Rarely-Used But Very-Effective Internet Marketing Tools - free …
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admin on January 15, 2009 – 8:30 am - Rarely-Used But Very-Effective Internet Marketing Tools
by: Willie Crawford 7eb
While many online marketers struggle to build a successful business, mine grows almost effortlessly. I’m going to share with you today the "rare" tools that I use to make that happen.
Briefly, my seldom-used tools are: actually caring about your customers; a lot of actual customer contact; and giving them tremendous value. Please allow me to provide examples of how to actually implement each. I’ll use examples from my own business so that you can see how EASY they are to implement.
Rarely-Used Tool Number One - Actually caring about your customers:
I’ve witnessed scams where retirees invested thousands of dollars in programs where they were told that all they needed to do was plug in traffic. Then they were offered this plug-in traffic for a few thousand dollars more. In every case, that untargeted traffic failed to produce many… if any… sales.
Having a HUGE list, I’ve often been phoned and asked to promote a program with a mailing or two to my list. I’ve been told that I just needed to plug into the system, allow them to "mine" my list, and they would build me a nice residual income. Ideal prospects from my list would identify themselves, they’d be signed up under me, and I could just sit back and collect the passive income.
I’ve seen this scenario in action before, so I do KNOW that this would generate a nice passive income stream for me. However, I also know that many of those recruited would not fare nearly as well. So, I’ve turned down all such offers.
Actually caring about your customers also often means telling customers NOT to buy some hot new product.
During many product launches, my customers have emailed me and asked if I felt that a given product was right for them. They often asked me at the same time if I had an affiliate url (if I had not actively promoted it to them). As often as not, I’ve advised them not to buy the product. If one of your customers hasn’t even finished going through the last major product that they purchased, perhaps you should advise them the same.
Rarely-Used Tool Number Two - Lots of actual customer contact:
First of all, realize that people buy from those that they know, like, and trust. Part of that puzzle is allowing them to feel that they know you. Online, one of the most effective tools for facilitating this is actually allowing them to speak to you, or at least hear your voice.
I accomplish this by "investing" 90 minutes of my time each week in a free networking and brainstorming call. The calls are actually very little work because other experts gladly join these calls and contribute freely.
Most Saturdays, between 11:00am and 12:30pm CST, I host these free networking and brainstorming calls. These calls are designed to allow my subscribers, clients, and contacts to connect, and also to help everyone involved improve their online marketing.
Some weeks we do reviews of 2-3 websites. Other weeks we have open Q&A. Other weeks I have "featured" guests, or I do a semi-lecture.
When we do website reviews, I email everyone slated to be on the call with a list of the sites, so that they can look at the sites before the call. Then everyone is free to offer their constructive feedback during the call.
One recent call was an all-open-discussion call. Topics covered included: methods and tools for combating or preventing email spam; the pros and cons of using private label articles, and ways to use them effectively; search engine optimization issues; and third-party credit card processors. As you might imagine, it was a very constructive call. All of these free networking and brainstorming calls have been very well-received. They all build customer relations, and they all allow existing and future client to connect with me (and each other) on a deeper level.
By the way, you can register for these call, get call-in details, and get instructions on how to submit your site for a free review at: http://williecrawford.com/free-brainstorming-calls.html
Another "almost effortless" customer contact tool involves sending many clients birthday or holiday cards. This shows them that you think of them as more than just a source of sales. We enter many customers, whose birth dates we have, into a database. Then we get an automated reminder a few days before, but the system can be set to automatically send them a card.
I use a system called "Send Out Cards" for this. This system allows me to send the same card to a batch of customers, or send a unique card to select customers. For those that get the "same" card, the card is still personalized with the customers’ information. The system allows you to indicated where personal data, such as names, children’s names, etc., should be inserted. The system can be completely automated (like an autoresponder) if you choose.
I send these fully-personalized cards, semi-automatically, for about $1 each (including first-class postage).
By the way, these are real, printed, full-color greeting cards, that you send right from your computer desktop. You can check out the system that I use for this at: http://SendOutCards.com/willie
Rarely-Used Tool Number Three - Deliver tremendous value:
My mentors often use the phrase "under-promise and over-deliver." This is just the opposite of what you see most hypey marketers doing today.
However, this is fairly easy to do. In fact, all of the things I mentioned above are a part of that formula.
This can be accomplished by giving customers numerous unannounced gifts with an order. It can also be in the form of making sure that every product you sell is worth many times what you charge for it.
Yes, value is in the eyes of the beholder. However, you can and should examine every product that you’re considering offering to your customers very carefully. If, when examining a product, you feel that you would not be absolutely thrilled if you personally had purchased it from someone else, then you should not offer that product to your customers.
