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Steak or Sizzle?
by Mike Banks Valentine
Three years ago I was struck with the sudden inspiration to
offer a
free small business ecommerce tutorial and reserved my second
great
domain name, WebSite101
http://www.WebSite101.com
was born from a desire to help educate
the small business ecommerce entrepreneur on how to establish
an
effective web presence. I had studied the process myself for
months.
I'd purchased multiple courses written by the well known web
gurus
of the day and studied them tirelessly. I took courses at
my local
community college, I took courses online for free, I took
paid online
courses and then I wrote pages and pages of web copy and posted
all
of my newfound knowledge online for the good of the Little
Guy.
Well now what? I had to get the word out about my wonderful
new
course and began to study search engine positioning. With
a nearly
maniacal fervor, I learned about metatags and keyword density
and
how to submit to the search engines and directories. Purchasing
more
courses and learning from experts and more gurus and making
my own
mistakes as I progressed along the path to web Nirvana.
I called a professional copywriter friend and asked her for
her opinion
on the finished site. She kindly read it through and met me
for lunch
the following day with one question. "Why are you giving
that great
information away? You ought to charge for it!"
OK she doesn't get the web. Everything is free online. But
she kept
repeating the question, "Why don't you charge for it?"
I explained
patiently that it was all about traffic and once I gained
enough of
that, I'd be able to charge for advertising! She shook her
head as she
left the restaurant on the way to her next appointment. She
charges
for her writing and sells her knowledge for a living.
My next lesson learned was online press releases and I came
across
the opportunity to distribute my own PR to small business
publishers
and news sites. It worked wonderfully and I suddenly found
myself
with a blurb in the December, 1999 Entrepreneur Magazine and
an
article in Oracle Magazine! They liked it! They really LIKED
it!
I went back to polishing and improving the site, launching
a news-
letter in March of 1999 called the WebSite101 Reading List.
It had
become common knowledge that in order to create visitor loyalty,
WebSite101 must gain that magic "Top of Mind Awareness"
I had
learned about while studying under Dr. Michel Fortin, "The
Success
Doctor." He was charging for the information I was giving
away.
Well, he could do that, but I was going to give it away for
the good
of the small business world. Then I saw an infomercial offering
a
course on how to get your small business online and selling
it for
"$100 plus monthly hosting fees for your own online business!"
I considered buying their course and mastering this thing
once and
for all. But then I listened to what was being offered and
realized
that I already knew what they were going to teach me. HMMMMM.
The following week I bought a new ebook and quickly devoured
it
thinking I'd discover the "Real Secret" and then
I noticed that I
already knew what was in that ebook and wondered why I had
paid
for it. There must be something more, so I kept seeking the
answer
to share with the world. It was then that I learned about
sales copy
and selling the sizzle, not the steak. It was after I saw
the same
sales copy on multiple web sites selling more internet secrets
that I came to a startling realization.
I was a teacher, not a salesman. The same information in different
hands became either Steak or Sizzle. I had known that simple
fact
when I decided to teach at a local community college rather
than
creating infomercials to SELL the SIZZLE. Now my path became
clear. Education was where my skills were best used and not
Sales.
What this all boils down to is that WebSite101 was about teaching
and not about selling. Yes we will now begin to charge for
the infor-
mation that was once free. But it will take (the original)
form of a
college course and not an infomercial. WebSite101 is happy
to announce
our formal introduction of a paid course offered through an
accredited
online distance education portal. http://www.onlineworkshops.com
Our current 2200 members will be grandfathered in and allowed
access to the WebSite101 campus and given a thank-you gift
of
our new ebook, made up of collected articles from the WebSite101
Reading List. New members will pay tuition and buy the ebook.
Stay tuned for further updates and your free ebook download
URL.
WebSite101 has graduated to an accredited intstitution of
higher
learning and would like to thank the nearly 750,000 students
who
have passed through our classroom in the last three years.
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WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet
Ezine emphasizing small business online http://website101.com/arch/
e-tutorial online at: http://website101.com/shortcourse.html
By week's end you're ready expand your business to the web!
--------------------------------------------------------
Take A Look At Our Press Release
Announcing our new Partnership with OnlineWorkShops.com
Return to the list of all currently available articles
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