Information doesn't particularly want to be free, by the way. What you currently have on the net, and in the offline world as well, is a populace that wants information (at least) for nothing. I remember an ad on tv that said "Just give it to me."  We're all up against that attitude, offline as well as online. The problem is if you give something away, it loses its value. It is taken for granted, and only creates more of the same. If you put too cheap a price on information (or anything else) it also loses value. 

The worth of information and everything else is a PERCEIVED value, not a real value that stands pat in all situations. The value is not just determined in the eyes of the beholder; but, determined by the way the person who has the information handles it. Do you tailor your service to a very specific niche?  If you do, the service has a lot more value. Does your information, service or product produced cause a very real benefit to occur for the buyer? 

It appears the net is a pseudo professionalism.   If you are a marketer, then market. Appeal emotionally. I sold telephones for AT&T. People hate their telephones. If you've felt like swearing because that ^&*() phone rang one more time, then you understand why. You have to have it. It is a necessary communication tool. You can't do business without it. You have to spend money on it every month, whether you make money or not.  However,  you resent it, at least a little bit. 

Do your customers want to hear features? Does a differential ring make You happier? I doubt it. It makes it easier to tell when your mother in law is calling to complain, so you can send it to voice mail and let it wait until a "better" time. That's a benefit. Caller i.d. lets you see who is calling. That's a feature. You can screen your calls, and stop wasting your time by answering relatively unimportant calls.  You can avoid bill collectors and telemarketers. That's a benefit. These tires are steel belted radius or whatever they call that--that's a feature. They keep you from having blowouts. That's a benefit. 

Paint a picture: A blowout--ever had one? The steering wheel is ripped out of your hands, the car is out of control, ready to roll over, careening around the road, barely missing other cars if you're really lucky. If you have great skill and a lot of strength and a lot of luck, you may be able to wrestle that car to a stop without having a major accident and terrible injuries.  What if the blow-out occurs when your teenager is driving, or your wife? Shouldn't you really have steel belted radials? 

That is painting a picture. 

Steve Essakow sent a letter to his downline once that was entitled A Day In The Life Of An Online Marketer:  Here is the gist of it:

The fellow gets up in the morning, goes to his computer, downloads his mail, has all these orders, and spends the rest of the day processing orders and answering inquiries along with a quick trip to the bank to make a deposit. To make a long story short here he painted a picture of what an online business should be, could be, would be. You saw yourself as that fellow getting up that morning. 

If you are selling website design, what are you REALLY selling--it's just a vehicle for people who want a website. Sorry if that hurts your feelings. Is it a Lexus or a Hyundai? There is a market for both. But what is the Lexus type sale? It attracts the more prestigious people online--success begets success. People want to deal with successful people. So if you are selling high end websites, you are selling success. You're selling prestige. You are selling the appearance of a blue chip company. You are selling an image that is absolutely and unequivocally exclusive. You don't want small cheap clients. Snobbery is one of your benefits.  Of course you can't come right out and say that, but that's your benefit. If you are selling the Hyundai's of the online world, what is your market, what's your benefit?

Your websites are friendly, your websites are fun, your stores are neighborhood stores, personal, down-to-earth, cozy. The web designer for friendly, cozy, neighborhood stores. Actually, you don't want real small, cheap clients either--no one does, but you can do very well with a cozy friendly neighborhood image. Make your website paint a picture of the real benefit, not just the category of the benefit, like for instance "peace of mind" because you're riding on steel belted radials, but very specific--no more blowouts. Make the website fun. How? Paint the picture of the prospect enjoying the real benefits on your main page. Make the benefit real to them. What does it look like when your client reaps the benefit? What does he feel, what does he gain, what aggravation does he lose? 

Logic is how buyers justify doing what they WANT to do. All buys are emotional. Appeal to the emotions instead of logic, and you'll sell more. The more emotional the appeal, the more you'll sell. The same people who quibble about $100 one way or the other on a telephone system will plunk down $60,000 for a Jaguar if that's what they want, and have the money to do it, without half the quibbling. I sold telephones based on the control they could get, not only the incoming flow of information, but control of their personnel's personal calls, based on getting rid of the hassles they most hated, based on "looking good" to their public--anything BUT features and prices, and above all I avoided that killer word "NEED."

You sell toner cartridges based on need? No, you sell turnaround time, you sell a guarantee that they won't be disappointed, you sell the thing that make you different from all the other toner companies, and some benefit that overcomes the biggest hassle with toner, whatever that may be. 

What "need" does is remind them that they are a hostage to something they have to have, and that's money.  The same money will be gone and not spent for something they WANT. It may also be time and aggravation, all kinds of negative awful things that distract them from their main goal. 

Empower yourself. Give and EXPECT fair value. Don't give anything away without getting something in exchange, even if its just a promise. If you give something without fair value in exchange in your professional capacity, its charity. Don't drop your prices because someone asks you to. Learn to flinch in email. Then come back and say, "If I remove this part of the website, I can meet your price request.  You can add that specific tool at a later date.  Would that work for you?   Here you can merely suggest that you could later add that if some is referred by their company for website design.  Negotiate the terms of the agreement before you proceed. Value yourself. If I......would you....? is one of the oldest and best closes there is. "If I do that for you, will you sign the contract today?" is the usual way its used, but you should be using it for negotiating for what you want instead of giving your expertise away, especially you website designers. Don't answer their questions or let them pick your brain, only to find out later they sought out a cheaper price using your knowledge of your industry. 

That will make both your online and offline efforts a little more successful. 

As for whether you can be successful with ONLY an online business, it looks as if some people are. For myself, I plan a combination online and offline business with different emphasis on the same business plan. I don't think online for most of us is enough. I definitely think offline promotion is an absolute must, no matter what your product or service----or emotional benefits are.

Make your website come alive with the emotional appeal of your real benefit, and then back it up with your documentation instead of putting your documentation on the front page. Features, capabilities, credentials:  that's all documentation. 

Thanks for being there. You were on my list of what I gave thanks for yesterday. You were all a large part of the incredible education I've received in the last two years online. Some of you awe me with the degree of success you have achieved, and give me strengthened resolve to do more, better.