A Guide To Emarketing

Writen by J. E. Burke

E-marketing has become a popular tool for small business owners to promote their products and get the word out about what they have to sell. It is a very important area that should not be overlooked when you are trying to market your business.

E-marketing or electronic marketing can take place in many forms. In the most well known definition, it involves the use of the television, the Internet, and other online marketing tools to spread the word about what you have to offer.

To be successful with E-marketing you should have already thought of some idea of who your targeted demographic will be. If your product is a type of cleaning product, you can target wives and mothers. If you product is sports-related, young men in the university and college years are a good target. Finding the right group of people to promote to is key to becoming successful.

Another suggestion for using the Internet for marketing purposes is to use all of the marketing tools available to you. Many people make use of opt-in lists through which they request contact information up front, that in the end allows them to build up a list of people they can market to. Additionally, this list can be used to market via your regular newsletter and sales letters. Marketing using an e-zine, or electronic magazine alone can be very profitable. This is a great way to keep in touch with people about product updates or new similar products that you might be selling.

If you have reached this point and still not convinced that E-marketing is what you need for your business, consider this fact. This type of marketing is much better for any business because it allows you to reach a lot more people with little expense to you.

There are people that can be hired to help with your marketing campaigns, but if you were to try to reach the same number of people offline, your costs will increase dramatically. Just by sending newsletters or ezines, or a message to an email account, you are able to globally spread the word about what you have to offer.

If you have not done so already, start planning your first or next E-marketing campaign today. There are many resources online to help you get started. Why not start now?

Dr. J. Elisha Burke
Burke Publications
Copyright 2005 Burke Publications All Rights Reserved

Dr. J. Elisha Burke, an educator and entrepreneur, has been involved in various business enterprises via Burke Publications. He is an educator, writer and motivational speaker on a variety of topics. Many resources to get your business from idea to profit can be found at Burke Publications websites: http://burkepublications.com or http://news.burkepublications.com

Using Keywords To Optimize Your Press Releases And The Secret That Will Get Your Business Noticed

Writen by John Bowie

Writing for machines may seem a strange way to proceed with the preparation of a press release – but it is one component to writing a successful press release that can result in a massive PR-payoff.

There are certain basics that anyone wanting to achieve high search engine rankings need to fulfil. But there is also one secret component that many search engine optimizers forget when preparing their releases – of which, more later.

First, let's consider what you must do to optimize your news release? The answer is two words: Key Words.

Key words are the essential words that your clients or customers will use to find you – or your competitor. They are the search terms, the words that describe the product or service you offer. They are also something else: Gold in the right hands.

Let's say the media are looking for your business. What is the word or search term they would use? Ask yourself (and your staff, friends and customers) what they use to find a product or service like yours. Do they search under your brand, or your service/product type, or generically in some manner? Do they search using geographical factors?

Are these issues that you have seriously considered? Have you tried to 'break down' your business into a few, critical key words?

There are a number of useful tools available that can help your search – Google search terms, Overture's search tool, Wordtracker and others – but you can simply search the major search engines to find what words surfers are using to find your business.

Then work out what others, like the media, would use to find your business. It may be a different set of words or word. For instance, your business in auto repairs might use that term by customers, but media interest may be more focused on a search term like 'auto repair service provider' or 'auto services'. You need to check and find out the key words that your target audience is using to find you.

Once you've located the 'gold', you need to mine it. You need to use those words in your company reports, company statements, announcements and – of course – press releases. Focus just on a few key words so as to not lose the momentum and impact that they create. But use them in your content and, where possible, hotlink them to your content.

When search engine "spiders" hunt for text items and key words they particularly like links to the words you have used, rather than to something that could mean anything – such as a generalized link to an information service.

There's lots more to this, but the first step for anyone writing for search engines is to hunt down those key words. And mine them.

And the secret? Well, it's like this. Writing using key words is writing for the search engine spiders who place your item into the engines – which in turn permits your business to increase its exposure. But then what? You need to convert surfers into clients or customers.

How do you best do that? Obviously if your business is providing the required product or service you're ahead of the game, but in a competitive marketplace you have to be noticed as well. You need to "engage" the Web surfer with your content. Infusing your copy with key words is fundamental. But so too is writing in a manner that will engage with the reader in a way that they want to use your product or service. Get emotional (without being sappy) about your product, service or business. Build in humor and humanity, whenever appropriate. If you seem to be a real person, rather than a robotic, PR type writing for machines then you may get the rankings, but you won't get the business.

Go to it. Get emotional. And use the right words.

John Bowie founded http://www.LawFuel.com, the legal news network and one of the largest law news release websites on the Net. He is a partner of PR Web http://lawfuel.prwebdirect.com/catalog.php the optimized web press release service. He also writes and publishes for the Web and elsewhere.

Read Press Release Insider http://pressreleaseinsider.blogspot.com

Increase Your Online Revenue By Narrowing Your Target Market

Writen by Stephanie Diamond

Does the idea of narrowing your target market scare you? If you're like thousands of other online business marketers, the answer is yes. But you'd be wrong. Targeting your marketing segments very narrowly is actually a great way to increase business.

The key is making sure you understand the audience for your product or service and then finding ways to reach them. Some online businesses make the mistake of trying to appeal to the widest audience possible. That's a good way to lose everyone at once. Think about how the major retailers categorize and revise their messaging so that it hits the right target.

If you do the job correctly, here are five benefits:

1. Cheaper keywords

We all know that the most popular keywords are the most expensive. Don't try to compete with big advertisers. Instead, search for keywords that are very narrowly focused. They will be affordable and you will be visible. For example, if you sell a children's toy and determine that it will attract parents whose children are left-handed and live in the South, you've got the start of a good narrow target.

2. More traffic

You don't want traffic. You want targeted traffic. Floods of people who won't buy are a waste of pay per click money. When you target a more specific audience and get them to visit, your ability to convert is higher.

3. Increased visibility with the audience you want

This is where word of mouth comes in. You want to increase buzz about your product with the right audience. If you target properly, you will start to see referrals from current customers. That's advertising you can't buy.

4. Instant feedback

The great thing about using the web is that you don't have to wait very long to find out what's working. You should be monitoring your pay per click ads and using the best web analytics package you can afford.

5. An understanding about how to repeat this for other audience types.

Once you get the feel for how to put all this together for one audience, you can do it for several more targets. Not only will you increase your revenue, but you can find new targets you hadn't thought about until now.

Stephanie Diamond is a 25+ year marketing professional experienced in building profits for a broad range of online businesses. As Marketing Director for AOL she created a line of multimedia software products that generated millions of dollars in incremental revenue. In 2002, she founded Digital Media Works, Inc. http://www.DigMediaWorks.com/ an interactive marketing and design firm which offers a complete line of solutions for online businesses. She helps companies figure out how to make their products easy to buy!

How To Turn Online Window Shoppers Into Customers

Writen by Biana Babinsky

If you stand in front of a store on a slow Sunday afternoon, you will notice the same thing happening over and over again. People will pass by and carefully examine the wares in prominently displayed in the windows. Perhaps they will mumble something about the items on display. They will not even step into the store. These people are not customers. Rather, they are just window shoppers. On this particular Sunday they are looking, but certainly not buying.

It is even easier to "window shop" on the Internet, since you don't even need to step outside the house. People browse through many different web sites, look at the products and services on display, but do not buy.

However, if all you get are window shoppers, rather not buyers, you need to look into why at least some of your web site visitors are not buying from you. There are many reasons why someone does not become a customer of a store. They might not be interested in buying at this time and are just doing research; they might not be your target customers, or they can't find what they are looking for on your web site.

Let's look at several actions ways to improve your web site to generate more online sales:

- Get more targeted visitors to your web site. If you are selling sporting equipment, and people who come to your web site are couch potatoes, you will not get many takers.

The more targeted your web site visitors are, the higher the probability that they will buy something. Let's say you are a business coach who helps accountants get more clients. When potential customers come to your web site looking for a "generic" coach, they are not really targeted clients, since there are many different types of coaches who focus on different market niches.

If potential customers come to your web site and they are looking for a business coach, your targeting is better than in that in the example above. If potential customers find your site while searching for a business coach for accountants, congratulations! You have hit the jackpot. Your marketing campaign is as targeted as it can possibly get, since these people are a perfect match for your expertise. You should strive to achieve the highest possible level of targeting for your web site.

