The Sirens Call for Search Engine Marketing

?I want to be at the top on Google!? Ah?the business owner?s mantra that echoes throughout the halls of offices around the world.

It?s difficult to dispute the rational behind the rant since Google continues to outpace its rivals in popularity with an 89% ?strongly positive experience? rating from an opinion poll of U.S. Adult Internet Users conducted by eMarketer in early 2005. Google certainly achieves mass exposure and logically it?s fair to attribute a first position ranking to gaining access to the masses.

However, your success in search engine marketing should not be reliant on a single source of visitors. Although the convenience of focusing on Google is comforting in the whirlwind of new search and Internet technology, the outcome from it could be disastrous to the growth of your business.

An effective search engine marketing strategy leverages the advantages of all of the major search engines and their advertising channels including natural and paid.

Why?

Here are three essential reasons why you should expand your search engine marketing strategy beyond just Google, paid search or any other singular search engine marketing strategy to encompass the broader opportunities available for your business.

(1) Paid versus Natural Search: Relevancy and Conversion

A common strategy of search engine marketing companies and Internet marketers is to bid for the top paid search listing in Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) or Google Adwords as a way to acquire the perceived ?bread and butter? position in the search results page. The concept is that a search result appearing at the top of the list is the most relevant to the search users? keyword query and therefore will receive the most click-throughs and conversions.

However, research from Enquiro as well as many other research firms, found a ?significant amount of confusion over sponsored links.? In the research conducted, over 77% of participants when performing a product research search choose a natural listing over a paid listing. Even during an actual purchase scenario, 67% of participants still choose a natural listing over a paid one.

And what about Google specifically? The Enquiro study showed that 85% of Google users choose a natural listing while 14% clicked on a paid ?sponsored? link. The study stated that, ?Google users also had the lowest level of confusion about what was a sponsored link on the search results page.? Compare these numbers to 42% of search users on non-Google search engines like Yahoo and MSN choose a sponsored link over a natural listing.

Also, the conversion rate whether sales or leads may be affected by the source of a website visitor?s click-through. A study conducted by MarketingSherpa called ?Search Marketing Metrics Survey? in July 2004, showed that ?conversions from (natural) search engine results are 25%+ higher than paid search ad conversions.? Relevancy from search result listing to website is critical however you also need to consider the relevancy associated with the ad type ? paid versus natural.

So you know the insight ? what?s the solution?

Easy ? don?t get caught up in an ?either/or? decision, as a search engine marketer you must focus on both natural search through search engine optimization and paid search.

As the Enquiro study stated, ?Unless a company is willing to forfeit either 70% (in the case of natural) or 30% (in the case of paid) of their potential market to the competition they have to seriously consider both search channels.?

(2) Cross-Search Engine Builds Brand Credibility

Tempting as it may be to put all of your eggs in one basket for convenience sake, Google is not the only major source of quality website visitors. In the most recent search engine rankings issued by Nielsen/NetRatings in March 2005, Google was first with 47% of searches (among work and home users in U.S.); Yahoo second with 20.9% and MSN third with 13.6%. If you only focus on Google, you are missing access to over 53% of the marketplace.

In addition, another separate study conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings determined that ?the majority of Internet searchers use mutliple search engines.? As a ClickZ article written by Rob McGann on February 28, 2005 stated, ?The (Nielsen/NetRatings) study found that 58% of Google searchers also visited at least one of the other top two search engines, Yahoo and MSN Search.?

So what happens when a potential customer finds your search listing on Google yet you are no where to be found on MSN or Yahoo? What if they only see a sponsor listing on Google which they immediately view as less than relevant? How about a major slam against your credibility?

Yes ? that?s right. Because of the wide-spread utility of the internet for research and consideration during a buying cycle, if you are not found across search engines for a particular keyword search, you don?t exist in the eye of the searcher as a potential option to fulfill their needs. On the other hand, if you are found across multiple search engines, you instantly receive a relevancy and credibility boost.

So you know the insight ? what?s the solution?

Focus on generating search result listings for at least the top three search engines ? Google, Yahoo and MSN. Because these three feed a number of other search engines like AOL and AskJeeves (for paid listings) you will gain cross-search engine exposure.

In the worse case, work on generating natural search listings in Google and perform paid search in Yahoo and MSN using Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) to achieve the broad search exposure.

If search users are adopting multiple search engines to conduct their keyword searches then build your credibility with them by appearing across the major search engines especially for your top brand-oriented keywords.

(3) Search Engine User Demographics

Depending on the type of product or service you are selling, focusing on just Google or any other single search engine marketing strategy may be placing you in the entirely wrong marketplace. Although absolute demographic figures are difficult to gather, a 2004 Enquiro study titled, ?Search Engine Usage in North America? provided some interesting demographic characteristics for the top three search engines:

? Males are more likely to remain loyal with one search engines (primarily Google) while females are more likely to use more than one search engine (Google, MSN and Yahoo).

? Males prefer Google while females had a strong preference for MSN.

? For both males and females, a trusted site that offers unbiased information with the natural search results was the strongest preference.

? As educational levels increased, an affinity towards Google increased as well. This may imply that Google uses are more sophisticated.

? Google users were more Internet savvy than non Google users therefore, for technology-related products Google may be a better source of qualified visitors while MSN and Yahoo may be better for non technology-related products.

So you know the insight ? what?s the solution?

Visitor behaviors are dynamic ? they have a tendency to change as frequently as the weather. Therefore, do not assume that your potential customers are sophisticated and therefore reside in the Google pool. Instead, use paid search engines to test all three major search engines to generate a sense of where your potential customers hang-out. Once you find a populated pool of qualified visitors work on building your natural search listings to support and ultimately replace your paid search engine strategy.

Although it is easy to want to simplify search engine marketing by focusing all of your efforts on the biggest and most popular search engine, Google ? it is business smart to avoid the temptation. Yahoo and MSN are prominent players in the search engine market and may possess hidden gems that could explode your business growth. Even more so, moving beyond the top three search engines is also important to extend your brand exposure on an international level.

By focusing your efforts across the top three search engines whether using natural or paid listings, you are placing yourself in the best position to build credibility, relevance and conversion ? the main variables that lead to significant search engine marketing success for your business.

How Would You Handle This Customer Service Issue?

I was reading in the Winnipeg Free Press (my local paper) about a woman who was a passenger in a Unicity taxi cab. The woman had pre-paid her fare to the tune of $25.00. Nine dollars into the cab ride, the cab got into an accident.

The woman was injured and unable to complete her trip. She asked for a refund of at least $16.00. The balance left on her pre-payment.

You would think the cab company would bend over backwards to accommodate the woman, but no; they refused to give her a refund. This kind of customer service attitude is REALLY DUMB on the part of Unicity and it?s bad for business. Their refusal will cost them a lot more than $16.00.

First the story made the Free Press so thousands of people are going to read about the incident and Unicity Taxi will get a lot of bad publicity and lose business.

Secondly I?m writing about it to the 1500 subscribers to my Newsletters. And I?m going to post it at my web site. More bad publicity and some people will definitely talk about it to friends, family members and co-workers.

All this bad publicity and lost business to save $16.00. Talk about short sightedness. This reminds me of one of my grandmother?s favourite saying ?don?t be penny wise and a pound foolish?.

This kind of customer service attitude is a result of management not looking at the ?life-time value? of their customers. If Unicity did the math they would clearly see the error of their ways.

If that passenger uses Unicity 5 times a year for an average fare of $25.00, that?s $125.00 a year. She uses them for the next 5 years, that?s $625.00. Now I?m betting that the injured woman will never use Unicity again. So to save $16.00, Unicity has given away the opportunity to get $625.00 worth of business from her.

Now you tell me, is that a smart way to operate a business? I say absolutely not. How would your company deal with a situation similar to this? Email me your opinions.

