Chapter 8: Take the Lead in Your Niche
The way to gain a lasting edge over your competition is by providing quality information and taking care of your customers.
The Internet is a crowded place, and competition is intense. Visitors to your website owe you nothing because of the time you spent building your business. The best you can hope to get is a few seconds of their attention before they move on to the next site.
During those few seconds, you must quickly demonstrate how you are better than the competition.
Despite many examples to the contrary, the best way to grab the reader's attention is not by using flashing arrows or gaudy graphics. The kind of customer you'll attract by being glitzy will not stick with you in the long run; it's only a matter of time before someone else will come along with a flashier website. The way to gain a lasting edge over your competition is by providing quality information and taking care of your customers.
Here are a few ideas to help you think about your website and how you can pull away from the pack and take the lead:
- You must demonstrate at all times that you deserve to be the top website in your niche. There should be no debate in the market that you are the best at what you do. At no point can you let customers’ expectations fall short. Spread the word in as many places online because you can answer questions on blogs and forums, and always respond to queries from customers. This process may take time, but you'll find yourself just a cut above the competition, and that's where you need to be.
- Have a clear pricing strategy. Simply putting a $47 price tag on an e-book doesn't mean that it's worth that price, and you can slowly drive yourself out of business by undercutting your competition and offering a cheaper price than anyone else. Your goal is a fair price for fair product. You want customers who downloaded your products or purchased your services to be satisfied with the value they got for the price they paid. If your price is below your competition’s, then there should be a good business reason to do so. If your prices are higher than your competitions, then you must provide additional value. It's all about delivering on your promises.
- Keep in mind your website is not a passive, unchanging cash machine. You need to bring out new versions of your products continually, and keep seeking better ways to improve. Experiment with split testing, run time-definite promotions, and offer free samples to test market demand, etc., to thinking about new ways to promote your products and manage your business. Internet marketing is continually evolving, and so must your business.
- Remember that it's more expensive to get a customer than to keep one. Never underestimate the value of a returning customer. Take good care of everyone who's purchased your products or services. Be attentive to customer complaints, and be quick to resolve queries and concerns. Remember that your customers don't know you; they don't know what a great person you are. You have to prove it by your responsiveness to their needs. You must always honor your money-back guarantees just as you said you would: without hassle, without question, without delay. Your goal is to answer all support tickets, whether based on customer service or technical difficulties, within 24 hours. You'd expect no less yourself, if you were the customer.
- Be in touch with what your customers want. Check out blogs and forums and other websites to see what people are asking for. It’s not that you push your favorite products on them. Rather, you focus on what they want and provided to them. Don't be afraid to your unborn from time to time. If you've done something great to enhance a product, dubbed referred to say so. Customers are watching, and when they see that you have incorporated one of their suggestions into your next product, you'll gain the respect and their ongoing business.
- Know your competition. This is true for any business, whether you are selling doughnuts, dry cleaning, or computers. At no point can you be caught by surprise. Sign up for your competitors’ newsletters, watch their marketing strategies, and see whether there are strategies that you can implement. Be aware of what is going on around you so you can gauge your responsiveness to customers’ needs and whether you need to move in a certain direction.
