Archive for the 'WebSites' Category

Monday, January 14th, 2008

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~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

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Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

Great example of Teeth whitening business promoting their services,by pigging

back on someone else’s effort… Cost effective for both parties,precisely targeted,

simple, yet very powerful!

1. Golden Rule #22 - how to leverage your advertising efforts and marketing

budget.

2. Business Booster #19 - If You Need New Customers, Offer Something For Free To

Reel Them In

3. Business Booster #20 - Keep In Contact With Your Existing Customers.

4. “I spy with my little eye - great marketing ploy” - How to leverage on someone

else’s marketing dollar, while reaching your precise target market

in the area of your choosing…

=========================================

1. Golden Rule #22 of Successful Advertising - build

your database of potential customers - inexpensively…

=========================================

If you are in business - you know that it’s 5 times cheaper to sellto your

existing customers, comparing to selling to new customers.

But how do you get started with selling to your existing customers?

It all starts in one place - it’s called Database.

If you have it already great - start thinking about “killer offers” you

can give to your existing customers to make sure they buy (you may find a few

at this event: www.axelhenriksen.com). If not - no problems the first thing is

to start collecting the names.

Let me ask you a question. If you aspire to become a great athlete,let’s say -

you love golf and wanted to become next Tiger Woods.

Not airy-fairy “I wish I’d be him”, but serious determination and readiness to

do whatever it takes to become a serious and respected golf player.

Does it makes sense to study what he does and then model him, what he does, his

style? It certainly is for me (as far as golf game goes they call me Hitler -

as I spend most of the time in bunker:).

Seriously in business - one of the easiest way to go ahead is to study what the

BIG guys do, then take what is applicable and apply it in your business.It’s

quite sensitive - especially if you have small budget and most businesses do.

After all - there’s no point of spending money if you don’t have to. I’m

sure you’d find many uses of hard earned dough, instead of spending it on

marketing research - let the BIG guys to do that - then learn and model

what they do.

So, “I Spy With My little Eye” series present…

How to build your database of potential customers - quickly and inexpensively

Let’s examine this name collection form. Mind you - thousands of dollars spend

by this company researching what works and what doesn’t.

1. It’s a raffle - you can win something - don’t we looooove to WIN?!.

2. To enter - you have to spend $50 - which gives you one entry. So, the more

you spend

the more chances to win

3. What is your prize? Spending more money with this company. I’m guessing that

participating retailers are funding this promotion. If you consider that average

markup in retail is 50%, then $40,000 of prizes will be only 20K in real cost.

Great concept and no

need to spend money elsewhere - say pay someone for tropical holiday - money

stay in the business - fantastic!

If you want to maximise your profit, if you feel frustrated with your marketing

efforts to date and find it hard to get new customers - click www.onlineofflineinformationmarketing.com

4. Names are collected and in compliancy with spam legislation - there’s a tick box “Yes,

I would love to receive more promotions…”

5. They ask you to visit company’s website to gain extra entry!!! Great idea as then you

have double opt-in with postal address and email address and more promotions on website. Fantastic concept

All-in-all this name collection form goes long way to build their business, leveraging

on all that foot traffic. Hope they know what to do with that database, as I haven’t received any special promotion from any of the names collected from me so far - ouch!?

Get your act together marketing managers of BIG GUYS:)

As a small business owner you have great advantage comparing to the giants - you can

be flexible, you can be adoptive, you can move fast and you can make decisions without

board meeting. So, learn from them, model and apply in your business on SYSTEMATIC

basis - then you’ll get consistent results!

Yours in success,

==============================================

2. Business Booster #19 - If You Need New Customers,

Offer Something For Free To Get Them In

==============================================

Nothing, I repeat nothing, works like

a free offer. And I mean free. No conditions if at all possible.

If you have a good sales system and follow up, you’ll find that making

some sort of a FREE offer is almost always the cheapest way to get lots

of new customers very quickly.

What Should You Offer?

Well it depends! You could offer a sample of your product or service

or a free report to get them to call you. You could offer free advice or a

free trial, or you could try these:

* If I had a coffee shop I’d be giving free coffee.

* If I had a clothes shop a free T-shirt.

* If I had a wholesale operation I’d offer $300 against your first months

order/account with us.

* If I had a laundry/dry cleaning shop I’d offer $10 worth of cleaning.

* If I wanted a job, I’d offer to work for nothing for a month.

I am sure you’re getting the point, aren’t you? The reason this works

so well is because every business is built on repeat sales and referrals.

And the quicker you build a customer base, the quicker these start to

kick in.

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3. Business Booster #20 - Keep In Contact With Your

Existing Customers

=========================================

It never ceases to amaze me that there are still business people out

there who don’t even know who their customers are. Please get their

names and telephone numbers, and there are lots of ways of doing this.

See above example.

Then send them a letter, call them, it doesn’t matter what you do, as

long as you do something to keep in touch with your customers, so

that next time they think about the product or service you provide –

your name will be on the top of their list to contact.

=========================================

4. “I spy with my little eye” - Cost effective for

both parties, precisely targeted, simple, yet very

powerful!

=========================================

Let’s say that you want more customers for your business.

Great - I’m not surprised to hear this from you, however you tell me

“but I don’t have mega marketing budget”. I’d ask you - “well who

has your best customers now and not in direct competition with you?”

- you’d answer GE Finance. So, …………………….

“I Spy With My little Eye” series present…

Cost effective for both parties, precisely targeted, simple, yet very

powerful! - Piggy back #2

Do you like to receive bills? Silly question - of course not if you are on

receiving and paying side. Yet you still have to pay.

So, the question is - how can you improve your customers “bill receiving and

paying” experience? Ok, if you are sending bills or statements or payment

reminders - this is necessary evil if you like to pay postage and printing costs.

Then you need to chase customer and make sure they pay. As you know - the good

ones pay straight away –not so good do pay as well in 1-2-3 months and rest -

well you have to chase them.

So, the question is - how can you save on printing and postage costs as well as make

sure that customer will appreciate extra effort you’ve made to give them add-value, as

well as pay faster?

Isn’t interesting - two questions - one answer!

The answer is - “Bill inserts”.

Teeth whitening company identified that their target market is anyone who has

discretionary spending money. Who would it be? Hmmmmm… well let’s think –

is someone who is approved for customer credit by well known finance company –

eligible? Sure, you bet - but how I - the owner of Brite Smile (see picture) can

persuade GE Finance to promote my services to their clients (who are also my

pre-qualified prospects)?

Simply do following:

1. Offer to cover all postage and printing expenses. Believe me comparing to

advertising elsewhere - this is very cost effective option. Your targeting is much

better - so will be your conversion in enquiries. Conversion to sales is another story –

subject to your salesmanship. Read my previous newsletters on 7 steps in sales process.

