Make Your Mailing a Home Run, Not a Strike Out!

Make Your Mailing a Home Run, Not a Strike Out!

by: Joy Gendusa

You can use great design and copy to get a better response.

When you send a mailing to your customers or prospective customers you are counting on making considerably more money in new business than you spend on the mailing, right? It is obvious that if you were not going to profit from the mailing, you wouldn’t send it out.

A little less obvious is that it costs almost the same amount of money to send out a very attractive mailing piece with brilliant copy which is more likely to produce a great response rate as it does to send out a boring, poorly designed piece guaranteed only to land rapidly in the trash. Why?

The major part of your expenditure is in the mailing list and the postage. The printing costs are about the same for a perfect card as for a mediocre one. All right. So a good design and excellent copy is going to cost a little bit more. But only a little. You send out a postcard mailing to get a response (preferably lots of responses).

The front of the card, graphic and headline, is designed to attract the reader’s interest so that they read what you have to say. In short, to attract his or her attention.

The copy on the front and back of the card is designed to get the reader to respond, either by calling you or emailing you or visiting you or going to your web site. A response.

If your card accomplishes that, it’s done its duty.

How do you get it to do that?

Good design. Good copy. Assuming you have sent the cards to people who are likely to be interested in what you have to sell. (There’s no point sending a postcard selling raincoats to people in the Sahara Desert. They are the wrong ขpublicข).

It is more cost effective in the long run to hire a professional to do the design and copy for your promotion instead of spending all the time yourself to learn the software. A little time spent improving the design and copy of your postcards will result in much higher ROI (Return On Investment) for your postcard mailing.

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com.

This article was posted on March 03

by Joy Gendusa

web page building for beginners 3

web page building for beginners 3

by: Ted Dupuie

An inexperienced website builder must understand that free web hosting is a great way to get more than one site up and running quickly, and that www.articlecity.com is the fastest and easiest way to fill those sites with relevant material. For instance, my site at www.saquoyah.com has one hundred and sixty pages that were written by various authors and posted at ArticleCity by the writers. This arrangement fulfills five purposes to the satisfaction of everyone involved. First the writers of the articles get to help the readers and themselves by having links back to their websites. Second, ArticleCity gets many links to their index page and that in turn keeps their site in a top placement with search engines. Third, the little website owner saves an enormous amount of writing, yet gets his or her website full of pages that link back to their index page, so the search engines will place their site a little higher in placement. Fourth, the person doing a search gets to find a lot of points of view by various writers on the one subject they are poring over. Fifth, the search engines have more pages in their database for the searchers to look through.

While free web hosting has it’s shortcomings for a large corporation like General Motors, it is a Godsend to the little merchant or any webmaster that would like searchers to find their pages in a web search. The more sites a webmaster has to bring more links back to the initial or main site, the better. While most of the free sites may never get ranked with Google, the sites can still serve the purpose of adding backlinks to a site and increasing the main site’s rank. And since the small merchant, especially one working at home, has a limited amount of capital to invest, the free sites can be used to their full potential.

Each site that is linked to the main site should have the same type of articles written on them, so that the relevancy sought by search engine robots can help to increase the ranking of the main site. If one site is about potato chips while another is an adult site while a third is written on auto racing, the linking will be of little value. Keep in mind also that some of those sites may be viewed by searchers from smaller engines or directories, and you may get potential customers through those links to your main site.

Keep all links in working order, so check your sites often enough to know when one of the host’s servers may go down and lose all your pages. This just happened to me, and even though I keep a copy of all my pages on my harddrive, the server was down for many weeks while Googlebot and Slurp were checking my links every few days. As a small businessman, I cannot afford to upset the robots, so I do not link TO the free websites, but only FROM the free websites. In this way, the robots never get upset. All of the links lead to the index pages of sites I own as a safeguard from server and hosting problems.

This article can be copied and reprinted anywhere as long as it is intact and includes the author’s bio

About The Author

Ted Dupuie owns a home based publishing company that only publishes his work, which includes diets, an investment strategy, and 8 websites, plus a family newsletter. He is also a writing critic with top ten placement on Google and Yahoo!

www.saquoyah.com www.homewriters.com www.freediet.biz

This article can be copied and reprinted anywhere as long as it is intact with the author’s bio.

This article was posted on August 21, 2004

by Ted Dupuie

Why Can’t You Have High Rankings?

