Website Design Help

Online Business Profits

You have heard the saying “work smarter not harder” this is true for your online business as well. Your goal is to increase profits not increase your work load.

Offer an up-sell for your product or services. A good example of an up-sell is a popular game console sells a basic edition for $295.95 now they also offer a premium edition for $395.95. The difference is two components that are required for specific game play. To upgrade at a later date those two components would cost approximately $150.00 dollars more. Most people will purchase the premium edition as they see this as a good deal and getting more for their money.

You will want to test various methods of providing an up-sell for your particular service or product. You can offer this premium edition or enhanced service prior to customer purchasing or after they have purchased and before final purchase settlement.

Subscriptions are an excellent way to increase your profits. If customers like your service they will be happy and renew each year. It requires little time, effort, and cost to keep them as customers and happy. It is much easier to keep someone happy than to build a new relationship from scratch. A subscription service is easily done. By using your imagination you will find one that fits your target audience. Here are a couple suggestions to help start.

Have a popular site category on your website. Charge a yearly fee for inclusion in your links or directory. This will pay for your time and effort to review each link request and also allows discourages the casual link requester which also improves the quality of your links.

Offer a printed copy of your newsletter. Include expanded details on information and also coupons or discounts that readers of the regular newsletter would not receive.
Create a subscriber only service and offers information or services that are not immediately available to someone visiting your site. An example would be. If you have a housing referral site that gives housing information. For a fee they can also get contact information for any of the rentals or for sale homes on your site.

Continually follow up with customers and potential customers. Let them know you are available for any questions or concerns they may have. If you have any new products or services just in and not announced on your site as of yet. Be sure to inform the customer who has purchased a companion service or product of these new offerings first. An auto responder can make this task much easier than manually doing each one.

Work on building relationships. You want your online business to be considered friendly, reliable, and trustworthy. Offer to go above and beyond expectations if possible. You will set yourself apart by gong from the online world to the outside world even if it is just a simple thank you card sent in the regular mail. People do remember such acts and will reward you with future purchases, and a word of mouth recommendation to others.

If necessary get rid of the high maintenance customer. You will never be able to make everyone happy. Some customers are so constantly demand extra’s but not willing to pay for them; others are just rude to you on a regular basis. Be polite but explain that you will no longer be able to supply them with goods or services for them. You can direct them to a competitor’s website if you wish. But it is your online store and you have the choice as to if you want to serve them or not. The goal is to make money and increase profits not increase your work load and headaches.