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5 Reasons to Create an Internet Marketing Schedule

by BlondieWrites on February 6, 2010

Do you operate a website or blog that generates income through the sale of a product, service, or affiliate links? If so, you not only need to be a webmaster, but an online marketer.

As a website owner who uses a website to generate income, internet marketing is important to your success. For that reason, you need to implement it. If this is a new step for you, you may be looking for guidance. The first step is to familiarize yourself with popular internet marketing techniques. You can easily do this online or by visiting internet marketing forums. Once you know how to market your website or blog, you start to implement the techniques you learned. Unfortunately, this is where many new marketers make costly mistakes.

To ensure you get the most out of your newfound internet marketing knowledge, you need to create a schedule. When properly complied and used, a schedule will increase your productivity. Remember, the more traffic you drive to your website or blog, the more your earnings potential increases. If that isn’t enough reason to create a schedule, continue reading on for five more.

1 – It Is Easy to Make a Schedule

An internet marketing schedule is essentially a detailed to-do list. What you do is start with times. Set aside blocks of times, like in one or two hour increments. For each time slot, write a task or two. This is what you want to do. For example, do you want to submit an article to a directory or send advisements to your followers on Twitter? If so, add to your schedule.

2 – You Have Many Options

Not only is making an internet marketing schedule easy, but you have many options. You can compose a schedule by hand, in Microsoft Word, or by spreadsheet. You also have the option of creating daily, weekly, or monthly schedules.

3 – A Schedule is a Guide

When you are familiar with internet marketing tactics, it is easy to advertise online. Unfortunately, many run into problems with distractions. It is easy to go from using the internet to research to reading the news or the latest celebrity gossip. To prevent this from happening, use your schedule as a guide. You want to avoid distractions, but if an interruption happens, don’t spend time trying to remember what you were doing or were about to do, just consult your schedule and get back to work.

4 – It Serves as a Source of Motivation

As previously stated, a schedule is essentially a to-do list with times attached. These times are important as they add pressure and serve as motivation. When you track your time with a clock or beeping alarm clock, you know when time is about to expire or has. When most know they only have X amount of time to complete a task, they tend to put forth more effort and increase their productivity.

5 – You Can Extend Your Reach

In terms of internet marketing, there are hundreds of successful tactics. You cannot implement them all in one day, but get the process started. When doing so, don’t place all your attention on one marketing tactic. Unfortunately, if you do not have a set guide to follow, you may make this mistake. The best way to market a website, product, or service is to spread your reach.

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Get 250 FREE Business Cards

by BlondieWrites on February 4, 2010

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500 Premium Business Cards for only $5.00

by BlondieWrites on November 4, 2009

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Marketing Your Small Online Business

by BlondieWrites on October 27, 2009

Are you a small business owner who runs an online business? If you are, are you currently satisfied with your business’s profits? Even if you are happy with the money that you are currently making, you may be looking to make even more. If you are, you may want to examine the marketing tactics that you are using, if you are even marketing your business at all.

When it comes to marketing an online business, you will often find that it is easier to market an online business than it is a storefront business. One of the reasons for that is because of the internet. There are a number of different ways that the internet can help you with the marketing of your online business. A few of those ways are briefly touched on below.

One of the many ways that you can go about marketing your business online is by using online message boards, which are also commonly referred to as online forums. Online message boards or online forums are communities where internet users are able to come together and discuss activities or interests they may share. There are many online message boards or forums that allow participating members to have what is referred to as a signature. A signature is a block of print that always appears at the end of a member’s posts. It is not uncommon for an online message board moderator to allow signatures to include business links, like a link to your online store or online website. With using online message boards or forums, the more you post the more exposure your online store gets.

Another way that you can market your small online business is by joining a pay per click advertising program, like Google Adwords. What is nice about pay per click advertising programs is that, just as the name sounds, you only have to pay when one of your advertisements gets clicked on. This type of advertising arrangement may be able to save you a considerable about of money, when compared to paying a flat rate fee for an advertisement that may never even be seen, let alone clicked on. Also, by doing business with a well-known pay per click advertising program, like Google Adwords, you are less likely to experience problems associated with malicious clicks, as the programs tend to be carefully monitored, to ensure that you don’ t end up wasting money on the marketing for your small business.

