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How To Eliminate Your Online Competition!
Table Of Contents
How To Eliminate Your Competition Without Bloodshed
6 Ways To Keep Your Online Customers Away From Your
Competition!
How To Use Bartering To Gain An Advantage Over Your
Competition!
How To Use Outsourcing To Beat Your Competition!
Joint Ventures Revealed
6 Payment Offers That Sell Like Crazy!
8 Ways To Get People To Visit Your Web Site
Again And Again!
How To Eliminate Your Competition Without Bloodshed
So how do you eliminate your competition without
bloodshed? You must create a "niche" for your business.
A niche is something that makes your business different
than your competitors. To compete with other businesses
nowadays (especially online) you need something that
nobody else can copy. One Of A Kind!
First you must know who your competitors are. Is your
business the only one of it's type? I doubt it. If so, it won't
be for long. Do you know your exact target audience? If
not, you will have to find out this information before creating
any kind of niche. Below are two ways to come up with a
competition eliminating niche.
1. Just Ask?
The first way to come up with a niche is to think like your
target audience or customers. Know their exact needs,
wants, goals, problems and interests. There's two ways to
do this: The first way is to put yourself in their shoes, think
like them. The second way is to give them polls and surveys
to find out what they're thinking. Pick a niche that none of
your competitors are using. If you can't find one that your
competitors aren't using pick one to improve.
2. Just Think!
The second way to come up with a niche is to use your brain
power. Ask yourself questions like: How can I set myself
apart from my competition? What could I offer that they
can't? Imagine or daydream that your business is on top of
all your competitors. What "niche" put your business at the
top in your head? Now, if you keep asking your brain these
questions your mind will eventually start shooting out more
ideas than you can handle. One of those ideas may be the
niche you're searching for.
Now that you have your niche that's just half the battle. You
must test it. Does your niche appeal to your target audience?
Will it attract people away from your competition? If it does,
you're done, until your competition comes up with a better
"niche". If your niche doesn't, than repeat the process above
and test a new niche until it works. If you want to eliminate
your competition and be successful you will use this process
several times in your business life.
6 Ways To Keep Your Online Customers Away From Your
Competition
1. Stay In Touch
Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer
them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want
to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your
Web site. After every sale follow-up with the customer to
see if they are satisfied with their purchase.
2. Friendly Web Site
Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your Web
site. Have a "FAQ" page on your Web site to explain
anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill
out an electronic survey to find out how make your Web
site more customer friendly.
3. Easy And Free Communication
Make it easy and for your customers to contact you. Offer
as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers
contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so
customers won't have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for
phone and fax contacts.
4. Teach Your Employees
Make sure employees know and use your customer service
policy. Give your employees bonuses or incentives to practice
excellent customer service. Tell employees to be flexible with
each individual customer, each one has different concerns,
needs and wants.
5. Impress Your Customer
Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank
you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting
cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses or discounts
to customers who make a big purchase.
6. Be Nice
Always be polite to your customers. Use the words Please,
Thank You, and Your Welcome. Be polite to your customers
even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to
your customers should you make a mistake. Admit your
mistakes quickly and make it up to them in a big way.
How To Use Bartering To Gain An Advantage Over Your
Competition!
If you have a business on the Internet you should be bartering
goods and services with other businesses. You should always
try to trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals
usually require no money. Although sometimes you may need
money to offset the value of the goods or services being traded.
Bartering will give you many advantages over your competition.
It can save your business money. You can spend the extra
money on a buying paid Internet advertising. It allows you to
offer your products and services at a lower price than your
competition. You can afford to get the higher priced goods and
services to compete on the internet.
There are numerous ways to find barter deals online. Set up a
barter message board or chat room on your web site to get
more barter offers. Note on your web site or e-zine you are
willing to barter for goods and services. Join newsgroups or
e-mail discussion groups that are about bartering. Join an
online barter club to meet other businesses that barter. Find
web sites that barter by looking up the keywords barter, trade,
or swap in your search engine of choice.
There are a few things you should do before bartering. Compile
a list of your goods and services you are willing to barter.
Make a list of goods and services you need or want for your
online business. Know the approximate cash value of the
things you are trying to trade and the value of the things you
are seeking in return. All of this information can help you
negotiate a successful barter deal.
When proposing a barter offer, tell the person the benefits of
the barter deal. Explain to them why it would be a win/win
situation. Give their business many compliments in your
proposal. Prove to them why it would be a fair trade. This
type of proposal can increase your chances off them saying
"Yes, I will barter.
How To Use Outsourcing To Beat Your Competition!
Outsourcing is when you hire outside professionals or
services to take on part of your business workload.You
may want to outsource part of your work because you
don't have the room, you need an expert, you have periodic
busy periods, or you need more production to get orders
out on time etc. You could outsource accounting,
secretarial tasks , factory help, computer training, web
design etc. Below are ways to use outsoursing to beat
your competition.
By outsourcing part of your workload you can save time
and spend more time concentrating on beating your
competition.
