Revenue Plan, 6 of 10

#6. Revenue Plan

Make MONEY the metric you use to gauge the success of your site. Most first-time webmasters have a dream of creating a site that gets tons of visitors and becomes very popular. By doing this they are associating site traffic as the definition of success. This has shown itself a common habit on the internet because the traffic to other sites can easily be estimated using tools such as Alexa, but the amount of profits a site makes is private information and is usually not known. So, out of the 2 metrics – traffic and profits – people have chosen the one that is more visible instead of more accurate.

One of your biggest decisions is to what extent you want to try to make money from your site. As a starting point, look at the costs associated with your site and what impact your revenue plan will have on your site’s visitors. This is a personal decision that seems to be polarizing the webmaster community. One camp says that most content and services on the internet are free and it would be self-defeating to try to charge visitors for access to a site. It sometimes gets to a point where web users ‘are offended’ by non-obtrusive banner advertising. The other camp says that your web site is a business and you have the right – some would even say the obligation – to optimize the site’s profits.

Considered analysis says online businesses are no different than Bricks-&-Mortar businesses. Start-up websites are no different than large websites. They all need to make money. As far as charging your visitors for access to a content site, this is usually only for sites that have content that has a high, tangible, or objective value (quality research papers, inside reports, academic resources, White Papers).

Advertising is a different story. Since most content is free, having a few non-flashing banners shouldn’t offend your visitors. The number of visitors who are so turned off that they LEAVE is low. Don’t feel pressured to keep ads off or put ads on your site.

Some people say money isn’t everything. This is easy to say when you have a site that doesn’t get much traffic. In this case you can update it whenever you feel like it. But when your site grows bigger, there will be issues that require you to invest more time into your site. First, people will expect more content. Some visitors consider it a waste of their time to a read a site that isn’t updated. Second, you’ll have to deal with operational issues like comment spam, additional hosting costs, outsourcing content production and more. So after the site grows these webmasters are faced with questions they didn’t think they would need to answer, such as: Is it worth my time to constantly create fresh content when I’m not making money? Why should I invest so much time into a site when there is no tangible benefit?

Revenue Models

Donation – Donations typically will not bring in much money. Getting the money can sometimes be a pain in the ass too because Paypal sometimes freezes some accounts if they think someone is engaging in fraudulent operations, like a fake charity. The effect that soliciting donations has on your site’s visitors can vary. Some vistors may be annoyed that you are asking them to give you money. They look at the costs of the site as your responsibility and they don’t want to hear about it. Other times, especially if you have a tight knit community, many people will be willing and happy to help you out. If you choose this route then the best way to go about it would be to explain to your visitors about the financial cost and time and energy invested by you into the site. Without you telling them, your visitors will probably not realize how many resources it takes to run the site. These days, people assume all web sites are set up and operating cheaply.

Subscriptions – Subscription-based sites can bring in a lot of revenue. Two things to remember are that you really need to have some great content which people are willing to pay for, and you would benefit with a robust backend system to help with payments. By this I mean that only having PayPal would restrict your prospects. This is especially true if you want a professional look to your site. You will want to set up merchant accounts that take credit cards and this will cost money. Also look into AlertPay and PayDot.com
Another major consideration when charging for subscription access to a content site is that search engines will not index the content; therefore you can’t benefit from SEO (search engine optimization) for that content. This alone has potential to make a subscription model questionable. The lack of SEO, and therefore the lack of awareness of the site, would cause you to have to embark on a pay-per-click campaign as a marketing plan which could cost a lot of money. When considering the negative affects of a subscription model on your SEO you should look at how much content would be hidden. A best case scenario would be to have a lot of content available free to all visitors (and search engines) while having a premium section for additional content.

Advertising – Advertising can be a great way to bring money to a site. The basic model is to set up your site so that nothing is expected financially from your visitors, while your advertisers only pay you after you accomplish certain goals (sales, impressions, click-throughs). This creates a low-pressure environment for you, opposed to a subscription-based model where you are taking money from customers and you have a fiduciary responsibility to deliver results that are expected. This can lead to alot of stress.
One of your tasks when using the advertising model is to find a balance between maximizing the number of ads and minimizing the visitors’ annoyance. This mainly has to do with the number and location of ads. For illustration, a leaderboard ad pushes all the content below it further down the page, making people scroll more. Flashing banners get in the way of people trying to read text. And those mandatory full-screen “skip this ad” ads annoy everyone.

Product – In this instance you sell a product and, almost always, have to charge for it. The business model for these e-commerce sites is very closely related to the Brics & Mortar model as you have to worry about your gross margins and typically need to spend a lot of money on advertising. Affiliate – Affiliate marketing most closely resembles the advertising model where your visitors are not overtly pressured by a sales pitch to buy anything yet you still have the potential to make a lot of money. The only difference is that instead of making a fixed amount per unit of traffic your profits will vary as your sales vary.

A Side Note About Subscription Model Pricing

Another consideration about charging your visitors is whether to price your services low or charge a higher premium price. One point to consider is that with a higher price you will have higher profits margins. This is because the additional revenue that comes from price increases falls right to the bottom line because there is no additional cost associated with the extra revenue. This means it is all profit. Whereas if you increase sales by increasing the number of units you sell then you’ll have to pay the cost associated with all those extra units you sold, including fulfillment costs.

