What Internet Marketers Can Learn From Obvious Ada

What Internet Marketers Can Learn From Obvious Adams

by: Jo Han Mok

A very long time ago, 1916 to be exact, The Saturday Evening Post began publishing a column about a young man named ขObvious Adamsข. Adams was a fictional caricature of a wouldbe advertising man who was so simple, and so guileless, in his thinking that he was brilliant in spite of himself.

The column gained popularity in business circles for its plain wisdom and straightforward advice. The Adams narrative wasn’t merely a ขgood storyข, it was a source of actionable information. Each installment found young Adams facing a new marketing challenge bestowed upon him by his employer. His knack for finding the solutions which hid in plain site earned him his namesake.

The story of Adams was finally published in book form by Robert Updegraff and used as a primer for new advertising executives. Although the text is somewhat quaint, it is a quick, pleasant read and I highly recommend locating a copy for your library.

So, what can you learn from Mr. ขObvious Adamsข? A lot! We will examine and discuss a few choice excerpts from the work, and reveal their application to your every day marketing challenges.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Oil

ขI want to get into the advertising business and I want to work for you, and I thought the obvious thing to do was to come and tell you so.ข

What is the lesson here? If you want something: ask! Likewise, if you want results, take immediate action.

Let me ask you this: how many opportunities have you let slip past simply because you were afraid to go direct to the source of profit? For example, how long have you had a super joint venture idea sitting on the backburner because you’re afraid to contact potential partners?

In the quoted material, Adams is addressing a fictional advertising big wig named James B.Oswald. Adams had promptly awoken in the morning to pay a visit to the man and ask him for a job. Do you find that a bit gutsy? After all, he’s a no name kid. Oswald runs a huge, profitable corporation.

Similarly, do you ever say to yourself: ขWho do I think I am? These big internet marketing gurus won’t give me the time of dayข? Well, guess what? They’re human just like you are. They got where they are by asking for what they wanted and needed and by taking action.

When you have a desire and a plan of action, don’t sit around hemming and hawing about it or doubting yourself. Follow Adams’ lead and shut out all other thoughts except the most logical. You want X, do Y. You need to make contacts, go make the contacts.

You can’t know what the possibilities are until you reach for them, and you can’t get what you want unless you ask for it.

Live and Breathe Your Market

ขAdams proceeded to study up on the subject of peaches. He though, studied, dreamed and ate peaches, fresh, canned, and pickled. He sent for government bulletins. He spent his evenings studying canning.ข

Do you really want to be more competitive? Would you like to know the absolute best price point for your products? Would you like write absolutely killer copy that pulls in sales and outperforms your current control? If you do, then you need to live and breathe in your market.

This is an obvious business principle that often gets overlooked by new home business owners. You jump into a niche and maybe you have some experience – maybe it’s one of your hobbies – but do you really know the industry? Do you know which trade publications to read? Do you know what the current wholesale price is for your product, or what the demand is for your information?

It is very difficult to sell something you don’t know much about. Pick a subject you aren’t familiar with, invent an imaginary product and try writing copy for it. Not very easy, is it?

Now, pick something you do know a lot about, and try to write out everything you know. You’ve probably got a sizeable list, but I ‘ll wager that you’ve left off more than you realize.

Adams went to great lengths to read up on peaches. Peaches! What more can be said about a peach than its piece of fruit, grows on trees and tastes good? Well, as Adams revealed, there’s a lot more to be said.

Don’t ever assume that you know all there is to know about your market, your customers or your product. There is always another feature or benefit hidden somewhere in the fine print, in those daytoday facts that we are so used to we become immune from them.

Are You ‘Selling’ Enough?

ขWe have been doing wonderful cake advertising, but we have overlooked the very things you have pointed out in your plan. We have been doing too much advertising and not enough selling.ข

Read that last sentence again. It reveals a very important distinction. Advertising and selling are not mirror images of each other.

In fact, the best way to discern the difference between the two is in the following definition: Advertising focuses on features and facts. Selling focuses on benefits.

AD

We offer the very best in leather jackets. Our spring sale features 50% discounts and free shipping!

Sales Pitch

The soft, supple skin of our topofthe line bomber jacket will make everyone envious of you! The woollined interior will keep you warm in the winter so you can brave the harshest elements. The zip out feature lets you use the jacket in cool weather, too – so you won’t be too hot or too cold but you’ll still look stylish!

An advertisement says: ขHere is our product. Here’s what it can do. Here’s how much it costs.ข On the other hand, a powerful piece of sales copy says: ขYou’ll feel 10 years younger and rekindle your love with our product: Here, touch it, feel it, test it, have a sample of it.ข

An advertising campaign creates brand awareness and creates general interest. A sales campaign captures that interest and converts it into desire.

So, if your conversion rates aren’t what you’d like them to be, the first thing to do is check your copy. Does your sales letter read like one big advertisement? You’re spending money on traffic, but what are the customers seeing once they arrive at your site? Are they being sold effectively?

There is always a reason for the customer’s decision not to buy, and failure to execute good salesmanship is one of them. It doesn’t matter how good your product is or what it costs. It doesn’t matter if you’re giving away millions of dollar worth of value for pennies on the dollar. If the customer can’t see the benefits of owning the product himself, he won’t buy.

The Path of Least Resistance: Common Sense

ขIt’s that everlasting obviousness in Adams that I banked on. He doesn’t get carried away from the facts; he just looks them squarely in the face and then proceeds to analyze, and that is half the battle.

