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Sales And Marketing Articles – Right Time – Right Message

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

marketing3When it comes to making the most of your online sales and marketing articles it’s really a matter of getting the right message in front of the right people. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? And while it’s not that hard, it will take some trial and error. Don’t expect to hit it out of the park your first try. You might, but it will be almost guaranteed to be a fluke and probably won’t be repeated.

Instead view your marketing as a work in progress. You will want to test various keywords and articles to see which ones perform the best for you. You should be willing to invest several weeks, or months, to find just the right ‘formula’. Once you’ve got it dialed in that’s when the magic happens. Once you know that you’ve got a winning article all you have to do is rewrite it, keeping the focus and the keywords the same but changing it just enough to make it unique, and re-submit it.

Do this with several sets of keywords and you’re going to get all the traffic you will need. And, that traffic will be highly targeted and totally free!

Another thing to remember is that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of online article directories that will accept your well written, unique article and publish it.

You don’t have to worry about being rejected, you’re not submitting a novel. As long as you follow their terms of service and abide by their rules your article will be published.

There are two schools of thought as to how many articles you should submit. Some say submit as many articles to as many directories as is humanly possible, while others say it’s about quality over quantity. In other words, several well written, keyword optimized articles will give you all the traffic you need so you don’t have to submit hundreds of articles.

Personally, I think an approach that lands somewhere in the middle of these two extremes is best. Submit a lot of articles, about 50, using several keywords spread out over the articles. Submit them to several online article directories.

Another thing to keep in mind to increase the effectiveness of your articles is that they must be on topic. If you’re selling product or services in the dog grooming niche you wouldn’t write an article about bird watching, would you?

Believe it or not that is exactly the type of mistake many people make. Keep your articles tightly focused on your niche market and their needs

When you write your resource or authors box make it something compelling. Don’t just say, ‘click here for more information”. Yawn. Instead be intriguing and tease your readers. Pique their curiosity or offer them something free if they click through to your site.

To get the most out of your sales and marketing articles just use common sense. Provide your readers with a well written, informative, keyword optimized article and a strong call to action in your resources box and this is an extremely cost effective method of getting hordes of hungry visitors to your website.


Get more traffic marketing tips at videoconversionformulae.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Sales And Marketing Articles – Right Time – Right Message

How to Set Up Your Video Marketing Studio in 30 Minutes or Less

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

onlinevideoHow to Quickly Set Up Your Video Marketing “Studio”

You know you want to do video marketing consistently. You may even want to use video to create products and services.

That means setting up a space to do video in. Because if you’ve taken my previous articles to heart you know that setting up your video properly makes a huge difference in how you and your company are perceived.

The Complication of Video Marketing

But that adds a complication, doesn’t it? Because now you have to move around a bunch of lights, mess up your workspace, tell everyone to keep their noise level down, choose a background, compose your shot, set your audio levels…well, you get the idea. It can be a royal pain in the you-know-what.

Is there a better way? The answer is most definitely yes. In fact, you can get this whole prep session down to about 5 minutes. But there’s a catch. And the catch is that you have to make a decision.

The Decision That Makes Video Marketing a Snap

That decision is very, very simple and very, very hard. It’s simple, because once you make it, the way you make videos will be very easy from then one. You’ll save hundreds of hours that you can spend selling, creating products, devising marketing campaigns, the whole nine yards.

But it’s also hard, because making the decision is also making a commitment. Ugh. There’s that word again. What are you committing to, precisely? I think you’ve already guessed it, haven’t you? The commitment is that you are going to use video to begin attracting your best clients in a kind of auto-pilot marketing program. It means you will be putting out video content on a regular basis; from once a week to once a month.

And that is the sticking point for most people and most businesses. They aren’t really super-sold on the fact that video can truly help them or that it’s worth the time and trouble to set up a dedicated space. So if this is you, I have a solution for you.

How to Quickly Set Up a Video Marketing “Studio”

This solution will allow you to prove to yourself that video done right works really, really well. And it won’t cost you a penny to implement. Ready to find out how it works? Great! Right before I tell you how to set this up, I’d like you to see a particularly nice example of this solution in action.

Please click on where it says “new video”: www.bamagazine.com

Now, did that look very difficult to pull off? Of course not! It looked like he was working at his desk, then just shifted in his chair to talk to you. That’s what we’re going to make your space look like. You can set this up in just a few minutes, and…this is the commitment part…keep the setup there for a few weeks. You may decide you like it so much that it becomes your permanent studio.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

1. one video light

2. camera on a tripod set up at eye level

3. wired or wireless microphone plugged into the camera and ready to clip on.

