Website Magic: How To Compact Ten Online Seminars

Website Magic: How To Compact Ten Online Seminars Into One Free EBook

by: Paul Barrs

Marketing a new Ebook is one of the many challenging tasks that we face as Online Entrepreneurs.
Articles are great. But surely there must be an easier way.
How about Ebooks. Youกve heard of them, chances are youกve even read a few.
But then lies another challenge.
Reading through your computer screen. Itกs tiring. Hard on the eyes. No where near as comfortable as curling up with a good paperback on the lounge with a cuppa.
So whatกs the solution?
Easy. Online Audio!!
This article will show you how to power your Online marketing efforts 1000% in the next 30 days.
It will give you access to 10 infopacked online marketing seminars, and show you just how EASY this marketing thing really can be.
And it won’t tire out your eyes at all!
Hello and welcome to the Online Seminar Series, "Web Site Magic!"
You have a web site don’t you? Or, maybe you’re thinking of setting one up.
It could even be the case that you are already running a web site, and have been bitterly disappointed by the amount of traffic that you are receiving, or the number of subscribers to your Ezine, or perhaps, your affiliate sales are so low that you are beginning to winder whatกs the point of it all.
If you fit into any of these categories, then this series of tutorials is just for you.
Web Site Magic! Will show you how to build your web site from the ground up.
Firstly, weกll show you how to find free web hosts and free web templates that you can use to either start or enhance you own site. And then, weกll move through the many different areas of web site presentation, how to display your offer so that people actually read it, how to lay out your page so that your visitors are drawn into it and guided towards your offer or your ezine.
Youกll also find out how to market your site, suing all of the most successful marketing techniques available today. Weกll cover search engines, ezines, Autoresponders and more.
Here is an outline of this powerful Seminar Series:

Part One: In the Beginning Free Web Hosts and Free Web Templates.
Part Two: Establishing Credibility The Correct way to build your site so that your visitors are compelled to read and buy.
Part Three: Ezines The Secrets of the Masters. Hows to bring your visitors back time and time again.
Part Four: Link Partners How to blow your traffic skyhigh.
Part Five: Search Engines How to submit, when to submit and how often for maximum results.
Part Six: Success Tools What the Master uses to earn a 6figure income.
Part Seven: Inside your site How to do a professional web site analysis.
Part Eight: Free Advertising How to use free adds for maximum exposure.
Part Nine: Sales Sales Sales The art of creating Affiliate Programs
Part Ten: Sell Yourself How to move your site expectations beyond the limits of this Universe!

As you can see, this series will be very comprehensive. This article is a once in a lifetime opportunity to receive this information for free.
Others have paid up to $300 PER SEMINAR in the Offline business world.
You will learn, absolutely FREE "Essential Business Strategies for Creating Profits Online"
All you have to do is click the link, site back and listen.
So, get among the top 5% and do it now:
http://www.paulbarrs.com/websitemagic.exe
And enjoy

About The Author

Paul Barrs is the founder of a new 1,700 page training site, Home Business Mastery. Youกll find everything you ever need to build your business from the ground up, from Business Plans, through to Advanced Internet Marketing Techniques For More Information go to http://www.paulbarrs.com

This article was posted on January 20, 2002

by Paul Barrs

Why Search Engine Traffic Should be Your Top Prior

Why Search Engine Traffic Should be Your Top Priority

by: Richard Zwicky

Most Internet marketing methods are risky and many will not have any affect on traffic to a web site. Some online marketers will sell you anything from banner impressions, to mass email campaigns (spam), to popup ads. All these marketing tools can work, but they are also extremely risky. Some people I know find popups and spam so annoying that they will never purchase anything from a business that uses them. These plans are probably not the best customer acquisition strategies, and more likely they are a total waste of money. So why would anyone bother risking money on marketing strategies that probably will not increase traffic to your website? Why not concentrate on what does work? The search engines.

Have you ever been contacted by online marketers who promise to deliver a ‘ton of trafficก to your websiteก ? I get these emails every day. Hereกs a quote from one I used to get 10 times a day (until I automatically filtered it to trash):

กHi I visited www.metamend.com, and noticed that you’re not listed on some search engines! I think we can offer you a service which can help you increase traffic and the number of visitors to your website.

I would like to introduce you to thispromotioncompany.com. We offer a unique technology that will submit your website to over 300,000 search engines and directories every month.

Youกll be surprised by the low cost, and by how effective this website promotion method can be.

To find out more about thispromotioncompany and the cost for submitting your website to over 300,000 search engines and directories, visit www.thispromotioncompany.com. (…)ก

Have you ever received one, and wondered why they were contacting you? First off, how did they find your web site? What search engines are they referring to? If they really could deliver on their promise, then they would have so much repeat, and word of mouth business, that they wouldn’t have time to be calling or emailing you. Lastly, how many people actually believe that there are 300,000 search engines?

While itกs true you need traffic from the search engines, you don’t need to use spam techniques to get it. You need real results, and not false hope.

