The Alternative Broadcasting Online News Station

The list of promotional tools and resources available to online marketer today is
very impressing, and new ones appear almost every day, each fancier and more sophisticated
than ever. Almost all of them however are touched (some will
even say “cursed”) by a sort of the original sin. After all, after SPAM became criminal
offence and as the result direct email marketing became all-but-impossible, the only
people who see your offer are those who are also trying to sell something.

Every thinking person involved in the Internet marketing must have noticed this
disturbing fact. Most marketers evidently try to forget, after having classified it
as some modern version of the ancient Achilles and the Hare paradox - intellectually
sound perhaps, but not really applying to the real world. Other escape into “niche”
markets where you sell to “normal people” i.e. not-marketers. Which of course is
a perfectly valid and often profitable option. But is it really THE ONLY rational solution?
Is it really not possible to sell to other marketers and be successful in that?

In my opinion this “selling to sellers” is not at all as absurd as many people believe.
It’s simply different. And I often wonder why so little has been told about this difference
by the experts. Because to me it seems to be the most important aspect of your
marketing, the most important initial decision: “Will I be trying to sell
things to people at large? Or perhaps will I concentrate on selling tools, resources and
information to marketers?”. And even the obviously important question of tangible vs. intangible
merchandises doesn’t seem to me more crucial.

There are two main branches of Internet marketing. They are, as I will soon try to
prove, very different but none of them is “absurd”, “stupid”, or by definition unprofitable.
Of course, there are many more branches. Whether you’re selling tangible or intangible
goods is perhaps equally important. I don’t know. In any case it’s much more
obvious and widely understood. (That’s probably because selling of tangible goods is as
old as the humanity itself, and in it the tested methods of the post-order selling still basically rule,
though of course adapted to the virtual reality.)

Let’s now give those two categories some short, simple names for the use of this text. How
about “X marketers” (from eXternal) and “N marketers” (from iNternal)?
The X marketers will be those selling to the “world at large”, and N marketers will be those
selling to fellow marketers.

Now, an explanation is needed. When you start your marketing career you don’t usually
“decide” whether you want to be X or N marketer. It’s mostly determined by the promotional tools
you have access to at the beginning. If you start without any investments, or only with little
ones, you will be using opt-in lists, traffic exchanges, FFA pages and similar resources. Then,
by their very nature you start promoting to people who see those ads, and who are those people?
Of course they are other marketers using the same tools! You have become an N marketer without
even giving this issue much thought. (It can be noted that you are an N marketer trying to sell
to other N marketers. Selling to X marketers seems a much more difficult matter, for they don’t
use the same promotional tools, or at least not in the same extent. You will need to be
somewhat of a Guru to start selling to those people!

No doubt there’s lots of common between those two branches. After all “the money is in the list”,
and the really big profits come from back-selling to people who have already bought from you,
are satisfied, trust you and therefore are willing to buy from you more. This part of your
business will be fairly similar, no matter if you send to marketers or non-marketers.

There are also important differences of course. If it wasn’t so our distinction would have little meaning and
so the this article would have no meaning. But those differences are very visible. let’s
start with the language itself. If you are an N marketer and are
successful, have a list of many thousands happy clients and so on — then you will be soon called a “Guru”.
If, on the other hand, you’re enormously successful in selling let’s say 2′ x 3′ stainless-steel widgets
(or ebooks on painless, well-fed & lazy slimming for that matter), which of course means that you are
an X marketer, then, even if you have thousands of faithful clients with deep
pockets, instinctively reaching for their credit Platinum cards whenever they hear your name…
Well, you will of course be admired and envied, not to mention rich, but you won’t be called a Guru!
You might be called something like “a Great Salesman”, which is not too bad of course, but it’s not the same,is it?

Another difference is that
in N marketing you don’t usually speak much about “niches”. Selling memberships in credit based opt-in lists
from some external point of view can be seen as much “niche marketing” as selling, let’s say…
polishing-wax for pet anacondas. Not true? But I personally have never heard this term used in this context.

The most important differences are however in how X’s and N’s find their clients in the first place.
Or sometimes how they let themselves to be found by them. This is not just a play with words,
as search engines do exactly that –
they let people find your offer, don’t they? There are of course many different types of search engines
and similar systems (”normal” search engines, Pay Per Click search engines, directories etc.) but from
the viewpoint of the potential client they basically do the same thing. And for the X type marketer
they are nowadays one of the very few available means of promotion. Of course it’s in large part because
they are very powerful tools, providing you with highly targeted hits. If you’re
able to get high position on those search engines that really matter (and don’t get bankrupt on the way, as they
tend to be costly) you’re almost there. Add some off-line promotion and you’re on
your way to become The Great Salesman. (Of course all other aspects of your business also must be
done right.)

If however you have decided that selling to sellers doesn’t sound so absurd or pointless as it is often
presented, then your options are much more numerous. Which is a good thing of course, though your
competition also has the same options, so it’s not an unmixed blessing. You must show your offer
to marketers, so you need to show it where marketers are looking for offers. Why should they be looking?
There are two main reasons.

