Self Employed Success

Do you sell products and services via the Internet? Do you get the results you want?

If you didn’t get the results you want, it’s helpful to re-visit each step of your “sales path” to see where tweaks can be made.

For instance, let’s say your sales path starts with an email broadcast, which directs the reader to your website. Here are the different statistics you will want to analyze to see what’s working and what’s not.

1. Open Rate: Open rates, on average, hover around 35-40%. Since you are getting a 50% open rate, your results are above-average.If your statistics show that 25% are opening the email, that equates to a real open rate of 50%. We know this because only half of all email users will open their email in a way that the “beacon” can be sent back to the email server to say “This person opened an email.”
2. HOWEVER…just because someone opens an email doesn’t mean they read it. One way to calculate whether people are actually reading your emails is click-through rate (CTR). You can you get this statistic, either from your email company, or from your website statistics.  (I recommend you use Google Analytics, if you are not already using it. It’s free.)
3. Once they click through from the email to the page where you are making your offer, how long are they staying there? This number helps to guide you as to whether they’re actually reading the web page text or not. If your web page is too long and people may be turned off by all the text. Or perhaps the text isn’t formatted in a way that’s conducive to reading.
4. If they read the website text, does it answer all their questions? If not, they may click away and never return. Check your bounce rate.
5. Your call to action matters.  Let’s say you’re selling a class. Should the call to action be “buy now?” Maybe it would be better as “register now” or “click here to register.”
6. Sales rate: did they buy?

Every step along the sales path is an opportunity to tweak your technique. Your ecommerce path might start with web traffic from a search engine (so good SEO is important) or it might start with online referrals. Once you find the right combination of the steps above that brings the best results, you then repeat that over and over again.

US postage and stamp prices will increase as of May 12. Many self-employed people are feeling the pinch, especially those who use the mail for direct-marketing purposes or to send products to customers.

Here are some tips for dealing with the US postage and stamp increase:

1. Buy the “Forever” Stamp. As the USPS says, “The stamp will be good for mailing one-ounce First-Class letters anytime in the future — regardless of price changes.” So if you buy it before May 12, it will cost you $0.41, and you will be able to use it to mail letters forever. If you have a hard time getting them at your local post office, purchase them online at www.usps.com

2. Consider converting your books and audio programs to downloadable e-products (PDF files for ebooks, MP3 files for audio programs). With the US postage and stamp price increase, your shipping costs will increase also, and you’ll have to decide whether you’ll pass those shipping costs on to your customers. (If you use UPS or FedEx you’ll see their rates increase as well, as gasoline prices soar in the USA.) With downloadable products, you save on shipping, you save on production costs, you save on fulfillment costs, and you give your customers instant gratification.

3. Ask the clerk at the post office counter for other options when shipping. Sometimes Media Mail will get to your destination in approximately the same time (depends on the destination) and for lots less money.

4. Use the Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes for shipping items. These all-you-can-fit-in-it boxes are a fixed cost, and may be less expensive than sending something weighed Priority Mail.

5. Pay your bills online instead of sending checks.

6. Send correspondence to customers, including agreements and contracts, via fax or email. For instance, I send coaching and consulting contracts to clients in PDF format via email, they sign it, and fax it back to me. No postage on either side of the equation.

While this US postage stamp increase won’t affect everyone, for those who use the mails regularly, it will be a growing business expense. Best to think ahead, because the US Postal Service says that prices will probably increase each year from now on.

Click here for further information on all the US postage and stamp increases schedule for May 12.

Wow, you are going to kill me, but I have to say it:

It doesn’t matter how good your website is, if people don’t come back often. Your website gets them interested; your ongoing relationship with them gets them to buy.

The real key to e-commerce is building a mailing list of people who are interested in the topics you write, speak and teach about. On a good day, you might get 10 percent of your website visitors to buy. But what about the other 90 percent? Are you just going to ignore them and their needs?

The internet is a distracting place and a visitor may only come to your website once. A mailing list member can be told about new articles, new offerings and new resources on your site each month, thereby increasing your traffic and your sales.

I’m not talking about creating huge lists of people who will remove themselves as soon as they get your freebie. What’s the point in that? I’m talking about a sustainable list of people who like the products and services you offer, who have an ongoing relationship with you, and are likely to purchase from you again and again.

I can think of 20 or 30 different things you can do to grow your mailing list. Let’s look at the 10 techniques I like to use.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but have you heard the news?

The United States Postal Service announced that the cost of a first class stamp will increase to .42 on May 12. No, it’s not deja vu. You are correct in your remembering that postage rates were just increased in May of 2007. Inside sources tell us that we can expect to see postage rate increases every year.

The increase includes not just first class stamps, but postcards and packages as well.

This affects your e-commerce and marketing in a big way:

• Now is the time to re-think your own information product pricing and delivery structure. Ebooks and downloadable audio files might be the way to go to reduce your costs. Yes, there are always security and theft concerns with selling e-products, but you have to weight those concerns against the rising cost of producing and shipping physical products.
• E-commerce shoppers love “free shipping.” But what will that cost you in the future? Will you have to raise the price of your products to offset the new shipping costs?
• It may also be time to re-think your physical mailing campaigns versus email campaigns.

For those who think, “I’ll just use FedEx or UPS,” remember that those costs will continue to rise as well.

Understanding and studying e-commerce can become a full-time business! My friend Paula has written an excellent blog entry about shopping carts and merchants accounts, which gives you an overview of what you’ll need to get started in e-commerce.

Also, from time to time I offer a free teleclass on ecommerce, setting up shopping carts, accepting credit cards, and everything that goes with selling products and services online. Check out our Calendar of Classes:

http://www.PassionForBusinessLearning.com