In addition to paying for advertising, you may also be able to get free advertising by doing what is known as a link exchange. A link exchange is when one website owner, like you, agrees to display the online website link or banner for another website owner, free of charge, as long as they do the same for you. If you are looking for free or low-cost ways to market your small online business, a link exchange may be the perfect option for you. The only thing that you want to make sure you do is not exchange links with your competition. You want to try and make sure that all links can be connected or related to each other, in one way or another, but you don’t want to end up generating income for your competition.

When it comes to running a small online business, standard internet searches may also pay a large role in the traffic that you and your website receives. That is why it is important that your website, whether it is used to sell products or services, is optimized for the search engines. This process is commonly referred to as search engine optimization. When it comes to search engine optimization, content is important. Your website needs to be filled with content that the search engines will pick up, as well as content that your visitors can read. If you need assistance with this, you may want to think about hiring the services of a SEO specialist or a professional content writer.

The above mentioned marketing approaches are just a few of the many that you may want to use to help increase your small online business’s profits. For the best chance of success, you are advised to implement more than just one of the above mentioned approaches.

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How to Create Product Descriptions that Make the Sale

by BlondieWrites on October 13, 2009

It doesn’t matter whether you sell physical or digital products, as an effective marketer you need to be able to convince a potential buyer that your product will meet their expectations and ultimately help them achieve their goals.

Creating compelling and accurate product descriptions is how you will achieve this task and hopefully move your viewer from a casual shopper to making an actual purchase.

So let’s take a closer look at the things that will give your potential customers the product descriptions that appeal to their senses, emotions and their expectations, but will also give you the edge for making the sale.

Use Descriptive Words and Phrases
Help your visitors learn about your product features and benefits by drawing them a compelling mental picture of your product.

It makes sense to use descriptive words and phrases but using words like better, nice, great and good won’t provide much descriptive value. You’ll have to be more specific. Describing a mystery as being ‘A really good thriller’ won’t captivate like describing it as ‘An exhilarating shocker that had me mesmerized’.

What Makes Your Product Unique?
Think about what really makes your product different from other similar products. For example, if you are promoting a diet program you might use words like ‘great tasting food’, ‘easy plans to stick to’, fast weight loss’ but what actually sets you apart from the competition? It might be easy online access, money back guarantee, personal support, etc. Whatever it is, use it to help your potential customer understand why they should make the decision to buy from you.

Put Yourself in Your Buyers Frame of Mind
Try reversing the roles and putting yourself in the place of your buyer for a minute. Now that you’re the buyer, what would you want from this product?

For example if you’re writing a product description for a weight loss program, it’s important to state the obvious benefits but if it were me I’d be wondering if I could eat chocolate cake once in awhile or how long will it take to get results and what eating tips it provides for eating out.

One trick I use in trying to cover as many bases for my readers as possible is think about the who, what, where, when and how of a product. What is the product about? How does the product work? How does it help accomplish a goal? Who is it designed for? Why would I use it over another product?

Write down all your answers and then craft them into a product description that convinces your reader of its value.

Use the Seven Deadly Sins
Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride might be sins but they also strike up emotion. Now think about what emotions your product strikes up.

For example, when I think of anti-aging skin cream I think about how much younger I will look, how my friends will be envious or how I will look more attractive. Notice how I’ve just covered envy and pride.

Help your reader connect with the emotions that are felt when thinking about your product. This is how you will effectively set the stage for putting your potential buyer in a buying mode.

Describe the Best, Most Appealing Features
Features are the actual characteristics or aspects of a product. If you are selling diamond necklaces the features will be the quality of the diamond, chain, clasp, etc. So when describing these features use compelling descriptive words.

For example, “Sparkling white diamond necklace with a glimmering 18k white gold cable chain”. Help them feel the features and appreciate its value.

Use different descriptions for different products
You might be selling ten necklaces but each necklace needs its own product description that describes the subtle uniqueness of each.

