How To Create Offers People Act On

A marketing issue that baffles and frustrates many small business owners is when they make an offer to sample a product or service they sell and there are no takers.
Example: Why isn't the Phone Ringing?

Diane wants to build her real estate business by attracting more first time home buyers. On her web site's home page, along with the usual listings, she has an offer which reads, Are you buying your first home? Call me for free consultation at 1-800-NEW-HOME.

The offer has been up for six weeks and although people are visiting her website, the phone isn't ringing. Diane is discouraged and wondering if "this Internet marketing stuff really works?"

Has this happened to you? You create an offer--maybe a very generous offer--and no one takes you up on it.

It's really discouraging. I know. It's happened to me more than once.

So what's going on here? Bottom line: your offer may be a good one but you're making it at the wrong time for most of the people visiting your website.
What do I mean by "wrong time"? Here's an example:

Dan and Lisa are married couple looking for their first home. They're great prospective clients for Diane. Lisa is on the Internet checking out homes for sale in the neighborhoods in which they're interested and one of the websites she looks at is Diane's.

Now, let's assume that Lisa sees Diane's offer. Why doesn't she pick up the phone and call?

For the same reason most of us don't pick up the phone and call: we're concerned we're going to get a sales pitch and be pressured to do something we're not ready to do.

Solution: Small Steps Over Time

The way to create offers that people act on is to set up a series of small steps you ask prospects to take over a period of time.

For example, let's say that instead of offering a free consultation, Diane's offer is this:

"Click here to get my free report, The Ten Biggest Mistakes First Time Home Buyers Make."

When a prospect clicks the link they are asked for their email address so Diane can send them the report.

She will get a lot of takers on this offer.

Now that Diane has collected some emails what are the next offers she might make?
She sends those who downloaded the report two emails in the next 30 days that focus on specific points in her report. These emails also include an invitation to subscribe to her weekly ezine.

Those who subscribe receive a weekly ezine with information that's useful to first time home buyers.

In each ezine, Diane includes her original offer for the free 30-minute consultation.
Diane's free consultation offer is still there but prospects see the offer after taking two intermediate steps: (1.) Getting the free report; (2.) subscribing to her weekly ezine.

How Long Does It Take?

Some people will point out, "Yes, but won't it take longer to get prospects to the phone...what she wanted to begin with?" These folks worry that they're wasting time with little intermediate steps instead of just cutting to the chase.

It does take longer. Depending on the service your business provides, it can take anywhere from 8 weeks to several months. And there will be people who read your free reports and ezines for quite a while before they buy something.

But here's why offering small steps is so important. Why several small steps over time work so much better than asking for a giant step right away:

Effective marketing and sales are all about building trust and credibility. As human beings, we develop trust when we experience repeated demonstrations of trustworthiness over time. No matter how persuasive the sales pitch, no matter how many testimonials are in the copy, very few people will make a large financial or emotional commitment at first sight.

They will, however, make small, low cost commitments at first sight. And they will be willing to make larger commitments over time as you demonstrate value again and again.

Final Word

If you are making a generous offer to prospects but very few if any are responding, you may be asking them to do too much too soon. Consider adding at least one low cost, low commitment intermediate offer that gives you the opportunity to build trust over time.

About The Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com

Basic Things All Affiliate Marketers Need To Survive Online

Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication. There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and are continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to increase your sales.

1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.

Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do for those who buy them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive, compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to read more and contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers learn what the page is about and make them want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very topside of your page so they cannot be missed. Try to create auto responder messages that will be mailed to those who put their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.

Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified periods, you will remind them of the product again. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.

Focus on important points like how your product can make life easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dump emails with free in them. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail themselves of your products and services.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that are focusing on your target customers.

Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100-targeted readers to your site in a day.

Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits to your website in a day, that means you have a chance at making 10 sales.

About the Author:
Eugenijus Sakalauskas
E-Ezine - Free marketing recourses,
website promotion tips
http://ezine.pluginnetproefit.com/
Get FREE info: plugin@freefollowup.com

Internet Marketing - Affordable Efficiency

Bonnie Jo Davis wrote very solid article on affordable Internet Marketing. These are all good steps to take whether you are just starting out or have been online for a while.

Click here to read the article

Internet Marketing Blog

Here’s a blog I came across about Internet marketing, which I think is pretty helpful:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4091/The-Single-Most-Important-Ingredient-in-Your-Internet-Marketing-Strategy.aspx

100 Best Marketing Tips

I was looking at a blog called Small Business Trends and they offered a downloadable PDF document made up of the 100 best marketing tips that readers sent in. She said we could share, so here you go: Download your copy of 100 Best Kept Marketing Secrets here.

