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More and more people are realizing that the Internet offers great potential to set up a healthy business for pennies on the dollar. This is good news for internet marketers - but it also means that they need to lift their game.

Why? Because the would-be "netpreneur" has access to way more training than ever before. It's possible to get up to speed very quickly on what is needed to get started online. This, in turn, means that people quickly recognize what offers true value and what does not. They see so many sales letters that they become, to a certain degree, immune to the typical hype. They're willing to spend - but they want value for money. They want to be treated like intelligent and discerning adults.

So here's a message to all 'gurus' (and aspiring gurus) who are keen to get their share of the dollars waiting to be sent flying their way via cyberspace.

1) What does it take to make people want to buy "you" rather than some other internet marketer?

2) What might make people want to unsubscribe from your list?

3) And what pushes them into asking for a refund?

What Makes People Want to Buy?

- They buy if they can see that a product will give them new knowledge and understanding.

- They buy if the purchase will speed up business growth.

- They buy if a product will automate a task that eats into their time. (People quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and product creation, rather than repetitive tasks.)

Tip: Once newbies have been exposed to a few sales pages, it's not long before they learn to look beyond the sales hype. They study a sales letter carefully to work out what the product will "really" offer them. (Do they need this? Or will it duplicate something else they own?)

They also learn to look for value for money. Some higher-priced products are worth every cent. Some cheaper products add very little to what they already know.

(Note: Savvy internet marketers already realize that if they put together online interviews offering truly valuable information, they are far more likely to attract and keep new customers. A quick example: Jane Smith listens to a one-hour audio interview on search engine optimization and traffic. She finds out some really useful information she has not so far heard anywhere else. She decides that this guy knows what he's talking about and shells out a couple of hundred dollars for his products.)

What Makes People Want to Unsubscribe from a List?

- Getting four identical emails trying to sell them the same product, because the sender hasn't figured out how to move them from one list to another after they buy.

- Getting a 'canned' email sounding full of excitement about a new product or service - which turns out to be a duplicate of the email they get from six other marketers who are affiliates for the same product.

- Getting email from a product creator about anything under the sun because you bought XXX product from them. If your customers sign up for a newsletter, they expect mailings.

What Makes People Want to Ask for a Refund?

In the past, buyers tended to shrug and write off a bad purchase. But increasingly, people are prepared to stand up for their rights. If they feel they have not received value for money, they will ask for a refund.

So what makes them decide to ask for their money back?

- Software that doesn't work as it is supposed to.

- Physical products (CDs, DVDs) that don't work on their systems.

- An e-book that is full of content easily found in an hour's net-surfing.

- An e-book that has skimped on content or that has been poorly written.

- An e-book that not only skimps on content but is full of links to up-sells to get the 'really valuable' information, or is full of affiliate links.

The last case, an e-book full of affiliate links or links to an up-sell...is something you should be giving away free as part of your viral marketing campaign. Charge for it and you risk your reputation for being a source of quality information.

Other things that bite into your customer's valuable time.

- MP3's that are streamed from a website rather than being downloadable.

- e-books that are in ".exe" format only, so the customer can't print them out in one 'hit' (and can't access them on a Mac computer).

Give your clients anything that they can listen to or read away from the computer. Most of them spend enough hours a day at the keyboard already. They'd rather load an audio interview
into their MP3 players and listen while they go for a walk or relax in the sun. They'd prefer to print out an e-book and read it or mark it up while sitting in an easy chair.

Please, please don't tether them to the computer!

And finally, about those "name squeeze" pages. People are very quickly getting tired of having to give up their email addresses just to get to a sales page. Do you want them to buy or not? These days, unless there's a huge buzz around the Net and they want to see what it's all about, prospective customers are just as likely to click the 'back' button on their browser, or close the window and leave.

After all, there's always another internet marketer waiting to sell them a product. Probably one very similar to yours. Marketers who respect their client's time and intelligence are the ones who will get their loyalty - and their cash.