- Make sure that your target customers can find exactly what they came for on your web site. If you are a business coach for accountants, and you get highly targeted customers they still won't necessarily buy from you, unless they can find what they are looking for.

Some people may be interested in information about your services, while others are on a limited budget will only be able to buy just one of your products. Make sure that all the visitors who come to your web site can easily find exactly what they are looking for.

- Make it simple for your web site visitors to take action. People will go elsewhere if they can't figure out how to buy from your or how to sign up for your newsletter.

Take action now. Use the three steps above to generate more sales on your web site.

Biana Babinsky is the online business expert who teaches business owners how to make more money online. Get Biana's Top 5 Ways to Increase your Online Sales Special Report absolutely FREE at http://avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.html

Starting Your Internet Marketing Business

Writen by Bill Nadraszky

Making money online is not as hard as you may think but there are a few steps that every successful internet marketer has to go thorough to be successful.

The first thing to keep in mind if you are new to internet marketing is to remember that there is a lot to learn and after you have learned the first bit of stuff you have to practice what you have learned by putting your new found knowledge into action and trying the first steps to making money. One thing to remember is that most of the knowledge that you need to learn initially can be learned with free materials but later on you will want to buy some specialized books and software to take that next step.

Here are a few things that you can start with learning if you would like to get a good start.

Adsense – The Google adsense program is a way to put small ads on your website. When someone clicks on one of these ads to learn more information you will get paid. This payment can be as little as 1 cent or as high as $30 or even more.

Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing is when someone goes through your site and clicks through to buy a product thanks to you then you will get paid a commission. Amazon offers this as well as companies such as Click bank or paydotcom.com.

Adwords – This is the opposite of Google Adsense. You can create and ad and pay anywhere from 1 cent to as much as you would like if a person clicks that ad and goes to your site. With this you can send traffic to a page that you create that can make affiliate marketing money.

More than likely your next step will be to create a "Niche Website" what is a niche website? Well it is a website that is focused on an interest that you have. Some examples of niche websites are dog grooming, stamp collecting, or even sites and weblogs about certain movies, stars or TV shows.

Pretty simple so far isn't it? Now it is time for you to go out and find more information on these topics and see which one really attracts your interest. The best way to start now is to do Google search and search for "internet marketing" or "affiliate marketing" or even "making money with adsense"

Good luck in this new endeavor of yours. I would like to leave you with a bit about my history with internet marketing. Back in 1999 I read an article a lot like this one that told me that I could make money with affiliate marketing, I got excited and started reading everything that I could about the internet marketing phenomenon. I had a voracious appetite for these ebooks and the problem was that I did nothing with it. Five years later I finally built my first website and I cringe when thinking about how much income I lost over that five years by not applying what I learned. One thing that is really important is the application of this knowledge. Make a plan today to read a few books and then create your own website and continue learning and building that site. Building a site is much easier now than it was just a few years ago and anyone can build a site in an evening or a week at most.

There is a good chance that this article may change your life. I know that a few years ago that is exactly what happened to me. If this is happening at this moment to you I wish you luck in an exciting future that you can build on your own.

Bill Nadraszky is a serial internet marker if you want more information on internet marketing you can visit internet marketing info at http://internet-marketing.calputer.com

Hows Your Gcred Google Credibility

Writen by John Follis

In our hype-happy, what-to-believe Information Nation, more and more it comes down to one very basic, very essential thing -- credibility. The Good House Keeping seal of the past is not the credibility barometer of the present and future. So, then, what are the new barometers of cred?

For many, it's blogs and other social networking sites that foster and disseminate open discussion and untainted perspectives on everything. That open source context has given way to the term "Street Cred" as a barometer of credibility. With the proliferation of this Internet/truth formula, I'd like to suggest another barometer: G-Cred.

If you haven't guessed, the "G" is for Google which has attained such universal acceptance that, "to Google" is part of our cultural lexicon. Checking out a new vacation spot? Google it. Looking for Cuban cigars? Google it. Need nude photos of Paris Hilton? Google it.

From a business perspective, Google is a Godsend. If you're checking out a product, company, or person, Google is both informational resource and worldwide publicist. And, with that, Google has become a strong barometer of credibility.

As the Online Evolution zooms forward at the speed of bandwidth, online visibility will equate to professional credibility. It does now. If you're doing due diligence on someone and nothing comes up when you Google them, that doesn't score credibility points. The relevance of this is not limited to those creating scholarly works or running Fortune 500 companies. Many marketing gurus, such as Tom Peters and Seth Godin, have long preached the value of creating and building one's personal brand regardless of who you are. Godin's Purple Cow discusses the importance of standing out and "being remarkable." And, ten years ago Peters' The Brand You, told how survival is not about blending in, but rather, standing out.

      "Regardless of age, position, or the business we happen to be in,        we need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs        of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most        important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. (And)        for most branding campaigns, the first step is visibility."

So, if The Web is the way, and credibility is king, then the new genesis is G-Cred.

How's yours?

(For more Follis marketing facts, see booklet info below.)

© 2005 John Follis. All rights reserved.

John Follis is one of the 12 "Best Advertising Minds of New York" as voted by The New York Ad Club. His campaigns are in 3 college textbooks, he has written for ADWEEK, and he has taught at 3 New York universities. Currently, John works on select projects, consults, and speaks. He may be reached at john@follisinc.com

For John's booklet: How to Attract and Excite Your Prospects: A Guide for Getting the Best Marketing Results, visit: http://www.follisinc.com/ booklet.htm

For consulting info, visit: Marketing Therapy: http://www.follisinc.com/ therapy.htm

For speaking info, visit: Follis Speaking: http://www.follisinc.com/ speaking.htm

The Upside Of Online Advertising

Writen by Jordi Shoman

Being a method through which many companies promote their products, online advertising has taken off quite a lot with the increase in popularity of the Internet. More and more people frequent the Internet on a regular basis and in doing so notice a plethora of advertisements for some product or another. It is a great method through which both small businesses and multinational corporations alike can market their products and as such, an abundance of these businesses integrate online advertising into their marketing tactics.

Though there is a wealth of techniques through which online advertising can be carried out, the most popular form at the present is through rich media sources. To elaborate, rich media sources include such things as Macromedia Flash and these are used to advertise a company's product. Sometimes they may be quite simple whereas other times these ads can be a little more complex, utilizing such things as streaming video and audio to convey the message in a manner similar to a television commercial. They may appear in a variety of ways while you are browsing the Internet also. Frequently these online advertisements will materialize before the requested content on the website while other times they will scroll across the screen. Some of these online advertisements are, in fact, scaled-down adaptations of actual television commercials. These also appear frequently when you are attempting to view some media source for the Internet.

The infrastructure that is necessary for online advertising can become quite pricy if one wishes to develop an elaborate set of advertisements and as such many small businesses shy away from online aspect of marketing. However for those that can incorporate online advertising into their marketing scheme, it can become a rather beneficial tool. Not only does it permit the expansion of markets but it also allows a company the opportunity to showcase their creativity.

Interested in Online Business? Do you have articles to distribute about Online Business? We provide in depth Free Online Business resources. Free reprint articles.

Headlines Bring Saleswhere And How To Use Them Part 1

Writen by Judy Cullins

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

How Do You Make Gold Online Without A Database

Writen by Scott Wilson

That is a great question!

We all know by now that the long term success for having an online business comes from building and maintaining a database, and selling to the people on it again and again, right?

But what if (like me) you're too impatient to wait until the list is big enough to make lots of money from?

Our success has come from looking outside the square and trying to identify markets and ideas that aren't currently being utilised to their full potential.

Plus we don't let anything stand in our way, and will bulldoze through the so called hurdles.

We didn't have a big list when we started on the Internet so we decided to find someone who did!

What we did is put ourselves into the position where we were able to meet people who had what we were looking for, and seeing how we can help them, before we asked them to help us.

People don't just give freely any more, they are usually thinking WIFM!

'What's In It For Me?'

Once we built up a few good relationships, we then made our presentation to the owners of a few big databases.

Guess what happened?

Some of those people told us to go away!

'That was the censored version!!'

But guess what else happened?

Someone said yes!

We wrote up a brief sales letter for the database owner to send out to their list. It was written as though he himself had written it, and it explained the benefits of doing business with us, to the individual.

The moral of the story is to ask yourself 'How Can I?' Not 'Why Can't I?'

A good friend of mine has a motto that says... 'The Higher The Hurdle, The Easier It Is To Get Under It!'

Traditional thinking says I must jump over the hurdle, why?

