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| | Post New Topic | | A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | Views: 2036 | | Feb 07, 2008 7:15 pm | | A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Michael Lemm | | Hi Ya'll,
I first cut my teeth on internet marketing...and am still pretty involved applying what I learned to my Network Marketing efforts.
Since I started "there" and am still pretty much "there"....I've made a few friends and business contacts amongst ezine publishers, web masters, & 'Net "Gurus" along the way. With that in mind I'm always keeping an eye out for info worth sharing with others....especially my fellow Forum members here.
So....that said....below is a reprint of an old Ezine article I hope you find helpful (3 parts). The focus is internet marketing but you should be able to recognize applications to Network Marketing on the 'Net.
Remember To Lend a Hand, Smile, & Pass It On.
As always.....
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting an Online Business
(Part 1)
By Angela Wu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Internet's full of hyped-up promises of the 'ultimate'
marketing secret that will singlehandedly skyrocket your
business to instant success.
Naturally, this is ALL it is: hype. There's no single
'secret' that will magically transform a fledgling business
into a powerful money-maker. Instead, every business owner
is responsible for testing and refining various techniques
until he or she has developed a solid, effective base that
produces the desired results.
What works for one business may not work for another!
Likewise, another business may have poor results with
one method, while others experience great success.
Here's a quick checklist of some of the more popular
-- and completely free -- marketing techniques to help
you build your online business (note: this is a 3-part
series).
PART 1: FREE ONLINE MARKETING TECHNIQUES
1. Build and use your own opt-in list of targeted and
interested prospects. Offer a free newsletter that
provides fresh, interesting, and relevant content.
You'll receive feedback from your readers about what's
important to them, and over time they'll come to know
and trust you. Your products, services, and even
recommendations will then be taken much more seriously
because you've developed credibility with your readers.
2. Contribute to newsgroups or discussion boards. Establish
yourself as a helpful member of a community. Other
members of the community who come to know and respect
you will often refer you to others.
3. Niche directories or search engines. Find all the
highly-targeted directories and SEs for your market,
and then work to get listed. You'll be surprised at
how many niche sites there are! Good places to start
looking are http://yahoo.com/ and http://www.dmoz.com/ .
4. Build your link popularity. For example, you can trade
links with other businesses in your market so that you
can 'share' each other's traffic. Most of the major
search engines take link popularity into consideration
when ranking your site.
5. Endorsed mailings to other lists. Find the editor of a
great newsletter, and offer your product or service to
him for free in return for a review or an endorsed ad
to his list. Endorsements from the editor can far
outperform regular 'ads', since they come from someone
they know and trust (the editor).
6. Testimonials. It's fine for you to say that your product
or service is wonderful... but there's far more 'punch'
when someone else says it! Testimonials show prospects
that you have happy customers and helps them to make
the decision to buy.
7. Use autoresponders to follow-up with your prospects. It
has been proven time and time again that autoresponders
can dramatically increase your profits! They're also
great time-savers, saving you from following up with
each prospect manually.
8. Ad swaps. You can get extra exposure for 'free' (no
out-of-pocket expenses) by swapping ad space with another
editor that caters to your audience. Plus it's a great
way to put 'remnant' ad space to good use.
9. Join a webring. Link to other sites like yours and
build an online 'community.'
10. Offer coupons or gift certificates to entice visitors
to make a purchase *now*.
11. Make good use of referral marketing. Ask happy
customers to refer prospects to you. Many people are
so busy these days that they're willing to rely on a
trusted friend or contact's advice -- it saves them
the time necessary to do all the research themselves.
12. Write and distribute articles in your area of
expertise. This is a great credibility-builder!
People who appreciate what you have to say are much
more likely to check out your business. Another 'bonus'
is that articles are often archived on websites for
visitors to refer to time and time again.
13. Become an 'expert'. If you like to write and have the
time to do so, consider partnering with a high-traffic
site within your niche market and offer to write a
regular column or article. You establish credibility
and get exposure; your partner site and their readers
get great content.
14. Use a 'Recommend-It' or 'Refer-A-Friend' script. These
scripts let visitors send your URL to friends.
15. Make it easy for others to link to your site. Consider
adding a 'Link to Us' section where you provide the
HTML that visitors can simply cut and paste to their
own web pages. Again, this helps to build your link
popularity (see point #4).
16. Hold contests. For example, every month you could give
away one of your products to a lucky subscriber or
customer.
17. Use a signature. Also known as 'sig files', a signature
is a brief blurb about your business along with your
URL and/or contact information. Put a signature on
every piece of email you send out, as well as on any
message board posts (if appropriate).
18. Give away a quality free eBook or report. eBooks and
reports can be excellent viral marketing tools. You
can even offer them as a 'premium' to other businesses
within your niche, so that they can give it away to
their own customers or subscribers. This is an
effective way to build a network that will willingly
promote your business for you! More on promoting free
eBooks and how they can help you can be found in the
article, '10 Quick Tips on How to Create, Distribute,
and Profit from Free eBooks':
http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/articles/ebooktips.html
Hopefully this has given you a few helpful ideas on how
to market your online business. In the next installment
of this series, you'll read about several marketing
techniques that may cost you money, but that can be worth
the investment many times over. The final installment is
all about marketing your online business in the 'offline'
world! Stay tuned.
