Do You Want To Remain Anonymous? Or Would You Prefer To Be Famous?

R.M. Blackledge
TheWorkAtHomeBlog.com
© Copyright 2005


The internet is known as "the global information superhighway" for
a good reason. As this year"s unfortunate Tsunami in South Asia
demonstrated, information can zip around the world in seconds,
because the internet makes that possible. In the first few hours after
the disaster ordinary citizens had available first person accounts
and video on their desktop almost as comprehensive as what was
shown on CNN and Fox News channel.

The internet is as advantageous for global marketing as it is for
the news business. But how many of us realize that depending
on the products we have on sale, our most reliable customers
may live thousands of miles away, and yet be extremely vital to
our corporate bottom line.

That fact can be both a blessing and a curse.

Let"s see.... If the customer has a complaint about a purchase
they"ve made, well they"re much too far away to do anything
about it except send off a few tersely-worded emails. But, all
kidding aside is it very comfortable to have your most reliable
spenders on the far side of the globe?

Afterall, if they"re so far away, then these individuals are indeed
strangers.

This is the point of our article. An anonymous website may earn
you money, but a website that has your picture and name up near
the top can help establish strong customer loyalty, and gives the
consumer the confidence that they are dealing with a real live
business with responsible people on the other end of the keyboard,
and not just some robotic web page that is eager to gobble up their
credit card information.

In such a circumstance, the miles between the website owner
and the customer is meaningless.

You may not have realized it yet, but your name and your face
can be an extremely valuable asset even if you don"t have much
personal involvement with the product you have for sale, beyond
the fact that you"ve given the product your tacit endorsement by
placing it on your site. And if you"ve produced a product on your
own, such as an e-book or software, then your name personalizes
the product.

Afterall, wouldn"t most people prefer to purchase "John Smith"s
Valuable Internet Marketing Essays," rather than just an e-book
entitled "Valuable Internet Marketing Essays."

Here"s how a first encounter with the second title may hinder a
sale. The customer may think, "Who wrote the essays?" Or, "Why
should I care about the essays at all?" They may also surmise.
"Hmmm... this is a site with no apparent owner....why would
I want to download this e-book?"

The lack of a simple personal name on the product may create
unnecessary questions in the customer"s mind. This creates doubt.
Just as quickly as all of that a sale has been lost because the
customer wasn"t confident enough to click on the sales link.

On the other hand, John Smith has been really internet savvy. He
has proudly used his own name to build up a business reputation,
and as that reputation has grown, his mere name on the product
has been worth thousands in actual advertising dollars that he didn"t
have to spend. Because a certain percentage of people already knew
{ because of targeted traffic drawn to his website } that John Smith
is a good guy, and his name on a product is an endorsement they
can trust.

Psssst... here"s a secret. John Smith had $15.00 dollars in his
bank account and was unemployed when he began his internet
business. But instead of hiding behind some anonymous web
page, John Smith made the wise decision that his name was
an asset, and he was going to use it to his advantage. --- Afterall,
he had nothing to lose.

What a great idea!

Never forget that there are millions of websites online competing
with yours. And most market segments or niches are very competitive.
Your name and your face is one ingredient that can separate
your site from the pack. An ingredient that is priceless, always
recognizable, and costs you nothing!

We are social creatures and the internet can be horribly impersonal
at times. A little face on your website may be the difference between
a customer purchasing a product from you with confidence, or from
someone else a few domains up the internet road.

That"s it! You thought you just wanted to be an anonymous owner
of websites. Now you have a chance to be a famous internet personality.

If only you"ll take the chance.


[ author"s note: there is no actual individual named John Smith who
has produced an e-book entitled "John Smith"s Valuable Internet
Marketing Essays." His identity was created for the purposes of
illuminating the particular lessons of this article ]


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