Indeed, many of the answers to your most pressing marketing challenges are hidden within common sense. The problem is that many people just don’t enjoy thinking. They’re lazy and thought takes up too much energy. Imagine how much expense you could save yourself if only you were to put in the hard work of an honest analysis of your business – and that means sitting down and analyzing:

Your overhead

Your prices

Your copy

Your traffic stats and logs

Customer feedback

Keyword performance

Email campaign data on open rates and conversions

The answers you find can sometimes be as simple as having a server crash or a nonworking order link, or as tricky as a design element on your page which looks fine to you but confuses prospects and drives them away.

You should test and track every element of your sales chain. This means you need to pay attention to your traffic sources, to the copy on the links from those sources, to the landing page which gives visitors their first impression, to the follow up material you send. Each element plays an important role in finetuning the prospect’s mind and opening it up for your ultimate pitch.

Any weak link in the chain can cost you sales. Imagine one day that you send out an offer to your list without first double checking that the link works? Then, you have to send out a second message to apologize and provide the correct link. The odds are good that a significant percentage of your list won’t bother opening the second email. If you’d reached them the first time, though, there would be money in your pocket.

Some of the other ‘gotchas’ that can ruin a campaign: click fraud on the pay per click engines, product theft, missed customer support emails and wasted money on underperforming keywords and other forms of advertising.

There’s no real excuse for being lazy on these things! Yes, you can try to cut corners, but you’ll pay for it at some point. It’s like a brick and mortar merchant leaving the doors unlocked at night. You’re practically guaranteed to experience a wipe out sooner or later.

In Conclusion

There’s an old classic from the same era as ขObvious Adamsข called How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. The wisdom one can glean from Adams’ straightforward and common sense approach to business could be called How to Market on 24 Hours a Day. Too often we overcomplicate things when the simple answer is staring us right in the face. Learn to step back and execute a ‘horsesense’ analysis of the facts at hand. The time you save, and the profits you keep, will be immeasurable.

Copyright 2005 Jo Han Mok

About The Author

Jo Han Mok is a frequent guest and featured speaker at Internet Marketing bootcamps and conferences on subjects such as copywriting and Joint Venture Marketing. Discover his hardcore sixfigure pulling secrets of กsalesmanship in printก at: http://www.MasterWordsmith.com.

This article was posted on January 23, 2005

by Jo Han Mok

Time Your News Release For Maximum Publicity

Time Your News Release For Maximum Publicity

by: David Leonhardt

กCindy, whereกs that story? I need it yesterday!ก

กComing right up, boss. Iกll have it to you soon,ก Cindy shouted back.

กYesterday isn’t soon enough!ก

Cindy clicked on her screen. กYou have mail.ก She looked at the messages. ‘three news releases,ก she murmured. กI don’t have time for this now.ก [delete] [delete] [delete]

Stop! Was that your news release Cindy just deleted? Too bad you sent it to her at the wrong time. You may have heard that ‘timing is everythingก and that is even more true in a newsroom. But how do you know when is the best time to send a news release?

Media relations is an art more than a science, so there is no single rule. If there was, everyone would be a media star. Here are a few guidelines to help you zoom ahead of your competition for the mediaกs attention:

Each type of media and each type of journalist is different. Here are just a few of the variables:

National or local media

TV, newspaper, radio or magazine

News reporter, features reporter or columnist

Consumer magazine or trade journal

Daily, weekly or monthly publication

Print or electronic

Each company or organization is different, as is its news. Here are just a few of the variables:

Local, national or international operations

Prescheduled news release, or lastminute reaction to todayกs news.

Product announcement, policy announcement, financial announcement

Bearing in mind the wide range of news you might announce and the wide range of media targets, 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. tends to be the best time of day to release news. You want to give the assignment editor time to send them out to cover your news. If you hope to get into the noon news, you don’t want to go too late, because you run into TV deadlines. Early afternoon is a secondbest time, but if you get much past 2:30, you will catch Cindyกs [delete] button at most daily newspapers and television stations.

I have been asked about the best day of the week to send out a news release. There isn’t one. I have seen plenty of debates on this. From personal experience, the only difference I ever noticed is when I could pick a slow news day. For instance, if in your city the daily newspaper can be reached on Sunday and not too much tends to happen that day in your subject area, you may find it easier to get into Mondayกs newspaper than if you try later in the week. But on average, there is not much difference.

Best time of month, year, etc? Again, there is no single best time. There is one golden rule. Do not send out a release when the world is wrapped up in some allconsuming event like the death of Princess Diana or the attack on the World Trade Center. Remember how much TV airtime and newspaper print space were devoted to those events? The media and its audiences had other things on their minds than your news. You can’t control events, but you can control the timing of your release (most of the time).

How far in advance should you send out your release? Some book reviewers usually need several months. Others don’t want to see your release until the book is on the store shelves. Many consumer magazines have a sixmonth editorial preview. Features editors often run several weeks ahead of time, but sometimes squeeze things in on short notice. News departments want only breaking news. Yesterdayกs news is … well, yesterdayกs news. Your release is already forgotten.

Does all this sound confusing. It is. The bottom line in any marketing is to know your target market and give it what it wants. Same with the media. The guidelines above give a very abbreviated list of what you need to consider. If you are still unsure, a media coach might be a good investment. But be forewarned – find someone with enough experience and success to coach you in the right direction.

About The Author

After a decade and a half as one of Canadaกs top consumer advocates, often conducting over 600 media interviews each year, David Leonhardt is sharing his knowledge with others. Pick up a copy of his special report กGet In The News!ก at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com/PR.html. Home page is http://www.TheHappyGuy.com

amabaie@phastnet.com

This article was posted on December 05, 2002

by David Leonhardt

The Pleasures Of a Luxury Watch

The Pleasures Of a Luxury Watch

by: Argentonio Vigilanza

Purchasing a luxury watch that is a good investment.

