by: David A. Bailey
When you make the decision to earn income from the internet you will need to go through a set up process to be ready for business.
Following are the basic steps in setting up for home business success.
1. Attitude
The key to your business success is your attitude.
Treat your business like a business.
This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. One of my colleagues is a mother who works from home around her family. She has always put her family first whilst at the same time developing her business. She says, "I work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude."
Put another way, "If you have a hobby attitude you will have a hobby income, if you have a business attitude you will have a business income."
You can be successful working part-time and you can be successful working full-time but it is highly unlikely that you will be successful working in your "spare time".
2. Working Environment
A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time.
A comfortable chair and organized desk.
Stationery supplies as required. For example:
- pens
- highlighters
- stapler
- hole punch
- sticky tape
- note book(s)
- a simple filing system
- ring binders
- manilla folders
Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more done in a given time frame.
3. Schedule
Develop a schedule that works for you, your family (or "significant others") and your business. When you allot a block of time for work then use that time for work. Equally important is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time, self education ( reading, listening and viewing), "health time" (exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these other times don't work. After all if one of the reasons to work from home is to spend more time with your family then you don't want your working at home time to consume your family time.
You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice) is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you committed to your own business success? What will be your choice in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to you.
In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your partner and children to have your business time agreed upon, during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your work schedule.
4. Describe Your Business
Be able to describe your business concisely; a powerful one or two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing your business to others. A unique and memorable tag line can also be invaluable for promoting your business.
5. Know Your Product or Service
Once you have selected your product or service to sell, it may or may not be something that you use yourself but you need to know your product intimately. If you are selling ebooks then know the content and its value. If you are selling software then use it know it "inside out". You will develop a reputation of providing quality information and because of your product knowledge you can become the preferred supplier.
It is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) in which case the seller won't be a product user, however the seller can still know the benefits and features of the product intimately.
6. Administration
Use good record keeping practices.
This may involve a consultation with a tax advisor who can let you know about the optimal way to set up your financial records and what records need to be kept. Your advisor will also recommend record keeping systems and you can find out what software may simplify this aspect of your business. Additionally your obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate bank account.
You will also need to keep track of your various logins, usernames and passwords. A very handy little software tool for this is Treepad available as either the free Lite version (without password protection) or the commercial Plus or Biz versions. http://www.treepad.com
There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular solution is Roboform that will remember your login details and can automatically fill out your login and other registration forms. http://www.roboform.com
7. Computer Protection
Your computer is the lifeline to your business dealings and must be protected including the data that is stored.
You need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is downloaded to your computer.
Some suggestions are:
AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com
Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org
Microsoft Anti-Spyware:
www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/
Mailwasher Email Scanner: http://www.mailwasher.net
8. A Domain Name
You will most likely need a domain name for your business and one cost effective registrar is GoDaddy, http://www.godaddy.com.
9. Payment Processing
You will need a way to process credit cards; that may be using services such as:
- PayPal https://www.paypal.com
- Storm Pay http://www.stormpay.com
- 2 Checkout http://www.2checkout.com
- Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com or others.
This is the most economical way to get started. Once your business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant account for credit card transactions.
Consideration may also be given to other forms of online currency such as eGold http://www.egold.com
10. Email accounts
Once you have your own domain you can use an associated email account. This can further assist in the promotion of your business and promotes a more professional business image.
As a final comment on continuing in your internet business, conduct your business ethically, provide extraordinary service and be proud to put your name to the products or services that you are selling and you will be on track to developing a sustainable long term internet business.
[ Submitted with ArticleSubmitter Pro - http://www.articlesubmitterpro.com]
About the author:
Are you an internet marketer looking to better your English speaking skills? David A. Bailey, Jr shares his top-secret, little-known tricks, tips, and ideas to learn English FAST in four easy steps from the comfort of your own home. Join the English Club and meet other ESL students just like yourself. SERIOUS ONLY!
Learn English NOW!
20071211
7 Power Habits to Guarantee Financial Independence
by: Daegan Smith
Are you always running short of your funds? Do you still have to borrow money sometimes to at least live comfortably? Do you get to pay your bills on time?
If you answered mostly yes, then you are in danger of being financially unstable. You cannot afford the things you want and sometimes, even the things you need. Don’t go sulking out there! You better move your body. If such is the case, better tell yourself that you cannot afford to be that way always. You have to be financially independent.
What is financial independence? Financial independence is the capability to determine and support yourself through your own endeavors. There are 7 ways or habits for you to follow to gain financial independence. With the right attitude and the proper goal in mind, you might just find yourself beaming with pride because of your achievement.
1. Keep a focused vision
Start with a vision. What is your vision for your life? Where are you definitely heading? You want financial independence. You want to be able to stand on your own and have a more stable and secured life, for yourself and for your family.
Keep that vision in mind. Hold on to it as you start to realize that vision. The choices and decisions you will make in the future will have to head to the direction of your goal. Return to that vision when things get doubtful or tough.
2. Invest your money wisely
Generate income. Your income will be the financial foundation of your vision. This will basically come from your job’s income, but don’t settle with that.
Aim to increase your income. Invest your time, money and effort into a beneficial enterprise. Start a business that you feel passionately about and make sure it will work. Think carefully of every detail in your enterprise and work on it. Do not settle with good enough results. Aim for excellence, quality and integrity to succeed.
3. Save up
Start a fund for your future. Allot a percentage of your present income to savings. Do this at the start of each month, before you go ahead. This will avoid the enticement to buy, buy, buy. It will also teach you how to properly budget your money for necessary expenses.
Money in the bank could also earn interest. Although it is not considerable compared to a good investment, it is still a good way to keep money for your future. Just make sure you maintain the money in your savings account. Avoid touching it unless it is really necessary.
Give value also to your coins. Every single cent matters. All of those scattered coins you have there could comprise a few dollars. Even if it is considerably small amount, it will still find some use for that.
4. Spend wisely
Don’t spend all your earnings. As they say, don’t earn to spend. Buy only things that you really need. Tighten those belts for now as you bank for a more secured future. Choose to live simply. Forget the need to show off on other people that you can afford. If you want achieve financial independence, you must hold on to your money as much as possible.
Avoid incurring debts as much as possible. Take control of your finances as much as possible. Credit cards for example could hold you locked in a desperate state. You could be getting what you want now through that credit card, but imagine yourself giving the bulk of your income for interest payments! Make ends meet in the meantime for later on in life, you will surely afford to be leisurely.
5. Keep contingency plans
You must plan ahead for events in the future. Have contingencies. Make certain that your financial assets are secured. At this phase, it is a good option to get an insurance policy. Insure your life, health and property, even your loved ones.
Protect your interests whenever you enter into any engagement. Make sure that your endeavor is legal, that you are financially capable, and that it is feasible within your means. This way, you will have optimal performance and desirable results. You could prevent harmful losses in the long run.
6. Take care of yourself
Health is wealth. The only way for you to achieve your dreams and be able to stand on your own is when you are physically and psychologically able to do so. Have regular check ups with your physician. Have a healthy diet. Exercise Regularly. Health will be your asset to achieve financial independence. Only a good physical standing would allow you to enjoy the fruits of your toils today.
7. Be Unstoppable
You must keep yourself focused to achieve the goal of being financially independent. Do not let yourself be distracted by whimsical desires. Do not spray. Do not procrastinate. Every cent and every minute counts as what you do today will have a lot to say on what you will have in the future. Take advantage of every opportunity that will come your way. Keep yourself confident.
Tell yourself, you will not be a loser in this game. You have to make it!
About the author:
Daegan Smith is the leader of the fastest growing team of successful home business enterpernuers on the net. Find out how we're creating financial freedom all across the globe and how to get in on the action FREE =>http://www.comlev.com Team Blog: http://www.turnkeyinternetbusiness.blogspot.com
Are you always running short of your funds? Do you still have to borrow money sometimes to at least live comfortably? Do you get to pay your bills on time?
If you answered mostly yes, then you are in danger of being financially unstable. You cannot afford the things you want and sometimes, even the things you need. Don’t go sulking out there! You better move your body. If such is the case, better tell yourself that you cannot afford to be that way always. You have to be financially independent.
What is financial independence? Financial independence is the capability to determine and support yourself through your own endeavors. There are 7 ways or habits for you to follow to gain financial independence. With the right attitude and the proper goal in mind, you might just find yourself beaming with pride because of your achievement.
