Article World

Long Web Forms Online: A Marketing Lesson from Owner Builder Construction Loans

Owner builder construction loans are hard to sell, because it is difficult to generate leads. There is no established list of interested owner builders to whom you can send out direct mailings.

Therefore, owner builders have to find you. This is where having an online presence is vital, but you need more than the standard, simple information request form if you want to be successful in marketing to any group of clients like owner builders.

Why should you pay any attention to the marketing techniques for owner builders? Chances are good you don’t sell owner builder loans. Chances are good you don’t even care what an owner builder is.

But, the lessons from marketing owner builder construction loans are the same lessons that all marketers can apply whenever selling to clients that either have a long lead time or who have to actually qualify before being able to make the purchase.

Owner builder construction loans, perhaps similarly to a product you sell, require not only that the owner builder wants to purchase them. Also, the owner builder has to be financially qualified to be able to purchase them.

It doesn’t matter how good of a salesman you are if your client isn’t going to be approved for the purchase financially.

Second, owner builder construction loans have a very long lead time before the sale is finalized. Owner builders have to get blueprints, apply for building permits, compile a budget to build their home, etc. The owner builder planning process could take a few months.

Compare this to most products that get sold online, for which the transaction might happen literally within a few minutes.

So, if you are selling a product or service like owner builder loans that require a long lead time and a stringent client qualification process, then there is a simple online marketing tool that you can use to streamline your sales process.

Instead of using the standard, simple online information request form on your website, try using a longer, more intensive information request form that requires your potential clients to jump through a few hoops to submit their information.

It sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you get more leads if you had a short, simple online form that would allow you to market to more people?

Yes. And, no.

You would have more leads, but they wouldn’t be qualified, motivated leads. And, you would be wasting your time, energy, and money marketing to them.

In the owner builder example, it is very useful to use a long, laborious info request form, because you know that the people who fill out the form are very motivated and extremely interested in your product.

If the owner builder weren’t interested, he wouldn’t spend the time filling out a long, detailed request form. In fact, in this example, you would have your owner builder fill out a form with almost 50 fields just to get you to contact them with more information.

They would fill in information about their construction project, as well as information about their financial qualifications. This way, you could spend your time following up with the owner builders who are going to be qualified for your product. You don’t have to spend your time trying to sell your product to people who won’t meet your qualifications.

And, you will know that they are all very interested in speaking with you. Nobody would fill out 50 questions about being an owner builder if they didn’t want to speak to you about your owner builder construction loan.

Therefore, the long form serves a couple of very important purposes. It allows you to weed out the leads who aren’t going to qualify to purchase your product. And, just as important, it makes your leads jump through a few hoops to ensure that they are very interested before ever contacting you.

It’s good positioning for you. By the time you contact your lead, you will know they want to speak to you. Any emails or follow-ups that you send them will be welcomed.

Make no mistake, there is a time and place for simple, short info request forms on your websites. If you are selling a product with a short lead time and that requires no specific buyer qualifications other than interest in your product, then a short form is a perfect online lead generation tool.

On the other hand, if you are selling a product like an owner builder construction loan, then you will want to use a longer, more detailed information request form that makes your new leads jump through a few hoops to make them raise their hands and show interest in your product. Plus, you will be able to get enough information about them to pre-qualify them before spending too much time.

Do not be scared to make the leap to a longer online information request form. Your number of leads will go down, but the number of qualified, interested leads will not. You’ll have more time to focus on the truly qualified leads. Your sales will go up. Your profits will go up.

Owner builders have proven that this method works. It can work for you as well. Owner builder construction loans are much easier to sell when you are dealing with clients who are qualified and interested in the product. Owner builders are no different from any of your potential clients.

Chris Esposito specializes in owner builder construction loans for people who use his Owner Builder 101 program to allow them to act as their own general contractor and build their own homes. For details about owner builder loans, visit www.OwnerBuilder101.com, or call (877) 876-3688.

Business Social Media - Domain Name Guide

On the web, your name can (and is) your reality. However naming yourself online isn’t that simple. Choosing a domain name for a business web presence is one of the most critical items in your promotional venture: your domain name will be the nexus of your business for months, years, or even decades.

There are a list of things you should consider before embarking down your online venture:

1) Define your brand. It is more than words, but will be flavored by them. Your business brand is an image of who you are. Ask your friends, family, and peers what your ideas inspire when the words are read.

2) The idea of a business brand is to be memorable, yet effective in communicating the purpose of your business. It is usually more effective to focus on communicating your purpose, rather than just developing your widget as a term.

3) If you can’t get a com extension, choose again. There are plenty of other extension like net and info, but whatever case that is: you will need to also have the com extension or risk losing your brand before it has ever been established. (Businesses should register the com, net, info extensions for a business)

4) If you think of related names in the process, register them today. $10 today is a lot cheaper than the impossibility of getting it tomorrow.

5) Keep it short. A good domain name should be one to three words long. It should not include hyphens or any other characters that are out of place. Shorter domains are generally better for two basic reasons: they are easier to spell and remember.

6) Don’t be scared of going long. Yes, I just said “keep it short”, but having a long domain name has the benefit of saying exactly what you do. Long domains also pull some weight in keyword search results, so having “real estate” in a real estate domain helps a site rank for those terms.

7) Multiple Domains are Okay! So many businesses lock on to the idea of having one site to send readers to. While having focus is good, multiple domains and sites allows a company to have different presentations for different audiences. Multiple domains and sites can also allow a single business to have multiple results in search engines, which allows them to conquest the first page of search results on terms that drive results.

Recognize how you can misspell your own domain. If you have any words that do not carry clearly when spoken or are easy to misspell, register the misspelled version of the keywords. $10 for a misspelled version of your own site name is a very affordable way of preventing client loss or competitive problems in the future.

9) Buy alternate domain names today. At less that $10 a piece, alternate domain names can provide a very reliable way to promote your business and help protect your reputation. If you have any public figures in the business, make sure to spend the $10 to buy personal name domains (firstnamelastname) and any slogans or catch phrases.

10) Realize that your domains are being promoted to both humans and search robots. They each like slightly different things and you should create a strategy for having multiple domains and how they coordinate relevant traffic to your business.

Bonus point: If you are trying to use a new domain for competitive search engine ranking, register the domain for five years. Search engines give credit to the length of a registration to help identify if a new site is a spam site being used to manipulate the search results. By committing to a longer stay, you help establish your virtual reputation in the eyes of engines like Google and Yahoo.

Do not jump the gun! Remember that a domain choice has many different angles to it. It can easily be compared to choosing a real world location for your business: where will it be? what does the neighborhood say? who will see it? how long will you be using it?

If you are a small business, then $50 to $100 to secure a domain name for a few years may seem like a major investment. For larger companies, spending $500 to $1000 for a larger competitive search optimization and brand protection effort is a good investment (for instance, do you own yoursitesucks?)

Understanding that a good domain may mean the difference between five visitors a month or five thousand, greatly changes how your business functions online. With a well organized strategy behind multiple domains, different niche streams of visitors become easier to reach and increase the chance that they will convert into business results.

Barry Hurd is President, author, speaker, and voice of 123 Social Media - Business Social Media and Promotion. He has a history of over fifteen years working on numerous innovative efforts with online business models: past projects have included NIKE, REI, TMP Worldwide, Monster.com, Verizon Superpages, Intuit, and RIS Media.

How to Improve Your AdSense Ads Click-Through Rates

Click-through rates, if increased, can mean greater income for you if you are a Google AdSense user. Improving your click-through rate will mean better revenue. There are several ways you can make this happen.

First, what’s your current click-through rate? For this, divide the number of times you have click-throughs by your total number of views. Therefore, if you have a thousand impressions and someone clicks on your ad 10 times, the click-through rate is 1%. Make note of this statistic to compare it later.

Next, go to the website and see which keywords are used most often. You can find a free tool, which is available at seobook it will help you figure this out. This tool can also show you how these keywords rank in Google so that you know what ads will appear on the website based on keyword content. Google determines this. If you modify your content, you could garner ads that have more appeal for the audience, and this in turn might lead to higher click-through rate. Your keywords should appear at least once per 80 to 100 words.

In addition, you should pay attention to content. Your text should be high quality, and should be rich in keywords that are relevant. Your content is going to drive ad placement as well as traffic to the website, and both are needed if you want healthy click-through rates.

This is absolutely imperative, and can’t be overstated. You need quality content and sufficient keyword density so that visitors will find your website through search engine listings. In addition, better keywords frequency means that you get a higher search engine rank with the search engines, which in turn generates more traffic. Visitors will come back to your site if you give them interesting and well-written material. If you must, hire a content writer that has experience with search engine optimization if your traffic or click-through rates are lower than desired.

Your ads positions affect what your click-through rates are going to be. Try placing ads near the top of the page and near the left edge of the page, which may result in more click-throughs. You may also add whitespace around your ads to help increase click-through rates.

Webmasters have often found that ads receive more click-throughs when they blend in with the surrounding content. AdSense can help you shape, size and color your ads so that they fit in with the overall theme and appearance of your website. They have tutorials on their website as to how you can make these improvements. Remove borders, change shapes, apply website color schemes to the ads, and so on to make them more appealing.

