Are you trying to succeed online without the tools you must
have?
Would you bake a cherry pie without cherries?
Would you try to mow your grass without a lawn mower?
Of course not!
Yet every day millions of people confront the business of trying
to create a profitable online business without the essential
tools they need. Take this easy quiz to find out if you're one
of them!
* Question: Do you have a listserver? / / Yes / / No
A listserver is an ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY online success tool. It
enables you to send unlimited non-spam email. With your
listserver you can send out a daily newsletter, offers,
specials, premiums, information on how to use your
products/services, etc. Online your list is your business, your
business is your list. The listserver enables you to keep in
regular, productive communication with your prospects and
customers. Without it you're dead.
* Question: Do you have your own domain? / / Yes / / No
Hundreds of thousands of people are trying to make money online
without owning their own cyber "land," the domain. Ridiculous!
Got a self-replicating website? You're nothing more than a
cyber-squatter. If anything happens to the company giving you
your free site, your business will immediately collapse -- and
with it your hopes of online success. Besides, what's the point
of having a website you can't edit? The only people making money
online are the ones with their own domains. Once you've got it,
it's your job to develop it. Without a domain you're going
nowhere online.
* Question: Do you have a good relationship with a reputable web
design company? / / Yes / / No
The longer you're in business online, the more you'll understand
why having a good relationship with a reputable web design
company is absolutely essential for your success. For one thing,
web design has become very sophisticated. It's not something you
can delegate to Aunt Sallie who dabbles in web design part time
when she's not fighting with Uncle Herbie. Web design software
and techniques have developed by leaps and bounds in recent
years. Amateurs are just not able to keep up. But you MUST have
an eye-catching, client-centered design on your site; you must
use design to generate sales. Only trained professionals can
help you do that. What's more, an ongoing relationship with such
professionals is pivital; after all, good design is like good
window dressing. It's got to be changed regularly to keep your
visitors interested. That's why working with people who have
done good work for you in the past and understand you and your
business is vital.
* Question: Do you have oncall technical support? / / Yes / / No
I don't know about you, but I hate it when I need technical
support for something I've purchased and I just cannot break
through to a living human being. It really irks me.
The Internet is a technical environment. Like it or not, things
are not always going to work right. You're not always going to
understand everything. You're not always going to know what to
do and how to do it. That's why you need a relationship with a
company that provides you with friendly, accessible,
understandable technical support when you need it. Without it,
you're on your own -- and that can be a very uncomfortable
feeling!
* Question: Do you have unrelenting prospect follow-up? / / Yes
/ / No
Unrelenting, systematic follow-up is what distinguishes the
people who are going to make it in business from those who
aren't. Right now do you have the means available to connect
with your prospects up to 25 times in a 90 day period? Can you
send them automated, personalized follow-up? Or are you trying
to handle your follow-up on a case-by-case, catch-as-catch-can
basis, never quite sure who got what and what you're supposed to
send today? If that's how you're handling your follow up, you're
doomed.
Conclusion
The Internet is going to be a part of our lives forever. It has
already created and will create THOUSANDS of millionaires. These
smart people understand the environment and have the necessary
tools for online success. Without them, you've merely created a
no-win situation for yourself, fraught with frustration,
irritation and defeat, like mowing your lawn without a mower,
pulling out one blade at a time.