An Overlooked Fr~e Advertising Opportunity

So what is really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about --info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there's more to than you may have first thought.

When you have an online business you need to utilizeevery possible avenue of advertising and promotion.As I sign up for more ezines and discussion groups,I am finding numerous publishers are overlooking a very effective and fr~e advertising opportunity.

After I sign up for an ezine or email discussion group,I await the welcome letter for guidelines and to learna bit more about the ezine/website/webmaster.

Toooften all I get in the welcome letter is the standard default letter.
No personal welcome, no introductions,no links to check out and no email.

This disappoints me as I always like to check out the sites of the people I am signing up with.
It almostmakes me want to unsubscribe.......almost. ;-) But I know that some publishers may just not know that youcan take advantage of this advertising opportunity.

I also didn't know of such opportunity when I was first starting.
So, by writing this article, I hope to make publishers and listowners aware of this fr~e advertising.

Whether you use Yahoogroups, Topica or a list manager that you have purchased, you can change the welcomemessage. Personalize it by introducing yourself and letting the subscriber know about your website/business.

*Inform them of any specials you might have.*Tell them your advertising rates and add a testimonial.

*Invite them to your site to utilize the fr~e resources.

*Let them know your email so they can contact you.

*Use some of the space for ad swapping with otherpublishers and their welcome letters.

*Add an affiliate product or program review.

There are numerous things you can promote with yourwelcome letter. Also, do not overlook your goodbyeletter.
You have one last chance to get this person back.
Make it a good one. ;-)
I also have a little message in my goodbye letter thatencourages people to let me know why they unsubbed.

Example:

Thank you for being a subscriber to My Own Ezine. I am sorry to see you go. If you could take a minute to let me know why you unsubbed, I would appreciate it.

Please drop a quick note tomailto:ter02@newnorth.net?subject=unsub Thank you.

You might learn ways to improve your ezine by askingformer subs this question. Of course, they do not allanswer, but a good many do! Always reply to them with a short but appreciative thank you note!

I also promote many of the same things as I do with my welcome letter. By doing this you just might get thisperson to think........"Maybe I will take one last lookand see what they have."

In this business, you have to utilize every opportunity possible and this FR~E advertising could turn out to bea golden one!
Happy Holidays to you and yours!

About the Author

*************Terri Seymour and her husband Terry of http://www.seymourproducts.com/ offer a no cost, home business opportunity. Apply online.
Resources and more for your home businessavailable at http://www.myownezine.com/
Free ecoursebusiness-building-ecourse@getresponse.com
****************

Sometimes it's tough to sort out all the details related to this subject, but I'm positive you'll have no trouble making sense of the information presented above.

Advertising on a Shoestring Budget When You Can't the Afford.

The best way to make money with your website, no matter what the business, is to get it noticed. To get it noticed, you need to advertise.

But how do you do that when you're on a shoestring budget that's so tight you really can't afford the shoestring, let alone the shoe you took it off of? Well, there are three things you can do that won't cost you a dime.
And you can get started with them today.First, get yourself signed up for several hits-for-clicks sites.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, a 'hits-for-clicks' site is a site from which you surf the net and get points for viewing websites.

In return for surfing, you get points.

You use those points to get exposure for your site(s). Most hits-for-clicks have free signups and most will let you enter up to three (sometimes five) URLs into their system.

Here are some hits-for-clicks sites I use:

Fontoon (http://www.fontoon.com/?refid=3446)StartXchange

(http://www.startxchange.com/index.php?referrer=htack210)

TrafficG (http://trafficg.com/index.php?member=htack210)

Profit Charger hits (http://profitchargerhits.com/www.profitchargerhits.com/?refid=10717)

Traffic Pods (http://www.trafficpods.com/index.jsp?ref=htack210)

MyTrafficStorm (http://www.mytrafficstorm.com/?ref=385)

Traffic Swarm (http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?329064)

SurfMaster Club (http://www.webideas4u.com/team/htack210/smcp1.shtml)

Second, you need to get yourself a good browser that allows you to do tabbed browsing.

What's a tabbed browser? I'm glad you asked! A tabbed browser, simply put, is a browser that lets you browse several sites at once using tabs instead of separate windows.

To get the most out hits-for-clicks sites you need to surf from the hits-for-clicks site's start page.
The more you surf, the more points you get.

The more points you get, the more exposure you get. You could surf from each one of your hits-for-clicks sites one at a time, but you'll make better headway surfing from as many of them as you can at once.

Now imagine how cumbersome it would be to have each of the above sites open in a separate window! Having each site open in a separate tab in the same browser window is much more convenient because then you can move from tab to tab and surf several sites at once.

"What are some good tabbed browsers?" you ask. Well, one that comes immediately to mind is Netscape 7.x. It has tabbed browsing built in.

All you do is open one site, hit CTRL+T (on the PC) or COMMAND+T (on the Apple), open another tab, open another site, and so on and so on.

Then, all you need to do is tab between the sites all in the same window. Another tabbed web browser that comes to mind is CrazyBrowser available at crazybrowser.com (where else?). Crazy Browser works in much the same way as Netscape 7.x and allows you to open whole groups at once.

So, if you organize your hits-for-clicks sites in one folder under Crazy Browser, you can opt to open all the links at once and Crazy Broswer will open each one in a separate tab.

Okay, so now you're surfing! You're gaining points and building exposure for your site. That's great! But guess what? It's still not enough.
There's one more thing you need to do in order to get the most bang for your click.Third, you need to build your hits-for-clicks downlines in order to get more points for your clicks.

Hits-for-clicks sites thrive on getting more people to sign on. It's how they make their living. One way they do this is through referrals.

As an incentive for their current customers to get them more customers, hits-for-clicks sites often give extra points for referrals.

"How am I supposed to do that," you ask, "when I'm already clicking my fingers to the bone?" That's where free rotators come in.A rotator is a web device that let's you put several URLs in one place. The rotator then takes those URLs and rotates them.

In other words, when the user happens upon your rotator address, he or she will see one of several sites you have entered. Let me illustrate. Let's say I have a free web rotator that I signed up for at pageswirl. I log in and I put in several sites:

http://gman.167aday.com

http://solutions.juvio210.com

http://www.juvio210.com

http://pageswirl.com/?aff=htack210

When the user goes to my rotator site, he or she will see one of these sites. They will come up at random and I can weight the sites.

In other words, I can cause one site to be seen more often than the others.
"Okay. So how does that help me?" you ask.
With a free rotator, you can input the referral links for your hits-for-clicks sites along with the main site you're using to promote your business.

Enter the free rotator URL into your hits-for-clicks sites. Make sure that your particular hits-for-clicks allows the use of rotators.

Many do.
Some do not.
And some only accept rotators from certain providers.

(For example, Profit Charger Hits only accepts Pageswirl rotators.) With the free rotator installed, you're getting referrals, building your clicks-for-hits downline, gaining more browsing points, and getting more exposure for your site.

And what's nice about all of this is that you don't have to pay a dime!When it comes right down to it, the sites that advertise the most, get the most hits and have the potential to make the most money.

And with hits-for-clicks sites even people with little or no advertising budget can get the word out. So why are you still here? Get out there and start surfing!

About the Author
Glenn Haertlein is the webmaster of Everyman's Computer Page

(www.juvio210.com)

, a history teacher and a freelance writer.

Advertising On A Budget - Using Print To Drive Traffic Only.

I decided to try something a little different and illustrate the marketing challenges of a small business.

I'm using one of my clients, PrescottWeddings.com.
PWC is an online resource guide for couples planning their weddings.

Along with a ton of information for brides and grooms, the site includes a resource guide where local businesses can advertise their products and services.We launched PWC in November 2001.

Like many start-up businesses, PWC didn't have much money for marketing. Yet we had two major challenges (three counting the limited budget):

1. PWC had to attract two kinds of target markets to the site -- advertisers and couples -- essentially at the same time.
And if that wasn't bad enough, we had to appeal to each group even though one was dependent on the other -- advertisers wanted brides and grooms logging onto the site, and brides and grooms wanted a complete resource center.

2. Several bridal print publications had come and gone in Prescott -- and had burned their advertisers while racing out of town. Businesses were understandably hesitant about sinking their money into another bridal venture.

Armed with those challenges, we went to work.
Now, just over two years later, PWC enjoys well over 40,000 hits a month and has increased its advertising base by over 600%.
On top of that, PWC is well on its way to establishing a reliable brand in not just Prescott but throughout Yavapai County.

So how did we do it? A great Web site with great content plus three main marketing strategies:

1) Using print to drive traffic online

2) Thinking small

3) Frequency, frequency, frequencyI'll cover number two and three in the next two articles.

Today we'll talk about number one:

Using print to drive traffic online.

The cornerstone of PWC's marketing program has been print advertising, more specifically monthly advertising in the local newspaper.