---------------------------------------------------------
To reproduce this article please include the following
==============================================
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical
guide to building a business on a beginner's budget. It's
a proven hit with beginners, for the down-to-earth style
and loads of instantly useable tips! For details, visit
http://www.ExclusiveInfoProducts.com/obb
OR request a series of 10 free reports to get you started:
mailto:businessbasics@workyourleads.com
==============================================
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 07, 2008 7:19 pm | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Hi Ya'll,
Here's Part 2 in the Ezine article series. More good stuff for you.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting an Online Business
(Part 2)
By Angela Wu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This week we continue with Part 2 of our 3-part series on
how to market your online business. Part 1 is available at
http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/art...checklist1.html .
As much as we all love free stuff, an Internet business is
still a business and you can reasonably expect to invest
in marketing. Fortunately, online marketing can be quite
affordable -- even to beginners on limited budgets. Here's
a quick list of some of the more popular paid methods for
small businesses.
PART 2: Effective Fee-Based Online Marketing Methods
1. Search engines. Web surfers typically use the large
search engines such as Google, MSN, and AOL to find
the information they want. If you can manage to get
a good ranking for some of your top key phrases, you
can get a steady stream of traffic. Expect to invest
funds for review/submissions, and possibly even for
hiring an optimization expert or for self-education.
A great site to learn about search engine optimization
is Search Engine Watch, http://searchenginewatch.com/ .
2. Major indexes. Yahoo [ http://yahoo.com/ ] and Open
Directory [ http://www.dmoz.org/ ] are two of the best-
known indexes. Both of them can significantly increase
your link popularity, and provide you with additional
traffic. At the time of writing, Yahoo charges an annual
review fee for commercial websites. Submissions to Open
Directory are currently still free.
3. Pay-per-click search engines. With these search engines,
you literally pay a certain amount of money for every
click they send your way. The more you bid, the higher
you'll rank for your search term and the more visible
your link will be. The largest and most popular PPC SE
is Overture, http://www.overture.com/. A list of PPC SEs
is available from http://payperclicksearchengines.com/ .
4. Ezine advertising. Although this takes a fair bit of
practice and experimentation, ezine advertising is
potentially one of the best and most profitable ways
to promote your business online. The editor has already
done the hard work of putting together a list of opt-in,
interested prospects; you just take advantage of it.
Search for complementary ezines at NetterWeb.com,
http://www.netterweb.com/ or use the excellent
Lifestyles Publishing Directory of Ezines at
http://buildyourhomebiz.com/directory.html .
5. Direct email campaign from a reputable list broker.
There are companies on the web that specialize in
building permission-based email lists, targeted to
each subscriber's area of interest. This is true
'opt-in', unlike the endless stream of spam email
that implores you to purchase '30 million addresses
for only $99!' True opt-in lists are not cheap by any
means, but they have the potential to yield great
results. Check out http://www.postmasterdirect.com/
as an example.
6. Press releases. Your newsworthy press release could
generate loads of free publicity for your business.
Invest some of your marketing funds in educating
yourself on how to generate publicity; an excellent
source of information is Paul Hartunian's website at
http://www.prprofits.com/ .
7. Advertise on a targeted website. Find complementary
but non-competing sites and check their rates for
advertising. Banner ads are the most common type of
advertising permitted; however, they're usually not
very effective. Text ads or endorsements typically
perform better.
8. Mini-sites. These small sites (typically around 3 or
4 pages) are focused on selling one product. There's
usually no free content; just a sales letter, perhaps
a FAQ and some contact information. Mini-sites are an
excellent way to get your prospect to do just one thing,
whether that's order your product or sign up for your
newsletter. The costs to create a mini-site would
include domain name registration and hosting fees.
9. Experiment with some of the promotional services
offered online. The only way to know for sure whether
or not they'll work for you is to try them (and track
the results). Use discretion -- be careful not to
associate your business with promotion services that
are nothing but 'disguised' ways to spam! Before you
shell out the cash for these types of services, ask
around for first-hand experiences.
10. Hold a conference. A great credibility builder is to
offer a web or phone conference for your visitors.
Use it to offer helpful information -- for example,
you could open the conference to questions from the
audience -- and generate additional interest in your
product or service. Two sites that offer conference
services are http://www.easyconference.com/ and
http://www.bridgerentals.com/ .
Don't be afraid to invest in marketing your online
business. Effective 'free' promotion is always wonderful,
but there are many equally effective paid methods that
can result in a great return on your investment. Be
sure to track the results for each method you use; that
way you'll be able to concentrate your efforts on those
methods that work best for *your* business.
Stay tuned next time for a checklist on promoting your
Internet business in the 'real world'!
---------------------------------------------------------
To reproduce this article please include the following
==============================================
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical
guide to building a business on a beginner's budget. It's
a proven hit with beginners, for the down-to-earth style
and loads of instantly useable tips! For details, visit
http://www.ExclusiveInfoProducts.com/obb
OR request a series of 10 free reports to get you started:
mailto:businessbasics@workyourleads.com
==============================================
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 07, 2008 7:21 pm | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Hi Ya'll,
Here's part 3....the final part in this article series. Enjoy.
