Online business not in the " Normal " area, marketing ideas please

[severina1971]

Hello there, love this site and love listening to Michael on my nightly walk on my ipod, funny and knowledgable, what a combo !

I am hoping for some useful feedback please !

I am a spiritual counsellor and channeller, I believe 100% in my business and my commitment to it is high. I love my work, I take pride in doing the best. most sincere work for others that I can.

My website ( needs updating ) is www.gravellybeach.com and my Ebay site is http://stores.ebay.com.au/Gravelly-Beach-Wiccan-Services and even my blog is severina1971.blogspot.com, so I feel I have an active online presence.

However...yes you knew it was coming, I want to UP the amount fo work I do, to perhaps double. I am kept quite busy and love every moment, but I can take on more.

Many say I don't charge enough, but I am happy with the prices I put on my items, so I just want to up the quantity of work I do.

Please, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear from you.

As a psychic you'd think I'd have all the answers, but I don't !

In perfect love and trust,

Severina Tadeus

[Andrea R]

Ah, but you "knew" you'd get some helpful ideas if you posted here.

 I hopped over to your web site and two things came to me that you could change when you update your site that may increase your sales:

1. You could make it easier to read by lightening the background and/or darkening the type. The color values in some places are so close that I think visitors (OK, me) may have a hard time discovering all you have to offer.

2. I wonder if you'd open up a whole new market (North America) if you post in US dollars the equivalent of your fees now posted only in AU dollars. I have a hunch that may be holding back some people. While PayPal can do the exchange, people may not be hitting the Buy Now button to find out. Why not give them a ballpark value before they click? I'm in Canada but most Canadians are aware of the value of a US dollar so you wouldn't have to post multiple currencies.

Andrea

[Michael Neill]

Hey, Severina -

I cut and pasted this off your website:

My prices are so reasonable because I wish to open my business to everyone. I have noticed some spell work and readings are quite expensive but I feel a small fee is most appropriate. This fee does not reflect on the quality of work as has been suggested by others. I work long and hard for each individual customer, often putting hours of work into particular pieces of work. I offer constant and ongoing follow-up work and open my inbox to everyone.

Without knowing you personally, it occurred to me that if somebody actually believed that, they would also believe:

a. In order to open their business to everyone, they had to charge low prices.

b. People who charge more than them are 'expensive'

c. Hard work and attention to detail does not have to be rewarded financially

Here are some thoughts from my own business:

a. In order to open my business to everyone, I needed to start charging higher prices.  The money this brought in bought me the time and space to develop a website with lots of free stuff on it, write books and record CD's, and do 'freebies' and charitable work when I wanted to.

b. People who charge more than me have either found a way of providing more value than I do, tell a better story than I do about that value, and/or are appealing to a different audience than I am.  If I want to charge more for what I do, I can learn from them and adapt what they do in a way that I enjoy and feel good about.

c. Hard work and attention to detail are incredibly valuable commodities and deserve to be compensated accordingly.  Until I really get the value of what I do in people's lives, I will never be able to charge for it appropriately.  If it really isn't worth the money, I need to work on my product or service, not my marketing or sales strategy.

Hope this is of use,
michael

[severina1971]

I knew I would hear some wonderful things on here, thank you so much !

I have just recently begun to put my prices up on Ebay and this has not affected quantity at all. so I should learn on my website too.

You have been so helpful and I can't say how exciting it is to get a response l from " my guru " himself.

Yippee and thanks, you make a lot of sense. SEV xx