1. Keep a focused vision
Start with a vision. What is your vision for your life? Where are you definitely heading? You want financial independence. You want to be able to stand on your own and have a more stable and secured life, for yourself and for your family.
Keep that vision in mind. Hold on to it as you start to realize that vision. The choices and decisions you will make in the future will have to head to the direction of your goal. Return to that vision when things get doubtful or tough.
2. Invest your money wisely
Generate income. Your income will be the financial foundation of your vision. This will basically come from your job’s income, but don’t settle with that.
Aim to increase your income. Invest your time, money and effort into a beneficial enterprise. Start a business that you feel passionately about and make sure it will work. Think carefully of every detail in your enterprise and work on it. Do not settle with good enough results. Aim for excellence, quality and integrity to succeed.
3. Save up
Start a fund for your future. Allot a percentage of your present income to savings. Do this at the start of each month, before you go ahead. This will avoid the enticement to buy, buy, buy. It will also teach you how to properly budget your money for necessary expenses.
Money in the bank could also earn interest. Although it is not considerable compared to a good investment, it is still a good way to keep money for your future. Just make sure you maintain the money in your savings account. Avoid touching it unless it is really necessary.
Give value also to your coins. Every single cent matters. All of those scattered coins you have there could comprise a few dollars. Even if it is considerably small amount, it will still find some use for that.
4. Spend wisely
Don’t spend all your earnings. As they say, don’t earn to spend. Buy only things that you really need. Tighten those belts for now as you bank for a more secured future. Choose to live simply. Forget the need to show off on other people that you can afford. If you want achieve financial independence, you must hold on to your money as much as possible.
Avoid incurring debts as much as possible. Take control of your finances as much as possible. Credit cards for example could hold you locked in a desperate state. You could be getting what you want now through that credit card, but imagine yourself giving the bulk of your income for interest payments! Make ends meet in the meantime for later on in life, you will surely afford to be leisurely.
5. Keep contingency plans
You must plan ahead for events in the future. Have contingencies. Make certain that your financial assets are secured. At this phase, it is a good option to get an insurance policy. Insure your life, health and property, even your loved ones.
Protect your interests whenever you enter into any engagement. Make sure that your endeavor is legal, that you are financially capable, and that it is feasible within your means. This way, you will have optimal performance and desirable results. You could prevent harmful losses in the long run.
6. Take care of yourself
Health is wealth. The only way for you to achieve your dreams and be able to stand on your own is when you are physically and psychologically able to do so. Have regular check ups with your physician. Have a healthy diet. Exercise Regularly. Health will be your asset to achieve financial independence. Only a good physical standing would allow you to enjoy the fruits of your toils today.
7. Be Unstoppable
You must keep yourself focused to achieve the goal of being financially independent. Do not let yourself be distracted by whimsical desires. Do not spray. Do not procrastinate. Every cent and every minute counts as what you do today will have a lot to say on what you will have in the future. Take advantage of every opportunity that will come your way. Keep yourself confident.
Tell yourself, you will not be a loser in this game. You have to make it!
About the author:
Daegan Smith is the leader of the fastest growing team of successful home business enterpernuers on the net. Find out how we're creating financial freedom all across the globe and how to get in on the action FREE =>http://www.comlev.com Team Blog: http://www.turnkeyinternetbusiness.blogspot.com
7 Keys to Internet Business Success
by: Bina Omar
Starting an internet business can be as simple as opening a Yahoo Store. And as complicated as building your own dynamic e-commerce web site. But no matter how you go about it, you need 7 key ingredients to ensure the success of your internet business.
1. Demand
You can have the most awesome product and the most hi-tech web site, but if you can’t generate demand for your product, your business is doomed from the start. There are many ways to generate demand in the online world. You could advertise in ezines, start an affiliate program, encourage word of mouth, referrals, do joint ventures. Remember, without demand, there will be no sales. And without sales, where does that leave you?
2. Order
When you start getting visitors to your web site, it’s now just a matter of turning them into your customers. Okay, maybe it’s not as easy as it sounds. This is why, once your visitor has decided to become a customer, you have to make sure that it is easy for them to do so. Make sure that your ordering process is easy and straightforward. The less clicks to secure an order, the better.
3. Payment
This is one process of your internet business that you’d definitely not want to get wrong - how money is actually transferred from your customer to you. The most popular means of doing this online is through credit card transactions. Credit cards makes full use of a person’s ‘buy now think later’ attitude. So, your sales would be a lot higher if you accepted credit cards than if you didn’t. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have alternative methods. The more payment methods you offer, the easier your customer will find it to pay for your product.
4. Fulfillment
After payment has been made, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the coast is clear. There’s still the matter of delivering your products. If you sell digital products, it is now normal standard to have it delivered instantly. People now expect this, so make sure you set this up. If you sell physical products that needs physical delivery, make sure that you communicate with your customer every step of the way. Ensure them that their goods are on the way. If possible, send them a means to track the movement of their package. Your customers should never feel insecure.
5. Service and Support
Once the sale has been made, it doesn’t stop there. You have to provide excellent customer support. Your internet business customer support will determine, to some extent, whether your customer will request a refund and whether or not they will make repeat purchases. Support abilities of an internet business is getting more and more efficient. So don’t get caught behind. The least you should do is provide timely e-mail support. If you have a busier site, then consider other support methods - online helpdesk, FAQs, live chats, ticket system, knowledge base ….
6. Security
The Internet community is getting more aware of what to look out for in order to protect themselves from many of the net’s less desirable activities. One of which is e-commerce frauds. It is, therefore, up to you to prove to your visitors that they can trust you. Things like using secured server to process payments, can go a long way. Purchase a digital certificate, if you can. Add a physical mail address or a phone number where they can contact you. Anything at all, to give your visitors some peace of mind.
7. Community
Once you’ve received more than just a handful of sales, you should think about starting a community. Making your customers a part of a community, gives them a sense of belonging. Have your community be a part of your product development. Listen to their suggestions. Not only will you get product ideas for your internet business, your sales ratio will increase with every new product release and you will have a loyal customer base.
There you go. Work on these seven keys and you’ll be way ahead of most internet businesses out there on the net today.
About the author:
Bina runs the WebBriefcase at http://WebBriefcase.comau,a site filled with web building tips, tools and tutorials for home business owners. Sign up now for your free video enhanced course on "How to Make Your Own Web Site in 7 Easy Steps" mailto:subscribe@webbriefcase.comau
Starting an internet business can be as simple as opening a Yahoo Store. And as complicated as building your own dynamic e-commerce web site. But no matter how you go about it, you need 7 key ingredients to ensure the success of your internet business.
1. Demand
You can have the most awesome product and the most hi-tech web site, but if you can’t generate demand for your product, your business is doomed from the start. There are many ways to generate demand in the online world. You could advertise in ezines, start an affiliate program, encourage word of mouth, referrals, do joint ventures. Remember, without demand, there will be no sales. And without sales, where does that leave you?
2. Order
When you start getting visitors to your web site, it’s now just a matter of turning them into your customers. Okay, maybe it’s not as easy as it sounds. This is why, once your visitor has decided to become a customer, you have to make sure that it is easy for them to do so. Make sure that your ordering process is easy and straightforward. The less clicks to secure an order, the better.
3. Payment
This is one process of your internet business that you’d definitely not want to get wrong - how money is actually transferred from your customer to you. The most popular means of doing this online is through credit card transactions. Credit cards makes full use of a person’s ‘buy now think later’ attitude. So, your sales would be a lot higher if you accepted credit cards than if you didn’t. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have alternative methods. The more payment methods you offer, the easier your customer will find it to pay for your product.
4. Fulfillment
After payment has been made, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the coast is clear. There’s still the matter of delivering your products. If you sell digital products, it is now normal standard to have it delivered instantly. People now expect this, so make sure you set this up. If you sell physical products that needs physical delivery, make sure that you communicate with your customer every step of the way. Ensure them that their goods are on the way. If possible, send them a means to track the movement of their package. Your customers should never feel insecure.
5. Service and Support
Once the sale has been made, it doesn’t stop there. You have to provide excellent customer support. Your internet business customer support will determine, to some extent, whether your customer will request a refund and whether or not they will make repeat purchases. Support abilities of an internet business is getting more and more efficient. So don’t get caught behind. The least you should do is provide timely e-mail support. If you have a busier site, then consider other support methods - online helpdesk, FAQs, live chats, ticket system, knowledge base ….