And as always.........
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting an Online Business
(Part 3)
By Angela Wu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those of us who operate Internet home businesses,
'cyberspace' is so convenient that it's easy to forget
that people still exist out there in the 'real world'.
Part 3 of our 'checklist' series on promoting your online
business provides you with a few tips on how to reach
your audience offline.
[ Note: Parts 1 and 2 are available online at:
* http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/art...checklist1.html
* http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/art...checklist2.html ]
PART 3: Marketing Techniques for the 'Real World'
1. Business cards. Leave a few in the local library or
with other local businesses where prospects gather
(with permission, of course); include a card in your
postal mail; tack up a card on the bulletin board at
your grocery store, etc. One place that offers quality,
professional business cards at reasonable prices is
ExtraValue.com, http://www.extravalue.com/ . On a
tight budget? Go to VistaPrint for free trial cards:
http://www.vistaprint.com/ .
2. Direct mail. Flyers, brochures, catalogs, coupons....
there are all sorts of things you can send through the
mail. Need help? Freelancers can create pretty much
any type of direct mail promotional items for you at
competitive rates. Try
http://buildyourhomebiz.com/rd/gethelp.html .
3. Use your car! How much time do you spend driving (or,
unfortunately, sitting stuck in traffic)? Take advantage
of this opportunity by placing your URL on your car for
everyone to see. Web Decals offers custom-printed
decals that quickly and easily attach to your car's
windshield: http://buildyourhomebiz.com/rd/webdecal.html
It's also a good idea to keep a few business cards,
brochures, flyers, or other information in your car
that you can give out to people who stop to inquire
about your business.
4. Newspaper advertising. Keep in mind that classified
ads are usually extremely short; you'll need a punchy,
compelling ad that fits into just a few lines.
Nationwide Newspapers offers classified advertising
in over 8000 newspapers across the United States:
http://www.nationwideadvertising.com/
U.S. Media Inc., http://www.usmediainc.com/ ,
specializes in many types of 'offline' advertising,
including newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, and more.
5. Get to the 'heart' of your audience by advertising
in a quality magazine with loyal readers. U.S. Media Inc.
lists a wide variety of trade and consumer magazines and
publications. Contact their reps for more information:
http://www.usmediainc.com/
6. Participate in trade shows. Get exposure by networking
with others in your industry. While you're there, you can
even make a pen and paper available to collect the email
addresses and/or postal addresses of people interested in
receiving your newsletter or additional information about
your product or service. Visit the Trade Show News Network
to search for trade shows of all types in industries
worldwide: http://www.tsnn.com/
7. Visit your local Chamber of Commerce. They may be able
to offer you suggestions on where you can promote your
business locally.
8. Send out postcards. Postcards are short, attractive, and
readers can easily see your information 'at-a-glance.'
Don't forget to display your URL! Extravalue.com is a
great place to get professional, quality cards at very
reasonable rates.
9. Put your URL on every piece of printed material that
leaves your office. This includes brochures, business
cards, flyers, faxes, labels, letterhead, invoices,
cheques, envelopes, and anything else you can think of.
10. Consider using promotional items such as notepads, pens,
mugs, etc. Imprint these items with your URL. Give some
away as gifts to your best clients. You can even sell
them online! iPrint is one place you can find 'do-it-
yourself' promotional items, including t-shirts, golf
balls, pens, mugs, clocks, tote bags, and much more:
http://www.iprint.com/ . And at CafePress.com you can
upload your artwork, set your prices, and you're ready
to sell.
11. State your URL on your voice mail message. Say your
standard spiel, then add something like, 'For more
information on [your product], visit our website at
http://www.MyDomain.com.' uReach is a service that offers
all-in-one communications service that includes voice
mail, email, and faxes. http://www.ureach.com/
12. Seek potential partnerships with complementary
businesses. For example, let's say you sell a dog
training video. You could approach local groomers or
dog agility centers and offer to share the cost of
their next direct mail campaign: when they mail a
postcard or letter inviting their clients to return,
you also offer their clients a discount on your dog
training video. This way you both reduce your costs...
you reach a targeted audience quickly, easily, and
through a trusted party (the other business)... and
your business 'partner' can make a valuable product
available at a discount to their customers.
---------------------------------------------------------
To reproduce this article please include the following
==============================================
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical
guide to building a business on a beginner's budget. It's
a proven hit with beginners, for the down-to-earth style
and loads of instantly useable tips! For details, visit
http://www.ExclusiveInfoProducts.com/obb
OR request a series of 10 free reports to get you started:
mailto:businessbasics@w...
==============================================
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 07, 2008 11:48 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Rasheed Hooda | | Hey Michael,
That is a ton of info for one sitting. Thanks.
Rasheed
Sign up for my Newsletter http://www.misterweirdo.com/register.html and
receive "Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D Wattles absolutely FREE
Another Free e book here http://www.asamanthinketh.net/?kbid5639
http://www.ryze.com/networkindex.php?network=NaturalEase
Private Reply to Rasheed Hooda | | Feb 08, 2008 4:42 am | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Reut Mark | | Hi Michael!
I totally agree with Rasheed!
So much info....
