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1.Don't Advertise Like a Big Business
Big businesses advertise to create name recognition and future sales. A
small business can't afford to do that. Instead, design your advertising
to produce sales ...now. One way to accomplish this is to always include
an offer in your advertising - and an easy way for prospective customers
to respond to it.
2. Offer a Cheaper Version
Some prospective customers are not willing to pay the asking price for
your product or service. Others are more interested in paying a low
price than in getting the best quality. You can avoid losing sales to
many of these customers by offering a smaller or stripped down version
of your product or service at a lower price.
3. Offer a Premium Version
Not all customers are looking for a cheap price. Many are willing to pay
a higher price to get a premium product or service. You can boost your
average size sale and your total revenue by offering a more
comprehensive product or service ...or by combining several products or
services in a special premium package offer for a higher price.
4. Try Some Unusual Marketing Methods
Look for some unconventional marketing methods your competitors are
overlooking. You may discover some highly profitable ways to generate
sales and avoid competition. For example, print your best small ad on a
postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. A small ad on
a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your website or
generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost.
5. Trim Your Ads
Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost.
You may even be surprised to find that some of your short ads generate a
better response than their longer versions.
6. Set up Joint Promotions with Other Small Businesses
Contact some non-competing small businesses serving customers in your
market. Offer to publicize their products or services to your customers
in exchange for their publicizing your services to their customers. This
usually produces a large number of sales for a very low cost.
7. Take Advantage of Your Customers
Your customers already know and trust you. It's easier to get more
business from them than to get any business from somebody who never
bought from you. Take advantage of this by creating some special deals
just for your existing customers ...and announce new products and
services to them before you announce them to the general market.
Also, convert your customers into publicity agents for your business.
Develop an incentive for them to tell associates and friends about the
value of your products or services. An endorsement from them is more
effective than any amount of advertising - and it is much cheaper.
Each of these 7 marketing tips provides a simple, low-cost way for any
small business to find customers and generate sales quickly. Copyright
2005 Bob Leduc
Email Marketing is a very inexpensive, highly rewarding form of Internet
Marketing. Having your own double opt-in mailing list is almost like
having the goose that lays the golden egg and whenever you need another
egg all you have to do is go out and get one.
Maybe that analogy is a little exaggerated, but the principals behind a
successful email marketing campaign are the same.
A double opt-in email marketing campaign is also rewarding because your
subscribers wanted to receive your newsletter and took the time to
opt-in. A double opt-in list is not only more targeted and successful
than a single opt-in list; a double opt-in list is much safer.
With a single opt-in list it is easy for anyone to submit any email
address, even if it is not theirs and they are doing it for a friend.
The persons email address they submitted may not want to be on your list
and they will not know that they subscribed until they start receiving
emails from you. These subscribers will probably not ever open your
newsletter and may report you for sending SPAM. We all know how bad SPAM
is getting, so don't contribute to the problem.
Double opt-in is an enhanced permission that tackles these issues. With
double opt-in, the submitted name is not immediately added to a mailing
list. Instead, an email is sent to the address, asking to confirm that
your name should indeed be added. If the recipient of the confirmation
email does nothing, the submitted address is deleted and never added to
the Email Marketing Campaign. The name is only added to a list if the
recipient responds to the confirmation email and thus double opt-in.
How do you get subscribers?
Getting subscribers to your mailing list is just a matter of having
something others want. You may have insight on a certain subject,
offering a great download to the subscribers, running a contest where
the only requirement is to subscribe, etc.
There are many ways to get subscribers but the main requirement is for
you to give potential subscribers something they want or need.
There is just one rule you should follow; Be Honest. Honesty will get
you a more targeted subscriber which in turn will benefit you.
Treat your Emailing Marketing subscribers like Gold.
Why? Because if you treat them with honesty, don't talk down to them and
give them good information on a consistent basis, your members will
repay you by not only reading your newsletter but participating in the
"calls for action" within the newsletter.