Writing Killer Press Release for Massive Publicity

Online marketers are always on the lookout for promotional channels that are novel and are yet to be saturated with the unfortunate stigma of marketing abuse. Different people are constantly trying to find new ways by which they could promote their online enterprises.

One of the newer, and most effective, marketing strategies are press releases. Press releases are informative and objective pieces which are supposed to be newsworthy, and are circulated in PR wires for pickup by various news groups and editors. Once a press release is picked up, it can be published in various channels all over the Internet, or even through print publications.

Immediately, the sharp marketing mind would be able to see the grand potentials of press releases as amazing tools that would help them spread the word about their business. Imagine the promising things that await if ever a press release is picked up or print or online publication. Such would be tantamount to instantaneous exposure for your business to entirely new audiences!

However, you cannot simply write a press release the same way you would an article, or a content piece, or a sales letter. To employ the same style with press releases would be to court disaster. Your press release won?t be accepted by newswires, hence, it won?t have the chance to get picked up.

So how exactly should you write a press release? Let?s take a look at the guidelines below.

* Pay attention to the 5 Ws. These are Who, What, When, Where and Why. These are the questions which your press release should focus on. If you?re going to write a press release for your dog grooming business, for example, you should be able to state who you are, what your business is about, when it will, or was, launched, where it can be found and why it was established. If you are going to launch, or just launched, a new product, you would have to state who the creator is, what the product is all about, when it was or will be launched, where it can be bought, and why it was introduced to the market.

* Be objective. Remember, a press release should be a newsworthy item. News is never subjective. Stay away from flowery words that merely tend to hype up what you want to discuss. Stick with the facts, and ONLY the facts. You are writing news, not a promotional piece.

* The ultimate aim is to promote your product, but be subtle about it. To do this, reorient your focus. Try to make your press release informative instead of persuasive. Remember, you?re not writing a sales copy. You?re writing something that would announce your business or your product.

* There are three parts to a press release: the headline, the summary, and the body. The headline is the title of your piece. The summary is a paragraph that would serve as an introduction to your press release, or a summary of its most salient contents. The body is where you objectively discuss the 5 Ws.

* Length is not a factor. Don?t ever think that if you write a longer press release, it would have a better chance of getting picked up. Often, the rule is, the more concise your press release, the better its chances are of success. A 1,000 word piece is considered a little too lengthy for a press release. 300 to 700 words are succinct enough for this purpose.

Press releases can win for your business the exposure it needs. It is capable of instantaneous results for as long your press release gets picked up and published. A lot of Internet marketers have testified to the power of press releases as marketing tools. So put on your thinking cap and commence to write an objective and informative piece about your business or product, observe the guidelines we have delineated above, and ready yourself for the new audience you?re most certain to garner.

Of course this short article only gives you a brief guideline about writing effective press release. If you wish to learn more then I suggest you to download ?Press Release Magic,? a 70-pages PDF manual that will give you more insight about how to promote your business using the power of press release. Here?s the download link: http://www.privatelabelpublishing.com/press-release-magic.pdf

Top Four Ways to Attract New Customers

Prospecting is one of the biggest challenges most salespeople face but is absolutely critical to a salesperson?s success.

It?s vitally important that you have a broad and well-balanced approach to prospecting! If you rely on only one method, you are not going to achieve the success you would like to achieve and you could burn yourself out on that method as well.

To maintain a continuous full funnel of qualified prospects, you should employ several different prospecting methods to maintain a high level of success. You?ll end up with one or two favorites but you don?t want to neglect the others.

#1: Letter Campaign with Follow-up Phone Calls for Set Appointments.

Strategically written letters paired with phone calls are effective tools to set up a face-to-face appointment with a prospect.

? After verifying the contact information of the prospect you want to target, write a brief letter being empathetic to the struggles they face, i.e. time management, budgeting, etc, and how you specialize in solving that problem. Remember that these letters are just an appointment setting tool. You don?t want to go into detail about what your company. You just want to schedule a face-to-face interview! Most importantly, include a specific time you will call them to set up a time to bring by a copy of a white paper, article, book, or other engage tool that maybe of value to them.

? The letters should not be on letterhead, signed only with your name, and in hand-addressed envelopes to further increase the odds of being read by the prospect.

? Follow-up with a phone call at the time you promised. Most will probably not be sitting by the phone waiting for you but some maybe expecting your call at that specific time! Either way, since you have an assumptive phone appointment you are able to say, ?He/she should be expecting my call.?

? Once again, keep in mind the telephone is to be used for setting appointments only. If you find yourself explaining your products and services over the phone, you are selling over the phone and not using the telephone properly. Stop yourself and set the appointment! (?Ooops! I?m selling over the phone again. Let me start over here.? ?Mr. Smith, what I?d really like to do is bring you the complimentary copy of the white paper we discussed and briefly introduce myself to you. I can answer any questions you may have at that time. Would Monday or Tuesday work better for you??)

? Keep the letters and the phone calls short and sweet! These letters take planning and coordinating but you should be sending out 10-30 of these each week to make sure you have enough prospects to call for appointment setting.

? One of the biggest challenges of telephone calling is catching the people you sent the letters to! Persistence is required and you need to try different times of the day to call to have a better chance of succeeding. Do not give up calling! However, you must walk the fine line of persistence and annoyance. More than twice a day, especially if you?re going through a receptionist, is defined as annoying.

(For an example of what we call the ?Million Dollar Letter,? please email us at tools@competitivedgesystems.com)

#2: Networking

Some of the best business is referral business! A warm call is so much more enjoyable than a cold call. To be able to say, ?Randy suggested I give you a call? is much easier than walking through a door cold. Having the contact person?s name and phone number is extremely helpful as well.

? Join a leads group- there are many out there, you just have to do some research to find them.

? Join your local chamber of commerce and go to their monthly networking events! You?ll be surprised at the number of people you can meet and the things you can pick up about what?s going on in your community.

? Join a Toast Masters group and sharpen your story telling and speaking skills while networking at the same time.

? Call some of the top companies in your area and ask the sales manager, or the sales secretary, the name of the top reps in their company. Call them and volunteer to buy their lunch to begin a relationship. Give them a lead or two and they?ll eventually reciprocate down the road. The main thing is you will have planted a seed toward growing a great relationship and added another source of referrals!

# 3: Mining the Customer Base

It is easier to keep business than to get new business.

? If you have been assigned a certain number of customers in the database to call on, take advantage of that and go visit them on-site. Even if they have no further need for your product, they may know someone who does and they may be willing to write a nice referral letter for you. The key here is to find out who your raving fan customers are and visit those first.

? If you are not assigned a certain number of existing customers, ask your manager for the names of five of your most satisfied customers and go visit them just to say hello. The same thing applies here, they may be willing to give you some referrals or write a nice reference letter (or sign the one you volunteer to write based on what they?ve just told you).

? These are typically very easy appointments to set. ?Hello, Mrs. Smith, my name is Jennifer with Competitivedge and the reason for my call is that I am a new account executive for Competitivedge Systems. I?m just trying to get out and meet a few of our current customers to broaden my knowledge of our products and services. Would Monday or Tuesday be a better day for me to stop by and briefly introduce myself to you? Morning or Afternoon? Etc.

? If you think it would be beneficial, you could offer a small token of your companies? appreciation for their business that you would like to bring by to them as well. ?? And bring you a small token of our appreciation for your business. Would Monday or Tuesday be a better day for you?

#4: Cold Calling

>From the smallest leads to possible major accounts, face-to-face cold calling can be of value even if you don?t make the sale on the cold call.

? Make cold calls in the area you already in for another appointment. Even if all you are able to obtain is a business card and a contact name and phone number for the person you should talk to, then the visit was worthwhile.

? Valuable information can be gained. Just by walking into the lobby of a potential prospect you can get a feel for the culture of the company. How is the lobby decorated? Is it conservative or modern? Many times major corporations will have mission statements on the wall and sometimes you can even pick up a copy of their annual report from the front desk.