Thank you,
Reut øòåú
http://www.betterlife-4u.com
http://www.instant-millionaire.org/1/81513878-invitation-page.aspx
http://www.income4beginners.com/index.php?uid=2587
http://www.myberrytree.com/bt17674
Advertising:
http://webbizinsider.com/Home.asp?RID=72556
http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?599884
Private Reply to Reut Mark | | Feb 08, 2008 9:34 am | | re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Mariangie ~GBG-$30 Biz and a Better Health | | I agree! Worth of copying, printing and saving in a binder!
Thanks,
Mariangie
http://www.watkinsonline.com/mgonzalez
http://www.mindbodyandpaw.com
Private Reply to Mariangie ~GBG-$30 Biz and a Better Health | | Feb 08, 2008 10:30 am | | re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business-window decals | # | 
Heidi Caswell | | So many ways to promote.
What is always good to know is which methods others have tried with their business, what type of results did you get.
Window decals for your car--I decided to use a vinyl static cling with just the website name: www.HeyClickHere.com
I wanted to see what kind of traffic it brought to my website. I wanted to test whether curiosity would bring me more traffic vs a sign which had more information such as send a free card and phone number.
I learned that if your windows are tinted, or if you have those defrost lines in your back window, your sign will not be very visible. In these cases your sign must be on the outside window. If you have rear window wipers, the outside window cling will not work either. No wipers, but tinted and rear defrost lines, so I purchased a window cling. Went on nicely, held up through wind storms, frost, etc. But a few days after putting my sign up we had a killer of a thunderstorm (one that caused tornadoes and such just est of us) and my sign washed away somewhere.
So that was a waste of advertising money. Still like the decal idea, I'll just order an adhesive one next, from another company, as the one I bought from said this should work for me, yet when I emailed them to let them know it doesn't survive thunderstorms, I've gotten no reply. I wasn't asking for a refund or credit towards adhesive version (which would have been nice customer service to offer something), but letting them know another condition where their car decal doesn't work. Nor will I be referring said company to anyone else. When I placed my order they were very nice about emailing me back, making sure I had the right version. They should have responded to my email in some way.
My husband hates the idea of me putting anything sticky on my new car. But as many places as I drive, I want one.
Looking for recommendations for a place to get window decals (someone you have purchased from).
Heidi Caswell
http://GetYourCardsHere.com
Private Reply to Heidi Caswell | | Feb 08, 2008 5:06 pm | | re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business-window decals | # | 
Leanna Giltmier | | Heidi-
My company - Uppercase Living - sells vinyl decorative lettering. Our 31 colors and 50 fonts make it possible to design something really unique!
We have 30 colors of vinyl that is considered "all-purpose" - I know many who use it indoors and outdoors. Many have used for months on cars with rear wipers!
We also have a "glossy white" that is specifically formulated for outdoor applications.
Please let me know if I can help you!
Leanna
http://www.uppercaseliving.com
Click on Customer Corner/Demonstrator ID: 460349/Token: Giltmier
Private Reply to Leanna Giltmier | | Feb 08, 2008 10:14 pm | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business | # |
Michael Lemm | | Heidi & Leanna,
Please keep in mind that this thread is for discussing ONLINE marketing ideas. Comments about Offline marketing should have it's own thread. Thanks.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 08, 2008 10:23 pm | | Marketing With Blogs, Podcasts, And Blog Broadcasts ..... Get Out Of The Box | # |
Michael Lemm | | It's no secret that blogging was one of the hot online marketing tactics of 2007, and the medium isn't showing any signs of slowing down in 2008.
To help bloggers capitalize on the power of permission-based email marketing, AWeber created the Blog Broadcaster to convert their posts into email newsletters.
Thousands of businesses and bloggers are now using it in conjunction with RSS to reach more readers than ever before!
This month, AWeber rolled out some powerful and exciting new features that make them an even more attractive option for bloggers -- and can help you increase your MLM commissions by showing you how to integrate blogs into your marketing mix!
For example ..... AWeber recently announced integration with FeedBurner -- now, your blog's email subscribers through AWeber will be counted in your FeedBurner subscriber total!
You can read more on the AWeber Blog ....
Feedburner Integration
.... and view a Press Release on PRWeb
AWeber Press Release
Displaying that subscriber count is a great social proof tactic, and having your email subscribers included in that FeedBurner total makes it even more powerful.
Also, in a minor (but much-requested) enhancement, you can apply click tracking to all of your Blog Broadcast emails in a single click.
Plus ....
In response to popular demand, AWeber made it easier for bloggers to time their email newsletters so that they reach their readers at consistent times and days of the week or month. You can see the Announcement -- and a Video Demonstration here:
Advanced Scheduling Options to Effectively Time Newsletters
And ....
If you need to learn a bit more about how blogs, RSS and a Blog Broadcast tool all work together .... no problem -- AWeber has got you covered!
For more on their Blog Broadcast tool, and how it helps anyone with a blog engage more readers, check out these resources:
Recorded Video Seminar: Blogging to Boost Marketing Results
How Blogging Benefits Email Marketers
What Are Blog Broadcasts?
Knowledge Base Category: RSS and Blog Broadcasts
There you go ... everything you need to know on how to make the most of blogging, podcasts, and blog brodcasts in your MLM marketing.
The next step for you? Just do it!