In addition, if you limit the number of actions a visitor can take on each page, this will also help. If you provide many links, these can provide many distractions for visitors. In turn, this may make visitors do something besides click the ads, which is exactly what you want them to do. Limit your content to a single item per page, plus a navigation bar and the ad itself. Visitors are much more likely to take the desired action of clicking through when they don’t have too many options to begin with.

If you increase traffic, improve keywords and content, and pay attention to ad placement, you will increase your click-throughs.

Robert Paul Williams is the Editor of Work At Home Business Website. Come Visit Often To Stay Informed of the Latest Intenet Based Home Business News, Success Tips & Strategies.

10 Hot Tips to Make Your Ad Copy Sizzle Now

If you are marketing online, it’s essential that you know how to write effective ad copy. If you can string two sentences together, you can learn to write effective ad copy. Best advice- “Enter the conversation already going on in your prospect’s head”. People don’t care what you are selling, they care if you can solve their problem, or meet a need. Talk about what they want to buy, not what you want to sell.

1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Write the ad on a piece of paper, scan it and publish the ad on your web page. Adding a personal touch will always increase your sales.

2. Publish a list of famous and respected customers who have bought from you on your a copy. People are more likely to think that if these people bought from you, they should also trust your business and purchase your products. Make sure to get their permission first. Local personalities and celebrities count!

3. Show before and after photos for your products on your web page copy. Show the problem picture and then beside it, show the picture of the resolution to the problem when they use your product.

4. Need more testimonials? Hold a contest- the top five people with the best testimony get their product order for free. Boost your sales!

5. Include an article or review that has been written about you or your business with your ad copy. This will show people that your business is respected and will increase your credibility. To get the article, send press releases with pictures to the local paper. Make sure your press release is in the paper’s best interest, not yours! The paper won’t do a story on your business, unless they think it will matter to their readers. Getting published will get you the publicity you need.

6. When you offer free bonuses in your ad copy, also list the dollar value beside each bonus. People will feel they’re getting a good deal and it will increase the value of your product. Keep it honest. The good feelings and excitement of the bonus will turn to cynicism and distrust if your customer feels the value of the bonus was inflated just to get the sale. Would the bonus truly excite you?

7. Include your own picture on your ad copy. This will show people that you’re not hiding behind your ad copy and will increase their trust. Also, include your contact information below the picture and a brief statement or quote. Got kids and pets? Include a family picture too.

8. Tell your potential customers on your ad copy that you will donate a percentage of their purchase price to specific charity. This will show them you really care about the people. They may just buy your product to donate to the charity. Speaking of donating to charity, set up a program where customers can refer charities.

9. Ask your potential customers plenty of yes and no questions in your ad copy. The questions should remind them of their problem and make them think about what will happen if they don’t purchase your product.

10. Tell your potential customers they will receive a free prize if they find the five words in your ad copy that are misspelled or spelled backwards. The longer you can keep someone reading your copy the greater chance of them purchasing.

And test, test, test. Keep making adjustments until you are getting the result you want. You can write the cleverest copy, but if you ain’t getting the action, the copy is a waste of time. You’ll be surprised at how the simplest changes can sometimes increase results significantly.

Karen Hurd is a former Marketing executive. She’s been a top producer in network marketing since 1988. She is a writer,teacher & wellness educator. She lives in Virginia, with her husband & 5 children. Karen built her business while her children slept, and now she makes money while she sleeps.
Home business ideas
MLM Maniac:

Five Ways to Make Your Advertising Work Harder

One of the sharpest minds in the direct response marketing business is fond of advising potential advertisers that creativity is not a positive virtue for an advertising copywriter. Whether it is a print, on-line or broadcast ad, the worst response experts say people should give is to think an ad was exceptionally creative. Instead, the person should respond by wanting to buy the product.

Here are five ideas advertising writers may use to help make their ad copy more effective.

1. Proof. Let people know how good your product or service is by offering proof that it stacks up better than its competition, or that it has met or exceeded certain tests or specifications. When stating numbers, such as how much faster one medicine works when compared with another, round numbers are less effective. Therefore, try to use uneven numbers like 23.7% rather than round numbers like 25% and your message will be more believable.

2. Identification. Do not be afraid to let people know who you are, where you are located and what you think and feel. Rather than appearing to hide behind a post office box number, tell people that your office is located at 1234 Elm Street in the red brick Smith Building, which was constructed in 1916. This not only makes you seem more interesting, but also more believable and trustworthy.

3. Guarantee. People will always be more willing to buy from you if they trust you will refund their purchase price if they are not satisfied. Yes, you may have to incur some expenses paying for refunds, but your increased sales will more than make up the difference.

4. Accessibility. Similar to identification, it always is best to be easy to reach, so do not omit your contact information from your ads, especially ads in print and on-line messages. Whether it is your phone number, Internet URL, email address or all three, make sure they are correct and working properly before you publish the ad. For example, if you are publishing a toll-free number that only works from the USA, if you also include your regular telephone number with area code, potential customers from other countries may also buy from you.

5. One more thing. Every sales letter should have a PS following the signature. This part of the letter will most likely be read more closely than some other parts, so utilize it to reinforce your most important point, or offer an extra bonus to motivate the reader to act immediately.

By making sure your advertising message has met the above five criteria, you will ensure the next ad you write will help make your cash register ring even more loudly.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of besuccessfulnews.com, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

Why Add Your Website To Google Local Business

Google local business is a directory of business listings that it is much like the paperback version of local business listings found in the yellow pages, that is delivered to your door every year. There are some differences that make the local business directory of Google business listings more desirable and user friendly than the yellow pages of your local telephone book.

What is so great about Google local business and why should you add your website to it? Google’s local business directory is maintained online and can be seen by people across the country and around the world. Site links serve as online street addresses for the businesses listed and the directory is regularly updated. The enormous paperback version that the telephone company puts out is only updated once annually, usually at the beginning of the year. Businesses that open, close, or move to new locations after the annual publishing has been completed will not be included until the next printing, the following year.

Name familiarity breeds curiosity at first, then credence, followed by a high comfort level with people as they hear and see a name over and over. You can think of these as the three Cs to business success and they are most certainly instrumental in helping a name to remain in the consciousness of the public which creates a desire for association with or the buying of parts of that name. Google is one of those names having the three Cs and because of this Google has an impressively large following. Google has done the work of attracting a large following, but has opened the doors for internet merchants to share in the benefits of such great numbers of people gathered in one place.

Google local business provides a format that makes it easier for users to find businesses. Many internet users prefer this to having to conduct several search engine searches, redefining or narrowing the words used in each search to find exactly what they are looking for. Remember too that there are legions of business websites found online today. A website can easily become buried beneath these vast numbers of sites existing in cyberspace and Google’s business directory gives your site visibility even amidst great numbers of other listed business websites. Why add your website to Google local business? To keep it from being buried which also buries your opportunity to make money.

Campaigning to consumers in order to show them why a purchase from your business is a smart choice is expensive. Make your campaign dollars and campaign efforts go farther by being selective with your campaigning. When super resources such as Google local business present themselves to you, use them to your advantage. The Google search engine is another powerful resource that is there for you to take advantage of. You will need SEO for your site and you can find help with that at the SEO Tutorial Program website. Google also provides other resources that you should take the time to learn about how they may help you to succeed even further with your business campaigning. Yahoo and MSN also offer many super resources that you can take advantage of for your website.

Why add your website to Google local business? Because a good marketing plan takes advantage of as many ways as possible to make campaigning dollars go farther to gain better results. And because you know a good deal when you see one and you want your website to share in all of the benefits mentioned above about Google local business by doing so. A good marketing plan should include a note to yourself to remember to add your site to Google local business.

Scott White designer of the hottest selling SEO Book and NLP Training. Arizona Home Loans.

The History and Evolution of the Advertising Industry

An advertising company is a potentially very successful and enjoyable business, but only if done correctly. Advertising promotion is older than most people think, and here is a brief history of advertising companies.

There are four very influential inventions that have shaped the media and thus the advertising industry - the printing press, radio, television and the Internet. The printing press made the wide dissemination of information with words on paper possible, mainly advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Selling material had to be created and advertising agencies were born.

The first advertising agency, Volney B. Palmer, was opened in Philadelphia in 1841. By 1861 there were 20 advertising agencies in New York City alone. Among them was J. Walter Thompson, today the oldest American advertising agency in continuous existence. Radio became a commercial medium in the 1920s.

For the first time, advertising could be heard, not just seen. Soap operas, music, and serial adventures populated the new medium, and as radios appeared in virtually every home in America, sales of products advertised on the air soared. Advertisers rushed to write infectious advertising jingles, an art form that still has its place in the advertising repertoire of today.

Then television changed everything. Although TV was invented in the 1920s, it didn’t become a mass commercial medium until the 1950s when the prices of television sets began to approach affordability. Print and radio had to take a back seat because, for the first time, commercials were broadcast with sight, sound and motion.