Print advertising is an excellent choice for many businesses -- from small to large.

In fact, it's not uncommon for small and medium-sized businesses to build their advertising program around print.

The strength of print advertising is its flexibility.

Print publications come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

They can appeal to a broad readership or a narrow one.

They can be published every day or once a year.

This variety gives you a lot of flexibility in fitting print advertising into your campaigns. You can also track print to a certain extent (coupons in newspapers for example).

Print is physical, allowing your customers to carry something around with them.However, print's weakness is also its strength.
It's a visual medium only, so it requires more effort and interaction from your audience to make an impact (they need to stop and read it).
In the case of PWC, we chose monthly advertising in the local paper as the foundation of our marketing program.

We decided upon the local newspaper because it has the broadest reach.
Prescott isn't big enough to have its own evening television news, so the newspaper is the best vehicle for local news.

If you live in a big city, the local newspaper may not be practical because of cost. In that case, you may want to try a niche newspaper or magazine, like a business or lifestyle journal, or maybe a regionalized newspaper.

In Phoenix for instance, the Arizona Republic is the main newspaper, but all the cities around Phoenix, like Scottsdale and Tempe, also have their own papers.

Because PWC is a Web site, there's an assumption we should be using only online methods to advertise.

Online methods are good, and PWC does use them, but they only take you so far.
Print is a part of the "real world" -- something you can touch and pick up, not virtual like a Web site. Print has also been around a lot longer, and carries more trust with it.

We found by using print, some of that trust and "real world" essence rubbed off, making PWC seem less anonymous and more like a "bricks and mortar" business (a business with a store front).

Also, since we were trying to drive local traffic to the site, it made sense to advertise locally rather than attracting people from all over the world.
But even with our local advertising, we still have a substantial number of visitors from around the state, including Phoenix and Tucson, as well as all over the globe.

The point of our marketing program was to advertise regularly so we could both build the PWC brand and drive traffic to the Web site.

Yet it was essential to keep our costs down. So we leveraged our monthly newspaper advertising to stretch our marketing dollar as far as we could.

More on that and how we "thought small" in the next article. About the author:Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency.

She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business.

She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com/

Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek

Advertising Methods. Market Research Questionnaire for a Business Start Up.

Advertising Methods.

Market Research Questionnaire for a Business Start Up.Which Method have you found effective? I would be grateful if you would take a few moments to complete this on-line form to help me gain self employment.

Methods.

Market Research Questionnaire.

As part of some Market Research into starting a business to provide business such as you’re with online advertising Services I would be grateful if you would take a few moments to complete this on-line form.

This is an independent survey carried out by DOT Solutions.

Digitally Orientated Technologies

(http://www.solutions.ukdots.com).

All individual information will be kept in confidence.The online Market Research Questionnaire is at:

- http://www.bosslinks.com/market_research_questionnaire.

htmlClick on the following link if you need further descriptions of the Methods of Internet adverting:

-http://www.solutions.ukdots.com/advertising_methods.

htmlThe question include:
-Which methods do you use to promote your services/products?

On-Line advertising:
-Affiliated Links. Pay for Clicks.

Website submission using Purchased software or using a service.
Paid for search engine listing inclusion.E-mail campaigns.
E-zine or newsletter campaigns.

WAP, Wireless Application Protocol, (mobile phone), Short Message Service or other similar e.g. 3G and Wi-fi, etc.Off-Line advertising:
-Local Newspaper, National Newspaper, Magazines, Television, Radio, Leafleting.

Direct Marketing:
-Phone calls. Promotions. Pens and other gifts.Advertising hoardings, billboards, and busses inside and out.Sponsorship e.g. sports, etc.General questions.

Which methods used have given you the best Return On Investment over the short, medium and longer term?Which methods would you use again because of good response?Which methods would you not use again because of poor response?Invested amount?How often do you use/require the service/product? Do you always use the same supplier/business?

Would you be willing to use my advertising and promoting products and service when I start my business.My products and services will help you advertise and promote your business.One example is the BOSS Links.

Business Online Support Service

( http://www.bosslinks.com/index.html )

This website allows a searchable title, a description, Icons (small images to represent your services), Specialties, multiple keywords, linkable website address, linkable WAP site address, (if you own one), and contact details.

Thank You For Your Time.

The online Market Research Questionnaire is at:
-http://www.bosslinks.com/market_research_questionnaire.

html This is an independent survey carried out by DOT Solutions.
Digitally Orientated Technologies
( http://www.solutions.ukdots.com/index.html )
Helping people and smaller businesses increase their brand image using low budget methods.

Targeted Traffic "Keyword", "Pay for Clicks", "Cost-Per-Click", "Website submission" and off-line advertising. Able to provide step by step WEB and WAP (mobile phone) advertising solutions.
This method is ideal for people or businesses with smaller budgets. It is our policy to get your website the best level of traffic.
That is the most unique visitors and returning customers as possible. We would like to receive more custom from you and this depends on both the level and quality of traffic we are able to bring to your website.

http://www.solutions.ukdots.com/index.htmlCompare Bargains.

Someone Special or for a Business trying to reduce cost to its customers. Save some of your cash and still get great quality items. Something for everyone.

Great RETAIL THERAPY...

http://www.comparebargains.comThank You For Your Time.
http://www.agreatportal.com

About the Author
Internet Marketing, Web Master, Programmer

Advertising Methods: Understanding & Implementing Key

Being the Public Relations' Director for a major, online holistic journal, I often find myself brainstorming new and creative ways of marketing, and making our site not only visitor/client-friendly, but informative and entertaining as well.

While we offer a broad array of alternative healing arts' schools, I wanted to explain exactly how successful marketing can lead to maximum, effective exposure.

After a little research, I discovered quite a few interesting things about how advertising works. The Nielsen ratings are a classic example of how marketing techniques are applied.

In the United States, Nielsen Media Research provides audience estimates for all national program sources.
For example, during 'Sweeps' week, Nielsen Media Research mails out diaries to certain households across the country.
The diaries are collected and processed at the end of each time period. In addition, Nielsen provides many other data services to display viewing records of television, cable and other multimedia programming.

These viewing data reflect what, when and how often programs are watched. So, in essence, commercial advertising agencies depend on Nielsen ratings on what commercials to air, and how to design commercials to be 'eye candy' to the masses.

The Coca-Cola company made a powerful move in its Christmas advertising campaign by integrating Santa Claus in their marketing plans.

So powerful, in fact, that because of its commercials depicting Santa drinking Coca-Cola from a bottle, spawned consumers to take more and more bottles of Coca-Cola home with them! In an even more elaborate move, Toyota Motor Sales recently cornered the online market with being the only car Ad to sponsor Ebay! During the 1980s, Ms. Clara Peller was recruited to commercialize Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" Slogan in televisions ads everywhere.

But what does this have to do with marketing essentials? Technically, the viewing and listening public - whether it be Radio, Cable TV, or the Internet - are diverse information and entertainment seekers.

As consumers, we want a broad selection, we demand diversity, we expect 'eye candy.' Thus, while most advertising agencies can only produce and eccentuate the positive of products and/or services, it all boils down to viewer-ability.

Clients demand results - and they want them to reflect their choice in advertising.
As both a consumer and marketing specialist, a skilled advertising firm is able to fully comprehend the fundamentals of developing successful strategies in commercial promotion of products and services.

So how does a good advertising firm produce positive results in a productive marketing campaign?
Below are a few, finer points in proven 'viewer-ability' marketing strategies:

1. Research & Development - analysis of current marketing and advertising campaigns

2. Strategic Planning and Implementation

3. Media Buys - buying media at discounted rates and pass savings onto clients

4. Copywriting Services

5. Video Production - Informational and Corporate

6. Public Relations

7. Website Development and Promotion

8. Direct Mail/Email Campaigns

9. Electronic/Print Advertising

10. Brochure & Graphic Design

11. Telemarketing Consultation

12. Market Research The prime question one should ask himself (or his organization) is 'What do I want to accomplish?' Experienced ad agencies will review and analyze what is and isn't working through review of revenue streams and competition.

Specific recommendations are then made on how to target particular audiences - much like that of the Nielsen Media Research.
Since the conceptual design and implementation of the World Wide Web, advertising has taken on a dramatically new persepective, and is steadily climbing to popular ranks liken to mainstream media.

Undeniably, many Americans are virtually living in the 'net.' Aside from being a vital tool for student research projects, the Internet has become a vast and ever-expanding media outlet for entertainment, information, work and direct-advertising system.

By integrating all points of a strategic marketing campaign, electronic advertising agencies are able to assist clients with interactive ad campaigns that help promote exposure to clients (services and/or products).

Realistically, whether we're selling products or services, we have to realize that exposure (or eye-candy) is what gains attention. In the field of advertising, we personally know that we, as consumers, are smart shoppers.