? You never know what may happen when you walk through that door: their copier may have just broken; they?ve been waiting all day for a service technician to come out and they?re ready to make a change. Or their current Printing Company, Computer Company, Advertising Company or Phone Company just messed up an order and they?re ready to make a change.

? You usually have time in between appointments, so make use of that time and visit some business in the area!

? Just driving around, scouting out your territory and writing down the names of businesses you weren?t aware of, or the future home of business coming into the area, is a great lead source for you.

Because fifty percent of being a great salesperson is successful prospecting, you must always be on the lookout for potential prospects. Remember?everywhere you go, and every person you meet, is a potential source for a lead!

5 reasons why participating in forums can benefit your business?

Did you know that by simply participating in various forums and posting your various views and ideas, can potentially bring new growth and life to your online business?

Let?s look at some of the positive aspects that forum participation can bring to your business.

1. We are all looking for traffic to our websites and if we can get it for free with little effort, that?s even better. Did you know that when you sign up as a new member at a forum, you can usually create a ?signature? line that will be attached to every post that you make in a forum? This signature line can contain your website address, and as other members read your post, this will provide another route for potential customers to find your website.

2. One of the worst things about trying to advertise on the Internet is the lack of trust between website owners and customers. Everyone is afraid of being scammed. A good way of building trust with potential prospects is by giving them a chance to get to know you, and by letting some of your knowledge, honesty and integrity show in the post that you make at a forum.

3. Most webmasters on the Internet exchange links with other like sites, because exchanging links will boost your link popularity. It?s a proven fact that you get higher search engine rankings when your site has a high PR due to your link popularity. But did you know it?s even better if you have a link pointing to your site that isn?t reciprocated? Every post that you make in a forum will create a one way link pointing to your website. If you make 1000 post in a year, you have potentially created 1000 back links pointing to your site. As the search engines crawl the Internet and detect all these links pointing to your site, your website is going to move toward the top of the search engine listings.

4. Running a business on the Internet can be a very lonely occupation. There is very little interaction with other people and this can be devastating to some. By participating in forums, you will meet other people who have online businesses and who have a lot in common with you. It?s sometimes comforting to know that there are others who share your occupational frustrations, and will be there to support you if you need them.

5. It?s a proven fact that two minds are better than one. Everyone goes through learning curves on the Internet. Whether that learning curve involves starting out, building websites, search engine optimization, or the millions of other things that you must be prepared to do on the Internet to establish your business, there is someone in your favorite forum that has been there and done that. These people will be more than happy to give you free consultations.

Best wishes to you,

Rebecca Gilbert

http://www.home-business-opportunity.biz

Debunking the Most Common Internet Marketing Myths

Today we will look at the most common myths about making a living on the Internet. There is no shortage of scams and hucksters out there.

1. “Build your downline” – Beware of any program or person that promises to “build a downline” for you. Usually what they don’t tell you is that almost all of these people placed under you are completely useless. Read the fine print and you will find that most of them don’t even have anything to do with your commissions. They are just numbers and names that are below you. Also beware of “one big downline”. Same concept, same scam.

2. “Overnight success” – I don’t care what program you are a part of. You will not be a complete success overnight and quit your job next week. This kind of hype is counterproductive and cheapens the honest programs that are lumped in with this garbage. Any success will be due to hard work and persistence.

3. “It’s all in the list!” – Maybe this is partly true. However, the quality of your list is also important. If you have a list full of harvested email addresses or a list of other marketers, you won’t make much progress. That is unless you are selling shovels instead of gold.

4. “All I need to do is join an affiliate program, buy a million email addresses, do one email blast and I’m rich!” – This is the quickest way to lose your internet service provider, and probably your position in any reputable affiliate program. If you have received spam emails about Viagra or cheap software, then you have seen this in action. The best way to profit from email marketing is to use reputable sources.

5. “I need a modern, flashy, techno-geek site” – Everyone does not have a high-speed internet connection. If your site takes too long to load, visitors will go elsewhere. Make your point with words and use the smallest amount of graphic “clutter” that you can.

Here is the bottom line. If you are looking to make extra money online, then take action and then jump in for the long haul. Doing things right in the beginning will increase your success later. Learn from the best and don’t make the same mistakes others have.

by Bill Wetherington http://profitmakers.blogspot.com

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Pay-Per-Click Search Advertising Comes First

There are a variety of advertising options available to online business owners small and large. There’s traditional banner advertising, text ads of both static and contextual varieties, popups and popunders, layer ads and pay-per- click search engine advertising.

For just about any business looking to advertise online, pay-per-click search listings should come first and be used to their maximum potential before investing elsewhere. They are the foundation of most online advertising plans, delivering the most precise targeting and the furthest reach for the lowest cost.

The concept of pay-per-click, or PPC search advertising is simple — you have your listing placed within or alongside search results in exchange for paying some fee each time a someone clicks on your listing in those search results. Most search engines set advertisers against eachother in auction-style bidding for the highest positions on search result pages.

There are several benefits to this advertising method that make it useful to just about any web business, and make it so important that it should be exploited to its fullest before advertising in any other medium.

BENEFIT #1: TARGETING

Targeting is essential to any marketing, online or off. In order to be effective, ads have to reach the right people. If that’s not happening, you’re just wasting your money.

More than anything else, people turn to search engines to find things they need on the Web. Pay-per-click search engine advertising lets you capture these people while they are actively seeking out your product or service. By listing your site under specific search results, you capture your target audience and pre-qualify them with your ad at the same time. By the time the visitor is on your site, you already know they are looking for your product or service and have an interest in your particular offer.

BENEFIT #2: REACH

No matter how large the website, magazine or newspaper you advertise on, it will never reach as many individuals as the top search engines. Google and Yahoo! each reach 80% of the Internet using population and display pay-per-click ads above and alongside search results. Billions of searches are made every month which you can easily be listed within at no cost until an individual decides to click through to your website.

BENEFIT #3: COST

Banner advertising can cost $25 for 1,000 impressions of an advertisement regardless of the number of real website visits those impressions deliver. Top news portals can charge even twice that. PPC search ads cost nothing until an interested individual actually clicks through to your website. Even with the competitive bidding process that pits you against other advertisers for top spots at most PPC search engines, costs per click can still be just pennies. If you work out the average cost to acquire a new visitor from other mediums, it’ll likely end up higher than the search engine ad without the benefits of precise targeting and pre-qualifying the visit with the ad text.

It becomes clear why pay-per-click advertising should be the foundation of an online advertising plan when you consider the combined benefits of the targeting, costs and reach of the medium:

• There’s no guessing how many visitors will result from an advertising spend. Since you set your own click price, you know how many visitors each dollar buys in advance.
• Conversion rates and ROI are easy to calculate.
• Visitors are pre-qualified before arriving at your website by your ad text.
• Ads are placed without long-term commitments or high up-front fees.
• PPC search advertising reaches so many internet users that almost any niche audience can be targeted.
• Ad text can be changed at any time.

PPC search advertising is targeted, affordable and abundantly available. It should be exploited in full, at the many available companies, before spending money elsewhere as almost any other medium will be less targeted, less controllable and more expensive.

Advertising Marketing Online

The websites below offer the best in advertising marketing online, marketing, advertising, internet marketing and advertising, email marketing, online advertising, free advertising and more.

You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it who cares. There are many ways to market and advertise your products, both online and offline. Newspaper, radio, magazines, flyers, ezines, banners, internet marketing, business cards, search engines, word of mouth, leads, opt-in leads and more.

Right now there are 2 very effective ways for advertising and marketing online.