The first reason is that they simply are forced to look at your offers. How? Why? By whom?
It’s simply that many, if not most, of the methods of online promotion
available today base on the principle reciprocality. Which in this context means: “I will take a look at yours
if you agree to take a look at mine”. Yes, of course, you don’t always have to actually look at those offers.
Often you can pay the service to show your offers to others and ignore theirs.
Still, the people who will see your offer will be those who want
to show theirs to the world. (Of course they don’t necessarily need to be commercial offers, they can be sites devoted
to hobbies, charities, private or group obsessions etc. But they all want to SHOW people something rather
than SEE somebody else’s offer.)

Does anything positive result from this fact? And, to pose a much broader question: does the marketer
trying to sell to sellers (N marketer in our terminology) have any advantages over the one trying to sell to non-marketers
(X marketer)? My answers would be: YES and YES. Why? There are a few reasons. Some of them pretty trivial though
not without importance, like the fact that marketer usually is much more exposed to contact with offers
from online businesses.

Marketer also has some needs that can possibly be satisfied by buying
things online. Two sorts of needs in fact. Firstly, the same needs that everybody else has. Secondly,
specific needs related to Internet marketing. By being rather more exposed to Internet ads and offers
than an average person, more used to it and understanding it better, marketer would probably buy more
things online. But the other type of needs is far more important here.

Now for the second type of needs. Marketer will need marketing tools, resources, information…
These things change and develop in an enormous pace. This is of course a truism but it’s absolutely
true. If you’re able to quickly find new promotional tools, opportunities and/or information
on Internet marketing, you will be in position to sell (more or less directly, we will not
plunge here into discussing downlines and referrals) these information - for after all it is
exactly information! - to other marketers. I personally see no reason why marketers should be
less receptive to this sort of information than average person. In fact they are probably
much more receptive, as they know perfectly well how much in their personal lives depends on
those tools, information and opportunities.

It is probably not true that whole 95% of people trying to earn online is not earning any money, but
it must be obvious that most marketers still have not found their way of doing business online and
there’s no reason to believe that this situation ever radically changes.
So it’s not only information on new available services and opportunities that is sought after,
and therefore sellable. In order to be successful in this sort of business, where there’s so much
available information, potential chances and risks, and so little road-signs that can be fully
trusted, one needs to find their own way. Way of doing business online.

Human life being as short as it is, with most often very limited finances (or you wouldn’t spend
your time in front of the monitor with uncertain result, would you?), people who still haven’t
found the right method and attained real success in online business will need a “recipe”, or,
perhaps better, a successful person to help them — a teacher, or even perhaps what the Americans
call “the mentor”. (There’s this old joke about some American children asking their parents to
pay them tree-climbing lessons, but Internet marketing without qualified help is a dreary and
very risky thing to do.)

If you already are successful, then being the N marketer you have serious advantages. One of them,
perhaps the most important, is that you only deal with one (big, that’s true) issue: online marketing.
As X marketer you would need to handle both marketing itself and the market niche you’re in. This
fact has some further interesting effects. For example this that by attaining success as N marketer
you’re becoming a Guru, or “almost a Guru”, and this time I’m using this term without irony. What
I mean is simply that you’ve become an accomplished expert in your field, which of course is
Internet marketing. While if you attait even the biggest success in selling widgets online, you
will be a “Great Expert In Selling Widgets Online”. Which means that you will be generally seen as
a crossing between “widgets expert” and “marketing expert”. Nobody will be certain how good you are
in any of those two parts of your activity! Effect of which will be that your success will be
much harder to duplicate! You will have much more difficulty in teaching people your tested business
methods. If they are not going to sell widgets like yourself, nobody can be completly sure it’s the
best marketing practice that you’re teaching. And the widget niche may be too small to accomodate many
new players. It will be a totally different matter with general marketing knowledge that you obtain practicing
N marketing.

One special advantage that N marketing has is something that I personally call “self-propelling money machines”.
So far they are not very numerous, at least those that work smoothly and bring tons of money without
constant need for adjustments and pushing. But there are some, pretty successful. And their will be more.
What are those self-propelling money machines? They are smart combination of promotional resources with selling.
One could say that they are resources that sell themselves, automatically. The simpler form cosists of just two
main parts: the Lead Generating Module (more often multiple Resources) that are constatly being sold by something that
can be called the Selling Module to the leads they generate. One program that I remember that worked like that was
CommisionSpyder. In another, more advanced, version is probably best represented by the new “Explosive” ebook by
Stephanie L. Woolford, a very successful online marketer. (This ebook can be for example found on http://ebiz-guru.com.)
Here one can three conceptual modules:
the Lead Generating Module, the Selling Module, and an ebook (that can be either free or paid) that ignites the
whole process. I’m not sure I managed to describe the idea clearly enough, but it can be understood when seen in action.

Ebooks are supposed to be the almost-perfect business and in near future they may really become that. If we assume
that this statement is true, we can say probably risk an opinion that X marketers have greater chance of publishing
a competent book on topics related to their chosen niche they know lots about, while N marketers seem to have much
greater chance of publishing purely marketing ebook, “viral” ebooks, and ebooks of the sort mentioned in previous
paragraph included. Which seems to be another advantage of N marketing. So after all Selling to Sellers may not
be so stupid idea, wouldn’t you agree?

Piotr Obminski is an Internet marketer based in Gdansk in Poland. He’s open for any honest and profitable JV.

His current sites include:

http://net-profit-udder.com

http://e-liber.pl

You can reproduce this article if you don’t change anything in it
(the resource box included).