The effect of the telvesion on the advertising industry and the way products were sold was remarkable. Advertising agencies not only had to learn how to produce these mini movies in units of 30 and 60 seconds, they had to learn to effectively segment the audience and deliver the right commercial message to the right group of consumers.

Cable television was the next great innovation, offering a greater variety of channels with more specific program offerings. That allowed advertisers to narrowcast. Before the advent of cable television, the networks attempted to reach demographics by airing at different times throughout the broadcast period. Soap operas were broadcast during the day to reach women, news in the evening to reach an older target audience.

Cable television, on the other hand, brought with it channels like MTV that catered to young music lovers, ESPN, for (typically) male sports fans, and the Food Network, for people who love cooking (or at least love to watch others cook). These new advertising channels were delightful for advertisers who wished to target certain audiences with specific interests, though less so for the networks who saw their share of ad revenue dwindle.

#1 Advertising Company resource

Advertising companies.

http://www.advertisingcompanydirect.com

Maximize your advertising space

Advertising space.

http://www.advertisinginspace.com

The Value Of Signage Branding

In the world of business, visibility is an important element in increasing consumer awareness and interest. However, this is not solely relevant to the strategic placements of products in the market but also the location of the establishment and the attractiveness of the signages as well. The concept of signage branding brings to attention the significance of installing a highly appealing facade that would effectively compel potential customers to enter your establishment. This is yet another form of marketing ploy intentionally designed to increase the products or services presence in the market.

Signage branding does not only allow people to know your office location, but more importantly it will nature of give them an indication as to the nature of your business. It is a valuable form of advertising that should be given more attention and thorough deliberation. After all, it is you primary tool in attracting the attention of consumers.

To be able to create an effective signage branding, the principal consideration would have to be where to put up the signage. A badly placed signage could potentially defeat its main purpose. The most common placement of signages would be on the rooftops, the walls of the building, awnings or can even be made to stand alone in front of the commercial structures. Make sure that there will not be any trees or other materials could block the view of the signage, even for passing motorists. The signage should also be seen not only during daytime but also during nighttime as well, to be able to maximize its efficacy.

Another important consideration in putting up an effective signage branding is to treat it as a communication tool. First of all, the signages should be big enough to read even from afar, giving special attention to the proper blending of colors. Make sure that even at a considerable distance and even if they are mobile, people will be able to read it. As an important communication tool, your signage should be able to efficiently convey the message you want to get across. It would be best to keep everything short and concise at the same time create the desired impact.

There are some businesses that commit the common mistake of neglecting the importance of signages and allow it to develop into a dilapidated state. Dont make that same error. This is certainly a big blunder on the part of businessmen who want to exude a highly capable image. It would be a good idea if you can change your signages from time to time to keep the interest of the consumers and at the same time create an impression that your company is efficient and highly capable.

Corporate branding is the use of the companys name as a brand name of a product or service. Some examples include Coca-Cola or Pepsi. This practice is effective in building product recognition. However, corporate branding is more than just advertising and marketing. It involves those processes but, at the same time, corporate branding incorporates other strategies such as investor and media relations. Corporate branding requires the participation of not just the marketing group but top management as well.

For more articles and information or to view a selection of business related articles and information and work life balance articles and information visit Articles.net.au - Your source for free Articles, Information and Website Content.

The Secrets Behind Advertising Success

An advertising agency, either online or offline, is meant to make the products it serves notorious among its potential consumers. Advertising is defined as the science of positioning and creating brands and persuading consumers to buy them through messages in mass media. The shoes you wear, the cars you drive, the food you eat and the drinks you consume are all brands. Many even regard advertising as an art, because of its psychological implications.

Advertising is a creative and inclusive field unique in the business world. Advertising agencies are like stores of ideas, and if you want to work with smart, creative, fun people in a business that doesn’t take into consideration race and gender issues, there’s no business quite as satisfying.

At its most basic level advertising, like friendship, is a three-stage process consisting of awareness, trial and repeat. In the first stage, awareness, you hear about a brand. In the second stage, trial, you’re persuaded to buy it and try it. If you like it, you buy it again and again. You’re a repeat customer. Along the way, you find that you and the brand share the same values. You wouldn’t think about using anything else.

A brand is an image, a conception in consumers’ minds. Implicit within the image is a unique promise of value and trust that distinguishes it from its competitors. The job of an advertising agency is to use every tool at its disposal to clothe the brand with substance and endow it with personality and make it a trusted friend.

Consumers also buy things and services that reflect a brand reputation and fit with their own personal values and aspirations. They may develop an emotional relationship with a brand, buying it for the simple reason that they have always bought it, or because it reminds them of their childhood, or because it gives them a taste of the glamour they want in their life.

Good advertisers can tap into this well of emotion. It’s a maxim of advertising when products are similar, the advertising has to rely on the difference in the experience. Advertising attaches value to the product by creating the anticipation of a superior experience. (Just take a look, for instance, at some of the shampoo television ads, which strongly imply that women will be brought to the heights of ecstasy merely by shampooing their hair with the product.)

If the links between customer and brand are properly built, leveraged and translated into an emotionally involving and gratifying experience, an intensely loyal, committed customer will result. Virtually every business follows some variation of the 20/80 rule. Roughly, 20 percent of customers generate 80 percent of sales. Their lifetime value to the brand is significant. The best customers often become brand advocates and recruit new customers.

Direct advertising and agencies information
Advertising agencies.

http://www.advertisingagencydirect.com
More advertising tips and advice

Advertising resources.

http://www.advertisinginspace.com

Internet Advertising Strategies for Success

With the technological and conceptual breakthrough that internet has offered, internet advertising has become a full time employment option not only for companies, but for persons like you and me alike. Because most companies choose to go online with their businesses, the immense market that online advertising offers is like a new gold rush.

There are two primary ways to advertise on the Internet:

1. Register your Web site with major search engines so Internet visitors can find you;
2. Place an ad banner for your site on another Web site that has a lot of traffic (viewers).

Ad banners allow viewers to link to your site when they click on the banner. Internet Advertising Advantages Relatively cost-effective. The costs can also be independent of the size of the audience. For example, a Web presence will cost the same regardless of how many viewers your site has. (You will, however, need to make sure your Internet Service Provider can handle the volume of viewers you anticipate having.)

Advertisers can target specific types of viewers by positioning an ad banner on related Web sites. For example, if you’re targeting people seeking information on a specific topic, you can purchase ad space on Web pages that are related to this category in the major search engines (Yahoo, Infoseek, Lycos, WONET - The Women’s Online Network, etc.).

So, an organic herb farmer selling through mail order might advertise through the organic foods or gourmet cooking category. The indexing structure of these sites allows you to target your audience by geographic location and related interest area. Messages can be timely because editing the content is often easy and instantaneous.

Ads on the Internet can be interactive. You can request viewer feedback, take orders or answer questions instantly. Ad banners can run with as much frequency as you choose. The Internet is constantly available!

Internet advertisers can potentially reach a global audience. Aside from language barriers, anyone at any location in the world can access information about your products or services.

Internet advertising should not be approached in a vacuum. Instead, it should be one component of a comprehensive Internet Marketing strategy. Although the popularity of the Internet is rising remarkably, it is difficult to gage the impact of advertising on the Internet.

The range of costs to advertise on the Internet can vary greatly. It is best to compare a number of highly-frequented sites to determine the best way to spend your advertising dollars. You must research your options and decide to go for an established company.
A successful advertising campaign will inevitably end up bringing you a swarm of visitors to your online store, your website that is. Now it’s your own option if you decide to market your own products, promote someone else’s, or both. There are practically limitless options of affiliate marketing options available out there, it up to you to go out and grasp it. If you do it the right way, internet advertising may just change your life forever.

Make the most of your advertising space

Advertising space.

http://www.advertisinginspace.com

Direct advertising company information

Advertising companies.

http://www.advertisingcompanydirect.com

How To Write Ads That Pull-In The Money

Before writing the sales copy for your next product, you will have to write a series of ads for the promotion of that product. For example, you might want to promote a new information guide for people who just purchased the Windows Vista software. Here are the main points to consider when you sit down to write ads for your new campaign:

Product Selling Points

1. Write a list of 5 product benefits.

2. Explain in your own words the advantage of owning the product.

3. Write down why your product is different or better than your competition’s product.

4. Write down what need your product will satisfy for the user.

5. List your call to action. Describe exactly why the customer should buy your product now.

Putting It All Together

The reason for listing the answers to numbers 1-4 above is to establish a Unique Selling Position (USP). The USP is the basis for the body of your ad and will determine if you capture the interest of your prospects. Think of your product’s USP as what makes it different and better than your competitor’s product.

Point number 5 is your call to action. This is the line of your ad that will get people to take action and investigate further. This line should clearly tell your prospect what you want them to do next. You will get a higher response rate on your ads if you do this in every ad.

Use This Formula To Write A Good Selling Ad

1. Grab their attention with a hot headline!

2. Keep their interest with a line or two about your USP.

If you are using a short ad format, like Google Adwords, you are limited to a headline and 2 lines of ad description. In a standard ezine ad, you will have more room to make a longer ad. A good rule of thumb is to keep the advertisement simple in nature no matter how much room is allowed for your ad. The eyes of the people on the Internet scan an ad in mere seconds. You never want to clutter the space in your ad with unnecessary words.

