Making Money Thru The Net

20 Ways To Increase Your Traffic And Sales

2008-02-25T02:43:00.000-08:00

20 Ways To Increase Your Traffic And Sales
Using Free Follow-Up Autoresponder Courses

An autoresponder course is a group of articles or
information set up to be sent out separately over a
set period of time by e-mail. People just e-mail your
autoresponder to receive the free course and it is
sent out automatically over time. You can find free
follow-up autoresponders to use by typing it into any
search engine. Below are ten ways to use them to
increase your traffic and sales.

1. Offer your course as a free bonus for purchasing
one of your main products or services. People will
buy your products quicker when you offer a bonus.

2. When you write and give away a free course you
will become known as an expert. This'll gain people's
trust and they will buy your main product quicker.

3. Allow others to add your free course to their own
product packages. Their customers will see your ad
when they purchase.

4. People love to get freebies. A free autoresponder
course is perfect. They will visit your web site to
get the free valuable information.

5. Allow people to receive your course for free, if
they give you the e-mail addresses of 3 to 5 friends
or associates that would be interested.

6. Allow other people to give away your free course
This will increase the number of people that will see
your ad in the course.

7. You could trade advertising space in your course
for other forms of advertising. It could be banner ads,
e-zine ads, web site ads, etc.

8. Gain new leads by having people sign up and give
you their contact info before they can receive your
autoresponder course.

9. Give away the autoresponder course as a free gift
to your current customers as a way of letting them
know you appreciate their business.

10. Give away the course to people that join your
affiliate program. This will increase the number of
people that sign-up.

11. Make money selling advertising space in your
course. You could charge for small classified ads or
sponsor ads.

12. Get free advertising by submitting your course to
freebie web sites. This will increase the number of
people that will see your ads in the course.

13. Make money by selling the reprint rights to those
people that would like to sell the course. You could
make more money by selling the master rights.

14. Hold a contest on your web site so people could
win your course. You will get free advertising when
you submit your contest to free contest directories.

15. You'll gain valuable referrals from people telling
others about your course. Word of mouth advertising
can be very effective.

16. Make money cross promoting your course with
other people's products or services. This technique
will double your marketing effort

17. Increase your e-zine subscribers by giving your
course to people that subscribe to your e-zine. This'll
give people an incentive to subscribe.

18. Allow your affiliates to use the free course as a
promotional tool for your product. Each lesson could
include their affiliate link.

19. Promote other businesses affiliate programs you
join with your free autoresponder course. Include a
different affiliate link on each lesson.

20. Advertise a different product or service on each
lesson. If you only have one, use different emotional
response ads on each lesson.

10 Ways To Shift Your Sales Into Overdrive

2008-02-25T02:42:00.000-08:00

10 Ways To Shift Your Sales Into Overdrive

1. Publish testimonials for your free stuff. It would
increase their value and if they're viral marketing
tools, you'll have more people giving them away.

2. Give your visitors a good time so they will visit
your web site again. Use a few jokes, humorous
graphics and funny stories.

3. Make money from web sites that don't have an
affiliate program, by doing a joint venture. Set up
the affiliate program through a third party for them.

4. Build rapport with your potential customers by
teaching them something new. Provide them with
free ebooks, articles, tips, courses, etc.

5. Allow your visitors to collect things from your
web site so they will stop back again and again.
It could be a series of software, ebooks or articles.

6. Keep each page of your web site consistent or
similar. Use similar text fonts, colors, graphics
and background on every page.

7. Build a popular directory of freebies. It will draw
tons of traffic to your web site and you can request
that submitters place your link on their web site.

8. Create traffic generators that people can add to
their site without doing all the work. It can be an
article directory, freebie directory, web tool, etc.

9. Challenge your visitors to buy your product or
service. People love a good challenge. Tell them
if they can find a flaw you'll give them a refund.

10. Form a strategic alliance with other related but
non-competing businesses. You'll be able to beat
your competition by selling to a larger audience.

10 Reasons To Sell A Fee Based Subscription Ezine

2008-02-25T02:40:00.000-08:00

10 Reasons To Sell A Fee Based Subscription Ezine

1. You will create residual income. For example, if
you charge a monthly subscription fee, you will get
recurring income every month.

2. You won't have to spend all your time marketing
to gain new subscribers. Just get and keep enough
subscribers to reach your monthly income goal.

3. You can figure how many subscribers it'll take
to meet your income goal. Note on your ad that
you'll only accept a limited number of subscribers.

4. You won't have any shipping or materials costs
like offline subscription publications. You'll just
have your internet access and web site expenses.

5. You can sell back end or upsell products inside a
fee based subscription ezine. It could be your own
products or affiliate programs you've joined.

6. You can start an affiliate program that will give
people residual commission. People will want to join
because it's residual instead of one time sales.

7. You could publish a free ezine and allow people
to upgrade to your fee based ezine. If they like your
free one, they'll likely subscribe to your paid ezine.

8. Your ad copy automatically builds itself into an
order pulling machine. Each issue you archive gives
you new benefits to add to your sales letter.

9. You could transform your fee based content into
another product to sell. It could be an ebook, video,
audio book, report, book, etc.

10. You could become known as an expert on the
topic of your fee based ezine. You may get hired
by other businesses to do speaking engagements.

10 Rarely Used Ways To Upgrade Your Ad

2008-02-19T01:58:00.001-08:00

10 Rarely Used Ways To Upgrade Your Ad

1. Tell your potential customers special events your
business has sponsored. It could be charities, fund
raisers, charity auctions, etc.

2. Tell your potential customers about any mergers
or joint ventures with other reputable organizations
or businesses they would recognize.

3. Tell your potential customers some valuable info.
This will create rapport with them. It could be tips,
a how-to excerpt, etc.

4. Tell your potential customers about reviews of
special events your business attended. It could be
trade shows, seminars or conferences.

5. Tell your potential customers stories about your
customer service. It could be how you help a new
customer, an award you won, etc.

6. Tell your potential customers stories about your
employees. It could be about why they like to work
for you, their personal profile, etc.

7. Tell your potential customers about milestones
and goals your business has achieved. It could be
a sales goal, customers served goal, etc.

8. Tell your potential customers about innovations
your business has discovered. It could be inventions,
new technologies, patents, new products, etc.

9. Tell your potential customers the things you have
done to improve your product. It could be lighter,
faster, heavier, slower, etc.

10. Tell your potential customers a little history or
past information about your business. It could be
how it started, how you got the product idea, etc.

10 Ways To Maintain Profits In A Slow Economy

2008-02-19T01:54:00.000-08:00

10 Ways To Maintain Profits In A Slow Economy

1. Sell more back end products to your existing
customer base. You already created rapport, trust
and proved your credibility to them.

2. Make it a practice to up sell to new and existing
customers. After they decide to buy one product,
offer them another product.

3. Cross promote your products and services with
other businesses that aren't competition. You will
reach a wider audience at less cost.

4. Create joint venture deals with other businesses.
You can expand your product line and target other
profitable markets at a lower cost.

5. Start an affiliate program for your business. You
will be able to spend less profits on risk advertising
and spend more money on guaranteed sales.

6. Trade advertising with other businesses to save
revenue. You could trade e-zine ads, banners ads,
links, print ads, etc.

7. Out source part of your workload. This can save
on employee costs, equipment costs, taxation costs,
expansion costs, etc.

8. Add low cost bonuses to your offer that have a
high perceived value. It could be ebooks, members
only sites, consulting, e-reports, etc.

9. Use viral marketing to promote your business on
the internet. Give away free stuff with your ad copy
include on it so others can give it away.

10. Follow up with all your prospects. You can use
a free e-zine, a follow-up autoresponder, an update
or reminder list, etc.

Top 10 Ways To Raise Your Site In Google

2008-02-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Ways To Raise Your Site In Google

This isn't a manipulation game—Google absolutely hates that game and will punish you for it—which is perhaps what the darker element of the SEO world sells. Good, in-bounds SEO is made up of smart, user-and-search-engine friendly techniques. Think of SEO as a performance-enhancing drug—one that won't get you kicked out of baseball.

That being said, there are tons of things webmasters can do to help their sites perform better in search, so this list is not by a long shot finished. It is, though, what we think are the top ten strategies for better search engine—and by "search engine" I mean "Google" – placement.

1. Title tags

Listed by others as one of the Big Three (tags, links, and text), we're putting title tags at the top. The words in the title tag appear in the link that pops up in the search result. This is where you tell the search engine (and the would-be visitor) as succinctly as possible what needs to be known: company or publication name; relevant, targeted keyword or keyword phrase taken from the text of the page. Each page should have a title tag as Google ranks each page individually, not the site in its entirety.

2. Content

The order of the Big Three is very debatable, but really they work as parts of the whole; not one of them can be left out if the machine is to work properly. In this case, you probably understand that content should be quality, however that is defined, but it should also be rich in the keywords you are targeting to drive search traffic. That doesn't mean just throwing them in there like you're cooking up a pot of SEO gumbo, though. Keyword use and keyword variation should natural and not overstuffed. For the visual text part of the page, focus on working in the relevant words and phrases you want people to find you for.

3. Quality Links

Or more specifically, backlinks, links to your site from outside sources. Links are your letters of recommendation. If nobody's recommending you, or the recommendations seem phony, then it won't work. Authority links are weighted most heavily, of course, so try to get industry-related authority sites to link to your site.

Convert visitors with Google Analytics - free

4. Quantity Links

Authority (high quality) links are by nature more difficult to get, so you'll have to start somewhere else unless you already have the brand recognition you need from square one. Many SEOers propose "link-swaps" to each other and it used to be common trade to buy and sell links. But as Google demonstrated last Fall, you can't buy Google's love that way. In fact, you'll get the opposite of love. So, try to get as many links as you can from industry peers the good old-fashioned way – by promoting. Submit links to respected directories like DMOZ and Yahoo, as well. A large burst of low-quality, non-authoritative, or bad-neighborhood links, though, can do a lot more harm than good; so keep things natural.

5. URL

The importance of the URL is often debated, but one argument seems to make more sense than the others. Search engines don't like too many parameters in the URL (easy to confuse the spiders with & and ?) and people can't read those long URLs and tell what they mean at a glance either. The people aspect here is especially important, because they're the ones clicking and they need to understand where a link leads them at a millisecond glance. Lesson: keywords in the URL are a good idea.

6. Spider Food

Search spiders eat HTML, not Flash. They eat text, not pictures. Make the spiders happy with HTML and lots of text to eat.

7. Site Architecture

There's a lot to consider here, but the goal is creating a site spiders can easily access, a site that tells them where to go and what to index. Sitemaps are vital for this purpose, as is proper use of Robots.txt. Just this week, Google's Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa posted 7 must-read Webmaster Central blog posts about these very topics.

8. Frequently Updated Content

You could start a site, slap some content on it, and let it sit there in cyber space. It'll be indexed, most likely. But you really expand your credibility as a devoted, relevant source if you update regularly. In addition to spiders, it gives people a reason to come back, too.

9. Start a Blog

A great way to establish yourself as an authority voice on the Internet is to start a blog about the industry you're in. Maintaining a blog means another entry point with regularly updated content that eventually with some authority helps pull up the main site via targeted links to the site, or specific pages within the site. It's not a spam blog, which will be zapped eventually, if there's useful content on it and legitimate linking.

10. Don't Forget Humans

This is so important, it probably should be higher up on the list. There's an art to designing a site that is friendly to both Google crawlers and the people you ultimately want to convert. Without people, what's the point? So first design for them, and then tweak to please the spiders, not the other way around. Jakob Nielsen is a usability guru you'll want to check out. He's been telling people how make user-centric websites since web directories were still phonebooks—you know, on paper.

10 Web Site Design And Writing No-No's

2008-02-19T01:47:00.001-08:00

10 Web Site Design And Writing No-No's

1. Don't load your web site with a lot of high tech
clutter. Your visitors may miss your whole sales
message.

2. Don't use unnecessary words or phrases on your
site. You only have so much time to get your visitor's
attention and interest; make ever word count.

3. Don't make the mistake that everyone will totally
understand your web site message. Use descriptive
words and examples to get your point across.

4. Don't write your strongest point or benefit only
once. You should repeat it at least 3 times because
some people may miss it.

5. Don't push all your words together on your web
site. People like to skim; use plenty of headings
and sub headings.

6. Don't use site content your target audience isn't
interested in. If people are coming to your site to
find info about fishing don't include soccer content.

7. Don't use 50 different content formats all over
your web site. Use the same fonts, text sizes, text
colors, etc.

8. Don't use words your web site visitors might not
understand. People are not going to stop and look
in a dictionary, they will just go to another site.

9. Don't let selling words and phrases go unnoticed.
Highlight important words and phrases with color,
bolding, italics, underlining, etc.

10. Don't forget to use words that create emotion.
All people have emotions, people will have more
interest when they are emotionally attached.

10 Bonuses That Will Sell Your Products Faster

2008-02-11T23:09:00.000-08:00

10 Bonuses That Will Sell Your Products Faster

1. Consulting-Give your customers advice on topics
related to your product or service. You can consult
via e-mail, message board or chat room.

2. e-Book-Compile related product information or
instructions into an ebook. You could publish it in
text, pdf, html or exe format.

3. Customer's Only Discussion Board-Make a place
online for your customers to communicate about
your business or similar information.

4. E-mail Newsletter-Publish an informative e-zine
that keeps your customers informed of important
or helpful information related to their purchase.

5. Private Web Site-Give access to a private part
of your web site were customers can find helpful
information non customers can't access.

6. Download Software-Allow your customers to
download software that's similar to or compliments
their main purchase.

7. Online Utility-Give customers a web utility that
will make their life easier. It can be a calculator,
graphic creator, web site submitter, etc.

8. Chat Room Class-Teach your customers how to
better use your product or about a subject that
relates to their purchase.

9. Online Video-Allow customers to download or
view a related how-to video or informative seminar
right over the internet.

10. Online Audio-Allow customers to download
and listen to a recording of an expert that is being
interviewed right over the internet.

10 Reasons To Survey Your Visitors, Subscribers And Customers

2008-02-11T23:08:00.000-08:00

10 Reasons To Survey Your Visitors, Subscribers And Customers

1. You'll find out what type of content visitors want
to see at your web site. This will attract your visitors
to revisit and read the content.

2. You'll find out how to improve existing products
or services. This will attract new customers to buy
from your business.

3. You'll find out which products or services your
customers would like to see you sell in the future.
This will increase your back end product sales.

4. You'll find out how to improve your customer
service. This will cut down on customer complaints
and how to better resolve problems.

5. You'll find out how to improve your sales letters
or ads. This will increase your sales, traffic or ezine
subscribers.

6. You'll find out what kind of articles or interviews
they want to see in your free e-zine. This will raise
your e-zine's readership.

7. You'll find out how to design your web site to fit
your visitors needs and wants. This will increase
the time your visitors spend on your web site.

8. You'll find out what kind of non related products
or services your customers would buy. This will help
your business easily move into a different market.

9. You'll find out how to better price your products.
This will help you sell your products or services at
at a price that will pull the most orders.

10. You'll find out were your potential customers are
hanging out. This will inform you where to market
and promote your products.

10 Ways To Increase Your Free eBook Downloads

2008-02-11T22:57:00.000-08:00

10 Ways To Increase Your Free eBook Downloads

1. Anticipate the objections your visitors might have
about your free ebook offer. You should research
your target audience's needs and wants.

2. Allow your visitors to feel good about themselves
by giving them compliments. If they feel good, they
will also feel good about downloading your ebook.

3. Tell your visitors the emotional and logical reasons
why they should download your free ebook. It can be
the goals they'll acomplish, positive feelings, etc.

4. Publish a list of respected or famous people that
have downloaded your free ebook. Just remember
to get their legal permission first.

5. Tell people what they're thinking and feeling as
they read your ebook ad. Most people will start to
actually do it, statements should back up the ebook.

6. Make your free ebook offer very rare. People
perceive things that are rare as being more valuable.
You could use a limited time offer or free bonuses.

7. Create rapport with your visitors by telling them
something they already know is true. They'll know
for sure you're not lying and download your ebook.

8. Show your visitors how much enthusiasm you
have for your free ebook. Most people will start to
feel the same and download your ebook.

9. Make your visitors curious about your free ebook
by telling them they need to sign-up to get access to
a password protected site in order to download it.

10. Motivate people to download your free ebook.
Tell them a lot of positive things like: "You can now
reach your goals and change your life forever!"

10 Web Site Add-Ons That Can Catapult Traffic

2008-02-11T22:56:00.001-08:00

10 Web Site Add-Ons That Can Catapult Traffic

1. Add a message board to your web site. People
will visit your web site to ask questions and answer
other people's questions.

2. Add a directory of web site links to your web
site. People will visit your web site to find related
web site links for the topic they're interested in.

3. Add an article section to your web site. People
will visit your web site to read and learn new info
related to their interests.

4. Add an archive of past e-zine issues to your
web site. People will visit your web site to read
past issues of your e-zine that they've missed.

5. Add a free ebook directory to your web site.
People will visit your site to download, study and
read new information.

6. Add a free classified ad section. People will
visit your web site to place their own free classified
ad and to read other offers.

7. Add a free link page to your web site. People
will visit your web site to place their own link and
to look at other people's links.

8. Add an "about us" page to your web site. People
will visit your web site to read about your business
and yourself.

9. Add a guest book to your web site. People will
visit your web site to leave their opinions about your
business and to list their signature file.

10. Add a free software download page to your
web site. People will visit your web site to find
new software that will make their life easier.