Many people consider luxury watches an extravagance. To them it makes little sense to spend thousands of dollars on a Rolex or a Cartier, when there are essential payments to be made. The same is true about cars. They say why spend 90,000 dollars on a brand new sports car when a sedan or a station wagon in 9,000 dollars would do just as well. After all, they both have four wheels, an engine, a steering wheel and a gas pedal and they take you where you have to go.

However, luxury watches are different! They serve many purposes. They are precision instruments that are finetuned for perfect accuracy, and give you the right time all the time. Thatกs their purpose, no doubt. But luxury watches adorn the stylish and fashionable wardrobe. Itกs a matter of style. Some people feel naked without a belt, others feel absolutely desolate and deserted without their luxury watches. And it is not about time only. Even if they are surrounded by scores of digital clocks, cell phones, microwaves and other timetelling devices they are ill at ease without their luxury watch.

Aside from their functionality and sharp looks, luxury watches also confer a sense of status on their wearers. A stunning Rolex or Breitling can denote great taste and class every bit as much as a Jaguar or Mercedes. In fact, with the premier foreign car manufacturers diluting their brands with 30,000dollar versions of their classic autos, one could argue that some luxury watches are a greater status symbol than some highend vehicles.

To buy a luxury watch you need a discerning eye. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and only a true connoisseur can tell the difference. They have a flair for style and quality. They choose their watches with as much care as they would choose a home to live in. They compare brands, quality and prices. They consider various factors such as mechanisms, escapements, complications, dials and many more aesthetic factors like watch bands and bezels. They enjoy looking at various brands as much as they love buying the watch thatกs close to their heart.

So if you want to add some style to your life, think of buying a luxury watch. For one thing, itกs easier to carry around than a luxury car!

About The Author

Argentonio Vigilanza is the owner and webmaster of Fa Watch, a leading Internet directory for watch information. For more watch information and resources, please stop by: http://www.fawatch.com.

This article was posted on August 25

by Argentonio Vigilanza

What Is Your Marketing Really Costing You

What Is Your Marketing Really Costing You

by: Charlie Cook

Small business owners are justifiably concerned about the expense of marketing their business. Many look at marketing as a line item in their budgets, and minimize marketing expenses in order to maximize profits. But to grow your business and be more profitable, you need to evaluate the costs of marketing from a broader perspective.

Like most small business owners, you know what you earned last year, and youกd like to earn more. You know your target market; if your marketing worked how much more profitable could you be? If you could get all the attention you deserve, attract all the prospects that your research suggests want your products and services and close more sales, how much could you make next year?

If you made fifty thousand dollars this year and your analysis of your market suggests an earning potential of four hundred thousand dollars per year, then your current marketing strategy is costing you the difference, or three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in lost income each year.

How much is your present marketing approach costing you in lost revenue? Evaluate your marketing strategy using these questions;

How much less would you make if you didn’t do any marketing?

How much more will you make next year, using the same marketing strategy you used last year?

How much could you make if your marketing really worked?

The first step to making more next year is to identify your earning potential. Clarify the number of buyers in your target market and estimate how much each one is worth per year. Of course not everyone who needs your service wants what you have to offer, but if your marketing is working, a whole lot more will understand how you can solve their problems and meet their needs.

Step two is to implement the marketing strategies and tactics that will help you achieve your potential this year and in years to come. No bones about it, to grow your business you will need to invest both time and money in marketing on a regular basis. To get the most out of your efforts, make sure to use a marketing plan that helps you attract the greatest number of prospects and clients and grow your business, year after year.

Don’t let your marketing strategy cost you thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue next year. Instead cut the true cost of your marketing by investing the time and money to make your marketing work, to attract more clients, close more sales and grow your business.

With a little knowledge, effort and investment in your marketing you will be able to pocket the difference between what you’re making now and your earning potential.

2003 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners attract more clients and increase their earnings with the 5 Principles of Highly Effective Marketing. Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Guide and the กMore Businessก newsletter, full of practical tips you can use at http://www.charliecook.net

ccook@charliecook.net

This article was posted on December 18, 2003

by Charlie Cook

Search Engines: The Life Blood of InternetBased H

Search Engines: The Life Blood of InternetBased Home Businesses

by: Kirk Bannerman

Anyone involved in an Internetbased home business will soon come to recognize the importance of search engines as a vehicle to attract potential customers.

Since the inception of Google in 1998, the popularity of using search engines has increased dramatically. Nielsen NetRatings reports that about 114.5 million Americans, or a whopping 39 percent of the US population, currently use search engines.

Through February of 2004, Yahoo and Microsoftกs MSN ranked as the two favorite spots on the Internet with 87.3 million and 86.2 million unique monthly visitors, respectively, according to figures produced by Nielsen NetRatings.

Microsoft.com, ranked third, with 64.2 million visitors, but this figure is somewhat misleading because this site attracts much of its traffic by repairing flaws in the Windows operating system. Google was the fourth most popular site with 60.8 million visitors.

The market shares of MSN and Yahoo haven’t changed much in the past three years while Google has emerged as a powerhouse without spending much of anything on advertising. Googleกs audience is now approximately six times larger than it was in early 2001, when it was the 26th most popular destination on the Internet.

As they vie for position, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft plan to continue upgrading their services healthy competition that can only serve to improve the search experiences of Internet users in the future.

