This article was prompted by some customer support work I was involved in for a private members site. One of the paid subscription members wanted someone to look over his website and give an opinion of what we thought of its design.

It was clear from the email that they had been online for a while (over 3 years) but hadn't seen any results from their efforts and were frustrated. Understandably so!

This person had created his own website in which to promote an online Opportunity. The purpose for having your own web site, rather than a static page, (one that you can't personally change, like the ones the most biz opps provide) is it to "Brand YOU".

After all, your site visitor is getting involved with something you recommend and in effect will want you to help them succeed.

Your site should not be to *sell* them ­ that's the job of the company you represent. The purpose of your site is to *refer* them.

Anyway, the first impression of this member's site was the lack of having it's own domain name, its own presence. Not a good start and that was even before I visited the site. So before I arrived, my trust as a prospect was wavering.

On arrival I found that the site "rammed" the opportunity down the throat of the visitor, if anything the site scared me into running away as fast as possible.

Also this member quoted their website "hits" as a picture of how many "visitors" there were. Let me explain why this can be misleading.

Hits occur from the amount of files loaded when a visitor arrives to a web page. This means if a web page (which is 1 file) has 10 images (10 files) then they count as 11 hits; the web page plus images. You can see that it can be misleading to quote hits.

It gets worse if the visitor goes to more than 1 page because then any additional images (and the next page) count as more hits. Make sure you always count "unique visitors" when assessing a conversion ratio or stating statistics.

I drafted a long email reply, explaining why I thought this site may not be effective, and is not getting the results they wanted. I did my best to provide advice by explaining how to build a relationship between them and the prospects and then how to refer the prospect on the company.

Around 24 hours passed when I received an answer formatted in all CAPS (which for anybody that is not aware, it's like yelling in an email). It seemed this member had taken offence to the suggestions.

(Side note here: The suggestions were very constructive and aimed to provide support and help progress, nothing more.)

It short I received an "attitude attack". It seems their mind was "not open to change" or new ideas. Now folks, you are allowed to make mistakes, nothing wrong with that, but when you ask for help, and then decide that the help is wrong (even though what you are doing is not working)... well things aren't going to change are they?

So what's you attitude like? Are you open to information? I am not talking about school learning (I was really bad at that) but taking advice, applying it, and measuring results. It's also learning from those who have already made all the mistakes for you. Trust me, anybody who has any success has got it wrong many times!

So what do you do when you are frustrated and things are not going where you want them to go? Look for someone who will help, someone who has been where you are. Now to do this can take a lot of time, so if you want the best advice you are going to have to pay -that's just the way it is.

Anybody who thinks they can have a successful business without spending any money is dreaming. I am not saying you need to spend a fortune, but you need to invest in your business, especially when it comes to getting visitors and the right help.

A private members site is likely to get you the information you need. This way you get access to someone who wants you to succeed, and you become a higher priority, because you are a customer. Also you have shown some commitment by paying where others won't take that step.

I have just become a member of Jim Daniel's make a living online site, now I get a response from a proven successful business online person.

Jim has been online for a long time and built up a large following and an email optin list over 150 thousand. He knows his stuff:

Check it out here:

http://www.make-a-living-online.com/

You won't be disappointed.

Lots of people are still in "job mode" ­ turn up and get paid. With any business, its more like, turn up, work, make some mistakes, learn, move forward, learn more, and improve what you are doing. There will be some struggle, which makes success so much better but the pay you get in the end can be overwhelming.

Expecting huge success quickly will frustrate you, instead, expect progress inch by inch.

And what of our business owner who wrote in? It's likely they are to be frustrated for a while longer and likely to become an "Internet knocker" saying that the Internet business doesn't work, well for him, his is right until some changes are made. A for attitude? More like an F.

This article was posted on June 03, 2004

About The Author

Paul Easton is a self confessed Internet Marketing Nut and Editor of "Power Promotion Plus" -An ezine dedicated to web site promotion tools that work with 3 free gifts for subscribing. Check it out here: http://www.CreateToolbar.com
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