How the Internet Can Improve Your Direct Sales Business

How the Internet Can Improve Your Direct Sales Business

According to Forrester Research Inc., nearly one-third of all households in the United States make at least one online purchase each year. That’s a good amount of money being spent online, and they suggest that the figure will rise to nearly 40% by 2009. Wouldn’t it be great to have a piece of that financial pie?

It’s a match made in heaven – the internet and direct sales businesses. Anyone who has been around the internet for any length of time can tell you that the internet is here to stay. There are new marketing strategies popping up every day. Someone is making money from having an online business, and it might as well be you! How can the internet improve your direct sales business? This report will endeavor to show you how.

Internet Friendly Direct Sales Companies

It’s foolhardy to have such potential at hand and yet refuse to take advantage of it, yet many direct sales companies require their associates to work strictly in a party plan or with face-to-face contact. There are some, however, that have realized the importance of internet marketing and are making it easier for their associates and consultants to use the internet.

Do a little bit of research before signing up with a direct sales company. Ask the following questions of any prospective company:

• Do they offer a company-made website for associates?
• Are the company-made websites easy for both associates and prospective customers to get around?
• Does the company have a “chat” area designated for online parties?
• If they don’t have a company-made website, will they allow you to create your own website or blog in order to sell the product or recruit others?

When you’ve found the answers to the previous questions, determine the company’s rules regarding online advertising; some do not allow any online advertising at all. Follow written company rules regarding online advertising; don’t take the word of someone in your upline even if they say that it’s alright.

What happens if you’ve fallen in love with a particular product and feel you could stand behind it, yet the company does not allow online marketing? Don’t let this one point keep you from possible success. There are other ways to market products than online. Get plugged in with your upline, the training they provide, and then do your work within their guidelines. You may find success without the internet.

Virtual or Online Stores

There are three types of virtual stores:

1. Hard good retailers – Those that sell a physical product that you can hold such as computer hardware, clothing, and books. These products must be delivered to the customer through traditional means.
2. Soft good retailers – These stores sell information such as ebooks, software, and articles. These products are delivered through the internet or via CD/DVD mailed to the customer.
3. Service providers – These providers sell consulting services, information subscriptions, or reservations to exclusive training. Most of these services are conducted on the internet.

Not everyone wants to spend a great deal of time flipping through catalogs to find things they might like. Most direct sales companies how have online stores or catalogs of all of their products; most have a search function to make things easier for you. With a few keystrokes on the keyboard and a click of a mouse, you can find just what you’re looking for. What could be easier?

If the company doesn’t have an online store or catalog, but would allow you create one using their products, there are many options. With the advent of audio and video on the internet, you can create an online catalog that uses pictures, sounds, and videos to demonstrate a product that just isn’t possible with a traditional paper catalog.

Imagine opening up a catalog and finding a particular movie soundtrack that you’re interested in. You see a list of the songs that are on the CD, but you can’t remember what the songs sound like. With an online catalog, you could have audio clips available for each song. This might be enough to help seal the deal; the customer purchases the CD from you because you had the audio clips.

Another benefit of having an online store or catalog is the ease of shopping. People shop online for ease of use, ability to shop around for a great price, and paying for the items quickly and securely on trusted websites.

After you have the products in your online catalog, you need to determine the best way to allow those purchasing to pay for those items. That’s where the Shopping Cart comes in.
There are many shopping cart options available online, some of them free, but you’ll want to do some research before settling on one.

Hosting companies may include shopping cart software as part of hosting your online store’s website. Beware, however, as these hosting company-provided shopping carts may not meet your business’ needs. You can find free shopping carts online, as well as paid third party sites. Take the time to do some research to find one that meets all of your e-commerce needs.

A couple of free, open-source shopping carts available are ZenCart, PhpShop, and MyMarket. Each one offers features that allow non-technical people to install and maintain them with little problems. Another shopping cart is to use the one offered by PayPal. Although you will have to pay a user’s fee, most online customers will be aware of PayPal and be quite comfortable with using it. There are also total solution shopping carts such as StoreFront. This program will allow you to build a shopping cart from the ground up and is something to consider if you’re tech-savvy.

Payment Options

Most people think that their only option when making online purchases is to pay with a credit card. There are other viable options to use, however, when you have an online direct sales business.

The main benefit of using a credit card at an online store is that the transaction is completed in an instant. This is a benefit for both the buyer and the seller. Once the sale has been made and payment has been received, the seller can make plans to deliver the item. By having a credit card as an option for payment, customers can make spur of the moment decisions when choosing to make a purchase. With other forms of payment, that option is null and void.

If you would like to offer other payment options, perhaps you would use an electronic check or funds transfer. This allows the customer to make a purchase, but it will take longer as they have to include their bank routing number, checking account number, and possibly the check number. After this information is provided, the transaction is completed similar to what would happen with a credit card.

The other major option to consider is putting a PayPal button on your website. This will allow your customer to pay directly from their PayPal account, checking account, or a credit card. With any of these options, the payment is made and you don’t have to wait for it to arrive.