We watch, listen, learn and investigate. Before we even decide to invest in a product or service, we have a pretty good idea of what we want.

For example, if I am interested in attending a particular school, I will research the area for schools that meet my criteria. Hypothetically speaking, let's say there are 5 acupuncture institutions in one state - 2 are listed, 3 are not.

Automatically, my choice of prospective schools has been narrowed down to just two.
Now, of the 2 educational organizations, one is 60 miles away and one is just 10 minutes up the street. Okay, my option became a bit closer, but what does school A offer that school B doesn't? Or visa vi? This is where successful marketing plans come into action.

Understandably, clients must want to achieve specific goals, so viewer-ability is a crucial component in becoming the deciding factor for potential consumers.
Exposure is the key element to promoting products and/or services.

The unique aspect of Internet advertising is that

1) it's less expensive,

2.) it reaches individuals one-on-one,

3) it gains worldwide exposure. With the boom of Internet advertising, people are able to attain information at their fingertips - literally.

Television commercials convey consumer information to the viewing public. We might see a Land Cruiser ad, but that doesn't mean we're going to go run out and buy one right then.

BUT, the notion has been planted in our heads to take a deeper look at Toyota vehicles. The same applies to Internet advertising, but there's a slightly unique difference:
Because the Internet is interactive, we can invest our money and time instantly should we choose to do so.
But like many wise shoppers, we selectively peruse our viewable options - But the notion has been planted in our minds for further review.

How Do You Sell Yourself? Below is a list of questions one should ask:

1. Necessity: What is it about my product ( or service) that makes it essential to consumers?

2. Consumerability: What sets my product (or service) aside from other competitors?

3. Communication: Do I inform my potential consumers with detailed accuracy?

4. Location: What makes my location attractive?

5. Amenities: Do I have any to offer?

6. Accessibility: Is my product (or service) easily accessible and within reach?

7. Catch-Phrase: Do I have a memorable slogan? (e.g., Wendy's "Where's the Beef?")

8. Presentation: Is my product (or service) being presented in its best light? Can I improve its viewer-ability?

9. Affordabilty: Is my product (or service) affordable? Are financing or other loan options available to consumers?

10. Extra: Do I offer any special tools (e.g., workshops, guides, etc.) that enhance my products and/or services? Overall, marketing your services and/or products boils down to proficient exposure.

The better the presentation, the more likely consumers will be receptive. Clients who work closely with their advertising firms will attain prolific results.
If something is not adequately working, it is important to review deficiencies and redefine how to better improve upon ourselves to attract more productive exposure.

(See: How Do You Sell Yourself above) Advertising methods, if understood and implemented properly, are the vital foundation to abundant and powerful, commercial exposure.
Knowing, or Knowledge, is still ultimately the key to success; and the key to goal achievements.

*To learn how Holistic Junction can help you promote your products and/or services, feel free to email membership@holisticjunction.com today.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------©4/2005 -

Advertising Methods:

Understanding & Implementing Key Marketing Strategies by C. Bailey-Lloyd aka.
LadyCamelot Public Relations' Director & Writer

http://www.holisticjunction.com/
http://www.mediapositiveradio.com/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR C. Bailey-Lloyd aka.

LadyCamelot Public Relations' Director & Writer

http://www.holisticjunction.com/
http://www.mediapositiveradio.com/

Advertising Made Easy

How You Can Make Advertising Pay Big Dividends (source: www.chetholmes.com)

McGraw Hill once commissioned an extensive study to determine what marketing weapons make a company famous in it’s market or community.

The study went on to show that advertising created more product, service, or brand awareness than all other marketing weapons combined.

The fact is, we know that Coke is “The Real Thing” because Coke advertises, not because it has good salespeople or does great direct mail.

Advertising stays in front of your prospects when you can’t be there. While a handful of salespeople can only be in front of perhaps a hundred or so prospects per month, advertising can reach thousands of potential buyers each and every month, week, or day.

Studies also show that advertising inspires confidence from your current clients. When current clients see your ad, it reinforces their belief in you.

It makes them feel like they made the right decision to be your client. But advertising can also waste money if you don’t use it properly.
To avoid wasting money, keep these three tips in mind. Don’t spend money on an advertising vehicle if the majority of its listeners/viewer/readers will never buy your type of product or services.

For example, let’s say that you own a commercial real estate company or a business bank. In both cases, you are only interested in business people.

Broad-reaching television or radio stations or general-interest daily newspapers base their rates on how many consumers they reach.

An examination of their audiences may easily show you that a high percentage of their listeners or readers are not business people, yet you will have to pay to reach all of them.
Conversely, there are more specialized advertising vehicles that target a far greater percentage of your potential buyers.

A business radio program or a business publication will offer you an audience comprised mostly of your potential buyers.

If you do advertise, do not expect that a single ad, or even a few ads, constitute effective advertising. Effective advertising needs to be consistent and steady.

However: If you don’t have the budget to take a full advertising schedule, I often recommend that my clients buy one, well placed ad in the ideal magazine and then use that piece for years sometimes with a banner that says: “As Seen In Industry Today.”

This ad then works very hard for you as a direct mail piece, promo piece, or even a hand out at a trade show.

Don’t spread your advertising too thin. Some years ago, a corporate training company launched its services by buying a few spots per week on seven different radio stations.

Since it was not on any one station long enough to give its message a chance to take root, the advertising was a total failure.

The company should have taken its entire budget and sunk it into one or (at the most) two primary vehicles. Each advertising vehicle has a loyal audience.

You are far better off having a heavy schedule in one vehicle, where you have a chance to break through the clutter and get noticed, than to take a few spots in a half-dozen vehicles in which you get lost in the commercial clutter.

Today, repetition and concentration are the keys to successful advertising.
Another important point along the lines of advertising smart is that cable TV today can virtually change your life in a week. I know a fellow who has an electronic repair business.

He would fix VCR’s, TV’s, Toasters, etc… and he also would come to your home to hook up your entire entertainment system if you needed him to do that. The name of the business was Mr. Tim’s Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service.

First, on my advice, he took an insert in the newspaper. (An “insert” is a flyer that is printed separately and “inserted” into the newspaper as a loose piece of paper).

This is generally a very good way to go with B2B in a trade journal or B2C in a newspaper.
These are good because they fall out of the magazine or newspaper onto your desk or kitchen table and they are less expensive to buy than printing your ad right in the vehicle of choice.

When I ran magazines and newspapers, we discouraged them because we NEEDED ads in the magazine/newspaper, but when we had a client we were going to lose over lack of response, we ALWAYS recommended the insert because they almost always worked.

So Mr. Tim’s Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service took the newspaper insert in the local newspaper and bought, specifically, the major neighborhoods where he felt they have more time than money.

That’s the other beauty of newspaper inserts is that you can generally buy a small piece of the circulation to test the idea or to concentrate geographically. This worked for months for Mr. Tim, as people kept the insert around until they needed him.

But one of the people that spotted that insert was the local cable salesperson who told him he could make him famous. Mr. Tim thought TV would be WAY too expensive, but, as it turns out, in some markets, you can buy just a neighborhood. You can buy by zip code.

So for $200 per week, Mr. Tim was on TV like 60 times per week, spread all over 50 different cable channels.

It was amazing. You’d be watching re-runs of Seinfeld and there would come this Mr. Tim’s Home Electronic Repair and Installation Service ad and his phone would ring. It worked great.

Then one day he walks into a bike shop and someone recognized him from his TV ad. He was becoming famous from this mere $200 per week.

Not for everyone, but if you sell B2C, look into local cable and concentrate with a lot of spots.
Every business action requires some kind of cost justification. Does the effort justify the cost? Company X advertised its professional educational materials.

When it seemed as though the advertising was not working, the company was going to cancel its ad campaign.

Then it discovered a startling correlation between its advertising and its direct-mail efforts: Its direct-mail response went up by 30% in the months it advertised to the same audience.

This is typical. The more penetration you can get to the same audience, the better the possibility that you will get noticed.

In the ’90s, getting noticed is everything. In today’s commercial clutter, you get noticed only by continually reaching the same potential customer with a consistent theme, message, look, and feel.

If you advertise in a print medium (magazine, newspaper, etc.), you will find that most publications will rent you their mailing lists.

This means you can direct mail to the same audience to which you are advertising! This is a very smart usage of marketing dollars.

Look at the lifetime value. If you have an inexpensive product, your advertising has to deliver a high number of leads, or every lead has to turn into a repeat customer.

For example, say your average customer spends $25 with you. If you are spending $1,000 per month on advertising, you will need to attract 40 new customers per month to break even on the ad, not counting any of your other costs, such as product costs and overhead.

If those customers are one-time buyers, then you have to find a way to make your advertising more effective or less expensive. If they become regular buyers, then you can accept lower response rates.