1. Pay Per Click Advertising

2. Article Marketing

With pay per click advertising you can get a first page placement for targeted keywords relating back to the theme of your website. Depending on the type of product or service you offer you can place small ads and only get billed as low as .05 cents for every time someone clicks on that ad. This is a very quick and cheap way to advertise and market online. A very good place to advertise online with pay per click advertising is Search Feed. You can learn more about them here:

http://www.team-schuman.com/searchfeed-advertising.html

Another way is to write or pay someone to write articles for you around keywords that people are searching for. This is particuarly effective for niche products. For example if you have a product and website for picky eaters you will get more targeted traffic to your site then you will for a website built around food.

Advertising and marketing your product online thru articles works great if you write a good quality article filled with keywords relating back to the theme of your product. By submitting articles to directories you can develop traffic back to your website by putting a link in the article. This is good for your prospect as well as search engines will give you credit for a back link. The more back links you have the higher you rank with a search engine and the closer to page one you will be placed for specific keywords. This is called organic traffic and it is free traffic that costs you nothing when someone clicks on a link pointing back to your site.

To learn more about marketing with articles visit IdeaMarketers. This is the premiere website for marketing your article online:

http://www.ideamarketers.com

Once you master the techniques of advertising marketing online with articles and pay per click advertising you will really start getting targeted traffic to your site. Of course another important step is how your website or sales letter is designed for converting that traffic into sales. We will leave that for another article. For now just get started right away with your own advertising marketing online program.

6 Top Tips For Affiliates-Choose Your Merchant Wisely

Affiliate marketing has become increasingly popular in recent years. Affiliate programs offer merchants the opportunity to employ vast armies of sales people who only get paid for the results they achieve. The rewards for affiliates are high too, and the skilled affiliate marketer can make many thousands of dollars a month. This win- win situation has lead to an explosion in the number of affiliate programs that are available to the would-be marketer. With this proliferation of opportunities comes the question, how do you go about choosing the right one for you? What qualities should you look for in a program? How do you go about choosing a program that is right for you, and which gives you a good chance of providing a sustainable income? In this article I will give you some tips that will help you to evaluate merchants and their programs and hopefully help you avoid wasting time and money. Here are some common questions that you should ask:

1.How Much Commission Does the Merchant Pay?

I know this seems obvious, but it is important to determine that amount that you can expect to make from a sale. There is no point in spending time and money on promoting a product that doesn?t pay well. It is probably best to stick with products that have a high commission value, unless you have found a niche market where you can sell vast quantities of product, and make substantial commissions on your volume of sales.

2. How Much Traffic is The Merchant Getting To His Site?

Try to find out the volume of traffic that the merchant?s site is already receiving. Alexa.com may be useful in doing this research. If the site is ranked in the top 100,000 the merchant is getting a good amount of daily traffic, and there might already be too many affiliates. If the site is ranked below 500,000 it is either no good and not worth bothering with or it might just be a golden opportunity to make some real money. Always research a merchant?s product if the site has a low traffic ranking. If all is well, you could have found a goldmine!

3. How Often Do They Pay Their Affiliates?

Some merchants pay as often as every week; some once a month, others only pay every quarter. It is important that you know how often you can expect a pay check if you are going to have financial control over your business. Do you have the financial resources to continue to market the product if you have to wait a long time before you get paid? It may also be wise to find out the minimum that you need to earn in order to get paid.

4. Does The Company Use Tracking Cookies?

Many customers don?t buy straight away. It is therefore important that the merchant uses cookies on their site, so that you get credit if a customer returns and buys at a later date. Check out how long they last. The longer the cookie lasts; the better the chances are of getting paid!

5. Does The Merchant Pay on Subsequent Sales?

Some merchants will only pay commission on sales that come through directly from your link. If the customer returns again via another route you will not get paid. It is important that you get paid no matter what route the customer returns by if you are to build a sustainable business.

6. What Promotional Resources Does The Merchant Offer?

Look at the type of promotional material that they provide. Do they provide articles or content that you can use to promote them on your site or free guides, offers or samples? If the promotional materials are good it is likely that the merchant will work with you as their affiliate to promote their business.

Conclusion

Finding the right merchant can be a tricky business. The best advice is to do your own research. Use the above questions as an aid in finding a merchant that will enable you to reach your financial goals. You never know-you could strike gold!

What is YOUR Big Barbie Camper Dream?

Think back to when you were a little kid. Did you have something you really wanted ? like I mean ? REALLY WANTED for Christmas?

For me ? it was the Big Barbie Camper.

For those of you who have no idea of what I am talking about ? this was the Cadillac of all Barbie products ? the huge RV camper that had everything in it ? stickers for the outside ? unbelievable.

I drooled over the catalogue pages. Dog-eared the section with all the Barbie stuff. Pored over all the amazing features of The Big Barbie Camper.

It was a camper that actually moved, with real wheels and a steering wheel, an awning, table and bench inside ? what more did an 8 year old girl need? I had visions of Ken and Barbie driving their massive RV all over our basement floor.

It was also $75 and there was no way my parents would have spent that amount on one gift.

What did I get instead? A fuzzy, white bathrobe and a ?spanky? collection of Anne of Green Gables books.

I have never forgotten how much I wanted that Big Barbie Camper. And even though I didn?t get it ? I still believe in having Big Barbie Camper dreams.

What is a Big Barbie Camper Dream anyway?

Well ? in business and in life, if you allow yourself to settle for second best I guarantee that is exactly what you will receive.

Every woman needs a big dream ? the kind that seems impossible at first. But the more you think about it, dream about it, talk about it ? it starts to feel real.

You need a Big Barbie Camper dream for your business.

You want to make more money/have more success/create more fabulous customer relationships? Well then ? you are going to have to quit playing it so safe.

The world does not reward those who have dreams the size of marbles. You have to move into the Big Barbie Camper world of dreams.

Consider this:

- What would you do with your business if time, money and energy were not an issue?

- What is an idea that has been ?stewing? in the back of your mind?

- What challenge excites you every time you think about it?

- What customer would you love to have?

- What project would you give up your anti-wrinkle cream for?

- What scares the hell out of you besides spiders and turning into a bag-lady?

If you are honest with yourself ? you will discover that you have been holding yourself back from success.

Lack of goals leads to lack of achievement. A reluctance to take calculated risk also leads to lack of achievement. Why? Because you get so hung up on the day to day details of your business, you forget about the Big Barbie Camper vision.

So ? do yourself a BIG FAVOR and let go of the excuses. I Diva Dare you to get your butt in gear and dedicate a portion of each week ? even if it is only 1 hour ? to get your Big Barbie Camper dream on the road.

I?ll see you there!

Copyright © 2005

Blueprint of Online Success

I’m going to introduce you to what is potentially the most valuable strategy you’re ever going to learn about Internet Marketing, or even business in general. Once you grasp this concept and make it your own, your marketing life will never be the same again.

And, you’re going to wonder why this simple idea, which is so incredibly powerful and immediately useful, is not taught as part of every Internet seminar, home study course and e-Book.

— What works and what doesn’t

If you’ve been in the market for Internet advice and guidance for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that things can get complicated and confusing quickly. Every ‘guru’ seems to have his own technique and says you have to buy *his* method and sign up for his software if you’re going to succeed.

The truth is, if you bought every e-Book, attended every tele-seminar and bought every home study course, you’d never make any money because you’d be so tied up in knots trying to figure out which way to go, you’d have trouble picking a direction and getting started.

— Building an income stream is like building a house… it starts with a blueprint.

Focus on what *matters*. Once you have the blueprint, the ‘tools’ part falls into place, but tools without a plan are useless.

Let’s say you decided you want to go into the house building business. So, like any intelligent person, you decide to do some research. You buy some books and go to some courses. So far, so good.

But what would you think if you went to a course or bought a book and instead of learning how to actually build houses, you were given a ‘rah rah’ speech and pitched on saws and hammers and two-by-fours?

No instruction on what *matters* when it comes to building a house. Nothing about picking a good location, laying a solid foundation, nor designing the house correctly; Just a thinly disguised sales pitch for an overpriced hammer.

