Is your website working for you
By Frank Furness

When speaking to audiences around the world, I always ask who has websites and most of the people raise their hands. I then ask who generated a large or even small proportion of business from their website or generated some decent leads. Very few hands are raised. What is happening is that so many organisations have developed websites that are really worthless and it is like receiving the glossy brochure in the mail that goes straight into the bin. Most of the time, they will have a decent website, but it is not seen by anyone, it does not market the goods or services and clients don’t return because the website is not updated with new information or reasons for clients to return.
I now have six websites and developing another ten. The only purposes of my websites are to both sell products or services and give good solid information. Millions of people are looking for free information each day on the internet, so, how much free information are you giving to your potential clients. Give them articles or eBooks where you develop an online relationship. They will then see you as the expert in your field and in turn this will result in enquiries or sales.
Some of the essentials for a good website are:
Great content – provide good valuable content.
Links – develop a linking strategy. Have all you clients linking to your website and in return you link to theirs. Also, develop a strategy to link to other sites with high Google rankings. I use a great piece of software that finds me linking partners based on keywords and then automates the complete system for me to develop links. Take a look at http://tinyurl.com/pmcfo
I also discovered an incredible eBook on linking strategies and Search Engine Optimisation that has really assisted me in getting high rankings for my sites. It is written by a recognised expert and if you would like to receive a free copy, please email me at mail:frank@frankfurness.com
Articles – Write articles with valuable information. There are thousands of magazines that are looking for articles. Find the magazines in your sector and submit them to the editor. As a footnote always have your contact details. Some years ago, I approached the Financial Times regarding one of their international newspapers. This resulted in me having my own column for two years in an industry newspaper that was distributed to forty two countries. I didn’t earn much from it, but the recognition, branding and business generated was incredible. It was low cost, no cost marketing (my favourite).
You can also use these articles to develop an online marketing strategy. In your website, have links to all your articles. Submit your articles to article directories. Have links within your articles and at the footnote back to your website. Not only will people all over the world be downloading your articles, they will also put them into their websites as a resource and these will result in hundreds of links back to your site which the search engines lobe and this will automatically increase your ranking and visibility. An article site that I use often is http://www.articles4business.org

One of the things that I discovered when I first built my website was that every time I made any change to the site, I was sent an account and this amounted up over time (my wife asked if I had shares in the website company). I changed website providers and now use an organisation called Advenzia - http://www.advenzia.com

The biggest advantages to me are that I now have a back office system where I am in complete control of the site; I can make changes, add articles, and add products at any time. I also have a full ecommerce system for selling my products as well as a great affiliate system where people can sign up as affiliates to market my products and earn healthy commissions for doing so. (If you would like to become an affiliate, please go to http://tinyurl.com/syb5l ). The system I have on my website tracks all affiliate traffic, commissions and is simple to use.
Take a look at a short video I produced demonstrating my back office system at http://tinyurl.com/kqfhk



Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/ Download 39 Power Sales Closing Scripts at http://www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm

Marketing with Newsletters
By Frank Furness

We all know how difficult it is to find new clients. When we have them as clients we have to do everything we can to keep them and provide them with great customer service.
What we need to do is develop a 10 touch plan so that we can be in contact with them at least ten times a year. Often we think that we have sold them our product or service and they won’t need us again. There is always going to be staff turnover, executives leaving the organisation and joining other companies and as long as we stay in touch, more business will follow. I recently returned from speaking in Sydney and this was as a result of a CEO selling his company in the UK and taking a senior position in Australia. By staying in touch he hired me to speak at the company in Australia.
So we either have to be with them face to face, on the telephone, by email, or the easiest way to keep in contact is by newsletter. I like to produce the electronic newsletter as the costs are minimal and I can see all the statistics of how many people open the newsletter, unsubscribe or link through to the website. (I’ve always been driven by ratios; I feel they are so important in selling)
Publishing a newsletter is a cost effective way to build your loyal customer base. You keep your clients updated about your business, latest offerings, as well as new products and services. It keeps you and your business visible
Good information gets distributed. So, a newsletter is a means of viral marketing, your clients will pass it on to their clients and before you know it the telephone will be ringing from new clients that you never even knew existed. When I sent out my first newsletter, I received a call the next day from someone who had been forwarded my newsletter and this resulted in a number of talks and training days with that company..

Here are some tips for producing your newsletter:
• Always ensure that you have a main article that provides information that your readers will find valuable. Your articles form the body of your newsletter. They should be informative and arouse the interests of your readers. Articles should be well written, and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. Your readers will be appreciative of the fact that you have given much thought and preparation to your articles. I always try to add value with good practical information.

• Keep abreast with the current developments of your field. Your readers want to know what is new and what is hot.

• Within your Ezine, throw in links to related articles that you have written or been featured in when appropriate.

• Offer testimonials from satisfied clients

• Give real life examples and show how you’ve helped clients

• Case studies always position you as the expert in your readers’ minds more than you coming out and saying so.

• Jot down eight questions your clients have asked you in the past

• Answer each one in a short article, as there may be many other clients who have the same questions in mind.