There are easier ways to get past the hurdle, look for the alternate way to get to the same outcome you're looking for.

Have A Successful Week!

Take Care

Scott Wilson
InternetSalesMentors.com

"Who else wants to make more money, free up their time, and get to know their family again?" If this sounds like you go to http://www.internetsalesmentors.com and download a fr~e e-book on time saving business strategies!

Scott Wilson
http://www.InternetSalesMentors.com
http://www.TheGoldsInHere.com

Free Is A Four Letter Word

Writen by Craig Whitley

Free. Oh how we love to hear that word. Just the sound of it coming off anyone's lips triggers the immediate exclamatory one-word questions -- "What?" "When?" or "Where?"

Everyone loves a bargain. And there was once a time on the Internet when everything was at a bargain. For the Internet boom of the late 1990's ushered in the "free business model" when almost everything you wanted online was priced at . . . well, for free.

That's not the case anymore. Many of those companies with the free offers have taken free voluntary bankruptcy.

But still, there are many websites that use freebies to increase their website traffic and attract new business. Does it work? You darn right it does, or else it wouldn't still exist. However, the online commerce world is a game of "Survivor" if there ever was one. Survival of the fitess, that is.

Free works great as a marketing strategy provided it is used to convert website visitors into real paying customers. To do that you have to have a product or service that people need, want and will buy. But above all, your products and services have to be competitively priced. The only way you can expect to garner top bucks for your goods or services online is to offer proprietary products and services that no one else offers. If you can't do that, be prepared to lose a lot of sales to your Internet competition who most likely has some aspect of the free business model in their marketing plan.

You have to be competitive online, because now, more than ever before, people have the ability to use powerful search engines like PriceGrabber.com, PriceScan.com or Shopzilla.com to find the best deals online.

But what if you're not searching for a name brand product. What if you really do want something for free? What if you want to know more about what's free online for lesser known products and services. Then, you might want to consider turning to an information source that provides helpful articles and hints about free goods and services online.

In the event you can't find the free item or service you desire, or chasing down a free offer ends up costing you big bucks, chances are you might just copy and paste "free" to your brain's list of bad four-letter words. :o)

Craig Whitley is a freelance writer that frequently writes about the Internet, consumer trends and online business practices. He is a contributing editor to http://www.get-free.com and other websites that focus on providing useful information to consumers.

How To Network Effectively To Secure Freelance Work

Writen by Brian Konradt

When freelancers ask me what type of marketing is the easiest, costs the least, and yields the best results, I don't hesitate to recommend networking. Networking satisfies two primary prerequisites to secure clients. These two prerequisites are:

• Creating rapport. Networking has the ability to create strong rapport. When you have rapport you and the prospect feel at ease with each other, and conversation flows. Rapport creates feelings of trust and honesty. Prospects who trust you usually do not have second thoughts about outsourcing work to you.

• Establishing a relationship. When you establish a relationship, the prospect develops an awareness as to who you are, what you do, and what your intentions are. Relationships keep your name fresh in the prospect's mind; relationships create feelings of intimacy, trust, and rapport. Relationships have the secret power to turn prospects into paying clients, because the prospect knows you on a first name basis, knows what your intentions are, knows how your skills and services can benefit him and his business. He connects strongly with you.

Networking builds effective relationships faster than any other type of marketing. Many beginning freelancers acquire their first paying clients via networking or through people whom they know (the rapport and relationship already exist). And professional freelancers often expand their existing client-base via networking — asking clients, friends, other freelancers, etc. if they know people who can use their freelance services.

Where to Network Effectively

Professionals suggest you join two types of associations: The first type is a local association that attracts freelancers of your discipline. If you do commercial copywriting work, join a local writer's association. Many local writers' associations offer referral systems and job banks to help you receive work. The other benefit is that you will meet other freelancers who'll ask you to assist on their projects or refer their clients to you for freelance or supplementary services.

The second type of association to join is one where your type of clients congregate. Why spend hundreds of dollars targeting your audience with expensive marketing, when joining a local association that attracts your type of clients lets you sell directly to them via networking.

How to Network Effectively

Networking is only as effective as you are: the more visible you make yourself, the better networking works. Always arrive ten to fifteen minutes early for each meeting or social gathering and mingle with people. Let everyone know who you are and what you do. Most importantly, make an effort to establish relationships with people. When people know who you are and what you do, they'll know more about your business, how your freelance services can help them, and that you're available for hire.

Nurture a habit to network on a consistent, repetitious basis. You'll want people to become familiar with your face and recognize your presence at each gathering. Because many people seem passive at gatherings, try to make an effort to become active. Strike up conversations with people; pretend you're interested in what they're saying, even if you're not. Be a good, active listener.

Remember: conversations are the crux of effective networking. Simple one-on-one chatter allows the prospect to uncover more about you, and you're able to find out more about him, his hidden needs, and his hidden problems.

Networking should not be used for personal gain. You should not blatantly promote yourself to people, otherwise they'll begin to ignore you. Instead, strike up conversations with people and subtly sell yourself. When people begin to take an interest in you as a person, then they'll begin to take an interest as to how you can help them.

What You Need to Network Effectively

Business cards are often synonymous with networking: don't leave home without them. Pass your business cards out to any person who seems interested in your services. Business cards give prospects contact information and they keep your name and business fresh in their minds. If prospects are not interested in outsourcing work to you now, they'll at least have your business card on file to contact you in the future.

Networking Essentials

• Always bring your business cards. Hand them out to anyone who might be interested in your services.

• Instead of being the listener, become the speaker. Prepare a presentation related to your expertise and specialty in your field for a future meeting. Prospects will be impressed with your knowledge and skills and they'll want to hire you for their next project.

• Offer a free report to the organization's members. Your free report should relate to your specialty that offers professional advice. Again, prospects who'll read your free report will find you informative and insightful and will think about hiring you for their next project. See if you can get your free report mentioned in the organization's newsletter.

• Distribute promotional and informational material. If you know that a certain meeting or workshop is related to your specialty, ask the speaker if he/she would like to distribute some of your free information to the audience at the end. This may include a free report, or an article that you've written, or your own business newsletter that contains useful tips and advice.

Editor: You may reprint this article online or offline as long as no text is altered and it is reprinted in its entirety.

About The Author

Brian Konradt is a former freelance copywriter and graphic designer, and founder of FreelanceWriting.com (http://www.freelancewriting.com), a free web site to help writers master the business and creative sides of freelance writing.

How To Guarantee Your Success In Internetmarketing

Writen by Daegan Smith

1. Belief in the Product
To sell a product you have to believe in it. Or at least know it intimately enough to be able to market it properly. If you fail to do this you will not be able to pitch the product convincingly. You must be totally familiar with the details of the product or service. If this is not so, you will not be able to satisfy the curiosity of the potential customer.

Avoid over pitching a product. Doing so makes the product seem phony and contrived. Ultimately, the potential customer will skip your ad to look for better offers.

2. Always make your Ads believable
People usually know whether they are being presented the truth or are being lied to. Although there are many legitimate online ads and business on the internet, phony, hokey, and deceptive one also abound. Many potential customers are tentative when dealing online because they fear that they may be taken advantage of by unscrupulous online scams.

Do a case study. Go through the many ads that litter the internet. Find five ones that are dubious and five ones that seem legitimate. Now study their differences. There will be a noted difference in the language they use, the tone they use, and other differences you find in them.

Try to emulate the style of the reputable businesses on the internet.

3. Be aware of the marketing techniques that abound on the internet
Do you know what mailing lists are, and how they can help increase your business? Have you seen how viral marketing has been used by some of the biggest companies in the United States? Have you considered paid ads and Search Engine Optimization to drive traffic to your website?

These techniques all have their pros and cons. It would do well if you considered which combinations would have an optimum effect on your business marketing.

4. Build a Good Reputation
Nothing beats a good name. And nothing makes a good name than a happy customer.

Strive to make every customer a happy customer. You may have a few sore ones here and there but the way you handle them will tell whether you are building a good name or not. Always make sure you deliver your promises on time, in great quality and with a generous smile.

Always build relationships with customers. Don't employ the hit and run technique of marketing. The marketing does not end when the sale is made. It is only the continuation of a cycle that will bring much benefit to both business and consumer.

5. Personal Touch
People are people. They do not like to be treated as robots. Since these are beings with flesh and blood and emotions, make sure you deal with them in that manner.

