The 5 Pillar Marketing Guide

Now that you have created interest in SBI! with your About Me page (or because you already have online marketing credibility), you can begin to create credibility for SiteSell. You can start to hint at "what's in it for them" but be careful not to inadvertently move into selling SBI!.

Creating credibility for SiteSell is a two step process...

First, you must create Emotional Credibility and then create Product Credibility.

Emotional Credibility develops when your visitor feels connected to a "life-changing" potential benefit of SBI!. Getting to work from home, quitting the day job, finding a new lifestyle, and generating extra income are the kinds of benefits that will raise your visitors' interest levels and move them down the PREselling Cycle.

How? It's easy. Share your own personal testimonial of how SBI! changed your life. You may have already touched on this with your About Me page, but this is the time to "show them the money" and the details of how your personal change took place.

If you don't have your own story, you can use the Testimonial Build It! Tool (TBI!) to show how SBI! changed other people's lives. The Testimonial Build It! Tool provides short, one-paragraph "snippets" from our Case Studies page that will create Emotional Credibility for SiteSell. People love stories and these short teasers will leave your visitors hungry for the rest of the story.

Once you have engaged and connected with your visitors, you can begin to create some Product Credibility for Site Build It!. They are ready to learn "how" SBI! can solve their particular need or problem. The Starting Point Build It! (SPBI!) Tool will help you get the message across.

We took 30 of our top features and put them into this easy-to-use tool. These features have been "coned" down to a descriptive paragraph that leads to the ultimate benefits they represent.

Features alone will not mean anything to your visitors until they see the "what's-in-it-for-them" benefit underneath. And that's just what the SPBI! Tool will do.

Now you have the "big picture" of how to PREsell visitors first and then move on to creating maximum credibility for SiteSell. Again, you'll do this before sending them to a SiteSell landing page.

The goal is to put your visitors into that "open-to-buy" frame of mind so you can maximize your Conversion Rate.

Creating Credibility For SiteSell With An About SBI! Page

By the time visitors arrive on this page, you can safely assume you have very interested individuals. They have raised their hands to say "tell me more" and have clearly moved from not being interested in SBI! to "Maybe I should take a closer look." This means you can begin to talk to them in a more compellingly manner.

At this point, your visitors should even have a different conversation going on in their minds. They are looking for ways to solve their "problem." You can begin to show them your "solution." But don't be too pushy or salesy.

Birgit's About SBI! page

Once Birgit has established credibility for herself with her About Me page, she moves her visitors down the PREselling Cycle to an About SBI! page.

She can now speak to them more openly about her solution. She can say things she didn't say on her About Me page because the comments would have come across as too pushy. Her main focus on that page was to grow credibility for herself. She was her own testimonial!

This time, she has some real numbers to show people. She openly shares how much she has been making with her sites. Money talks to anyone looking to start their own "work-at-home" business. It also creates Emotional Credibility for SiteSell at the same time.

When she decides to send her visitors to SiteSell, her links are later on in her story. She focuses on building maximum credibility for herself before she sends folks to the Video Tour, Case Studies and the Results pages. This makes her more of a "solution provider" and less of a "salesperson" in their eyes.

If her audience were online marketers, or folks already familiar with site-building and hosting, she might use more product-focused links and features. But because most of her visitors do not belong to that category, she doesn't try to create Product Credibility just yet. It all comes down to knowing your audience.

Steve Pavlina's About SBI! Page

Steve Pavlina continues to build strong credibility for himself by being a trusted advisor. When he talks about anything, including Site Build It!, his audience pays close attention.

Still, he works hard to maintain their trust. Steve thoroughly researched SBI! until he "got it" and thoroughly understood and believed that SBI! could help his fans... people who are interested in making positive changes in their lives.

When he talks about SBI!, his people trust that he has done due diligence and knows what he is talking about. They trust his judgement -- Steve would only recommend SBI! if he believed in it.

Steve uses a two-part approach with his presentation. His main SBI! PREselling page speaks of the "big picture" emotional benefits of SBI!. He then takes his readers on a "walk through" of SBI! where he goes into much more detail about how SBI! helps someone build an online business. He is moving his readers as far down the PREselling Cycle as he can, all by himself.

Steve goes out of his way to understand and explain exactly what SBI! can do for them. This shows his loyal readers how much he really cares about them.

His content is not a copy of SiteSell's marketing materials. He writes heartfelt information in his own words. He's using his stature and reputation as long as he can to create credibility for SiteSell by association.

