My Buy Essay

Posts Tagged ‘internet’

Most business owners fully understand that not advertising is the surest way to kill your business.

However they are also bombarded by so much information and so many choices they quickly lose track of what options are available to them.

There are a number of cheap and easy online advertising options available to you.

1. Ezine Advertising

Ezine advertising is one of the best ways to reach your future customers because it is often inexpensive and flexible as well as offering you the option to match the ezine audience with your product and ad. It also often offers a double benefit–your initial ad plus longevity in the ezine archives.

2. Text Links

This simple tool is often overlooked by many. It is simply one of the least expensive and yet most powerful advertising option available. You can often buy text links for under $10 and the link will not only promote the specific site or page you choose but also connect it with the specific key words that will benefit you the most.

Text links also provide a double bonus. You can attract immediate traffic from the host site as well as achieve better search engine ranking which will further increase traffic.

3. Pay per click advertising

Just like it sounds pay per click advertising is simply paying for specifically targeted traffic. You can monitor and control these advertising programs very closely and tweak your ad copy and the key words that you are sponsoring. This can be a very expensive option but doesn’t have to be if you plan carefully and watch closely.

4. Email marketing

Despite ever-increasing vigilant attempts to stop spam, we all know that email marketing is still alive and well. While it is foolish in the extreme to risk your business, web host, or internet connection, by sending out spam you can still use email marketing as a way to reach out and touch your customers and your future customers.

You just need to make sure that no one receives mail except the people who ask for it. People are still willing to sign up for mailing lists–especially if you have something to offer them in return for sharing their email address. Sponsor a contest; give away an article, ebook, or tutorial; or offer a discount and you will have people sign up willingly.

Then if you don’t abuse the mailing list you will have the opportunity to reach them again and again!

5. Banner Ads

Banner ads have a bad reputation. In part because of the proliferation of banner farms that killed all the banner swap programs (or at least made them completely ineffectual). Also we all have memories of those hideous banners flashing across the top of so many web sites.

Banners have come along way since then and a cleverly designed banner can be a real asset to any advertising campaign. Also don’t forget that you don’t have to use one of those big giant banners that span the width of the screen. You can use smaller simple ads that can fit easily into the sidebar or special box on a web site so they can suit the design and work more effectively.

It is also important that you pay close attention to what sites you will choose for displaying your banner. IE. A site about web development for your web hosting service ad or a site about parenting for your ad promoting your potty training book.

Many text link and pay per click advertising vendors also offer the option of banner ads. Similarly many ezine and newsletter publishers sell space on their sites.

~~ Sell Your Knowledge ~~

These next five advertising methods are all free or relatively inexpensive because you are trading something of value — your knowledge and expertise — in return for advertising.

6. Publish a Newsletter

Creating your own regular newsletter or ezine offers you all the advantages of ezine advertising and email marketing offered above.

7. Publish a Blog and RSS Feed

While publishing a newsletter or ezine isn’t that difficult it is much easier to create a blog and make its content available via RSS feed. This can offer you the benefits of regularly updated material for your web site which will be attractive to visitors and search engines alike. It will also help establish you as an expert in your field.

I personally like using WordPress on your own site but many web hosts now offer blogging services and there are many free blogging sites around where you can create a blog on their site.

8. Write Articles

Take some of the material you have generated for your newsletter and/or blog and share it with others. Make it available in one of the many free content directories available on the web. This not only helps to establish your credibility but the contact info you provide in your resource box (which will run every time someone else publishes your material) will bring in both direct traffic as well as search engine attention.

9. Create an Ebook

Once you have enough material generated from your newsletter and blog then you can package it into a convenient Ebook and give it away. Make sure to collect names and email addresses and offer a coupon or discount to bring people back to your site!

10. Post in Forums

If you have the time you should start your own forum but even if you only have a few minutes a week to spare for this effort then it can be well worth the effort. Don’t offer blatant spam posts but find a forum where you have something to offer. Make sure that you include an appropriate url and description for your forum signature and you will attract the double benefit of traffic and search engine attention!

No successful advertising campaign embraces one single method of advertising and no single method of advertising works for everyone. Advertising cannot be treated as a one-size-fits all proposition. However you know what your business needs and can offer–mix and match methods and make sure to track your results–to optimize your choices.

This article will teach you the basics of starting your first internet business. You’ll be introduced to some very useful products and services. You can also use this as a checklist to help stay focused and make it easier to set up and improve your internet business.