As much as possible, build great customer relationships among your consumer base. This will make them feel part of your business.

6. Allocate Resources
Some marketers commit the extreme folly of thinking that marketing costs nothing. Of course it costs something! It costs money, time, effort, and good judgment. If one does not allocate these resources for this activity. The quality of marketing will suffer.

Be confident!
Competence builds confidence. Like it was said earlier, always maintain a positive outlook. Learn from mistakes (others mistakes, more preferably). And keep trying! Success is just within your reach!

Daegan Smith is the leader of the fastest growing team of successful home business entrepreneurs on the net. Find out how to create financial freedom across the globe and how to get into action FREE => http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?da3gan&Articles>http://www.comlev.com

Internet Marketing Tips How To Calculate Your Conversion Rates

Writen by Simon Akers

Once you start promoting your website you will want to find out the value of each visitor so you can calculate how much you can afford to spend on advertising.

In order to make these calculations you will need to know your total number of sales, gross revenues, total expenses, and unique visitors for a set period of time.

Conversion Rate

To calculate your conversion rate you divide the number of unique visitors to your website by the total number of sales you made in a given timeframe.

So if you got 4,000 unique visitors last month and you made 50 sales, you would divide 4,000 by 50 which equals 80 unique visitors per sale.

To find out detailed traffic statistics check the server logs for your website (contact your host if you need help finding this information).

Net Profit Per Sale

To calculate your net profit from each sale you subtract total expenses from gross revenue and divide that figure by the total number of sales you made in a given timeframe.

So if you made 50 sales at $47 each last month your gross revenue would be $2350. If your total expenditure for last month was $500 you subtract it from your gross revenue which equals $1850. You then divide this figure by the total number of sales you made last month which equals $37 net profit per sale.

Visitor Worth

To calculate the value of each visitor to your website you divide the net profit per sale by the conversion rate in a given timeframe.

So if your net profit per sale is $37 and your conversion rate is one out of 80 unique visitors, you would divide $37 by 80 which equals $0.46 visitor worth.

This means that you can afford to spend up to $0.46 to attract a single visitor to your website. So if you spend $50 on advertising it should generate at least 108 unique visitors to break even (if one of them buys your product), otherwise the campaign has failed.

This article was written by Simon Akers who is the editor of the Marketing Oasis newsletter, a free internet marketing ezine packed with tips to help you succeed and increase your profits: http://www.MarketingOasis.com

Search Engine Marketing Sem Authority Websites

Writen by Melih Oztalay

Search engines have become wiser and have put more scrutiny upon deciding page ranking and which websites are really important. Spending time on traditional on-page optimization and link building strategies will not get you that top ranking in Google. Don't get me wrong, you cannot stop doing these tasks, however, the marketing of your website will need to include a variety of other methods if you want to get top rankings. Search engines are looking for clean quality content to provide to their users and we will see the search engine market become more competitive.

Traditional search engine optimization will continue to be part of your efforts excepting for our methodology will change. You will continue to work on link exchanges, keywords, descriptions, titles, headlines, image alt descriptions, comments, and content. Now you will focus your keywords to be very specific and watch you density. Your descriptions will not be as long, but concentrate on more concise descriptions. You will want to watch your HTML coding to make the process easier for the search engine spiders. Try using fewer tables and consider Cascading Style Sheets. The link exchanges will have to be more specific to your industry and with websites that are authoritative in nature.

Authoritative websites is the direction to consider for 2006. Not only making your website an authority for your target market, but to exchange links with other websites that are authoritative for that same target market. What are authoritative websites to link with? Basically there are is a relatively small set of websites that can be trusted as authority, or expert websites. Government sites, university websites, well-recognized news sources, and recognized industry news sources are all examples of sites that can be considered as "expert" websites. These sites, unlike the average website on the Internet, can be trusted to "link honestly".

Take the following example. I recently went to Google, MSN and Yahoo and searched on the term "internet marketing consultants" and the result on the first page for all three search engines were somewhat surprising. Instead of finding a page full of businesses that provide internet marketing services over 75% of the results were websites that were resources for internet marketing. A careful review of each of these websites revealed all of them to be content rich in their field of internet marketing. They did not provide any services other than information for others to use about internet marketing. For the purpose of this writing these results indicate (1) that making your site an authority for your field and industry is very important to achieve top ranking, and (2) you want to seek out these types of websites to create inbound links if possible and feasible. Otherwise engage a reciprocal link exchange.

Getting noticed by authority websites can be difficult, but with some creativity it can be done. If you make your business newsworthy, news outlets within your industry and without will pickup your news story and hopefully link over to your website. Traditional marketing and public relations requires you to make your company known as an authority within your industry. You should want your clients to know that you are the best source for whatever it is you sell, and that they should trust you. You gain this trust by being visible, not just through your website, but through the websites of other trusted sources such as news outlets. These types of marketing methods would include engaging in public relations, networking, attending trade shows, and talking to news sources both within your industry and outside of your industry.

Your website is a business. No different than a retail brick-and-mortar store you will spend as much time working your website as a regular any regular business. Do not believe that the comfort of your home or that you are working with computers and technology you are able to run your business any easier. The only thing that has changed is the venue, everything else is the same. You have to provide quality content, engage in activities that make your website known, and make your website the absolute best in your target market.

Melih Oztalay is the CEO of SmartFinds Internet Marketing. Internet marketing is not only about knowledge and experience, but also about imagination. Visit SmartFinds here.

Marketing And Design To Get The Most Out Of Your Website

Writen by Brandi Carroll

Once you have figured out your what your focus should be,think of ideas on how you would like to see your site and sketch out each page. Start with the home page; this page should be about 3-5 paragraphs long. It should state who you are and what you do and guide the viewer to the rest of the site.

Keep in mind that the average web browser will decide whether to leave or stay on your site in the first 6 seconds! So get their attention, but don't scare them away! (See our other article on how to write good copy)

Your website doesn't have to be fancy to be great, it should just be clean, informative and easy to navigate. Remember the 6 second rule. Here are some basic guidelines for content to include in your site:

- A complete description of your products and/or services "Services page" The more information you give your visitors, the more informed they will be when they contact you.

- Pictures, everyone loves pictures! Every page on your site should have at least one picture or graphic. But be sure they are related to your business. Depending on your industry, you might even want to have a "gallery" or "portfolio" page.

- Have a "Packages" or "Pricing" If you don't list your prices, your prospects might go somewhere that does. Ever been in a store with no price tags? In cases like this, many people think that the products are too expensive or that the company will try to get them to buy something they don't really need. At the very least, you should list a starting range and maybe a description of your average or most popular package.

- Testimonials. People want to feel that you can actually produce what you claim. Get testimonials from past clients and put their names on it and where they live, as not to seem like you made them up. i.e. Bob Smith - Hampton, Virginia

- Give a brief history/bibliography. This is usually the "About Us" page. State your experience, why you got into the business, etc … Why should one hire/buy from you? It is OK to embellish a bit for readability, but don't lie! If you are a member of any professional organizations, list those here too.

- FAQ's … Answers to frequently asked questions is another good thing to have on your website …. This will add valuable information to your site and save you time in having to answer the same questions to every new client.

- Links to friends and colleges in related fields is another great thing to have on your website. This makes you appear to have greater experience to the prospective client. And offers valuable information to your visitors. Of course, you should not trade links with your competition ;-) Look around, I would be willing to bet that in most cases, your competition has some sort of a link referral system.

- Finally, the "Contact" page … make sure your contact information is easy to find … it doesn't hurt to have the phone number and/or email contact at the bottom of every page and then have detailed info on the "Contact" page. Always, have a phone number AND an email contact. You would be surprised how many people surf at night and like to send email requests. You should also have your location somewhere on your website, so people know where you are, even if you work from home and don't want to advertise your home address, you can put the city you are in. Or you can get a local P.O. Box. Most people like to work with local businesses.

Once your site is up, you are only half way there, now you have to market it! What good is this great site that you have spent so much time and money on if no one can find it?!

Website marketing can be difficult and time consuming. Here are some tips to get you started.

List your website address in ALL your printed promotional materials. Business cards, postcards, brochures, flyers, etc … And list it in your email signature so that you will be advertising your website with every email you send.

Posting on Message boards related to your industry is another way you can promote your site and establish yourself as an expert in your field. (boards that will let you post your website address/url in your signature)

Then you will want to submit your site to the search engines. Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask Jeeves are the 'top dogs' right now.

