1. Create a Direct Response Website, with the minimum number of pages possible (e.g. an Index Page, a Contact Page, and an Order Page).
2. Make sure your sales copy is positive and inspiring - people buy things because they want to improve their lives.
3. Identify a problem and show people how and why your product or service solves the problem.
4. Keep your paragraphs short - no more than 2 sentences per paragraph.
5. Use bold headings to break up your sales copy into short chunks of text.
6. Use a bulleted list to itemize the benefits of your product or service. Start each benefit with an action word: "turn", "make", "triple", "grab", "create", "build", "convert", "start", "change", "drive", "organize", "promote", "develop", "learn", "compel", "fill", "attract", "get", "earn", "take", "discover", "produce", "find", "generate", "acquire". "inspire", "send", "blast".
7. Give your visitors at least 3 order links (e.g. 1/3rd of the way down your page, 2/3rds the way down, and at the bottom). But don't stop there - turn some of your key phrases into hyperlinks that go to your order page. Here are some examples of phrases that you could link to your order page: "increase your sales", "take advantage of this offer", "try it risk-free for 30 days", "get the following 5 bonuses", "the competitive edge you need", "this risk-free offer".
8. Use purple (#990099, R=153 G=0 B=153) text - the color purple (used sparingly) has been shown to increase sales.
9. Give a time limit - most people are procrastinators.
10. At the end of your sales copy make a call to action: "Act now - don't let this opportunity pass by"
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
How To Use the Multiplier Effect in Web Marketing
One of the most exciting things about doing business online is the Multiplier Effect. It's the principal factor behind some of the fortunes that have been made on the Internet.
How does it work?
The Multiplier Effect occurs when your marketing technique either:
A) replicates itself over and over again, or B) feeds into other marketing techniques
A classic example of the first kind of Multiplier Effect is the Free E-Book.
Ten people download your Free E-book and offer it from their websites. Those ten people each get downloads and it's now being offered on 100 websites, and so on.
The second type of Multiplier Effect occurs when one marketing technique results in benefits from another marketing technique.
A good example of this is Link Exchange.
Let's say you get links on 100 different websites. When the Search Engines spider those websites, they find your link. Your 'link popularity' then increases and as a result, your ranking in the Search Engines goes up.
This kind of Multiplier Effect often results in a 'feedback loop'.
Because your website now ranks higher in the Search Engines, more people want to exchange links with you. You now have links on 300 different websites. This in turn gives you an even higher ranking in the Search Engines, and so on.
Some marketing techniques have no Multiplier Effect. For example, posting to FFA sites - after only a few hours your ad drops off the FFA site and you have to start again.
One of the most powerful Multiplier Effects I know of occurs when you write Ezine Articles.
The main purpose in writing Ezine Articles is to get them published in Ezines. And that on its own will bring you a lot of highly targeted traffic. But the benefits don't stop there.
When your Articles are posted on other people's websites you get free links (from your Resource Box) back to your website - more traffic. This increases your link popularity and so your ranking in the Search Engines goes up - more traffic. Eventually you'll find your Articles appearing in Free E-Books - even more traffic.
As you can see, this kind of Multiplier Effect rapidly builds up its own momentum - after a certain point it's virtually unstoppable.
Here are 2 ways you could start using the Multiplier Effect:
1) Launch a Free E-Book
Start collecting Ezine Articles on a particular topic. The topic could be 'Search Engine Positioning', 'Website Design', 'Affiliate Programs', 'Ad Writing', 'Choosing a Web Host', or it could be on 'Parenting', 'Gardening' etc.
When you have about 25 good Articles on your chosen topic, contact the Authors and ask their permission to include their Articles in your Free E-Book (with the Author's Resource Box).
Make sure your free E-Book has plenty of links back to your website.
The secret to making this technique work is to ensure that your Free E-Book is closely related to the theme of your website. For example, if you market 'Search Engine Submission' tools from your website, an excellent topic for your Free E-Book would be 'Search Engine Positioning'.
Here's a tip that will help you find out exactly how much traffic you're getting from your Free E-Book.
Make a copy of your index page and re-name it something else, such as: http://www.yourdomain.com/free-ebook.html
In your Free E-Book, instead of linking to your home page (index.html), link to the duplicate home page (free-ebook.html). This way, you'll be able to check in your webstats exactly how many visitors are coming to your website from your Free E-Book.
Include a short note on the index page of your Free E-Book telling people that they are welcome to give away your E-Book from their website.
Then submit your Free E-Book to these directories:
http://www.zdnet.com http://www.upload.com http://www.ebooksnbytes.com http://ebooks.searchking.com http://www.free-ebooks.net/ http://www.reportsearch.com/ http://www.ebookdirectory.com/ http://www.ldpublishing.com/index1.html
2) Write Ezine Articles
Whatever you do on the Web, you must have picked up dozens of tips along the way - tips that would be very useful to other people who are just starting out.
Turn those tips into a series of articles, give them catchy titles and submit them to these 'article announcement lists' (you'll have to subscribe first):
mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:aabusiness-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:aageneral-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:aainet-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:Free-Content-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:PublishInYours-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:publisher_network-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:ArticlePublish-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:subportal-subscribe@egroups.com
Then put your articles on autoresponder and submit them to these 'online article archives':
http://www.ezinearticles.com/add_url.html http://www.ideamarketers.com/ http://www.mega-success.com/articles/submit.shtml http://cyberprosper.com/submit.shtml http://www.womans-net.com http://www.connectionteam.com/submit.html http://www.netterweb.com/articles/ http://article_depot.50megs.com/ http://www.ezadsuccess.com/articles/submit.shtml
Think of your Articles and Free E-Books as seeds - scatter them around and then watch them bear fruit and multiply.
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
How does it work?
The Multiplier Effect occurs when your marketing technique either:
A) replicates itself over and over again, or B) feeds into other marketing techniques
A classic example of the first kind of Multiplier Effect is the Free E-Book.
Ten people download your Free E-book and offer it from their websites. Those ten people each get downloads and it's now being offered on 100 websites, and so on.
The second type of Multiplier Effect occurs when one marketing technique results in benefits from another marketing technique.
A good example of this is Link Exchange.
Let's say you get links on 100 different websites. When the Search Engines spider those websites, they find your link. Your 'link popularity' then increases and as a result, your ranking in the Search Engines goes up.
This kind of Multiplier Effect often results in a 'feedback loop'.
Because your website now ranks higher in the Search Engines, more people want to exchange links with you. You now have links on 300 different websites. This in turn gives you an even higher ranking in the Search Engines, and so on.
Some marketing techniques have no Multiplier Effect. For example, posting to FFA sites - after only a few hours your ad drops off the FFA site and you have to start again.
One of the most powerful Multiplier Effects I know of occurs when you write Ezine Articles.
The main purpose in writing Ezine Articles is to get them published in Ezines. And that on its own will bring you a lot of highly targeted traffic. But the benefits don't stop there.
When your Articles are posted on other people's websites you get free links (from your Resource Box) back to your website - more traffic. This increases your link popularity and so your ranking in the Search Engines goes up - more traffic. Eventually you'll find your Articles appearing in Free E-Books - even more traffic.
As you can see, this kind of Multiplier Effect rapidly builds up its own momentum - after a certain point it's virtually unstoppable.
Here are 2 ways you could start using the Multiplier Effect:
1) Launch a Free E-Book
Start collecting Ezine Articles on a particular topic. The topic could be 'Search Engine Positioning', 'Website Design', 'Affiliate Programs', 'Ad Writing', 'Choosing a Web Host', or it could be on 'Parenting', 'Gardening' etc.
When you have about 25 good Articles on your chosen topic, contact the Authors and ask their permission to include their Articles in your Free E-Book (with the Author's Resource Box).
Make sure your free E-Book has plenty of links back to your website.
The secret to making this technique work is to ensure that your Free E-Book is closely related to the theme of your website. For example, if you market 'Search Engine Submission' tools from your website, an excellent topic for your Free E-Book would be 'Search Engine Positioning'.
Here's a tip that will help you find out exactly how much traffic you're getting from your Free E-Book.
Make a copy of your index page and re-name it something else, such as: http://www.yourdomain.com/free-ebook.html
In your Free E-Book, instead of linking to your home page (index.html), link to the duplicate home page (free-ebook.html). This way, you'll be able to check in your webstats exactly how many visitors are coming to your website from your Free E-Book.
Include a short note on the index page of your Free E-Book telling people that they are welcome to give away your E-Book from their website.
Then submit your Free E-Book to these directories:
http://www.zdnet.com http://www.upload.com http://www.ebooksnbytes.com http://ebooks.searchking.com http://www.free-ebooks.net/ http://www.reportsearch.com/ http://www.ebookdirectory.com/ http://www.ldpublishing.com/index1.html
2) Write Ezine Articles
Whatever you do on the Web, you must have picked up dozens of tips along the way - tips that would be very useful to other people who are just starting out.
Turn those tips into a series of articles, give them catchy titles and submit them to these 'article announcement lists' (you'll have to subscribe first):
mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:aabusiness-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:aageneral-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:aainet-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:Free-Content-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:PublishInYours-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:publisher_network-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:ArticlePublish-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:subportal-subscribe@egroups.com
Then put your articles on autoresponder and submit them to these 'online article archives':
http://www.ezinearticles.com/add_url.html http://www.ideamarketers.com/ http://www.mega-success.com/articles/submit.shtml http://cyberprosper.com/submit.shtml http://www.womans-net.com http://www.connectionteam.com/submit.html http://www.netterweb.com/articles/ http://article_depot.50megs.com/ http://www.ezadsuccess.com/articles/submit.shtml
Think of your Articles and Free E-Books as seeds - scatter them around and then watch them bear fruit and multiply.
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Tao of Web Marketing
A few months ago I was watching a stream meandering back and forth across a flat plain in a high mountain valley. The stream reached it's destination - a small lake - but only after dozens of loops and curves. It occurred to me that Water and clever Web Marketing have something in common - they both follow the path of least resistance.
Let me explain.
Your first contact with a future customer usually starts with an email. It could be an Ad in an Ezine, it could be your Resource Box at the end of one of your Articles, or it could be your Signature File in your correspondence.
But in the chain of events that leads to a web sale, an email is the point of greatest resistance.
Why is that?
Firstly, your future customer is reading your message offline. She or he has to fire up their modem before they can buy your product. And that requires effort (and expense).
Secondly, if your message is in an Ezine, it's probably one of a dozen other messages all clamoring for attention.
Thirdly, whether your message is an Ezine Ad, a Resource Box, or a Signature File, you've probably had only a few lines to explain why your widgets are so good.
So if an email is the point of greatest resistance, what is the solution?
The ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism (pronounced 'Dowism') - also known as 'The Watercourse Way' - gives us the answer. Taoism tells us to be like Water and follow the path of least resistance. Water flows. It is soft and moves easily around obstacles in its path, instead of attempting to go through them.
Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone knows this is true, but few can put it into practice. (Tao Te Ching, ch. 78)
"What is the path of least resistance in an email?", I hear you ask. Offer something free!
Successful web marketers know this already. I recently did a survey of the Resource Boxes of fifty well known Ezine Writers. Over 90% of them were not trying to sell anything from their Resource Box. In fact, an overwhelming majority were not even trying to get a click-thru to their website - they were simply offering a free subscription to their Newsletter. In other words, they were more interested in building a long-term relationship than they were in making a quick sale.
When I started out on the Internet, I was pretty impatient. I certainly didn't want to the follow the path of least resistance. The path I had in mind was more like the flight of an arrow - straight to it's target.
But the statistics suggest that most web sales are not made like that; on average your customer will have to see your message seven times before he or she buys your product.
So next time you plan your marketing strategy, why not take a lesson from Water and follow the path of least resistance?
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
Let me explain.
Your first contact with a future customer usually starts with an email. It could be an Ad in an Ezine, it could be your Resource Box at the end of one of your Articles, or it could be your Signature File in your correspondence.
But in the chain of events that leads to a web sale, an email is the point of greatest resistance.
Why is that?
Firstly, your future customer is reading your message offline. She or he has to fire up their modem before they can buy your product. And that requires effort (and expense).
Secondly, if your message is in an Ezine, it's probably one of a dozen other messages all clamoring for attention.
Thirdly, whether your message is an Ezine Ad, a Resource Box, or a Signature File, you've probably had only a few lines to explain why your widgets are so good.
So if an email is the point of greatest resistance, what is the solution?
The ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism (pronounced 'Dowism') - also known as 'The Watercourse Way' - gives us the answer. Taoism tells us to be like Water and follow the path of least resistance. Water flows. It is soft and moves easily around obstacles in its path, instead of attempting to go through them.
Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone knows this is true, but few can put it into practice. (Tao Te Ching, ch. 78)
"What is the path of least resistance in an email?", I hear you ask. Offer something free!
Successful web marketers know this already. I recently did a survey of the Resource Boxes of fifty well known Ezine Writers. Over 90% of them were not trying to sell anything from their Resource Box. In fact, an overwhelming majority were not even trying to get a click-thru to their website - they were simply offering a free subscription to their Newsletter. In other words, they were more interested in building a long-term relationship than they were in making a quick sale.
When I started out on the Internet, I was pretty impatient. I certainly didn't want to the follow the path of least resistance. The path I had in mind was more like the flight of an arrow - straight to it's target.
But the statistics suggest that most web sales are not made like that; on average your customer will have to see your message seven times before he or she buys your product.
So next time you plan your marketing strategy, why not take a lesson from Water and follow the path of least resistance?
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Internet Marketing Pie: Slice It Up Right or Lose
The number one concern for Internet sales is your marketing list -- in other words, your audience.
But...but...but...you're saying, products for sales is a must too, however, if your list is nonexistent, small or loosely targeted, having a product isn't going to help much. There just will not be any success.
Yes, I know this is confusing. You need a product to attract. By the way, I am using product interchangeably to mean services too.
This almost feels like the chicken and the egg story - which came first. So, what do you do first?
You can't create or increase a mailing list without a "what's in it for them to be attracted to you for."
Now I'm not talking about buying lists but about opt-in focused lists.