6. Security
The Internet community is getting more aware of what to look out for in order to protect themselves from many of the net’s less desirable activities. One of which is e-commerce frauds. It is, therefore, up to you to prove to your visitors that they can trust you. Things like using secured server to process payments, can go a long way. Purchase a digital certificate, if you can. Add a physical mail address or a phone number where they can contact you. Anything at all, to give your visitors some peace of mind.
7. Community
Once you’ve received more than just a handful of sales, you should think about starting a community. Making your customers a part of a community, gives them a sense of belonging. Have your community be a part of your product development. Listen to their suggestions. Not only will you get product ideas for your internet business, your sales ratio will increase with every new product release and you will have a loyal customer base.
There you go. Work on these seven keys and you’ll be way ahead of most internet businesses out there on the net today.
About the author:
Bina runs the WebBriefcase at http://WebBriefcase.comau,a site filled with web building tips, tools and tutorials for home business owners. Sign up now for your free video enhanced course on "How to Make Your Own Web Site in 7 Easy Steps" mailto:subscribe@webbriefcase.comau
5 Steps you can take to Get Paid!
by: Michelle Dunn
There are always some companies that have past due invoices and can’t seem to get them paid. They might be quietly waiting to get paid not wanting to contact the client for fear of appearing “desperate”. Sometimes a big part of the problem is no response, it is bad enough when you are not getting paid, but when orders keep coming in and you are not getting any acknowledgement to your collection efforts, you just can’t keep processing orders.
There are steps you can take to get paid on those past due invoices and keep new invoices current.
Step #1 Gather together all the past due invoices, and stamp them PAST DUE.
Step #2 If you have an email address or phone number with a contact name for your client, email them or call them and give them the information on the past due invoices and let them know their account is on hold.
Step #3 Mail the invoices to your client with return receipt requested or send them in a flat rate Priority Mail envelope with delivery confirmation.
Step #4 Send a letter with these invoices stating the age, invoice numbers, their PO#, your account #, total amount due, and any other pertinent information.
Step #5 Tell them their account is on hold and you will not be shipping any more products or providing any services to them until these invoices are paid. You can include a self addressed envelope and state that you have enclosed an envelope for them to send their check. Give them a date, to have this paid to you.
Once they have received the package, email or call them. Ask them what they are doing with the invoices. Ask them questions such as:
Do they have to be approved by someone else?
If they have to be approved, who has to approve them and when will they give them to that person? Get that person’s direct number if possible. Find out if that person signs the checks.
Are there any discrepancies with the invoices?
When will the check be cut? When can you call back for the check number?
Once all the past due balances are cleared up, you need to think about future invoices. Do you want to extend credit again or do you want to have pre-payment or payment at the time of the order. Whatever you decide put it in writing. If you can both sign the agreement, that is even better. Remember, having a credit policy in place tells people you mean business.
About the author:
Michelle Dunn has over 17 years experience in credit and debt collection. She has written 5 books in her Collecting Money Series. For more information on Michelle’s services or to order any of her books please visit www.michelledunn.com& www.credit-and-collections.com
There are always some companies that have past due invoices and can’t seem to get them paid. They might be quietly waiting to get paid not wanting to contact the client for fear of appearing “desperate”. Sometimes a big part of the problem is no response, it is bad enough when you are not getting paid, but when orders keep coming in and you are not getting any acknowledgement to your collection efforts, you just can’t keep processing orders.
There are steps you can take to get paid on those past due invoices and keep new invoices current.
Step #1 Gather together all the past due invoices, and stamp them PAST DUE.
Step #2 If you have an email address or phone number with a contact name for your client, email them or call them and give them the information on the past due invoices and let them know their account is on hold.
Step #3 Mail the invoices to your client with return receipt requested or send them in a flat rate Priority Mail envelope with delivery confirmation.
Step #4 Send a letter with these invoices stating the age, invoice numbers, their PO#, your account #, total amount due, and any other pertinent information.
Step #5 Tell them their account is on hold and you will not be shipping any more products or providing any services to them until these invoices are paid. You can include a self addressed envelope and state that you have enclosed an envelope for them to send their check. Give them a date, to have this paid to you.
Once they have received the package, email or call them. Ask them what they are doing with the invoices. Ask them questions such as:
Do they have to be approved by someone else?
If they have to be approved, who has to approve them and when will they give them to that person? Get that person’s direct number if possible. Find out if that person signs the checks.
Are there any discrepancies with the invoices?
When will the check be cut? When can you call back for the check number?
Once all the past due balances are cleared up, you need to think about future invoices. Do you want to extend credit again or do you want to have pre-payment or payment at the time of the order. Whatever you decide put it in writing. If you can both sign the agreement, that is even better. Remember, having a credit policy in place tells people you mean business.
About the author:
Michelle Dunn has over 17 years experience in credit and debt collection. She has written 5 books in her Collecting Money Series. For more information on Michelle’s services or to order any of her books please visit www.michelledunn.com& www.credit-and-collections.com
4 Explosive Tips To Dynamite Your Sales Volume
by: Allyn Cutts
Some of the most effective things in life are the simplest. Marketers spend a lot of time trying to understand the psyche of consumers, discover ways to predict economic trends and a million other aspects of business that can determine success. Hey, it pays to remember that some things are just basic, common sense and as easy as pie. Let's look at some tactics that just might be the key to the success you've been pining for.
1. Keep An Eye On Your Best Customers
Yeah, wouldn't be great if all of your customers were just like them? ...easy to please, loyal, and ready to tell a friend about your wonderful service. Just maybe you can develop more customer just like them!
Think about it... what makes them so great? What are the traits they have in common? Direct your marketing campaign to people who are just like them. Focus on their niche! You'll net new consumers and higher profits for your efforts.
2. Hurry It Up!
What's the hurry? Todays customers are busily running helter skelter from work to day care to home to an event back home... They're rushing through life, but trying to save a buck as they go. How much do you think they would appreciate the ability to do both in your shop?
Revise your advertising campaign to stress the time they'll save and the money they'll keep in their pockets while enjoying all of the wonderful benefits your products have to offer. Chip in a few specials where they can save even more moeny (with a deadline, of course). Deliver! Immediately! Let them save money and time... and hey, watch your sales explode!
3. Make it Easy to Buy
Convenience it the key to attracting buyers in today's fast paced society. What will be the fastest and easiest for them... credit card, phone, fax, Internet, or cold hard cash? They say there are different strokes for different folks... your customers don't all use the same methods to buy. It just makes sense that if the method they prefer is available, they'll be more likely to take advantage of it.
Simplicy... ah, it makes life so much easier. Yeah, your harried customers are busy and tired. They don’t want to mess around. Most of the time, they just want to make the purchase and head home. Convenience stores testify to the fact that quick and easy often overrides a better price!
4. Follow Up
Following up with a customer who didn’t buy can be the determining factor between and “almost sale” and a satisfied, loyal customer. Simply contact them afterwards and let them know the product is still available or offer them further information they may find valuable.
One of my favorite catalog companies always closes out the sale with a special buy that is available only at the time of purchase. I'm not an impulsive shopper by any stretch of the imagination, but it stops me in my tracks every time. I know it's a one-time shot, and I really consider whether I want or need it before I hang up the phone.
Expoding your current sales volume and profit margin may not be as difficult as you've been making it! Give these 4 tips a shot, and see what happens!
About the author:
Who is Allyn Cutts, and why should you care? Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers. Allyn is a marketing and sales fanatic, providing measurable marketing solutions that drive huge results for small-to mid-size business clients. Allyn works personally with clients to design and deliver off-line and on-line direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://www.AllynCutts.comand you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Some of the most effective things in life are the simplest. Marketers spend a lot of time trying to understand the psyche of consumers, discover ways to predict economic trends and a million other aspects of business that can determine success. Hey, it pays to remember that some things are just basic, common sense and as easy as pie. Let's look at some tactics that just might be the key to the success you've been pining for.
1. Keep An Eye On Your Best Customers
Yeah, wouldn't be great if all of your customers were just like them? ...easy to please, loyal, and ready to tell a friend about your wonderful service. Just maybe you can develop more customer just like them!
Think about it... what makes them so great? What are the traits they have in common? Direct your marketing campaign to people who are just like them. Focus on their niche! You'll net new consumers and higher profits for your efforts.
2. Hurry It Up!
What's the hurry? Todays customers are busily running helter skelter from work to day care to home to an event back home... They're rushing through life, but trying to save a buck as they go. How much do you think they would appreciate the ability to do both in your shop?
