I read an awesome release today on SitePro News that definitely got my attention. And I have to admit – the author is right. Ugly Websites Can Sell! Why? Because their owners know the value of Internet Marketing!

Sure – if you have the ability to create a beautiful site and market it well – do so…but if you have to choose one over the other because of your budget – I say – try an ugly site and then hire the best Internet Marketing Expert you can. If all else fails – train yourself Internet Marketing!

*Trust me – I work on this every day of my life (for my own projects and my clients projects) and it never ceases to amaze me where the money REALLY comes from!

I’ve copied a snippet of the article here that may peak your interest – you can read the whole article on www.sitepronews.com

SiteProNews: The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites:
“The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites
By Mark Daoust (c) 2006

Ugly sells.

That’s right – ugly websites are surprisingly effective in making money. As a person who puts business before technology, a profitable website is a website that is an unbelievably attractive website to me.

The Case of Plenty of Fish

I was struck by an example of just how effective ugly websites can be this past week as I was browsing through some web related news. I stumbled across the story of Plenty of Fish
(http://www.plentyoffish.com ). This is a very plain looking website that offers a free online dating service much like Match.com (but without the subscription fee). There was nothing specifically impressive about the website that stood out to me, in fact the site was actually rather ugly.

What caused me (and I am sure several other people) to take a second look at the website was its reported earnings. It is reported that this website brings in over $10,000 from Adsense – ” in one day. Yes, you did read that correctly. For those of you counting, that is $300,000 per month and nearly one milliondollars in just three months.

The example of Plenty of Fish led me to consider how an uglywebsite could be so successful. As I looked around, I suddenlyrealized that this was not the only successful ugly website.Ebay is unbelievably ugly; Craigslist has never won an award forinnovative design, and IMDB has never even bothered to formattheir text out of the default Times New Roman. What is it aboutugly websites that makes them so successful? The Ability to Convey Trust.

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Pontiac Leverages Google – A Smooth Ride to Success!

I saw the most brilliant advertising strategy on television tonight that caught my attention in a way that no TV Ad has in a while.

It had something to do with Pontiac (The Auto Manufacturer). And the closing of the commercial ended with a picture of the Google search page – and the very clear, very brilliant message from Pontiac was…

“Just Google Pontiac”.

How brilliant is that! The Google Search Engine currently owns 47.05% of the market share. That means 1/2 of the people who surf the net – prefer Google! All you have to do is look at the Internet World Stats for 2006 to know how powerful that market share is.

So Pontiac takes a giant leap over their major competitors and leverages the Google name and brand to catch attention – and encourage easy access to their great online “sales pitch”.

AND — because they launched the ad during the FINAL FOUR! (most probably with a very specific media buy schedule) they can measure the effectiveness of that ad by the INFLUX of visitors to their site! AND – if they convert even 1% of those new visitors into sales – they’ve more than paid for the cost of their advertising!

Oh…I love this stuff! It really is an amazing feeling when something that I share opens someone else’s eyes and changes the way they do business. Positioning seems to a hot spots for this. It’s definitely not a new concept – in fact it’s the foundation upon which most traditional businesses build – so lets get right into it…

Positioning: The 4P’s of Marketing.

Product, Place (Distribution), Price and Promotion.

Product: Each product in your PRODUCT LADDER (funnel) (aka: Product Mix) should be positioned for success. You need to evaluate the pro’s and con’s of developing each product and how they might be perceived in the marketplace. What kind of value will they provide to the consumer? And how they differ from competitors products.

What are the FEATURES (physical characteristics), ADVANTAGES (experiential characteristics) and BENEFITS (time, money, gain etc) of each product and what is their USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

What are the SWOT’s (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) for your products and your competitors products. *Knowing the weaknesses and threats of your competitors products will allow you to better them in your own. And knowing the opportunities they have yet to take advantage of – will allow you do so before they do.

Place (Distribution): How are you going to distribute your products and how will that effect the consumer? What considerations can you make that will allow your product distribution to outweigh that of your competitors? Will packaging take precedence or shipping methods? Will you be distributing electronically, via snail mail or via priority courier? Which does your customer base prefer?

Price: Two of the most imperative things you should know about price planning are:

1. When the supply (competition) is high, consumers generally expect lower prices.
2. When the supply is low, you can benefit from higher prices.

Pricing decisions must also be made based on the other 3P’s. If you are spending less on packaging, quality of content and promotions – you can afford to compete on price and outbid all competitors. BUT, if you are focused on quality packaging, quality and rare content and your promotional efforts must be elaborate to compete – then your pricing of course, must reflect this. *Demand also effects the salability of your products – so you should do your due diligence and know the demand for your product before producing it.

Afterall there is absolutely NO POINT creating a product where there is no obvious demand for it – unless of course you are prepared to create the demand which takes a whole lot more of your time and effort.

Promotion: This is by far the most exciting part for most marketers. Your marketing plan will finally get exciting when you bring promotion into the mix. So what is it? Advertising, Publicity, Personal Selling, Sales Promotion, Direct Marketing and Internet Marketing. Knowing the strengths, weaknesses and ideal uses of each will place you at a serious advantage over your competitors. And not all have to be part of your business plan or marketing plan.

Knowledge however, is power. And you need the power to succeed in Traditional Marketing and Internet Marketing (whether you like it or not). So arm yourself with the right knowledge so that you can position yourself for success!

I love to write and I love to share. And my hobby (believe it or not) is Business. I love it! But why should that matter to you? Well – I’ve been in business for over 10 years – and through that time have helped hundreds of other businesses create a path to success. And if you want a path to success…then you will definitely benefit from reading on as I answer that question:

“How do I create a path for success?”

It’s really quite simple. You must PLAN to SUCCEED. It’s not enough to commit random acts of Marketing for your business. It just doesn’t work. In fact, its mostly a waste of your money and everyone else’s time. You need to PLAN for your success.

A business plan is a great start – but very rarely is a business plan a timeless reference. A marketing plan (which makes up most of your business plan anyhow) is a little more manageable – but still lacks that timeless effect. So how can you PLAN to SUCCEED – and keep the plan timeless?

A simple PRODUCT LADDER will do.

A product ladder (or funnel) considers the line of products or services that you can offer your clients/customers that will allow you to keep them loyal and encourage them to continue purchasing from you.

It is a step by step account of the life cycle of any potential customer.

An example of this might look like this:

1. Opt-in bonus
2. Front End eBook
3. Group Tele-Course
4. Back End eCourse
5. Consulting/Mentoring
6. New eBook
7. New eCourse
8. New Consulting/Mentoring
9. Software
10. Software Support

Etc.

Now…this may be a chronologically correct method for creating lifetime value in each customer; but how are you going to do it? How are you going to get them into that funnel and keep them there?

This is where positioning is of most importance.

If you have heard of the 4P’s of Traditional Marketing – you know this stuff. If you haven’t – I will share it with you next time.

For now…get that PRODUCT LADDER developed – it might surprise you how difficult this one task can be.