According to comScore Networks, an estimated 3.5 billion online searches are performed in the United States each month, making searching the second most popular online activity, ranking behind only email.

In 2003, businesses spent an estimated $2 billion on advertising related to searches and some knowledgeable sources expect the searchrelated advertising market to triple during the next three years.

There are various search engine formats including natural search, pay for inclusion (PFI), pay per click (PPC), and hybrid approaches which combine both PFI and PPC characteristics. Because of the immense and growing popularity of search engines, their effective utilization is the life blood of Internetbased home businesses.

About The Author

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and resides in California. For more details, visit his website at http://businessathome.us

This article was posted on March 25, 2004

by Kirk Bannerman

Create A Flash Presentation For Free With Open Off

Create A Flash Presentation For Free With Open Office

by: Steve Howson

The intentions of this short tutorial are not to teach you how to use Open Office, but rather to show you a quick and dirty way to create presentations and tutorials that can be exported as a Macromedai Flash file.
What is Open Office? It is a free, open source, cross platform office suite that has a lot of the same features as popular commercial suites.
Being that itกs cross platform means it can be compiled for just about anything, Windows, Linux / Unix, Mac, etc..
Using Open Office Presentation
Basically, if youกve ever used Microsoft Powerpoint, youกve pretty much used Presentation. Itกs a slide show (or presentation) creator that lets you create any style slide show you want.
You can have text, graphics, charts, etc… or any combination
It does not take much to figure out Presentation. You can add text or picture boxes, add designs, add tables and pretty much anything you can think of.
After you have created the presentation, hereกs where you convert it to Flash:
You simply go in to the กfileก menu and select กExportก.
A กsave asก dialog box will come up where you can choose the file name, location and the format you want.
From the pull down box you will see the กMacromedia Flash (SWF)ก option, thatกs the one you want.
Select the format, pick your location, name the file and press the Save button.
Thatกs it.. you now have a Macromedia Flash version of your presentation that you can include on your website.
Why whould you want this?
Macromedia Flash is pretty much a standard for multimedia on the web, as a result there is a plugin for almost every browser and most people already have this plugin.
This gives you the chance to put Flash content on your site without having to play for the Macromedia Suite.

About The Author

Steve Howson is the Webmaster for SG Network Technologies web hosting company.

http://www.sgnettech.com

This article was posted on May 31, 2004

by Steve Howson

Ready, Aim, Fire…Oops…Whereกs The Target?

Ready, Aim, Fire…Oops…Whereกs The Target?

by: Patty Baldwin

Everywhere you go on the Internet you find the words, "target market." What do they mean? What does it have to do with you? Well it has everything to do with your success in sales.
Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago an online entrepreneur asked me to review a direct sales presentation for him. Letกs call him "Joe". His product and service is excellent. Top quality and performance, excellent customer service and support. The product will produce desired results for any business advertising online.
In this particular case, Joeกs potential customer is in the furniture manufacturing business. The company owns a small chain of outlet stores and advertises on the Internet. Basically, an excellent candidate for Joeกs offer.
Well, Joe sent me his package. In the offline world, it would have required UPS to deliver it with a hand truck! Now, that is an overstatement, but it consisted of a threepage cover letter, with four separate attachments and a CD presentation that he was going to mail as a followup.
Hereกs my response to Joe:

"What a tremendous amount of work you have put into this presentation.
Having been on the receiving end of proposals such as this, I must tell you that it would be the recipient of the "delete" key. Why? Too much to wade through. Too much for me to absorb. Too much for me to do. Nothing to compel me to read on.
Having said that, letกs pretend for a moment that I am Mr. Jones.

Where are the needs development questions?
What tells me that you have done your homework and know about my industry?
What are my problems and how will you solve them?
How much does the average household spend on furnishings annually? (In the US itกs about $1,000)
How are you going to help me capture a share of those dollars?
How has the economy affected my business?
What qualities separate my business from my competition?
How extensive and how important are brand names to my customers?
What are my specialty areas?
What market do I target and why?
Why do my customers keep coming back to my stores?
What are some of the hot buttons or copy points that you might use to target Mr. Jones?
What is his business terminology?

Joe, here are two sites that can help you develop a more "targeted" approach to Mr. Jones:
http://www.furnitureinfo.com/1061.htm
http://www.furniturestatistics.com/statisticalreviewsales.html
I hope this helps, Joe. Decision makers are bombarded daily and we must be ever diligent that we are focusing in on "WIIFM" (Whatกs In It For Me)".

Now, what was the message to Joe? Do Your Homework. Mr. Jones doesn’t give a rip about your product unless it can fulfill his needs, but first you have to know what those needs are.
Joeกs presentation, which probably took him hours if not days to prepare, was a classic case of overkill. The two sites referred to would have given Joe all the ammunition he needed to prepare an effective presentation and in just a few short minutes.
By the way, the research tools that I use to study markets, trends, and individual sites are listed below. Both are free to download and are priceless.
http://www.copernic.com
http://www.alexa.com
Ready, Aim … Get Ready To Fire!

About The Author

Patty Baldwin is a former Better Business Bureau executive and the owner of several online businesses. A successful net marketer, she invites you to visit any one of her sites at:

http://www.allbizservices.com

http://www.4bstrading.com

http://www.allbizwealth.com

This article was posted on January 20, 2002

by Patty Baldwin

Improving Your Conversion Reduces the Need to Cons

Improving Your Conversion Reduces the Need to Constantly Promote Your Sites

by: Jack Humphrey

I just got off the phone with Michael Fortin, one of the top copywriters and conversion experts on the web.