A good newsletter can get a much higher return then a website and that
is why many companies are now heavily focusing on their Email Marketing
Campaigns.
This probably goes against everything you have learned about email
marketing but don't be afraid to "yada yada". That is not to say that
you can just talk about something that has no relevance to your
newsletter but if you have a good story don't hold it back. Subscribers
are just people and a good or funny story always can keep our attention.
Your subscribers will get a better understanding of you and look forward
to getting your newsletter to just see what you have to say. Happy,
attentive subscribers are loyal subscribers
Should you use HTML email or plain text?
This question is asked all of the time and the answer is easy, "plain
text". Your newsletter should be sent in text and not HTML.
HTML email can look great and add some eye candy to your newsletter but
like in real life too much candy can be bad. Plus because spammers only
really use HTML emails, people are either filtering out all HTML email
or finding ways so their email software will read all email in plain
text, your newsletter may not get delivered.
If you want place a link on top of the text email to open an HTML
version of the newsletter.
Getting your email read.
In internet speak typing in ALL CAPITOL LETTERS is the same as yelling
and SPAM filters watch out for that, plus it annoys people. Avoid all
caps in your subject lines and email headings.
Limit you fingers to hitting the punctuation keys only once. Email
filers will definitely flag an email with more than one "!!!!!!!!" or
"??????". Be careful with your punctuation and try to remember what your
elementary school teacher taught you. You do not want to have to sit in
the corner or miss recess.
You need to test.
Before you send out a newsletter you need to test it to make certain
that everything is formatted correctly. Test your hyperlinks and make
sure you have included the http:// and do not use IP address numbers in
place of actual domain names.
If you have a lot of subscribers with AOL.com email addresses you need
to set up a special hyperlink for them.
In a plain text email a hyperlink such as http://www.anydomain.com would
be able to be clicked on and open a browser to the URL but because the
way AOL's email software handles email it would not. You would have to
add this line <a href="http://www.anydomian.com">http://www.anydomain.com</a>
to allow AOL subscribers to make the link clickable.
Send a test newsletter to yourself so you can see it just like your
subscribers will. Any successful Email Marketing Campaign needs to come
from a person and sent to a person, so test it to make sure it comes
across that way.
The Google Toolbar is more powerful than just helping you to Search the
Web and block pop-ups. It is a great tool to use to help your website
get spidered and thus listed on Google. Go and download the toolbar and
select the advanced setting option. Once the toolbar is installed go to
your website a few times a day for a week or so and before you know it
the Googlebot will be making visits to rank your website.
Content is King
The best tip that can ever be given to help you with Search Engines is;
Content is King.
The more quality content you have on your website the better. Search
Engines are always looking to make their search results more relevant
and up to date so keep adding new content.
Deciphering Email Confirmation Requests
by Leo A. Notenboom
I emailed a colleague and within minutes got this email in response that
said something like "please visit this link and to confirm your identity
in order for your mail to be delivered". What's that all about? Is it
safe? Could it be spam, or phishing, or something else bad?
Welcome to spam wars. This episode could be entitled "Revenge of the
spammed".
What you're probably seeing is something called challenge/response. In
the last couple of years it's become a popular way for some folks to
control the amount of spam they get.
A lot of people love it. But a lot of people, people like you and me who
aren't spammers, absolutely hate it.
Here's how it works: when you sign up for a challenge/response (c/r)
service, all of your incoming email is filtered by the service. If the
email is from someone that the service recognizes is a legitimate, real
person or valid sender, you get the email. But if the email is from
someone the service has never heard of before, things get interesting.
When email is received from a sender that the c/r service has never
heard of before:
The c/r service quarantines the email. You do not get it right away.
The service then sends that confirmation mail you mentioned back to the
sender. That's called the "challenge".
When the sender follows the instructions, which usually involves
clicking a link, and filling in one of those "match the picture" forms,
they are validated as a "legitimate" sender. That's the "response".
Once validated, the original email they sent to you is delivered.
Once validated they are validated for good. They are assumed to be
legitimate, and their email to you is delivered without additional
delay.