I’m sure you see the problem and yet what I just described is how most Internet marketing education works.

No insight, no real guidance. Just ‘Do what I say, give me your money and everything will work out fine.’

There is a better way.

— Products are EASY when you do it right

Here’s the #1 most commonly asked question about Internet marketing.

“What should I sell online?”

This question is completely backwards. The most important question you need to ask about marketing anything on the Internet or elsewhere is not ‘what’ should I sell, but ‘whom’ should I sell to.

In other words, pick the market first.

Here’s why this is so life-and-death important. Without a market in mind, it’s practically impossible to create a product that will sell.

On the other hand, when you have a market in mind, coming up with product ideas is as easy as falling off a log. There’s literally nothing to it.

Now, I ask you. What situation would you rather be in?

The person on the sidelines going round and round in circles trying to figure out what to sell and how to get started…Or the person who is in the game, putting points up on the scoreboard, and having fun. (Yes, business, when it is working right, is fun.)

The How?s And Why?s Of Article Marketing

The Internet has opened so many channels of communication in our world that marketing has evolved because of it. No longer does a business have to spend thousands of dollars to inform other people about its existence, the World Wide Web provides for numerous ways by which this can be done for free. Spreading the word has never been so easy and cost-effective, especially when you decide to literally ?spread the word.?

Article marketing is one of the many ways by which you could promote your business enterprise for free. This method involves the writing of an informative piece on a subject that is related to your enterprise, and submitting the same to the many article banks in the web. How would this be able to help your trade? Perhaps an enumeration of the steps needed would shed light to this question. We will go to that later.

You must have a website, or if you?re enrolled under an affiliate program, you must have your affiliate links at hand. The purpose of article marketing is two-fold. One, it would help you brand yourself as an expert in your field. Two, it would help drive traffic to your website or your affiliate links.

Now, for the steps that are needed:

• The heart of this strategy is to write an article that is relevant to the subject of your business. If your business is about dogs, you could write an article about dog care or dog grooming. Limit your article?s length to around 400 to 900 words.

• Once you have finished writing your article, include a resource box. A resource box is a series of lines where you could introduce yourself (in the third person, for example ?John Doe is an Internet marketing expert who has been in the business since 1998?), your credentials, and most importantly, your contact details, which should include your link, either to your website or to an affiliate campaign you?re promoting. Limit your resource box to a maximum of five sentences, as this is the requirement for most article banks.

• Then it?s time to submit your article to the many article directories in the World Wide Web. Popular article banks include www.ezine.com and www.goarticles.com, but there are thousands of others. The more article directories you submit to, the more exposure you will get for your links.

Article directories figure prominently in search engine results pages (SERPs), hence, if your article is hosted in their database, more people are bound to see your link, and more people are bound to visit your site or your affiliate?s sales page.

Additionally, once your article is uploaded, many webmasters and eZine owners might decide to pick it up for their websites or their newsletters. This would mean even more exposure for your links, and new sources that would generate traffic for your business endeavor.

Any veteran Internet marketer would tell you that traffic is the lifeblood of your online enterprise. You could measure the success of your marketing campaign through the amount of traffic you will be able to generate for your site.

Article marketing can give you the traffic you need, and fast! Upon submission of your article, it would take less than 24 hours before it is uploaded, generally speaking. After which, many people would check it out almost immediately, especially in the more established article directories that are bustling with activities. You?ll most definitely receive a boost in the volume of visitors that would visit your site.

Also, by writing knowledgeably about a certain topic, your readers would start to view you as an expert in the field. This is excellent for branding purposes, as your business would always be attached to your name in the online game. Brand yourself as a credible businessman, and customers would find it easier to trust you with their cash.

So what are you waiting for? Summon that muse and start typing? a world full of readers, and possible clients, awaits you.

Outdoor Advertising ? How It Could Work For You

Of the ?16,777m spent on advertising last year in the UK, 5.05% was spent on outdoor advertising ? almost ?850m (Source : Advertising Association/WARC). That?s more than was spent on radio advertising (3.24%), consumer magazine advertising (4.88%), cinema advertising (0.95%), and internet advertising (3.56%). It?s therefore no secret that outdoor advertising works, but what relevance is that for the smaller business who doesn?t have the ?14m outdoor advertising budget that mobile communications firm O2 spent in 2004?

Good advertising starts at home

Suppose you run a tile company in an industrial estate visible from a motorway or duel-carriageway on the outskirts of town. Every time someone drives past and sees the blank exterior wall of your unit you?ve missed a potential lead. People may momentarily wonder who you are and what you do, but few have the curiosity to further investigate. And when they finally do come to re-tile their kitchen and see your yellow pages ad, they may well think ?hmmm, I drive past that industrial estate every day but I?ve never seen a tile company. God knows where it is; we?ll go to Topps Tiles instead?. Whoops, you?ve lost a sale.

The solution ? yes, it?s obvious, but the amount of business lost through inadequate or non-existant outdoor advertising is staggering. The guy from the tile company need only spend a few hundred pounds on a pvc banner with the phrase ?BUY TILES HERE? and hang it on the outside of his building facing the traffic and, wow, look how passing trade increased. Even better, a full, vibrant, inviting mesh fa?ade listing the company?s products and services and inviting the customer to come in and find out more ? suddenly you?re no-longer Topps Tiles broke brother, rather a genuine and serious competitior, and the public will remember you for it. ?Have you seen that new tile company on the outskirts of town??

Help your potential customers and they?ll help you

Whether you a promoting a product, event or service, the opportunities for tasteful and cost-effective outdoor advertising are massive. Take the example of bars and nightclubs ? how often have you been put off from paying to enter an establishment because you simply don?t know what to expect when you get inside?hard house, 60?s classics, foam party? It?s a lottery, and when you ask the door staff they helpfully instruct to step aside. Solution? A easily changeable banner over the door with ?TONIGHT ? FOAM PARTY!? ? cheap, easy, incredibly useful and generally overlooked.

Whatever field of business you are in the opportunities for helping your potential customer make informed decisions and spread awareness of your offerings through outdoor advertising is vast, and the options, from small PVC banners to mesh building wraps are all-encompassing ? all it takes is a little thought about how to use your space to your advantage.

Affiliates Should Offer Something Extra

For one type of product, there are literally hundreds (or even thousands) of affiliates that are actively promoting it. Affiliate marketing, after all, is a competitive business. But the result of having too many affiliates can present a challenging problem to each affiliate. One problematic result is that one customer may have already heard of the product being promoted by one affiliate. And this customer may have already encountered the promotional material for the product.

With so many affiliates offering the same product, how can one affiliate stand out from the rest so that the customer will choose him and not the other affiliates? What makes one affiliate different and better from the other affiliates? This is the present challenge of many affiliates, especially the new ones.

One creative solution suggested by many affiliate marketing experts is the use of extra specials. An extra special is something valuable that is given to a customer if this customer purchases the product from the merchant through the affiliate?s website. The affiliate must also mention that such extra special cannot be obtained from other websites. This will warn the visitor that if he purchases the product from another link, he will not have that extra special. And if that extra special is also needed by the visitor, he will most likely stay in the affiliate?s website and discontinue his browsing.

Now that the affiliate has decided to provide the extra special, the next question in mind is what extra special will be attractive to the customer. The answer to this will depend on the type of customer that happens to purchase the product. And the type of product will give a big clue on the personality of the customers.

For example, if the affiliate?s website is all about rock climbing and other extreme sports, offering information about how tattoos are placed will not appeal to the majority of rock climbers, even when some of them may be wearing tattoos already.

On the other hand, if the affiliate will be offering information on various rock climbing places found in the country, the rock climber will definitely be interested and he may have no doubts at all in clicking that link that will take him to the merchant?s website.

Other extra specials can be a free email or phone consultation, an e-book, or links and ads in the newsletter. What the affiliate has to remember is that the extra special should be relevant to the main product being sold.

