7 Key Points to Consider When Choosing a Web Host

7 Key Points to Consider When Choosing a Web Host

by: Kyle Dusang

With literally thousands of web hosting companies in the industry all vieing for your business, carefully consider these key points to ensure you make the most well informed decision possible.
1. Server Space
First, think about how much space your site will take up on a server. Unless you are planning on running a software repository or an image gallery, the files that make up your website will probably only use between 1 and 5 megabytes of disk space. Many companies will offer several hundreds of megabytes of webspace for a very reasonable price in attempt to out perform their competitors, but ask yourself กDo I really need that much space?ก. Though itกs true that you should allow your site กroom to growก, don’t opt for what seems like a great deal on a massively sized account if youกll never use all of the space offered. Chances are youกll find an even better deal on an amount of space more suitable for your site size.
2. Data Transfer Allowance
This decision should be based on the same principal as above. Though you may be convinced that your site will be the next Amazon or Yahoo and receive a gazillion visitors a day, you really shouldn’t need an extremely high data transfer allowance unless, as stated above, you’re running a software download site or a large image gallery. Even heavily trafficked normal HTML sites usually only use a few gigabytes per month in bandwidth allowance. Don’t go overboard just because it seems like an awesome deal. You may also want to be wary of companies who offer กunlimitedก data transfer as there are usually some fineprint stipulations that make this claim not entirely true. Be sure to read their terms and conditions very carefully before opting for this type of account. A five or ten gigabyte bandwidth allowance is usually plenty enough for a small to medium sized business or personal site.
3. Technical Support
A very important point to consider when choosing a web host is the types of technical support offered by the company and how easy they are to contact when you need them. Ideally, a company should offer 24/7 tollfree telephone support and email. I have seen companies that do not even offer a telephone number on their website. You should look for a company that is very easily accessible in your time of need. Nothing is more frustrating than being in the middle of working on your site and needing an important piece of information to finish the job and not being able to contact your hosting company to find it out.
4. CGIBin Access
No matter what type of site you are planning on running, chances are you will eventually need to install some type of CGI script. Whether it be a mailing list management script, contact form processor, or maybe even a fancy credit card processing script, your hosting account will need to allow you to install and run them. This requires access to a special folder on your server called กCGIBinก. Some hosting accounts will only allow you to use กpreinstalledก scripts as a security measure. These are scripts that the owners of the company have installed and configured so that they know that they will work properly and not adversely affect their serverกs performance. That may be all you need, but if you have the knowledge, itกs always nice to have the ability to install your own scripts and configure them to suit your individual needs. You should also be sure that the account you choose supports the language in which your scripts are written, such as PHP, Perl, etc.
5. UpTime Guarantee
Another very important issue in determining the value of a hosting company is how often and for how long their servers กgo downก. No matter how good a deal you get on server space or bandwidht allowance, or how wonderfully the companyกs tech support takes care of you, your site can’t receive visitors or produce revenue if the machine on which it is hosted is not up and running. Naturally you want a company who can guarantee the highest uptime percentage possible. Servers are taken down briefly from time to time for maintenance or upgrading, so no company can ensure 100% uptime, but you want your site to be hosted on dependable, well managed machines that are not constantly having problems which require them to be down for long periods of time.
6. Email Accounts
Again, like data transfer allowance and server space, some companies will offer you loads more email accounts than you will ever use. Some offer hundreds or even unlimited email accounts as a selling point. This is an important factor if you are Bill Gates and have thousands of employees, each who need their own email box, but not such a big deal if you’re just one person or a small company. You should be okay with 10 or 15.
7. Reputation
This is probably the most important factor to consider when choosing a web host. Do your homework. Pay attention to any negative feedback you may hear or read about a particular hosting company. There are several sites arount the Web that feature discussion forums that allow people to discuss and critique various hosting companies. Ask specific questions about any company you might be interested in using to see if anyone else has had any negative experiences with them. As a beginning webmaster, I had initially contracted the services of a particular web hosting company to host my first site, who promised very good, dependable service for a very cheap price. Then one day, for no apparent reason, decided to delete my entire site without warning or explanation. Only then did I visit some hosting forums and find that many others had similar negative experiences with that company. Don’t make the same mistake I did, find out for sure from the start that your hosting company is not going to let you down.

About The Author

Author: Kyle Dusang

Webmaster of http://www.verybesthosting.com

Looking for a web host? Compare plans, features, and pricing from several of the Webกs most reputable hosting companies all in one place at eryBestHosting.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 28, 2004

by Kyle Dusang

Email Follow Up Tips, 8 Of Them…

Email Follow Up Tips, 8 Of Them…

by: Daniel Levis

The first thing you need to do is get your emails opened & read. Spend at least as much time worrying about the subject line of each e mail in your sequence as you do worrying about the body.