Not long ago, I read that well-known California winemaker Rodney Strong had passed away. While recounting his professional career, the article cited Strong’s innovative direct mail marketing tactics.

An excerpt:

“Strong developed a marketing strategy that involved direct mail in which he offered to sell wine with a buyer’s individual information on the label - ‘From the wine cellar of so-and-so,’ or ‘A gift from such-and-such corporation’.”



The program continues to this day, as living testament to its effectiveness.

That story got me thinking about the way we market our products and services in relation to their uniqueness.

For instance:

Why do so many companies today waste time and money marketing average products and services to hard-to-impress consumers? Why don’t more companies follow the Rodney Strong model (remarkable product / service idea first; marketing second)?

Marketing the Remarkable
Rodney Strong took something simple but interesting — personalized wine labels — and made it available to his audience. Why was it so popular? Because nobody else was doing it at the time. Rodney gambled on an idea, and it worked. He made something that was remarkable to his customers. Then, all he had left to do was tell them about it (in this case through direct mail), and they asked for it by the thousands!

Here’s the idea again:

Come up with a remarkable product or service, and then start telling people about it. Word-of-mouth will take it from there.

How Do You Measure Up?
If you struggle when creating your direct mail message, it might indicate that your product or service could use a shot of “the old remarkable.”

Or think of it this way…

If you stripped away all the marketing glitz and set your product on a shelf by itself (or described your service on a plain piece of paper) — would it seem remarkable? Would it impress members of your target audience? Or, are you relying on your marketing to add the pizzazz?

Instead of struggling to promote something average, dig deep to find the above-average aspect of what you’re selling. If there isn’t such an aspect … go back to the drawing board and make one.

* You may republish this article in its entirety as long as you include the byline and author’s note. If publishing online, please leave the hyperlinks active.

About the Author
Brandon Cornett is the editor of PostcardSmart.com, the Internet’s largest website dedicated entirely to direct mail marketing with postcards. For more expert articles on postcard marketing, visit http://www.PostcardSmart.com.

For daily direct mail tips, visit the PostcardSmart blog at http://www.directmailtips.blogspot.com.

Since I own my own business web site and have looked for many ways to advertise cheap and for free, I have noticed how many sites there are out there that will try to get you to either join or buy advertising in one form or another. There are sites out there that will promise you the moon if you either join their “viral marketing” scheme or site that will cause your email box to become inundated with email ads from others who have fell for this.

But there are plenty of offline and online ways to get free or cheap advertising without joining these things and risking a backed up inbox or having your email address splattered all over the net for any desperate advertiser to get hold of. And here are a few.

Magnetic signs:
How many times have you seen a car that obviously belongs to a real estate agent or a plumber with his or her ad on the side of it? This is a good and inexpensive way to be a rolling billboard for your own web business, wherever you go.

Flyers:
How many times have you visited a shopping center or mall and came out to your car to find something on the windshield? This is a good idea, but in some cities and parking lots it may be illegal to do this, so check it out with the business and you local city office first.

Free enterprise:
Many convenient stores, drug stores and grocery stores, etc. have bulletin boards you can place flyers on. And if not, some may even let you place a flyer ad in their window. Just be sure and ask first.

Free online classifieds:
There are lots of free classified ad sites on the web, some you have to sign up for, others you don’t. Just write your ad and keep it on your computer then simply join, copy and paste your ad every where you can find a free classified site on the web.

Link exchanges:
I know many people already know about this, but some newbies to the internet actually don’t, and I have visited lots of new sites who aren’t doing this yet. So if you’re new to the web and have a site, join a link exchange site and open a links page and go to town trading links with other business web sites! (This is also good for the search engines for link popularity)

Business cards:
I know most already do this, but sometimes it slips our minds to hand a card to the convenient store clerk or the person behind the counter at the dry cleaners. Also put them on the bulletin board in the break rooms of manufacturing companies. You can also place them on counters (after asking) in stores or businesses that may be pertinent to your business (for example if you sell home decor or furniture, place them on the counter of an insurance company or a real estate agency). But don’t expect a clothing store to put them on their counter if you sell jeans and shirts, they are your competitors (sacrilege!).

T-shirts:
Have a t-shirt printed up that has a small ad and web address for your business on the back of it, because it will be seen better than on the front. People are always looking at others as they walk away or if they’re standing in line behind you at a checkout counter or at the bank. You could even have some printed up for friends and family. But make it a cool color that will go with a good pair of jeans or shorts so people won’t hate to put it on.

Pens:
I have heard (and seen) that lots of businesses have their name printed on pens. Personally, I’m not real crazy about this, because I myself hardly ever actually read the pen I’m writing with. But that doesn’t mean nobody does. So I leave this one up to you.

Bumper stickers:
Have a bumper sticker with a smart quip or saying printed up and pass them around to your friends. The car behind you or them at the stoplight will no doubt read it. (Examples: STOP HONKING AND START SHOPPING AT http://www.yoursite.com - or - IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE WAY I DRIVE, THEN STAY AT HOME & SHOP! http://www.yoursite.com)

If you think about it long enough, you can come up with all sorts of other ideas like this. Just make sure that if it involves other businesses or their property, always ask! Because the last thing you want is to be professionally embarrassed or humiliated! Good luck!