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
Best MLM Resources
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 08, 2008 11:05 pm | | re: Marketing With Blogs, Podcasts, And Blog Broadcasts ..... Get Out Of The Box | # |
Heidi Caswell | | Hi Michael, back to online marketing. (The 3rd part you posted was offline marketing, and I was posting in reference to one of those techniques.)
Blogs and online forums/discussion groups are my favorites, then articles. Just as I decide to spend more time offline marketing, the internet was been very kind to me this year. I get leads from a lead capture page (replicated, I don't have control of the code), people looking for the service I offer, it is cool. In the comments they put things such as Google sent me to your site. I don't know where all they are coming from, love to find out. But I'll accept "gifts from Google", just wish I had a way to track the traffic and do more of whatever gets me found.
Today I was following up with a great lead that came from a blog post that I made. I was experimenting where I could write a blog post and submit it to a group which sent it to many blogs with text links back to me. Right after I'd hit that submit button I realized I'd misspelled one word.
Happily I'm not the only one to misspell that word. Comes up at the top of Google, and has brought me both reps and customers.
Wordpress, uploaded to a hosting service is my favorite. Search engines seem to like it too. One blog has several top page rankings in Live Search for various keyword phrases.
I like feedburner, haven't used it with AWeber, I never sat down to write a newsletter. Good idea, but my time gets scrabbled and I'm very ADD right now. So I just have visitors subscribe to blog posts by email through feedburner.
Works for now.
Heidi Caswell
http://HeidisCards.com
Private Reply to Heidi Caswell | | Feb 09, 2008 2:13 pm | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Yvette Mason | | Thank you for all the great info! I'm definitely printing this thread off and using it as checklist for my online business promotions!
Yvette Mason
http://www.BeyondTheCandle.com
Private Reply to Yvette Mason | | Feb 12, 2008 2:35 pm | | re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Internet Marketing Lessons Part I..... Everything You Need To Know Step-By-Step
Ok folks ..... I'm going to hit you between the eyes with a 2X4 to get your attention here. So read on. If you don't follow through on this info. It's your own damn fault! (Be warned. It's a long multi-part series ...... but worth it.) I'm sharing this gold mine in multiple parts due to length. So ..... stay focused through to the end!!
Now ......your primary goal in Internet marketing is to get your Online or MLM business seen by as many people as possible in your target market. Your target market is anyone interested in making money. There are millions of people searching for a way to make extra money online. By the time you have finished reading this, you will know where and how to approach these prospects.
Probably the best way to learn anything is to actually do it. And learning by doing is what makes these Internet marketing lessons different - and far more effective - than any others.
These lessons are not just for beginners. Many of the techniques and strategies demonstrated here are the same as those found in expensive direct/Internet marketing courses and seminars. Beginner and experienced Internet marketers will discover a handful of valuable marketing ideas to help you promote your MLM business.
FREE ADVERTISING VS. PAID ADVERTISING...
There will always be effective free ways to gain exposure for your offer. But they will almost always take more work and more time to produce less significant results. This is fine, if you're willing to put in the time. But you must consider that your time carries a price tag too.
Consider the following scenario. You make $20 per hour at your current job. You spend two hours using your free marketing technique, which produced 40 hits to your web site. If you apply the "time you're worth" at your job, you in effect paid $40 for 40 hits, or $1 per hit. It wasn't truly "free", if thought of in this way...
Now, your actual free marketing efforts may produce much better results. But the point is that you should place a value (in dollars) on the time you spend with your free marketing efforts. Then, when you decide to try some paid advertising techniques, you can weigh and compare the results of both. If done correctly, 9 times out of 10 your paid advertising will actually "cost" less, and produce much better results.
Most free marketing techniques are an exchange of time for results. On the other hand, most paid advertising allows you to leverage your time.
So what's our advice to you? Use a combination of free marketing techniques and low cost (paid) advertising services and strategies, all of which you'll learn about throughout these lessons. If you're then able to come up with creative ways to make these techniques "feed" off of each other, and thereby multiply/leverage your time and money invested, you'll separate yourself from the pack (your competition) and reap some serious rewards.
Company success at Any MLM business hinges on your success. The more successful you are, the more distributors you'll bring into The Primary MLM ... the more money the company makes ... the more money they pay you and your organization. Everybody wins.
Ok ... It's time to roll up your sleeves and get started!
LESSON 1: SEARCH ENGINES...
Your first assignment is to go to http://searchenginewatch.com. You are going to find plenty of information about search engines on this website. Be sure to read the section on "Search Engine Submission Tips". Do it now, and then come on back!
As you're contemplating new ways to gain exposure for your business, think about what you do when you're looking for a product, service, or bit of information. If you're looking for a phone number, you usually turn to the white or yellow pages right? And on the Internet, if I asked you to find information on just about anything, where would you begin your search? Most likely, the answer is search engines!
Search engines are without question the #1 way for people to find what they're looking for on the web. And getting your site listed with most search engines is completely free. But there's a catch. Most search engines only display the first 10 listings after a search has been conducted. There is generally a significant drop in the traffic that search engines generate for sites listed 11th and beyond.