Increase Web Site Traffic,.. Naturally

It is true that the best way to obtain lots of targeted traffic (customers) is to acquire it based on relevance, via the search engines. Various studies show that anywhere from 83% to 92% of first time visitors to a web site find it through the search engines. Thatกs an incredible statistic. If you are not acquiring those customers as a result of a relevant query, then they will be disappointed. They may be disappointed with the search result, but more likely, they will be disappointed with your web site.

In the online world thatกs your first impression. We all know how important a first impression is. You can never get a bad one back, and a good one will carry you a long way. You have to make sure that the search engines are sending you visitors that are looking for your products or services. If your web site matches their interests, they will remember it, and come back, even if they do not make a purchase on that visit. If they find it irrelevant, they may have subconsciously formed a negative opinion of your online business, through no fault of your own.

Search engines provide a continuous stream of targeted visitors to your website, and for the most part, itกs free of charge. Some engines do charge a listing fee, but most do not. The only thing the search engine asks is that each web site operator makes an effort to provide relevant and good information to web surfers for a particular search phrase. If a web site does so, the search engines will reward the site with increased good quality traffic.

Search engine traffic is a winwin situation for any online business. It doesn’t take much to improve on most web siteกs search engine traffic it just takes optimization. Did you know that as of January 1 2002, there were 160,000,000 domain hosts in use worldwide? Did you know that 88% of the web pages worldwide are not indexed by the largest search engines? 88% of web pages are not optimized. How can any business survive on the Internet if it is not optimized for the search engines, and thus can never be found? How can they exist if over 83% of first time visitors never find their web site? How much more money could a web site operator earn if they ensured their web site was even partially visible?

If you have an informative web site, the search engines want to send you lots of customers. Thatกs because the more web surfers find what they want, the more theyกll use a particular search engine and recommend it to their friends. The search engine also benefits, as it becomes known as a resource that gets its clients the searchers to their destinations quickly and efficiently. The more people recognize how well the engine works as a resource, the more it gets recommended, and used. As the popularity increases, so do the engineกs revenues from advertising.

What Does Your Web Site Need To Receive Traffic From The Search Engines?

Small web sites with only 1 or 2 pages set themselves up for failure, simply because they usually don’t have enough content of interest. There are of course exceptions, where the 1 or 2 pages are each as long as a book. But these are awfully frustrating to read, and no one will be satisfied with them. Most often 1 or 2 page sites are simply too short to provide any useful information, so the search engines don’t take them seriously. Among other factors, the search engines examine how deep a site is. The more meaningful content present, the more weighty the site is viewed as, and the more importance it is given.

If you are wondering about whether to bother, ask yourself this: Why does your company have a web site? What does the company do with it? Think about it. Most companies today have web sites, and most market the web sites to facilitate customer acquisition, to increase their customer base, and to improve customer retention rates.

There are a number of reasons for having web sites. Many companies use theirs to enhance their customer service. Using a web site as a marketing vehicle is a great way for a company ‘to put the word outก about products, services, or offerings.

Most importantly, remember that your web site is an online resource that your clients can use to find answers to frequently asked questions, กhow toก tips, and to educate themselves. When including content on a web site, always remember that the knowledge shared may be common to you, but itกs likely that you are an expert in the eyes of your clients. People visit your web site for your product or service, but also for information. If they find useful, relevant, information, they will keep coming back, and will likely make purchases. People like to buy from experts.

Instead of thinking of your web site as nothing more than an online billboard or business card, think of it as an online menu, that lets people get an idea of what it is you do, and how you do it. Develop a content rich website, optimize it, and let the search engines increase your website traffic, naturally. If you optimize each major web page within your site, you will increase the rankings in the search engine results and therefore receive targeted traffic for each of those pages.

Doing each of the above ensuring relevant content is present, and optimizing the pages will ensure that the search engines have what they need so they can do their work. It will also ensure that they can send you targeted traffic (customers), so that you can get that 83% of first time visitors your online business needs to survive.

About The Author

Richard Zwicky is a founder and the CEO of Metamend Software, www.metamend.com, a Victoria B.C. based firm whose cutting edge Search Engine Optimization software is recognized as the world leader in its field. Employing a staff of 10, the firmกs business comes from around the world, with clients from every continent. Most recently the company was recognized for their geolocational, or GIS, and phraseology and context search technologies.

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 20, 2003

by Richard Zwicky

Free Content for Individuals

Free Content for Individuals

by: Ron Tower

Free content added to Web pages using an HTML fragment is usually intended for Web sites. But why can’t individuals also use it? It will be useful for them as well as promoting the Web site of the content provider.

There is a lot of free content available. You can get headlines, weather, search forms, jokes, cartoons, a word or quote of the day, tickers, and much more. For examples of free content available as HTML fragments, see Free Sticky (http://freesticky.com). Webmasters can paste the HTML into a page on their site, but what can an individual without a Web site do?

One approach is to have a simple HTML file on your machine that acts as a container of the free content. For example, see the Free Content Container (http://www.sugarloafsw.com/ia/freecc.html), a simple HTML file that already includes some free content and explains how to add or replace that content with content you like. You can just save it to your computer and then access it from your disk to create your own very simple information aggregator.

Go to http://www.sugarloafsw.com/ia/freecc.html. Click on Modify Me to see how you can modify the file. Save the file to your computer using File Save As from your browser being sure to use the กHTML file onlyก option. Edit the file with a text editor such as notepad and you will see that it is a simple table. HTML from free content Web sites can be simply pasted into the file at the places indicated by the comments.