Another consideration is that with a higher price and lower customer count you will have fewer customer service issues to deal with. This means fewer e-mails to answer, fewer emails to send out (if you send out a newsletter for example), a smaller database which can come in handy if you do technology upgrades.

Yet another consideration when using a subscription-based model is that it is very hard for businesses to raise prices and not annoy customers. By charging a higher price you can go a lot longer without having to raise prices. It also leaves you the opportunity to lower the price if you set it too high. If this happens you can turn this situation into a good marketing campaign by telling everyone you are slashing prices or having a sale.

Action Plan: Look at your Ideal Client, put yourself in his/her shoes, and decide WHICH Revenue Model will serve him/her best. Write up a revenue plan projecting IDEAL DESIRED INCOME, Revenue Model, Projected REAL Income, Actual Real Income and Projected Dates.

Communication, 5 of 10

#5. Communication (Internal, External)

Communication is ALL the ideas that move THROUGH your company and to/from your company.

You can’t not communicate. Everything you say and do (or don’t say and don’t do) sends a message to others.

Internal and External Communication

Business Communication encompasses a huge body of knowledge, both internal and external for your business.

Internal communication includes communication of

corporate vision,

strategies,

plans,

corporate culture,

shared values and guiding principles,

employee motivation,

cross-pollination of ideas, and the like.

External communication includes branding, marketing, advertising, customer relations, public relations, media relations, business negotiations, etc.

Whatever form it takes, the objective of communication remains the same – to create a business value, to GET A RESPONSE.

Action Step: Review your Systems Handbook, the one with all the Policies written out, and see how many of them still remain pertinent and worthwhile. (Alternative: Type Out an OUTLINE for such a chapter on Communications; share with Team; revise.)

Lifetime Value, #4 of 10

#4. Lifetime Value

Companies today have tens of thousands– in some cases millions– of customers. We do not know who they are. We cannot recognize them and talk to them as the old Mom-and-Pop corner grocers did. Loyalty has all but disappeared. Customers are loyal until tomorrow’s newspaper, when they see a coupon for something at another store and – whoosh, they’re gone. What is true of grocery stores is also true of department stores, drug stores, hardware stores, office supply stores, banks, movie theatres – virtually every retail sales organization today.

What has begun to rapidly change this picture has been the advent of computers. In the past 15 years, computers have become so sophisticated and powerful, and their prices have become so inexpensive, that it is possible to keep in a computer today the kind of informative data that the old corner grocer kept in his head, and to use that information to recognize and do favors for our customers. By setting up a customer database, and using it to start a dialog with customers or clients, some companies have been able to reestablish contact with their customers, contact designed to build loyalty, referrals and repeat sales. Retention building is possible.

So, a one-to-two week focus on THIS area of The Big Ten can yield MASSIVE RESULTS in your services, sales and profits. Watch your Inbox for further explanatory emails about this and all other Big Ten dynamics, because these are THE dynamics which make a business super-successful, head-and-shoulders ABOVE all competition!

Your gold customers should not be bombarded with marketing programs, rather they should be rewarded with super-services. These are 80% (or some other large percentage) of our revenue. We must retain these loyal folks. We spend our marketing budget on the Silver and other two fifths encouraging them to move up, to get into Gold Heaven. On the other hand, the bottom fifth may be costing you more than they are worth. Don’t waste marketing dollars here. We don’t want to retain them.

How can the success of these programs be measured? The answer is in the lifetime value. Think in terms of LIFETIME VALUE of a customer and you’ll lift your vision ABOVE the transaction, lift your service ABOVE the blah ordinary, and lift your profits into the stratosphere!

People LOVE to be pampered, and this includes the people who are SPENDING LOTS OF THEIR MONEY WITH YOU!

Action Plan: Tweak (or CREATE!) your Lifetime Value Plan, start collecting profile data immediately and start (or continue) rewarding loyal clients and customers in creative, meaningful ways!

Marketing Schedule, #3 of 10

Develop your marketing schedule after you’ve completed your research and analysis for your market area. At this point, you should know who your ideal clients are, where they are located, who your competition is, and what your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) are. Now you can begin to incorporate all the information you gathered into a strategic plan to promote your business.

The following are relevant parts of your Marketing Schedule

Your Marketing Budget:

Pencil in some figures that you & your Team see as ball-park accurate. Make sure you’re aiming at marketing channels that will reach your Ideal Client. Focus on serving your Ideal Client, INNOVATIVELY!

Frequency of Contact

Sketch out ONE Auto-Responder series, then go from there. What are the FIRST things your Ideal Client wants to learn, hear, know? GIVE THEM OUT, right away! Determine what makes an ideal Contact Frequency by polling, asking and testing!

Your Marketing Message

This MUST BE FOCUSED on the fears, problems and desires of your Ideal Client. You are NOT all things to all people, you are ONE THING to your Ideal Client! THIS is your niche. If you want another niche, duplicate this process with THAT difference in the forefront, for THAT Ideal Client. Until then, keep your Marketing Message FOCUSED SQUARELY on the fears, problems and needs of your Ideal Client!