Why Can’t You Have High Rankings?

by: Carmen Bethel

Online Advertising
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
( or little note..about things that are right before your eyes)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You only go round once
That is part of a once popular slogan. Do you know whoกs slogan it was?
Sample example profile:
first name
last name
USA
(444) 3451446
http://www.dnnbth.org
Always looking for something new. Why surf the same old stuff?
I like online marketing. I don’t know HTML. I want to help you find where your profits are.
Today is the start of tomorrow, so I am working on another day now, till I see yesterday.
Would you read that?
You don’t have a website address.
Your business card could need a personal profile page a กweb pageก address on the world wide web.
Look at all the companies that make money from profile pages.
ICQ, American Singles, Match.com, xpsnsearch.com, Link Share,
Partner Weekly, Ryze, meetup.com this is just a small cross section.
Following right along..Can you believe that the preceding profile is the beginning of a search engine ranking.
How many profiles do you fill out during the course of a month?
All things being equal..your able to offer support.. to a replicated page of a program by linking..from another webpage you own..
Brand your self, be favorable and bold.
Don’t you think your profile is important..?
Think of all the money other people plan to make off your profile…
What was that junk you use to see in search engines? When you read a listing, little price quotes and such…doesn’t popularity or repetition count?
Why not make money from your own profile page.
For as little as 15 dollars a month, you can have a website.
I want to help find your profits:
Nothing is more exciting than creating , creating a website.
You know you need a website.
You need a website!
http://www.shadowhosting.net
http://cheapweb.us/index.php/7573
http://www.freeofficesoftware.net/promoorder.php?id=42

About The Author

Newbie internet marketer…best places to find me on the net..

http://www.bowxpress.com

http://www.shadybranch.com

http://www.junctionbow.net

where I am trying to get it together as I examine the net..in my spare time

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 03, 2004

by Carmen Bethel

Another Fine Mess!

Another Fine Mess!

by: Doug Woodall

I was reading an excellent article today titled กIdentity Theftก by Judith Collins at eWeek.com, when it got me to thinking…. Iกm in the AntiSpyware business, and Iกm doing a lot of advertising to promote my website, but here I am online and on the phone, giving my personal information to…..who? Strangers basically, Geez!.

The majority of identity thefts occur thru contractors employing people in entrylevel jobs that have not been properly screened. Not even Hackers,Phishers or Dumpster Divers account for as many! The ideal location for a Identity stealer would be in a out sourced agency that fails to use adequate screening processes.

Iกve read many articles lately that state we need stricter guidelines and procedures to insure we have proper security as consumers. A set of universal rules that would be adhered to by all. To even think of the enormous complexity of this project staggers the mind!

So here I am, I want to take a advertisement out at a prestigious magazine that is published in a traditional print paper and online. I may have to deal with people online and on the phone.I give my name, address, phone number, and my credit card number! EGAD, what am I doing?

Then my common sense and education about matters such as these kicks in and I rationalize that these companies would not be in business if they couldn’t keep their customers happy. But,accidents happen. So you see my dilemma. I know computer security and Spyware, and the vulnerabilities and strengths when dealing online. Its just a little new to me to trust, when I know the ramifications to me personally if my Identity were to be used for illgotten gain.

I know after all these years of being a, OK I admit it, a slightly paranoid online user, that I need to make myself a little vulnerable so I can better succeed in my online business. Iกve been where the people who contact me asking for help are; a place in their minds of anger, frustration and helplessness.

But then as I said earlier, common sense and education about Spyware wins over and I take a deep breath and go on.

The California Attorney General has a excellent website for Identity Theft at http://caag.state.ca.us/idtheft/

About The Author

Doug Wood all has a web site at http://www.spywarebiz.com.

There he provides free information and recommended products to combat Spy ware.

He is a member of the IWA (International Webmasters Association).

Article edited for proper content by Wendy McCallum.

Permission to copy ok as long as about author info remains with article.

Copyright 2005 SpywareBiz

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 11

by Doug Woodall

Internet Nostalgia Remember ‘this Dumb Little Ad

Internet Nostalgia Remember ‘this Dumb Little Ad?ก

by: Cathy Bryant

Watch out if you do, you’re showing your กInternet Age!ก

I am, of course, referring to the now infamous กCookie Cutterก marketing program which was all over the internet when I first began exploring the online business world (circa mid1999).

If you have no idea what Iกm referring to, then you can consider yourself a relative newbie to the internet. I bring up Cookie Cutter as an example of how things can change so dramatically online in such a relatively short period of time.

No kidding if you were at all involved in the business opportunity area of the internet at that time, you will definitely remember those กccpagesก they were EVERYWHERE!

What I remember most vividly about Cookie Cutter was the ubiquitous ad headline that invariably heralded an invitation to investigate this program.

‘tHIS DUMB LITTLE AD Can Put $200 in cash in your mailbox… EVERYDAY!ก

It was followed by an ad that almost always read exactly the same way

==========

This little cookie cutter spits out $20 checks…

Itกs a 3part automated system, consisting of a KILLER classified ad, a powerful one page sales letter delivered by autoresponder, and a QUALITY product, delivered to your customer by the company.

You can set up today…and actually be getting checks mailed to you tomorrow.