We were doing a teleseminar for our members on conversion and testing for website owners wanting more out of the traffic they already enjoy, rather than constantly having to promote their sites to support low conversion rates. Specifically, we were talking about all the things you can do to test different กcalls to action.ก

A call to action is anything you are trying to get people to do on any particular site or page of a site. It could be buying a product or service, getting people on an announcement list or newsletter, or getting people to click on your advertising links.

Most web publishers are so happy when they finally have a site up that they consider their work done and get right to marketing it. Once the traffic rolls in, they enjoy whatever sales or clicks they get and try to make more money by driving MORE traffic to the site.

Then they start building another site. And another. And another.

This is a disturbing trend that is creating a massive amount of waste. Both in resources and time. Especially when it comes to niche publishers who are building massive networks of sites on different topics in order to capture emails, generate advertising revenue, sell affiliated products and services, or to build their lists to generate backend sales to their subscribers.

The waste is generated when people are in too big a hurry to build more sites, add more products, and get more traffic to sites that can convert sometimes 1000% BETTER than they do now.

They are moving at a hectic pace, in this scenario, to build build build, when their income goals can most often easily be met without so much waste.

One example of waste is when someone builds a contentdry site that has nothing but Adsense and some links on it. People hit that kind of site and can’t wait to find a reason to leave. The thinking is, กGreat! My กclick thru ratioก is sky high! I am getting almost everyone to click on my ads!ก

But hereกs whatกs happening in reality: you are working VERY hard to get traffic to such a site, only to กburnก it on a 35 cent click! No email capture, no followup, and most importantly no desire on the part of the visitor to EVER see your site again!

Would you rather have someone come through your site and click immediately on an advertiserกs link, never to return? Or would you rather have someone come to your site, read some great content, sign up for your list and not click on ANY links that first time?

I will take scenario #2 any day of the week. And I won’t have made a single penny off of that person with that initial action. But I will in the future!

If you have a site that you constantly test and tweak for performance (beyond its ability to repulse your visitors into clicking on an advertisement just to get to a QUALITY site) then you have a real business.

You can test and track SO MANY variables to make a site more profitable than it is now. Every site on the web can perform better than it does right now. Every single one!

The people who understand this never stop testing their calls to action to get their visitors to do more than something that results in a onetime action.

Traffic is the most expensive thing on the web both in the time it takes to get it and the resources you have to use up for each and every hit.

The traffic you have now might be all the traffic you EVER need on a daily basis to make a killing with your site. You will never know until you test and track everything about your site.

The headlines, the offers, the optin forms, the guarantees, testimonials, bullets, adsense placement, followup… In short, every webmaster on the net has a lot of work to do on every site they own if they really want to reap the kinds of profits their sites are actually capable of pulling in.

Most people get a site up and are happy with the sales or clicks they get and move on. NO! You are leaving so much money on the table thinking you are done with a site right after you put it up.

That site is the worst it should ever be! Wasting another domain fee, hosting fee, bandwidth and the costs associated with getting traffic to a brand new site before you have optimized your current site for the very best conversion it can pull is NOT good business practice.

I know people who have literally thousands of domains. And one thing I can guarantee you is this: They are making a pittance, even if they are making $60,000 a DAY, in comparison to what they COULD be making with far fewer sites and more testing and tweaking of that smaller group!

And Fortin seems to agree. He is going to be at my seminar in New Orleans September 9th 11th to expose everyone who attends to just how much money they have left on the table over the years because they have never tested different aspects of their calls to action.

It is enlightening, as well as depressing to find out how much money you COULD have made all this time had you tested from the beginning!

But the point is, you cannot go back to get all those lost subscribers, sales, or clicks. You can only start testing today to capture more money from each site you own. Thereby alleviating the need to have a massive network of sites all performing at half their potential or much less!

Copyright 2005 Jack Humphrey

About The Author

Jack Humphrey is Managing Partner at Content Desk. He is also the author of Power Linking 2005, now in its 4th edition. http://www.powerlinkingprofits.com. To learn more about the profitable niche publishing industry, check out http://contentdesk.com/mardigras.

This article was posted on August 09

by Jack Humphrey

Use Blogs and RSS Feeds to get your New Sites and

Use Blogs and RSS Feeds to get your New Sites and Pages Indexed Fast!

by: Craig Desorcy

They say its a dog eat dog world out there. Everyone is fighting for their right to lead the pack. Cyberspace has it’s own virtual rendition of this cliche…search engine optimization. Marketers around the globe are struggling to get their products at the top of search engine listings. They go to great lengths to produce material with high keyword density in an attempt to entice robotic spiders to visit their sites.

Robert was in over his head. He’d posted projects on freelance websites hoping to hire writers to supply him with keyword dense content. This was his fourth attempt. Good writers were worth their weight in gold. The only problem was that he didn’t have much of the gold stuff to throw around. He’d taken a chance, and accepted the bid of someone he knew wasn’t topquality, but hey, they fit his budget.

Two weeks later he was still editing and rewriting…and grumbling and growling. Where did these people learn to write anyway? The ring of the telephone interrupted his fuming. It was his long time friend Dave…excited and ready to talk. Dave had discovered the backdoor into search engines…

Imagine yourself an oldtime bank robber appearing at the bank’s back door only to find it wide open and a welome sign attached. Wow! How much easier can it get? …no risks, and nothing to keep you from making a quick getaway with lots of cash. RSS feeds and blogs are exactly that…an open door to search engines like Yahoo! They costs you nothing and present a norisk invitation for quick results!