Now if the sender never fills out that form, never responds to the
validation request, then their mail is never delivered, and you never
see it.
The theory is that spammers will not respond to the challenge, and their
mail will never be delivered. People who are legitimate will complete
the challenge, get validated, and have their email delivered as
expected.
There are so many problems with this technique, it's hard to know where
to begin.
Who's paying? - many people are vehemently opposed to
challenge/response, because it shifts the burden of spam prevention on
to the legitimate senders of email that isn't spam. The innocent pay the
price, as it were. In fact I know several folks who simply will not
respond to a challenge response system, ever.
Not all senders are people - say you purchase something at an on-line
store. That store sends you an email confirmation. The c/r system
quarantines that confirmation, sending a challenge back to the sender.
MOST online merchants (and other online services) are simply not able to
respond to the challenge. So the legitimate email will never be
delivered.
Not all senders are who they say they are - you've seen lots of issues
with email spoofing ... sending email as if it came from one person, who
had nothing to do with it. If that spoofed sender has been validated by
the c/r system, spam that appears to be coming from their address will
get through.
Challenges look like phishing attempts - how many times have we heard
"don't click on links in email you aren't sure of" ? The fact is that
most challenges look a lot like many of the phishing attempts we see
these days. If someone doesn't quickly and easily understand what it is
they're looking at, they should (rightly, in my opinion) delete it and
move on. That could mean that their legitimate email to you may not get
through.
Now in many cases, one of the positions that most c/r service providers
take is that you, the customer and email recipient, can proactively "whitelist"
email addresses. That is, you can tell the service that email coming
from addresses you provide does not need to be verified. Some will even
automatically whitelist addresses that you send email to. Both very nice
features.
But the practical reality is that c/r service users are not taking the
time to whitelist all the email addresses that they should. And many
cannot predict all the senders from whom they will get legitimate email.
Challenge/response is a nice idea ... but in my opinion, and that of
many, many others, it fails the test of practicality. In the real world,
it has too many flaws, and has the potential to prevent too much
legitimate email from being delivered.
Spam is definitely a problem. Challenge/response is a very flawed
solution.
Tips & Hints How to do keyword
research for the Internet Keyword Effectiveness Index
(KEI)
If you own an e-commerce website or going to own one then you
unquestionably need to be acquainted with the concepts of web promotion
and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Both of these aims at
indispensable motive of any e-commerce business and that is generating
more traffic. More traffic means superior visibility, increased number
of visitors to the site and henceforth more business and more revenues.
Other way round is to look out for advertisements carried through PPC
(Pay per Click), which requires an extensive advertising budget.
Keyword research is therefore enormously necessary for ranking a site
higher in the search engine. Content is the king of the web and use of
proper keywords makes it visible to the world. In simple vocabulary it
can be explained that keyword research is searching for keywords that
are capable of attracting potential customers for products or services
offered on a website. It is well known fact that a large amount of the
visitors reach a site through search engines, nearly 60-70%.
Lets take a look at the most important factor in selecting the keywords
for a site i.e. KEI. Well KEI is a measure of how effective a keyword is
for your web site. The derivation of the formula for KEI is based on
three axioms:
1) The KEI for a keyword would increase if its popularity increases.
2) The KEI for a keyword would decrease if it becomes more competitive.
The KEI is calculated as a ratio between the popularity and
competitiveness of the keyword. The KEI measure explains the popularity
of keywords, higher the better.
Now the question arises, how to generate keywords? So far, Word tracker
and Overture endow with the best source for keyword research. Word
tracker offers keywords from a huge database of 340 million search
queries using which one could build keyword lists for use in search
engine optimization and pay per click advertising. It exactly displays
the number of counts for which a keyword or a phrase is being searched
with number of websites focusing on the same. It also depicts the KEI.
The competition search helps to find the number of competitors for a
particular keyword or a set of keywords most suited for a site.