10 Amazing Product Selling Formulas

2008-01-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

10 Amazing Product Selling Formulas

1. Sell your products at a wholesale price to retail
web sites. You could sell them individually or in
bulk.

2. Set up joint ventures with other businesses to
sell your product to new customers. They can
introduce it to their customers for a set price.

3. Allow other web sites to sell your product for a
set commission. They can take a percentage of the
sale and send you the rest of the order to drop ship.

4. Sell your product through an affiliate program.
You just pay people a set commission for each of
their sales or click throughs.

5. Sell people the rights to reproduce your product.
You could sell them straight out for one price or
collect royalty payments from each sale they make.

6. Set up a cross promotion deal with another web
business. Allow them to sell your product as a back
end product to their existing customers base.

7. Sell your product in a package deal with other
web businesses. You can both advertise it and split
the profits.

8. Rent your products out for a set period of time.
It's like selling but, you get the products back to
rent again.

9. Allow people to subscribe to your products. It
works best when selling info products, services or
memberships.

10. Allow people to lease your products. It's like
renting them but they have the option of buying at
the end of the lease.

Ten Breakthrough Marketing Ideas

2008-01-21T02:00:00.000-08:00

1. Create a directory of web sites on a specific
topic. Give people the option of adding the
directory to their web site by linking to it. Put
your business advertisement at the top of the
director's home page. This technique will get lots
of people to link to your web site and give you
free advertising.

2. Do you have a product or service that doesn't
sell good? Offer it as a free bonus for someone
else's product or service. Get free advertising by
placing your web site or business ad on the
product or in the product package.

3. Trade autoresponder ads with other businesses.
If both of you send out information with auto-
responders just exchange a small classified ad
to put at the bottom or top of each other's
autoresponder message.

4. Start a free tip line. Offer a free daily, weekly,
or monthly tip recorded on your voice mail. The
tips should be related to your business. Include
your ad for your web site or business at the
beginning or end of your message.

5. Exchange content with other web sites and
ezines. You could trade articles, top ten lists, etc.
Both parties could include a resource box at the
end of the content.

6. Offer to insert ads into your product package
for other businesses. Just ask, in return that they
do the same for your business. You should only
trade insert ads with businesses that have the
same target audience.

7. Offer a free daily class in your web site's chat
room. The class should be related to the subject
of your business or web site. This will get people
to visit your web site everyday.

8. Do you have a product that doesn't sell good?
Offer it as a free bonus for another businesses
product or service. You'll get free advertising by
placing your web site or business ad on the free
bonus.

9. Place different emotional response ads for the
same product or service all over your web site.
One ad may hit their hot button to buy more than
another ad.

10. Publish your e-zine in e-book format. You
could offer a larger number of articles per issue.
It also allows you to include graphics with your
ezine. Your advertising revenue would increase
because you could charge businesses for large
color ads.

5 Breakthrough Marketing Ideas

2008-01-07T03:28:00.000-08:00

5 Breakthrough Marketing Ideas

1. Offer to insert ads into your product package
for other businesses. Just ask, in return that they
do the same for your business. You should only
trade insert ads with businesses that have the
same target audience.

2. Offer a free daily class in your web site's chat
room. The class should be related to the subject
of your business or web site. This will get people
to visit your web site everyday.

3. Do you have a product that doesn't sell good?
Offer it as a free bonus for another businesses
product or service. You'll get free advertising by
placing your web site or business ad on the free
bonus.

4. Place different emotional response ads for the
same product or service all over your web site.
One ad may hit their hot button to buy more than
another ad.

5. Publish your e-zine in e-book format. You
could offer a larger number of articles per issue.
It also allows you to include graphics with your
ezine. Your advertising revenue would increase
because you could charge businesses for large
color ads.

How To Get The Most From Your

2008-01-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

How To Get The Most From Your
Free eBook Marketing Campaign

First, your ebook needs to have an attractive title.
The title should grab the attention of your intended
target audience. The more appealing the title, the
more your ebook will be downloaded.

Your ebook needs to have quality content. You
can write your own content or ask permission to
use another author's content. Your ebook will be
read more if the content is original.

You will want to put your ad on the title page or
on the table of contents. This will give the most
exposure for your web site or the products you're
selling.

It's important to put your ebook in as many formats
as possible. Most ebook software only allows the
ebook to be read by certain browers and software.
People may not take the time to download a new
software program in order to read your ebook.
Other versions of your ebook could be in HTML,
auto responder and downloadable text format.

You can contact other business owners and ask
them if they would like to include their ad in your
ebook. Just ask them in return to advertise your
free ebook on their web site or in their e-zine for
a set period of time. This method will get your
free ebook marketing campaign off to a fast start.

Allow the people who download your ebook to
give it away to their visitors. This will multiply
your free ebook's exposure. Submit your ebook
to the growing number of free ebook directories
on the internet.

These web sites also offer more information about
ebook marketing. Some of them also have ebook
discussion forums where you can ask questions
and learn more about ebook marketing.

How To Create Urgency So People Buy Now

2008-01-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

How To Create Urgency So People Buy Now

You must create urgency so people will buy your
products or services now. They may not revisit your
web site or see your ad again.

How do you do this? You must use a limited time
offer. Limited time offers stop people from putting
off buying your products or services. It stops them
from procrastinating.

There are many different types of limited time offers.
Here are a few.

Limited Time Price Offers
For example, Order Now! While the price is still low.
After Dec 23,1999 this price will go up to...

Limited Time Discount Offers
For example, Order before Midnight, Nov. 5,1999
and you will get 25% discount!

Limited Time Free Bonus Offers
For example, Order before April 2, 2000 and you'll
get a free bonus!

Limited Time In Stock Offers
For example, Order Now! While supplies last! After
Oct. 31,1999 we can't guarantee we will have any
left in stock.

I'm not saying everyone will order the first time they
see your ad. They may not be interested in your
products or services. It depends on your ad and the
person reading the ad. If they are interested, usually,
limited time offers will make them buy now.

Five Places Where You Can Find New Products To Sell

2008-01-07T03:25:00.000-08:00

Five Places Where You Can Find New Products To Sell

Joint Venture Deals
Contact other business owners and ask them if you
can sell their products or services. The products or
services should be related to your target audience.
You could set up a deal to just market them and
receive a percentage of the profits.

Affiliate Programs
Join another businesses affiliate program. You just
sign-up at their web site and they give you a link
that tracks all your sales. Every time someone orders
or clicks through your link you receive a commission.

Wholesalers
You can buy products at a large discount through
a wholesaler. Just order the products from your
wholesaler of choice. When you receive the products
mark-up the price to the amount you want to sell
them for.

Reprint/Duplication Rights
Some businesses offer you the right to buy licenses
to reprint or duplicate their products. You pay for
the license and then you can reproduce the product
and keep all the profits. The license stipulations may
vary from business to business.

Drop Shippers
You can sign-up to a drop shipper program from
another business or wholesaler. When someone
orders the product, you keep a percentage of the
sale and send the rest of the order to the drop
shipper. The drop shipper will then ship the product
to your customer.

How To Turn Any Product You Sell Into Residual Income

2008-01-07T03:24:00.000-08:00

How To Turn Any Product You Sell Into Residual Income

The concept of this is for you to offer a subscription
type product as an upsell or backend product. For
example, if you're selling an ebook for $37 offer a
subscription to a related e-zine for $9.95 a month.
Instead of an e-zine, it could be monthly updated
information for the ebook.

It's not just for e-books, you can make it work for
any product or service you sell. Some subscriptions
that might work for your product could be:

- e-mail/telephone consulting
- a private or members only web site
- print newsletters/magazines
- product updates
- subscription warrantees
- product insurance
- e-zine/webzines
- the ideas are endless.....

The subscription product should be related to the
product or service you're selling. You could charge
a weekly, monthly, or yearly subscription for the
upsell product. You could sell your main product
and upsell product as a total subscription package
deal. You wouldn't charge the one-time price for
your main product; you would just charge the basic
subscription price of the upsell product.

The major benefits are that you don't have to keep
creating new upsell and back end products. Once
you get enough subscribers you won't have to sell
anymore, you just keep generating income from
your current subscribers. You would only have to
sell again if you lost a lot of subscribers.

Make Your Ads Sizzle & Skyrocket Your Sales

2008-01-07T03:22:00.000-08:00

Make Your Ads Sizzle & Skyrocket Your Sales

Do your ads sizzle?

If you're like the average marketer they probably don't.

Read some of the ads that are in the ezines you read, or
the emails you receive and you'll realize how many of them
are just the same old, same old.

It's not just the average marketer that's writing bland un-
inspiring ads. Remember the big Dot Com ads that bombed
during the Super Bowl a few years back?

They thought that throwing big money out was the answer.

They thought being slick and cutesy was the answer.

They were dead wrong!

If you want to write effective ads, you have to keep in
mind:

* We all think in pictures

* When there's a choice between logic and emotion, our
emotions always win.

* There are only two reasons anyone will take action.

A. To move toward pleasure

B. To move away from pain

No matter how complex or sophisticated you and I think we
are, deep down we all have similar hopes, dreams and
desires.

I remember growing up, how my mother instinctively knew
these rules.

My parents had a bar in the country. During hunting season,
all the weekend warriors would stop in our bar. They were
on their way to their big adventure and we were a stop off
point.

These city people were full of expectations of the big hunt
to come, but they also knew they would be out in the cold
and snow, hoping to bag their big game.

Once there were enough of them in the bar, my mother would
walk into the kitchen and start rattling the pots. A little
while later she would start simmering the soup.

You could see their faces react when they started smelling
that soup cooking.

But my mother wasn't going to leave anything to chance. As
soon as the soup started getting warm, she'd call me and
say "honey, you want something to warm your belly."

Talk about sizzle.

Then I would do my part, although at the time I didn't
realize what was going on. I'd say, "mommy this is good."

Well that was the clincher.

Those hunters weren't seeing just a bowl of soup anymore,
they saw:

<> Warmth to help fight the cold.

<> They were ready to experience, "country cooking."

Man alive she couldn't keep up with the orders.

She had just taken an everyday bowl of soup and made that
puppy sizzle.

How about you?

Do your ads sizzle, or do you just try to sell the same old,
same old?

Don't write the same boring ads, make your ads sizzle.

Make the reader picturize the benefits. Grab them by the
emotions and make their mouths water.

Start making your ads sizzle and watch your sales skyrocket.

10 Nifty Ways To Prolong Your Visitor's Stay

2008-01-07T03:21:00.000-08:00

10 Nifty Ways To Prolong Your Visitor's Stay

1. Offer a free ebook that's published right on your
web site. They would have to stay at your web site
to read it.

2. Give your visitors a different free bonus for each
link they click-through on your web site. Example:
"If you click on this link you'll get a FREE course!"

3. Make your content into a story format. They will
want to keep reading to find out what happens at
the end of the story.

4. Offer a search option on your web site. People
will stay longer because it gives them the option of
searching through your web site using keywords.

5. Provide a chat room on your web site. They will
want to chat with other people that are interested in
the subject.

6. Write your content so it attracts their five senses.
Use plenty of adjectives. The will stay focused on
your web site and block out other distractions.

7. Add a "FAQ - Frequently Ask Questions" part
on your web site. People won't email you a question
and leave. They will stay to find out the answer.

8. Offer easy navigation. People will leave quicker
if they have a hard time finding what they're looking
for. Don't get them lost or they will leave.

9. Give them plenty of things to do at your web site.
Allow them to submit classified ads, play interactive
games, add their link, sign your guest book, etc.

10. Offer free online tools they can use right at your
web site. It could be a search engine submitter, ad
or letter templates, ebook compiler, etc.

10 Fool Proof Ways To Intensify Your Profits

2008-01-07T03:19:00.000-08:00

10 Fool Proof Ways To Intensify Your Profits

1. Create benefit intensifiers for your list of ad copy
benefits. Example, The Benefit: "Save More Time",
The Benefit's Intensifier: "Never Seen Before".

2. Use a little humor in your ad copy. It could be the
little extra motive you need to close a sale. People
are usually persuaded easier if they're in a good mood.

3. Ask your visitors questions that induce thoughts,
feelings, memories and emotions that will influence
them to buy.

4. Tell your visitors what their friends or family
will probably think when they buy your product.
People care about what other people think of them.

5. Use blue, underlined text links. People have been
branded that blue, underlined text are links. You do
not want to lose visitors by using a different color.

6. Consider outsourcing part of your work load to a
virtual assistant. You won't have to pay the extra
employee costs and you can save precious time.

7. Increase your traffic by holding a free teleclass.
You can refer people to your web site for more
information.

8. Add an extra profit stream by selling the reprint
rights to your web site content. It could be articles,
e-books, reports, etc.

9. Spy on your competitors by buying their products.
You'll find out about their customer service, follow
up marketing, up sell offers, etc.

10. Allow your visitors to assume you are a large
corporation. Use professional web design, graphics,
content, customer service, etc.

24 Killer Press Release Secrets

2008-01-07T03:17:00.000-08:00

24 Killer Press Release Secrets

1. Your press release should sound like news, not
an ad.

2. You should only send your press release to the
media related to the topic of your press release.

3. Keep your press release one page in length.

4. Your header, contact information and release
date should be at the top of your press release.

5. Use short sentences and double space your lines.

6. Your header and first few sentences should grab
the readers attention.

7. You should tell a story and mention your business,
product or service in the body of the press release.

8. Proofread your press release many times. Look
for grammar and spelling mistakes.

9. Write a press release about the new products or
services you're offering on your web site.

10. Create a press release about the results of an
online survey or poll you have completed.

11. Submit a press release about a trade show or
seminar you're hosting.

12. Write a press release about no cost chat room
classes you are teaching.

13. Create a press release about your opening of a
new web site.

14. Submit a press release about an online award
your business or web site has won.

15. Write a press release about a free e-zine you're
publishing.

16. Create a press release about online products or
services you're giving away.

17. Submit a press release about an online business
association or club you're starting.

18. Write a press release about a famous person
that's endorsing your business.

19. Create a press release about a joint venture you
are doing with another business.

20. Submit a press release about a new book or
e-book you wrote.

21. Write a press release about an expert who is
speaking in your chat room.

22. Create a press release about a fundraising event
you're doing at your web site.

23. Submit a press release about a new contest or
sweepstakes you're having at your site.

24. Write a press release about major sponsorships
you're doing online.

How To Get Free Advertising By Giving Away Online Content

2007-12-25T17:16:00.000-08:00

How To Get Free Advertising By Giving Away Online Content

Giving away content is a powerful way to get free advertising.
For example, give other people permission to use your article
on their web site or in their e-zine. The resource box at the
end of your article acts as an ad. In return, you get free
advertising. It's a win/win situation for both you and the
people that need the extra content.

There are many forms of free content. It could be articles,
reports, news stories, e-books, e-zines, e-mags, virtual e-mail
courses, press releases, web books, etc.

You can take it a step further and make giving away content
an even more powerful way to get free advertising. For
example, give your free e-book to one person and allow them
the rights to also give it away. Do you see what I'm leading
up to? Let's say only 20 people download your e-book. Those
20 people may give away your e-book to 20 more people.
That's a total of 400 people that have seen your ad in the
e-book. And it just keeps multiplying!

If you keep producing free content over a long period of time
it starts building up. Now, take all your free content and
create an online directory. You can use your free content
directory as a web site traffic generator. You can ask people
to add the directory to their web site by linking to yours.

In conclusion, giving away content gives you three powerful
ways to get free advertising. You can submit free content,
allow other people to give away your free content, or have
people link to your web site to give away the free content.
My advice is to take it one step at a time and this system
will bring traffic to your web site over and over for years
to come.

5 Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Online Auctions

2007-12-25T17:15:00.000-08:00

5 Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Online Auctions

It seems as if everyone is talking about online auctions. And
why not. There are thousands of online auctions on the
internet with more popping up everyday. People love them
because they can usually find great bargains. Businesses are
now also seeing the benefits of online auctions. Below are
five ways your business can benefit from online auctions.

1. Get Rid Of Excess Inventory

You could sell your excess or discontinued products at an
online auction. Your unsold inventory is doing you no good
sitting around, collecting dust. It's an effective way to make
extra income and it won't be a total loss for your business.
You could even get lucky and make a profit depending
on how much people will bid for your excess inventory.

2. Test Pricing For New Products

An easy way to test new product prices is to see what
people will bid for them at an online auction. First, sell your
product at three different online auctions. Next, calculate
the average selling bid from all three auctions and that will
be your selling price for your new product.

3. Sell Your Products

You can get your product in front of a large audience by
selling it at an online auction. Some of the bigger auction
sites draw over millions of hits a year. The key to being
successful is to sell your product at multiple online auctions
at the same time. Let's say you sold one product a day
from just one auction site. If you sell your product at one
hundred online auction sites that would be one hundred sales
a day!

4. Start Your Own Online Auction

Drive traffic to your web site by starting your own online
auction. People will visit your web site to find bargains
and to sell their own products. You will get plenty of
repeat visitors from people rebidding on products and
adding new products to sell. You could also charge other
businesses to advertise on your web site.

5. Lower Your Business Costs

You can find lower prices on business supplies and
equipment at online auctions. I'm not saying all the time, but
before you go pay retail for a new printer try bidding on
one first. A company may be selling them at a lower price
at an online auction because they have excess inventory.

