From the recent recession busting tips report feedback, your biggest concern seems to be how to write at least 100 headlines for each campaign so that the “right” one is sure to jump out. Marie E says “I have trouble coming up with one headline - let alone 100!”.

Well Marie, you are not alone and so I am putting together a demonstration video this weekend to PROVE how easy it really is to produce at least 100 headlines, probably more. You will see it happen right in front of your eyes. So watch this space…

The reason writing so many headlines is SO important is that only after writing a lot does your brain finally settle down into the “groove” of the idea and starts popping out some really powerful headlines. Unless you can achieve this state, your headlines will never perform as well as they could.

With such a choice of headlines you also get plenty of choices for split testing so you can test your marketplace with different options to see how your customers react. Remember that your customers are human beings too and a headline that you think is fantastic might fall totally flat and produce few responses. Unless you test - you will never know.

Having such a choice of headlines also gives you plenty of strap lines and sub-headlines, all of which help to draw your prospects in to you and gives you plenty of fodder for your marketing media.

So, I will work on this video and hopefully post it here on Monday and dispel the myth that “I can’t write 1 headline - let alone 100!”

~Ray

Regular readers will know that I am not generally one to push particular products on this blog but every so often I come across something that is actually, surprisingly good, and when that happens I feel it is my duty to let you know about it.

Marketing Tutorials by Armand Morin is a monthly product which was launched last week in a flurry of affiliate marketing emails that you know doubt, somehow, received.  I have known about this gentleman for some years now and have never particularly liked the pushy sales techniques used to sell his products, but some of them are actually, exceptionally, good.  For example, I have used his focus generator on the main business website for a long time.  When I bought it it was the only way to get past internet browser pop-up blockers.  Now of course there are lots of ways but I still use the focus generator because it’s really easy to use.

I tried the sales letter writing program Armand put together but never got on with it.  I asked for a refund and it was given immediately, without any questions, and they even told me to keep the software!  A good example of outstanding sutomer service.  I haven’t used it since but it made me look at other products they offer knowing what a responsible outfit they are.

I also bought the e-book cover generator software.  This is a cracking program and even a challenged designer like me can produce outstanding e-book, cd, and software box images with just a few mouse clicks.

Anyway, having established that I like some, but not all of this gentleman’s offerings, I decided to bite the bullet and see what this new Marketing Tutorials  thing was all about.  Ever sceptical, I gave up my card details and was immediately given access to the website that no only has the monthly tutorials but also a load of bonus ones such as:-

These are not just 5 or 10 minutes long with a load of standard fluff information.  They are substantial videos and each one has solid information that anyone can use to boost their marketing results.

The first video I watched which actually compelled me to join was one on google adwords.  This was an hour long and gave me, an adwords virgin at the moment, a deep insight into how to use this massive tool, without fear of being bankrupted in the process.  It has inspired me to start a campaign for the recession busting tips report (once it is written!) and I will test out the knowledge for real.

As ever, I will keep you informed here of my progress.

So, if you are interested in having a look at this stunning marketing material, use this link here.  I know it is an affilliate link but I wouldn’t have written this blog if I hadn’t thought each and every one of you would gain massive benefits from even just watching the free video at the end of this link.  Don’t feel obligated in any way.  If you want to subscribe and don’t want to use my link, just remove from the end of the browser address bar.  But as Tesco says, “Every little Helps!”  And any contributions to the costs of maintaining this blog are gratefully received!

~Ray

Well, it has been a couple of weeks in the making but Chris has now finished his work on the Scout Christmas Directory advert I mentioned recently.  I am sorry about the distortion, that is down to my lack of ability to manipulate images.  The actual advert is A6 not square so the real thing looks much better, and a bit longer!  If you click on the image you should see the image properly presented in it’s full glory!

We have gone for a black and white image to reflect the current gloom the media are peddling all day every day at the moment and Chris decided to link the recession buster theme of the report to the historic “Dam Busters” of WWll fame.  I will do my very best to undo the negative media hype that pushes people into unwize and unnecessary decisions with this report.  That is my aim.

Anyway, love it or hate it, the advert is standing as it is.  Only time will tell if it manages to beat last year’s number of respondents!

I have also basically finished the website that the advert links to although it still needs some tweaking I think.  All the autoresponders are in place… all I now really have to do is finish the report.

I have been making great inroads into writing but it is far from finished.

I have today (weirdly) received a grumpy email from someone who came across the website registered for the report and complained that the report wasn’t attached to the email as I had promised!  Well it wouldn’t be yet would it!  The event was a tad embarassing but it shows that it is a topic very high in people’s thoughts at the moment.