For complete details, send a blank email to:

mailto: [email protected] or visit my web site:

http://www.ccpages/vips/MembersName/index.htm

==========

The sales copy was misleading in the sense that what you learned only AFTER you sent in your $20 was that in order to implement the system you needed to purchase additional items.

Those who were fortunate enough to get in early no doubt made some money with the program but no one made MORE money than its originator, Gary White.

When I decided to write this article, I did some research on Cookie Cutter, and what I discovered was intriguing.

For example, I did a Google search on the term กCookie Cutterก and I had to go to Page 4 before I found any reference to it whatsoever. It was actually a link to a disclaimer put on the กBeginnerกs Centralก website that was used in Cookie Cutterกs Bootcamp product.

http://www.northernwebs.com/bc/

Another search on กGary Whiteก found nothing to reference the oncefamous originator of the Cookie Cutter program in the first ten pages. I chose not to go any further.

But then I did a search on ‘this Dumb Little Adก THAT got some results. Never underestimate the power of a unique headline.

Naturally that led me to many pages which were no longer active. This prompted me to do a WHOIS search on the domain name of the duplicated pages that were used in the program.

Many of you will be interested in learning that the domain name ccpages.com expired on March 5 of this year. Looks like Gary White is out of business. I do recall that he tried to parlay his success with Cookie Cutter into a similar program, but apparently he was unsuccessful.

By that time, most everyone had caught on.

About The Author

Cathy Bryant has been marketing online since the last century, so she knows what works and what doesn’t. Right now sheกs offering a terrific 5part minicourse titled, กPromoting Your Business Without Busting Your Budget!ก You may access a copy by sending a blank email to: mailto:[email protected]

This article was posted on March 31, 2003

by Cathy Bryant

How to write a press release

How to write a press release

by: Martin Bailey

A well structured press release in an excellent way of receiving free publicity for very little effort and cost. It is simply the process of writing a newsworthy story about your company, products or services in a reasonably standard format, and then distributing it in the correct way to relevant media contacts.
This document contains only a brief overview of the basic structure of a release. For a more indepth walkthrough of the Doกs and Dontกs, together with a stepbystep guide with examples, refer to Chapter 2.1 within the กMarketing your Businessก book, available at www.marketingyour.biz.
Start by ensuring you actually have a story that is newsworthy nothing annoys editors more than continually getting items that are of little or no interest to their target audience. A news story might relate to:
A new product launch
New appointment of staff
Forthcoming event
Customer case study
Company performance
The title of your press release is very important and should be short, snappy and to the point. It has to make the editor interested enough to read the first paragraph, but also tell them precisely what the release is about, so there is no room for abiguity here.
The first paragraph must follow the title in summing up the rest of the releaseกs content, but delving a little more into the depth of the story. It needs to contain the กwho, what, where, how and whyก to your story.
The main body of the release is where you go into more detail. You need to substantiate the claims you made in the previous paragraphs as to why this story is of interest to the person reading it.
The closing content is to direct the reader as to where they can go to find out more. This might direct them to a sales line, a website, or where a product is available for demonstration/purpose.
Finally, you need to tell editorial staff about your company. Not all of them have photographic memories, so include a short paragraph with an overview of your business.
Chapter 2.1 within the practical sections of กMarketing your Businessก also includes a full sample press release, together with examples of releases from bluechip companies. It also discloses some of the glaring mistakes made by many companies and highlights what you can do to help ensure your press release gets read and published. The following chapter also recommends several ways to distribute press releases correctly.

About The Author

Since 1992 Martin Bailey has been involved with the marketing activities of small and medium sized companies, either through working directly for the organisation or by assisting friends and colleagues in their own business ventures. Based in the UK he regularly assists companies around the world in creating product and brand awareness for their chosen marketplaces. He has also written a number of IT and technical articles for niche market trade magazines.

This article was posted on July 09, 2004

by Martin Bailey

Is the กIronPortก Whitelist Actually An Extortion

Is the กIronPortก Whitelist Actually An Extortion Tactic ?

