What Your Click Tracking Script Should Tell You?

What Your Click Tracking Script Should Tell You?

by: Radhika Venkata

You run an ad spending $100.00. How could you possibly know how many people bought your product? If you don’t know your ROI on that particular campaign, how will you spend another $100.00 on it?

Simple is You have to track your advertising campaign. This is done by

By keeping specific URL in that specific campaign

Ex: http://www.yourdomain.com/ezinead.html

By giving ก?source=campaign1ก tag to your URL

Ex: http://www.yourdomain.com/product.html?source=ezinead

By using a Click tracking script

http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/clicktracking/index.shtml

Click tracking script is a cgi script that gives you information about a click. The click may be on your website, emails, ezines, banners or anything.

If the click tracking script tells you the number of clicks it is not going to be useful to you. Because you can’t differentiate the people buying through your campaign links or your regular links.

So what a Click tracking script should tell you?

1. Tell the number of clicks to tell the click thru ratio:

By this you can optimize your ads. If a specified ad get low click thrus you can change the optimize it.

2. Tell the ip address of the visitor:

By this you can know which ad bringing you the sales. If a particular ip clicking on a specific link buys your product you can know that ad campaignกs ROI.

3. Tells the geographical distribution of the clicks:

This is useful when you want to know how many clicks coming from different countries. Like if you see กjpก with ip address, you can know the visitor from Japan. But this is not possible in all cases.

4. Tell the date and time of clicks:

Some online enterpreneurs are more interested in sending promotional emails in the weekends. But I guess it is subject to their personal experiences. If you know that particular campaign gets lot of clicks in certain days, you can concentrate showing ads at that particular time.

5. Referers:

You can know that which link exchange program or banner ad on web sites bring you the most clicks.

6. Clicks by time and date:

You are able to get the results by time and date. Like your click tracking script must provide daily stats seperately. This is useful to see which day you sales page gets most clicks.

About The Author

Radhika Venkata

Subscribe to กiNet Marketing Ezineก which is completely focused on Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights!

http://www.webmasterscentral.com/subscribe.shtml

FREE Ecourse :: 30 days Solid work out to increase your online profits!

http://www.ebooksworld.com/ecourse/index.shtml

This article was posted on March 04, 2004

by Radhika Venkata

Shameless SelfPromotion

Shameless SelfPromotion

by: Janice D. Byer, MVA

Hi! My name is Janice Byer and I am the owner of DocuType Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net). I am the winner of several prestigious awards (information is on our website) and have a slew of happy customers, as the testimonials on our site will attest to. My services are professional, creative and in demand.

Now, wasn’t that easy? In one small paragraph, I have shamelessly selfpromoted my business and it’s success.

I’ll admit it, I am addicted to shameless selfpromotion, and why not? Who better to promote myself and my business than me? And, the opportunity to talk about your business should be the root behind every marketing effort you undertake.

Networking utilizes shameless selfpromotion almost constantly. After all, when you visit a networking event, why are you there? To promote your business of course! And, when you are at a designated networking event, it is not the time when you should hold back. Be shameless yet professional, and also be considerate of your fellow networkers. They are there for the same reason you are. So, give them the opportunity to shamelessly selfpromote themselves.

Networking is the ขright timeข to shamelessly selfpromote. But, there are times when it is not appropriate. There is a time and a place for everything, including promoting your business.

For instance, if you are a member of a news or discussion group, there are generally rules against promoting your business, unless that is what the list is for. So, don’t take advantage of the captive audience or break the rules. That can actually be bad for business.

However, some lists have designated days of the week or month when you can shamelessly tell the world about what you do and what you have to offer. This is the time to show them what you’ve got.

Opportunities arise at various times when it is good to promote yourself and your business. For instance, I was with my daughter at the library yesterday and the woman there asked if I was excited about my daughter going into grade one and the fact that she will be in school all day. This was the perfect opportunity to tell her that I run my own homebased business and what I do.

Also, a few weeks back we had our water supply guy here filling up our well and we talked about his father’s business. Well, I didn’t give up the chance to say, ขDoes your father have a website? I can design one for him.ข Well, the conversation went from there and I ended up giving him several of my business cards.

