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  • Mindmaps and Sales Copy

    Mind mapping is a valuable tool when it comes to creativing effective sales copy. While not everyone is familiar with the concept of a mind map, chances are you have seen the approach used to great effect.

    Essentially, mind mapping is the presentation of a collection of ideas, concepts, or words that all relate to some type of central understanding. When it comes to applying this approach to the flow of your sales copy, mind mapping can provide some interesting and unique ways to identify benefits of your product that will attract the right consumer market. Here are some ideas of how to use the mind mapping approach.

    1. Identify your central understanding. In this case, that would be your product offering. This will serve as the point of destination that all other attributes will map back to. Keeping your product as the central focus will make it harder to drift during the course of identifying elements for your sales copy.

    2. Use single word designations to identify the main functions of your products. This broadens on the central theme, but is still vague enough to allow for more investigation.

    3. Take it one level deeper. Within the context of those broad themes or ideas, provide examples of how your product benefits work. For instance, if you are selling a carpet cleaner, one broad theme may be the deep foam action. Drilling a little deeper, you can also note the foam lifts dirt easily from both carpet and furniture upholstery.

    By mind mapping, you are not only helping yourself to visualize the flow of the text, but also using words to create images for the reader that he or she can easily relate to. Try this method and see what new and different angles you come up with to demonstrate the effectiveness of your product.

  • Ezine Advertising Campaign

    There are all kinds of different ways that you can market your business online, and one of the best is ezine advertising. For the sake of this article we will define an ezine as any publication that is delivered to the subscriber’s computer on a regular basis. The success of your promotion in an ezine will depend on a number of factors. Here are some things that will help you to make the most of your marketing efforts.

    The first thing you need to do is some research. This is broken down into two steps. Step one is to find as many ezines as you can that are related to whatever it is you are promoting. Remember to include publications that may be ideal for cross promotion, too. For example, if you sell accessories for recreational vehicles, then you would want to look at any RV newsletters, as well as those that are related to domestic travel, retirement, and campgrounds. The bigger your initial list, the better.

    The second step in researching is to find out what you can about each of the ezines on your list. At the bare minimum you should know the number of subscribers, typical open and click-through rate, and what all of their advertising options are. If you can’t find any contact information, or you don’t get a response from them, then move on to other ezines that are more willing to work directly with advertisers.

    Once you have all of this information, you should be able to start narrowing your list down to the ones that look best for you. However, you are not ready to purchase any ad space quite yet. At this point you should subscribe to any of the ezines you’re interested in. This will give you an idea of how often they send their ezine, and how often they send other promotional messages. If they publish once a month, but send out “special offers” two times a day, then your message will only get lost in the shuffle. Subscribing will also give you a better feel for what the ezine is really about. You can also look over any archived copies of the ezine that are available.

    Remember that your reputation will be tied in directly to that of the ezine, and vice-versa. Therefore you need to choose wisely. At the same time, be aware that many publications will take some time before approving your ad. If this happens, you should take it as a positive sign as it shows they care about the content they send to their subscribers.

    By now you should have a good idea of where you want to start your ezine advertising campaign. You will have to decide which type of ad is the best for you. Generally speaking, a solo ad will give you the highest return. A solo ad is a special mailing that contains nothing but your ad. After that, the best option is typically an ad spot nearest the top in a regular issue of the newsletter.

  • Affiliate Network Due Diligence

    There are many horror stories about affiliate programs and networks. People have heard them over and over again, that some are even wary of joining one. The stories they may have heard are those related to illegal programs or pyramid schemes. Basically, this kind of market does not have real, worthy product.

    You do not want to be associated with these schemes. It is obvious you want to be with a program that offers high quality product that you will readily endorse. The growing number of those who have joined already and are succeeding immensely is proof enough that there are reliable and quality affiliate programs out there.

    Why participate in an affiliate program?

    It allows you to work part-time. It gives you the opportunity to build a generous residual income. And it makes you an owner of a small business. Affiliate programs have already created lots of millionaires. They are the living testimony of how hard work; continuous prospecting, motivating and training others pay off.

    If ever you are deciding to join one, you must take note that you are getting into something that is patterned to what you are capable of. This will be an assurance that you are capable of doing anything to come out successful.

    How do you choose a good affiliate program to promote? Here are some tips you may want to look over before choosing one:

    1. A program that you like and have interest in.

    One of the best ways of knowing if that is the kind of program you wish to promote is if you are interested in purchasing the product yourself. If that is the case, chances are, there are many others who are also interested in the same program and products.

    2. Look for a program that is of high quality.

    For instance, look for one that is associated with many experts in that particular industry. This way, you are assured that of the standard of the program you will be joining into.

    3. Join in the ones that offer real and viable products.

    How do you know this? Do some initial research. If possible, track down some of the members and customers to give you testimonial on the credibility of the program.