So the obvious, ultimate goal for business owners is to be in, and stay amongst, that elusive top 10 group. As you can imagine, the competition is fierce to stay near the top of the list. And more often than not, staying near the top does not come without a price. Unless your niche/key phrase is "purple frog warts", it's just plain tough to get a top ten placement without special software and/or paid placement services. Two of the most popular subjects on the net are "marketing" and "making money", making the competition in these categories especially tough.
For these reasons, chances are you're not going to be in the top ten listings when you submit your URL. But there's a good possibility you'll begin to generate a modest flow of traffic by doing so.
The downside to getting listed with the search engines is that it can take weeks, even months for your listing to appear.
However, there IS another option, called "Pay-per-click" search engines. By far the most popular of these are Google.com and Overture.com. Overture works on a bid-for-placement format. Depending on how much you're willing to pay, you can GUARANTEE yourself a top placement with most of the major search engines - AltaVista, MSN, AOL, etc.
Your mission: List your link with the major search engines, either by doing a search on "free search engine listing", or through a pay-per-click service such as Google.com and Overture.com. Also, submit your link to several web-sites relating to making money and/or online marketing. This is free marketing, but it will take some time. It is important to try a variety of keywords and phrases when searching for sites. It will likely take a half-dozen or more searches to complete your mission. Don't give up!
LESSON 2: EZINES...
Ezine advertising is widely thought of to be the most effective form of advertising for Internet direct marketers. There are several types of ezine ads that you can place...
1) A "classified" style ad
2) A "sponsor" ad (usually at the top, or in a prominent part of the ezine)
3) A "solo" ad (where the publisher runs your ad in a separate letter all by itself)
Each of the 3 ad types are effective in their own right, with classified ads being the least expensive, but also the least likely to be noticed. If you're on a tight budget, classified ads are a good place to start. If you've got a little more to spend, sponsor ads and solo ads are perhaps the best form of advertising on the Internet for the money.
With that in mind, the key is finding the right ezine, and creating an effective ad. I recommend you create and run your own ads. Doing so is excellent training, as you'll be developing a money making skill (copywriting) that will be with you for life! Direct Internet marketing is the modern form of mail-order, and you won't have much success without the ability to sell through the written word (unless you want to pay a professional copywriter $100+/hr. to write your ads for you). Your ad copy is your sales pitch!
Your next assignment is to write your own, unique ad for Your MLM. You can refer to the following formula to help you along. When you're finished, I'lll show you how to begin placing ads in the ezines that get results!
HOW TO WRITE A KILLER SALES LETTER STEP BY STEP!
Learning to write a powerful sales letter is a money making skill that will be with you for life. Finding a product is easy in comparison to actually selling the product. As a mail-order/Internet marketer, your sales letter is your sales pitch. Every aspect of it should play a part in convincing and motivating the reader to take action, and buy your product.
You need to formulate the foundation of an effective sales letter - and an effective business for that matter -by researching the desires, habits, needs, hobbies, and absolutely EVERYTHING you can find out about your prospective customers. Thoroughly get to know the type of people you are writing and marketing to, and you'll be much more effective in presenting your product (or service) in a way that's appealing to them.
Before you can begin writing your sales letter, you'll need to determine the primary benefit of your product. If you've been selling a particular product for a while, you can simply ASK your customers what they like best about the product. If you're starting out with a new product, ask others why they would (or wouldn't) purchase it.
Step 1) Your first step in writing the ultimate sales letter is putting what you've determined to be your NUMBER ONE benefit in the form of a provocative headline. The purpose of your headline is to create curiosity or desire - TO STIR UP EMOTION - within the prospective customer to read on...
Here are a few examples of effective headlines:
FIND OUT HOW TO TURN $1,000 INTO $23,400 IN JUST 3 WEEKS!!!
HOW TO TAKE FIVE STROKES OFF YOUR GOLF GAME IN FIVE DAYS, GUARANTEED!
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEIGHED 75 POUNDS LESS BY SUMMER?
Avoid yes or no questions in your headline. Use headlines that are thought provoking or arouse curiosity.
Step 2) Open the main body of your letter with a short, potent paragraph or a sentence that reinforces the headline, and "hooks" the prospective customer into reading further. Summarize how you are going to deliver the benefit you've promised in your headline.
Here's an example of a headline followed by a powerful opening paragraph:
HEADLINE: FREE REPORT - HOW YOU CAN START MAKING $200+ A DAY!
OPENING PARAGRAPH: Create your very own, custom software/information product and have it ready to be instantly "delivered" to your customers... All in about the same amount of time it takes to read this letter!
Many top sellers sometimes open with a short story to draw my readers in. If it's interesting enough, and relates to your product's main benefit, a story can be THE most effective hook of all.
Step 3) Once you've got your reader anxious to read every last word you've written, begin bombarding them with a good strong list of the emotional and/or problem solving benefits of your offer. List ALL the features of your product and ALL the benefits of those features. You should try to find similar sales letters to the products you're selling and see what types of benefits they list. You'll often find benefits that apply to your product, and that you can add to your list by re-wording the sentence or phrase. You can effectively list your benefits in the form of bullet points.