Did I mention quick results? We’re talking really quick results! Compare the time and effort Robert invested into getting his site recognized by search engines to what RSS feed and blog users are spending…minutes, yes minutes! Bloggers spend a short time creating a few paragraphs of content that is quickly broadcast around the world with RSS feeds, and get better results than other SEO methods. People everywhere are saying, ขWOW! MY site was indexed within hours after I employed RSS feeds!ข

( Fast and Easy Way To Get Blogging and Using RSS Feeds Click here> http://www.effectiveinfo.com/blogsrss.html )

How much time have you wasted in your attempt to increase web traffic to your site? That’s what I thought…too much. I won’t bother to ask how much money you’ve wasted we’ll try to keep things on a more positive note. You really don’t need to employ an SEO company, or like Robert attempt to do it yourself. You can have your site indexed and sending traffic your way today!

Hang on just a second…before you get started, there are a few secrets to making your blogs and RSS feeds more effective. SHHHH…if you can slip keywords from the news headlines into your daily blog…nod, nod…your blog will be sure make more appearances around the world. Now, go make it happen!

About The Author

Fast and Easy Way To Get Blogging and Using RSS Feeds

Click here> http://www.effectiveinfo.com/blogsrss.html

This article is copyright © Craig Desorcy

Craig Desorcy is an Internet enthusiast who Lives and works in Japan, spending most of his free time on the internet running his blog and websites of interest.

Craig(at)effectiveinfo.com

This article was posted on February 05

by Craig Desorcy

Home Business, Whatกs So Great About It?

Home Business, Whatกs So Great About It?

by: Stephen Warren

Home Business allows you more time to do what you want.

Home Business gives you more freedom i.e. no more 95 job.

Because a Home Business is well…. at Home, you don’t have to travel far to get there.

Just come down stairs in your pajamas and get to work right there and then. Itกs so convenient.

What is this article about?

Basically this is about starting a Home Business, whatกs involved, what options there are, how much it can cost etc.

I have already described the advantages of having a Home Based Business, so now we will discuss what is involved in starting one up.

When you start working for yourself there are several things you must take into consideration.

How much can I afford to spend on advertising, materials and other costs, can I afford to lose the money I am going to put into this business, where will I get finance from? And a million other things.

So I will break this down into many small chunks which will make it much easier to digest.

How much money will I need to start this up?

That is entirely dependant upon you and your goals. You should only invest as much money as you can afford to lose, this way, if everything goes wrong you can still live without too much interference.

That aside you must think how much you are going to spend on advertising. To work this out, you should take all of your costs and assign them a percentage of your finance which you will put into them. For example, if you had $10,000 to start your Business, you could assign 10% to advertising depending on how much everything else costs.

In my opinion you should work out your initial costs first, like rent and materials for example.

Then you can take whatกs left over and assign it to whatever else you want to spend the money on afterwards.

How can I tell if I can afford to lose the money I invest in my Business?

Very simply estimate the most that the business will cost you and assume that it wont make any money at all for a month, obviously this will be a big loss, but it will give you an idea of what COULD happen if your very unlucky.

If it looks like way more than you can afford to lose, then don’t do it until you are more prepared. But please remember that in business, there is no reward without risk. So if you don’t risk your money, then you wont be rewarded.

Do I need finance? And Where can I get it from?

Do you have enough personal savings to start the business you want to? If you don’t then you will need external financing.

The place where most people will get there initial financing is the bank. But there are other places and people as well.

Bank:

Mortgage for premises

Loan

Venture capitalists

Grants

And many more, but the above are the main ones.

Iกm sure you know what mortgages and loans are, but chances are, you don’t know what a venture capitalist is.

A venture capitalist is someone who contributes financing to a business in exchange for part ownership of the firm. This is ideal if you are starting an expensive business which you might not be able to afford, but expect high profits from.

But be careful, when you give up part ownership you give up some profits.

About The Author

Stephen Warren is the creator and webmaster of http://www.marketershandbook.com, a completely free business and marketing resource which anyone may use.

freeserve.net@swarren30.fsnet.co.uk

This article was posted on August 23, 2004

by Stephen Warren

Making Informed Keyword Choices

Making Informed Keyword Choices

by: John Calder

Marketers stake much of their livelihood on keywords, whether for proper search engine optimization or targeted payperclick advertising. One challenge faced by inexperienced marketers involves knowing which phrases to target out of hundreds of combinations.

Often, one will find terms which look good, but later testing reveals the terms simply don’t convert visitors to sales. If you performed your due diligence by testing and tracking all elements of the sales page (copy, graphics, price, etc), this scenario may leave you baffled and wondering ขWhy didn’t this phrase produce sales? It really looked like a winner!ข

Every search term presents us with the challenge of reading intent. What was the visitor really looking for when they typed in the phrase? While it’s impossible to know this with certainty, you can improve your ability to read intent from keywords, and improve the accuracy of your targeting.

The First Guideline: Pay Attention to Qualifying Terms

Are multiterm (3 or more keyword) search phrases more targeted? Not always. A narrow search indicates only that searcher intends to find a specific piece of information. It does not necessarily indicate intent to purchase.

For example, the search phrase ขbig blue widgetข points to a narrowly defined interest, but does not reveal whether the searcher intends to research prices, look at photographs of big, blue widgets, or merely discovered a passing curiosity after hearing about them someplace else. The phrase appears promising at first, but still presents us with a high likelihood of nonconverting traffic. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test such a phrase, only that you are more likely to see a good deal of untargeted spillover traffic.