Step 1: Know what your target market (audience same thing) wants and they already have their wallet open and ready to buy.
Step 2: Create a product to answer that want and match their wallet. Create a product that contains 100% they can know everything about as a small segment of that want.
Step 3: Now that you have 100% of that pie. Cut off a small piece of pie -- about 10%. Make that 10% into a 100% everything of information for that piece. Create a 100% product of this 10% that you broke off.
Step 4: Cut 25% of that 100% of that 10% (say this out loud if you didn't get it) and designate that as freebie information. Then designate 50% for a product to sell and the other 25% for consulting or a service that costs them a higher price. An alternative is to create a product with the total 75% and charge them a higher price.
This strategy is one that is not wide spread and a well-kept secret by the InfoGurus. It is even a guarded secret, and guess what, I've just broken their secret. I am an InfoGuru and I don't mind sharing this model. It is the missing aerial view that no one seems to want to write about -- unless, of course, it's in a product that sells for big dollars.
Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com
But...but...but...you're saying, products for sales is a must too, however, if your list is nonexistent, small or loosely targeted, having a product isn't going to help much. There just will not be any success.
Yes, I know this is confusing. You need a product to attract. By the way, I am using product interchangeably to mean services too.
This almost feels like the chicken and the egg story - which came first. So, what do you do first?
You can't create or increase a mailing list without a "what's in it for them to be attracted to you for."
Now I'm not talking about buying lists but about opt-in focused lists.
Step 1: Know what your target market (audience same thing) wants and they already have their wallet open and ready to buy.
Step 2: Create a product to answer that want and match their wallet. Create a product that contains 100% they can know everything about as a small segment of that want.
Step 3: Now that you have 100% of that pie. Cut off a small piece of pie -- about 10%. Make that 10% into a 100% everything of information for that piece. Create a 100% product of this 10% that you broke off.
Step 4: Cut 25% of that 100% of that 10% (say this out loud if you didn't get it) and designate that as freebie information. Then designate 50% for a product to sell and the other 25% for consulting or a service that costs them a higher price. An alternative is to create a product with the total 75% and charge them a higher price.
This strategy is one that is not wide spread and a well-kept secret by the InfoGurus. It is even a guarded secret, and guess what, I've just broken their secret. I am an InfoGuru and I don't mind sharing this model. It is the missing aerial view that no one seems to want to write about -- unless, of course, it's in a product that sells for big dollars.
Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com
Monday, October 5, 2009
If you Sell a Product, Use Online Marketing, Part 1
When you offer your products via an email campaign to get people to visit your Web site, you reap many rewards-you create more profit, spend a lot less time promoting and marketing, and get to be known as the leader in your field.
1. Get a Low-Cost Web Site
If you don't have a Web site yet, put it at the top of your goal list. You don't need a lot of Web pages. You need a home page with benefit-driven links to your product sales letter.
From your sales letter, you need a link to a secure place to order such as ClickBank.com or PayPal.com. That's only three sections of possibly 10 pages. Most Web people would charge about $600 for this service. (Be sure to write your home page and sales pages first before you contact a Web master)
2. Enhance your Online and Brand Presence
To discover your own "brand" brainstorm with friends and associates. Answer these questions:
-Why is my product or service the right choice?
-Why am I the preferred expert over my competition?
-What is unique about my product or service?
Think what you can offer that's different and better than your competition. If you said, "I'm the one who can help you make your book dream a reality--faster, cheaper, and easier." That would set you off from your competitors.
To these top benefits, add features.
-Design each part of your book to sell more copies before you write a single chapter with the essential "Seven Hot-Selling Points."
-Write each chapter fast, more focused, clear, compelling, and with less edits with the "Fast-Forward Technique."
3. Enhance product awareness.
When your targeted visitors come to you site to see your free articles and tips, they will become aware of the products you offer, because at the end of each article will be a link straight to your products sales message and order page.
They may not buy the first time, the second or even third time, but if you keep your site updated with new information every few weeks and mark your site that you have done so, your visitors will keep coming. Up to fifty percent will buy.
4. Boost your leads fast.
Email promotion is by far the easiest and most successful of all promotion. When you entice your different email groups with a testimonial or a free bonus report, they will gladly leave their email address. Then, you will be able to continue to stay in touch with them, month after month, year after year. Allow them to download by autoresponder a free article related to your product.
5. Reach new targeted customers worldwide.
Once you get your Web site up, you must learn and apply the many non-techie ways to get people to visit you. After collecting email addresses from the people you meet online or offline, send periodic messages to them, including free articles.
You will attract thousands, even hundreds of thousands of your targeted audience from all over the world. Your ezine or teleclasses can connect with people outside your area because your subscribers or participants think so much of you that they forward the good news to their friends and associates.
Because your Web site attracts only targeted buyers this translates to a much higher rate of sales.
6. Make it easy to buy
Maybe people know you or your products offline through networking groups or other business ventures. A Web site makes you even more respected. Business people expect you to have a Web site because 1) your Web site represents you, your service and products. 2) they love the convenience and speed of Online information and ordering.
In addition to your Web site, increase your sales channels to include office promotion such as post cards, talks, teleclasses, or radio interviews. Offer a free 800-telephone number for orders. For your site, include a "How to Contact Us" section. Put it at the top of your ezine. One disappointed reader of my ezine wanted my local telephone number listed beside my free 800 one. Include contact information in your signature file at the bottom of all emails you send out. Include it in your order pages your sales letters connect to. Always make it easy for people to connect, and eventually buy.
If you are like me, you will enjoy keeping track of your increasing sales each month. You will enjoy staying in touch with your potential buyers. People Online are hungry for your information and product. Take the easy promotion road and use Online today.
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
1. Get a Low-Cost Web Site
If you don't have a Web site yet, put it at the top of your goal list. You don't need a lot of Web pages. You need a home page with benefit-driven links to your product sales letter.
From your sales letter, you need a link to a secure place to order such as ClickBank.com or PayPal.com. That's only three sections of possibly 10 pages. Most Web people would charge about $600 for this service. (Be sure to write your home page and sales pages first before you contact a Web master)
2. Enhance your Online and Brand Presence
To discover your own "brand" brainstorm with friends and associates. Answer these questions:
-Why is my product or service the right choice?
-Why am I the preferred expert over my competition?
-What is unique about my product or service?
Think what you can offer that's different and better than your competition. If you said, "I'm the one who can help you make your book dream a reality--faster, cheaper, and easier." That would set you off from your competitors.
To these top benefits, add features.
-Design each part of your book to sell more copies before you write a single chapter with the essential "Seven Hot-Selling Points."
-Write each chapter fast, more focused, clear, compelling, and with less edits with the "Fast-Forward Technique."
3. Enhance product awareness.
When your targeted visitors come to you site to see your free articles and tips, they will become aware of the products you offer, because at the end of each article will be a link straight to your products sales message and order page.
They may not buy the first time, the second or even third time, but if you keep your site updated with new information every few weeks and mark your site that you have done so, your visitors will keep coming. Up to fifty percent will buy.
4. Boost your leads fast.
Email promotion is by far the easiest and most successful of all promotion. When you entice your different email groups with a testimonial or a free bonus report, they will gladly leave their email address. Then, you will be able to continue to stay in touch with them, month after month, year after year. Allow them to download by autoresponder a free article related to your product.
5. Reach new targeted customers worldwide.
Once you get your Web site up, you must learn and apply the many non-techie ways to get people to visit you. After collecting email addresses from the people you meet online or offline, send periodic messages to them, including free articles.
You will attract thousands, even hundreds of thousands of your targeted audience from all over the world. Your ezine or teleclasses can connect with people outside your area because your subscribers or participants think so much of you that they forward the good news to their friends and associates.
Because your Web site attracts only targeted buyers this translates to a much higher rate of sales.
6. Make it easy to buy
Maybe people know you or your products offline through networking groups or other business ventures. A Web site makes you even more respected. Business people expect you to have a Web site because 1) your Web site represents you, your service and products. 2) they love the convenience and speed of Online information and ordering.
In addition to your Web site, increase your sales channels to include office promotion such as post cards, talks, teleclasses, or radio interviews. Offer a free 800-telephone number for orders. For your site, include a "How to Contact Us" section. Put it at the top of your ezine. One disappointed reader of my ezine wanted my local telephone number listed beside my free 800 one. Include contact information in your signature file at the bottom of all emails you send out. Include it in your order pages your sales letters connect to. Always make it easy for people to connect, and eventually buy.
If you are like me, you will enjoy keeping track of your increasing sales each month. You will enjoy staying in touch with your potential buyers. People Online are hungry for your information and product. Take the easy promotion road and use Online today.
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
Friday, October 2, 2009
If you Sell a Product, Use Online Marketing, Part 2
When you offer your products via an email campaign to get people to visit your Web site, or sell direct through email, you reap many rewards--you create more profit, spend a lot less time promoting and marketing, and get to be known as the leader in your field.
1. Offer improved customer service and support.
All new subscribers to my ezine get 2 free special bonus reports. I receive their email address. I keep these in a file and follow up every few months with an email "thank you" gifting them with a free special report or free email answer to one question. Customers love a freebie, and they will connect my name with any future purchase they need to make.
For coaching services, I send out a note periodically that includes all the extras I offer. My clients give me the testimonials that remind me of those extras, making it easy to relate.
2. Reduce support costs.
Your online home office costs a fraction of what a brick and mortar storefront would. Think of the rent, the gas you save! Online services cost just a little: Web hosting, Web maintenance, and an email server are a few. Since online marketing is far easier, you'll need only a part time computer or virtual assistant. Reduced costs = less business expenses. And, you will spend less time and money to reap bigger profits because your target market is all online business people.
3. Reduce your time in the office.
It's far easier and faster to use email than phones or faxes. You don't have to have expensive and time-costing lunches with associates, because you can email at your convenience. And, it's all in writing. My promotion time is now only 6-9 hours a week after one year of foundation set up.
4. Reduce the cost of doing business.
In your home-based virtual office, you will have much less overhead. When you self-publish eBooks or other information products you won't have to spend time or money on postage, packaging, or mailing. You don't spend money on printing yielding much more profit as well as reduced expenses.
When you apply online promotion such as submitting free articles to ePublishers who are crying for them, you spend around an hour or so on each article that can be recycled many times. The actual time of sending it out is a few minutes.
Even if you need to mail your product, you still will have to spend less time and money.
Using email to offer and sell your products reduces your dependence on other sales channels such as the brick and mortar stores, traveling to give talks, and writing "round file" press releases.
When you market Online, you eliminate the middleman who can take a hefty percentage of your profit--up to 90%.
My motto is: If someone else who takes a commission can't sell at least 10 times as many products as I can, I don't need them."
5. Reduce your marketing time because email communication is short, fast, and gets to the point quickly.
You don't have to spend time buying stamps, logos, special envelopes and stationery. You do need to keep track of every customer, subscriber and Web visitor. Be alert to collect every person's email address when you meet and greet. Place each one in a categorized file, so you can laser target messages to one audience at a time.
If you sell books on your Web site, you can look like Barnes and Noble reaching thousands, even tens of thousands each day. Your visitor will have an easier time to find your product because you offer only a few on your site.
If you are like me, you will enjoy keeping track of your increasing sales each month. You will enjoy staying in touch with your potential buyers. People Online are hungry for your information and product. Put your effort into online marketing and win!
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
1. Offer improved customer service and support.
All new subscribers to my ezine get 2 free special bonus reports. I receive their email address. I keep these in a file and follow up every few months with an email "thank you" gifting them with a free special report or free email answer to one question. Customers love a freebie, and they will connect my name with any future purchase they need to make.
For coaching services, I send out a note periodically that includes all the extras I offer. My clients give me the testimonials that remind me of those extras, making it easy to relate.
2. Reduce support costs.
Your online home office costs a fraction of what a brick and mortar storefront would. Think of the rent, the gas you save! Online services cost just a little: Web hosting, Web maintenance, and an email server are a few. Since online marketing is far easier, you'll need only a part time computer or virtual assistant. Reduced costs = less business expenses. And, you will spend less time and money to reap bigger profits because your target market is all online business people.
3. Reduce your time in the office.
It's far easier and faster to use email than phones or faxes. You don't have to have expensive and time-costing lunches with associates, because you can email at your convenience. And, it's all in writing. My promotion time is now only 6-9 hours a week after one year of foundation set up.
4. Reduce the cost of doing business.
In your home-based virtual office, you will have much less overhead. When you self-publish eBooks or other information products you won't have to spend time or money on postage, packaging, or mailing. You don't spend money on printing yielding much more profit as well as reduced expenses.
When you apply online promotion such as submitting free articles to ePublishers who are crying for them, you spend around an hour or so on each article that can be recycled many times. The actual time of sending it out is a few minutes.
Even if you need to mail your product, you still will have to spend less time and money.
Using email to offer and sell your products reduces your dependence on other sales channels such as the brick and mortar stores, traveling to give talks, and writing "round file" press releases.
When you market Online, you eliminate the middleman who can take a hefty percentage of your profit--up to 90%.
My motto is: If someone else who takes a commission can't sell at least 10 times as many products as I can, I don't need them."
5. Reduce your marketing time because email communication is short, fast, and gets to the point quickly.
You don't have to spend time buying stamps, logos, special envelopes and stationery. You do need to keep track of every customer, subscriber and Web visitor. Be alert to collect every person's email address when you meet and greet. Place each one in a categorized file, so you can laser target messages to one audience at a time.
If you sell books on your Web site, you can look like Barnes and Noble reaching thousands, even tens of thousands each day. Your visitor will have an easier time to find your product because you offer only a few on your site.
If you are like me, you will enjoy keeping track of your increasing sales each month. You will enjoy staying in touch with your potential buyers. People Online are hungry for your information and product. Put your effort into online marketing and win!
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
Monday, September 28, 2009
Headlines Bring Sales--Where and How to Use Them - Part 1
Headlines are short vital statements to stimulate your potential customers and clients to take action. That means sales! Since you only have 10 seconds to attract your visitor or reader, create headlines to make ultimate sales.
Your benefit-driven headlines are your 24/7 sales team working for your while you relax your favorite way.
