WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY WEBSITE!
Part I: It's All About FREE!

The success of your website begins and ends with FREE,period.

FREE is everything; without it, your site is going nowhere.

The top 10% of all Internet businesses give away more "FREE stuff" than the other 90% combined. That's why they're in the top 10% and the other 90% are not.

Your site is probably in that 90% or you wouldn't be reading this. However, that's not to say that a goodly number of those in the top 10% aren't also reading this article.

They are! Especially if we're one of their compeititors. Not because they ned to read what they already know but becuase RESEARCHING your competitor is the #2 most important aspect of growing your website, a topic we'll be looking at in depth in Part II of this series.

No matter how small you are, you are a threat to the sales of even your monster competitors and they are constantly dropping in on you and others to make sure they haven't overlooked some new idea about FREE that you've thought of and which they have overlooked. What'smore, if they like what they find they're going to pinch the idea from you.

But that's ok! Be flattered, and remember that turn-about is fair play. You have every bit as much right to do exactly the same thing after researching their sites and borrowing some ideas right back. Nothing will help you to catch on to FREE faster than RESEARCHING your competitor -- often and in depth.

It is estimated that some 85% of all Internet sales are now thought to be made by U.S. citizens. As a rule, sites in the bottom 90% of the Internet sales ladder don't know this interesting fact because they don't bother to RESEARCH vitally important data, such as the psychology of color, the importance of layout, who buys, how often or on what days of the month they are most apt to make a purchase.

If they did, they'd not only know this fact but also a host of others that now separate them from the 10% who do their RESEARCH homework. But our topic today is FREE, so let's get started with the very first rule of the Internet ...

FREE is what will make you successful quicker than anything.

More amazing still, you can actually give away the bulk of your digital products and/or services for FREE and still make a fortune off the much smaller portion sold.

If you find that hard to believe, you shouldn't. Consider that while you may be reluctant to actually giving away something for FREE, you're also the first shopper to scour the Internet for FREE stuff when it's your turn to buy.

It's no different with other shoppers. When they go looking to purchase whatever is the product or service you sell, they're looking for the FREE stuff too.

Meanwhile, most websites have a treasure trove of FREE stuff to give away; they just never learn how to. Here's as great a lesson on FREE as anyone will share with you. I call it, simply . . .

A Tale of Three Wine Merchants

Steve has just visited 3 online wine merchants in search of a specific bottle of Paradise Cabernet, a wine he wishes to give a best friend for his birthday. He finds it at 3 locations, priced as follows:

• Site 1: Paradise Cab, regularly $30....our price $20!
  
• Site 2: Paradise Cab, regularly $30...our price $18 !
  
• Site 3: Paradise Cab, regularly $30...our price $18!,
  FREE shipping! Plus, qualify for a 50% discount on your very next purchase!"

The offer by Site 1 is automatically out. Site 2 offers a good enough discount, yes, but Site 3 throws in FREE shipping plus a 50% discount (more FREE) on Steve's very next purchase.

What's to think about? He buys the cab from Site 3.

Now, it's entirely possible this has actually made the merchant a zero profit. It may even have actually cost him.

Then why would he do anything so foolish? Because he has just made you

A customer for life.

And how does he know this? Because RESEARCH has revealed a huge secret to him, namely, that 70% of all customers do their return business at the place they purchased a given item the very first.

You can support this statistic yourself without having to research it by considering your own shopping habits, such as the fact that you usually fill up your gas tank at the same convenience store, that you normally buy your groceries at the same grocer, that you tend to shop for most of your clothes at the same place, that you'll likely buy your next car from the same dealer, and so on.

Not The End
And while this is where Part 1 of our story must end for this session, it is not where Site 3's story ends,for within minutes of Steve's purchase of that bottle of Paradise Cabernet, the following has also happened or will happen to him very soon afterwards:

• He will have received an instant email thanking him for his purchase;
• He will have received an invoice fully spelling out the details of his purchase (without having to write back and ask for one);
• He will have received a coupon as promised, good for 50% off his next purchase (also without having to ask for it);
• He will have received a FREE membership in the merchant's Silver Shopper Group (as an example), further entitling him to 3% off all future purchases of at least $50 a month;
• He will have received an explanation of other options, such as a FREE upgrade to membership in the merchant's Golden Goblet Group plus an automatic 5% off all purchases of at least $350 a month, or
• "FREE" upgrade to membership in the merchant's exclusive Connoisseur Club, featuring an automatic 10% off all purchases of at least $750 a month.

Even then, you can be sure the FREE offers he'll be receiving in the months and years to come haven't ended -- nor will they ever, not so long as he's a member and even after he's no longer a member (you can be sure their "Come Back Super FREE Offer!" will follow).

He will have been automatically qualified for another FREE subscription, possibly one to a companion company that carries rare imported wines, cheeses and other exotics. Several purchases from now, he'll have earned the right to register for a giveaway dream vacation to a Caribbean Cruise for Two -- FREE, of course.

But we need to come back down to Earth at this point, so let's...

You'll seem to have less than more "FREE stuff" to give away at first, but what you're going to find out is that you're only limited in turning your giveaways into a mountain of FREE by your imagination -- that, and your willingness to RESEARCH the ways others do it.

It takes awhile to uncover the secrets others are already using to dance circles around you, but you're actually sitting on a treasure trove of FREE even if you don't know it. It is RESEARCH that will uncover the how of applying FREE to your particular product or service.

Let's end on this thought . . .

The first FREE gift you give -- the one that lands you that first customer for life and the Caribbean Cruise you are finally able to raffle away a few years from now -- represents a distance far shorter than what you believe. It is only as far out of reach as your willingness to accept Rule 1 (that FREE is what Internet success is all about) and the faith to begin practicing it.

And Finally, The Windup and The Pitch
Well, you knew it was coming and sure enough here it is..!

Thousands of satisfied customers all over the world -- from doctors to lawyers to universities to hospitals and even a branch of the FBI that we cannot mention -- use Omni Site Security (OSS) to do all of the above things Steve experienced. More fantastic, OSS automates all these actions so that you are can invest your valuable time developing and growing your site instead of having to fool around the tedious, time-consuming, manual, dead-end labor that is preventing your site from taking off.

OSS does it all:

• From sending out sales specials to visitors and members;
• To upgrading memberships and processing recurrent payments;
• To sending out thank you notes and invoices;
• To automatically zipping out canned emails that announce season specials, consumer call-back alerts, etc.;
• To distributing newsletters;
• To tracking commissioned sales of your products and services on other sites, via our all-new Affiliate Feature,
• To conducting queries via our terrific Pulse Poll (which even allows customer to comment);
• To a ton of other features truly too long to mention in a single newsletter such as this.

We'd love to have you on board to test drive the Membership Software now considered #1 in the world...

• Using our speedy installation service -- FREE, of course!
• For 10 full days, driving the full software -- FREE, of course!
• With 100% full professional support during those 10 days -- FREE, of course!
• And with a copy of our powerful companion ticket support system, Omni Help Desk - FREE, of course!

See ya next time when we learn all about RESEARCH, revealing facts about color, layout, font, grammar, ad copy and design facts and secrets that'll blow you away.

The Team.

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