Don’t use cookie cutter product descriptions. It won’t help potential buyers understand the differences and make decisions accordingly. Generic across the board descriptions won’t impress a buyer.

Meet your customer’s expectations
Always understand your customer’s needs and expectations before setting out to make the sale.

Chances are your product meets the expectations customers have but if you don’t know exactly what those expectations are you’re not likely to mention in an impressive way. First understand your customer’s expectations and then be sure you describe your products as meeting those expectations.

Next time you sit down to write a product description do more than just describe its features and benefits, also learn to put yourself in your customer’s shoes, strike up emotion and meet expectations. The more your product description can connect with your potential customer the more sales you’re likely to make.

 

 

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Liz McGee, author and marketing specialist, offers free tips and help for those that want to make money online, not lose it. Join Liz’s free newsletter, blog & discussion forum where you can find out how to start an internet business

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Top 15 Ways to Build Your Subscriber List

by BlondieWrites on September 20, 2009

Email marketing can be profitable for any business, no matter what kind of product or service you are selling. It is significantly cheaper than other advertising methods and it helps build credibility with your subscribers. As a result, you can generate more sales and profits.

The foundation for successful email marketing is a targeted, responsive and permission-based email list. If you have a list of subscribers that trust you and consider you an expert, you’ve completed the first step and are on your way!

Below you will several list-building ideas that will help you make the most of your email marketing efforts:

1.Provide useful, relevant and unique content. Your visitors will not give you their email addresses just because they can subscribe to your newsletter free of charge. You have to provide unique and valuable information that will be useful to your subscribers.

2.Add a subscription form to every page of your website. Make sure it stands out so it is easy to find. If appropriate, you can also include it in more than one place. For instance, your opt-in form might always appear in the top-left corner of your site, while you also include an opt-in at the bottom of some of your popular articles.

3.Make it easy for your reader to sign up. The more information you request, the fewer people will opt-in. In most cases, a name and an email address should suffice. If it’s not necessary, don’t include it here. (Note: If you don’t have a Privacy Policy, put the words “privacy policy generator” into a search engine and you should be able to find a suitable form for your readers to review.

4.Publish a Privacy Policy. Let your readers know that they can be confident you will not share their information with others. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your opt-in form.

5.Show your first issue or other sample to your visitors. This lets potential subscribers review your newsletter before they sign up to determine if it is something they’d be interested in.

6.Archive past newsletter issues. A “library” of past newsletters is both appealing and useful to visitors and builds your credibility as an authority. In addition, if your articles are written with good SEO techniques in mind, they can send additional traffic to your web site through good search engine positioning.

7.Contact other newsletter publishers. Introduce yourself and explore ways you may be able to help each other. Perhaps you can introduce other publisher’s newsletters or print articles they have written to your list, with a link to sign up. When you contact them, be sure to tell them why you think THEIR readers would like what you have to offer and why YOUR readers would benefit from their newsletters. This is a win-win scenario; both of you will build your lists faster!

8.Give away bonuses subscribers can use. Create an opt-in bonus for joining your subscriber list. You can write an ebook or PDF report, or even hire a programmer to create downloadable or web-based software. But don’t limit yourself to only a gift for new opt-ins. Remind your readers that the next bonus is coming soon. People hate to miss out on things. If you systematically pass on “goodies” throughout the year, your subscribers are unlikely to leave.

9.Ask your subscribers to pass it on. Word of mouth is a powerful viral technique that works great with email marketing. If your subscribers find the content you share with them to be informative, they will pass your newsletter on to their friends. This can be a good source of new subscribers.

10.Let others reprint your newsletter as long as the content is not modified. Many webmasters and newsletter publishers are actively looking for high-quality content and, if they reprint your newsletter, you will get new subscribers, traffic and links pointing to your site.

11.Include a “Sign Up” button in the newsletter. If you are using plain text instead of HTML, provide a text link to your subscription page. You may feel that this is not required because the subscriber is already on your list, but remember that readers will forward your newsletters to others, or reprint it online. You want to make it easy for them to subscribe.

