In almost every Facebook Group and Forum that I am in which is connected to selling online, the biggest complaint is not making sales.

What I want to do in this post is tell you why you are not making a sale.

When you make your first sale, things become a lot more exciting as then you can concentrate on optimizing. Whether that is split-testing or different traffic methods or copy or upsells, you can only do that once you make your first sale.

As before that, you have little to no data to work with.

So, why aren’t you making sales?

1. Targeting

As well as being the most boring subject, this is probably also one of the most important. You must have a product which your target market is going to buy.

You must have a product that is not just ‘bah’ but makes them excited enough to get out their credit card and give you money which they can also spend in many other places.

This is both if you are selling a physical product or a digital product. I am going to be concentrating more on physical products here, but almost everything is the same with digital products.

So, first you need to find a target market (or niche) which people are passionate about and will want to spend money in.

I enjoy playing table-tennis (ping pong) and even have a table. However, past a bat and a ball (which I already have) it is unlikely that I would buy a mug or t-shirt as it is just not central enough to my life to advertise the fact that I would play.

So, if you target table-tennis players on Facebook Ads, you may be advertising to me, but there is little to no chance that I would ever buy from you. And I am guessing it is the same with others who also have an interest in table-tennis.

So, you want to find a market who are passionate about the interest that you are targeting. Dogs is always a good example. People love their dogs and treat them as part of the family.

So, is dogs a good market to advertise to?

Well, it’s not awful, but is probably too large in order to be able to get a group of people passionate enough in your product to do with dogs.

How about we niche down to a breed of dogs. For example pit bulls. Although there are far less pit ball dogs than dogs in general, any product that you advertise to them which has a real connection to pit bulls will be more relevant.

How about we go one step further and try and find pit bull owners that are really passionate about their dog? I don’t really know the market, but if you were to target people who are interested in pit bulls and also are interested in a dog magazine that would probably give you more passionate people.

Or how about pit bull owners who also have the profession of a dog trainer?

Hopefully you can see where we are going with this. You want an audience that you know is passionate about their niche. You need to be able to qualify that when picking your ad interests on Facebook (if you are advertising on FB).

This will be the same whether you are selling a physical product or a digital product. For example, a pit bull owner is far likely to buy a pit bull training ebook than a general dog training ebook.

Let’s now find a product that may be suitable.

You are interrupting this person’s day. You need to wow them. Try and sell them a dog lead or dog food and they probably won’t care. It doesn’t solve a problem for them as they can get one from Amazon or their local pet store. It also won’t lead to an emotional response so that they will stop what they are doing and click on your ad.

What you need is something which will make them laugh or cry or say ‘wow!’

For example, a new kind of dog lead where the owner doesn’t need to hold it, may make them interested.

A mug of a pit bull with a great design and something very funny or apt also may make them interested.

The thing to remember here, is that it is very hard to sell anything online to any market and if you are not matching up the perfect product with the perfect target audience then you will NOT sell and therefore not make any money.

Niche down your audience until you know they are passionate about something.

Choose a product that WOWs them, else you won’t get them anywhere near your website.

2. Your Credibility

It is likely that your prospect has never heard of you before. When they land on your website they are going to make a very quick decision whether they are going to buy anything from you.

If you don’t make them feel comfortable with making a purchase then they will just leave very quickly.

Make sure that your site looks clean and professional

Make sure that you have https even if you are not taking payments directly

Make sure that you have a well-written product description in short paragraphs

Make sure that you show clear images of what they will be getting

Make sure that you have clear navigation and pages about you, contact, T&Cs etc.

Many people hate Paypal. Make sure that you offer another method of payment also if possible.

This really is the minimum of what you should be doing. You are asking them to give you money. They will not give you money unless they fell that they are actually going to receive the product and that they are not buying from someone who has never sold before.

3. The Conclusion

If you are yet to make your first sale, then the reason is very very likely to be found in one of the reasons above. Once again, it is bloody hard to make any sale online, but unless you have credibility, a passionate market and an amazingly wow product you won’t make any sales at all.

Ask yourself if you would honestly buy your own product.

People will buy from you because they want your product so much that their guard is let down about your credibility and they believe that they will receive your product as described. Don’t let them down!