|
How To Create True and Perceived Value
By John Elliott Aka Oaky Wood©2006
Creating true or perceived value, in the eyes of your potential customers, and indeed future members or subscribers to your website, ezine or newsletter, begins with YOU and ends with yourself also. The old adage “The Buck stops here” is certainly true when it comes to creating value. The whole ambience of your website and services should reflect a more personal approach, by making your visitor feel that they are the only person in the world you are talking to, they become embroiled, more involved, captivated and feel so much more important, just by you simply making them feel more relaxed in the friendly atmosphere you have created for them. If your visitor feels at ease within the virtual environment that you have created, then you are building the basis of trust from the first moment they open your pages. You are setting a scene, painting a pixelated picture onto a virtual blank canvas, and that stage which you build, must be carefully choreographed, and constructed with “YOUR” own essence at its very core. Elvis sang that all the world was a stage, and we must all play our part, and you most certainly must do just that if you want to be successful in whatever you do.
Building this picture from the onset is so important; your visitor may only take seconds to evaluate your site, before moving on. Those first few seconds are all you have to dynamically grab your visitor’s attention, impress them, and persuade him/her to stay and actually peruse your other pages and the rest of your site. The perceived value begins with your welcome/home page, and carried throughout your entire website.
Begin by telling your visitor all about yourself in as much detail as possible, and be truthful here, your own truthfulness and sincerity will reflect the real you, certainly don’t try selling anything, and don’t be misguided and get drawn into the world of hype. Imagine you are simply talking on the phone with a friend; in fact many good marketers use this actual technique, by recording a phone conversation and using the transcript of it to write directly to their visitors. A close friend could help here with this concept, as we all know how difficult it can be to write as though talking to just one person. Being seen by your visitor as a warm hearted caring person is so important to building that trust.
Value can be real by the benefits of the products you subsequently offer, or perceived by who and what you are, as long as you yourself remember that you cannot please all the people all of the time, but you certainly should be able to please most, provided your website has a honest approach of openness.
Often called the “Soft Sell” technique by many experienced marketers and salespeople, both on and off the Internet, but its true value is often overlooked by the get rich quick, here today gone tomorrow types. By utilizing this more personal approach, you can lay the key fundamental foundation, and building blocks, for a more long term and firmer relationship with your visitors and potential customers, who will come back to you and your site often. This base of trust, that’s so lacking in the world of marketing today should be nurtured and preserved, and is not created overnight but built slowly over time, always remember to sell yourself before you even attempt to sell your products.
Honesty sells, is so very true, in the cyber world of today, and gone are the days of hard sell and hype. Being a real person your visitors can relate to, on the Internet is so important, by being approachable, helpful and courteous, your visitors become valued friends and not just potential customers, after all your visitors are real people too. Belief in what you do, your own products, and the self-confidence portrayed, will be conveyed to your visitor, and through all this compassion for others, your visitor will want to help you succeed. Most of what I’ve said here is sheer common sense, but very few actually apply it at all, believing the hard sell approach is the only way. You are selling a product and that valuable commodity is, “YOU”, so don’t waste your most prized marketing tool in your possession, which after all costs you absolutely nothing to implement or maintain.
By
John Elliott
Aka Oaky Wood©2006
John Elliott Aka Oaky Wood is currently the Co-Founder of "The Corner 4 Women ©2006" http://thecorner4women.com is a Poet, writer, artist, webmaster and designer. He is also the owner of the Oakwood Grafix©2005 Group of websites http://www.oakwoodgrafix.co.uk/
This article may be reproduced provided it is unedited in any way with all links remaining intact, and the copyright is retained by its original author above.
==========================================
|