Once you understand the basics of your container, you can do searches on the Web for กfree contentก and create different HTML files with different content. You can use this yourself or send the HTML file to friends as an email attachment and they can also use what you found from their computer, no need for a Web site.

Another approach is to get an information aggregator that supports HTML fragments. The HTML fragments can be placed on personal portal pages along with other content such as RSS feeds. See http://www.sugarloafsw.com/ia/ia.html for more on the use of information aggregators to allow individuals to use free content.

The final approach is to take the plunge and get your own Web site. There are several free options available, such as GeoCities (http://geocities.yahoo.com). You can add your modified Free Content Container to your site along with your other content.

About The Author

Ron Tower is the President of Sugarloaf Software and is the developer of Personal Watchkeeper, an information aggregator supporting a variety of ways to summarize the Web.

http://www.sugarloafsw.com

This article was posted on December 08, 2004

by Ron Tower

Developing a Winning eCommerce Strategy

Developing a Winning eCommerce Strategy

by: Lee Traupel

One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be continued consumer spending and ecommerce is clearly a part of this, with sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 billion in the next three months according to ACNielsen. But there is a dark cloud hovering over this sunny ecommerce landscape called poor web site design. Letกs explore some of the reasons why consumers are not reaching for their credit cards after perusing an ecommerce web site.

There is a huge knowledge gap about how the web is really driving online and offline commerce. A recent eCommercePulse survey of more than 33,000 surfers conducted by Nielsen/Net ratings and Harris Interactive indicates ecommerce sites are driving more purchases offline (phone, catalogue, retail store sales) than online. Many consumers are using the web to effortlessly compare features and pricing, then calling the company or visiting their local retail store to make a purchase. Clearly many companies need to factor this information in when analyzing their online and offline marketing expenditures and related ROI.

According to a recent Zona Research and Keynote Systems Report released earlier this summer, over $25 Billion (USD) was lost in ecommerce due to users abandoning the web site prior to a purchase being made or during the process. The users just gave up because the load times (the amount of time it takes a page to be displayed in a browser) were painfully slow. Todayกs online shoppers aren’t a real patient group; they want information presented in 1218 seconds or they are off to another site that works.

Unfortunately, many firms have allocated a disproportionate amount of resources for advertising and not enough on good web site design and backend infrastructure. Itกs critical to make the market aware of a site, but if the potential customers are not presented with the right navigation and menus (read information architecture), they will not buy. Case in point: according to recent Dataquest surveys (and others), between 2040% of most users don’t purchase because they can’t figure out how to easily move around the web site.

Many firms fail to properly integrate their ecommerce components with the overall site design. The inhouse developers or the outside design firm concentrate on the sexy parts of the web site design process (the graphics, branding, look and feel) and only focus on the ecommerce process after the primary web site design is completed, making ecommerce an afterthought.

A large number of ecommerce web sites don’t even list a phone number, arbitrarily forcing people to contact the company electronically, This is a real problem, as many people don’t want to use email or forms as their primary means of communicating. They want the immediacy of the telephone.

Itกs very surprising, but approximately 30% of ecommerce sites don’t have a search capability that actually works. In many cases it just returns gobblygook. This is a real irritant for many online shoppers who want to find goods and services quickly and efficiently. The need for speed should be the ecommerce merchantกs marketing mantra and a good search capability gives users a way to quickly find products.

One of the most important parts of any web site is the home or index page, as it aggregates the design elements and information architecture. So many index pages are cluttered and poorly designed, loaded with poor graphics, bad menu structures, oddball words, or my absolute least favorite … 3060 second Flash animation sequences which force the user to sit and stare at a blank screen while the animation loads.

Privacy statements are about as exciting as filing taxes (unless you know you’re getting a refund). They are out of necessity filled with legal terminology that needs to be addressed succinctly and in a way that makes a consumer feel comfortable about doing business with an ecommerce web site. Unfortunately, many ecommerce web site privacy statements look like an afterthought, or are so กattorney drivenก (three pages who has time to read this?) that people are turned off by them. Itกs very important that a privacy statement be a compromise document brokered between legal and marketing.

We are a full service ad agency so I don’t mind shooting arrows in the direction of my peers. Too much attention is being placed on web site advertising metrics (clickthrough rates, certified traffic to substantiate ad rates, etc.) and not enough on how people find and use an ecommerce web site. The industry standard web site analysis tool is Web Trends, but one of the least understood aspects of this product is tracking how people find and move around a web site via reports which can be pulled from the server log files; i.e., where did the visitors come from, what pages do they visit, how long do they stay, what are their traffic patterns, etc.? eCommerce companies should be analyzing these กdigital customer tracksก to better understand how to improve their frontend marketing processes and backend web site design.

