Tables were skewed, pictures half covered up, the drop down navigation didn’t work, etc.

I actually thought this guy was playing a trick on me — no one would EVER take this site seriously.

When I commented to the client that his little joke was “very funny,” I quickly found out that this was no joke.  That was his REAL site.

After talking to him a few minutes and pulling the site up in other browsers, it didn’t take too long to figure out that he was having some serious browser compatibility problems.  He had built the site for Internet Explorer, and it was a work of art in that browser platform, but it was all messed up on nearly every other browser I tried.

Despite all the advances of internet technology, all browsers are still not created equal when it comes to how your site is viewed.  Browser incompatibility represents a huge challenge for anyone building a website.  Browser compatibility issues can affect your images, JavaScript functions, style sheets, links, navigation, and page layout.

AND it can totally kill your website profits and subscription rates!

Internet explorer, for example, tries to figure out what you meant to put in your code and fills in the blanks.  In other words, if you’ve used incorrect HTML code in your webpage, Explorer will try to make the corrections or fill in the blanks resulting in a page layout that may not be what you intended.

So obviously, you’ve got to address this issue with your website — Which can be a total pain in the rear.

Your first stop should be to check your website in a variety of browsers.  There’s three ways you can go about checking browser compatibility:

1.  Download and install all those browsers onto your computer and view your website in each browser.  This would be a total pain in the neck and totally unnecessary.

2.  Purchase browser compatibility software or a service.  There are lots of great services out there to choose from if you Google it.  I wouldn’t suggest this option unless you have a lot of websites or your build websites for your clients.

3.  Use a free service online like www.browsershots.org.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you don’t really need to check your website in every browser in existence on the planet — that would be ridiculous!

The last time I checked, 99.2% of internet users only used seven browsers:

• Internet Explorer 6- 14.9%
• Internet Exploere 7 – 18.7%
• Internet Exploere 8 – 7.1%
• Firefox – 47.3%
• Google Chrome – 6%
• Safari – 3.1%
• Opera – 2.1%

Of course, these numbers change as new browsers come on the market, but it’s a pretty good place to start.

So I guess that I’m suggesting that even though technology continues to improve, browser compatibility STILL matters and you should definitely check your websites for compatibility!

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It should be no surprise to you that the best way to learn about internet marketing is to watch and learn from what others do… this is where the swipe file comes in.  A swipe file is simply a file or collection of marketing messages, headlines, techniques, etc. Essentially, whenever you see an example of great marketing you add it to your marketing collection.

Before The Internet

Before the internet, a swipe file would contain a bunch of direct mail marketing pieces, newspaper ads, postcards, etc. all kept in a box or file folder.

Today you can still have a file folder full of those kinds of things, but you should also consider starting a digital collection where you can put great examples of email marketing, ezine ads, headlines, digital sales letters, etc.

You can even put an expert’s entire profit funnel in your swipe file if you watch them long enough.

Some of the best marketing messages that I’ve seen were only presented in an online format… especially sales letters!

I have my own digital swipe file where I save email messages, article resource boxes, sales letters, great headlines, and other promotional materials that I think are really good.

I keep my digital swipe files on thumb drives.

Remember, a great marketing piece doesn’t have to relate directly to your chosen market to be useful to you… so save any marketing piece that works, regardless of the product.

No Copying!

A Swipe File IS NOT For Copying.

Before you get the wrong idea here… keep in mind that a swipe file is not intended to be a file where you store materials that you are going to copy later.   That would be a HUGE no no.

You should think of a swipe file as a place to store materials that you can use later to generate your own marketing ideas and strategies.

Thumbing through a collection of marketing materials will likely bring on a flood of ideas for how you can position, write about, or promote your own product… and that’s why you should create your own collection! Remember, you’re just looking for inspiration.

Don’t just save the materials from the big companies either… some of them use terrible promotional materials!

In fact, you’ll find some of the best marketing and promotional materials are written by little known people who have really taken their time on each and every piece.

You’ll also find a lot of great marketing fodder by watching what the ‘gurus’ do.  Some of them are very, very good at what they do… that’s why we think of them as ‘gurus!’

By The Way…

If you’re really interested in simply copying other people’s campaigns and using them, you really should check out CopyNProfit.  I haven’t tried it myself yet (although I plan to review it in the near future), but it seems to be getting really good reviews.