R.L. Young is the owner of National Wholesalers, a wholesale website to businesses and the public and to help those who would like to have their own home business. Mr. Young began web marketing in the fall of 2002 with many experimentations and much research in web marketing, advertising and sales; including studies with affiliate web sites, and always learning more
Visit his site at http://www.natlwholesalers.com

10 Ways to Sell Expensive Affiliate Products and Make Huge Commissions
by Anik Singal
One of the quickest ways to boost your affiliate income is to offer high ticket products. Commissions as low as 5% can still pay off handsomely, provided the item carries a big enough price tag. Plus some pay-per-lead programs offer hefty bounties of $50 and up for qualified leads.

So why don’t more affiliates build sites around high-ticket products? Because the higher the price, the more likely your visitors will experience “sticker shock.” It’s only natural. People’s internal resistance kicks in because they’re always a little uneasy when it’s time to shell out big bucks online. This is true no matter how badly they want what you’re selling.

But if there’s one thing super-affiliates know how to do, it’s overcome buyer resistance. So here are 10 never-fail techniques I’ve been teaching my clients and students. Apply each one to your affiliate business, and you’ll soon see skyrocketing conversion rates on higher-priced products and lucrative upsells.

#1 - Turn your pocket calculator into a salesman.

Numbers can almost always support of your selling proposition, so put those numbers to work! Ask yourself how many ways can you MONETIZE the benefit of your product or service. Then put those numbers on the table.

For example, if you’re selling a $1499 teleclass that teaches people options trading, calculate the LOWEST possible profit they will make from your system in one year’s time. Say that even if they got the most mediocre results, they’d still make an average of $300 per day.

That means in a 5 day work week they’d make an average of $1500. In a 4-week month they’d make $6000. In a 50-week year they’d make $75,000. Now ask them to compare that to their current salary or hourly wage. Don’t hype it up, just let the numbers speak for themselves.

#2 - Break the cost into easily digested chunks.

Ask yourself, what sounds better: “$29.95 a month” or “$359 a year?” Even if the prospect has to pay the entire sum up front, show them how that big price tag isn’t so big after all.

A variation of this is comparing the price of your item with some commonplace or routine expense: “For less than the price of your monthly double-lattes, you could be learning the secrets of billion-dollar investment managers…”

#3 - Word the price to make it seem tiny!

A $197 annual subscription sounds like a lot of money. But gaining access to business-critical information for just 54 cents a day sounds like, well… peanuts!

#4 - State the value of each component, then add ‘em up for dramatic effect.

This works best for information products, but if you’re creative, you can use it with almost anything, especially consulting services.

If your investment course sells for $599, make a list of everything your buyers get: digital reports, videos, workbook, telephone hotline, private site access, software, etc. Put a price tag on each - make it realistic, please - then show how they add up to much more than $599.

Or let’s say you’re offering to install, configure, and customize an off-the-shelf software package for a total price of $699. Simply show how many hours you spend on each element, multiply by a realistic but high-end hourly rate… and show how buyers are getting $2500 worth of services for only $699!

#5 - Bundle in bonuses or add-ons that your prospects can’t easily price.

This takes some extra work, but I really love it because so few affiliates are doing it.

Let’s say you’re an affiliate for high-ticket digital SLR cameras. Tell your buyers that when they purchase any camera over $599 from you, and they send you a copy of their receipt, they’ll get a bonus CD-ROM packed with digital photography tips, imaging freeware and shareware, and your handpicked online resources for supplies, accessories, and photo printing.

Sure, you’ll need to contact freeware and shareware authors to get their permission to include their software on your disk. (Guess what? Almost none will refuse - you’re promoting them via direct mail for free!) And yes, you’ll have to write up some tips and find photo resources.

But you can pack this CD with affiliate links. And you’ll be saving your prospects a boat load of time. Your buyers can’t compare it to anybody else’s bonus CD, since nobody’s offering one quite like yours. You can put any realistic value on it, promote it heavily, and get endless viral marketing value out of it.

And best of all, it’s a way to get buyers to VOLUNTARILY give you both their email and snail mail addresses! Nice.

#6 - Show a huge return compared to the purchase price.

Spell out, in dollars and cents, how the cost of your product or service is a drop in the bucket compared to the returns it generates.

Let’s say your $799 workplace safety review course helps businesses pass inspections. Then calculate the exact cost of failing an inspection. List fines, penalties, cost of business shutdowns, etc. These will literally add up to five figures, a huge expense compared to the price of your course.

#7 - Make your prospects relieved that you’re charging so little!

This one’s so easy, I’m amazed more affiliates don’t do it. Show higher prices for other products… then tell them your price, which of course is much, much less!

Are you selling an investment course? First talk about $1 million private investment accounts… and the huge commissions investment managers charge. By the time you tell them about your $599 course, your prospect will breathe a sigh of relief!

Sure, it’s an apples-to-oranges comparison. That’s the whole point. You’re showing your prospect why your $599 course is the least expensive choice for them… and maybe the only affordable one.

#8 - Preempt price objections.

Most sales pages for expensive products and services play on emotions and benefits. They build desire and perceived value over several thousand words and literally “sell” the person BEFORE price is even mentioned.

But sometimes you can do the opposite — and reap big rewards by pre-qualifying visitors. That’s right, tell people the price up front. Then play on the drama and exclusivity of a big number to weed out the tire kickers!

Here’s an example: “This course is for serious investors only. It costs $1299. If you’re scared by that price, or if you’re unwilling to invest in your ability to create wealth, then our course is not for you.”