Anyway, I promised to give you Chris Eccleston’s website address so that anyone interested in this young designer’s work has a point of contact.  It is http://thirteendesign.co.uk but there is nothing there yet.  Be patient with him as it is a very busy time for him as he starts to develop his brand new client base.  But don’t hesitate to contact him if you want a really new slant on your own marketing, branding or promotional materials.

~Ray

This is a guest post…

When a person comes online, they are generally looking for information and resources. Many people are searching for a way to make money online and therein lies the setup for an unhealthy partnering of newbie and Internet savvy scam artist.

Everyone that has been online for a while and has set up a business needs to market that business to pay their bills and to grow their business. However, marketing seems to be in need of growing a “conscience” when it comes to the ebooks, the software, and the tools that are offered to new people and those that are still searching for a method to better their life. Whether retail marketing or sponsorship program, each requires a lot of the person’s time and resources to market to the new client.

Every day there are emails offering the newest marketing blitz, the most cherished system that a person cannot live without, the only method to making thousands of dollars as evidenced by the checks the marketer has received. Granted, there are disclaimers, but it is like saying something in a courtroom. Once the word is out, it is highly unlikely that the jury is going to forget what was mentioned. The same goes for claims to wealth.

Receiving an email with a product that seems legitimate and is followed with a heart-felt sales offer will encourage many people to continue and become a representative. The story behind how the marketer got to his position, how he felt during the start-up phase, and how he managed to obtain the goals set is much more interesting than how much he received in his last check. There has never been anyone that could spend that marketer’s check but himself, so there seems to be no real reason to be showing checks in a sales solicitation.

After a person becomes a representative or purchases a product from a marketer, that marketer has a responsibility to help or lead the new person to obtain their goals. To keep retail sales from being cancelled, a follow up email on how to use the product or some of the benefits not mentioned previously or some general knowledge of how the product has helped others will be most welcomed. The follow up lets the new representative know that the marketer has his best interests at heart and that he is not just another notch in his sponsor’s printout sheet. Knowing there is a caring person behind a great product or program is more than enough motivation to a new person. This can be an inspiration to them to do well and to continue to try knowing that they have someone in their corner should a problem or questions come up.

Many Online marketing send out multiple solicitations to join their respective companies and, honestly, just wait to see who takes the bait and runs with it. That is one method of marketing, but it seriously lacks a sponsor’s responsibility. A marketer should help a new person as much as that person wants to work.

Giving ideas, helping them through hard and easy times, and sharing methods that seem to be working and letting the everyone takes what they need and leave the rest seems to be a responsible attitude. Everyone is different and new people have fear of failure on their mind and so trying to make everyone fit one mold is not a workable method. What works for one may not work for another, but it is helpful to the new person to know what the options are and to count on their representative to guide them.

To sum it up, if you are working programs or products that require sponsoring, then make sure that you retail products and that you spend time with those you bring into the program.

To do anything other than guide and share with those that you sponsor is irresponsible marketing and should be reconsidered.

Internet marketing can be a great source of friendship and business profits that last a lifetime if promoted properly. Do your part to make the Internet a more responsible and caring place.

Internet Marketing

This is a guest article…

One of the most vital aspects of this recent marketing concept which every business owner should be aware of is that it’s completely free. With the right idea, intuition and planning; viral marketing on social networking websites can return thousands of client prospects to any business website.

Social networking website, as the name suggests, are networks of people and friends who use the Internet to communicate, socialise and share, all through one website. Common websites of this nature are Myspace, Facebook, Bebo and many others.

These websites can be utilized through viral marketing methods; that is the concept of providing marketing material which propagates itself to many other people by giving an incentive for this to occur. For today’s Internet audience this incentive is usually interesting, entertaining and more commonly, not related to the business involved. internet marketing

This may sound confusing but it’s the system of these networking websites which allows this technique to become effective. For example if a business finds a video which could become popular. If this video is interesting, entertaining or both, it will entice viewers to pass it onto their friends to share it. By adding your website link or marketing message into that video as a footer, or maybe adding your URL to the video description, your business details are being passed wherever the video is sent. This is what makes viral marketing on social networking websites so powerful for businesses of any size.