Without them, your ezine ads, email promotions, special reports, eBooks, book and article titles, chapter titles, ezines and print newsletters, and Web site will not pull visitor attention, trust, credibility, traffic or sales.
Headlines bring far more sales than the copy following them. Perhaps you are a skimmer too. Skimmers usually just read the headline.
How to Use Headlines
1. EZINE ADS
Many businesses write ads and place them in strategic ezines or Web sites. They lose contacts and sales because they don't use a benefit-driven headline at the top of the ad. For instance, "YOU CAN WRITE A PROFITABLE BOOK IN LESS THAN 30 DAYS! or HIGH TRAFFIC=HIGH WEB SALES."
Start with the benefit in capital letters. Make a free offer to get people to visit your Web site. Include contact information in hyper links. Make your ad 5-7 lines. Don't pitch what you are selling in the ad--this doesn't motivate.
2. SUBJECT LINE IN YOUR OUTGOING EMAIL
Make sure your headline includes a benefit for the product, the teleclass, the seminar or service you are promoting. Over 50% of outgoing messages are never opened because the subject line doesn't inspire or stimulate the audiences' curiosity.
So many professionals just put an announcement in the subject line such as "Upcoming Programs." Not specific enough, nor motivating enough to make me want to open the email.
Here's a few winners: Quadruple your Sales in 4 Months with Articles Teleclass, FREE report: Online Marketing is 10 Times More Powerful than Traditional, or for an ezine, don't just put its name in subject line, put its feature article in with a abbreviated ezine name and ....
3. FREE SPECIAL REPORTS AND ARTICLES
These 2-6 page informational, how-to pieces help promote your business Online. Send one every month or so to follow up your email group lists.
Your article title is your headline. Best titles include a benefit and audience. People want to know what's in for them before they invest their valuable time to read it. Don't lose them with a weak title. Which of these are powerful? "10 Tips to Promote your Product with Flyers." "Shorten your Journey to Business Success with Teleclasses." "Want a Web Site that Turns Lookie Loos into Buyers?"
Within the body of the piece use headlines to inspire and motive the reader to keep reading to get their questions answered. The reason they read your article is to learn how to solve their problem. Headlines organize and guide your reader to make it easy for him/her to read. With appreciation for your useful article they may click on your product or service to buy you offer in your signature file at the bottom.
Within "The BIG 3 Marketing Machine" report, this headline pulls reader action: "Leverage your Sales Through a Short Headline."
When you add zesty, power-packed headlines to anything your write or use to promote yourself and your business, you will attract your target potential buyers who evolve into buyers. Part two of this article is available; contact Judy@bookcoaching.com.
Judy Cullins ©2004 All Rights Reserved
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 155 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
Your benefit-driven headlines are your 24/7 sales team working for your while you relax your favorite way.
Without them, your ezine ads, email promotions, special reports, eBooks, book and article titles, chapter titles, ezines and print newsletters, and Web site will not pull visitor attention, trust, credibility, traffic or sales.
Headlines bring far more sales than the copy following them. Perhaps you are a skimmer too. Skimmers usually just read the headline.
How to Use Headlines
1. EZINE ADS
Many businesses write ads and place them in strategic ezines or Web sites. They lose contacts and sales because they don't use a benefit-driven headline at the top of the ad. For instance, "YOU CAN WRITE A PROFITABLE BOOK IN LESS THAN 30 DAYS! or HIGH TRAFFIC=HIGH WEB SALES."
Start with the benefit in capital letters. Make a free offer to get people to visit your Web site. Include contact information in hyper links. Make your ad 5-7 lines. Don't pitch what you are selling in the ad--this doesn't motivate.
2. SUBJECT LINE IN YOUR OUTGOING EMAIL
Make sure your headline includes a benefit for the product, the teleclass, the seminar or service you are promoting. Over 50% of outgoing messages are never opened because the subject line doesn't inspire or stimulate the audiences' curiosity.
So many professionals just put an announcement in the subject line such as "Upcoming Programs." Not specific enough, nor motivating enough to make me want to open the email.
Here's a few winners: Quadruple your Sales in 4 Months with Articles Teleclass, FREE report: Online Marketing is 10 Times More Powerful than Traditional, or for an ezine, don't just put its name in subject line, put its feature article in with a abbreviated ezine name and ....
3. FREE SPECIAL REPORTS AND ARTICLES
These 2-6 page informational, how-to pieces help promote your business Online. Send one every month or so to follow up your email group lists.
Your article title is your headline. Best titles include a benefit and audience. People want to know what's in for them before they invest their valuable time to read it. Don't lose them with a weak title. Which of these are powerful? "10 Tips to Promote your Product with Flyers." "Shorten your Journey to Business Success with Teleclasses." "Want a Web Site that Turns Lookie Loos into Buyers?"
Within the body of the piece use headlines to inspire and motive the reader to keep reading to get their questions answered. The reason they read your article is to learn how to solve their problem. Headlines organize and guide your reader to make it easy for him/her to read. With appreciation for your useful article they may click on your product or service to buy you offer in your signature file at the bottom.
Within "The BIG 3 Marketing Machine" report, this headline pulls reader action: "Leverage your Sales Through a Short Headline."
When you add zesty, power-packed headlines to anything your write or use to promote yourself and your business, you will attract your target potential buyers who evolve into buyers. Part two of this article is available; contact Judy@bookcoaching.com.
Judy Cullins ©2004 All Rights Reserved
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 155 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Top Ten Steps To Prepare Yourself for Online Marketing
Still marketing through press releases, networking groups, and talks to groups? If these ways have brought you few clients or product sales, you may now be ready for your virtual marketing machine, the Internet!
To get ready follow the following ten tips:
1. Buy an up-to-date computer with a 56k modem or more and Internet capability.
2. Open an email account. Bypass the freebies, because you need an email account from which you can send an attachment. You want to look professional. For you email address, don't use confusing letters and numbers. Use your name plus business keyword such as Judy@bookcoaching.com.
3. Educate yourself about email, the Internet, and your own computer program. Take a community college or adult school computer and Internet program at low cost or free. You'll notice many others like yourself there, eager to learn. More advanced students will help you each step of the way.
4. Hire a one-on-one low-cost computer/internet coach, who can give you individual lessons if you don't want to attend seminars. They can help you proceed successfully with your eBusiness. Call your local high schools, computer schools or colleges for computer-savvy student who will be happy to receive $8-10 an hour.
Connect with teachers, career centers, or student centers to start the ball rolling. Tell them you want an assistant. Make an ad that lists the capabilities you need. Be sure to follow up because schools are less business oriented and may not call you back.
5. Hire a computer assistant because you are not only a coach, speaker or author, you are a business! These assistants can send out emails, create appropriate folders of important contacts and email lists, send out appropriate email and keep your computer files up-to-date and organized.
Make them part of your virtual marketing machine at a very low cost. Use your assistant as much as you want to expand your success. You will look like a successful professional by adding new part-time staff. Start with 6-9 hours a week, and watch your clients and product sales grow!
6. Offer more than just one product to your potential buyers. Part of the plan is to allow automatic, ongoing sells for your lifetime, either on your Web site or other seller sites. If you plan to write a book, write a short one first. Then, expand as you can. Publishing a short book is savvy business because you start making money right away to fund your other projects. Divide and conquer. Think of chapter excerpts, articles, tips, or how-to lists you can email free to prospective buyers.
Incorporate a plan and action steps to sell other products that relate to your book. These could submit informational pieces to ePublishers so that your word gets out to thousands, even tens of thousands of people daily on the net. This untapped eager-to-buy audience awaits your service and product. For more information on this, contact your book and Internet promotion coach.
7. Include your five-to-eight line signature at the end of every email you send with a benefit or special book you want to sell. Include your name, email address, Web site address and phone number, local and 800 number. Include your business practice number one benefit and be sure to offer a free special report or ezine so you can collect those email addresses for future promoting. Make your email and web site hyperlinks to make it easy for your client to click through to where you are selling your products or service. Separate each email's end and signature with graphics such as ==== or #####.
8. Market your service, book, or products through writing short articles to submit to opt-in ezines. Use a search engine to find Web site ezines in your category or genre or send directly to the ezines. Your article must be compelling, concise and useful, so take care and edit it until it shines. Most editors and publishers want articles from 500-800 words.
These people want and need your free information for their ezines web sites. They publish with your Signature Box at the bottom.
9. Submit your articles to top Web sites to multiply sales. To market your service business or books, boost your Web site popularity to the top ten through the search engines by submitting how-to articles to sites with your category. Top site ezines get from 15,000 to 500,000 readers daily. These sites need your daily content, and they will pay you handsomely by including your key words that help your search engine position. Your Internet marketing coach is #3 now on Google and 35 others. When you submit your articles, the site also includes your URL in a hyperlink straight to your Web site or where ever you sell your products or service. In no time, you can be listed on 900+ other sites with a link back to yours.
10. Create your own inexpensive book Web site. Coaches can catapult their business with a short print or eBook. While it's possible to sell books on other publishers' or book sellers' sites, you need to look forward and eventually develop your own site. Authors without a site are like business people without email. You don't need a fancy Web site. Make your home page sizzle with dazzling ad copy, headings, and a sales letter. You will sell books and make your coaching practice a household word.
Be willing to do what it takes, such as hire an internet or book coach, to get Online savvy because this wonderful marketing machine is there for you and your business success.
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
To get ready follow the following ten tips:
1. Buy an up-to-date computer with a 56k modem or more and Internet capability.
2. Open an email account. Bypass the freebies, because you need an email account from which you can send an attachment. You want to look professional. For you email address, don't use confusing letters and numbers. Use your name plus business keyword such as Judy@bookcoaching.com.
3. Educate yourself about email, the Internet, and your own computer program. Take a community college or adult school computer and Internet program at low cost or free. You'll notice many others like yourself there, eager to learn. More advanced students will help you each step of the way.
4. Hire a one-on-one low-cost computer/internet coach, who can give you individual lessons if you don't want to attend seminars. They can help you proceed successfully with your eBusiness. Call your local high schools, computer schools or colleges for computer-savvy student who will be happy to receive $8-10 an hour.
Connect with teachers, career centers, or student centers to start the ball rolling. Tell them you want an assistant. Make an ad that lists the capabilities you need. Be sure to follow up because schools are less business oriented and may not call you back.
5. Hire a computer assistant because you are not only a coach, speaker or author, you are a business! These assistants can send out emails, create appropriate folders of important contacts and email lists, send out appropriate email and keep your computer files up-to-date and organized.
Make them part of your virtual marketing machine at a very low cost. Use your assistant as much as you want to expand your success. You will look like a successful professional by adding new part-time staff. Start with 6-9 hours a week, and watch your clients and product sales grow!
6. Offer more than just one product to your potential buyers. Part of the plan is to allow automatic, ongoing sells for your lifetime, either on your Web site or other seller sites. If you plan to write a book, write a short one first. Then, expand as you can. Publishing a short book is savvy business because you start making money right away to fund your other projects. Divide and conquer. Think of chapter excerpts, articles, tips, or how-to lists you can email free to prospective buyers.
Incorporate a plan and action steps to sell other products that relate to your book. These could submit informational pieces to ePublishers so that your word gets out to thousands, even tens of thousands of people daily on the net. This untapped eager-to-buy audience awaits your service and product. For more information on this, contact your book and Internet promotion coach.
7. Include your five-to-eight line signature at the end of every email you send with a benefit or special book you want to sell. Include your name, email address, Web site address and phone number, local and 800 number. Include your business practice number one benefit and be sure to offer a free special report or ezine so you can collect those email addresses for future promoting. Make your email and web site hyperlinks to make it easy for your client to click through to where you are selling your products or service. Separate each email's end and signature with graphics such as ==== or #####.
8. Market your service, book, or products through writing short articles to submit to opt-in ezines. Use a search engine to find Web site ezines in your category or genre or send directly to the ezines. Your article must be compelling, concise and useful, so take care and edit it until it shines. Most editors and publishers want articles from 500-800 words.
These people want and need your free information for their ezines web sites. They publish with your Signature Box at the bottom.
9. Submit your articles to top Web sites to multiply sales. To market your service business or books, boost your Web site popularity to the top ten through the search engines by submitting how-to articles to sites with your category. Top site ezines get from 15,000 to 500,000 readers daily. These sites need your daily content, and they will pay you handsomely by including your key words that help your search engine position. Your Internet marketing coach is #3 now on Google and 35 others. When you submit your articles, the site also includes your URL in a hyperlink straight to your Web site or where ever you sell your products or service. In no time, you can be listed on 900+ other sites with a link back to yours.
10. Create your own inexpensive book Web site. Coaches can catapult their business with a short print or eBook. While it's possible to sell books on other publishers' or book sellers' sites, you need to look forward and eventually develop your own site. Authors without a site are like business people without email. You don't need a fancy Web site. Make your home page sizzle with dazzling ad copy, headings, and a sales letter. You will sell books and make your coaching practice a household word.
Be willing to do what it takes, such as hire an internet or book coach, to get Online savvy because this wonderful marketing machine is there for you and your business success.
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Getting A Solid Internet Marketing Foundation
As we look at building our online businesses, many of us acknowledge, early-on, that we don't know it all. Those who don't, are almost certain to fail because they often attempt to apply techniques that simply don't work online - to their online businesses. The quickest way to online success is to model those who are already successful at what you want to do. It' s that simple.
Of all of the chores involved in building your business, marketing is usually the most critical. Poor marketing is also the reason so many businesses fail. You need to learn to properly market your business or hire someone else to do it for you. I'll give you a few recommended resources to help jumpstart your education in a minute.
A second extremely important skill that goes hand-in-hand with marketing is generating publicity. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it, it may as well not exist. If no one knows about you, then you won't make any sales!
Let's look at generating publicity first...
Publicity can take many forms, and they often overlaps what many would define as marketing. For today, I want you to focus on the most effective, and often cheapest, publicity. In fact, this great publicity is often free. What we're talking about here is publicity generated by getting the media and others talking about you and your business. We're talking about the publicity typically generated through tools such as press releases and doing media interviews.