Step 4) After your features and benefits, or as part of your features and benefits, demonstrate why your product is better than the competition's. To build credibility with the reader, describe some of the competitor's products and why they are inferior to yours. Your readers will ask themselves why they should select your product over your competitors product. So the idea is to build your product up while discrediting other products, thereby making your product stand out as the "clear choice". Think of it as creating a "margin" between your product and competing products. The wider the margin (of superiority), the better. If it's not feasible to marginalize on a product to product basis, you should be able to minimally create a contrast between you and your competitors' products in general. For example, "Our line of products is better than you'll find anywhere else because..." and list as many reasons as you can come up with.
Further differentiate your product from competing products with a "USP", or "unique selling proposition"... This is similar to the main benefit of your product, but you'll possibly need to dig even a little deeper to find your USP. Find what is unique about your product OR the way your product is offered. Mention this unqiue aspect several times throughout the sales letter. Can you still have a USP if you're selling the same item as someone else? Sure you can! Again - it's a unique SELLING proposition, not a unique product proposition. More often than not, it's not the product that's unique but the way that product is offered. Including a USP is not only critical in your ad copy... It's also important in your overall business. What is unique about your business that makes it stand out? What's your niche?
Step 5) Next, continue to establish credibility. The best way to do this in the sales letter itself is through testimonials, or referals from satisfied customers. Your testimonials should be specific, and reinforce the benefits that you listed. If you're starting out with a new product and don't have testimonials, you could possible send out free product samples in exchange for honest testimonials. This works especially well with information products, which are relatively inexpensive to produce.
Step 6) After you've established credibility - and there's no such thing as too much credibility - create a sense of urgency in the reader. You can do this in a variety of ways... A "special, limited time offer" is one of the most common ways. For example, "You must act fast as these won't last long at this incredible price!" or "Order within the next 30 minutes and I'll throw in this special bonus absolutely FREE!"
Step 7) At this point you'll hopefully have your prospective customer nearly ready to order, but now it's time to "set the hook": Include one or two (or as many as you want) free bonuses to customers. Sometimes bonuses are more appealing to people than the main product, and therefore can make all the difference in making the sale!
Step 8) Next, throw in a strong "risk-reversing" guarantee. Take away your customers' risk by offering the most powerful guarantee you can back up. If it's a thirty day money back guarantee, great! But if you can stand behind a "double your money back" guarantee, even better! Here's a guarantee for you: NOT having a solid customer guarantee on your products or services will cost you business!
Step 9) Before asking the prospective customer to take action, summarize everything you've presented in your sales letter thus far. Give the reader a "mind's eye view" of owning, using, enjoying, and benefiting from the product you're selling. Ideally, you want to convey an emotion or feeling within the reader that he (or she) "can't live without this product!"
Step 10) Finally, it's time for the most important part of the letter - the call to action. ASK the prospective customer to place the order. In addition to asking for the order, EXPLAIN exactly how to go about placing the order. The easier you make it for people to place orders with you, the more business you'll recieve. In your eBay ads, this means including a brief section about the cost of shipping & handling, the types of payment you accept, your policies, and other related information you may need to include.
Step 11) After closing the letter, include a "P.S."... In the P.S. you can once again summarize the strongest benefit of your product, reiterate your guarantee, offer a final bonus... Include whatever you feel will remove any last inkling of doubt or reservation your reader may have about ordering.
There are exceptions to every sales letter rule, but you'll want to stick pretty close with the sales writing formula I've just given you. This is a formula that WORKS, plain and simple, and only once you've mastered the basics would I advise experimentation.
ADDITIONAL SALES LETTER TECHNIQUES
Make your sales letter personal, using the word "YOU" throughout.
Use short paragraphs and seperate each with a line of space.
Use attention grabbing subheadings when you change subjects, such as before your bonuses (i.e., "Here are 30 more good reasons why you need this product!"), before your testimonials (i.e., "Don't take just my word for it, look what others are saying..."), before your guarantee (i.e., "You have nothing to lose and EVERYTHING to gain!"), before your bonuses (i.e., "Get these exciting FREE bonuses, alone worth over $150, by ordering now!"), and so forth. Put your headlines and subheadings in bold and in a larger font than the rest of the text.
Use exclamation points (!) where fitting to make your point strong!
Make the most important words and phrases stand out by putting them in bold, in color (red or blue), underlining, in italics, or in caps (don't use all caps throughout your letter).
If in doubt of which colors to use for the background and text of your ad or sales letter, you can't go wrong with black text on a white backround.
Always do a spell check, to look professional and credible.
Follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle when designing the layout for your ad or sales letter (this applies to web sites too!).
POWERFUL WORDS TO USE IN YOUR SALES LETTERS
Absolutely.. Amazing.. Approved.. Attractive.. Authentic..Bargain...Beautiful.. Better.. Big.. Colorful.. Colossal..