3. Build the prospect’s desire to know more about your product. Use one line to tell them why they should own the product. Use one of campaign points 2, 3, or 4 mentioned in the Product Selling Points.

4. On the last line of the ad use a strong call to action.

This formula is taught in business colleges as the AIDA method of ad writing. To sum up the parts of the AIDA formula, you first you get the prospect’s Attention with a good headline, then develop their Interest in the product, next you give them a reason to Desire the product and then ask them to take a specific Action that leads to the sale.

With practice you can write advertisements that lead to a very high response rate. This will help stretch your advertising budget and increase your ROI. With this simple system in your hands you can now create ads that will bring you the most business for the least cost.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of besuccessfulnews.com, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

Advertising Your Home Business Online

One of the easiest ways of having a home business online, is through affiliate marketing. There are several companies with an online presence that are constantly looking for ways to get their name out and advertising can be effective as well as expensive. Companies are willing to spend money on advertising and are even more willing to spend that money on advertising that has proven to work. An advertisement in traditional sources such as newspaper, radio, television and on the internet can be expensive.

It is a cost that the advertiser hopes to recoup through increased sales of their merchandise or services. They are going to pay for the advertising space regardless of the return, even if they realize no sales from that ad. The only one benefiting from this process is the advertising venue. With affiliate marketing, you are telling them that you will place their ad on your website and only charge them if they make a sale.

The company designs the ad, you place it on your website and if a customer clicks on the ad and buys from them, you get paid the previously agreed upon commission. The company has an increase in sales, you get paid a commission for posting their ad. Everyone wins with affiliate marketing. However, how do you get people to your website? Many might ask why they should go through your site to get to another company when the only difference is in you getting the commission.

Marketing your website is the first step and today efforts are moving towards internet blogs to get people interested in what you or others have to say. A blog can attract visitors with the same interests as you and need a place in which to voice their opinion. Placing affiliate ads on your blog can increase awareness of those websites and if they pertain to information on your blog, can turn some of your visitors into customers.

There are several sites online which are basically portals to what they call shopping malls. A site that is nothing more than affiliate advertising where customers visit and can find what they are looking for, all under one roof, so to speak. Web surfers will take the time to seek out what they are looking for but there are many that prefer one place in which to find all their favorite stores.

In order to make serious money from affiliate marketing you have two choices. One is to become affiliated with very successful companies, which offer a high commission structure, or be come affiliated with several companies. Depending on the type of website and the amount of traffic you receive, will determine in which direction you should go in order to maximize your potential.

Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California

Delivering the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home successfully..
http://www.homeincomeportal.com/obhmy365

Digital Signage Growth to Propel Marketers into Orbit

Imagine you were an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. On a clear day you look to the earth below at the exact moment your celestial home zips over Manhattan. As you gaze down at the New York City borough, you are stunned by what you see: an enormous sign covering about 75 percent of the landmass of the borough reading “Come Home Soon! We Miss You.”

This out of this world scenario is exactly what would happen if it were magically possible to position the viewable area of all the flat panel displays produced in 2006 next to each other over the landmass of Manhattan. Incredibly, that translates into 16.8 square miles!

The figure, part of the DisplaySearch’s Q4′06 issue of its “Quarterly Worldwide FPD Report,” underscores how dominant flat panel displays are becoming. According to DisplaySearch, the number of flat panel displays shipped was expected to rise 6 percent to 3.4 billion. (Remember, there are a lot of laptops, cell phones and other handheld devices that use LCD flat panel displays.)

The report estimates that flat panel TVs accounted for 33 percent of all televisions sold in 2006. In this country, with the government mandate forcing set makers to include DTV tuners in their sets kicking in next month and the introduction of legislation in Congress mandating retailers, broadcasters, and cable and satellite operators take steps to educate consumers about the impending analog switchoff, the demand for flat panel TVs is only likely to accelerate further -especially given the falling price of these flat panel sets.

In 2006, consumers got more display for their dollar, especially when it came to LCD sets. The price of a square meter of LCD display fell 32 percent year over year in the third quarter of 2006, according to the report. Not surprisingly, the amount of LCD viewing area shipped grew 54 percent in the same period. That helped to propel LCD to the lion’s share of the flat panel display market, accounting for nearly 86 percent of all flat panel viewing area shipped, said DisplaySearch.

Plasmas accounted for 8.5 percent of total flat panel display area in the third quarter ‘06. Year over year, total plasma display area shipped grew 56 percent as of Q3 ‘06.

The implications of the DisplaySearch statistics for those wishing to use flat panels to meet their digital signage display requirements are significant. For marketing departments needing to justify the expense of digital signage systems, falling prices should make the task a bit easier.

More importantly from a strategic point of view, the rapid acceptance of flat panel displays by consumers means marketing messages played back on digital signage networks don’t look out of the ordinary. They fit into the video mainstream. To consumers, they look just like television, and after all in today’s world isn’t TV the arbiter of reality?

The downside to the growing presence of flat panel sets in the homes of Americans is that the displays are becoming ever more familiar. Some of the mystique may soon begin to wear off. However, successful digital signage network operators, like their TV counterparts, know that ultimately content is king. As long as digital signage content compels its audience to stop, watch and take a desired action no amount of flat panel familiarity can stand in the way.

Ultimately, it is compelling content on these increasingly ubiquitous flat panels that will help marketers and advertisers using digital signage to influence the public to take the actions they desire. Resulting sales should be out-of-this world.

David Little is a digital signage authority with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to expand their marketing messages with alternative media. Visit http://www.keywesttechnology.com and find how you can expand your marketing horizons. For further insight, download my free white paper Why Digital Signage Works.

Promotion 101 - Business Lifeblood

Marketing is an important aspect of any business. Home based businesses are no exception. Here are a few tips on promoting your business.

1. Personalize your business cards with a company logo. Be sure to include email addresses and website URL on the front.

2. If you sell a product, carry several samples with you. Attach a business card to the front. You’ll be prepared the next time someone asks you “What do you do for a living?”. Hand them a sample along with your contact information so they know how to get more.

3.Collect email addresses from everyone. Contact information can be as good as money in the bank.

4. Start a monthly newsletter filled with updates and special promotions for your products and services. Snail mail it and email it out to every address in your database.

5. Learn to write good copy. If you don’t have time to educate yourself, hire an exceptional copy writer to assist you. Good copy makes a difference between booming business and lost sales.

6.Request testimonials from experts in your line of work, then use them to promote your business.

7.Publish your business in every available marketing directory in your area.

8. Word of mouth can make or break a business. Talk up your business when in public and enlist friends and family members to do the same.

9. If you don’t have one already, get a website. Keep it low key, professional, easy to navigate and full of quality content. Don’t overuse graphics and flashy plug ins that slow down the time it takes for your page to load. Spend some time creating a catchy headline or slogan for your business. Now would be the time to use the copy writer again. List your web site with directories like Google , Yahoo and Inktomi. Make sure you read the webmaster’s guidelines and ensure that your website conforms to the search engines terms of service.

10. Get the word out about your business online by joining discussion forums related to your area of business. Post links back to your website and exchange links with other businesses that complement your service. Avoid associating your site with fly-by-night or shady businesses. Only allow your links to be posted on high quality, reputable sites. Only post links on your site to businesses or websites that you have researched thoroughly. This can improve your page ranking and help you move up on the search engine results page.

11.Purchase advertising. While this is more expensive, it gains attention. There are many different options for advertising including online, print, radio, and television. Pick the one that best targets your audience.

Don’t rely solely on one marketing initiative. It takes a campaign to successfully promote your business. Remember PR, marketing and advertising are important business expenses that translated into money in the bank.

Jennifer Lavoie is a home-based business coach. Using Robert Kiyosaki’s teaching, she helping others to build passive income businesses and retire early and free. http://www.retirefree.ws

Digital Signage: Hybrid, Interactive Systems Amplify Marketing Impact

A new trend in digital signage is emerging that combines the strength of digital signs with the interactivity of digital kiosks. For many areas, such as retail shops, the sum of the two holds greater potential for marketers than either of the individual parts.

Known in some circles as hybrid digital signs and by others as interactive digital signage, these combo systems can capture the attention of those nearby by playing back compelling linear content -for example an enticing commercial or news feed- and immediately switching to an interactive mode when triggered by an external input, such as the touch of a viewer, the mere presence of a passerby or even environmental conditions.

Like a standalone digital sign, a hybrid system allows communicators to playback a pre-built sequence of elements, including video files, graphics, text, animation and live television. Those staples of digital signage are the makings of an effective message that entices interaction with the very flat panel on which the content plays.

Once viewers touch the panel or step within its proximity, the hybrid sign automatically interrupts linear content playback and displays a digital kiosk-like interface that lets a shopper touch hot spots on the screen, launching a pre-built interactive branching presentation. Navigating through the presentation, shoppers can find the information they want like product recommendations, pricing and availability.

