Want an easy way to get a report card type grading on your website?  Pretend you are a customer or prospect that is visiting your site for the first time and rate yourself according on the following questions.  Or better yet send it to 10 friends or business associates and get their feedback.  Here are the questions:

1. Where do your eyeballs gravitate towards first on the page?  Remember attention spans are short.  Like appealing fish bait, your site needs something interesting to “hook” the visitor in to buy you more time.  This is the first goal attract ATTENTION.

2. At a glance can you tell what the site is about?  As mentioned in #1 you only have a few seconds to get your message across.  Too much action will distract, confuse causing the visitor to leave.

3. Is your best stuff i.e. information “above the fold?”  We live in a “give it to me NOW” world.  Your visitor does not want to do more than he needs to do to get what he wants.  Your USP should be clearly visible indicating why someone should do business with you.

4. Are the benefits of the product/service easy found?  Remember it’s about your customer or prospect…what they want to know is can you help them.  Your benefits should leave an emotional connection with them.  A good place to start is can you relieve them of pain or can you give them pleasure.

5. Is there a clear call to action?  You need to give you prospect or customer a clear path of action.  If they like what they see…what should they do next?  Buy Now, Download something, Call you? Don’t have too many calls to action…too many leads to confusion…and we know what confusion leads to.

6. Do your colors and images look good?  If your site is too busy or flashy you will lose your visitors.  Make sure your colors and images support your brand image.

7. Is the font easy to read?  In terms of fonts…simple easy to read is definitely better.

8. Do you have long bulky sections of copy?  Break them up…or you run the risk of getting them skipped.  One line sentences and snippets can get your point across just as easy and faster.

9. Your menu items…do they indicate where they’ll take you?  Plan your menus accordingly to your buyer.  Your site should always contain information on your company and how to contact you.

10. How easy is it to contact you?  Whether it’s to buy something or ask a question or customer service related…ease of access is definite a pre-cursor to repeat business.

11. Can your visitor get to know you?  With so much crap lurking out there on the net…your customers want to and need to know who they are dealing with.  Your “About You/Us” page is the best place to do this…including pictures are a good thing to consider.

12. Relationships are key?  Are you engaging you visitors…static sites are boring and do not entice people to come back.  Do you have a place where people can converse with you or get involved as a community?…blogs are great for this.  A regular, “what’s new section” that is updated all the time is good also.  Stay away from the corporate static feel….you need to engage.

13. Lead capture, is it above the fold?  A form is basically the only way to capture leads…have it at the top and make it worth their time and energy to submit. i.e. Free Report or Voucher, Real Value Advice etc..

14. Is there multimedia?  Video and Audio are great ways to set your self apart and give you another way to communicate and build relationships with your prospect or customer.

15. Are there links to social media?  Another way to build trust and loyalty into your relationship.  People like to hang out with like minded people and building a community is the best way to accomplish this.  And all things being equal when it comes to business – people would rather do business with their friends.

What do Don Trahan and CJ Goecks know about Internet Marketing?  Based on the emails I get from these guys…quite a bit.  They have one upped the late night golf infomercial guru AJ Bonar by using the power of internet marketing to autopilot sales.  If you follow a couple of tips that I am about to identify you too could be cashing in on autopilot income.

Who are these guys?

Don Trahan – Peak Performance Golf Swing

PGA Master Professional Don Trahan, known as the “Swing Surgeon,” has been ranked by Golf Magazine as one of the “50 Best Teachers” in America. He is the author of the popular instruction book, “Golf, Plain and Simple,” the “Peak Performance Golf Swing” and numerous articles about the golf swing in major golf publications. He is a former teaching editor for Golf Magazine and creator of numerous training aids.

However, for Don, his greatest distinctions by far is the “student” who is now a member of the PGA Tour. DJ Trahan and Don’s son, winner of two Tour events, is positioned to be one of the Tour leaders.

CJ Goecks – Perfect Connection Golf Swing

Goeck is a Certified PGA Golf Professional and is also ranked as a Golf Digest Top 20 Golf Instructor.  PGA Touring Professional Nathan Green won the RBC Canadian Open using Goecks’ Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

So what are these guys selling?  Most people would probably answer golf lessons…but that’s the easy answer.  You would be surprised at how many people get this fundamental question incorrect.  Ask a Dentist, Chiropractor, Real Estate Agent, Pizza Store, Car Dealer what they sell and the majority of them will say clean teeth, skeletal adjustments, houses, pizza and cars – ALL WRONG! What they are missing is a VALUE PROPOSITION…what are their customers buying from them?

In our golf pro examples, we see that the Peak Performance Golf Swing is promoting the end to inconsistent golf – a common problem among many golfers.  The Perfect Connection Golf Swing is promoting a pain-free body friendly golf swing – which for many golfers pain can create all kinds of problems in the quest for a consistent golf swing.  Are you noticing a trend here…they are providing a solution to a problem.  You see…most people buy to satisfy something.  It could be vanity, security, pain relief, worry, pleasure, convenience etc.  In our mini case study, both Pros are promoting a better golf swing but they are each catering to a specific niche of people looking to improve their golf swing.