Why is the above type of publicity so powerful? It's so powerful because people believe what others say about you MORE than they believe what you say about yourself. So when you can get magazines, newspapers, television and radio personalities, and even online ezines talking about you, those hearing this buzz believe it more and are therefore more likely to go check you out.
A second reason this type of publicity is so powerful is because you can literally generate millions of dollars in free publicity if you know what you are doing. You may not be able to afford a full-page ad in a major magazine or newspaper. However, let the right person know about your story and that same publication will be all to happy to tell the world about you... and give them your website url and/or your toll-free phone number.
Learning to get media attention is not hard. To make it even easier, I've arranged for my friend, Annie Jennings, who runs a top PR agency, to help you a little. Her site is at: http://www.anniejenningspr.com/teleseminars.htm
I gave you the above url because it is the page where she tells you of upcoming teleseminars she's hosting on various promotion and sales-related topics. These teleseminars are all free.
While at Annie's site, sign up for other goodies she offers including courses in generating press releases, creating a platform, getting on top radio shows, etc. She'll give you all types of freebies like audiotapes and coffee cups. When I first met her, and she sent me an intro package, it felt like Christmas :-)
So we'll let Annie turn you into a "media darling." Then you can focus on learning marketing. This is where most online business people should probably spend 80% of their time - not on all of the busywork that you can get someone else to do. The highest and best use of your time is probably in marketing your business, not making webpage updates, writing or even creating products. You can get freelancers to do this for you very inexpensively at places like Elance.com
Marketing is nothing more than communicating the benefits of your products or services effectively to your ideal customer. It all hinges upon effective communications, and your communications can be greatly improved if you understand how and why we interact the way we do with each other. To get a firm grasp on that topic I recommend that you read the book, "Influence, The Psychology of Persuassion," by Dr. Robert Cialdini.
You'll never be the same after you've read and digest this book. If you're like me you'll find yourself reading it over and over! You can find this book at online bookstores.
Another solid book on marketing is Jay Abraham's "Mr. X" book. This 376 page book distills several decades of the marketing know-how of Jay Abraham. The full title of the book is "Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham And Other Marketing Wizards - A No-Nonsense Guide To Great Wealth and a Personal Fortune." This book is so good that you could devote six month just to studying the one book, and you'd understand more about marketing than 95% of your competitors.
This book is marketed by the Abraham Marketing Group, but Internet marketers working with the group run specials from time to time. Just watch your email for one of these specials.
A course that I recommend that isn't just on marketing but on developing the proper mindset is by Dr. Robert Anthony. It's called "Know How To Be Rich." In order to run a really successful business, you need to properly train your mind. Many people actually need to give themselves permission to be successful. Dr. Anthony's course was a big "A-ha" for me and many of my clients. You can find it at: http://TheInternetLifestyle.com
You'll notice that none of the resources just recommended were specifically Internet-marketing-only resources. That's because internet marketing is just an offshoot of marketing, and most of the principles are the same. Most Internet marketers who are struggling, don't have a good grasp of the over-riding basic marketing principles. That's what the above resources will provide.
Two Internet marketing resources I will recommend are a private membership site I've set up, and a course on how to generate website traffic. You can find my site at: http://TheRealSecrets.com The webpage does a great job of explaining why you need to be a member :-)
Without website traffic, your website basically has the same results as a billboard on a highway that no one travels. It produces no results because no one sees it. So you do need to learn how to generate traffic. For that I recommend the very indepth, crash course offered by John Reese's Traffic Secrets. I've personally gone through the 13 CD's and DVD ROM's, and 3 manuals - TWICE.
You can check out this course at: http://TrafficSecretsByJohnReese.com It's a little expensive, but well worth it if you USE what he teaches. If you aren't going to use it, then you should save your money.
If you work your way through the above resources you'll be well on your way to building a massively successful online business. None of these resources are something you give a quick glance and then the magic happens. They all require effort. Put in the effort now and you'll have a very solid foundation upon which to build your Internet marketing business. By understand basic marketing, and then how the internet differs, you'll possess some very powerful, rarely mastered knowledge.
Copyright 2004 Willie Crawford
Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, network marketing trainer, and life-time student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple SYSTEMS. An example of such a system can be studied and duplicated at: http://ProfitMagician.com
Of all of the chores involved in building your business, marketing is usually the most critical. Poor marketing is also the reason so many businesses fail. You need to learn to properly market your business or hire someone else to do it for you. I'll give you a few recommended resources to help jumpstart your education in a minute.
A second extremely important skill that goes hand-in-hand with marketing is generating publicity. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it, it may as well not exist. If no one knows about you, then you won't make any sales!
Let's look at generating publicity first...
Publicity can take many forms, and they often overlaps what many would define as marketing. For today, I want you to focus on the most effective, and often cheapest, publicity. In fact, this great publicity is often free. What we're talking about here is publicity generated by getting the media and others talking about you and your business. We're talking about the publicity typically generated through tools such as press releases and doing media interviews.
Why is the above type of publicity so powerful? It's so powerful because people believe what others say about you MORE than they believe what you say about yourself. So when you can get magazines, newspapers, television and radio personalities, and even online ezines talking about you, those hearing this buzz believe it more and are therefore more likely to go check you out.
A second reason this type of publicity is so powerful is because you can literally generate millions of dollars in free publicity if you know what you are doing. You may not be able to afford a full-page ad in a major magazine or newspaper. However, let the right person know about your story and that same publication will be all to happy to tell the world about you... and give them your website url and/or your toll-free phone number.
Learning to get media attention is not hard. To make it even easier, I've arranged for my friend, Annie Jennings, who runs a top PR agency, to help you a little. Her site is at: http://www.anniejenningspr.com/teleseminars.htm
I gave you the above url because it is the page where she tells you of upcoming teleseminars she's hosting on various promotion and sales-related topics. These teleseminars are all free.
While at Annie's site, sign up for other goodies she offers including courses in generating press releases, creating a platform, getting on top radio shows, etc. She'll give you all types of freebies like audiotapes and coffee cups. When I first met her, and she sent me an intro package, it felt like Christmas :-)
So we'll let Annie turn you into a "media darling." Then you can focus on learning marketing. This is where most online business people should probably spend 80% of their time - not on all of the busywork that you can get someone else to do. The highest and best use of your time is probably in marketing your business, not making webpage updates, writing or even creating products. You can get freelancers to do this for you very inexpensively at places like Elance.com
Marketing is nothing more than communicating the benefits of your products or services effectively to your ideal customer. It all hinges upon effective communications, and your communications can be greatly improved if you understand how and why we interact the way we do with each other. To get a firm grasp on that topic I recommend that you read the book, "Influence, The Psychology of Persuassion," by Dr. Robert Cialdini.
You'll never be the same after you've read and digest this book. If you're like me you'll find yourself reading it over and over! You can find this book at online bookstores.
Another solid book on marketing is Jay Abraham's "Mr. X" book. This 376 page book distills several decades of the marketing know-how of Jay Abraham. The full title of the book is "Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham And Other Marketing Wizards - A No-Nonsense Guide To Great Wealth and a Personal Fortune." This book is so good that you could devote six month just to studying the one book, and you'd understand more about marketing than 95% of your competitors.
This book is marketed by the Abraham Marketing Group, but Internet marketers working with the group run specials from time to time. Just watch your email for one of these specials.
A course that I recommend that isn't just on marketing but on developing the proper mindset is by Dr. Robert Anthony. It's called "Know How To Be Rich." In order to run a really successful business, you need to properly train your mind. Many people actually need to give themselves permission to be successful. Dr. Anthony's course was a big "A-ha" for me and many of my clients. You can find it at: http://TheInternetLifestyle.com
You'll notice that none of the resources just recommended were specifically Internet-marketing-only resources. That's because internet marketing is just an offshoot of marketing, and most of the principles are the same. Most Internet marketers who are struggling, don't have a good grasp of the over-riding basic marketing principles. That's what the above resources will provide.
Two Internet marketing resources I will recommend are a private membership site I've set up, and a course on how to generate website traffic. You can find my site at: http://TheRealSecrets.com The webpage does a great job of explaining why you need to be a member :-)
Without website traffic, your website basically has the same results as a billboard on a highway that no one travels. It produces no results because no one sees it. So you do need to learn how to generate traffic. For that I recommend the very indepth, crash course offered by John Reese's Traffic Secrets. I've personally gone through the 13 CD's and DVD ROM's, and 3 manuals - TWICE.
You can check out this course at: http://TrafficSecretsByJohnReese.com It's a little expensive, but well worth it if you USE what he teaches. If you aren't going to use it, then you should save your money.
If you work your way through the above resources you'll be well on your way to building a massively successful online business. None of these resources are something you give a quick glance and then the magic happens. They all require effort. Put in the effort now and you'll have a very solid foundation upon which to build your Internet marketing business. By understand basic marketing, and then how the internet differs, you'll possess some very powerful, rarely mastered knowledge.
Copyright 2004 Willie Crawford
Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, network marketing trainer, and life-time student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple SYSTEMS. An example of such a system can be studied and duplicated at: http://ProfitMagician.com
Monday, September 21, 2009
When Internet Marketing Gurus Sell Their Souls
If you're just getting started in Internet Marketing, you may be awed by the amount of "Internet Gurus" out there, each one making millions of dollars (or so they claim) and for some reason seem more than willing, for a fee, to teach you their biggest, most intimate secrets.
Well, I believe in one thing - "If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!"
While I have no doubt about the specialized skills and techniques used by these gurus, it can get a little too frustrating simply getting tangled and lost in all their hype, and find almost no value at the end of the day. Hype - that's one thing I agree these guru's are really good at. For some of them, unfortunately, hype is the only thing they're good at.
So the question, for those who are trying to master Internet Marketing, might be:
1) Can I learn anything from these gurus without paying money?
2) Who's real and who's not?
3) Whose Internet marketing methods should I follow?
Question 1: Can I Learn Something for Free?
Most Internet guru's have opt-in newsletters on specialized subjects like website marketing, Pay-Per-Click advertising, search engine optimization or whatever specialized skill they have "mastered". Almost all of them try to convince you to subscribe to their newsletter in return for some kind of "breakthrough" report, and promise to deliver "valuable information" weekly or monthly to your email address. Sounds great...
Here's what happens 2 weeks later - You realize that the "breakthrough report" is the same old regurgitated information which you can find almost anywhere. You might also realize that the "valuable information" almost never comes without any hidden agenda. The "valuable information" usually turns out to be a soft-selling ad (sometimes even blatant advertisements) for the guru's latest products or paid seminars, or even worse, some other Internet marketer's products.
I'm not trying to shoot down any marketer here, but the irony is in their teaching. Almost all internet gurus would advice you to offer valuable, free information that benefits other people. Profits, as they say, is secondary to actually helping people and making a difference in their lives. Give before you take....what a load of BS!
How come they don't practice what they preach? Of is that how the "Internet Marketing Game" is really played? Surely, nobody minds receiving ads and promotions, as long as there is a fair deal of free information being offered.
Fortunately, not all Internet marketers are the same. There are still some jewels to be found, and they offer some great information in their newsletters, which they unselfishly offer for free, such as:
1) Vishal Rao (http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com) talks about starting and managing home based businesses.
2) Mike Cheney (http://www.magnet4web.com) talks about building an effective and efficient business web site.
3) Jill Whalen (http://www.highrankings.com) talks about Search Engine Optimization.
4) Allan Gardyne (http://www.associateprograms.com) is the authority on affiliate programs and affiliate marketing, with an award-winning newsletter.
Of course there are many more good marketers out there, and you'll have to get through several bad ones first before you get to the good ones. It is not necessary to subscribe to every Internet Marketing newsletter just to hope for nuggets of gold that may never come. Instead, give the gurus a "trial" month, and if you don't find anything of value from them, just unsubscribe from their mailing lists.
It will only be a loss to them, not you.
Question 2 : Who's Real and Who's Not?
To answer this question, you really have to "get around" the Internet a lot. Take part in Internet Marketing forums where you will definitely find topics on info-products, seminars and software offered by these gurus, and see what others are saying about them.
Forget about all those blaring testimonials that the gurus compile on their site. After visiting several guru websites, you may start to find the same faces and names, helping each other out by giving testimonials which are seldom backed by proof. Forums are where the real testimonials are.
If you find yourself browsing the Internet a lot, trying to find good value for money, then you'll need the Alexa toolbar. What this toolbar does is that it gives you an idea of the popularity of the website you're visiting. Secondly, it allows you to see who the closest competitors are, giving you more alternatives to choose from. Besides that, it also displays reviews and ratings given by others who have visited the website or used any product being sold via the website. This is where you'll find the "not so beautifully polished" opinions and testimonials.
- Alexa Toolbar : http://www.home-business-association.com/rd/alexa/
(Alexa is owned by Amazon.com. If you're concerned about installing toolbars on your computer, make sure you adjust the privacy settings accordingly)
You may also want to consider this site:
- GuruDaq : http://www.gurudaq.com
Taking on a Nasdaq-like approach, this site lists all gurus according to ratings and 'stock price'. Although I would advice you to take it more for its entertainment value than actual recommendations, perhaps this site will allow you to get a glimpse of "who's who" in Internet Marketing.
Question 3 : Whose methods should I follow?
Honestly, nobody's. At least not word-for-word of what is thought in their newsletters or ebooks. The important thing to realize is that you need to develop your own technique to be really successful. The guru's don't teach you everything, anyway. They almost always feed you the crop but keep the cream for themselves. In other words, no one really tells you the "hot money-making secrets". They only teach you their not-so-secret money making facts.
There are many places you can get reviews on internet marketing ebooks, but be warned that most will be biased in one way or another. Here's a good downloadable PDF resource on ebook reviews, distributed with the permission of the author:
- "Web Promotion Products Exposed" by Mike Cheney:
http://www.magnet4web.com/WebPromotionProductsExposed.pdf
Its really up to you to learn some tips and tricks of the trade from Internet gurus, but set out on your own course. In order to be successful in anything, you need to do your own thing. Be original in your approach, whether it's writing sales letters, doing email marketing, writing articles, pay-per-click or search engine optimization, and the world will take notice.