The online Word tracker keyword research tool is very easy to use and
generates results within minutes. One could start by choosing a generic
keyword. The system will present list of these keyword (in hundreds) for
which one has to only enter the keyword phrase describing product,
services or business like Diamond jewelry, Real estates etc. An
appropriate keyword from the list could be selected that generates whole
lot of related keywords. Once the keywords are selected it will be added
in a keyword basket where it could be further used for export or import
new keywords. One could also do a competition search based on different
search engines as required. The final list will be the keyword phrases
and the associated KEI, count and competition through which one could
select the keywords based on competition and traffic it would generate.
Overly broad keywords rarely work well. With "flower" as a keyword, your
site competes with many thousands of other sites for attention. However,
the more targeted "Florida flower vendor" phrase increases your chance
of appearing near the top of the results list. If you really want to get
specific, your site would always be at the top of a search on "Florida
flower vendor" - if any users were to actually search on it rather then
on simple "flower”. Find out what keywords people actually use to query
search engines before you make a final selection.
Overture is the other giant that is considered important for keyword
research. Using similar steps in Overture based keyword research tool
you can determine your primary keyword. Major drawback in overture tool
is that it does not differentiate between singular and plural words.
This could lead to targeting wrong keywords as search engines
differentiate between the two.
Did you know that 22 percent of nonspam e-mail doesn't get delivered?
That means two e-mails lost for every nine sent out. It's because the
spammers have killed e-mail both by burying the real stuff and by
causing most ISPs to filter the mail.
We've already talked about the From and Subject lines. The third key in
writing e-mails that get opened is to send e-mails that don't get caught
in spamcatcher filters--because if you want your post to be opened, it
has to be seen. If the filters grab it, your recipient may not ever have
the chance to see it.
In the above paragraph, I reworded two bits to avoid that trap. I said
"not ever" because the one-word version that begins with "n" and ends
with "ever" is one of the trigger words. So are the words you get if you
drop the first letter off "where" or "know.." And I did the word that
begins with "sp" and ends with "catcher" as one word, because the first
four letters would ring a filter bell.
And you may have wondered why you sometimes see spaces in the middle of
words in my newsletters--it's to avoid triggering these robots' appetite
for e-mail.
Learn to phrase things differently. Instead of the word that begins "fr"
and continues "ee," for instance, I might say "no-cost," "without
charge," etc. For me, writing to beat the filters has become automatic
(and given that I write about marketing and pro fit, it's a challenge).
I still run my stuff through a checker, and there will be a few items
that I miss, but even my first draft scores are pretty low.
Most filters will rank a piece of mail, and those above a certain score
will be blocked entirely or held for review before delivery. So,
typically, you can have a few of the filter hooks but not too many.
In addition to word traps, some filters are set for format traps.
Fortunately, those are easy to avoid--if you know what they are. This
isn't a complete list, but it'll get you started:
* Html formats (see next month for a full explanation)
* Strings of all-capital letters (this is why I am violating grammar and
not capitalizing every letter of Html)
* Multiple exclamation points and/or dollar signs
* Documents that are excessively long (yes, I'm guilty, I confess)
* Double-high priority flag
OK, so how do you know? Run it through at least one of these:
http://www.ezinecheck.com/check.html (this is the one I use most often,
because it's extremely easy to use and tells you the results right
away--but it flags fewer words than some others)
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/ (follow the instructions *exactly*--and
you'll get a report by e-mail within a few hours)
http://www.lyris.com/resources/contentchecker/ (another one that e-mails
the report)
Use a Professional Signature This is an important tip to use on every
email that you send. Even your friends may not always remember your
website address or business phone number and will quickly look to an old
e-mail to look it up.
When preparing an email signature it’s important to include Your Name,
Company Name, and your Physical Address or Website Address. You may also
include your phone number.
DoubleClick's Q3 2004 Email Trend
Report Shows Email Continuing to Drive Online Sales Continuing Email Productivity Shows Positive Signs for Holiday
Shopping Season
DoubleClick's Q3 2004 Email Trend Report reveals a significant increase
in the productivity of email for online merchants, with conversion rates
and number of orders per emails delivered both rising over the previous
year’s rates. For all mailers, the latest trend report shows continued
stability in overall email performance over the past two years, while
year-on-year figures show an increase in delivery rates and a decline in
open rates and click-through rates.