2. Offer to refer people who don’t have finance to pay for their perfect smile back

to finance company to obtain the finance (very attractive for finance company as

they will get extra business from their existing database - remember they want you

to spend more money with them - after all they are in business of selling money).

3. Offer them to report back the results of campaign.

4. Offer them kick back from all sales 5,10,20% whatever makes financial sense.

Read bellow how this promotion can be imporved…

If you want to maximise your profit, if you feel frustrated with your marketing efforts to date and find it hard to get new customers - click here www.onlineofflineinformationmarketing.com

You can and should offer guarantee. “Your teeth will be white for at least 6 month or your

money back - no questions asked”

Also by including testimonials from happy customers. The testimonials should be in the

format “before I was an ugly duckling with yellow teeth - now am beautiful swan [thanks

to XYZ business - you] and people have to put their shades on, so they are not blinded

with my perfect smile”

Collect their details by asking to either go to your webiste and go into draw to win

FREE teeth whitening valued $1,000 - draw is every month. Here’s what lucky winners

from last 5 months said: [testimonials with above format]

If you are in business - your prime objective is to make profit then you can contribute,

develop your business, etc. Wishing you profitable month!

Until next newsletter - your partner in success,

=================================================================

If you’ve missed last letter’s “I spy…” - not to worry You can see below to program

your customer to come back and buy in two weeks… …..“I Spy With My little Eye” series present…

How to leverage your marketing budget, attract customers from your target area,

create good will and climb prospect recognition ladder…

You’ve tried to advertise in newspapers and very quickly discovered that you are spending

like crazy for minuscule results.You become smart and start calculating the cost of lead –

if you spent $400 on the ad in local newspaper - let’s say 18×3 and got 2 calls (ouch!) –

the cost of lead is $200. And this is only lead, if you are able to convert at least one of

them to the customer and you sell a product or service for $800 with 50% profit margin –

then you just broke even.

Well one can argue that if you got yourself a customer who purchases every 6 months and spends $800 each time - it’s ok and you can recover your costs latter - that is fine!

But I’m starting club “Make profit first time from your ads” - everytime you advertise you

should be in-money…if you are in keep reading

So, after a while the frustration sets in and you start repeating “bitter business person”

mantra - ‘advertising doesn’t work…. mmmmm…. advertising is waste of money……ooooooh’

Well - think again, think laterally too. The question [you ask yourself] always defines the

result [you get]! What is your goal - you’d say “How to get customers to buy from me?”.

Let’s re-phrase it. The question should be “How to reach my target market (people with

money, who need my product/service and willing to spend on it now), with least effort, systematically, in most cost effective way, and make sure that they are calling me - not

other way around?”

Bellow is good example how this can be accomplished. The real estate agents teamed

up with the local gym and the local hairdresser. Local people prefer to go to local gym

and local hairdresser. If you can afford to go to these places most of you will have money

and you are most likely thinking of buying or selling your home.

Read bellow how this promotion can be imporved…

Make Sure You Checkout websites that sell –www.web-site-wizards.com

If you want to maximise your profit, if you feel frustrated with your marketing efforts to date and find it hard to get new customers - click here: www.onlineofflineinformationmarketing.com

You have noticed that this promotion is double playing - at first it solicit enquiries from first tier prospective customers - people who possible wanted to sell or buy property;

Secondly, if above fails - it invites to pass referral and dingles a carrot - give me referral I’ll bribe you (of course in the good sense) with 3 months membership at local

gym! Remember that your customers will ask the key question “What’s in it for me?”.

What is the difference of this real estate agents from others? Why should I do business

with you and not with others? Why are you unique? And what is unique about you?

This ad can be greatly improved by - including better headline and utilising better space on

the first page - instead of week “We look forward to hearing from you…” - one can say “How

to get healthier, look 10 years younger and sell your house in 3 weeks at agreed price guaranteed or your money back” then you can add a sun-headline “BUY your dream house

in next 4 weeks or $100 for wasting your time” - this is to cover both BUYERS and SELLERS.

Also by including testimonials from happy customers. The testimonials should be in the

format “before I was an ugly duckling - now am beautiful swan [thanks to XYZ business - you]” “Wow-wow-wow!!! Hold your horses” - I hear - you’re saying… won’t I go bankrupt if

I offer $100 back? What will happen if the house is not sold in 3 weeks? What will happen

if I can’t find house for my clients in 4 weeks…. Well - your worse case scenario - you would have to refund the money they have paid you… It’s my belief that number of extra customers you will acquire will outweigh number of refunds you have to do. Remember that

any marketing concept needs to be tested on the small scale and if results are positive

that you want to implement this on the large scale.

Finally, I would drop that black background - it’s hard to read and un-attractive. Add more

copy - text. Remember - the more you tell - the more you sell. When a real estate is in the

front of customer - they don’t say “we look forward to hearing from you…” and then say nothing…do they? No…of course not - they would talk about the benefits of doing business

with them, and they won’t shut-up until you stop them, right? So, why your brochure says

no much?!? Every single square centimeter should be used to sell-sell-sell… And make no mistake, marketing collateral only design to do one thing - sell the idea to give you a call,sell the idea to visit your shop, sell the idea to inquire further, sell, sell, sell.

If you are in business - your prime objective is to make profit then you can contribute,

develop your business, etc. Wishing you profitable month!

Until next newsletter - partner in success,

=====================================================

In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #23 of Successful Advertising.

2. Business Busters #21 and #22.

3. More of exciting stuff on “I spy with my little eye”

series

“Why You Need To Master SMS, TXT Messages and Other Techie Gizmoes”

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

How to work with Gen Y “faults” to recruit and manage better

A SmartCompany survey of employers has found that most believe Gen Y can’t spell and they don’t understand what is appropriate behaviour at work. Others are working around their faults by adapting their recruitment processes and management models - here are their tips.

SmartCompany’s survey, conducted with Roy Morgan Research and Dun & Bradstreet, involved 315 SME owners across the country. An article on the SmartCompany website shows the survey found almost 70 per cent of them are dissatisfied with Gen Y’s spelling and grammar, and their failure to act “appropriately” in corporate environments.

They were more ambivalent about Gen Y’s communication skills (48% dissatisfied), and more positive about their technical skills (37% dissatisfied).

The employers were much more aligned in their perception of Gen Ys being more “demanding” than others when it comes to advancing their careers (90%) and getting the latest high-tech gear (94%).

Communicate with technology

Despite the general negativity reported in the survey, some employers have accepted their “faults” and found ways to work around them.

Simon Trewin, who owns Tasmanian-based café and catering company 4lunch, says he takes advantage of their aptitude with technology to communicate messages they would otherwise ignore.

He says Gen Y won’t pay attention to a memo on the noticeboard at work, but they’ll read a text message containing the same information.

