I was talking to someone the other day who was only making about $200 per month from their website. Do you ever wonder how some businesses flourish online, while others struggle to make even a few hundred dollars a year from their website? The answer is actually very simple: be the best answer on the internet. Notice, I didn’t say it was easy, just simple. Regardless of what you are selling, if you provide the best answer on the internet, you will win. You will not only get the best search engine placements, but you will have other people sharing your content, referring you, writing positive reviews about you, and you will sell more. So, just how do you become the best answer on the internet?

The first thing you must decide is what is the question? Who is your primary audience? Once you identify who that person is, what is the question they want answered? This may seem like a bunch of rhetoric, but it really is a necessary step. Let’s say you sell paint. Who is the person that usually makes a decision about what paint to buy? Is it the contractor or the homeowner? If it is the homeowner, is it the husband or the wife? My guess is that it is the wife who makes the decision about how a home is painted, but that information would of course have to be verified. Assuming it is the wife though, what specifically is she looking for? Color? Durability? Cost? Washability or maintenance? Guarantee? Ease of application? Ability to match the exact paint 5 years from now?

Now that you know who your buyer persona or avatar is and what questions they are asking, it is your job to provide the best answer on the internet. Not just any answer, but the BEST answer. Sticking with the paint store example, this means that you do not simply want to use the manufacturer’s photos and description of the paint, you want to provide your own information. This is critical, as information is what your buyer persona is looking for. You are the expert in what you are selling, so talk to your customer as if they walked into your store and were asking you those exact same questions. Specifically, here is my recommendation: make a video. Not just one video, but a video for each and every product or service you sell. Imagine if you went to a paint store site, and here was the owner of the paint store telling you exactly the answers to your questions. He is actually demonstrating the product as he is talking, showing you how easy it is to apply, while discussing and showing you the advantages of his paint. Then he brings on a contractor who gives a short testimonial, followed by a homeowner (someone just like you), who also gives a short testimonial, and then wraps it up by saying, “If you have any further questions about the quality of our paint, just give me a call at 555-1212.”

You’ve heard that content is king, and that is true. But not just any content. You want to provide information that is simply the best answer on the internet. Anything less and you will find yourself struggling to make a few hundred dollars per month.

Would that business have provided the best answer on the internet for the homeowner looking for which paint to buy? Perhaps, but there is more – he must still provide his own high-quality photographs, a written description, and written testimonials, in addition to the video. He must then share his content on multiple channels: his blog, a podcast, YouTube, social media channels and more. The idea is to be seen on as many places as possible all over the internet. Then he needs to repeat this process for everything he sells: brushes, rollers, tape, tarps, and cleanup materials. Now he has provided the best answer on the internet. You can too, regardless of what you offer.

As I said, the answer is simple, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. An online business is just that – a business. And like any business, you must work at it to make it successful. But if you provide the best answer on the internet, I guarantee that you will be more successful than 98% of your competitors.

GregJameson

Greg Jameson has been writing blog articles on ecommerce and internet marketing for over 10 years. Learn more about Greg at https://webstoresltd.com/about/