Revise your advertising campaign to stress the time they'll save and the money they'll keep in their pockets while enjoying all of the wonderful benefits your products have to offer. Chip in a few specials where they can save even more moeny (with a deadline, of course). Deliver! Immediately! Let them save money and time... and hey, watch your sales explode!
3. Make it Easy to Buy
Convenience it the key to attracting buyers in today's fast paced society. What will be the fastest and easiest for them... credit card, phone, fax, Internet, or cold hard cash? They say there are different strokes for different folks... your customers don't all use the same methods to buy. It just makes sense that if the method they prefer is available, they'll be more likely to take advantage of it.
Simplicy... ah, it makes life so much easier. Yeah, your harried customers are busy and tired. They don’t want to mess around. Most of the time, they just want to make the purchase and head home. Convenience stores testify to the fact that quick and easy often overrides a better price!
4. Follow Up
Following up with a customer who didn’t buy can be the determining factor between and “almost sale” and a satisfied, loyal customer. Simply contact them afterwards and let them know the product is still available or offer them further information they may find valuable.
One of my favorite catalog companies always closes out the sale with a special buy that is available only at the time of purchase. I'm not an impulsive shopper by any stretch of the imagination, but it stops me in my tracks every time. I know it's a one-time shot, and I really consider whether I want or need it before I hang up the phone.
Expoding your current sales volume and profit margin may not be as difficult as you've been making it! Give these 4 tips a shot, and see what happens!
About the author:
Who is Allyn Cutts, and why should you care? Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers. Allyn is a marketing and sales fanatic, providing measurable marketing solutions that drive huge results for small-to mid-size business clients. Allyn works personally with clients to design and deliver off-line and on-line direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://www.AllynCutts.comand you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays.
20071205
You can make Great $$$ in a week from free advertising
by: eiffel internet
“Promote one Affiliate Program is the Key to your Success!”
There are a lot of affiliate marketing programs out there that claim to make you more money than you could possible spend; when in true reality, you’ve just sign up to be another person that the company can send you emails to buy their products!
Well the KEY to really making an affiliate program work for you is just by sticking with the one program you’ve signed up for. It gets quite easy to keep signing up for program after program in hopes that you will finally hit pay-dirt. What has happened is that now you are spread so thin in your ability to market a single program effectively.
Your goal is to send tons of traffic to that site URL and then in turn change those visitors into paying customers; further, your goal is to turn those customers or visitors into a down-line group that will help you build an extra layer of residual income on top of your regular commissions.
Believe or not when you promote your affiliate's website directly ..Its more effective
than you put the same affiliate's link in your website...
You can make $2000 in a week from free advertising for only one affiliate...
When you collect your efforts in marketing your affiliate site by only some free
advertising with more working,,,I will guarantee you will earn at least $2000
in a week ....
My important free marketing which I will show you when you use it ,,you will
ensure earning $$$..
1- submit to search engins
http://www.easyblaster.com/
http://penneypalace.ws/page6.html
http://getmassivehits.com
http://blaster-boys.com/bbna1.html
http://payperclickuniverse.com/prefunded.php
http://www.payperclickuniverse.com/pay-per-click-search-engines-special-deals.php
2- Post to free marketing discussion lists
http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html
http://www.discussionlists.com/
http://www.tile.net/
http://www.websuccessmaker.com/internet_information/internet_marketing_discussion_forums.htm
http://www.websuccessmaker.com/follow-up_fine-tune/follow-up_fine_tune_resource_index.htm
http://www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=me_Newsletter
http://everydaybusinessonline.com/dboards.htm
http://www.supertips.com/forums/list.htm
http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/
http://www.ozemedia.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl
http://www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.network54.com/Forum/184615
http://www.talkbiz.com/cgi-bin/mlm.cgi
http://www.auctionhints.com/message/webbbs_config.pl
http://www.mcpromotions.com/webbbs/config.pl
http://www.mlmwoman.com/wwwboard/
http://www.escribe.com/computing/neatnettricks/bb/
http://www.network54.com/Forum/87014
http://homebusiness-websites.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.network54.com/Forum/184615
3- Write a good article and submite it :
http://www.ezinearticles.com/submit/
http://ezinearticles.com
http://www.certificate.net/wwio/
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.marketing-seek.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.netterweb.com
http://www.isyndicate.com
http://www.articlecentral.com
http://homeincome.com/writers-connection
http://www.web-source.net/syndicator_submit.htm
http://www.clickforcontent.com/writersadd.htm
http://www.aracopy.com
http://www.dime-co.com
http://www.zinecast.com
http://www.writebusiness.com
http://www.etext.org
http://www.zinos.com
http://www.addme.com
http://www.makingprofit.com
http://www.vectorcentral.com/ezine-question-answer-form.htm
4- Post your affiliate site to some Press Releases:
http://www.ebookbroadcast.com/submit.html
http://www.pressblast.com/
http://www.press-release-writing.com/
http://www.trashproofnewsreleases.com/
Try it an hour a day and you will be glad you did..........
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eiffel internet ... super affiliate since 1996...
My Great affilaite site http://www.telebay.com/eiffel/mall-general.html
E-mail : eiffel@soficom.net
“Promote one Affiliate Program is the Key to your Success!”
There are a lot of affiliate marketing programs out there that claim to make you more money than you could possible spend; when in true reality, you’ve just sign up to be another person that the company can send you emails to buy their products!
Well the KEY to really making an affiliate program work for you is just by sticking with the one program you’ve signed up for. It gets quite easy to keep signing up for program after program in hopes that you will finally hit pay-dirt. What has happened is that now you are spread so thin in your ability to market a single program effectively.
Your goal is to send tons of traffic to that site URL and then in turn change those visitors into paying customers; further, your goal is to turn those customers or visitors into a down-line group that will help you build an extra layer of residual income on top of your regular commissions.
Believe or not when you promote your affiliate's website directly ..Its more effective
than you put the same affiliate's link in your website...
You can make $2000 in a week from free advertising for only one affiliate...
When you collect your efforts in marketing your affiliate site by only some free
advertising with more working,,,I will guarantee you will earn at least $2000
in a week ....
My important free marketing which I will show you when you use it ,,you will
ensure earning $$$..
1- submit to search engins
http://www.easyblaster.com/
http://penneypalace.ws/page6.html
http://getmassivehits.com
http://blaster-boys.com/bbna1.html
http://payperclickuniverse.com/prefunded.php
http://www.payperclickuniverse.com/pay-per-click-search-engines-special-deals.php
2- Post to free marketing discussion lists
http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html
http://www.discussionlists.com/
http://www.tile.net/
http://www.websuccessmaker.com/internet_information/internet_marketing_discussion_forums.htm
http://www.websuccessmaker.com/follow-up_fine-tune/follow-up_fine_tune_resource_index.htm
http://www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=me_Newsletter
http://everydaybusinessonline.com/dboards.htm
http://www.supertips.com/forums/list.htm
http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/
http://www.ozemedia.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl
http://www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.network54.com/Forum/184615
http://www.talkbiz.com/cgi-bin/mlm.cgi
http://www.auctionhints.com/message/webbbs_config.pl
http://www.mcpromotions.com/webbbs/config.pl
http://www.mlmwoman.com/wwwboard/
http://www.escribe.com/computing/neatnettricks/bb/
http://www.network54.com/Forum/87014
http://homebusiness-websites.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.network54.com/Forum/184615
3- Write a good article and submite it :
http://www.ezinearticles.com/submit/
http://ezinearticles.com
http://www.certificate.net/wwio/
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.marketing-seek.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.netterweb.com
http://www.isyndicate.com
http://www.articlecentral.com
http://homeincome.com/writers-connection
http://www.web-source.net/syndicator_submit.htm
http://www.clickforcontent.com/writersadd.htm
http://www.aracopy.com
http://www.dime-co.com
http://www.zinecast.com
http://www.writebusiness.com
http://www.etext.org
http://www.zinos.com
http://www.addme.com
http://www.makingprofit.com
http://www.vectorcentral.com/ezine-question-answer-form.htm
4- Post your affiliate site to some Press Releases:
http://www.ebookbroadcast.com/submit.html
http://www.pressblast.com/
http://www.press-release-writing.com/
http://www.trashproofnewsreleases.com/
Try it an hour a day and you will be glad you did..........
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eiffel internet ... super affiliate since 1996...