Matt Bredel's About SBI! Page

Being an "Internet Marketer" is hard work. It's generally a category/niche we recommend that you stay away from. Why? Because the competition is stiff and the audience is cynical. And, most importantly, it's likely not your "first love" -- marketing is something you use to help grow your main business, whether it's about Australia or self-improvement.

But Matt Bredel, a 5 Pillar Affiliate who does not own SBI! and who has an "Internet Marketing site," still manages to PREsell with an excellent review/tour of SBI!.

He doesn't sell. He just reviews... deeply and well. The review speaks for itself.

And then he links to the review from a link on his NavBar. Every page of his site has that NavBar link, so his audience visits the review sooner or later. That is much more powerful than just putting up ads on various pages from his site to ours! (More on this important concept below.)

His Conversion Rates?

7.2% during the month he put up the review (March results were diluted by lower CRs from February, pre-review).

11% the next month. And 16% the month after that (May/2008 -- this article is being written in mid-June, at which time his CR is 9.5%).

Put yourself into the shoes of his visitor. Visitor sees a link to SBI! under "Featured Reviews" near the top of his left margin NavBar. S/he clicks to read the review. And then?...

Read Matt's review to understand the power of this process.

Matt suddenly earns 4-figures per month (from no figures per month!). There is no reason why you can't do the same if you employ Powerful Practical PREselling. That does not mean to copy Matt or Birgit or Steve. No, instead...

Use the principles. Use them in a way that makes the most sense for your audience.

How To Create Credibility For SiteSell

The techniques for creating credibility for SiteSell will vary depending on your audience. If your visitors are clearly looking to build a Web site and to start an online business, they may be ready for much more detail than if they "stumbled" on SBI! through your "rooftop gardening" site. So be sure that you know your audience.

You can assume that they want to know what SBI! will do for them. So make a connection and then move to specific product features that will help your audience solve their problems and succeed.

Creating Emotional Credibility

At this point, the first question your visitors may ask is "How do I know Site Build It! is for real?" or "How will it help me?"

If you own Site Build It! and it's helped you in some way, this is the time to share your personal story. If you are making substantial money, you might want to share general details. If the main benefits that SBI! delivered were related to a lifestyle change, you can share them too...

"SBI! gave me the opportunity to work from home."
"Thanks to SBI! I now live the lifestyle I always dreamed of."
"It feels great to be able to wake up in the morning knowing I'm going to be doing something I love."

If you don't have your own testimonial for Site Build It!, we have lots of testimonials from our Case Studies that you can use. The Case Studies page has many heartfelt, personal stories of how SBI! changed people's lives.

We've distilled parts of these stories into short paragraphs for you to integrate into your About SBI! page. Use the Testimonial Build It! Tool to easily add them to your Web site.

You can also use the "I Love SBI!" videos as Emotional Credibility creators. They work well because they "put a face" to the testimonial. Seeing a person and hearing the tone of their voice is much more powerful than just words on a page. Of course, creating your own personal video would be the best choice of all.

Creating Product Credibility

OK. Your visitors are interested. You have created Emotional Credibility with the help of some testimonials. It's time to create some Product Credibility.

Now that your visitors are feeling that SBI! just might be able to solve their problems, they are wondering just How SBI! will manage to do this. Now they're ready for some features.

We took the top 30 or so features of SBI! and boiled them down to the "what's-in-it-for-me" benefits that they offer. Each feature has been distilled into a "punchy" paragraph.

The Starting Point Build It! Tool allows you to quickly choose which words are right for your audience, turn them into an HTML snippet and use them as a starting point for creating your content.

Be careful though. These product features may be "too much information" for many of your visitors, so be sure to only use descriptions that have the proper fit.

Avoid losing people with confusing jargon or too many features that they might not understand yet. Try introducing this section of your page with something like...

"If you're the type of person who loves to know how things work "under the hood," let me share some of the features and benefits of SBI!. But if you're not that type, that's fine.

You don't need to understand "how" SBI! works in order for you to succeed. The process is so simple, anyone can do it."

Again the mantra is... Know your visitors!

How To Get Visitors To This Page

Birgit sends visitors to her About SBI! page from her About Me page. And that makes perfect sense for a site that has nothing to do with online marketing. You would not put a link to your "About SBI!" page from other pages since there's no context, no reason, to do so.

But you can also promote your About SBI! more aggressively... if it fits. For example, we mentioned above how Matt Bredel puts a link to his SBI! review at the top of his left-hand NavBar, exposing his visitors to SBI! on every page of his site.

You could also offer a link on your home page to let folks know you have an Online Business solution for them. That's what Steve Pavlina does via a custom image ad on the home page of his personal development site. Here's the ad...