Marketing Piece Guidelines

Attention Grabbing Headline – usually 5-9 words – arrest your customer – INTERRUPT their thoughts the moment they hit your page, hear your commercial, see your ad – you have something they want – make it interrupting, powerful, authentic, honest!

Engage — Only one offer/message per piece – BE REAL! — avoid a sales pitch – stress the benefits of your offer, NOT the Features – get to the point, THEIR Problem’s SOLUTION –

Educate – Why they benefit – HOW they benefit – WHAT differentiates YOUR services to justify YOUR higher price – instill a sense of urgency – give something of REAL, PERCEIVABLE value – make it a keeper
Call to Action — Tell your customers what you want them to do (put name and email addy in the slots here; call now; refer a friend)
Marketing Piece ID — Add a unique identification code to each marketing piece for tracking your success. When you get a call, ask how they got your name. Record this information because so you can know what is working and you can repeat it.

5 Reasons to Create an Internet Marketing Schedule

As a website owner or business owner who uses a website to generate income, internet marketing is important to your success. For that reason, you need to implement it. If this is a new step for you, you may be looking for guidance. A good first step is to familiarize yourself with popular internet marketing techniques. You can easily do this online by visiting internet marketing forums. Once you know how to market your website or blog, you start to implement the techniques you’re learning. Careful, this is where many new marketers make costly mistakes.

To ensure you get the most out of your new-found internet marketing knowledge, you need to create a schedule. When properly compiled and used, a schedule will increase your productivity. Remember, the more traffic you drive to your website or blog, the more your earnings potential increases. If that isn’t enough reason to create a schedule, continue reading on for five more.

It Is Easy to Make a Schedule

Get a big wall calendar, assemble your Team, and plan out your rollout! Use erasable white-board markers, and sketch out 18 months of Product/Service Rollout.

You Have Many Options

You don’t need to deliver everything today, tomorrow or this week. It can be printed, PDF, MP3 or MP4, blogged or newslettered, Seminar or Webinar… what does YOUR Team think is most appropriate for YOUR Ideal Client?

Your Schedule is Your Guide

Even if it eats two days of productive time to set it up at the beginning, by creating your Marketing Schedule and putting it up there, for your whole TEAM to see daily, you’ve spun into motion a tremendous gyroscope, a powerful unifying and harmonizing influence which can focus your team as lasers are focused, same wavelength, same message, in harmony, in unity. And remember, UNITY does NOT MEAN ‘Uniformity’.

It Serves as a Source of Motivation

With your Team-Accessible Schedule up for all to see, your people will surprise you by taking initiative, finding extra leverage, squeezing extra juice out of and landing extra clients for you, MOTIVATED by the trust, openness and clarity your Marketing Schedule provides!

You Can Extend Your Reach

You can quickly surpass the Marketing Goals you set in your Schedule, as your Team meets the milestones and experiences the joyful satisfaction of HITTING THE MARK, which leads to extending your reach through creating improved Product or Services, based on improved Client input!
Action Step: Have fun creating your Marketing Schedule!

Sales Process, #2 of 10

Simplified Overview of Sales Process steps

1. Preparation (of myself as seller, mentor, provider) Do I have the facts at my immediate recall? Do I have high motives in wanting to serve my potential client? Am I prepared to deliver the highest quality service I can to this person, these corporate people?

2. Meet and qualify (prospective buyers, clients) (in person or online) If online or by print media, okay. If in person, BE PERSONABLE! Be professional, approachable, informed, honest, well-dressed and possessed of a comfortable sense of self-deprecating humor.

Qualify the prospect (can this person afford what he says he wants? What does she want? *Use A.I.D.A.)

3. Demonstrate My Wares, Services (answer objections, show benefits) Benefits are NOT ‘features’… benefits are the FEELINGS and the EXPERIENCES that Client GETS from using your feature-laden products or services. Features-smeechers! SHOW THE BENEFITS!

4. Negotiate the sale (Close. Help client to COMMIT to purchase) Learn ‘Questions That Sell’. Help this person MOVE to his own self-interest, ACT in his/her own best interests by TAKING ADVANTAGE of your offer.

5. Make the exchange and deliver goods (Move through the transaction) Take action, follow through, inquire in a timely manner about the delivery, suitability of purchase and Client’s Experience. CARE how your Client is experiencing this all.

Advantages of process

This process is time-tested, logical and emotionally satisfying to both sellers and buyers, IF it is followed. This is what some very competent people call a ‘canned, planned procedure’. Following a process becomes part of a winning System. Systematize YOUR processes.

From shy-hello to congratulative closure and on to supportive follow-up, selling is a PROCESS, NOT an ACT, a SERVICE not a SCAM!

Action Plan: Meet with your Team, to REVIEW and TWEAK Your Sales Process. Are you hitting the major hot-buttons for your (prospective) clients? Are you satisfying emotional NEEDS when they become Clients? Are you aiming at your Ideal Client?