by: Jim Edwards

It appears that Mr. Gatesก prophetic prediction that charging marketers to send email across the Microsoft email networks (MSN and Hotmail) to cut down on Sp*m is about to come true.
According to CIO Today, Microsoft is now employing กIronPort AntiSpam Technology.ก
กIronPortก is a paid กwhitelistก for people who send กmass emailก (including newsletter publishers, ezine publishers, affiliate managers, minicourse operators, and basically anyone who has a list of optin emails).
If you send any type of email where you do a broadcast to everyone on your list, this applies to you.
If you want your email broadcasts to get through their filters, you must pay a hefty fee and post a กbond.ก
Here are some facts about this developing story:
1. They charge by how much email you send a month, but the minimum charge is a:
$375 Application Fee, plus
$500 Annual License Fee, plus
$500 กBondก fee.
Thatกs $1,375.00 just to get in the game.
If you want to see the complete breakdown, go here https://www.bondedsender.com/fees.jsp
2. If you go over the กcomplaintก threshold of 1 complaint per month, then they will debit $20 from your bond fee for each complaint to กfineก you for being naughty.
Now that sounds good on the surface, but hereกs a scenario to try on for size:
Your competitor / enemy / Net กpsychoก signs up for 50 fr~e email accounts at HotMail and complains about you every month when you send your newsletter.
49 complaints (50 1 allowed complaint) times $20 a complaint comes out to $980 in fines.
Now, can you dispute the fines? Sure, absolutely!
But how much will you lose in time, energy and effort disputing the allegations? (My guess is, a whole lot more than that.)
You can check out all the กrulesก here https://www.bondedsender.com/fees.jsp
Here are the details of the program straight from the horseกs mouth… https://www.bondedsender.com
Hereกs my take on this whole thing (which dropped on me out of the blue today):
First, don’t get me wrong… I hate sp~m with a passion!
I spend at least an hour a day fighting it (down from 3 hours a day just a few weeks ago before I shut down about 2 dozen email addresses that got harvested by spambots over the last few years).
With that said, this whole กIronPortก thing sounds and smells to me like กwhite listก extortion.
Why?
Hereกs the basic premise: กPay to get your email through our filters, or else you run the very likely risk of not getting your email through at all.ก
In fact, hereกs a *direct quote* from their website https://www.bondedsender.com/faqs/sender.jsp:
กWhat happens if I don’t bond my email? You’re rolling the dice and taking your chances with spam filters, black lists and bulk folders. Some days all of your email may be delivered; other days 3050% could be blocked.ก
Kind of reminds you of a cheesy mafia movie on late night TV:
Me: กHey Bugsy, what happens if I don’t pay my กprotectionก money this month? What if I stand up to you and refuse to pay?ก
Bugsy: กWell, maybe nothinก will happen to you because the Boss ain’t payinก attention when I tell him you decided not to pay. On the other hand, maybe Iกll just smack you around a little bit… or maybe Iกll BREAK YOUR LEG with this baseball bat! Go ahead and not pay us… then weกll see what happens!ก
Now, back to my question: กWhy should I have to pay a huge fee to send email to people who have opted in to my lists?ก
The argument from Microsoft (and soon to be other ISPกs) is that the uncontrolled sp~m on the web is costing them a lot of money to deliver email nobody wants to read.
Well, if thatกs the case, aren’t email users shelling out cash or credit to pay their ISPs for email services (mine charges me $40 a month for cable), or paying for free services like HotMail or Yahoo Mail through viewing advertising on every page?
I was under the impression we were already paying to receive email… and last time I checked, there was no place to put a stamp!
Okay, even if we make it past that and we accept the argument that legitimate emailers should have to pay a fee in order to get on that big กwhitelist in the skyก somewhere… there are still two very important considerations here:
1. First, what about the little guy who starts doing really well?
You know, the small newsletter publisher who puts out a great ezine or fre report or whatever, and gets a lot of subscribers and then wants to broadcast email to them on a regular basis?
Letกs say they start making $20,000.00 a year from their ezine… are they now supposed to shell out 610% of their earnings in order to get their messages through? (And thatกs if they never get a fine!)
Do they have to be penalized for being successful?
Apparently so if this system gains widespread acceptance by all the big ISPกs and email service providers!
2. Second, what about the high potential for abuse at the hands of unethical competitors and just plain jerks that populate the Internet!
I know it might seem hard to believe, but there are psychos out there who will sign up for a bunch of free email accounts just so they can make trouble.
(This is not paranoia! I had a user who signed up, definitely optedin from my website, had the emails routed through a SpamCop address so I got blacklisted by SpamCop until I could get it straightened out. Oh, and guess who owns SpamCop… IronPort, thatกs who!)
Now, some idiot making waves with 100 email accounts won’t put a dent in the pockets of most big players in the email arena… for them itกll just be a business expense.
But for the case of the กlittleก guy, fighting that potential abuse and those fees could seriously cripple and even kill a fledgling enterprise… and that, in my opinion, is a serious problem.
In my opinion, all this is going to do is cut out the little guy and make it easier for big companies to email the hell out of the rest of us.
A small newsletter publisher will find it costprohibitive to pay for the service, and some giant company will just keep pumping the email out because they have the staff and resources to fight the inevitable complaints.
And letกs face it, if a big company is paying a $10,000.00 a year licensing fee plus posting a $4,000.00 bond, how aggressive do you think the IronTrust people will really be to get rid of them?
In my opinion, not very.
In conclusion: Despite my ranting, I actually think this is a step in the right direction (albeit a wobbly, drunken, and inconvenient step).
Something has to be done to fight spam.
However, at this point, this whole system has (in my opinion) too many unanswered questions, especially for us little guys.
Namely:

Do I really need to do this if Iกm a little guy operating and growing a newsletter?
What happens if I get unfounded spam complaints?
At what level does it make financial sense for me to do this?
What if my newsletter isn’t a big profit generator… am I supposed to give up the revenue I do create just to get my emails through?