Brainstorm at least five subject lines, pick the one most likely to stop your prospects dead in their tracks (tip, the only way to know for sure is to test), and use the rest of them in the body of the message. And ALWAYS begin your title with the person’s first name.

Curiosity Killed The Cat Itกs human nature to be curious. One of the most effective ways to get your message opened is to throw a little mystery into the heading. Mystery, mixed with relevant benefit, will get your message opened. But thatกs not all.

Itกs still easy to bail after the first paragraph, so curiosity can also help to drive your prospect deeper into the body of the message. Remember, the deeper your readers go into your copy, the more difficult it will be for them to STOP reading it.

It doesn’t hurt to tell a little bit about what your offer isn’t, to build up the suspense, and help drive your reader further down the page.

Tell A Story In 1919, a Russian immigrant named Max Sackheim, stumbled upon a fascinating discovery. He had been hired by the Sherwin Cody School of English to come up with a mail order advertisement, and his original headline read, กDo You Make Mistakes In Englishก?

The ad didn’t pull.

By adding one magic little word to the headline, Max was able to make the very same ad produce amazing results. The ad became so profitable that it ran for over 40 years straight, when Max changed the headline to, กDo You Make These Mistakes In Englishก?

People’s curiosity got the better of them. They just couldn’t resist reading Maxกs advertisement. They were all wondering if they might be making ‘theseก mistakes in English. Max was able to slip right under the buyer’s natural resistance to being sold, and suck them right into the advertisement.

Story telling has the same effect.

You Can Never Over Educate Nobody ever bought a hammer, because they wanted a hammer. What they wanted was a bunch of nails tapped home just right. Sequential email follow up is ideal for showing your prospects how to achieve their goals with your product.

Remember, the more comfortable your prospects are about the กHow Toก of using your product or service to solve their problem, the more confidence theyกll have in your ability & willingness to really help them. One of the most effective things you can do with your autoresponder, is to offer free courses & tutorials that show your prospects how to use your products to get the results they’re looking for.

It’s the ultimate soft sell, and it’s very effective!

Warts & All Itกs all about trust. Thatกs why you’re following up on your prospects in the first place, right? Your prospects need to be exposed an average of 7 to 9 times before succumbing to your seduction.

Pointing out the imperfections of your product can go a long way toward building that trust. You don’t necessarily have to slam your product, but giving the straight goods on the pitfalls that the buyer might encounter when using it, and helping them to avoid them, demonstrates your honesty, and openness.

Itกs like showing the front of your hands, in a facetoface encounter.

Be Specific Details, exact numbers, & vivid descriptions worked into your copy are worth their weight in gold, because they’re far more believable than generalities. When you make a claim, back it up with facts & figures.

Your prospects are both naturally skeptical, and hungry for truth.

Don’t Be Shy About Objections Every product has natural objections. Don’t be afraid to bring them up.

Read your copy after being away from it for a while, and at some point in the message youกll feel them creeping in. Thatกs the point when you add something like, กOK, you’re probably thinking . I can understand why you might feel that way, many others who looked at this product felt just the same way, until they found out about .ก

You need to come up with a list of reasons why your prospect would want to buy your product or service, and also the reasons why not.

The Fear of Loss Is Greater Than The Desire For Gain Often the fear of losing something, sometimes even something that we do not yet have, is a stronger motivator than our desire for gain.

The fear of missing out on a special price or promotion is a good example of this.

Don’t we all want what we can’t have? Work hard to find ways to make your product scarce, or at least make your offer scarce, by offering it for a limited time.

Justify Your Offer People know that you’re in business to make a profit, and that you don’t give things away out of the goodness of your heart.

When they see a sale, or a special price, or a bonus offer, the wheels naturally start turning in the back of their heads. Whatกs the catch? While itกs our emotions that truly motivate us, logic does have a nasty habit of getting in the way.

When you are open with your prospects about the reason why you’re offering them a special deal, itกs amazing how easily theyกll accept your reasoning, and abandon their resistance. The same applies to giving a legitimate reason why your special offer absolutely expires on a specific date.

So there you have it. Eight email follow up secrets, revealed.

Until next time, Good Selling!

Copyright 2005 Daniel Levis

About The Author

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & worldrenowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author ขMillion Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!ข, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.

Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!

http://www.AdvertisingOnlineStrategies.com/adstrategies.html

This article was posted on March 19

by Daniel Levis

Basics of Affiliate Marketing

Basics of Affiliate Marketing

by: Matt Bacak

Whether you realize it or not, if youกve been on the Internet today, you have encountered affiliate marketing. If you have ever ขclicked thruข one site to order something from another, the first site probably received a portion of the sale. For instance, independent booksellers have limited shelf space for books. But they can offer their customers an almost unlimited inventory of titles by affiliating with companies like Amazon or Powellกs. The more orders, the bigger the affiliate percentage.

Visitors to your site are interested in lots of things that may or may not be related to your product. But when you know your customers well, itกs simply a matter of affiliating yourself with sites that offer what they want. What you receive is just a small percentage of the sale, but it adds up, especially when you consider that all it costs you is a link on your web page. And usually, the more sales your affiliate makes from your ขclick thruข traffic, the bigger your percentage will be.

The key to success in affiliate marketing is being able to track referred customers. As an affiliate manager, you want a system that reliably tracks what you want, with minimal effort on your part, and without affecting the performance of your site or server. Over the last few years a variety of technologies and strategies have been developed in an attempt to improve accuracy, convenience, and flexibility.

There are at least half a dozen methods, but by far the most preferred method is Cookie Tracking. Itกs popular because it makes tracking affiliatereferred sales so convenient, without negatively impacting your site. This system writes a small text file, called a ขcookie,ข to a userกs browser when they click on an affiliate link. When you are the referring affiliate, the cookie holds your ID, so that at the merchantกs order page, you get credit for referring the sale. One drawback is that many computer users disable cookies, although most choose not to, since their favorite sites require them. One bonus is that the merchant can save the information, so that even if a customer buys long after clicking through your site, you still get credit for the sale.

Affiliate marketing, at its best, is a winwin scenario. Itกs an easy way to offer your customers more of what they want, while you benefit, both in terms of building goodwill and making money.

About The Author

Matt Bacak became ก#1 Best Selling Authorก in just a few short hours.

Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s eBiz radio show host is

turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories.

Discover The Secrets http://promotingtips.com

This article was posted on September 06

by Matt Bacak

Free is never FREE !!!

Free is never FREE !!!

by: Gino Harteel

How many times did you see an email or a website offering something for free ?

A hundred times ? A thousand times ?

Perhaps, if you are like me you don’t believe in the word กfreeก anymore, if somebody offers you something for free, he or she always wants something in return.

On my site http://www.hartino.com I offer [ Free Entry to Win £1000 GBP ], when you click that link you can participate in a free entry, but in return I have your name and email address and when you submitted your information, you agreed to it that I can email you promotional emails about the UK Lotto and Euro Millions.

On my site http://www.hartino.com I offer [ Receive the latest draw results in your mailbox absolutely FREE ! ], again, when you submitted your information, you agreed to it that I can email you promotional emails about the UK Lotto and Euro Millions.

And finally, on http://www.hartino.com, I also offer [ Euro Millions Play For Free ], for this one to be true, you have to find your first five members and you’re effectively playing for FREE!

So, next time youกll see the word กFREEก just think กFree in return for what ?ก.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

About The Author

Gino Harteel has been playing Euro Millions since October 1, 2004 with success. More info about Euro Millions on www.hartino.com.

This article was posted on January 09

by Gino Harteel

Tiscali Broadband

Tiscali Broadband

by: Neil Shevlin

Named after a small village in Sardinia, Tiscali UK is part of Tiscali SpA which has headquarters in Cagliari, Italy. They offer broadband all over Europe, but they have the most online users in the UK. Tiscali is ranked fourth largest ISP in the UK.

Tiscali offer Broadband at 512Kbps, 1Mbps and 2Mbps with a free connection and free modem and they have no maximum download limit, unlike some ISP’s who cut their customers off after a finite amount of usage.

Tiscali do not have a very good reputation as an ISP. Customer support is often the first thing to suffer when ISP’s lower their package costs and Tiscali is no exception. The call centre is based in India, the costs are substantial, you will be put on hold and even then the advice may not be so useful. Emails to the company will receive automated replies, often with very little to do with the problem. Don’t think you won’t have to try this out, if you signup for Tiscali you are bound to want to try and contact them with a problem or complaint. Spam emails to Tiscali accounts are a major problem, they often have downtime and also some speed problems.

Since BT opened their phone line network (The Local Loop) for other companies to use ISP’s have had the option to connect their own equipment up at BT’s telephone exchanges so they can setup their own ADSL rather than use a variation of BT’s. This means that ISP’s can provide ADSL cheaper and faster at much more competitive prices; this will explain how Tiscali can offer broadband so cheaply. Unfortunately they only provide a small line at each telephone exchange that is split between all local residents. BT and other services that use BT’s network split the bandwidth down a fast line that connects directly to the BT network. This means that users of Tiscali’s broadband service could find their connection isn’t as fast as it claims and their download speeds limited. This depends on how many other people in your area are using the Tiscali network locally. This service is due to be upgraded in the future to improve speeds, but many customers have tired of waiting and moved away from Tiscali because of it.