Consider hiring an SEO expert to do monthly search engine submissions for you and try to update your site often so it doesn't become stale. It also helps to optimize at least your home page for your most relevant keywords and phrases. (See our other article on how to write copy search engines love)

You will also want to try and get your site listed on other related websites that may already have established rankings with the search engines. The more ways a potential customer has of finding your website, the better. This is "Link Popularity".

Writing articles related to your field and submitting them to related websites and article bank sites (such as www.EzineArticles.com and www.Article99.com) is another great way to build inbound links to your site.

Again, all this can take time and effort and sometimes money but it will ultimately pay off in the long run.

© Plush Designs - 2005 All Rights Reserved

Plush Designs offers affordable website and graphic design and search engine marketing services.

Check out our website for more details. http://www.PlushDesigns.net

Don't get left behind! Isn't it time to get your business online?

The Long Sales Pitch The Internet Gurus Sales Letter

Writen by John T Jones, Ph.D.

I guess you've noticed–who hasn't?

The characteristic of all the Internet gurus is their long sales pitch. What are the objectives of the sales letter and how do they reach their goal to get you to click on the Buy Now! button?

First the letter is a letter is a letter.

That means that they write you a letter, ask you to buy and leave the pitch to go to the order page. If you are still around, they continue the letter and ask you to buy again. This process is repeated not a few times in most letters. The principle is this: I told you the benefits of this product and you didn't buy it so I'm going to pitch you again and again until you either buy or leave the pitch to go to my order page or for some other reason.

Have you heard of the proverbial foot in the door?

This was a common phrase in my day. It referred to a salesman that gets his foot in the door and won't leave until you buy one of his brushes, or a new pair of shoes, or whatever else he is selling.

In each phase of the pitch, the guru offers you something free from his bag of tricks. It's probably something you are not interested in and will not cause you to buy the product. He throws more free objects at you until you buy or leave from frustration.

Rather than focusing on features of the product, he focuses on the benefits to YOU. Here are some of the tactics that are used:

This product will save you time so that you can focus on other phases of your business.

This product will save you money because of secret product features.

This product will make you rich if you simply follow the directions carefully line by line.

This product will make you sexier.

This product will improve your appearance.

This product will make people look up to you.

The product will make people like you.

You will be able to resale this product using a web site just like this one.

This product will make your car run on air rather than gasoline and air is much cheaper.

His product will make you happier.

This product will keep you out of jail.

This product will make you healthier. You will probably live forever.

You will be able to buy a big house in the country on a lake with an Italian chauffeur, a Japanese gardener, and a French chef.

The list goes on and on until you feel that you must buy or people will think you are stupid if you don't buy the product. In fact, the guru will probably suggest that you must be insane not to buy his or her product.

Many gurus don't tell you the cost of the product until you have signed up to buy it. They are hoping that when it says The following amount will be charged to your credit card that you will not blink. If you shy away, a screen may pop up telling you had better buy the product now because the price is good only for 24 hours and then it will double.

You will be told that the value of the product far exceeds the price.

The gurus study the factors that make people buy. They read books full of sales letters that they can learn from. Some of these letters were used back in the twenties and thirties when direct mail was king. Human emotions don't' change so neither do the tactics.

I suggest you go to Amazon.com or Alibris.com and buy a few books on mail order and direct mail. Used books are just fine and you can buy them for just a few dollars.

Notice this: The gurus use one site to promote one product. The product is often delivered electronically, often as a PDF file. The cost to the seller is zilch. The product is original and you can't get it anywhere else. He may tell you that his product is the best of its type available. He may even mention his competition just like the Big Boys do on television.

Read some letters, not to learn about the product, but to learn about the letter or pitch. Then you can dream up a product, put it in ebook form, and make YOUR first million.

Oh, one other thing. Make up a sob story to start your letter such as:

I was born in the Appalachian Mountains. My father died from black lung disease when he was only 19 years old. My mother worked hard to support me and the other twelve children. One thing she told me was that I was never to go to the mines. I never forgot that and decided that I would become rich and famous, however I never could get a better job then pumping gas.

My wife had to work three jobs just to earn the money I was spending on Internet sites hoping to get rich. Then one day as I was walking down the road trying to hitch a ride because my car had been impounded, a bolt of lighting struck a tree across the road from me and knocked me to the ground. Then the rain came and as it washed over me I came to my senses and saw a vision of King Midas who said, "John, quit screwing around. You've got to find your own product and sell it yourself on the Internet."

Then I knew that I had to stop relying on others to make money. I had to rely on myself. My wife helped me to write my first ebook because she is literate (Well, I confess. She wrote the whole thing.) That first little ebook made me a zillion dollars.

We had so much money coming in we had to have the neighbors help us spend it. We bought an Island (Oahu) and sit on the beach drinking piña colades, occasionally opening the notebook computer to count the days take. Life can be wonderful if you know what you are doing. I'm the only man in the world that can tell you how to get rich.

Sure, you can use the story, but put something personal in it that is not really true but characteristic of how you want folks to feel about you. That is, "I'm a wonderful, helpful, honest, loyal, friendly, courteous, kind, benevolent, really smart guy who will Make You Rich."

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine, Jones is Executive Representative of International Wealth Success. He calls himself "Taylor Jones, the hack writer."

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.bookfindhelp.com (IWS wealth-success books and kits and business newsletters / TopFlight flagpoles)

Show Me Foreign Exchange Internet Marketing Goals Plans And Actions

Writen by Kaval Patel

Its funny… you have a goal or an objective, you then plan how you are going to achieve that goal, then you take action towards making it happen. This then leads to your plan being followed (maybe with a few enhancements), and then if it is done correctly your goal is achieved.

I read a quote once: "It's not a tragedy not to achieve a goal it's a tragedy not to have that goal to achieve!" – How many people wonder through life, without any aim or purpose, just passing the days? How many people with the best of intentions set a goal and go about trying to achieve it, and just because of an "issue", they give up on the goal, then they fall into the aimless category?

How many people are just plain stubborn – like time – just goes on and on to achieve their goal but don't because they did not realise had they asked for help or had someone shown them that they were doing one little thing wrong that was hindering their progress?

I've seen all types of people – I personally don't want to be the ordinary, average or even a dinosaur for that matter. I realise that wanting something, planning and action are not enough. You need a positive attitude, accept that you will make mistakes, accept that it wont happen by tomorrow and most importantly be willing to listen and learn.

Whatever your goals are, at some point along the way it will involve money – whether your goal is to be the next Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or simply to help the helpless you still need money (via profit or donation). I've come across two relatively straightforward methods of helping to achieve that goal, they are profiting from the Foreign Exchange Market and Internet Marketing. Since both of these are done online its brilliant because you can do both at the same time!

I have been trading foreign exchange for a while and just made the leap into trading for a living. I was able to do this by learning strategies online. While doing all the research on this I stumbled upon a great little course about internet marketing, the biggest plus for me was that it was free!!! Someone willing to teach what they already know – most importantly something I don't have the knowledge or skills of yet.

Without going into too much detail the things being taught are amazing - having the right mindset, the types of products/services you could sell/market online, being an affiliate, processing of payments, getting traffic to your sites, niche markets and how to create, manage and host a website and e-book creation to name a few. All of this is taught in plain English its not in any gigawotsit computer talk, it's in simple English. The thing that I like the most (initially) is the fact that the course starts off by talking psychology (mindset, attitude, belief, learning etc), which is what I was trying to hit on earlier with the goals, plans and actions. My fiancé is a soon to be Doctor in Psychology, I, being in the investment world and having been in direct face to face sales (on commission) before – know all about how success starts in your mind.

Anyway, if you want to open more doors to help you achieve your goals sooner there are some great ideas out there that Show You rather than just tell you.

Kaval Patel

These ideas can be learnt by you at http://www.rapidforex.com (foreign exchange ideas) and http://www.internetprofitmentor.com (internet marketing ­ includes the video course)

How To Become A Successful Internet Marketer

Writen by Steven Gower

There are many ways to succeed in this business. However, when you don't know what you're doing, chances are you'll fail. If you are new to this business, the first principal you must learn, is know your market. That's right. When you don't know your market, you'll never make any money, and be out of business rather quickly. Too many people fall in love with what they're selling. That's the first mistake. And what happens when no one buys your product or service? Do you continue investing huge amounts of money, in something you can't sell? No, you find another product to sell. You must learn to become a student of markets.