The key here is to look at the “lifetime value” of a customer. A customer who spends $25 a month and comes to your store only once is only worth $25 to you.

But if you can get that customer to be a repeat customer, then that customer is worth $300 a year, or $1,500 over five years!

Most business people do not understand the power of advertising; they do not realize that each new $25 customer is potentially a $1,500 customer!

Advertising brings in the customers, but it is your job to keep them buying from you.
Advertising promotes word-of-mouth Often, a loyal customer will see your ad while with a friend or business associate.

Your customer will show your ad to the friend and say, “Hey Joe, now this is a really great company/product/service.”

Joe will come into your business, and you will ask him how he heard of you. He will say that his friend referred him and never think to mention that it was your advertising that prompted the friend to open his mouth in the first place.

I headed up a Neilson study that tracked hundreds of ads and the response rate each ad generated. Each month, a computer printout listed the ads and how much response each had generated.

The first printout came and it looked like this:

X Company…………22 responses
Y Company……...….20 responses
Z Company………….23 responses
K Company………..223 responses
J Company……….….26 responses

In the midst of all the other ads generating responses in the low 20’s, one ad was generated more than 200 responses!

Turning to the ad, we expected to find some totally new or unique offer, product or service.
Instead, we found that the product advertised was nearly identical in price and features to four or five other products in the same publication.

Thus, it wasn’t the product that made the response jump so significantly, it was the ad! After a year of tracking the highest response generating ads, we learned that, for the most part, the ads that pulled the greatest response followed four primary rules:

Rule No 1: Is it distinctive? You must design advertising that is so distinctive looking (or sounding, if you’re on the radio) that it pops out of the clutter.

In print, the first goal of high-response-oriented advertising is that it be visually distinctive. On radio, the audio must be distinctive. Naturally, TV has both visual and audio possibilities.
I ran a TV spot advertising a free seminar I’m doing with Jay Abraham.

Among other images we used in the spot, I put a shot of me throwing a double side kick (I have 23 years of karate training) to the head of a business owner (we’re both in suits).

What’s the point of that? One point. It makes you want to find out “what the heck is going on there?” Today, 70% of TV watchers are muting out the commercials.

But if you see something really intriguing, you will UN-mute just to see what the heck is happening there.

There’s a spot running right now where this kid sprays his mother with a squirt gun and she pulls the hose out of the sink and nails the kid with it.
I saw that spot several times and it finally got my goat. I wanted to see what they were advertising.

So make your ad distinctive. Something that makes it STAND OUT.

Rule No. 2: Tell me what you want to tell me.

If you page through a magazine, you will quickly notice that you do not read the ads that make it difficult for you to figure out what they are selling.

“Clever” is only better if it is “super clever.” Clever headlines that do not tell you what they are trying to sell are simply not effective.

Most ads in most publications today don’t have headlines that tell you what they are trying to sell. In the information age, don’t hint around; say what you want to say, right in the headline.

A good headline follows these four criteria:

It tells you what the product or service is.

It starts with the word you or your (not always, but mostly).

It contains a benefit to the reader.

Most companies brag about themselves, rather than talk about the benefit to the reader (prospect). High-response-oriented advertising focuses like a laser beam on the benefit to the customer.

It makes the consumer want to read on.
The headline is the ad for the ad. If the headline isn’t good, no one will read the rest of the ad. Responses to ads have jumped ten fold by simply changing the headlines.

Rule No. 3: The body copy should…

Be curiosity driven, unfolding the story you want to tell.
By highly benefit oriented. So many ads talk about features, when it is benefits that motivate buying.

Give you a reason to take action now! Can you offer something for free that will help you engage the potential customer?

Rule No. 4: Ask for the order.

Too many ads do not give explicit instructions as to what action you would like the customer to take: “Order today and save,” or “Call us today and receive this free….”. You must always ask for the order!

Summary

Advertising is a powerful tool for becoming a well-known player in any market.
Even if you take a small schedule and a small ad, by consistently letting it run in an appropriately targeted vehicle, over time that ad will have an impact.

People will see your logo and it will register.

Advertising supports everything else you do in your business. But it is only part of a total package.

You must have other marketing, and you must make sure, ultimately, that you are treating the customer like gold. Happy customers will spread the word faster, and advertising will help facilitate that.

Happy advertising!

Chet Holmes is President and CEO of Jordan Productions, an international training firm that helps companies accelerate growth using Chet’s proprietary techniques.

See www.chetholmes.com to attend a webinar about Chet’s concepts.

About The Author

Chet Holmes is author and creator of the popular business series Guerrilla Marketing Meets Karate Master with Jay Conrad Levinson, Business Growth Masters, and Zero to $100 Million.

Chet charges $5,000 an hour and has been paid fees up to $1 million dollars from a single client.

He's personally had 50 Fortune 500 clients and has 60 products selling in 19 countries.

Advertising ideas for office cleaning business

Advertising Ideas for office cleaning business Even if you have built an ultra efficient state-of-the-art home office, polished your image with the finest of Armani suits, equipped yourself with the newest cell phone, PDA and laptop, and drafted the most exemplary of business plans, you are not going to go anywhere in the business world without some entities to do business with.

"how to secure cleaning contracts" Establishing your clientele can be the most time consuming and intellectually challenging part of the office cleaning business or any other business.

There are many issues and approaches to consider, and like many otherchallenges in life, there is no one single way to go about it.

Everyone will have their own methods for acquiring business that will work well for them, but most businesspeople will agree that taking a multi-tiered or multi-pronged approach is the best way to go about it.

That is, don’t “put all your eggs in one basket”, so to speak, when approaching the cleaning business advertisingissue. To be successful, you will need to do “a little bit of this” and a “little bit of that” as they say.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:Although it can be costly in some forms, advertising is perhaps the most common form of marketing and self-promotion.

Television ads and full-page spreads in mainstream publications will most likely be out of your reach (unless Donald Trump is funding your consultancy), but there are plenty of other more affordable options out there.

Like we have mentioned before, it is all about getting more “bang for your buck”, so it will be in your best interest to maximize on your advertising dollar.

Advertising in local magazines or the local newspaper can be cost effective when addressing certain demographics. Purchasing a short prime time spot on the radio is another method, but costs several orders of magnitude more than print to get across its message.

When done properly, radio can be an awesome advertising vehicle, I also call this "The next step in advertising". Perhaps the most significant “bang for your buck” outlet for your advertising dollar is the web.

Web sites are very affordable (even free if you know what you are doing). A web site is an excellent method of advertising because you can attract many entities on a global scale (a little search engine optimization can garner 1000s of page views a day) and you can reach the widest audience possible (potentially, anyone with an internet connection).

Be sure to print up a healthy portion of business card and in addition to land-line telephone, mobile phone and fax numbers make sure the URL (uniform resource locator) for your web site is displayed prominently on the front of the card.

About the Author

khali S. - http://www.office-cleaning-business.com

Learn How To Start & promote Your own office cleaning business, Free mini-course "How To start Cleaning Business"

Advertising for the perplexed - part 2

The previous article examined some of the basic ideas involved in advertising.

We looked at why a company may want to advertise, the factors involved in choosing a suitable venue and the costs and time involved. We also explored some of the practicalities to consider and how to research your potential venue.

Once you've chosen where you're going to advertise, the next critical factor will be how well you know the target audience.

The more information that you have to hand, the better you can tailor your content around their needs and expectations.

You need to make sure that you speak in their language, try to give them what they're already used to, or grab their attention with something new. But be warned, these are pushy and innovative times.

Whatever gimmick or spin you use to stand out may well have been tried many times before, so don't over-rely on it.

Like a good informative web page, the ad needs to first of all catch their attention, and compel them to click on it.

There should be more focus on the benefits of the software than the features, and the ad should really push the download or sale.

It should also be as compelling and striking as possible - not easy when you're limited by a number of characters, file size or space to work with!

Bear in mind that like any strategy, your advertising will only be as strong as its weakest link. Don't spend thousands of dollars on good placement, only to use some awful home-created banner that you knocked together with Paint Shop Pro 4 three years ago.

If graphic design is not your strong point, then get a firm to design some decent graphics for you. The same goes with writing the ad copy.

Most people can write, but few are writers. Try to make sure that someone with more than a thesaurus-dictionary gift set writes your copy for you.

Aside from the wording, the basic market principles apply. Grab their attention, tempt them, and compel them to act. "50% discount" is eye catching, as is some form of "only valid today" type of offer.

But when the potential customer clicks on your ad, you're only half way there. You now need to make sure that the page they land on carries on the good work. Realistically, many will click on the ad out of idle curiosity, and very few (if any) will have made up their minds to purchase already.

You should therefore use a separate landing page, as opposed to your regular main website page. It should contain the same information and use the same language, tone and focus of the ad, but now you're not restricted as to what you can do, or how much space you have to work with.

Here, you have all the space you need to go all-out with the sales drive.

