You can pat yourself on the back if you’re one of the thousands of small business professionals that have set up a blog to communicate with your potential clients. Or, maybe you haven’t started your business blog yet, but intend to. Take note now so you can avoid some of the consequences of do-it-yourself blogging.
You’ve heard all the hype, listened to a few podcasts and teleseminars, and finally sorted out for yourself how blogging can really work for your targeted niche of readers and potential clients. You've set up your business blog.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “If I’m so smart at my business, why do I have a dumb do-nothing blog?”
Here are a few of the pitfalls of creating your blog without any guidance from blogging experts:
1. You don’t know how to use your blogging software, yet you expect to look like an expert and build credibility. How could you know? Blogs haven’t been around that long, and the blogging software is continually being upgraded. You need to learn how to use your blog features that increase your findability on the Internet and readership. For example, you need to regularly use trackback, pinging, and permalinks features.
2. You are writing in a vacuum, without knowing what questions your clients want answered. You haven’t done any keyword research, or asked your current clients what they’d like to read. Even worse, you under the impression that a blog should be like an online diary. You are writing about your personal life and details, detracting from the on-target, focused purpose of your blog as a business building tool.
3. You haven’t researched other blogs in your field, or spent any time on them, leaving comments. You need to get out there and raise your hand in the blogosphere, so people will know you’re there. You also need to know what’s going on in your field.
4. You haven’t put a subscription form on your blog, and you don't understand the whole RSS feed thingy. Your readers can’t find you or know when you have updated your blog.
5. You haven’t put any images on your blog and your blog doesn’t look as neat and tidy as your business is. It doesn’t reflect your business image or brand.
6. You haven’t put any content-appropriate ads on your blog, that don’t distract from your own products. Your blog has a non-professional, non-business look and feel to it.
7. You haven’t used categories for your blog posts and your readers are confused about wide-ranging subjects you write about. What is your core message? What is the focus of your blog? And important question you must answer for your readers: What’s in your blog for them?
8. You haven’t written anything for a month. When you’ve got a blog that has lack-luster traffic, your enthusiasm for writing begins to wane. Why bother posting, if no one is reading your words of wisdom? Then your blog slips even further, and begins to look like a ghost town. Worse, it’s still up on the Web, and people will find you and decide you maybe don’t care, went out of business, or changed your mind.
Here’s what is promised by having a blog:
- Search engines will find you better – website traffic galore
- Instant credibility in your area of expertise
- A way to communicate with people interested in your field
- Dialogue through comments with potential clients
- Increased sales of your products, whether tangible goods, informational products, or services
How could you possibly know the most effective blogging strategies and tactics without learning and guidance by experts? Sure, blogs are for everyone and the software makes it easy and cheap for anyone to start a blog.
But a professional business blog that drives traffic and gets clients must be optimized correctly and treated as a valuable marketing strategy.
Here are some solutions:
1. Study the professional business blogs in the blogosphere and model their strategies.
2. Buy an ebook on how to set up and optimize a professional business blog
3. Take an advanced course in blogging (not one that just tells you how to get a free account and set it up, but one to explain how to optimize for business.)
4. Hire a team of professional blog experts to coach you in using your blog for your business.
5. Hire a business blog consultant team to help you tweak your blog, or do an extreme makeover
6. Delete your blog and start all over again
Blogs are an effective and powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes and types. Like any tool, though, you need to know how to use it correctly to maximize your results.
About The Authors
© 2006, By Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. and Denise Wakeman
As the The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman have teamed up to work with professionals to maximize their marketing strategies by implementing blogs, ezines and ecommerce tactics. They have co-authored "Build a Better Blog: The Ultimate Guide for Boosting Your Business with a Professional Blog"," Confessions of a Reluctant Blogger: From Boring to Brilliant in 30 Days" and "Secrets of Successful Ezines: A Guide to Writing and Publishing an Ezine that Gets Results." Take The Blog Squad's free assessment to find out if you're ready for a business blog:
http://snipurl.com/Blog_Assessment
patsi@customizednewsletters.com
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Have You Heard About the Blog and Ping Combo?
You may have a new website you want to get indexed with the various search engines at the soonest possible time. Or you may have an existing website which you want to position well in the search engine results. Or you may have a good performing website which you want to remain competitive. Whatever your reason may be, you’re sure to benefit from the blog and ping combo.