Search Engine Optimization

It seems one of the major “buzz phrases” for the internet in the past couple of years has been “SEO,” or search engine optimization. Everyone wants to know how to use search engines like Google or Yahoo as a means to drive traffic to their websites. There is a lot of information on the internet concerning SEO, how to do it, how not to do it, and the different aspects of it. These tips might give you the information to make the whole concept of search engine optimization less confusing, and will possibly help drive some traffic your way.

The first thing that most people think of when they hear search engine optimization is “keywords” and how important they are. The fact is keywords are important. However, writing an article or headline with keywords in them will not guarantee traffic. In fact, you may be doing more damage to your website than good.
Here are some mistakes to avoid when writing either articles or headlines including keywords:

1. Don’t put keywords into an article indiscriminately. The words or keyword phrase that you use must make sense in the context of the article or headline. For instance, you wouldn’t write an article with the keyword “beauty supplies” with sentences like this:

The best beauty supplies on the market are those beauty supplies that you can purchase from these beauty supply companies.

While this sentence may be grammatically correct, the keyword phrase or derivative was used way too often. It’s easy to tell that the person writing this was just trying to drive traffic to a website, not provide quality, valuable information.

2. Don’t make a list. Sometimes lists are important and the best way to provide information. However, in keyword articles they only detract from the rest of the content. Using “beauty supplies” again, here’s an example of what not to do.

Look Here to Find All the Beauty Supplies, Salon Equipment, and Cosmetics You’ll Ever Need

Shopping for beauty supplies, salon equipment, and cosmetics can be time consuming. You can travel to nearly any mall in the United States to find beauty supplies, salon equipment, and cosmetics, but you want to find one that you can trust and will give you a great price.

You can look in the telephone book for beauty supplies, salon equipment, or cosmetics and find suppliers for these items. However, unless you live in a large city, you may have problems finding beauty supplies, salon equipment, and cosmetics all in one place.

As you can see, not only is this bad writing, but the number of times the lists are given make it distracting. There is nothing of value in the headline or either of the paragraphs. You may be able to get away with using the list together once in your article, maybe twice if it was especially long, but using it more than that is too repetitive.

How should you write the article? Instead of listing each item over and over, discuss each item in a section of its own. Tell your prospective customers why they should choose your salon equipment. Inform them what makes your cosmetics better than others on the market. Ensure that you’re giving your customer valuable information, not just listing your keywords.

Another common mistake that authors use when attempting to write articles for search engine optimization is to substitute keywords for pronouns or generic terms within the document. The result is similar to those above and will cause your content to be choppy and somewhat silly. Here’s an example of what it might look like:

Manhattan Writer’s Guild

The Manhattan Writer’s Guild would be glad to provide your company with quality articles. The Manhattan Writer’s Guild employs only the best ghostwriters and freelance writers. Call the Manhattan Writer’s Guild if you need writing done for your website.

This copy is almost laughable. No one talks like this, and no one appreciates being subjected to this type of article. There’s no reason to subject your readers to this, either. Instead of the above, try something like this, instead:

Manhattan Writer’s Guild

You have writing needs, and the Manhattan Writer’s Guild can supply writers to meet your needs. We employ only the best ghostwriters and freelance writers. Whether you’re searching for quality articles or other copywriting services, look no further than Manhattan: Writer’s Guild members will be happy to assist you.

The information in both paragraphs is similar, but not exact. However, the second version reads much easier than the first. Your keyword phrase has been separated with the comma, but the results in relation to SEO ranking won’t be affected. Try reading the article aloud before publishing it. You’ll receive better reviews of your writing and your readers will thank you.

Email Marketing

Did you know you can use email to help you keep customers? You sure can! Not only is it a great way to communicate with friends and family, you can also use it as an effective means of communicating with your customers. It may also help increase your sales by keeping your company before them.

Email marketing and spamming are not the same thing, however. If you do send your customer an email, they need to give their permission first. You get their permission by having them sign up for your newsletter. Give them an incentive to join your newsletter, offer them a discount on their first purchase. You’ll have received their permission to send further emails, and they may have made their first purchase, to boot!

What would you do with an email marketing campaign? That all depends on the type of business you have. If you sell scrapbooking supplies, you could send an email each time there are new scrapbooking kits. If your product is skin care or cosmetics, you send an email when a new line comes out. It’s that simple. When something important happens in your business, let them know.

You don’t have to have a physical product in order to use email marketing. If you’re a virtual assistant, you can send clients an email about new services you’re offering. If you’re an accountant, sending an email when there are new tax laws would be most appreciated. Doctors and dentists can send emails to let patients know when their office will be closed, to remind them of checkups, and to inform them of new services. The reasons for sending emails are unlimited – as long as you have something important to tell them.

The following components to an email campaign will help you avoid some of the problems associated with email marketing:

• Get permission – Unsolicited email equates to spam. No one wants spam. To avoid being labeled as a spammer, make sure you get permission to send emails by having them sign up for updates.

• Use a focused subject line – You want your email to be read, give them a reason to open it. If you use subject line such as “5 ways to save money for Christmas,” more of them will likely be opened than if your subject line was “Christmas Newsletter.”