It is also important to realize that before you go around shopping for all kinds of "how-to" material and software, you need to get a good grip of what your business really needs. You'll need to develop a strong, specific and detailed business plan before you set out on a quest to improve your knowledge on that are critical to the success to your business. Here are some good resources for writing effective business plans:
- http://www.home-business-association.com/rd/bplans/
- http://www.bplans.com
When you know what your business truly needs, you're more likely to recognize the exact type of internet marketing method you'll need to study and master. Don't just look to someone who has sold their soul a long time ago to guide you to the path of success.
That's just wishful thinking.
About the Author
Gobala Krishnan is an internet marketer and home business owner with SFI Marketing Group. Visit his site at http://www.sfidreamteam.com to start your own Internet based home business today, and get a free kick start package, one-on-one coaching and a clear, proven system to earn a six figure income. Article reprint info available at http://pub.gobalakrishnan.com
Well, I believe in one thing - "If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!"
While I have no doubt about the specialized skills and techniques used by these gurus, it can get a little too frustrating simply getting tangled and lost in all their hype, and find almost no value at the end of the day. Hype - that's one thing I agree these guru's are really good at. For some of them, unfortunately, hype is the only thing they're good at.
So the question, for those who are trying to master Internet Marketing, might be:
1) Can I learn anything from these gurus without paying money?
2) Who's real and who's not?
3) Whose Internet marketing methods should I follow?
Question 1: Can I Learn Something for Free?
Most Internet guru's have opt-in newsletters on specialized subjects like website marketing, Pay-Per-Click advertising, search engine optimization or whatever specialized skill they have "mastered". Almost all of them try to convince you to subscribe to their newsletter in return for some kind of "breakthrough" report, and promise to deliver "valuable information" weekly or monthly to your email address. Sounds great...
Here's what happens 2 weeks later - You realize that the "breakthrough report" is the same old regurgitated information which you can find almost anywhere. You might also realize that the "valuable information" almost never comes without any hidden agenda. The "valuable information" usually turns out to be a soft-selling ad (sometimes even blatant advertisements) for the guru's latest products or paid seminars, or even worse, some other Internet marketer's products.
I'm not trying to shoot down any marketer here, but the irony is in their teaching. Almost all internet gurus would advice you to offer valuable, free information that benefits other people. Profits, as they say, is secondary to actually helping people and making a difference in their lives. Give before you take....what a load of BS!
How come they don't practice what they preach? Of is that how the "Internet Marketing Game" is really played? Surely, nobody minds receiving ads and promotions, as long as there is a fair deal of free information being offered.
Fortunately, not all Internet marketers are the same. There are still some jewels to be found, and they offer some great information in their newsletters, which they unselfishly offer for free, such as:
1) Vishal Rao (http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com) talks about starting and managing home based businesses.
2) Mike Cheney (http://www.magnet4web.com) talks about building an effective and efficient business web site.
3) Jill Whalen (http://www.highrankings.com) talks about Search Engine Optimization.
4) Allan Gardyne (http://www.associateprograms.com) is the authority on affiliate programs and affiliate marketing, with an award-winning newsletter.
Of course there are many more good marketers out there, and you'll have to get through several bad ones first before you get to the good ones. It is not necessary to subscribe to every Internet Marketing newsletter just to hope for nuggets of gold that may never come. Instead, give the gurus a "trial" month, and if you don't find anything of value from them, just unsubscribe from their mailing lists.
It will only be a loss to them, not you.
Question 2 : Who's Real and Who's Not?
To answer this question, you really have to "get around" the Internet a lot. Take part in Internet Marketing forums where you will definitely find topics on info-products, seminars and software offered by these gurus, and see what others are saying about them.
Forget about all those blaring testimonials that the gurus compile on their site. After visiting several guru websites, you may start to find the same faces and names, helping each other out by giving testimonials which are seldom backed by proof. Forums are where the real testimonials are.
If you find yourself browsing the Internet a lot, trying to find good value for money, then you'll need the Alexa toolbar. What this toolbar does is that it gives you an idea of the popularity of the website you're visiting. Secondly, it allows you to see who the closest competitors are, giving you more alternatives to choose from. Besides that, it also displays reviews and ratings given by others who have visited the website or used any product being sold via the website. This is where you'll find the "not so beautifully polished" opinions and testimonials.
- Alexa Toolbar : http://www.home-business-association.com/rd/alexa/
(Alexa is owned by Amazon.com. If you're concerned about installing toolbars on your computer, make sure you adjust the privacy settings accordingly)
You may also want to consider this site:
- GuruDaq : http://www.gurudaq.com
Taking on a Nasdaq-like approach, this site lists all gurus according to ratings and 'stock price'. Although I would advice you to take it more for its entertainment value than actual recommendations, perhaps this site will allow you to get a glimpse of "who's who" in Internet Marketing.
Question 3 : Whose methods should I follow?
Honestly, nobody's. At least not word-for-word of what is thought in their newsletters or ebooks. The important thing to realize is that you need to develop your own technique to be really successful. The guru's don't teach you everything, anyway. They almost always feed you the crop but keep the cream for themselves. In other words, no one really tells you the "hot money-making secrets". They only teach you their not-so-secret money making facts.
There are many places you can get reviews on internet marketing ebooks, but be warned that most will be biased in one way or another. Here's a good downloadable PDF resource on ebook reviews, distributed with the permission of the author:
- "Web Promotion Products Exposed" by Mike Cheney:
http://www.magnet4web.com/WebPromotionProductsExposed.pdf
Its really up to you to learn some tips and tricks of the trade from Internet gurus, but set out on your own course. In order to be successful in anything, you need to do your own thing. Be original in your approach, whether it's writing sales letters, doing email marketing, writing articles, pay-per-click or search engine optimization, and the world will take notice.
It is also important to realize that before you go around shopping for all kinds of "how-to" material and software, you need to get a good grip of what your business really needs. You'll need to develop a strong, specific and detailed business plan before you set out on a quest to improve your knowledge on that are critical to the success to your business. Here are some good resources for writing effective business plans:
- http://www.home-business-association.com/rd/bplans/
- http://www.bplans.com
When you know what your business truly needs, you're more likely to recognize the exact type of internet marketing method you'll need to study and master. Don't just look to someone who has sold their soul a long time ago to guide you to the path of success.
That's just wishful thinking.
About the Author
Gobala Krishnan is an internet marketer and home business owner with SFI Marketing Group. Visit his site at http://www.sfidreamteam.com to start your own Internet based home business today, and get a free kick start package, one-on-one coaching and a clear, proven system to earn a six figure income. Article reprint info available at http://pub.gobalakrishnan.com
How to Explode Your Database Marketing And Back-End Sales To Increase Your Bottom Line Profits
Set up multiple simultaneous marketing campaigns with database marketing automation email software that get results exploding your internet business marketing while growing multiple optin lists, prospects consistent follow, increasing Back End Sales, and bottom line profits.
When you don't follow up your prospects or customers with additional information, you are allowing valuable customers and prospects to skip from your grasp, go to your competitors, and satisfied their needs, at the expense of what should have been you're your profits.
Those are customers that may have been very interested in your products, but simply lost your information, or were too busy when your information was sent. Some customers will purposely wait to see if you find them important enough to follow-up their inquiries. When they don't receive a follow up message, they take their business elsewhere.
I don't know about you, but just about everyone doing business on the Net been in that position, because of failing to automate their follow up. Though it's been found that customer follow up at preset times with pre-written messages, dramatically increases sales.
The exception, those who automated their marketing campaigns, their list and database management, and automated their follow up with personalized email marketing software; and, they dramatically increased their back end sales and bottom line profits.
But, just as important as the increase of sales and profits, is the time saving features of marketing automation, as is the case with email marketing, the single most important aspect of database marketing and back end sales.
Other benefits of doing internet business with email marketing automation is the ability to follow up with prospects, while following through collecting leads, prospects, and customers email addresses and personal data, from a target market; growing an opt-in list of subscribers, managing multiple lists as a list server, and setting up multiple marketing campaigns with unlimited autoresponders.
Regardless of the spam problems of these days, email still remains most effective medium for:
- Keeping customers posted on new products and specials
- Ongoing personalized dialogue with website visitors
- Proactively getting customer satisfaction and testimonials
- Prospects follow up and requesting more information
- Keeping track of all contacts and email communication
- Introducing new products to your contact database
- Motivating and training your employees and associates
- Educating your customers and prospects
And the list could go on and on with no other limitation than the marketer's creativity and imagination, or the email marketing automation software he's using to automate his customers follow up. . Automated prospect follow up is the solution to selling more on the Internet, and specifically, for more back end sales. There is a wide range of email marketing automation software on the market now a days, some more sophisticated, easier to use, and more expensive than others.
To make a good selection of the wide range of available choices, there's a minimum of features you must consider. From the marketing stand point the minimum features would be: automated database management and list server for multiple list management; manage and track, import and export, contact data from-and-to its database; and multiple autoresponders for sequential follow-up.
As important, is the ability of data merge for personalized email to potential customers, prospects, newsletters subscribers, clients, colleagues, organization members, affiliate or associates, and network marketing downlines; and, automated add and remove contact data from its database.
Other than the above, the software should allow for the seamless input of prospects on the front end, and when they come out the other end, they have all the information they need to make an intelligent decision to buy, to join an affiliate program, or sign up to a Network Marketing downline.
From the technical point of view, the software should feature: the capacity to operate sending email through your regular ISP server, or through its own integrated mail server to by pass your ISP servers, and avoid using up its band width - this is a must feature if you have a list of more than 1000 contacts.
Other important technical features for the email marketing software of your choice would be, the capacity of sending email through multiple simultaneous threads (at least 10 threads), at a sending average rate of 15 emails per thread; and an email address verifier, to verify new contacts email addresses and keeping your list clean from those entering a fake email address only to download your bonus.
Finally, the email software must have the capacity to handle the entire user unknown, undeliverable, and bounce back messages. This feature is very important to keep a clean list, and avoid being filtered by the ISP's servers as Spam, because of too many undeliverable taking up their band width.
With an email marketing and database management software with all the above features, a Marketer or internet business operator you can set up, operate, and manage multiple programs, multiple marketing campaigns; and, also running multiple special offers, simultaneously and effortlessly.
For Netprenuers with an affiliate program, or into network marketing, this kind of software can help training associates, affiliates, and downlines, via email, on subjects such as distributor handbooks, marketing materials, or instructions for a quick jump start.
Finally, if you're an e-publisher, this software provide the capacity for multiple broadcasting of newsletter or ezines; as well as to automatically submit article to hundreds of ezines editors at once..
Automated email and database management automation could afford business owners and marketers the means to capitalize on the full power of the internet, by consistently following up on customers, prospects, affiliates, and downlines; and, launching multiple and simultaneous marketing campaigns, while dramatically increasing their back end sales and bottom line profits.
Email marketing automation generates interest, traffic, and sales for an online business; and, its just amazing the amount of work and time that it saves. I cannot imagine someone marketing or doing business on the internet without email marketing automation software like this.
About the Author
Dr. Charles Longsworth, Ph.D., a consultant on marketing automation systems that works, and publisher of "Automation Gazette" his official voice since 2000. For free consultation visit http://www.internet-business-automation.com/emda Subscribe at http://www.internet-business-automation.com/agsubscribe 6 gifts when you join.
When you don't follow up your prospects or customers with additional information, you are allowing valuable customers and prospects to skip from your grasp, go to your competitors, and satisfied their needs, at the expense of what should have been you're your profits.
Those are customers that may have been very interested in your products, but simply lost your information, or were too busy when your information was sent. Some customers will purposely wait to see if you find them important enough to follow-up their inquiries. When they don't receive a follow up message, they take their business elsewhere.
I don't know about you, but just about everyone doing business on the Net been in that position, because of failing to automate their follow up. Though it's been found that customer follow up at preset times with pre-written messages, dramatically increases sales.
The exception, those who automated their marketing campaigns, their list and database management, and automated their follow up with personalized email marketing software; and, they dramatically increased their back end sales and bottom line profits.
But, just as important as the increase of sales and profits, is the time saving features of marketing automation, as is the case with email marketing, the single most important aspect of database marketing and back end sales.
Other benefits of doing internet business with email marketing automation is the ability to follow up with prospects, while following through collecting leads, prospects, and customers email addresses and personal data, from a target market; growing an opt-in list of subscribers, managing multiple lists as a list server, and setting up multiple marketing campaigns with unlimited autoresponders.
Regardless of the spam problems of these days, email still remains most effective medium for:
- Keeping customers posted on new products and specials
- Ongoing personalized dialogue with website visitors
- Proactively getting customer satisfaction and testimonials
- Prospects follow up and requesting more information
- Keeping track of all contacts and email communication
- Introducing new products to your contact database
- Motivating and training your employees and associates
- Educating your customers and prospects
And the list could go on and on with no other limitation than the marketer's creativity and imagination, or the email marketing automation software he's using to automate his customers follow up. . Automated prospect follow up is the solution to selling more on the Internet, and specifically, for more back end sales. There is a wide range of email marketing automation software on the market now a days, some more sophisticated, easier to use, and more expensive than others.
To make a good selection of the wide range of available choices, there's a minimum of features you must consider. From the marketing stand point the minimum features would be: automated database management and list server for multiple list management; manage and track, import and export, contact data from-and-to its database; and multiple autoresponders for sequential follow-up.
As important, is the ability of data merge for personalized email to potential customers, prospects, newsletters subscribers, clients, colleagues, organization members, affiliate or associates, and network marketing downlines; and, automated add and remove contact data from its database.
Other than the above, the software should allow for the seamless input of prospects on the front end, and when they come out the other end, they have all the information they need to make an intelligent decision to buy, to join an affiliate program, or sign up to a Network Marketing downline.
From the technical point of view, the software should feature: the capacity to operate sending email through your regular ISP server, or through its own integrated mail server to by pass your ISP servers, and avoid using up its band width - this is a must feature if you have a list of more than 1000 contacts.
