Business owners often say:

“I sell a few products on my Web site, but nowhere near enough to pay the bills. How can I sell more?”

There are many reasons why this might be the case, but there’s one that stands out from all the others. This is the single most important reason why your Web site visitors might be visiting your site but then going somewhere else without taking action.

Here’s the most important question you have to ask yourself:

“Why will people buy from (insert your name) instead of (insert name of the world expert in your field)?“

So if you’re in sales, you’re comparing yourself with Zig Ziglar; if you’re a motivational speaker, it’s Anthony Robbins; in business growth, it’s Tom Peters; in time management, it’s Steven Covey; in small business, it’s Michael Gerber; and so on.

Why should you ask this question? Because you can bet your bottom dollar that your site visitors are asking it! So if you don’t ask – and can’t answer – that question for them, you’ll never succeed.

This might be a challenge for you as a business owner, because you might already be successful in your off-line business. So why is it so difficult to translate that into on-line success?

The reason is that you’re competing in a very different way. In your current business, you might have some advantages that you’ve never even considered before – for example, convenience (you get walk-in traffic), speed (customers don’t have to wait for you to ship products), niche market expertise (you’re well-known in a particular industry) and – in particular – your customers like you.

As soon as you take your business on-line, these advantages disappear. Now you really are competing in a world-wide market. Even if you still have some of these advantages, your Web site visitors don’t know it. So they’re comparing you with the world’s best.

Does that mean you’re doomed because you’re competing with Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins or Anthony Robbins? No, no! You just have to find reasons why somebody visiting your Web site would buy your product instead of theirs. Reasons like…

• You know the Australian (or whatever) market
• They’ve seen you speak and they like your stuff
• You’ve worked in their industry
• Your stuff is targeted at their niche market, whereas the big names create products for a mass market
• Your stuff is cheaper
• Your stuff is local, so postage costs less and takes less time
• … and so on…

Whatever the reasons, make them clear to your customers, so that you answer that magic question for them.

At first, you might struggle to find out what makes you different – especially what makes you different from the best in the world. But this is exactly why you need to do this!