You can even set the light and camera aside if you place a mark on the floor where they will go when you need them.

Set the light from 20 – 45 to the side of the camera. If you want to get crazy, hang a little backlight from the ceiling and leave it there out of the way. That’s it.

That’s all you need to do. Remember composition. Where you place the camera is important. Put yourself off-center to create a pleasing composition, just as John has done in his video. If you want to review how to handle this particular piece when no one else is around, click here: www.youtube.com/watch?v-sednrGipvvk

The Unique Advantages of Your Own Video Marketing Studio

And that’s all there is to it! You can literally have this entire “studio” set up in less than 30 minutes. Now anytime you get the inspiration to talk to your audience, you can do so on the spot and you’ll have the confidence to know that it will look fantastic.

There’s one other less tangible benefit to all this. It will encourage you to keep your work area relatively clean. I find that a clean workspace tends to free my imagination anyway, so it might even make your videos better.

Consistency in getting your message out is really important to establishing your credentials. Don’t let lack of a dedicated studio hold you back.

You, your studio, and your unique message. Now there’s a match made in Hollywood!


Steven Washer develops strategies and systems to help you succeed at video marketing. If you want to learn how to design, craft and distribute powerful videos to help you play on a bigger stage, simply claim your free video marketing gifts at: => www.brainyvideo.com/newsletter.html

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How to Set Up Your Video Marketing Studio in 30 Minutes or Less

How to get Started With Google Analytics

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

googlelogoTo access Google analytics go to www.google.com/analytics.

Set up a Google account – If you do not already have a Google account you will need to set up an account to continue -click on the link “Sign-up Now” and complete the requested information.

Once your have established an account, login. Click on the “Sign Up” button and you are on your way. It is important to note before proceeding that you must be the owner of the website that you are wishing to track or have the permission of the website owner.

Blog sites such as Wordpress often will have resources that will allow you to place code on your particular Blog page(s).

Setup Google Analytics - You will be directed to a couple of input forms that will ultimately provide you the coding to produce tracking data for your website.

- General Information – On this page you will be asked to submit your website’s URL, a name to serve as a domain identifier and finally your country and time zone. (You can elect to identify your locality based on your physical location or your target audience/primary user location.)

- Contact Information - This will simply request your name and your physical location.

- Accept User Agreement – Naturally, Google will request that you approve their Terms of Service. If they are acceptable to you check the box and click on “Create New Account”.

- Add Tracking – Finally, Google Analytics will produce a Javascript code for your domain. This should be added to each page of your website at the very end of your page coding between and .

Tracking your website – Once you have inserted the information onto each page, you will return to the Google Analytics page. Click on the link for the website you are wishing to review. This will bring you to the main “dashboard” and provide a wide range of general information including – daily usage, bounce rate, new visits, geographic locality of users, most viewed pages, etc.

You can receive more detailed information by clicking on various menu items. Detailed information will include specifics like what browser your visitors were using, by what means they accessed your page (directly, search engines, etc.), what keywords were used when accessing via a search. Google Analytics offers an area for users to establish goals to focus on specific areas of interest and particular campaigns.

Google Analytics is a powerful tool which offers the user such a wide range of in depth data the greatest risk is becoming overwhelmed by the amount of information received.


Here you can check out everything there is to know about SEO Analytics, http://seoanalytictips.com – And here I will show you how to get loads of FREE targeted visitors to your website Twitter Traffic Train

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How to get Started With Google Analytics

The Role of XSLT in Documents

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

webprogramOne of the latest tools for web design is the XSLT editor.

The best way to learn about XSLT is to visit the wonderful web site of the World Wide Web Consortium or the W3 School on the web. The definition of XSLT is eXtensible Stylesheet Language. This language is a stylesheet language for creating XML documents. The function of the XSLT is to transform XML into XHTML. There is a vast knowledge bank available there to learn how to use XSLT for web design.

Certification tests and tutorials are available for the earning and learning. If you would like to do some practical applications of this language, there is an on line XSLT editor at the W3 School web site.

The World Wide Web Consortium wanted to provide a language that would be an XML based stylesheet language. The evolution was first XSL and then XSLT, XPath and XSL-FO.

With CSS, which is Stylesheets for HTML. Predefined tags are used with HTML and are well understood. With an HTML defined tag each browser knows how it must be displayed.

CSS makes displaying special fonts or colors a simple task.

The story is different with XSL. XSL is Stylesheets for XML. The opposite is the case with tags for XSL. XSL uses any tag-names with no predefined tag which makes XSL not well understood. When the browser sees XSL tag it will not know how to display it because in HTML the meaning of a tag defines a table but in XSL a tag might mean an HTML table or it could mean something else.