1) ‘Find a Market’ – Find a market before you decide on a product. If you pick a product first then find out later there isn’t a market for it, you will have wasted a lot of time and money. So be sure to look for the market first. Also try to find an area that inspires or excites you. If you find your passion then it’ll be easier to stay motivated when building your business. Use Google to search different keywords. Try searching with Yahoo to see what else is selling. Check eBay for all their different categories. And use ClickBank to look for interesting markets. When you locate a market and find out what people want, all you’ll have to do is sell it to them. After your first internet project is up and running, and is profitable, then you may want to start looking for your next market. Remember it’s very easy to jump from one project to the next before the first one is finished. So try to find a market or project that you really like and stay with it until its making money.

2) ‘Find a Product’ – After finding a market you’ll need to find a product to sell. You could search the internet to see what other people are selling to get some ideas. Or buy resale rights to a product. Maybe you can sell an affiliate product. Remember you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Find a product someone else is selling and make it a little better, different, lower in price, or add a bonus whenever someone buys from you. If you choose to sell digital products you will find many extra benefits such as: no shipping or handling, low start up cost, your profit margin will be close to 100%, your customer will get their product right away. And a lot of it can be set up automatically so there’s less work for you. Make sure to take full advantage of the automation possibilities of the internet.

3) ‘Get a Domain Name’ – You’ll want to have your own domain name. Try to think of a few different names because your first choices may not be available. Choose a short name and it will be easier for people to remember. If possible get domain names ending with .com or .co.uk. You should also try to get a name to match your product. And maybe use keywords in your domain name to get a better listing on search engines.

4) ‘Hosting Companies’ – The purpose of hosting company is to keep your website running properly. They will make sure everything is working properly so your customers can navigate through it and buy your product or service. This is a very important responsibility. If your website isn’t working properly or not at all then you are losing money. You may find some free hosting companies, but you really do get what you pay for. So it may be better to use a paid hosting company.

5) ‘Create a Website’ – Create a website so your customers can buy your products 24 hour a day. You will be competing with lots of other website’s so try to make yours unique. If your site takes a long time to download your potential customers will go somewhere else. Graphics are nice to look at but slow to download so have more text and less graphic. Remember its words that sell products. To get ideas for you website search the web and look for sites that you like. Make sure your website is easy to navigate. And if you are short on time and have the money you could hire a professional to build your site. Or if you want to save money you could do it yourself.

6) ‘Payment Processor’- To collect money for your products you will need a payment processor. Make sure that you accept credit cards because most transactions will be made with them. You should also consider other options as well, like accepting cheques and postal orders. And you may want to use PayPal. The more ways you can collect money the more sales you’ll make. And if you’re selling a digital product you may want to use ClickBank.

7) ‘Auto responder’ – If you want to make your internet business easier, then you’ll want to automate as much as possible by using auto responders. You can automate a lot of your every day business tasks leaving more time for you to concentrate on more important things. Here are a few examples: send out email advertisements to everyone on your list at predetermined intervals. Automate the delivery of several different mini courses all at once. Send out sequential emails automatically whenever someone buys one of your products. Have all of your digital products sent out automatically. And with auto responders you can collect names and email addresses and add them to your list of customers and much, much more.

‘Free Advertising’ – This may be a good way to start out if you are limited on funds. But this will be slower than paid advertising and will take a lot more time. And time is money so figure out how much you’re worth and monitor your time. If you are spending a lot of time with free advertising and not getting the results you like, then you may want to try something else. Keep in mind when using free advertising someone else may also place their ad with yours and this is not very professional. Also when you join these free advertising lists it usually means everyone on that list can send free advertising to you. So you may get a lot of unwanted emails.

9) ‘Paid Advertising’ – You may get better results with paid advertising. And at first you may think blasting your ad to as many people as possible will make you the most money. But this really isn’t a good idea for a couple of reasons. First a lot of people won’t have an interest in your product so they’ll probably not even read your ad. And second you may be accused of spamming which is something you never want to do. So always try placing ads with your specific targeted group. And always test your results to make sure that its cost efficient.

10) ‘Collect a List’ – This gets 5 stars. Start collecting your list of names and email addresses as soon as possible, add to your list often, and cherish your list because it will make you money over and over again. Whenever you need extra money you can send an email promoting a product to your list. So you’ll want to collect names and emails addresses by offering free e-books or a mini course, by having them join your newsletter and of course whenever they buy your great product.

And remember to always invest in yourself. Invest your money for quality information that will help expand your business, and invest your time to thoroughly read the information.

I don’t know everything and if I have learned one thing about doing business on the Internet it is that the more you learn the more you don’t know. However, I have been doing business on the Internet since 1999 and I’ve managed to carve out a successful enterprise for myself with several profit streams. The largest percentage of my marketing and promotional efforts has been conducted through one simple method-Ezine Advertising.