Tiscali also offer Pay As You Go and unlimited dialup internet access at 56Kbps, at prices much cheaper than BT. They also offer a midband internet service which connects similarly to broadband but at the lower speed of 150kbps or 256kbps. With all dialup and broadband accounts they also offer additional features, such as an email address, web space, exclusive video channels and downloads.

In terms of Price, Tiscali are one of the main contenders, explaining why they are the fourth largest UK broadband provider. Their three packages closely rival BT’s and they are keeping up in terms of speed and price with their competitors.

Unfortunately because of their poor reputation and potential speed problems, although Tiscali are one of the cheapest broadband providers around that is all that is reliable with them.

About The Author

Neil Shevlin is the owner of UK Cheap Broadband which is a great place to find broadband links, resources and articles.

For more information go to: UK Cheap Broadband www.ukcheapbroadband

© Copyright 2005

Please feel free to copy and paste this article and itกs resource information.

This article was posted on August 18

by Neil Shevlin

11 Awesome Ways To Explode Your Affiliate Commissi

11 Awesome Ways To Explode Your Affiliate Commission

by: Kusuma Widjaja

1. Start your own affiliate program directory. Join a large number of affiliate programs that go with the theme of your web site and list them all in a directory format on your web site. Then just advertise your free affiliate program directory. You will earn commissions and gain subaffiliates. Plus you could start an affiliaterelated ezine too.

2. Do not drive all your visitors directly to affiliate website, instead send your visitors to your optin page mechanism first before going to your main affiliate website. That way, you can make followup later on and build your own lists so that you can offer another related products or services another day. You can build a massive list in minimum time at http://www.whycity.net/coregistrationservices.html

3. Sell to the people who join your affiliate program. They are more likely to buy your products because they are interested in selling them for the commission. Itกs important to train and support your affiliates so they will know you will be there to help them. Tell them itกs good to write ads about their personal experiences with your product so that it will persuade customers to buy.

4. Participate on web discussion boards. Post your comments, answer other peopleกs questions, and ask your own questions. Include your affiliate text link under each message you post. If they read your message and like it, they may click to see what else you have to offer them.

5. Recruit lots of subaffiliates and make it easy for your them to make sales. Give them proven ads to use, make it easy for prospects to order, provide helpful affiliate statistics, notification of sales, lifetime income, residual income, add their commission by giving part of your commission to them, provide a good tracking system and professional training just like at http://www.whycity.net/nitroknowledge.html, http://www.whycity.net/myaffiliatecenter.html and http://www.whycity.net/nitrowebcasts.html

6. Persuade ezine publishers or webmasters to run your ad for free. Just allow them to join your affiliate program and earn commission on the sales. You could also offer them a freebie, such as the product you’re selling for free, an advertisement in your ezine in return, etc. It also helps to compliment the publishers as well as praising their ezines.

7. Use Online Referral Strategies at http://www.whycity.net/instantreferralsystems.html to get lots of order yourself or subaffiliates order. Referral system can also be a good way to increase your affiliate commissions if you can give incentives to motivate people to refer and tap deep into peopleกs network of friends, family, and associates. They don’t just stop at the occasional, oneoff referral.

8. Write your own affiliate program ads. If all the other affiliates use the same ads you do, that does not give you an edge over your competition. Use a different ad to give yourself an advantage over all the other affiliates. Learn how you can Create Powerful Offers so irresistible for prospects until they buy from you at http://www.whycity.net/powerfuloffers.html

9. Give free email consultations or services to your customers who buy or will buy the product or services through your affiliate link. When you email them back your advice include a small ad or distribute branded affiliates viral marketing tools to use like ebooks or articles for the affiliate products your are selling. Just include your ad somewhere inside them.

10. Email targeted ezines and ask them to do a joint venture with you. Ask them to run your ad and in exchange they would get a percentage of the profits. You would just have to get them to join your affiliate program to be your subaffiliates. To give them better incentive, you could offer them a higher commission than the rest of your normal affiliates by giving part of your affiliate commissions for 2 years.

11. Tell your customers if they refer four customers to your affiliate web site, they will receive a full rebate of their purchase price, cut from your own commission. This will turn one sale into three sales. You could also offer them other things in return for referrals like free ebooks, free software, coupons, discounts, etc.

