If you are going to be a successful webmaster or blogger, then it`s crucial that you also be a successful business person. While you might have the best website in the world with brilliant content and a fantastic look, that`s not going to be enough if you don`t know how to make money from it and if you don`t know how to market it. Thus, the more different business concepts and ideas you can learn, the better you will become at making your website into a success and making a living from it. And in that case, why not start with one of the very most important and useful business concepts of all - your value proposition.
What is a Value Proposition?
The reason that a value proposition is so important, is because it`s essentially the basis of what you`re selling. Ultimately the main aim of any business is to provide `value` and to do so in a way that costs you less than you are selling it for.
This value does not have to be financial, and in fact it won`t be in most cases (unless you`re running a bank or a B2B business). Rather, the `value` of your product should be whatever the user gets out of it at the end of the day.
Think of it this way, when you sell a hat you aren`t just selling a hat - you`re selling a warm head. This is something that the buyer should be able to agree is worth more than the $10 they`re going to pay for the hat, and then if you can create said hat for $5 everyone wins. They get something worth more than the money they spent on it, and you get more money for providing it than it cost you to develop it. That`s the ideal transaction for any business, though of course it doesn`t always work out quite like that.
Marketing
The secret to great marketing then is to focus on this `end result` and to show where the value lies in your proposition. This is why so many adverts include images of attractive men and women looking successful and smiling a lot: that`s what people want and they`re willing to spend a lot of money in order to obtain that `value`. Put the value at the forefront of your message, and you will lure people in.
How this Applies to Websites
So how does this apply to your website? What is the value that you are currently offering?
Well on the face of it, most websites are offering either entertainment or information. By going to a website you will get to increase your knowledge in an area that interests you, or you will get to pass some time by laughing at a cartoon strip/someone`s personal blog.
Focus on what this information or this entertainment does for the individual. For instance then, if your website informs people on how to do business, then the end result that you`re offering should be that that reader will become more successful and richer. Cover your site and your advertising with images of wealth and success and you will get a lot of people to your pages. Your value proposition is `riches beyond your imagination and a sense of success - for just a few moments of your time`. On the other hand a fitness site is offering more confidence and physical power, while a site on dating is offering a fulfilling love/sex life.
But wait - because it`s not actually all that simple. In strict business terms you see, the visitors to your site are not your customers (unless you are selling a product). Rather, the customers are the people willing to spend money on your site - which is probably going to be the advertisers. They are your customers and so they are the ones you need to deliver value to.
And what`s the value you can offer them? Exposure - and thus more customers. In order to improve your value proposition you need to get more visitors to your website and increase your hit count so that you can offer exposure to more people. Likewise, targeting a more specific demographic can also help you to improve your value proposition.
But of course in order to do this, you first need to concentrate on your readers… I never said it wouldn`t be complicated…
The author of this post, Todd Ramos, is an SEO expert and owner of Todd SEO Guy. He is very passionate about still photography and stop-motion filming techniques.