My husband is also the owner of a small business; a tow truck and storage business. Well, the other day we had a fellow here delivering gravel for our driveway and, as he is always on the road, I asked him if he sees accidents and such. So, my husband gave him some of his cards and it has paid off already. Yesterday this dump truck drive called to tell my husband about an accident that he had just seen.

And, don’t forget your existing clients. Do they know everything that you offer? I have a wonderful steady administrative client that I told a few times about some of the websites I am designing. Well, he was impressed and now we are in talks to design his website. He didn’t know I did website design until I told him. And, this may be true for you as well. Your clients won’t know everything that you can do for them unless you tell them. They may not need any of your secondary services right away, or at all, but they may know someone who does.

My administrative client, which I mentioned above, has now given my name to some of his customers who need help with their office tasks and web design needs.

As I said before, there is a time and a place for shamelessly selfpromoting yourself and your business. Be careful not to sound arrogant and don’t be pushy. But, as a small business owner, you are the best person to tell others about what you offer and you should take advantage of situations that will allow you to do so.

About The Author

Janice Byer is a certified Master Virtual Assistant and owner of DocuType Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net). See this and other articles on her website.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 18, 2002

by Janice D. Byer, MVA

5 Reasons No One Will Swap Links With You

5 Reasons No One Will Swap Links With You

by: Matt Colyer

Many webmasters simply don’t understand how to request a link exchange in way that is not titled or viewed as กspamก. In this article I will list five reasons why no one is trading links with your web site.

1) Robots No webmaster that has worked hard on his (her or their) web site wants a robot coming around asking for a link exchange. In fact many consider this as spam and they are often offended by this.

2) Watch what you say! When emailing the web site owner you should never make mean comments or sound cold, like a robot. Make it more personal and that you are real a person and not an automated system.

3) Make it clear! When contacting the webmaster you should be clear and to the point. Only tell them what they need to know and forget the rest. If they need to know something they will ask. Tell them where their link will be listed at and suggest where you would like your link to be placed at.

4) Your site In order for someone to be interested in exchanging links with your site you need to have a decent web site. The more content you have the better. Is your service that you offer useful? Or maybe you sale things. Does your products have a good description and pictures of the products?

5) Why should they? Tell the webmaster why it would be in their best interest to trade links with your web site. Tell them how many visitors you get per month. Also tell them why your site would be a great resource for their visitors.

About The Author

Matt Colyer is the owner of the http://www.superiorwebmaster.com. He also is a php, CGI and ASP developer.

This article was posted on February 28

by Matt Colyer

The Truth in Advertising

The Truth in Advertising

by: Jane Jarvis

Most of us have seen at least a dozen different toothpaste commercials that claim, ‘three out of four dentists recommend….ก You may have wondered, as I did, how each of these claims could be possibly be true. They are based on statistical evidence, so why are there such varied results? If you listen to advertising, there seems to be no clear consensus on which healthrelated productsaspirin, cough syrup, antihistaminesare the best. They are all recommended by 3 out of 4 professionals. Is it possible they are making false claims? The truth is that they are all telling the truth. When it comes to marketing a health product, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is always watching to make sure advertisers never tell a lie. Statements such as _____ reduces the risk of cancer, ______ removes harmful toxins from your water, or _____ fights plaque and reduces gingivitis, must all be substantiated. In other words, the products must do what they claim. To avoid the wrath of the FTC, it is always best to tell the truth about your product or service, especially in the health industry. But what is truth? In subjective terms it is difficult to discern. However, the FTC has many guidelines to help you find truth in your advertising: *Before you run an ad, you have to have a ‘reasonable basisก for your claims. A ‘reasonable basisก is objective evidence that supports the claim. At a minimum, an advertiser must have the level of evidence that it claims to have. The statement ‘two out of three doctors recommend…ก must be supported by a reliable survey. *If the ad isn’t specific, the FTC looks at several factors to determine what level of proof is necessary, including what experts in the field think is needed to support the claim. *Ads that make health or safety claims must be supported by กcompetent and reliable scientific evidenceก tests, studies, or other scientific evidence that has been evaluated by people qualified to interpret it. Any tests or studies must be conducted using methods that experts in the field deem acceptable. These are just a few of the guidelines to consider when making an advertising claim. But don’t be too worried. As long as you tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, there is no reason to keep looking over your shoulder. Jane Jarvis knows the advantage of truth in advertising, and isn’t afraid to use it.