Other important technical features for the email marketing software of your choice would be, the capacity of sending email through multiple simultaneous threads (at least 10 threads), at a sending average rate of 15 emails per thread; and an email address verifier, to verify new contacts email addresses and keeping your list clean from those entering a fake email address only to download your bonus.
Finally, the email software must have the capacity to handle the entire user unknown, undeliverable, and bounce back messages. This feature is very important to keep a clean list, and avoid being filtered by the ISP's servers as Spam, because of too many undeliverable taking up their band width.
With an email marketing and database management software with all the above features, a Marketer or internet business operator you can set up, operate, and manage multiple programs, multiple marketing campaigns; and, also running multiple special offers, simultaneously and effortlessly.
For Netprenuers with an affiliate program, or into network marketing, this kind of software can help training associates, affiliates, and downlines, via email, on subjects such as distributor handbooks, marketing materials, or instructions for a quick jump start.
Finally, if you're an e-publisher, this software provide the capacity for multiple broadcasting of newsletter or ezines; as well as to automatically submit article to hundreds of ezines editors at once..
Automated email and database management automation could afford business owners and marketers the means to capitalize on the full power of the internet, by consistently following up on customers, prospects, affiliates, and downlines; and, launching multiple and simultaneous marketing campaigns, while dramatically increasing their back end sales and bottom line profits.
Email marketing automation generates interest, traffic, and sales for an online business; and, its just amazing the amount of work and time that it saves. I cannot imagine someone marketing or doing business on the internet without email marketing automation software like this.
About the Author
Dr. Charles Longsworth, Ph.D., a consultant on marketing automation systems that works, and publisher of "Automation Gazette" his official voice since 2000. For free consultation visit http://www.internet-business-automation.com/emda Subscribe at http://www.internet-business-automation.com/agsubscribe 6 gifts when you join.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Who You Trust and Who You Dont!
For the last couple weeks I have been running a 5-minute survey of marketing trends. Several hundred people have given their input.
[If you haven't taken the survey yet, do it. Your input is important and will help me know what you need to succeed in your own business: http://All-In-One-Business.com/5-minute]
It has been eye-opening.
Two of the questions dealt with who you trust and don't trust for online business information. I am amazed at what is shaping up.
I expected several people to all be pretty much equal for "who you trust," yet one person is currently getting 25% of the votes- and no one else has over 5%.
The same thing is happening on the "who you don't trust" question: While almost everyone mentioned is getting a couple votes, one person is getting 33% of the votes.
I guess those two have made their mark-either for good or bad.
[By the way, as soon as the survey is closed I will give you the names of both of them. If I mention them now, it might skew the results. You can get a full copy of the survey results by taking the survey. You will be re-directed to a page where you can sign up for the results via email. See the link above.]
Here's the application point for the rest of us:
We all are building our online reputation-either good or bad-every day. If you are working at affiliate marketing, you are building it with your web presence, your newsletter, your personal emails.
If you have your own product(s) you are also building it by the quality of the product, the timeliness of your customer service, the value of your expertise.
Everything you do is ultimately available to almost everyone else. You never know when a personal correspondence or customer service email will be posted to a forum. You never know when the person who sends you a seemingly rude email may also hold the key to your future success.
The message: Build you business through grace, integrity and diligence. I guarantee it will pay off.
I have put together a resource of "cut and paste" customer service emails for you to modify and use in your own business. Using these can not only build your positive reputation, they will also save you time. You can pick them up here:
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/customerservice
Kevin Bidwell is owner of http://www.all-in-one-business.com
Kevin just finished a complete report on building a passive income. Grab your copy here: http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/passive
[If you haven't taken the survey yet, do it. Your input is important and will help me know what you need to succeed in your own business: http://All-In-One-Business.com/5-minute]
It has been eye-opening.
Two of the questions dealt with who you trust and don't trust for online business information. I am amazed at what is shaping up.
I expected several people to all be pretty much equal for "who you trust," yet one person is currently getting 25% of the votes- and no one else has over 5%.
The same thing is happening on the "who you don't trust" question: While almost everyone mentioned is getting a couple votes, one person is getting 33% of the votes.
I guess those two have made their mark-either for good or bad.
[By the way, as soon as the survey is closed I will give you the names of both of them. If I mention them now, it might skew the results. You can get a full copy of the survey results by taking the survey. You will be re-directed to a page where you can sign up for the results via email. See the link above.]
Here's the application point for the rest of us:
We all are building our online reputation-either good or bad-every day. If you are working at affiliate marketing, you are building it with your web presence, your newsletter, your personal emails.
If you have your own product(s) you are also building it by the quality of the product, the timeliness of your customer service, the value of your expertise.
Everything you do is ultimately available to almost everyone else. You never know when a personal correspondence or customer service email will be posted to a forum. You never know when the person who sends you a seemingly rude email may also hold the key to your future success.
The message: Build you business through grace, integrity and diligence. I guarantee it will pay off.
I have put together a resource of "cut and paste" customer service emails for you to modify and use in your own business. Using these can not only build your positive reputation, they will also save you time. You can pick them up here:
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/customerservice
Kevin Bidwell is owner of http://www.all-in-one-business.com
Kevin just finished a complete report on building a passive income. Grab your copy here: http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/passive
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
How to Start an Internet Business
The first thing I must say is it's a mine field out there, and you must take time to look at what it is you are going to do in your business.
If an affiliate program is your choice then make sure that it pays down 2 levels and is well established, and pays you a good commission for your work!
There are a number of things to take into account at this point, what amount of time do you have to dedicate to your new online business! Why do I ask this question, because it's all too easy to jump at several opportunities when you only have the time to do justice to one.
Remember if you are serious about making a living online pick one opportunity and run with it, use the resources and tools listed to help you max out the best from any opportunity you join, and then when you start to get results, and you will, apply the same system for as many business opportunities or products as you like!
So where do we start, well you need to choose for example an affiliate program then we need to take it to market. Now this is where things get interesting. How do we do this! There are some things that you must have if you are going to have any success online!
These are the tools to your trade/business!
1. A sequential autoresponder, now I don't care where you get one but this is a must have for your business. So get one and work with it until your 100% happy using it. You will need this kit to build your opt in list! (Your subscriber base to your ezine)
You pre load the AR with messages or articles, set the delivery times say once a week and everybody on your list gets that message it's that simple!
If you build an opt in list of about say 3000 people then you are in a position to create an income on demand when you like! Once a month send out an email to your subscribers with your latest product or opportunity, Expect a responce of about 2% to 5%. Now if we take this at 2% that's 60 and let's say you make $20 per sale that's $1.200.00 or 60 people in your new business. If it was 5% well I'll let you do the maths but I think you get the point!
Do not underestimate the power of an autorespondar once set up correctly it's the single most powerful tool to build your online business.
2. Web site, now this is a controversial subject because you don't need a web site to build an opt in list, but you will need to have one soon to promote your product or opportunity, get a quality web host account with 500 megs of disk space and 10 gigs of monthly transfer rate.
If you don't have the skill to build your own web site, don't worry there are a number of software packages out there that do all the work, you just need to do a bit of typing and click the mouse a few times and that's it!
3. Advertising, now whether it's free or you have handed over your hard earned cash for it you must be able to track it's performance.
Just imagine you have 20 ads on the net all different how will you know what ads are working! Quite simply put, if you don't have an ad tracker you may just as well stand on the top of a tall building and throw your money off!
One more thing you might not know, and a question that I am asked more than any other "how can I build an opt in list quickly"
You need leads and plenty of them and here's the deal you buy them it's quick and easy!
By using a co-reg paid for service you can put your list building on autopilot, you will pay on average about $150.00 for 500 subscribers that will be added automatically to your autoresponder!
Just before I go there is one more thing, I recommend using a web based autoresponder so no matter what happens to your PC you will not lose your data, that data is critical to you it's your cash generator and you can access it from any PC!
An online business is not difficult to run you just need to get the basics right, and that's it your on your way to success on with your internet business.
It doesn't matter what business your in the methods are the same.
A word of warning if an opportunity sounds to good to be true, then it probably is!
Happy Hunting, and here's to your success!
Ken Smaile, Can help you to start your own online business in less than 24hr! drop by my website get your F-R-E-E subscription to my 7 day autoresponder email marketing course: how to start an internet business
If an affiliate program is your choice then make sure that it pays down 2 levels and is well established, and pays you a good commission for your work!
There are a number of things to take into account at this point, what amount of time do you have to dedicate to your new online business! Why do I ask this question, because it's all too easy to jump at several opportunities when you only have the time to do justice to one.
Remember if you are serious about making a living online pick one opportunity and run with it, use the resources and tools listed to help you max out the best from any opportunity you join, and then when you start to get results, and you will, apply the same system for as many business opportunities or products as you like!
So where do we start, well you need to choose for example an affiliate program then we need to take it to market. Now this is where things get interesting. How do we do this! There are some things that you must have if you are going to have any success online!
These are the tools to your trade/business!
1. A sequential autoresponder, now I don't care where you get one but this is a must have for your business. So get one and work with it until your 100% happy using it. You will need this kit to build your opt in list! (Your subscriber base to your ezine)
You pre load the AR with messages or articles, set the delivery times say once a week and everybody on your list gets that message it's that simple!
If you build an opt in list of about say 3000 people then you are in a position to create an income on demand when you like! Once a month send out an email to your subscribers with your latest product or opportunity, Expect a responce of about 2% to 5%. Now if we take this at 2% that's 60 and let's say you make $20 per sale that's $1.200.00 or 60 people in your new business. If it was 5% well I'll let you do the maths but I think you get the point!
Do not underestimate the power of an autorespondar once set up correctly it's the single most powerful tool to build your online business.
2. Web site, now this is a controversial subject because you don't need a web site to build an opt in list, but you will need to have one soon to promote your product or opportunity, get a quality web host account with 500 megs of disk space and 10 gigs of monthly transfer rate.
If you don't have the skill to build your own web site, don't worry there are a number of software packages out there that do all the work, you just need to do a bit of typing and click the mouse a few times and that's it!
3. Advertising, now whether it's free or you have handed over your hard earned cash for it you must be able to track it's performance.
Just imagine you have 20 ads on the net all different how will you know what ads are working! Quite simply put, if you don't have an ad tracker you may just as well stand on the top of a tall building and throw your money off!
One more thing you might not know, and a question that I am asked more than any other "how can I build an opt in list quickly"
You need leads and plenty of them and here's the deal you buy them it's quick and easy!
By using a co-reg paid for service you can put your list building on autopilot, you will pay on average about $150.00 for 500 subscribers that will be added automatically to your autoresponder!
Just before I go there is one more thing, I recommend using a web based autoresponder so no matter what happens to your PC you will not lose your data, that data is critical to you it's your cash generator and you can access it from any PC!
An online business is not difficult to run you just need to get the basics right, and that's it your on your way to success on with your internet business.
It doesn't matter what business your in the methods are the same.
A word of warning if an opportunity sounds to good to be true, then it probably is!
Happy Hunting, and here's to your success!
Ken Smaile, Can help you to start your own online business in less than 24hr! drop by my website get your F-R-E-E subscription to my 7 day autoresponder email marketing course: how to start an internet business
I Want To Be An Online Marketer!
Where do I start if I want to be an online marketer? Tough question, huh? There are lots of ways to begin your way on the bumpy journey. Just make sure you are aware that it WILL be a bumpy ride.
First things first: do a lot of research. Find out what kind of thing
appeals to you most. It could be affilate programs, mlm`s or maybe you
like the idea of selling other peoples products for a commission etc.
There are a ton of options, and 1000 times more hype. This is why it`s so important to do as much research as you can before starting out. Sure, you can go the long way round, which is how a lot of us start out, but that`s even more of a bumpy ride...hehehe
Ok, so lets say you`ve decided on where you want to start. You don`t have a product of your own, so you decide to sell other peoples information products, just as an example. Don`t make the mistake that so many people do, by trying to sell something you haven`t personally tested.
Put it this way: Who would YOU prefer to buy from? Someone who knows absolutely nothing about the product they`re selling? Or someone who has had firsthand experience with the product they`re selling? You know it`s person number 2, right?
So test the product first. Learn everything there is to know about it. If people can trust you to give an honest opinion, they`ll be back for more. Great way of getting contacts AND repeat customers.
Now you need a website. Sure, get a free site in the beginning. People might not take you real serious, but at least you get to test and play around with your site until you`re ready to pay for one. Owning your own domain name adds credibility to your site, and there are plenty cheap hosts out there, so do that as soon as you feel ready.
Make a real fast-loading splash page from which to sell the product. You don`t have long to catch a potential customers interest, so make it fast and interesting.
Don`t fill the page with a ton of waffle. Give the most important information. What can the person get from using the product? Why is the product exactly what the person needs? What is the price etc. Give people a way to pay immediately, in case they REALLY like what they see, there and then.
If you have a LOT of information, give them a link to a "more info" page, maybe with pics and payment options. Get a small popup where people can sign up for your contact list for notices on future products. Give them a freebie in exchange for their name and email address.
Oh look, you`ve suddenly built yourself a contact list! No "leads" to buy from uncertain sources, no "harvesting" email addresses, no bugging friends and family. You did it! Now you need to keep in touch with your contacts.
Why not send them a mail asking for a little more info. Maybe a poll on what type of things they`re most interested in? If you know what your contacts are looking for, then you have something to work with. You can find whatever they need, test it out, and when you`re happy with it, say "Hey, I found something I think you may like!"
Narrow your focus. Don`t try to be "everything" to "everyone", you`ll just end up spreading yourself out way too thin. Find what works for you, what excites you, and work from there. Yes, I said "excites". We all need a bit of excitement in life, right? So why not work with something you`re excited about? If and when it stops working for you, drop it and move on.
Remember, you can do this with all kindsa programs, not just information products. It all depends on what appeals to you most. Just give it a reasonable amount of time, and stick with it. If it DOESN`T work, then hey, you`ll have learnt some things on the way, and you`ll be more ready to carry on to the next thing. Don`t give up, be determined and disciplined,and you will find the way.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-Resource Box-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-
Avoid scams, shams and spam with Not Just Another Ezine!