5 Quick Ways To Increase Your E-zine's Subscriber Base

2007-12-25T17:14:00.000-08:00

5 Quick Ways To Increase Your E-zine's Subscriber Base

1. Give Incentives
Give people an incentive to subscribe to your e-zine. Offer
them a freebie if they subscribe. It could be a free e-book,
free report, free advertising, etc. Make sure the freebie will
attract your target audience.

2. Joint Venture
Joint venture with a similar e-zine. Combine your subscriber
bases together and publish one e-zine. Edit and publish
each issue together. You both will be promoting the e-zine
which means more subscribers.

3. Allow Archiving
Allow your subscribers to archive back issues of your
e-zine on their web site. They may need content for their
web site. If people visit their web site and like your e-zine,
they will subscribe.

4. Form An E-zine Ring
Form an e-zine ring. Team up with 4 to 10 similar e-zines.
All the publishers would agree to list each others e-zine
name and subscribing information in every issue. You could
call this section "Other Free E-zines You Might Enjoy"

5. Ask Subscribers
Ask subscribers to forward your e-zine to close friends,
family, or associates. If they enjoy your e-zine, they will
subscribe. It's almost like your subscribers are endorsing
your e-zine.

3 Clever Ways To Promote Your Online Business

2007-12-25T17:13:00.000-08:00

3 Clever Ways To Promote Your Online Business

1. Electronic Catalog Marketing

Create a catalog of products or services in e-book or auto
responder form. Give the catalog away for free to your
web site visitors. Ask other web sites, that aren't in direct
competition with your business, if they would like to add
their products or services to the catalog. If they do, just ask
that in return they either link to your web site, run your
promotional ad in their e-zine or place your banner ad on
their web site for a set period of time. You could ask them
to also give away the free catalog because you would
already have your ad(s) in the catalog. Since you created
and compiled the catalog place your ad or sponsor ad at the
top or title page of the catalog. This technique will quickly
multiply your advertising.

2. Donate Your Publishing

Donate to libraries. There are thousands of school, college
and local libraries all over the United States and world.
Millions of people visit libraries everyday. Why not donate
your e-mail newsletter to them. You can find a huge list of
libraries on online yellow page web sites. Contact the library
by mail, phone or e-mail. Tell them you would like to donate
a free subscription of your e-mail newsletter. If they accept
find out if they want it sent by mail in print form or by e-mail
so they can print out the newsletter. You could also donate
your books, audio tapes, video's, booklets, etc. If you have
an e-book you could put it on disk or CD-ROM and donate
it. Just have your business ad included in the material you
donate.

3. Online Community Marketing

Create a popular online discussion board. Reward people
points for every message posted on your discussion board.
Let's say you reward each person 25 points for each
posting. You could give them a free product or service for
500 points which would add up to 20 postings on your board
from that one person. Just keep track of points for each
person that posts on your message board. This could also
work for e-mail discussion lists. Just post your promotional
ad at the top of your discussion board page. Everyone that
visits your discussion board will see your ad.

10 Nifty Ways To Prolong Your Visitor's Stay

2007-12-25T17:11:00.000-08:00

9 Sure-Fire Ways To Increase Your E-zine's Readership

2007-10-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

1 You Have Won!

Hold an ongoing prize drawing in your e-zine. The prizes should
be something of interest or value to your subscribers. Most
people who enter will continually read each issue for the
results.

2 100% Original

Give your subscribers content they can't read anywhere else.
I'm not saying all your content has to be 100% original, but a
portion of your e-zine should have original information. People
will usually read information they haven't read before.

3 Was I Right?

Give your subscribers a quiz or a series of trivia questions.
Publish the correct answers in your following issue. The people
who participate will want to see if they were right.

4 Read All About It!

Supply news stories related to your e-zine's topic. People want
current and up-to-date news. If you can be their first source,
they will become loyal readers.

5 The Polls Are In!

Hold an interactive poll in your e-zine. Ask subscribers a poll
question. Have them e-mail their vote or opinion. People love
to give their 2 cents worth. They would also like to read the
results in your next issue.

6 Become A Jester :)

Give your subscribers a little humor now and then. Don't be so
serious, tell them a joke. If they associate your e-zine with
being happy they will want to read every issue.

7 The Information Free-way

People love to get free stuff. Tell readers were to get free
stuff online or offline. It could be software, services, sample
products, e-books etc. The freebies should be related to your
e-zine's topic. Keep the freebies coming and your subscribers
will keep reading!

8 Mini-Yahoo

Tell your subscribers about Web sites related to your e-zine's
topic. The web sites should be interesting and helpful. Become
your readers miniature "Yahoo", you know how many readers
they get.

9 In Our Next Issue...

Get your subscribers excited about your next issue. Tell them
about upcoming articles, prize drawings, freebies etc. If they
know what's in store for them, they won't want to miss reading
your next issue.

6 Ways To Keep Your Online Customers

2007-10-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

1. Stay In Touch

Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer
them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want
to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your
Web site. After every sale follow-up with the customer to
see if they are satisfied with their purchase.

2. Friendly Web Site

Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your Web
site. Have a "FAQ" page on your Web site to explain
anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill
out an electronic survey to find out how make your Web
site more customer friendly.

3. Easy And Free Communication

Make it easy and for your customers to contact you. Offer
as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers
contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so
customers won't have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for
phone and fax contacts.

4. Teach Your Employees

Make sure employees know and use your customer service
policy. Give your employees bonuses or incentives to practice
excellent customer service. Tell employees to be flexible with
each individual customer, each one has different concerns,
needs and wants.

5. Impress Your Customer

Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank
you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting
cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses or discounts
to customers who make a big purchase.

6. Be Nice

Always be polite to your customers. Use the words Please,
Thank You, and Your Welcome. Be polite to your customers
even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to
your customers should you make a mistake. Admit your
mistakes quickly and make it up to them in a big way.

Get More Traffic

2007-10-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

1. Give Away An Electronic Information Product

The product could be a simple report posted on your Web
site or autoresponder to a downloadable e-book. The
information product should relate to your target audience. Just
place your advertisement somewhere on the product. Allow
other people to give away the information product to attract
even more customers.

2. Offer Free Consulting Via E-mail

Allow potential customers to ask you specific questions
relating to the subject of your business. Giving away free advice
can show your prospects your expertise and give you instant
credibility. Another benefit is when you e-mail them back the
free advice or information include your signature file to get free
advertising.

3. Hold A Free Chat Room Seminar

People go to seminars to learn about a particular subject.
With chat rooms you don't need to fear public speaking or
spend money to rent out a seminar room. You can use your
own chat room or hold the seminar in someone elses.
Holding a chat room seminar is an incredible way to get free
publicity. Just send a press release to the media announcing
your free seminar.

4. Start A Free-To-Join Club

Having people join your club is a creative way to attract
new customers. People want to belong to something, why
not your online club. The club should be related to your
product or service. You could give away a free e-mail
newsletter for club members only. Have a members only
message board, e-mail discussion group or chat room. Post
your advertisements on all the club information.

5. Provide Your Product Or Service For Almost Free

Tell potential customers you'll accept barter deals for your
products or services. You may not be getting money but they
will become your customers. If they are satisfied they might
pay money the next time they make a purchase. Barter for
things to improve your business or your own personal life.

Tip To Success

2007-03-05T02:38:00.000-08:00

HOT TIPS

1. GET PEOPLE'S ATTENTION!

Do you have a very important selling point you wantpeople to read?

Here are 15 ways to start yoursentence

Pay close attention!Now listen closely!Listen closely:

Here's a secret:

I'm Angry!Don't miss a word of this...

Listen to me,Warning!

Top Secret Information:

Stop!Here's my confession...Listen!

Forget everything and listen,

Beware!I have a problem...I'm ready to EXPLODE!

Get over here and listen to this!

Pull up a chair and hear me out:Turn off the phone and listen!

2. Work your niche.

If you want to create a book-selling site, thenfocus on a specific market such as pets, pottery,origami, whatever. If you run a search engine, focuson a niche. Don't try to compete with Yahoo. Ifyou're selling ebooks - "niche it", don't produce a book that is all things to all people.

3. Base your plan on reality.

It may sound like a good idea to set up a Web sitethat is constantly updated and is always current.The big corporations can succeed at this because theyhave buildings full of site designers and programmers.If you want a site that updates constantly, createit to work with an automated updating program (likenews streaming) or with a support system such as adiscussion group where hundreds of people can postcurrent content for you.

4. Offer minimum links on your main page.

One of the primary goals of any business is tomake sure you don't confuse your customers. Byoffering minimum links on your main page, youwill limit the chances that your visitor willstray off elsewhere and not get back to your maintheme. Minimise the links and keep your visitorsas focused as possible.Specifically, never place a link on your home pagethat will take your visitor to another site. Theyonly just arrived at yours, so don't go showingthem the door just yet!

5. Put a "home" link on every page on your site.

Don't assume your prospects will just hit the "back"button to go back to your main page. Don't evenassume that they'll remember where your main page is.Place a "home" button on every page of your site andmake it look different so it will always be noticed.

Essential Rules For Effective Email Marketing

2007-02-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing

Given the inherent problems with traditional marketing techniques, it`s important to master the BASIC STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING EMAIL into your overall campaign.

As I`ve just shown you, sending out an EMAIL CAN BE MUCH CHEAPER than other marketing methods. Proceed with caution, however. Email can also cost you a fortune -- in lost opportunities AND cold hard cash -- IF you don`t know the basics.

So that`s where we`re going to start.

First, always keep in mind that your "primary objective". the master key that unlocks your "Success Vault" in Internet Marketing is to build your mailing list - your EMAIL MAILING LIST. (Often referred to as your "In-house list.")

The addresses you collect are going to mean the difference between the middle-of-the-road results that Average Joe and Jane are achieving and the through-the-roof, over-the-top, to-the-moon-and-back MEGA-success that top online sellers achieve. (The difference really is that dramatic.) So don`t miss the boat: The time is NOW to start building your list of email addresses (prospects).

Essential Rules For Effective Email Marketing

2007-02-28T15:33:00.002-08:00

7 Wise Ways to Collect Email Addresses and Build Your Mailing List

Wise Way #1 - OFFER A FREEBIE

You have to give in order to get. If you want people to offer up their email address, you`re going to have to offer up an incentive. Nothing works better than something that`s complimentary (you spell that F-R-E-E). You can give away no-cost reports, books, software, or even sample pages of a book.

Wise Way #2 - USE POP-UPS

Pop-ups are one of the most common methods you can use to capture email addresses and build your email list quickly and with ease. Simply construct a web page containing code for a form and set the page to open (pop up) when visitors ENTER OR EXIT your site. Make sure the pop-up offer is something that`s valuable enough to motivate visitors to take time to give you their contact information. Your offer can be a complimentary report, download, or ebook that arrives instantly through your autoresponder to their email inbox when they give you their email.

Wise Way #3 - USE POSTCARDS

If you have a mailing list that contains snail mail (street) addresses, convert it into an email list by sending out a postcard and inviting people to VISIT YOUR WEBSITE to receive a gift of some kind a report, a discount coupon, etc. Visitors don`t have to pay in order to receive their gifts, they simply need to enter an email address.

Wise Way #4 - SUBSCRIBER BOX ON EVERY PAGE

This is a clever trick that so many people overlook. Put a RESPONSE FORM ON EVERY PAGE of your website offering a newsletter or other freebie. This will increase the number of email addresses you capture exponentially. Why? When search engines index the pages of your website, a visitor may come directly to a page other than your home page. If you only have a subscriber box on your home page, you`re missing the boat, not to mention the thousands of visitors who bypass your homepage.

Wise Way #5 - CONTESTS

Contests very often prove to be a good way to generate traffic and buzz for your business. Create a contest and put a form on your site or in a pop-up box. The entry "fee" is their email address. -Word to the Wise: Not all the people who sign up for your contest are good prospects. Many are just contest "junkies" -- people who are only looking for freebies and have no intention of buying a product or service. -Warning to the Wise: If your prizes are cash or large-ticket items, you should be sure to check with local agencies to make sure you`re not violating any contest laws.

Wise Way #6 - DISPLAY YOUR AUTORESPONDER ADDRESS

Most people give their website link when they place solo ads, ezine ads, or other marketing messages. To be one step ahead of the game in collecting email addresses, LIST YOUR AUTORESPONDER ADDRESS instead of your URL. This way you can capture email address and funnel them into your follow-up sales letters.

Wise Way #7 - JUST ASK

If you`re chatting with a prospect on the phone or a potential customer stops by your place of business, don`t be shy: ask for an email address or business card (which usually includes their email address).

Essential Rules For Effective Email Marketing

2007-02-28T15:33:00.001-08:00

EMAIL AESTHETICS

It`s an old, old saying, but it`s true: you only have one chance to make a good first impression. And in email, the first impression is always visual , a consumer LOOKS/SEES before he/she READS.

Imagine walking by a grotesquely garish storefront with all kinds of things hanging off the front porch, every floor painted a different color, and odd music playing through loudspeakers. Would you want to walk in the front door? No way! You`d assume that the owner is a kook, at best, or a deranged axe murderer, at worst. Did you ever have an ugly looking email land in your mailbox? You know what I`m talking about: an orange background and yellow borders, multi-colored text in all sizes from gigantic to microscopic, a message that looks like it was created by a crazed six-year-old? If you did, I bet you didn`t feel the urge to read it. You probably just wanted to delete it as quickly as possible.

PUT OUT THE WELCOME MAT

You want your email message to be friendly and inviting, not bizarre and scary. The suggestions below -- and they`re just suggestions, not hard and fast rules -- will go a long way towards making recipients` eyes say "come on in!" to your message.

DO’s and DON’Ts FOR ATTRACTIVE EMAILS

DON`T use COLOR fonts in your message.: (Leave that to junior high girls who want to write about Britney and Justin)

DO use BLACK TEXT ON A WHITE BACKGROUND.: (When you’re "speaking" in black-and-white, people will give their full attention to your message without being distracted by your color scheme.)

DON`T use UNCOMMON FONTS.(If someone`s system doesn`t recognize the font you`ve selected, they could see gibberish instead of your brilliant message).

DO use the email marketers` FAVORITE FONTS: Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New And please.

DON`T use flashing buttons or banners in your email!: (Your prospects have undoubtedly gotten their fill of "bells and whistles" when they`ve surfed the Internet. They don`t need more from you.)

GET HYPER" WITH EMAIL HYPERLINKS : An "email hyperlink" is just techno-talk for a link in your email to a website, or email address. Sounds simple enough, and it is -- unless you try to contact a prospect on AOL who may not be able to receive "clickable" links. Don`t worry. There’s a "fix" for this: simply type mailto: in front of your email address (no space in between, and include the : ) For a link to a web page, you need to write your link this way: http://www.getresponse.com/t/....../ . (And tell your recipient they can copy and paste this link into their browser if it`s not highlighted.)

ALWAYS USE SIGNATURE TAGS : Today, it’s common practice on the Internet to tell people about your product or service with a SIGNATURE TAG, which is 3-6 lines of text (usually) that is automatically added to every message you send. If you’d like to add a tag to your messages, simply open your email program. Find the SIGNATURES TAB (located in the TOOLS/OPTIONS menu in Outlook Express). Follow the (simple) instructions for creating a sig. file. Easy as pie...and the results will amaze you.

Essential Rules For Effective Email Marketing

2007-02-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

INTRODUCTION

If you want an email campaign to succeed, you don`t want to offend anyone when sending your messages. Turn off a consumer with your email and you can be sure they`ll tune out your message. Don`t let this happen to you! A message that earns respect makes sales. That`s why our first topic for discussion is email etiquette. (Later in the course, we`ll talk more about how to write an email sales letter.) Train yourself to always -- and I mean ALWAYS -- stick to the rules below when crafting your email message.

RULE #1 - ALWAYS WRAP YOUR LINES AT 65 CHARACTERS OR LESS

Whenever you write an email, always format the lines so that they’re 65 characters, or less, across. To do this, you may need to do a "hard return" by hitting "Enter" at the end of the line.

Wondering why to limit your lines to just 65 characters? (Good question! It shows you`re thinking.) There are two reasons that "less is more":

The first thing to remember is that looking at a computer screen for a long time causes EYE FATIGUE for many readers. The shorter span of characters across the screen makes reading easier and more appealing to the recipient of your email message.

The other reason to go short instead of long is this: some email clients AUTOMATICALLY ENFORCE LINE-WRAPPING at 60-65 characters on received messages. If your email is wrapped at 70, the content will arrive all "chopped up." This makes it unattractive...and worse -- unappealing.

Tip within a Rule #1: Email clients such as Outlook Express allow you to SET THE LINE-WRAP to any character-width you choose. That means you won`t have to hit Enter each time after typing 65 characters. Makes life easier!

Tip within a Rule #2 - You can type 65 asterisks or dashes in a Notepad file to create a template. Then paste your email below it to see if any lines extend too far to the right.

RULE # 2 - BE CAREFUL USING ALL CAPS

How many times have you changed the TV channel to avoid listening to a screaming car salesperson? No one likes a screaming salesperson...and no one likes a "screaming" email message, either. Odds are, when someone has over-amped the volume of their message by using too many capital letters (not to mention too many exclamation points and other punctuation) - you`re going to be turned off. On the Internet, email messages written in all caps are considered yelling. It`s okay to write some sentences and some words in all caps, but don`t go overboard. (As you can see in this message, I`ve tried to use capital letters to help break up sections of the content from time to time)

Tip within a Rule: Consumers buy from a source they trust. Emails in all caps are perceived as "shady" or uneducated, and have an appearance that damages the credibility of an offer.