Now, you may have heard or read about this before, but your never realized how it works. Or this may be the first time you have been acquainted with this surefire technique. Regardless, much can be learned from this article as we discuss the basics and the mechanics of the blog and ping strategy.
It All Starts With A Blog
Web logs, or blogs as people have fondly referred to them in recent years, were originally designed for social purposes. People used it as online diaries where they could post their thoughts, the events of their days, their secret desires and the likes. But blogs possessed some very special qualities that internet marketers found hard to dismiss.
* Blogs figure prominently in search engine results. The first few pages of some queries would yield many blogs occupying premium spots.
* Blogs are basically free web publishing tools. A little tweaking and it could become a website of its own.
* Blogs are easy to update. Just press EDIT or PUBLISH and you’d have new content in a flash. No need to change the source code. The system will easily take care of that.
* Blogs have their own communities. Bloggers often link with one another. This is a level of connectivity that is pretty hard to come by in other mediums.
Hence, online businessmen started using blogs for marketing purposes.
The strategy goes like this:
1. Create a blog dedicated to the subject your main website is catering to. Preferably, you should create an account with www.blogger.com , because this service is owned by Google, the most widely used search engine in the World Wide Web.
2. Post regularly, and include a link to your website in majority of your messages. Also include your links with popular keywords as anchor texts.
3. Include a link to your own website on the navigation bar.
4. Just to emphasize – you have to post REGULARLY. This means at least every other day. No sweat, though. Short posts of 200 words in length would be enough.
It’s About RSS As Well
Blogs produce RSS feeds. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, a technology that would allow you to broadcast any changes on your blog to subscribed systems. This is actually the heart of the blog-ping combo. You have to learn how to syndicate your RSS feeds.
If you’re using blogger, it’s easy. Take your blog’s URL. For example, it is:
www.thisisyourblog.blogspot.com
Now, all you have to do is to add the extension atom.xml. So, it should appear like this:
www.thisisyourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml
This is the URL of your RSS feeds.
Now you need an RSS aggregator somewhere which could pick up your RSS feeds. Preferably, it is a website that can be easily crawled by search engine spiders. The perfect spot for this is www.my.yahoo.com . Simply create a Yahoo account, then go to the said page. Find the ADD RSS button, then press on the same. Then paste the URL of your RSS feeds.
Every time you’d update your blog, RSS feeds would be generated and displayed in www.my.yahoo.com .
Now It’s Time To The Ping
Once your www.my.yahoo.com is set up, every time you’d post a new entry on your blog, you’ll have to go to www.pingomatic.com . Fill up the appropriate fields, then submit. This will inform a lot of blog directories that your blog has new entries. And this would drive the search engine spiders on a feeding frenzy. It’ll be a reminder for them to check out your blog come the next relevant query.
Again, you have to do this every time you will post a new entry. No exceptions!
How powerful is the blog-ping combo?
Your new website will get indexed in Yahoo within 5 days. This is guaranteed! And with Yahoo picking up your website, and with www.blogger.com being owned by Google, it wouldn’t be long until the world’s most widely used search engine would index your new website as well.
And if the blog-ping combo could do this for new websites, just think of the possibilities it could provide for older ones. Fantastic, isn’t it?
Now, you may have heard or read about this before, but your never realized how it works. Or this may be the first time you have been acquainted with this surefire technique. Regardless, much can be learned from this article as we discuss the basics and the mechanics of the blog and ping strategy.
It All Starts With A Blog
Web logs, or blogs as people have fondly referred to them in recent years, were originally designed for social purposes. People used it as online diaries where they could post their thoughts, the events of their days, their secret desires and the likes. But blogs possessed some very special qualities that internet marketers found hard to dismiss.
* Blogs figure prominently in search engine results. The first few pages of some queries would yield many blogs occupying premium spots.
* Blogs are basically free web publishing tools. A little tweaking and it could become a website of its own.
* Blogs are easy to update. Just press EDIT or PUBLISH and you’d have new content in a flash. No need to change the source code. The system will easily take care of that.
* Blogs have their own communities. Bloggers often link with one another. This is a level of connectivity that is pretty hard to come by in other mediums.