How to boost sales by Internet Marketing

Day797
Internet Marketing, also known as Online Marketing, Online Advertising or Internet Advertising, is the promotion of products and services over the Internet. Internet Marketing, in fact, aims to create a better business opportunity for an organization by promoting its products or services using online media; hence, businesses - both online and off line - are increasingly making use of Internet Advertising as part of their marketing strategy.

Initially, Internet Marketing was all about building a website or putting up banner/display ads on other websites. A website with appropriate text content, image inclusions and audio/video features is indeed an excellent option of reaching out to global audience and informing them about a company's products/services, their features, et al. The website remains the basic building block of Internet Marketing even today; however, it is now being blended with key web site promotion techniques in order to achieve the advertising goals.

Internet Marketing Key Techniques

Search Engine Marketing Search Engine Marketing or SEM is the process of marketing or advertising a website via search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and others. Two totally different approaches are followed for Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization and Pay per click Advertising.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a web site promotion technique that improves the site's organic ranking in searches based on select keywords/phrases and attracts more web traffic. If you have an Internet Business, SEO is something you cannot simply do without.

Pay per click or PPC Advertising which appear as links next to the organic results on search engine result pages involves listing a website by bidding on keywords. PPC calls for methodical keyword selection/optimization so that the keywords match with the search terms used by target segment of users and capably increase web site traffic.

Pay for inclusion (PFI) listing in website directories is another popular SEM technique.

Email Marketing Email Marketing is the method of conveying information about a product or service through email. After the initial glitch (on account of spamming), email marketing has been effectively used for web site promotion. These days, of course, it is permission based email marketing that is being practiced and internet businesses are using the opt in lists, giving the customers the right to refuse further communication.

Mass mailing and e commerce newsletters are two popular e-mail marketing tools.
Banner Advertising Banner Advertising is an Internet business marketing technique, which revolves round placing dynamic graphic ad links in others sites. Users require clicking these links to open your website.

Online Promotion Techniques Different online promotion techniques or Social Media Marketing Methods, like posting blogs, comments and opinions as also press releases (related to the product or service) in a discussion forum are also effective Online Advertising processes. Article Marketing involves listing articles in article directories, article repositories and/or article banks.

Affiliate Marketing Affiliate marketing is a rather innovative and interesting form of Internet Marketing, wherein marketers promote and sell other products/services as part of a program planned by the product manufacturers and/or service providers. The affiliate is either awarded a flat fee or receives a good percentage of the sale proceeds.

The Social bookmarking sites are a great help for people with affiliate marketing programs because such sites are a free and effective way to get back links and drive traffic to websites and blogs.

These are some of the most effective Internet Marketing techniques that work on a personal level to promote a website, increase web site traffic and add to the profitability of the Internet Business. Of course, one does not need to follow all the techniques or strategies for a successful Internet Marketing campaign; instead, it is careful planning and meticulous execution that help achieve the goals of Internet Marketing or Online Advertising

Author: Dipti Pathak is a freelance writer. She has been writing online articles on various topics since 2003. She provides SEO consultancy to SwamiSEO.

Internet Marketing Dictionary

Day719
I found a helpful site for those just starting to learn about Internet marketing. It’s an online dictionary of all the terms related to this fairly new field.

http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/

List of social networking websites

Day707
Everyone knows that social networking is huge, but who knew there were so many of them! Wikipedia has a great list with links to each site and how many members.

Check it out! Social Networking List

More Internet Marketing Tips

Successful Internet marketing is not just getting lucky. Instead, successful Internet marketing is about making a plan based on the tools that have already proven successful and working that plan until they prove successful for you as well. The following tips for Internet marketing should help you get started and be successful as well.

Internet Marketing Tip #1 Well Designed Site
A well designed site from the font to the colors used as well as the layout is critical for success. Once you get people to your website you want them to stay there and in order for this to happen your site needs to look professional, be user friendly, informative and have all the information easily accessible to visitors. If you cannot design a site yourself then hire someone to do it for you. This expense really is worthwhile because a professional site reflects professional products and services whereas an amateur looking site reflects an amateur business that is not to be taken seriously.