There are more than 100 built in functions in XSLT. Here are some of the functions: – string values – numeric values – date and time comparison – node – QName manipulation – sequence manipulation – Boolean values

There are many more functions with XSLT but these are just some of the notable ones. On your XSLT editor you will notice that the default prefix for the function namespace is fn: When calling a function fn: prefix, such as fn:string(). Another thing to take note of: since fn: is the default prefix of the namespace, the function names, when called, do not need to be prefixed.

The purpose of XSLT is to transform XML documents into XHTML document. XSLT will also transform XML documents to other XML documents. Another language for navigating XML documents is XPath. The most significant part of XSL is when XSLT is recognized by a browser the way HTML and XHTML are, XSLT is used to transform an XML document into another XML document. Here is the big picture of what XSLT can do.

The actual mechanism is transformation by XSLT of an XML source tree into an XML result-tree. This is done with an XSLT editor with add/remove elements and attributes to or from the output file. Many other rearrangements can also be done such as sort elements, perform tests and make decisions about which elements to hide and display.


For more information on XSLT editor, visit – www.liquid-technologies.com/XSTL-Editor.aspx

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The Role of XSLT in Documents

The New Rules of Content Creation for Social Media Marketing

Posted: 10 Oct 2010 10:00 PM PDT

contentThe Issues as We See Them

The real issue is that professional real estate agents/investors are being wrongly advised when it comes to creating and sharing content. Those things they are told might be relevant to their efforts – simply are not. Using information without taking a good look at the source of it will quite likely result in a real waste of your time and efforts. If you’re told that you should be tweeting, twittering, posting, and endlessly sharing, the advice you’re being given should be moderated by your own good sense.

While other self-proclaimed experts may be leading you down a path, or giving you misplaced hope, the reality is that you probably will not be markedly successful in getting a social media campaign off the ground in a week or two. The best advice that you will get from anyone is to use your common sense and do your own thinking. There simply aren’t any quick fixes or instant gratification arenas for those who want to get social media campaigns working for their benefit.

Most important of all, social media campaigns require relevant and excellent content to achieve. You can learn those strategies that it will take to share them, but the reality is that first that content must be created. The creation as well as the sharing of solid content will take time and learned skills to master.

What Are Your Next Steps?

Three key components are going to be next in line for you to get any measure of success. Identification, Recognition, and Organization.

Identification – what is your role in getting solid, relevant content for your website or your customers? If you’re a creator, or a writer, or a curator, then you already know where you fit into the equation.

The Creator can identify the need of the audience and can help to address that need. The solutions offered may be video, media of other varieties, written content, or even brochures. It may be a complete mixture of every type of content, including a blog that goes along with social media postings.

A Curator for the content is someone who will sort through all of the internet content that is out there and find those things that may be applicable to their chosen or intended audience. This is quite literally a hunter-gatherer of the internet. Sharing links, offering tweets, getting articles and rewriting them, selecting what will be a good draw for your chosen audience and then creating something like that is what a curator/creator does.

The Challenges that You Will Face

Among the other challenges that you will face when you are furnishing content will be those of frequency and a balancing act. The content that you provide to your readers or viewers comes to them as a representation of you. Too much means that you are nothing more than a marketer, too little means that you don’t really care. This content doesn’t just come from your brand, it tells them a great deal about you.

You’re going to want to not only balance the frequency of the content, but also to be sure that you check it yourself prior to offering it on your own website or other venue. Whether you elect to share that content in a feed, on a website, or on a single page, check it out first. Watch the videos and read the articles that you are offering as content to your audience.

Poor advice, poorly written content, grainy videos that share information that is not relevant or aren’t well done, reflect badly on you. If you don’t create the content yourself, then at least take steps to vet it for quality and relevancy. Your end goal is to share content that you believe would be good for the customer or client. Offering them less than a helpful tip or good advice makes you look bad. Your primary purpose here is to expand your own reputation, as well as to give them content that will help them. If you give bad advice, it’s far worse than no advice at all.

Frequency – No one wants an endless stream of things that say nothing at all. Lincoln once said it was better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt. That’s good advice whether you are speaking or offering content. Selecting a great deal of content and striving to offer an endless stream that gives no real benefit isn’t going to be in your best interests. Choose your content carefully and release it in drips, rather than in floods.

Let your motivation be to release content that adds good quality advice to the lives of those who read it, not merely an endless stream of drivel. Tweeting, Facebooking, Digging, are all important aspects of getting your content out there, but make it good quality content that improves the outlook or the knowledge of your reader, not merely reminds them you are alive. The whole thing is about adding quality-to the reader’s life-as well as your own. Be a well-trusted source of advice, not an endless stream of drivel.