What Do You Do If Your Advertisement Doesn’t Work?

Don?t despair. Follow these 6 basic rules for guaranteed success and if it still doesn?t work we will provide a free consultation.

All too often I have heard clients say ?Advertising doesn?t work for us? after a single appearance of their ad – sometimes even after trying only one media. There are a number of things you can do if you want to know for sure whether advertising works or not for you. The first of them is to give your ad a fair chance.

Follow these basic rules and enjoy learning what the best way is for you to advertise. If your advertising doesn?t work, it is probable that one of these rules has not been followed. If you have followed these rules and your results are still disappointing, then please get in touch: enquiries@advertsuccess.com and we will be pleased to look into your case individually absolutely FREE.

Rules for making your print advertising work

1. Give yourself a fair sample to evaluate. As a rule of thumb, you should take no fewer than 3 insertions in a weekly or monthly magazine and 5 insertions in a daily title. Only the fanatical reader will read front to back of every issue. You need to allow for readers going on vacation, or just those who might miss an issue. You also want to give them a fair chance to have a need for your product. You can only make a decision about whether a publication?s readership provides a viable source of leads once you have given them all a fair chance to respond.

2. Ensure your ad is given prominence. Why do the bad boys sit at the back of the class? So the teacher pays them less attention. In advertising you want to be right at the front of the class all the time. Unless you ask for it, you?re not going to get it. Always ask for a right-hand page (it really makes a big difference). Don?t be afraid to press for other positions too if you think they will make a difference. You can even make them bargaining chips in your negotiation. For example, ?Promise me top-right of a right-hand page and I?ll book the ad now?. Few Ad Sales reps will be able to resist that!

3. Compare results over a number of different media. Don?t put all your eggs in one basket ? and don?t move sequentially from one media to the next until you find one that works. Test 3, 4 or more if you can, all at the same time so you can compare results like for like over the same timeframe.

4. Perform tests to maximize response. A fair test is one that is directly comparable to another. Ideally therefore, you should give each test exactly the same terms. (Same shelf life in the same publication).

The sort of tests you can try include:

Headlines

Copy

Call to action

Ad size

Colour/mono

Other creative changes ? register at Advertsuccess.com and get a free copy of ?8 Creative Techniques for Small Press Advertisements?, for more test examples.

5. Allow for differences in publications. Sometimes, certain media really do not work ? even ones that we thought had to produce a ton of leads have been known to disappoint. There is normally a rational reason for it ?perhaps it is not a readership that responds to classified advertisements; perhaps the readership figure is actually a lot lower than the circulation figure.

In our experience, we have found that controlled circulation or free publications are those most likely to produce disappointing results. It stands to reason after all, if you get something for free, you are less likely to read it from front to back than one you pay good money for.

You should allow for this in your campaign consideration so that you don?t expect too much from a publication that cannot deliver. There will be other criteria too that will affect what sort of response you should expect ? criteria such as the circulation volume, demographics, frequency. Take account of these criteria when planning an acceptable level of response.

For details on how to select your media analytically, see the 9-Step-Plan to Advertising Success

6. Beware the advice of your Ad sales rep. Whatever you do, if your advertisement gives disappointing results, be careful before you take the advice of your friendly sales rep. S/he will argue that you should try running it with a bigger size, perhaps to allow a larger headline ? or to give it a longer span so the readership have time to respond properly.

Remember, however helpful they are, media sales people have completely different motives to you. Of course they want your ad to work. Then you?ll be more likely to advertise again. But just remember, they get paid the same whether you get one response or a hundred. You don?t. Always remain in control of your ad spend and don?t let them tempt you to deviate from your budget.

I hope you will find this useful in planning your ad campaign. If you follow the advice I have given here, I am confident that you will enjoy more success with your print advertising campaigns. If not, please email me at enquiries@advertsuccess.com and I will give you a FREE consultation.

Remember, for a fail-safe method to getting the best results guaranteed have a look at The 9-Step Plan to Advertising Success.

Tim Brocklehurst MBA

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Using the Media Effectively

The media has the power to influence your tradeshow efforts whether it be in television, radio or print. Your job is to target your endeavors to create a positive company image and brand awareness of your products/services. How do you do that? Outlined below are 27 important points to help maximize your tradeshow effort.

Before the show

1. Define and select your target audience so that you can tailor your message directly to the needs, concerns and interests of your prospects.

2. Ask show management for a comprehensive media list complete with contact name, address, phone number and email address of all trade, business and local press, radio and TV stations. Also ask them about their media plan for the show.

3. Find out which publications are planning a show edition and their deadline for press releases. Realize that many of the trade journals work several months in advance.

4. Build a working relationship with the press. Get to know the editors and writers. Volunteer to be a resource for them. Ask about particular stories they are working on and consider information you may have to help them.

5. Realize that editors are in interested in timely newsworthy information; industry trends, statistics, new technology or product information; interesting material, such as, do-it-yourself tips, techniques, or strategies; useful advice; human interest stories, including celebrities you have coming to the show.

6. Investigate other media possibilities not covering the show who might still be interested in information. For example, chamber of commerce magazines/newsletters; local and regional business magazines; industry-specific newsletters; cable television or local talk radio programs.

7. Understand the do?s and don?ts of press kits. A press kit should include interesting and timely information; a one-page company bio sheet – corporate structure, executive staff chart, sales figures; complete product information – specs, distribution methods, pricing; good product photos; key contacts. Don’t include outdated, false or exaggerated information; photos of your CEO or top executives.

8. Minimize your press kit information so that it is lightweight and easy to fit into a bag or briefcase. If your company is relatively unknown, be creative with your press kit folder, for example bright neon colors or graphics attract attention. Save on fancy, expensive folders as they do not impress the media. Exciting newsworthy information is what they want.

9. Reserve press conferences for major announcements, new product introductions, but only if they are truly new or improved, or general industry trends – what?s hot and what?s not. The media get very upset attending a press conference which is poorly organized and where nothing newsworthy is shared.

10. Post your press kit online to make your company news available to the media, industry experts and consumers before, during and after the event with Online Press Kits from PR Newswire. Online Press Kits increase traffic to your trade show booth and extend your reach far beyond the exhibition floor when you let all important audiences access your press kit information. Your corporate information is always at hand and lives on long after the event.

11. Mail, broadcast fax or e-mail press releases about your product/service focusing on what?s new. For example, highlighting a new application or new market. Wherever possible include statistics. Always have a contact name and number along with your booth location.

12. Arrange interviews with editors several weeks prior to the show. The media will usually decide at the last minute whether or not to attend. Continue to send them updated information and photos so they remember your company name. Look for specific angles to interest the different media.

13. Have a plan in case a crisis occurs immediately prior to the show, for example, your CEO resigns, or there is a takeover bid for your company. Be prepared with answers to the media?s and visitors? awkward questions.

14. Use your website to display useful advice as well as promoting your show participation. Make an offer on your website for visitors to collect important information, such as an executive report, when they visit your booth.

During the show

15. Keep the press office well-stocked with your press kits. Also keep some press kits in your booth in case the media stop by.

16. Have a media spokesperson in your booth at all times, even over the lunch hour. Be prepared to explain your product and its importance in easy-to-understand, nontechnical terms.

17. Keep show management informed of newsworthy information for the show daily, and also in case reporters call in looking for story ideas.

18. Heighten visibility and create positive publicity through sponsorship opportunities.

Various media covering the event may automatically include sponsors names and/or photos, which can often generate coverage that might otherwise not be available.

19. Ask show management about opportunities to conduct presentations, seminars, or workshops. As a speaker, you are perceived as an industry expert. Some conferences request proposals to be submitted many months prior to the event.

20. Have a handout for your presentation with company contact information clearly marked on all pages. Have a page outlining what your company does. During your session offer something for free – a copy of the presentation, a special industry report, checklist, or tip sheet, and have participants come to the booth to collect it.