If you’ve already tried it, I hope you’ll take the time to post your comments about the program so others can benefit.

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Overlooked Way #1 – An Upsell:

If you’ve been in marketing for any time, you’ve probably heard of “upsells” or “bumps.” Car dealers are excellent at using this technique. Once you have agreed to buy a car you then go into the finance office. This finance guy is really another place where they try to extract as much money as possible from you; dealer financing, extended warranties, rust coating, a low-jack security system, etc. These additions will normally add as much, or more, profit to the dealer as the original sale.

These are upsells or cross-sells.

Another great example is if you’ve ever called a late night infomercial you will be given an upsell. They will offer you a special deal on the third bottle of super grime cleaner if you buy 2 bottles. These upsells usually end up bringing more profit than the original item people intended to purchase.

Why not do the same online?

This little “magic trick” can instantly increase your profits 20-66% even without getting any additional business or website visitors. It works great because your prospect is all hot and heavy and ready to buy. They’ve got their credit card in their hand and they’ve already made the commitment. (If you read Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” you’ll see commitment and consistency is a key psychological trigger.)

There are a couple ways I’ve successfully used upsells on my sites:

First you can use an “intermediary” page. Once prospects click on the order buttons they’re taken to a new page (and not the order form). This page tells people about a special offer that is for today only and that they can get a ‘deluxe’ or ‘gold’ version of the package for X dollars more. You can make the upsell a big dollar amount or a small insignificant little ‘bump’. I do this on Instant Sales Letters and my numbers have been quite good using this technique – as high as 68% some days. So think about my additional profit margins just by inserting this one extra page. Awesome!

Another way of doing this is by “recommending” a product. Anytime you buy something from Amazon – that’s exactly what they do. Up comes a page that “Customers who bought __ also bought__” and then they have a slew of products.

Next, you can also have the upsell right on the Order page. I’ve even used something as simple as putting a check box on my order form on Instant Internet Profits. It could be that simple. On this we get a 25% upsell rate. Take a look at what appears at the bottom after the customer has already filled out their info to buy the course. You have to play fair and let people get the original price and package you offered but there’s no reason you shouldn’t add a complimentary upsell immediately. The upsell is one of the easiest (and most profitable) techniques you can start implementing tomorrow. This is like the “would you like fries” strategy. Unless you’re offering “fries” you’re missing out on tons and tons of profit. You simply need to come up with a couple more compelling bonuses, packages or up-sells that people will get for the upgrade.

Overlooked Way #2 – Thank You Pages:

After upsells, I’d say ‘thank you’ pages are one of the most overlooked profit hot-spots. Once again, there are several ways I’ve used this technique.

First of all, anytime somebody buys a product from you online – they are taken to some kind of thank you page. Most people will simply put “Thank you for your order” and that’s it. They leave the customer with their credit card in their hands to go off to some other website and give them money. Why not give people a special deal on the thank you page or at least give them links to your other products or other people’s products that you make an affiliate commission on?

Now if it’s a digital product – then they need to get their download but you can also put some recommended resources right on the download page. At the bottom of the digital download page for Public Domain Riches we have a recommendation for the new Public Domain Gold Mine(tm) package.

Those aren’t the only thank you pages. Many people totally forget about the ‘thank you’ pages that come up after someone signs up for your list. Now where you want to send them will depend on where they are in the sales process – but you can have a list of recommended resources that comes up AFTER people subscribe to your email list.

Why not?

If that’s the last action you were expecting – you should look for ways to profit from this.

Overlooked Way #3 – Thank You Emails/Confirmations:

Don’t forget the initial email confirmation you send back to your customers. Last technique we talked about making offers on the thank you page but your ‘thank you’ email is one of the most read emails. In addition to the ‘typical’ stuff you should include like customer service information, who will bill their credit card, etc why not add a simple P.S. to the bottom of the email like I do offering additional resources (or even a special deal just for customers).

I guarantee just putting these 3 easy overlooked ways to work on your site will help squeeze out even more profits for you & without adding a single visitor. Give it a try.

(c) Surefire Marketing, Inc.

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Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on creating automatic, moneymaking websites…and he still doesn’t know how to put up a website.

He is the author, co-author or creator of several best-selling online marketing books and tools, including his newest resource – http://imarketingwatch.com/ap/ultimatecopywritingworkshop.php
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