Before you decide on selling anything online, you need to first determine who your customer is, what they often purchase, and why they are purchasing online.
This is called "customer comprehension". The better you understand your customer, the easier it will be to sell stuff to them. Obviously, at the core of any business, the ultimate goal is to create a profit. To create a profit, you must have customers and you must be able to sell to these customers.
One of the most common mistakes I see people make is promoting to a customer (or audience) before they fully understand who their audience is. It is very easy to waste money promoting what you "think" people want, rather than what they are actually looking for.
Don't make assumptions on your customers, gain an understanding. You will be much more successful.
Before we go any further, we need to understand the steps someone takes between the time they learn of a product or service, to the time that they actually make a purchase. That is what my goal is to help you understand.
Let's look at some known facts about a customer:
(1) Customers rarely buy on their first point of contact to a product
(2) It typically takes a person 7 times (this could be website visits, email newsletter, etc.) before they make a purchase online.
(3) Customers do not buy from people they don't trust
(4) Customers are exchanging "money" for something that will improve upon their existing situation
(5) Customers have more access to product information and reviews than they ever have
(6) Most customers can see through scammy promotions, in fact are turned off
I am going to show you how to catch people later in their buying cycle so you can increase your chances of someone "buying" versus having to walk them through all points of contact. This will simplify the selling process drastically!
Please forgive what is likely a silly question that will be answered in the next lesson - but it seems to be implied here that I should already have affiliate links at this point. Right? Because what's the point of having a bunch of traffic from people at the purchase phase if I have nothing to sell them?
I do have a small, not likely to be super lucrative, affiliate link - and I'm glad to have it. But I guess I have the chicken or the egg question - do I write content for traffic before getting affiliate program agreement; or do I try to get affiliate program agreement and then market my content to that? I'm pretty sure it's the former since many programs probably aren't that interested in forming a partnership until they know your site has worthy content.
Sorry folks - at this point I'm not even sure what I'm asking anymore. 🤔 I'm going on to the next lesson and I'm sure I will get closer to my answer - I usually do!
Thanks
In web design classes, when creating the website there were two reference points, UX and UI. To stay on point, UX refers to the user and how they relate to the company, it's services and products offered.
I find by looking at my website as a consumer/customer, I am able to smooth out areas that may not be clearly stated or illustrated. That helps me to stay on point when creating new pages or adding new products.