Duncan Wierman is an Ex Software company CEO turned Real Estate Investor and Internet Marketer. Duncan teaches how real estate agents and investors can take their business to new levels using creating marketing methods to promote their business and get more leads. Get your free 14 day internet marketing e-course at: www.duncanwierman.com

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The New Rules of Content Creation for Social Media Marketing

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The Truth About Aged Domains

Posted: 06 Oct 2010 10:00 PM PDT

dotcomDomains that have been registered and never dropped are called “Aged Domains”.

These domains normally sell for more than a new one because they have been around for a while. They’re usually out of the Google Sandbox and for those who are looking for aged domains with a history, it can help them make a living online or raise credibility in their niche markets simply because if the domain has been around for years, it appears that they have as well.

Aged domains can also be found on forums like DNForum.com and simply by typing in the keywords “Aged Domains” into the search bar you can easily locate domain auctions that include these older domain names.

I have purchased dozens of domain names for $40 or less that were anywhere from 5 – 10 years old. Just based on the age alone I was able to flip these domain names for over 5x what I paid.

For instance, one domain name I purchased was never used, meaning it had never featured a website on it. It just sat parked in the users account for over six years.

I purchased the domain for only $30.00 and because of its age, I was able to flip it for $379.00.

That’s quite a boost in profit from a domain I paid so little for.

While there is no exact science on how to flip domains here are a few things to keep in mind:

1) Development Potential

When you analyze the availability of domains in your list, consider what each domain name could represent and be used for when creating a website presence.

An example of which is whether the domain name is one that could represent a product title or better serve as a personal portfolio, a social community, a directory or perhaps a forum.

While it is unlikely that the purpose of the domain name will match your ideas when it is sold, thinking of a clear purpose for each domain name will not only help you make sound choices during the selection process, but it can also be included in a domain auction as a way of passing on ideas to prospective buyers.

2) Length

It cannot be said enough – most of the domain names you purchase should be relatively short, basically consisting of two words.

3) Trademark Issues

Avoid registering any domain names that could infringe upon the trademark of existing companies. Whether or not you believe that the company will take action shouldn’t be considered.

The last thing you want is to purchase a domain name that is unable to be sold due to buyers being cautious or concerned of building a website on a domain that ends up being seized by a company wishing to protect their identity.

4) Relevant / Popular Keywords

Does the domain name contain popular keywords that are used by those seeking out more information in search engines? If so, your domain name just increased its value instantly.

One of the easiest ways to determine whether a keyword is a common one is by using the free service available at www.SEOBook.com or Keyword Discovery.

5) Existing Traffic

If you are purchasing aged or recently expired domains, you will want to determine whether there is existing traffic to the website or not, thus increasing its value immensely.

Organic, natural traffic sent directly from search engines is the best kind, however, back links from other websites are also very important to potential buyers.

An easy way to determine the number of backlinks as well as page rank and other important information is by visiting www.CheckPageRank.net where you can enter in domain names and retrieve useful data relating to the name itself.

When it’s time to register your domain names, you can use any registrar that you wish.

Personally, I use www.TLDwebshop.com, a favorite among domain buyers and sellers. Regardless of the registrar you choose, you will want to make sure that you park them on service sites such as www.Afternic.com or www.Sedo.com so that you are able to generate revenue while you are preparing to sell the domain itself.

6) Spelling

Is the domain name easy to remember? If your customer purchases the domain and builds a business with this name, will he be able to easily brand it?

For example, domain names with double letters in them such as www.cashhour.com may often be mistaken for www.cashour.com. Keep in mind that domains with odd spellings, hyphens or numbers would have to be clearly spelled out, or explained, when someone is attempting to promote their website through word of mouth, rather than in print.

Consider this when registering domain names and make sure that the names you choose will not be mistaken or misspelled by potential customers of yours or the person purchasing it from you who will experience a significant loss in perceived value.

When choosing your domain names, there will be many factors that come into play – the type of audience you are offering to, the auction sites you are featuring them on, the price range you are expecting and so on.

There is no ‘one way’ to do this, and you will need to learn to become a better domain evaluator (and purchaser) through hands on experience. Using the guidelines above, however, will help you maximize your efforts and minimize your costs (and losses).


Frank Breinling is a recognized expert in selling domains with huge profits. Go for a FREE chapter of his ebook at getawebsite.info.com.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

The Truth About Aged Domains

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3 Ways Small Business Owners Confuse Their Prospects

Posted: 06 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

businessSmall business owners are smart, savvy and creative. This is, oftentimes, what causes more confusion with prospects. Let’s use an example to make it clearer.

