An Internet Marketing Tip List

A lot of the time, I talk about theory and best practices in internet marketing. So today, I’m going to do something completely different. I’m going to give you a tip list of specifics instead.

So, in no particular order, here are a few things you can do to make your life easier in internet
marketing.

• When selling digital files, you can force a window to pop and ask if the customer wants to save if you stick them in a “.zip” file. A “.pdf” file will open straight into a window if someone clicks on it, and you’ll have to tell you customers to right-click and “Save Target As” to get it onto their computer. A “.zip” file will allow them to left-click and go right to the “Do you want to save it” window.
• When providing an email address for contacting you from a site, always make it an email address that ends with your site name, as opposed to a third party company like Hotmail, Yahoo, and so forth. It looks more professional that way. A common one is admin@yoursite.com.
• If you have more than one web site, centralize your customer service. Point the “If you would like to contact me” links at that one site. Sites I’ve seen like this run scripts that allow people to open tickets and track responses to them (i.e. askjonleger.com). That way, you only have to go to one place for all your sites’ customer service issues.
• If you want to sell ebooks, make them “.pdf” files. Making them something exotic that requires customers to buy extra software to read them (or the Windows-specific “.exe” ebook) will annoy your customers.
• It doesn’t matter what you’re promoting, the WIIFM principle (What’s In It For Me) always applies. The customer wants to know how what you’re selling will benefit them, not the features or why they should help you out in some way.
• Misspellings kill copy dead. They may seem like small things to you, but they will irritate your potential customers. Bad formatting and flow are just as bad, so edit before you publish your copy.

There are plenty of other simple, specific things you can do to benefit your business, but these are a good start.