About The Author

Jarvis is cofounder of cancercuresecrets.com, offering a controversial ebook that details the cancer cures youกve never heard of, and the reasons youกve never heard of them. To check out this revolutionary ebook, visit http://www.cancercuresecrets.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 13, 2004

by Jane Jarvis

How To get your JV Partner to Accept Recommendatio

How To get your JV Partner to Accept Recommendations From You

by: Abe Cherian

One of the brightest moments in my business career were when I was visiting with my joint venture partner and talking about our future relationship together. I remember asking Bill over and we instantly made friends. Simply by chatting about events we both enjoyed doing for our business.

One of the most effective ways to start out a business relationship, is by asking your future JV partner over to meet with you at your office or home. Why? Because you have an incredibly powerful offer to make to them, and if they aren’t sharp enough or interested enough, to come and see you, then they are not going to work with you!

Even though you both may see things for mutual gain, you must stay in control. You’re the fuel making this marketing networking machine run hard and fast. If they are too complacent to not wish to come into your domain at the first meeting, then they are not the winner here.

The thing to realize is not to get hung up on one person or another. Just politely brush them away and move on to the next. In fact, you only need one or two good relationships in each field to complete the circle and take care of your customers. The real beauty of all this, besides them giving you recommendations and paying for some, or all of your advertising, is much deeper than that. The real beauty is that your customers will be well taken care of!

It would be highly unusual for a customer to have a team of dedicated professionals taking care of you in this manner. One of the side benefits for you is that you will have this team to work on your own situation, usually at little or no cost. Often, you can set up an arrangement where these people will do work for free or at a discount for you. Of course, you should offer them help when they have personal needs, as well.

Another important fact to look at is your Unique Selling Proposition you bring to the table when you are able to tell a new prospect, how your team works together to maximize the efficiency of managing their purchase of your products or services. Do you think your USP is a little better than what your former competitors say? I would say so, because you have to have a totally different attitude to make this work. You have to be from a place of service with a customercentered psychology.

For example, when you’re meeting with a customer of an associate, and after listening to them, you know that they are really not ready to consider your product or service right now. Maybe later, but not now. In your heart, you know that you have to tell this person that he/she should really think about the future carefully before they pour all their money into whatever your offering.

If this were you, would you lead your customer over the hump? Would you กleadก him/her to the conclusion that doing what you say is the right decision…instead of telling your customer to consider whether doing anything right now is wise? You see, if you ask the right kinds of questions, and listen to what people really tell you, youกll always know in your heart whatกs right. And if you always do what your heart tells you is right, youกll get more business than youกll know what to do with, because of the positive energy you create when you do the right things.

Can you imagine the amount of trust you can build with an associate when you tell his customer and him, that this person (or business) isn’t in the right position to buy just yet, and you advise waiting until uncertainties are resolved? The trust will be a bridge into the heart of not just the customer, but the professional, as well.

Appealing to a professionalกs need for more customers will get the relationship started. Theyกll see you as a person who can help them solve their own marketing problems. After you’re in the door, developing this trust and showing the compassion Iกm describing will help secure you into other professionalกs lives and the lives of their customers.

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on your web site as long as the byline is included and the article is included in itกs entirety. I also ask that you activate any html links found in the article and in the byline. Please send a courtesy link or email where you publish to: [email protected]

About The Author

Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media, a company that helps online businesses find new leads and more customers without spending a fortune.

http://www.multiplestreammktg.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 12

by Abe Cherian

กHow To Make Readers Desperately and Uncontrollabl

กHow To Make Readers Desperately and Uncontrollably Wanting To Buy Your Productก

by: Steve Atlas

Are you looking for ways of persuading your web site visitors to buy your product or service? Or for ways of writing a sales letter so that you sell more?

Then you need to understand why people buy in the first place.

People buy things because they want to. Not necessarily because they need to.

We don’t need to buy expensive designer clothes, for instance, but we want to. Because we want to look good, and great clothes makes us look good. Why do we want to look good? In many cases, simply to attract the opposite sex.