These are the 8 important lessons I’ve learned regarding Ezine Advertising and Marketing Success:

A common mistake many advertisers make is to attempt to do too much, or rather sell too much, in one ad. Sure you have lots of great products but you can’t sell them all in a few lines-at least not individually. Instead focus on the benefit your customer can achieve from all your products and promote that! People are much more likely to click on a link that BENEFITS them than a link that promises to sell them something.

For example, “Help your child reach their maximum potential” instead of “Try our many reading, writing, math, shapes and colors programs”

More importantly, tell the customer “what your product or service is going to do for him.”

It is important that you identify your Unique Selling Proposition before you begin your advertising program. This will determine which Ezines (or markets) you target as well as what you should include in your ad copy. Who will be interested in your product and why? What benefits does your product offer them?

Don’t go for the sale in your ad! You are at a disadvantage because you can’t list all your products’ wonderful benefits in the space allowed. Also, there is only a small percentage of any Ezine audience that is ready to buy your product at the exact moment they view your ad. Yes, maybe they should be, but most people today live in the moment and if this isn’t the time they want to buy then they aren’t going to buy, end of story.

But it doesn’t have to be the end of the story. If you go for the soft sell approach your target consumer is much more likely to click on your link and then you’ve got the chance to go for the hard sell-again and again!

Here’s an example. I’m selling a product called the Preschool Prep Power Pack. It’s an educational CD for preschoolers. Now I could go for the hard sell in my promotion and I would make some sales but a lot of people who really might be interested won’t even look at my site and product. However, I’ve chose to go the soft sell approach. Instead of selling my product in my ads, my ads offer two FREE items. I offer a free newsletter (Preschoolers Learn More) offering tips about preparing preschoolers for kindergarten. This is my target market for my product. The folks who subscribe also receive a free ABC-123 coloring book. Why wouldn’t the parent of a preschooler subscribe, right?

But what’s in it for me as a business person? A lot! Think about it. I now have the freely offered contact information for my target market. Now I can regularly email them information about my product. I’m confident they will buy eventually because my product provides a solution to something that concerns them-or they wouldn’t have subscribed in the first place!

Another common mistake is not giving your ad campaign enough time to work.

Studies show it takes prospects an average of seven exposures to your promotion before they take the bait. Even after they have clicked through to your site visitors may need to visit your site as many as three times before they buy from you. So make sure you keep that offer in front of them. That means it may well pay to take the long-term package versus a one-shot ad.

People run through their emails rapidly and delete things they wish they hadn’t. Make their wish come true! Give them a second, third, fourth chance. The formula is–when you’re sick and tired of it, the public is just beginning to hear it.

Just because you’ve bought ad space doesn’t mean you have to utilize every pixel or character-space. Short, punchy lines that do not use up every available space are more effective. Think about the reader scanning down the page or screen. What will catch their eye and make them stop scanning and actually read? White space is your friend so don’t squander it. Use it to set off your important message.

Make sure you apply the same principal to your urls and e-mail addresses as well. Nothing can make an ad look more cluttered than giant web addresses with a complicated string of numbers and letters. If you have to use an address like that (perhaps for your affiliate code, for example) then it might be wise to use a redirect. There are numerous free services out there (snipurl.com for exmple) although perhaps it might be a good idea to use a page from your own web site with a redirect programmed in

USE YOUR HEAD

Your headline is the most important part of your ad. This is usually the line that determines whether the skimming reader will stop or skip ahead.

Some of the proven headline formulas include:

1. Ask the reader a question: “Are you worried about filing your

tax return this year?”

2. Tell the reader how to do something: “How to buy a

car without getting a lemon.”

3. Provide a testimonial: “Big Al saved me $200 last month. Thanks, Cindy Lou from Paducah, Kentucky.”

4. Make a command. Turn your most important benefit into a commanding

headline. “Stop rushing through life.” “Make more money this month.” “Feel better about yourself.”

5. Important news makes a good headline. “Max Electronics just went international!”

6. Start the clock: “Buyers who act before midnight Tuesday will save an extra $50!”

7. Give the reader something free: “Free whatsit for the first 100 visitors!”

DON’T FORGET TO TELL THEM WHAT TO DO!

It sounds almost ridiculous, but simply giving clear, specific directions about what you want the reader to do can increase the response to your ads.

Click here to find out more: whatsit.com

Subscribe by emailing subscribewhatsit.com

Visit whatsit.com today to save!

SET YOUR BUDGET

One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.

The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.

First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let’s say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I’m an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)

Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let’s say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)

With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)

So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.