Go back and study each of the tools and techniques outlined above. They are very powerful, and really do require very little effort. Used correctly, they will endear you to your customers, and allow your business to grow at a mind-boggling pace. Look for similar things that you can start doing in your business today.
Copyright 2006 Willie Crawford
About The Author
Willie Crawford serves as a consultant, mentor, and confidant to some of Internet marketing’s top income earners. You can tap into his 9 years of online experience and million-dollar, success-creating advice at http://BlueprintToInternetMarketingSuccess.com.
This article was posted on March 05, 2006
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The New Internet Marketing Trend - Streaming Web Audio by Ying Wang
Written byadmin on January 15, 2009 – 8:30 am - Putting MP3 audio files on the Internet isn’t something new or recently invented, technology, it has been making noise online for quite a number of years, but has never had been quite so popular and talked about as it is in today’s internet market. There is definitely a buzz around it today.
When I first started multimedia design seven years ago, MP3 audio files were already spread around the Internet. MP3’s popularity rose rapidly after Napster released their P2P file sharing network program in 1999.
Because the MP3 file size is much smaller then ‘MOV’, ‘WAV’ audio format, and has better sound quality, it didn’t take too long for MP3 to become a major digital audio format of Internet.
Today, it continues to dominate the Internet’s audio market, and has remained unchanged as the best choice among digital audio music formats.
Historically, there was a lack of Internet speed and the size of computer hard disks and ROM’s were relatively small and expensive. Especially MP3 files had to be converted from ‘MOV’ or ‘WAV’ file formats and the audio recording, editing hardware and software was very complicated to use, as well as very expensive and only professional studios had deep enough pockets to purchase.
Therefore, it had never been an easy tool for Internet marketers and web developers to use to their advantage. I can still remember the struggles to compress the audio files, and balancing the quality of the sound, to make it 28.8kbps modem compatible.
Very few business websites had web audio in their website, and the ones who did were only there as background music. There wasn’t any marketing purpose or strategy behind it. It was largely designers showing off their ‘advanced tricks’, trying to impress their employers, essentially an ‘e-toy’ for website designers.
Today, the Internet bandwidth is no longer a major impediment to Internet multimedia data transferring. Technology continues to evolve at lightning speed, computers now have massive capacities and the price of hardware has dramatically dropped, making it possible for web hosting company to provide a large amount of server space for website owners to store and transfer audio and video content, at an enormously low cost.
But the price of audio editing software remained relatively high, with more advanced features, but still posed a barrier to Internet marketers who intended to make audio a part of their Internet marketing.
This presented an opportunity for Internet Marketers and software developers. Together, they have worked out these issues, limiting seldom used advanced features, keeping only the most utilized, and developed a much more simple software for web audio recording.
This new web audio software and related services has been sold and used by Internet marketers and online business owners throughout the past few years and the results are quite convincing.
Some have claimed their sales conversion rate to have increased by 40) just by adding the audio sales litter on their web page. Can this be true? I will discuss this in more depth in another issue, but absolutely, web audio and video added a new ‘depth’, a new dimension to Internet marketing. It is mainly used for audio newsletters, web audio sales letters, audio testimonials, recorded tele-seminars, raining materials and more.
It is a very simple piece of software. If you know how to talk, and how to click, you can record your message and put it online. No experiences or technical know-how necessary, no special equipment needed, except a microphone connected to your computer.
I still use the advanced Pro version audio/video production software for my complicated projects, but I like to use this small, and feature-focused software for the smaller single task projects, because of the simplicity and the time saving. And the price of the software is so cheep!
For those who don’t have a computer, can’t figure out how to plug in the microphone into their computer, or are too lazy to do so, some marketers have even designed a telephone system for recording audio files for them.
You simply pick up phone, dial their number, record your message on their system, and they will deliver your audio file to your website. But you have to pay a monthly fee for your laziness, and you still have to pick up your phone and dial the number.
Some dedicated web hosting companies, such as the one I use, ThirdSphere, also jumped onto this new trend, including related features in their service package to gain sales. It provides Flash Audio Generator, Flash Video Generator software, and helps web designers to convert their pre-recorded audio and video file to a lightweight FLV file to be put online.
As a new highly effective Internet marketing method, streaming web audio and video will continue to grow in the Internet marketing realm and continue to grasp at Internet marketers and visitors’ attention for a number of yeas, until the day when all sites on Internet have a voice and talk to us.