One important factor must always be taken into account for successful viral marketing and that’s to not flood the media with your material. Journalists, the media and members of the public will value your contributions much more if every one of them has a sense of strong content and a good angle. Distributing viral releases or PR as much as you can will result in people devaluing your presence if the content isn’t worthwhile. internet marketing

Some websites such as Myspace also offer profiles which can be used to the same effect. Making a profile for your business allows you to add people all over the world as friends, who can see your profile and therefore any marketing message you choose to present. However an interesting, unique angle is often required to make the most effective use of this method. For example using an interesting, make-believe character as the profile owner or offering another, more attention-grabbing incentive for visiting your website.

Should you get professional assistance with social networking campaigns? That’s the question many businesses will ask.

“One of the great benefits of viral marketing on social networks and anywhere else is that it’s 100% free and can provide fantastic results. Good marketing agencies do have the Public Relations and marketing knowledge to get the right angle for your material, which will result in the most publicity. Whether a person chooses management for their viral campaigns depends on the situation they are in but if the budget is there then I’d certainly recommend looking into it.” internet marketing

We are all connected!

This is a guest article…

There are a lot of reasons that Clickbank has been a successful gateway to internet profitability for so many people. But two big reasons so many findsuccess with the Clickbank system is that it is simple to understand and get started on quickly and everything in the Clickbank system works. It is such a well run Internet Marketing resource that a lot of people have turned to it as a payment gateway rather than PayPal or one of the other more well known funds processing agencies on the web.

Clickbank does an outstanding job of handling third party credit card transactions.  It really is a critical part of why their business works because Clickbank lists well over ten thousand products and is used by over one hundred thousand partner affiliates.  That kind of marketplace has to handle money reliably and safely to survive.  Everything about Clickbank is digital including all products and the means of delivery, the accountability for handling payments has to be absolutely rock solid, dependable and trustworthy.

The ability for any internet marketer to quickly and easily become a Clickbank affiliate is another reason it is such a stunning success.  It’s very easy to select a product from the Clickbank marketplace once you have a free account on the service which you can then easily set up on your own web site.  Once you have openend that account, Clickbank generates tracking codes so that it can tell when you have selected a digital product and started to promote it online.   This means, that with the simple step of creating an account, the doors are opened for you to sell ten thousand products on your websites and other marketing efforts.   Suddenly you go from a newcomer to cyberspace to the owner of a Wal-Mart equivalent on the web.

Every marketplace, on the internet or not, relies completely upon the coming together  of sellers and buyers. So to be a complete success, Clickbank also has to make it easy for creators of digital products to sell their goods through the marketplace too.   For a seller, there is a fee to get started on Clickbank, but considering that by putting the product into this market, it has a chance of getting picked up by an army of 100,000 sellers, a $50 start up fee and a small percentage commission to Clickbank is reasonable.   Also, since Clickbank is replacing your routine credit card processor and handling all of those transaction fees, their commission is much the same as you would have paid anyway.

You might have to wait a while once your item is listed because the system will only fully recognize your item once you have made your first sale.  Once listed however, the odds are that somebody is going to pick up your product and begin to sell it.  Clickbank tracks and records those sales scrupulously so other affiliates will start to pay attention as your sales pick up and before long you are making lots of sales and being promoted by this sales army you have never met and have no idea who or where they are.   But you don’t need to know.  They are making you rich and earniing a commission for themselves in the process.  It’s one of those few areas on the internet in the 21st Century where everybody wins.

Clickbank is a full service marketplace for the seller because you don’t have to find affiliates or even promote your product.  Just get it out there and once the momentum of sales picks up,  it can snowball into a huge seller for you.  The profits roll into your Clickbank account and on the regular distribution cycles you established when you set up the account, Clickbank sends the money to your bank account.

Job done!

Internet Marketing

Internet marketing success is not easy to quantify because it varies for each and every online individual.  But there are some indicators that can help you to gauge the success of your efforts.

Current internet marketing has developed and modernized the area of online advertising and marketing.  You need to make sure that your webpage has completely and thoroughly informed, persuaded and convinced you customer that they need to have your product/service without another moments’ delay.  Your web page should have astonishing substance, your articles should be attractive and persuasive and your videos should be well designed to help convince your customer to buy.

Although there is no definite description for internet marketing success, if your web site has a large number of valuable incoming links, your site will be considered powerful.  The more incoming links you have will certainly help improve your site’s Search Engine ranking.  Email marketing is an essential component of internet marketing.  You must capture every single visitors detail and create a list of consumers for your product.  You can then send them much more detail and specifications about your product/service.   You must have a thorough knowledge about the business which you have decided to start marketing online.  Along with your detailed knowledge, you need to be prepared to work very hard, establish objectives for your marketing strategy and continually test every activity you undertake.  Determination is an essential quality needed to enable you to persist with your business when times are difficult.  You need to ensure you clearly define what your product/service offers your prospective customer, what benefits they will experience from using it and how they will feel afterwards.  Just defining your product/service is not be sufficient.  Following the above will put you on the right track for success in your internet marketing efforts.