Imagine you’re at a networking event and you’re talking to someone who could be an ideal client. You’re really focused in on them. You’re listening carefully to their every word. You begin to realize they’re not talking about their business, but about their life. You may think to yourself, “Yeah, yeah, we’re all really challenged economically right now in our personal lives, but how’s your business doing?”

And before you know it, you’ve let that slip out and their eyes kind of glaze over. You wonder, what just happened here? This, after all, is a business event, so why are you talking about your personal life.

Well in case you missed it, for a lot of small business owners, their business is their life. That’s how they support themselves financially and spiritually! And this points to the first reason you can confuse a prospect!

#1 You don’t understand their problem

If you’re not “hearing” the problem and the pain it’s causing them, you may address the symptoms and not the underlying cause. Here’s an example. Let’s say you are an expert in providing health and nutritional products. A prospect complains they’re not feeling well and is in need more energy because they’re balancing work, family, etc. You “hear” the possibility for “supplements” could be helpful to boost their energy. What you may miss is their lifestyle may require an “overhaul” meaning diet, exercise, valuing who they are, etc. So the “supplements” will only give them the energy to stay out of balance!

#2 You don’t understand your comprehensive solution

So you focus on the supplements, however your “comprehensive” solution might include an overall plan for this person. An approach that includes “wellness” of which supplementation is only a small part (even though it’s you’re core business). But you have to know your full repertoire, i.e. all of your available solutions in order to be effective in solving the prospect’s problem. And if you don’t offer it directly, who could you partner with to address the prospect’s problem?

#3 You can’t help the prospect bridge the gap

Continuing with this example. If you were focused on listening for the “business challenge” and not asking the questions that help you see the connection between their lack of business clients and the lack of life balance, you will overlook how the two are, in fact, affecting each other. Your role is to help the prospect clearly see the connection; you have to help them bridge the gap. Otherwise, your prospect will not see how your solution will help both in their personal and business life and the opportunity is lost! And they walk away confused as to what you do or
offer.

The moral of the story is? Truly listen to all aspects of your prospects “being” because it will serve as a rich source of information. It will also help you determine if your solution will solve their problem. And after all, isn’t that the business we’re in?

And remember, a confused mind never buys.


Chris Makell helps coaches, consultants, and other solopreneurs create profitable businesses by showing them what to do and how to do it, using proven marketing strategies. To learn how to make more money doing what you love, visit www.RadianceMarketing.com to claim your free special report, “7 Surefire Ways to Get the Most out of Your Time and Marketing Dollar.”

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3 Ways Small Business Owners Confuse Their Prospects

How To Get Great Copy Without Hiring A Copywriter

Posted: 06 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

articlewriting 2Most business owners now understand the importance of strong copy. What many business owners don’t realize is there are other alternatives to paying a fortune for great copy.

Most of these do require a nominal investment. But nothing compared to the huge fees for copywriting. A big part of the value a copywriter brings to the table (aside from marketing knowledge and being a wordsmith) is a fresh perspective. It’s that second set of eyes from a new perspective that can catch mistakes and provide new more successful approaches.

Unfortunately copywriting is deceptively simple. Almost anyone that can write to any degree thinks they can write great copy. Creating a piece of copy that causes the reader to take the action of spending money simply from reading words on a page is no easy task.

*How A Simple Copy Critique Can Improve Your Copy*

Perhaps the simplest way to improve your copy is getting a copy critique. In the direct marketing industry this is a common term. Professional copywriters use copy critiques to sharpen each others skills and copy. You can either hire someone to do this for a few hundred dollars typically, or you might be able to find someone to do it for free. Just be careful that you are getting someone who knows what they are talking about.

The biggest value here is having things pointed out to you that you missed. It could be a headline that’s unclear. Or a part of the copy that causes the reader to stop or bail out. Even your entire approach may be all wrong. These are all things you can find out with a simple copy critique.

If professional copywriters can improve from a copy critique, imagine what it can do for someone who’s not a copywriter.

*How A Simple Rewrite Of Your Copy Can Help*

The next step up from a copy critique would be a copy makeover. Not all copywriters offer this, because sometimes if the copy is way off track, it’s more work to rewrite it than just starting from scratch. The key to this is you are doing most of the legwork. Not recommended for rank beginners at copywriting. However, if you’ve got a sense of good copy and you can get something together in rough form, sometimes a simple rewrite of your rough draft can produce some great copy. And again because it takes a lot less time than writing from scratch you’ll save a bundle on copywriting fees.

