INCREASE INTERNET SALES WITH FREE TRIALS

INCREASE INTERNET SALES WITH FREE TRIALS

By Shelley Lowery

If you're selling a product or service on the Internet, one

of the best ways to increase your sales is by offering a

free trial, also know as a teaser, demo or limited version.

By enabling your potential customers to review your

product and providing them with an easy ordering process,

you can increase your sales immensely.

Free trials are not exclusive to software programs. There

are many ways you can offer a free trial no matter what

product or service you're offering. For example, if you've

written a book, consider offering it in an electronic version;

better know as an eBook. You can include your entire book

within the eBook and choose to lock out certain chapters.

In order for your potential customer to gain access to

these chapters they will be required to purchase the full

version. You can include an order form and instantly take

orders, right through your free trial Ebook. When you receive

an order, you simply send your customer a predefined user

ID and password that you set up when you create it.

A good program to assist you in creating an Ebook is

WebCompiler. http://www.webcompiler.com/

This program will compress your HTML documents into a

self-contained "executable" file. This HTML may be a web

site you've created or HTML you've specifically prepared to

be compiled into a downloadable .exe file for distribution.

This .exe file is a completely freestanding program and

requires no installation. When clicked on, the program

instantly opens your book on your client's desktop. In

addition, WebCompiler will enable you to lock out certain

pages of your Ebook or an entire directory.

The key to using a free trial version is to offer your

product for download from your website and allow it to be

freely distributed. Provide some valuable free information,

but save your most important information for the unlocked

version. Make your locked chapters sound very intriguing

and create curiosity. Tell your potential customers what

they will receive by purchasing the full version, provide

a complete list of all the benefits, and provide them with

an easy ordering process.

To further increase your sales, provide your potential

customers with instant gratification. You can completely

automate your entire ordering process simply by using a

CGI script. There are scripts online that will allow you to

make your product available for download, take the

customers order, approve it right online, send your

customer a password and send you a confirmation of the

order, all completely automatic.

- SuperScripts - http://www.superscripts.com/

- CGI Resource Index - http://cgi.resourceindex.com/

After you've created your product, consider setting up an

affiliate program for massive distribution. There are many

affiliate CGI scripts available to assist you in running your

own affiliate program.

- The Affiliate Program - http://theaffiliateprogram.com/

- ProTrack - http://www.affiliatesoftware.net/

If you're selling a service on the Internet, you can offer

your potential customers a free trial as well. For example,

if you offer a search engine submission service, you can

provide your customers with a limited free submission to

the search engines.

To entice your customers to purchase your full service you

can, not only submit their site to your full list of search

engines, but you can create doorway pages, insure their

pages are optimized for the search engines and provide a

resubmission service every month for a year. In addition,

provide your clients with a free report of each submission

process.

Prior to doing your customers last submission, contact them

and inform them that their submission contract will soon be

expiring. Tell them how they can renew their submission

process and offer another enticing freebie such as, "If you

renew your submission contract before (date) we will also

submit your site to over 1000 Free For All Sites."

This type of free trial will not only increase your current

sales, but it will promote future sales as well.

The possibilities are endless. By offering your potential

customers something of value for free, providing instant

gratification, and an easy ordering process, you can

dramatically increase your sales.

About the Author

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

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each week. http://www.web-source.net

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