RULE #3 - WATCH YOUR Ps & Qs (Spelling and Grammar)

Would you be influenced by an email selling you something that had noticeable spelling and grammar mistakes? Sure you would...and the influence would be negative, not positive! When a consumer reads a sales message that`s filled with errors, they think to themselves, "Good grief, this person doesn`t even take the time to get his emails right. His product is probably the same quality as his emails." When you`re in business, YOUR IMAGE IS YOUR REPUTATION and your reputation is the reason people buy from you or the guy down the block.

It`s essential that you create an image of INTEGRITY, CREDIBILITY, and HONESTY in the mind of your prospects. Sending emails filled with errors doesn’t hurt your professional image...it destroys it.

Conclusion & Recommendation

2007-02-06T15:48:00.009-08:00

Conclusion & Recommendation

Whether you’re just starting a new business, or currently have one, it’s important that you continue to generate business growth by following five key points. When you focus on the growth of your online business, no matter how successful you already are, you guarantee future profits, further expansion, and continued achievement.

There are some are key points that you need to pay attention to and implement in your business so that you can ensure the further success of your business. These five key points include:
• Build your customer database. Make sure that you use a variety of methods to build your customer database. The more leads that you have the more profits you’ll achieve.
• Research your target market. It’s important that you have a clear idea of who your target market is. Take the time to research who your competitors are for the products or services that you’re selling.
• Deliver what you promise. Don’t make false promises to your customers that you can’t follow through with. Promising certain products, services, or special deals to lure in people means that you have to follow through with the delivery so that you gain the trust and respect of your customers.
• Have a definite business plan and goals. Make sure that you have a solid business plan so that you know exactly what path you need to take to reach your goals and how long it will take you to get there.
• Advertise and reach your customers. You need to reach your customers so that they can see what products and services you have to offer. Advertising can take place on or off the Internet using newsletters, e-mail automation techniques, or by following leads that are provided by your existing customers.

By including the above five key points in your day to day business practices you’ll find that your online business continues to grow in its success.

Eleventh Chapter (11th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.008-08:00

Website Development

The development of your website design is one of the most central phases of your tactics to establish your position in the market. Without a strong and constructive design you fail to reach the customers necessary or your achievements. The development phase consists of several
phases that include:

• Final review of website design.
• Branding
• Development of specific business divisions, such as e-commerceand website.
• Testing
• Taking your website live

There are specific partitions that need to be developed before your web existence and business strategy is ready to go live on the Internet. Once these partitions have been developed your company is ready to reach your customers and secure your position among your competition.
Partitions that need to be developed require unique techniques.

Website development: Develop a web presence that is based on yourbusiness branding and design. The combination of all three elements will reinforce your online business strength: branding, design, and website development.

E-commerce development: A constructive and easy e-commerce experience is significant for capturing the confidence and self-assurance of your customers. This includes all aspects of e-commerce: product database, product display, security, and shopping cart.

Marketing strategy: The advancement phase is the prelude to your marketing strategy. Marketing requires a strong and solid development phase from which to have a triumphant launch.

The development phase of your business strategy should be as meticulous as possible before you go live with your website. The more safe and sound the multiple divisions of your company existence are themore success you’ll maintain.

Your Business Design

Developing a design for your business that augments your image and reinforces your web presence is critical to the success of your business. Your aim is to create a design for your company that you can use across the board: advertising, branding, e-commerce, and web distinction.

The final result of the design procedure is the level transition between all facets of your company exposure to your customers. You want a design that is outstanding and recognizable, and that suggests confidence andreliance from your customers.

There are several strategies that you need to build up in order to accomplish a successful design, design strategy and the design itself.

Design strategies include:
• Logo and company identity. Devise a company logo that is introspective of the image you want to portray to your customers.
• Web design. Develop a web design that is revealing, simple to navigate, and impressive to visitors.
• Successful e-commerce. Create an encouraging and easy ecommerce experience for your customers.

Design strategies include:
• Simple Design. Create a design that is uncomplicated and crisp for ease of recognition.
• Bold. Your design should be daring and clear-cut about the statement you want to make yet simple enough to lure customers to involve themselves in your web pages.
• Interactive. The design of your company should be completely interactive linking the visual communication with your customers and your web presence.

Once you expand your company design you’ll soon see a noteworthy return on the investments that you’ve made, as you reach customers and build up your place among the competition. Design is all about reaching your customers and interacting with them in a way that gets their consideration so they don’t forget who you are.

Make sure that you have strategies in place that apply successful and affirmative branding for your business. Some strategies that you should keep in mind include
(1) having clear and accurate goals, and know what it is that your company stands for,
(2) have a mission announcement thatis strong and definite so that you know exactly where your business is going and how you want to get there,
(3) be single-minded and unvarying in the way you deal with your customers so that they know what they can expect each time that do business with you, and
(4) remember that branding is all about reaching your customers and staying in contact with
them. The bottom line is that branding allows you to sell your products or services to customers in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd of competitors that are each looking for their share of Internet business.

Your Internet Image: When you’re developing a company representation it means that you’ll be creating a “character” for your company that customers can recognize with and want to do business with. The individuality of your company will be a blend of many things, such as the
facts of your business, the aims of your business, the style of advertising that you choose to use, and the history of your business. All of these basics will tie together to leave a lasting sense on your customers that can make the difference between the success of your business or its failure.

You want to leave a affirmative and lasting impression on the public and your potential customers. Many large and flourishing companies have worked hard to develop their company image. Part of this illustration is having an image, or brand, that customers can recognize.
Developing your company representation means that you need to identify many parts of your business that include:

• Knowing just who your target market is and how to reach them.
• Developing a company image that is constant and revolves around your target market.

Tenth Chapter (10th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.007-08:00

Forgetting about SEO

Far too many Internet websites rely on content that is based on what is respectively known as “Search Engine Optimization”. And just as many of these websites are coming to realized that SEO is not the greatest way to write content for their website customers and potential customers that is going to get them the attention that they want to bring to their online business.

Successful Branding
Successful branding is all about one thing: acknowledgment from your customers. When your customers can recognize your product or service, and detach you from your competition, you’ve already taken the first step towards grabbing their notice. Branding uses several methods to ensure that your name is out there at the top and that your customers can pick you out from the crowd. Branding has one goal: to gain the confidence of your customers so that they stand by you.

You want to develop branding for your online business that sends a clear meaning in one straightforward package. And you want that brand identification to be an expression of your business and personal style.

There are several methods that you can include into your branding strategy to gain recognition for your company.

There are several different techniques of branding that you’ll want to consider when you’re developing website pages so that they are readable and easily understandable by all your web visitors:

• Visual communication. Create a company logo which is displayed on your packaging and the visual communication you use with your customers. This includes brochures, business cards,
catalogues, stationary letterheads, and other marketing media.
• Creative packaging. Develop packaging for your products that is specific and outstanding to customers.
• Beneficial ad campaigns. Take advantage of all media exposure by positively and importantly boosting your public profile.

The approach for successful branding is to keep it simple so that probable customers aren’t put off by the audacity of your logo. The strategy for successful branding includes:

• Develop a strong mission statement. Know exactly where your company is going and how you want to get there.
• Define company goals. Be clear on what your business goals are.
• Branding is for your customers. Branding is all about your customers and not about what you sell.
• Dependable marketing tactics. Customers want reliability and simplicity when they identify your product or service.

Branding is all about identification for your company and not just the products or services that you sell.

The end result of successful branding is being able to sell your products or services along with positive recognition from your customers. It’s this positive recognition and obligation to your business that develops the strong relationship that you have with your customers and creates profits.

There are many companies both on and off the Internet that use branding successfully so that you can easily recognize them and so that they are a bigger name than their competition. These names have become trusted among consumers throughout the world. With so much business action that is now found on the Internet more online businesses are using branding to have their customers find them and remember them. When it comes to your own online business you need to learn how to use branding in such a way that your service or product stands out among the
many Internet websites that are all vying for attention and customers.

Branding is a mixture of inspiration and the type of connection that you’re going to have with your customers. The resourceful part of branding is all about the logo (or other branding that you choose to use) and the way that you market on the Internet, and off the Internet, using this logo. The affiliation part of branding is all about the way you make your customer feel when they arrive at your website. You want your customers to feel that they can trust you, and your product or service, so that they generate a sale for your business. The bottom line is that
branding offline and online is all about:
• How your product, or service, looks whether it’s viewed on your website or on a shelf in your brick and mortar store.
• How your customer feels when they arrive at your website.
• How you deal with customer orders
• The reliability and trust that you earn with your customers using a mixture of branding and successful Internet marketing

Developing your own branding for your business is a key step when it comes to the success of your company. This means that you need to spend value time coming up with the right branding for your products and services.

Market Research
One of the most unbeaten ways that you can find out what customers want to buy, and find out more information about, is to do market studies. When you watch and listen to what it is that customers are interested in, you raise your chances of getting their attention and giving
them the information that they are searching for.

Take some time to carefully check the products and the services that you’re offering on your website or through your website. You should be asking yourself include
(1) what are the rewards and disadvantages to your business of selling or advertising online,
(2) will you take payment online,
(3) what details will you have to consider about shipping your product to customers, and
(4) are you willing to constantly update and keep up your website.

When you have an obvious business idea in mind, and know exactly what it is that you’re selling, you’ll want to find out what other businesses out there offer the same product or service. You might want to talk to potential customers to see how they react to your product.

Find other websites that are related to your business and take some time checking them out. Look at how they endorse and market similar products or services as well as how each website is laid out and navigated. If a similar website uses a shopping cart for online purchases
check it out. See how smoothly the process works and what can be done to perk up the process. Don’t just look at e-commerce sites that are within your own country since customers won’t limit their shopping to those countries where they live. Look at the way other countries handle
e-commerce websites so that you have a broad spectrum of websites to compare yours with.
Here are some things that you should be asking yourself when you’re doing market research for your online business:
• Who are your probable customers?
• What other businesses sell the same products or services?
• Who is going to be your objective market and how are you going to reach them?
• How much will it cost you to market, manufacture, and deliver your product or service?
• Who is your competition?
• How much can you fairly charge for your product or service?

What Are Customers Buying:
There are many ways that you can find out what customers are buying both from online businesses and from brick and mortar businesses. Once you find out what customers are buying you can concentrate your website content and articles on what your
mainstream customers are looking for. Some of the ways that you can find out what people are buying include:
• Check out the malls. Go to a shopping mall and sit for awhile. Make note of the shopping behaviours of those people who are around you.
• Establish what stores have all the action. Watch to see which stores have the most consumer traffic. Take a look inside to see what is being sold, how it is being sold, how much it is selling for, and how the product is being marketed.
• Take a look at advertising and marketing. Although you may not be selling the same items as those stores in the mall you should still a look at what makes these stores stand out among the rest. How are the products grouped together in the store? How is the product being advertised.
• What you find out from brick and mortar stores can be applied to your online business. Learn what works when it comes to advertising online. Find out what is visually appealing for consumers that makes them want to buy that particular product.

Ninth Chapter (9th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.006-08:00

Building E-mail Lists

A successful online business requires a trusting relationship with your customers. When your customers know that your online business is reliable and honest they’re more likely to buy products or services from you, rather than from your competition. But it’s up to you to let your
customers know that you’re a better choice than your competitor. One way that you can get those important sales is by building up e-mail lists so that you can communicate on a regular basis with your customers.

Never miss an opportunity at communicating with your customers. It’s vital to your online company that you come into contact with as many customers and potential customers as possible so that you increase your contacts and eventually increase your sales.

There is so much competition on the Internet and this is why it’s important that you stand out for your customers. When your customers know that they can rely on you for dependable service, consistent communication, and quality products or services, they will continue to
buy from you time and time again. Your repeat customers will become the mainstay of your business since it’s these repeat customers that refer you to their friends and family, thus bringing you more potential customers.

Opt-in Lists:
An opt-in list is list of people who have specifically asked to receive more information from your business in the form of e-mail, newsletters, or other types of communication. These people will
voluntarily give you their e-mail address to you so that you can communicate with them in the future. Make sure that you build your list of opt-in e-mail addresses so that you can increase the number of customers that you come into contact with.

Online marketing studies show that opt-in e-mailing lists are more successful than other marketing techniques when it comes to sales.

When a potential customers requests more information from your business you know that they already have an interest in the product or service that you’re selling.

So how do you develop your opt-in e-mailing list? One way that you can start building your e-mail list is by having a place on your website where users can leave their e-mail address.
When you have someone’s e-mail address it’s up to you to send them an e-mail that is about the products or services that you’re selling. Some of the e-mail that you might want to send to your e-mail customers include:

• Newsletters with information about the product or service you’re selling, such as information about new products. Newsletters have already been discussed in chapter 5.
• E-zines that have detailed information about what your company sells.
• Discount offers that your send out to only those people on your opt-in list.

The first e-mail that you send out to people on your opt-in list should let them know that they asked to be included on your e-mail list so that they don’t think that they are being spammed. As mentioned before, always give people the option to take themselves off your e-mail list at any time.

This way they feel that they are in control of all communication with you.

Importance of Building Lists
One of the most important rules of online marketing is the need to have a list of opt-in e-mail addresses. The larger your e-mal list the more successful your online business will be. The bottom line is, if you want to have a successful online business you need to have an opt-in e-mail list.

Many online businesses overlook the other benefits of an opt-in list besides the bottom line of profit. Each time someone buys something from you, you need to make the effort of obtaining their e-mail address.

If you don’t get your customer’s contact information you lose all chance of future communication with them. And this may prevent them from buying from you in the future.

Online marketing studies show that successful online businesses think of their opt-in e-mailing list as their most valuable marketing strategy.

Most online businesses keep a back up of their e-mail list so that there is no chance of losing it. Without this e-mail opt-in list your business would lose valuable customer communication which is the backbone of their online success.

The more extensive your e-mail opt-in list is the more advertising you’ll generate for your online business. You’ll have sales opportunities from your e-mail opt-in list that you wouldn’t be able to obtain in any other way. When you regularly stay in touch with your customers you ensure that at least some of them will return to your website for a first purchase or a repeat purchase. E-mail opt-in lists let you communicate with your customers with little or no effort on your part.

Make sure that your online website has opt-in options on every web page.
This way people who read your website have every opportunity to give you their e-mail address for future contact with your company.

Eight Chapter (8th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.005-08:00

Rising to the Top of Search Engines

The most common way for people to access your website is through search engines. And this means that whether you’re selling a product or service, or just want to get some free press about your business, your company website needs to found by the top Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo!

Keep up with search engines and their technology will be a full time job. However, if your website is well designed, search engines can be your best ally in generating more Internet traffic.

Search Engine Optimization Defined

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the technique of placing your website so that its ranking increases in search engine databases. You want your website to have a high ranking and be as relevant as possible to a user’s search.

Successful SEO websites use articles and keywords that are based on those words that Internet users type into search engines when they are looking for a particular product or service. As you’re building your website you want to ensure effective keyword placement in all of the
content and in the HTML coding of each web page.

When you submit your website to the most popular search engines you’ll want to make sure that you’re making the most of optimized keywords, as discussed in chapter 2. Your ranking in a search engine directory is closely connected to the quality of your website. If your chosen industry is in a competitive market you need to make sure that you have as many people as possible visit your website so that you get those sales and, in effect, make the most of your online marketing campaign.

The more you understand about how important targeted keywords are the better able you’ll be to find the right marketing methods and solutions for your business.

Optimizing your Website

One of the most important things for you to remember when you’re optimizing your website for search engines is that these engines read text and ignore graphics. This means that you need to focus on the text that is part of your website content.

The Right Keywords:
Internet users will type keyword phrases into the search engine when they want to find a certain product or service. Most users will type about two or three words and then do a search for relevant websites. Before you spend a lot of time optimizing your website you should use a software program to help you determine which keyword phrases get the greatest search volume. This will allow you to focus your efforts on optimizing your website for the right keywords.

Text on your Home Page:
Once you’ve decided which keywords are best for optimizing your website you’ll want to put those keywords and phrases into the content of your website. You’ll want to start by focusing
on the first paragraph on your home page since this is the first thing that most search engines read to determine if your website is relevant to a user’s search. In that first paragraph you’ll want to use as many keywords and key phrases as you can so that your website comes up in a
variety of user searches.

Using HTML Tags:
You’ll need to make sure that you have the right tags in your HTML coding so that it corresponds with the text on your website. Your ranking in search engines will be more solid if you’re consistent with your tags and text.

Submitting Your Website to Search Engines

Registration with search engines, such as MSN, Yahoo, and Google, is crucial if you want to attract people to your website. Before you decide what search engines to submit to, you should do a careful study of what features each engine provides. Some of the features that you should be focused on include
(1) how they promote websites,
(2) what they offer in regards to advertising, and
(3) if they have any other resources available.

There are analyzers available on the Internet that will help you compare search engines. Your online marketing budget should include money and time so that you can find the right search engine for your business.

There are a few important things that you should focus on when it comes to submitting your website to the right search engine. This includes:

• The search engine generator should provide you with automatic updates.
• The registration process should allow you to include the purpose of your business and website.
• Do a quick study to find out where other businesses in your industry are submitting their website.

Your main goal should be to submit your website to as many top search engines as you can so that you get the highest rankings. This will allow your customers and potential customers to find you fast and easily.

Search engine spiders:
A search engine spider is a program that methodically travels the Internet looking for all the web pages that have been recently visited and processing this information in a search engine
so that pages are indexed and downloaded faster by the user. When you overuse keyword and key phrases you risk this being noticed by search engine spiders and having them bypass your web pages for inclusion into the search engine. Do you want to risk being left out of search engines by being guilty of keyword abuse?

