encouragement. And with other people, by forming Joint Ventures or starting your own referral program you can really leverage your efforts and do far more than you could ever do on your own.

Going For The Small Money

Most likely, you are not going get rich selling $20 items. Try to include some higher priced goods and services in your marketing. You will get less sales but more profits. You won’t know if they sell until you try! However, don’t fall into the trap of selling anything because you get a high commission. Integrity is important too.

Separating Life and Work

One of the biggest pitfalls when working from home is the fact that life can encroach on your activities. Try to separate the two and have fixed times when you work and a set area to do it. Work doesn’t have to take over your life.

Be Ambitious

You won’t know unless you try. Assume you can do anything because you can! You may not be ready to do it yet, but don’t set up mental blocks in advance. You can create your own profitable items or services and have others sell them for you.