Finally! Everything you need to make a whole lot more than $100,000 a year with affiliate programs.

http://www.whycity.net/affiliatebootcamp.html

About The Author

Kusuma Widjaja is President of Yahoo Cyber Technology, CV., based in Surabaya. He has over 2 years experience in Internet Marketing Arena, Custom Web Site Design and Graphic Design Services. For more information go to http://www.whycity.net or you can reach us at +628315838474.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 20

by Kusuma Widjaja

How To Bully Your Prospects Into Buying Your Produ

How To Bully Your Prospects Into Buying Your Product or Service

by: Chris Coffman

Selling is a tough job, and sometimes you may need to appear tough in order to get the sale.

As a salesperson (whether in person or in print) you don’t have to appear to the customer as being needy of the sale. Many times, the opposite can work quite effectively, that is, to make the customer think of purchasing your product or service as a special privilege.

Here are a number of ways that you can ขbullyข the customer into buying from you.

1. State that only a LIMITED number is available.

This is a commonly used technique to push the customer over the finish line. Presenting your offer as limited in quantity nudges the prospect to act now since the offer may not be available later. Companies that manufacture luxury line vehicles often use this technique by manufacturing only in small batches. Think of Hawley Davidson motorcycles for example. Only a limited number is manufactured so as to keep the price high.

A limited time offer works just as well, even though it is less compelling since the buyer may still procrastinate depending on the time window that is given. On the other hand, a limited number offer may go at any time. This places a bit more pressure on the prospective buyer.

2. Place prequalifications on the prospect before they can buy.

Many business opportunity type offers normally indicate that the company is looking for a ขfew top leadersข in a particular geographic area. You are then required to call and listen to a recorded message that will further ‘qualify’ you to work with the company. In this way the rejection is placed on the side of the customer not the seller.

Another slant to this same technique is to simply state that this offer is not for everyone. And only a few special people will recognize the offer for what it is. This of course appeals to the person’s ego and pride. Again they are placed in the defensive position not the seller. They are the ones on the rope.

3. Show how most people will grab this offer.

This appeals to the ขbandwagonข or ขherd instinctข that is common to us as humans. We don’t want to be left out of the new trend or crowd. It’s all about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. Show how thousands have already ordered and how your operators cannot keep up with all the calls coming in. Any statement which can show that other people are flocking for this offer will work here.

4. Demonstrate very strong credibility in your copy.

By showing all the years of experience you have under your belt and the many authority figures that recommend your products, you can bully the customer into submission. The customer feels that it will be very foolish not to trust you when all these other top authorities do. Having someone whom the potential customer admires and respects endorse your product can create the magic here.

5. Show that you are not desperate for the sale.

This is another technique that can place the customer at ease or on the defensive. Here you want to indicate that you’re already doing so well (mostly from the benefits you’ve derived from the product) that the small investment they are making will make no big difference to you. This may seem at first to be counterproductive but it works! Again if the prospect ever senses that you’re just dying to get that sale you can scare them away.

Another way of stating this is to show that you’re actually creating competition for yourself by sharing this product with them.

6. Tell them what will happen if they don’t get your product.

Most likely your product is satisfying a need or solving a problem otherwise you’ll not be selling it. So you can heighten the prospect’s awareness of the problems that they’ll continue to have if they choose not to purchase your product or service. Here is where you really want to ‘rub their faces in the mud’. Spell out, in no uncertain words, the pain they’ll endure and the loss they will suffer.

These six approaches are all based on a deep psychological principle that controls us all Our desire heightens for whatever is denied us or just appears to be denied us.

This reminds me of the story I read some time ago of a small hotel that had problems with guests fishing from the balcony despite clear warning signs to the contrary placed in all the rooms. In a simple experiment, the hotel management removed the ขno fishingข signs and the problem practically disappeared overnight! I guess that the thrill of fishing from the balcony vaporized with the signs—fishing was no longer denied.

Try making your product or service appear ‘denied’ to the casual prospect and see what happens to the dollars ‘fished’ out of your advertisement account.

It’s about time to go out there and be a respectable ขbullyข!

(c) Copyright 2004 by Chris Coffman

About The Author

Chris Coffman is the publisher of The Internet Marketing Letter. Visit http://www.theinternetmarketingletter.com to subscribe today and receive instant access to the IML member community.

This article was posted on April 27, 2004

by Chris Coffman

Five Proven Ways To Increase Internet Sales

Five Proven Ways To Increase Internet Sales

by: Dan Ames

There are hundreds of ways that you can promote your online business or website, some more effective than others. These five proven methods will help you to generate traffic to your site and also to generate income into your wallet.