To their apparent credit, Yahoo! is also trying to pioneer a solution, but this one doesn’t appear (at this point) like it will cost publishers or subscribers any money (and I like the sound of that). http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys
But with so much at stake (on both sides), this issue is a far cry from any satisfactory resolution.
Stay tuned for further updates as events warrant…

About The Author

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the coauthor of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links…
Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? ‘turn Words Into Trafficก reveals the secrets for driving Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate links… without spending a dime on advertising! Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

This article was posted on May 20, 2004

by Jim Edwards

How Joint Ventures Can Catapult You to Success

How Joint Ventures Can Catapult You to Success

by: Michael Angier

Substantial opportunities for increased sales and profits are missed by not seeking out and implementing joint ventures.

Strategic alliances also create value for the customer and save money and build future relationships for the partners.

They don’t have to be complicated, and they can be negotiated and launched quickly.

First, a quick and simple example. A bank that sends its statements out each month is approached by a ski resort. The resort offers an exclusive introductory discount to the bankกs clients. 1. The bank gets to look good by offering something of value to their customers at little or no cost to the bank. 2. The customers save money and hopefully become longtime customers. 3. The resort gains exposure and potentially new guestswith no mailing expense.

Thatกs called a triple win.

All it takes is a little imagination and the commitment to make it happen. The potential is substantial.

And they’re fun. They provide some diversity and variety that makes work more interesting.

Begin with giving more than you expect to receive. What can you offer another company? What can the other company provide that you don’t haveor would be expensive to obtain? A little brainstorming, some planning and some followthrough, and you can easily create a profitable joint venture.

Do it once, fine tune it, and then do it again with the knowledge and experience youกve gained.

The possibilities are endless.

The joint ventures you don’t seek out and execute represent huge sums left on the table.

Put together a project team this week. Generate ideas on how and with whom you might partner. Create your triple win.

About The Author

Copyright Michael Angier. SuccessNet.org and WorldClassBusiness.com help you and your business grow. Get their frëë report, 10 Pillars of a World Class Business, by sending an email to [email protected] Nocost subscriptions, memberships, eCourses, eBooks and more are available at http://SuccessNet.org and [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 16, 2004

by Michael Angier

Keeping Your SubAffiliates From Quitting

Keeping Your SubAffiliates From Quitting

by: Jerry Lunsford

One of the biggest if not the leading problem for internet marketers is keeping your affiliates from quitting. The time and effort that has been put forth to get your affiliates can seem like a waste of time if soon after joining your program they either optout or become inactive. Unless you are determined to succeed you may find yourself doing the same. Before we can hope to keep our affiliates active and motivated we must determine why they give up.

This article will not go into what motivates a person to get involved in internet marketing. Rather we will examine what happens after someone gets involved in marketing.

So you much like myself recruit several new affiliates each day. Some seem eager while others you never here from. You focus your attention on the eager ones hoping they will become a super affiliate. Your in constant contact each day and then all of a sudden you never here from them again. You may be asking yourself, กWhat Happened!! Did I do something wrong? Maybe I failed to support my affiliate. What could I have done better?ก The answer is nothing. That is providing you have been supporting your affiliates.

So what did happen?

Well, if the affiliate never had a desire to succeed but possibly just curious about internet marketing there is nothing you can do. I still believe that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. If this is the case no matter what you say will fall upon deaf ears. But if they do desire to succeed they may only need a little motivation or a way to look at the business that will keep them going.

Here are some things that may make them think twice before fading away:

1. Ask them where they will be 5 years from now if they quit. And then tell them where they could be in 5 years if they continue their affiliate business. Remind them that it takes little time out of their day to market. As little as an hour. Marketing is not an inconvience. You have to do something in that hour why not dedicate it to their business. Even if it takes 5 years to get to their goals they will get there. But if they quit they will never succeed. And then 5 years from now they may look back and remark to themselves, กHad I continued with my business my life would be different now.ก Encourage them to continue by looking to the future rather then the short term. The future may be a long way off but that time will allow them to see their success and encourages them each day. If they live for the day and hope to acheive their success in that day they will be discouraged when the day is done and have not obtained their goal. They will give up feeling they have failed.

2. Help them to see that the business is fun and each thing they do brings them closer to their goals. An article entitled (Setting Goals for Yourself) could help you set goals for your affiliates. Tell them to focus on the marketing aspect of their business rather than the moneymaking aspect. This will allow them to come up with creative ways to market which makes it more enjoyable. I like what many people happy in their work say. กIf you love what you do, you never work another day in your life.ก

3. Convey the message that if even just one person has acomplished something then so can everybody else. Most all of us have the same abilities. Some have it a little easier than others, but nonetheless someone in life has had to overcome the same obstacles that they may face. See my motivational article entitled, (Itกs Up To You!). Give them this example. Let them contemplate their current job. If they have just filled a postion were they not shown how to do the job? And by following the instruction given to them did they not end up doing the job correctly. Why? Because they followed the instruction of someone who has been successfully doing the job. The same holds true for internet marketing or any business. Follow in the path of those who have been successful and they will also find success.