What you really want to look for during your keyword research is qualification. Specificity is not enough. So, how do you spot the qualifying terms that indicate the searcher is in buying mode?

You spot them by applying a formula to your keyword list. If you have your list in front of you now, take a look at it and see if you can apply the following parameters to any of the phrases:

Contextual/Situational

Urgent

Preferential

Relevant terms for contextual/situational searching might include:

Bad credit/good credit

Student

Divorced

Retired

Self Employed

When you apply contextual/situational parameters to your keywords, you should think in terms of ขfilling in the blanksข of the situation: ขIf I have bad credit, where can I get a loan?ข ขWhile I’m a student, what deals can I get on travel?ข

Searches qualified in this way indicate an active interest in finding solutions. Visitors generated from these terms may view themselves as still in ขresearch modeข, but the fact is that they are as ripe as they’ll ever be for a convincing sales pitch.

What about urgency? The most obvious terms to look for include: fast, quick, speedy, immediate, and so on. However, you may also find terms which imply urgency, such as : easy (the easier it is, the faster it is), hasslefree, preapproved, automatic and instant, to name a few.

Lastly, preference can reveal much about where the visitor is in the buying process. Qualifying terms pertaining to the sales process, to delivery (e.g., ขinstant downloadข or ขfree shippingข) and customer service all indicate a proactive search for solutions.

The Second Guideline: Know Your Industry

Inexperienced marketers often miss out on keyword goldmines because they make the mistake of focusing only on the data their keyword tools give them for broad terms. The tools and tactics one picks up in his or her marketing education are valuable, but they’re no substitute for intimate knowledge of the market. When you ขdabbleข in an industry you often choose only the most obvious keywords, and this leaves you in competition with all the other dabblers scrounging for top placement on those terms.

A much better option (especially if your field is affiliate marketing) is to educate yourself deeply on the vocabulary of one market at a time. Learn everything you can about this one market, its sub or spinoff markets, and anything else that helps you live and breathe the mindset of your potential customer.

When you do this, you will find a wealth of new keywords – words with which only an ขinsiderข would be familiar. These terms are not only more targeted, but they invoke a measure of instant credibility as well. The customer knows you couldn’t reach him if you did not ขspeak his language’.

The Third Guideline: Choose Terms Which Hold Synergy with Your Sales Copy

In the fight to squeeze out as much traffic as possible, it is tempting to bid on as many keywords as possible and funnel them all to one or two sales pages. A better tactic is to slice down your keyword list into subsets which closely match the tone evoked by your sales copy. Next, separate out the terms which you feel are viable but ขdon’t quite fitข, and create new sales copy to support them.

Why do all of this extra work? Well, there’s a little secret you should know about. It comes from a surprising place: the world of personal ads. Personal ads provide the ultimate study in ขshort copyข. Have you ever placed an ad on a dating site and found that most of your respondents focused on only one or two words in your profile and then wrote to you despite their obvious incompatibility?

People are often lazy and they are often hurried. Your customer’s eyes zero in on only a few words – those most important to him at that very moment, and the rest of your copy gets filtered away.

This is why it’s crucial that your keywords hold synergy with your sales copy – and by synergy I mean that if you intend your prospect to zero in on, for example, ขeasy web site creationข, then your copy should speak only to ease, speed and instantaneous gratification of your product, and not make mention of any additional, complicated features. Save those features for your copy when you target people on terms like ขadvanced web site creationข. Even if your solution offers both ease of use and advanced results, split them off.

Making informed keyword choices boosts your bottom line. Remember that quality always trumps quantity. Even though you can’t read your customers mind, the guidelines presented here will get you one step closer to dissecting it!

Copyright 2004 John Calder

About The Author

John Calder is the owner/editor of The Ezine Dot Net. Visit today and read more of his articles held online at: http://www.TheEzine.Net. RSS feeds are available

This article was posted on September 06, 2004

by John Calder

After Fifteen Years or More of Frustration With In

After Fifteen Years or More of Frustration With Internet Marketing, I Think Iกve Found It!

by: Dan Pendleton

Hello Internet junkies and friends,

Did I mention my frustration with online marketing and the years it took me to get where I am today?

Did I mention Iกve found the right solution and the benefits included for you, and I, and the whole family?

Well, If I didn’t, then excuse me while I take a deep breath. Awww…

Thereกs an ole gospel hymn with the words, กI saw the light…ก, meaning Jesus Christ as, the way, the truth, and the life. Amen! Many of you have probably sang it a time or two, right?

Well, could I tell you that I believe I have found the light. The Online Internet light that is.

Yes, and Iกll explain a little in detail as you read on, but first…

Most of you who have been around the internet, or computers for that matter, have seen just about everything you can imagine when it comes to a Home Based Business or internet marketing, right?

Many of you have joined at least half of those promising you lotกs of money that didn’t materilize.

Well, I guess Iกm right there with you, and after nearly fifteen years of messing around with this stuff, I wasn’t getting anywhere because I didn’t have the necessary tools nor funds to get the job done.

Let me tell you, I feel your pain.

It was aggrevation from the word กgoก.

Iกve looked here, and Iกve looked there. I tried this one, and I tried that one. I signed up for this one, and I signed up for that one, leaving me totally blank.

Helpless is the word. Didn’t know what to do.

I was so frustrated I quit the whole mess for over a year and didn’t try a single thing until just recently.

My wife was getting so mad at me, she cried several times because I was taking time away from her and the family simply because I was trying to find a way to make a little extra cash for us.

Why do wives do that to us husbands when we’re suppose to be the bread winner of the family?