My Great affilaite site http://www.telebay.com/eiffel/mall-general.html
E-mail : eiffel@soficom.net
Why Your Online Advertising Traffic Leaves as Soon as It Arr
by: Joel Walsh
Why Your Online Advertising Traffic Leaves as Soon as It Arrives
by
Joel Walsh
Online advertising traffic leaves when advertisers don't make it easy to stick around.
Business website owners who buy online advertising often get frustrated when most of their
expensive traffic leaves as soon as it arrives--i.e, it "bounces."
Why does traffic from online advertising bounce? Think about it: you've done the same thing many
times. You've searched on a search engine, clicked on a result, then left that page less than ten
seconds after you arrived. You did that again and again until you found what you were looking for.
You might easily have left a trail of bounces on the server logs of a dozen websites, for a dozen
website owners to worry over.
Why did you keep leaving? Because you weren't finding what you were looking for on those websites
within the first ten to thirty seconds of arriving. Experience had taught you that you'd find what
you were looking for faster clicking on other search results, one of which was bound to have what you
were looking for, than sifting through the pages of a website that didn't look very promising from
the start.
That's how everyone searches, and how everyone treats online advertising. You have to work with this
behavior rather than against it.
How to Catch Your Online Advertising Traffic before It Bounces
So how do you keep online advertising traffic from bouncing? Think about why you bounced. What made
you doubt that the website had what you were searching for? If you were using a search engine, you
had searched on a keyword--let's say you searched on "small business website content." Without
realizing it, you were scanning each page for the keyword, "small business website content," or
something very close to it.
A website that talked about "small business web copy" might have been what you were looking for, but
if you didn't know that "web copy" is just another term for "website content," you'd have hit the
"back" button. You’d keep hitting the "back" button until you arrived at a page that had that keyword
in the page title, page headings, and in the first few lines of the body, maybe in boldface to make
it easier to find.
Of course, if you arrived at the page via a link from another website, you weren't looking for a
search engine keyword. You were just looking (hoping) for something that had to do with what made you
click on the link in the first place. If the page title and the first page heading resembled the text
of the link you had clicked on, you'd feel like you had found what you were looking for--no worries
about this being one of those pages that changed after the other site started linking to it.
But if the link promised no. 72 monkey wrenches, you'd feel let down if it brought you to the
homepage of a hardware store. Experience tells you the store might have stopped selling no. 72 monkey
wrenches long ago and never bothered updating its inbound links. Experience also tells you that even
if the site does have what you're looking for, it may be more trouble than it's worth to find it. Why
search through a website when search results from the entire world wide web are just a click of the
"back" button away?
Thanks to the "back" button, on the web, no one has to feel let down for long. Except advertisers who
let visitors down.
About the author
Joel Walsh is a website copywriter at UpMarket Content, a website content provider for small and medium-sized businesses. He has written as a staff writer for books published by Barnes & Nobles and St. Martin’s Press, as well as numerous online publications. Website: http://upmarketcontent.com
Why Your Online Advertising Traffic Leaves as Soon as It Arrives
by
Joel Walsh
Online advertising traffic leaves when advertisers don't make it easy to stick around.
Business website owners who buy online advertising often get frustrated when most of their
expensive traffic leaves as soon as it arrives--i.e, it "bounces."
Why does traffic from online advertising bounce? Think about it: you've done the same thing many
times. You've searched on a search engine, clicked on a result, then left that page less than ten
seconds after you arrived. You did that again and again until you found what you were looking for.
You might easily have left a trail of bounces on the server logs of a dozen websites, for a dozen
website owners to worry over.
Why did you keep leaving? Because you weren't finding what you were looking for on those websites
within the first ten to thirty seconds of arriving. Experience had taught you that you'd find what
you were looking for faster clicking on other search results, one of which was bound to have what you
were looking for, than sifting through the pages of a website that didn't look very promising from
the start.
That's how everyone searches, and how everyone treats online advertising. You have to work with this
behavior rather than against it.
How to Catch Your Online Advertising Traffic before It Bounces
So how do you keep online advertising traffic from bouncing? Think about why you bounced. What made
you doubt that the website had what you were searching for? If you were using a search engine, you
had searched on a keyword--let's say you searched on "small business website content." Without
realizing it, you were scanning each page for the keyword, "small business website content," or
something very close to it.
A website that talked about "small business web copy" might have been what you were looking for, but
if you didn't know that "web copy" is just another term for "website content," you'd have hit the
"back" button. You’d keep hitting the "back" button until you arrived at a page that had that keyword
in the page title, page headings, and in the first few lines of the body, maybe in boldface to make
it easier to find.
Of course, if you arrived at the page via a link from another website, you weren't looking for a
search engine keyword. You were just looking (hoping) for something that had to do with what made you
click on the link in the first place. If the page title and the first page heading resembled the text
of the link you had clicked on, you'd feel like you had found what you were looking for--no worries
about this being one of those pages that changed after the other site started linking to it.
But if the link promised no. 72 monkey wrenches, you'd feel let down if it brought you to the
homepage of a hardware store. Experience tells you the store might have stopped selling no. 72 monkey
wrenches long ago and never bothered updating its inbound links. Experience also tells you that even
if the site does have what you're looking for, it may be more trouble than it's worth to find it. Why
search through a website when search results from the entire world wide web are just a click of the
"back" button away?
Thanks to the "back" button, on the web, no one has to feel let down for long. Except advertisers who
let visitors down.
About the author
Joel Walsh is a website copywriter at UpMarket Content, a website content provider for small and medium-sized businesses. He has written as a staff writer for books published by Barnes & Nobles and St. Martin’s Press, as well as numerous online publications. Website: http://upmarketcontent.com
Why Radio Advertising Could Be The Best Thing You Ever Did F
by: Michele Pariza Wacek
In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one. No one knows quite what to do with him. Especially at family gatherings when everyone tries hard to avoid sitting with him. (After all, who knows WHAT he'll start talking about.)
Much of that reputation comes from radio being tough to track. On one hand, radio does work. Businesses do notice an increase in sales when they add radio to the mix. However, radio doesn't test well. In surveys and other tracking methods, radio tends to be the one with the dismal scores.
A good friend of mine, who's also a marketing consultant but before that she sold radio for many years, has a theory about that. She says radio works on a subconscious or unconscious level. People remember the ad, but not that they heard it on the radio. So, they tend to credit a different medium for the ad, like the yellow pages. Yellow pages gets a boost while radio drops a few points.
Regardless, radio should not be ignored because it does work. And many marketing consultants will probably tell you radio is an excellent medium to reach a local market.
However, I feel there are possibilities beyond merely reaching local customers.
Internet radio shows are starting to take off in a big way. That means advertising and sponsorship opportunities are also taking off. In addition, "offline" methods have been shown to be pretty effective at driving traffic online. If increasing Web traffic is your goal, using traditional media outlets to increase traffic should be a part of your mix.
If people already know you (which they might in your local market) they're more likely to be loyal. And they're more likely to send other customers to your site. Depending on the costs of radio in your community, radio may be a very affordable way to get a good viral campaign going. (A viral campaign is what happens when other people pass around your business' e-mails to their friends and family, or send them to your Web site.)
Below are some other positive reasons to use radio:
* Affordable -- when you compare spot to spot, radio tends to be one of the least expensive media out there. However, one spot ain't going to do it. To reach your target market, you need to purchase several spots. That's why radio can also turn into one of the more expensive media. However, there are ways to keep your costs in line yet still reap the benefits of radio -- for instance, buying less spots but running them all in one or two weeks, so your customers are more likely to hear your message.
* Psychological, if you voice the commercials yourself -- hearing your voice makes people feel like they "know" you. (Hence the popularity of audio on Web sites. In fact, marketing gurus claim just by adding audio to a site substantially increases how many people buy.)
People tend to buy from people and businesses they know and trust. Hearing your voice helps them feel as if they know you. These psychological aspects may be another reason to consider running a few radio ads in your local market even if you have an Internet business.
* Speed -- you can get your spot up and running in no time.
* Loyalty -- listeners choose stations based on the music or shows they like and they tend to be quite loyal to that station. If you know what your customers enjoy listening to, it's an excellent way to reach them. (I include both music and talk shows in this.)
* Good support medium -- radio works really well when paired with other marketing mediums (like print, direct mail or television).
But for every positive, there's a negative. In the spirit of being objective, here are a few for radio:
* Background medium -- radio tends to be on in the background, which means it tends to be ignored. Generally, your target market needs to be exposed to your ad more times than other marketing media before they'll act upon your message.