He says: “We did the same when we were looking for new staff: we sent texts to all staff and offered them a movie ticket for every person that applied and although we had far less applications than if we had an ad in the paper, it was a lot cheaper and more of them were qualified and ready to go.”

Trewin adds that Gen Ys get distracted very quickly, but this has a positive flipside - they’re very quick on the uptake and take change in their stride. He ensures he moves Gen Y staff around different parts of the business, which has the upside of meaning that they can cover for others in a pinch.

Top 10 tips for managing Gen Y

Another survey participant, Margaret Kirby from recruitment firm the iGroup, says Gen Y are high maintenance and have “a degree of ‘ADD-ism’”. She says to keep them on track, they need a huge amount of training and constant feedback.

Her top 10 tips for recruiting and managing Gen Y are:

  1. Retention starts with recruitment. “Gen Y candidates are interviewing you just as much as you are them. Be upfront about what differentiates your organisation, how your people have developed and progressed and what future opportunities are available to them.”

  1. Be flexible. “Work/life balance is vital to Gen Y individuals. Develop a flexible work/life plan that suits both them and the company and acknowledge their interests outside of work.”
  2. Provide the ‘why’. “Put the Gen Y job in context. Provide them with the big picture and then narrow it down to demonstrate the important part they each play in contributing to it.”

  1. Provide regular and constructive feedback. “The once-yearly annual review is not enough for Gen Ys. They require and seek constant feedback and more involved management.”

  1. Set clear career paths and determine goals. “Set realistic, time-bound goals and make it clear that achievement will equal promotion. Then make a plan with the employee and monitor their progress.”

  1. Coaching and mentoring appeals to this demographic. “Gen Ys have grown up in the era of self-help gurus and a culture of ongoing personal development. Offering coaching and mentoring will demonstrate that you’re in touch with their needs.”

  1. Salary, salary, salary. Part of the attraction of a job for Generation Y is the lifestyle it will afford. When setting their salary, make sure you outline financial and professional milestones that they can achieve. Make it clear, however, that more money means longer hours and adjustments to their work/life balance.”

  1. Develop an organisational culture that includes everyone. “To most Gen Ys, an inclusive culture is one that rewards individual achievement and promotes on merit rather than tenure. It’s important not only to create a good working environment, but also to encourage flexible working arrangements.”

  1. Watch your words. “As a manager of Gen Ys, it’s important to lose the ‘command and control’ leadership style and use more emotional intelligence. Gen Ys are happiest when will feel they are being listened to and respected, and in return, they perform better.”

  1. Practise what you preach. “The more you walk the talk, the greater trust and loyalty you will build with Gen Y. Be certain to follow your words with action. If you disappoint them, you will quickly lose their respect.”

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

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~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

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Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

The best kept secret of making more sales by collecting customer names - revealed!

1. Golden Rule #15 of Successful Advertising.

2. Master your Salesmanship in Print and get more sales!

Business Booster #4

3. “I spy with my little eye - great marketing ploy” Even the “big” guys doing this.

Word count for this issue: 2,045 Approximate time to read: Less than 8 minutes. ========================================================
1. Golden Rule #15 of Successful Advertising. ========================================================

Don’t listen to opinions and advice from well meaning friends, family and business associates. Time after time I’ve seen a perfectly good advertisements being discarded because someone close to my clients said “Oh, I would never read that” or “This would never make me buy”.

Here’s a golden piece of advice. Don’t listen to anyone who hasn’t proved to you they can sell better than you or I can. Test the advertisement instead - you’ll make a lot more money that way. Well meaning advice is a dime-a-dozen. Don’t let it cost you thousands!! =======================================================
2. Business Booster #4 - Master your Salesmanship in Print and get more sales. =======================================================
According to Australian Marketing Guru Mal Emery it’s much better to get someone else to interview and ask the questions. These questions usually lead to other valuable questions but the questionnaire is the “meat” of the interview-it brings out most of the major elements you’ll need to create a winning advertisement or sales letter. The more research you do, the better your advertisement will be. In fact, your advertisement or sales letter will practically write itself if you’ve done your homework.

All good print advertisements and sales letters are “salesmanship in print”, and since ad writing is basically “salesmanship in print,” why not get in touch with the top sales people in your organisation? Then interview them thoroughly and have them sell the product or service, right then and there over the telephone, with your tape recorder going! Yes, that’s right-interview the top 3 or 4 sales professionals in your organisation and this will confirm many of the sales points and benefits of your product, and also reveal other things you that you most likely haven’t even thought of.

Let me tell you something . . . some of the very hottest copy you’ll ever write will come right out of the mouths of your top sales people {assuming that you do have a sales force}. And if the top sales person is you, then you must do the following:

-> Record yourself selling to 3 or 4 customers;

-> Take all the Recordings where you actually “closed” the sale, have them transcribed, and that will be the basis for your copy!

Now, please understand . . . your job’s not finished by a long shot, but a good portion of your copy might be taken directly from those sales interviews. Sure, you’ll have to add a headline, testimonials, the close, and other things like that - things that work well in person, but don’t translate clearly onto paper.

But a good chunk of your copy is written! 90% of the time, the transcript of the salesperson’s interview hits “spot on” the desires of the target market you should write to. Even if nothing else comes from doing this, at least it gives you a great start on your advertisement.

If you’ve studied advertising at all, chances are that you’ve come across the ever-popular procedure for writing ads: the AIDA procedure. Each letter in the procedure stands for a key word:

A = Attention: Get your prospect’s attention.

I = Interest: Arouse your prospect’s interest.

D = Desire: Intensify your prospect’s desire.

A = Action: Get your prospect to take action.

In general this formula is useful and good. It’s been used successfully for several decades and anything that’s lasted that long must work well. But, like I’ve mentioned before, today’s buyers (whether business or consumer), are more sophisticated, more suspicious, more skeptical and basically just plain not as anxious to buy from just anyone, anymore. We’ve all been “taken” one too many times. That being the case, we’ve got to let go of the old formulas for creating advertisements, and come up with new, powerful, proven formulas for advertising success. So, let me introduce you to the AICPBSAWN formula of one of America’s best copywriters, Brian Keith Voiles, a man who charges a minimum of $10,000 for an advertisement or salesletter!

The AICPBSAWN formula is more of a procedure and I call it a formula because when you combine all of the existing elements, they become something greater than they are independent of each other.

Here are the different elements of the procedure - in order of how they’d appear in your advertisement or sales letter:

-> A = Attention: Say something that gets your prospects attention; what’s the biggest benefit he gets from doing business with you, or what’s the biggest problem or frustration you can solve for him
- and what’s unique about doing business with you over any of your competition? (Headline, picture with caption, opening paragraph, opening statement, unique selling advantage, etc.)

