Having chosen a domain name that reflects the nature of your enterprise, the next task is to create a website tailored to your precise needs as a small business owner. Thereafter, everything else you do must mirror the image of the virtual identity you are creating block by block in logical progressive sequence.
Mini-V. Maxi-Websites
There’s a lot of be said in favour of both, but for niche markets and niche produce (which is where you ought to be focusing your energies) it is best to opt for mini-sites: one, two or three page websites. Read on and I’ll give you several sound reasons why.
Maxi- or multi-page sites on the other hand are more practical where you have lots of information to impart before you can interest prospects sufficiently to make a purchase or to instruct them where you are offering training services. I use both options where applicable and for the purposes just stated.
The Perfect Vehicle For Small Business Online Marketing
The mini-site approach is perfect for niche produce such as standalone ebooks and software because it provides a simple one-shot vehicle: a sales letter coupled with an online order form. You will
almost certainly be starting out with a single product or service in your initial foray into internet marketing, so a well-constructed mini-site such as I am about to illustrate will suffice. Later, when you are up and running with several propositions in tandem, you might well consider switching to the multi-dimensional approach.
Mini-sites will work for you providing you have:
- Identified your niche market;
- Found out where your niche customers hang out;
- Mastered the art of creating a compelling sales letter;
- Learned how to build a one-shot marketing site;
- Learned how to promote it effectively.
Sales Letters Styled In The Advertorial Format
The best and most successful mini-sites aren’t designed as in-your-face billboard advertisements. Certainly they are sales letters, but presented in a format that resembles the advertorial style we are all familiar with as we browse through magazines. They are informative and more often than not, touchy-feely. They set up the stall, identify a problem or highlight a want, promise a solution, make a spiel, elaborate on the benefits, and wind up with a pitch for the sale.
The Approach Isn’t New; It Has Been Worked Successfully For Over 200 Years
Recall just a few years back when hardly a week went by without at least one 4/6/8-page promotional piece in the shape of a sales letter popping through your mail flap. Mini-sites are the virtual equivalent. The approach isn’t new; it has been working successfully offline for more than 200 years. You may even have used it yourself if you operate within the service sector.
How To Create The Components For Your Virtual Sales Letter
The All-In-One Solution For Devising Mini-Sites
Here is the best tool on the market for constructing mini-sites. It does everything automatically to ensure that your site is a winner:
- Designs the header block;
- Writes the sales letter (yes, you read correctly, it actually writes your pitch): follow the promptings of the software, answer a few questions, follow the directions, and watch your sales letter take shape;
- Creates the mini-site.
This amazing all-in-one software costs $97 (approx. £53) and is available for download at www.saleslettergenerator.com .
The Perfect Web Hosting Service For Mini-Sites
This is the unique service you read about in the opening chapter:
http://thirdspherehosting.com/plus/?xstcreat&id=xstcreat&pkg=Flip back to
Chapter 1 now and refresh your memory on the gist.
Perhaps most important of all: it provides you with the ability to create and market
unlimited numbers of mini-sites with separate directories but all under the
same domain. What a saving. It works like this: you register a niche domain name, say,
http://howtoproducts-xl.com . Then, using Third Sphere hosting you simply create a sub-domain
http://articles.howtoproducts-xl.com and so on for as many separate associated e-products as you like. I use this service myself and consider it a bargain at $25 (approx. £13.50) per month.