SET REALISTIC GOALS

This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could control things that you would have a high sell through but that isn’t always going to happen. In fact, for most advertisers that isn’t going to happen. However, if your goal is to capture customers then you are much more likely to match your goal or even exceed it. And in the end a customer is worth a lot more to you than a sale because a customer can represent many sales over years to come-sales that were fairly easy to achieve.

As frustrating as it may be, advertising is usually about long-term versus short-term benefits. Your ad simply serves as a lure to draw people into your site or long-term promotion. Once you’ve pulled them in then you need to sell them. So it is not really fair to judge an ad campaign on simple sales.

The success of an ad campaign should be measured by one or two elements only-first, how many people followed up on your offer (click-through rate) and second, how many of those visitors were you able to convert into customers (conversion rate).

Over time you will be able to judge where the weak link in your chain of customer creation exists and work to fix it.

Low click-through rate? Then it is probably your offer. You are not giving readers enough incentive to follow through. What is in it for them to click on your offer? Remember you are selling benefits!

Low conversion rate? Then perhaps you are not attracting the right sort of visitor. Target your incentive (the free offer, for example) to match your target audience. See my example in SOFT SELL.

1. You will get rich quick. Marketing on the internet takes a lot of work. This is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes much time learning and failing before you will succeed. Your success is entirely up to you. You will reap what you sow.

2. You won’t make any money. Again you will reap what you sow. your key to success is through consistency and persistency. If you are willing to learn and accept failures from time to time, learn from your mistakes and apply that knowledge – the money will come. Don’t give up. There are lots of people who truly do make money this way.

3. Anyone can do this. If you tell your self there is nothing to this, you will set yourself up for guaranteed failure. A profession such as this takes a lot of discipline and most of all the willingness to learn. It takes a lot of hard work and an open mind. You have to be willing to embrace new ideas as they come and take this seriously.

4. Not everyone can do this. This is also not true. As long as you free your mind to scepticism such as these, you have taken your first step. While this profession takes time to figure out, it is not hard to figure out. Remember the only person stopping you is you!

5. It is too hard. Look within your self. There is an online business in you. What do you know? What do you like? What do you need that has not been created yet? Answers to these questions and questions like them are the beginnings of you having the ability to set yourself apart from the crowd.

6. It will be easy. It will get easier, but you will have to do loads of studying. Spend many hours brainstorming. You will spend many hours reading, writing, and learning what works and what doesn’t. It will get tedious and hard to stick to. Persevere, your reward is coming.

7. It will only require 2-3 hours a day. At some point you will be able to automate most of your efforts. In the beginning, long hours are not unheard of. I have spent many 18 hour days in front of my computer.

8. This is not a real job. Yeah right! You will come across many sceptics. Or worse than that, people who do not reveal scepticism but merely look at you funny. Believe me this is a real job. You will be just as exhausted from working and researching all day as you would sling 50 pound sacks of flour all day. When you are mentally exhausted you will be physically exhausted. You work hard; don’t allow the people who minimize your efforts get to you.

9. The only good reason to do this is for the money. That could not be further from the truth. There is a lot to gain; the money is a plus of course. Learning will always make you a better person. If you are happy with your self, everyone else will be to. You can’t beat the hours.

10. It takes years to learn online business. Not true. The best suggestion is to study hard. Read your newsletters and the articles in them. Listen to those who are already successful. They are already telling you what to do and how to do it. Now you just need to listen and learn.

Do you know exactly why people don’t seem excited to buy your product? Have you ever wonder why your competitors make more sales even though they have a terrible product to offer? Even worse, why people couldn’t even be bothered to live their email address in your opt-in form and subscribe to your free newsletter?

You may wonder people just don’t feel interested to buy your product or maybe your price is too high. Or you’ve finally realized that your product is a pile of junk and decided to find another product to sell.

You’ve got to stop whatever you’re doing and think for a moment. It is not your product to be blame. Sometimes your own salesletter which is the one that kill your business. You’ve written some words that people don’t even want to hear and scare the hell out of them. Studied has shown using these words will decrease your sales up to 75%.

So, what are exactly the bad words you should never say in your newsletter?

1) Buy &ndash This specifically asking people to take out their wallet and spend some money. Bare in mind, most people surf the Internet searching certain information for free and sometimes they need more time before considering buying your product. Whatever business you’re doing, using this word alone can destroy your business in split second. Instead of using the word ‘buy’, change it to ‘claim’ or ‘invest’. Ask yourself, which one sound better, “Buy this amazing product” or “Claim this amazing product.”