Internet Marketing Tip #2 Links
Links are very important to your Internet marketing campaign simply because they will help you in the ratings. Because of this you want to strive to have as many one-way links or even backwards links to your site as possible. The more you have the higher your site will be ranked with Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other big search engines and the more visitors you will have.

Internet Marketing Tip #3 Keywords
Many search engines focus on keywords to help rank your site. For example, when an individual searches for a particular brand of shoes and you sell those shoes you want to be ranked close to the top to help you get a new customer. If you want that customer you need to include the keywords he is searching for on your website to help your site be returned as a result. Because of this you need a variety of keyword articles on your site that are written around a variety of keywords that people use to find your products or services.

Internet Marketing Tip #4 Things to Avoid
Your Internet marketing can be perfect and bring in lots of visitors, however if your site uses frames, flash, JavaScript, and things of that nature that make it difficult to load your site then you will lose your visitors no matter how low your prices or great your products or services. So, when you are designing your site be sure you are aware of the different design methods that could make your site look really good, but take too long to open and turn visitors away.

About Author:
To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work from home Visit: http://www.SPBestBuys.com

Article Source: http://www.BharatBhasha.com
Article Url: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/home_business.php/42749

Still Spooked by E-Mail Marketing?

Day663
Here's another article by my favorite internet consultant. (My husband!)

E-Mail has been around for roughly 15 years already depending on what you count as the beginning. Hard to believe isn’t it? Remember when you got your first email address? Maybe it was at work, maybe it was through Compuserve, Prodigy or AOL…you dialed a local number from home, sometimes several times to get a free line, then waited while the email crawled in. “You’ve got Mail” was a happy time back then. A lot has changed over the last few years and the term “email” has become a noun, a verb and sometimes a curse word. With all the filters, privacy tricks and even laws to protect us, email has certainly taken on a life of its own and there are a lot of folks around the world always trying to get around these various barriers causing the rest of us to be on the continual defensive.

I bet you occasionally get a good or at least necessary email though even today. Like a hole in one on the golf course (I’ve never gotten of those) it’s enough to keep you going back and slugging through the rest, for that relatively rare gem.

While I am not in a position to solve all of our issues with email today, I can report to you that on a dollars earned to dollars spent basis, email marketing for business is more than twice as profitable ($45.65 for each dollar spent) as the next most profitable direct marketing you can do which is internet advertising ($20.19 / $1) according to a study done in 2007 by the Direct Marketing Association. The numbers continued to decrease for newspaper, direct mail, telemarketing and so on. Yes in spite of what you may have heard about open rates (yes they are low) and automatic filters (they can tend to keep out honest messages as much as malicious ones) email marketing is extremely cost effective.

Some tips on using email marketing effectively: 1. Do NOT buy lists. There are plenty of better ways to get email addresses of people that are actually interested in what you have. Start by asking your existing customers. 2. Do NOT send emails too frequently. The correct frequency will be related to the value you are offering. Don’t send them just to send them, but have a purpose, and one that has perceived value in the mind of the recipient. 3. Do NOT abuse your list. Those who give up their email address to you do so with a level of trust. If you violate that trust you will lose them and probably sooner rather than later.

For more on proper and effective use of email you can attend a Lunch & Learn session at the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce on November 14th at 12 noon. I will be presenting and leading a discussion on how to use email most effectively. You do not have to be a chamber member to attend. Contact the Chamber at 328-6111 for more information or to register.

Using technology can be frustrating at times, but it is not going away so we can either try and run the other way and get crushed or we can learn to use it effectively and prosper with the best going into the future. With the Holiday Season upon us there is no better time to get a handle on this not so new but continually evolving technology.

John Geiger, owner of Webmasters ICE, has over five years experience helping small and medium-sized companies and organizations capitalize on the power of the internet through consulting, education, and supporting products and services. His focus and passion is the use of the internet in providing more effective overall marketing strategies and highly measurable levels of marketing success. http://www.webmastersice.com/

10 things you can do today that will improve your Internet Marketing

Day453

I’m still reading MarketingExperiments.com. There is so much information! All important to online storeowners too. The site has a blog and I am including a link to ”10 things you can do TODAY that will improve your Internet Marketing” by Jimmy Ellis:

http://www.marketingexperimentsblog.com/

Click... Are You There?

Day381
Here’s an article from my favorite guest author – my husband:

Business owners and managers often ask "How can I make sure people find my site when they search on the web?" The best answer depends on the particular business and marketing strategies of an organization, but a quick overview can be a great start to helping understand the business of marketing your website.

