by: Neil Asher

Once you start an online business, one of your main roles is to shepherd people through the various levels of conversion. Unlike the “see it, buy it” phenomenon you might be used to in traditional retail environments, successful info marketing is not a simple, single-action process.

Conversion happens at many levels in Internet marketing. It is not just about sales. Strangers convert into visitors when they click-through from an advertisement to your web site. Visitors convert into prospects when they opt-in at your landing page and provide you with the information you need to begin a sales dialog. No money has exchanged hands at this point.

Sales first occur when your prospects convert into buyers by purchasing one of your information products. That’s when the cash register rings, and you can start thinking about profits. But it’s by no means the end of your conversions.

Next, your buyers convert into loyal customers when they return to you to purchase additional information products. And loyal customers convert into advocates when they recommend your information products to their friends. You can make money online through getting new buyers, but you can make LOTS of money in information marketing through converting them into loyal customers and advocates.

When your conversion requires asking for money, there are some specific techniques you can use that work especially well. One of these is something Internet marketing expert Jay Abraham calls the “risk reversal.”

Think about the risks involved in buying information products online. If someone’s entering credit card information into a web site in order to get an information product, they are risking that it’s a scam. They are risking that they may get ripped off. They are risking that the product isn’t going to be worth very much. They’re risking that the merchant will pull a “bait-n-switch,” delivering something other than what they think they will be getting.

As you can see, there are all kinds of risks involved. Every time we buy something, every time we commit to taking an action, we are always risking something.

So, here’s what you do. You take that risk. You say, “How can I take that risk away from you? In fact, how can I go beyond that step? And how can I put the risk on me?”

One way is a money-back guarantee. You say to the prospect, “You know what? I’m going to give you a 100% money back guarantee.” That’s actually taking the risk away. Bu that’s not quite a risk reversal. No, risk reversal is when we go one step further and say, “I’ll tell you what. You agree to buy my product. Go ahead and download my e-book now, for just $19.97, and I am not even going to bill you right away. Okay? I’m going to wait to bill you for 24 hours. Download the e-book and read it. Keep it for a full day. If you don’t like it, just send me an e-mail, and say, ‘Cancel,’ and you won’t be billed. And you can keep the product. How’s that?”

You see how it works? I take away the risk by saying 100% money back guarantee. And then actually reverse it by saying, “You can try the book before I even charge you for it. And then if you don’t like it, you won’t be charged and you can keep it.” The risk is now on me.

Now the power is in the hands of the prospect, and you can just hear him or her saying, “I would be stupid for not doing this! I can’t possibly lose!”

Now, it’s not always practical to reverse the risk that much, but you should get the idea. When you take away the risk and reverse it, in some cases you can double or even triple your sales

So write this key to conversion down in big capital letters: RISK REVERSAL. Ask: “How can I take away the prospect’s risk? In fact, how can I even reverse it and take the risk on myself?”

Neil Asher (http://www.neilasher.com/freestuff.htm) has built five multi-million dollar companies from zero, including one he took to $8 million in sales in under two years. He has created and sold successful franchises in England, Italy, Ireland, Australia and South Africa. Visit his web site for access to 17 FREE videos, 6 FREE books and two hours of audio training, revealing “How To Make BIG Money Selling Information Products On The Internet…Even If You Don’t Have A Website And You’ve Never Sold Anything On The Internet Before.”

The author invites you to visit: http://www.neilasher.com/