* Little staying power -- the lack of visuals again keeps radio from "sticking" with people. At least, that's what some of the marketing gurus say. But, here again my marketing consultant friend differs. She thinks it's that subconscious thing again.
And if you can write a spot that creates pictures in your customers' heads, you can actually work this to your advantage. In fact, according to my friend, if the picture is defined enough, not only will people remember it better, but they'll also think it was a print ad instead of a radio ad. (More on the art of creating pictures using words in later issues.)
* Hard to track – it's impossible to know exactly how many people are tuning in at any given time.
A final note: Because radio is subconscious, keep that in mind when crafting your ad. Repeat your business name a lot and any other branding info, so it gets into your customers' heads. Don't put in phone numbers. Instead, purchase a memorable Web site domain name and repeat that. And remember to create "pictures" whenever possible.
Creativity Exercise -- How can you use radio in your business?
Would radio work for your business? Let's find out.
Take out a sheet of paper and a fun pen. (I'm partial to gel pens.) Draw a line down the center.
On one side, put the header: Why advertising on radio is a good idea for my business. On the other side, put the header: Why advertising is a bad idea for my business.
Now pick a side and start writing down reasons.
You might be more comfortable starting with the side that's easiest for you. Then when you work on the other side, you can simply turn the reasons around.
For instance, let's say you started with the bad idea. One of your reasons was: My product is completely visual. You could turn it around by saying "Because my product is so visual, I'll have to work harder to create pictures in my customers' minds. And because the customers create their own pictures, they're more likely to remember them."
Or what if you started with a good idea, and one of the reasons was: "Because my business is local." You could turn it around and say "Because radio is holding me back -- I'm only reaching this local market." (Ah, now I'm even going against what I said earlier. Maybe with this statement you could look for ways to get your customers to spread the word outside the area about your business.)
As you saw by my last example, you'll be amazed at what comes out when you do this exercise. Even if you don't change your views on radio advertising, you may come up with new and powerful insights to your business.
Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at www.writingusa.com.
In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one. No one knows quite what to do with him. Especially at family gatherings when everyone tries hard to avoid sitting with him. (After all, who knows WHAT he'll start talking about.)
Much of that reputation comes from radio being tough to track. On one hand, radio does work. Businesses do notice an increase in sales when they add radio to the mix. However, radio doesn't test well. In surveys and other tracking methods, radio tends to be the one with the dismal scores.
A good friend of mine, who's also a marketing consultant but before that she sold radio for many years, has a theory about that. She says radio works on a subconscious or unconscious level. People remember the ad, but not that they heard it on the radio. So, they tend to credit a different medium for the ad, like the yellow pages. Yellow pages gets a boost while radio drops a few points.
Regardless, radio should not be ignored because it does work. And many marketing consultants will probably tell you radio is an excellent medium to reach a local market.
However, I feel there are possibilities beyond merely reaching local customers.
Internet radio shows are starting to take off in a big way. That means advertising and sponsorship opportunities are also taking off. In addition, "offline" methods have been shown to be pretty effective at driving traffic online. If increasing Web traffic is your goal, using traditional media outlets to increase traffic should be a part of your mix.
If people already know you (which they might in your local market) they're more likely to be loyal. And they're more likely to send other customers to your site. Depending on the costs of radio in your community, radio may be a very affordable way to get a good viral campaign going. (A viral campaign is what happens when other people pass around your business' e-mails to their friends and family, or send them to your Web site.)
Below are some other positive reasons to use radio:
* Affordable -- when you compare spot to spot, radio tends to be one of the least expensive media out there. However, one spot ain't going to do it. To reach your target market, you need to purchase several spots. That's why radio can also turn into one of the more expensive media. However, there are ways to keep your costs in line yet still reap the benefits of radio -- for instance, buying less spots but running them all in one or two weeks, so your customers are more likely to hear your message.
* Psychological, if you voice the commercials yourself -- hearing your voice makes people feel like they "know" you. (Hence the popularity of audio on Web sites. In fact, marketing gurus claim just by adding audio to a site substantially increases how many people buy.)
People tend to buy from people and businesses they know and trust. Hearing your voice helps them feel as if they know you. These psychological aspects may be another reason to consider running a few radio ads in your local market even if you have an Internet business.
* Speed -- you can get your spot up and running in no time.
* Loyalty -- listeners choose stations based on the music or shows they like and they tend to be quite loyal to that station. If you know what your customers enjoy listening to, it's an excellent way to reach them. (I include both music and talk shows in this.)
* Good support medium -- radio works really well when paired with other marketing mediums (like print, direct mail or television).
But for every positive, there's a negative. In the spirit of being objective, here are a few for radio:
* Background medium -- radio tends to be on in the background, which means it tends to be ignored. Generally, your target market needs to be exposed to your ad more times than other marketing media before they'll act upon your message.
* Little staying power -- the lack of visuals again keeps radio from "sticking" with people. At least, that's what some of the marketing gurus say. But, here again my marketing consultant friend differs. She thinks it's that subconscious thing again.
And if you can write a spot that creates pictures in your customers' heads, you can actually work this to your advantage. In fact, according to my friend, if the picture is defined enough, not only will people remember it better, but they'll also think it was a print ad instead of a radio ad. (More on the art of creating pictures using words in later issues.)
* Hard to track – it's impossible to know exactly how many people are tuning in at any given time.
A final note: Because radio is subconscious, keep that in mind when crafting your ad. Repeat your business name a lot and any other branding info, so it gets into your customers' heads. Don't put in phone numbers. Instead, purchase a memorable Web site domain name and repeat that. And remember to create "pictures" whenever possible.
Creativity Exercise -- How can you use radio in your business?
Would radio work for your business? Let's find out.
Take out a sheet of paper and a fun pen. (I'm partial to gel pens.) Draw a line down the center.
On one side, put the header: Why advertising on radio is a good idea for my business. On the other side, put the header: Why advertising is a bad idea for my business.
Now pick a side and start writing down reasons.
You might be more comfortable starting with the side that's easiest for you. Then when you work on the other side, you can simply turn the reasons around.
For instance, let's say you started with the bad idea. One of your reasons was: My product is completely visual. You could turn it around by saying "Because my product is so visual, I'll have to work harder to create pictures in my customers' minds. And because the customers create their own pictures, they're more likely to remember them."
Or what if you started with a good idea, and one of the reasons was: "Because my business is local." You could turn it around and say "Because radio is holding me back -- I'm only reaching this local market." (Ah, now I'm even going against what I said earlier. Maybe with this statement you could look for ways to get your customers to spread the word outside the area about your business.)
As you saw by my last example, you'll be amazed at what comes out when you do this exercise. Even if you don't change your views on radio advertising, you may come up with new and powerful insights to your business.
Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at www.writingusa.com.
Why Hire an Advertising/Marketing Consultant?
by: Mary Ellen Martelli
As a business owner, you have the option of taking several different approaches to handling your Marketing and Advertising. You may choose to handle the responsibility yourself, with the idea that no one understands your business quite the way you do.. You may also consider hiring a full time marketing manager or even assigning the tasks, as they arise, to someone already working within your organization. Consider this When your business needs plumbing work do you do it yourself? Hire a plumber to be on staff full time? Or ask your accountant to handle it?
Call in the Experts.
Though some advertising and marketing ventures seems simple enough to be handled in house, nothing is as costly as a marketing misfire. Not only may you be sending out the wrong messages, to the wrong markets, but also by the time you catch it, your budget may be in no shape to recover and redirect. The truth is, no one can do the job as effectively and efficiently as someone who lives and breathes the industry everyday. Plus, the added perk of consistent media contacts that will prove to be financially beneficial to your business.
Seeing the forest and the trees.
When you hire a consultant you hire an objective opinion, as well as a fresh point of view. Sometimes a business may lose perspective on itself by being too heavily immersed in the day-to-day operations, and lose itself in the big picture, missing the small details or vice-versa. Sadly, sometimes a businesss marketing will clearly reflect this. The president of a private jet companys focus is on the bells and whistles of his fleet. Its what he sees as important in his view of his business. Inevitably, his marketing may also focus on this portion of his business, ignoring what he is really selling to his potential clients: The feeling and the status of private jets.
If you add another ball, technically it is juggling.
If you, as a business owner, or an employee take on the added tasks of the marketing of the business, attention is being taken from other projects and responsibilities. Inescapably, focus and demands are bound to pull from one and take away from others until something falls to the floor. Consultants are dedicated to one, and only one, portion of your business. Their focus is committed, and they allow you to keep yours where it should be.