Depending upon the level of sophistication needed, such hybrid interactive presentations can link to company’s servers, pulling information needed for the presentation and collecting information about the consumer that can be stored on the server.

For instance, a hybrid system at an automotive retailer could send an inquiry to the store’s server to access a database of recommended filters and oil viscosity specified by each car manufacturer. Matching information the customer entered about his car with the recommendations in the database, the system could check inventory for the right products, retrieve availability and pricing and present the information to the shopper standing at the hybrid sign.

Prior to offering that information, the system could ask the shopper to enter his name and address and to grant permission to be notified of future specials. With that data saved on the server, the retailer’s marketing department can automatically send out coupons for oil and filters when next estimated time for an oil change rolls around.

What enticed the shopper to touch the screen in the first place? Perhaps it was a video playing back in linear digital signage mode of a favorite racecar driver discussing why it’s important to stay current on oil changes.

On the front end of customer interaction, the hybrid system cast a wide net, cycling through a playlist of content designed to sell oil, followed by tires, then batteries, air filters -the list goes on an on. Each linear segment is backed up by an interactive kiosk component that’s triggered when a shopper’s curiosity is piqued by one of these linear presentations and touches the screen. On the back end, the system uses data that’s collected to stay in touch with shoppers once they leave the store, offering special incentives to have them return. In essence, hybrid digital signage can help to extend the marketing reach of a retailer well beyond arm’s length from the display panel and into the homes of shoppers who are willing to interact.

Interactivity doesn’t haven’t to begin with a human touch either. Imagine a hybrid digital signage system in a ski shop at the base of mountain. Skiers donning their boots and gloves might see a digital sign in passing as it plays back linear content; however, their attention might be focused when temperature, wind and solar sensors at the top of the mountain report conditions and trigger specific presentations. Lots of sun could call up reminders about needing sun screen. Heavy snow might trigger another presentation that makes them think twice about leaving the store before having the right gloves or goggles.

The possibilities for interactive, hybrid digital signage are only as limited as the imagination of creative marketers. To be sure, this aspect of the digital signage market is in its infancy. However, with the recent availability of the hardware and software needed to bring together the separate worlds of kiosks and digital signage, hybrid systems will certainly play an important roll in the unfolding digital signage market.

David Little is a digital signage authority with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to expand their marketing messages with alternative media. Visit http://www.keywesttechnology.com and find how you can expand your marketing horizons. For further insight, download my free white paper Why Digital Signage Works.

Harness the Power of Print Ads

So what’s the magic formula for making your money multiply in print advertising? For small and medium sized businesses, print advertising feels much like going to Las Vegas and putting money down on the table. And often times, the owner gets burned.

Well, the problem centers on the way you’re going about it. The first step is a realization of what’s going on around you. I suggest that you pull out a phone book and open it up to an area of specialization that is not yours (this will give you a less emotional, more objective perspective). There are typically a minimum of 15-20 competitors in any niche. Next, I suggest putting yourself in the position of a consumer
trying to determine who they should spend their time calling.

As you can plainly see, everyone follows a pretty set formula (which they basically copied from each other). And that is…”here’s our logo, here’s what we do, please decide you want our services and call so we can close the sale”. There’s little that really differentiates one vendor from another. And so, the truth of the matter is that a number of the vendors you’re looking at don’t get good lead traffic from their yellow page ads. And it’s for this reason that you can shine in print advertising.

What would happen if you were to approach it differently and more elegantly for your prospect. What if, instead of ‘let me sell to you right out of the gate’, you would offer them some information they could use. What if you were to give of yourself before the transaction and assisted them immediately? The answer is that the consumer would bust down the door looking for you.

For example, let’s say that you’re a roofing contractor. You could put an ad in the yellow pages that shows the logo, says, “We’re Johnson Roofers.. we specialize in repairs, maintenance, replacement, and planning. Here’s a phone number for our representative. Please go ahead and call.” What if, instead, you were to immediately report called “5 Mistakes to Avoid When Selecting a Roofing Contractor” or “Transform Your House into a Dream Home - 5 Roofing Options to Suit any Budget”?

This technique is called permission marketing where you’re offering information up front in order to get information from them which will enable you to continue to market to them (remember, it takes about 7, 8 and 9 times for them to have contact with you before they’re ready to buy). The technique is applicable for all forms of advertising…newspaper ads, internet ads, direct mailers, etc.

The truth of the matter is that people don’t want to be sold to…the want to buy. And when you approach them in a non-intrusive, friendly, information-sharing way, they will respond positively. Now a lot of owners are frightened using this approach because it’s “unorthodox”. Yes, I suppose it is if you consider “orthodox” to mean ineffective. My suggestion is to use this technique and at least see what it yield.

Scott Campbell owns Impact Marketing, Inc out of Atlanta, GA. He installs a marketing system, called the “Ultimate Marketing System”, into small businesses and practices in the Atlanta, GA area.

Learn more about Impact Marketing and its solutions here at http://www.impactyourcompany.com.

The Truth behind Advertising

Advertising is more than just the means of disseminating product information. It is a primary communications tool of our economic system. Moreover, aside from its diverse role as a persuasive communication tool, it is also part of the everyday culture of virtually everyone. Actually advertising is a part of our social, cultural, and business environment.

The specific reasons that a company chooses to advertise at a particular level is often difficult to determine. However, there are a number of situations that usually dictate a higher proportion of advertising to sales than might otherwise be used. First, it introduces a new product of service; to enter the marketplace against established competition, extra weight is needed. Second, to encounter competition; some industries are engaged in price wars and have far more competition than others, especially when nobody is a real leader in the field. Third, to maintain a leadership position; companies decide to spend in advertising investing in promoting their brand names. Fourth, to emphasize price; among all competitive pressures, price is probably the most usually used feature that gets heavily promoted. Finally, to keep up with a fast growing industry; in fierce competitive fields it is vital to spend more on advertising to prevent others from surpassing your offer.

Advertising primary strength is that it reaches a large mass audience to intensify broad-based demand for a product. As specialists support, advertising can build brand awareness, create long-term brand images and positions, and increase brand knowledge effectively. It can furthermore, alter the image of an existing product and act as a reminder mechanism. Finally, advertising acts also as a memorability mechanism through message repetition.

Regarding new product launch, advertising is considered of vital importance as it can provide the necessary information to the targeted audiences and increase their awareness levels. It moreover can act as an Awareness-Identification-Desire-Action tool since it can provide all the incentives needed for a trial. As far as the action stage is concerned, advertising can become the element through which a prospect will decide upon purchasing the product or service. Coupons, free samples, discounts, and many other promotional mechanisms can become the reason behind a new product’s success. Penetrating any market is a matter of well-planned integrated marketing program and in order for a new product’s or service launch to be successful, advertising can serve as a valuable tool for the company’s future goals and current sales increase.

Advertising has limits, however. Consumers often tend to believe it is intrusive, and try to avoid it by changing the TV-channel, radio station or page. Because of the abundant of products and services in today’s world, clutter issues can threaten advertising, as the more advertisements exist, the more frustrated the consumer becomes. Another major drawback of advertising is that of lost impressions. Due to its high penetration, the mass market is not always the right target to which the messages are directed.

Regarding new product launch, advertising is valuable only to companies if it creates consumer identification, is differentiated from clutter, and in the long run its success is measured by repeat purchase. If a product or service stays viable for a longer period than its competition, it is due to its penetration to customer minds and homes.

Concluding, advertising should be used in the marketing communication mix to maximize its strengths, which should be analyzed relatively to other marketing communication tools.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Consumer Information, Business, and Real Estate

Considerations For A Pay-Per-Click Ad Campaign

Submitting your website to the Search Engines today may seem like a futile task or at very least, a complete waste of time. When you consider that there are millions of websites that could be listed just for the word FREE, it hardly seems worth the effort.

Most websites today compete heavily for a top ten listing on the major search engines for words or phrases that are relevant to their websites. This equates to targeted traffic or visitors with a desire to see their webpages.

Whether people are just surfing for entertainment or actually seeking information, it’s usually the top ten listings that get clicked on when search results are given. Optimizing a website for a top ten listing is best left to the professionals. While such exposure can equate to heavy traffic, does the benefit out way the cost?

Most website owners may not have the budget to secure and maintain a top ten listing on the major search engines. An alternative to the major search engines is the pay per click option. Usually people bid an amount from 1 cent on up per click for a key word. Whoever makes the top bid for that key word gets the #1 position on down.

It can be an ideal way to bring targeted traffic to your website and maintain a budget within your reach. How do you know if a pay per click option is right for you?

1. Would it be cost-effective? If you pay 1 cent per visitor and make 2 sales with 100 visitors, did the 2 dollars you spent on advertising make it worthwhile?

2. What words are relevant to your site? If you want people who have an interest in Work At Home Opportunities to find your site when doing a search you might bid on this phrase or similar phrases. Computer Jobs might bring people to your website however you see its probably not relevant enough.

3. Who visits your site? Know your target market. If you are selling something or seeking to hook up with other opportunity seekers be sure its spelled out in the title and description of your site. You want people who will make an action at your site. You are looking for them and are they looking for you.