About The Author

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of business development and marketing experience he is the founder of Intelective Communications, Inc., http://www.intelective.com, a resultsdriven marketing services company providing proprietary services to clients encompassing startups to public companies. [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 25, 2002

by Lee Traupel

Success Starts with Articles

Success Starts with Articles

by: Jason A. Martin

No one can logically argue against the fact that content is king. Web sites that are nothing more than glorified link farms or ad spiels must work harder and invest more money to gain visitors—almost none of them return. To keep users returning, there must be a reason. Articles can serve two major roles in maintaining a successful website—content and promotion. Just minutes from now you could be on your way to building a more successful business. Article creation and submission is one of the greatest promotional tools ever.

CONTENT

Every web site that wants to succeed at competing for eyeballs must have solid content to offer. Otherwise, the visitor is off in mere seconds—never to return. Make the visitor glad they visited and you have potentially created a loyal user.

Think about some of the more popular web sites on the Internet. Why would you visit them? Why would you return? Let’s look at a popular news site, FoxNews.com. I visit Fox News to read the latest news stories. I go back because I know there will be fresh articles waiting for me. I visit my favorite writing web site because I know there are great articles there and new ones appear often.

Do you see a theme? I am not going to a web site that is about other web sites or is a link farm—I am going to the source of what I desire. These sources not only receive my attention but have a good chance at selling me something. Over time, my trust in these web sites increases and I am more open to what they have to offer. It is important to offer quality content to hook the visitors in and update often to give them reasons to return. Your web site is an extension of you and your company. How visitors perceive your web site is how they will perceive you. This is why it is important that articles be well written. Anything less will compromise your perceived image.

PROMOTION

There is no easier way to establish links and incoming traffic to your web site than writing articles—or having someone write them for you. It could take months or longer for a web site owner to gain a significant amount of relevant links on other web sites. However, it can take days, with no effort, to accomplish the same feat with one well crafted article. The process is extremely simple.

Write the article or have it written for you.

Submit the article to article distribution services.

Start working on the next article or have a writer do it for you.

Once your article is out there it will work itself onto web sites across the Internet, which will end up generating incoming links for your web site. Moreover, this will increase your link popularity, which is very important for great search engine rankings. It would be wise to write articles that pertain in some way to your own web site. The odds of people, who are reading an article on engine rebuilding, being interested in your web site about quilting is rather slim. There are many article submission web sites and groups on the Internet. Some good article submission web sites are: articlefactory.com, ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, and ideamarketers.com. Don’t forget to use the article on your own web site.

The promotion world is waking up to this article creation technique and in time the competition will be fierce. The time to get started is right now. One well crafted article can easily be worth thousands of dollars in promotional efforts. Don’t let not being able to write great articles keep you from getting ahead—visit JasonAMartin.com to have articles written for you. You simply can not put a price on the possible results from article distribution. Just wait until you experience it for yourself.

©2005 Jason Andrew Martin LLC

About The Author

Jason A. Martin has been conducting business on the Internet for 11 years. He is a freelance writer on many topics and is currently working on obtaining a degree in Journalism and Law.

His official blog, which contains more articles you can use for your web site, can be viewed at: Jason A. Martin

jasonamartin.com

This article was posted on February 24

by Jason A. Martin

Four Tips For Getting More Mileage From Your Artic

Four Tips For Getting More Mileage From Your Articles

by: Bonnie Jo Davis

It has become common knowledge that the smartest and most effective free method of advertising your business and services is to write and submit articles to the over 400,000 ezines currently on the กnet. There are even several ebooks written on the topic, including mine, that will help you take advantage of this effective technique. What do you do next after youกve invested the hours necessary to research, write, proofread, edit and submit your article to thousands of ezine publishers?

I recommend several methods of recycling articles to clients who utilize my article submission services that Iกm going to share with you today:

1. Publish each of your articles on a separate page on your web site. Then take the keywords from that article that you used in the title and text and create a set of meta tags for that page. Use a free meta tag generator like http://www.anybrowser.com/MetaTagGenerator.html to make sure your meta tags are properly formatted and all inclusive. Next, submit the article page to all of the free search engines. Once that page is indexed those keywords will attract searchers to visit your site where you can convert them to loyal customers.

2. Take the article youกve written and customize it for an industry you want to target. For example, I have a client who writes internet promotion articles. After submission she customizes her articles for real estate agents, accountants, ophthalmologists, home health care companies, etc. I then offer the customized articles to the industry associations representing those groups. This tactic has resulted in hundreds of thousands of fresh, new visitors to her web site when an association prints her customized article in their newsletter or magazine.

3. Choose an article youกve written that outlines several key points on a particular topic. Write an in depth, expanded article on each key point. Contact all the publishers on your list and offer them the expanded key point articles and ask them to run them as a series. A series of articles is much more effective than a single article because each potential customer needs to be exposed to you and your business several times before becoming a customer.

4. Take the original article and the expanded key point articles and offer them as an ecourse to people who visit your site and sign up for your ezine. Use a free autoresponder like http://www.sendfree.com to deliver the articles in sequence. This gives you the opportunity to capture email addresses for your ezine and allows you to use a different byline highlighting your services and products with each article delivery.

Use these four tips every time youกve finished submitting an article and you will get thousands of additional targeted visitors to your web site with just a little extra effort!

(c) 2003. Davis Virtual Assistance. All rights reserved.

Permission to publish online or in print is granted so long as the article and byline are printed intact.

