What Skills Really Matter Online 0 article

What Skills Really Matter Online?

If you've been online for more than 15 minutes you have
probably noticed that the Internet can seem like a strange
new world.

If you've been online for more than 15 minutes you have
probably noticed that the Internet can seem like a strange
new world.

And the language these people use! Online marketers talk
about such strange things as hits and ROI (return on
investment) as if you will automatically understand what
they mean.

If you have ever been discouraged by what seems like a
million things to learn, take heart.

The truth is that the skills needed to succeed online can be
easily learned by anyone ... and that includes you!

Let's look together at the top five skills you need to
succeed online. Some of them may surprise you.

1. The Ability To Market.

"Marketing" is just a fancy term for selling something.
After all, the Internet is the biggest marketplace known to
humankind. If you want your piece of the pie, at some point
you are going to ask someone to buy your product or service.

INSIDER TIP: You don't have to be a "natural born
salesperson" to make lots of sales. You can model the
selling text (called 'copy') from people who are already
successful. Simply modify the copy in their sales letters
and marketing materials to fit your own product or service.
Almost all online marketers use this technique.

To sell effectively remember to tell people what your
product or service will do for them. Not just what it does;
what it does for them.

2. Provide Excellent Customer Service.

Providing excellent customer service is simply treating
others as you would like to be treated.

When you want more information, when do you want it? You
want it now and so will *your* customer. The more you can
think like your customer the easier it will be to provide
world-class customer service.

Remember that when a person has bought something from you
once they will be much more likely to buy again. When they
have questions or concerns follow up with them quickly.

INSIDER TIP: Create a message containing answers to the top
ten questions about your product or service and deliver it
via autoresponder.

This will ensure that people get an immediate, personalized
response from you even if it's 2:00 in the morning and you
are asleep!

3. Have a Vision.

Knowing what you want to accomplish online is perhaps the #1
skill necessary. It's not enough to say, "I want to make
money".

Ask yourself these questions before you begin. The answers
to these questions may just reveal your perfect business
idea.

1. What am I passionate about?
2. What skills do I possess that will be helpful online?
3. What do I really hate to do?

The more you know about what you love to do (and hate to do)
the more wisely you will be able to choose or create
products that both fit your personality and are popular in
the marketplace.

When you find something that matches both your interests and
the need of the market, you will have found your 'niche'.

4. Know Something About Money

You don't need to be a bookkeeper to succeed online but you
do need to understand how to handle money. You will need to
calculate how much you can afford to spend on things like
advertising, Internet access, online services like web
hosting and more in order to become profitable.

INSIDER TIP: Keep things as simple as you can. Use a program
like Quicken to keep up with details and visit financial
websites like Quicken.com to fill in any gaps in your
financial knowledge.

5. Learn How to Model Success

"Modeling success" is a popular idea online. It simply means
finding someone who is very successful and copying the
things they do so you will be successful too.

It works and it's easy to do!

Simply find people who have been super successful over a
long period of time. Then look at the types of things they
do and see how those things can apply to your business.

Choose someone like Yanik Silver (the author of '33 Days To
Online Profits' and other excellent eBooks) and see how he
or she follows up with his or her prospects and customers.

See what their websites look like and how the words sound.
Look at how often they ask for the order on their sales
page. Do they give 10 bonus items or two? Where do they
advertise? What do *their* ads say?

Modeling successful online business people will lead to your
success perhaps faster than any other one technique you can
employ.

INSIDER TIP: Find people that you admire and get on their
mailing list. You will learn from reading their sales
messages and see first-hand how often they follow up with
prospect and customers. Do the same in your business and
good things will follow!

The skills you need to succeed online are all within your
grasp. The Internet can be a confusing and frustrating place
to do business if you feel that you have to "reinvent the
wheel" and start from scratch.

The good news is that people have gone before you who can
show you the way to success. If you lack a certain skill,
just find someone who has that skill in abundance and copy
his or her success.

Do this consistently and soon you will be the one people
look to when they need to know what really works online.

About the Author

Jeff Grant and Cindy Kappler just completed a powerful
internet marketing resource called Web Ad Magic. This 1,235
page marketing encyclopedia, co-authored with Internet
marketing genius Yanik Silver, is full of outstanding
advertising copy from the world's best Internet and
corporate marketers. Now you can model the best of the best
and take your Internet marketing campaigns to a new level.
Check it out at http://www.webadmagic.com/doe.htm