It should not be the primary strategy of every website owner to be stumbled upon by web surfers of all persuasions. Factors such as intended audience, and intended interaction with that audience, weigh heavily when planning a good strategy. Selling products, building a database, and providing a support service all require different marketing strategies. Having said that, let's look at some variables to consider when integrating website marketing into your overall internet and business strategies.

1. Search engines are only one of several key pathways to your website. Including your site address (URL) on business cards, stationary, advertisements, telephone messages, vehicles, signs, other websites, and word of mouth can be more effective than being on the first page of a particular search by keyword or phrase.

2. Search Engines such as Google and MSN as well as directories like Yahoo are registration based. If you do not register your URL with a particular search engine it will generally not show up at all. Site registration is a conscious and specific activity that must be executed, whether by site developer or site owner. The registration process is similar to announcing your presence, and invites review by human and/or electronic "judges" that accept or reject each request for registration. Listing can take up to 90 days unless fees are paid for expediting. Mere registration does not guarantee rank, but in many cases this listing in conjunction with the methods described above makes up the critical mass of a good internet strategy and costs little to nothing.

3.For those businesses marketing products or services across geographic boundaries, or when the internet is your primary or exclusive channel to market, it may be cost effective to tweak the design of your site and/or pay search engines for positioning by way of a technique much like advertising. Known collectively as Pay Per Click (PPC), major search engines allow you to buy position on the top pages of search results for specific search words and/or phrases paying a fee only when each surfer clicks through to your site from the listing. This can be cost effective when your success highly depends on exposure and volume and can be an excellent jump start to a new business but can be dangerously expensive without a carefully thought out plan.

John Geiger, owner of Webmasters ICE, has over five years experience helping small and medium-sized companies and organizations capitalize on the power of the internet through consulting, education, and supporting products and services. His focus and passion is the use of the internet in providing more effective overall marketing strategies and highly measurable levels of marketing success. http://www.webmastersice.com/

Top 3 myths about internet marketing

Day104
I’m lucky to have a husband who is an internet business consultant! I use his tips all the time!

Top 3 Myths About Internet Marketing by John Geiger

Lack of understanding and old thinking has long cost small business owners their competitive edge and despite a steady stream of research proving the effectiveness of Internet marketing, yet again, it has mostly been larger firms taking advantage of this new advertising medium. According to projections by eMarketer.com, online ad spending in 2005 grew by more than 30%, surpassing the $10 billion mark for the first time. But many small and medium-size business owners (SMEs) are still wary of introducing Internet marketing to their business plans. If you listen to their reasoning, the Internet might be considered as the fax machine once was: unnecessary, unproven and not cost effective. Well, today ignoring the benefits of an Internet marketing strategy can cost them far more in lost profits than choosing postal mail over faxes. Recently a study was done to determine the top 3 reasons small businesses have been reluctant to fully embrace the increasingly relevant Internet in their marketing plans. The results showed similar misconceptions on both sides of the Atlantic as to what Internet marketing is, and what it can do for their business. Myth #1: "My business doesn't need Internet marketing" Lack of perceived need was the most common reason offered up by the focus group participants, but few successful business owners would ever say that their business doesn't need to advertise. Internet search engine giant Yahoo!, whose advertising network reaches 80% of active Internet users (Nielsen/NetRatings, 2004) has hundreds of business categories in its directory right down to the smallest niche businesses. The reality is that if you have a product or service to sell, prospects are looking for it online, even if the actual purchase is made offline. The objective is that your website (or ad) be found when someone is looking to buy, and today's local search algorithms bring those local searches to you, the local business.
Myth #2: "Internet marketing is too expensive" It's well documented that small business owners are cost sensitive, but it's a misconception that Internet marketing is expensive. In fact, Internet marketing solutions are in many cases considerably less expensive than most traditional advertising media that business owners are more familiar with. For example, a modest display ad in a yellow page phone directory can cost a company thousands of dollars per year while offering virtually no way to target specific customers or track the quality of leads produced (if any). With that kind of budget--or in most cases considerably less--a Pay-for-Performance search engine marketing campaign can deliver precisely targeted (they are interested or they wouldn't click) leads to a business' website, while documenting which ads produce which sales, and even directly tying specific activities such as telephone calls, e-mails, and/or online forms directly to a specific ad for real-time analysis and action. Direct mail and print advertising can be replaced or supplemented with email marketing and online promotions for pennies on the dollar, again offering better customer targeting and performance tracking capability. And because Internet marketing solutions can be deployed far more quickly than other forms of advertising, business owners are better able to respond to changes in the marketplace and adjust on-the-fly.
Myth #3: "I don't know where to start" For those small business owners that do see the value in Internet marketing, not having an Internet marketing strategy comes down to a matter of choice--or too many choices. Unfamiliar with the topic, getting help can be quite daunting. They can't afford to make the wrong decision, so sometimes they play it safe and stay out of the game altogether. But that decision is shortsighted, and limits their potential in today's market. The best advice is to approach the situation the way you would when seeking out help in any other area: Ask around, get referrals from friends or acquaintances; don't make a decision based solely on price, and beware of offers that sound too good to be true. Ask questions about the company and their experience, and read through their own website. Find out how long they've been in business and ask for client testimonials and/or case studies. Also think about whether they are locally based - it is much easier to get help if they are close by and willing to visit your place of business.
As in the past, it's important that business owners become proactive and not let old thinking stifle their growth. The internet has been called the great equalizer, and in many respects epitomizes the very fabric of our free-market society. Companies who continue to ignore Internet marketing opportunities risk being left behind by competitors that have looked past the myths and discovered that sometimes changing the way things are done can be quite a profitable move.
John Geiger, owner of Webmasters ICE, has over five years experience helping small and medium-sized companies and organizations capitalize on the power of the internet through consulting, education, and supporting products and services. His focus and passion is the use of the internet in providing more effective overall marketing strategies and highly measurable levels of marketing success. http://www.webmastersice.com/

