The Best Way to Sell Products or Services On The Internet

I recently had a conversation with a subscriber who is doing extremely well with a single web site devoted to selling "a specific item" on the Internet. For some time now he has been, in his own words, "making a killing" with a very simple and profitable computer related accessory. He explained that, since he sells t-shirts in his "walk-in" store, he thought it would be a good idea to change his web page to also offer t-shirts. Guess what -- sales fell dramatically! ...and all he did was change the TITLE tag and some text on his web page.

The lesson here is that the single product approach is what works best on the Internet!!!! ...but only by far.

Every day we see web sites that list a plethora of goods and services in an effort to be all things to all people -- and, you know what? That is a mistake -- a BIG mistake.

Why, you ask? Because of the nature of the way the World Wide Web works combined with the purchasing habits and demographics of people who actually buy things on the Internet.

First of all, most buyers do not "browse" the Internet in "shopping" mode the same way they browse a printed catalog or even stroll through a real world shopping mall. The huge majority of people who actually buy things on the Internet start out by searching for a specific product or service... and they usually do this by using the search engines.

Now, we all know that search engines rely on "keywords" to determine "relevancy". The problem is that if you put T-shirts, pocket knives, shopping bags, radar detectors, and baby alligators all on the same page you have diluted the keyword relevancy for each of those specific items... causing none of them to likely score high in any of these keyword categories on the search engines. That's bad for business.

On the other hand, a site that is devoted to T-shirts and only T-shirts will beat you every time, hands down, when a real bona-fide buyer goes searching for T-shirts... even though that same buyer might actually like owning a baby alligator.

The point is this... if your business sells several items or offers a variety of services, then we suggest you create a mini-site for each item or service that you sell. You should design each page as if it were a stand alone "specialty" store offering only that item or service. By doing so you are more likely to attract high quality traffic to your site -- the kind of traffic that includes a very high percentage of buyers that are looking specifically for that particular item.

In case you are under the illusion that most people want to wait to download your page -- along with all of your pretty pictures and graphics so they can "impulse shop" in your store -- they don't. Most Internet buyers know pretty much what they are looking for prior to initiating a search. Next, they want to learn all they can about the product they are interested in purchasing and lastly they want to know that you are trustworthy enough to deliver the goods before they decide to give you money. Be sure to address these desires and concerns as you develop your specific presentation designed to appeal to the single minded interest of the typical Internet buyer.

Does this mean that you should design multiple pages if you offer more than one product or service? Yes - just as you would create different pages for a printed catalog. It may sound like a lot of work. True, but the good news is that it is far less work than designing a lot of print catalogue pages and it is infinitely much cheaper and changeable. More good news! -- Every one of your "single theme web pages" can be registered separately with the search engines... and by doing so you significantly multiply the exposure your company receives in the eyes of the Internet buying public.

The fact is that buying habits on the Internet are very different than buying habits in the physical world... web pages do not load fast enough (yet) to make window shopping and impulse buying convenient or fun enough. Therefore in order to get the exposure that your products or services deserve, they should be showcased independently to insure they are "findable" to those who are seeking them.