    4. The program that is catering to a growing target market.

    This will ensure you that there will be more and continuous demands for your referrals. Make inquiries. There are forums and discussions you can participate in to get good and reliable feedbacks.

    5. A program with a compensation plan that pays out a residual income and a payout of 40% or more would be a great choice.

    There are some programs offering this kind of compensation. Look closely for one. Do not waste your time with programs that do not reward substantially for your efforts.

    6. Be aware of the minimum quotas that you must fulfill or sales target that is too hard to achieve.

    Some affiliate programs imposes pre-requisites before you get your commissions. Just be sure that you are capable of attaining their requirements.

    7. Select one that has plenty of tools and resources that can help you grow the business in the shortest possible time.

    Not all affiliate programs have these capacities. Make use you decide on one with lots of helpful tools you can use.

    8. Check out if the program has a proven system that can allow you to check your networks and compensation.

    Also check if they have it available online for you to check anytime and anywhere.

    9. The program that is offering strong incentives for members to renew their membership each time.

    The affiliate program that provides continuous help and upgrades for its products have the tendency to retain its members. These things can assure the growth of your networks.

    10. Be aware of the things that members are not happy about in a program.

    Like with the ones mentioned above, you can do your checking at discussion forums. If you know someone in that same program, there is ho harm asking if there are many downsides involved.

    Have a thorough and intensive knowledge about the affiliate program and network you will be promoting on.

    Knowing the kind of program you are getting yourself into will make you anticipate and prevent any future problems you may encounter.

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  • Benefits of Internet Advertising Trends

    No matter how big or small your business is, you can benefit from the exposure you’ll get from marketing it online. However, all too many business owners are not aware of the latest internet advertising trends. While the principles of marketing will always stay the same, there are always new strategies for applying those principles, and things are moving faster than ever in the age of the internet.

    One such trend is the use of the web for targeting your market locally, nationally, or internationally. This can be achieved through pay per click advertising (also known as PPC). There is a myth that PPC is risky and expensive. While that can be true for those who don’t understand how it works, the truth is that PPC can be a great way to increase your profits. The best part is that you don’t need a big budget to get started. You can simply start small, then ramp up your efforts as you generate more revenue with your PPC efforts.

    PPC really comes down to selecting the right keywords. In basic terms, keywords are those terms your potential customers will be entering into the search engines for more information. Therefore, you need to give careful thought to which keywords and phrases you want to be associated with. That means you shouldn’t be looking only at the cost to you per click. Sure, you may be able to find a great deal on a low-competition keyword, but if it’s not a good match for your business, then you are only throwing your money away.

    The good news is that you can find out what the top keywords being searched for are. Again, don’t just select a keyword because a lot of people are using it. You need to also consider your specific needs, and what your customers are looking for. For example, if you are selling custom-made, luxury yachts, then you wouldn’t want to select “used boats”, “cheap boats” or “second hand yachts” for your keywords–even if they get a ton of searches and have a low per-click cost–because they aren’t what your ideal customer would be searching for.

    Pay per click is one of the internet advertising trends that is too effective to pass up, but it isn’t the only trend you should be plugging into. Another one of the big ones is the use of social networking sites. While most people are familiar with sites like Facebook for staying in touch with family and friends, such sites also provide enormous benefits for marketing your business. Make it easy for people to add you to their contact lists.

    However, don’t think you can just keep blasting them with your marketing message. Instead, try to foster relationships with the people who have added you. Also, anything you can do to get them to interact will help you establish yourself as the go-to source in their eyes.

    We have only covered two examples of internet advertising trends, but there are more, and who knows what the future has in store. Do your best to stay informed of any new opportunities that come along, and be ready to take advantage of them if they’re a good fit for your business.

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  • An Arsenal Of Marketing Strategies

    Whether you love it or hate it, marketing and sales are critical to the life blood of any business. You can make it more fun, if you take the approach that you want to seriously flirt with a growing list of prospects.

    Marketing attraction. It sounds like flirting doesn’t it? And in a way, that’s exactly right.

    You do want to flirt with your prospects, to allow them to get to know, like, and trust you. Since it takes upwards of 7 touches to make a sale today, you need to attract them to your product, service, or program in many different ways.

    One critical element you must have in your basket of attraction tools today is a fully developed web presence.

    People are most likely to google for you or your service or the benefit/solution they seek first. They are less likely to open the telephone book and flip through the yellow pages. The future of your marketing reach is the internet.

    Even with the internet, you need an arsenal of marketing strategies to reach your prospects and attract them to your product and services. You can’t flirt with them, if they can’t find you.

    Here are a few ideas which you can do quickly and on a budget. They are culled from the likes of Mitch Meyerson, Jay Conrad Levinson, Seth Godin, and Bea Fields.

    On your website:

    * Build a powerful direct response entity

    * Make sure your headlines are engaging with a problem/solution approach

    * Direct their eyes to the one thing you want them to do

    On your email signature:

    * Include your business contact information, of course

    * Promote one thing – a new product, service, newsletter, article, free conference call.