The Gumby Factor.
Consultants are very flexible. Immediately ready and available to take on assignments at a moments notice. Accessibility to getting a new project off the ground is just a phone call away. On the other hand, trying to hire a new employee specifically to handle your marketing needs takes valuable time to places ads; conduct interviews and then sort through applicants, hoping to find the right person for the job.
The M Word Money.
When you total up the actual cost of bringing on a new employee, you will most likely find that hiring a consultant is much more cost effective. The hourly rates may seem to favor a full time employee, but when you factor in employee benefits, training time, vacation/sick time, 401(k), the added overhead involved in situating a new employee, and the sheer fact that you may be paying full time wages for something that may not need full time attention, the cost effectiveness will fall in favor of a consultant. Which bring us to....
The C- Word Commitment.
Hiring a full time employee is a commitment. And bringing on an employee to handle a special marketing project, or set up an initial marketing plan, may in the long run leave you scrambling to find a new project or position for that employee. Or worse yet, you find yourself paying a full time marketing director to do basic maintenance. Hiring a consultant requires no long-term commitment. When a consultant completes a project, they have the flexibility to move into whatever position you need them, from quarterly analysis, to basic maintenance, to completely out of the picture, but on the sidelines when youre ready to take a new step forward.
"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." -Franklin D. Roosevelt
Mary Ellen Martelli is President of MareMax Consulting, a full service Advertising, Marketing & Website Consulting firm, located in the Southern New Jersey / Philadelphia area. You can reach her via her website http://maremaxconsulting.com/ or email: maremaxconsulting@comcast.net
As a business owner, you have the option of taking several different approaches to handling your Marketing and Advertising. You may choose to handle the responsibility yourself, with the idea that no one understands your business quite the way you do.. You may also consider hiring a full time marketing manager or even assigning the tasks, as they arise, to someone already working within your organization. Consider this When your business needs plumbing work do you do it yourself? Hire a plumber to be on staff full time? Or ask your accountant to handle it?
Call in the Experts.
Though some advertising and marketing ventures seems simple enough to be handled in house, nothing is as costly as a marketing misfire. Not only may you be sending out the wrong messages, to the wrong markets, but also by the time you catch it, your budget may be in no shape to recover and redirect. The truth is, no one can do the job as effectively and efficiently as someone who lives and breathes the industry everyday. Plus, the added perk of consistent media contacts that will prove to be financially beneficial to your business.
Seeing the forest and the trees.
When you hire a consultant you hire an objective opinion, as well as a fresh point of view. Sometimes a business may lose perspective on itself by being too heavily immersed in the day-to-day operations, and lose itself in the big picture, missing the small details or vice-versa. Sadly, sometimes a businesss marketing will clearly reflect this. The president of a private jet companys focus is on the bells and whistles of his fleet. Its what he sees as important in his view of his business. Inevitably, his marketing may also focus on this portion of his business, ignoring what he is really selling to his potential clients: The feeling and the status of private jets.
If you add another ball, technically it is juggling.
If you, as a business owner, or an employee take on the added tasks of the marketing of the business, attention is being taken from other projects and responsibilities. Inescapably, focus and demands are bound to pull from one and take away from others until something falls to the floor. Consultants are dedicated to one, and only one, portion of your business. Their focus is committed, and they allow you to keep yours where it should be.
The Gumby Factor.
Consultants are very flexible. Immediately ready and available to take on assignments at a moments notice. Accessibility to getting a new project off the ground is just a phone call away. On the other hand, trying to hire a new employee specifically to handle your marketing needs takes valuable time to places ads; conduct interviews and then sort through applicants, hoping to find the right person for the job.
The M Word Money.
When you total up the actual cost of bringing on a new employee, you will most likely find that hiring a consultant is much more cost effective. The hourly rates may seem to favor a full time employee, but when you factor in employee benefits, training time, vacation/sick time, 401(k), the added overhead involved in situating a new employee, and the sheer fact that you may be paying full time wages for something that may not need full time attention, the cost effectiveness will fall in favor of a consultant. Which bring us to....
The C- Word Commitment.
Hiring a full time employee is a commitment. And bringing on an employee to handle a special marketing project, or set up an initial marketing plan, may in the long run leave you scrambling to find a new project or position for that employee. Or worse yet, you find yourself paying a full time marketing director to do basic maintenance. Hiring a consultant requires no long-term commitment. When a consultant completes a project, they have the flexibility to move into whatever position you need them, from quarterly analysis, to basic maintenance, to completely out of the picture, but on the sidelines when youre ready to take a new step forward.
"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." -Franklin D. Roosevelt
Mary Ellen Martelli is President of MareMax Consulting, a full service Advertising, Marketing & Website Consulting firm, located in the Southern New Jersey / Philadelphia area. You can reach her via her website http://maremaxconsulting.com/ or email: maremaxconsulting@comcast.net
Where is online advertising going?
by: Peter Prestipino
Discusses t he brief history of online advertising through specific ad strageis and discusses where online advertising is headed.
Is there such a thing as “traditional” online advertising? If there is, it started with banners, moved to FFAs, took a step backwards with SPAM, a hard right with classified advertising and then shot forward with pay per click search engine. So how do you know where to spend your advertising budget in the current market? If you’ve been responsible for your company’s web advertising efforts over the years you might agree that the traditional means of advertising worked; as least for a little while. So as new types of advertising penetrate the market with increasing frequency, what do you do with those proven stand-by methods of generating links and traffic? Throw them out? Keep them around for posterity? Maybe give them a facelift? Let’s review those traditional ad models then look at some experimental models. TRADITIONAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS
Banners
Banner ads in the form of animated gifs are the most common and widely used form of online advertising today. Banner ads reach the widest possible audience because practically 100% of Internet users can view them without any special plugins. Web marketers, advertisers and promoters have quickly realized that banners under 12k in file size puts the ad in front of the visitor as quickly as possible, increasing the chance of click-through even though surfers are growing increasingly immune. New styles and shapes of banners (such as skyscraper ads) have grown in popularity recently, which is addressed in the “Experimental Advertising” section below. SPAM
What does SPAM stand for? It’s not “Stupid Pointless Annoying Message” (which in some cases it could be) but rather “Sending and Posting Advertising Messages.” It’s hard to believe SPAM is effective, but unarguably, it is. While click-through rates continue to fall and legislation begins to rise, it is a savvy advertiser’s best bet to stay away from it, unless of course you’re selling Pasta Pots or Viagra. Rich mail – “Fancy SPAM”
Most likely, the e-mail messages you receive on a daily basis are text only. Rich mail, on the other hand, allows graphics, video and audio to be included in the e-mail message. When you open up a rich e-mail your e-mail client automatically calls up your Internet connection and launches an html page in your browser. E-mail clients that are offline will invite you to click on the link when you have your Internet connection open again. If your e-mail client does not support graphics you will receive the e-mail in text only. While SPAM is still SPAM, rich mail has proven to be much more effective than standard text messages. Pop-Ups/Pop-Unders:
This creative, yet completely obtrusive and annoying means of advertising was once celebrated in some circles as the most innovative ad concept since banners. It only took a short time before many users, sick of being trapped in a never-ending onslaught of such ads, voiced their rejection. One can only wonder when advertisers will recognize the public dissatisfaction and move on to another more effective means to promote their companies. Institutional Advertising:
While institutional or “in-house” advertising has been available since the inception of the Internet, few companies have made an effort to utilize the many different aspects of online advertising in one format as has 7Search.com with its Direct Pay-Per-Text advertising. 7Search, a leader in the pay per click search engine arena, has recently introduced this program which enables its advertisers to advertise outside of its search return lists using the same titles and descriptions seen on its search engine. The pay-per-click model enables interested advertisers to leave behind the CPM impression model and focus on the click conversions. Direct Pay-Per-Text is a patent-pending concept from 7Search which will be released to the general public in the coming months. Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
It’s hard to think of PPC search engines as a “traditional” means to advertise online, but the ratio of those advertisers who do versus those who don’t is staggering; in fact the majority have at least tried their hand at leasing traffic. In a PPC agreement, the advertiser only pays for qualifying clicks to the destination site based on a prearranged per-click rate. The response on ads with well-written titles and descriptions targeted to the users query pull response rates unseen in the ad industry previously. The greatest advantage arguably is the ability to measure precisely the rate of return versus your investment. Some of the most popular PPC search engines are FindWhat.com, 7Search.com, Ah-ha.com and the industry leader Overture. EXPERIMENTAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS Traffic Exchange Advertising:
Hit exchanges, actually a form of banner exchange, are a recent phenomenon on the Internet. You will visit the site of a member of an exchange, and in exchange, another member of the exchange will visit your site. The recent explosion of hit exchanges on the web has diluted the effectiveness of such a method of advertising. There have also been many instances of cheating, in which a script is used to generate visits to a site. However, if you have a product that is of interest to webmasters, and is low cost or has a free version, there is no harm in giving hit exchanges a try. Shockwave ads
Shockwave is best suited for campaigns that want to utilize out-of-banner real estate, such as applets, trading cards, and games. Director and Flash provide the ability to embed interaction, video, and audio within the file, making Shockwave files some of the richest ad units on the Web. Viral marketing and strong brand interaction are two of the key strengths of Shockwave ads. As these ads are typically “bandwidth monsters” the adoption has been slow and will most likely remain that way. Other downsides include development costs and the fact that it just won’t work without the Shockwave plug-in, which (though downloaded by millions of users) is far from being a mainstay. Interstitial ads
Interstitials are ads that play between pages on a website, much like television ads play between sections of a program. There are several variations on the interstitial model: some play in the main browser window, while some play in new, smaller windows; some are pre-cached, while some stream ad content as it plays; some provide the ability to create very rich ads, while some focus on smaller, faster-loading ads. Whatever the format, nearly all interstitial ads perform very well if measured by both click-through rates and brand recall. Floating ads and DHTML
Types of floating ads include DHTML sponsorships, in which advertising objects "fly" across the page on a preset course; cursor sponsorships, in which the cursor turns into an advertising image; and scrolling ads, in which an advertisement moves up and down the edge of a page as the user scrolls up and down. Floating ads give the advertiser and publisher the flexibility to achieve nearly any effect. However, as this is one of the more daring types of online advertising, advertising and content must be balanced on any given page. Floating ads (especially DHTML and cursors) are best run for short periods to create brand awareness—running them for longer periods can bring negative user feedback. It is important to understand that online advertising is only effective if it generates significant response and this applies to both traditional and experimental ads. Unfortunately, the only way to discover the efficiency of your campaign is to test in every format at least once with as many ads as you are able.