About The Author

Bonnie Jo Davis is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in inexpensive marketing promotions for herself and her clients. For more information about Bonnieกs article submission package visit http://www.DavisVirtualAssistance.com and lick on the กpackagesก button.

This article was posted on May 30, 2003

by Bonnie Jo Davis

Home Business Itกs for Free?

Home Business Itกs for Free?

by: Gert Ljungqvist

Most people realize that when you start a business offline it will cost money. But, when it comes to online business most people don’t want to pay anything to get started. The bottom line is you can’t start any business with out some costs. The difference between online and offline business are that online business can be done with a tight budget.
When you first start your online business there are some tools you must have. You must have an autoresponder, now you might wonder what is a autoresponder? This is a form of email where you store prewritten follow up sales letter, newsletter or articles depending of what your business are. These messages are sent out to your customer at time you decide.
There are free autoresponders and there are autoresponders that will charge you a monthly fee. The free autoresponder have less features. And some of the autoresponder will put ads in your follow up letters, and that is not an good idea for you. You don’t want others to promote there products or services in your letters where you are promoting your own product or service. Therefore a paid autoresponder is much better, there will only be your own promoting in it.
You have to build an optin list with customer, itกs here the autoresponder show its greatness. To get interested customer to your list you have to place an ad and from that ad you will have your customer to visit your web site. When the customer subscribed they end up in your autoresponder and will be send your prewritten follow up letters at time you set up.
There are lots of places where you can put your ad in.
Here are some examples:
Google Adword
Overture
There are more, just search the Internet.
There are also company where you can buy leads for your list. Some examples:
Cutting Edge Media
Lead Factory
For more just search the Internet.
When you buy leads this will go directly to your autoresponder they will not be directed to your web site, but thats okey you will have your link to your web site in your follow up letters.
Itกs also important to have a website, you use the web site to promote your business. Itกs in the web site you place your sales letter to convince your customer of your product or services greatness so they will subscribe to your list.
If you are involved in affiliate programs they will some times provide you with a web site, often you will have several web sites depending of there products. The problem with these web sites are that you can’t build your optin list.
You have probably heard that the success is in the list, and I have to agree. Itกs much easier to promote products or services whit customer in a list then try to get new customer all the time.
Optin list are a database where all of your customer are gathered when they subscribe to your list. Itกs from these list your autoresponder gets the email address to your customer.
So what I suggest you to do is to build your own web site and from this you promote your affiliate programs and let people subscribe for your prewritten follow up letters in your autoresponder.
If you don’t know how to build your own web site there are several on line that will help you with this, of course they will charge you but if you don’t know how, these will be well spent money.
There are also some business partners who will build your web site for free with ready to go affiliate programs as long as you join them with these affiliate programs. This is a good idea if you have none or little knowledge in Internet business, you will get started in a easy way, and some of them will also have stepbystep guides how to run your business.
How about affiliate programs are they free of charge? It depends on what product or service they are offering. For example if they offer a software product that can be used on web sites, they will almost certain charge you with a monthly fee, and that is understandable, if they don’t you could use it on your web site and promoting some one Elseกs product and get to use the software for free. There are also other reasons for a monthly fee, there are administrative costs, they may provide you with a web site and follow up letters and they have to track your sales so you get paid properly, won’t you agree that this is important.
So now you will understand that running an Home Business is not totally free of charge. But itกs much More affordable than an offline business. You don’t have to spend that much money to be successful.
I spend about 100 to 150 $ a month on advertising, autoresponder and affiliate fees. But thats me you can spend more or less it depends on your budget.
To your success.
Gert Ljungqvist

About The Author

Gert Ljungqvist publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If you’re looking for home business opportunities then grab your own Free subscription today at: http://www.marketingbusinessteam.com/biztipspop.html
Get your Free stepbystep how to run your business ebook here: http://www.marketingbusinessteam.com/30daystosuccess.exe

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 09, 2004

by Gert Ljungqvist

Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Leads for Your Sm

Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Leads for Your Small Business

by: Jeremy Cohen

Do you ever wonder if you could be doing a better job marketing your small business or professional service firm? Successfully marketing a small business is hard work. There are several key skills required to consistently develop new business that you, as a small business owner, must master in order to succeed.

The first skill you need to have is the ability to regularly generate qualified leads. You must consistently build your list of prospects if you are to grow your business. Your business will not grow if you market to the same, stagnant population over and over again. While there will be a certain percentage of people who choose to buy from you after repeated contact with your marketing material, the amount who buy will always be limited by the size of the list to which you market.

How often do you add to your list of qualified prospects?

Here are five steps you can take to improve your prospect building skills.

Focus On Client Needs

Whether you print a brochure, advertise in industry periodicals or use search engines to generate traffic to your web site the first thing your marketing materials must do is get noticed. One of the best ways to have your future clients notice you is to use words in your marketing materials that focus on their needs. By using such words your clients will immediately associate your ad with their problem or unmet need.

For example, if you are a patent attorney your ads will have a much better chance of being noticed and acted upon by those who need your service if you use the words, ขGet paid for your inventionข instead of ขPatent Attorneyข. Getting paid is what an inventor wants. You may be proud of your status as an attorney but your clients are interested in the results you provide that solve their problem.