How do you become a student of markets? On the Internet, you must find out what people are interested in. For example, what are the most popular web sites? What are the words are used most in search engines? This is easy to discover, it takes a little research. You can also visit the large online book stores. Enter a subject, and search. When you see a large number of books on that subject, you'll know that's a hot topic of interest to people. It's very important to know what people want, and give it to them. If you want to do offline research. Go to your public library. Search the SRDS book for direct marketing. Make sure you search the consumer list book.

You'll find around 30,000 mailing lists. There you'll find what people are buying. So now you'll know what products to sell. If there's a market for the product, people will buy it. Listen, if there's no market for what you are selling online, you can spend thousands of dollars and get no where. You'll have a bad taste in your mouth, and you're opinion will be, making money on the Internet is one big myth. No so. The next principle you need to learn is testing. You should test everything, to see what works for your website. Does you website have a benefit headline? You should test different headlines. Do you give away free bonuses? Testing is critical to your success. If you have a website do you change the content often. Or do you leave it as is? It takes work, but it pays off in money. Do you constantly market your website? If not, how do you expect to make any money? Also do you market your website to your target market? You should run small ads in target publications.

If you sell golf clubs, why would you run an ad in a magazine for runners? Of course you would run the ad in a golf magazine. Look, you can make money on the Internet. And you can do it from your home. It takes a lot of work but you can do it successfully, by following principles, and techniques that work. Going into it blind, with an attitude you'll be rich overnight, it's not gonna happen. You can make a lot of money by knowing what works, and what doesn't.

Steven Gower is a direct response and web copywriter. http://www.copywritersinc.com

Where Is Your Revenue

Writen by Jeanette S Cates, PhD

Faced with the unlimited possibilities for earning revenue from your online business, how do you structure your business?

For example, you can earn from - digital affiliate products - physcial affiliate products - your own products - resale products - adsense on content sites - consulting or other personally delivered services - recurring income services you provide - leading teleseminars or teaching classes and so many other sources!

So how do you decide on the appropriate mix for your business?

First, look at the reason you started your online business. If it was to build your visibility and credibility, you're likely to want revenue from your own product sales or your personal services. If it was to make a little more money, it may be from affiliate products. If it was to create a passive revenue source, it may be a combination of revenue sources. So revisit your purpose.

Second, look at your existing sources of revenue. For example, if you're already making money from affiliate product sales, it's relatively easy to ramp up that part of your business. On the other hand, if you've never sold an affiliate product, it may be harder to start that than to expand something you're already doing. Expand on your strengths, rather than spending time shoring up your weaknesses.

Third, look at your lifestyle. If you want a quiet source of revenue, you're likely to enjoy selling affiliate products and producing adsense content sites. Neither takes any customer support or personal contact, so you can maintain a low profile. On the other hand, if you want to work with people and gain a reputation as a leader, then you're more likely to want to provide a direct service, sell your own products, and lead teleseminars. Only you know what your comfort level dictates.

Once you have answered these three questions, then you're ready to outline your desired revenue sources. You may want to work on each of these revenue streams, but adjust the percentage of your income that comes in from each. For example, I know one man who makes 100% of his income from adsense content sites. A woman I know makes 30% of her income from her own products, 50% from affiliate sales and the remaining 20% from teaching and consulting.

Adjust your percentages over time. For example, while you may be happy with 50% of your revenue from consulting right now, you may not want to continue that level of personal service. So you'll increase your revenue from adsense content sites and affiliate products to replace the revenue from consulting - after all, it's hard to do a lot of traveling while you're tied to client services! So look down the road three to five years and start moving that direction now.

Your online business is your choice. That's one of the wonderful realities about doing business online. There is no one successful model - each person designs their own ideal reality. So examine the possibilities, define your ideal revenue mix and choose your own path to Online Success.

Copyright 2006 Jeanette Cates

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet Strategist who works with independent professionals who are ready to turn their knowledge and their websites into gold. Dr. Cates offers a one-time Brain Dump Special for online business owners seeking guidance. http://www.YourInternetStrategist.com

Using Web Technology As A Means To Strengthen Competitive Advantage

Writen by Alex Margarit

Many firms underestimate the value of using their websites to gain significant competitive advantage in their given markets. Most businesses only utilize their website as a means of displaying their corporate profile, list of products as well as things like their contact details and email address.

At the risk of "preaching to the converted" Alex Margarit highlights some of the ways that a firm's website, when used as an effective Internet Marketing Channel, can enhance competitive advantage.

It is fairly safe to say that managers should always view web technology in light of the whole marketing mix instead of merely as an extension of their existing advertising efforts. I have seen this happen again and again and therefore feel it is my duty to attempted to highlight some of the ways that a website can positively impact each of the these marketing mix elements:

Distribution (Place)

Ways to enhance your distribution networks may include using the web portal to enhance logistics, create new marketing channels (for example affiliate channels) or provide better or faster product access for customers. Be careful however when creating new e-commerce sites as it is important to conduct a thorough online market analysis of your product to ensure that you are also competitive as far as other Internet based competitors are concerned. Internet retailers such as Amazon are growing in size and dominance and should be taken into account when planning any online strategy. Affiliate marketing channels may also be something to look into in terms of gaining more traffic to your site. New incoming marketing and information channels can be easily established by creating an affiliate program which entails other firms listing your site URL on their pages which in turn can equate to more traffic for your site. Look at your existing business referrers; can you enhance or strengthen these channels through the use of effective and relevant hyperlinks?

Promotions

The growth of the Internet's accessibility is inevitable and firms would be well advised to start the web advertising function as soon as possible. The reason for this is that "staying power" is paramount with more and more people starting to use the web. Firms that have been around the longest and which have high levels of interconnectivity will always maintain a pretty big competitive advantage over newer entrants. Once a firm's web page has established a decent ranking and is featured on other related sites, the ability for firms to utilize this coverage to reach out to new domestic and international markets can be quite powerful. The success of large Internet advertising campaigns is well documented. For me the last US election was a real eye-opener as Internet marketing played a dominant role in key advertising campaigns with staggering amounts of marketing messages being delivered via the Internet to target audiences.

Email marketing lists are also a great way to stay in touch with your customers and their effective use can provide a valuable marketing and information channel. The benefits are two fold with the ability for marketers to use them to heighten brand awareness whilst strengthening customer relationships. Newsletters and other marketing can be used to let customers know about new products or services as well as provide segment relevant information to them designed to offer value and a "good read". A word of caution though, make sure you clearly outline your privacy and anti-spam policy so as not to breach any anti-spam laws. You will need to get your customer's consent first as well as provide an unsubscribe link so that they may choose whether they want to receive your communications.

Product

Whilst observing the product part of the marketing mix, an Internet portal can substantially strengthens you're firm's current product offering. Ways that a web site can enhance your product offering are many, ranging from offering new web related products through to establishing outgoing affiliate programs. Giving customers better services that bolster the appeal of the core product is a great way to effectively relate products to customer needs. This usually involves the creation of secondary or ancillary products that can either be sold or provided for free. These additional offerings can help to generate higher, sometimes passive, earnings as well as increase a firm's potential differentiation. Ways in which your firm can do this include:

1. Setting up a knowledge base that your clients can have access to that includes a FAQ or query function allowing your clients to query you for information. This helps them to use the service better or more efficiently.

2. Using a feedback form where clients can offer their input as to their needs and product suggestions can help you to determine valuable information about your customer's needs

3. If you have a product that is hard to operate, providing free or subsidized training can assist your customers to overcome difficulties.

Many firms actually charge their clients for the support component you will have to refer to the existing competition situation to determine whether this is something that you can implement. Either way product enhancements could include increasing the availability of products and services by putting order forms and support forms on your website.

Price

The automation of some of the firm's functions using web technology usually equates to a significant saving of operational costs – that's if you are doing it right of course! For instance having an effective inbound ordering form can reduce sales staffing costs. Because ordering online doesn't require a sales representative to take the call and then effectively turn it around this costs the firm a certain amount per enquiry in staff time. Encourage clients to use the web form as opposed to other methods of product ordering may be an effective means of reducing these costs. Ways that a firm may wish to do this is to reflect the reduced staffing cost in the price by offering a "better deal" to Internet customers. Also, this can help to establish a pattern of online behavior in your customers that can sometimes be translated to other online firm functions such as support pages.