-> I = Interest: Tell them the reason why they should be interested in what you have to say. (Your offer, answer to WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?), most powerful benefit, a benefit they can’t get anywhere else, your unique selling advantage, etc.)

-> C = Credibility: Tell them the reason why they should believe what you’re saying is true. (Success stories, case studies, testimonials from people who are like your prospects; and testimonials that focus on benefits - endorsements from “celebrities” of your target market, and other credibility builders, etc.)

-> P = Prove: Prove what you’re claiming is true through the use of more testimonials, facts, figures, etc. (This can be tricky!)

-> B = Benefits: List all the benefits they get for doing business with you. All of the benefits should be framed to show your prospect what’s in it for them. Remember the differences between a benefit and a feature! (This section of your ad will usually be bullets . . . loads and loads of bullets, sub-heads, etc.)

-> S = Scarcity: Tell your prospect that what you’re selling:

- is available only for a limited time;

- is available at a discounted price for a limited time;

- is available with all these free bonuses for a limited time;

- was produced in small quantity;

- there were only 150 copies printed, and if they want one they’d better act now, etc. etc. etc.

By creating scarcity, your prospect begins to think, “Gee, I’d better buy this before it’s too late!” which is exactly what you want them to think. One important thing to remember when using the scarcity tactic is that the scarcity must be real, and it must be perceived as real. In other words, be honest. Scarcity only works if you’re using it honestly. Whatever approach you take to positioning your offer with scarcity, make sure the scarcity is actual and factual:

-> A = Action: Tell them precisely what actions they have to take (buy what you’re selling) to get the benefits they want to enjoy from your product or service. Assume nothing! Don’t assume that your prospects are smart enough to know how to pick up the telephone, fill out the order form, fax the order form, etc. . . . you’ve got to tell them exactly what to do to order.

-> W = Warning: Warn them what will happen to them if they choose not to take action. Tell them very clearly, and in no uncertain terms what benefits they’ll be missing out on if they choose not to take action. Make them really feel the pain of remaining in the situation they’re in, if they choose not to buy. I call this the “Status Quo Syndrome”. If your product or service really delivers a solution to your prospect’s challenges, frustrations and anxieties (and it should), then it’s your duty to do everything you can to get them to order - so you can benefit their life and solve their problem(s). Right? Right! So remind them of the status quo of not taking action.

-> N = NOW! Make sure you have a powerful offer that motivates them to take action now. Don’t let them put it off. If you do, chances are very strong they won’t order from you (at least not from this ad/mailing/ contact). It’s not guaranteed to make you money every time you run an ad. Obviously you’ve got to do your research, and you’ve got to have the talent to create each part of the procedure . . . that’s where the entire first two sections come into play. ========================================================
3. “I spy with my little eye” ========================================================
Become aware of your customers for two main reasons. You can sell them more and I bet you remember that it’s 5 times easier (and cheaper for that matter) to sell to your existing customers then to sell to the new one.

The first step will be to develop a form to collect your customer names… see if these big shots are doing this - you at least should consider same (it’s always cheaper to piggy back on someone else promotion after they have spent thousands to prove that it works - I mean replicate!)

Check This form out here:

iswmli270106_1_versace.jpg

If you are already sitting on the gold mine and not mining it to it’s full capacity, but chasing these illusionary new sales, wasting your advertising dollars in process…STOP NOW! And learn from experts

Now, once you have captured their details - your goal would be to sell them, right? Not only you can approach them with special offers, etc but you can maximise your sales opportunities by giving them something like this:
iswmli280106_4.gif

What if you don’t have database and suddenly become enlightened with the fact that you need to get one fast, or ELSE? Well don’t try conventional advertising as you surely will waste your money. Instead use the direct response approach. Good example can be found bellow:

iswmli280106_2.gif

More to come. Stay tuned, sell more, prosper and most importantly - have fun! ===========================================================

In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #16 of Successful Advertising.

2. Business Buster #5.

3. More of “I spy with my little eye”

“Why Online Businesses Must Use Offline Marketing Techniques To Achieve Maximum Returns”

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

How To Effectively Use Offline Advertising To Build Your Online Business
by Axel Henriksen

First of all let me say that having spent the past 42 years working closely with small and large businesses all over the world and I know exactly what works when it comes to offline advertising. What I have found today is that that online businesses have a built in advantage when it comes to promoting their business offline. That’s assuming that You already have a website and autoresponder in place to lead your prospect to Check out this site: www.xtrapay4u.com. If You Don’t already have a Website Checkout:www.web-site-wizards.com When you combine that fact along with the traditional capture methods of telephone and snail mail there is no reason any online business can’t use offline methods to build their businesses and sell their products and services. A lot of online based businesses forget about offline advertising until just recently when these new kidz on the block finally realised that they had been missing a large part of the market and are now evangalising my tried and true offline methods :-) . It is important to combine offline and online advertising together in your marketing campaign Check out www.onlineofflineinformationmarketing.com. This will give you a more well rounded approach to promoting as well as attract potential prospects and customers you might not otherwise get. In all your offline advertising you want to include your web site address, e-mail or autoresponder addresses, and your phone number and mailing address. This gives you the appearance of a real bonafide business. Finally you need to view offline marketing as a long term commitment. I’ve seen businesses over and over run an advertisement, not get the response they were looking for, and quit. This will not work offline. Or online for that matter. You need to establish a budget and stick to it. That doesn’t mean that you can’t change the advertising copy if your response is marginal. It just means if you are going to run classified ads for example that you run them for a period of time and allow them to do their job. Here are 10 offline marketing ideas. Use as many of these as possible to move your business forward.

- Classified Newspaper Ads - Place classified ads in newspapers. Local newspapers often have great advertising rates that you can take advantage of to promote your business. Here’s a great source for running classified ads. http://www.nationwideadvertising.com

- Put up flyers. They could be in computer stores, libraries, restaurants, car windshields, or anywhere you shop that allows flyers.

- Direct mail. A nice direct mail piece when done consistently over a period of time can bring tremendous exposure for your business. The biggest benefit of direct mail is it allows you to reach thousands of people at a bulk mail rate. You could not do this if you had to mail each piece individually.

- Buy time on local cable T.V. It is surprisingly affordable and if you commit to a block of advertising you can develop Top Of Mind Awareness. TOMA is being there when they want or need you. If you are an affiliate or in an MLM consider doing group advertising and spreading the cost out over several of you. You can have leads routed into one phone number and divided out to all advertisers or have each ad display a different phone number.

- Pass out your CD-ROM or diskette business cards at special events. It could be at trade shows, seminars, fairs, etc.

- Get 250 free business cards here and leave them everywhere you go. http://www.vistaprint.com livepreviewmyprofilefrontsideaspx.jpglivepreviewmyprofilebacksideaspx.jpg

- Hold a free offline class and teach people how to use their computer or how to use the internet. You could have your web site on display as an example.