Great day in the morning Dan, please, don’t go there! You’re asking for trouble, bud!

Okay, sorry. Letกs move on.

Making cash online in your very own online business is the wave of the future here today.

And I know there is a piece of that pie out there for me.

Folks, what I want to tell you is something Iกve never seen nor been a part of in my entire life of net surfing or entrepreneurship.

And all because of the internet!

Thousands of people like you and I are reaching out for at least a crum that may fall from the pie!

Just a crum, thatกs all!

And I know, I don’t have to tell very many of you who are successful any of the details about WWW.

People all over the world are being successful making tons of money every day, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

What a trip! What a joy to be sitting at home in the comfort of your computer chair increasing your wealth simply by working a few hours a day. Simply amazing!

And to think I can do this without someone looking over my shoulders telling when to jump and how high. Duh!

Now, sit back for a few minutes and let me tell you a little bit about my decision to reach out and grab the future, today.

There is a wonderful product, created by a wonderful man that has helped me tremendiously, and Iกm just getting started with his amazing system.

As a matter of fact, Iกm still in shock at the hard work he has done and the results I know Iกm going to get.

It will happen! Heกs promised it will if I follow him. So, here I go!

His name is Stone Evans.

His product is the Plug In Profit Site.

His business is your business and heกs in the business of making you a (successful) business. Make sense?

But, Iกm going to tease you a little and ask you to read on.

Many years ago while surfing the internet for the right business opportunity for me, which was made famous by people like yourself, and others, I signed up for this *free* thing, (I don’t even remember what it was, or who it was), and while looking in my email one day I got blasted by this ezine and that ezine I never signed up for, much less knew what they were offering. กGeez, whereกd all this junk come from? I didn’t ask for this stuff!ก, I can remember saying while being dazed and amazed.

I believe most of the time itกs called, Spam.

So, much to my surprise, there it was, or should I say, there I was, smack dab in the middle of cyberspace going places Iกd never thought possible all because of someones ezine or newsletter. And boy did the advertisements start rolling in.

I had to eventually change my email address and use a different one to get rid of all that stuff!

I suddendly became a hotbed of information to hundreds, maybe thousands of netpreneuers that I didn’t even know, or wanted to know, or much less want them to know me.

Does this make sense?

Yes, I had joined the ranks of the less fortunate attacked by some of the internets most famous people wanting me to join with them in partnership, or whatever!

Soon, I began to read some of the information I was getting and found it to be very helpful.

Most of it however, went into the ole file 13 trashcan never to be seen again.

Some netpreneuers I joined with because they had some really good stuff and I liked a lot of what I was reading and became very interested.

Of course, many were promising how to getrichquick on the internet by doing this or doing that, which I found to be very misinformative and lost some money on as well.

Any of you been there? You know what Iกm talking about, don’t you! Duh!

Well, time went on and Iกd try a few things even up to the point of trying to start my own website using MS Word and a few simple and *free* webpage programs, but got nowhere fast.

Oh, the webpages looked pretty and such, but I had no idea what I was doing.

I didn’t even know what an optin list was much less how to build one. I lost tons and tons of money there because I wasn’t educated enough to know how to build my list and educate my people on the stuff I was trying to sell.

I even tried several hosting companies that offered *free* websites in their group which produced nothing more than wasted time, much of which was taken from my wife and family.

กKnoก whaddah mean, Vern!ก

Anyway, to make a long story short, and after years of messing around with this stuff, I really believe I found what Iกve been looking for with Stone Evans and his Plug In Profit Site along with his ก30 Days To Successก, which Iกm telling you about right now as I write this article.

As a matter of fact, Stone is the one who told me to write this article.

Thanks Stone! Iกm forever grateful for your guidance and entreprenuerial excitement and willingness to help a simple person as myself.

‘this Is Great Stuff!!!ก

Now, I have my very own, fully functional, with all the bells and whistles moneymaking website, setup *free* by Stone Evans himself, for a minimal monthly investment ready to begin cashing in on some of my hard (and Stones) work invested.

I don’t believe Iกll be able to repay the man in my lifetime.

Stone has put together one sensational website, not only for me, but for anyone interested in starting his/her very own profitpulling home based business in just a matter of hours. Not days folks, hours!

There are programs and products guaranteed to make you money, even while you’re sleeping. 247! Stone and hundreds of other netprenuers have done it and are doing it right now as we speak.

I, myself, am waiting for those big checks to start rolling in.

Now, this is something I can do.

This is also something you can do. Itกs easy, and itกs cheap! Very little per month to operate your very own Home Based Internet Business and I urge you to take a very close look at this system.

This is probably the one youกve been looking for? And if it isn’t, it should be.

Stone places his 100 percent guarantee on it himself.

All you have to do is visit, www.ezmoneymaker.com and sign up my *free* newsletter setup by Stone himself, and read the articles with much interest.

Again, thatกs…www.ezmoneymaker.com

Should be found on most web browsers.

An opportunity sitting there waiting for you to make the first move.

Folks, in this life game of chess, the person who makes the first move, is the person who makes the last move.

Wouldn’t you like to be that person?

About The Author

Hi, Iกm Dan. Iกm married to a wonderful woman named, Linda for over 10 years now. I still have my hair and my sense of humor. I also have a brand new grandson, Jeremy, 3 months. I live in the great state of (confusion) Kentucky and bleed blue blood for Kentucky basketball the best in the world! Football sucks!!! Also a bornagain christian waiting for the rapture!

dan40515@juno.com

This article was posted on September 11, 2004

by Dan Pendleton