Using a high keyword density may seem like a good idea when you first start developing web content for your website but the hazards far outweigh the risks.

Another mistake that many websites make is choosing their keywords and then not putting these keywords into the any of the relevant content on the web pages. Search engine spiders are programmed to actually need to see the keyword used before it can acknowledge it and index the web page. So why waste time coming up with keywords that don’t really have anything to do with what your website is all about only to have search engine spiders overlook your website anyway?

Creating False Web Pages:
One of the most serious mistakes that you can make when you’re developing the website content for your web pages is to provide your customers with information that has absolutely
nothing to do with what you’re selling or advertising on your website. Customers who use the Internet to buy a product or service, or simply to find out more information about what you’re selling, don’t want to arrive at your website pages only to find you’re not selling what your offering.

If customers are searching for stationary (and you include the keyword “stationary” over and over in your website content to push you up into the high rankings of the search engines) they expect to able to read accurate and dependable information on your web pages about this
stationary. If you’re not selling or advertising stationary you should avoid using this keyword to pull traffic to your website. Customers who have been tricked will quickly leave your website to find the information that they are looking for elsewhere.

The bottom line is that keyword driven websites don’t always work. These websites may get high traffic, and search engine ranking that they want, however customers won’t linger to find out what they are really selling. This means a missed opportunity to develop a successful
relationship with customers. Goals for Successful Websites: A quick mention about what your goals should be when you create web pages that are rich with information that customers want to find on the Internet:

One of your main tasks when you have an online business is building up your customer database. You want to have as many customers and potential customers on your list as
you can so that your online marketing strategy reaches a wide range of consumers.

Once you’ve built up a customer database you’ll want to make sure that you start to gather repeat customers. Repeat sales are the backbone of a successful business and for increased sales. One of the ways that you can achieve repeat sales is by generating great communication with your customers. You can accomplish this good communication by using the following:

• Affiliate programs
• Coupons for repeat customers
• Contests
• Newsletters that provide useful information about what you’re selling
• Banner ads
• Discussion groups and forums
• Relationships with associates
• Chatrooms

As mentioned previously you’ll already have a lot of customer information that you can use. This includes data that you’ve collected from previous sales, communication with your customers, and e-mail opt-in lists. You’ll also want to collect the information listed here. But just how do you go about gathering that data? There are several different techniques that you can use to get the data that you need to build successful customer databases.

The most important thing to remember is that you always be honest when you’re getting information from your customers. If you use deceptive means to get the data you risk losing the trust of your customer. If being honest and above board means that you lose some of those opportunities to capture customer information then realize that the pay off will be the trust and respect you earn from these customers, and potential customers, when they realize that you’re doing what you said you would do: asking them to voluntarily to provide you with certain types of information.

The following methods of collecting customer data will help you keep track of sales and profit. This customer data can be found in the following places:
• customer order forms
• warranty card information
• servicing information
• records of returned products
• questionnaires filled out at time of purchase

The above information is very helpful but you’ll need a bit more to build up a successful database that includes wide-ranging customer information. This is where some of the newer techniques of data capturing enter the picture. The Internet has provided you with some
great opportunities to use technology tools to your advantage. Again, keep in mind that technology is a utensil that you can use and not an end to a means.

All this technology means that you can use some very appealing and winning methods for having your customers leave you the information that you need.

There are many ways that you can correspond with your customers once you’ve got their interest:
• weekly newsletters
• automated e-mails, targeting one time customers, referrals, and repeat
• customers
• discount or free product offers to customers
• e-mail postcards
• follow up phone calls

Corresponding with your customers is much simpler after you’ve profiled them and know what they want to see and hear. Database marketing means that you learn as much as you can about your customers and potential customers before sending them any type of messages. Studies
show that random messages sent to all your customers often fails since you’ll be spending a great deal of time and money to reach only a small portion of those customers that feel you have something to say to them directly.

Seventh Chapter (7th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.004-08:00

Strategies for Co-Branding

Online co-branding can be a little complicated. If an Internet user clicks on a link on your website and is taken to a web page that has a different brand or company it can get a bit confusing. They will wonder why they have been directed to an entirely different web page with unrelated content. When it comes to co-branding you need to choose partnerships that have something in common with the product or service that you’re selling.

Co-branding can be very cost effective, particularly for small online businesses. However, if you choose the wrong partner, or too many partners, it might be more harmful than beneficial.
Adding Partners to your Website As a small business you need to be cautious with your marketing budget.

When you add a partner to your website you need to ensure that you’re going to see strong and positive results from the union. These positive results can include more traffic to your website, increased online sales, or more contact with your customers. Online branding can be costly so be sure to choose partners that can benefit your business.

Co-branding is known by a variety of definitions that include:

• Joint promotions
• Value endorsements
• Joint ventures
• Alliances

Co-branding works best when both you and your partner company each provide a related service or product to the same types of customers.

Powerful Co-branding:
Studies show that most online users like the idea of co-branding because it helps them to make decisions about the hundreds of brand name products that they come into contact with on the
Internet. When top-quality brands join together in a partnership it strengthens their customer’s approval. If you have a lesser know brand it will be to your benefit to partner up with a more well known brand so that your overall image is improved and so that you get more exposure on
the Internet. And if a popular brand partners up with a lesser known brand it won’t harm the popular brand. Your best bet is to partner up with a company that is equal to you.

A partnership needs to make sense and customers need to understand the connection.

Guidelines for Co-branding:
If you have the right partner you can share the costs of marketing as well as strengthen your company brand. You’ll also have access to a larger customer base. Following are some
important co-branding guidelines:

• What does your co-brand partnership say to your customers? Will it make your customers feel better about themselves?

• What do you and your partner have in common? Are both of your products innovative? Are they dependable? You want to make sure that your image makes sense for your current customer base. You don’t want to lose your current customer base but instead you
want to build on it.

• How does your co-branding partnership benefit your customers? Will it save them money? Or will it save them time? Your marketing campaign should make the benefit very clear to your
customers.

• Your goal with co-branding should be to find the best solutions for your customers.

• There should be an equal value for both brands in the partnership. You need to have an equal partnership or your marketing strategy will be uneven.

• Will your customers easily be able to see the connection and value of your partnership?

• Does the co-branding partnership bring you into contact with new customers?

The above guidelines need to be answered before you join in a cobranding partnership. Joint promotions take a great deal of time and thought to be implemented correctly. However, when done correctly and accurately, a co-branding partnership can bring you results that are far
better than other traditional online marketing methods.

One of the basic rules of online marketing is: take your message, content, and promotions to your customers rather than focusing too much energy on the effort of trying to bring customers to your website.

Integrating Partnership Products

When it comes to co-branding partnerships you need to take the time to include the benefits of both brands into the overall design of your marketing promotions. This way your customers will understand the connection between both products or services.

Simply putting your company logo, or a link to your website, on another company’s website will save you time and money but at the same time may cause you to lose some potential customers. Co-branding that is successful never leaves your customers wondering exactly what website
they are on. Partnerships should improve a customer’s shopping experience by helping them to make buying decisions. You’ll want to exchange content with your partner so that you both expand your expertise in the industry. However, you’ll need to incorporate this content into your website so that it flows naturally and fits in with your own content. The end result will be beneficial to both of you when you maintain professional consistency.

Complementary Partners:
Your website will be more legitimate and competitive when you have co-branding content that is well integrated into your own web pages. Co-branding will only help your business if it
complements the business goals you have defined for your company.

Always keep your business goals in mind no matter what online marketing strategy you’re trying to incorporate into your business. This means that all your website content, promotions, and activities with your co-branding partners encourages your customers to follow through with the sales action.

Sixth Chapter (6th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.003-08:00

Build a Community Online

Over 93% of Internet users take part in some type of online community. But just why are online communities such a draw for so many people?

• Online communities are much like a virtual café, bar, or other gathering place for people to get together with people with similar interests.
• Online communities are a great place to learn something new.
• Online communities are where people can be anonymous and share their problems and fears.
• Online communities allow people to talk with people of the same mind so that they can confirm their beliefs.
• Online communities allow people who are facing a hardship to feel less lonely.

Online Community Defined:
An online community can be accessed anywhere at any time. Some of the components of an online community include chatrooms, message boards, newsletters, event calendars, and anything else that lets an Internet user interact with others who are online.

Why should you be concerned about online communities for your online marketing strategy? Customers who take part in an online community are a good target for your sales because they have a high affinity for loyalty to your product when they are participating in an online community. When you have a strong and solid online customer community you know that you’ve built a loyal following for your company and the products or services you sell. Your loyal customers will spread news of your company through word of mouth and this will further increase your sales.

Message Boards:
It will be to your benefit to provide your customers with a message board on your website. You can break your message board up into categories for your different products or services and encourage your customers to share their ideas and opinions with others. This is the first step towards building an online community. Customers will answer each others questions and this will save you some money on the cost of customer care. You just need to make sure that you moderate the message board on a regular basis so that your customers are getting accurate information.

Message boards also give you some great feedback about the products or services you’re selling. Honest feedback from customers lets you better take care of their needs. You also get to learn a lot more about your
customers and what it is that they want from your business. Message boards are an important part of your website and your online community. You can develop a message board without spending a lot of
time and money. Begin by asking your website hosting company if they can provide you with a message board template that you can include in the hosting package. Otherwise look on the Internet for a message board that is free. Choose a message board that fits the look and feel of your website so that you’re maintaining consistency.

Message Board Content:
A successful online community isn’t just a common message board. The content on your website will play a big part in the quality of your online community. The more professional your website content is the better the quality of the message board. Always keep in mind that it’s content that attracts readers and should be your major concern when it comes to your decision to develop an online community.

You’ll find that fresh content ideas will start to flow when you have an online community. You’ll know exactly what your customers are looking for and just how you can provide that for them. Active message boards are a cost efficient way for you to provide great customer service.

Message Board Calendar:
Calendars are a vital part of the online community because they allow people to meet offline. Even if your
company doesn’t have any offline events, a calendar will let you post valuable industry information. For example, if your company sells stationary you could list the dates when you’ll be attending trade fairs in
the search for new products for your customers. This type of information lets customers know that your website and business content is ever changing.

Contests:
Contests are a great way to get customers excited about your company and your website. Ask customers to share a story about how your product or service has benefited them. When the contest is over you can post these stories, along with the names of the winners, on your website. This marketing technique provides you with customer testimonials and is also a good way for you to see what your customers are interested in.

Maintaining an Online Community:
It can take a lot of work to maintain your online community. You’ll need to invest a certain amount of time
and effort if you want the benefits of an online community to come your way. Make sure that all of your staff is involved in the maintenance of the community and that they know the importance of responding
immediately to posts from your customers. When your online community is in its beginning stages you might have to plant some of your own questions, answers, and comments to the message board. Once traffic to your online community builds it will start to flow on its own and will require less maintenance.

Other Online Communities and Ad Space:
If you don’t think that you have the time and manpower to maintain an online community you might want to consider buying ad space on a community that is already established and which has a high profile on the Internet. The online community should have some connection with the types of products or services that you’re selling.

Fifth Chapter (5th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.002-08:00

E-mail Marketing

As the Internet has grown, e-mail marketing has become one of the most efficient and cost effective tools for online marketing. E-mail marketing drastically affects businesses whether they are B2B or B2C (business to
business/business to consumer). Marketing through e-mail increases your brand loyalty and increases your customer service through the eyes of your customers. When permission based e-mail marketing is done
right it can be more effective than any other type of online marketing strategy. The thing to keep in mind is that no one single component of online marketing can stand on its own. For instance, an e-mail newsletter
needs to have a great website to back it up as well as interest in your business to build your e-mail list in the first place.

The number one activity online is e-mail. This is why e-mail can be used as a great online marketing tool. Many Internet users say that they would rather get marketing messages in their e-mail than be bothered by sales phone calls at home.

Permission Based E-mail

One important key to an effective e-mail marketing strategy is to only focus on permission based mail. This means that customers need to choose to receive mail from you. This is known as “opt in”. You should never rent or buy an e-mail list since this is considered to be spam. No matter what the owner of the e-mail list will tell you, the majority of the addresses on the list did not opt in to receive e-mail or to have their personal information sold to you. When you send e-mail to people who don’t want it you’re sending spam. Spam will give your company image a cheap look and take away any trust that customers have in you. You want leads that are quality and not quantity and this means building your own e-mail list. You’ll find that the final results
will be tremendous to you and your business.

E-mail marketing should be considered an extension of the customer service that you provide. You want to be able to communicate with your customers at every point in the sales process. When you give your
customers what they ask for, without abusing any permission, you establish the base for a relationship that is founded on respect and leads to long term customer loyalty.

Build your E-mail List

It takes time to build an e-mail list but once you do you’ll have the namesof people who are genuinely interested in what you’re selling. The one thing you need to remember is not to abuse a person’s trust once theygive you their private information and e-mail address. Let your customers know that you value their trust and will respect their privacy.

You can do this through a privacy policy on your website where you promise not to sell information to other businesses or vendors. You can go so far as to let your customers know what you’ll be e-mailing them
and how often they can expect it. Always provide people with the option to remove themselves from your e-mail list. This promotes customer confidence.

If you take part in joint promotion and/or co-branding with another online company make sure that you don’t trade e-mail lists. What you can do is include information about that company in the newsletter you
send to your customers. All e-mail should come only from you. You’ll lose your customer’s trust if they think you’ve sold their personal information to another business. And this means that they will disregard
any future communication with you and your business. To get people to join your e-mail list don’t ask them for much more than a few bits of information at a time. You need to gain their trust before asking for too much information. You can start out by asking for their name and e-mail address. Your future marketing promotions will help you fill in other information such as age and demographics. It will take time to get a clear idea of who your best customers are and what they want to get out of your website and e-mail newsletter.

If customers have trust in your business it won’t be hard to get an e-mail list together. Gaining trust is as easy as holding a contest, offering discounts or coupons, regularly changing your website content, or providing informative newsletters.

Should you have on offline store, a great way to gather e-mail addresses is by asking people to give you their business card if they want to win a free lunch. Other offline methods of gathering e-mail addresses include
networking events and trade shows. A good rule of thumb is: if someone gives you their business card that has their e-mail address on it you can safely assume that it’s okay to send them an e-mail at least once.

If they don’t respond back you should then assume that they are not interested. Take these non-respondents off your e-mail list.

Goal Oriented Marketing:

After you’ve created your e-mail list it’s time to develop an e-mail marketing plan. Determine what your business goal is and how you plan to achieve this goal: through
(1) repeat customers?
(2) more leads?
(3) e-mail marketing?

You want to define your goals as well as you can so that you can keep track of the process.

E-mail Newsletters

If you’re going to send a newsletter via e-mail you need to provide incentives for people to want to stay on your e-mail list.

Ideas for Content:

You don’t always have to offer discounts or a free product as incentives to customers. The content of your newsletter can also be a good incentive. Good newsletter content includes:
• Customer submitted success stories.
• Information from experts in your industry.
• A section for questions and answers.
• News and/or statistics about your industry.
• Feedback from customers.
• Tips about your products or services.

Your newsletter shouldn’t include information such as “about you”, your company history, or your company news. This type of information is only valuable for investors. The bottom line is that your customers don’t
really care about what is happening in your business. They only want to know what you can do for them. Good newsletter content is anything that catches the interest of your customers. A newsletter, just like your
home page, has only a few seconds to attract the attention of your customer before they decide to delete it. Your newsletter should immediately let your customer know what you can do for them, how you’re going to do it, and why they should do business with you.

Newsletters are a great way to promote your business but make sure that you take into consideration the content, the length, and the frequency of the newsletter.

Keep it Short:
Your newsletter should be concise, short, and get to the point. It should be no more than 1000 words and deal with no more than five different products or services at one time. People don’t like to read lengthy e-mails.

Newsletters that deal with too many departments are more difficult for you to update. This could be a roadblock to you sending out newsletters on a regular basis while at the same time providing new and fresh
content. If there is too much information in the first e-mail your customers won’t want to click through to your website. And a no-click means you have no way to keep track of the success or failure of your email
marketing strategy.

The main difference between online marketing and traditional marketing is that online methods allow you to track what is happening. If the emails you send out don’t encourage customers to click to your website
you won’t know what is working and what isn’t.

Frequency and Timing:
You need to determine when and how often you’re going to send out e-mail newsletters. You don’t want to send emails out too often as this will overwhelm your customers. At the same time, you don’t want to wait too long between e-mails or your customers will start to forget who you are. Timing and consistency will vary
depending on what type of business you have. If you’re not sure when and how often to send your newsletters, just ask. Whenever someone joins your e-mail list ask them how often they would like to receive an email from you. Another way to track frequency and timing is by sending out e-mails at different times during the week. Then keep track of which days have more viewings of your e-mail and your website to determine what day is the better one for sending out your newsletter.

List Hosting Services

You can build, send, and keep track of your e-mail marketing campaign by using an e-mail hosting program. Using an e-mail program is an important method of effective online marketing. An e-mail hosting service takes away some of the work of manually adding and deleting addresses from your database. These services also have the ability to test your newsletters before you send them out. There are multiple templates
for you to choose from which means that you won’t have to learn how to use html in order to send a newsletter that is professional looking. If you decide to use a template make sure that it matches the look and feel of your company brand and website. Consistency is the key to effective online marketing.