Internet Marketing Effectiveness

Day66

I wanted to share an article my husband wrote for a local newspaper about internet marketing. He is an Internet Business Consultant and has been loads of help to me.

Internet Marketing Effectiveness

With most small businesses, money is tight, and spent with the utmost thought and care. As in other areas of our business, marketing can either swallow up hard earned resources with little effect or can propel a business farther than imagined, depending on the execution. Marketing your business on the internet is in many ways simpler and arguably much less expensive than more traditional marketing media, but has its own set of considerations. In a recent article we briefly discussed Search Engine Optimization and Linking. Some of the other more popular ways to market on the internet include: Paid Inclusion, Directory Listing, Affiliate Programs, and Email Campaigns all of which have particular strengths and limitations. The bottom line for marketing of any persuasion is cost effectiveness; and measuring, interpreting and acting on the results most often make the difference between a successful marketing effort and a wasted expenditure or cost overrun.

Fortunately, measuring marketing effectiveness is very easy to tackle in the internet space. Site statistics reports are readily available on-line and virtually real-time, providing information such as: actual number of mouse clicks, unique visitors, and/or repeat visitors, geographic location, time of day, visitor's previous website (referral page), internet service provider, operating system...(you get the idea} all effortlessly collected, compiled and presented so that you can know exactly who/where/when/how often, and even how long your potential customers are visiting each portion of your site. Such site statistics packages are available through your developer or can be found by on-line search and usually a small subscription fee.

Simply increasing the number of visitors to your website is usually not the final objective however. If you have a walk-in store, you probably have a rough idea (at least seat of the pants) as to what percentage of your shoppers actually buys something. If you accept credit cards, you also know what your average ticket is in dollars, and how many transactions you ring up in any given period of time. This information, and more, can be easily gathered from your website and used to track not only how many more people your marketing effort has attracted to visit your website, but the actual increment in sales as well. Understanding both the site visitor demographics and the incremental transaction detail those visitors are bringing you is the holy grail of marketing and too often overlooked due to expense or difficulty of accomplishment with more traditional marketing methods. The ratio of transactions to visitors is commonly called the "conversion rate" and is critical to understanding the results of any marketing initiatives you undergo on the web.

Armed with this information you can make changes to your site, to your product or services offered, or to your marketing focus and immediately see where it is taking you. The entire process of transaction, data collection, and resulting action can take place virtually real-time. One of our clients began receiving orders within hours of launching their site with a Paid Inclusion campaign and could immediately see the who, where and when of the customer transactions as well as other data collected in the ordering process allowing them to adjust their strategies from day one as they saw fit. Internet marketing is relatively simple and can be a highly cost effective way to grow your business.

John Geiger, owner of Webmasters ICE, has over five years experience helping small and medium-sized companies and organizations capitalize on the power of the internet through consulting, education, and supporting products and services. His focus and passion is the use of the internet in providing more effective overall marketing strategies and highly measurable levels of marketing success. http://www.webmastersice.com/