This is why so many designer clothes ads use sex to sell.

Itกs simple, but it works. In a magazine ad – by placing a guy in a particular designer suit next to a couple of beautiful women, the readers subconsciously thinks that by buying that suit, he too will attract beautiful women.

Emotion makes you buy. Wanting to achieve something makes you buy.

You need to trigger the readerกs desire for your product. Not necessarily by focusing on your product, but on how his life will change when buying this product.

Focus on the potential customer, not your product.

You can’t force people to buy. Unfortunately, some of you might say.

But why force someone, when you can make them want to buy voluntarily? With much better results? Trigger their emotions so that they want to buy. Make them want your product. Feed them with emotional triggers so that they get excited about the project. Let them so the sales job.

How to trigger their emotions?

Tell your reader how his or her life will change after buying your product. Are you selling power shower heads? Tell them how fantastic youกll feel every morning using these heads. Describe it. Compare your power shower heads to the ordinary, cheap shower heads.

Show them how the features of the product will benefit the buyer.

Appeal to his or her emotions.

Are you selling cars? Let the prospect sit in the car, let him drive the car. Point out all the little details, like the high quality leather that is used on the seats. (Don’t say a word yet about how much this costs extra.) Paint him a picture…describe to him how wonderful itกll be to drive this car every day. Describe how the product will change his life.

Make them want your product.

But in order for the emotional appeals to work, you need to use logic, too. Because the prospect must justify his uncontrollable urge to buy.

After the initial emotional appeal, give him all kinds of logical reassurances of why it’s OK to buy. Tell him how much money he will save using your product, tell him you’ve reduced the price of your product so that if he likes it he’d be much better off buying straight away, tell him that you will give him additional bonuses if he buys immediately, and the best trick of all…

Tell your potential customer that he can return the product to you at any time and get a full refund if he’s not entirely happy about it.

This is the ultimate logical appeal.

If he wants your product; if you’ve made him want your product the main thing holding him back is money. If you take away this risk, he’s got nothing to loose.

Use emotion to get your readers to desire your product by showing them how they will benefit from the product. Use logic to take away their resistance to buying. Use logic to take away all the risks.

About The Author

Steve Atlas writes regularly for the Internet Marketing Dictionary http://www.internetmarketingdictionary.com

This article was posted on February 08, 2003

by Steve Atlas

10 Ways To Make Your Sales Soaring

10 Ways To Make Your Sales Soaring

by: Hans Peter Oswald

1. Maximize the effectiveness of your banner ads. Don’t just use the same ad on every banner, use a variety to attract the greatest number of clickers. Use a banner system, which changes the banners at you website.See: http://www.domainregistry.de
2. Make your web site load much faster by cutting down on banner ads and start using more buttons. Button ads are also smaller and take up less space.
3. Offer free advertising space to well known and respected companies on your web site. Sometimes people link their business credibility to yours.
4. People have been taught all their life to respect people in authority. Tell your visitors that you are the president or CEO of your business.
5. Offer people a free telephone consultation before they order your product. When they get to know you personally, it could convert to more sales.
6. Test the กbill me later optionก on your web site. Most people are honest and will pay you. It is a powerful little niche and could increase your sales.
7. Find a charity your target audience would likely support. Tell people on your ad copy that you will give a percentage of the profits to that charity. P.S.: You should do also, what you have promised.
8. Hold a กbuy the most wins contestก on your web site. Tell people each monthly winner will get their entire purchase refunded.
9. Attract visitors to your web site by offering them a free course. You could package the course on a followup autoresponder and send lessons daily.
10. Interview people related to your industry and get their legal permission to convert it to an article. Promote your web site by submitting it to ezines, article banks like www.articlecity.com and blogs like http://www.20six.de/secura1 (Guestbook).
HansPeter Oswald

http://www.comdomains.com

About The Author

Hans Peter Oswald

CEO

ICANN Registrar Secura

http://www.comdomain.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 21, 2004

by Hans Peter Oswald

Wise Man Marketing

Wise Man Marketing

by: Martin Day

It’s a sunny morning and you’re sitting in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of your last holiday still fresh in your mind, even if you say so yourself, today at least, life is sweet.