Sure, this approach is based on snob appeal. But it’s also very powerful reverse psychology: the more you tell a prospect they don’t qualify, the more some people will insist that they DO!

If you don’t believe this approach works, some of the greatest direct response copy of all time has taken it all the way to the bank. One fund-raising letter that generated millions for a bird-watching expedition stated: “It will cost you $10,000 and about 26 days of your time. Frankly, you will endure some discomfort, and may even face some danger.”

#9 - Use a “false close” to create suspense.

It’s a classic… and it still works. Establish the value and desirability of your product without a doubt, but delay gratification for a few more paragraphs while piling on even more benefits.

The most common false close is the old “But wait, there’s more…” tactic. Even though your case is made, you don’t stop and mention one or two more irresistible benefits.

This is also a great place to meet possible last-minute objections by pulling out the “Warning! Don’t buy any investment course unless it meets these 8 criteria.” If your prospects have gotten this far, they WANT the product. So give them 8 or 10 or 20 more ways to justify that big expenditure!

#10 - Sound like the leading expert in your field.

Price resistance diminishes in direct proportion to trust. If your visitors believe that you’re an unchallenged expert in your niche, they’re much more likely to make that big-ticket purchase.

How do you establish this aura of expertise. Offer UNIQUE solutions they can’t get elsewhere. Show PROOF that your product or service works as promised. Display prominent TESTIMONIALS and ENDORSEMENTS from respected authorities in related fields.

And avoid hype at all costs. It’s far better to sound low key — but confident — than to scream for attention.

And remember, prospects aren’t stupid. If you back up your claims with hard facts and data, they’ll gladly plunk down hundreds to thousands for your affiliate promotions. But if you don’t, they’re smart enough to look to your competitors!

About the Author

This article is written by Anik Singal, founder of
AffiliateClassroom.com. Anik Singal has developed
his own affiliate system that helped him earn well
over $10,000 in just 60 days. Now, he’s looking
for a few students to train one step at a time.

Sign up for a FREE course and find out more:

http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com

How do you know whom you can trust online? Which businesses are legit, and which ones are primed to rip you off? It can be tough these days determining which is which. With the advent of phishing and other online threats, some days you just want to shut down your email program and Internet browser and wish for a face-to-face interaction with someone that you know, like it was in the “good ole’ days” before the Internet took over our lives.

The ability to do business online is both a blessing and a curse, to paraphrase Tony Shalhoub’s TV character, Adrian Monk, from the series “Monk”. As a business owner, the Internet lets you expand your business to more potential customers than ever before. However, as a small service business owner, you can’t be everywhere at once, nor can you possibly have time for personal interactions with all of your potential clients. So, what’s an online business owner to do?

You can clone yourself online. I’m not referring to some science fiction technology involving the creation of a “mini-me”. Rather, you want to create an experience of you that is available to prospective clients, without you having to actually be there. Your “clone” creates a feeling of confidence in your prospective customer base — a feeling that you’re a real, live human being whom your prospective client can reach out and touch whenever needed.

Here are 7 strategies you can use to create your online business clone and increase customer confidence:

1. Make contact easy. Ensure your contact info clearly displayed on your website. Make it easy for your visitors to find your mailing address, phone number, or email address. Nothing is more frustrating to me when I’m searching for info on a website than to find only an 800 number. I want to know with whom I’m about to do business (a name) and where this business is located.

2. Be responsive. Respond to all email inquiries and phone calls in a timely fashion. Or, install a live chat feature on your site. I’ve dropped an email to several well-known consultant-types after reading their new book or hearing about a project in which they’re involved, and have been happily surprised to receive an email response from them, and even a phone call, in some cases. Nothing satisfies that human need for connection than some personal attention, and promptly returning your phone calls and emails will provide that for your visitors.

3. Become a real person. Use audio and video on your website and your photo. No one likes to do business with a faceless corporate entity. Come out of hiding and display your photo on your website, or photos of you in action in your business. Create a visual image in the mind of your visitor. Better yet, with the increasing popularity of online video and audio, let them hear and witness you in action. A great tool to help you put audio and video on your website is AudioAcrobat, http://dgunter.audioacrobat.com/.

4. Provide client testimonials. “Can she do what she says she can do?” is a common question asked of service business owners, and they want to read about others who’ve been happy consumers of your service. Ask current and former clients for powerful testimonials and sprinkle them across your website. Keep in mind that the best testimonials give a synopsis of the client’s problem prior to hiring you, and the happy outcome as a result of hiring you. Those that just say, “Oh, Donna is wonderful!” is a great ego boost, but provide little credibility to your visitors.

A second powerful way to demonstrate your results is by providing case studies, or a synopsis of a problem that a client faced and your strategy that helped that client solve that problem. People want to do business with people who have a proven track record, and testimonials and case studies provide that track record for you.

5. Demonstrate your expertise. One of the easiest ways to tell the world what you know is by writing articles. Article writing is an extremely personal experience for me, as I’m typically writing about a problem that a client has had, an issue that came up in conversation recently with a potential client, or something with which I’m struggling in my business or something I want to research and know more about. The greatest compliment that I ever got about my articles (other than the fact that they contain useful info) is that each article really sounds like me. Don’t worry about giving away your info — those who may be able to implement your information without hiring you can also become your biggest champion and referral source because they know that you know what you’re talking about.