• If you have been to any industry conference workshops or seminars where you’ve picked up some helpful hints, share these with your readers

• Offer a list of your top five to ten tips on a certain subject

• Recommend books or resources and offer reviews on some of these books. By the way, take a look at my new list of recommended books at http://tinyurl.com/s6j67

I have produced a short video to demonstrate how I develop my newsletter each month, take a look at http://tinyurl.com/fzwr6
I also use constant Contact for my electronic newsletter and find them to be terrific, take a look at their site and try them for free at http://tinyurl.com/onmsy

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/
Download 39 Power Sales Closing Scripts at http://www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm

Marketing with Newsletters
By Frank Furness

We all know how difficult it is to find new clients. When we have them as clients we have to do everything we can to keep them and provide them with great customer service.
What we need to do is develop a 10 touch plan so that we can be in contact with them at least ten times a year. Often we think that we have sold them our product or service and they won’t need us again. There is always going to be staff turnover, executives leaving the organisation and joining other companies and as long as we stay in touch, more business will follow. I recently returned from speaking in Sydney and this was as a result of a CEO selling his company in the UK and taking a senior position in Australia. By staying in touch he hired me to speak at the company in Australia.
So we either have to be with them face to face, on the telephone, by email, or the easiest way to keep in contact is by newsletter. I like to produce the electronic newsletter as the costs are minimal and I can see all the statistics of how many people open the newsletter, unsubscribe or link through to the website. (I’ve always been driven by ratios; I feel they are so important in selling)
Publishing a newsletter is a cost effective way to build your loyal customer base. You keep your clients updated about your business, latest offerings, as well as new products and services. It keeps you and your business visible
Good information gets distributed. So, a newsletter is a means of viral marketing, your clients will pass it on to their clients and before you know it the telephone will be ringing from new clients that you never even knew existed. When I sent out my first newsletter, I received a call the next day from someone who had been forwarded my newsletter and this resulted in a number of talks and training days with that company..

Here are some tips for producing your newsletter:
• Always ensure that you have a main article that provides information that your readers will find valuable. Your articles form the body of your newsletter. They should be informative and arouse the interests of your readers. Articles should be well written, and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. Your readers will be appreciative of the fact that you have given much thought and preparation to your articles. I always try to add value with good practical information.

• Keep abreast with the current developments of your field. Your readers want to know what is new and what is hot.

• Within your Ezine, throw in links to related articles that you have written or been featured in when appropriate.

• Offer testimonials from satisfied clients

• Give real life examples and show how you’ve helped clients

• Case studies always position you as the expert in your readers’ minds more than you coming out and saying so.

• Jot down eight questions your clients have asked you in the past

• Answer each one in a short article, as there may be many other clients who have the same questions in mind.

• If you have been to any industry conference workshops or seminars where you’ve picked up some helpful hints, share these with your readers

• Offer a list of your top five to ten tips on a certain subject

• Recommend books or resources and offer reviews on some of these books. By the way, take a look at my new list of recommended books at http://tinyurl.com/s6j67

I have produced a short video to demonstrate how I develop my newsletter each month, take a look at http://tinyurl.com/fzwr6
I also use constant Contact for my electronic newsletter and find them to be terrific, take a look at their site and try them for free at http://tinyurl.com/onmsy

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/
Download 39 Power Sales Closing Scripts at http://www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm

How to develop a Powerful Salesletter
By Frank Furness

I am presently developing a number of websites. My main website is great, but it also confuses people. I’m selling speaking, training, recruitment services and 42 products. One of the changes I’ve made is that I am now developing one page websites to promote each product. I’m not the best at doing this kind of thing, so I use a piece of software called 60 second salesletters. I fill in the gaps on the questionnaire and voila… I have an instant one page website. I can import images, use any payment system for orders, change the colours and look. For me it is ideal because I know nothing about HTML, but can now make my own websites. Take a look at some of the websites that I have produced using 60 second salesletters:

http://www.coachingforspeakers.org/
http://www.walkingwithtigers.com/

http://www.ezimail.org/

http://www.businesscardscanner.co.uk/
http://www.articles4business.org/

It's a huge misconception that people don't read long salesletters. Billions of direct mail pieces have proven that people buy, in general, at a higher rate from long, benefit-laden salesletters.
While you may not personally read long salesletters, people who are honestly, genuinely interested in your product, idea, concept, or service will not only read long letters but also buy from them.
Many years ago a very famous advertising man named John Caples said "A letter can never be too long, it can only be too boring."
"60-Second Salesletters" forces you to load your salesletter with benefits. And this is what makes the copy and the letter interesting to your prospects. That's why they'll read it.
60-Second Salesletters" forces you to spell out the features and benefits of your product, with proven direct response principles plus an offer, guarantee, bonuses and so forth built right into it.

Create a separate letter for each of your products or services
Create multiple letters (as many as you want!) for each product so you can test to see which works best.
Use different letters for the same product to target different audiences who may be interested in the same product for different reasons
Develop different versions of your salesletters to use for follow-up promotions
Save as many different letters as you want -- or even drafts and different versions of letters -- and organize them in your personal archives
... And more! With the ability to automate your sales copy writing process and produce unlimited professional salesletters on demand, you can create a library of killer sales materials and watch its impact on every aspect of your business and profits.
Take a look at this great product at http://tinyurl.com/f5r23

Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/
Download 39 Power Sales Closing Scripts at http://www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm