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How to Use Forum Marketing As an Easy Internet Marketing Strategy

by Michael Moshkovich

One strategy that works, if you work at it, is forum marketing. Here is an internet marketing strategy you can work at to help you earn money on the internet.

Perhaps you have heard of the KISS method for doing Internet marketing; �Keep It Simple Stupid�. Internet marketing does not require you to be a rocket scientist, but it does require you to work. Here is an Internet marketing strategy you can work at to help you earn money on the internet.

When it comes to Internet marketing, think about the market you are targeting. These people can use the product that you sell. One strategy that works, if you work at it, is forum marketing. An Internet forum is an on-line discussion group where people exchange ideas about a common interest. There are thousands of discussion forums on the Internet on every imaginable topic

The Internet strategy you are using here is to join a forum that relates to the product you sell. As a member, you will be able to establish a profile that you can include your website. Many forums will let you create a signature file where you can create a short classified ad about yourself or your business. In that, again you want to include your website address.

To use forum marketing, you will have to spend time in the forum asking and answering questions. What you are really doing is beginning to establish relationships with people. If you create quality posts in the forum, you will start to establish yourself as an expert. The value of this is when people read your posts they will be curious to learn more about you. As they read your profile or signature file, they will see you website address and click on it. You have just created a visitor to your site.

This is probably the easiest thing you will ever do. This Internet marketing strategy can make you thousands of dollars for years to come. Why? Because most forums archive their posts and search engines spider these for useful content. One good forum post can be picked up by a search engine and bring you website traffic repeatedly.

For this reason, you want to try to include keywords in your post that relate to the content of your website. Do not spam-write the same keyword repeatedly, but just write as if you were talking, and be mindful of an opportunity to work in a keyword when possible.

You can derive one last benefit from a good forum. You can get many good ideas. This is free training for you. You will very quickly be able to spot people in the forum who post good content who can teach you things. Over time, you will go from student to teacher yourself.

As an Internet, marketing strategy, forum marketing is one of the easiest. It takes time and effortArticle Submission, but is a long-term way to get traffic to your website.

Michael Moshkovich is a web developer and internet marketer who have written over 50 articles on SEO, shopping cart software and PPC marketing. To find out more information about WebCart's seo friendly shopping cart software visit our website (http://www.webcart.net/).

3 Easy And Quick Money Making Ideas

By Gary Baker

Are you looking for quick money making ideas to make some extra cash to take a vacation, pay bills, or buy a new car?

Maybe you want to make money full time from your home?

Then here are some ways to do it easy and fast.

#1 - Start an online auction.

This is a quick and easy money making idea that will require no cash out of your pocket.

First, go look in your closets, basements, attics, or any place you use as storage. Look for antiques, rare books, collector cards, etc. Many times, what seems like junk to you is another person's goldmine.

If you can find a few items, clean them up, and list them for sale on eBay. There are many people making thousands of dollars per month by doing this.

#2 - Start a blog.

This is a great money making idea. What you will want to do is start a blog on a topic that interests you and then look for products to recommend.

What you will be doing is writing reviews on many different products that relate to your topic.

You can get a free blog at blogger.com

You can find hundreds of products to write reviews on at clickbank.com You can sign up for free as an affiliate and get a percentage of each sale you make with your reviews. Many people are using this moneymaking idea and they are making small fortunes.

#3 - Become a freelancer.

This is a great money making idea and here is how you do it.

You can sign up at elance.com

There you will find all types of freelance jobs that you do for money such as: accounting services, web design, copywriting, translation, programming, and many more.

It is up to you as to how you want to use these moneymaking ideas.

The more you use, the more you make. Simple as that.

Learn Real Ways To Make Money On The Internet That Really Work, As Well As The Latest Money Making Ideas, And Hot New Information Products And Services! http://www.opportunity-advisor.com

The Ultimate Internet Marketing Strategy Every One Should Practice

By M.Planet Lubowa

Every successful online marketer says this is the bar-none, top-of-the-list, number one-way to guaranteed success for any online venture.

What is it?

Any marketer knows that nothing beats word of mouth advertising. It is simply the most powerful and cost effective advertising ever known. Even before the days of the Internet, word of mouth advertising got every business where it is today.

Many entrepreneurs never have and never will spend money on advertising. Their entire business comes from people telling other people about their product or service. Could you imagine never spending money on advertising, but always having a steady stream of customers on your doorstep begging for your product or service?

This word of mouth is what we call viral marketing.

However, word of mouth does not come easily. There is one catch to running a business only on word of mouth advertising. You must be selling an outstanding product or service. If you sell crap, the only word of mouth advertising you will have is negative.

I am sure you have heard the expression before. A satisfied customer will tell three people about your product or service, an unsatisfied customer will tell ten.

If your customers are not happy, you will have to work ten times harder and spend more money on advertising to sell your product.

You can benefit from positive word of mouth two ways. These are:

1. It is free advertising. This is self-explanatory. The less you have to spend on advertising, the more money you can put in your pocket and back into your business.

2. People are endorsing your product or service. Having someone endorse your product puts you at a greater advantage. When someone tells their friend about the positive experience they have had with your product, there is instant trust. People trust their friends. If a friend says your product is it, they will instantly trust you. Trust is a huge barrier to break down when it comes to selling anything, online or off.

The one way I have found to work well with positive word of mouth is list building. List building by referring ten people from your own efforts, and then these ten will go on to build your list up, to a big size.

To give you an idea of how powerful word of mouth advertising can be in helping you to build your list, look below. Your list can grow exponentially without you ever even having to lift a finger again. This is a completely new way to LEVERAGE your efforts into a MEGALIST of monstrous proportions!

Let us say you enroll SEVEN people from your paid advertising or any other form of advertising. Seven is still conservative for a completely FREE program... In addition, let us say each of those seven told seven people and enrolled them and each of those enrolled seven people and so on�

That would look like this:

YOU
1x7 Members =7
7x7 Members =49
49x7 Members =343
343 x7 Members =2,401
2,401x7 Members =16,807

TOTAL: 19,607 Members

That is 19,607 subscribers you get to mail to! In addition, you only referred seven subscribers yourself!

Want to run the example with 10 referrals each? (That would be a whopping 111,110 subscribers!) Or 20? I will not even do the math on that one, because frankly, you would not believe the numbers!

You get the idea. More and more people just keep learning about your business all through friends and associates. And it is all free advertising!

If you think, the above numbers are a bit of an overstatement think again. Go to http://Google.com right now and do a search on Autoresponder Magic. Autoresponder Magic is an eBook that was written by Yanik Siler several years ago. More than 80,000 web sites advertise his Ebook on their sites right now FREE!

When Yanik started out several years ago, he did not even know what an Ebook was. Today he has more traffic coming to his site in a day than most web sites do in a lifetime.

That is how powerful viral marketing is. Do not skimp on using it. You can set up your viral marketing system to build your list by using ebooks, writing free articles and others.

Visit Lubowa. M. Planet viral Internet marketing websites. For Marketing Visit: http://www.conqueryourniche.com/forum/planetlubs For List Building visit: http://www.most-important-marketing-tools.com/marketing.html For 127 marketing software visit: http://www.most-important-marketing-tools.com.

Pointers to Increase Your

Pointers to Increase Your “Cash Flow” Profits

Would you like to receive $100.00 five years from now or $50.00 today?

Most of you would agree that receiving the $50.00 today is a much better option. This is, in essence, how the cash flow note industry works. You match a seller (someone who’s receiving monthly payments) with a buyer (someone who wants to purchase the seller’s monthly payments for a lump sum) and then collect a fee for making the match using no monies of your own.

How profitable can this be? Note brokering is a $350 billion dollar industry. In fact, if it were possible for you to find and purchase $1 million dollars worth of notes every day, you’d need more than 700 years to find them all!

Now before you go thinking that an opportunity like this will make you rich overnight, consider the following 3 essential pointers for cash flow success.

· Follow up – If you want success, you must be persistent and you must be willing to build relationships. Unless sellers and buyers come to know and trust you, it is highly unlikely they will ever do business with you. A one time encounter via email or the phone is not enough. In fact, according to the National Sales Executive Association, the majority of successful deals are made on the fifth contact or higher.

· Use Referrals – When you build rapport with business people in related industries (CPAs, attorneys, title clerks, builders) it will encourage them to contact you with those they encounter who have notes for sale and quite often, a referral network can be developed for free.

· Focus on “Easy Access” – Although you can find high dollar cash flows secured by large commercial buildings or retirement properties, it’s much more realistic to work with a $50,000 note than it is to try to pick up a $500,000 deal. Concentrating on notes with lower balances is a much better strategy for long term profits.

Want a step-by-step easy to follow blueprint for achieving success in the cash flow industry? Then check out www.icantstopmakingmoney.com and work with the best in the business.

______________________________________________________________________________

Marsha Sneed reviews quality business opportunities and online resource tools that can be used effectively by newbies and experienced marketers alike to reach their marketing and financial goals. She can be reached at jcsneed@onebox.com.

Autoresponders: Do You Need To Automate?

by Felton Thompkins

Do you need to automate?

In the Internet marketing business, this is one of those questions that deserves to be answered with a question.

The answer (question) is ... "Do you wish to make any money?"

I'm assuming the answer is "yes" to both questions but, in order for you to automate your business, you must have an autoresponder system in place.

What is an autoresponder?

An autoresponder is a system that allows you to just about "set and forget" your E-mail advertising campaigns, newsletters, E-courses, or just about anything you set it up to respond to.

The autoresponder, simply put, is a computer software program that will automatically answer any E-mail request sent to it. A perfectly good autoresponder will also automatically send you an E-mail notification that will inform you each time someone sends you a request for information.

When choosing your autoresponder service be sure it gives you that option.

You have a choice between a very simple autoresponder service or a very complex one, and the prices vary as such. You also have the option to set up your own system, or you can outsource the service. Outsourcing is highly recommended.

Your autoresponder is by far one of the most important pieces of software that you will need and use for building your E-business.

A word of caution before we continue, however: When choosing your autoresponder system, be sure that you're planning to use the system for the long haul, because your list will depend on it.

You may be tempted to choose a system that costs less but, as the old saying goes, you generally get what you pay for. A good service will cost you about $20.00 per month, and it's well worth the investment, if used properly. In this case, less is not always best!

Is an autoresponder the magic pill to all of your needs as an Internet Marketer? No. But it is a very important piece of the puzzle.

Let's just look at some of the benefits of adding an autoresponder to your business efforts.

INCREASE YOUR REVENUES!

Allows you to convert your Website visitors into subscribers.

Allows you to convert your subscribers into paying customers.

BUILD YOUR MAILING LIST

Add a simple Web-form to your Website in 2 minutes to build your list, boost your traffic, and get more customers.

DELIVER YOUR NEWSLETTERS

You can launch your E-mail marketing campaigns with advanced newsletter hosting features and top E-mail deliverability.

TRACK YOUR RESULTS

You have the ability to track your E-mail marketing clicks, visitors, open rates, undeliverables, sales and sign ups!

BUILD TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE AND BLOG

You know what? Buzz comes and goes. With your autoresponder, you can retain your traffic by automatic mailings to your visitors whenever you update your blog.

You will benefit from unlimited E-mail marketing and autoresponder features, follow ups, mailing lists, and broadcasts.

These are just a few of the benefits that you receive by having your system in place.

Copyright 2007 by Felton Thompkins - The Newbies Advocate. If you are in search of a very good system to automate your marketing efforts, here's an excellent place to start: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Felton_Thompkins .

Free Article Directory Submissions Without Being A Spammer

by Mary Hanna

Successful free article submissions to directories on the internet are an effective way to market your article and get more traffic to your websites. Submitting to an article directory is a great way for people to find a free article written by you. There are a few problems with this system, but you can overcome them and become more proficient in marketing articles. The trick is to submit your articles without being considered a spammer.

The weakness of the article submitting techniques is; it is very time consuming. I have submitted articles in three different ways: by Hand, with Article Submitter, and Instant Article Submitter software. Many directories require a login, ID and password, so each directory must be visited and a login established before submissions are accepted.

When submitting by hand, you have to cut and paste each section of the article into the individual directories. There are a lot of sections; first the Title, then the Category (very important – I’ll get into this later), Author, Author email, Website Address, Keywords, Article Summary, Article Body, and About Author box. That is nine cut and pastes to submit to ONE article directory. If you wish to submit to 150-200 directories, a good part of your time is spent doing grunt work which does not allow you to pursue other avenues of traffic generation.

Now we come to the "semi-automated" submission software programs. Yes, they are easier, some more than others, but you still must go to each directory individually. It is crucial that you select a Category for your article. If this is not done, the article directories will know you are using automatic submitting software and will treat your article as SPAM. Many directories especially frown on the "Automated Article Distribution Services" for just that reason. Therefore, you will not be published and not only have you wasted your time writing your article but you may be classified as a spammer.

Within the "Article Submitter" Software, they have 138 auto-fills, and 25 manual-fill directories listed. A visit to a majority of the directories must be done first in order to establish a login. You have the option of adding other article directories on your own, which is a nice touch.

The software will open to a page with a form for "User Information". There are typical information requirements you would find in any sign up sheet like, name, company, email, website, etc. Then hit the tab for "Articles" where you will place the article for submission. You will fill in the Title Section, Article Body (including About Author), Summary, and Keywords. Then choose the "Websites" tab. You can "select all" or pick and choose. Click on "Auto Fill" and it will take you to your first directory. A flaw here is that you can only have one article posted in the article section at a time.

Sounds easy, right? Well with "Article Submitter" you must be very careful. Once you have chosen your Category, check each section. This software does not always put the right information in the right box and it leaves some boxes blank. Again, if the directories feel you are using software carelessly, they will delete your article. The manual sites are just that, manual top to bottom. It took me a full day for each article, so it is still a time consuming process.

Then my partner found "Instant Article Submitter" which I have tested thoroughly. It is by far the easiest and quickest available at this time. Set up is still a bit tedious. Once again, you have to establish your logins, but only once. I found them much more accurate in filling in the necessary submission forms. Yes, you still must choose your Category, but only once, for each niche.

They have 100's of Article Directories listed, but there is a tab where you can mark your "Favorites". At first, I was a little intimated, but it is easy to follow and saves you a lot of time. I submitted to over 150 directories in about 4 hours and that was my first time using the software, so I was on the learning curve. Be careful not to hit the "Next Site Button" until after you have the confirmation that your article has been acknowledged.

Therefore, that has been my experience with these three systems for submitting articles to an Article Directory. I do not recommend hand posting – it is much too difficult.

For me the most convenient and least cumbersome was Instant Article Submitter for getting my articles out there to many Article Directories in the least amount of time.

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

Mary Hanna writes eBooks, Software Reviews (for people who are technically challenged like her) and Practical Articles on Internet Marketing, Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at: http://www.WebMarketingReviews.com http://www.eBookSecrets-Exposed.com and http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Should You Change Your Website Often?

by Scott Oliver

It seems like some websites are changing as often as every few minutes. While this is a necessity for news sites and those that want to provide readers with up-to-date information, what about your business website? You want to show your visitors that you're constantly innovating your business, but at the same time, changine your website too often might make it seem as though you can't make up your mind or that your business is less than stable. Here are some things you need to think about before you build your business website.

The Case for Change

There is certainly something to be said for always being fresh and new. When your visitors are looking for the latest and greatest fads in clothing, for example, you need to be able to deliver these trends as soon as they're on the red carpet or the runway. Change also shows your visitors that you are always looking out for them and their needs. You can include a daily blog, for example, that gives up-to-date information on the state of affairs in your business or perhaps on trends in the products you are selling. You might also want to keep a streaming band of words across your website to show updates on things like interest rates or stock market quotes. By keeping your website alive with new information, your visitors will see that you're interested in the long term health of your company.

The Case for Keeping Things the Same

On the other hand, you also might want to look into, for the most part, keeping your website the same. While there will be a need to change things up from time to time as things are out-of-date, keeping the basic setup of your website can help regular visitors feel like you are consistent and easy to keep up with. When you're always changing things, a customer can become confused as to how to do things on your site or whether or not your site is something they should spend time on.

The Verdict: It Depends on Your Customer Base

In the end, the case for change will largely depend on whether or not your customers are looking for constant updates. And this depends on your business focus. If you are trying to give your customers up to date gossip, yes, you will need to change your site a lot. But if you offer the same products over the course of a month, there's really no need to change your website until you change your stock.

There will always be times when you will need to change your website � as in when you introduce a new item or you discontinue an item or pricing scheme. But the overall consensus is that you might want to keep the basic structure for return visitors to your site.

Introducing Change to Your Visitors

If you plan on changing your website significantly, you might want to let your customers know well in advance of the actual change. This will give you time to get feedback on your changes as well as help you roll out your new look with minimal problems and concerns. Post a 'sign' on your website about the upcoming change and then provide a link to how the new website will look. Giving visitors a list of the changes they can expect to see will also help them see what they will notice when you eventually follow through.

Change is good, but when it scares away customers, it's not always the best idea. However, you also don't want to keep your website up for so long that you begin to seem outdated. Changing things up every season is a reasonable schedule without being too confusing for visitors.

Scott Oliver offers free video coaching to help you build a profitable home business FAST. Get an hour of "Website Traffic Secrets" and "Minisite Creation Tactics" for FREE -- immediate access here: http://www.InstantWebsiteBusiness.com.

Online Email Marketing: Top 7 Professional Formatting Techniques

By Michael A. Jones

Your online email marketing campaigns can flounder over something as simple as formatting.

Is your email easy on the eyes, easy to read?

Use these seven key points to ensure your emails have a high readability rating:

1. Format the text lines between 55 and 65 characters. Anything more makes it harder to read. It can give the message a ragged look if the recipient's email program configures differently.

2. Use only short paragraphs with plenty of space in between. Hit the Enter key twice between paragraphs so your email is easy to read and absorb.

3. If listing an email address, or a URL, put it at the beginning of a new line. It is much easier for the recipient to see and use. (Example: See the style of the Resource Box below)

4. Use the Reply button to answer email. The previous message is then included so the recipient has the background immediately available. The > symbol appears on each line of the previous message. Insert your comments or answers under the relevant block of text.

5. Use CAPITALS only for effect, to emphasize key words or phrases. Do not write blocks of text in capitals.

6. Use exclamation marks judiciously. Emphasizing statements with !!!!!! cheapens and lessens rather than adding serious emphasis.

7. Avoid the use of fancy fonts and colors unless you know definitely the recipients are using HTML enabled email software. Although HTML formatted, email is now quite common, a huge base of users still use plain text.

Michael A. Jones is a writer and webmaster with over 10 years experience. Punctuation marks used discreetly and correctly can really add power to your emails. Check Michael's punctuation guide here for ideas:
http://www.about-goal-setting.com/punctuation-guide.html

To utilize a highly successful advertising medium at an unbelievably low cost visit this page:
http://www.vitalstop.com/Marketing/post-free-classified-ads.html

See how to choose the right autoresponder and at the same time get a free 7-part email tutorial:
http://www.vitalstop.com/Business/autoresponders.html

Take Me by the Hand and Help Me Make Some Money

“Take Me by the Hand and Help Me Make Some Money”

Only a person who’s successfully accomplished what you’d like to accomplish can be a true mentor.

Only a person who’s now standing where you’d like to be has enough knowledge to bring you there.

Those two points should be kept in mind when considering investing in a “start from scratch” internet business course. You need more than information, more than resources, more than software. You need real people to help you with real problems. Problems such as:

“I’ve got a business idea...Will it work?
“Can somebody please critique my sales letter headline?”
“I need help choosing a price for my new product.”
“My advertising isn’t working...Can somebody critique it for me?”

And the course you choose should give you:

Tools to choose a profitable business model – Examples are network marketing, viral marketing, direct sales, affiliate marketing etc.

Tools to find or create in-demand products and services to sell from your website.

You can sell digital products (like eBooks which cost nothing to create and

nothing to ship) or you can sell physical products (like clothes, or electronics).

Tools that create a professional website, designed to convert maximum visitors into satisfied paying customers – With the level of software innovation now available, you can easily do this yourself or hire someone to do it for you for a nominal fee.

Tools to drive 1,000’s of eager, qualified buyers to your website – This has to do with getting traffic, both free (the best kind) and low cost. It also involves “target marketing” or marrying the right message with the right market.

Tools to automatically collect email addresses with follow up on your best leads – This will involve auto responders. This is an automated business tool that keeps in contact with your customers.

Tools to recruit an online sales force – This involves the creation of “affiliates” who’ll be happy to help you sell your products for a portion of the profits.

Tools to automate your online business and make it “hands free”.

If you can find an internet course like that...you’ve found “pure gold”.

Although he’s not an alchemist, Derek Gehl, CEO of the Internet Marketing Center, has successfully created “pure gold” To check out all the exciting details, go to tinyurl.com/2sdosx

________________________________________________________________________

Setting Up Your Home Office

By L. Mills

One of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of working at home is setting up an office that increases productivity. You cannot do your best work on the kitchen table, surrounded by household clutter. Here are some tips I have gathered on making your home office space a place you will enjoy working:

1. Set your home office up away from the busiest area of your home. If you have children, you will probably need a dedicated space, because if you are in view of your children, they will demand your attention. It is best for them to understand that when Mommy is in her office, she is working, and only to be disturbed in the event of an emergency. Of course, this advice is meant for older children, who do not need constant supervision. Make sure you spell out exactly what qualifies as an emergency. Because for children, not being able to find a shoe is an emergency.

2. Try to set up your office in a room with a window. Everyone needs a break now and then. It is relaxing to look outside at a tree, the birds, and flowers. You get the idea. If you do not have a room with a window, decorate your office with cheery pictures and things you love. Personalize it. You will want to come there and work more.

3. Arrange things in your office so they are easy to locate and easy to access. A bulletin board with pushpins is a great and quick way to remind yourself of something you do not want to forget. Have paper, ink, staplers, pens, pencils, and Post-its close by. Place a bookcase close by for books that you may need for your work. Try to pick up after yourself every day, so that your office does not become cluttered. It is hard to work in a messy environment. You will lose things, and you will not be as productive.

4. If you must have a phone close by (your children are away or in school); then by all means, have it close by. But when possible, leave the phone outside the office. It will be an easy excuse to stop working. But mostly, it is difficult to be productive when there are constant interruptions.

I am the work at home mom of three great girls. My blog, Work at Home Mom Revolution offers support and daily job updates for those seeking to work at home. http://www.workathomemomrevolution.blogspot.com/

Why MLM is an Inspiration Business

By Jeff Neil

Usually when we think of multilevel marketing, what comes to mind is recruiting. We try to find people who want to earn money from home, and then convince them to join our opportunity. Convincing is the key word here. Nobody wants to join a convincing business. However, that is what we do in our industry.

Then we wonder why we have a hard time building a solid organization.

Initially, people join an mlm opportunity for the money. I mean, that is why we do this, for the money right?

Maybe.

If you look at the leaders in this industry, and in your own organization, I mean really look. You will see they offer something to their downline more than just �How to Make Money". Because the �how-to's� can be found in your local bookstore, or even the public library.

Sorry to tell you, but just the "how-to's" will never be enough.

One of the things your leaders are doing is they are busy climbing the mountain. They are going on ahead of the pack. They make sure the mountain is safe to climb. While you are climbing that mountain, your leaders are encouraging you. As if to say "Yeah, you can do it, if I made it this far so can you".

Your leaders are also yelling down to you, they are pointing out where the rocks are. In addition, giving advice on how to go over the rocks, or under them, or around them. A great leader will even try to get you up the mountain even higher than the leader is.

Remember, MLM is certainly not the only way to make money. Just watch late night television.

Pretend you watched some infomercial on TV, and ended up buying an ATM machine, or some Internet Kiosk Thingy. Are those companies going to do all the stuff your upline does? No. They will not, "because they don't care about you.� However, your upline does!

It is this extra attention. The caring leadership. The built in self-development that appeals to so many people. In addition, do not forget, people are becoming more spiritually aware than ever before.

I am not talking religion here either. People are tired of the corporate, do not give a damn rat race, tread mill, life they are living. They want purpose, and passion. People want to feel good inside. They want to feel important.

Like they belong to something, a movement. In addition, they want to feel that what they are doing with their lives is of value to other people. Because when you uncover all the B.S., people, almost all people, are really, nice.

So let us point this back to you. I know you are a nice person. However, what can you do to inspire people? If you can inspire others, you will set yourself apart from all the other, "please join me" net workers.

In addition, you do want that, right?

So first, forget about the money. The money will come. However, stop focusing on it when you are dealing with people. Think about your vision, and all that when you are alone.

Pretend you are doing mlm free. As a volunteer thing. Alternatively, charity. Ask yourself why. With the money issue gone, why would you do mlm? If you cannot find an answer, you are in the wrong industry. Go sell vacuum cleaners or something.

Because if you do not love this, if you do not feel this business, people will not follow you. In addition, you will never be able to grow much of a downline.

Find the desire to be better, to do more, to grow as a human being, and to bring up as many people as you can along the way. Think about how you can give increase to everyone you meet. Even if you have no intentions to do business with them.

Think about what your purpose is. It does not have to be to save the world, just something you feel very strongly about. In addition, how being in the network marketing industry is helping you with your purpose.

In addition, you need to have confidence. Yes, things can get scary. However, just do a tiny little thing you have never done before. Something small that you know will help you or others. Then do just a tiny little bit more.

All those little actions will become big actions. You will build your confidence and be someone who takes big actions.

If you think about it, you already know what to do. Because growing yourself and others is a very natural thing. Just allow yourself to do it. In addition, fine-tune it as you go along.

Jeff Neil is a tattooed, bald headed ex-cop who sells candles in his spare time. However, you do not care about that. What you might care about is how to be a leader in this industry. Find out at his mlm blog http://www.4mlm.com/category/mlm-leadership/.

Internet Marketing Strategy Planning - The Eight Step Formula

By Alvin Phang

Before you decide what to sell on the internet, you have to develop an Internet Marketing Strategy. It is the essential part of your online success on the Internet.

You have to take into consideration the following:
1. Find a large and easy to reach niche market
2. Find a Product or Service the niche market demands
3. Set up your website
4. Have a great sales copy (your 24/7 sales man)
5. Create an opt-in page to collect email address
6. Have a great sales process
7. Make your website scalable and search engine friendly
8. Backend, backend, and backend

Each step plays an important role to your success in your Internet Marketing Strategy Planning. If you miss one-step, you will not be able to see the results you would like to see, as each step is equally important to the other.

1. Find a large and easy to reach niche market.

Your first step in your Internet Marketing Strategy planning requires you to do your research. Find a large and easy to reach niche market to promote your product. From here, you can go to Free Keywords tools and search for niche keywords that have high click through and low competitions.

Example, the keyword �Dog Food For Sale�, when you search that on Google, there are actually 5,650,000 which is seriously not a lot of competition but you also have to check is there a demand for it by using tools from www.seobook.com to look at the KEI rate. The higher the KEI rate the better the keyword.

2. Find a Product or Service the niche market demands.

After you have found two or three keywords that you would like to target, you would want to find products that will serve the market that demands it.

Example the keyword �Dog Food for Sale�, you would not want to promote Cat Food, as it does not relate to the topic you want to promote. So find related products like an eBook �where to find a great sale for dog food� or �dog products that dogs like to eat.�

3. Setup your website.

After you have decided what product or service you want to sell online, you would want to setup a website to promote your product. The best way to do it is by creating a Blog talking only about Dog Food that is for Sale, because Google and Yahoo search-engines love Blogs so much. You virtually get listed just 24 hours upon updating, compared to a normal website, which will take at least a few weeks to be �cached� into the search engine.

4. Have great sales copy (your 24/7 sales man).

Do not be mistaken, sales copy is not the sale. A sales copy is a page with descriptions and details to promote your product on your website. When I first heard of this term sales copy, I was totally stunted how important it was to have a sales copy.

Depending on how good your copy writing skills are, you can get people to write your sales copy, or simply teach yourself to write one. If you can try to write it yourself, as copy, writing is a very good skill to learn, especially when you are an Internet Marketer who plans Internet Marketing Strategy.

5. Create an opt-in page to collect email address.

This is another important step that many do not have. It is the most important. Why? It is because they fail to collect email address from their website. With the email address, you can design out your sales process in the next step, which I will explain further.

6. Have a great sales process

With your opt-in page in place, you can use the captured email address and name to follow up with people who are interested to know more about what you are promoting in your opt-in page. This is a way to build your email list, and keep, and send them information or promotion products to sell those products again in the future.

7. Make your website scalable and search engine friendly.

With all that done, you would now need to read up on Search Engine Optimization. Practicing this will allow search engines like Yahoo and Google to spider your website easily. The good thing about Blogs is that you can ping the search engines to spider your site easily and you can be listed very quickly within 24 hours.

8. Backend, backend, and backend

Upon completion of all seven steps, you just need to keep on sending backend information to your list from your opt-in emails that you receive and keep on driving traffic from your opt-in page to get more email address to sent out promotions to your customers.

If you constantly follow this eight-step formula for your Internet Marketing Strategy Plan, you will see great massive results after 3 months upon setup. So do the math and start planning your Internet Marketing Strategy today!

Alvin Phang is the owner of http://GatherSuccess.com. Get the right Internet Marketing Strategy for your Internet Business with our free resource of Tutorials, Video and much more...

Who Else Wants To Make Money With AdSense?

By Jerry Oakman

Fact number 1: Kids in high school are making thousands of dollars every month with AdSense.

Fact number 2: Housewives, retirees, mom and dads, who are just staying at home and have never made a dime on the internet have created full-time incomes by simply placing AdSense ads on their web site or blog.

These are just some of the �super AdSense earners�. You may have already heard about their story for they are among the few who are on their way to making millions worth of cash just by promoting AdSense sites.

Anyone, any age, and gender can become money generating AdSense publishers, as long as, he or she has what it takes. How does one go about this Internet advertising?

Writing articles for AdSense is the way to do it. Using the right keywords in your articles and having Google ads on a certain site has become the most profitable way of marketing that anybody can get into. No experience and level of education needed. If you are not using this strategy, or may not be aware of it in the first place, chances are you may be losing thousands of dollars worth of extra income and still do not know it yet.

This is one of the many reasons why writing original quality content articles are now the latest in marketing buzz.

Content and links. When combined together becomes a really powerful tool to a successful web site and richer individuals.

Many internet marketing professionals are already aware of the value of an original quality content and how using keywords can drive targeted traffic into their sites from the search engines.

So why do not all these web site owners write and submit their own articles, if that is what is important?

The simple and understandable answer is that it takes time to write articles, submit them, and get targeted traffic to their websites. They get the services of those who can spare some time to write the articles that can cater to their site purpose, and still turn out good quality and unique work.

To get into the AdSense marketing business, to start earning some good cash, ask yourself, did you enjoy writing when you were in school? If you answer yes to this question, you already have an initial advantage over most internet marketing business owners who want to make money online and do it from home.

With the boom in the AdSense market comes the need for sites to want fresh, quality, and original keyword rich content.

This way, web site owners can have a steady supply of articles with the proper keywords that relate to their site contents. The result of this is in the sites page rank when indexed by the search engines.

This, in turn, gets more AdSense ads to show above, below, or next to the article on their website with targeted traffic.

What do people have to do?

Write quality and original content, keyword, or phrase rich articles with links to your website in the resource box.

Then build a website or web page with targeted keyword or phrase rich, original content for the targeted traffic that originates from the articles you wrote. Finally, you will have Google AdSense ads that are targeted to your keyword or phrase rich, original content site where visitors will get to visit when they come looking for information.

This is a win-win situation, if you think more about it. It is a favor for persons looking for quality content and information. It is a win-win for the persons writing the original content articles. In addition, also for the person with the quality original content rich website. Of course, the search engines and its advertisers are getting targeted traffic and sales, but so what? As long as you are getting something in your favor, it does not really matter what the others are getting for themselves.

Therefore, who else wants to start earning money with AdSense? You?

Everyone. Anybody. Internet marketing has many opportunities wide open for this group of people. Writing articles and using AdSense for your kind of internet marketing strategy is one sure way of getting a piece of that action and cash.

Better, not be left behind the many who are making millions already.

Visit: http://adsense.awardspace.biz

Jerry Oakman webmaster, SEO specialist & internet marketer from Y2K, some of his "must see" projects are:

http://adsense.awardspace.biz
http://articles.awardspace.biz
http://directories.awardspace.biz

where you can find free FFA, eZines, article posting & SEO news, eBooks, viral stuff, internet marketing tools, video tutorials, current eBusiness information and more.

Can Anyone Make $150-$200 A Day From Using Articles?

By Shane Hunte

Why is article marketing so great? Why do the greatest marketers on the planet employ this method of marketing?

The greatest remain in the front seat because they know what works. The fact that they continue to use article marketing as one of their main methods of marketing shows. You guessed it, article-marketing works for them.

The possibilities for your articles are endless. It is an investment of time and not money, which makes it cost effective. All you need is patience and commitment and you will succeed with this marketing method.

The greatest marketers use this method because:

It is cost effective. Actually, let me tell you plan and simple, there is no cost to do this, it is free.

It builds credibility and expert status on the internet on any subject there is under the sun.

It drives floods of traffic to you promotions.

You reach a laser-targeted audience with you articles.

This method proves to give you quality back-links to your website, and subsequently, raise your website rankings, which equals more traffic.

These are just previews of the wealth that article writing can bring to you. Although these are not all the reasons, these should be enough reasons for you to use this method of marketing.

The most successful people have one thing in common; they copy the best, as we can see, the best marketers all said yes to article marketing as one of their most frequently used internet-marketing methods.

What is the magical blue print for writing articles like the big guns?

Here is the step-by-step blue print that the greatest use to build their articles at lightening speed:

Step 1. Plan your article.

This may sound elementary but very few people can write articles and they try to skip this step entirely.

When you plan your article, it makes it easier to write on the topic that you choose. You need to dedicate time for this step because it is the doorway for the other steps to follow.

Step 2. Brainstorm your article topic.

What are you going to write about and why? Do people want this information? Can you solve a problem that others have? Asking yourself these questions coupled with a little research can get you a long way.

Step 3. Brainstorming your article points and organizing them.

You have a good topic. Now, what are the points that you want to discuss on that topic? Organize these topics into the order in which you want to hit on them first, and then expand on it.

Step 4. Write selflessly about the topic to give quality information to your readers.

This often separates the good from the great. People want information that helps them solve a problem. We usually get the wrong idea with this form of marketing and dive into a sales letter for a product we promote.

You are not promoting a product right now. You are trying to build your credibility in the minds of readers.

This will make them trust you more. They will be more open-minded to your recommendations for your promotions. Sales letters not only will it turn off readers, it also turns off publishers to post your articles on their sites because it is not of value to their website traffic.

Step 5. Double check and triple check your article for mistakes.

You do not want your articles filled with spelling errors and other major or minor mistakes because this will make people not like your writing.

Publishers will review your pieces. If multiple errors show, then it will not be submitted to their audience.

Print out the article, read it aloud, and pass it to a close friend to read it for you, and provide and objective opinion on what they think about your article. Two sets of eyes are better to find mistakes. Use the feedback you get to write better.

Now that you have a simple blue print to follow, consider using it to write articles. Article marketing is the lifeblood for many great marketers out there and you should make it part of your marketing plans. It continuously adds $150-$200 a day to the pockets of those who use it. Maybe that alone could be your motivation to try.

Shane Hunte is an experienced internet marketer who makes a full time income online. If you to would like to learn the simplest way to make money online then learn article marketing. Go to http://www.internetrevinue.com/Jim_Edwards.html to find out everything you need to know today about profiting fast using your own articles.

How to Market with Articles

By Dee Cohen

Writing articles are effective ways to get one-way links to your site, as well as, to have people learn more about your website or service. There are ways to do this that can make you more successful versus having your articles be overlooked and not considered.

Shane Pearce has written the �Lazy Man's Guide to Article Writing�, which outlines some helpful tips. I was impressed with his tip that when you submit your article to an ezine publisher or a webmaster, you can offer that he uses his own affiliate link in place of your own. For instance, if you have written an article on motivation and have a link to a Clickbank ebook on motivation and goals, you can offer the publisher that he uses his own affiliate id instead of yours. What this means is that the ezine or website publisher will be getting a free article already written with a link that may give him some monetary income. You would still have your own information in your resource box at the end, so people can click to your website, as well. Think about what the website publisher you write to will get out of the exchange and find a way to make his or her life easier.

Other tips he gives are to read �Frequently Asked Questions� to find out what people want to know about in terms of popular topics. Shane discusses how to make a viral ebook based on a FAQ niche that can be passed around. If there are frequently asked questions on a topic, it is a sign that the topic has an interest, as well as, there may be an interest in some guide or tutorial.

In addition, I like the sample autoresponder examples he uses with different ideas for a signature file at the end of one's article. I think he is very good at showing how to integrate a couple of affiliate links without being pushy. He recommends sending people to opt-in to a mailing list as part of your signature file.

Another section I found useful discusses how to create checklists and use them both for your website and in articles that lead back to your website. People like checklists. Shane discusses how to use these. They also help break through writer's block or paralysis because you can have a list of steps.

There are ideas given about utilizing both 2-tier affiliate programs and residual income programs that will help you keep you earning as your articles circulate around the net. Shane gives some interesting suggestions on types of sites that work for this.

I also like that Shane gives an example of a flop he did of an unsuccessful attempt at marketing. He analyzes it and compares it to something someone else wrote he feels was better expressed. It is a very interesting study covering various ways to get your articles noticed and published. I publish articles regularly but learned some valuable tips from this ebook.

Dee Cohen is an author and publisher at http://www.socialsitesmarketing.com/article-writing.html; you can visit to learn effective ways to gain traffic by writing free articles.

Effective Client Communication

By Paul Mccord

Whether you know it or not, your database of current and past clients is your best source of new clients. �Prospecting� for a new clientele is time consuming and expensive. If you can find a way to increase your sales without the time commitment and expense of cold calling, mass direct mail, advertising, or purchasing leads, would you be willing to implement it? Of course, you would!

Taking the time and effort to keep in contact with past clients will grow your business through new direct sales to the client and generating referrals to qualified prospects.

Often sales people complain that keeping in touch with past clients takes too much time, effort, and money. Considering the return on investment, this is not true�at least for most sales people. The key is finding a way to communicate that is time efficient, relatively inexpensive, and effective.

Studies indicate that in order to keep your name at the top of your customer�s mind, you need to �touch� your customer a minimum of 14 times per year�more if possible.

What is a �touch?� A touch is any communication from you to your client�email, telephone call, snail mail, postcard, holiday card, in-person meeting, or any other method of getting in front of your customer. If you are communicating with the client, you are touching them.

What is the most effective way to touch your past clients? Studies have shown that there is not a �best� way to touch the client, but rather, the most effective client communication programs enlists a number of communication formats.

Is sending 14 emails a year effective? Is sending 14 snail mail pieces a better choice? Is making 14 phone calls a better option? Is sending 14 postcards a viable option? What alternatives will work the best? However, constructing a campaign using a combination of these methods could be a very effective program. For instance, setting a marketing calendar to send 4 postcards per year, 6 emails, 2 snail mail letters, one phone call, and one holiday card during the course of the year allows you to touch your clients approximately once every 3 � weeks during the course of the year.

However, what do you send? What do you say 14 times during the course of the year? The content of your communication is just as important as the fact that you sent something. When you communicate with a past client, the fact that you have something in front of a previous customer is not necessarily a good thing, in and of itself.

Many traditional marketers will disagree. Much traditional thinking says that any time you get your name in front a client it is a good thing. However, is a 3-second trip to the trash for your expensive postcard or letter the best use of your money?

Whether or not your communication campaign is effective will depend on what you are communicating. If you send junk, just to send something, your customer will quickly learn to ignore you and your communications and everything you send will take that 3-secnd trip to the trash. On the other hand, if your communications offer something of interest and value, you will train your client to pay attention to you.

Which would you rather have: a client that ignores you or one that pays attention to you?

I assume you would rather have a client that pays attention to you. To train your clients to pay attention, and, therefore, to keep you at the top of their mind, you must figure out how to send them communications that give them value. Can you offer a special for them or someone they refer to you? Can you provide them an annual or semi-annual update on their purchase? Can you send or email them articles of interest that relate to their purchase or an interest of theirs? What you send does not have to be large or costly�it just needs to be of interest to the client.

A program such as this requires thought and considerable customization of content, but the payoff can be enormous. Think about what you are sending and what it will�or will not�communicate about you and your business. If you want your clients to think of you and not ignore you, then take the time and the effort to make sure you are sending value. If you are not sure it has value, it probably does not. Marketing to your client database should be at the top of your �to do� list and your campaign should be constructed with the thought and care as if you were marketing to the most important people in the world, because for you, they are.

Author and trainer, Paul McCord is a leading authority on prospecting, referral selling, and personal marketing. His book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income (John Wiley & Sons) teaches the strategies the million dollars a year sales superstars use. http://www.powerreferralselling.com

Five Facts That Will Have You Re-Writing Your Website in a Hurry

By Aran Kay

To view where the facts came from to write this article, please click on the links below:

1. Jakob Nielsen for Sun MicroSystems (http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/)
2. Stanford Poynter Project (http://www.poynterextra.org/et/i.htm)

This article will highlight the differences between writing copy for the web and writing copy for print. Some of these facts go against intuition and against cultural norms. However, these facts detail how people read on the web.

There is no use in arguing against them. Instead, you should embrace them and use this knowledge to your advantage. Here is what the facts are and how they are going to affect your website.

1) Where Do Eyes Go First When Your Homepage Comes Up?

Contrary to what you might think, it is not towards the graphics or photos like in print advertising. Instead, your prospects eyes will first go to the copy, specifically, your headline and sub-heads. Therefore, your first chance to engage the prospect is through copy, not graphics.

Most web users look at a web page for only 3-15 seconds before deciding whether to stay or move on. The fact that they look at copy first has massive implications for your website. Fancy graphics will not make a prospect stay on your website. However, a strong headline and strong sub-heads will.

2) How Much Of Your Copy Do Users Actually Read?

The fact is that online users, on average, read 75% of the length of any given page. This is big news because most web pages will have the important conclusions, calls to action, and order information on the bottom 25% of any given page. That is a big no-no, because it will never be read.

You have to have your call to action and order information presented early on your web page to ensure it is read.

3) Why Do Most Banner Ads Produce Poor Click-Through Rates?

How long will an average user look at your banner ad? 1.25 seconds. That is just enough time to perceive one image or six words (based on college student's average reading speed of 350 words/minute).

Therefore, banner ads that have animation, taking 4-5 seconds to run through a cycle, or more than 6 words must be reconsidered. However, if you really must keep your animated banner ad because "it just looks so cool!" I would suggest that you at least keep your company logo visible throughout the entire animation sequence.

4) Why Is Reading Online More Frustrating Than Reading Print?

Reading from a computer screen causes a person's reading speed to slow by 25%, when compared to reading print. This means reading long copy online can be very frustrating. Break up the copy to help users through.

Have a few one-line paragraphs.

Use headlines and sub-heads to summarize information. Users who are tired of reading word-by-word can quickly scan the rest of your document.

5) Are Your Web Page Users Not Getting The Whole Picture?

If you have not made your web page truly scannable, prospects to your site may only be getting part of the sales message. Only 21% of online users read word-by-word. The other 79% scan a web page headline-to-headline, sub-head to sub-head, picking up only the larger, bolded, or italicized copy.

Your sales message has to be read by both scanners and word-by-word readers. Therefore, all your major selling points, benefits, call to action, and order info must be in easily scannable type.

Otherwise, your website will only generate 21% of the sales. In addition, for the money you put into your website, which is not good enough.

So, if online reading is so different from offline reading. Clearly, your web copy has to follow suit. Take home message? Make sure your website is performing on all cylinders. Have a professional web writer write your website. It will save you money in the end.

Aran Kay is a marketing consultant and freelance copywriter with experience working for Nintendo, Direct Energy, Kellogg's and more. He has written numerous marketing articles, and includes a selection of them on his web site. http://www.ProfessionalCopy.ca is also your source for "The 52 Best Marketing Web Sites." It is a great resource and yours FREE just for visiting his web site.

Marketing Without Selling

by David Weeks

I remember back in the mid 90s when I was "in between" jobs, in debt, and broke. My "in between" job status at that time for a period of one year was a car salesperson. Now, I know what you are thinking. Why? My answer...hmmmmmmmm. Anyhow, it happened and as it turned out, it became quite a learning experience. What I experienced as a car salesperson in my very brief career by choice, was rather disturbing. This is by no means an article on selling cars. This is what salesmanship is and is not.

I was in the car business, and virtually taught the wrong way to be a salesperson. When it comes to shopping for a car, it becomes a rather unpleasant experience for all parties involved.

Here is a typical day in the car business: You awaken in the morning, dress yourself in the shirt and tie, on a hot July day in Florida, 100 degrees with high humidity. You get in the car; drive to work asking yourself, why......why..... because you know there is going to be an unpleasant experience waiting somewhere around the corner. You arrive at work getting ready for the morning "meeting abuse", which always ends up, �we are terrible salespeople and we need to sell cars!� Really? We need to sell cars? Ok! After the meeting, we all leave the room with bruises and bumps. We are ready to practice the art of being a salesperson.

For those of you who do not know, when a person arrives on the lot to car shop, he is referred to as an "up" in the car business. Usually, all the salespeople are lined up outside like vultures waiting for an "up" so we can swoop in and turn on the lame salesperson charm. Now, you meet the customer. "Hi, my name is Dave" (smile). Then, the customer replies "We are just looking." Of course they are just looking. By the time we get through with you, you might be running out the door and never look back.

I follow the "We are just looking" people around the lot because if I do not, I will be yelled at by the �powers that be�. The potential customers I am with do not want me near them, at this point. Car shopping and/or buying is the equivalent of going to the dentist. It can be a painful experience.

Now I ask the �nice folks� on the lot all types of questions, trying to create trust and learning something about them that will help me sell to them. This is an ok method for the car business, because this is the way it has been taught. Now the problem from the "get go", is most customers were from the �old school�. To them, car buying was rolling up your sleeves and get ready to do battle. That is not the way I want to make a living, but that is what it was.

So, what do you really have from this? You have uninformed people at all angles. First, customers come onto the lot thinking their "trade-in" is worth a fortune, and it is not. They did not do research on their "trade-in". Second, they do not know what they want. They want to spend �no money� on a car they cannot afford to begin with. Again, they did not do their research.

As a salesman, another problem is, if you are going to make it in the business of selling anything, you have to rise above everyone else and figure out a strategy to attract people to you automatically without being annoying and pushy from the start. I noticed that most of the salespersons on the lot were not doing anything but waiting for something to happen, and unfortunately, I was one of them. Because I was also unaware.

When I could not close someone, here comes the sales manager thinking he has 'the be all to end all', and that the "hammer them" into the car technique is going to work. You see the philosophy behind most selling in the car business, as an example is, if they leave here without buying from us, they will never buy from us.

However, let us not forget. In the world of sales, let the salespeople do their job by giving there potential customers all of the information they need to make a well informed decision. If they do not buy today, let them remember you and your salesmanship and whatever great strategy you came up with for them to make the buying process easier. Believe me, after they have been everywhere else, they will remember you. The "in your face" approach does not work anymore.

David Weeks writes articles on marketing, personal finance, and network marketing. He also has a free course on network marketing "The 5 Phases Of Network Marketing" located at http://www.the5phasesofnetworkmarketing.com.

Why is Content Important?

By Dechen Lau

Content is the soul of a website. Content is comprised of the words or text on a web page along with the graphics and structure of a website. Today Web content is the best tool for building relations with your potential customers. The look and feel of a site is crucial, but quality web content may be more important.

Two of the most popular methods of getting traffic from search engines include PPC � (Pay Per Click), and SEO � (Search Engine Optimization).

PPC:

Pay per click advertising on search engines allows you to choose keywords that you would like your site to appear for, when a search is performed. You decide how much you are willing to pay each time a person clicks on the search results. The more you are willing to pay per click, the higher your site will appear in the results for the keywords you choose. Pay Per Click is advertising provided by the search engine providers (Google, Yahoo! and others) where you PAY for top placement. Their strategies for placement differ slightly. Some search engines will give you higher placement if your ad has a higher click-through rate, (meaning more people click on your ad in ratio to the amount of times your ad appears); others give top positions to the highest bidder.

You already know surveys are excellent for finding out what your target market wants. However, if combined with low cost, quick and dirty Google PPC, surveys can also send many targeted prospects to your site every month.

In either case, you PAY. It is a quick way to be listed in the search engines and a smart way to get your traffic flowing. You could spend far more than is profitable for your business, if you do not know what you are doing.

Search Engines: While crawling pages of a website, search engines look for content more than anything else. Search engines can pick up quality content and it is the only factor that they emphasize and value most while ranking a website. For the benefit of their users, search engines try to find the best and most useful content on the Internet for any given set of keywords.

SEO:

Search engines are extremely competitive (in terms of placement). The major search engines account for over 90% of all traffic. With that though in mind, companies that are serious about earning a share of the internet market should be committed to securing top 10 rankings for the keywords or phrases that pertain to the products and services that they offer.

The best way to ensure a solid return on your website investment is to employ the services of a Search Engine Optimization firm with a proven track record of success, knowledge of current and cutting edge techniques, and experience working with the business community.

There are a lot of companies working �behind the scenes� to help website owners get plenty of traffic from the natural search engine listings. Natural listings mean the search engine has ranked you according to the value it believes your site will offer an individual searching for a specific word or phrase.

Understanding exactly WHAT the search engines want to see when ranking sites requires knowledge of the algorithms. These algorithms change all the time as search engine providers try to outwit the search engine optimizers trying to find loopholes in the ranking system.

Some SEO companies will promise you top spots for a certain cost. Some are honestly creating optimized websites � others may be using techniques that could possibly get your site BANNED from the search engines entirely, (once the search engine catches on). However, optimizing your website for better placement in the search engines is a technique that you should become familiar with and use to your advantage.

Both of these traffic methods have their pros and cons for generating traffic from the search engines. You will find out more about using them properly later on. First, you need to know what REALLY works�

Dechen Lau., is an Author, Speaker and Internet Marketing Consultant
http://www.powersuccessmarketing.com
http://www.powersuccessresponder.com

A Look at Slogans

By Sharon Housley

Let us look at slogans and how just a few words can say volumes. A slogan is a memorable phrase used in conjunction with a political, commercial, or religious advertisement. Slogans convey a deeper meaning. Slogans elicit emotions, or the slogan might paint a visual image that implies something more.

When considering a slogan or a tagline, keep in mind your objectives. What image do you wish to portray? Slogans should be short, but not to the point of being curt. Slogans should conjure positive images and distinguish the value your company or product provides.

The best way to analyze slogans is to look at a few.

Slogan: "The toughest job you will ever love" (Peace Corps)

Message behind slogan: This is much more than just a job; it takes heart to be in the Peace Corps; join the Peace Corps and you will be a better person. This job is not about money, it is about helping people.

Slogan: "Be Seen, Be Sold" (Shareware Promotions)

Message behind slogan: Being found on the Internet is not easy. Use us to be found on the Internet."

Slogan: "You could learn a lot from a dummy. Buckle up" (National Highway Traffic Safety Admin)

Message behind slogan: Learn from test dummies, be safe and buckle up.

Slogan: "Parents who use drugs have kids who use drugs" (The Partnership for a Drug-free America)

Message behind slogan: Model what you preach; do you want your children to do drugs? It is your responsibility to model appropriate behavior for your children.

Slogan: "This is your brain on drugs" (The Partnership for a Drug-free America)

Message behind slogan: Do you know what this stuff does to you? Taking drugs is stupid.

Slogan: "A diamond is forever" (DeBeers '1948)

Message behind slogan: Diamonds represent marriage; marriage should be forever. If you really want your marriage to last, seal it with a diamond.

Slogan: "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking" (Timex Corp)

Message behind slogan: It does not get any more durable than this, other watches cannot stand up, but Timex will endure regardless of the treatment.

Slogan: "For all you do, this Bud's for you" (Budweiser)

Message behind slogan: After a long hard day, drink beer to relax.

Slogan: "Where's the beef?�(Wendy�s)

Message behind slogan: Our competitors use small patties, but our burgers are big.

Slogan: "I love New York" (NYC)

Message behind slogan: New York is a special place, everyone loves NY, you should come and visit, you will love it too.

Slogan: "See what brown can do for you" (UPS)

Message behind slogan: We do more than just ship packages; we have additional offerings and can do more than just ship.

Slogan: "The few, the proud, the Marines" (US Marines)

Message behind slogan: We are a select group of very special individuals. Do you want to be elite? Take pride in representing the US.

Slogan: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk"

Message behind slogan: You will die if you drive drunk. It is your responsibility to protect your friends. Be responsible, do not let people drive drunk.

Effective slogans leave impressions in the minds of people who see or hear the slogans. Often slogans will have hidden meanings, or be a play on words. The goal of the slogan creator should be to create a memorable tagline that conveys a key benefit or differentiates the brand. Slogans will often help position the product or service in the marketplace. Slogans with just a few words can indicate superior value, excellence, or inspiration.

A business identity and image conveyed through a short statement will affect the way that consumers, competitors, and others in the industry perceive your business. Slogans will distinguish your company in a unique way. Words are powerful, and if used properly, they can be an important sales tool.

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

Want To Become A Super Affiliate Marketer?

By Clarence Binayu

The humdrum existence of going to the office, day after day, doing the usual 8 to 5 shift, is a trying task for those who have lived all their lives doing so. This is why the convenience of doing work at home under amazingly flexible working hours is a dazzling prospect. Doing work at home is as fulfilling as having a career working for a computer on the 19th floor of a skyscraper is already a possibility in these modern times. This is because the jungle-like network that is the Internet has given birth to a business that has given some people practically new lives.

This particular business allows people to work at home under flexible working hours without a boss screaming at you, no one putting pressure on everyone about the deadline at hand, or the clutter of messy paperwork that needs completion, at the soonest possible moment. Those who are into affiliate marketing, experience these conveniences, the newest way to earn money without having to go through all sorts of routines found in regular employment.

Those who have been in the business long enough can attest to the fact that it is a lucrative business indeed, one that can actually give people things they could not possibly possess or experience under ordinary circumstances.

The business called affiliate marketing involves an affiliate�s promotion of a merchant�s website. The website owned by the affiliate advertises and markets the website of the merchant through the affiliate program that they run. Whenever someone clicks on the merchant�s website, it promotes the one owned by the affiliate; the affiliate receives a commission. This is in recognition of his effort to help the merchant make a sale.

The system involved in affiliate marketing seems easy, but it also takes a lot of diligence and perseverance for one to be able to penetrate it thoroughly. Those who want to get into this type of business should possess the necessary skills to be able to tread through the industry with confidence and self-assurance. Another factor one needs to be able to break in is knowledge. Knowledge about this business is very important as it dictates the actions taken by people who are into it.

The leading figure in affiliate marketing is the super affiliate. He or she is an e-mail marketer who collects large databases of e-mail addresses through newsletters. Super affiliates are those who know the business better than the affiliate managers because of their knowledge about the affiliate marketing industry inside out. Those who want to be super affiliates should know that becoming a super affiliate is not easy, because it takes a lot to be able to master the marketing craft.

Becoming a super affiliate means having one�s own website and auto responder. These tools will help a lot in one�s facilitation of the business. Building one�s own list is another. Creating a loyal customer base and taking care of it is one secret that successful super affiliates have. Making good customer relations is also important to be a super affiliate to reckon with.

Continuing to market to the people on one�s list is another must to succeed as a super affiliate. Sending out quality content in lieu of ads is an advantage as products market better whenever you provide enough information about them.

Building traffic to one�s own site is also one of the most essential points in the affiliate marketing business. Making one�s affiliate links his own business will allow him to build a strong relationship with his customers, enabling him to market to them repeatedly.

The most important thing one should remember, if he wants to become a super affiliate, is to treat affiliate marketing as a business first. If he is capable of doing this, then he will never have to go back to the humdrum existence of working the 8-5 shift. A career as a super affiliate in the business, which will change his life forever, could possibly take that unexciting job�s place.

Clarence Binayu is the founder and Webmaster for http://www.virtual-guides.com. Here you can find FREE information on many subjects including business, automobile, travel, vacation, affiliate marketing, advertising, internet, sports, entertainment, technology, communication, fashion, home improvement, culture, education, society, science, politics, fitness and health. http://www.virtual-guides.com provides you with helpful guidance, tips and news update, from basic to the latest skills, knowledge and information, about these subjects.

The Secrets of Internet and Online Marketing

By Wayne Van Dyck

There are plethoras of things you can do online and you should know how to do this. MARKET YOUR OWN BUSINESS ONLINE!

Now with the incredible power of the Online World to reach millions of people, online marketing is definitely an amazing tool every business should utilize. The simple fact is that advertising can be very low cost and sometimes even practically free. The ability to get the results of thousands of dollars in free publicity is practically unheard of in the business world today. Only recently have more and more people figured out how to utilize the ever-exploding online world to market their business ventures.

There probably is not a business in existence that would not benefit from free publicity! Properly utilizing free and low cost advertising raises net profits to unbelievable levels! Using any or all of the major online services can help you market your business efforts.

Let us begin with plain advertising. For example, on AOL, they will let you place classified advertisements free! They have a variety of classifications and categories to choose from. By placing some of these free ads, you can generate some quality leads that can turn into sales. If you are an excellent marketer, you could sell something straight from your free ad.

Other services offer free advertising from time to time. When they do charge for classified ads it is usually a very low cost, and they still are a great deal, considering how many people may see them. When you place any ads, you should always "track" your ads. This means put something in each individual ad that will tell you, if you get any business from it, which ad it came from. This way, you will probably find that some sections are better producers than others are, and you will want to concentrate on these sections and not the ones that were not making any money.

To track an ad, you could make them request a certain "report" for more information. You should give each report different tracking links for each ad. Such as "ask for report #1tv�, this way you would know that this request came from the ad on television, for sale category, and so forth. If they send you an order straight from the ad, make them give you order #, which would be different for each ad. THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ADVERTISING ONLINE ARE NOT USING THESE AD CODES!!! THIS IS A MAJOR MARKETING MISTAKE!!!

If you do not track exactly which ads are making money, then you are wasting your time by continually placing ads in "loser" categories that do not provide any sales. ALWAYS keep track of every ad you place. Make a note of what it said, where, and when it was placed. You will be pleasantly surprised when you analyze your "ad data" and see some positive trends developing. Just repeat these trends and it will help you to make more money!

Would you like to have a name list of several hundred (or even a thousand) people who might be interested in the particular product or service you are selling based on their jobs or interests? That would be great!? Well, you can! Moreover, the Online Services supply this service as a part of your regular membership.

This little unknown tool is called the "Member Directory!" You can do searches in the directory for other users with certain characteristics. For example, if you were selling fishing equipment, you could do a search by "fishing." All the people registered in the directory and listed fishing as one of their hobbies would show up on that search list. You could now send each one of those people an e-mail message telling them about your product or service, it is just like using a mailing list, but you have no postage! (*Make sure you check with your online service to see if they allow unsolicited email.)

The bottom line is that you "test" and record the results of your Online Marketing efforts. Then just repeat the steps that are making you money and expand on them to reach more people. You should conduct split testing on your site. Methods were, you have two different pages, performing the same function but with different copy, so you can tell which one is converting better.

You will also find hundreds of articles on the World Wide Web. By searching one of the WWW search engines like Webcrawler, you can find all the information you can read. Use search strings such as: "online marketing", "internet advertising", "selling online", and so on.

You can also find many books on the subject at your local bookstore or being advertised online.

Wayne Van Dyck is a former venture capitalist and builder of offline technology companies. He is the founder and developer of Simple Money Machines. Simple Money Machines is all the money making technologies in one, easy-to-use, hosted application� enabling non-technical people to set up online businesses in less than 30 minutes. It is made for people with 9-5 jobs, retired folks, stay-at-home moms and college students. To get a FREE copy of "STARTING A HOME BUSINESS MADE SIMPLE", go to: http://tinyurl.com/ykyoqx.

How to Successfully Retain and Grow Your Customers

By Michael Fleischner

Okay, so your marketing has paid off - you have new customers. The key to growing your business is to effectively communicate and leverage these new customers into advocates for your products and services and purchasers of additional services.

Do this in a variety of ways. Follow some basics steps to ensure retention. Here are some tips you can use to develop long-term relationships with newly acquired customers.

1. Proactively shape impressions about your business. Whether you are sending a welcome message, making the first contact via phone, or sending a letter, be sure to position you company for the long-term. Often times, individuals buy products without knowing a whole lot about the company where they are buying.

A popular tactic is sending a welcome kit or an overview letter that introduces your company, your values, and the additional resources you have available for your customers including a support email address, 1-800 number, and so on. This lets you control your company's image among newly acquired customers. Otherwise, your customers are free to form their own opinion without any guidance whatsoever.

2. Categorize your customer. Is your customer a high potential? Are they a transactional buyer that will likely never buy from you again unless you offer the lowest price? By segmenting your buyers based on your existing database or known behaviors, you can develop customized communication plans to retain them for years to come. Some communication plans focus on up-sell while others may only focus on retention. Base the communication plan you implement on the proper categorization of your customer.

3. Show your thanks. Once you have acquired a customer, do not forget to thank them. This may seem trite. However, done properly, this goes a long way. Often a hand-written note or personalized email from a company president can do the trick. The real key is to make the customer feel good about the purchase they have made and the company they have chosen.

4. Provide consistency among all touch points. Once you have acquired a new customer, you must make sure that you provide a consistent user experience. For example, if the prospect contacts your technical support rep the first day after they have purchased a product and received an answer to their question, then they call the following day only to receive a different answer, they are going to lose faith in your company's ability to provide consistent and reliable support.

You can benefit greatly by developing procedures that can be documented and delivered consistently - meeting customer expectations. This builds trust in your business and can minimize defections. If the consumer knows they can count on you to give them what they need/want, they will be willing to forgo a better price or promise of a better deal elsewhere.

5. Share customer testimonials on future marketing pieces. Many marketers believe that testimonials are only for prospects. The truth is that testimonials can help retain customers, especially new ones, with exposure to positive experiences of individuals just like them. In addition to sharing testimonials, it is always a good practice to ask newly acquired customers (within 30 days of purchase) for their feedback/testimonials.

The benefit of reaching out to your customers is that if a problem exists, you can react to it and if they have something positive to say about your product or business, it is useful to reinforce your brand. (Note: be sure to get permission to publish a customer�s testimonial).

These techniques are very effective for maximizing lifetime customer value. By shaping the image of your company, providing a consistent experience, and sharing testimonials for similar customers, you can develop a positive, lasting impression with your marketplace.

Most importantly, keep it simple. Do not overwhelm your new customers with tons of email, or direct mail. Develop a well thought-out communication plan that has a definite purpose. In addition, most importantly, remember to thank your customers for choosing your company, product or service.

Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert with more than 12 years marketing experience. He has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. For more free marketing articles like this one, visit http://www.marketingscoop.com.

The Biggest Secret in Internet Marketing

By Alex Nghiem

In the Internet marketing world, there are many misconceptions and outright lies. However, the biggest secret is one that is so obvious nobody wants to talk about, or even being aware. In this article, I share what I (and many world-class marketers) consider the biggest �secret� in Internet marketing.

At this point, you are probably wondering. �What is the BIGGEST secret?�

Before I share this secret with you, let me share a common mistake committed by 99% of Internet marketers. Almost all Internet marketers I know can quote you their opt-in rate and spend hours, days, weeks, and even months tweaking their landing pages to get the highest opt-in rate. This is accomplished by asking for as little customer information as possible and casting as wide a net as possible. This usually requires asking for only the first name and the primary email address.

In many industries, this results in optimizing for the wrong results. What do I mean by that?

I spend a lot of time in multiple industries other than Internet marketing (including real estate, art, etc.) and for a long time, I was focusing on increasing my opt-in rate, but rarely closed any sales (my sales for my products and my clients� products range from $997 to $25,000 per sale). When I thought about it, I realized that in all of these industries and especially at these price points, the sale is accomplished via the phone, not via the Web.

Thus, without realizing it, I was not collecting all the necessary information for me to complete a sale (that is, I was not asking for a phone number because I knew this would reduce my opt-in rate). Most of the �gurus� who are teaching list building do not take into account industries that conduct business primarily offline and/or the fact that high-end products are not closed via email alone. I am not sure any of them has ever tested their methods in offline businesses!

Now, I do a 2-step opt-in rate that allows me to have the highest opt-in rate on the first page and then ask for additional info (including the phone number and mailing address) on the �thank you� screen. This enables me to follow up via offline methods including postcards, direct mail, and even telemarketing.

What does this have to do with the biggest secret in Internet marketing? Simple�the most valuable leads often require you to follow up using offline methods. However, this contradicts almost all list building techniques being taught, which usually teach how to get the highest opt-in rate. In this case, I made more money by having a lower opt-in rate�but I got higher quality leads, which enable me to follow up via offline methods. Again, in many, many industries, the sales happen via the phone and in some cases via the fax and direct mail.

Therefore, before you spend too much time focusing on optimizing your opt-in rate alone, think through the sales process and figure out the best way to close the sale. Collect information for that to happen, even if it means a lower opt-in rate.

Now you know the biggest secret in Internet marketing. The next time somebody brags about their 50% opt-in rate, you will know that he/she is probably optimizing on the wrong thing and leaving WAY too much money on the table.

To get regular notifications on high-end product creation secrets, visit http://www.backendcashmanuscript.com/fromarticles

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Alex Nghiem is the founder of Blue Samba Solutions, creator of the Backend Cash Machine, a proven system for enabling clients to make up to 10X by building a backend of high-end products. His system has been used in multiple industries including art, real estate, and many offline industries.

Brand Building 101: Does Your Business Card Build Your Brand?

By Krishna De

Are you losing credibility and damaging the brand of your business through lack of attention to one of your critical marketing tools in your business, your business card? Discover how your business card can enhance your brand and ensure that you stand out from your competition.

When we are at a networking event or meeting a client, exchanging business cards occurs.

Very often, without realizing it, we are assessing our colleague by their business card, and asking ourselves:

- Is the business card professionally designed?
- Is the business card crumpled at the edges?
- How does the weight of the business card feel - substantive or flimsy?
- Does it look like the business card was made on their PC - or worse, does it have a message at the bottom of the card to say where you, too, can access free cards?

I have collected thousands of business cards over my time in business. I am sub-consciously assessing the professional status of them and their business when I receive their business card.

We review someone's card at least 3 times:

1. Once on receiving it
2. A second time when we put it in our pocket, folio or bag as we leave the meeting
3. A third time as we make a decision to keep it, transfers the information into our data bank, or bin it!

Our business card is a critical part of our marketing collateral. If you cannot afford to put in place other marketing materials, short changing the investment in developing a professional business card is definitely not something we should do, if we are looking to develop a professional brand.

When meeting someone in person, alongside how you present yourself in person, your business card can enhance or devalue the strength of your brand, and it reveals how others perceive you.

Here are four tips to enhance your brand through your business card:

1. Ensure that you work with a professional designer to develop your business card. It is not whether you like the design; it is about whether it will represent your business effectively and professionally to your target audience.

2. Ideally, have your business card printed on 400g card and by a traditional lithographic printer. Yes, it is more expensive than digital printing, but the quality is worth investing in and a litho print gives far greater definition to your corporate identity and the color of your brand.

3. Matt laminates your card on the reverse for extra stability and style. Do not laminate both sides as people will not be able to write on your card - we often note down things to remember about the person we met on their card.

4. Use the valuable real estate on the back of your card to provide a call to action, for example, how to access your white paper or special report on your web site.

Take action:

Over the next 30 days, take the opportunity to review the business cards of your contacts and assess their card against yours.

1. What can you learn from other people�s business cards?

2. How could you take those learning�s and further enhance your business card?

Your goal is to ensure that your business card is a positive reflection of both you and your company, and it represents a strong brand.

Invest in your business card, distribute it widely and you will be sure of expanding your professional success.

Krishna De invites you to join her in conversation with experts from around the globe to discover how to build your brand and grow your professional services firm at http://www.bizgrowthlive.com/. You will also receive access to Biz Growth Express a weekly newsletter bringing you strategies, inspiration and tips to grow your professional services practice. Register today at http://www.krishnade.com/.

�Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2006. All rights reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article providing the article is printed in its entirety; you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in anyway and include the copyright statement.

Domain Names and Toll-free Numbers: A Profitable Link

By Marcia Yudkin

A few months ago, I turned down a naming assignment from a company seeking a business name that would correlate with a domain and a toll-free number, both currently available. Impossible, I thought. Nope, not impossible if you know how to go about it, says Bill Quimby of TollFreeNumbers.com.

The key is to find the vanity phone number first, Quimby says. Many available toll-free numbers spell out something related to your business; more than you would imagine. For instance, when he ran a search for toll-free numbers related to naming, he came up with 888-DR-NAMING (which I immediately reserved), 866-NOW-NAME, 877-PRO-NAMING, 888-WEB-NAMING, 877-TOP-NAMING and hundreds of other options.

Once you find a toll-free vanity number, the next step is to make sure the corresponding domain name is available for registration. 888DRNAMING.com was available, and I reserved that as well for future use. Then I was set for a radio publicity campaign, a national advertising campaign, or just rebranding.

Some points to keep in mind if this sort of naming strategy excites you:

* Although North American phones show letters on the keypad, telephones elsewhere in the world may not. Likewise, toll-free numbers in North America cannot be dialed from other continents. If you have a global business, branding only through a toll-free number that works only in one part of the world may not be a smart idea. However, it can still be a good way to attract North American customers, since you can forward the toll-free number for just pennies a minute almost anywhere else in the world.

* The cost of getting calls through a toll-free number can be as low as 2.85 cents a minute, with no monthly fee or monthly minimum charge. Aside from the one-time cost of getting a vanity toll-free number, it does not cost any more on an ongoing basis than a toll-free number that does not spell anything.

* Although numeric numbers are easier to dial, vanity numbers spelling out words get more calls than numbers comprised of random numbers. In a study done by Bellcore, print ads that had an 800 toll-free number attracted six times as many calls as regular, non-toll-free numbers. In addition, contrary to what you might expect, this held true regardless of the socio-economic status of the caller.

* Older telephones do not show the "Q" (which correlates with 7) or the "Z" (which correlates with 9), but most recent models do. Note also that you will get more misdials if your vanity words include the letter "O," which can be mistaken for the zero key.

* The more you advertise on billboards, trucks, radio or TV; it is important to have a number that spells something. If you are a small company, a vanity number makes you seem bigger and more established. When Bill Quimby tells people to call him at 1-800-MARKETER, few would guess he works from his home. A toll-free number also emphasizes that the company wants to hear from customers.

* Whereas so many great domain names are already taken, many more of the 800YourName.com types of domain names are still available.

Marcia Yudkin is "Head Stork" of the naming company Named At Last, which brainstorms new company names, new product names, tag lines and more for cost-conscious organizations, at http://www.NamedAtLast.com . Download a free ebook on obtaining vanity toll-free numbers at http://www.namedatlast.com/naming6.htm.

Viral Marketing - Impacting Established Brands

By Paul Grant

In a rapidly changing technological landscape, some high profile brands are facing the challenging decision to embrace 'viral' marketing campaigns. As there can be no assurances with each viral project, executives do not have the 'usual' facts and figures to make a well-informed and substantiated decision.

By its very nature, a viral project is unlike anything that has been done before.

This means there is no formula, no statistics, nor guarantees. Results can only be proven retrospectively. It can be too late for those results to have any extra meaning than the knowledge that viral marketing works in principle. The most successful new media viral campaigns would not be able to generate the same results if replicated by another company wanting to emulate that same success.

Viral marketing is a high risk, high gain means of marketing. It is changing all the time. There are no experts who can accurately predict how the marketplace will respond. Fortunately, the cost is not measured in financial terms, but only in the way, the public perceives the brand. Get it right and a brand can suddenly become very prominent in secondary media articles and traditional media. Get it wrong and it affects the brand's reputation negatively. Sometimes this secondary (and free) publicity ends up impacting the campaign more than the viral content itself.

Large, slower moving corporations are being startled into responding to these changes. Smaller and more progressive companies are challenging the old stalwarts of business by using whatever viral means necessary to establish greater market share.

Often the biggest, most well respected brands are unfamiliar to this radical and non-traditional approach to marketing. It took many years to establish an expensive, rigorously consistent, and highly polished corporate identity. Their company identity may have evolved over several decades. For such a company to consider the idea of diluting the brand into something generic, cheap, gossipy, comic, populist, or otherwise remarkable to the masses; raises red flags and executive concerns. These executives naturally fear losing the 'consistency' of their on-brand message, or the particular 'look and feel' of the brand, as predetermined in their own internal corporate style guides.

Those corporations taking risks in the way they present their brand by embracing this viral trend are already observing great benefits, with lower costs and higher response rates from their target market. They are perceived by their target demographic as 'cool', 'hip', 'cutting edge', and 'in touch' with a changing world.

Consider Nike(tm), Adidas(tm), and Pepsi(tm). All three brands have used viral marketing as a mainstay of their digital FIFA World Cup 06 football campaigns.

The power of viral marketing is people willingly pass it on for free. It means there are no manufacturing, packaging, licensing, or distribution costs. The total cost of ownership includes only the cost involved in creating the initial idea and the actual content.

How viral marketing works

In all instances, an initial 'viral' concept must be developed and published either to a website, in an email, as a mobile phone message, or through some new or emerging distribution channel.

Some of the most effective viral content is quite poor in production quality, often quite controversial, offensive to some; but if successful, will be high in public appeal. This can be an obstacle for some executives who build their brand to maintain the highest production and moral standards in all printed and televised materials.

Occasionally the more professional or polished something looks; the less likely the end-user will be to consider the source credibly worth passing on. In some cases, the corporation funding or initiating the viral content will actually distance themselves from the content. They will claim to have no knowledge of how it came to be, nor did they have anything to do with its creation. This is all a public relations angle to improve the chances of the mass market accepting the content as non-intrusive.

People know, only too well, how annoying it is to receive materials that are not directly known beforehand to be of value to the recipient.

If, on the other hand, the recipient or user is actually stimulated to respond emotionally to a piece of viral marketing; i.e. anger, disgust, joy, sadness, laughter etc., they will likely want their circle of friends to experience the same thing. It is the 'much-targeted' nature of a 'circle of friends' that makes viral marketing so effective. The old anonymous saying has some merit in this context...

'Birds of a feather flock together.'

If a company or brand can make a solid impression on any single individual within a selected group, that person will likely share about it with their 'flock', knowing it will also be of interest to them.

A viral campaign could end up affecting several million highly targeted consumers, which to achieve using traditional media would potentially cost as many Dollars, Pounds, or Euros, as the amount of consumers reached. Generating a return on investment using traditional media has a greatly reduced profit margin in comparison to the miniscule investment involved in initially creating a piece of viral marketing.

The importance of embracing viral marketing

Increasing bandwidth is now making possible, for the first times, such things as video on demand, live video, IPTV, and other formats of rich media interactivity. Those companies harnessing these trends in a creative and viral way are finding themselves to be moving ahead of competitors who previously held the greatest market share by spending large sums of money in the traditional media.

The success of a viral marketing campaign can only really be measured in terms of how many people visit or view a viral site, or how many times an email has been read and so on. In some cases, it may also be possible to measure click-through conversion via a call to action, although this level of transparency can often also become an obstacle to the tool becoming viral in an epidemic way.

Currently, there is very little hard statistics that demonstrates conclusively that viral marketing makes a difference to the bottom line. There is no doubt that this type of content is being seen by millions of people. Much like television advertising, it is not always clear whether people are buying product because of the advert or in response to a variety of brand promotions across multiple platforms.

Those large corporations struggling to resolve whether to embrace the idea of viral marketing now have the advantage. They can learn from some of the world's largest and best-known brands. As these brands have been forced to change their understanding of marketing on a day-by-day basis, so too will all companies wanting to compete in tomorrow's world. In the coming years, many more companies with traditional established brands will need to concede; the concepts of marketing are changing right now and very quickly at that.

By apparently diluting their brand in order to create generic viral content, these companies can in fact capture the interest of the next generation of media users, thereby building a massive community of loyal customers that not only buy but also recommend their products and services.

Paul Grant is a convergence evangelist and digital media strategist, having spent eleven years managing and implementing rich media projects. He is now a partner of London-based consultancy Interactive Strategy Ltd (http://www.interactivestrategy.tv).

The Difference Between Everyday Copywriting and Copywriting That Sells Millions

by Paul Speziale

Take your average super successful sales person, the person that has brought the most sales to your business (usually it is just one). Multiply them by a million, and send them off to visit one qualified prospect each...all at the same time. Do you think that would increase your sales a bit?

If you had answered yes, then you now realize the potential of a well-crafted piece of copy designed to sell your product.

The ability to write a letter to sell your product/service is an even greater skill.

So then, why do so many businesses send out copy, through advertising, mail order, telemarketing, radio or TV ads designed to be flashy, humorous and clever? When was the last time you bought from a person in a store when they were using all sorts of clever tricks on you? Tricks like, play on words, weird images, advanced humor etc... No... chances are you were scared of a salesperson that was so crafty. It raises the question, "Why are they trying so hard?"

We are going to call that flashy sort of copy: "Everyday Copy" because you see it so often...many times a day. In addition, the copy that sells your product, we will call "Copy that sells".

With your everyday copy, you have your English majors, freelance writers, and ad agency employees. Now, these people are brilliant, they can write so nicely, with such advanced command of the English language that they sometimes win prizes in literature, become legendary, and known throughout history as producing beautiful works of art and literature, often win awards, and widely recognized.

They use English devices like play on words, puns, humor, and other things in their copy.

They have not sold your product...

Don't believe me? Key your ads...put in a tracking mechanism to see if people are responding to your ads...you will be furious when you find out exactly how many people respond and buy your product. Try it!

Unfortunately, their advanced work is all but lost on the prospect that is:

1) busy with two kids
2) balancing both a full time and a part time job
3) has a spouse who is not holding up their part of the agreement called "marriage"
4) poor diet habits from lack of time
5) stressed out from work with employees backstabbing them
6) bosses criticizing them in front of their co-workers
7) parents telling them how to run their lives and won't leave them alone
8) aches and pains in their body
9) the stress of keeping up with their next-door neighbor who always seems to have the latest and greatest stuff
10)not to mention being bombarded by sales and marketing mail, signs, commercials, sales people, telemarketers up to 3000 times per day.

Do you think with all that is going on, they have time to figure out the "play on words" that was used in your ad? If they don't understand what you said the first time and figure out how they will benefit from what you offer, they will toss it.

You have 3 seconds to get their attention:

1...2...3... that's it.

On the other hand, copy that sells will most of the time look dull, boring, and mostly full of text. Why does it look this way? Because the effort is made to put in as many benefits and reasons to buy into the ad as possible in a way that isn't pushy and in a way that can be tracked to determine results.

Let's look at some examples shall we?

Examples of Everyday Copy.

Actually, there is no need to put up any. Just open your newspaper and look for them. They are the ones with just a few words, many pictures, and if you feel confused at, a) what they are selling, and b) how it may benefit you, then you have found some Everyday Copy.

Example of Copy That Sold Millions.

The Wall Street Journal Letter, which sells its subscriptions, estimates selling up to a billion dollars for the WSJ. In addition, Gary Halbert's Coat of Arms Letter (a simple one-page letter), has been in circulation for a few decades and sold millions of dollars of coats of arms. The advertisement "They laughed at me..." sold the home piano study course for decades and has made millions. David Ogilvy's Rolls Royce Ad, entitled "At 60 MPH, the only sound the new Rolls Royce Makes is the Electric Clock", that sold out the entire national supply of Rolls Royce's. David Ogilvy used these principles in advertising copy, to which he owes his purchase of a 14th century medieval castle.

Some big publishers like Agora and Philips pay their copywriters up to a million dollars a year because they want to keep them...they know that if they don't pay them well, they will walk.

Another example of copy that sells is the National Enquirer and Cosmopolitan. The National Enquirer is read by more people than the bible and Cosmopolitan is also a big seller...why? Headlines that catch a reader's eye, produced by the copywriters, that's why. Are they trashy? For some, yes, but the fundamental human behaviors that they are aiming for is the same as those SUCCESSFUL copywriters that aim at selling to doctors, dentists, engineers, big business etc.

The good news; translate those fundamental human behaviors to match whatever audience you're selling to.

In conclusion, choosing which type of copy you wish to have is largely dependant on what you want to achieve. If you want to win awards then hire an everyday copywriter, if you want to sell your product, then hire a copywriter that sells.

Watch out for my next article "How to Hire A Copywriter To Guarantee Your Product Will Sell"

Paul Speziale is a direct marketing consultant / entrepreneur based out of Toronto, Ontario. He has served all industries from manufacturers to retailers, from entrepreneurs to professionals. Besides helping clients, he is working on his own projects. He also volunteers his time for several worthy causes both local and global. You can reach him at http://www.AnelloSolutions.com: Growing Your Business Through Low-Risk, Optimized and Results Based Marketing