You take a sip of new blend coffee and then feel a rush of cool air and a movement catches the corner of your eye. As if from nowhere there is now an impeccably dressed stranger sitting in the chair opposite. Sure you’re surprised; you didn’t hear anyone knock and just as you are about to say something he begins in a calm and measured voice.

‘Hereกs the deal’

‘I am going to advertise your product on a billboard at the busiest junctions in every city of the world.ก

‘I will tell you how many people see this advertisement and I will tell you their age, nationality and gender.ก

‘I will tell you what they think of your product and in many cases I will give you their contact details. While they are reading the billboard I will make it possible for them to view your website and, if they feel the urge, make a purchase.ก

‘I will have all this ready in two days and it will cost you less than a small advertisement in your typical trade journal.’

He pauses. ‘Interested?’

Now you might think that such an offer was too good to be true, you might think that you are going to wake up soon or maybe that it really is time to get a lock on that office door.

But letกs just take a minute. If you are still reading this I am that man who has come from nowhere and offered you a deal.

The advertising site is on the Internet and the billboard Iกm offering is the humble online survey.

Stop for one moment and start to associate an online survey not with กmarket researchก but with กmarketingก. Not any type of marketing but กMarketingก with a capital กMก and in flashing neon lights. Marketing that is quick, direct, effective and low cost.

Publish an online survey and advertise it on a website, or via email, and like a billboard by the side of a major road junction, your message will appear in front of people. But unlike a billboard where the number of people that see an advert has to be estimated (based on an arbitrary percentage of total volume of traffic), the online survey records the number of times a survey is started.

Surveys can ask demographic questions such as gender, age and nationality and in doing so you are obtaining metrics about the effectiveness of your promotion and are interacting with the respondent on a oneonone level.

Unlike billboards where the message is often subliminal, or maybe just trying to achieve brand awareness, with online surveys you have the opportunity to connect with the public to find out what they really think about your product, how it relates to them, how it is perceived.

Using a website like http://www.surveygalaxy.com it takes only minutes and hours to create a survey and using the power of the Internet an online survey can reach hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

Throw in a prize as an incentive for people to complete the survey, maybe some Pay Per Click advertising to capture an even wider, or more focused audience and you are still talking low cost effective marketing.

กSo tell me. Do we have a deal?ก

About The Author

Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy Ltd a web site that allows anyone to create, design and publish online surveys. For more information please visit http://www.surveygalaxy.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 09

by Martin Day

Desperately Seeking the Truth

Desperately Seeking the Truth

by: John Jantsch

People today are bombarded by so much information that they have become numb to what feels like advertising or, during political cycles like we are in today, out and out fabrication.

Small business owners should resist the temptation to copy what passes for advertising today and focus on telling the truth. I don’t really mean to imply that companies are lying about what their product or service can do, I just mean that they aren’t giving us any reason to believe in or trust what they have to say.

So how do you do tell the truth? Tell me a story. Speak to me honestly about why you got into business, tell me your pain, show me how you struggle and, most of all, give me some reason to hope.

Create a marketing document that tells your story and you will find that you can use it in a variety of ways.

The marketing story is such an effective tool because it allows you to do several things that traditional marketing or advertising does not.

People learn through stories

Stories are an effective way to simplify a complicated issue.

Stories can create emotion. People buy on emotion and rationalize their decision with facts

Stories are easier to remember because people can more readily relate to a story

Most importantly…Stories build trust

The basic types of plots for your marketing story

Who I am stories – stories that allow the reader to connect with who you are or who the company is

What I do stories – Stories that communicate what your firm does in a way that gets at why it does it.

The vision stories – Stories that paint a picture of a dynamic future.

Values in action stories – Stories that illustrate slogan like ขwe try harderข

Lessons learned stories – Shared lessons that expose the human side – both the good and the bad.

I know you stories – Stories that demonstrate to the reader that you have walked in my shoes.

The link to your core marketing message or USP.

As you create your marketing story it is helpful to keep your USP in mind. The marketing story can be a very effective way to demonstrate the words in your most important marketing promise or core message.

Your story should be chosen partly based on its ability to directly link the reader to your USP.