E-mail list hosting services allow you to track and manage your e-mail marketing campaign. You have the ability to receive reports that have precise details about which links and graphics your customers have
clicked on. This information lets you change the content of your newsletter when you know what it is that your customers most want to read and see. As you start to send out more newsletters you’ll get a better feel for what it is that your customers want. This is why you want the content of your newsletters to be flexible.
You should create newsletter content that is somewhat based on the profiles of the customers you’re trying to reach. The majority of e-mail list services will allow you to set up your subscription pages so that your
customers can indicate what they want to receive from your company. When you can identify the audience that you’re writing for you can modify your newsletter so that you include the right kinds of promotions
and product information.

If your newsletter contains something of value, such as travel information, your customers are more likely to forward the e-mail on to friends and family. When you establish yourself as an expert in your industry, by giving your customers the information they want to see, you build credibility and trust.

Always keep in mind that no matter how great your newsletter content is, there is no guarantee that people will read it. One way that you can make sure your newsletter isn’t deleted before being read is by have a great
subject line.

Great Subject Lines

Many newsletters and business offers are never read by Internet users for the simple reason that the e-mail didn’t have an effective subject line. A subject line may only be a few words but these few words are very
important. As more and more e-mails fill our in-boxes it’s more important than ever to have a subject line that catches our attention. The subject line is one of the most important aspects of your e-mail marketing campaign because it’s what creates a first impression for your business. With just a few words you can encourage someone to read your newsletter or you can cause them to delete your e-mail without another glance.

Here are some simple rules for creating a great subject line:

• Keep the subject line direct and short. Subject lines should never be more than ten words long. In fact, five words or less is the perfect length. Most e-mail browsers won’t let users see more than five or six words so a longer subject line will be truncated and not seen by the user. Use strong and descriptive words rather than
fluffy adjectives such as “very”.
• Emphasize the benefits to the reader. You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to know precisely why they will benefit from reading your newsletter. This can be as simple as a “reward” for just opening the e-mail. A reward can be information or a discount coupon. You want to use catch phrases such as “save money” and “save time” to get a reader’s immediate attention. The key is to entice your customers to want to read more and open the e-mail.
• Ask questions. When you ask a question in the subject line you cause a reader to become curious and want to know more. As well, when you ask a question the e-mail sounds more like it’s coming from a colleague rather than just a business and will more likely be opened and read.
• Personal subject lines. One big mistake that screams “spam” issending your e-mail to “undisclosed recipients”. Make sure to always use your company name or real name as the sender. Try to put the recipients name in the subject line if there is room as well as insert it into the greeting of the e-mail.
• Take advantage of holidays and current events. If there is an upcoming holiday, such as Christmas, you can tie it up with youre-mail subject line. For example, “Save time on your Christmas Shopping”.
• Avoid using the word “free”. Hard sales phrases, such as “free” and “limited offer”, are often filtered out by e-mail services since they are a clear indication of spam. As well, try to avoid using hype which includes explanation marks or all capital letters.

Fourth Chapter (4th)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.001-08:00

Generating Advertising that is Free

One of the best ways to get leads on the Internet is by getting a product mention or a free link on another website. Effective online marketing is all about putting your product or service in front of potential customers at the exact time that they are looking for it. This technique is known as“pinpoint marketing”. Pinpoint marketing is much different than advertising on radio or television, which are known as “interruptive marketing” techniques. Interruptive marketing costs a lot more than pinpoint marketing and is less effective for the simple reason that you’re attempting to put your product out there in front of everybody instead of
pinpointing those potential customers who want to find out more about you and your business.

Pinpoint Marketing:
Pinpoint marketing is the process of sending the right message at the right time so that it produces actual results. For example, if you’re at a ball game and are eating a bag of popcorn. Just when you take a handful of popcorn the Coca-Cola logo appears on the big screen. The next you thing you know you’re looking for the first vendor who can sell you a can of Coke. However, if an advertisement for a new car appears on the big screen while you’re watching the game and eating popcorn, you’re less likely to be interested since it’s not something you’re looking for at that moment. Interruptive marketing isn’t really targeted because it’s not something that you are activelylooking for. People who use the Internet are usually looking for a solution to a problem. When you put your product in front of them at the right time you’ve reached a potential customer.

Day-part Marketing:
The placement and timing of ads on the Internet has become so important to online marketing that some companies, such as Yahoo!, are selling advertisements in “day-part”. Day-part is something that has always been done in television advertising. Day-part marketing works like this – specifying at which time of the day certain ads are viewed so that you can effectively target your customers.

Embedded Marketing Messages:
These days, more people than ever are using the Internet to research a product before they buy. As well, most Internet users are becoming more serious about the amount of time that they spend online. Studies show that usrs are spending less time on the web and that the time they do spend surfing is focused and deliberate.

Many users bookmark their favorite websites so that they can access information fast and easily. When people want a solution to a certain problem, such as a health issue or taking a vacation, they often look online for the answers. This is why it’s important for you to put your product or service right in front of them whenever you can.

Establish Credibility

One of the main problems with online marketing is establishing credibility with your customers. Since there are so many Internet scams out there people are wary of whom they do business with and even more
cautious of companies they are unfamiliar with. As a small business you need to gain credibility on the Internet by making your logo and company name a familiar item to Internet users. One way that you can
achieve this credibility is by setting up a shopping cart on Yahoo! You’ll not only have access to the technology of shopping carts you’ll also find yourself affiliated with a familiar and successful online company.

This gives customers the confidence needed to do business with you. When a customer buys something from your online Yahoo! Store they become more familiar with the name of your company and will be more likely to buy from you directly at your website the next time around.

Get your Content to Other Websites:
Another way that you can build credibility online is to swap content. If you can position an article that includes a link to your website on another website that is at the top of the field of your industry you increase your chances of credibility. This then increases your sales potential. But just how do you get web editors to take any notice of your company? In chapter 3 you learned the value of web content for companies of all sizes. You also learned how expensive it can be to purchase web content. The bottom line is that more
companies are willing to trade a free mention on your website for a good article. This way the content provider gets targeted and free advertising for their product or service, and the company that is posting the article (and the link) can feature content that is informative and valuable.

You can get some great leads by writing articles. When a potential customer reads your article you establish yourself as an expert in your field. When the customer links over to your website you have a very good lead that can generate sales.

People who use the Internet want results that are immediate. They know exactly what they are looking for so your advertising message needs to be appropriate, concise, and to the point. You need to think about what
kind of people will be accessing the website where you plan to post your article.

Swapping Advertising:
A great way to get your product information out to people is by using links, banner ads, coupons, and swapping articles. If you’re in the home renovation business you can trade articles with other businesses such as painters and electricians. In fact, you can trade articles with anyone in your chosen industry that isn’t in direct competition with you. Extra content on your website will give you more credibility while having your articles on other websites will lend your company a position of authority.

Word of Mouth Marketing
The second most common way that people find new websites is word of mouth. Search engines are the number one way. Word of mouth can be generated from message board postings by virtual strangers or by emailingfriends. Effective word of mouth is known as “viral marketing” and is one of the biggest success stories on the Internet.

Viral marketing works in much the same way urban legends and funny jokes on the Internet work as they are forwarded all around the world.

Viral marketing takes advantage of the socialization needs of society. No matter how small the social network starts out as, effective viral marketing can turn a small unknown company into one that is known everywhere in the online world. Some of the biggest companies on the Internet rely on viral marketing to stay successful.

You can set up an effective e-mail marketing strategy without a big budget or a lot of technology. All you need to do is set up an e-mail signature that has amarketing message within it. This marketing message will be attached to any e-mail that your company sends. Messages are easily set up through Outlook and other e-mail programs.

You can take the concept of e-mail messages one step further by attaching your marketing message to all mail that is outgoing. This is done through a simple process known as “mail rerouting”. When you use this process you can track the results as well as know for sure that every outgoing message will look and feel the same no matter whether you or your employees send the mail.

Something for Free:
Everyone wants to get something that is free. When you offer something that is free the word will spread very quickly. And free offers will bring traffic to your website. However, most small online businesses can’t afford to give away much for free. What you can do is become creative and offer a free product for the first 20 people who buy another product from your website. This can be as simple as movie tickets.

Message Boards and Chatrooms:
Message boards and chatrooms are great places for word of mouth and viral marketing to flourish. This is
particularly true for those people who are 25 years of age and younger. In chatrooms people share ideas and concepts and this can lead to some great leads for your business. E-mail makes it easy for people to share ideas and concepts with others anywhere in the world. If you can attach your marketing message to these infectious e-mails you’ll be able to create a buzz and stir about your product or service. When potential customers recognize your logo or company name you’re on your way to gaining trust, credibility, and the
close of a sale.

Domain Names:
One last thing to remember when you’re trying to spread information about your company is the effectiveness of a memorable domain name. You want to pick a domain name that is easy to remember, easy to spell, and that relates to what you’re selling. When people easily find your website you’ll want to make sure that your home page content is dynamic so they keep returning.

Third Chapter (3rd)

2007-02-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

Create Content that is Effective

The Internet is designed to be changing and dynamic. People who visit your website want to see content that is new and filled with ideas and business promotions. If people visit your website and don’t see new content on a frequent basis they’ll think that your site is stagnant and has been abandoned without any customer service there for them to rely on.

The home page of your website is one of the most important aspects of your online marketing strategy. It’s the content of your home page that gives your business a brand. The more useful and professional the
information on your home page is the more credit you bring to your product or service.

The Internet is one of the best places for consumers to find out about new products and services. This places the net above television, radio, magazines, and newspapers. When you use the Internet to promote your
product or service you have the opportunity to reach a multitude of potential customers anywhere at any time. The web is one of the mostpowerful mediums for reaching and influencing people and the decisions
they make about business.

Components of Good Content

One of the key ingredients to success on the Internet is creating website content that Internet users want to read. When you have content that is
(1) interesting,
(2) factual, and
(3) well written,
you have some of the main tools that you need to get the desired traffic to your online website.

Writing Decisions: When you first start writing content for your website you’ll find yourself facing many decisions before you even sit down at the keyboard or pick up a pen. As you begin to develop the content on
your website pages you’ll find that you’re often changing many of your first instinct decisions. This is all part of the process of writing. But how can you most efficiently sort out all you need to think about so that you
develop website content that users want to read?

It’s important that you find out what it is that Internet users are looking for on the Internet so that you can focus your website content on these issues. Take some time to study at the top hits in the search engines for
products or services that are similar to what you’re selling. Even though these top ranked websites are most likely using Search Engine Optimization techniques you can still read what it is that they’re using to draw in the crowd. Take some of these concepts and include them in the flow of your web content….but ONLY if these concepts enhance what you’re writing and are entirely relevant to the products or services that you’re selling. Keep in mind that although one website may be at the top of the search engine rankings today, it won’t take them long to fall back into the ranks of “mediocre websites”. Websites that rely on SEO techniques don’t give people the information that they’re looking for to keep them coming back. How many times have you yourself searched a topic in a search engine only to find that the top hit is filled with articles
and web content that has nothing to do with what the website is all about?

People who use the Internet are looking for one or more of the following components:
• Entertainment
• Information
• Community issues

If your website provides at least one of these components you’re on your way to attracting potential customers and repeat customers. Websites at contain valuable content not only bring credit to your business but also position your company as an expert in your business industry. Keeping your website fresh with new content doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task. There are cost-efficient and time-saving techniques you can take advantage of to keep your website up to date at all times…without having to hire hundreds of people to help you!

Dynamic Home Page: One way that you can have an ever changing home page is to design five to ten unique pages and then rotate them every month. Take a couple of weeks to design different ideas for your
home page. Create random page promotions that include a message that is timeless or that have seasonal pages with announcements such as “Holiday Specials”. When you design different features for you home page all at one time you’re forced to look at your marketing strategy for at least one year. This will save you a lot of time since you then won’t have to think about your home page content for about 12 months. A web developer can put your home pages on a rotating script or use an automatic timer. You can then rotate your home pages to highlight a new tip every month or to promote a featured product. The home page of your website is much like the front cover of a magazine. People want to see a home page that has different photos and content at least every month. You won’t want all of the content of your website to be featured
on the home page as this will overwhelm your website visitors.

Choosing one or two features to highlight each month is much more effective. The rest of your website content should be well organized within the rest of the pages of your site. When you’re ready to update
your home page all you have to do is grab content from other web pages.

This way you’re not always having to create new content but are reorganizing your current content so that people think it’s new.

Changing your Home Page Too Often: Even though you want your website to be new and dynamic you also don’t want to change it too often. People who surf the Internet take comfort from their favorite websites and want them to be familiar. If you change your home page too often you may confuse people who come to your website on a frequent basis. You also run the risk of compromising your positioning
in search engines if you don’t maintain some type of consistency on your home page. When you’re updating the content on your home page you want to make sure that you don’t confuse people. When you make
changes to graphics or content it shouldn’t change the way your website looks and feels. Regular visitors to your website should be able to find the same information that they’ve always found on your home page. In
short, the headers and navigation tools on your home page shouldn’t ever change. Change content and images with other content and images while maintaining the sites original functionality. Home pages that are
consistent lend a feeling of comfort to users. If your customers learn to expect consistency they’ll also learn to rely on your quality customer service. If you’re a small online business, gaining your customer’s trust
is synonymous to dependability.

Search Engine Positioning: Search engine positioning can be affected by the changes you make to your home page. There are some search engines that “spider” websites anywhere from three weeks to three
months. These search engines take a look at all aspects of your website from the home page content to the tags you have for your graphics. Your website will be ranked higher the longer your keywords remain
consistent. You need to find a balance between keeping things on your home page new and exciting while at the same time keeping things familiar and similar. The best way for you to achieve this is to keep most
of your home page the way it is and change only a portion of it. This allows visitors to your website to see new content and you won’t have to worry about your website disappearing from search engine rankings.

Benefits of a Flexible Home Page: Once you’ve mastered the technique of updating your home page, while at the same time keeping the core content the same, you’ll be well on your way to recognizing the benefits of a flexible home page. A flexible home page lets you test your offline marketing efforts. Before you spend money on a magazine or newspaper ad you can test it out on your website. You’ll be able to see how people react to the ad. Your home page will let you determine which featured products attract the most interest. You can also determine which graphics generate the most attraction. You’ll need web tracking software to get this type of information. Tracking software lets you obtain marketing data that is detailed and precise. You’ll be able to see which graphics people have clicked on as well as what web page they were on
just before they left your website.

Content if You Don’t Write: If you don’t write, or know how to take photographs, there are still some things that you can do to generate content for your website:

• Buy content: You can buy images and photographs that are of high quality without spending a lot of money. Spending a fewhundred dollars on some great images will go a long way in giving your website a professional look. There are many websites on the Internet where you can find images and photographs that relate to your business. It’s not recommended that you buy written content for the simple reason that it’s not cost effective. Many of the services on the Internet that supply written content are geared towards large online companies that have a big marketing budget.

The goal of content on your website is to make your company and product appear credible. You can accomplish this by having a few well placed articles on your web pages.

• Let customers create content: You can have your customers generate content for your website. One way to do this is by creating a section entitled “Frequently Asked Questions”. Here your customers can ask you questions about your product or service and you can list your answers. You can rotate this type of
information and feature a different question every week. Another way to create content is by holding a contest by asking customers to send you stories about how they enjoy your product or how it has helped them in some way. You can offer a special prize such as a coupon for free product. You can take the best written stories and post them on your web pages. Not only is this type of material great content for your website, it also acts as a testimonial.

• Links to other content: Another way that you can get updated content for your website without having to write it yourself is by posting headlines of related news items to your website. Then simply provide a link from the headline to the original article. Content for small businesses on the Internet doesn’t have to be original. It should, however, be useful to the people who are reading your website. The content you choose for your website will show your customers that you care enough about the information that you’re providing them with to post links to original articles. This information can include anything from health issues to new items to information about family. Make sure that you accurately quote your sources and never copy articles
without first getting permission.

The Importance of Communication: One thing that you need to remember as you make the decisions about what you want to say on your website is the importance of communication in anything that you write. These days competition for communication on the Internet is difficult. The sheer volume of information being routed on the Internet is a huge communications barrier. Every day people on the web are bombarded with websites and businesses lobbying for their attention. People are busy and time is short. So it’s all the more important to know how to get your marketing message across. The key aspects of good
customer communication inclue:

• the ability to read customers
• the ability to understand which communication style your customers are most likely to pay attention to, and
• the ability to adapt your website content for your customers.

When you communicate with your customers through the Internet you have only one shot at communicating your marketing message. You need to keep in mind that those customers, and potential customers, reading your marketing message don’t have a long time to read what you have to say….so you better say it fast, accurately, and in words that they want to hear. Learn how to keep it simple and direct.

There are some basic ideas that you should keep in mind when you’re writing website content that customers want to read:

• Identify and clarify the marketing message that you want to get across to your customers. When you pinpoint your focus you have the ability to zoom in and give your customers content that they can rely on and trust.

• Gather information. Don’t just write website content for the sake of filling up your web space. Find out what customers want to read and then write for them

• Evaluate the information that you’re writing about. Make sure that the information that you’re basing your website content on is precise and reliable. Does the information represent the points of
view about your online business that you want to get across? Is the information fact or opinion? Many times a combination of
(1) fact, and
(2) customer opinion,
go hand in hand for writing web content that people want to read.

• Consider the alternatives and implications of what you write. Make sure that you draw the appropriate conclusions from what you write and that your readers will draw the same conclusions about your web content. What are the costs, benefits, and consequences of the content that you have on your website? Take the time to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of moving away from Search Engine Optimization techniques and instead focusing on writing what people want to read.