Hence, online businessmen started using blogs for marketing purposes.
The strategy goes like this:
1. Create a blog dedicated to the subject your main website is catering to. Preferably, you should create an account with www.blogger.com , because this service is owned by Google, the most widely used search engine in the World Wide Web.
2. Post regularly, and include a link to your website in majority of your messages. Also include your links with popular keywords as anchor texts.
3. Include a link to your own website on the navigation bar.
4. Just to emphasize – you have to post REGULARLY. This means at least every other day. No sweat, though. Short posts of 200 words in length would be enough.
It’s About RSS As Well
Blogs produce RSS feeds. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, a technology that would allow you to broadcast any changes on your blog to subscribed systems. This is actually the heart of the blog-ping combo. You have to learn how to syndicate your RSS feeds.
If you’re using blogger, it’s easy. Take your blog’s URL. For example, it is:
www.thisisyourblog.blogspot.com
Now, all you have to do is to add the extension atom.xml. So, it should appear like this:
www.thisisyourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml
This is the URL of your RSS feeds.
Now you need an RSS aggregator somewhere which could pick up your RSS feeds. Preferably, it is a website that can be easily crawled by search engine spiders. The perfect spot for this is www.my.yahoo.com . Simply create a Yahoo account, then go to the said page. Find the ADD RSS button, then press on the same. Then paste the URL of your RSS feeds.
Every time you’d update your blog, RSS feeds would be generated and displayed in www.my.yahoo.com .
Now It’s Time To The Ping
Once your www.my.yahoo.com is set up, every time you’d post a new entry on your blog, you’ll have to go to www.pingomatic.com . Fill up the appropriate fields, then submit. This will inform a lot of blog directories that your blog has new entries. And this would drive the search engine spiders on a feeding frenzy. It’ll be a reminder for them to check out your blog come the next relevant query.
Again, you have to do this every time you will post a new entry. No exceptions!
How powerful is the blog-ping combo?
Your new website will get indexed in Yahoo within 5 days. This is guaranteed! And with Yahoo picking up your website, and with www.blogger.com being owned by Google, it wouldn’t be long until the world’s most widely used search engine would index your new website as well.
And if the blog-ping combo could do this for new websites, just think of the possibilities it could provide for older ones. Fantastic, isn’t it?
Saturday, June 02, 2007
The Basics of RSS Feeds
With the new technology available in the worlds of electronic communication and the Internet, it can be hard to keep up with all the latest gadgets. In this article, we cover the basics of RSS feeds.
RSS is an acronym, and it stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. It is one of several ways that web authors and publishers can use to make sure that their updated information gets to their readers in a quick and efficient way. Most often, RSS feeds are used to update readers of blogs or news sites on new information that has been posted, or in the case of podcasts, new audio that has been uploaded.
Now that we have been able to answer the question, what is an RSS feed, let's take a look at how it works. RSS is maintained by using a code known as XML, which stands for extensible markup language. This generic data format is a good way to be able to send out your RSS feed without having to use a lot of graphics or other large file formats. A reader program, downloaded by the reader or subscriber to your blog or other website, is able to take the XML information and put it into a usable context so it can be read and enjoyed.
There are a few types of RSS feeds out there, most commonly RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0. While most people who use RSS today are updated to RSS 2.0 (the most user friendly and advanced version of the Really Simple Syndication feed), there are still a few older sites that use the 1.0 technology. Most of the RSS feed readers available today are able to read either format, but it is important to check before downloading or using a reader.
RSS feeds are easily used by the programmer, because many of the most popular website hosting and building sites allow quick implementation of this code. Other sites, such as Blogger (the most popular free blogging site and network) as well as the major blogging software companies, allow RSS feeds to be built from within their programs without needing the use of coding or other technical know-how. This means that all bloggers can use this technology to their advantage without having to learn a whole new set of codes.
What is an RSS feed? It's a great way to make sure your followers, readers or devotees can keep up to date with your web site and the information contained on it. It is also easy to use on both the publisher and consumer ends, making it a perfect solution for information dissemination.
Learn more about RSS feeds at MarketingTitan.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Halstatt_Pires
RSS is an acronym, and it stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. It is one of several ways that web authors and publishers can use to make sure that their updated information gets to their readers in a quick and efficient way. Most often, RSS feeds are used to update readers of blogs or news sites on new information that has been posted, or in the case of podcasts, new audio that has been uploaded.