About the Author
Pete Prestipino is the founder and CEO of SCG - Swirling Circle Group, a consortium of online marketers, promoters, SEO's, web designers, and Internet consultants. For more information visit: www.SwirlingCircle.com
Discusses t he brief history of online advertising through specific ad strageis and discusses where online advertising is headed.
Is there such a thing as “traditional” online advertising? If there is, it started with banners, moved to FFAs, took a step backwards with SPAM, a hard right with classified advertising and then shot forward with pay per click search engine. So how do you know where to spend your advertising budget in the current market? If you’ve been responsible for your company’s web advertising efforts over the years you might agree that the traditional means of advertising worked; as least for a little while. So as new types of advertising penetrate the market with increasing frequency, what do you do with those proven stand-by methods of generating links and traffic? Throw them out? Keep them around for posterity? Maybe give them a facelift? Let’s review those traditional ad models then look at some experimental models. TRADITIONAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS
Banners
Banner ads in the form of animated gifs are the most common and widely used form of online advertising today. Banner ads reach the widest possible audience because practically 100% of Internet users can view them without any special plugins. Web marketers, advertisers and promoters have quickly realized that banners under 12k in file size puts the ad in front of the visitor as quickly as possible, increasing the chance of click-through even though surfers are growing increasingly immune. New styles and shapes of banners (such as skyscraper ads) have grown in popularity recently, which is addressed in the “Experimental Advertising” section below. SPAM
What does SPAM stand for? It’s not “Stupid Pointless Annoying Message” (which in some cases it could be) but rather “Sending and Posting Advertising Messages.” It’s hard to believe SPAM is effective, but unarguably, it is. While click-through rates continue to fall and legislation begins to rise, it is a savvy advertiser’s best bet to stay away from it, unless of course you’re selling Pasta Pots or Viagra. Rich mail – “Fancy SPAM”
Most likely, the e-mail messages you receive on a daily basis are text only. Rich mail, on the other hand, allows graphics, video and audio to be included in the e-mail message. When you open up a rich e-mail your e-mail client automatically calls up your Internet connection and launches an html page in your browser. E-mail clients that are offline will invite you to click on the link when you have your Internet connection open again. If your e-mail client does not support graphics you will receive the e-mail in text only. While SPAM is still SPAM, rich mail has proven to be much more effective than standard text messages. Pop-Ups/Pop-Unders:
This creative, yet completely obtrusive and annoying means of advertising was once celebrated in some circles as the most innovative ad concept since banners. It only took a short time before many users, sick of being trapped in a never-ending onslaught of such ads, voiced their rejection. One can only wonder when advertisers will recognize the public dissatisfaction and move on to another more effective means to promote their companies. Institutional Advertising:
While institutional or “in-house” advertising has been available since the inception of the Internet, few companies have made an effort to utilize the many different aspects of online advertising in one format as has 7Search.com with its Direct Pay-Per-Text advertising. 7Search, a leader in the pay per click search engine arena, has recently introduced this program which enables its advertisers to advertise outside of its search return lists using the same titles and descriptions seen on its search engine. The pay-per-click model enables interested advertisers to leave behind the CPM impression model and focus on the click conversions. Direct Pay-Per-Text is a patent-pending concept from 7Search which will be released to the general public in the coming months. Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
It’s hard to think of PPC search engines as a “traditional” means to advertise online, but the ratio of those advertisers who do versus those who don’t is staggering; in fact the majority have at least tried their hand at leasing traffic. In a PPC agreement, the advertiser only pays for qualifying clicks to the destination site based on a prearranged per-click rate. The response on ads with well-written titles and descriptions targeted to the users query pull response rates unseen in the ad industry previously. The greatest advantage arguably is the ability to measure precisely the rate of return versus your investment. Some of the most popular PPC search engines are FindWhat.com, 7Search.com, Ah-ha.com and the industry leader Overture. EXPERIMENTAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS Traffic Exchange Advertising:
Hit exchanges, actually a form of banner exchange, are a recent phenomenon on the Internet. You will visit the site of a member of an exchange, and in exchange, another member of the exchange will visit your site. The recent explosion of hit exchanges on the web has diluted the effectiveness of such a method of advertising. There have also been many instances of cheating, in which a script is used to generate visits to a site. However, if you have a product that is of interest to webmasters, and is low cost or has a free version, there is no harm in giving hit exchanges a try. Shockwave ads
Shockwave is best suited for campaigns that want to utilize out-of-banner real estate, such as applets, trading cards, and games. Director and Flash provide the ability to embed interaction, video, and audio within the file, making Shockwave files some of the richest ad units on the Web. Viral marketing and strong brand interaction are two of the key strengths of Shockwave ads. As these ads are typically “bandwidth monsters” the adoption has been slow and will most likely remain that way. Other downsides include development costs and the fact that it just won’t work without the Shockwave plug-in, which (though downloaded by millions of users) is far from being a mainstay. Interstitial ads
Interstitials are ads that play between pages on a website, much like television ads play between sections of a program. There are several variations on the interstitial model: some play in the main browser window, while some play in new, smaller windows; some are pre-cached, while some stream ad content as it plays; some provide the ability to create very rich ads, while some focus on smaller, faster-loading ads. Whatever the format, nearly all interstitial ads perform very well if measured by both click-through rates and brand recall. Floating ads and DHTML
Types of floating ads include DHTML sponsorships, in which advertising objects "fly" across the page on a preset course; cursor sponsorships, in which the cursor turns into an advertising image; and scrolling ads, in which an advertisement moves up and down the edge of a page as the user scrolls up and down. Floating ads give the advertiser and publisher the flexibility to achieve nearly any effect. However, as this is one of the more daring types of online advertising, advertising and content must be balanced on any given page. Floating ads (especially DHTML and cursors) are best run for short periods to create brand awareness—running them for longer periods can bring negative user feedback. It is important to understand that online advertising is only effective if it generates significant response and this applies to both traditional and experimental ads. Unfortunately, the only way to discover the efficiency of your campaign is to test in every format at least once with as many ads as you are able.
About the Author
Pete Prestipino is the founder and CEO of SCG - Swirling Circle Group, a consortium of online marketers, promoters, SEO's, web designers, and Internet consultants. For more information visit: www.SwirlingCircle.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)