And, you never know where your articles might lead. I got a call today from a friend who was in an online chat for resellers of a product, and the topic of writing articles came up with another person in the chat room. My friend went to my blog to provide a link to an article I had written on the topic of article submission, and when he published it on the chat, the person with whom he was chatting said, “Oh, I know Donna.” My friend was blown away by the coincidence. There are no coincidences–just good marketing.

6. Provide freebies. Add value to your website visitors by giving something away — an ebook, a report, an ecourse, an audio recording, or a a free teleclass. The more you can demonstrate your expertise and the more ways that a visitor can begin to know, like, and respect you, the greater chance you have of building trust with that person and converting that person into a paying client.

7. Stay in touch. Once you’ve obtained someone’s contact info, stay in touch with him on a regular basis, as the more someone sees and talks to you, the quicker the trust develops. Regular communication is key, and you can stay in touch on a regular basis through the publication of an email newsletter, a free teleclass series that is open to all of your contacts, or by updating your website regularly with new content, like articles for your target market.

Giving your visitors confidence that they can trust what you do and say is one key to success in the online world. Eliminate the barriers in doing business with you and set visitors on the path of getting to know, like, and respect you. When you do, you’ll discover that their trust isn’t too far behind.

SMS Marketing can be used to acquire customers, strengthen existing customer and prospect relationships and provide a service to your customers.

The golden rule “Keep It Simple Stupid” (KISS principle) applies to SMS marketing. The most successful SMS campaigns and services tend to focus on incentives and interactivity as well as relevance to the recipient. As with email marketing, your solution provider pays an integral part to the deliverance process of an SMS campaign, so be sure to choose wisely.

1: Choose Your Campaign

There are four main types of SMS campaigns:

a: Promotional Communication (Pull Campaign). This is the most common form of mobile marketing and is similar to retail promotions. A great example of this is the “Text ‘n Win” style campaign, which usually uses a variety of platforms to promote and implement the campaign.

b: CRM. This type of SMS campaign is used to maintain and develop relationships with your existing clients and create loyalty. The type of message sent is usually of an informative nature, such as account balances from banks, or it can be ongoing marketing messages and updates.

c: B2E. Business to employee communication can be used to run staff promotions, such as incentive programs.

d: Outbound (Push Campaign). This is generally the first type of campaign which a promoter thinks of as it is comparable to email marketing. As with email marketing, Spam can be an issue in SMS push campaigns, therefore we have constructed a blueprint for a Spam compliant push campaign.

2: Get Permission For Your Push Campaign

Sending a message to a recipient’s mobile phone can be seen as a very intrusive act. So, as long as you have permission to do this, you can be assured that your message/campaign will be read by the recipient, unlike many other mediums.

Unlike pull campaigns, which tend to by-pass privacy problems by using other mediums to drive the promotion, thereby leaving the SMS factor to originate with the client, the most important step in a push campaign is to obtain permission. This generally will involve other types of medium, such as website, email marketing etc. Remember though, just because they’ve signed up for your e-newsletter, does not mean you have permission to send them an SMS.

Along with obtaining permission, you also need to provide a way for the recipient to readily and easily opt out, therefore making a two-way channel necessary. So check with your service provider to ensure they have this capability.

3: Carefully Plan Your Push Campaign

Plan the details! Most SMS campaigns that fail do so because of lack of planning. As SMS campaigns aren’t used for branding purposes (one way correspondence), they can be interactive and involve using a return path so that your recipients can reply/confirm/opt-out/enter. Be prepared for them to use it. Have systems in place, plan and cater for all types of responses, including “thanks” messages, viral marketing (make the most of it!) as well as the typical “You’ve not won”, or “wrong code”. You need to plan how you will respond to these and manage them. If you don’t, the results can be overwhelming.

4: Be Timely & Add Value

One of mobile marketing’s great advantages over other mediums is its timeliness, which can be a benefit on 2 levels. The first is that it means campaigns can be prepared and sent in a matter of minutes, rather than days or even weeks. It also works on the premise of immediacy from the recipient’s perspective. Therefore both the content and the timeliness of the message play an important factor in whether it’s appropriate. Remember, there must be a good reason to send the message to a mobile, rather than using another medium. For example, a muffin shop sending out an offer for free coffee with any muffin purchase is ideally sent at 10am, rather than in the evening.

SMS marketing should be used primarily as a promotional tool rather than an advertising tool. It needs to add value to the recipient, rather than just containing a branding message.

5: Target Your Message

As we have discussed, SMS marketing should be used to add value to the recipient, whether it be in the form of a promotion such as a competition or providing timely information. It therefore needs to target the relevant audience suited to the promotion/offer/information. The most basic targeting should be based on age and gender and continue adding criteria from there. In targeting your audience, you also need to make sure that you are being relevant. Is your message appropriate to the recipient? You may need to rewrite the message according to the different age brackets of your recipients, or consider a different offer/promotion for the 2 genders or age brackets.

6: Test Your Message

Even though SMS can be more interactive than email marketing, it also shares some of email’s positive characteristics, such as real-time response tracking and the ability to segment lists. As SMS is just text, there are no cross platform problems to test, just the message, so test it thoroughly. With SMS your message is limited to 160 characters (even less with the obligatory opt-out option), so test different versions of the message to see the best response. As we mentioned above, check that the time of day (and time zone) is relevant to the message/promotion and that the ideal message is being sent to the relevant age bracket.