Now that we have been able to answer the question, what is an RSS feed, let's take a look at how it works. RSS is maintained by using a code known as XML, which stands for extensible markup language. This generic data format is a good way to be able to send out your RSS feed without having to use a lot of graphics or other large file formats. A reader program, downloaded by the reader or subscriber to your blog or other website, is able to take the XML information and put it into a usable context so it can be read and enjoyed.
There are a few types of RSS feeds out there, most commonly RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0. While most people who use RSS today are updated to RSS 2.0 (the most user friendly and advanced version of the Really Simple Syndication feed), there are still a few older sites that use the 1.0 technology. Most of the RSS feed readers available today are able to read either format, but it is important to check before downloading or using a reader.
RSS feeds are easily used by the programmer, because many of the most popular website hosting and building sites allow quick implementation of this code. Other sites, such as Blogger (the most popular free blogging site and network) as well as the major blogging software companies, allow RSS feeds to be built from within their programs without needing the use of coding or other technical know-how. This means that all bloggers can use this technology to their advantage without having to learn a whole new set of codes.
What is an RSS feed? It's a great way to make sure your followers, readers or devotees can keep up to date with your web site and the information contained on it. It is also easy to use on both the publisher and consumer ends, making it a perfect solution for information dissemination.
Learn more about RSS feeds at MarketingTitan.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Halstatt_Pires
Friday, June 01, 2007
Getting Onto The Podcasting Bandwagon
There are 22 million owners of portable mp3 players in 2005. 29% of them have tried downloading and listening to podcasts at one point in time. We’re talking about 6,380,000 people who have been exposed to podcasts during a period when podcasting was just in its infancy.
These statistics alone will show you the vast potentials that can be found with the podcasting medium. As an online marketer, you’ll be able to reach a lot of people with downloadable podcasts. Not only this, but podcasting offers a slew of benefits that can only gain momentum in the coming months:
* People respond more to what they could hear rather than what they simply read.
* Podcasts offer a more exciting experience compared to conventional written works.
* Podcasts will attract prospects that you will normally fail to tap.
* Podcasts offer you more leeway in delivering your business message.
* Podcasts would give your business an instant boost in credibility, as people will get to listen to a real voice instead of having to read mere words.
The problem that many Internet marketers face when it comes to the prospect of creating podcasts is the seeming difficulty associated with their preparation. This is borne from simple unfamiliarity, however. The fact is, anyone – yes, ANYONE – can create their own podcasts without having to avail of special software programs for the same. Just follow the steps below:
1. Choose a subject.
2. Choose an engaging aspect of that subject, one which your target market would be interested to know about.
3. Prepare an outline detailing the important points you wish to discuss about the said subject.
4. Do some research, if necessary.
5. Prepare index cards which should contain some summaries of your points. You will refer to these to ensure uninterrupted recording that would streamline the process.
6. Attach a microphone to your computer. This is the only hardware you will need, aside from the PC terminal itself, of course.
7. Set up the Sound Recorder program that is bundled with your Windows operating system.
8. Begin recording.
9. Once you have finished your podcast, review the same using the Media Player which should also be bundled with your Windows operating system.
10. Enhance your podcast with the free tools that can be found at www.odeo.com/inbox.
11. If you wish to earn from your podcast itself, enroll it with www.fruitcast.com. They will include advertisements within your podcast, but you’ll get to earn a certain amount every time it is downloaded.
12. If everything sounds well, convert your file into .mp3 format.
13. Use Microsoft Front Page to upload the file to your web server.
14. Include your podcast link in website repositories like www.ipodder.com and www.podcastalley.com .
Just like that, you could have your own podcast ready to be downloaded. You would want to limit the length of your podcasts to 10 minutes per episode, however, so that the file size can be kept at a minimum. Additionally, you would want to serialize your podcasts into installments to capture the continuous interests of your listeners. They will then become your leads for some marketing purposes.
You could create podcasts for any topic you want. There is no limit, and each subject should command a healthy audience if the podcast is marketed correctly. Submitting the same to the websites we have mentioned above would be a start, but try to look for more avenues where you could promote your podcasts and you’re bound to reach more people in the process.
