Every time I open my mailbox, read ezines, or surf the Web, I see people begging. The problem is that most people don't even recognize they're doing it. They think they're running an online business.

Maybe you're a culprit?

What I'm talking about is people asking for money straight away. No hello, no here's who I am, it's just gimmie, gimmie, gimmie. They see this as a business when in reality they're begging on the information highway. This is the reason why so many online businesses fail. What would you do if someone walked right up to your face and said I've got this great information for you that you can have if you give me $20? You'd ignore them and get the hell out of there!

That's exactly what so many so called online businesses are doing. Show me a Web site, email message or e-zine advert that takes this approach and I'll show you a business that's failing.

Now you're probably thinking, "Ok, so how exactly do I make sales if I don't ask?"

Well, there's an art to making sales, a persuasive art. You have to make your customer think that they made the decision to buy, not that you talked them in to it.

Here's two ways to get off on the right foot, to raise yourself from begging on the street up to running a real online business.

Greet Them At The Door
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Your potential customer has just strolled in to your site. What's the first thing you do? Hit them with a pitch? NO! Your potential customer has very little time to jump straight into a sales pitch. They want to know what your site can do for them and they want it in one quick, snappy sentence.

In this sentence you have to give them a reason to stay. So how do you do this? Use the most famous customer bait of all, the word FREE!

If your potential customer receives a free gift from you they will hold you in greater regard. The gift doesn't have to cost you anything, it could be a top tip, e-book, etc. The point is you're the one that's giving. You're breaking down the barrier between the customer and the seller.

Tell Then Who You Are
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People won't buy from you if they don't know you! Put your face up on that site, add an address, phone number and fax (if you have one), as well as your email address and back that site to the hilt.

Write a piece about who you are, why you're doing this and what you can do for your potential customers. Emphasis the fact that you're there to help. You have to put them at ease. They need to be able to trust you with their credit card details.

Just stop to think what it would take to make you buy from a site. Write that down, then implement it into your site.

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*Article by Simon Vause of Strontium Webs.
The ultimate free resource for Web site design and promotion.
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The opinions stated in this article are strictly opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Eclipse E-zine. If you would like to write an article for Eclipse, please contact us!