This article is the result of a conversation I had with a
magician about his website. He wanted to know if I could
build him a nice looking site that had his name and contact
information on it. I explained to him the purpose of having
a website and what you want visitors to do when they land on
your site.

Why Do You Have a Website?

The number one reason magicians have websites is ego. They
want to be able to say to people, “You can visit my website
at www.bite-me-hard.com.” When the person visits the website
they usually see one of two scenarios:

• Brochure
  Site
• Typical Magician’s Site - See Part 2 of this
  series for an example.

The brochure site is nicely designed with contact
information and a few pictures. These sites usually look
nice and clean. The issue is visitor conversion. Many people
view the site and move on to another site. They may never
return. You have missed out on the opportunity to build a
relationship with them. The key element often missing with
this kind of site is the ability to capturing the visitor’s
name and email address so that follow up direct marketing
can be done. The direct marketing closes the sale. It is
rare for people to hire magicians as an impulse buy.

The typical magician’s site is wonder to behold. How can one
person find so many different ways to use free animated
graphics on the home page? It is clear that the magician
designing his site learned how to color text, change fonts,
and increase font size. All done in the same paragraph!
Check out my prior article listed above for a detailed
discussion of this topic.

Your website exists to get people to give you their
permission. That’s right, their permission. The goal of the
website is to get visitors to give you their name and email.
Believe it or not this is valuable information that is not
given away freely. The website must be structured to induce
people to trust you enough to give this information to you.

This is why brochure sites and typical magician’s sites
don’t usually work well. If you haven’t built a relationship
with the potential client, then it is unlikely they will
book your magic show. It is like it was in high school. You
can walk up to the prettiest girl in school and say “Do me!”
Chances are it won’t be effective. Your website must
establish a relationship with potential client and gain her
permission. After that you can approach her and say, “Book
me!”

Purpose of Permission Marketing

This approach to marketing is called Permission Marketing.
It has always been practiced but Seth Godin coined the term
with his book by the same name. Buy a copy and Amazon or
your local bookstore. The purpose of Permission Marketing is
to turn strangers into friends, and friends into clients.

I am not recommending spamming people to get more magic
shows. The key elements of Permission Marketing are
communications from you are expected, individualized, and
interesting to the person. Let,s look at the elements in the
context of emails:

1. Expected - People are expecting emails from you
   because they asked you to send them emails through your
   subscription form on your website. Always use a double opt
   in subscription system.
2. Individualized - Every email
   sent by you should be personalized to the person getting it.
   I don’t care if you are sending out ten or one thousand
   emails. Every person should get an email that looks like it
   was written just for them.
3. Interesting - The subject of
   every email must be related and relevant to the reason the
   person gave you’re his permission in the first place. If you
   entice a person to give his name and email to learn how to
   use a magic show to create the perfect birthday party, then
   don’t send emails about a great business opportunity called
   Amway.

Another important feature of Permission Marketing is that
there are different levels of permission. Permission levels
range from spam (no permission) to intravenous (sending
products out to customers without him ordering them). As
people give you their names and emails you start at the
permission scale (just above spam). Your main task is to use
your communications and services to move people up the
permission scale. While you will never likely get permission
to just show and do magic shows uninvited (intravenous), you
can build a base of trusting and loyal customers.

Gaining Permission With Your Website

Your website will impact your ability to gain permission
from visitors. Two general considerations are content and
design. If you have not taken the free Master Course on
Selling Services, I strongly encourage you to do so. The
course covers the topics of contents and design in more
detail. You will find material that you can use on your
website right now.

People searching the web are looking for good information.
They will trust and reward those who give them the
information they seek. Many will give you permission to
contact them again. This opens the door to build trust and
gain a loyal customer. What kinds of content should the site
provide? The simple answer is whatever the person is looking
for.

Let’s assume a mother finds your website considering the
possibility of hiring a magician for her daughter’s next
birthday party. She doesn’t care that you do gospel illusion
shows or trade shows. In fact she might be put off by it. If
this magician does all of these other things, how important
is my daughter’s birthday party going to be? You must view
your content from the visitor’s perspective.

Provide content that she can use. For example, you can
provide a general guide to hosting a magical birthday party.
Let her know if she signs up with her name and email you
will send her a detailed step by step guide to hosting the
perfect magical birthday party. You could also put magic
birthday party invitations on your site personalized to your
magic show, but with space for it to be individualized to
the child and her birthday party.

With relevant and useful content you will begin to build
trust. You will get her to give you her name and email. You
provide even better content and increase her trust. You can
contact her about how your magic show will make her
daughter’s birthday party one to be remembered always. The
key to providing content is to over-deliver on the person’s
expectations. Remember this:

The design of your site is also important. Your site must be
easily navigated. You want visitors to find the information
they are seeking quickly and easily. Graphics add to the
site but can become clutter if you are not careful. It
should have a clean look. Don’t be afraid to use a plain
white background. It looks good and text can be easily read.
I would avoid reverse colors for text. Light text on dark
background can strain the eyes if there is much material
there.