For more information about how to use streaming web audio as am effective internet marketing method, and how to recording a mp3 audio for website use, please visit:
http://www.webaudiorecording.com
http://www.smartnewbies.com
http://www.webaudiorecording.com/recommends/WebHostForStreaming
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The Harsh Reality Of Starting Your Internet Marketing Business by …
Written byadmin on January 15, 2009 – 8:30 am - I’m guessing that if you had a food franchise business offline, you would treat it as if your life depended on it. You would probably even be willing to work 12-16 hours a day to keep your franchise running smoothly!
What you need to realize when starting an internet marketing business is that it is still a real business. Since you already invested up to a million dollars to start up your franchise, it makes perfect sense that you would do whatever it takes to first break even.
And after breaking even you would then wait a few years before you see a positive return on your million dollar investment. Most of you have a realistic mindset when it comes to a ‘real’ million dollar business like that.
But what happens when most of you start a home based internet business? For most of you, the first thing to come to mind is ‘fast money’ and ‘get rich quick’ and ‘effortless cash’. That’s okay, that’s what I thought when I first started in internet marketing.
However, this kind of mindset leads you into thinking that all you need to do throw up a fancy website, watch TV, hang out with friends, and play in your local sports league and you would be rich!
The reality is, to make decent money over the internet it takes time and effort, just like a real business. The only difference is that you are running a business over the internet and it also requires time and commitment.
You already know that an advantage of an internet marketing business is that it has virtually no overhead compared to a traditional franchise. BUT because it’s so cheap to start up, that is also internet marketing’s disadvantage.
Naturally, you and I tend to treat an internet marketing business more like a hobby than a real cash flow generating business because it’s easy to get in and easy to get out. Your life would not dramatically change if you started and did nothing with it and failed.
But in a traditional fast food franchise, you would starve if you had that kind of mindset. But because you put down everything you possess (home, life savings, etc) into your franchise; your focus, determination, and sacrifice to perform and treat it seriously is an absolute must.
You understand that about a franchise, so let me ask you what would happen if you treated your franchise like a hobby? What if you treated your fast food franchise like you treated your internet marketing ‘hobby’?
If you have a J-O-B, what will happen if you didn’t feel like showing up to work for a week because your friends were coming to visit?
What if you decided to close your franchise a little early because you must watch that new episode of ‘Sex In The City’? With that kind of attitude and lack of discipline, you would get fired and your franchise will close down.
Before starting an internet business, or if you haven’t given your internet business the attention it deserves, ingrain in your mind right now that you need to treat your internet marketing business as seriously as your job or business.
Like your job and business, expect to put in the time and effort into building your foundation with internet marketing. Only then will you be able to see the rewards and lifestyle that your internet business can give you.
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Are You Ready To Take Your Internet Marketing Business To A Higher …
Written byadmin on November 29, 2008 – 10:38 am - Are You Ready To Take Your Internet Marketing Business To A Higher Level?
So what’s the next step for your internet marketing business? Why, take it to a higher level, of course. Where else should it go? A good idea has to expand. But which step to take first? Let’s take a look at what you should do to take your internet marketing business and turn it into the next big thing.
Can you strat plan?
A great internet marketing business deserves more than just a gung-ho plan to take it to a higher level. Ideally, you should have a business plan prepared prior to building a website and running your business. However, if this isn’t the case, don’t worry. If you want to take the next big step, it’s not too late to come up with a business strategy that will match your goals and the nature of your internet marketing business.
Take stock of where you are at the moment. How long has your internet marketing business been running? How much did you have to spend to start it and sustain it on a month-to-month basis? How long before you received the returns on your investment? Are you earning? Is the income excellent or satisfactory or is it barely enough to cover the expenses necessary for the maintenance of the business?
What strategies have you implemented in the past? How well did they work? Which ones made a mark on your target market and which ones failed? Did you have to spend a lot on promotions and marketing? What type of demands did these efforts require from you?
Do you have a goal?
A goal may seem like a necessary but annoying component of your business but if you want to take it to a higher level, you need to know where you’re going. More importantly, you need to know if you’re already there. A goal will tell you if you’ve reached your destination or if you’re still flailing in the waters.
Do a simple graph. Put a dot on one end of a piece of paper and mark that as your starting point - where you are at the moment. On the other end of the paper parallel to that dot, place another dot and mark that as your goal - where you want to go. Now draw a line to connect the two dots. Along that line, begin writing the steps you need to take in order to reach the other dot. What strategies do you need to work on? What have you done so far? How will you reach this goal from where you are right now?
Intensify your campaign.
So you’ve worked on your promotions and ads before. Take a look at what you’ve done and learn your lessons from the past. If you’ve merely satisfied yourself with textual ads and banner advertising in the past, perhaps it’s time you explored other options, such as e-newsletter and e-mail campaigns. Maybe it’s the right time to start writing a blog in relation to your business or to promote your expertise.