Second Chapter

2007-02-06T15:34:00.002-08:00

Reaching Your Target Audience

A big factor to successful online marketing is knowing who your target audience is and how to reach them. To determine what types of customers you are trying to reach you should be asking yourself the following questions:

• What age group are you trying to sell to?
• Are you selling to a specific ethnic group or gender?
• Will most of your customers be married or single?
• How fast will most Internet connections be?
• Will you target customers who have children?
• What level of education will most of your customers have?
• Where will most of your customers live?
• Will your customers have any specific hobbies?

The more you know about your customers the easier it will be to come up with a marketing plan. You’ll also be able to design a website that is the most appealing to these customers. The biggest advantage of marketing
on the Internet is that it allows you to become very targeted towards your desired customers.

Targeting Different Types of Customers

Marketing online is the same as marketing anywhere else. There are certain products, colors, themes, and lingo that will appeal more to some customers than to others. When you know what type of customers you’re
targeting you can meet their needs so that you grab their attention. When you use certain features that pull customers to your website you have the ability to gain their attention, loyalty, and trust. For example, studies show that most female shoppers like to save money and time. Over 80% of purchases in the home are influenced in some way by women. As well, these same studies show that women like to able to compare costs
fast and easily without getting any kind of sales pressure. If you’re trying to target women customers some things that you should keep in mind include:
(1) giving them a feeling of comfort and community,
(2) let your website deal with everyday problems, and
(3) focus on education, health, and family.

Get the Word Out

Doing something innovative and creative online, as well as using the latest technology, will always get attention. For example, adding animation, flash, or a photo can create a buzz about the product or service
that you’re selling. Just as e-mail, which contains jokes and strange pictures, gets forwarded all around the planet so too can your marketing message make the rounds. Come up with a marketing message and then
forward it to family, friends, and anyone else you know. Any time that you can get someone else to forward your e-mail to others you get the information out there about your website and the product or service you’re selling. One key to great online marketing is remembering that quality, not quantity, counts. Avoid buying e-mail lists and focus instead on building your own with people who are actually interested in what you’re selling. Today online marketing isn’t about how many people you get to your website or how many people are on your e-mail list. Today online marketing is all about how people react to your website and what it is that you’re selling.

Personalizing Your Website

Even if you’re not selling a product or service that is for a specific target audience you need to have a website that is personalized. For example, even though Amazon sells products that appeal to all target audiences
they have still managed to create a personalized website that fits everycustomer. This is the goal of personalization technology.

Try to limit the number of products or services that you’re offering to your customers. “Information overload” is one of the biggest problems on the Internet. If you give your customers too many choices they’ll
have a hard time making a decision. The key to avoiding information overload is organization as well as making sure that products and services are directed towards your customers.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that online marketing stop when you generate a sale. Your current customers are the ideal way for you to reach new customers. You want to get leads from your customers by using marketing concepts such as “tell a friend” e-mails. One mistake that many small online businesses make is to focus only on self-promotion. The bottom line is that customers don’t care about you.

They only care about what it is that you’re selling and what you can do for them. When someone visits your website you have about ten seconds to get their attention before they move on to the next website. That
means that you have ten seconds to tell this person why it is that they need you. The home page of your website should tell people why your service or product is just right for them. Your home page should include
information about your company and/or have a personal bio about who you are.

If you’re not sure about whether your website is reaching the right people, ask them. If you provide something of value to people who visit your website they’ll give you information. Things of value include
contests, coupons, and free products. Make sure that you let them know they can trust you by including a privacy policy on your website that states you won’t share any personal information they provide with
anyone else. Stick to your policy and never sell the information your customers provide you with. Otherwise you’ll lose and abuse their trust.

Once you know the demographics of your customers you’ll know how to spend your marketing budget. You can focus your online promotions using targeted marketing strategy. Even though you may end up with
fewer people visiting your website, targeted online marketing is the way to go.

Using Banner Ads

One mistake that many online businesses make is using banner ads to reach the greatest amount of people. Your focus when it comes to banner ads is to reach the right type of people for the product or service that
you’re selling. One thing to keep in mind is that, if you have a limited budget, you should avoid buying banner ads altogether. If you have a big budget, banner ads can be great for branding your company. You’ll be able to negotiate contracts that are long term with affiliated websites in your area of business. However, the results of click-through marketing are usually low and this makes banner ads the least cost effective of all
online marketing techniques.

If you decide that you want to purchase banner ads you should focus on buying them on web pages that are very targeted. Ads are cheaper the more targeted a web page is. And the cheaper the ad the more cost
effective your banner ads will be.

Another way that you can target the placement of your banner ads is to embed them in web page content. Before you purchase a banner ad find out what content the website administrators will be including on their
web page that may be related to your online business. If the website uses a keyword search tool ask that your banner ads appear when key words that are linked to your product or service are typed into the search engine
by visitors to the website.

Try to place your banner ads on a web page that is as deep into the website as possible. This way you’ll be reaching people who are truly looking for information that relates to your business. This is a great strategy to use if you want to get the most value for your online budget. Again, if your budget for marketing is quite high, you’ll want to buy banner ads on the home pages of websites so that your brand reaches a
lot of people.

Keywords

One of the most cost effective ways to use your online marketing budget is to buy keywords. You can find out the price of keywords that are specific to your industry at www.Overture.com. You want your keywords to be as targeted and specific as possible. Always remember the goal of your business and buy keywords that encourage people to visit your website. Keywords that are general will cost you more and at the same time will attract fewer customers to your website. Before you start buying keywords you need to look at the content of your website.

You want to buy keywords that are effective for your business content and that keep people coming back to your website.

First Chapter (1st)

2007-02-06T15:34:00.001-08:00

The Benefits of Marketing Online

Marketing rules are the same no matter how big or small your business is:
(1) brand your product,
(2) determine who your target audience is,
(3) get the sales, and
(4) establish repeat customers.

Online marketing is very effective in managing all four of these rules. Online Marketing Defined
The definition of online marketing is: Placing your business or product on the Internet for millions of users to access so that you can turn your website into a strong tool to maximize your sales and business potential.
But online marketing is much more than putting your advertising online.

Marketing online includes such areas as communicating with your customers, promoting your business or product online, and making sure that your website content is useful and up to date. The great thing about
online marketing is that you don’t need to have a huge budget to put together a marketing campaign that is effective. There are tools that you can use to make your marketing techniques easy and profitable such
website templates, shopping cart templates, and online marketing templates.

What You Need for Online Marketing to be Successful

There are some important points to consider before you get into the strategies and intricacies of online marketing:

• Communication. An important part of online marketing is how you respond to your customer’s e-mail. You don’t want to lose potential customers after you’ve made the effort to have them visit your website and then contact you for more information. E-mail is a very effective and cost efficient way for you to generate more
sales. The key to this effectiveness is “consistency”. You need to be consistent in your response to your customers. You’ll also want to make sure that the tone of your e-mail corresponds with the tone
you’ve set in your website content.

• Human Resources. If you’re going to succeed online you need to have enough people working with you. Efficient websites incorporate a personal touch with a fast response time to customers. Your goal is to turn the visitors to your website into customers. The standard time for a return e-mail is from 48 to 72
hours. If you wait any longer to e-mail back you risk losing the customer. This means that if you don’t have the man power to return e-mail in two to three days you need to take another look at your marketing strategy.

• Products people want to buy online. Before you start marketing online you need to be sure that you have a product or service that people want to buy. Customers need to find a value in what you’re
selling. There are two motivating factors when it comes to selling online: cost and convenience. Ask yourself if customers will find it easier to buy online than finding a local store. Is it cheaper for them to buy this from you online?

Online Goals

Once you’ve established that there is a need for your service or product you’ll be ready to determine your business goal and whether or not you can meet this goal online. If your main goal is to sell a product online
you should decide how you want to make those sales. For example, do you want customers to buy from you online or do you want them to come to you to close the sale? You’ll need to decide what action is needed for
the sale to be finalized. Small businesses need marketing efforts that are targeted and precise.

MAKING MONEY SECRET REVEALED

2007-02-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

Introduction

If you have a business, and want online marketing results that are successful, you need to be a creative thinker and think outside of the box. The Internet is the perfect place for small businesses to establish their
marketing campaign. Using the Internet for advertising is extremely cost-effective because it is so measurable and targeted towards the people you want to reach. Internet marketing allows you to compete with the competition and come out ahead.

This book will show you what you need to do to turn your online website into a resource that your customers can trust. You’ll also learn how to get more customers to visit your website. The main goal of this book is
to teach you which online marketing techniques are the most effective for your business. Some of the things that you’ll learn include:

• How to design your website to that you attract the customers you want.
• How to reach your customers through e-mail marketing.
• Why co-branding is important.
• How to choose online partners that are right for you.
• How to create customized content for you website so that your customers visit frequently.
• How to establish yourself as an expert in your specific industry.
• How to use your marketing budget without overspending.

This book will give you the latest information in marketing trends so that you make the most of your marketing budget.

Chapter 10

2007-01-10T15:22:00.000-08:00

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

The primary technique for generating traffic to your sales page is by using Pay per Click campaigns. SEO can be hard and people spend a lot of money on doing it. There is not secret way to keeping your site up on the top of the list. Sometimes it might be too hard to get a top listing as there are a lot of web pages in certain markets.

The absolute best thing that you can do is spy on your competitors andlook to see what they are doing. Basically copy what they are doing, only try and do it better if you can.

Using the Google Tool Bar allows you to see what page rank your competitor has, only emulate sites with high page ranks! - dont copy the techniques used by low or no page ranked sites. Now have a look at the linking strategy from other websites. They might be linked from other sites which have not only a high relevance with similar content, but also has a high page rank. Google will use these two factors to rank certain sites a lot higher than others. You can find back links by using the command link: www.the-othersite.com. You could email the owner of the other website to see if you can swap links.

Something else to keep an eye on is keyword density, meta tags, alt tags, titles, names of images, headings such as H1, h2 and H3, plus of course the file name of each webpage. www.goodkeywords.com offers a utility that can let you have a look at these.

Do not use the technique known as keyword stuffing, as this can adversely affect your rankings, just as hiding text behind images and using the same color text as the background.
Other things to bear in mind are the on page elements. You want to make sure that all pages load quickly. This means that you should not have stack

Chapter 9

2007-01-10T05:02:00.000-08:00

Promoting your Webpage for Maximum Positioning in the market

Getting your site listed for the first time can appear to be tricky the first time, but once you get the hang of what you need to do your webpage can be listed in as little as 2 days.
There is no great secret to this feat, what you do not want to do is solely rely on the site submission wizard at www.google.com/addurl as this is very likely not quick enough for the desired results. On the Google webpage it mentions that it can take up to six weeks to get
your paged indexed.

These methods apply to all the major search engines to get listed quickly:

Google relies on a software program that is called a Spider. The Spiders job is to go around the Internet following links, and looking for new ones. When they find a new link it will be added to the index, and then move on to the next link. It will carry on crawling all the websites looking for new links and content. Google places a lot of emphasis on its Google Page Rank technology. What this means is that a page with a higher rank will mean more to its index than one with a lower rank. In order for your website to get indexed quicker, and also get a higher rating, you need to find websites and pages with a high page rank.

If you haven’t already downloaded it go to Google and get the tool bar at http://toolbar.google.com/T4/ - this will show you the page rank.

Or, another option is to visit:

www.seochat.com/seo-tools/pagerank-search and make sure that you select the ‘order by pagerank’ in the drop down list. The following screen is a list of search results ordered by the page rank for the search term of ‘spanish villa’. What you have found is a listing of all
websites to do with ‘spanish villa’ with the highest page rank first.

Use SeoElite to Maximise your Site Rankings

Its a very time consuming task contacting many owners of websites. It could take someone many weeks to mount a comprehensive linking strategy that will enable their website to climb the search engineresults and get on the first page for a certain term. Fortunately the nice people at www.seoelite.com have released some software that will allow you to this automatically:

Using this software allows you to find all your competitors based on certain keywords, the contact information of the website, plus details of how many times you have emailed them.
This software is really powerful and allows you to automatically email thousands of website owners all in one go using a template. The other website owner would expect you to set up some kind of link page which links to their website. It is always a good idea to create this page on your site prior to making a link request. SEO Elite helps you to do this by creating a list of web addresses for you to add to your website.

Another Way To Get Listed

Here is a list of article directories that you can submit an article to:
http://article-niche.com
http://articles4content.com/
http://blogtelecast.com
http://dir.salon.com
http://news.collectors.org
http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl
http://superpublisher.com
http://www.amazines.com
http://www.articlealley.com
http://www.article-buzz.com
http://www.articlecentral.com
http://www.articlecity.com
http://www.articlecube.com
http://www.articledashboard.com
http://www.article-directory.net
http://www.article-directory.net
http://www.article-emporium.com
http://www.articlefever.com
http://www.article-hangout.com
http://www.articletogo.com
http://www.articleworld.net
http://www.certificate.net/wwio
http://www.content-articles.com
http://www.directorygold.com
http://www.pagesnbytes.com
http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.free-articles-zone.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.impactarticles.com
http://www.internethomebusinessarticles.com
http://www.isnare.com
http://www.jogena.com/articles/articleform.htm
http://www.magportal.com
http://www.newarticlesonline.com
http://www.niche-article-directory.com
http://www.sitereference.com
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/marketing-articledirectory.html
http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles
http://www.webarticles.com

Using the article website listing above, we can submit articles with our website address in them and we will have our page indexed in no time at all, it should be within a couple of days.

Your website can also be promoted in other places, and by using other methods:

• Get a listing in www.dmoz.org – it is the largest human edited directory on the internet.
• Adding your web address and descriptions to your signature when adding entries in to forums
• Use search engine optimization to get good organic rankings
• Ask similar type websites if they will exchange links with you. A resource page can be created on your site for links.
• Visit other people’s blogs and leave your signature as one of your entries with your web address in it.
• Create your own blog, and keep it updated regularly with new content. The theme of the blog should in keeping with the page
that you have created.
• Make an entry in Craigs List – www.craigslist.org/ - it is free and will stay on the web for 45 days.
• Visit www.bbc.co.uk and find a page that relates to the page that you have developed. And ask for a link to be created to your own blog – which will have a link to your sales page.
The BBC is very unlikely to link direct to a sales page. The BBC is a very well visited site, and could offer you some good traffic.
• Use Guerilla Marketing - the idea is to put advertising in people’s faces where they wouldn’t normally expect to see advertising.
• On your website have an option to send an email to a friend. It can be as simple as a mailto: command on the webpage, or you could use a system similar to http://tellafriendgenerator.com/
• Use Blogs to promote your site, and setup an RSS feed so that your content will be shown on other websites.

Create a Sitemap

You will need to get your website listed on Google to get the Googlebot to scan your website for keywords and search terms so that your page will appear in the organic listing down the left hand side. To assist in making this happen quicker, as well as the above get a sitemap created. To create an xml site map of your completed website and follow the instructions at www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/ - you can get a free sitemap created by going to www.auditmypc.com/freesitemap-generator.asp

Chapter 8

2007-01-10T04:57:00.002-08:00

The Click to Purchase Process

The bottom of the WebPages – just above the PS and PPS there is a buy it now button or download button. When clicked this will start the sales routine, the secure transaction takes place on a web server and not on your website.

In order to convert Google ad clicks in to sales for your ebook it will be necessary to open a paypal account at www.paypal.com – this will allow you to accept secure credit card payments direct to your bank account from a button on your WebPages.

To create a payment button, go in to Paypal to the Merchants sections and select create a new button. The button should be selected to be encrypted. Once the customer clicks on the download now button they can then proceed with the online secure transaction-using Paypal.

It will then be necessary to setup in Paypal preferences an auto return address. This WebPages will basically say thank you and give the download location for the ebook. All companies that offer a secure shopping solution ask you to put a thank you notice, and something to say where they can obtain and see details of the transaction.

Chapter 7

2007-01-10T04:57:00.001-08:00

Make Your Sales Page Look Good

Get Some Great Looking Page Covers

To make your page really stand out get some professional page covers created. These do not
exist in the real world! – but they would look good on any book shelf. An excellent source for
obtaining these is from www.trendyecovers.com The website that this one was created for had the original graphics on the left, but the updated one on the right looks 100% better – which one do you think produces the most sales? It is the attention to detail that makes good sales
records in to fantastic ones!

You can use template to your sales pages. It will make any sales campaign look good. Just try and keep the color scheme simple.

To keep the theme of the website www.trendycovers can also create banners and a header panel to go at the top of your website and navigation buttons or links to go with the header.

The header and footer of this document has been created by TrendyeCovers. There are also matching payment buttons and a background that accompanies the overall scheme.

Again the best guidance is to ‘borrow’ the ideas from other people’s sales pages – don’t cut and paste them into Microsoft Front Page as this is unethical and probably illegal. Get quite a few of them and cut and paste them in to notepad. The reason to use notepad is that it will strip out any tell tale signs of the original webpage, so you only end up with the original text.

Once you have a dozen or so sales pages all saves as a text file, cut and paste some of the paragraphs remembering to use the essential elements above. Once complete paste the work in to Microsoft Frontpage and copy the formatting of all the leading sale pages that you have saved as favorites. Use your swipe file to add to your sales page.

You will have noticed that all the sales pages have testimonials who rave about the product. This shouldn’t create a problem! – We all have friends and families who can review your page and give you constructive comments to add to your sales page. There is nothing like
good review to increase sales.