4. Where on Your Website? List the page on your website that calls for an action on the part of the visitor whether it be the point of sale page or just obtaining the email address of the visitor.

As you can see, Pay Per Click Search Engines can be an inexpensive alternative for your advertising campaign especially when you may be on a limited budget or just don’t have the resources or time to bring your website up to a top listing on the major search engines.

Getting your website in front of the right people is mainly your task with search engine listings.

Robert Williams is the promoter ofPrepare4Success.comand the Editor of Work At Home Business Website. WAHBWS is an information portal designed to assist those who are seeking to generate an income from home. Come and Visit Work At Home Business Website Today

10 Block Ad Writing Formula Attracts Customers Like Crazy

If you want to upgrade your ad, then this might be the most important letter you’ll ever read.

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your ad, then I urge you to read this article immediately.

If you’re sick and tired of getting low conversion ratio out of your ad, then here’s good news.

Now you can own some amazing tips and tactics that when included in your ad can make your ad convert like gang busters.

If you want to attract new customers… and I mean TONS of new leads and sales, I’ve got great news for you.

Now there are powerful tips you can use today to write killer ads to bring in all the sales you’ll ever need. The kind of prospects that will rocket your sales right off the charts!

One of the most difficult and time consuming tasks in this business world is having to continually attract new customers.

If you have a simple ad writing formula that makes one hundred percent sure that you will attract tons of interested prospects to see your offer, it is worth a gold mine.

Lets get started…

Tip 1 - Talk about Special Events.

Tell your potential customers special events your business has sponsored. It could be charities, fund raisers, charity auctions, etc.

Tip 2 - Talk about Mergers or Joint Ventures.

Tell your potential customers about any mergers or joint ventures with other reputable organizations or businesses they would recognize.

Tip 3 - Give them something Valuable for Free.

Tell your potential customers some valuable info. This will create rapport with them. It could be tips, a how-to excerpt, etc.

Tip 4 - Talk about Reviews of Special Events.

Tell your potential customers about reviews of special events your business attended. It could be trade shows, seminars or conferences.

Tip 5 - Talk about Customer Service.

Tell your potential customers stories about your customer service. It could be how you help a new customer, an award you won, etc.

Tip 6 - Talk about Your Employees.

Tell your potential customers stories about your employees. It could be about why they like to work for you, their personal profile, etc.

Tip 7 - Talk about Your Goals and Achievements.

Tell your potential customers about milestones and goals your business has achieved. It could be a sales goal, customers served goal, etc.

Tip 8 - Talk about Innovations Your Business Discovered.

Tell your potential customers about innovations your business has discovered. It could be inventions, new technologies, patents, new products, etc.

Tip 9 - Talk about Your Product Improvements.

Tell your potential customers the things you have done to improve your product. It could be lighter, faster, heavier, slower, etc.

Tip 10 - Talk about Your Business Background.

Tell your potential customers a little history or past information about your business. It could be how it started, how you got the product idea, etc.

Everything you may have heard about writing amazing ads might be true.

But this article has shown you some amazing ways to add some more pulling power to your advertisements.

In this article you have learned an incredible ad writing system to literally, actually turn your ad readers into hot targeted prospects, just about at will.

Make sure you apply this formula to make your products really really sell.

There’s never been a better time for you to get started and convert more prospects into customers, than it is today!

FREE Video: How to Create Your First Money Making Website in 7 Days or Less? - Starting Today.

Learn how to start an internet business

http://www.InstantProfitVideos.com/internet-business

On-Hold Messaging, Making the Most of a Captive Audience

According to a recent AT&T study, more than 70% of business calls are placed on hold for an average of 45 to 60 seconds each. 60% of the callers placed on hold hang up, and 30% of those that hang up never call back.

The opportunity to reach out to your customers is now!

They are a captive audience, and are eager to hear what you can do for them. While they are waiting, which for some business could be upwards of 10 minutes or longer, you need to keep their interest, keep them happy, and most importantly, retain their call to avoid losing them and their confidence before you can even meet their needs.

By making good use of your on-hold messaging, you will be able to:

- Keep your callers interested
- Increase satisfaction levels regarding their experience with your company
- Introduce new products or services for potential cross sells
- Provide additional information about your company in a friendly manner
- Instill trust and assurance that you’ll be with them shortly
- Retain your callers while on-hold
- Save money by retaining the caller, eliminating the need for them to call again

To really capitalize on your on-hold messaging, alternate courtesy messages with marketing messages.

Here’s a sample of a brief On-hold Script.

On-hold Messaging Script:

Courtesy Message:

Thank you for calling Extreme Sports Gear and Mountain Bikes. We’re glad that you called and appreciate your business. In respect of your time, a customer service representative will take your call shortly so that you can get back to the great outdoors.

Music in between messages for 30 seconds or so appropriate to your listening audience.

Marketing Message:

Are you at our website right now? If so, click on the “Special Offer” advertisement on our home page to take advantage of our Online Summer Sale! Anything listed on our website is 25% off if purchased online. Get in the groove of Summer early and save!

Depending on the average time that your customers are on-hold, your on-hold script length will vary.

For an average system where customers are on-hold for 1-3 minutes, it’s wise to have at least 2 courtesy messages and 2 marketing messages, each message timing out to precisely 30 seconds (:30).

Music should play in between the messages for 30 seconds (:30). This will result in 2 minutes of voice-over and 2 minutes of uninterrupted music play, giving you total of 4 minutes of on-hold messaging.

For systems supporting callers on-hold longer than 4-5 minutes at a time, make sure that your material is kept fresh for your audience, with at least 4 different courtesy messages and 4 different marketing messages.

To accompany the voice-over, music is often used as a secondary track in a voice-over recording. Music can vary throughout or remain true to a theme.

Music should reflect your business and your customer base. If you’re servicing an extreme sports crowd, the music might reflect that culture and encompass a touch of rock, soft punk, or alternative music genres.

Capture this opportunity by sharing your message while your customers wait on-hold. With a powerful on-hold recording and a professional voice talent to deliver your message, you’ll be well on your way to converting callers into buyers.

Stephanie Ciccarelli is the VP of Marketing with Voices.com, the online marketplace hosting more than 7,000 professional voice talents. Stephanie is the author of The Definitive Guide To Voice-Over Success, and The Voice-Over Script Collection.

Multi Level Marketing Is Here To Stay

Are you looking for some inside information on multi level marketing? Here’s an up-to-date report from multi level marketing experts who should know.

Multilevel marketing is picking up a lot of steam. This is due in large part to the amount of people online that are hyping multilevel marketing, and all of the profits that go along with it. And if you are interested in multilevel marketing, you should not have any problem finding information online to help you get started. The bottom line is that it’s here to stay. As soon as a decent amount of people started to cash in on it, the number of interested parties began to increase. And with this has come the notion that multilevel marketing is not going anywhere.

If you are not familiar with what it can do for you, you should bone up on the details as soon as possible. Generally speaking, it’s a way to make money when you sign people up for a certain service or product. And to take this a bit further, with multilevel marketing you can also make money when the people that you sign up recruit members of their own. So in general terms, you will make money with a pyramid type effect.

For people that are interested in multilevel marketing, the best place to start searching is online. There are hundreds of companies that you can sign up with in order to make money . Just make sure that what you are doing is legal. There are schemes out there that are not legal in the majority of the states. You can avoid this without any complications by getting hooked up with a multilevel marketing campaign that is run by a reputable company.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

If you are not sure if that business is right for you, look into the benefits that it offers. There are many online forums devoted to that subject. By becoming a member you can ask questions of more experienced multilevel marketers. They will be able to give you advice on where to start, and how to progress.

Simply put, you will want to read up as much as you can on multilevel marketing before you get started. Just like anything else, the more that you know about something the better chance you have of being a success. Since it’s relatively new, it is very important that you are familiar with the industry as a whole.

Multilevel marketing is definitely here to stay. There are enough people out there making money with it that the popularity will always be high. For people that are searching for a way to make cash online, multilevel marketing is always a good option.

Overall, try it out if you are interested in a new way to make money online.

If you’ve picked some pointers about multi level marketing that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won’t really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don’t use it.

Gaetane has thoroughly researched the Internet to locate the best High Income Business Opportunities that will enable you to start making money from your own home.
http://4instant-online-business.com

Wisdom From The Past That Works Today

There was a salesman back in the 1940’s by the name of Elmer Wheeler. He was a very good salesman. He sharpened his skills by researching how words affect potential customers in various selling situations.

In fact, he tested over 19 million situations where the choice of different words could effect the outcome of the sale. One of the things he discovered makes a tremendous difference in revenue generated from small transactions. This principal can be used in nearly any situation if you analyze the choice of words used, whether written or spoken.

This technique is used today in many selling situations, one you are probably familiar with is the fast food business. McDonald’s is probably the most familiar. When you order a sandwich the order taker has been trained to respond with, “Fries with that.” That little phrase has sold billions of pounds of potatoes.

That technique is called the, “upsell”, today. Another example is when you order a drink with the sandwich the order taker will ask if you want a large drink with that instead of giving you the choice of large or small. That small difference results in a large increase in the bottom line profits for the franchise.