Conclusion:

The potential pitfall of a push campaign is that if the message is not appropriate to the recipient, there could well be a backlash against the sender, as it could be regarded as Spam-similar to email marketing, only even more so, because of the personal nature of SMS. Remember, when sending a push campaign, you need to provide an opt-out mechanism, which, depending on who your supplier is, is usually an automated process using a return path.

Kath Pay is Marketing Director of Ezemail, a web-based e-communications tool, which enables you to create, send and track your email marketing and SMS messaging campaigns.
For more information please go to http://www.ezemail.com or contact Kath at: kath@ezemail.com.

Have you ever noticed how there are certain times of the year that make you feel energized for creating new business opportunities? Maybe for you it’s the start of the New Year. Or it’s springtime when new life starts popping up everywhere. Or maybe it’s fall, when the weather cools down, and you begin concentrating on business after a busy summer.

Whatever your favorite season, putting forth your energy to give your business a kick-start should be something you do continually throughout the year. The only way to grow is to find ways to market your ideas to new groups of potential customers.

With the many marketing and advertising options available today, it really is a small businesses dream. With the Internet, you’re no longer tied to advertising in expensive ways and with long term commitments. Instead, you can advertise in many ways, test your results, and make changes instantly.

To get you started, take a look at these five ideas.

1. Have you ever placed a several thousand-dollar ad in a magazine, and never received as much as a phone call. Ouch. It’s hard wasting that kind of money as a small business owner. Instead, try the classified ads. Most trade publications and specialty magazines have classified ads in the back section. For under $100 you can usually place a good-sized ad. And you can change the wording around for every publication. Better yet, try marketplace ads online. Many publications also have an Internet presence, and will allow you to place an ad at a reduced cost.

2. Find message boards to post on. Message boards are a great resource. They’re usually free, and you can put your information in front of thousands of viewers. Head to the search engines and search for message boards in your industry, or in a complimentary industry where you can find prospects for your business. The key to working a message board is to post on it regularly, and post quality information, not just a sales pitch. When people begin to rely on you, they will ask for your services.

3. When you find a great message board, see if you can advertise on it. Many message boards have banner placements along the sides. They use advertising to keep the message board free, and usually have low cost advertising rates.

4. Advertise in other ezines that reach the same audience as you. Check out www.DirectoryOfEzines.com to find thousands of ezines in every industry and subject matter.

5. When you find ezines that target the same audience as you, contact the owner. Other small business owners are also open to new ideas. Can you create a strategic partnership to sell products to both of your clients? Many great products have been created by two companies joining forces for one project.

As you try out each of these, be aware of other opportunities that present themselves to you. For instance, as you post on a message board, another member may mention a site that would be a perfect connection for your advertising. Always be open to opportunities, and you’ll soon find yourself in many locations in the online world.

Copyright 2006 Vision Business Concepts Inc

Lori Osterberg has created three successful businesses in the past 10 years, and along the way discovered the secrets of taking a local small business and turning it into a worldwide success. She now shares this passion with people all over the world, and speaks, writes and mentors on using technology to grow your business - and stay small at the same time! Receive her FREE ezine at http://www.VisionOfSuccess.com

Salehoo: Buy Computers Parts Wholesale
If you buy the right products on Salehoo, and then sell them on eBay a bit more expensive, then you are definitely going to make some real cash online. I have been actively selling on Ebay for about 5 years.

To be safe ask specifically whether broken items and returns are included before you buy You will also be presented with featured advertisers who are paying to have their ads displayed when ever a search is done for the word wholesale. I sale a lot on eBay and sometimes I will buy things for myself and my family wholesale

Salehoo Wholesale B2B Means Business Suits:
There are many types of wholesale businesses. You need to find the right one that fits your style, your character, interests and personality. This article will help you find the different types of wholesale businesses so you can pick the right one for you.

One of the biggest problems facing anyone wanting to start their own business either to become financially free or to build a second income is finding wholesale stock to sell from decent wholesalers. While you may still have to use Western Union and Wire Transfer SaleHoo’s three-tier safety method ensures much greater peace of mind compared to locating and dealing with suppliers independently. See Salehoo Reviews.

Learn the easy method I use to reveal marketing secrets. Details of my findings using this method are also disclosed.

Two years ago, I began using ezine advertising as the cornerstone of my online marketing efforts. From the need to determine the most productive and cost effective ezines to advertise in, I stumbled upon a method that revealed the secrets of successful online marketers.

The Method
My method is easy to follow. There’s 3 basic steps:

1.Examine several communication tools the experts use such as an email or sales page.
2.Compare these tools and search for similarties.
3.Collect the common points and implement those findings.

For example, suppose I want to find out how to construct or improve a sales page for a product I own or have resell rights to. The first thing I do is to get online and do a search. In this example, I search using the phrase “internet marketing experts index”. Second, I open every sales web page the search produces in a multi tab browser (Mozilla). Third, I compare the pages looking for similarities. I note these down in Windows notepad, taking care not to overlook details such as fonts, colors, graphics, etc. Finally, I incorporate the information I collected into my own sales pages.

Now you know my method. Next, I reveal the secrets my system has uncovered. The following sections disclose the common factors of various communication tools.