Once your website is performing well, you can add another element to it, affiliate marketing.  Affiliate  Marketing involves you promoting other complementary business products and services using your web site and earning commission for your service.

There are plenty of guidelines available for helping you to succeed.  A successful internet marketer requires a lot of knowledge but have an aptitude to continue learning and increasing skills, good planning ability and lots of energy.

The sky is the limit when it comes to internet marketing potential. Use all that you can find on internet marketing techniques, internet marketing tips and the plethora of tools available to improve your success rate.

Remember, be ready to learn and adapt to the latest Internet Marketing trends and integrate them into your activities.

~Ray

Shout Your Message From The Rooftops!

This is a guest article…

by Aaron Boyce

1. Have a website. There is virtually no business, no industry that can not benefit from being on line. Now more than ever, people are relying on the Internet to shop, read, communicate, play, etc. Remember the old days when you had to rely on telephone books and 411 to find about an Italian restaurant in Chicago. Now we simply go online. After we find your listing we look for your website. If you don’t have one and your competition does, guess who gets my money.

2. Determine the message you want to present to your visitors. The three common themes are Transaction based (Buy this book…), Information based (the 9 reasons why…), and Advertising based (we are the largest…). Your website should be designed with this in mind since the flavor and content will differ between the three.

3. Do include photos and pictures and do not worry about the size of the photo. A common misconception is that you can’t have large photos or a lot of photos on your site. In reality, it is not the size of the photo nor the amount that is the concern but instead it is the resolution that drags down your website. There fore, keep your resolution below 100dpi and you will have crisp clean pictures that upload quickly.

4. Give your visitors a reason to return to your site. In order to do this your site, must be dynamic in content. You should include articles relating to your website and change them monthly. Include a calendar of local events. Tell success stories. Keep your visitors informed (even if your site is primarily to sell or advertise).

5. Help the search Engines search for you. When someone types the name of your business or the name of your industry, your site should come up in the first 3- 5 pages. If not, it’s as if you don’t exist online. The sad reality is that the major search engines only find 15% of the websites online. You can help them by manually including your site on their site. Most search engines (Yahoo, Google, Ask Jeeves, HotBot, Bomis) have a link where you can submit your information. You can also use the services of the sites that promise to send your info to hundreds of search engines. Do not pay these sites any money but do take advantage of whatever freebies they offer.

6. Form reciprocal link partnerships with as many worthwhile websites as possible. Wouldn’t it be nice for Macys if they could place an ad on the walls at Nordstroms. You can do this simply by asking permission to place their link (even your competition) on your site and asking them to include your link on theirs.

7. Pay attention to the local information sites available to web surfers. LocalView, Blackplanet, and SacDirectory are examples of sites that speak about the many opportunities in a particular city or concern. Get your website listed with these guys. There will probably be a nominal fee for this service.

8. Use the message boards and email to promote your website. But please – no spam. Collect email addresses of your clients and prospects and send them messages that lead them to your site. In the subject box, be sure to include your name so that they will know it is from you. As for message boards, there are many that pertain to your business or information. Find them and start messaging.

9. Always remember to not forget the “brick and mortar” community. The real world still exists so include your website and email on all your marketing materials including business cards, brochures, flyers, media advertising, yellow pages, etc. This will always lead them to your internet website.

The Weird & Wonderful Internet!

You may be wondering why the blog was unavailable for most of yesterday and some of today.  Well…

I had just posted the previous article about Ecademy when the site just disappeared off the radar.  Neither Internet Explorer nor Firefox could find the blog in cyberspace.

A long period of searching revealed that the little bookkeeping poll that used to be on the right-hand site of the site had corrupted something.  So, when the site tried to load, it just fell flat on its face and died.

The baffling thing was that I could ftp to the site and also view the statistics.  Weird…

Anyway, the really cool guys at my web hosts CS New Media managed to locate the problem, kill off the naughty poll and magic the site back into the land of the virtual living.

So I apologize for the lack of service yesterday and today but I think everything is back to normal - apart from the poll being absent - thanks to Carl and his team.  Well done guys!!