A word about structure There are several items that go into a good story.

Your story should have personality. A good story is always a good story.

Your story should connect with the reader by revealing a simple truth.

Your story needs a caretaker. Someone in the firm needs to own the story and give it a passionate voice.

Your story should be so focused on the target market so that they can see themselves as characters in your story.

Several great uses for a good story

It can help you recruit employees who relate to the story.

It can and should be part of your marketing materials. Print it on the back of invoices. Hang it in the hall. Tell it in your newsletter. Put it on your web site.

Use it to help present your firm in an industry award competition

A couple of closing thoughts

The story must be true. I don’t think that I need to explain that one too much.

The story must be somewhat entertaining. Facts and figures can add credibility to a story but emotion and personality keep the interest.

A 13 year old should be able to understand and appreciate the story. If you have a teenager, then you know what a challenge this is. Pass this test and you know you have a winner.

Length. Your story should take no longer than 35 minutes to read or tell. Anything longer and you had better have some intriguing plot twists.

Looking for a great example of a marketing story? Visit http://www.noonshine.com/story.htm

Copyright 2004 John Jantsch

About The Author

John Jantsch is a marketing coach and creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System. You can get more information about the Duct Tape System and download your free copy of ขHow To Create the Ultimate Small Business Marketing System in 7 Simple Stepsข by visiting http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com

This article was posted on October 25, 2004

by John Jantsch

Elements of a Successful Advertising Campaign

Elements of a Successful Advertising Campaign

by: Christoph Puetz

A successful marketing campaign needs certain elements to be successful. The following information will help you to develop a successful marketing campaign.

1) Establish a feeling of urgency for the buyer. Basically tell your customers, กYou need to sign up today because it will make you reach your goals.ก Don’t tell your customer the offer will still be as good tomorrow; they must buy today! Urgency! Study how successful ads make the customer act now. Remember the X10 Spy Cam advertising campaign? They always had their website set up with a deadline for a special deal. Something like that is easy to program and will eventually urge the customer to sign up today. Don’t over do it use this tactic for a week then switch to something else. Rotate these marketing tools. Start looking more closely at the marketing vehicles (email, letters, postcards,) you receive yourself every day, and youกll begin to see that effective marketing always gives you a reason to act now.

2) Show a list of benefits if the customer signs up with you. There must be a list of benefits to make him sign up. Will you be smarter using your services? Will he get more visitors? Will your server be better than the competitions hardware? Will your business help to make the site more successful? Or make him richer, or healthier, or faster? Focus on the client, not the advertiser. Most benefits need to be skillfully integrated into the ad. It is a waste of time and money in an ad or on your website if you don’t work in benefits and present them properly.

3) Call to Action: Tell them what they must do to get it. Don’t assume that your prospects and customers will figure out how to get what you are offering. They won’t do your work for you. So, go ahead and tell them what to do. If they have to call you to get it, then tell them to call (to call you now!). If they have to write or drop a post card in the mail, or fax something to you, then tell them clearly and in words easy to understand. The point is to make it as easy as possible for your target customer to do what you want them to do. People don’t like to do anything that is going to take work on their part. Make it as easy for them to respond as possible, or they won’t = no good results for you.

3a) Do it again: You have to (must) tell customer what to do (to sign up with you). Tell your customer to order now (this moment). So many ads assume that the customer will guess to fill out the contact us form, email you, or telephone for the information, or product. Tell the customer what to do. Provide the customer on how to respond today in several ways. As more options you can offer, the better will be the results.

4) Plan your advertising calendar and campaign several months in advance. Failure to plan advertising in advance will waste a lot of your money. Rush charges, poor design, rate increases, poor creative and poor copy are common results of failing to plan in advance. ขI didn’t have enough timeข, ขI was under the gun to get this placedข, are common phrases heard under rushed circumstances. Take a blank calendar and fill in the days, months, or quarters to advertise to your target markets. Figure out the number of ad insertions that will make sense and negotiate a contract with the various media suppliers (e.g. local newspapers). Book banner web space on the important website early in advance. Prepare your website with a special landing page for the expected visitors.