These are just a few of the ways in which an effective online strategy can turn your small web site into a virtual cost saver and income-generating machine. I challenge you to make the most of what is available and remember that constant revision of new web technology is always beneficial if you decide that it may or may not be for you. Naturally, not all web technology is suitable for every firm and it is important that you are conscious that ongoing development can be costly both in terms of time and other development and infrastructure expenditure. Effective development research as well as cost, change and market analysis is paramount to ensure that the benefits of any change out way any given realistic investment cost.

Alex Margarit (http://alexmargarit.com) is a Online Marketing Professional based in Brisbane, Australia. Specialising in the areas of music, fashion, information and legal marketing, Alex has dedicated his life to enhancing the online marketing capabilities of firms by thinking outside the square and offering relevant and timely web marketing tips and insights for businesses.

Is The Rich Jerk A Scam A Review

Writen by Robert Kreuk

The Rich Jerk is a well known name in the world if Internet Marketing, but is his claims of wealth true and possible for the average person? There's countless and unending claims of making money products online saying they'll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams so is this one any different? I've bought his eBook and was surprised what I found inside.

In a very no nonsense way he tackles different areas of internet marketing. He seems to have his fingers in everything. Throughout his eBook he keeps the same persona and attitude that is prevalent on his website, but gets the message across. Here are briefly some of the things he covers and how they would be helpful to anyone trying to get into Internet Marketing or just to see if what he's offering is something they'd like to know.

The Rich Jerk covers Affiliate Marketing first. Which is selling another's products for a commission basically. Very helpful at the start is a list of websites perfect to join to become an affiliate on. He covers the major affiliate players as well as a short list of other websites someone can use if they don't want to deal with the larger websites. How to write a sales letter is covered as well and tips on points to hit to help the reader better optimize their sales page to convert sales. Getting Pay Per Lead is mentioned as well to help create opt-in lists as well as create some income assuming a portion of your leads become sales to the affiliate.

The subject of Pay Per Clicks campaigns is then hit including a section on the notorious Google Adwords. While his approach is in no way a full course of using Adwords to it's marketing potential(that could take volumes) he does show you how you can use it to get more click throughs to your intended selling page. The use of Adsense with Adwords is also covered so you'll be able to make some money from your Adsense account without spending everything you have on Adwords. This section is important to anyone wanting to drive paid targeted traffic to their website.

Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is tackled next. Getting incoming links to your website is important and he tells you things you can do to increase your Page Rank as well as a long list of directories to submit your site to. Other ways to promote your website are included from Press Releases to articles. Getting, keeping, and continuing to have varying content that is updated enough for your site to be found are mentioend as well. There is enough in this chapter to keep one busy promoting their website for a good while and should bring favorable results.

There is a lot more covered in this eBook and I find it great for anyone getting into Internet Marketing and should have some things some veterans of it can draw from. It seems mainly aimed to the beginner marketer laying things out in plain and easy to understand text. This is perhaps one of the best approaches to the Internet Marketing arena as it is full of buzz words and jargon they may not understand or be able to figure out. Also, there is enough things covered that someone should find something they like to try. While the Rich Jerk claims seems to be exaggerated the information in his eBook is very sound and to the point. Since he was an Average Joe like you or me before this he must have done something to succeed to the extent he claims. His eBook will leave you believing it's entirely possible and that you can do it too.

Check out The Rich Jerk here for more information.

Building A Profitable Online Personal Training Business

Writen by Lynn VanDyke

Building any business is difficult. It takes guts, perseverance, dedication, time and money. Actually if you want the truth, it takes a lot more than that. It takes a toll on your life. Your family suffers, your bank account dwindles and your stress levels shoot through the roof. Regardless of all these scary emotions and scenarios, there are some major benefits to starting your own business.

You are in control, you are following your dreams, you are creating something from scratch and you are a leader. You have the ability to hire workers and you alone can create an empire. The feeling of working for yourself can be compared to nothing else.

Personal trainers are used to working long hours for minimal pay. Most personal trainers wake up each morning ready to help their client lose weight and feel great for only 40% of the session fee. Sometimes personal trainers are treated as if they are the bottom of the totem pole.

If you are a personal trainer and you are looking at ways to boost your income without drowning in debt and taking massive chances with starting your own personal training business then read this article closely. It will show you the basic elements of creating a successful online personal training business.

The very first step in creating your online personal training business is to create a fantastic website. This does not mean one that flashes and sparkles with ads. It means creating a website that has a clean, professional look and feel. It means creating a website that has a ton of information about you, your service, and fitness.

It is so very important for your personal training website to receive free targeted visitors from search engines like Google and Yahoo. Many online personal training businesses pay to have their site put in front of thousands of people. Why not create a tightly focused web business that ranks well at the search engines? This gives you warm, pre-sold, targeted visitors for free.

Once visitors find your site, you must impress them. You must tell the more than the standard who, what, where, when and why. You must develop a relationship with them. You must create trust with your potential online personal training clients. There are many ways to do this.

You could create an ezine or a free e-course that explains the best weight loss methods. Providing answers to your customer's questions will make them trust you. It will also provide you with something rather priceless- expert status. Your visitors will view you as the expert in online personal training and fitness.

Once you have a clean website, free traffic and a trustworthy relationship with your visitors you can begin to let them know about your online personal training services. Of course you do this in a warm and friendly manner. No hard sales necessary because your visitors already trust you. They already want to buy from you so long as you help solve their problem.

Read that last line again because it is the basis of all successful businesses. Your online personal training business will succeed so long as you convince your visitor that you can solve his or her problem.

Many online personal training businesses contract third party programs to create fitness routines and/or nutrition programs. Some business owners like to create their own programs using Excel spreadsheets. Whatever you choose, do what is best for your customer.

The ultimate goal for any personal trainer should be to train more clients, but spend less time doing it. Online personal training is the answer. Starting your own online personal training business is a lucrative business opportunity for many weight loss professionals.

Just remember to start with a fantastic website. Without a successful online personal training website that attracts loads of warm pre-sold visitors you will waste your hard earned cash. Be wary of get rich quick schemes and those hosting companies that offer free or low cost web space. If you want to build an online personal training business that is successful, then do it right the first time. Plan for success and a profitable online personal training business can be the answer to more income and a better quality of life.

My name is Lynn VanDyke and I have successfully used the above process to take my site into the top 1% of all websites in the world! Learn how you can create your profitable online personal training business by visiting: http://service-selling.sitesell.com/mylife.html

A Primer Into The World Of Paid Search Marketing

Writen by Craig A Smith

Paid search seems like an easy nut to crack. Target the keywords that make sense for your business, write a compelling ad, manage the bidding process, and see the sales come in.

Unfortunately, due to the swarm of advertisers that have now embraced the medium as a quick alternative to gaining natural rankings, the market has become much more competitive and retailers need to consistently monitor paid search metrics to not spend marketing dollars unwisely. For a company to receive maximum ROI within paid search platforms, clickthroughs must be monitored for performance and various variables need to be tested to optimize the campaigns.

Although paid search ad platforms are technological marvels and one of the most advanced advertising mediums that have ever been invented, the reality is that paid search follows direct marketing rules that catalogers have been following for 100+ years. In the early days of catalogs, retailers realized that people in unique segments responded to different messaging in various ways.

To ensure that a catalog business would continue to grow, catalogers would take their learnings from a previous campaign and leverage them within subsequent mailings. They would change the ad copy, change the products etc – continually trying to exceed previous successes. Sometimes the changes would work – sometimes it wouldn't – but catalogers were always trying increase their previous metrics.

The lessons of the past still hold true today in search marketing. Even though the level of variables may be less than an average print catalog, online retailers still need to consistently monitor the performance of their paid search advertising and recreate new ads with changes that better speak to consumers.

For those who may be new to paid search marketing – below are the variables that retailers can control within paid search:

1. Advertising Headline – The anchor text to the hyperlink within the ad

2. Advertising copy – The brief text below the headline that delivers the desired message

3. Landing Page – What webpage the consumer is taken to after clicking on the ad

4. Cost per click – How much the retailer is charged after the consumer clicks

Let's examine each in detail and outline how to optimize each piece for success…

Advertising headline

This may be the most important piece of your paid search advertisement. It's what the consumer first sees and an attention grabbing headline drives further consumer action.

Both overture (Yahoo's paid engine) and Google Adwords provide an advantage to retailers that utilize the searched for keywords within their headline. In these instances, Google and Overture BOLDFACE the keyword which makes the word better stand out within the ad.

Although there are no concrete metrics to support this claim, it is widely believed in online marketing circles that the boldface type improves click through rates and drives more traffic to a site.