An example of this approach is Learn-Great-MagicTricks.com.
This new site is still growing. It is clean looking.
Information is easily found. The content is useful for
people learning to do magic. Within one month, the site was
listed in most search engines, had decent rankings, was
getting newsletter subscriptions, and most importantly the
site was earning money. The point is that this advice works
and I use it myself.

Copyright 2005 J.L. Siefers, All rights reserved.

About the Author

J.L. Siefers has been performing great magic for years. He has written extensively on many topics in magic. He has shown hundreds of people how to successfully learn to do great magic tricks.

Want to learn to do magic? Click now to get your FREE magic tricks! http://www.Learn-Great-Magic-Tricks.com

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As a wedding magician, one can have great opportunities in marketing his or her skills. There are many ways for one promising magician to do that.

- For example, during the awkward period while waiting for the couple’s arrival in the venue of the reception, you can help lighten up the tension by providing entertainment. Sometimes it may take a while for the newlyweds to come to the reception, and it is not a good idea for every one to be in a room that is full of almost complete strangers waiting for the couple to arrive. A magician like you can help ease this problem, and may become a vehicle for people to talk and laugh.

- In several receptions, there is an emcee or a show band hired to entertain the guests. However, watching a magician can be a nice alternative for the usual dancing. While guests are eating their dinner, a magician can give 45 minutes of laughter and amusement. Cool tricks can be performed such as floating roses that can be offered to the wedding bridesmaids.

- It pays to do some research. Find out if there is quite a number of children going to the wedding reception. If so, then a magician can make a special show for the children, providing a nice diversion for them while their parents mingle around.

- These tips may bolster a wedding magician’s reputation as a creative one when it comes to performing on wedding occasions. Now to be more productive while one is relatively free from wedding gigs, or just about any occasion, why not create some promotional brochures for your target market. Send out the brochures to make this not-so popular kind of magician gig more patronized.

- One might want to make a small “wedding planner” brochure, providing information on food arrangements, flower services, on renting a tuxedo or gown, among others. In the brochure, put in an article on how magicians can provide great entertainment in wedding receptions. Leave some room for your advertising. Distribute these to establishments that cater to such occasions. They would be happier to post the brochure if it includes their establishments in the brochure.

- Ensure that the magician can be contacted easily. The important contact details such as the phone and fax numbers, as well as the magician’s website, if any, and his or her email address/es should be included in the brochure, too.

About the author:

Preston Houer has been involved with the art of illusion and sleight of hand for over 30 years. Let Preston show you how to Have Fun With Magic. Visit His Site Today! http://www.have-fun-with-magic.com

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Have you ever been to a party that is totally dead? And did you wish that someone would come in the room and save the day? Did you maybe daydream that you could be that person and be an instant hero in a room full of beautiful babies? Well here’s an idea that may just fulfill this fantasy for you at that next bomb of a party–why not try magic tricks?

That’s right magic tricks! I’m not talking about the huge David Copperfield type illusions and shows. No just several amazing tricks that I have put together that can be done with household items (or items lying around at a party) that require no extra space or props or prep time.

When you think about it these are the most powerful kind of magic tricks anyway right? I mean you are instantly skeptical when you see magician Copperfield on TV doing his thing because its on TV and it is done with all sorts of special equipment and special camera angles. A total production that allows for so much to go on behind the scenes that it really doesn’t have to be magical at all. More like special effects on a movie really.

On the other hand if you were to say pick up a deck of cards and quickly do 2 or 3 magic tricks without any prep or specially prepared deck then you would truly be magical wouldn’t you. And I’m not talking about the 4 jacks in a house that’s on fire or the 9 stacks of cards with the chosen card specially placed to come out on top. These are lame. I’m talking about cards levitating and disappearing and reappearing. That sounds magical and amazing and hero creating now doesn’t it.

The cool part about these magic tricks is that they don’t require anything more than several hours of practice perfecting techniques and more importantly the knowledge that makes selling the trick easy. This after all is the true skill of a magician. Making the unbelievable seem very ordinary and matter of fact for you.

This knowledge needs to cost something too when you think about it. If it were free than everyone would know how to do the magic tricks and they wouldn’t be very magical anymore would they. So I don’t feel bad for charging for my expertise. It both protects my livelihood and protects the art of magic.

About the Author:

Boyd Troublerr started doing magic tricks when he was 12 years old. Now a master magician he loves to teach magic for the preservation of the art. Go to www.learnmagictricks.info.

Read more articles by: Boyd Troublerr

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