Chapter 6

2007-01-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

The Internet Marketing Swipe File

The best way to learn about marketing yours and other people’s products is to learn from others. As its name suggests a swipe file is a place to store any information that you have ‘swiped’ from other peoples websites, or any other information that they produce.

The idea of a swipe file is to use it just like a scribble pad. All PCs come with a small program called notepad.exe that produces simple text files with no formatting. When you visit another Internet Marketing website you can use this file to store techniques, headlines and email marketing messages in that have been written by other Internet Marketers.

Create a few different swipe files for different marketing ideas. Have a file for amazing headlines, a sales letter file and an email message file. The swipe file is more like a brainstorming or 'thinking out of the box' notepad, its not for republication or distribution as that would be plain theft, its rather like having a box full of ideas that you can rebuild and rehash.

Visit their sales pages, read their email broadcasts and visit their blogs. You will soon get a great feel of what needs to be said. You could store all your ideas in one place, but why not categorize them in to a few files for the different marketing needs:

Have different files for:
• Headlines
• Sales Letters
• Off Internet marketing ideas

Chapter 5

2007-01-10T04:22:00.007-08:00

Finding Good Keywords for Your Adwords Campaign

Before we can create a Google Ad we need to get together some keywords for the campaign.
The first thing we need to do is get a Google Adwords account created and then use the Google Adwords keyword research tool.

Google allows you to advertise globally, or on a country basis. Within each campaign that is created you will have a bit of research to do to find keywords that are of relevance to your campaign. Still in Google Adwords we have to do a bit of keyword research to see what people are searching for.

The bigger your keyword better the better it will be when we come to bid on our words for our Adwords campaign. Try and think up as many keywords as possible, and with those words explore them even further by adding slight variations using other techniques in this guide.
We could end up with hundreds of keyword options for our Adwords campaign, but that doesn’t matter as we are trying to cover as many possibilities as possible. We have to think how our subject would be searched on for the best results.

Using The GoodKeywords Tool for Keyword Research

Finding the right keywords is they key to a good ad campaign, as well as finding all the regular spellings you can also go for the common misspellings as well, an excellent tool for doing this (and it is free) is to use the program Good Keywords from www.goodkeywords.com.

The program also allows you to check the keywords on a particular webpage, this gives you the number of times that certain words appear. This is a neat feature as we can spy on our competitors and rip apart the advertising campaign that our competitor is doing.

We cannot find all the keywords that the competitor is using in the advertising campaign, but if we can find a dozen or so webpages that attract our attention we will then be able to have a pretty good approximation of all the search terms that they are using to trigger Google in to displaying the Adwords campaign ad for your particular product.

Adwords Clever Wizard

The AdWords Clever Wizard is a very easy to use AdWords suggestion and research software tool. It's always a good idea to check the key phrases you are going to use in a Google AdWords campaign for their efficiency and popularity. For each key phrase AdWords Clever Wizard shows the number of searches per month, it’s KEI, overall ad efficiency and also suggests a number of synonyms you can check right away.

The address to download a 30 day free evaluation of this is www.cleverstat.com/adwords-analyzer-software.htm

This is a great tool for finding how many other Google campaigns there are for advertising in your chosen niche. If there are too many advertisers and not enough searches foe that search term, you may want to look for alternate search options. Finding the right keywords for your ad campaign may take a bit of time, but it is worth doing well as it will bring in more clicks to your advertising campaign so giving more potential income, plus if done correctly will keep your advertising budget low, but your income high. As you find more keywords, add them to a text file and save them to a folder on your computer. We will use them in the next stage when
creating a Google Ad.

Creating the Google Ad

Now that we have done they keyword research we can now put the Google Ad together.
To create a new ad,Login in to your Adwords account then:

• Create a new campaign and ad group then enter the relevant names for your advert.
• Select the language which you will be targeting.
• Select Countries and regions – This is going Global!
• Select Next, then make sure that right right handside has all Countries and Cities
• Now create the advert, and enter:
Headline
Description line 1
Description line 2
Display URL – (should display link to identify target to user)
Destination URL (the exact URL within your website you want to send users to from your advert)

Click continue, now its time to add keywords:

• Cut and paste your researched keywords in to the left hand windows, or use the right hand search box and enter a search term to find more keywords. Add them to your campaign.
• Next Select your daily budget (start low, and with experience go higher)
• Select the amount you are will to pay per click
• Now, review your selections and save the campaign

The campaign is now saved, and you’ll now be presented with a screen showing your Ad Group that you have just created. Click on it and you will see which keywords are active for the current bid price and which keywords we need to increase if we want to have our adverts shown. The key to a good Adwords campaign is to find the cheapest quality keywords that produce clicks that you can direct to your website.

Over time, through monitoring and keeping good records you will get feel of which advert is working.Some people insist on running two Adwords campaigns at once and also running two sales pages, both for the same information product. This is called split testing, and the idea is that through constant improvement and modification of the ads and sales pages we create a winning advert and sales page combination that can increase the sales more than using a single ad.

Also through constant testing and monitoring when using the Google Adwords system you’ll get to know what the best performing keywords are for your chosen subject area. If a keyword is not performing as well as you may have thought it may be a case that you are not paying as much for the keyword to have the best placement or you advert. It might be worth paying a little more to get a better placement of the ad.

Chapter 4

2007-01-10T04:22:00.006-08:00

Ten Plus Top Ways to Win At Google Adwords

Advertise on a large number of relevant search phrases and think far and wide beyond the first dozen terms that come to mind to describe your business. Ask friends and family what search terms that they would use if they were hunting for something. Don’t hunt for just single or double word search terms. Find search terms that can be 5 or 6 keywords in length. If you can find these you could be on to a real winner, as people searching for these long search phrases will instantly find your ad. Also look for really obscure terms that only get searched on a few times a month.

Build a unique advert for each of your search phrases. This might take a long time to write, but the fruits of your labor result in more clicks per advert that you display. If you advert title is exactly the same as the keyword or key phrase that is typed in then the likelihood of this been selected will be very high as it will be seen by the searcher as having the most relevance to their search. Google may also reward you with a slightly lower cost per click due to the way that the pricing policy works.

Keep records of your pay per click sales results. If an advert is not performing as well as intended, either alters it or deletes it and uses another method. See what other people are doing to attract other people’s attention. If you do not measure your results, you will potentially lose money, once through missed sales due to a poorly performing advert or two due to advert not being displayed because your bid policy is all wrong. There are third party tools available that assist in you tracking your results, and these can help improve your return on investment.

Adverts should be targeted precisely to the web page that you are meaning to send them to. You will lose potential customers by directing them to the wrong page. They do not want to start a treasure hunt. Grab their attention straightaway by giving them what they want. Use the same title of your advert in the opening paragraph of your sale page. The sales process should be streamlined from the moment that they see your advert on the search page on Google. You do not want to lose a customer by them clicking on the back button, give the relevant content to their search and you'll be on to a winner.

For each campaign we would always be testing the ad campaign – basically the one that produces the bigger bank account wins. More sales from a particular advert mean that advert is the best. We can keep refining the adverts to make them better and better, and only run with the better performing ones, testing them against each other.

To get a higher click thru rate for a particular advert it might be as simple as changing the lines in the advert around. This might have the effect of getting more clicks and so more sales, plus you will be able to lower the bid amount for those particular keywords. It is a simple method to monitor your clicks, simply modify or delete your worst performing ad. Always try and increase your CTR with different ads. Watch as your ad rises above the competition because you get more CTR for the same bid amounts.

Advertise on the terms used to describe your products, the product names, product codes, descriptions and the questions a prospective customer might type into a pay per click search engine that your services answer. Keep going until you have a list, which could be many hundreds of words or phrases long.

Use Word Track, Nichebot, Good Keywords, Google Adwords Tool and the Overture search tool also known as Yahoo Search Marketing.

To create a new ad takes only minutes, you can use a new ad to test a market - if the ad works and converts well into clicks then it would be worth it. However if it becomes evident within a short time that the ad just isn’t pulling in useful clicks then abandon that ad, and either create a new one or you may have picked the wrong market to sell to.

Use Google Adwords to test your sales strategy, you can turn traffic to your sales page on and off as you like. Once you get the sales process working really well you can move on to getting even more sales by using email and other forms of advertising. Adwords is really flexible and quick to setup, so use it to your advantage and you will benefit immeasurably in other forms of advertising.

Be ruthless, but stay within the Google Adwords TOS and be blunt and to the point, get people sitting up and taking notice-using eye grabbing headlines, and also tell other sellers products are rubbish and yours is the best.

Bid on your own trade name, the bid price might be higher but you will get a higher click thru rate and better sales. People will be looking for your product directly by type in the name.
The higher that your click thru rate is, the less Google will charge you per click – so make sure your ads are well targeted.

Manage your bids effectively, always try and get on to the first page of the Google Ads, hardly any clicks occur on the 2nd and subsequent pages. Using the Google search example for ‘growing tomatoes’ the first advertiser to sell a page about tomato growing clearly says that he has a guide to offer.

To setup a search campaign, go to www.google.com/adwords and open an Adwords account, you will need to have your bank details so that Google can take payments from your account once a month while your Campaigns are running.

Chapter 3

2007-01-10T04:22:00.004-08:00

The Google Adwords System

Google created a pay-per-click advertising system a while a go called Adwords – www.google.com/adwords

Pay-Per-Click ads are text advertisements which are displayed on search engine result pages and content sites. When you buy Pay-Per-Click advertising, you bid for ad position. Because ads near the top generate more clicks, those ads are more valuable, but cost more money.

Ads can run anywhere from 3 cents upwards depending on the search term. You choose the amount that you are willing to pay for each click. If you can get a click for 5 cents and convert it into an page sale for40 dollars, that would be a good sale! – a 5-20% click through rate would be considered good.

If we could produce sales from these click thrus then that would be fantastic.
Adwords is the cornerstone of Google Inc’s financial income – it earns a good chunk of its income from the Adword system.

We will be using this system to create a highly targeted advertising system. The power in the Adwords system is that it allows the advertiser (you) to target a section of the surfing public in a way thatconventional advertising cannot even approach.

Using Google Adwords to do Research

The Google Ads on the right are likely (but not always) to contain page sellers, and we can have a look at these ads to see what ad text that they are using and the sales page that they have made to sell the page.

People think that one of the hardest things about Internet Marketing is writing the ads, sales letters, and the page. Well, it is not as hard as you would imagine – they are already written for you! With a bit of tweaking and some personalization, using a few sales letters and a few ads from different page sellers we know we are on to a winner as those advertisers have already found a likely profitable area to sell their pages in to. If it was not profitable, it is probable that they would not be advertising. Next go to Google and type in your search term and have a look at the resulting Google Ads.

Have a look at the Google Ads on the right hand side and you will see if you can find ads that are created by page sellers. Keep looking at the Google Ads using different, but related search terms to do with your page, copy a few of the ideas and keep them. We should now have a good starting point for a working Google Ad. It is a fair bet that the people running these sites also have an page that sells well also.

Have a look at the sales page, and this is the sales page that works for selling pages about that subject!

Chapter 2

2007-01-10T04:22:00.003-08:00

Researching the Content

Using the tools available on the Internet, we can use it to our advantage, and all will be a lot easier.

Using Google for Research

You can use Google and using the example ‘Do it Your Self’ we can look for articles and features with the term Do it your self in them:

Type allinurl:Do it your self

Further search examples to get content include:
Use Google and type:

Allinurl:how to change engine oil
Allinurl:how to replace tire
Allinurl:how to design web site

Using Amazon To Give You Inspiration
Another great way to find ideas is to visit www.amazon.com and use the search inside feature.

From here you can clearly find the contents and an index to the page. The good thing about Amazon is that you can search for related pages.

Using the Amazon Concordance Feature for Material

Cool feature of Amazon is something called Concordance which is an alphabetized list of the most frequently occurring words in a page, excluding common words such as "of" and "it." The font size of a word is proportional to the number of times it occurs in the page. If you hover your mouse over a word to see how many times it occurs, or click on a word to see a list of page excerpts containing that word. This is a brilliant feature and can help you brainstorm any number of subjects in a real quick and intelligent way.

Amazon Statistically Improbable Phrases

We can get even further information for our research by looking at a feature called SIPS that Amazon provides. This is a fantastic feature, and allows you to further explore all the pages that contain those phrases. This will give you a huge pool of ideas to draw on for creating your page.

SearchStatus Toolbar

There is a very useful (and free) tool available from www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/ which is a toolbar for the Firefox browser, and it has some really cool features.

SearchStatus is a toolbar extension for Firefox and Mozilla that allows you to see how any and every website in the world is performing.

Designed for the highly specialized needs of search engine marketers, this toolbar provides extensive search-related information about a site, all conveniently displayed in one discreet and compact toolbar. This tool is one of the best ways to spy on your competitors. If you can tell what they are doing, you can copy and improve on their techniques.

For every site you visit using, SearchStatus lets you view its:
• Google PageRank
• Google Category
• Alexa popularity ranking
• Alexa incoming links
• Access to the whois database – find those joint venture partners!
• Alexa related links
• backward links from Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

This combined search related information means you can view not only the link importance of a site (according to Google), but also its traffic importance (according to Alexa), so providing a balanced view of site efficacy.

SearchStatus also gives access to the Google Trends tool that gives you a graph showing historical search graph according to the website that you visited or the search term that you entered, for instance the search term ‘internet marketing’:

You will notice that the key points in the trend have a news item against it, use this for even more keyword research options. When doing keyword research and you notice that the keyword search popularity is on downward slope according to the graph it is more than
likely not a very good idea not to write an page on that subject, unless of course the search volumes are very high anyway.

See What Other Internet Marketers are Doing

A website called www.gurudaq.com allows you to see exactly what the main Internet Marketers are doing. The website shows the movers and shakers within the Internet Marketing
sphere. The results are sourced from places like www.alexa.com. What you can do with these results is see who is the most active and using the links on Gurudaq allows you to visit the website of the Internet Marketers site to see their latest marketing campaign. Those at the top of the list are very likely the most active on the web at this time, and may have some on going campaign that they are doing. Visit the campaign and learn from the techniques they are using.

Look At Old Web Pages

Spy on your competitors, and see what they have been doing in the past. You can use the website at www.archive.org which saves a snapshot of website from the first time it was uploaded, and then at regular intervals up to current day. You can see what other marketers
were doing a couple of years ago, and how their campaigns have changed. For further information on domain names, and who owns them and a lot more information have a look at
www.whois.domaintools.com/. There is some very useful information here.

Using Clickbank for Research

A great way of finding page subjects that are known to sell is by visiting www.clickbank.com – if you visit Clickbank and look at the marketplace, you can see which are the hottest selling pages.
You can also use this list to view the sales pages for each particular page published under your specific search term. Using Clickbank is another excellent way to find out what people are interested in selling. The Clickbank Marketplace is a good place to bring affiliates and Epage writers together – this is the way which you will become rich! – But more on this later. We have to lay the foundations first!

There is an excellent resource called CB Mall and it is an easy way to see what is available on Clickbank, visit www.cbmall.com to get more information:

Other places to do research include:

• Public Libraries
• The local newsagent or news seller for monthly magazines
• Online Resources, including some of the websites that publish free articles such as www.ezinearticles.com
• www.overture.com – great for keyword research
• Friends and Families
• Technical reference guides that come with equipment
• Government produced documents and pamphlets

You can also use resources such as www.nichebot.com and www.wordtracker.com and search for phrases such as:

• How to
• Report on
• Help with
Or
• Hobbies, such as fishing, flying, camping etc

Chapter 1

2007-01-10T04:22:00.000-08:00

The Best Way to Spend a Single Dollar andSave a Lot of Head Scratching!

We need to test the market to see the responses with a few questions to people. Rather than guessing we can really test our theories, we can use the www.askdatabase.com it costs a single dollar for a 21 day trial.

The smart thing about doing the above is that we have to spend verylittle money researching a niche really well.

To get traffic use Google Adwords and use the section in this guide about Adwords and keywords research and bid on search terms that would direct your respondents clicking the Google Ad to your question on the Ask Database.

Using the keyword analysis tool might give you an indication that your original idea of a subject title and content may now be different, but it doesn’t matter as you haven’t spent much time and effort researching your niche.

A great idea is to find a website that is similar to the subject that you are thinking of, and then go to www.alexa.com – here you can compare two websites together and see which one is getting the most traffic. You can also see if the traffic trend is going up or down.

The traffic has a lot to do with the way links are built and its popularity, but it will give you a good indication that people are looking for your subject for information.

Secret To Get More Traffic To Your SITE

2007-01-10T04:08:00.000-08:00

THE SECRET TO GET YOUR INTERNET BUSINESS RUNNING

Chap 1: The Best Way to Spend a Single Dollar and Save a Lot of Head Scratching!

Chap 2: Researching the Content

Chap 3: The Google Adwords System

Chap 4: Ten Plus Top Ways to Win At Google Adwords

Chap 5: Finding Good Keywords for Your Adwords Campaign

Chap 6: The Internet Marketing Swipe File

Chap 7: Make Your Sales Page Look Good

Chap 8: The Click to Purchase Process

Chap 9: Promoting your Webpage for Maximum Positioning

Chap 10: SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Chap 11: Other Internet Income Opportunities Includes, Googles Adsense and Clickbank

Chap 12: Why Internet Marketers Fail Miserably

GET MORE TRAFFIC TO GAIN MORE MONEY

2007-01-09T04:38:00.000-08:00

GET MORE TRAFFIC TO GAIN MORE MONEY