Email Continues to Drive Sales, Although Revenue per Email Has Declined
The Q3 Email trend report shows an increase in email click-to-purchase
conversion rates and number of orders per email delivered for Retail and
Catalog customers that track purchase activity through DARTmail. The
click-to-purchase conversion rate grew 23.5 percent or 0.8 points
year-over-year, from 3.4 percent in Q3 2003 to 4.2 percent in Q3 2004.
The average number of orders per email delivered also rose significantly
(17 percent or 0.04 points) year-over-year to 0.28 percent in Q3 ‘04
from 0.24 percent in Q3 ‘03. Despite these increases, two other measures
of email productivity showed declines. Revenue per email delivered
declined year-over-year to $0.21, a 19.2 percent drop, while the median
order size, declined 6.9 percent year-over-year to $94 in Q3 2004.
These figures, combined with a decline in click rates for Retail and
Catalog mailers (discussed below), suggest that email recipient behavior
is evolving with regards to promotional email from retailers. As the
email medium matures, recipients seem less likely to always click on a
promotional email, but when they do click, they are demonstrating that
they are more likely to be “in market” for products and services and
have a higher propensity to convert.
Overall Performance Remains Steady Despite year-over-year fluctuations,
overall email performance over the past two years remains stable with
regards to bounce rates, open rates and click-through rates. The average
delivery rate (emails sent minus the combined hard and soft bounce-back
rate) grew slightly year-over-year to 89.3 percent, an increase of 1.2
percent or 1.1 points from Q3 2003 (88.2%).
The average open rate (average of 34.3%) declined 7.5 percent from Q3
2003 (37.1%), while the average click-through rate (8.2%) decreased 10.9
percent during the same period (9.2%). Despite the year-on-year decline,
click-through rates have remained relatively stable over a period of two
years, down only 3.5 percent or 0.2 points in that time, from 8.5
percent in Q3 2002 to 8.3 percent in Q3 2004.
Email Performance by Category Delivery rates increased from the previous
year in almost every category, especially Travel, which rose 9 percent
or 7.8 points from 14.3 percent to 6.5 percent. Open rates (37.1% in the
Travel category) also dropped in almost every category, while
click-through rates (8.7%) rose marginally in Travel over the previous
year (from 8.5% to 8.7%)
Business Publisher was the only category that saw an increase, albeit
marginal, in open rates (from 38.2% to 38.3%). Business Products and
Services had the highest open rates at 41.5%, while Retail and Catalog
had the lowest open rates of any of the categories at 30.8%. The biggest
declines in open rates were in Consumer Products, which fell 22.8% from
43.9% to 33.9%, followed by Financial Services, down 14% from 44.3% to
38.1%, and Business Products and Services, down 10.4% from 46.3% to
41.5%.
Consumer Publisher (up 24.3%, from 9.3%) and Travel were the only
categories to record an increase in click-through rates. The biggest
declines in click rates were in Retail and Catalog (down 36.4%, from
8.8% to 5.6%), Financial Services (down 27.9%, from 10.6% to 7.6%) and
Consumer Products (down 22.6%, from 11.5% to 8.9%). The highest click
rate was for the Consumer Publisher category, at 11.6 percent, and the
lowest was Retail and Catalog at 5.6 percent.
“Once again, this Quarter’s data reveal the incredible effectiveness of
email as a marketing tool for online merchants and underscores the
maturity and stability of email as a communications vehicle,” said Kevin
Mabley, Director of Strategic Services at DoubleClick. “As more and more
marketers adopt and abide by best practices in list hygiene and continue
to pay attention to customer preferences, we predict response rates and
conversion trends will continue to hold strong – a great message for
merchants this holiday season.”
