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Is
Your e-Course "Really"
Attracting
Business?
By Catherine Franz
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The lure of choice to get
visitors to websites these days is the e-course.
After reading and analyzing 253 e-courses over a six-month period for my
teleprogram: “Ecourses:
Writing Them so they Attract,” I came away with what can make or break
the success of an e-course as well as templates that didn’t work and those that
did. The results are in:
Ninety-five percent of the e-courses were a lot of hype with no substance.
They ranged from four to nine emails, with seven being the average.
The first two emails told me
what they were going to share with me and got me excited about what was still to
come. The third was usually a free
e-book, written by someone else who had already given it out free on the
Internet. More often than not
telling the reader how much the e-book is “supposedly” worth.
About 80% were already available free on the Internet sometimes a year or
more earlier. Sixteen percent of these had the same content with a title change
to make it seem new. A whopping 28%
of them had material as old as ten years and they didn’t even change their
copyright date. Talk about
recycling – give me a break.
When I was reading them, I
felt like the old ladies on the burger advertisement ten years ago staring at
the hamburger bun asking, "Where's the beef?" The worse part was I
could envision the mistrust it was creating in the marketplace for future
e-courses that “had the beef.”
My patience fizzled around
the third or fourth email. I
suspect most of their readers did as well.
For analysis and learning, I pushed ahead to emails four, five, six and
seven. Seventy-one percent of all
the emails had a poor value/advertising mix.
The average had a 60/40 formula (60% advertising or marketing and 40%
value).
Many ask the reader to buy
the "full" e-course on that topic.
Since the first e-course didn’t offer anything I found myself wondering
if zero multiplied by zero would add up to more than zero?
It only took me one hand too!
If you want people to buy
more of something you need to offer, “double beef patties with special sauce,
lettuce, tomato on a sesame bun” and a choice of fries.
 
Here’s how to beef-up your e-course
with a side of fries:
Include
new and innovative ideas – thinking that is "outside the box."
It isn’t necessary to give away the store, but you do want to let
readers know that you know your stuff.
If
you material is six months or older, take time out and review it.
Add new thoughts and rejuvenate it.
Show how you have evolved.
If
you don’t, there will be a disconnect between the e-course and other
material you have written currently or if they call you.
The material will be the old you and the other will be the new you.
Create
visualizations of your concepts so that the reader will understand how to
use them in business. If you write the visual out and there are directions on how
to do something, first test those directions out.
Include
resources that are specific and inclusive – not just limited to your
affiliations. The reader is not
daffish; they can see when something you recommend is also listed in the
resource area as an affiliate link.
One
or two affiliates' links, offered after building trust, are fine, but let
the reader know the truth. If
the link is helpful, your clients will not mind it if you are splitting the
fee.
You just gave them the beef with a side of fries.
E-courses
are designed to build relationships, to give value, and not to make a quick
sale.
Ask
for feedback from the reader in the third or fourth email and
again at the end. Always allow
them the option to submit anonymously.
Make their feedback as comfortable and easy to submit to you.
More importantly, listen to it when it comes.
One feedback is worth ten future subscribers.
Offer
inspirational dialogue to keep your reader moving along and feeling
empowered about spending the time reading the e-course.
At
the end of each email, explain what’s coming up and how it will
move them toward what they are trying to accomplish.
E-courses
are designed to build a relationship, build value, and not make a quick
sale. Until someone takes out
their credit card and buy something from you, the words are just like air.
Statistics say that the two
main reasons people come to the Internet is to communication quickly and to
research information. If you give
those seekers solid, valuable information, they will come back.
The telephone and the reception desk are not the only places where
"moments of truth" occur. Your
e-course is your moment to make a first and lasting impression.
Don't dangle a carrot on a stick – give them the "beef."
Copyright, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.
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About
the Author:
Catherine Franz, is a certified life and business coach
specializing in marketing and writing, Internet and infoproduct development. For
other articles, and ezines.
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