• Keep your subject lines short – Some email programs cut off part of the subject line. Make sure that the most important information is first.

• Avoid triggers for spam – There are certain phrases or words that will trigger a spam filter. Headlines all in CAPS, too much punctuation, and the word “free” may get your email sent to the spam box.

• Keep paragraphs short – People receive so many emails on a daily basis, unless the subject line catches their eye, it’s likely they’ll scan and then trash a good deal of the emails they receive. Keep paragraphs to three to four sentences, at most. Focus on one topic per paragraph, and use bullets or numbers wherever you want the reader to focus.

• Save your header – Don’t take a chance on losing a potential customer by putting a large banner on each email that you send. That first space on the email is valuable, don’t waste it. Put your most important information on top and then add lesser important things as you go down the page.

• It’s not art time – Avoid using light colors or colors that are hard on the eyes. It’s best to stick with black text on white background. If you must be artistic, perhaps choose another font style, but choose one that is easy to read. Almost any type of font without the serif would be a good choice.

• Maintain your list – When you get emails that bounce back to you, delete them from your list. Also, include easy-to-follow instructions in each email for those who choose to unsubscribe.

Online Advertising

Writing effective ad copy is extremely difficult for many internet marketers, and stressful for most. It is one challenge that seems to be universal. It is, however, a skill that can be learned. These tips may help make the process a little less stressful and may possibly help you produce copy that will improve your profits.

• Know who your market is – This is the first thing that must be settled before you begin writing ad copy. If you don’t know who you’re targeting with your product, your copy will lack focus and meaning. How old are they, what sex, what about their income level? These are some of the things to think about to help you target your ad copy.

• Learn from others – One way to learn how to write effective ad copy is to read the advertisements that competitors send out. You do not want to duplicate their ad word for word, which would be plagiarism; you can get ideas from them. Make a file to keep copies of the various forms of advertising that they do – sales letters, website advertising, email ads, and classified ads. Keep these on hand to refer to if you get stumped when writing your own ad copy.

• Know what you want to accomplish – Before you write your first sentence, know what results you would like from your ad copy. Do you want to generate leads, sell your product, or drive traffic to your website? Why are you creating the ad in the first place? You must know “why” before you can write ad copy that will produce those results.

• List your selling points – Outline for your reader the benefits of purchasing this particular product. Your copy will begin by telling your prospective customer what your product can do to benefit them most, either in the headline or the first sentence of the actual copy. Continue to list all of the product’s benefits over other products available.

• Be specific – If your widget can increase productivity by 50%, don’t be afraid to say that. Use numbers, percentages, and other specific benefits to describe your product. Wherever possible, use photographs, graphics, or drawings to demonstrate how your product will solve their problem.

• Ongoing support – If you are selling a physical product, make sure to let your customers know whether there is “service after the sale” or not. Will you offer free consulting or tech support? Tell them! It might help close the deal.

• Get feedback – If at all possible, try to get feedback from those who chose not to purchase your product. A short pop-up survey as they are leaving your website might help you improve future ad copy. It might also help you develop a product that will meet their need in the future.

• Think about your readers – Writing ad copy doesn’t have to be difficult. Focus on your customers and what needs they have. Write your copy so that it’s easy to understand. Write like you’re talking with a good friend. You may find that you actually enjoy writing ad copy.

These tips, while they will not guarantee your next ad copy will be perfect, they may help improve your copywriting skills and help ease some of the tension you feel when writing.

Better Communication

Communication is a key component, especially for online businesses. How well you communicate with your customers, many whom you will never see, is of the utmost importance. The following tips may help in this endeavor.

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Include an FAQ page on your online direct sales business website. You may be able to answer basic questions for customers without having to answer individual emails. Include online documentation for products that require them, as well.

• Email support – Offer your clients email support and indicate how soon someone will respond to them. Hire someone who is knowledgeable about your product who can field any questions that might come up in a timely manner.

• Personal emails – There’s nothing more frustrating that receiving form letters in the mail. If you need to follow up with a customer, for any reason, make sure that you do so with a personal email. Send an email within 3-4 weeks of their purchase, ask them if they have questions, or need help with anything. If you ignore your customer, you may well lose your customer.

• Message board – Forums and message boards are great ways to maintain communication with your customers. Not only do they allow your customers to voice their opinions, it also gives them a place to interact with other customers.

Effective communication is essential, regardless of the type of business you own. With an online business, however, it might make or break your business. Keeping open lines of communication with your customers will help you keep your customers, and will give them reason to tell others about your company, which is the type of advertising that money can’t buy.

While this report has attempted to explain how the internet can be used to improve your direct sales business, it is just a drop in the proverbial bucket. You can use the internet to maximize search engine results, establish an online store, advertise your business, and develop better communication with the internet. However, there are more ways than these in which the internet can be used for direct sales.

Do research for yourself to find out other ways in which to use the internet for your own direct sales business. Don’t forget to check with your parent company before implementing any of these ideas. You may not be able to use all of the ideas you come up with, but surely some of them will prove useful and beneficial for your online business.

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