About 6 months ago I wanted to create a website that could ultimately make me some money. I had several books from the library, had invested in several online courses and visited many tutorial websites and I was still struggling with the technical details.
What I wanted was a beginners step-by-step approach showing me exactly what had to be done, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So I created my own, with a little help from an Internet Marketer friend I had met.

And this is what we came up with...
The number 1 most important thing you must have before you can make money online is YOUR OWN WEB PAGE. You need to drive potential customers to your own web page or "squeeze page" and get them to leave their details.

A FREE Gift!
Your web page or "squeeze page" is basically a single page website that's sole purpose is to get your visitor to leave their details. So your page has to be instantly attention grabbing. The best way to do this is by offering a FREE gift in exchange for their email address. A great trick a lot of squeeze pages are using is video. Not any old video from YouTube, however, but a video of someone explaining how they can help you. 
And the next important element on your squeeze page is the Sign Up box, preferably along side the video. The person in the video may even point to the box during his or her presentation. This simple one page website has no other links on the page, so the only option is to leave their details and click the Sign Up NOW button or leave your site. This evokes a very powerful emotion in your potential customer. Do I stay or do I go? If you over-deliver free eBooks, free e-courses, etc in exchange for an email address, most visitors will be willing to give you that.

A Week later...
Their email address is now automatically stored in an Autoresponder service, e.g Aweber.com. From here follow-up emails and broadcasts are sent out without your intervention. What is emailed is very important in building the correct relationship with your potential customer. DO NOT try and sell them something straight away. They will need to gain your trust and respect and feel they are dealing with a real person, not just an automated sales machine.

My approach was to be personable and tell little stories of the family and the silly pet dog. What I like doing with my life, funny stories, etc. Not everybody's interested, but a lot will appreciate the sentiment. So what happens now? I'm talking to my visitors, but not selling them anything, so how can I make any money?

Another FREE Gift!!
Unfortunately this is a slow process, as any Internet Marketer will tell you, you have to be patient. It's a bit like fishing, waiting for hours on end for a bite and then WHAM! Hook, line and sinker! After a couple of weeks your visitors have had a chance to read through your free eBook or eCourse and have got to know you a little better. Now is the time to offer them an even greater free gift. A great way is to turn your eBook into a series of videos explaining in greater detail, on screen what you have covered in your book. What better way to learn than watching someone show you. This may take you a bit of time and effort, but the rewards are well worth the efforts. So your email after a couple of weeks will say, "A Free Video Course worth $97, for example, is yours completely free, just click this link." More free stuff, over-delivering up front. Your potential customers must think you're crazy. "All of this for my email address and I can unsubscribe whenever I like."

Another week later...
After another week or so, you are ready to hit them with the proposal. You have a membership site packed full of information, videos, templates, emails, help and advice, etc that you want them to join. Now here's the clever bit. Your eBook and video course have been planting the seed in your visitor's head over the last month of the benefits of joining your exclusive club. Everything in the book and videos was showing you WHAT and HOW they had to do, but not the actual tools, webpages, emails, etc, they need to do the job. All of this is in the membership site, from a free squeeze page to over a years worth of free newsletters and emails to send to their customers.

Now You Can Sell!
So now after a month you are ready to sell them something, but again to show you are not greedy you offer a very low introductory price they would be crazy to refuse. How about a week for only $4.95 and you can cancel whenever you like and get a full refund. Over-delivering to keep your customer satisfied.

If I was to tell you that everything I have mentioned above is available for you to have to start your own online business would you want to know where to get it?

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About the Author:
Learn all my secrets to a successful web business. http://www.make-my-own-web-page.com
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