How To Target Your Customers and Put Them in a Buying Mood
Copyright 2002 Herman Drost
Have you spent a lot of money on advertising with the expectation that you would get many sales from
the 1000s of people that visited your site or read your ad? Have you poured money into driving traffic
to your web site, only to have no one buying your product? Maybe you have seen the ads, "Get 10,000
visitors to your site, for only $20". Wow, you think, that's a great bargain, I'll go for it.
The result – 10 people visiting your site and no one buying. What's the problem? You have not
effectively targeted your customers. Your field of customers is too large. Most of them are not
interested in your product. You need to zero in the person that wants, needs and thirsts for your product.
How Do I Find My Targeted Customer?
1. You have to have to put on your customers shoes. There's an Indian saying that says "You must
walk a mile in my shoes, before you can understand me. For example, if I am selling a weight
loss product, I would not be targeting skinny people, but targeting those that are overweight.
2. Make a thumb nail sketch of this person – who is your customer? What is her wants, needs and
worries? Try to understand what makes them tick. Then you can understand what gain you can offer
and what worry you can solve.
For example, let's make a sketch of the overweight person.
 30-50 years old
Out of shape
Probably married with children
Under a lot of pressure, tight for time, stressed
Looking for ways to improve health and wealth
Lack of self esteem
3. Develop your product that addresses one or more of these needs. Always refer back to your
thumbnail sketch as you write for your site. Elaborate on the points that fit your product and
what it delivers. As you start writing, new ideas will naturally emerge, but always keep them
focused on your targeted customer so you won't go off the track of what your customer wants.
Write Your Copy to Sell
When you begin to write the copy for your site, always stress the benefits. Develop a theme for
your site that focuses on this benefit and don't stray from it - see my article,
How to Get Listed in the Search Engines – Developing a Theme-Based Site
Make Sure Each Page Sells
Each page should emphasize the benefits in the headline, to pull the reader into the contents of
your page. It should ask this question: "What's in it for me? Why should I spend my precious
time reading this page?"
Make sure you are writing, as if you were talking to your friend.
Make your copy one to one, conversational, friendly and personal, as if you are sitting next
to the person. Write from the viewpoint of what your customer wants to buy, not what you want to sell.
Then deliver the contents in a clear, crisp way, being careful not to stray from the central
purpose of what you promised in the headline.
Finally, make your customer want to click through to the next page or click through to your order page.
Now, that you have identified your targeted customer and written copy tailored to solving your
customers problems, you will no longer lose those that you have driven to your site. You have
now put them in the buying mood.
Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) and owner of
iSiteBuild.com
Site Design, Hosting, Promotion. Author of Marketing Tips newsletter.
subscribe@isitebuild@aol.com
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