1. One thing that appeals to everyone is ขfree.ข If it is free people will take it. Think of the samples of cheese given away at grocery stores. Do you really want a small piece of cheese? Of course not! But you take it simply because it is free and someone is nice enough to offer it to you. The same principle applies with information or services offered from your website. You can send out free newsletters or offer a free trail period. One popular thing that is being given away now are free credit reports or free PC scans. These freebies are what we in the marketing field like to call teasers. After running the free credit report or PC scan we alert the customer if there is something found on their credit record or PC and then offer to show them what it is or repair the problem for a price. This can be an effective way to get information to your potential customers, create sales or to generate traffic to your site.

2. Your website contains information about a service or product that you are very knowledgeable about. You can use this knowledge to generate traffic to your site by writing articles in your area of expertise and having them published in an ezine or an article information site. The most effective way to use these articles is to write them for free and ask in return that the publisher allow you to include a byline. A byline is a very short summary of the author, their credentials and their website. Your byline is a way that readers will come to know you as an expert on the topic and will in turn come to trust your site as a source of credible information.

3. Some search engines will allow a website to purchase their ranking. This is an excellent Internet marketing technique in that it is effective and inexpensive. In the payperclick programs, website are only billed for those who actually visit the page, unlike banner ads which may be seen by millions but only used by a few. When using the payperclick program you are asked to choose keywords and when those are entered your site will appear and if the surfer chooses to view your site, you are billed for that click. Many payperclick programs will offer other benefits as well, such as updated lists of commonly used keywords.

4. You should remember that others are in the same boat as you. You can choose to network with those who have similar marketing ideas. When networking you will be able to share links and refer customers to each other. You should always be very cautious when choosing a networking partner as everything that you recommend is a reflection of yourself or your product and therefore, you should be certain that your networking partner is a reputable source of information.

5. Simply because your website is online, doesn’t mean that all your advertising should be. Advertise in newspapers, TV, the radio or you can even send out a press release to get your information to thousands of people all over the country.

About The Author

Dan Ames can help YOU start your own profitable business on the Internet within the next 24 hours… To learn more, visit: http://www.RealTimeInternetIncome.com/pips.html

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 29

by Dan Ames

How to Sell Your Product on the Forums?

How to Sell Your Product on the Forums?

by: Radhika Venkata

1. Your signature file:

Most of the forums allow you to carry a 4 6 lines of signature files with your name. So these files appears below your name when you answer a forum thread.

Most people advertise about their product. Don’t do that. Always offer some free ecourse or trial product. Personally I prefer to offer free ecourse than an ezine because, we feel that we gain more in short course of 7 days rather than a chain of endless ezines.

Second you can offer free product or free trial software or free membership.

Always hyperlink the email or web page link, so simple click will take the reader to the destination page.

2. Use the section กSpecial offers to Forum Membersก Forum:

You may see a seperate forum like กSpecial discount to Forum membersก. Here you can advertise your product or offer special discounts to forum members.

Tips while posting in these type of forums

Add an image of your product.

Use the html code to highlight the benefits.

Hyperlink the web page or product link.

State your discount in bold letters.

3. Seek partners for joint ventures:

Choose a forum appropriate for your product or business. For example if you are selling reseller hosting service then choose web designers forums.

Most web designers prefer to host their clients on own servers, so there will be more chances for you to get partners here.

Tips on seeking joint ventures

Let your partner get equal benefits from your proposal.

Be polite in asking partnership.

Leave the selection or decision making to the person whom you are going to ask a joint venture.

1 or 2 emails. If you didn’t get any response, no more emails. May be he/she doesn’t like these type of ventures.

4. Banner advertising or sponsoring:

Some forums sell advertising space and look for sponsors to sponsor the forum categories. If you want to act as a sponsor, you pay them like monthly or yearly and they put your web site or product link on the forum index, at the sub forum you choose.

This sponsoring is very cost effective way of advertising than banner advertising.

For example, you are selling search engine ebook. You can sponsor the sub forum กSearch engine promotionก in the list of forums. Your ebook link will be placed on that category of forums.

About The Author

Radhika Venkata

Webmaster Resource Directory: List Your product, ezine or web site free!

http://www.webmasterscentral.com/

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This article was posted on January 21, 2004

by Radhika Venkata

How To Ethically Sell To Your Prospect, Even If Th

How To Ethically Sell To Your Prospect, Even If They Say No.

by: Charles Kangethe

What you are about to read… is a closing technique I learnt many years ago whilst working as a sales rep.

Too many marketers let go on the first no.