21. Use newsletters, special reports, audio cassettes, books/booklets, or computer discs/CDS as effective giveaways. These have a high perceived value and are more likely to be kept. Make sure they contain valuable industry-related information.

After the show

22. Send post-show press releases reporting trends, statistics or information on significant newsworthy information/orders that resulted from the show.

23. Collate all publicized articles and media coverage before, during and after the show, and send them to top management and your sales force. Include the best articles in mailings to customers and prospects.

24. Create a state of the industry report based on your observations at the show and send it out or offer it free to prospects/customers responding to a post-show mailing.

25. Send your customers and key prospects an audiocassette tape of your presentation or interesting interviews that took place during the show.

26. Include valuable show information in your company newsletter.

27. Encourage readers to contact you by including an offer and how to get it. For example, you could have readers contact you for a copy of your newsletter, free booklet or free information/report.

Finally, remember that your target audience are information seekers, always on the lookout for advice, ideas and information to help them. Your information must appeal to your target audience?s self-interest while at the time promoting your own.

Forget Conventional Marketing – Embrace the Web!

Tactical marketing processes are once again undergoing fundamental shifts from traditional to web-based processes. Many traditional marketing firms/agencies are still touting the tried and true to their clients; i.e. Tradeshow attendance, Print, Traditional PR, TV and Radio. However, these conventional marketing processes work best for broad market awareness and/or branding, especially for a Fortune 1K company with significant resources to spend on demographic analysis, test marketing and more test marketing. It’s much more difficult for a smaller company (startup to $50M per annum) to leverage the economies of scale that are typically available for a larger company for the media buy and operational efficiencies.

It’s obvious that lifestyle and business processes are shifting towards a much greater dependence on digital media – people are traveling less due to cost issues and the ever-increasing speed of business is underscoring the usage of the Internet for information and research. If you’re a small to medium sized business the chances are that you’ve probably cut your marketing budget significantly – by eliminating or scaling back tradeshow attendance, trade magazine advertising and/or direct mail in favor of response driven marketing on the web that can be deployed faster and more cost-effectively than traditional marketing methods.

Capturing leads from a web site generated by opt-in e-mail, newsletter inserts, text link advertising and/or other forms of pay per click marketing is still the absolute best way to generate leads that are quantifiable as soon as they are generated. You have the ability to easily track where the lead came from and via what interactive advertising process; assuming this has been setup for you by your interactive ad agency or with the online publisher. And, there are typically no lead times like more traditional marketing processes – we’ve created and deployed campaigns (creative, media buy, testing, ROI analysis, etc.) for our clients in 3-5 working days in some cases.

There are some pitfalls to web-based lead generation and follow through that you need to be aware of as you deploy an interactive campaign. Here are five of the most important “gotchas” that you need to think about as you build an interactive lead generation program around your web site:

1) Don’t make it difficult for people to contact your company – make sure your web site really communicates with your prospects – by “communicating” I mean by providing telephone contacts, e-mail address and/or a lead capture form that is short. Note: this form has to be supported by a published Privacy Policy (”we won’t divulge your info to a third party under any circumstances”) and it absolutely must be short; i.e. don’t request any more than baseline information, name, phone, e-mail and address, augmented with a comment box.

2) Your marketing objectives have to be supported by your sales team – the sales team has to be incentivized to respond to inbound e-mails and requests for information via a contact form in a timely manner, within 24 hours or sooner. If you have a geographically dispersed sales team then make this clear on the web site by providing specific contact points for states, regions and countries.

3) Make sure you IT person/department attends your marketing planning meetings with your sales team – your web site will need some type of a lead capture setup that redistributes leads based on function and/or geographical responsibility. Your IT staff has to create a database solution that captures, stores and distributes leads – this does not need to be done in-house, products like Act (the market leader in contact management software) are now web-enabled, you can capture leads via a web server and share leads with others via a browser and very inexpensively.

4) We don’t advocate popup advertising for most of our client’s advertising campaigns. But, we have “crossed over to the other side” and we do (highly) recommend using popups on our clients’ web sites to present opportunities that in turn capture leads. Studies have shown effective popup lead captures increase lead generation by 40-85% depending on the market segment. Popups can be set so they only launch on a frequency basis per session (visit to a web site) or a number of times for a specific visitor – they don’t have to setup so they are intrusive and annoying.

5) Last but not least (drum roll) – make the customer’s usability experience the most important aspect of your web site. Create a user interface (”experience”) that is pleasant for your visitors; i.e. use standard universal (top of page and local page left) menus, utilize 2-3 sentence paragraphs with lots of white space, don’t overload your pages with graphics that slow down load times and make sure your contact points (phone, e-mail) are readily available from every page.

So, to summarize; advertising is shifting from traditional to web-based or interactive if you will – so, to get on board this tsunami build a web site that communicates with your prospects/customers, provide contact points via telephone and e-mail via the site, involve your IT and Sales staff with the lead capture process so they are all stakeholders and utilize popups to accelerate your lead capturing.

Promotional Products: At The Right Placce At The Right Time

Promotional products are great and innovative ways of promoting and advertising the name of your business at conferences and trade shows so that people would easily see and remember you and most of all, take a piece of your company so that they can serve as advertising materials not only for the person who took them home but also for that person?s acquaintances who would be seeing your brand name on the promotional product. To make sure that this is exactly what would happen and to ensure that the products will make a great impact, it is important to know when and where it would be best to hand them out.

There are a couple of ways to give out your promotional products. You can hand them out when participants are registering for the conference. This way, all participants would be receiving your promotional products and would be able to maximize their use throughout the duration of the conference. The advantage of this would be that your company?s name and logo would be seen all the participants as they use your promotional products later on in the conference and even when they get home. However, a disadvantage would be that these people who would be receiving your promotional products might just include them with the other conference paraphernalia and completely forget about them. If you choose to hand out your promotional stuff this way, you have to check that your products are very noticeable and functional, like a bag probably that can hold all the conference giveaways that the participants will be receiving.

You could choose to just give out your promotional products at your company booth or giving them to anyone that offers something to you. This would let you establish contact with all the people who receive your promotional items and possibly generate more interest as you interact with them in person. You can ask for newsletters to be signed up and then seize that opportunity to request for their contact details so that you would be able to provide updates about your products and services in the future, which may contribute to better sales in the future.

Another way would be by giving them away together with trial requests and sales that are made at the trade show or business conference. You will be handing out a special gift along with their purchase which would make your business look like it is offering a better deal with your generosity, and this is always a good thing.

Regardless of how you will be handing out the promotional products of your company, you should assess whether the way you have chosen will be the most suitable for you to generate more interest from prospective clients.

10 Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales For Big Profits

1. Find a strategic business partner. Look for ones
that have the same objective. You can trade leads,
share marketing info, sell package deals, etc.

2. Brand your name and business. You can easily
do this by just writing articles and submitting them
to e-zines or web sites for republishing.

3. Start an auction on your web site. The type of
auction could be related to the theme of your site.
You’ll draw traffic from auctioneers and bidders.

4. Remember to take a little time out of your day
or week to brainstorm. New ideas are usually the
difference between success and failure.

5. Model other successful business or people. I’m
not saying out right copy them, but practice some
of the same habits that have made them succeed.

6. Take risks to improve your business. Sometimes
businesses don’t want to advertise unless it’s free,
sometimes you have to spend money to get results.

7. Include emotional words in your advertisements.
Use ones like love, security, relief, freedom, happy,
satisfaction, fun, etc.

8. Ask people online to review your web site. You
can use the comments you get to improve your web
site or you may turn the reviewer into a customer.

9. Out source part of your workload. You’ll save
on most employee costs. You could out source
your secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc.

10. Combine a product and service together in a
package deal. It could increase your sales. If you’re
selling a book, offer an hour of consulting with it.