Be sure you use words in your marketing material that focus on your clients’ needs. They will get noticed more often.

Eliminate Waste

Another step you can take to improve your ability to generate leads is to eliminate unproductive marketing methods. Marketing takes time, money and effort. If your tactics are not generating the results you want stop using them and try something new. Of course, in order to separate the good tactics from the bad you need to measure the effect of individual marketing efforts.

Perhaps you run the same ad in two different newspapers. If you don’t know that the ad in ขpaper number twoข is generating 95% of your prospects you will never know that it would be a smart move to reallocate the money you spend in ขpaper number oneข.

What steps can you take to measure the effect of individual marketing tactics?

Once you know which tactics are lead generators and which are not you can improve your ability to generate new leads simply by reallocating the resources from unproductive tactics to ones you know work.

Use Your Web Site Properly

Another way to maximize your ability to generate leads is to use your web site properly. The purpose of your web site is to generate leads. To maximize the number of leads your web site generates make sure your site has information your prospects want, is easy to navigate and maximizes the opportunity for your prospects to get in touch with you, either by calling you or by providing you with their contact information.

Clearly let your visitors know you’re there for them and they will be much more likely to reach out and get in touch, especially if your site’s content demonstrates that you understand and can solve their problems.

Cross Marketing

Cross marketing is the process of establishing marketing relationships with companies whose product or service complements what you sell. For example, a company that helps web site owners track the traffic to and through their site would do well to develop relationships with web hosting companies. There is a natural symbiosis here – anyone who has a new web site needs to (or should) measure their site’s traffic so they can make wellinformed decisions to guide the evolution of their site and any web hosting company wants their clients’ business to succeed so they can keep them as a customer. Companies don’t need web sites if they’re out of business. It therefore makes sense for web hosting companies to promote web statistics companies and vice versa as each can benefit from the other’s service.

What cross marketing tactics do you use to promote your business?

Ask Questions

Regardless of your favorite marketing mechanism the goal is the same: to generate interest in your products or services. Whether you use a web site, a brochure or newspaper ads to generate leads the first thing you must do is get your future prospects thinking about the problem that you solve and they have. A great method for invoking this type of thought is to use questions in your marketing materials.

If you are a dentist, questions like, ขDo you have tooth pain?ข or ขAre your teeth sensitive to heat or cold?ข will do a much better job of drawing in your prospects that marketing materials that say, ขDo you need a dentist?ข

What questions can you ask to get your prospects thinking about the problems that they have that you solve?

Move Your Marketing Forward

Take some time to examine your marketing efforts with respect to the notions outlined in this article. Is there room for you to improve your ability to generate leads? Most likely, there is.

Copyright 2005, Better Marketing Results and Jeremy Cohen. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers attract more clients, grow their business and be more successful with his marketing guides and coaching service. Get his free marketing guide: Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success at: http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/marketingservices.asp

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by Jeremy Cohen

Using Your Web Site to Grow Your Business

Using Your Web Site to Grow Your Business

by: Charlie Cook

A snowplow operator in a New Jersey suburb was hailed by a woman asking him to plow her driveway so she could get out. Wading through less than a foot of fluffy snow to her SUV, he asked her why she didn’t put it into four wheel drive and simply back out. Her puzzled answer was, ขFour wheel drive, whatกs that?ข

A web site is just a means to and end, like a car it will get you where you want to go only if you know how to use it. Too often independent professionals and small business owners spend their hard earned cash on a web site and get little return on their investment.

What is the purpose of your marketing?

What is the purpose of your web site?

What do you want your web site to do?

The first step to creating or improving your web site is to clarify the role it should play in your business and its marketing. If you are like most independent professionals and small business owners you can benefit from constructing your web site on the basis of the following four objectives.

1. ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF YOUR TARGET MARKET

This may seem obvious, yet most small business web sites don’t do this. Instead of leading with content that will attract prospects they focus on information about themselves. Typically they are boring to others than their creators.

Too often web sites focus on the firmกs services, products, processes and credentials. These sites are a turnoff to prospects and can keep you from earning money. If your web site shouldn’t feature your firm, what should be the primary content?

To get prospects’ attention, whether with your web site or with your other marketing materials, feature content that interests them. Your clients and future customers are always looking for solutions.

For example, if you’re a lawyer, your site could focus on legal tips and strategies which your target market can use. If you’re a graphic designer, include ideas on using design to improve communications; if you’re a computer systems expert, give your site visitors tips on keeping their computers from crashing. A writer could include a tutorial on writing, with examples of copy makeovers of web pages, press releases or brochures.

What is the content you could use on your web site that your target market is searching for?

2. BUILD CREDIBILITY

Just because you have a web site, have impressive credentials, a client list of Fortune 500 companies and even know what you are doing, isn’t necessarily going to convince prospects you can help them. To help prospects trust you, you need to find ways to demonstrate your expertise and qualifications.

Chances are you have many satisfied clients. Ask them for comments on how you helped them and feature their testimonials on your site. Comments from others are perceived as having much greater credibility than the descriptions you write about your own products and services.

Write articles and distribute them widely to demonstrate your knowledge. Tell personal stories or describe actual situations to showcase your ability to solve problems.