If you really believe in the value and benefit of your product or service to your prospect, then you need to learn about กPreemptive Marketing.ก

Tip #1 Learn To Differentiate Prospects

There are three groups of prospect

1) Those to whom you will never sell because they have no need for your product or service. Vast majority

2) Those to whom you might sell, if only you can overcome initial objections. Majority of the rest.

3) Those to whom you sell automatically, because of your reputation and the quality of your products and services. Very small minority.

Your marketing should focus on the second group. There is nothing you can do about the first and the third largely take care of themselves.

Once you understand this you will be less fearful of alienating prospects which is the reason most marketers give up on a sale too soon.

Tip #2 Why Do Prospects Not Buy From You ?

There are four broad reasons why prospects will not buy from you.

* Money The product is priced too high, or too low either in absolute terms or in comparison to the competition.

* Functionality The product has too much functionality or too little. In the first case it is too complex or complicated to operate in the second it provides little benefit to the prospect.

* Timing Your prospect has just bought a competitors product, or they are just window shopping in anticipation of a future purchase.

* Competition Your competition has a powerful brand presence in the market place that makes it difficult for you to compete.

Tip #3 What Is PreEmptive Marketing ?

In order to apply Preemptive Marketing Tactics go through these stages.

Phase 1 Understand your prospect in detail. What motivates them ? What are their problems and issues ? What solutions are they looking for ? What value do they place on the solution ?

Phase 2 Brainstorm ALL of your prospectกs possible purchasing objections. Use the objection groups in step #2 to help you.

Phase 3 For each objection, decide on credible and persuasive responses.

Phase 4 Using popup technology and / or autoresponders deliver the responses to prospects who did not click on กBuy Nowก after reading your copy.

Tip #4 Examples Of Credible Responses

Here are some example Credible Responses to Frequent Purchasing Objections

* Too Expensive

Ask your prospect to make you an offer If your product has sunk costs that you have covered, then any offer is probably acceptable. If you still need to cover the production costs, give the prospect a floor price you are willing to accept and ask them to bid, above the floor.

* Too Cheap

Tell your prospect they can have the product at a discount to the already cheap price ! If they like the product then they can send another payment for what they think the product is really worth.

* Product Too Complicated

Offer a discount on standard price and offer to train the prospect for F’ree in how to use the added functionality.

When you design your products, do so in a modular fashion so functionality can be added or removed to the core product.

* Product Too Simple

Offer a discount with a guarantee of F’ree upgrades when the functionality is added.

Ask your prospect to make you a reduced offer based on their evaluation of the functionality.

* Prospect Was Window Shopping

Offer your prospect a discount for buying before a date you set in the future. Make sure the discounts are removed when that date is reached, else the tactic loses credibility.

* Prospect Bought A Similar Product From Elsewhere

Offer your prospect a discounted price and an extended returns period during which they can compare your product against the previously purchased one.

* Competitor Brand Is Dominant

Do a กwarts and allก comparison of your product against the market leader. Line them up and let your prospect make the buying decision based on information rather than กbrand awarenessก

Brand your own product, service and business with your USP.

Tip #5 Practical Preemptive Marketing

Armed with your list of objections and a response for each, create your sales pages and apply an exit popup to everything except the กBuy Nowก or กOptInก buttons.

You also need to set up an autoresponder with the responses to the objections as the topics for your mails.

The use of exit popups and autoresponders in this way is nothing new. However, what is different in this tactic is the detail of objections to which you respond.

You must have answers to the entire range of objections your prospect may have to make this work.

The way you present the information on your กPreemptive Responsesก Popup and autoresponder is also critical to the success of this tactic.

The objection must be headlined in an attention grabbing way, so that if that objection applies to your prospect they will be drawn into your response.

Relevant Resources

Quick Tactics To Brand Your Business http://www.simplyeasier.com/ownarticles.html

Article by Bob Leduc Neutralize Unspoken Objections To Increase Sales available from http://www.sbishere.com/article.html/598

When Objections Get In The Way http://common.ppmg.net/NEWSltc/021108.htm

The Psychology Of Closing http://common.ppmg.net/NEWSltc/021101.htm

Conclusion

Make it a business philosophy of yours not to let the sale go on the first no !

Use Preemptive Marketing tactics to persuade warm prospects that they can and should make the purchase despite their initial objections.

These tactics will not appeal to people who would never have bought from you, but a few of those who read your copy and are still undecided may convert much to their own and your benefit.

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

About The Author

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The กSimply Easierก brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 16, 2004

by Charles Kangethe

3 Ways to Gain and Keep Customers Using Postcards

3 Ways to Gain and Keep Customers Using Postcards

by: Brett Curry

In today’s competitive (sometimes cutthroat) marketplace, savvy business owners need to constantly look for ways to get and, more importantly, keep their customers. When used properly postcards offer a great opportunity to do both.

