"What's The Secret
Of Making Money Online?"

There is a secret of making money online.  It is called "Pre-Selling".

It's not your Get Rich Quick gurus.  It's not spending gazillions of dollars on advertising.  It is a lot more basic than that.

It is "pre-selling", creating a sense of trust between you and your buyer.

The Third Cornerstone To Website Success

Pre-selling is our third cornerstone in learning how to build a website.

• The first was CONTENT;
• The second was TRAFFIC;
• Now is PRE-SELLING.

The fourth cornerstone is MONETIZATION, and we will get to that later.

Have you noticed how many of the top brands in the world spend millions and millions of dollars just on "feel good" advertising, brands like Coca-Cola.  The huge campaign a few years back with "I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke" was purely to build good will.  And it works.

That's what "pre-selling" is all about.  It's about creating that feeling of good will.

A few customers might buy from you if they didn't feel the "good will feeling", but whole lots more will buy when they DO feel that good feeling.

So, which do you want -- a few customers, or bunches?

"So The Secret To Making Money Online Is To Feel Good?"

Not quite.  But you're on the right track.

The trick is to pin down those things that will create such a good will feeling on your site.  Choose from options like:

HONESTY.  Actually, this one isn't an option.  It is a given.  Don't try to snow your customers.  They are savvy buyers, or they wouldn't be on your site in the first place.

LOTS OF GREAT INFORMATION.  Share your knowledge.  Show what an expert in your field you really are.  Give this knowledge away for free.  If someone came into a brick and mortar store and asked you questions, you would share your knowledge.  So share it now.

CREATE A FRIENDLY SITE.  Things like a nice template, easy navigation, nice videos are important.  Incorporate slideshows and images to make it a friendly visit, like the slideshows you can create with Animoto.

COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS.  Find a way to invite your customers to ask questions.  Make strong use of Contact Forms.  If you are part of SBI, the Content 2.0 component is perfect for developing this communication (see our Mini Forums for a working example of C2.0.)  An ezine often helps bridge the gap over the miles.  Working with FaceBook, Twitter and the other social sites can help too.

This is all designed to invite the customer to get to know you.  The higher the price of your product/service, the more important this invitation becomes.

Remember that most websites are all about INFORMATION.  So give it, liberally.  Then, when you do charge for something, you customer has a notion of the VALUE of what they are receiving.

"I Thought The Secret Of Making Money Online Was Learning How To Do One Page Sales Pitches"

Lots of GRQ gurus promote that.  They tout the million dollar successes they have had, and how YOU can become a millionaire too.

Honestly, if you had made millions of dollars on the web, would you still be pitching these $200 or even $2000 programs to Newbies?  I don't know about you, but I think I would find my private beach in the Caribbean and take it easy.

No, the real secret of making money online is to learn how to build a website that will attract traffic, visitors that you can pre-sell, and then sell.  That kind of business will serve you well for many, many years to come.  (And you might still make it to your Caribbean beach.)

The Second Big Secret To Making Money Online

There is one more insider bit that I must share with you:  Diversify your income streams, and experiment to see which ones work.  (OK, that's TWO more secrets, not one.  But they are both important.)

Rarely, rarely is a site monetized by just one income stream.  Don't rely on just AdSense, or just ebooks, or just affiliate income.  Diversify, diversify, diversify.

And try out new things.  If something doesn't work, set it aside and try out something else.  There is no magic combination that works 100% on all sites.  Each and every site has its own personality, and each and every site has its own "best" monetization.

Here are a few ideas to get you started: