Direct response online marketing is based on eliciting a response from your visitors. That response could be an email they send you, exploring your Web Site, or an actual purchase.

Think through your affiliate program and forge your long term relationship with your customer by building a sales process that takes them from first contact to close, then follow up with more products and services - more reasons to visit your Web Site and buy. It all begins with considering your product line, and the first product you introduce them to when visiting from your affiliates' sites.

A. Your Lead Product

A lead product is the first thing you offer a customer to buy. Think of when you first are introduced to a person, or a business. You have never worked with them, and even if an affiliate has given your site a glowing recommendation, the proof is in the actual product.

The fact is, you are qualifying your customers, and they are qualifying you. Think about why they would not buy what you offer on first contact and see if you can find a way around this objection to start the sales process.

Your lead product should be a low cost entry point to working with your business; for example, statistics at a leading Internet commerce center found that 90% of customers purchased products under $100, and of those almost 80% bought products under $40. This shows that there is little or no price resistance below $40 for these retail products, a good starting point if you were to build your customer base.

Your lead product should not provide a barrier to entry to your business; for example, if you are selling a piece of software for $450, you can offer them a free download. Even better, you can offer a simple how to training manual on how to use this piece of software, with simple screen captures showing them how this product actually works. If you give this away for free, then you get customers who have not qualified themselves. But if they are really interested in buying a $450 piece of software, a good training system that shows the value of what this software does would be worth testing. Offer it for less than $40, then follow up once they buy.

A buying customer is a more qualified lead than someone you give something to, so be careful of offering things for free just because you think that's what your customer wants. Just make sure that you show the value of what your software does; for instance, if you are selling a statistical software that shows how many visitors come to a Web Site, create a training product that shows them how to use this information. You might even be able to offer a book from Amazon.com, or join another affiliate program that offers such a product that fits your customer's need on first contact.

B. Your Back End Product

If your customer purchased a $39 training program to learn how to take advantage of statistics for their Web Site, then the actual software itself could be your back end product, the next thing you offer them. Your affiliate site has sent you a prospect who is interested in Web Site statistics and tracking; you sell them the training product so they begin the purchase decision, understanding why they should invest their money in the software.

Face it, a $39 decision is much easier to make than a $450 decision. The more expensive the product, the longer the sales cycle is the general rule. There are exceptions, like people buying plane tickets; we know what plane tickets cost and many people know that travel online is the best way to save money, so price resistance is less. But if you sell an expensive product, especially more than $500, there is more to consider. Why not offer your first time customers a lead product that trains them, and build your back end product as the more expensive choice?

Many times affiliate programs fail because they force someone to make an expensive decision. Get your customer to understand the value of that decision with a good lead product, then follow up with your back end product. You may find that what you originally wanted to offer sells more when it is a back end product, than if it is a lead product.

Don't believe this? Go out and shop for an expensive item, like a hot tub. Unless you have the disposable income to afford this easily, you will likely take time to make the decision. Which brings up another key point to your back end product; if your customer base can afford it and price is not an object, then lead with the item and offer them accessories to go with their purchase as the back end.

If your customer base can afford the hot tub, give it to them on first contact. Then you can create a back end product that compliments their purchase. If they need to think about buying it, find out what they are comfortable spending and make your lead product reflect that price.

How do you do this? Test, test, and test again. Research your market, and your customer base. Find out what is too little to spend, what is too much to spend, and what is just right. All marketing is based on testing, not on your assumptions.

C. Related Products and Services, Your Affiliate Opportunity

Let's say you have an excellent SellThrough ratio, and your back end products move as well. Your customers have just bought twice from you. It is proven (see next Key for more) that people who buy more than once from a business are significantly better customers than one time buyers. The logic is simple; buying your product is a sign of trust. Buying twice is a sign of great trust.

Honor this trust by finding related products and services to what you offer, and find a way to get these to your customers. You could affiliate with other Web Sites to give your customers these products and services. Let's say your lead product was a "How To", Fly Fishing video. Your back end product was a fly fishing reel you were offering. A related service to this would be fly fishing vacations; you could find an affiliate program offering these vacations and give more value to your customer.

By doing this, you develop a long term relationship and develop your business as the resource for their specific interest; in this case, fly fishing. When you do this, you will discover the long term value of your customer is the first purchase (let's say a $19 video), followed by the back end (your fly fishing rod, $400), and then followed by the next logical purchase (a vacation, upwards of $500).

Take this logic out further and you can find related products and services like camping gear, fishing lures, books on fly fishing, clothing to fish in like waders, and the list goes on. From one simple product - your fly fishing rod - you may be able to deliver products for a whole specific niche by not only maximizing the value of your affiliate program, but by using other affiliate programs to maximize the value of your customer base. After all, if they don't buy this from you, they will go elsewhere; good, loyal customers are what will keep you in business today, and five years from today.