Full of free downloads, ebooks and information to maximize
your time online. Subscribe free! http://annamarketing.com
admin@annamarketing.com subject=subscribe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine,
web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes
to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.
(c) 2002 - 2004 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved
First things first: do a lot of research. Find out what kind of thing
appeals to you most. It could be affilate programs, mlm`s or maybe you
like the idea of selling other peoples products for a commission etc.
There are a ton of options, and 1000 times more hype. This is why it`s so important to do as much research as you can before starting out. Sure, you can go the long way round, which is how a lot of us start out, but that`s even more of a bumpy ride...hehehe
Ok, so lets say you`ve decided on where you want to start. You don`t have a product of your own, so you decide to sell other peoples information products, just as an example. Don`t make the mistake that so many people do, by trying to sell something you haven`t personally tested.
Put it this way: Who would YOU prefer to buy from? Someone who knows absolutely nothing about the product they`re selling? Or someone who has had firsthand experience with the product they`re selling? You know it`s person number 2, right?
So test the product first. Learn everything there is to know about it. If people can trust you to give an honest opinion, they`ll be back for more. Great way of getting contacts AND repeat customers.
Now you need a website. Sure, get a free site in the beginning. People might not take you real serious, but at least you get to test and play around with your site until you`re ready to pay for one. Owning your own domain name adds credibility to your site, and there are plenty cheap hosts out there, so do that as soon as you feel ready.
Make a real fast-loading splash page from which to sell the product. You don`t have long to catch a potential customers interest, so make it fast and interesting.
Don`t fill the page with a ton of waffle. Give the most important information. What can the person get from using the product? Why is the product exactly what the person needs? What is the price etc. Give people a way to pay immediately, in case they REALLY like what they see, there and then.
If you have a LOT of information, give them a link to a "more info" page, maybe with pics and payment options. Get a small popup where people can sign up for your contact list for notices on future products. Give them a freebie in exchange for their name and email address.
Oh look, you`ve suddenly built yourself a contact list! No "leads" to buy from uncertain sources, no "harvesting" email addresses, no bugging friends and family. You did it! Now you need to keep in touch with your contacts.
Why not send them a mail asking for a little more info. Maybe a poll on what type of things they`re most interested in? If you know what your contacts are looking for, then you have something to work with. You can find whatever they need, test it out, and when you`re happy with it, say "Hey, I found something I think you may like!"
Narrow your focus. Don`t try to be "everything" to "everyone", you`ll just end up spreading yourself out way too thin. Find what works for you, what excites you, and work from there. Yes, I said "excites". We all need a bit of excitement in life, right? So why not work with something you`re excited about? If and when it stops working for you, drop it and move on.
Remember, you can do this with all kindsa programs, not just information products. It all depends on what appeals to you most. Just give it a reasonable amount of time, and stick with it. If it DOESN`T work, then hey, you`ll have learnt some things on the way, and you`ll be more ready to carry on to the next thing. Don`t give up, be determined and disciplined,and you will find the way.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-Resource Box-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-
Avoid scams, shams and spam with Not Just Another Ezine!
Full of free downloads, ebooks and information to maximize
your time online. Subscribe free! http://annamarketing.com
admin@annamarketing.com subject=subscribe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine,
web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes
to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.
(c) 2002 - 2004 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Outsourcing Your Web Marketing
The online world is constantly evolving. You may be thinking about outsourcing your Web promotion to an expert who is immersed in this world as their fulltime occupation, rather than trying to acquire this knowledge yourself, and cope with the pace of change in-house.
So, what should you look for in a consultant, and what guarantees can you expect?
Choosing The Consultant
The consultant should ask a lot of questions about your business and your objectives. They need to be very clear about the specific goals of your site. Do you want as many visitors as possible (as in: "We get millions of hits on our Web site"), or are you more interested in attracting qualified leads? Are you selling products? Are you looking for new customers, sign-ups for your newsletter or events, media coverage, etc.
It's possible that there could be different markets for each of your objectives. The consultant should show that they clearly understand the demographics of the audience you want to attract. This includes whether your markets are currently online, whether they are comfortable using e-mail, etc. It's also important to clarify any restrictions on your marketing - for example, if you're only targeting specific locations.
The key to effective Web marketing is to have a comprehensive, integrated plan that focuses on where your markets "hang out" online. It's absolutely not enough to concentrate your efforts on search engines - that's a passive rather than an active approach. You want to reach out to your potential visitors, not wait for them to come to you. And, you want to ensure that your offline marketing includes your Web site - up to a third of your traffic can now come from real-world sources.
So, the consultant should propose to you a wide-ranging plan (assuming that's appropriate for your goals) that includes:
* Search engine strategies
* Paid (bid for placement) listings
* Review sites and directories
* Linking with other appropriate sites
* Advertising / e-zine sponsorships (depending on your budget)
* Online public relations opportunities
* Integration with your real-world marketing
Effective Web marketing must also include an e-mail strategy. The consultant should include in their proposal some ideas for targeted, personalized (and fully opt-in) e-mail that is compliant with all State and Federal laws. This requires a contact database that you can use to select out the different audiences that you might have for these messages. The consultant should also be able to help you create this, if required.
And finally, the consultant should explain how they propose to evaluate the success of any marketing campaign against your goals and objectives. Marketing is an ongoing process, during which you'll learn a lot about your site and about your visitors. This knowledge should be analyzed and used to tweak your site and refine your business strategies. A good consultant will be able to work with you to achieve this.
What Guarantees Can You Expect?
Let's be very clear - there is a distinction, which often gets blurred, between sales and marketing. The job of a marketing consultant is to bring qualified traffic to your site (or in other words, into your storefront). Completing the sale is then a separate challenge.
Marketing is also a very gray area, in which it's difficult to provide cast-iron guarantees of results. This is particularly true in the area of search engine optimization, since the search engines are so unpredictable. In my opinion, if a consultant promises you "top ten placement" you should be very wary - it's possible that they are using tactics that could be classified as spam - soon if not now.
And that can really hurt you - I have a colleague who was banned from Google because he hired "experts" who used this type of approach.
Obviously you do want to check that the consultant has a good track record, and that they can provide references from other clients. I believe that good Web knowledge and proven online marketing tactics are as important as an in-depth familiarity with your industry.
In setting your contract with the consultant, it's important to have a mutual comfort level with your goals, expectations and budget. There are many opportunities for free promotion online, but if you're prepared to spend some money, you can potentially build your traffic faster. Since building awareness of a site takes time, perhaps a minimum six-month period would be advisable, but with appropriate get-out clauses for both parties.
Conclusion
Good Web marketing is a team effort! Hire a consultant who you feel very comfortable with, who asks lots of questions to really understand your business and your goals, and who seems genuinely interested in promoting you. But then be prepared to work with them - respect and consider their suggestions, and allow them to be creative in their approach.
© Philippa Gamse, 2003. All rights reserved.
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is a Web strategy consultant and professional speaker. Check out her free tipsheet for 23 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317.
So, what should you look for in a consultant, and what guarantees can you expect?
Choosing The Consultant
The consultant should ask a lot of questions about your business and your objectives. They need to be very clear about the specific goals of your site. Do you want as many visitors as possible (as in: "We get millions of hits on our Web site"), or are you more interested in attracting qualified leads? Are you selling products? Are you looking for new customers, sign-ups for your newsletter or events, media coverage, etc.
It's possible that there could be different markets for each of your objectives. The consultant should show that they clearly understand the demographics of the audience you want to attract. This includes whether your markets are currently online, whether they are comfortable using e-mail, etc. It's also important to clarify any restrictions on your marketing - for example, if you're only targeting specific locations.
The key to effective Web marketing is to have a comprehensive, integrated plan that focuses on where your markets "hang out" online. It's absolutely not enough to concentrate your efforts on search engines - that's a passive rather than an active approach. You want to reach out to your potential visitors, not wait for them to come to you. And, you want to ensure that your offline marketing includes your Web site - up to a third of your traffic can now come from real-world sources.
So, the consultant should propose to you a wide-ranging plan (assuming that's appropriate for your goals) that includes:
* Search engine strategies
* Paid (bid for placement) listings
* Review sites and directories
* Linking with other appropriate sites
* Advertising / e-zine sponsorships (depending on your budget)
* Online public relations opportunities
* Integration with your real-world marketing
Effective Web marketing must also include an e-mail strategy. The consultant should include in their proposal some ideas for targeted, personalized (and fully opt-in) e-mail that is compliant with all State and Federal laws. This requires a contact database that you can use to select out the different audiences that you might have for these messages. The consultant should also be able to help you create this, if required.
And finally, the consultant should explain how they propose to evaluate the success of any marketing campaign against your goals and objectives. Marketing is an ongoing process, during which you'll learn a lot about your site and about your visitors. This knowledge should be analyzed and used to tweak your site and refine your business strategies. A good consultant will be able to work with you to achieve this.
What Guarantees Can You Expect?
Let's be very clear - there is a distinction, which often gets blurred, between sales and marketing. The job of a marketing consultant is to bring qualified traffic to your site (or in other words, into your storefront). Completing the sale is then a separate challenge.
Marketing is also a very gray area, in which it's difficult to provide cast-iron guarantees of results. This is particularly true in the area of search engine optimization, since the search engines are so unpredictable. In my opinion, if a consultant promises you "top ten placement" you should be very wary - it's possible that they are using tactics that could be classified as spam - soon if not now.
And that can really hurt you - I have a colleague who was banned from Google because he hired "experts" who used this type of approach.
Obviously you do want to check that the consultant has a good track record, and that they can provide references from other clients. I believe that good Web knowledge and proven online marketing tactics are as important as an in-depth familiarity with your industry.
In setting your contract with the consultant, it's important to have a mutual comfort level with your goals, expectations and budget. There are many opportunities for free promotion online, but if you're prepared to spend some money, you can potentially build your traffic faster. Since building awareness of a site takes time, perhaps a minimum six-month period would be advisable, but with appropriate get-out clauses for both parties.
Conclusion
Good Web marketing is a team effort! Hire a consultant who you feel very comfortable with, who asks lots of questions to really understand your business and your goals, and who seems genuinely interested in promoting you. But then be prepared to work with them - respect and consider their suggestions, and allow them to be creative in their approach.
© Philippa Gamse, 2003. All rights reserved.
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is a Web strategy consultant and professional speaker. Check out her free tipsheet for 23 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317.
5 Things Every Internet Marketer Must Learn From Mail Order To Increase Their Profits Now!
Understanding that the Internet is another vehicle for direct response marketing can potentially make you rich!
It's true. Not many people actually 'get it'.
Information marketing has much in common with the 'old school' mail order business. In fact, many of the practices you see online today such as two page direct sales mini-sites, mailing lists and unique products, come directly from the mail order model.
Every Internet Marketer would benefit from studying the mail order industry. The basic marketing principles and practices employed by the industry translate naturally to the online environment.
The five core priorities of successful mail order companies parallel those of the online marketer. They are: demographics, targeting, testing and tracking, up-selling and customer follow up. If you aren't focused on these key areas yet, read on to discover why should be, and what it will mean for your bottom line.
Direct Response Lesson #1: Demographics
Demographic information provides an in depth profile of your potential customer. There are two ways to acquire demographic information, and two separate motives for each method.
You can:
? Acquire data from consumer data mining companies such as MarketShare Online ? Acquire data from your existing customer base
The preferred source depends on your product development process and your current resources. Professionally gathered data allows you to survey the market and create highly targeted products. Rather than searching through keyword lists for potential niches, you can use demographic data to target specific classes of consumers based on their spending habits and disposable income. Your marketing strategy becomes much clearer with this data in hand. It allows you advance insight into your customer's interests, pricing points and mindset. Now, you have a baseline against which to test the effectiveness of your sales message.
You should also acquire as much demographic data as possible from your existing customer base and mailing list. Even when you possess the resources to pay for this information you should still query your own customers.
Why?
Quite simply, you need to compare the profile of your existing customer base against your expected customer base. For example, if you sell a high-priced information product targeted towards small business owners, yet find that 50% of your list is composed of non-qualified tire-kickers, something is off with either your sales copy, your targeting or both.
Direct Response Lesson #2: Targeting
Here is a rule of thumb for you to memorize: interest and need alone are not enough to generate a sale. This is a controversial statement, I know. Ask yourself the following question, though: how often have you found yourself interested in a product yet not purchased it? How often have you needed a product, yet not been able to afford it?
The truth is that, in either case, despite your interest and your need, you were only marginally targeted when the offer was presented to you.
This subtle case points to the synergy between demographics and targeting. This is why mail order companies go to such great effort to acquire detailed information on the marketplace. Whether you send 100, 000 pieces of mail or pay for 100,000 visitors to your web site, the goal is the same: put the offer in front of the right people, at the right time. If you put the right offer in front of the right person at the wrong time, it's the same as no offer at all. It is untargeted.
Direct Response Lesson #3: Testing and Tracking
You absolutely must test and track everything you do. You must track your pay-per-click campaigns, your newsletter mailings and the paths taken by visitors to your web site. You must test your ad copy and your product pricing.
The testing and tracking phase of a marketing campaign marks the proving ground between demographics and targeting. Once you've acquired the data on your potential customer's behavior, you must track their actual behavior to find out if it matches the expected results.
Until you do this, you are really only guessing at what works. Every mail order company places a tracking code on their post cards. This allows them to zero in on the exact location, age, income, race and marital status of responsive customers. When you first launch a product online, however, you are essentially blind to this information until you start tracking. As you gather your data, however, you will discover which search engines and which newsletters pull the best. Over time, you will be able to match this up with deeper demographic data collected from your list and discover, at the very least, the age and income of your customers and which search engines they prefer.
Can you imagine knowing that men between the ages of 24-34, for example, prefer Google, or that stay at home mothers prefer Yahoo? This type of data is priceless because it directs your targeting up front. This is the exact goldmine which awaits you when you devote careful attention to testing and tracking your campaigns.
Direct Response Lesson #4: Create Robust Order Forms for the Up-Sell
Your order form can pull more profit through impulse purchases than you realize. Many internet marketers seem to believe that one product should lead to one simple order form. This is probably due to so many of us being self-taught. We copy what we've seen.