Methodology The DoubleClick Email Trend Report contains aggregate data
from DoubleClick’s DARTmail email delivery technology. The Q3 data are
based on billions of permission-based emails from hundreds of clients.
The full results are available to DoubleClick customers and an executive
summary is available at: www.doubleclick.net/us/knowledge
Performance metrics in this release relate to un-weighted averages
across all companies. This is done to provide a measure of average
company performance, due to the fact that very large mailers can bias
the overall and category results.
Creating Demand
with Email Newsletters
By Julia Hyde
Your Web site is live, and you have implemented a public relations
campaign and have purchase advertising in trade journals, magazines, and
newspapers. But your site's daily visitors are still in single digits
and your sales are ... well, let's just say that early retirement is no
longer an option.
Now what?
It's time to try email marketing; more specifically, an email
newsletter. Email newsletters are cheap an easy to create and send, and
they are proven to increase sales.
Of course, there are many other reasons why email newsletters make good
business sense. Here's just a few of them:
Create a marketing campaign on a shoestring budget.
Measure the results and find out what works and what doesn't.
Build personal relationships with a large group of people.
Track customer behavior and collect user information.
Starting your email newsletter campaign
Before you start any type of marketing or advertising campaign, you need
a plan. You don't have to put together a 200-plus page document
outlining all your goals and objectives, but you do need to define some
basics before you begin.
Identify your audience. It's not enough to say, "They're people who like
widgets". Take your cue from magazine publishers. They know exactly who
their target audience is, how much money they earn, what social group
they fit into, and what motivates them to buy. Find out who your
customers are, then tailor your newsletter around their needs and
desires.
Check out your competition. Every business has competition. Find out
what they are doing by researching their product or service. What could
you do better? Is there a gap in their service you can fill?
Identify your newsletter's purpose. What do you hope to achieve with
your newsletter? Do you want to give your subscribers information about
your product to help them make purchasing decisions? If so, you must
first show them how it can make them smarter, healthier, wealthier, or
more successful.
Do you want to position yourself as an expert in your field? Your goal
here is to provide your subscribers with well-written articles that
address issues in your industry. Whatever your objectives, your purpose
will determine what content goes in to your newsletter.
Creating content
Now you need to think about content. Here are three ways to provide your
readers with fresh and relevant content.
1. Write it yourself. By far the cheapest approach is to write the
content yourself. If you enjoy writing and if you have lots of ideas for
content, then this may be the best option
2. Hire writers to create your content. If you are not comfortable
writing your own content, you can hire a professional writer. Many
freelance writers specialize in writing newsletter articles.
FreelanceWriting.com is one source for finding freelancers.
3. Use existing content. There are several online article directories,
such as Ideamarketers.com, GoArticles.com, Articlecity and EzineArticles.
Articles posted on these sites are generally free as long as you include
the writer's byline.
Design your template
Just as a magazine has a certain look that appeals to its subscribers,
so must your email newsletter. Decide on a design and stick with it so
your subscribers know what to expect with each issue. Think about how
magazines and newspapers have regular columns in each issue. Divide your
newsletter into bite-sized pieces so the content is easier for readers
to digest.
HTML or plain text?
It's really a matter of what you think will most appeal to your readers.
The jury is still out on whether one sells better than the other, but if
in doubt offer two lists: one in plain text and one in HTML. Then let
your subscribers decide which one they want to receive.
Ready, set, go!
You've defined your objectives, secured your content, and designed your
newsletter. Now all you need to do is put it together and launch it to
your customers. For this you need a mailing list. Begin with your own
in-house list, made up of people who have specifically requested to
receive information from you. Put up a sign-up form on every page of
your site, advertise your newsletter in online ezine directories or in
other newsletters, and announce your newsletter in emails that you send.
However you choose to build your list, do not succumb to the temptation
of becoming a spammer. Never send your newsletter to anyone who hasn't
specifically requested to receive it. Remember, new anti-spam
regulations require every marketing email to include an opt-out
provision and a valid physical address. Violations can carry hefty
fines, so read up on the regulations and make sure you are following hem
to the letter.