On a technical level, make sure that your landing page is not linked from anywhere in your website, so as to ensure that everyone coming to this page has been driven there by the ad.
If you're sharing a landing page, then at least make sure that you use a unique referral string.

To be able to evaluate the success of the ad, it's critical that you can distinguish these visitors from the regular site visitors.

This brings us neatly onto the subject of tracking, without which you are effectively deaf, dumb and blind to the effects of the ad. A unique landing page on your website is ideal, and if possible, make this point to a separate payment page as well.

You can also use cookies or referral strings in order to sharpen the accuracy of the tracking.
Usage of decent web log analysis software should let you see how many people came to the landing page, how long they spent there, which links they then clicked on, who downloaded from there, who purchased, and perhaps even who came back to the website later.

The analysis and follow-up of the campaign is surprisingly often completely overlooked. This is a great loss, as in some respects this is one of the most important stages of the whole process.

When it comes to gauging the level of generated sales and registrations, you need to take into account the final date of the ad, plus the full length of the trial version and then add a little extra time.
Some may view the ad, click, download the software, but may not install it for a few days or even longer.

As an example, a company may choose to run a series of ads in a newsletter that is sent out from Monday to Friday of a given week.

Some people may not respond to the ad until the following weekend (or later), and only then download your thirty day trial.
So we're already looking at 35 days after the ad was first run, and that's assuming that they install the software as soon as they download it.

Some people may even register after the trial has elapsed. So don't go writing it off as a failure on day two of your advertising campaign.

To accurately evaluate the success of the campaign, you need to go back to your original goals.
If your primary goal was to achieve a higher level of sales, then it should be reasonably easy to see how many were generated by the ad.

As with everything related to advertising, your data won't be 100% accurate, but it should give you a good idea.

If the primary goal was increased exposure, then you should be looking at how many people were exposed to the ad, how many viewed the landing page content and website, and perhaps even downloaded and purchased the software.

At this point, there are four possible scenarios.

(1) The ad appears to be successful.

Your goals have been achieved as a direct result of the ad, and more advertising with this vendor may be considered for the future. Even with this success, don't rule out the fact that your figures can be further improved, but don't forget that they can worsen too.

You should also be careful not to immediately engage in a long-term contract with this vendor. Not only because there are other advertising options out there, but also because any ad has a certain lifespan until it reaches its saturation point.

At the very least consider trying different products, wording (or graphics) or even a different type of offer or discount.

(2) The ad doesn't appear to be successful.

There has been little generated in terms of exposure or sales, and you can't help but feel that the venture has been a failure.
The first thing you have to do is to try to determine the reason for this.

It may be the product itself, the ad copy, the ad, or perhaps the targeting was off. It may even be as a result of the ad placement, or the offer or discount not being generous enough.

If the ad failed, it is very important to ascertain exactly why. Don't just dismiss it as a failure, or a "bad" place to advertise, and don't be afraid to go back to the vendor for feedback.

If you explain that you're interested in making this work, as opposed to complaining that they didn't deliver the results you expected, you'll usually get a positive response.
See what they can do to help, after all, it's in their interests that you walk away satisfied by your experience.

(3) The ad appears to break-even, but little more than this.

Go back and read number (2). Not being a success counts as a failure.

(4) You're not sure whether the ad was worthwhile or not.

There has been some response, but it's difficult to see whether it was a worthwhile experience or not.
It's very important that you get to the bottom of this. Go through your statistics again, and filter through your logs to see exactly what the visitors did, where they clicked, and why they behaved as they did.

It is extremely important that at the end of the process, you know whether it was worthwhile or not. Failure to do so will result either in a wastage of money or a wastage of opportunities.

It's all too easy to throw money away on bad advertising. It's just as easy to be scared-off by risks, or for that matter throw potential opportunities away.
Like any form of marketing, there are no guarantees that you'll achieve the results you hope for. But by failing to try, you're absolutely guaranteed never to reach them.

The best you can do is to prepare the ground and cover all options as thoroughly as possible, take a deep breath and then take the plunge.

Be seen, be sold.

Copyright 2005 Dave Collins

About The Author

Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UK-based company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet.

http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com

Advertising effectively on the net is FREE

That's right. The most effective way of advertising your business on the net is FREE and mostly ignored. And yet it's so easy to see why it is so effective. We just need to ask ourselves two simple questions. Question 1- What do most people use the internet for? Answer - For email and to seek information to solve problems. Question 2 - How do you get information from the net? Answer - I go directly to certain web sites or I use a search engine like Yahoo or Google. So shouldn't it be obvious that a free article on the net that mentions your business after providing valuable information free will be seen by hundreds of thousands of your eager prospects over time? The biggest marketing mistake that many businesses have made and continue to make over the internet is treating this new medium as if it were just an extension or advancement of the last new medium to change the marketing world, namely Television. In Television, advertising is king. And therefore many assumed that the internet was the next big thing in conventional advertising with predictably disastrous results.The internet is primarily an information medium. So is it any wonder that people get so upset when somebody tries to interrupt their search for information with an advertisement? Being an information medium, it stands to reason that you will only attract attention by providing information - free, valuable information.So the most effective way to advertise on the net is to give away free information of a very specific nature. The free information will of course have something to do with your product or service. But it should be written in such an interesting way and should focus on solving a problem or need of your potential clientele that it will be of great value without them having to purchase your product immediately. For example, somebody selling anti-glare gadgets for computers or headache medication or whatever service or product that deals with the problem of headaches, can post the following useful free information; 1) An article about the different types of headaches caused by sitting in front of a computer the whole day. 2) He can post yet another article hinged on a case study of a headache that refused to go away despite medication etc. 3) How a deadly type of headache feels like e.g caused by a developing brain tumour etc. In all the articles, no direct reference should be made to the product or service except in the resource box right at the end which should have your web-site, email and any other contact information. An article on the web is a very powerful advertising tool that will do more for you than any conventional advertising or email list. Firstly you are guaranteed that many of your target market or people who may be interested in your product or service will read your article and the name of your business. Most so-called advertisements on the net, never get read at all, even by the people targeted - they get deleted long before.Secondly, you create a very favorable image of a knowledgeable and competent person or business and you do this instantly. Offline this is rather difficult to do even over a longer period of time. In fact articles can't even be posted as easily as they can on the net. For example it will be virtually impossible for any newspaper or magazine with a decent readership to find the space for any of the suggested headache articles above. There are various ways one can post articles on the net. You can do it on your web site or you can do it at a wide range of different sites. Actually the idea here is to get it posted in as many different places as you possibly can (remember it's an advertisment.)The real power of the internet is in its' ability to reach a colossal number of people within a very short time, who are interested in the subject at hand. Most of the people you reach may not be in the market for your offering right now, but they will have heard of you and will already have a very favourable image of you. Some of the people who will benefit from your information will be in the market for your product and will request for more information, visit your web-site and so on - still they will not buy immediately. A fraction of these people may buy from you one day in the future. They may also like you enough to tell others about you. The last group of people may end up being a very tiny decimal fraction of the total but these are the people who will become your customers shortly after benefiting from your FREE information. Still there will be a steady and constant flow of these wonderful people who put money in your bank account, as your articles get posted in newer web sites all the time.Can you sincerely think of another marketing weapon on the web that even comes close to this one in terms of effectiveness?----------------If you found this article interesting, you can read another article by this author at the link below that will give you the only 2 things you need to acknowledge to gurantee success in any online marketing program. Here's the link:- http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=26206
About the Author
Christopher Kyalo has over 20 years experience in marketing and creative writing. Order his FREE report "How to use the most effective advertising weapon on the net, it's free" by sending a blank email to ckyalo at yahoo.com. Or download his favourite ebook. You can get it FREE at; http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/valueinfo.html