1. Mail systematically to a targeted database of prospects. Most people who use postcard mailings as a way to acquire new customers mail to a list once and then stop. It’s far more effective (provided that your postcards have an enticing offer, and provided that you are mailing to a group of ขripeข prospects) to mail regularly to the same group of potential customers. Think about it this way. How many times have you received something in the mail or seen an ad on TV and thought, ขthat’s a good idea, I need to look into that.ข Only to forget about it the next day and never take action. That’s just human nature. And that’s why it’s better to mail systematically and regularly to a group of prospects than it is to just mail once or twice. It may take 3 or 4 contacts with a customer before they are willing to do business with you.

2. Systematically contact your customers. Once a business gains a new customer the tendency is to do nothing but hope that the customer will come back. Bad idea. It’s far better to be proactive and mail monthly, weekly, quarterly, etc. to your current customers offering them special incentives, additional products, or just to simply thank them for their business. It’s amazing what kind of growth you can achieve if you get even a small percentage of your customers to make an additional purchase or two throughout the year.

3. Allow your customer to be a hero. One great way to build a relationship with your current customers and potentially gain new customers is to send them a postcard with a special offer that is only good for previous customers or friends and family of previous customers. When you send a postcard with a coupon or special offer on it, state very clearly that your valued customer is free to use the coupon for themselves or they can pass it on to someone else. This will make them feel good, and will potentially build a repeat purchase, or develop a new client. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

Postcards can quickly and inexpensively communicate your message to prospects and consumers. When used as part of an integrated system, post cards can be a very powerful tool to generate new customers and then ensure that those customers keep coming back to you over and over again. In business, what could be

About The Author

Brett Curry is a professional Marketing Consultant and the Marketing Director for Brochures.com. Brochures.com is the home of top quality, full color brochures, business cards, post cards and more at up to 70% off of retail.

http://www.brochures.com

This article may be reproduced provided that the above bio is listed with the article.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 02

by Brett Curry

4 Dynamic Marketing Tactics

4 Dynamic Marketing Tactics

by: Bob Leduc

Some of the simplest marketing tactics often produce the most profitable results. Here are 4 examples that have proven highly effective for any business.

1. Focus on Your Best Prospects

Imagine how profitable your business would be if more of your new customers were like the best customers you have now. Hereกs how you can make that happen…

Take some time to analyze your current customers to determine what key traits they share and why those traits make them ideal customers for you. Then revise your sales message to appeal specifically to them.

This will increase both the number of new sales you get and the profitability of each new customer.

2. Pile on the Benefits

Customers usually buy something to save time or to save money. Offer them an opportunity to do both and you will boost your sales. But offer them multiple opportunities to do both and you will cause your sales to soar dramatically.

For example, structure your sales message to stress both the time saving and money saving benefits of your product or service. Then include a discount price offer if they buy before a certain deadline (more money saved). Finally, figure out how you can deliver all or some of what they are buying immediately (more time saved).

Tip: If you cannot deliver all or part of your product immediately, add something to the purchase that you can deliver immediately. It can be as simple as a series of helpful tips related to your product posted on your web site …but available only to new customers.

3. Make Buying Easy

Make it easy for potential customers to buy from you and more will buy. Look for ways you can make your buying process easier and faster.

For example, design your selling procedure so prospects do not have to make unnecessary decisions. Every decision they have to make interrupts the buying process …and diverts their attention away from completing the sale.

Tip: Don’t ask for unnecessary information during the ordering process. Instead, follow up after the sale with a personalized ‘thank youก message and include a brief request for the information.

4. Follow Up Again and Again

Selling is not a one step process. Most people do not buy something the first time the see or hear about it. You can salvage many of these potential customers with an effective follow up system.

Your follow up can be as simple as contacting these prospects periodically with a new offer. Or, better yet, follow up periodically with some useful information …and don’t charge them for it. Youกll build a supportive relationship that gains their trust and eventually the sale.

Tip: Make sure you have a way to get the email addresses of visitors to your web site. You need it to follow up with them. For example, offer them a complimentary special report or other useful information …delivered only by email.

Each of these 4 dynamic marketing tactics provides a simple way for you to boost your sales and profits quickly. They are simple to use, highly effective and require very little if any new expense.

Copyright 2005 Bob Leduc

http://BobLeduc.com

About The Author

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards …and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. Youกll find his lowcost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 7026581707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

This article was posted on February 24

by Bob Leduc