- Give away promotional items such as free mouse pads, screen savers etc. Put your advertising on the mouse pads and give them away at computer or internet events.

- Advertise in card decks. The card deck you advertise in should be targeted toward internet users. You would also want to target your offline advertising to groups of people that will actually be interested in your product or service. If you’re selling business books, you will want to market to business owners. In conclusion, if you have a business that’s only based online using offline advertising to make money online is a great idea because so many people today go online to get information about products and services they are interested in. globalonlineofflinemarketing.JPG
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About the Author: Axel Henriksen is a 42 year veteran of sales and marketing and has made over $3.5 Billion dollars in sales in that time. His millionaire-makers-international.Com website contains the Top 5 work at home websites, make money fast websites, make money articles. Visit it today here: http://www.millionaire-makers-international.com

The Wizard Of Wealth On Advertising Online or OffLine - Must Do’s

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

What Is Great Online and Offline Advertising Really?

Many business people have a mistaken idea about the distinction between sales & marketing. The common view goes something like this. “Market by advertising to get your name out there, so that people will be familiar with you. When they need what we’re selling, they’ll know who to call”. That’s the Advertising mans mantra. We Find this is what all the major companies do to “BUILD THEIR BRAND” but it’s not what the majority should do or could even afford.. :roll:

And off they go, to promote their company with image advertising that shouts to the world how great they are. They include their Best photo and a whole list of the Degrees and awards {if they have any that is} to impress upon the prospect why they should rush on in and deal with them. :lol:

They hope, and they prey that some how, some way, the message about their brand will stick in people’s minds. Never knowing if it does, or if it doesn’t. Or whether their marketing dollars are paying them back in increased sales. If you can’t measure the returns, the sales, the visitors you should not do it at all!!

Some even think a cool web site, or sexy flash demo is enough to get their phones to start ringing. Hahahahahaah Your website designer LOVES YOU…. ;-)

This all too common approach is a huge waste of time, and money. Never let an advertising rep tell you any different. :evil: Remember the get Paid for Selling YOU! and the bigger your spend the more they EARN!

Sales and Marketing are far more alike than most people realize. The sole purpose of marketing, and advertising is to make sales. Full Stop.

If you don’t know how many sales dollars your online/offline advertising is really bringing in, stop advertising until you DO! :idea:

Advertising must do much more than just get your name out there. It must educate, qualify, convince, & persuade.

Great Advertising is Nothing Less Than “Salesmanship in Print”! So unless you have Compelling Words On paper or Your website..you are not communicating with your prospect.

Think of it as a sales presentation that’s geared toward accomplishing a carefully defined objective, whether that objective is the actual sale, or a step toward it.

Most successful campaigns are in fact a series of graduated commitments, leading up to a transaction. It might start with something as simple as an exchange of information. For example, the prospects name & address, in exchange for some information about solving a problem. That’s always a winning formula. Prospects will respond very favourably to a Free report about your product or service and how it can help them.

When a prospect takes this step, they are actually qualifying themselves, persuading themselves, and giving you permission to follow up with them, all at the same time. And without any investment in personal selling. Permission marketing is the only thing that works today, the day of forcing people to buy buy with your foot jammed in the door is OVER.

After all, why should you waste your valuable time talking to a prospect that isn’t already highly qualified, and predisposed to buying from you? Attraction Marketing is the only way to get the Right prospects and Clients for your business.

The key to profitable sales, marketing, and advertising lies in the response. Yet 90% of businesses fail to ask for, and track incremental response in their advertising. The only thing they track are sales, and then wonder why their results are so abysmal. :roll:

Why Is Incremental Response So Important?

Because it tells you what you’re getting, so you can change what you’re giving, until you get what you want.

The majority of people need to be exposed to your value proposition more than once before opening their wallets anyway. Why not play an active role in the process, and track the response you get to each successive stage of commitment? Today People want to build a relationship before they will trust you enough to do business with you. Our records show that it can take anywhere from 5 - to as much as 25 approaches or contacts with offers to win over that prospect.

Think of a pyramid, with rows of blocks piled one on top of the other. The wider you build each row, the better your chances of getting to the top.

If all of this sounds just too simple, and you don’t believe it has the power to line your pockets with all the money you want, think again.

There are millions of businesses out there that just don’t get this.

Nobody knows for sure how an individual will react to a given message. But en mass, human nature is as predictable as the hands on a clock. If you broadcast a message, the collective response will consistently come back to you within an amazingly small variance. So measure your response, try things, and repeat. It’s that simple. the Most famous line even that increase sales way of the scale was “Rinse and Repeat”

Set up a few pay per click campaigns on google, track your investment in real time, and start experimenting to see what kind of desirable actions you can get your visitors to take right away when they read your sales message. You get instant feedback, and changes are no cost. The whole set up runs for about the cost of a few cups of coffee a day.

Think of it as your own personal marketing laboratory. When you find something that works, you can replicate it in other more costly forms of media. “Rinse and Repeat”

And remember, it doesn’t matter if you’re selling printed cars, make up, mobile phones, herbal remedies, information products, sales and marketing courses, or anything in between, the same principles apply. Click here To View the Full Course wow-cap-bullet1.gif The Wizard Of Wealth

Have You Got Caught Up In The Lies That Are Racing All Over The Interenet and Other News Media?

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

Hey I just had to post This Here as it is absolutely Right and I must admit That I have Major Difficulty Understanding How ANYONE would Fall for this RUBBISH?? :roll:

I absolutely love this topic. I am not a guru or anything, but I have been around and this is what I have found:

I bought into the whole we’ll do the work for you , and no calling, and no selling, blah blah junk. It wasn’t until I started listening to people like Mike, and being a part of my Leaders Team with my business, that I started finally getting it through my head that I had to become a real business person, I had to learn to talk to people, and I had to not only represent my company and customers well, but branding myself crucial . I just cringe when I see the daily ads that come around that say make money doing nothing, or make money in your underwear (yuck). I especially hate it when they tell you that you never have to advertise or talk to people, it’s all lies. I especially get sad because I know that these people that send me those ads, are probably good people that bought into the bogus claims, and I just wish that I could pick those people up and show them exactly how easy it is to make money if you have the right backing, training, and desire.