Web Sales-Copy Page
I’ve looked at, and studied countless web sales pages. (I estimate at least 50) Most of them have:

Red verdana headline in quotations
Testimonials (usually near the top)
Time or quantity limitations
A guarantee symbol graphic
Photo scan of their signature
Professional photograph
Background logo images
An audio or video
Free bonuses
Prices ending in the number 7

Most Cost Effective and Productive Ezines to Advertise In
I’m currently subscribed to about 30 ezines that I advertise in. My experience has shown that the most cost effective and productive ezines to advertise in usually have:

A testimonial page
Contact info including phone number and address
Solo ads running regularly (If they sell solo ads and you never see any, it’s a bad sign)
A form for submitting ads
Require subscribers to double opt-in
Have a long waiting period for running my ad (indicates a very popular ezine for advertising)

Email Advertising
About 15 of the newsletters I’m subscibed to are from online experts like Yanik Silver, David Vallieres, Mike Filsaime, Russell Brunson, Len Thurmond, and others. When they send an advertisement in the email I note the common points are:

An irresistible headline that poses an open-ended question or statement
It’s personalize
Short double spaced paragraphs
Bulleted benefits statements
Limited time of offer or quantity available
Special price or bonus for limited number of responders (i.e. the first 50 customers get half off)
Guarantee
P.S. that states a major benefit

Note: I save the most persuasive ads in a separate folder for study.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I learn a lot about my competitors’ SEO techniques by examining their linking campaign. I initially do a search for keywords related to my website. Next I get the url’s of my competition. Finally, I use an online tool at http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop to reveal the following:

How many links my competition has
Who links to them
Ideas for who to approach for link exchanges
Other related websites

I also use SEO Elite, a free tool to compare:
Keywords used
Keyword Density
Meta tags
Meta Description

That’s just some of the specifics. More can be revealed by examining the benefits statements listed on the expert’s sales page or in their emails. You can get clues to the info. you need to study. For example, one benefit statement for a sales page info. product might say “The 3 Things Every Sales Copy Page Must Have to be Successful.” So, now you know you’re looking for 3 things they ALL have in common.

Remember to get the big picture, look for similiarities, then study the details. That’s the key to reveal the marketing secrets of the masters.
About the Author

Greg Root started using ezine advertising almost exclusively since 2003 and owns and maintains ‘The Ezine Ad Tester’ at http://www.maxprofitpro.com/ . See the results of his ezine advertising campaigns to find the best ezine advertising resources on the internet.

1. Focus your fax marketing on one objective

Fax is a flexible medium, and is being used by Adestra clients to sell off-the-page, to conduct research, for broadcasting newsletters, for generating prospects and for database cleaning. Avoid diluting your message by keeping it simple and being clear about what you are trying to achieve.

2. Collect clean fax contact data

When collecting fax numbers, split out the international and regional code from the main number to encourage accuracy of collection. The strongest offer will not get a response if it never reaches your target due to bad data!

3. Keep compliant within the fax preference service

Within the UK, all fax recipient databases must be run against the fax preference service to suppress those who have opted out. Many fax broadcast agencies provide this as part of the service, but failure to do this can result in a significant fines. See www.fpsonline.org.uk for more information.

4. Broadcast fax communications effectively

Use specialist fax providers to broadcasting simultaneously to both the UK and internationally in bulk, quickly and easily.

5. From the fax machine to the contact

Address your communication to your contact using mail merge fields or if they are not known, use ‘title-slugs’ (e.g. FAO Marketing Director) to get your message to the most appropriate person within an organisation.

6. Design your fax messages for delivery

Your message will be delivered in black and white and your images will be reproduced with varying quality. You should design your message like an effective DM cover letter- make USPs stand out and ensure the key messages are communicated at a glance. Keep images large and simple enough to be legible on delivery.

7. Spend wisely on fax promotions

Fax marketing is priced per sheet with different costs based upon where the recipient lives. Faxing a contact within the UK is much cheaper than using direct mail or telemarketing. These budget savings can now be invested in increasing the number of faxes you send or by repeating the campaign based upon ROI.

8. Resource call to actions

Fax marketing is delivered minutes after being sent meaning your responses begin almost immediately. Ensuring the back office is resourced and ready to deal with these replies are essential in meeting customer expectations

9. Make your fax marketing pay

Measure the performance of the campaign to improve and refine. Personalise each fax with a unique number, use a unique web address (e.g. www.adestra.com/mediaweek) or ensure that reply vehicles are easily identifiable to track performance

10. Mix it in

Many Adestra clients integrate fax within their media plans. When integrated amongst a variety of media, fax works most effectively and in one recent client test led to an up lift in sales of over 5%.

Adestra’s fax marketing tools

Many marketing professionals are using Adestra’s fax broadcast capabilities to reach conference attendees, report buyers, theatre attendees and more. Working with our in house fax marketing specialist, your campaign receives the benefit of an expert eye optimising your creative. For more information, please contact us on http://www.adestra.co.uk/fax or browse our fax marketing best practice centre at http://www.adestra.co.uk/best_practice_fax_marketing

Paul Crabtree is presently Marketing Director of Adestra (http://www.adestra.com), a UK based digital marketing agency that specialise in inbound and outbound email, fax and SMS broadcast solutions. Adestra’s client portfolio includes many UK based publishers including Janes Information Group, Informa, Lexis Nexis, OUP, Blackwells and others.