Advertising Do's and Don'ts

As you begin marketing and promoting your online business you are going to run into some unbelievable advertising opportunities. Generally speaking if the ad offering sounds too good to be true--It is.
There are companies that will tell you they will get you listed in the top 10 search engines or place your link on millions of sites or they will get you listed in the top 10 returns of search engines. This last one sounds similar to the first, but there is a big difference.
Google searches over 3 billion pages during their searches. The companies that tell you they will get you listed in the top 10 of the major search engines would have to defy all the principles of math to do this. They could not work with more than a few companies in order to achieve this and honestly, there is no way they can get you listed in the top 10 of the search engines placements at all unless they make up their own search terms and people search on that specific term.
Stay away from the companies that tell you they are going to place you in search engines for a fee, for the most part they will do nothing more than use a site software submitter. You can get your own software for this or use an online service and submit your site yourself for a lot less than what most SEO companies charge for this service.
Guaranteed traffic-- They work fine for free sites or if your goal is to build a database of names, but if you are selling a product or service, you will get hits, but not many sales.
Mass email -- Any company that tells you they will send your ad to millions of people for $20 or $30 is simply taking your money. This might sound inviting, but do not waste your money. They are either using site submit tools or sending your ad to millions of harvested email addresses. The companies who tell you they are going to submit your site to millions of pages will most likely do what they say, but you will not see any return and may even get you Spam complaints.
Mass emails are a complete waste of your money regardless of what product you are selling. There are many sites that will tell you they will send your ad to double opt-in lists of people. We have tried over a dozen of these services and have barely received a hit, much less sales. The problem is you lose control over your ad when you use mass email companies. There is no way to verify the ad was sent and if you could verify it was sent, there is no way to tell it was sent to the numbers they promise. Plus, you run the risk of being accused of Spam.
Solo ads-- These are by far one of the best methods of promoting your product and service. They are targeted, you can verify the numbers and you can subscribe using a unique email and verify the ad was sent on the day and time it was supposed to be sent.
Consultants-- Use your best judgment when hiring consultants, call some or send an email and ask about a money back guarantee if they cannot meet the objectives they set forth. I am not a big believer in money-back guarantees because if a service is valuable and you can see the value before you buy, then a money back guarantee is not necessary. However, if someone comes to you and says, I can make your site profitable within 30 or 60 or 90 days and it is going to cost you X amount of money, then they should give you your money back if they do not achieve the desired results.
A good consultant will work with companies that he or she knows they can help by relying on their background and expertise in certain areas of marketing and advertising. Nobody knows everything, but if someone has an expertise in an area that I lack knowledge with, I would hire him or her in a second if they can honestly help me and they can prove they can help me and they will back up what they tell me.
We get emails every day from people who want to join ISOR with the plan of retiring in a month, making a million dollars without doing anything, etc. and we turn every one of them down. There is no business on the Internet or in traditional business where you can accomplish this type of unrealistic goal.
There are, however consultants who will tell you what you want to hear, just to get your business. They take your money and run and they will not help you a bit. We hired a copy writer one time who seemed like a good fit for our company and only after she finished the writing at $120 an hour did she tell me that she would not buy my product. Not because she could not benefit from it, but she refused to pay for anything online. Her copy was terrible and we ended up re--writing the entire sales page. Her feelings and beliefs came across in her writings. It was simply impossible for her to write positively when her mind was telling her negative things.
We have many marketing and advertising partners and all the companies we partner with have been tested by us to offer valuable services, but there are thousands of other companies on the Internet and you might find a very good company with a very good service that works for you and within your budget. Not all companies are out to cheat you, but the purpose of this article is to forewarn you regarding where you spend your advertising dollars.
We have spent a lot of money and time buying and trying different advertising options and by using our own ad campaign and link tracking system for all our advertising campaigns we have the data to back up what we say.
Research your advertising options carefully and do not get pulled into a good deal just because it sounds like a good deal. You do not need to spend a lot of money to advertise and promote your business, you just need to use your common sense and think long term.
Copyright 2004 Jeremy Gislason
About The Author
Jeremy Gislason has over 15 years of marketing experience and is the Vice President of ISORegister, Inc. We are dedicated to helping online businesses succeed by providing them with the tools and resources every online business should not be without. Discover how ISOR has helped 1000's of ordinary people and dozens of top Internet marketers earn a living online. Visit http://www.isoregister.com today.

Advertising Costs Getting Too High ?

Everyone knows that advertising is essential to growing a business. One problem that small business owners have always faced is the high cost of marketing. Most, however don't realize that there is an effective way to reduce the cost of your advertising while - at the same time - increasing its reach.

Advertising co-ops are nothing new. Usually they are a "perk" offered by major manufacturers to encourage retailers to promote their products. Because the retailer has direct access to customers that would want to buy certain products, it only makes sense that they should do joint advertising. You've seen it - McDonalds mentioning Coke in their commercials, Dell stating that you get a free Epson printer with purchase and so on.

The retailer doesn't make the product the manufacturer is providing, but it IS a great match with what they DO offer. Nobody would want to eat a Big Mac without something to drink, and a computer wouldn't do a lot of good without a printer.

Now you can use this same strategy to create your own advertising co-op to increase the reach of your ads and drastically reduce the cost, too.


--- How It Works

Generally speaking, the cost of any advertisements (bulk emailings, ezine ads, banners, newspaper, etc.) would be split equally between all participants. If you and two associates decide to purchase a solo ad, you would each receive equal mentions in the ad and you would each pay equal portions of the cost.

So if the solo ad were going to a list of 200,000 and cost $150, each of the three would pay $50. You get to reach 200,000 people for 1/3 the cost you would have normally paid. And, because this ad relates you to other types of businesses, you actually expand your advertising reach.


--- Getting Started

So who would be qualified to enter into an ad co-op with you? It depends on the nature of your business. Think of others that reach your same target customer and make a list. If you design Web sites, you might approach hosting companies, graphic artists, copywriters or programmers. If your business is landscaping, you could invite yard maintenance companies to join you.

Once you have a list of one or more business types, think of current associates you know who belong to those groups. Also, ask others if they know of any reliable businesses that fall into the categories you've outlined.


--- Making the Approach

When you have a list of businesses to approach, simply write or email them with your offer. Be sure to point out the benefits such as:

* a win-win situation
* reduced cost of advertising
* expanded reach of advertising
* larger, more prominent ads for a fraction of the cost

Also, be sure to ask about the advertising outlets these businesses currently use. You will likely find new avenues that lead to greater exposure.


--- Finalizing the Deal

You'll need to work out payment arrangements with your partners prior to placing the ad(s). The best way I have found to handle the finances is for each party to pay me for their portion of the cost with a credit card. I then place the ad order with MY credit card. This way, you are assured of receiving the dollar amount due to you; and your partners have the assurance that - should you default on your end of the deal - they have recourse for getting their money back.

Working in cooperation with other businesses can lead to tremendous successes with advertising. When like-minded companies pool their resources to reach one target audience, the impact is doubled while the cost is reduced by at least half. That's the best advertising bargain around today!
About the author:

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful)
Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business
Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

Advertising Cost Reduced to Zero !!

At the bottom of this article you will find my "sig file". I attach it to every article that I write. As you can see it bears my name, web-site address and e-mail address.

This is not done out of vanity, or a desire to see my name in print. It is done because it costs me nothing. When I submit my article to an Ezine or other publication, I do so on the condition that the article be re-printed in its' entirety.

This means that the company that re-prints my article sends it to their subscriber base, at no cost to me, and even better that the publication considers my work to be authorative.

What do you know, I'm an "expert", at least to the entire subscriber list of the Ezine in question. If I were not an "expert", the publisher would not re-print my article !!

Every time I see one of my articles re-printed, I see an immediate increase in my own subscriber base, as people who did not previously know me check out my web-site, and click through on one or more of the banners there.

The result is a Marketers' dream come true. Potential buyers at absolutely no cost to me.

I write the articles in question for my own use in my "Independence Day Ezine", so I would have to expend the time and effort anyway, and the fact that I can use them as an active part of my Marketing Campaign is a huge bonus.

I recommend most strenuously that you start to write articles if you have not already done so, and make sure to attach your own "sig file".

This valuable piece of free advertising should be attached to every piece of e-mail that you send out, as well as each article.

I can see you sitting there reading this and saying to yourself, "it's all right for him to say write an article, but I don't know how. I've never tried."

It's easy, once you know how.

First open a new file in whatever word pro- cessing system you normally use. There, a nice blank page. All you have to do now is fill it up.

You need a subject for your article. "Marvellous", you say,"I all ready knew that but what can I write about?"

Examine your life carefully and make a list of all your experiences to this point. Here is just part of mine:

I was born and bred in the North of England Started in the Direct Mail business selling collectibles to Soccer fans.

Served in the Manchester City Police Force

Emigrated to Canada

My first real job was driving a City bus in Vancouver

I sold Life Insurance

I ran a tele-marketing centre

I am married

I have two children, one boy and one girl.

I have had my own retail business (Electronics)

I lost the business when I was diagnosed with Cancer.

I underwent Cobalt radiation treatment for 6 months.

After I recovered I was a Business Management Consultant.

Until I had a heart attack, while shoveling snow (stupid !!)

The cardiologist forbids me to work as I could suffer another attack, if I am under too much stress.

I started my own on-line business in Internet Marketing.

I had to do something to retain my sanity.

That's a partial list, it tells you nothing of my hobbies, areas of expertise, likes or dislikes, as I wanted to keep the list short enough that I didn't lose your interest.

Choose one of the items on your list, type it on the blank screen, and then just sit and type out whatever comes into your head.

Keep going until you can't think of anything else to type. Don't correct your spelling errors or punctuation. Don't second guess yourself and re-write anything. It doesn't matter whether all this typing is making sense or not.

When you're finished, save the file and take a break.