When Elmer Wheeler tested that very thing on five thousand customers he discovered that 7 out of 10 times the customer took the large drink. To illustrate the power of this concept to effect the profits let’s do a little calculation. A fast food operation will probably sell an average of at least 500 drinks a day. If the difference in price of a large drink over a small drink is 50 cents, then 500 drinks at 7 out of 10 would mean that 350 of those drinks produced 50 cents more per drink. That’s $175.00 more income per day. $175.00 time 365 days is $63,875.00 per year! Not bad for simply using the right choice of words.

This idea of using the right words is extremely effective in all selling situations, not just fast food restaurants. A very good example that applies to Internet marketing is the little three line ads used for adwords advertising. In fact, there’s also a good reason for the small ads. It has been determined that the attention span of the average web user is only about long enough to read a three line ad. Any longer and they lose interest, pretty amazing isn’t it?

So, if you are writing ads for adwords, you need to test and test again to find the right words. It won’t always be apparent, in fact you’ll probably be surprised what works the best.

The basic premise is that if you don’t ask them if they want the large drink they may not order the large drink or if you don’t ask them if they want fries, they may not think they want them. In other words if you don’t ask you may not get.

And if the words you are using in adwords ads are not triggering the response you want, then you need to test until you find the words that do trigger that response..That is if you want to increase the bottom line.

Glenn Price runs a website that is provided to help marketers make money from home by using the Internet.You can find ideas, tips, articles and other helpful educational material here.

Ezine Marketing Tips

If you’re seriously interested in knowing about ezine marketing, you need to think beyond the basics. This informative article takes a closer look at things you need to know about ezine marketing.

Consider contacting an ezine owner for a joint venture via telephone. Most Internet marketers loath the idea of actually having to talk to another human being in order to secure a relationship, but it is actually one of the best ways in which to make a deal. Consider breaking your silence as a business owner and contacting an ezine owner directly via the phone.

Use a powerful “call to action” in your advertisement. This is the part of the advertisement that tells the reader to stop looking and “buy now” or “get in now before you no longer can” or “start today for free.” An effective solo ad will integrate multiple calls to action to give the reader the option to skip to your site immediately several times.

Consider contacting an ezine owner for a joint venture through snail mail. Contacting them through email will be quite tough, as they probably receive dozens of similar offers each week. As per protocol, write a personal email that specifically cites certain details about said person’s business to ensure that they don’t think it is simply spam.

Contact ezine owners and ask them if they are interested in free video tutorials. They could even send you a script and you could turn it into a video presentation for them, perhaps even using Power Point. You can then host the video from your domain and then can send traffic there every 2 to 4 weeks to get exclusive video content.

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

When creating a solo advertisement, alter the copy so that it specifically portrays the product as a solution to a specific problem. Purchase several solo advertisements to test how well this version converts when compared to other versions. Testing is vital if you want to continually improve the conversion rate of your advertisements.

When creating a top sponsor advertisement, avoid making an attempt to sell anyone on anything. Instead, give something away completely free that will upsell the reader later, such as a subscription or a special report. Additionally, make sure you clearly communicate that nothing is for sale and that you simply want them to take action for free.

Format your ezine advertisement correctly before you send in to a publisher. In most cases, you will have to format your advertisement to 60 to 65 words; and you may even want to perform a spam check. If the text isn’t formatted properly, lines will be broken and wrapped unprofessionally; and if you don’t perform a spam check, it may never even go through in the first place.

Setup contracts with ezines owners. Promise to procure at least one high quality, exclusive article from your staff each month. Find an expert on your subject who will write this article for you for a low price, sync it with an upcoming product release (for which you advertise in your resource box), and then send it along to the ezine owner.

So now you know a little bit about ezine marketing. Even if you don’t know everything, you’ve done something worthwhile: you’ve expanded your knowledge.

Gaetane has thoroughly researched the Internet to locate the best High Income Business Opportunities that will enable you to start making money from your own home.
http://4instant-online-business.com
http://www.ideas-from.us/internet-marketing/ezine-tips.html

Marketing Tips - Don’t Be Shy, Be An Expert

Every business owner knows that the key to success is how well you market your business. Your business is not any different. Success depends on your marketing strategies.

There are many different marketing techniques with many different price tags attached to them. Depending on your type of business, you will need to develop a marketing plan that generates sufficient customers to reach your goals.

Using many different marketing techniques will quickly drain your bank account. Your first goal will be to determine how you can reach the most people for the least amount of money.

Here is one marketing technique that is cost efficient and a little more adventurous for you the “Business Owner.”

Become an Expert

What is your business? Look around at your competition. How do they present themselves to the general public? How can you present yourself differently?

Go buy a local newspaper, local magazine, listen to your local radio station; watch your local TV station. Are any of your competitors currently marketing themselves as an expert in your field?

Contact your local media and discuss the various ways that you could work with them. Local newspapers and magazines will have opportunities to write “Advice” articles. Local radio and TV stations may have talk shows that could host you weekly or monthly.

Contact the various local organizations that are looking for speakers for their monthly luncheons. Your Chamber of Commerce is an ideal place to start. Join your Chamber and get an article about you and your business published in their monthly magazine.

Study your customers and choose the type of media that would reach them. Talk to your current customers and ask them to give you their opinion about which area you should market in. Find out what they listen to and what they read, and what organizations they belong to.

What type of personality do you have?

Make sure that your personality matches your marketing strategy. Radio and TV would be a perfect match for you if you enjoy speaking in front of people, have an outgoing personality and a voice that carries well. Newspaper and magazine article writing will be perfect for you if you do not enjoy speaking in front of groups.

Becoming an expert in your area of business will not take years to achieve. Stay on top of the latest news about your business. Subscribe to trade publications to keep informed about new trends. The Internet offers many ways to stay informed on any topic.

The key to becoming an expert is to take the knowledge you have and the new information received and decide how your customers can benefit from this information. Not all news is beneficial to your customers.

Your goal is to cause your customers to look at you as the one to come to when they need what you are selling. You want them to refer their family and friends to you.

Don’t be shy. Go out there and market yourself as the expert that you are. The more exposure that you receive, the more exposure your business will receive.

Sam Crowley is a best-selling co-author and motivational speaker.
You can see Sam’s home business at
www.DefendYourDream.com. Sam’s mission is to create ten millionaires in the next five years

Tips On Promoting Your Website

Consider using radio advertising for your site. You can start by recording an advertisement to play in late night slots, which are cheaper than commercials during the day. Contact local stations and as them for a price estimate for the cheapest times. Once you have developed a commercial that converts well, make an attempt to advertise in different time slots.

Participate in some sort of group “give away” event. These usually take place right before Holidays, such as Christmas. If you don’t see any being formed, you may want to contact other people in your niche to see if they are interested in pooling products to create a massive giveaway, so that you can all can some benefit while giving a big present to your current and future customers.

Do not always rely on Internet-based methods of promoting your website. While they’re more comfortable and consistent with your everyday promotional methods, they wont always be more effective than other forms of media, especially since there is less website competition in other forms of media.

Consider advertising your newsletter through “co-reg” or co-registration programs. These registration programs will add you as a box someone can check off when they are registering for a different newsletter. In many cases, you can purchase double opt-in leads for your newsletter for as little as 50 cents using these programs.

It’s really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of web promotion. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

Don’t forget to have time for other people when marketing your product or service. Your best allies will always be those people with whom you have the closest relationships. So start making friends within your niche and in industries related to your niche. Be genuine, sincere, and giving and expect nothing in return.

Find a person who has an interest in your business’s niche. Offer weekly compensation for posting useful comments on blogs and including a signature file that points back to your website. Not only will this improve your search engine rankings, but it will also drive traffic to your site, especially if the comments are on target and useful.

Create an affiliate program and find partners to help promote your product. One easy way to setup and administer an affiliate program is through Clickbank, which handles all of the checks and data recording for you. Other excellent affiliate program services include Sale Flurry, and 2 Check Out.

Consider purchasing some form of “cost per action” advertising. This form of advertising only charges you when someone takes a specific action, such as opting-in or purchasing a product from your sales page. This is one of the better forms of advertising, since it virtually guarantees a return on your investment.

Gaetane has thoroughly researched the Internet to locate the best href="http://4instant-online-business.com"> High Income Business
Opportunities that will enable you to start making money from your
own home.

Avoid These Advertising Mistakes And Watch Your Business Flourish

You’ve probably heard the famous saying “I know that half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted: if only I could figure out which half it is!” Well, now you can. By eliminating the common mistakes many businesses make with their advertising programs, it’s easy.

Here’s a checklist of mistakes many companies make with their advertising:

1) Not focusing enough time and effort on their advertising

Most business owners spend far more time and effort on mundane things that don’t really affect their bottom line than on advertising. This is the first huge mistake. Without effective advertising, almost all businesses will fail.

If you feel you don’t have the time or desire to handle the advertising for your business, consider hiring a consultant or agency - but with caution. It’s almost more difficult to find an ad agency that knows what is effective than it is to study it yourself. Many agencies are far more focused on winning awards than creating profits for their clients.