While I am trumpeting businesses that I would recommend - have a look at the new green visitor on the right of the blog (green chameleon) and have a click if you have children that love really weird, cuddly aliens and wonderful animals.  Mind you, they are so good that  adults love them too.  Have a click on the green  chameleon and see what I mean.

~Ray

UK Business Labs Forum

I joined Ecademy in March 2008 and was full of interest and excitement as I hadn’t come across anything quite like the site before.  Online networking was new to me then and I was keen to talk to as many people as possible to get my name known and my business recognized somewhere other than this blog, which was 6 months old at the time.

There was a flood, literally, of new contacts in the first few days of my membership.  It seems some members, particularly the black stars, who prey on the new joiners and catch them totally unawares.  I was flattered at the attention, all these impressive business people striving to add me to their contact list.  After a while though, my research showed me that there are several tools that are available to black star members that the mere mortals such as myself where not privy to.  It seems the black stars can send standard messages to anyone who joins and anyone/everyone in their contact list.  Every time they write a post they email me, every time they post a marketplace listing, they email me, every time they start a club or are looking for members to their club, they email me, every time they do anything, they email me.

Other membership levels there are power networkers, of which I was one, and free members.  Although there are some good and genuine people on Ecademy,  They are hard to find and I stumbled on a few by pure chance that I want to keep in contact with.  Actually 5 out of 272 (my contact list at date of leaving).  Not a good percentage eh…

The power networkers seem to resent the black stars because of the way they keep pestering everyone as I mentioned above as I was invited to join a power networkers club - strictly no blackstars allowed!

So it became clear there is a two tier structure at Ecademy which was not particularly pleasant.  Each time I posted an article or a listing, the same few “experts” immediately, I am talking of a few minutes, literally, commented and pushed their own point of view.  Some of the comments were not pleasant, or called for, but these “experts” did not post their own views up for others to read - I wonder why!

I was a member of a club specifically aimed at Ecademy members in the East Midlands.  For months there was talk of starting regular meetings in the real world.  Endless discussion but only 1 meeting actually took place recently in Long Eaton at a time I couldn’t attend.  Oh well.  Up until I left there was no feedback about this meeting so I have no idea how it went.  I would have thought though, if it had gone well, they would have told the club members at least.

There are some good points about Ecademy that I will miss.  Within a few hours of joining and setting up my profile, I was on page 1 of google for my name.  That was cool!  The articles and blogs, despite attracting all the attention they did, are found in google and other search engines due to the key words and the little summary box Ecademy have on the site when you post them.

The main drawback though was constantly being contacted by people to be added to their network.  These people often didn’t bother reading my profile to see if I may be remotely interested in them or their business, to see if we had any common interests.  And these contacts came from all over the world.  A fantastic achievement for Ecademy who are trying to build a worldwide network and helpfully show your ranking in the UK and globally constantly.  But a bit tiresome.  I doubt I will ever leave this country, and I doubt even more if my business will stretch even to France, let alone New Zealand or India or Chile, or Morocco or China or……

So what now?

Back in July, I was approached by a chap called Mark who was starting a UK only business online community.  He was experiencing the same problems with Ecademy and started approaching others who were flamed each time they posted, or constantly had helpful and free suggestions to offer other Ecademy members for no financial reward to see if setting up such a forum would be of interest.

Well it was, and it is.  I am now a founder member of a forum called UK Business Labs.  I advertise it here on my blog because I like it.  I really like it.  There is no pressure to find unknown people and chase them to be added to a contact network.  No major ego’s at work.  Just UK business people who want to avoid some of the loneliness of being in business on their own, who want to chat about topical issues of the day, who want help with their websites or business models, who sincerely want to help other people in the same boat as themselves just because they can.

There is ample opportunity to write profiles, blogs, advertisements and postings that are all search engine visible and guess what?  My UKBL profile appears in google above Ecademy.  That is an amazing triumph for a forum that has been going just a few months.  Ecademy have been at it for more than 10 years!!

I did think I would have more regrets about leaving Ecademy but no.  I only now have to concentrate on one site which is a real pleasure to visit.  There have been occasional attempts to spam the forum by new members but the moderators are on top of this and deal with it immediately.  I can ask any question on the forum about business, topical events or stuff in my personal life and get solid, measured, helpful, friendly, meaningful responses.

The forum is UK centred so there are no approaches from elsewhere that are destined to go no-where.

So, if you want to find me these days, look on UK Business Labs and say hello.  Have a good look round and you might actually start to realize that what I have been saying is right.  It must be because membership is growing daily and there are a lot of ex and current Ecademy members already there!

~Ray