5) Test your banners and your ads. Only by trial and error will you be able to set a baseline as to the best response rates for your ads and banners. It is very important to maximize response for the amount of dollars spent. Sometimes rephrasing text or adjusting the ad layout can make the difference between a low or just average response and a great success and high ROI (Return on Investment). You will need to find out what works best for your business. After you find this out, you’ll want to stay on course and base future advertising campaigns on the success of the old one.

6) Avoid misleading or dishonest advertising in hopes of converting duped readers/website visitors into using your products or services. Honesty and integrity are the primary key to repeat sales and repeat business. If you have to trick your audience to get their attention, you will have a very hard time keeping their attention and their business if they sign up at all.

7) Running On(Web)Site Events. Running events on your website is an excellent way to encourage repeat traffic and repeat visitors. Youกll want to begin running events once traffic from your site launch begins to fade. Examples include contests, games, online interviews, chat sessions and maybe even audio broadcasts. Do the things your competitors don’t do.

This article can be published by anyone as long as a live back link to http://www.webhostingresourcekit.com is provided from the authorกs resource box. (this note can be removed as long as a link from the authorกs resource box is provided)

About The Author

Christoph Puetz is a successful small business owner (Net Services USA LLC) and international author.

Guides, Tutorials, and Articles for small businesses http://www.webhostingresourcekit.com

This article was posted on December 23, 2004

by Christoph Puetz

Explaining What You Do in 15 Seconds

Explaining What You Do in 15 Seconds

by: Charlie Cook

You’re in the elevator and your friend John introduces you to Barbara who is the CEO of one of the companies youกd like to do business with. Barbara asks, กWhat do you do?ก

Here is your chance to make a connection with a prime member of your target market. You want to get her attention, make a positive impression and get her interested enough to continue the conversation. Youกve got about fifteen seconds to do this.

Whether you are in the elevator, or on the phone, the way you start the conversation will determine whether or not it will continue. You could tell anyone what you do if you had half an hour, but with fifteen seconds you’re likely to simply label yourself, as most people do.

Labels don’t tell us much. Imagine you told Barbara in the elevator that you are a coach or a consultant. Are you talking about working with high school kids, senior managers, or actors? Few job labels tell your audience who you work with. Most labels are not only vague but don’t help to prompt the conversation to continue.

You could be more specific and tell your prospect you are a tax accountant or an automation specialist. That gives people some idea of what you do, but still doesn’t explain why your prospect should care.

Instead of using a label, you could tell your prospect how you do your work, the processes you use. You might say, กWe analyze light manufacturing companies to identify areas where the addition of a programmable logic controller could boost throughput.ก If she understands what you are talking about, you still haven’t given her a reason to contact you.

Whether you are an executive coach, lawyer, accountant, or automation specialist, when you start talking about the processes you use eyes glaze over and minds shut down. While you may have developed processes that no one else uses, prospects don’t car about the process, at least not initially.

One of the most common mistakes people make is assuming their message should be about themselves. If you are in business to provide services and products to clients and customers, your marketing message should be about their needs and wants. Hereกs the difference:

กIกm a marketing coach.ก (Itกs about me, and who really cares?)

กI help independent professionals attract more clients and make more money.ก (Itกs about what I do for others and should prompt the question, กHow do you do that?ก)

Your prospectsก primary concern isn’t you. They want to know what you can do for them and how you can help them profit, financially, physically or emotionally. They want to know if you can solve a problem for them.

To get attention with a short sentence about the problems you solve, you might tell Barbara you กhelp reduce manufacturing operating costs and increase profitsก. Cost containment is a continual problem for any CEO and should pique her interest and prompt follow up. Stop shutting the door to new business with your marketing message. When people ask you what you do, avoid using a label or a discussion of process. Instead, quickly clarify who you help and what type of problems you solve. One sentence should do the job.

Talking about what you do in a new way takes a little getting used to. The first couple of times you stop yourself from saying, กIกm an executive coach or consultantก and replace it with a marketing message that describes how you actually help clients, it will feel awkward. Keep using and fine tuning your marketing message and soon it will not only give prospects a clear idea of what you do but youกll be comfortable using it.

Once you have a 15 second marketing message that works you can use it in the elevator, in the airport, on the phone, and at parties and watch your business grow.