Branding and Saturation Worries, this is how I dealt with them EASILY(for example, there may be other companies that teach you this stuff, but this is my company’s example, you can see how I think the trend is going to shift):

As far as saturation goes, I do not have to worry about that now with my company, because I’ve been using a business model that uses the power of infomercials and a HAP (Home Agent Program) program. This is Direct Response Network Marketing. I get everyday consumers (those who do not buy from the internet), and team members through this company’s shows on television. It’s funny but a lot of times when a customer calls to order, lets say a nutrition product they’ve seen on the show, they sometimes end up on our team. How is that? Well, when we speak to consumers, we become their personal consultant on whatever product they buy. We are taught to treat these people like gold, to create a good re pore with them. We also give them our home phone numbers so that if they have any questions about a product, or want to order more, they know they can contact us personally. We also follow up with them 2 weeks later to be sure they received their product and to see how they are doing with it. This is how we brand ourselves with our company. They are surprised to find out that we are doing this from our homes and they get really intrigued and want to know how they can do it too. There have been many people who have joined our team that way and they were not marketers at all, but they sure were trained to speak to people, brand themselves, etc.

But I have noticed a HUGE increase in saturation in many of these online businesses (like GDI, Berry Tree, etc). I tend to shy away from them because knowing that these are internet based businesses (or at least that’s what most people who join them treat them as), I know I would not get as many sign ups if I joined them now, as when they first launched, but I sure would not forget to show opportunities to those people who are not online specifically. I personally wanted to reach consumers and team members online and offline.

You are leaving tons of money on the table….:

1. when people are closed minded and think they can take the easy way by not doing business-like things, like branding yourself, and learning to speak to people.

2. totally forgetting about those potential customers and team members out there who do not spend day and night on the computers, but may love what you have to offer. Sometimes you must go offline and let those people out there know about you.

When there is talk of saturation, there shouldn’t be worry, because there are millions of people out there who just might like to hear what you have to offer them.

Now back to your question: my question is…is the age of Personal Branding and Magnetic Sponsoring DEAD?!?!

I say a HUGE Hell No, :lol: . Mike has certainly taught me a few things with Magnetic Sponsoring that I use when I speak to potential team members. And, you’ve seen exactly how I brand myself, by creating trust, care, and communication.

Brenda Sue

The Big Bang Publicity Campaign

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

The Big Bang Publicity Campaign
by Anne Marie Baugh

Famous is as famous does and the famous get known through publicity. Yes, that’s right, fame doesn’t discover you, you create it through strategic campaigning. What’s more, the techniques for increasing your exposure are not as difficult to attain as you might think. A great publicity campaign starts with courage, then planning, and lastly, it succeeds through persistence. If you’re not sure why you should seek fame, consider fortune because the two go hand in hand.

Fame will bring your business into the forefront of your target audience faster than any advertising campaign can hope to do. It solidifies you as an expert and creates a deep, abiding confidence in the consumer. It makes you a shining star with infinite possibilities.

So what are the steps you ask? Well paste a gold star to your forehead and let’s get started.

1. Press Releases:
Increase awareness through a press release. Yes, I know, press releases have become quite the popular little tool around cyberspace with releases being blasted hither and there, but are they working? Probably not. Blasting your press release will bring blasted little results. Instead, thoughtfully put together a very dynamic one-page press release and target publications that would be most interested in you and your business. Don’t drone out the details, make that press release sing your praises. Then send it to a real live editor and follow up with a phone call. In other words, let the press release be the invitation to your follow up phone call. Begin making connections with the media. Be polite, be excited, and be patient.

2. Create A Press Kit:
A Press kit is basically an exaggerated press release turned into a package. It’s more complex, tells more about you and your company, and is all pulled together into a nice neat folder. Of all the questions I receive, first is, what is a press kit? Simply, it is a folder of information about you or your business. It should contain:

A. An Introduction Letter
B. One or Two Press Releases
C. A Fact Sheet
(This contains the facts about you or your business.)
D. Bio Sheet
(Which is a biography of you and your accomplishments.)
E. Copies of Published Articles
F. Company Literature
G. A Business Card

Send your press kit when an editor, publisher, or producer wants to know more about you.

3. Newsletters Offline.
Don’t forget that a whole world exists offline. Locate newsletters or smaller print publications offline and submit articles. This can be a very dynamic way to increase your exposure as well as add to your press kit. You can locate newsletters in your subject area by visiting the local university library reference section. Ask for a directory of trade newsletters and do your research. Once you have been published, it’s easier to step up to the larger publications. Fame starts small and then snowballs onto itself.

4. Speak Up!
Yep, that’s right. Start giving speeches on your area of expertise. Start locally at civic clubs and local educational programs. Then find the local talk radio shows and make your case to the producer. It’s surprising how many talk radio shows are actively looking for new speakers. Once you have achieved Talk Radio, the opportunities will start coming to you.

5. Publicity Pitches:
Put together several dynamic article ideas. Just the ideas, not the actual article. This is called a Publicity Pitch. Take those ideas and then pitch them to editors of targeted publications. This can work very well as it saves Editors time and puts the outline right into their hands. As a past Editor I know how well this works. Editors love ideas, especially ideas that are completely outlined and correct for their readership. This means don’t send pet article ideas to cooking magazines. Send pet articles ideas to pet publications. Seems like a no brainer, huh? But you’d be amazed at what editors see that don’t apply to their own publication.

Fame comes from planning and persistence. It has its rejections, but if you can learn not to take it personally, it will eventually work. Remember, once you start, keep going. Once you stop, you have to start all over.

Copyright © Anne Marie Baugh
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About the Author:
Anne Marie Baugh Is The Owner Of Write-Promotion.com, Which Offers 12 Years Of Hard Hitting Internet Marketing, Publicity, and Promotional How-To Experience To Help You Build Your Online Business and Free Resources For Promoting Your Website.

Need Help Getting Your Articles Published? Submit Your Articles To Our Free List Of Article Directories And Ezine Publishers. Free PLR articles to help you start your articles! Visit Us Today For Valuable Free Give-Aways To Help Your Business Succeed At: http://www.write-promotion.com

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

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~~ The Outstanding Results in Marketing ~~

Leading Small Business Marketing Newsletter

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Welcome back to Outstanding Results in Marketing!

In this issue:

1. Golden Rule #13 of Successful Advertising.

2. Use “Multi-Selling Channels” To Get New Customers - Even If You Have Little Or No Money! Business Booster #3

3. “I spy with my little eye - great marketing ploy” Today you’ll see 4 brilliant marketing angles
implemented by real businesses in real life - no BS.

Word count for this issue: 1574 Approximate time to read: Less than 6 minutes.

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1. Golden Rule #13 of Successful Advertising.
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Nobody has been able to show a relationship between advertising recall and actual sales. The
standard form of measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement by mainstream advertising agencies and media representatives is by recall. Or how many people actually remember the advertisement after it runs for a set period. This has to be considered as is really stupid.

The only thing that should count from your point of view, is not how many people remember your advertisements - but how many actually went and bought your product. If all you want is recall, just run advertisements featuring chimpanzees dressed in a swimming costume. Sales is where it’s at, so don’t get bamboozled by fancy words and advertising jargon.