Re-open the file and proof-read what you've just written. Check the spelling carefully, and smooth out any awkward passages. Correct the punctuation and spacing where needed.

Congratulations, you've finished your first article.

Do you think I could write an interesting article about sailing across the North Atlantic, from Liverpool to Montreal, via Quebec City, in the mid 1960's ?? Or the three day train ride across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver, on the West Coast ?? Or any of the other facts on my list ??

Could I find someone who was willing to re-print such an article ??

There are tens of thousands of Ezines on the Web, covering every area of human experience. They all have one thing in common. They are looking for, no desperately seeking, quality content for their publications.

When your article is finished to your satis- faction, search the Web for 10 Ezines that cover the same area of interest as your article.

E-mail the editor of each one and inquire if they accept unsolicited articles for re-print. No matter which ten you choose at least five will reply encouraging you to submit your article.

You'll never be at a loss for a subject again. As proof please reflect on the fact that I have just finished an article on how to write an article.

It took me thirty minutes.

Until next time

Martin Cargill

Martin Cargill has his website at www.millionsbynet.com and gives a FREE mini-course at mini-course@getresponse.com This and his newsletter " Independence Day Ezine " are available FREE on an opt-in basis only.

After over 40 years in Direct Marketing, I am trying to come to terms with that "new-fangled" internet. It's a steep learning curve, but I'm getting there. I can offer you the chance to learn from my experience (and mistakes), and the best of the web guest articles and web resources.

capnblack_ca@shaw.ca

Advertising Consulting Services for the Internet

Advertising Consulting Services: Advertising is one of the most important expenses a business can have. Businesses large and small, have some form of advertising, be it word of mouth referrals or multi million dollar television campaigns. Business owners of all types will pay good money for the right kind of advertising. That is why advertising consulting services on the Internet is becoming so popular. There are two key things you need to know when considering starting out as an internet advertising consultant. The first of course is advertising experience. If you have done advertising in the past and enjoy the work, then that is the first step. Secondly, you need to know about the Internet. Your Internet knowledge needs to be updated constantly to keep abreast of the current trends. While contemporary advertising - television, radio, and print, are still effective means of advertising, the Internet needs to be approached a bit differently. When watching television or listening to the radio, people don't generally have a choice about what they see and hear in the line of commercials. Those commercials of course are advertising. Even when reading the newspaper or a sale ad, people only see what is in front of them, not all the options available. If one grocery store buys an ad in the local newspaper and another grocer does not, the consumer is only seeing one ad. The Internet has changed the face of this kind of advertising. Anytime that someone opens a web page; they are looking for something specific. People who surf five or six web sites are likely to see hundreds of ads without really knowing they are seeing advertising. Banners, affiliate links, tool bars and the like are all types of Internet advertising, revealing products or brands in front of the consumer. If a consumer is looking for a product online, and does not know where to find it, or there are multiple sources to find it, the savvy Internet user generally goes to a search engine. Searching for the product by typing in the general name or brand that they are looking for, the consumer can then choose from a list of sites that offer that product. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a system of strategic placing of certain words or keyword phrases on a web site that will allow the search engine to select that site if someone types in that word or phrase. The key to SEO - the first sites to pop up are the ones that are hit on the most often. Knowing these concepts and expanding on them allows internet advertising consultants to guide and direct business owners in the most effective line of advertising for their products. Many people who run successful Internet businesses are people who don't know much about the differences between Internet and other forms of advertising. You are the link that these business people need to market their products. Internet Advertising Consulting Services are quickly becoming a specialized field. There are so many aspects of the Internet that business owners, especially those new to the web as a market, will not know and will be grateful to you for showing them. Knowing how to get those companies names and brands out their on the web will give you an edge over advertising companies that are still focusing on contemporary methods of advertising. The Internet is not a fad or a passing phase. The challenges and changes that are coming with this relatively new market are going to be both exciting and profitable for anyone who embraces it. Open your own advertising consulting services business today and step into the future. © Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved. About the Author Randy is owner of Profitable Home Businesses, How to Plan a Baby Shower and Weddings Information. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003.

Advertising "Click Fraud" Rampant Online?

"Pay-per-click," by far the most popular form of online advertising, recently came under fire as charges of rampant "click fraud" gather steam on the Web. Google and Yahoo! earn the majority of their money through sales of advertising to tens-of-thousands of online merchants, companies, and professional. In fact, some estimate that 99% of all Google's revenue comes from advertising sales. Unfortunately, allegations of click fraud may well rain on Google's otherwise sunny parade and cause a whole scale revamping of current online advertising practices. Pay-per-click advertising does exactly what it sounds: advertisers pay for each click on their ad, usually mixed in among search engine results or displayed on relevant websites. "Click fraud" occurs when, for whatever reason, an ad gets clicked by someone or something (usually an automated "bot" that simulates clicks) with no intention of ever buying anything from the advertiser. The sole intention of click fraud is to simply drain an advertiser's budget and leave them with nothing to show but an empty wallet. Who commits click fraud? Usually an unscrupulous competitor who wants to break a rival's bank, online "vandals" who get their kicks causing other people grief, or search engine advertising affiliates who want to earn fat commissions by racking up piles of bogus clicks. Regardless of who does it or why, click fraud appears to be a growing problem search engines hope stays under their advertising clients' radar. This problem isn't exactly news to the search engine giants. In fact, on page 60 of their 3rd quarter Report for 2004, Google admits that they have "regularly refunded revenue" to advertisers that was "attributed to click-through fraud." Google further states that if they don't find a way to deal with this problem "these types of fraudulent activities could hurt our brand." Bottom line for Google and Yahoo! (which owns Overture, the Web's largest pay-per-click search engine): as word of click fraud spreads across the Web, they must act quickly to calm the nerves of advertisers who could well abandon them over doubts about the veracity of their advertising charges. The search engines all claim to carry measures that identify and detect click fraud, but details about how they do it and to what extent remain sketchy. They claim revealing details about security would compromise their efforts and give the perpetrators a leg up on circumventing their defenses. This sounds good, but affords little comfort to advertisers who feel caught between losing out on their best traffic sources and paying for advertising that won't result in revenue. One way to protect your business against click fraud is to closely monitor your website statistics. Look for an unusually high number or regular pattern of clicks from the same IP address. If you need help, enlist the aid of your hosting provider to aid you in spotting suspicious trends in your website traffic. Also, a number of services such as ClickSentinel.com have sprung up online to help advertisers spot and quickly analyze and compile the data necessary to effectively dispute fraudulent click charges with the search engines. About the Author Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links... Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months... without spending a dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

Advertising Business Opportunity Reaches New Levels

An Advertising business opportunity on the Internet is just exploding with possibilities. This is one of the most profitable endeavors available in the field of Internet advertising. If you have advertising experience and know even the basics of Internet, you have potential to start your own advertising business on the Internet. There are many areas of the Internet that need to be learned before starting your advertising business opportunity. Multi level marketing, or MLM, is one way of generating advertising and sales at the same time. MLM is a system that allows someone to collect commissions on their own sales as well as on people they recruit under them. This used to be known as pyramid schemes. MLM has become very popular with product sales, helping the organization build wealth by paying commissions on multiple levels. The concept from an advertising point of view is great, the more motivation you have to recruit people to sell your product, the more your product is out there on the market. Some examples of companies that use MLM are nutritional product lines, make up product lines, and home decoration lines. Multi level marketing has been around for years and not likely to go away anytime soon. Focus needs to be clear however on what the drive is for the company. If your focus is only on recruiting people to recruit more people, then your product sales are going to suffer. When your product sales suffer, your business as a whole suffers and then no one wants to be a part of the industry. Keep your focus when dealing with MLM with your advertising business opportunity. Ezines are another emerging way to get a product or service out to the public. Ezines, or electronic magazines, are usually specialized to a certain areas of interest. This is very much like conventional magazines. However, advertising in ezines is low-cost and even occasionally free. Another advertising business opportunity that is wide open. Ezines in themselves will need advertising to get their word out. A perfectly written ezine does no one any good if no one knows that it is out there to be seen. Finding an audience for your ezine may be easier than you think. Make sure when going into ezines that you know your material and that the writing is concise and accurate. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a proven method of advertising on the Internet and a field, which is very much in demand at this time. SEO is a system of writing web content that uses specific key words and phrases that will pull the page up when that keyword or phrase is typed into any of the search engines. Knowing how to effectively use keywords to get a site recognized is critical for small businesses on the web. When you open a search engine such as 'Yahoo!' or 'Google', and type in the phrase Internet advertising, you will get a list of results. Those results are formulated by the words Internet and advertising. Sites that have those two words incorporated consistently throughout the site will come up on the list. These lists are in order by the most hit on sites at the top of this list. Of course, that is where you want your advertising business opportunity clients to be. Educating your self on these concepts and a few more will allow you to start marketing your Internet advertising business. Becoming an Internet business advertising consultant to companies who are looking to expand their presence on the web is a first step in building your reputation and presence in this field. You must have a well-written profile centered on your Internet advertising experience and an up to date resume'. Businesses today are being inundated with new, and sometimes bogus, advertising opportunities and you need to stand out above all those other offers. Keep your presence, online and in the field, professional at all times and make sure you can deliver what you promise. With those things in mind, you should be successful. © Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved. About the Author Randy is owner of Profitable Home Businesses. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.