How are these guys using the power of the internet to achieve their sales? LEVERAGE

They are using the power of leverage to earn greater sales.  HOW?

• They created a video series and DVD instructional series which allows them to teach more students than humanly possible using the traditional approach,
• They use an email auto-responder series to deliver engaging video content to help foster a trusting relationship by delivering value up front with their prospects,
• They use the power of Social Media like Facebook and Twitter to extend their reach, build credibility and increase traffic,
• They use the power of PPC advertising to generate maximum ROI on their advertising dollars,

Are they making money?  While I do not have direct access to their bank accounts I would say – there is a very strong chance that they are both doing very well with their sales.  Using some basic research tools such as Alexa.com and iSpionage.com you can see that both sites get a steady stream of traffic .  I did a recent search at iSpionage (a site that tracks PPC campaigns) for PerfectConnectionGolfSwing (PCGS).  It revealed that in the month of October PCGS spent roughly $377-$603 on pay-per-click advertising.  As a result, they received 402-487 click throughs to their site.  Assuming a 5% close rate and using the lowest click-through number of 402 – sales could be estimated at $67 x 20.1 = $1347.  Subtracting the PPC cost of $603 results in a profit of $743.  Having said this, there’s still the cost of producing the DVDs and the actual video production costs to consider – but I’m willing to bet that they’ve made enough sales to cover those costs.

The point is, with all the up front cost and efforts already invested both of these guys will be able to reap ongoing returns on their initial investment of time and money for years to come.

So what are you waiting for?  Who’s problem can you solve today?

If you are a retail based business, offer products/services business to business, professional service provider, commissioned sales rep etc   You will want to read this article.  Over the past few years the way to the customer’s wallet has changed. 

| YellowPages are dead…Google is the new directory |

No longer can you expect to place a yellow page ad, newspaper ad, send out flyers, advertise on radio, runs ads on TV blasting “I’m here, I’m here” and expect to get results.  Customer behaviour has changed and if you do not change with it you are doomed.  How you adjust, adapt and prepare for the new customer will determine your long term success.

So what’s changed?  In the last little while, online has taken over.  Comparison shopping occurs in just a few clicks versus hours of phone calls or in-store visits.  Speaking of in-stores visits…those occur in the comfort of the customer’s own home or desk via Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.  

| We’re open Monday – Friday 9-5 no longer works for people. |

Days and weeks of research done the old fashioned way are now compressed in to hours, minutes and seconds.  It’s no longer Monday to Friday 9-5…it’s 24/7 365.  Yes, the internet has been around for the last 25 years but it has firmly taken hold as a shopping option and has become a trillion dollar shopping option for customers and consumers around the globe.

Trillion dollar pie?  Do you want some of that?  Here are some examples of businesses doing things different.  Investment firms, car dealers, banks, insurance companies, real estate agents, dentists, restaurants to name a few have adjusted their business model…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The customer today versus before? Night and day…they’ve changed too…want to know what they look like and behave?  Keep reading.

• Their purchase decisions are slower…they compare everything.
• They get upset easier and want to let you know about it sooner and faster or they’re gone.
• They want faster resolution to what ever they are upset about or they’re gone…CAN YOU SAY “what have you done for me lately?”.
• They will not be doing business the way they used to.
• They will not be advertising the same way either.
• They will choose banks differently.
• They will buy cars differently.
• They will buy homes differently.
• They will invest differently.
• They’re online…checking your website and your competitor’s website.
• Their word of mouth travels at cyber speed via social networking
• The new tell one person if they’re happy and tell 10 people if they’re unhappy is now 100 and 1000 and spreads like a California wild fire.
• They’re using: Facebook, MySpace, Tweets, LinkedIn, Blogs, You-Tube, texting to tell the world about their experiences.
• They’re Googling…what are Yellow-pages?
• They don’t know what newspapers are.
• They listen to IPods and Podcasts not radio.
• They watch TV when it’s convenient for them and skip through commercials using their PVR.
• They buy at all hours…and it’s in the ga-zillions.
• They want to buy from you if you make it easy to buy from you.
• They are value driven…but price has moved up a couple of notches in the purchase decision.
• They want a relationship.
• They want, need and expect AMAZING SERVICE after the sale.
• When they WANT they WANT IT NOW.
• They HATE voice-mail or IVR hell.
• They need help and expert advice immediately.
• They know more about your product than you do…Oh and they also know everything about your competitor’s too.
• If they need a recommendation…see line referenced earlier about Social Networking…you better have testimonials.
• They want rapport and trust and expect to be heard and understood.

This is just the short list are you going to do something about it or stick your head in the sand?  I sure hope it’s the former and not the latter.  Failure to address the new way is surely the fast way of going broke.