Have you ever stopped to examine a mail-in coupon or catalog form? Even when the offer ultimately focuses on one major product, the form still includes an up-sell and sometimes even a counter-offer.
For example:
"Yes! I'd like to order the Incredible Bikini Wax System for $49.95 today! Also, please include my 14 ounce bottle of Instant Soothing Moisturizer, a perfect complement to the Incredible Bikini Wax System and a steal at only $9.99" (Up-Sell)
"Yes, I'd like to subscribe to Golfing Today! Instead of the incredible offer of 12 issues for $14.99, I'd like to receive a full 52 issues a year for $29.95" ( counter-offer)
The reason for doing this, of course, is that the customer is already interested and already in a buying mindset. You've done all the hard work to lead him to your site and you've enticed him with your sales letter. He's on the order form with credit card in hand. Why not use this moment to make a complementary offer? You can up-sell a related product of your own or that of one of your joint venture partners for a profit split.
There's really no harm in making the offer. The customer will either take you up on it or he won't. The important point here is that a robust order form, with additional offers, helps you squeeze out extra profit and cuts down the work of luring that customer back in the future to make additional purchases.
Direct Response Lesson #5: Post Sale Follow Up
What happens to your customer after the sale? Take a page from the book of mail order secrets and follow up with that customer! If you've ever purchased anything through a catalog, you know what happens. You end up on their mailing list and continue to receive catalogs and other offers in the mail.
In fact, you may receive so much mail from that one company that you become irritated! While I don't recommend going overboard with your mailings, I do recommend moving your customers to an announcement list or newsletter.
You don't want a one time shot with that individual. Rather, you want to build a lasting relationship. Your follow up process should be designed with several goals in mind:
? Keeping your name and brand in front of the customer ? To build trust and credibility by sharing supporting material that adds value to the product ? To maintain contact so that you can make additional offers in the future
Customer follow up is so important it can't be stressed enough. There is a rule which states that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers. In other words, if someone purchases from you once, they are likely to purchase from you again provided you take appropriate action and keep them connected to you.
Remember that your customers are human and may go through a variety of emotions after making a purchase.
They may experience buyer's remorse. They may feel nervous about sharing their credit card information with you and then never hearing from you again. They may absolutely love you and your product and want to reach out for more information. You must tend to each of these variables in order to gain the customer's trust and appreciation, so follow up!
What will you do with the five lessons presented to you in this article? You have before you a nearly complete outline of a profitable business system for online marketing. Take these principles to hear and put them into practice. Know your market. Speak to your market. Connect to your market. I guarantee your profits will soar.
Copyright 2004 Jo Han Mok
Jo Han Mok is a frequent guest and featured speaker at Internet Marketing bootcamps and conferences on subjects such as copywriting and Joint Venture Marketing. Visit his website to get a simple step-by-step plan that can take you from ground zero to having money deposited in your bank account from an online business every single day for the rest of your life! ==> http://www.SuperFastProfit.com
It's true. Not many people actually 'get it'.
Information marketing has much in common with the 'old school' mail order business. In fact, many of the practices you see online today such as two page direct sales mini-sites, mailing lists and unique products, come directly from the mail order model.
Every Internet Marketer would benefit from studying the mail order industry. The basic marketing principles and practices employed by the industry translate naturally to the online environment.
The five core priorities of successful mail order companies parallel those of the online marketer. They are: demographics, targeting, testing and tracking, up-selling and customer follow up. If you aren't focused on these key areas yet, read on to discover why should be, and what it will mean for your bottom line.
Direct Response Lesson #1: Demographics
Demographic information provides an in depth profile of your potential customer. There are two ways to acquire demographic information, and two separate motives for each method.
You can:
? Acquire data from consumer data mining companies such as MarketShare Online ? Acquire data from your existing customer base
The preferred source depends on your product development process and your current resources. Professionally gathered data allows you to survey the market and create highly targeted products. Rather than searching through keyword lists for potential niches, you can use demographic data to target specific classes of consumers based on their spending habits and disposable income. Your marketing strategy becomes much clearer with this data in hand. It allows you advance insight into your customer's interests, pricing points and mindset. Now, you have a baseline against which to test the effectiveness of your sales message.
You should also acquire as much demographic data as possible from your existing customer base and mailing list. Even when you possess the resources to pay for this information you should still query your own customers.
Why?
Quite simply, you need to compare the profile of your existing customer base against your expected customer base. For example, if you sell a high-priced information product targeted towards small business owners, yet find that 50% of your list is composed of non-qualified tire-kickers, something is off with either your sales copy, your targeting or both.
Direct Response Lesson #2: Targeting
Here is a rule of thumb for you to memorize: interest and need alone are not enough to generate a sale. This is a controversial statement, I know. Ask yourself the following question, though: how often have you found yourself interested in a product yet not purchased it? How often have you needed a product, yet not been able to afford it?
The truth is that, in either case, despite your interest and your need, you were only marginally targeted when the offer was presented to you.
This subtle case points to the synergy between demographics and targeting. This is why mail order companies go to such great effort to acquire detailed information on the marketplace. Whether you send 100, 000 pieces of mail or pay for 100,000 visitors to your web site, the goal is the same: put the offer in front of the right people, at the right time. If you put the right offer in front of the right person at the wrong time, it's the same as no offer at all. It is untargeted.
Direct Response Lesson #3: Testing and Tracking
You absolutely must test and track everything you do. You must track your pay-per-click campaigns, your newsletter mailings and the paths taken by visitors to your web site. You must test your ad copy and your product pricing.
The testing and tracking phase of a marketing campaign marks the proving ground between demographics and targeting. Once you've acquired the data on your potential customer's behavior, you must track their actual behavior to find out if it matches the expected results.
Until you do this, you are really only guessing at what works. Every mail order company places a tracking code on their post cards. This allows them to zero in on the exact location, age, income, race and marital status of responsive customers. When you first launch a product online, however, you are essentially blind to this information until you start tracking. As you gather your data, however, you will discover which search engines and which newsletters pull the best. Over time, you will be able to match this up with deeper demographic data collected from your list and discover, at the very least, the age and income of your customers and which search engines they prefer.
Can you imagine knowing that men between the ages of 24-34, for example, prefer Google, or that stay at home mothers prefer Yahoo? This type of data is priceless because it directs your targeting up front. This is the exact goldmine which awaits you when you devote careful attention to testing and tracking your campaigns.
Direct Response Lesson #4: Create Robust Order Forms for the Up-Sell
Your order form can pull more profit through impulse purchases than you realize. Many internet marketers seem to believe that one product should lead to one simple order form. This is probably due to so many of us being self-taught. We copy what we've seen.
Have you ever stopped to examine a mail-in coupon or catalog form? Even when the offer ultimately focuses on one major product, the form still includes an up-sell and sometimes even a counter-offer.
For example:
"Yes! I'd like to order the Incredible Bikini Wax System for $49.95 today! Also, please include my 14 ounce bottle of Instant Soothing Moisturizer, a perfect complement to the Incredible Bikini Wax System and a steal at only $9.99" (Up-Sell)
"Yes, I'd like to subscribe to Golfing Today! Instead of the incredible offer of 12 issues for $14.99, I'd like to receive a full 52 issues a year for $29.95" ( counter-offer)
The reason for doing this, of course, is that the customer is already interested and already in a buying mindset. You've done all the hard work to lead him to your site and you've enticed him with your sales letter. He's on the order form with credit card in hand. Why not use this moment to make a complementary offer? You can up-sell a related product of your own or that of one of your joint venture partners for a profit split.
There's really no harm in making the offer. The customer will either take you up on it or he won't. The important point here is that a robust order form, with additional offers, helps you squeeze out extra profit and cuts down the work of luring that customer back in the future to make additional purchases.
Direct Response Lesson #5: Post Sale Follow Up
What happens to your customer after the sale? Take a page from the book of mail order secrets and follow up with that customer! If you've ever purchased anything through a catalog, you know what happens. You end up on their mailing list and continue to receive catalogs and other offers in the mail.
In fact, you may receive so much mail from that one company that you become irritated! While I don't recommend going overboard with your mailings, I do recommend moving your customers to an announcement list or newsletter.
You don't want a one time shot with that individual. Rather, you want to build a lasting relationship. Your follow up process should be designed with several goals in mind:
? Keeping your name and brand in front of the customer ? To build trust and credibility by sharing supporting material that adds value to the product ? To maintain contact so that you can make additional offers in the future
Customer follow up is so important it can't be stressed enough. There is a rule which states that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers. In other words, if someone purchases from you once, they are likely to purchase from you again provided you take appropriate action and keep them connected to you.
Remember that your customers are human and may go through a variety of emotions after making a purchase.
They may experience buyer's remorse. They may feel nervous about sharing their credit card information with you and then never hearing from you again. They may absolutely love you and your product and want to reach out for more information. You must tend to each of these variables in order to gain the customer's trust and appreciation, so follow up!
What will you do with the five lessons presented to you in this article? You have before you a nearly complete outline of a profitable business system for online marketing. Take these principles to hear and put them into practice. Know your market. Speak to your market. Connect to your market. I guarantee your profits will soar.
Copyright 2004 Jo Han Mok
Jo Han Mok is a frequent guest and featured speaker at Internet Marketing bootcamps and conferences on subjects such as copywriting and Joint Venture Marketing. Visit his website to get a simple step-by-step plan that can take you from ground zero to having money deposited in your bank account from an online business every single day for the rest of your life! ==> http://www.SuperFastProfit.com
Monday, September 14, 2009
Advantages Disadvantages Of Internet Marketing: The Good The Bad And The Ugly
The Advantages Disadvantages Of Internet Marketing are many.
A few Advantages Disadvantages Of Internet Marketing are:
* It's on the internet so it's low cost
* Very fast
* And you can reach a global audience
However it:
* Can leave the businessman feeling isolated
* Hard to tell if people are lying because you can't see their face
* And you can be overloaded with information.
There are more Advantages Disadvantages Of Internet Marketing, but I wont cover them all in one article. However I will focus on a few important ones.
Positives:
Low cost:
The internet is made up of electrons, so there is not really anything physically to grab hold of like in a brick and mortar business. This considerably reduces your costs as you don't really need many materials or buildings. Just a computer with world wide web capabilities : )
Very fast:
A great advertisement I saw once said "If you were an electron, you would be there by now". This was an ad at an airport. It's referring to the internet. It's made up of electrons so it's VERY fast. Click a link, and you could be looking at an Australian website, click another one and you could be in America. If you wanted to get information any other way from these countries, you may end up having to go there.The world wide web eliminates the need for this. Go any where you want with the click of a button.
You can reach a global audience:
By this I mean, you don't have to set up shop somewhere and sell to the locals. You can set up an online shop, and sell to anyone in the world. This means a huge increase in potential revenues and a fraction of the cost it would take for you to set up shops all over the world.
Negatives:
Can leave the businessman feeling isolated:
This is very common. Because the world wide web is faceless (In most cases), it can appear cold and inhuman. This can leave you feeling isolated and very inward. Not a nice feeling at all. Everyone likes to socialize and meet people, but in this case, its quite difficult to, in business anyway.
Hard to tell if people are lying:
There is so much information on the world wide web now, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between crap and quality. A lot of the crap is targeted at newbies. Here's an example "Make money fast by doing NOTHING", sound familiar? I bet you've had a ton of emails saying something similar.
Information Overload:
Once again we get to the part of there being a lot of information on the world wide web. There can be too much good information too. There can be a lot of competition for an industry, this can leave you more confused than if there were presented with loads of crap. You might not be able to tell who to chose. If you are a veteran of the net, you wont have much to worry about, however if you're a newbie then this is a problem.
The above are the positive and the negatives. Overall, I would definitely say that if you can do business online, then definitely do it.
By Stephen Warren, the creator of http://www.marketershandbook.com, the completely FREE guide to marketing online, with useful articles and links.
A few Advantages Disadvantages Of Internet Marketing are:
* It's on the internet so it's low cost
* Very fast
* And you can reach a global audience
However it:
* Can leave the businessman feeling isolated
* Hard to tell if people are lying because you can't see their face
* And you can be overloaded with information.
There are more Advantages Disadvantages Of Internet Marketing, but I wont cover them all in one article. However I will focus on a few important ones.
Positives:
Low cost:
The internet is made up of electrons, so there is not really anything physically to grab hold of like in a brick and mortar business. This considerably reduces your costs as you don't really need many materials or buildings. Just a computer with world wide web capabilities : )
Very fast:
A great advertisement I saw once said "If you were an electron, you would be there by now". This was an ad at an airport. It's referring to the internet. It's made up of electrons so it's VERY fast. Click a link, and you could be looking at an Australian website, click another one and you could be in America. If you wanted to get information any other way from these countries, you may end up having to go there.The world wide web eliminates the need for this. Go any where you want with the click of a button.
You can reach a global audience:
By this I mean, you don't have to set up shop somewhere and sell to the locals. You can set up an online shop, and sell to anyone in the world. This means a huge increase in potential revenues and a fraction of the cost it would take for you to set up shops all over the world.
Negatives:
Can leave the businessman feeling isolated:
This is very common. Because the world wide web is faceless (In most cases), it can appear cold and inhuman. This can leave you feeling isolated and very inward. Not a nice feeling at all. Everyone likes to socialize and meet people, but in this case, its quite difficult to, in business anyway.
Hard to tell if people are lying:
There is so much information on the world wide web now, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between crap and quality. A lot of the crap is targeted at newbies. Here's an example "Make money fast by doing NOTHING", sound familiar? I bet you've had a ton of emails saying something similar.
Information Overload:
Once again we get to the part of there being a lot of information on the world wide web. There can be too much good information too. There can be a lot of competition for an industry, this can leave you more confused than if there were presented with loads of crap. You might not be able to tell who to chose. If you are a veteran of the net, you wont have much to worry about, however if you're a newbie then this is a problem.
The above are the positive and the negatives. Overall, I would definitely say that if you can do business online, then definitely do it.
By Stephen Warren, the creator of http://www.marketershandbook.com, the completely FREE guide to marketing online, with useful articles and links.
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