4. If they express to you that they want to try something else tell them this. If you are truly involved in a good program as I am tell them that basicly all marketing businesses have a common theme. You market a product at the same time try to recruit affiliates. That old saying that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Itกs true. Make them aware that jumping from one program to another first of all does not give them the time to properly analize the potential of the program, and second just as they begin to lay a solid foundation they quit and all their effort is basicly wasted. Itกs kind of like playing a slot machine. You have spent hours dropping quarters into one finally giving up in frustration. Then someone comes up behind you drops a quarter in and wins the jackpot. Tell them if they hold on a little longer all there efforts will pay off.

There are probably others that you can come up with, but for the most part these will get your subaffiliates thinking. But of course there are no guarantees. All you can hope to do is try and keep them motivated, guide them along, and feed them some words of wisdom now and then. But their success is up to them.

About The Author

Article by Jerry Lunsford.

Go to my website www.quityourcrummyjob.com to find this and other articles to help with your success as an affiliate, and also with the success of those affiliates under you.

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 23, 2004

by Jerry Lunsford

Copywriting Secrets Of Indiaกs Mystics

Copywriting Secrets Of Indiaกs Mystics

by: Dave Alston

Hi everyone,

Been ruminating on this one for a little while now but it’s probably one of the most profound discoveries of my life. It all began with a little book about music and it’s had such a deep influence on my copywriting and small business, indeed my whole outlook on life, Iกd like to share it with you all now.

Here’s what happened…

About 8 years ago I bought the book ขMan and Music In Indiaข by Roshmi Goswami and was introduced to a staggering thought from within it’s pages… that every note sounded by a musician is actually a container for the spirit of the musician.

Now breaking that open further I began to see that (I’m a musician myself; drummer, guitar player) as the notes of a musician could be filled by the very soul or spirit of the musician himself or even God or demons (if you believe in them) so the notes were almost like little boats that each musician filled with their persona unique to them and by plucking, singing, striking the note they in essence ‘launched’ it out into the waves of the sea of sound where it eventually reaches the ‘port’ of it’s destination the audiences hearing ear, who gladly receive and enjoy it (or otherwise if a bad musician).

In my mind’s eye I saw each musical piece therefore (stick with me here it’s worth it I promise) as composed of thousands of little boats (the notes) sent out to sail across the sea of sound by vibration (the waves) to the audiences listening intently on the other side of that ’sound sea’.

For many years I thought about this and then realised (sorry I’m a bit slow on the uptake sometimes!) that this didn’t just apply to notes in music but more deeply and profoundly it actually applied to the very stuff of life itself WORDS.

As such every single every single word you say or write is a container, a ‘little boat’ as it were… that actually contains YOU! The question is what fills your ‘little boat’ before you launch it out to sea?

If the light bulb has not gone on yet it will, just keep pondering the bigger picture above perhaps of a lone master violinist or a sitar and tabla player deeply intwined in an intricate Indian raga and before long you’ll understand exactly what I’m driving at… and it’s deep, very profound.

When you apply the above metaphor to words you see the little boats not as notes just being ขcontainers for the music and spirit of the musicianข but rather words as little ships themselves that contain YOUR very essence, spirit, soul and persona.

Every time you speak or write a single line you release a little ‘Armada’ of these little boats out onto the sea of existence itself if speaking, then out onto the splashing waves of the ’sea of sound’ if writing, then even more deeply into the sea of ‘heart to heart direct communication’ itself… without a sound, directly to the target.

What’ s so profound about the written word is it’s ability (when the writing is good) to bypass all the defences humans erect against other human’s intrusion and drop directly into the emotional and decision making part of the heart to evoke powerful responses. That’s also good if you want to sell something to someone.

Quick example…

My wife didn’t even know I really had feelings for her in the first months of us knowing each other and she’d moved to another town 65 miles away I wrote her a letter; it was pretty powerful (I was terrible at controlling my emotions then and splurged the clumsy letter full of poetry and undying declarations of love etc!) and she phoned me saying she was surprised at my feelings for her; within 8 weeks we were married and that was 17 years ago.

Prior to the letter I’d just been a fleeting aquaintance and if I’d tried face to face I’d probably have blown it being so nervous and all but; the words carrying my spirit, passion, persona bypassed all her natural resistance and… melted her heart!