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2. Business Booster #3 - Use “Multi-Selling Channels” To Get New Customers - Even If You Have Little Or No Money!
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This has to be the best kept secret of the mail order industry. If you are marketing products directly through TV infomercials (half hour commercials),newspaper advertisements and mail order … you will sell 8 times more again if you also get the buyers into your retail store. In fact, the really switched on retailers and corporations (including banks), are jumping on the direct mail and direct response marketing bandwagon like hungry fleas jumping on a dog. All hands on deck so to speak.

So before we can look at different ways to sell your product, we need to look at what most people in business are doing … and that is, in most cases, they are only selling their products through one “selling channel” - a retailer will only sell in a shop, a wholesaler will only sell to retailers using agents or sales representatives, a mail order merchant will only sell using mail order, and so on.

If you compare your business to a building that is only supported by one foundation pillar (the selling channel), and the building gets bigger and bigger, that’s OK as long as that pillar remains strong. However, if for any reason that one pillar weakens, your whole building comes crashing down. If, on the other hand, you build your business on many pillars (selling channels) and one of them weakens due to economy or whatever … your business still stands firm.

In other words, the more ways you sell or distribute your product the more solid your business. Joseph Cossman - a self made millionaire - used this multiple selling channel technique to sell millions of dollars worth of products over 20 years! In his opinion …

>> 25% of your success is product

>> 75% of your success is in the

selling and promotion of that product He used this procedure dozens of times and it never failed him. So now we use the same process for selling our information products.

We’ve sold our products using direct mail, faxes attacks, magazine and newspaper advertising. We’ve used retail and online bookstores and wholesale distributors. We have sales people selling our products and we have been participants in trade shows and even sold by seminar selling methods. We’ve licensed other people to reproduce and sell our products.

So from first hand experience, we can confirm that this “multi selling channel” approach really works. We’ll take a look at the successful formula that Joseph Cossman and many other successful business owners have used, but before we do so, you’ll need to develop a couple of selling tools to promote your new product.

Tool 1: Promotional Article; A new product is likely to be sold through several “selling channels”. To be able to do this you’ll need a “promotional article” or a catalogue sheet, written about your product. This sheet should have a photo of your product and a good description of what your product is and how it’s to be used, plus what benefits the customers will get by using your product. Keep this sheet low cost - black and white will do fine. This selling tool will be used to give to your distributors, to accompany press releases, used at trade shows and so on.

Tool 2: A Testimonial Sheet;This should be from your satisfied customers, end users, distributors and dealers. Testimonials sell and give your product credibility. The best way to get them is to audio-tape your happy customers telling why they liked using your product or doing business with you. That way you can use the testimonial in a transcribed form (on paper), or on audio-cassette. And If your products are expensive enough to warrant it, you can even do the testimonial using high quality on video which is really effective. Today you can actually most of them on DVD because the costs are so low and easily accessible using very low cost tools.

Tool 3: A Good Sales Letter (Or Two) This is what will accompany the first two selling tools. A good sales letter will open many doors for you and your products, when you are selling to wholesalers, distributors, retail and business customers. Now that we have the necessary “selling tools”, lets look at how we can use them to sell your products. Obviously, not all of these will apply to every product or service, but with just a little imagination I am sure you’ll be able to make some of them fit whatever you are selling.

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3. “I spy with my little eye”
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Today you are in for a real treat. I’m going to share with you not one, not two - but FOUR great marketing concepts.

You know that in order to sell more you need to be different, so that other people will take notice of you and your business. But how I can be different if I sell safety equipment - how exciting this is? Well let’s see… here what can be done:

iswmli271005_3.gif

Now if you really wanted your business to be noticed by your prospective customers, not only that but also remembered.
Besides - make people REALLY want to know what a heck is this.
Click bellow to find out…

iswmli271005_2.gif

Did you know that one of most effective methods to reach your target customer is to send them a postcard? Why is that you may ask - well for starters - it’s already open. When a person gets it from the mail box - they have to read it. So you get their attention - now what - a good headline will help, indeed. See for yourself a great example:

iswmli271005_1.gif

Finally the easiest way to attract new business is to SAMPLE your product and service. The strategy must be simple to execute, follow and understand. The cost of attracting a customer will be only your cost of product or your time. See for yourself how this clever business did it:

iswmli271005.gif

More to come. Stay tuned, sell more, prosper and most importantly - have fun!

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In Next issue:

1. Golden Rule #14 of Successful Advertising.

2. Business Buster #4 Secrets of designing irresistible offer that sell to your best customer.

3. More of “I spy with my little eye”

How To Instantly Sell 65% More Of Your Products Or Services

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

How To Instantly Sell 65% More Of Your Products Or Services
by Kenny Love

Adding language translation software to your website can instantly increase sales of your products and services worldwide.

Even though language translation software has been available for several years now, few website owners are using it.

This is, I suspect, largely because website owners have not been consistently educated on the tremendous benefits of this particularly vital tool as well as its idea not having been widely promoted or publicized. As such, it is possibly considered more of a website embellishment than a business necessity.

This is ironic because, even though the Internet/World Wide Web literally presents us to the world via our websites, most of us simply (and perhaps, naturally) present our site information in our geographically limited and comfortable native languages.

Yet, in limiting our sites to our native languages, we are significantly decreasing our opportunities to not only show our interest in other cultures and their respective languages, but we are also eliminating our chances to create lifetime foreign customers, clients and their respective sales, as well as limiting our opportunities for true international business growth while establishing international business relationships.

To support my idea on why language translation software is a vital tool for any website owner, regardless of the nature of the site’s business or the products or services that it distributes, as an example, while a good portion of the world speaks the language of English to some degree, other “first language” persons would, obviously, prefer and feel more comfortable with being able to review any website’s content in their own native language.

If you are a natural English speaking individual, simply consider how you feel when you access a website that is in a language other than English, and a language that you do not understand. Comprehension can be a struggle, at best, and you are very likely to simply exit the site without further review.

However, in this particular instance, this situation does not only apply to English website owners, but from my experience of reviewing websites in other languages, it equally applies to non English sites as well.

However and again, it does appear that cultures outside of English markets tend to make more of an effort to reach out to English speaking markets by presenting their websites in, at least, the English language as an alternative.

Statistics reveal that by not having language translation software installed on websites, regardless of the sites’ native language or how well the site produces financially, website owners may be losing as much as 65% in sales of their products or services that they could otherwise be enjoying if their site presented itself in multiple languages.

This is because these particular foreign markets are not even aware of the sites since the single language sites do not make a proactive effort to promote and publicize themselves to foreign language individuals. This is a great disservice to both the website owner as well as to the prospective website visitor.

By default, it is safe to assume that a respectable number of potential foreign language customers and clients searching online “accidentally” discover any given site, yet, will pass on reviewing the site if it is not in their native language. However, consider the greater chances of attracting those same foreign individuals as sales prospects or lifetime customers if only the site were available in their native languages.