The Complete, Online Marketing Action Plan

If you plant a tomato, and it does not grow, you do not blame the tomato.

You explore why it is not growing; does it need more sun, water, and/or better soil? What can you do to help that tomato grow?

Funny how this simple logic escapes people online. They plant their business, spend all their efforts on a Web Site, and do little if anything to market it. Then when the Web Site returns nothing, they blame the Web Site.

Even worst, they blame the Internet. They justify their failure by comparing themselves to Time Magazine (which recently claimed it has no clue on how to make money online), or Microsoft's shutting down of its entertainment sites.

They embrace the problem, instead of finding the solution. Meanwhile, they could be searching for the water (customers), the sun (an online marketing plan based on generating results) and the right soil (the Web Site) to grow their business.

While the corporations fumble, you can step up to the plate. Commit to a tested, proven sales process based on one factor: what your customers want. Let's explore how to do that right now.

No plant or human can survive without water. Your business cannot survive without customers. Target your customers by using the following strategies.

Search Engine Strategy

Most people try only to fool search engines, hoping that their customer will find them on top of the heap. In reality, the search engines are a better research/marketing tool for you than your customers.

Have you ever been to a search engine and found it frustrating? Why not absorb the frustration and use the search engines to lead you to your customer base.

Yahoo is the most heavily trafficked site on the Internet, because it took all these millions of sites and created an organized directory. It is a great place to start your search.

As you click through the various subjects, you will find groupings of businesses. You will also find related businesses, networks, and professionals that work together. Yahoo also has local directories; you can enter by zip code or search by state and find listings of local businesses.

You can click on any directory to go to a deeper level, or to go back up a level. Check out the words that appear here and write them down. This will help you collect keywords and categories for your specific customer base.

Also look for Web Sites that act as directories, or guides, for a specific subject. One guide is worth its weight in gold. For example, if you search for local businesses in Indianapolis , you will find a site called www.indylinks.com which acts as a local directory.

What better way to market locally then to discover who is marketing, and where? This is an excellent way to begin targeting customers whether you know who you are looking for or not.

Use Yahoo to help establish the meeting places your customers are going to. Look for small directories that specialize in a niche and harvest them for leads, networking, and researching what your competition is doing.

Concept Based Advertising:

Directories and listings will give you a good overview. Take the keywords and concepts you find and visit Excite. WebCrawler will soon become much more like Excite, with channels and special interests listed.

Excite organizes its pages by themes or terms; enter your keywords and you will see more related words suggested for you to look into. You can develop the keywords that your customer base is looking for with this approach.

See what sites appear as well; how are they grouped?: Check out the top 10 sites; why do you think they appear on top? Emulate what they do to improve your listing online.

Once you find what you are looking for, you will be within a click of related businesses and sites. Excite also reviews sites online, to give you an idea of which ones are best.

Newsgroups: Visit Deja News, www.dejanews.com and Lizst, www.lizst.com

A few years ago, newsgroups were the place to market. Today there over 50,000 newsgroups, with an estimated 900,000 posts a day, according to Deja News.

That's the good news; the bad news is that over 50% of these posts are spam. Newsgroups have run amok with wild claims and crazy advertising. You may still find your customers, but it is a headache.

Use Deja News to research, and use newsgroups to find out the Web Sites, meeting places, and areas where your customers are going. Since over half the posts are advertising, it may not be that great a place for you to actively promote yourself. But it is not a bad place to ask questions and research. Some times you can just check the FAQs for the newsgroup and find the best sites for that specific interest group. Finally, you can "spam the spammer", and sell to all those people selling.

After all, what better customer than someone out there trying to market their products and services?

One final idea is to visit Amazon.com, www.amazon.com, the online book store. Enter your keywords and see what comes up. You will have more information on the products and services related to what you are offering. More importantly, you will know where you customers are, and how to contact them. The only cost is your time.

As you start to search for your customers, make a list of:

1. Keywords related to your business; use long and short forms of each word. For example, if you are looking for consultants, use the words "consult" and "consultant" and "advisor" and "consulting" , and so on.

   Microsoft Word has a Thesaurus that will suggest related words for you as well.

2. Web Sites that act as directories for your specific audience. For example, if you are targeting local customers in the Indianapolis area, find

   local directories, listings of their addresses, and professional associations.

3. Email addresses and names of sites you visit. It is much more powerful to name the owner of a site, and the name of their site, in your contact than to send out spam to millions of Web Sites. Personalize your direct email campaign by focusing on hundreds of Web Sites, instead of millions of addresses.

4. Be sure to visit http://www.lizst.com for many mailing lists you can sign up for and at least do some market research.

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