What can you do differently on your web site to build credibility?

3. GENERATE LEADS

One of the most important roles a web site plays for service professionals and small business owners is to help generate leads. When people come to your web site and are interested in the problems you solve, you want to have as many of them as possible contact you.

You want your web site to help you identify people not ready to buy and people ready to make a purchase.

Is your web site attracting as many new prospects and clients as youกd like?

How many leads per week does your web site generate?

Does your web site motivate people to give you their contact information?

Does your web site prompt people to tell you what they need and want and to contact you?

What do you need to do on your web site to increase the number of leads it provides on a weekly or monthly basis?

4. SELL YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The goal of your web site is to help you make money. If you sell services or products, make it easy for prospects to find them and include comprehensive information about each and the benefits or using them. Consider showing a list of products and services in a side navigation bar on every page of your web site.

Youกll want individual sell pages for each product or service. One way to grab prospects’ attention on these pages is to lead with one or two questions clarifying what prospects want. Follow these with testimonial quotes, and visitors will be more likely to read the rest of the copy describing your products and services.

When you provide information on your products and services, do you first create the context, i.e. clarify the problem it solves?

Is your site effective in convincing prospects you have the product or service they want?

Is your site helping you sell more of your products and services each month?

Whether you are trying to get an SUV unstuck or grow your business with your web site, if you know how to use it, you can get where you want to go.

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

About The Author

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

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 09, 2004

by Charlie Cook

How to Get Your Web Site Ranked High in Search Eng

How to Get Your Web Site Ranked High in Search Engines with Free Link Exchanges

by: Barry Stein

Free link exchanges got my web site to the first page of Google and free link exchanges can do the same for your web site.

A couple of weeks ago one of my web sites, http://www.BarrysBeanies, was ranked number 33 on Google for one of my most important keyword phrases กBeanie Babies.ก

I was determined to get my web site on the first page on Google searches for the keyword phrase กBeanie Babies.ก

There are basically two options to get a high rank on Google for your web site keyword phrases.

Option #1

Do free link exchanges with other web sites that have the same theme as your web site. You can target any keyword phrase you want to improve your rank with. It is very important that you make the title text link you exchange with other web sites the exact keyword phrase you want to target.

What I also like about the free link exchanges is that you can target one web page for many different keyword phrases. So once you get the rank you want for one keyword phrase then you choose another keyword phrase to target and use this new keyword phrase in the title text link that you now exchange with other web sites.

It is also important to try and do all your free link exchanges with web sites that have a high Google Page Rank (PR). Go for link exchanges with sites with a PR3 or higher. Web sites with a higher Page Rank are viewed by Google as being more important and links to your web site from these high PR sites will help you more than doing link exchanges with a site with a PR1 or PR2.

You can download the free Google Toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com/, which will display all the Page Ranks of the web pages you visit.

Also, if you go into the Google directory, http://directory.google.com/, and locate the category of the sites you want to do your free link exchanges with, the web sites will be listed with the highest Page Ranks at the top. Most of the sites near the top of the list will be PR5 or PR6. These are the web sites that you will want to start doing your free link exchanges with.

Here is a copy of the email I send to other web site owners to request free link exchanges with.

Hi,

I wanted to see if youกd do a free link exchange with me.

Many of the top search engines use reciprocal linking to rank your web pages. In order to have high ranking web pages you need links back to your web site.

Here is my information:

Title: Beanie Babies

Description: Youกll find over 500 different styles of Beanie Babies at

BarrysBeanies.com. Many at up to 59% off retail. We also wholesale Ty

Beanie Babies.

URL: http://www.BarrysBeanies.com

Please send email to [email protected] after you place my link on your web site with the URL address of where it is located along with the information for your listing on my web site.

Your information:

Title:

Description:

URL:

Once I receive your information I will place it on my Links Page and Iกll email the URL address where youกll be able to view your link.

Thank you,

Barry Stein

BarrysBeanies.com

Option #2

Optimize your web pages for keyword phrases. Youกll want to target one keyword phrase per web page. If you have great content and have targeted a keyword phrase then eventually Google will index your web page and rank it higher.

You should really use both these options, but of the two I like the free link exchanges best because I can quickly see the progress Iกm making.

Do free link exchanges work?

Well, as I stated above, my web site www.BarrysBeanies.com was ranked number 33 for my most important keyword phrase, กBeanie Babies.ก

I then started doing free link exchanges. Prior to that time I only had about 10 link exchanges on my web site with other web sites. Now I have about 100 links and my rank on Google for กBeanie Babiesก is number 5.

So free link exchanges do work!

Search engine ranking is one of the most important parts to your overall Internet success if you have a web site. In fact, it may be the most important thing you can learn how to do in order to have a successful Internet business.

About The Author

Barry Stein is the owner of www.aWebBiz.com where he offers cuttingedge tips on all aspects of Internet business. To find more advice, tools and resources to help you succeed in online business, visit: http://www.aWebBiz.com

Send a blank email to [email protected] to receive the free aWebBiz Newsletter. It’s all about Internet Business.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 30, 2003

by Barry Stein

How To Run A Money Making Website

How To Run A Money Making Website

by: Ronald Gibson

All Internet business owners want their websites to be profitable.Here are a few tips that could help you make your website a profitable one.