Email newsletters are a boon to small businesses. They are a great way
to drive customers to your site, create demand for your product, gather
customer data, and help your company succeed.
Julia Hyde is an independent copywriter and consultant specializing in
advertising, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing
services. To learn more, visit her Web site at juliahyde.com or email
her at info@juliahyde.com.
Do you have a great idea for a product or service that you can sell over
the Internet? Or have you already created your product and service and
want to improve sales? Marketing your products and services on the
Internet can be lucrative, if you utilize the proper marketing tools.
What are these amazing marketing tools that will lead you to a
successful financial future? Read on to find out.
First of all let's assume that you have created a website for your
product or service. You should spend ample time designing, building, and
fine tuning your website or websites. The website or bag of websites you
create for your product or service should help you to stand out from the
competition. Creating an effective website is a whole other issue in
itself so we will assume that your company website or websites are top
notch.
The amazing marketing tools you need to utilize deal with driving
traffic to your website. Creating leads to your website is paramount
because if you don't have any website visitors and sales conversions
then your Internet business will most likely fail. You need to market
your business to customers in an efficient manner which includes
building a quality client list. Choose quality over quantity. Quality
leads more often convert to sales then a gaggle of numerous ineffective
sales leads.
The top five ways to direct traffic to your website include: email joint
ventures, articles, traffic from search engines, advertising, and press
releases. Let's take a look at each marketing tool in more detail.
1) Email joint ventures: Email joint ventures are when you partner up
with another business. Working with a business that has a complementary
product or service to yours can greatly increase your client list.
Through the email joint venture you can combine your client lists which
adds credibility to both businesses. Clients are more likely to trust
you if they already trust the business that you have partnered with.
2) Articles: The purpose of articles is to not only inform potential
customers about your product or service, but to provide a direct link to
your website. Articles have proven to be very valuable at leading
customers to your website. The key is to create a short bio and direct
link to your website at the end of each article. This makes it simple
for a customer to head to your website.
You can submit your articles to ezines and newsletters. Checkout
ezinearticles.com to get you started. When you submit your articles this
way it allows readers to copy and paste your article wherever they wish.
The benefit is that you have created a viral marketing campaign as your
article and website link is spread throughout the Internet with no extra
effort on your part.
3) Traffic from Search Engines: Search engines include services such as
Google and Overture/Yahoo Search. You can either find free of paid
services that will create search engine traffic to your website. The
best method is to opt for paid search engine traffic. The investment is
worth it as pay-per-click services tend to convert to sales more often.
4) Advertising: Advertising can be employed in many situations. For
example, you can become a "sponsor" link at the top of different
websites. You can also advertise in ezines and newsletters. A great
website to check out regarding advertising is www.newsmax.com <http://www.newsmax.com>.
5) Press Releases: These are not the old fashioned fax press releases.
Cutting edge press releases are sent via the Internet quickly and
efficiently. www.prweb.com <http://www.prweb.com> provides quality press
release distribution services.
Employ these five amazing Internet marketing tools to set your Internet
business wheels in motion. This is a full-bodied Internet marketing plan
that is sure to improve your sales conversion rate.
About the Author
Matt Bacak, Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz radio show host became a "#1
Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours and the co-author of an
amazing new ebook that will teach you how to Retire From Your Job This
Year and Still Make More Money Than the Average Medical Doctor... You
Can Do It Once You Know the Proven Steps Outlined here! ==> http://www.internetmillionairemind.com
The Internet has given us lot of opportunities to make money. It has
become important for organizations to expand their market and their
consumer targets. So, the Question is how to be successful in Internet
Marketing ?. What are the available tools to do this ? In this Article
we will explore some of the best Internet Marketing solutions available.
At present there are several Internet Marketing Solutions that is being
offered by companies which can be your tool for support to your
consumers. This solution maybe email marketing, search engine
optimization or creating web pages or sites. Since you need to maximize
your return profit, you need to choose Internet Marketing Solutions that
will help you achieve this. These marketing techniques will not cost
much since they are very self-explanatory, thus, learned easily.
