2005 - 07-26-05

Think about it: Buying something over the internet is truly
a leap of faith. All the customer usually knows about the seller is
their email address. The customer doesn't know if the seller
is male or female; a
pillar of the community or a fraud. The customer doesn't
know where the seller is located; they don't have a direct telephone number
to reach the seller; or any other way to get in contact with
them.

Most internet marketers are "lurkers". They're
hiding in a dark closet in their underwear taking
amphetamines and grinning like 8-year-old boys who have just
dropped a lizard down the blouse of one of their female
classmates. They exult in the fact they can come off like
Superman... when... they are really nothing more than pathetic,
anorexic-looking little weaklings.

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little
about internet marketers. But here's what all marketers -
internet or otherwise - should do to increase their sales.

All Marketers Should Give All Their
Prospective Customers

Enough SPECIFIC Details About
Themselves And Their Business...

It Convinces Them That, If Necessary,
They Could

"Reach Out And Touch The Marketer"

One way to do this is to simply give your
physical address. You can improve on that by giving out your
real business telephone number.

Let's take that a step further. What if in
our ad we spelled it all out like this:

"Our little company, ABC Widgets, Inc.
is located at 123 Elm Street in Massillon, Ohio. Our ZIP
Code is
44646. Our toll-free order-taking phone number is 1-800-xxx-xxxx.
You can reach an operator there any time, 24-hours a day,
7-days a week. However, if you
have any questions, you can call us directly at
1-216-xxx-xxxx. You can call our office any time Monday through
Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
And if you are ever in our area, we'd love for you to visit and we'll be happy to show you the merchandise we are
selling. Just make sure you don't come by between 12 noon
and 1:00 p.m. because that's when we close up shop for
lunch."