    This is your best and first opportunity to ask everyone to engage with you and your company

    Develop relationships for referral business – complementary services serving the same market niche and get listed on their websites

    Include client testimonials – use them in all your printed and online collateral materials.

    The hottest new thing is audio and video testimonials you put up on your site.

    Use audio and video conferencing from your PC for sales, presentations, meetings. They work effectively for a prospects, clients and vendors. It’s no longer novel. It’s cost effective, timely, direct, and can be very interactive.

    Write articles and press releases about everything you do and get them published in print but more importantly across the web.

    Yes, all of these are ideas you can do yourself, burning the midnight oil.

    But what’s even better, is that these tools and systems can be delegated and automated – one more way for you to generate more profit in less time.

  • Using The Right Words To Sell Your Products

    What’s just as important as the quality of your product and the organization of the site it’s located on? The copy that sells it, of course!

    Consider your copy the same way you’d consider yourself before going on an interview for a job. You’d be clean, you’d look professional, and you might even rehearse a little bit about what you were going to say. Your copy should present itself like it’s going in for an interview as well – this is your business speaking for itself, after all!

    What are the cornerstones of good copy? Well, let’s start off with the obvious – good copy is first and foremost well organized and free of grammatical errors. If your copy is hard to read and misspelled, it looks unprofessional which sets off red flags in the mind of your customers. Don’t let the incorrect usage of semicolons drive away potential revenue. Also, if nothing else, be sure to run everything through spellchecker before putting it up.

    But if you want your copy to truly pop, you’ll need to do more than make sure that you cross your Ts and dot your Is. Good copy can accurately describe the product or services that you sell, as well as inform the customer why your product and services are better than what’s offered by the competition. It paints you, the seller, as credible and honest, and it adds a touch of urgency to the transaction, convincing the customer that it’s in his/her best interest to make a purchase as soon as possible. Good copy is convincing, but not overbearing.

    There are two obvious ways to go about getting good copy for your online business. The first is writing it yourself. The second is outsourcing. The first is definitely the cheaper way to go, and even if you are utterly incapable of designing a website, it’s likely that you know how to work a word processor and use spellchecker. You could write your own copy very persuasively and well.

    But this is another area in which potential online business owners should not scrimp. Be honest with yourself. Will you be able to represent your services and products to the extent they deserve – and need to be represented in order to be profitable – with your writing abilities?

    Many people opt to outsource their copy just as they outsource their web design. Just as there are people who have dedicated themselves to the art of making web pages, there are those who make a living out of writing the copy that fills these pages. Many of these places are also versed in writing copy that will make your website appear higher in search engine rankings, which is a worthy consideration as well.

    Either way, be sure not to forget about spellchecker.

  • Are You Using Email Marketing To Expand Your Business?

    One of the most valuable assets an online business can have is an opt-in list. What’s this and how does it work? We’re here to help!

    An opt-in marketing list is where a customer (or potential customer, but it’s most often somebody who has purchased something from your site) gets an option to include themselves in on an email list that your company sends out.

    This is very different from spam, which is where unscrupulous business owners go “phishing” for random email addresses that they find on the Internet and relentlessly pelt these poor souls with emails. Spam does nobody any good and basically ends up costing a business a lot of money only to irritate people.

    An opt-in list, though, is a brilliant for business because the people who receive your emails are actually interested in receiving them. You can send this list of people who are interested in keeping constant correspondence with your business occasional emails – no more than twice a month, usually, and only when you have something of worth to say or offer – which can detail everything from the current goings-on of your business to deals and offers and promotions. Many companies offer special promotions to those who join their opt-in list as an incentive to, well, opt in.

    Opt-in lists give customers who are interested in you your attention. Even better, the effect of an opt-in list is entirely traceable, as if you start offering promotions through your list you’ll be able to tell how many of them get redeemed. Opt-in lists are also another great way to get out more of that free expert content you offer, specially designed for those who wish to follow you. Many smaller businesses offer Q and A sessions through their opt-in list, where followers can ask specific questions that can be answered through the general forum of your email.

    These lists are also the digital equivalent to having “regulars” at a store and engaging them in casual chat. Through an email list you can develop more intimate relationships with customers as compared to the normal “anonymous buyer” that hops into your site to pick up a few items, and then hops out without you knowing anything more about them other than what they bought. Close relationships with customers generate brand loyalty, which is a hot commodity.

    Want another bonus? Email marketing can also be entirely free if you manage it yourself. Even if you choose to outsource your email marketing or leave it to an employee to handle, it is much cheaper than print advertising because of how targeted it is. Individual customers make specific requests, and you fill them by sending out the information direct to those who asked for it. It’s a very simple, yet incredibly effective method of advertising that is guaranteed to optimize conversions and get people talking about you, particularly if you make your opt-in list a plum deal to join.