Afterwards, you could sit back, relax, enjoy all the benefits that podcasting can offer, and realize that yes, indeed, podcasting is as easy as 1-2-3.
These statistics alone will show you the vast potentials that can be found with the podcasting medium. As an online marketer, you’ll be able to reach a lot of people with downloadable podcasts. Not only this, but podcasting offers a slew of benefits that can only gain momentum in the coming months:
* People respond more to what they could hear rather than what they simply read.
* Podcasts offer a more exciting experience compared to conventional written works.
* Podcasts will attract prospects that you will normally fail to tap.
* Podcasts offer you more leeway in delivering your business message.
* Podcasts would give your business an instant boost in credibility, as people will get to listen to a real voice instead of having to read mere words.
The problem that many Internet marketers face when it comes to the prospect of creating podcasts is the seeming difficulty associated with their preparation. This is borne from simple unfamiliarity, however. The fact is, anyone – yes, ANYONE – can create their own podcasts without having to avail of special software programs for the same. Just follow the steps below:
1. Choose a subject.
2. Choose an engaging aspect of that subject, one which your target market would be interested to know about.
3. Prepare an outline detailing the important points you wish to discuss about the said subject.
4. Do some research, if necessary.
5. Prepare index cards which should contain some summaries of your points. You will refer to these to ensure uninterrupted recording that would streamline the process.
6. Attach a microphone to your computer. This is the only hardware you will need, aside from the PC terminal itself, of course.
7. Set up the Sound Recorder program that is bundled with your Windows operating system.
8. Begin recording.
9. Once you have finished your podcast, review the same using the Media Player which should also be bundled with your Windows operating system.
10. Enhance your podcast with the free tools that can be found at www.odeo.com/inbox.
11. If you wish to earn from your podcast itself, enroll it with www.fruitcast.com. They will include advertisements within your podcast, but you’ll get to earn a certain amount every time it is downloaded.
12. If everything sounds well, convert your file into .mp3 format.
13. Use Microsoft Front Page to upload the file to your web server.
14. Include your podcast link in website repositories like www.ipodder.com and www.podcastalley.com .
Just like that, you could have your own podcast ready to be downloaded. You would want to limit the length of your podcasts to 10 minutes per episode, however, so that the file size can be kept at a minimum. Additionally, you would want to serialize your podcasts into installments to capture the continuous interests of your listeners. They will then become your leads for some marketing purposes.
You could create podcasts for any topic you want. There is no limit, and each subject should command a healthy audience if the podcast is marketed correctly. Submitting the same to the websites we have mentioned above would be a start, but try to look for more avenues where you could promote your podcasts and you’re bound to reach more people in the process.
Afterwards, you could sit back, relax, enjoy all the benefits that podcasting can offer, and realize that yes, indeed, podcasting is as easy as 1-2-3.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Importance Of An Autoresponder With The Start Of A Home Business Campaign
Making money online is not always an easy task, but it can be made much easier with access to hundreds of potential customer's emails. That is where an autoresponder comes into action for your home business campaign. Having a home business autoresponder gives you a much better chance for long-term success as you capture names and email addresses of visitors.
No matter what type of home business campaign you intend to start up, building an extensive opt-in list of subscribers should be a major priority. The great thing with an autoresponder is that you can continuously add names and email addresses, allowing you to over time build up hundreds of potential customers.
If you have a website, it is essential that you access and use an autoresponder constantly. You can use the list for a number of reasons to help promote various subjects. If you don't have a website, having an autoresponder can still be beneficial to your needs. If you are promoting and selling a product online, you can still send your autoresponder address without directing people to a website address.
Building an opt-in list is of great importance for you for a number of reasons. This is a great way for you to promote your website or a specific product without doing it in an aggressive manner. One way to build up an email list is to give away something of value for free. You then tell the potential customer that in order to receive the free gift, they can locate it at your autoresponder.
Getting people to sign up for your autoresponder should be a simple task. All the information that is needed is generally a name and email address. If your free gift has any importance at all, it should be rather simple to build up a list. The kinds of free gifts you give out should be associated in some way to your home business campaign.