Be careful because not everyone has the same definition or scope of what a rewrite entails. Some just fix the worst parts. Others do a complete rewrite and edit of what you’ve written. So read the fine print and find out exactly what you are getting before you commit.

A rewrite is more expensive, but still a fraction of hiring a freelance copywriter to create your copy from scratch.

*Get A Free Consult From A Marketing Consultant Or A Professional Copywriter*

Most copywriters and marketing consultants offer a free consult upfront. There’s nothing wrong with calling a few of them to get some contrasting opinions. In the process you’ll most likely pick up some great ideas that you can apply to your copy. Just having a short conversation with someone who knows marketing can give you some great insights.

You can generally tell pretty quickly whether you are dealing with an experienced copywriter verses a rookie. Be careful in putting too much stock in anything they say.

Test it out for yourself first. Make sure that it’s a direct response copywriter/marketing consultant. They are the only one’s who use methods proven to sell, as opposed to just creating general awareness of your business.

If you are speaking with a marketing consultant focus the conversation on the sales strategy and positioning of your product. If you are speaking with a copywriter focus more on the specific aspects of your copy. The most important parts of your copy are the headline/opening and your offer.

*Model Your Copy After Proven Marketing Promotions*

If you have to do the copywriting yourself without any help, be sure to have a successful model available. Avoid generic templates. Model your copy after an example that’s already proven to work. Only then will you be sure to at least have the structure in place that follows proven sales formulas.

What you want to do is copy the structure, not the content. Try to stay close to the structure because the further away you get from the original the less likely you’ll end up with a winner. For example when modeling this classic headline, “They laughed when I set down at the piano, but when I played…” I’ve seen some people leave off the second half of the sentence. That destroys the curiosity building power of the headline.

Also changing it from “laughed” to some other emotion like cried can be risky. So be careful. Try to make a fill in the blank template out of it.

Here’s a simple example. “They laughed when I _______, but when I _____” Do this with every sentence in the copy, not just the headline.

This is probably the single best way to write your copy if you aren’t a professional.

*Record Your Best Sales Pitch And Then Have The Recording Transcribed And Edited*

The other simple way to write copy your self is to do this. You need someone that knows how to sell. If you aren’t good at sales then have someone else in your company or else have a friend help you.

The key to this working is to have a good sales person, record their best “pitch” live and uncensored. Then have it transcribed and edit it to take out the um, ah, etc. Do NOT edit into something that takes away the conversational tone. Be careful to maintain the essence of what they said.

That’s why you really don’t need to write copy. You can record it being spoken by a sales person. You end up with the same end result. Just make sure you have a good sales person and they know your product well so they can make the best pitch possible.

These are the five best ways I know to improve existing copy or create it from scratch. The power is in getting an outside perspective, using proven principles of selling, and using the time saving of rewriting rather than starting from scratch.


Ken Hoffman is a strategic business adviser and direct response copywriter. He is the author of “Scientific Advertising For The New Economy.” Download his free report, “17 Website Conversion Strategies To Boost Your Bottom Line.” Download it now from www.goodmarketingforbadtimes.com/ezine.html.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How To Get Great Copy Without Hiring A Copywriter

16 Questions Critical To Starting An Internet Business

Posted: 06 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

dotcomIt is usually overwhelming for a prospective internet marketer at the point of starting an internet business.

What with the many aspects he has to consider.

1. Does it matter whatever domain name I pick?

2. How much should I invest in this online business initially before it starts generating revenue?

3. What advertising sources do I invest in and which do I get free?

4. What website type do I use – static or dynamic?

5. What online marketing training program do I join to put me through? Which are the best of these online marketing training programs?

6. Which forums do I hang out at where I can find my colleagues in a similar niche? Which are the best of these forums?

7. How do I get my website set up? Do I design it from scratch, use templates or even go for an already completely set up website?

8. What plethora of internet marketing tools and resources am I required to keep and utilize?

9. On completion of my website set up, how do I subsequently keep updating it? Update myself or outsource?

10. If I learn to update my website, what software or web platform is most ideal for me to get this done?

11. What blogging platform do I use – blogger or wordpress?

12. Do I start with just one internet affiliate program and after making some progress begin to add others?

13. Of the available internet affiliate programs, which do I join?

14. How will the internet affiliate programs I intend selecting pay me my commissions?

15. How fast will I start to make money online with affiliate program?

16. Can my country’s nationals fit perfectly into the internet affiliate programs I intend getting involved with?

As you can see, these are all valid questions that arise in starting an internet business and I can go on and on.

It should by now be apparent that there are so many other necessary questions that you cannot even imagine, given the depth of your training and experience in internet marketing as at now.