In this age of competition and niche market specialization, any website owner can utilize all of the assistance and information available to not only maintain their site’s sales, but to continually increase sales as well.

Now, regardless of what you currently earn from your website annually, imagine what the financial impact of a 65% increase in online customers or clients, a number of whom are likely to translate into online buyers, could do for your annual income compared to previous years.

Also, consider how beneficial your having already established a relationship with your foreign customers or clients via having their native language available on your site can tremendously benefit you should you attend business conventions or other business related functions in their countries.

At the very least, you will have an immediate advantage over your competition that has not taken the time to consider the greatly added value of installing language translation software on their websites and how it can benefit them dramatically.

Copyright © 2007 Kenny Love
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About the Author:
Kenny Love is president of MuBiz.com, a firm specializing in promotion and publicity for the entertainment industry as well as representing unique products and services. To learn more information regarding language translation software and how it can immediately benefit your website, visit MuBiz.com at http://www.MuBiz.com/MultiSpeak.html

7 Simple Strategies to Sell More of Your Products Online

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

7 Simple Strategies to Sell More of Your Products Online
by Steve Nash

So, you sell online - congratulations (and welcome to the 21st century ;-) )!

But does your online store sell enough? Chances are you could do with increasing your sales figures. And this article discusses seven simple strategies to help you sell more of your products online. And they are:

1) Build Trust In You And Your Website
2) Get Listed On Comparison Shopping Sites
3) Sell More Via Affiliate Marketing
4) Get More Visitors Using Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
5) Get Your Products Listed On Froogle
6) Use The Power Of Testimonials
7) Build A Store That Sells

So, let’s consider these strategies in a little more detail.

1) BUILD TRUST IN YOU AND YOUR WEBSITE

What do I mean by trust?

1.1) Well, you could simply feature a prominent photograph of your real-world store on the website. (If you can add photos of the staff, or include information about you that is relevant to the products you sell, then even better!)

1.2) You could also provide lots of helpful buying advice, relevant to the products that you sell online.

1.3) You might decide to write a regular online newsletter, to stay in touch with your site visitors.

Trust is important, online; trust will improve your conversion rate, and you *will* sell more products online.

Example:
* AGMillers: photo of a real meat butchers store
- http://www.agmillers.co.uk/

2) GET LISTED ON COMPARISON SHOPPING SITES

Dealtime, Kelkoo (and Pricerunner) are known as comparison shopping sites - they allow visitors to compare prices online. Add your products to their databases, and these popular websites could well deliver you lots of ready-to-buy customers. Costs to get listed on comparison shopping sites vary.

If your site offers competitively priced products, then getting listed on a comparison shopping site may well drive serious amounts of ‘ready-to-buy’ visitors to your site. (Kelkoo UK boasts of being a top-10 UK web property!)

Resource:
* Pricerunner
- http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/faqbusiness.html

3) SELL MORE VIA AFFILIATE MARKETING

How do you think Amazon sells so much product online? Yes, it builds trust in itself and operates a highly sales-focused website, but Amazon also utilises affiliate marketing.

Amazon is not the only online merchant doing this. Affiliate marketing is now a mainstream sales channel for many online vendors. As such, serious money can be made as an affiliate, earning commissions on sales or leads generated from his/her site. And that means that affiliate marketing attracts the brightest and the best, and they may well want to make money by promoting YOUR products.

There are start-up (and running) costs associated with affiliate marketing, and you will also need to put time and effort into this particular sales channel. But as long as you ‘work the numbers out’ properly, a well-operated affiliate program could really boost your online sales.

Affiliate marketing works. Find out if it can work for you.

Example:
* Digital Cameras (Amazon associate site, ahem!)
- http://www.best-digital-cameras.co.uk/

==Aside==
N.B. Find a list of the major UK affiliate networks in this online version of the article:
http://www.shoptour.co.uk/sell-more-products.shtml
==Aside==

4) GET MORE VISITORS USING PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINES

Paying per click for visitors to your website - via specific keyword searches on sites like Espotting, Overture and Google (ads appear at top, and in right-hand column) - can generate low-cost, targeted visitors to your site, when you want!

Do watch your spending however, and make sure that your bids are sensible.

Again, using pay-per-click search engines takes time and a not-inconsiderable amount of expertise, but a well executed pay-per-click search engine campaign can drive highly-targeted visitors to your site, and increase your sales.

Resource:
* Bid at pay-per-click search engines (Article)
- http://www.howipromotemywebsite.com/pay-per-click

5) GET YOUR PRODUCTS LISTED ON FROOGLE

What is Froogle? Well, to quote what is says on the website: “froo.gle (fru’gal) n. Smart shopping through Google.”

Yes, Google (and now Google UK) actually lists vendor products on its website, via a Froogle search. Your products could appear on Froogle and even directly on Google (who knows?). And there is no cost, either.

Froogle is coming to UK, soon. And if you want to get your products listed on Froogle UK (I recommend that you at least consider it), then visit Google today.

Example:
* Froogle search for coffee machines
- http://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?q=coffee+
machine&sampleq=1

6) USE THE POWER OF TESTIMONIALS

Are your customers happy? How do you know - they tell you, yes? So do you put these positive comments on your website, and if not, why not?

If you are lucky enough to have happy customers then tell the world about it, or at least inform site visitors who are considering purchasing from you. Use the power of testimonials to encourage others to buy from you.

You know using testimonials on your site makes sense, so I’ll say no more! (Just check out the example below, to get some ideas! ;-) )

Example:
* Concept 2 (testimonials on home page!)
- http://www.concept2.co.uk

7) BUILD A STORE THAT SELLS

Does your online store sell?

Frankly, there is little point in generating thousands of visitors to your site if your store does not sell.

So, where to begin. Well, you won’t go wrong if you do these things right:
- Provide clear and consistent site navigation
- Put good quality product photos on your site
- Get your site designed by a professional
- Place as few barriers to purchasing as possible

I could go on; I won’t.

Resource:
* Don’t Make Me Think (by Steve Krug, all about sensible site design. Highly recommended.)
- http://www.sensible.com/

So, there you have it.

7 simple strategies to help you sell more online - just implement one method as soon as you can.

Good luck, and remember you can review more examples and resources by visiting this online version of the article - http://www.shoptour.co.uk/sell-more-products.shtml

Copyright © Steve M Nash. All Rights Reserved.
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About the Author:
STEVE M NASH is the author of the ebook: “3 Super-Tips To Build, Promote And Profit More From Your Website.” Download your free copy now! http://www.wise-buys.info/bonus.shtml

He’s also the author of many popular articles aimed at webmasters, affiliates, even complete beginners. Read them here! http://www.wise-buys.info/webmaster-articles.html