-you won't have to take time training new employees
-you won't have to do time consuming tasks like adding
on new equipment
-you won't have to learn a new software program or other
equipment
-you won't have to interview employee candidates
-you won't have to fill out all the complicated employee
paper work like tax forms, scheduling, retirement plans etc.
By outsourcing part of your workload you can save money
and spend more money on marketing or advertising to beat
your competition.
-you won't have to buy extra office and other equipment
-you won't have to buy extra office or work space
-you won't have spend money on employee costs like;
taxes, medical, vacation time, holidays, workers comp.,
unemployment costs etc. (these may vary by which
country you do business)
There are many other ways outsourcing can help you beat
your competition. Here are a few more:
-the extra help can help you complete and deliver orders
faster
-you could expand your market share by becoming the
middleman and offering your subcontractors services or
products
-you could end up getting orders from your subcontractors
-it will allow your business to take on extra or large orders
Anyone may republish this article in their e-zine, e-book, web
site, magazine or newsletter, as long as the resource box is
included.
Joint Ventures Revealed
A joint venture is when two or more businesses join together
to work on a project for a set period of time. Doing joint
ventures with other businesses can increase your chances of
beating your competition, increase your sales and increase
your profits quickly. Plus:
-you can save money when businesses share operating costs
-you can get referrals from other businesses
-you can save valuable time when businesses share the workload
-you can offer your customers new products and services
-you can gain new business associates
-you can save money by sharing advertising and marketing costs
-you can get free advice and important information from other
businesses
You can find businesses to joint venture with online or
offline. I try to find businesses that have the same target
audience, but are not direct competition with my business.
Here are a few ways to find joint ventures online:
-subscribe and participate in e-mail discussion groups, online
forums and newsgroups that deal with your target audience
-subscribe to e-zines that deal with your targeted audience
-note on your Web site or e-zine that you are interested in
doing joint ventures
-search in your favorite web directories and search engines to
find businesses to joint venture with online
Once you find a business simply e-mail them your proposal.
Tell the business owner the benefits of the joint venture.
Explain to him or her why it would be a win/win situation for
both of your businesses. Give them a lot of compliments about
their business, Web site, products and services. Using all three
methods above will greater your chance of constructing a
profitable joint venture. Good Luck!
6 Payment Offers That Sell Like Crazy!
The way you structure your payment offers can increase your
sales. I'm not talking about the way people pay like credit
cards, digital payments, checks, and cash options. What I'm
taking about is can your customers try before they buy, pay
later, make payments, do they get a rebate, etc. Below are
six payment offers that will sell like your products or services
like crazy:
1. Sample It
Offer your customers a free sample or short version of your
product or service. Your sample should give them only a few
benefits of the full version. This will entice them to purchase
the full version to get the total benefits.
2. Name Your Price
Offer customers a choice of want they can pay for your product
or service. List your original product and price then add another
product with it for a little higher price. Your orders will increase
buy letting the customers choose their price.
3. Free To Try
Offer your customers a free trial of your product or service.
You could offer the free trial for 5 to 30 days. This is showing
them that you have confidence in your product or service and
it will sell itself.
4. Give A Little Back
Offer your customers a cash back rebate after they buy your
product or service. I feel a good rebate would be a least 10%
of their purchase price or higher. This will increase your sales
and, like most of us, they will forget to turn in the rebate.
5. Pay Later
Offer your customers the choice of being billed later for their
purchase. Bill them in a few weeks or a month. This will stop
you from losing customers who can't afford to purchase your
product or service at that time.
6. Little At A Time
Offer your customers the option of paying you a little at a time
for your product or service. You could divide up the purchase
price into bi-weekly or monthly payments. You won't lose
customers that may not be able to pay the full amount at that
time.
8 Ways To Get People To Visit Your Web Site
Again And Again!
1. Polls
Hold an interactive poll on your web site. Ask visitors a poll
question. Have them e-mail their vote or opinion. People love
to give their 2 cents worth. They would also like to read the
results the next day or week on your web site.
2. Prize Drawings
Hold an ongoing prize drawing on your web site. The prizes
should be something of interest or value to your subscribers.
Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site
to get the results.
3. Original Content
Give your visitors content they can't read anywhere else.
I'm not saying all your content has to be 100% original, but a
portion of your web site should have original information.
People will usually read information they haven't read before.
4. Quizes
Give your visitors a quiz or a series of trivia questions. Post
the correct answers weekly on your web site. The people
who participate will want to come back to your site to see
if they were right.
5. News
Supply news stories related to your web site topic. People
want current and up-to-date news. If you can be their first
source, they will become repeat visitors to your web site.
6. Jokes
Give your visitors a little humor now and then. Don't be so
serious; tell them a joke. If they associate your web site with
being happy they will visit again and again.
7. Free Stuff
People love to get free stuff. List free stuff on your web site.
It could be software, services, sample products, e-books etc.
The freebies should be related to your web site topic. Keep
the freebies coming and your visitors will return regulary.
8. Directories
Tell your subscribers about Web sites related to your web
site topic. The web sites should be interesting and helpful.
Become your readers web site directory and they will come
back.
The End
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