7 Compelling Reasons Why You Should Become A Super Affiliate Marketer

John is a typical working guy in his early 40’s. He works a middle-management job but his prospects for career advancement are slim. Meanwhile, even with his wife working, it is getting harder to make financial ends meet each month. There’s always so much month left at the end of the money.

John needs to do something…but What? He cannot afford to quit his job but with two teenagers, a toddler, a wife, and an ailing mother to take care of can he afford to keep it?

If the above describes you or someone you know, you have just discovered the number one reason to become a Super Affiliate Marketer.

EARN MORE MONEY!

John is not alone. Thousands of people are turning to the Internet to supplement their income. Affiliate marketing looks like the vehicle of choice for many of these people. But why?

Read on and you’ll discover not just why…but why you cannot afford to delay becoming an Super Affiliate Marketer.

Affiliate Marketing means selling other Peoples’ products or services for a commission. Typically, You are paid a commission for each sale, or even for each sale made by someone you recruited to do the same.

A Super Affiliate Marketer though is the Super Star of All Affiliate Marketers. He or She Knows more, sells more, makes more money, and is usually in the top 15% of all Affiliate Marketers worldwide! The Super affiliate Marketer typically earns above-average income which is typically Above US$100,000 per year.

Lets get to it then.

What are the 7 compelling reasons why you should become not just an affiliate marketer but a Super Affiliate Marketer?

1. You’ll Make More Money:

This is easy to guess. People do it for the money…but don’t stop there. Money is just a medium of exchange, so it is not as simple as that. More specifically, more money represents more freedom, more choices.

More money represents a bigger house, a better college, a longer and more fulfilling vacation, nicer clothes, more charity donations, better food, ADSL Internet connections, not just dial-up.

You get the picture. More money represents what you can do with more disposable income…and that lies at the heart of the the matter. That’s what people mean when they say “It pays to learn”. Once you learn how to become an affiliate marketer, you will undoubtedly earn more money.

2. You’ll increase your Skill Set:

If you’ve done a typical job (blue collar or white collar) for over five years, it is very likely that you have stopped increasing your skill set. It means you are not learning anything new.

Online Affiliate Marketing is dynamic. There are always new technology, new breakthroughs, new ways to reach more people and sell them. These represent new skill sets to master and profit from.

Over time, you will become a very skillful and adaptable Marketer and those skills will become invaluable to you.

Terms such as website monetization, Search engine optimization, PPC marketing, Sales copy, and Adwords, will quickly become integral parts of your necessary vocabulary. I once heard Jim Rohm say something like this.

“The market will reward you appropriately for what you bring to the table and the more value you bring, the more you will be rewarded”.

That’s what separates knowledgeable affiliate marketers from tire-kicking, online surfers, KNOWLEDGE.

3. You Can Finally Fire Your Boss.

Let’s face it. For some of us, our jobs represent an enigma. We hate it, but we need it. Of course when that happens, it also means that it will become very challenging to excel in in that job, and give your best each day.

My advise!

Learn all you can about Affiliate marketing, as quickly as you can then GET OUT!

If you are doing a job you hate, it is unlikely that things will get better. That entrepreneurial streak in you won’t die. Don’t keep fighting it!

Affiliate Marketing allows you to become an Entrepreneur and that means NO BOSS! If this strikes a cord in you, then by all means, make the sacrifice you need to make, spend the time you need to spend to learn Affiliate Marketing from a reputable Source.

You will be glad you did…eventually anyway. The first six months out on your own will be rough…but there is a specific time to make the move. Don’t just get up and quit your job next Monday morning.

Not too long from now though, when you starting earning cheques, your confidence will grow.

Soon your glee over your email notifications of ” Congratulations! You’ve made another sale” will give way to solid confidence with growing monthly cheques from several sources.

Then, my friend, your life will NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

4. You Will Be Able To Really Help People.

I’ve found that successful marketers are typically very friendly and helpful. Their confidence in what know and have achieved makes them less defensive and more open to people.

If this sounds strange, just wait till you become a successful Marketer. You’ll be hopping into forums to help newbies at the drop of a hat.

Remember the A-Team with Mr. T and those guys. That blue-eyed guy, what?s his line at the end of each show? I remember! Here it is: ” I love it when a plan comes together”

Ok!

Sorry if you are under 25, you can’t relate, but the idea is this. When you help people and you see them go out and become Successful you take a certain pride in their success, because some of the credit belongs to you, whether they publicly acknowledge it or not.

You get your rush from helping them succeed.

Now, that won’t happen right if you are a student, but just wait. As your knowledge grows so will your confidence and your ability and willingness to help. This can happen in any field of course, not just Affiliate Marketing, but then why not?

You have a worldwide audience of millions of students online that will need your help.

Besides, imagine your profound pleasure when your favourite marketing student from the Fiji volunteers to give you a personal one-week tour of the country during your next vacation. All the other tourists will indeed eat their hearts out!

5. You Don’t Have To Create Your Own Products

Since affiliate marketing means selling other people’s products for a commission, it also means that you really don’t have to create the products or service yourself. You just have to find creative ways of helping to sell them.

Sounds simple, and it is. Don’t worry about things you don’t have to. I sell programmes I like but I stopped writing software codes longer than I care to reveal. Today, I don’t know zilch about writing software and I don’t want to. I hate it! But I love marketing!.

Affiliate marketing allows you to do what you like best and do it well. That’s how you rise to the top of any field. You MUST LOVE IT!

Now, even though you don’t create the product, you really should try to use the product before you sell it. That will always put you in the position of an expert and people love to buy from experts who are helpful.

So, since you don’t have to make the product you sell, you’ll find a huge list of them waiting for you to sell. Choose the best and get going. Just get some good training first, so you’ll know what you are doing.

Once you have the skill set of a Super Affiliate Marketer, you can apply those skills to any product you truly believe in.

Imagine the possibilities?

6. You’ll Enjoy Super Star Status:

Ok! You may be looking for fortune…but not necessarily “fame” too, right?

Just be sure you don’t mind a little fame too. You’ve heard of the Late Corey Rudl. You heard of Marlon Sanders, Terry Dean, Dr. Joe Vitale, Mark Joyner, and Willie Crawford.

Who are these guys? They are online Super Affiliate Marketers. Some of whom have gone on to create their own products and that is just a short list.

But you get the drift. Becoming well known in marketing circles is a natural progression. You won’t be able to stop that. But thankfully, you won’t attract stalkers either. Those kinds seem reserved for movie stars and singers.

Seriously though, as you help people, they will begin to tell others. Then they’ll recommend your site, your articles, e-books, and they may even start to quote you.

People will just talk about you. Pretty soon they’ll be coming to you for tele-conference calls, and asking you to speak at $4500 per seat ,live events. Be prepared to travel my friend!

You get the picture. Fame will just follow you especially in online marketing circles. When it happens, just remember that Anthony Chambers told you so!

7. FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Ah! The sound of those two words. Isn’t that what we all dream of and work for? It means many things to many people. For me it means this:

Never having a boss, and owning enough income-generating assets to create a positive monthly cash flow that allows me to live debt-free.

Now that’s quite a mouthful, but you can pick out the salient points.

No Debts…Affiliate Marketing done right, will help you achieve that.

Positive Cash flow…getting 10 – 15 chegues each month can do that to a man or woman.

Assets: The foundation of wealth…it will just happen.

Super Affiliate Marketers can earn between $100,000 – US$1M a year! Some earn a lot more than that! Shouldn’t you be in this field?

I’m pretty confident that if you become an affiliate marketer, with diligent work you will become a successful Once that happens you will become financially free as well.

Again, it’s just a natural progression.

I think I’ve come to the end of this article. Now, I know there are more than 7 reasons to do Affiliate Marketing, but I really would like you to read my next article when it comes out…so why risk boring you?

Take care,

Anthony

Anthony Chambers is an affiliate marketer and writer. You may Contact him at: http://www.prosperityinmotion.net

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