You've heard of the seven deadly sins, haven't you? C'mon – I'll give you a hint – greed, adultery, lust. Ah, you remember now? OK, well, they're called deadly because they're considered dead serious. And there are seven deadly sins that web marketers make which are deadly because if you make then, you're in dead trouble. Here they are.
Sin 1: Failing To Understand Your Customer. I've seen too many casualties. Disappointment. Broken dreams. Back to the day job. And the reason? The web entrepreneur never took the time to really work out who he was selling to, or who his product was for. It sounds so obvious, but that sin is commited every day.
Sin 2: Selling Products Not Solutions. Closely allied to the previous sin above. I still come across web pages that stress features without selling the benefits. Why? What's going on? This isn't business school stuff, you know.
Sin 3: Not Being Personally Accountable. Also known as passing the buck. I experienced this a year back with someone's new product launch. It was fiasco. There had clearly been minimal, or no, pre-launch testing. It didn't do the job. But was there any explanation? Oh no. We got belligerent emails along the lines that Microsoft products needed patches etc etc. The hot shot whose photograph was all over the sales pages hid behind some unfortunate mis-called customer care noodle.
Sin 4: Selling, Not Helping. You've got to position yourself as a resource, not a mindless cannon firing sales shells into our customers back yard. I'm sick and tired of the yammer-yammer emails that come day in, day out, with subject lines like "You have received a payment. Check you account." Baloney. Delete.
Sin 5: Wasting Your Customer's Time. Be very clear who your products is for. If you don't, you're going to have endless refund requests, reversals from PayPal, frozen accounts and bad mouthing all over the forums. It just isn't worth it.
Sin 6: Being Inaccessible When Needed. Make certain that you get back to customers quickly if there's a problem. Don't give them the run around. Believe in customer care. Take it seriously.
Sin 7: You Talk Too Much. The sales page. On and on and on. I'm not talking length, necessarily, I'm talking content: hype, fluff, hyperbole. Just say what it does, how it's going to help, and what it's going to cost. OK, you can expand a tad on those three topics, but that's it. No fake testimonials. No false promises.
It's common sense, really, isn't it?
My best to you.