So what’s this all got to do with copywriting? Well a massive amount really; the point I’m trying to uncover here is that you reveal your very personality through every single word you write… even if there are some aspects you’d rather not show to others, especially prospects or clients. Each little copywriting ‘word boat’ is saturated with an invisible (to you but not your readers), almost DNA like substance which betrays who you really are to everyone who reads what you write.

Eek! Kinda scarey…

So putting your best food forward for business doesn’t mean covering up the nasty bits and hoping folks won’t find them. Their ’sixth sense’ tells them to avoid you or do business with you because the ’substance’ leaks out from the little boats to alert them to who the real you is, whether you like it or not.

Rather, you fix what’s wrong in your business, align who and what you are with an honest decent direction and let that saturate all your future messages as you roll out your campaigns to win the world. Then your transparency will win you friends and business… you become attractive.

Never forget when your words drop through someones letter box, email box or arrive through the ether on a telephone wire folks instantly know deep in their gut whether you’re the ‘real deal’ or not.

You can’t hide it when you wrote your copy or launched into your sales pitch you filled your ‘little boat’ with who you really are, your own unique DNA … probably without even knowing it.

Think about your copywriting this way; yes you’ve got to grab attention, give the other person what they want, see things from their perspective, give them the benefits up front etc but when it comes to your USP and what makes YOU special, make sure your entire message is drenched in your unique, niche tailored, custom fitted, perfectly targeted USP… but it must be done with absolute honesty or they will know, they just will.

I remember years ago working for a photocopying company I was the best in the whole company at getting appointments yet useless at selling them if I went on an appointment; why? Because although I’d admitted it to no one including myself at the time I hated photocopiers (they are so boring) and the people could instantly tell that when I spoke about them.

On the other hand I loved getting appointments for the company (I secretly hoped the boss would send the other ‘good reps’ on the calls) and that’s why I did so well at setting them, people were instantly turned on by my words down the phone to them because I was passionate about lead generation.

My boats were full to to the top with unique ‘Dave Alstonness!’ and people loved it so they set appointments with me.

You also need to be special, unique, different for someone to do business with you these days because folks can so easily go somewhere else at the click of a mouse align your business with who you really should be.

Ensure every word you say, or write is filled to the brim with the right spirit and true integrity and allow the ’sea’ to carry each ‘little boat’ directly into every single heart you target. You’ll be amazed at what happens.

Make no mistake, in these increasingly impersonal and troubled times people value enriching business ‘partnerships’ they can rely on and will give them their business. But you’ll only get them by targeting the heart… and they’ll only let you in if they can instantly sense they can trust you.

People want to know you care they’ll sense it instantly; good or bad, when your ‘word ship’ arrives whether you want them to or not. So why not examine all your words verbal and written from how your small business answers the phone, your voice mails, your sales letters, autoresponder messages, right through to your web site content? Replace defective words with heart to heart communication instead.

Check if your communications really are brimming with the good stuff you want others to see in your business when they get word from you. Don’t send them containers full of refuse with your good companies name on it without even realising it. The world’s got too much of it already… spam. Send out a little fleet of ‘word ships’ filled with gold to make peoples lives better instead.

That’s just one tiny copywriting secret I’ve gleaned so far from the Indian Mystics. Keep your eyes peeled for the next article it’s ‘The Indian Rope Trick’.

About The Author

Dave Alston is the Author of กRevealed: The Hidden Truth About Web Designก and owner of http://www.aceofwebs.com small business web success driven by crystal clear copywriting. Subscribe to his กAce Tipsก marketing RSS feed by copying and pasting http://www.aceofwebs.co.uk/rss/wprss2.php into your RSS Reader.

This article was posted on December 15, 2004

by Dave Alston

My Dumbest Marketing Blunder And How You Can Avoid

My Dumbest Marketing Blunder And How You Can Avoid It

by: John Colanzi

When I started submitting Ezine articles, I never realized their true power. I was just happy to see the articles being published.

I expected to get some traffic and hopefully some sales. I would have laughed if you told me those early words would still be floating around the web over five years later.

Well, smack me on the wrist and call me shorty, they are. You would think thatกs a good thing and it is except… Thatกs the operative word, กexcept.ก The little critters are still multiplying around the web like rabbits in heat, but there is a little problem. Actually, the problem isn’t so little.

This darn problem haunts me. At least a couple of times a week it drives me insane. Whenever I run across it I feel like the dullest axe in the shed.

If I were double jointed, Iกd kick myself in the กhello there.ก

So what is this dumb mistake that:

Has me pulling my hair out by the roots

Has me kicking myself over and over

Haunts me like that house in Amityville

Outdated resource boxes with links leading to that dreaded 404 error.

Iกm afraid to guess how much money and traffic Iกm losing. Itกs a nightmare. Those babies are doing their part, but crazy John has made the ultimate dumb mistake.

How did this happen? How could I end up looking like the กvillage idiot?ก

The only answer I can give is, กI didn’t realize.ก

I never realized how viral articles were. I had no idea that little articles could circle the globe for years.

