Still struggling to make money online? Selling a service is one of the fastest ways to start making money today - But please read these tips before taking the plunge! FACT: Many (not all) of the buy-sell threads in this forum are shameful. Poorly written sales threads followed by poor customer service seems to be an industry trend here. FACT: If you want to sell a service or product here on DP, you don't have to work that hard to stand out from the competition. If you run a sales thread (in this forum or any other forum), the following are my quick tips to help you run a successful form sales thread: Offer a product/service that people actually need! This is not really a strategy, but something that is critical to point out. If no one needs your product, than it’s already a dead-end for you. If the product or service is something new, make sure that you “sell†in your sales thread. This means you have to make the potential customer realize that they do (or will) have a problem and that your product/service is the best solution to it. Put some thought into the title! Keeping your sales thread on the first page with the following strategies is one thing, getting potential customers to click through is another! You want as many people browsing to click on your sales thread to get more information. Take a look at the best performing sales threads in the buy-sell sections of various forums and see if you find anything common in how they have structured their title. Give enough detail to describe what the service is, but make it interesting enough that the reader wants to find out more. For example, instead of writing: SEO Backlink Service Consider the following: Finally, the SEO Backlink Service to CRUSH your competitors The second thread title will create a lot more interest from people browsing the buy-sell section and be much more likely to click and read your sales offer. Put some effort into your sales pitch! Again, this might be obvious, but if you check out the “buy-sell†section of any webmaster forum you will that more than half the sales threads look like they were put together in about 30 seconds, complete with spelling and grammar mistakes and no formatting. If you can’t put effort into your own work, why would someone trust you to put effort into theirs? Spend some time to proof read your thread, and put some formatting into it to make it stand out. Take this a step further, (beyond the formatting) and spend some time developing your sales pitch. I know I still have a lot to learn about sales copy still, but consider the following when working on your sales page to help improve your tips to help improve your sales copy: *Read the sales page from the perspective of your customers. Ask people in the industry to read it for you before publishing it and get their feedback (if you do not have any contacts, ask friends and family members to read it) *Make use of common sales techniques: “highlight benefits, not features†add “social proof†(give away free review copies if you have to), make customers aware that they have a problem (if it’s not obvious), and show how your product provides the solution. *Learn by example – sort forums by the most actively viewed sales threads (most forums have this option) and take a look at the top 10 service/product sales threads. You should be able to find some common elements in them that you can “adapt†to your sales thread. Respond to your customer queries! Make sure that you respond to ALL customer queries in your sales thread. Do not avoid responding if someone has posted something negative in your sales thread (you will always get at least one customer that feels the need to complain). A complaining customer is not something to shy away from or try and hide in your sales thread. All sales threads have them, the difference is how you respond. Respond publically and if you made a mistake admit it in public to show potential customers how you did right by your error. This will set you apart from your comeptitors and show potential customers that you are a professional. Although I always respond, I do not always respond to questions right away. Why? Because when the question was put in my sales thread, it was bumped to the top of the forum. I will sometimes wait half a day (until my sales thread has disappeared) at which point I will strategically respond and re-â€bump†my sales thread to the top of the forum, gaining more exposure. If I had responded right away, I would not be taking advantage of the opportunity to legitimately “bump†my sales thread. Of course, if the question is of the nature where the customer is ready to buy, I will considering responding immediately as the window to close the sale may be missed if I delay and give the customer an opportunity to find another solution provider. Build Authority in the community Take some time to respond to other people’s questions in the non buy-sell sections of the forums. I like to click “new posts†and scan for threads that are posing a question and have no replies. I will read the thread and if I can help answer (or at least provide some direction) I will respond. This will help build trust to your name in the community and will help with the next point. Realize that even though you only replied to one person, A LOT more people will be viewing your response. I took a look at the most active threads on a popular webmaster forum, DigitalPoint and noted the following thread views per reply ratio. As you can see from the image above, only 1-2% of the people readig forums are actually responding to the thread. Although you may only be responding to a single question, your response could be read by hundreds (if not thousands) of people, all which you have the opportunity to show your signature advertising your thread (see next point). Use your signature! By being active in the forum by responding to people’s threads you are creating authority and trust for your name. Take advantage of that and include in your signature a link to your sales thread. As you prove your professionalism to other forum members you are “pre-selling†them and will gain more exposure to your sales thread. Here is an example signature I would consider using, if I were selling SEO services “SEO Solutions for the serious marketer: Service 1 | Service 2 | Service 3 | etc“ Ask customers for feedback! Some service providers are afraid to ask customers to post feedback after the service has been deliver. When I send my final reports I always leave a big link to the sales thread where they found my service and ask them to leave some honest feedback. This provides you with two massive benefits. First, you get your sales thread “bumped†back to the top of the forum, gaining more exposure. Second (and probably more important), you are providing social proof to potential customers that other’s actually use your service and are happy with it. This is a huge selling technique and as your sales thread develops, and more customer’s leave their reviews will provide a snowball effect. That’s it. If you read this and are thinking it is simple to run a successful sales thread on a forum, well than you are right. The competition is low and if you are willing to take the extra step and follow the guidelines above you will be miles ahead of your competition. Providing a quality service is one of the fastest ways you can start making money online!
Thank you for providing such insightful information. Your outline can certainly assist most aspiring newbies, as well as individuals that are struggling to make it online, in terms of making one realize how truly easy it is to gain recognition as long as you are organized and dedicated and have the ability to follow a specific blueprint for success.
I am not good at writing a good sale thread. I am thinking of getting a professional to do it for me later. I do think the "Ask customers for feedback!" is quite helpful.
thanks for the information and i think everyone should share this type of informative posts. and ideas too. thanks
Great stuff. Can you look at my sales thread and give me a critique? Click on my sig line and you will see it.