Note how his ad excerpts key points from his own review. And the ad links to his review, NOT to SiteSell.com. There are opportunities in the review to link to SiteSell. And those links each go to an effective, and contextually relevant, Landing Page via his RR URL.

Remember to tell your visitors what's at the other end of the click so they know what to expect. Otherwise, they may be disappointed and you will lose their respect.

You could even send folks to this page from a paid advertising campaign (Pay Per Click) or from articles you write for article directories. Because your page is built for folks who already have an interest in online marketing, you can use PPC campaigns that speak directly to "site-building" and "online business" keywords.

This 2-step approach is an excellent PPC strategy. The second step would be to link to SiteSell from this page. This works better than sending folks directly to SiteSell from your PPC campaign. Why? Because you're creating maximum credibility for SiteSell before you send them there.

Image Ads On Their Own Create Interest But Not Credibility

As was mentioned previously, the method of using an image ad to create interest followed by a link directly to SiteSell will not convert well. That's because you haven't created maximum trust for SiteSell yet. It's one of the 10 Common PREselling Mistakes you'll definitely want to avoid. Image ads are good for creating awareness and interest but they just can't boost credibility on their own.

That is your job! Use the right image to get people's attention and move visitors over to your About SBI! page. And then let your content do its work!

The right image is, of course, one that doesn't look like an advertisement. That's why there are "context image ads" like these ones in Snippet Build It! for promoting eLearning. (Just select SBI! eLearning from the drop-down menu under "Select Landing Page.")

Remember Steve Pavlina's custom ad from above? It's a good example of a "context image ad."

You want an image to blend into your Web site's existing Look & Feel and not come across as "adsy." It should link directly to your About SBI! page, not a SiteSell landing page.

It's simple to customize the link for one of the existing Snippet Build It! image ads. Instead of using the default "HREF" location, change it to your own page.

Not sure how to do that?

Your code from Snippet Build It! will have a line for the href tag that will look like this <a href="http://www.sitesell.com/RR_URL.html" target="_blank">. Just change the URL to your About SBI! page and the click will take your visitor there rather than to SiteSell. So change the line that says...

http://www.sitesell.com/RR_URL.html

to say...

http://www.mysite.com/about-sbi.html.

If you have some design skills, create your own image ad, with your own special message. Use some quotes from your page to give it an authentic feel.

By leveraging your credibility, you create credibility for SiteSell. Perhaps a personal message (as Steve Pavlina provides on his home page's image ad) could work for you as well.

Which Landing Pages To Use And When

We've identified the top landing pages to use within your PREselling article. However, with over 70 available landing pages, you'll likely find others that have a better fit for your audience.

Keep in mind, though, that you are the best judge. Choose landing pages that match your market's needs and where they are in the PREselling Cycle. And always send your visitors via your RR URL. (See the Promotion Center for the complete listing of your personalized RR URLs.)

Once again, the best policy is to wait until they are PREsold before you send them to another page.

Video Tour - Great introduction and big picture overview of SBI!. Send your visitors via your RR URL ... http://videotour.sitesell.com/YOUR_RR_WORD.html

Case Studies - Builds that critical emotional credibility. Send your visitors via your RR URL ... http://case-studies.sitesell.com/YOUR_RR_WORD.html

Results - Real people with real success and the Alexa rankings to prove it. Send your visitors via your RR URL ... http://results.sitesell.com/YOUR_RR_WORD.html

Tools - The amazing and complete feature set of SBI!. This can be a great follow-up to your choices from the Starting Point Build It! Tool. Send your visitors via your RR URL... http://tools.sitesell.com/YOUR_RR_WORD.html

Questions - A powerful closing tool for those who still have questions or doubts. Let them talk to a real person who knows SBI! in and out. Send your visitors via your RR URL... http://question.sitesell.com/YOUR_RR_WORD.html

Notice how the sequence of the above landing pages follows the PREselling Cycle... from Interest to Emotional Credibility to Product Credibility to Closing the Sale. This lets your visitors choose under their own steam where they are in the Cycle.

Important Note:

Be sure to introduce each of the links properly so your visitors will know what's in it for them at the other end of the click.

Track, Test, and Tweak

We've chosen what we feel are the best landing pages, but you may discover the "ultimate" ones for your audience. How will you know if one landing page is better than another one? Watch what links get clicked on. If your visitors click on one link more than others, you'll learn what YOUR audience wants at this stage.

You can test other links too. If you find that one of the landing pages does not get many clicks, try something else. Instead of the Results page, for example, you can use the Proof page to see if it converts better. Over time, you'll get a feeling for your visitors' needs and come up with the best landing pages for YOUR audience.

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