If you do feel you need to hire an agency, find one that will work on a results compensation basis vs. a straight commission for all the media they buy. This gives them an incentive to provide results and not pad the budget to justify a larger commission for the agency.

2) Relying on advice from friends and relatives

If business owners do handle their own advertising, many times they let their friends/wives/husbands or other various employees who have no idea whether or not advertising is effective make the decisions about their advertising plan.

Would you ask your dentist for advice about fixing your car engine? Of course not - that’s not their expertise. So why in the world would you base something as important as decisions about your advertising on a relative who has no idea what he’s talking about?

3) Being led by pushy or aggressive media sales people

The reason media companies pay their sales people big bucks is because they can influence you to buy space, air or time (in the newspaper, radio or television) and give you no guarantees if it doesn’t work. Sounds kind of crazy, doesn’t it? Your customers probably wouldn’t buy from you and not expect the product or service to perform the way it should. But ad sales reps do it all the time.

Now sometimes they really mean well, and they have lots of experience and some fluke event or problem comes up. But for the most part, ad sales reps will do virtually anything they can do to get the sale.

If you feel like you’re being bullied by an ad sales rep or that they really aren’t looking out for your best interest, but really feel you want to work with that station/newspaper, etc., then ask for a new rep. They want your business and you’re the one calling the shots, so if they want your business, they need to find someone you’re comfortable working with.

4) Allowing your creative delivery to be ineffective

You can buy the best media schedule in the world that reaches 100% of your market 100 times, but if your message is not well created, it won’t bring you the results you want. Most companies rely on either their ad agency or the media company themselves create the ads for them. This is a very difficult thing because most companies acting on your behalf don’t take the time to learn about your business, your customers and what makes you different in your market.

To be effective, your commercial or ad must give the potential customer a compelling reason to buy your product or service. That means you have to come up with a better slogan than “we have the best service and we’ve been in business for 112 years.”

No one really cares….well they do, but they don’t believe you. If that’s what you want to convey to your market, then give them a story that tells them that you have the best service. Make your company stand out.

You also have to include some sort of call to action. If you have a wonderful warm and fuzzy commercial that makes people 1) notice the ad, 2) actually read or watch it without being distracted by one of a million other things going on in their lives, and 3) become compelled and engaged by the message to have a positive feeling about your company and don’t ask them to do something as a result of that - you’re wasting your time and money. This is something that many ad agency creative types don’t get.

If you don’t ask them to do something specific within a certain time period, there’s no way to measure the response. You may say that you can compare last year’s sales for the same time period with this year’s, etc., but that doesn’t take into account a myriad of other possible reasons that your sales went up or down.

By giving your ad viewers/listeners/readers a specific action to take, you know that the reason they did that is because they were motivated to do so by your ad.

5) Always doing the same old thing because that’s what you’ve always done.

If you’re not growing, you’re dying - and the same goes for your business. If you’re happy with the same old returns on your advertising (assuming that you’re measuring it in some way), then continue to do the same thing. Most business owners aren’t though, so it’s important to try new things.

The way society changes the way it uses media and as quickly as those changes happen, you need to keep up or lose out. Many business owners are afraid to try something new because it takes them out of their comfort zone - especially if no one in their industry has ever tried the new idea. This is a huge mistake and robs them of potentially huge profits.

6) Falling into the price trap.

This is another huge one! Unless you’re Wal-Mart and can guarantee that no other business can sell for a lower price, don’t use that as your main selling point. Once you start down that path, it’s virtually impossible to stop.

If you can’t come up with another reason for your potential customers to choose you instead of your competitor, you really need to find one (or more)!

7) Not using publicity or events in their advertising plan

It’s amazing how few businesses even try to use publicity or special events in their advertising. It’s often the best advertising you can get - not only because it’s free, but because it cuts through the clutter. If the newspaper runs a story or a TV station is covering something during their newscast, it has automatic credibility that you just can’t buy.

Of course you can’t control the message 100%, but if you learn solid techniques of creating your publicity or press event, you can have a great deal of influence about how a story is covered.

If you can eliminate only 1 or 2 of these mistakes (assuming you’re making them all), you’ll wonder why you didn’t do so earlier! In business, if there are enough of the right customers buying your products and services, many of your problems seem to disappear.

Sam Crowley is a best-selling co-author and motivational speaker.
You can see Sam’s home business at
http://www.defendyourdream.com. Sam’s mission is to create ten millionaires in the next five years

Health Club Marketing With Gym T-Shirts

Whether you own a circuit training franchise or a large national chain gym, there’s no doubt that two of your primary functions are health club marketing and boosting profits. Every fitness center in the country is looking for new members, while at the same time seeking to increase their income.

What if you could do both at the same time? What if you could get your existing members to do some gym marketing for you, and do it for free? Even better, how excited would you be if your members actually paid you to advertise your health club?

A custom t-shirt can help you achieve all these goals, bringing in more revenue and free advertising for years to come. Selling workout clothing has been profitable for many gyms, and it can be for you, too.

Perhaps the best way to capitalize on the workout wear market is to sell t-shirts with your logo on the front. Your members will wear a high-quality customized t-shirt, and every time they wear it they’ll be advertising for you.

Before entering this side-business, it’s important to consider exactly what type of custom printed t-shirt your members will purchase. As an example, consider the extremely popular women’s circuit-training gyms that are spread across the United States. Most of these hydraulic circuit-training gyms cater to women. Color and quality are important, especially to a woman. While most women will not wear a regular white t-shirt, they will eagerly purchase a custom designed t-shirt. Cheap t-shirts that are practically see-through after the first wash won’t generate many sales. Offering high-quality shirts in a wide assortment of colors, on the other hand, will maximize sales.

So how do you get into this profitable business? It’s simple! You already have the membership base, and all you need is a t-shirt design. For most of you, that will be your existing health club logo. Once you’ve decided on an image, slogan or logo for your printed t-shirt, your next step is to find a supplier that can wholesale t-shirts and also handle all your t-shirt printing needs.

Perhaps you already have a t-shirt printer that you’re working with. Maybe they’ve even quoted you a price that appears to be low. But is that really what you’re paying? Be wary of the hidden charges on your bill. Most gym clothes providers charge a set-up fee ranging from $60 to $140. You pay this fee every time you make a change to your t-shirt design. Other companies quote you a low price on the shirts and then hit you with a huge shipping and handling fee, bringing the per-shirt price well over $9. Hidden costs like these will erase any profit potential.

To discover what kind of profit you’ve been making on retail health club t-shirts, find one of your old invoices and figure out your actual cost per shirt. Take the total amount you paid, including set-up fees, shipping and handling and divide that number by the actual quantity of shirts you received. You may be surprised by how much you’re really paying for t-shirts.

Assuming that you’ve found a supplier with a reasonable price, you can resell logo shirts to your members for $10 each. However, you may want to consider charging more for your shirts. For example, 24 Hour Fitness center charges $16 to $20 for their women’s t-shirt. Bally’s Gym has a t-shirt for a man listed at $16.99. World Gym offers their basic logo t-shirt for $15.95 and their designer t-shirt for up to $26 each.

If you decide to charge more than the basic $10 for your gym t-shirt, your profit margins might look something like this:
$10 retail = 42% markup
$12 retail = 71% markup
$14 retail = 100% markup
$16 retail = 129% markup
$18 retail = 157% markup
$20 retail = 186% markup
(Based upon a cost of $7 per shirt)

So now you’re aware of the potential profit to be gained by selling workout clothes, while at the same time getting completely free fitness center marketing and advertising. Still not convinced that you should be selling t-shirts in your health club? Here’s another idea that may even help with member retention:

Hold a t-shirt design contest for your gym members! Have your members submit drawings or ideas for a novelty t-shirt. Choose the best design and have some printed up for sale. Give the member who submitted the best design a free t-shirt or some other prize. Your members will have fun, and you’ll be surprised with the humorous t-shirt ideas they’ll create.

If you like this idea, here are a few funny t-shirt sayings to get you started:
“Leave Your Fat Behind At __________” (name of your gym)
“Actually Weight What Your Drivers License Says.”
“Don’t Weight Another Day! Join __________ Today!” (name of your gym)
“The Weight Is Over!”
“Change Your Life Inch By Inch.”

Selling t-shirts in your health club is profitable, it provides you with free advertising and it can help increase member retention. No matter what size your gym may be, this is one strategy that deserves a closer look.

This article brought to you by Health Club Clothing, a wholesale apparel clothing store for gym owners. We offer discount apparel wholesale clothing for health club, gym and fitness center owners. Please visit http://www.healthclubclothing.com/ for more information.

Copywriting Tips To Market Your Small Business

Most people don’t realize that every small business uses copywriting to sell their product or service.

Those catchy phrases on that brochure are copywriting.

The content of that sales letterare copywriting.

The direct-mail packet you received in the mail with discounts to area businesses- Yep. You got it that’s copywriting.

And while you may appreciate the value in hiring a professional to write an effective sales letter, benefit-laden brochure, or have-to-have-it internet ad, professional copywriting services may be out of the price range of your small b