In Sales, the Link is the Thing!

Women's Sonoma Goods For Life® Mid-Rise Skimmer Jeans
For comfortable and relaxed style, reach for these women's skimmer jeans from Sonoma Goods For Life.

Serta® Layered Luxury Gel Memory Foam Pillow
Get the sleep you need with this Serta layered luxury gel memory foam pillow.

How has the Internet affected the global economy? Jeff Jarvis, author of "What Would Google Do" shares how a simple hyper link on a website has changed business forever.

A link now can connect you with an abundance of information via the Internet. With a simple link, you can connect with new people, groups, places, reports, videos, audios, pictures etc. Anything and everything that your heart desires, you can find it on the Internet. All within a few key strokes.

In the past, you relied on companies and sales people to share information about their product or service. Not any more. What was once a world based on scarcity, now offers an abundance of choices. Companies operating on the old media model created content and protected it. Moreover, they restricted access to it. They even demand that you paid for it. No more. People have greater access and more ways to find information that they seek. They have more choices then ever before.

Google has disrupted the "old school" model and expanded new possibilities. For companies that embrace the Internet, their are new opportunities. Unfortunately, for traditional companies who continue to cling to the status quo, the results will mean reduced sales, profitability and certain extinction. Companies that share their information freely, will realize very exposure and the possibility of generating more revenue and sales and profits.

What does it mean for sales? It means that a simple website will not provide you with the exposure that you need. Just because you build it does not mean that people will come to visit and buy from you. You must create content that will make people stop and pay attention and want to comment on and share with their friends and associates. Your content must be unique, different and memorable. It must be easy to share via the Internet.

Everything on the Internet has a link. Your company website has a link. Every web page has a link. Your podcast page has a link. Your published articles and comments have a link. Your press releases have a link. Your videos have a link. Social network have a link. Your business profile on your network has a link. Perhaps, you are getting the hint. With a link, you can attract new prospects and business. That is why a link is so important. The link connects your content to other people that are interested in the subject matter. The link offers you the opportunity for the world to discover you and your company. What would happen if 10,000, 100,000, or one million people visited one of your website pages. How would that affect your company? What would happen if you closed the sale on just one percent of those visitors? How many sales would you produce?

Are you creating good content or any content at all? If you are not producing content, if you are not searchable, then your prospects will never find you. If you can not be found, do not expect calls inquiring about your product or service. There will not be any. Further, if someone does not know and you call them, what do you think the first thing that they are going to do to investigate you and your company? Yes, they will Google you to find out more information about you. Do not you do it too? If you do not have any content that is linkable, it reduces your business opportunities. The more links that you produce, the more opportunity you have to generate more sales.

If you are successful at creating great content, then people will discover you, save your link, share your link with their family, friends and associates. In sales, it is important to establish creditability, experience, expertise and results. Think of the possibilities, if visitors could listen to podcast, watch a video, access a PowerPoint presentation, review your testimonial page or read an article written by you? Would this enhance the sales possibilities? Of course. And, more importantly, they might want to learn more about you and develop a business relationship with you.

I know that when it comes to sales, it is better to make a direct connection by making a call or face to face appointment. However, would not it be great, if someone just called you up or emailed you and wanted to do business with you because of an interesting podcast that they heard from you. Or they watched you on your weekly video blog, or read an article written by you. Or they noticed that you were participating in interesting webinar or webcast. Do you get my point? The clients that you want are the people who are searching the Internet, they do not just point and click on the paid sponsored links.

What if no company in your industry, had adopted these new media strategies? What would happen if you were the first? While your competitors are sending more postcards, form letters and making cold calls and getting the same minimal results, you were attracting people, making new connections, building new relationships, generating new leads and producing more sales.

If your competitors embrace the Internet and start doing all the above: blog, podcast, articles, videos, and news releases, and started to attract more business? How would you feel? How would that affect your company? How would that affect your sales and profits? If you are not creating a web presence or digital image, you will not be discovered.

When it comes to your web presence or digital image, are you memorable or forgettable? When it comes to sales and in the age of the Internet, the link is the thing.

Embrace new and social media and consider the sales possibilities
Search your name and review your results
Search your company and review your results
Search your keywords and phrases and review your results
Review and analyze your website (check out http://www.websitegrader.com )
Start a blog and add audio, video and widgets
Start a podcast (audio and video)
Start writing articles and comments
Start connecting on Twitter
Start creating PowerPoint presentations and share them online: Linkedin, SlideShare, Google Docs, Facebook etc.
Research how you and add widgets to your website or blog