Email marketing is still one of the popular Internet Marketing solution.
This is cost effective way of driving customers to your website. Th best
way to follow up with your customers using Email is using Autoresponders.
Autoresponders are the most powerful Internet marketing tools available.
They are easy to use, and once they're set up the entire marketing
process is automated and instant. When you use autoresponders, your
Internet business runs itself 24 hours a day. Launching an effective
autoresponder campaign can mean the difference between a struggling
business and a wildly successful one.
Another important solution is using Groups and Forums. The internet is a
worldwide community connecting people with common interests who would
otherwise never have had the opportunity to meet. There are groups and
forums dedicated to just about any topic imaginable. For you, the main
benefit of finding a group or forum related to your subject is a
pre-assembled bunch of folks you know will be interested in what you
have.
Try to do Marketing Surveys on your topic of Interest. Marketing surveys
are invaluable tools for discovering precise, targeted information about
your intended audience. This method is so important, there are several
companies that have made a business of providing marketing surveys to
other businesses for a fee. The good news is, you can perform marketing
surveys yourself without paying a dime and still get great results.
Finally, don't forget search engines. Search engines are discretionary,
giving status and ranking to sites that have links to their pages from
related, quality sites. It's a simple formula, but a very important one.
Optimize your site so that search engine finds it. Some of the ways to
do this is using h1 tags and anchor links.
The title bar is the colored bar at the top of the page. Look at the
words that appear there when you access your home page. To increase
search engine rankings, the words on your homepage's title bar should
include the most important keywords or phrases, one of which would
include your company name. Avoid repeating keywords more than once in
the title bars, and make sure that identical words are not next to each
other. These are some of the best Internet Marketing solutions
available.
About the Author
Editor/Publisher Free Internet Marketing Tips, Strategies and Tools
http://www.what-is-internet-marketing.com
Problem 1. Information overload.
Without a doubt, this is the biggest problem when dealing with info
online. It's so easy to get caught up in thousands of disorganized tips
and tricks that you just end up lost and confused, with no idea what to
do. It's a scary problem, because you probably THINK a million ideas
would be a good thing... but that's a HUGE mistake. You need clarity,
focus, and a simple step-by-step approach.
The solution: Step back from the process, until you see the big picture.
Complete immersion and concentration on ONE good strategy at a time +
focused action gets results. Nothing else.
Problem 2. Not taking action.
This is a direct result of problem #1. You get so hypnotized by lots of
ideas that you get stuck in the planning phase forever. You feel like
you're working because you're reading, buying products, spending time
working... And one day, you suddenly find that years have gone by with
little or no results. This is a painful revelation. Please, don't put
yourself through it again.
The solution: WAKE UP today, and realize that you need to ACT now. Just
pick ONE action now that will get results, and just DO it until it is
done. Celebrate. Repeat. That's the way to get results.
Problem 3. No good map to follow.
Taking a step in the wrong direction moves you further from your goal.
You need to know what to do, and in what order to do it, before you act.
People who try to reinvent the wheel and find their own way before
mastering the basics waste time and money. People who follow bad advice
waste time and money. It's better to do what has been proven to work.
The solution: Find a good teacher/guide, and pay what it takes to learn
from them right away. There are many good guides available, so just pick
someone with a good reputation that appeals to you. Then study and model
their approach until you get the results you're after. This is a very
wise investment. Always act immediately on what they teach you.
That's it. When you really understand how important these 3 things are,
nothing can stop you. And I bet you'll find the process a whole lot more
enjoyable.
Simple enough, but it's taken me many years to learn this. The sooner
you get it, the better.
About the Author
Martin Franzen is the author of The Internet Marketing Master Plan: How
To Turn Your Hobby Into $100,000 A Year Online. If you're interested in
making a lot of money from your home based business while doing what you
love, read his exciting FREE report now at: http://siteselling.com/ecourse.php