We recommend that when you are creating your campaign – you include your keywords in every ad headline. Not only will it convey a sense of relevance to the consumer because you are re-communicating the keyword that they are looking for, it will also stand out from the pack due to the bold type. Follow this rule and you are instantly ahead of 50% of your competition in optimizing your ad for maximum click through rates.

Advertising Copy

When writing advertising copy for search engines remember these three words – "Call to Action". In the limited space that a retailer has to persuade, the advertising copy has to suggest some type of benefit by engaging the consumer to take action with the advertisement. Below are a couple examples of incorporating "Calls to Action".

• Solid Oak Furniture , See our difference in quality
• Motorcycles for enthusiasts – Learn more about the leader in motorbikes
• Get ahead of the competition, Meet us to learn how you can sell more stuff

Each one of these examples is very simple but they all have a common theme of stating a benefit and providing the consumer with a next step. This tactic engages the consumer and makes an ad more compelling – hence a higher CTR rate.

Landing Page

It's amazing the number of poor landing pages that are in search marketing today. Retailers pay upwards of 30-50 cents a click to send someone to a homepage! In any retail paid search program it is crucial that the landing page of an ad takes a consumer to that exact product or product category page.

A new tactic that retailers are embracing is to take users directly to checkout/shopping cart when they search for a specific sku or product.

For example, if a consumer searches for Sony DVD Player xjh432 (lets say to do product research), forward thinking retailers are putting the product searched for already in a shopping cart while showing related accessories, promotions, and warranty plans that correspond with the product at the time of the landing page.

This tactic is fairly aggressive, maybe almost too much so, but could be an interesting method to test when measuring your search strategies.

Cost Per Click

If you are like the rest of the retail community participating in paid search, you have seen PPC prices rise anywhere from 30-70% over the last year. In what was like a mad bidding rush, retailers embraced automated bid management tools to ensure the top spot rankings. In reality however, the top two spots are not always the spots that produce the best ROI on marketing dollars.

Next time you are configuring a paid campaign, try bidding into the 3rd and 4th slots of a search term. You will see a drop in traffic but will also likely see an increase in search sales conversion. When placed in those spots, retailers get traffic of consumers that have already spent time within the first three listings (both paid and natural). These consumers are more likely to convert in the 3rd or 4th spot as long as the price is competitive, policies regarding returns and shipping are clearly outlined, and the site provides adequate content.

If a retailer can save approximately 40% off of PPC prices within this spot – it becomes a no brainer to leave the #1 spot to someone who has much deeper pockets, as you net more profit contribution in the long run.

Be rewarded from testing

Within all of these components, continuously test to "beat the control". Try new approaches and new phrases and try reaching new customer segments at higher percentages.

By improving your clickthrough rates within the Adwords platform, you will be rewarded with a higher ranking without paying any incremental PPC costs. Google's paid search platform algorithm has been built to reward retailers with better copy - retailers can consistently rank higher than competitors paying more by having better formulated ads.

Google also offers advertisers the ability to run two ads concurrently at once within an ad group. Take advantage of this functionality by testing two distinctly different ads. See which one converts worse, at both a sales and clickthrough level, and change it to something new. Run the ad again and keep monitoring progress.

By consistently optimizing your paid search campaigns by testing and changing the four variables listed above you will maximize the profitability of your campaigns and be on your way to better understanding the motivations of your customers within a search marketing environment.

Craig Smith is the founder of Trinity Insight LLC - A consultancy that helps online retailers reach higher levels of success.

http://www.trinityinsight.com

How To Buy Your Online Success

Writen by Jason Tarasi

There are literally hundreds of internet marketing techniques in existence with more being developed rapidly. When you've got an internet business, driving traffic to your website is absolutely vital. After all, without traffic, your website does nothing but take up space on the World Wide Web. When searching for internet marketing options that drive traffic to your website, you may find the concept of buying traffic to be appealing.

Buying traffic to your website from a wholesale website traffic broker might be a good internet marketing technique because you can get massive traffic at a low cost. However, if it isn't quality, targeted traffic, it really won't do you any good and it will simply be a waste of your advertising money.

If you are considering buying traffic for your website, you've absolutely got to do some research regarding the type of traffic that certain traffic brokers deliver. Pop up advertisements are common techniques that traffic brokers use to drive traffic to your website. While they can be appealing to some internet surfers, pop up ads are considered to be a burdensome annoyance to many and pop up blocker technology prevents them from even being displayed to many prospects.

You also need to know where the traffic you are buying comes from. If it comes from an expired domain that is relevant to your website, it might be good, targeted traffic. However, if it comes from a source that has nothing whatsoever to do with your target market, it probably won't be beneficial.

When you do purchase website traffic in bulk, start with a small amount and carefully track the results that are being produced from the traffic in regard to the number of hits to your website and the conversion rate. If the traffic proves to be fruitful, you may opt to purchase more, but if results are not evident, save your money to be spent on more productive internet marketing alternatives.

While traffic to your website is essential to making money in an internet-based business, the traffic simply must come from your target market in order for it to be useful. Study up on methods for driving traffic to your website considering the potential for the traffic to be converted to sales all the while. With a good internet marketing strategy that consists of a variety of traffic driving techniques geared to the characteristics of your target market, your website is sure to be successful.

Copyright 2006 Jason Tarasi

Jason Tarasi publishes the reciprocal links newsletter "Elite Links" Learn HOW thousands of other Elite Links members generate FREE traffic and increase their search engine rankings by swapping links. Grab your free lifetime subscription now at: http://www.freeclassifiedlinks.com

10 Rarely Used Ways To Upgrade Your Ad

Writen by Rojo Sunsen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

Finding Your Online Business Niche

Writen by Lynn VanDyke

I recently gave a seminar to folks interested in starting their own online business. Most of them were looking for information about shopping carts, search engine optimization, hosting, and tech related issues. I believe they were all stunned when I explained that I would not address any of their questions until they told me their niche.

It felt as though 5 minutes passed by before any one said a word. I could tell that not one person knew their niche. I expected this. In fact most hopeful net entrepreneurs miss this very important first step. Choosing your niche.

It is so easy to get caught up in technical details, marketing, cash-flow charts and such, but what good is stressing about those concerns when no niche is chosen? It's like putting the cart before the horse. Step 1 in creating an online business road map to success is defining your niche.

Websters.com defines a niche as a situation or activity specially suited to a person's interests, abilities, or nature. It also says a niche is a special area of demand for a product or service. A niche is a target market. It is focused, not broad.

Here are a few examples of niches: golfing for women, hot rods of the 1970's, Greek desserts, and organic herb gardening. Here are examples of topics that are not niches: golf, cars, food or gardening. Do you see how a niche is focused and a topic is broad?

Determining your niche is the first step to producing a successful online business. Your business should be built around 1 niche. Your products or services should provide solutions to problems or concerns within your niche. Your site content should provide information about your niche. Creating an online business around your niche helps you rank better at search engines, positions you as an expert, and creates buzz in your industry.

Here are a few simple questions to help define your niche:

- What are your hobbies?

- What experiences/skills have you collected through school and jobs?

- What is your biggest passion in life?

- What hobby/experience/skill/passion would you enjoy building a business around?

- Have you often been told by people that you should go into business doing a particular thing? For example, sell your famous muffin mix or sell your web design services.

My best advice is to choose a niche that you are passionate about. Building a business takes effort and patience. You will have a much harder time motivating yourself through the difficult periods of business if you dislike your niche. So choose wisely.

Follow your gut and pick the best niche for you. Income will follow where passion and hard work lead. Begin researching your niche industry and then move forward with your plans.

A successful online business road map will look something like this:

- Choose niche.

- Research industry. Find problems people have in that niche.

- Brainstorm a service or product to solve people's problems, or become an affiliate for an existing product/service.

- Choose a hosting company that provides everything you need in one low cost price. A good hosting company will provide support, easy page building, traffic analysis, search engine optimization, ability to create a newsletter and RSS feed and much more. Check out my site to see who I use for my online business.

- Begin building your site around your niche.

Copyright 2006 www.strength-training-woman.com

Lynn VanDyke builds successful websites. She provides several options for business owners including a "Jump Start Your Online Business" CD-ROM. Visit http://www.LynnVanDyke.com to learn more about her and her services. Lynn's content website is ranked in all 3 major search engines and is in the top 1% of all websites worldwide according to Alexa.