12.Add a squeeze page. A squeeze page has one goal − to get an opt-in and build your list. Think of it like a mini-sales letter for your subscription or opt-in bonus. It features a powerful headline and a couple of very important benefits that should make subscribers salivate to sign up to your list. Once created, use a service such as WordTracker to find hundreds of targeted keywords, and advertise there using pay-per-click advertising from Google, MSN and Yahoo.

13.Include testimonials on your squeeze page. This is crucial. Put 1 or 2 strong testimonials from satisfied subscribers on your squeeze page. This can be in any format, but you may find that multimedia (audio or video social proof) is more “believable”. To increase that believability, include full names, locations and/or urls; don’t use “Bob K, FL” as a testimonial name.

14.Blog religiously. Blogging is a great way to communicate with your potential customers, and it creates a nice synergy with your email marketing. Be sure to include your newsletter sign-up form on each page of your blog. You can start a free blog at Blogger or Wordpress.

15.Post on other blogs. Post great comments and information on similar blogs with a link to your squeeze or opt-in page. Also comment on others’ blogs through trackbacks. In most cases, your comments will be posted on their blogs with a link back to your site. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers.

GetResponse

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How to Self Promote and Market Your Work

by BlondieWrites on June 19, 2008

You’ve created some wonderful work. You want it to be seen and noticed. You want people to buy your creation. You want publicity. After all, how can you make money if what you have created to sell is never seen by the general public? That’s where promoting and marketing yourself comes in.

Regardless of what you have created, the principle is the same. In order to sell, to be seen and noticed, you must promote and market your creation. It can be a book you wrote, handcrafted designer dolls, fabulous paintings, or handcrafted jewelry.

If you are someone that simply creates things for the fun of it, for a hobby, and you don’t do it to make a living, then there is of course no need to worry about promoting or marketing anything. But for the rest that create in order to sell and earn a living, marketing and publicity is a necessity. No one will purchase or order something that they don’t even know exists.

The number one rule of promoting is shameless self promoting. If you don’t promote yourself, no one will! Toot your own horn! Tell others about your creation, your site, your book, your articles, your crafts, etc. Whatever it is that you have created that you are wanting to sell or promote, tell about it! Don’t sit back and expect someone else to market you if you will not market yourself. Self promotion will get you everywhere, but sitting back and not telling about what you are offering won’t make sales.

Make a website. A website is paramount today for just about any business related venture. Have clear photos of your what you are wishing to sell or market, and give very accurate descriptions of items. If you are promoting a book, offer a sample chapter for free. Offering the book in a downloadable ebook format can also increase sales.

Have a newsletter. This offers you the chance to tell your readers what you have new, about sales and specials, or to alert subscribers about updates to your site. A newsletter is one of the best publicity and marketing tools you have, because it allows you to communicate directly with all of your readers.

If you are in an area that had art fairs and craft fairs, reserve a spot to sell your wares. If you have written a book and want to promote it, ask local bookstores about setting up a table in their store to sell books and sign them. Offer a free book to every 100th person to want a book or something similar. Face to face sales have an advantage to internet sales in that it’s more personal. Internet sales have an advantage in that you can reach so many more people online.

If it’s feasible offer samples of your products. Giving away free samples can often bring in sales by allowing a potential customer to try before they buy. The best way to offer any free samples is by face to face contact rather than over the internet. While the web offers a lot more people, a lot of freebie web surfers are simply looking for a freebie with no intention of buying anything. Face to face contact gives a better chance at making the sale and offers you the opportunity to speak directly with the person, making it a much more personal experience and therefore allowing the potential customer to more than likely remember you.

The simple fact is that unless you hire a promotional or marketing expert, no on is going do market for you and promote for you. You can ask family and friends to help get the word out, and word of mouth is good. But it all starts with you. Marketing will make sales and sales make money. Promoting yourself will make yourself known and the profits will roll in. Sitting back and expecting to be found by some streak of luck just isn’t reality. If you took the time and energy to create something, take the time and energy to market that something and promote it shamelessly. Shameless self promotion will have you laughing all the way to the bank, while the person that didn’t think it was the right thing to do will be still sitting there waiting to see the green.

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