It is thus best you seek guidance in starting your own small business, as some mistakes made at the outset cannot be corrected later on, along your internet marketing journey.

The objective of pointing out a microcosm of the necessary questions that should arise in starting an internet business therefore, is for you to get assistance before it is too late.

This assistance is best with an online marketing training program and many are free.

When you join such a program, it is like killing many birds with one stone, as you discover that most of these questions get addressed and you get tailored towards achieving your objective.

Of course, you have to join the best of these online marketing training programs which has the characteristics of a good online marketing training program, to get value, as there abound many out there that are mere theoretical programs which will not serve your purpose.

The questions identified above are not theoretical such as can be addressed in an e-book or a theoretical course but requires a multidimensional practical approach which is best given in a good online marketing training program.

Let us quickly drill down to just one of the above questions – How do I get my website set up? Do I design from scratch, use templates or even go for already completely set up money making websites?

When you are new to internet marketing and web designing, I will advise you to go for pre-setup money making websites as there are a lot of things to take into consideration in setting up a website for internet marketing purposes such as on-site search engine optimization.

It is also for this reason that it is advisable you get money making websites from an online marketing training program rather than just have a web designer design one for you as many things that are internet marketing related have to be taken into consideration if your website is to perform optimally in the search engines, which you may not know contributes about 70% of traffic to websites on the internet.

Again, perhaps you do not know yet, traffic is the lifeblood of any internet marketing business, as your website is as good as dead without traffic.

Is it any surprise therefore that in starting an internet business, you have to carefully select an online marketing training program to lead you along the right path?


Dele Ojewumi is the webmaster of www.homebiz-supermarket.com. He is an Internet Marketer, Chartered Accountant and Economist who has helped many internet marketing newbies get the right online marketing training at his website.

You can also visit his blog => www.homebiz-supermarket.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

16 Questions Critical To Starting An Internet Business

Google’s Need For Speed Means You Need to Check Your Website

Posted: 06 Oct 2010 02:00 AM PDT

googlelogoNot too long ago Google released a new search tool “Google Instant.” Google Instant tries to speed searches by anticipating what you are going to type next based on what you have searched in the past. When you start typing Google offers you a selection of results and you can watch the results change with each letter typed. Google claims that it will save 3.5 Billion global seconds a day! I don’t know about you but I feel better knowing that I won’t be searching for the same thing fifteen years from now.

Putting aside the privacy issues and the file Google has on each and every one of us, let’s look at how this will affect your website and your search placement. In that same Google interview they stated they will pursue all options to shorten search times. At the top of the list was site load times and robot read times.

We already know there are rules to govern the code to content ratio, keyword density and placement, and content quality but this rule goes right to the foundation of every website. This rule speaks right to the background code, which by the way, has changed a lot over the years. Under this new rule the load and read speeds of your website will have a direct affect on your ranking.

How do you know if your website needs to be updated?

1- Web code standards and browser capabilities have advanced a lot in a short time. If your site is pushing five years since the last tune up, it is time to look.

2 – Was the original site written with outdated or obsolete WYSIWYG software? These are notorious for adding tons of erroneous code (Google already penalizes for this).

3- Copy placement. Search bots only read so many words in to a website. It is important that these be the important words. We call that “strategic copy placement.”

4- On-page optimization. Is your website easy for Google to find and more importantly, understand where you want to be listed? Older sites have little or no optimization at all. This is especially true with WYSIWYG and templates.

How do you fix this problem? Sorry, there is no short answer. The best thing to do is find an experienced website designer and get an evaluation. Not an artist turned developer but a good design / code / search optimization team. I have argued this point many times in the past and won’t go into here. But, other than the graphic design there are two other components to a website. These two parts together are the most important components. First, the way the site is written and second is the search optimization, which includes current market research.

What the code should look like, again that is too deep to cover here. We coined a phrase a couple of years ago “search engine positive code”. This is how your website is presented to the search engines. You need to give it to them the way they want it. This is now critical to website placement and that is important in this competitive environment.

Once you have the evaluation tackle it one step at a time. You can re-do the code with minor changes to the design. Another option is to just re-do the index page. The occasional overhaul is part of the normal evolution of maintaining a website. Technology changes and you have to also, you can bet that your competition will.


Chris has been owner and head designer since he started LBS back 1979. His marketing experience crosses all media and Chris is settled firmly into web design and marketing. With his first website going up in 1997 Chris has himself as one of the leading Web Design Studios in Western North Carolina. Based in Asheville Lone Bird Studio has a proven record of results and satisfied clients. Check him out at www.lonebird.com.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Google’s Need For Speed Means You Need to Check Your Website

Website Development Strategy That Will Drive Customers

Posted: 05 Oct 2010 10:00 PM PDT

webdevTake this one question quiz:

What should be the first step in developing a website?