The most popular sources of free gifts include a free eBook related to your home business or subscriptions to a free newsletter. As long as you get the required information and permission to send the free gift to them, you now have another name and email address to add to your home business autoresponder.
From your home business autoresponder, you can then send out vast emails to the potential customers on an array of topics. You can offer more free information, updates and advancements to your website, and new products or discounts on products that you sell.
If you are running a home business campaign, it is truly a necessity to have an autoresponder if you wish to run a successful campaign. It is an easy way to reach hundreds of potential customers to help increase your sales, all through a home business autoresponder.
About the author
Vincent Murphy is the Webmaster/Owner of http://www.HomeGrail.com
Successful Home Based Business FREE GIFT, 6 FREE HOME BUSINESS EBOOKS: http://www.HomeGrail.com/newsletter-signup.html
http://www.HomeGrail.com
No matter what type of home business campaign you intend to start up, building an extensive opt-in list of subscribers should be a major priority. The great thing with an autoresponder is that you can continuously add names and email addresses, allowing you to over time build up hundreds of potential customers.
If you have a website, it is essential that you access and use an autoresponder constantly. You can use the list for a number of reasons to help promote various subjects. If you don't have a website, having an autoresponder can still be beneficial to your needs. If you are promoting and selling a product online, you can still send your autoresponder address without directing people to a website address.
Building an opt-in list is of great importance for you for a number of reasons. This is a great way for you to promote your website or a specific product without doing it in an aggressive manner. One way to build up an email list is to give away something of value for free. You then tell the potential customer that in order to receive the free gift, they can locate it at your autoresponder.
Getting people to sign up for your autoresponder should be a simple task. All the information that is needed is generally a name and email address. If your free gift has any importance at all, it should be rather simple to build up a list. The kinds of free gifts you give out should be associated in some way to your home business campaign.
The most popular sources of free gifts include a free eBook related to your home business or subscriptions to a free newsletter. As long as you get the required information and permission to send the free gift to them, you now have another name and email address to add to your home business autoresponder.
From your home business autoresponder, you can then send out vast emails to the potential customers on an array of topics. You can offer more free information, updates and advancements to your website, and new products or discounts on products that you sell.
If you are running a home business campaign, it is truly a necessity to have an autoresponder if you wish to run a successful campaign. It is an easy way to reach hundreds of potential customers to help increase your sales, all through a home business autoresponder.
About the author
Vincent Murphy is the Webmaster/Owner of http://www.HomeGrail.com
Successful Home Based Business FREE GIFT, 6 FREE HOME BUSINESS EBOOKS: http://www.HomeGrail.com/newsletter-signup.html
http://www.HomeGrail.com
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Urgency Marketing As A Surefire Way Of Generating Countless Sales For Your Online Business
You’ve most probably heard about the dynamic pricing strategy in internet marketing and how effective it could be. In this article, we’re going to discuss the intricacies of dynamic pricing and how, exactly, it would push your business to the heights of success.
Dynamic pricing is a process of gradually increasing the price of your product in prepared intervals. For example, you’re going to sell an eBook for the initial price of $25, with a warning that after 2 days, the price would increase to $30, and after two more days, the price would further escalate to $35, and so on and so forth.
What would be the result?
Mass hysteria. People would try to buy what you’re offering at the soonest possible time! You will experience amazing sales on the first few days of your offer. Not only that, you will be able to sustain interests for your product for the succeeding days of your marketing campaign because your customers would feel that if they do not take advantage of the offer immediately, they’d stand to pay for a higher price.
Can you see how powerful a strategy urgency marketing can be? Let’s take a look at the specific benefits of this approach:
* It will make your customers take notice instantly. A great headline for your sales page does the trick, yes. But a price that threatens to increase the longer they wait would be hard not too notice!
* It will trigger a sense of alarm in them. They’d immediately know that they should act fast, or else, they would lose a rare opportunity to purchase the product at a lower price.
* It is the best – yes, the BEST – kind of call to action. A call to action, of course, is that part of your sales page where you try to compel your readers to make a purchase. What could be more motivating than the opportunity to take advantage of a bargain before it’s too late?
* It will help you brand yourself as an Internet business that offers amazing prices. They’ll be on the lookout for your future products so that they could avail of a lower price!
There are some concerns about urgency marketing, but all of them can be solved through deliberated computations.