2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the F*ree Marketing Guide and the กMore Businessก newsletter, full of practical tips you can use at http://www.charliecook.net

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 12, 2004

by Charlie Cook

How to Use Solo Ads to Make a Small Fortune

How to Use Solo Ads to Make a Small Fortune

by: Anik Singal

Newsletter advertising has been getting a bad rap lately. Around every corner you can find someone complaining about how it doesn’t work. But when you ask them if they’ve tried it, most say no. The others who have, had NO idea what they were doing.
Today we’re going to talk about exactly what kind of solo ads sell and what factors are important.
Let’s start by going through the process of publishing a solo ad.

Choose a newsletter/ezine to publish in.
Write the solo ad
Write an effective title
Design the website where your visitors will go…

1. Choose a newsletter/ezine
Extremely important. You must do your best to choose the most targeted group possible. You must choose a ขgoodsizedข list. Also, the group must be responsive.
The best searching technique is to go to the websites in your niche market that are popular and find the links that say ขadvertisingข or ขadvertise with us.ข It’s normally quite selfexplanatory from there…
I personally recommend going for no newsletter with less than 5,000 members – unless they are extremely targeted and very responsive.
To determine how responsive a group is – ALWAYS ask or look for testimonials from others who have advertised before. If the publisher is unwilling to provide these – don’t waste your time promoting there.
2. Write the Solo Ad
One word – story. That’s the BEST way to sell someone something – tell them a story. Most people are so skeptical now every time they receive an email that the only real way to warm up to them is to tell them a story.
Start talking about how you went from a ขnothingข to having this great success. Or, how you went from not knowing anything about ขsuch and suchข to now becoming an expert.
The next tip is to give them a ขfeelingข of what they are about to learn – *start* to teach them about the topic and then say ขO…to learn the rest, click here.ข
I’ve learned that the best solo ad never sells a thing, it only presells and warms up to the reader. I guess this is where the theory of ขPreSellข prevails.
3. Write an Effective Title
Quite possibly the MOST important part of your entire campaign. Don’t underestimate the readers of the ezine. They *know* when the regular issue comes and when the solo ads come. They’re already skeptical. If you want to catch their eye, you better have a title that really appeals to them.
Here are some good title tips:

Use Numbers ex/ How to Get 2000+ Targeted Visitors A Day instead of ขHow to Get Trafficข
Be Specific – Your title should reveal EXACTLY what you talk about…
Keep It Short – The shorter the title, the more it will be read…
Avoid SPAM words – Don’t use ขFREEข ขMONEYข – These words are turnoffs now…

If you can write an effective title, you’ve one half the battle already!
4. Design the website where your visitors go…
The BIGGEST mistake (in my opinion) is to simply send the traffic to your main site. I recommend you setup a SEPARATE website for THAT particular ezine. Make that visitor feel as if he/she is VIP for coming in from that newsletter.
Greet them with a ขHey! Glad you could make it from ขINSERT NAME HEREข to our site!
This makes your site more personal and the visitor feels more comfortable reading your message.
A quick tip for your website:
Always talk about the success YOU had with the program you are selling – tell a story and reveal how well YOU did with it. You will see a HUGE increase in sales.
Once again, people want stories and they want storied about YOU.
If you apply these four factors the ขrightข way, you’re bound to do extremely well with Solo Ads. Personally, I make thousands a month selling my consulting service using Solo Ads – so, no one can tell me they don’t work.
Till we meet again, thumbs up to ezine advertising!
Anik Singal

President

AffiliateUpsell.com

About The Author

Anik Singal is a very successful young internet business owner. He began marketing on the internet when he was only 18 and by the age of 20 he was making a full living on the internet.
Anik found great success easily promoting just one affiliate program. He earned over $10,466.62 with just one program using his Affiliate Upsell Secrets System.
Now, heกs teaching others how to do it…
Take advantage of Anikกs expertise by visiting www.AffiliateUpsell.com.
Anikกs TOP 5 Most Closely Guarded Search Engine Optimization Secrets FREE Guide Visit http://www.AffiliateUpsell.com/SEO_Secrets.pdf

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 16, 2004

by Anik Singal