I didn’t see the big picture. I wrote those resource boxes with no regard for the future.

How can you avoid making the same mistake?

1. If you’re going to promote an affiliate program, don’t link directly.

Sometimes programs just disappear. Other times, you may find the program hasn’t lived up to your expectations.

Set up a redirect page on your website. If the program disappears, or you no longer wish to promote it, you can reset the page to lead wherever you choose.

2. Don’t lead directly to your opt in list.

You never know when a list may change their pricing or services. For one reason or another you may change listservs.

A better option is to set up a page on your site to capture addresses. If you leave your present service, you can edit the page to lead to your new list.

If I had set up my links according to option number one for affiliate programs, or two for list building, Iกd have kept the leads flowing and the orders coming for years.

Creating killer articles can drive traffic and pull in profits for years. So avoid the mistakes of this กdumb monkeyก and reap the full rewards of your efforts.

Wishing You Success, John Colanzi

About The Author

Copyright (c) John Colanzi. John has been writing on the Internet for 5 years and has a special gift for you. Sign up for your complementary eCourse กHow To Build Your Business With Free Advertising.ก Visit: http://www.thesimplesystem.net/cashflow.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 17, 2004

by John Colanzi

Money Doubler Madness

Money Doubler Madness

by: Elaine Currie, BA (Hons).

After being around in the background for a while, money doublers suddenly became a huge craze on the internet. Forum message boards sported hysterical testimonials like กI Cycled!ก and กI Got Paid!ก

I wonder if they call it a craze because it only crazy people fall for it. Well, I’m certainly not crazy, on the dull side of sensible I’d say if I was pressed on the subject. I am not given to trusting people and you won’t find me accepting a free lunch.

So why did I get involved? I put it down to an unattractive little green mean streak of greed. Once that little green fellah gave me a nudge, there was no stopping me; I went from weakness to weakness.

I thought that it would be safe to join one of the established programmes, so I joined the Easy Chair Club’s My Magic Doubler. I invested $100. Their server crashed and they closed to new members with bewildering suddenness. I wondered if I was their last ever member to sign up.

My natural mistrust of human beings became even deeper and I resolved not to make a similar mistake in future; I would not be tempted to join another money doubler.

Some days later, I received $120 back from Easy Chair Club. I had not doubled my money, but I was in profit. I began to like the human race a little better and to think maybe money doublers were not such a bad idea.

Double Bot caught my attention. People were getting paid out and, best of all, they had what they called a กspamก section on their forum where members could discuss money making opportunities (ie other doublers). I invested $50. After my success (I did not see it as a lucky escape) with My Magic Doubler, I was feeling confident.

At this time Matrix Twisted was about to launch. This was my chance to get in at the very start of a doubler and make some big money, so I funded my account with $50. The difference in time zone meant that I would have to buy shares in the middle of the night. Regrettably, I slept through the excitement of the launch. I also missed the trauma of the instant crash and the first howls of กScam!ก I began to feel less confident and more like a Jinx.

Cycle It Fast had already been relaunched and people were getting their money doubled within hours. Strangely, once I had taken the plunge and invested, things changed and I reckon it would have been better named Cycle It Extremely Slowly. Instead of cycling times being expressed in hours, they rose to days and then weeks. Cycle times are no longer mentioned. I think the wheels fell off the day I joined.

I decided Cycle It Fast would have to be a long term investment. I still had Double Bot for quick profit. I was surprised to note, when I visited the forum, one day that the popular กspamก section had been removed and posts along the lines of ก10 days and I haven’t cycledก and กWhere is my money?ก were appearing. I started to feel a little uneasy. I was disappointed but not surprised when the Bot hit the rocks. How strange, it had been doing so well before I joined. I asked for a refund but I think admin were too busy baling out.

Anxious to recover my losses, I invested $50 with Profit Sharing Hits. Money doubling with advertising hits on top. What could go wrong? I was stunned when the members’ forum disappeared overnight and Admin announced that a relaunch was necessary. I again got that eerie feeling of being the last one in before the doors closed.

After several emails from me, a reply arrived from Double Bot. As admin had not got round to refunding my money before they relaunched, they were offering me a choice of paying them a 35% fee to process the refund or reinvesting in the Bot even though doubling had stopped.

That is the absolute end! Pass me that albatross and call me Jonah. It seems that any doubler that takes me on board will immediately sink. I might as well go and throw my money straight into the sea, at least I’ll get some fresh air at the same time. I have learned my lesson. I’ll concentrate on my Plug In Profit Site and will not waste any more time or money on these stupid doublers.

Wait up! I just got mail and there’s a money tripler about to launch. Now that’s different…

About The Author

This is one of a series of articles published by the author, Elaine Currie, BA(Hons) at http://www.HuntingVenus.com.

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This article was posted on December 02, 2004

by Elaine Currie, BA (Hons).