1. Address your targeted audience on your business site. Example: กWelcome Internet Marketersก or กGreetings Fellow Dog Loverก. If you have more than one, address them all.

2. Make sure your content and graphics are relevant to your websiteกs theme. You wouldn’t want to use a bird graphic on a business web site.

3. In order for a website to be profitable, it must have repeat visitors. Offer your visitors incentives to get them to return to your website. You could give them new content, ebooks, software, ezine, etc. Alert visitors by email when you add new content to your web site. This will remind people to revisit your web site.

4. Bend over backwards to answer any questions that your visitors might have. Publish a FAQs for your business, product and web site. It should feature questions about multiple parts of your business. If the FAQ does not answer their question, then you should provide a way for visitors to contact you on each web page. L.ist your email address, fax number and phone number.

5. Give people the option of viewing your web site offline. Offer it either by autoresponder or printer friendly version.

6. Make sure a least 50% of your content is original. Another option is to offer your visitors something else original like software or an online utility.

7. Make sure all links on the navigational bar are clickable. If people can’t get to where they want to go, then they will more than likely leave.

8. Organize you web site in logical and profitable sequence. You don’t want to give your potential customers a freebie before they learn about the product(s) you’re selling.

The above tips should help you to make your website a profitable one for years to come.

Copyright © 2005 Ronald Gibson

About The Author

Ronald Gibson is a Web Designer and Web Marketer. He is the Webmaster of AffiliateUtopia.com, which offers information about some of the best money making opportunities on the Web. For more information, visit: http://www.affiliateutopia.com/ and http://www.affiliateutopia.com/blog/.

This article was posted on August 03

by Ronald Gibson

10 Reasons To Have A Custom Blog

10 Reasons To Have A Custom Blog

by: กRagsก Kelly R. Ragland

Blogging is a growing trend on the Internet today with hundreds of users adding new blogs and fresh content daily. While many use their blogs for personal journals, ploitical opinions or other topics of discussion, one could also look at a blog from a marketing perspective and find benefits for their business. Here I suggest ten reasons to start a custom blog to enhance their online marketing efforts.

10 Blogs generate traffic

By posting blogs online you generate new keyword content that can be crawled by search engines. Unique searches by Internet users seeking products and services can lead them to your articles and topics for further review. If your blog answers their question, provides them information on what they are searching for or captures their interest you have a possible repeat visitor, lead or sale should they click through to browse your web site.

While many web sites use focussed articles, case studies and press releases in such a way, a blog gives you the advantage of covering several topics to capture a broad range of interests. A blog encourages repeat visits, remains open to interactivity when allowing users to comment or leave feedback and becomes a channel for you to network with the online public discussing your business, products and services.

9 You don’t have to be a professional writer

Writing effective material for web content that is keyword friendly and well presented for generating a sale is often left to professionals, and is very important to a web sites success. A blog however leaves the style and approach to the content completely up to you. As the owner of your business you are qualified as the expert in your field, which is enough to interest and educate your customers about what you do. You have the creative license to discuss subjects about your business with personality and even humor. You have a forum to converse with your readers about your business, yourself and what you do best.

8 Custom blogs can have special features

There are many features used on the Internet such as polls and surveys that again help you communicate with your customers and your web site visitors. A custom blog can be modified to do whatever you would like it to do just like a web site. Any additional features that would improve your blogs interest can be added at any time, while a free or programmed blog can leave you less options or no options at all.

7 Fresh web site content on your schedule

Fresh content and frequent updates are essential to a successful web presence. A blog allows you to add new content as your schedule allows be it the tip of the day or the product of the week. Blogging puts the task of keeping your site current right on your desktop.

6 Broadcast on demand

Announcing promotions, sales and special events is as easy as typing them into your blog. Make any notice public within minutes.

5 Today a blog, tomorrow an ezine

As time passes and your blog archives your posts, your blog becomes a virtual magazine of material with a range of topics. The more content you add related to your business, the more keywords are added and more material is available for interested Internet users.

4 Customer education

No matter what business yourกe in it is important to give your customers a clear message of what you offer. You can use your blog to help them better understand your methods, products, policies and more. Frequently asked questions can be addressed and explained easily, a benefit to you and your clients.

3 Customer service

Use your blog to support products and services by adding content that can again answer questions or explain procedures. The ability to attract attention to new products or inform customers about those products can give your customers a reference point and save them a call or possible confusion.

2 Customer satisfaction

One could use their blog to allow customers to leave feedback on their purchases, build a list of testimonials, offer ways for them to recommend, rate or request products and more. All adding more content to the blog to interest other readers and sales leads.

1 Your satisfaction

As this article suggests, with a custom blog you have a marketing tool and total control over what relationships can build from it. An affordable online web presence that requires little time, knowledge to operate and an open channel to the Internet at large.

About The Author

Kelly Ragland กRagsก is a published columnist, web designer, web site application developer, Internet marketing consultant and owner of Rags To Stitches Productions at http://www.astitch.com.

This article was posted on April 09

by กRagsก Kelly R. Ragland