2) Learn &ndash This will remind people back in the old days where they have to study and learn in 1st or 2nd Grade. Nobody wants to squeeze their brain out and learn something new on the Internet. Information on the Internet is just too huge. Nowadays, people want fast information and have no time to learn. Instead of using the word ‘learn’, it is better to use the word ‘discover’. Now we are giving somewhere. Does this word sounds a lot better, “Discover 10 Easy Tips To Improve Your Golf Swing.”

3) Tell &ndash You don’t have to use this word to explain the benefit of your product. People will not listen to you if they don’t recognize you. Study this two words carefully, “Let me tell you the secrets of becoming a millionaire” or “Let me reveal to you the secrets of becoming a millionaire.” Which one do you think that will make people keep on reading your newsletter?

4) Things &ndash Using this word will not make your salesletter sound astonishing. It makes the salesletter very boring to read. This will make people lost their confidence in whatever you’ve offered to them. Instead of using the word ‘things’, consider to revise it to ‘tips’, ‘tricks’ or ‘techniques’. “Get these 5 great techniques right away” is far better than “Get these 5 great things right away.”

5) Stuff &ndash This word is what most marketers used to describe how great the product is. If you change it to ‘Insider Secrets’, definitely this will give people an urge to act right away. Consider this two words, “Click here to download your 7 stuffs” or “Click here to download your 7 amazing insider secrets.” Which one would you like to click?

If you can avoid this 5 bad words, your sales will definitely boost up to the roof. Don’t neglect the power of these words. Now, it’s time for you to check all your salesletter and change it (if any) right away. You will be surprise of the outcome.

Internet marketing is exciting, challenging, and confusing. It can make or break your internet business career and yet many people who depend on internet marketing don’t have a full grasp of the essentials involved in internet marketing.

In fact, many internet entrepreneurs waste a great deal of time, energy, and momentum because they do not fully understand internet marketing. Don’t let this lack of understanding undermine your income potential.

In order for you to better understand internet marketing and its impact on your internet business you must know the answers to these three key questions:

1. What Is Internet Marketing?

2. What Is The Cost Of Internet Marketing?

3. What Is The Benefit of Internet Marketing?

What Is Internet Marketing?

Marketing is actually rather simple. Marketing is communication about an idea, product, service, or organization. Marketing therefore encompasses advertising, promotion and sales as well as the various techniques and forms of communication used to advertise, promote and sell.

Marketing is broader than simple advertising or promotion in that it includes researching the market to learn what consumers want and then setting out to meet their needs with the appropriate product, price, and distribution method. Marketing includes market research, deciding on products and prices, advertising promoting distributing and selling.

Marketing also covers all the activities involved in moving products and services from the source to the end user including making customers aware of products and services, attracting new customers to a product or service, keeping existing customers interested in a product or service, and building and maintaining a customer base for a product or service.

Internet marketing includes these same activities but also pulls in various internet tools including web sites, email, ezines, banner advertising, blogging, RSS, text links, search engine optimization, affiliates, autoresponders, and other ecommerce applications.

What Is The Cost Of Internet Marketing?

The range of expenses for internet marketing is huge. There are a number of promotional and marketing ventures that can cost you nothing or only pennies a day while other advertising efforts can cost you thousands a day.

It is important to consider your goals — both long-term and short-term — as well as how much each prospective customer is worth to you. This will help you determine a workable budget for your internet marketing campaign.

Many internet promotions are free, you can set up a web site and/or blog for $250 a year, and you can buy text links for $10 a month. You could easily spend $25-50 a day for advertising but there are many cheaper ad options available.

The best program is to start small and cheap and slowly build as you test and learn what is successful for your market and product. There is no perfect acvertising solution that works wonders for everyone. Each marketer and each product has a different formula.

What Is The Benefit of Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing offers more benefits than many traditional marketing mediums. The very nature of web sites and blogs is that they continue working to promote and market your product long after your initial marketing effort is over. Similarly many advertising efforts, such as ezines, newsletters, banners, and text links also continue to increase in power over time.

Email marketing can be a tremendous surge in contacts and sales and offers the ability to personalize your message as well as reach a targeted audience so your chance for sales goes up exponentially.

The other tremendous benefit of internet marketing is that it offers convenience and immediate satisfaction. Your potential customer sees your marketing message when it is convenient for them — and often when they are seeking information about your specific topic. Then you offer them the ability to act on that interest right then. They can locate your product and buy in the time it would take to watch a commercial on television or turn a page in the newspaper. That is the power of internet marketing.

Now that you have the answers to these three key questions, you are ready to begin your own internet marketing campaign — and succeed with your internet venture.