Advertising Approach For The First-time Webmaster

For the first time internet entrepreneur [newbie] the best ways to promote your website at first instance are :

1. Express inclusion of your website for the usual 12 months offered by most of the major search engines. You can choose express inclusion for askjeeves, inktomi, altavista,msn etc but keep in mind to have your site submitted to the local index of your region.

For example if you reside in Toronto, Canada and you are submitting for express inclusion in the DMOZ or Canada.com search engine/directory you must ensure that your site is indexed in the Toronto's business and economy directory. Get your site in the local index first things first.

If your submission listing includes the regional version of the DMOZ directory then thats good enough to go.

One point to note is that many of the major search engines and directories actually inter-relate that is they search across each other's database therefore submitting to only one major engine or directory will satisfice for the Internet Marketing beginner.

2. Next, the most overlooked approach for the first-time website owner is the maximisation of the benefit of offline marketing methods.

Promote your website in exactly the same way you would have promoted a normal business by telling everyone about it.

Word of mouth is still the best way to promote a new business.

Put your motto and logo along with your url address on everything from a pin to an anchor. From stationery, pens, letterheads, postcards, flyers,posters, in your usual email, the list goes on...

You may consider placing classified ads in the local newspapers.

Run other programs such as sponsoring quizzes, prize competitions, trivia and other participating programs with your website address. You might ask readers to submit the answer to a quiz by visiting you website. Anything that gets the local community to know that your website exists. You can do it !!

FACT : You have to make it local before you go global.

Most start-up webmasters usually make the mistake on concentrating on those numerous ways to promote their site and become confused on deciding what works best. What works best can only be determined by careful evaluation of each and every advertising scheme in use on the web today :

1. Publisher/advertisers programs
   
2. Banner exchanges
   
3. Exit ads
   
4. Pay-Per-Click
   
5. Link Exchanges
   
6. Search engine blasting
   
7. FFa, classified ad posting
   
8. Rotator pages
   
9. _JavaScript based pop-ups etc
   

   10.Express submit to search engines
   

   11.Search Engine Optimisation
   

   12.Adwords by Google
   

   13. Others
   

Its interesting to note that no seller of the above services except for Google and the other search engine services has ever took the time to evaluate your website to decide whether or not your site is most suitable to fit the advertising package they are offering.

The best approach is to evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Not everything out there works for everybody in every instant. Test your website across every platform say 10000 visitor package each and assess the outcome one by one.

Some will work better than others but the ones returning the higher rate of response doesn't necessarily mean they are the most profitable unless they each cost exactly the same per 1000 visitor.

What I had recommended in the first two paragraphs above should work best for the first-timer and is the most prudent approach.

Be careful when trying to find the best way of advertising, Don't be caught up in the Internet Marketing clutter out there as every you come in contact with will tell you the advertising method they sell is the best.

Ignore whatever testimony you see written on these webpages, use these services under a trial based approach before you order that 100000 package or start paying that monthly subscription.

Any method you are interested in should be test and proven in quality. Careful tjought and consideration should be given in order to plan, make decisions and control your business operating expenses.

What works for seasoned campaigners of Internet Marketing does'nt necessary works in the same way for the starter.

Your website is unique just like your fingerprint and its now your duty to determine the most economic,effective and efficient approach in promoting it.

R. Urien Shaw

Webmarketing Financial

http://www.royanopia.co.uk/

R. Urien Shaw is a contributor to the WebMarketing Financial Newsletter and the developer of the 43-21 Budgeting Strategy. He is currently a final year student reading for the B.sc in Applied Accounting in London.

marketingfinancial@royanopia.co.uk

Advertising And Generate New Website Traffic

Here's a simple way to use "No Results, No Pay" radio advertising and build traffic for your website.
Step #1 - Understanding "PI" - Per Inquiry Advertising.
Radio has a unique advertising format known as "PI" or per inquiry advertising.
"PI's" main benefit is that your commercial is aired and you ONLY PAY for inquiries phoned into the station from listeners !
Inquiries are in the form of callers asking for more information.
The radio station counts each caller, and re-directs them to your web site address.
Step #2 - How To Start a "PI" Campaign.
Find a good directory of all commercial radio stations where you intend to advertise.
Some sample Internet resources :
http://www.mediauk.com - UK
http://www.web-radio.fm - USA
http://www.radiodirectory.com - International
Other online resources can be found by searching for keywords like "Radio Directories."
Alternatively, visit your library and in the references section ask for the Yearbook of Independent Local Radio Stations.
Note details such as :
Ad manager's names,
Telephone numbers,
e-mail addresses
Programming and schedules
Listener profiles:
Age,
Income,
Sex,
Location.
Step #3 - Decide on Strategy and "Wanted Response."
Before you contact the radio stations, be clear on strategy, goals and have your draft commercials in outline.
* Are you advertising a product offer at your website ?
Specify product details fully to avoid paying for "tyre kicker" inquiries.
* Is your "Wanted Response" to build an opt-in list ?
Decide how you will entice visitors to your web site. Will you offer FREEBIES, or a competition of some sort ?
* Are you advertising for market research purposes ?
Tell listeners how and why they should participate.
* Decide how much you are prepared to pay per inquiry.
Step #4 - Use Your Strategy To Build A "PI" Proposal
Two aims in this step :
Make it as easy as possible for the station to schedule your commercial.
Negotiate the lowest Per Inquiry cost during the best advertising time slots.
Keep in mind :
Listener profiles you want to reach.
Times you want your advert to go on air.
Which commercial will best deliver your "Wanted Response".
Write to the ad manager by e-mail or normal mail. In your letter :
Introduce yourself.
Inform them this is a "PI" Per Inquiry advertising proposal.
Inform them you of what you are trying to achieve, refer to your strategy.
Detail your product or service prices and how much you are considering paying for each inquiry.
Sidebar
If your "Wanted Response" is not selling a product, you must pay for inquiries out of your "own pocket". Negotiate a keen cost per inquiry !!
* Explain how you will handle all the administration
For instance writing the commercial Outline, handling product fulfilment, dealing with refunds and product support questions.
Depending on your negotiation skills and size of Radio station you might be able to work a deal where you only pay for *Converted Inquiries*.
This is practically *FREE* advertising, because you only pay for referrals once a sale is made !
Step #5 - How To Deal With Radio Ad Managers
If you do not hear back within a few days, call the station.
Commercial radio is a busy environment. Be prepared to explain yourself and answer questions quickly and clearly.
Radio ad managers are always looking for advertisers. That is their job and advertising fees are the lifeblood of Commercial Radio.
However, "PI" is not the only money earner for stations, so be prepared for a polite but cool reception.
If this happens, pick another station and start the process again.
The rewards of a successful "PI" campaign will pay back your effort many times over.
Step #6 - The Commercial Ad
Write your commercial's outline to maximise your "Wanted Response."
Write the outlines for at least two 30 second, and two 60 second commercials.
Writing commercials for broadcasting is very different to writing ad copy for printed media. However, stations will help you by taking your outlines and turning them into finished commercials for a fee.
Alternatively, if your copy writing is good and you have time to tweak it for broadcasting, then do it yourself.
Listen to the station's ads, jingles, and catch phrases and pre-record your own following a similar model. Ask objective people to listen to your ad and give you critical feedback.
Sidebar
When recording for radio you may or may not want to use your own voice. Radio stations have "Voices" to record your commercial for a fee before it goes on air.
They also have royalty free music to include with your ad.
Make your commercials memorable, with clear contact information for listeners to follow up on.
When such ads go on air during relevant programming, you cangenerate considerable traffic.
In closing, "just do it" and learn more than I can show you in a brief article.
Radio is often overlooked by online advertisers, but it can bring good results depending on your "Wanted Response" and at a surprisingly low cost.
Ad Managers are tasked with maximising revenue for the broadcaster. They are flexible and as long as you demonstrate a financial benefit to the station, they will listen to your "PI" proposal actively.
This is good news for you because for minimal outlay and sometimes for free you can drive quality traffic to your site, product and services.
"PI" is the lowest cost form of broadcast advertising. Make this a new part of your overall advertising strategy.
Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The "Simply Easier" brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources
Charles Kangethe has been involved in direct response marketing since 1982. He now lives in Suffolk County and spends his time working on new Online Marketing campaigns, with particular focus on helping new netpreneurs at http://www.simplyeasier.com