What about your search engine rankings? How have you been doing? Have you made some extra efforts into ensuring your SEO and link building campaigns work to your advantage? Have you tapped other industry websites for link building? Have you created a targeted marketing campaign that brought in the right traffic? Have you built your lists?
Is it time to become an expert?
Whether you like it or not, becoming involved in the internet marketing business means building your own reputation. Take a look around you. You’ll see that a huge part of this industry is built on someone’s reputation. There are more names and personalities in this business than company names and brands. And even if there was a well-known brand, it was still inevitably linked to someone’s name.
Consider this route carefully. Do you have the experience to become the next internet marketing guru? Have you gained enough experience to teach internet marketing newbies? Maybe it’s time to start taking your business to a higher level by sharing your own expertise and experience. By becoming a recognizable personality online, your business gains more exposure.
Follow a star’s example.
Is there a particular business owner or personality in the internet marketing industry that you admire or whose track record you want to emulate? Research about this person. How did this person begin his business? How did he get to where he is? What are his significant contributions to the industry? Who is he affiliated with? What has he done that helped build his business? If you want to take your internet marketing business to a higher level, learn from the examples already set by the most successful people in the industry.
By: nathfiset
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
For more information on internet marketing for beginners please visit: www.thebiginternetmarketinggame.com/thenextlevel.html www.thebiginternetmarketinggame.com www.drnathaliefiset.com
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3 Common Misconceptions About Internet Marketing Revealed
Written byadmin on November 29, 2008 – 10:38 am - 3 Common Misconceptions About Internet Marketing Revealed
Back in the 1980’s in the health industry, the belief was that eating a high carbohydrates, low protein, and low fat diet was the healthiest way to go. Most carbohydrates were considered good. And ALL fats are bad.
Unfortunately when the carbohydrate rage was going on, we see an increase in obese people and diabetes. Not too healthy is it? Now, a balanced diet and eating healthy fish fats is accepted as the healthiest way to go. The carbohydrate myth is now debunked. (That is the fact as I see it, anyway)
The same thing goes on with internet marketing and today I’m going to help you debunk 3 common myths about internet marketing:
Myth #1
Internet Marketing takes no effort to build!
This is probably the most popular myth about internet marketing. Although internet marketing is in fact the lazy person’s way to wealth (legally and morally), the truth is that you still have to put out work in the front end before any real money is made in the backend.
Once you put enough work in the front end to develop a solid internet marketing foundation, you can then relax on the beach while the residual comes pouring in - all without lifting a finger!
Myth #2
All you need is a great website with all the best graphics and animations!
You can’t just put up a website, tell your brother and sister about it, sit at home and watch TV all day and expect to have the cash magically appear in your bank account. You will still have to distribute, develop and market your product or service to people before anything significant will happen.
Many people spend tens of thousands of dollars having their websites developed without even thinking about the market they are selling their product and service to. They have all the flashy and colorful images and cute animations to impress visitors. Unfortunately, without a market, the only person that will look at their website and be impressed with it is themselves.
It’s like setting up your own professional practice or retail store and only telling your friends and family. No advertising and no marketing. Unless you have a HUGE family and have thousands of friends to support you, you’ll be out of business in within months!
Myth #3
The BIG money in Internet Marketing is all hype and bullshi*!
People who believe in this garbage probably believe that the only way to make money is to go to school and earn wages at their cubicle. Although these people are half right, they get what they believe, all of the hype and bullshi*, and none of the BIG money.
When an internet marketing ‘guru’ promises that his program will make you a millionaire in a month, he is a fraud and that’s why internet marketing is sometimes viewed by some people as scams.
But don’t take financial lessons from wage earners, it’s like taking hockey lessons from Michael Jordan; you are learning from people who don’t know what they’re doing on those subjects. In our case, broke wage earners giving us their opinions about internet marketing!
If I told you how much a successful internet marketer makes, you wouldn’t believe me. Do your investigation and interview some top internet marketers. Find out his lifestyle and if it’s a lot better than yours, you’d better listen up
In conclusion, remember that an internet marketing business (like any business) requires effort and a marketing strategy in order for you to make the big bucks. Throw out all the myths that are now debunked and embrace the realities of internet marketing.
By: Alan Quan
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Alan Quan is a certified Internet Coaching Empire coach and specializes in helping people build their own successful internet marketing business. Visit his website at e-bizcoachalan.com/success.htm and find out how he can help you to quickly accomplish your goals and boost your internet profits.
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