First, how would you be able to determine the initial price of your offer?
Remember our previous lesson about pricing? We mentioned there that you should price your product just right, never too low and never too high for what it’s really worth. Now supposing you have pegged $40 as your just price. Simply start out at $30 and end at $70 for your urgency marketing campaign. Set the interval at $5 per day. On the first day, you’d rake in orders for $30 per sale. On the second day, you’d garner $35 per sale. This would go on and on until you reach your maximum price.
Second, wouldn’t you lose profit by offering your product at a lower price, initially at least?
Not really. Remember, it’s not how much you sell, it’s how many sales you accomplish that matters. Imagine selling a hard-to-sell product for $500, with 2 sales per week. That’s just $1,000 profit for the period. Now, with urgency marketing, you could initially sell such a product for $200. Because of the compelling nature of the strategy, you’d be able to sell at least 10 for that day alone. That’s $2,000 profit for you!
Truly, urgency marketing is one of, if not the most, powerful marketing strategy in existence. But hush now, alright? This information is being shared with you in confidence. Let’s keep mum about it, least your competitors would know and utilize the same.
Dynamic pricing is a process of gradually increasing the price of your product in prepared intervals. For example, you’re going to sell an eBook for the initial price of $25, with a warning that after 2 days, the price would increase to $30, and after two more days, the price would further escalate to $35, and so on and so forth.
What would be the result?
Mass hysteria. People would try to buy what you’re offering at the soonest possible time! You will experience amazing sales on the first few days of your offer. Not only that, you will be able to sustain interests for your product for the succeeding days of your marketing campaign because your customers would feel that if they do not take advantage of the offer immediately, they’d stand to pay for a higher price.
Can you see how powerful a strategy urgency marketing can be? Let’s take a look at the specific benefits of this approach:
* It will make your customers take notice instantly. A great headline for your sales page does the trick, yes. But a price that threatens to increase the longer they wait would be hard not too notice!
* It will trigger a sense of alarm in them. They’d immediately know that they should act fast, or else, they would lose a rare opportunity to purchase the product at a lower price.
* It is the best – yes, the BEST – kind of call to action. A call to action, of course, is that part of your sales page where you try to compel your readers to make a purchase. What could be more motivating than the opportunity to take advantage of a bargain before it’s too late?
* It will help you brand yourself as an Internet business that offers amazing prices. They’ll be on the lookout for your future products so that they could avail of a lower price!
There are some concerns about urgency marketing, but all of them can be solved through deliberated computations.
First, how would you be able to determine the initial price of your offer?
Remember our previous lesson about pricing? We mentioned there that you should price your product just right, never too low and never too high for what it’s really worth. Now supposing you have pegged $40 as your just price. Simply start out at $30 and end at $70 for your urgency marketing campaign. Set the interval at $5 per day. On the first day, you’d rake in orders for $30 per sale. On the second day, you’d garner $35 per sale. This would go on and on until you reach your maximum price.
Second, wouldn’t you lose profit by offering your product at a lower price, initially at least?
Not really. Remember, it’s not how much you sell, it’s how many sales you accomplish that matters. Imagine selling a hard-to-sell product for $500, with 2 sales per week. That’s just $1,000 profit for the period. Now, with urgency marketing, you could initially sell such a product for $200. Because of the compelling nature of the strategy, you’d be able to sell at least 10 for that day alone. That’s $2,000 profit for you!
Truly, urgency marketing is one of, if not the most, powerful marketing strategy in existence. But hush now, alright? This information is being shared with you in confidence. Let’s keep mum about it, least your competitors would know and utilize the same.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Affiliate Marketing Website Models For Great Business
A registered domain name would give you an address in the virtual world. A web hosting service would give you a lot. It’s time to build your house.
But there are many kinds of houses, with each type serving a particular need. In the same light, there are many kinds of websites, and each type would also serve a particular need. Our goal right now is to determine the kinds of websites you could create to best serve you affiliate marketing concerns.
As an affiliate, here are a number of website models you could decide to employ. Let’s take a look at them.
A Review Center
You could create a website, preferably using a blogging software like that offered by www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com , which seeks to review the products that are released in the market. Here’s the deal, though. Review the products you are promoting. Naturally, you’d want your reviews to be favorable for the affiliate merchant’s offerings. So stress the beneficial points of the products so that your visitors may be encouraged to click on your affiliate link and be redirected to the affiliate merchant’s sales page.