1. Creating a design to use as a basis,

2. Deciding how the content needs to be integrated and managed,

3. Gathering content from corporate collateral,

4. Developing a strategic plan for your specific needs, or

5. Choose the most cost-effective hosting plan.

In just about any profession other than website development, your answer would be choice 4. After all, you couldn’t build a house without considering the layout, number of bathrooms, and features of the home. You wouldn’t create a design for a major advertisement and then plan the content and message of the ad. Yet, when it comes to website design, often the design comes first and the strategic plan for the site comes last.

Being a veteran of about 20 years in marketing and design, this issue has perplexed me for years. It seems to me that the development process should be:

1. Discover the reason a business needs a website and the expectations of the business.

2. Understand your typical customer and what influences their purchasing decision.

3. Have a clear understanding of how the website fits into the marketing plan.

4. Research to find what customers are searching for in Google, Yahoo in relation to the business (keywords).

5. Carefully plan a site architecture which is best for the demographic, online search trends, and have a site that’s easy for search engines to follow, is designed with the target market in mind, and has clear definitions of conversion goals.

6. Create a design which speaks to the target demographic.

7. Launch the site and begin an internet marketing plan to fulfill realistic expectations.

8. Modify strategic marketing plan as needed in response to real-time data.

Then issues such as server configuration, hosting service, domain registration variables, proper site construction, CMS, SEM, PPC, Social Media, and many other features need to be researched and fine-tuned. For example, choosing a hosting package with an IP that has been associated with a “bad neighborhood” in the past (bad neighborhoods are pornographic sites, etc.) can cripple your website marketing plan before it begins.

Instead the plan is usually:

1. Create a design.

2. Add content. (most plans end here because there usually are no marketing goals for a site.)

3. Contact SEO firm who performs keyword research based on content of site.

4. SEO firm proposes keywords.

5. Site is optimized by SEO firm by editing original site to make it more SEO friendly.

6. Results vary.

7. Usually followed by redevelopment IF business doesn’t lose faith in the internet.

All the details are usually never dealt with because the average designer doesn’t know they exist.

I think the reason the internet world can get away with a backwards strategy is because the design portion is fun, is more tangible, and looks impressive. It gives a client the opportunity to suggest colors, logo position, interactive media, position of the navigation system and other elements. The process usually goes smooth because the developer gets the excitement from the client and the client is impressed by the nice design work. BUT… that’s also why over 99% of all internet businesses FAIL.

Because there is no quality infrastructure and strategic plan in place. Either the site is poorly marketed, keywords are unfocused, or it doesn’t fit into the overall business marketing plan. In most cases, this is where the business owner begins to think the internet is all hype and will not work for their particular business. They disregard stunning statistics, such at 65% of all Americans begin their search for local services on the internet FIRST. This is followed by a competitor leveraging the internet as a strategic advantage and ultimately leads to a loss of revenue by the disillusioned company. So What’s the CURE?

Your website needs to be planned. A thorough understanding of your expectations, target demographic, and geographic influences have to be considered. The proper research needs to be done to assure your internet marketing plan has the right infrastructure and architecture and then you can eat the “cake” (design).

BUT…

This is easier said than done for the following reasons:

* It’s more expensive to create the right plan.

* It’s not as fun to start off with planning, expectations, and realistic goals.

* A good team to create your plan has to understand design, marketing, social media, SEO/SEM, custom development, and customer service to get the job done.

* Most website developers mask their weaknesses. Some are good at design, others technical work, others SEO, but few are good at it all…

* College students and novices practically give away website design which is hard for the business to turn down.

* Consultants usually do not have a complete understanding of the entire process.

AND THE WORSE PART…

Is now the internet developing world has realized that cheaper, do-it-yourself systems sell better than a comprehensive plan. (See our article on “canned solutions.”) So companies like Intuit offer “simple solutions” (because it is high profit, low overhead), and the only one who ends up suffering is your business. Be Smart and Eat Your Vegetables First… Then have Dessert.

Proper planning is the only cure. Hiring an experienced company to help you is the only way you will truly have an opportunity to dominate your market online. It will cost a little more, it won’t be as fun up front, but it will be worth it in the end.


John Carroll is A.C.E. and SEMPO certified and has almost 20 years experience in marketing and design. His internet marketing plans have helped many organizations reach new levels of success using both the internet and traditional marketing techniques. John Carroll is founder of
www.MaxWebGear.com.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Website Development Strategy That Will Drive Customers

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