An Affiliate Mall
An effective way of promoting your affiliate links is through an affiliate mall. You could make your website into an online catalogue of sorts. Display the products you are promoting, and attach your affiliate links. Provide a short but encouraging description for each product. Also include a small image of the product itself (as an affiliate, you are allowed to use the affiliate program’s images for your promotional campaigns, so you won’t be violating any copyrights by doing this).
This setup is quite empowering for your visitors. They are given the option to choose which among the products you are pre-selling would be most advantageous for them.
A Content Site
Content is king on the internet. People surf the World Wide Web in search for information. If you have the information they need, then you’re in business. You could focus on unique and quality information for your website, and include your affiliate links by way of recommendation or direct announcement.
There are many kinds of content sites which you could decide to build:
* a news site which offers the latest information on the market you will be catering to;
* an information hub containing guides and general information about the same market;
* a download center for valuable products you’re freely offering (this is great for a viral marketing campaign, which we will discuss in subsequent lessons)
An Opt-In Page
You will not be able to win all of them. You won’t even be able to win a majority of them. The best thing you could aim for is to gather the “yes” visitors, try your best to change the mind of the “no” visitors, and capture the contact information of the “maybe” visitors so that you could continue to convince them for a future sale. And this you could do with a mailing list.
By having them subscribe to your mailing list, you’d be able to contact them at any time, with new offers, or perhaps with some valuable tidbits that would warm them up to purchase what the affiliate merchant is selling. All you need is an account with an excellent autoresponder service, which you could integrate in such a page so that it will capture prospective leads on auto-pilot.
You could employ this strategy on any of the website models we have mentioned above, or you could make a web page specifically designed to capture the aforementioned contact details.
But there are many kinds of houses, with each type serving a particular need. In the same light, there are many kinds of websites, and each type would also serve a particular need. Our goal right now is to determine the kinds of websites you could create to best serve you affiliate marketing concerns.
As an affiliate, here are a number of website models you could decide to employ. Let’s take a look at them.
A Review Center
You could create a website, preferably using a blogging software like that offered by www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com , which seeks to review the products that are released in the market. Here’s the deal, though. Review the products you are promoting. Naturally, you’d want your reviews to be favorable for the affiliate merchant’s offerings. So stress the beneficial points of the products so that your visitors may be encouraged to click on your affiliate link and be redirected to the affiliate merchant’s sales page.
An Affiliate Mall
An effective way of promoting your affiliate links is through an affiliate mall. You could make your website into an online catalogue of sorts. Display the products you are promoting, and attach your affiliate links. Provide a short but encouraging description for each product. Also include a small image of the product itself (as an affiliate, you are allowed to use the affiliate program’s images for your promotional campaigns, so you won’t be violating any copyrights by doing this).
This setup is quite empowering for your visitors. They are given the option to choose which among the products you are pre-selling would be most advantageous for them.
A Content Site
Content is king on the internet. People surf the World Wide Web in search for information. If you have the information they need, then you’re in business. You could focus on unique and quality information for your website, and include your affiliate links by way of recommendation or direct announcement.
There are many kinds of content sites which you could decide to build:
* a news site which offers the latest information on the market you will be catering to;
* an information hub containing guides and general information about the same market;
* a download center for valuable products you’re freely offering (this is great for a viral marketing campaign, which we will discuss in subsequent lessons)
An Opt-In Page
You will not be able to win all of them. You won’t even be able to win a majority of them. The best thing you could aim for is to gather the “yes” visitors, try your best to change the mind of the “no” visitors, and capture the contact information of the “maybe” visitors so that you could continue to convince them for a future sale. And this you could do with a mailing list.
By having them subscribe to your mailing list, you’d be able to contact them at any time, with new offers, or perhaps with some valuable tidbits that would warm them up to purchase what the affiliate merchant is selling. All you need is an account with an excellent autoresponder service, which you could integrate in such a page so that it will capture prospective leads on auto-pilot.
You could employ this strategy on any of the website models we have mentioned above, or you could make a web page specifically designed to capture the aforementioned contact details.
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