Complete.. Confidential.. Crammed.. Delivered.. Direct..Discount.. Easily.. Endorsed.. Enormous.. Excellent.. Exciting..Exclusive.. Expert.. Famous.. Fascinating.. Fortune.. Free.. Full..Genuine.. Gift.. Gigantic.. Greatest.. Guaranteed.. Helpful..Highest.. Huge.. Immediately.. Improved.. Informative.. Instructive.. Interesting.. Largest.. Latest.. Lavishly.. Liberal.. Lifetime.. Limited.. Lowest.. Magic.. Mammoth.. Miracle.. Noted.. Odd.. Outstanding.. Personalized.. Popular.. Powerful.. Practical.. Professional.. Profitable.. Profusely.. Proven.. Quality.. Quickly.. Rare.. Reduced.. Refundable.. Remarkable.. Reliable.. Revealing.. Revolutionary.. Scarce.. Secrets.. Security.. Selected.. Sensational.. Simplified.. Sizable.. Special.. Startling.. Strange.. Strong.. Sturdy.. Successful.. Superior.. Surprise.. Terrific.. Tested.. Tremendous.. Unconditional.. Unique.. Unlimited.. Unparalleled.. Unsurpassed.. Unusual.. Useful.. Valuable.. Wealth.. Weird.. Wonderful.
You don't need to write a complete sales letter... But follow some (or all) of the techniques that you've just read to write a shorter ad (1/4 or 1/2 page). You may want to talk about the benefits you've personally received as a MLM distributor. Tell people how easy it is to get started, etc. One of the most effective ads is a specific testimonial by you. You entire focus is getting people to click on your link.
Remember these key points... Get the reader's attention with a headline (the most important element of your ad) that provokes curiosity and further interest, keeping in mind that many people will just be skimming the ads. Make the reader stop and take notice. Then go into your testimonial, or body of your ad. Finally, tell the reader to take action by clicking on your special link to find out more, and to "get started making money in just minutes from now".
Here's another technique for the effective use of ezine advertising. This is more of a "round about" approach, but can be even more effective than the direct approach I've just explained. You could offer your reader an enticing free product, such as a special report or eBook, via email autoresponder. Make sure your readers know it's free, and that there's "absolutely no catch". It's easy to set up an autoresponder, allowing readers to receive your special report or free download link in just a couple minutes. Include your ad - and special link - along with the free offer. Your free offer, by the way, should be a product related to making money, or marketing on the Internet. By offering a free product related to your business, you're "pre-qualifying" your prospects.
What's the advantage to this method of ezine advertising? Repeat exposure! Studies have shown it takes an average of 7 "exposures" before a person finally orders a particular product or service. When a person clicks on your link and is taken to your website, they may choose not to order right away for a variety of reasons. And once they leave, they may never visit the site again! But if they've downloaded your product, or received your special report via email, there's a much better chance of repeat exposure to your ad. In addition, you can also set up your autoresponder to (automatically) deliver follow up messages, saving you time and helping you make more money!
Here's how to gauge the results of your ads using autoresponders... Autoreponders allow you to "key" your ads by inserting a special code/key word in the email "subject" bar. The html tag to do this is as follows:
mailto:autoresponder@autoresponder.com?subject=key.
Replace the word "key" with your "secret" word, letting you know which ad is being responded to. There are a lot of good autoresponders on the web...just do a search for autoresponders. You could also gauge your results using the web page/hit counter set-up to deliver your free report or download link.
The bottom line: When your visitors are taken to the website, they'll have a powerful sales letter right in front of them, the same one that convinced you to order. Your job is to get them to that sales letter - in one way or another - and let it do the rest of the selling for you.
As you research various ezine publishers, pay attention to what kind of ads they allow. Different ezines have different requirements and options for placing your ad. Some will allow you to create your ads using html, and others accept only text with your URL or autoresponder link. Make sure your links will be "live" in the actual ad as received by subscribers, or your ad will be relatively ineffective.
Some ezine publishers allow you to place free ads simply for subscribing to their publication. You can gain some good exposure this way, and test your ads in the process, before graduating to paid ads.
Your assignment: Search the web for "free ezine ads" and similar searches. You can start out at Google.com as they provide a decent list of ezine publishers that offer free ad placement. Create several ads of your own (if you haven't already). Register for a "hotmail" email address, or some other free email service provider. Use this when subscribing for a 1/2 dozen or so ezines. You want to subscribe to ezines that relate to the subjects of business, the Internet, online marketing, making money online, etc. By doing so, you're targeting the right group of prospective customers - those that are most likely to be interested in Your MLM. Next, test your ads, one at a time, by submitting them to the ezines you've signed up for. Take your best performing ad and set it aside. You'll be needing it soon.
When you feel comfortable enough to begin paying for your ads, do a search for "paid ezine ads" on Google.com and start researching ezine "candidates" for your ads.
Research only the ezines that have some relation to marketing, home business, making money on the Internet, etc. You want your ad in amongst your competitors' ads, and not in ezines where ads similar to yours can't be found. Compare pricing in relation to the number of subscribers for each ezine. In some cases, you'll have to send out some emails to the various ezine editors to inquire about pricing/rates and subscriber numbers. Make a list of the ezines that seem the most promising. Subscribe to the ezines on your list, and browse through a sample issue of each one, looking for content and the type of ads contained within. Now here's my personal "secret" for finding the ezines that really get the results... Email a handful of advertisers (those with similar offers) from the ezines you're interested in and ask them if they're happy with the results of advertising with that particular ezine. You can also "follow" what other advertisers are doing by regularly reviewing the issues of the ezines. Keep an eye out for repeat ads. Repeat ads are a good sign, not just for the product or service of a particular advertiser, but for the effectiveness of the ezine itself as well.
Your mission... Place an ad with one or two of your most promising paid ezines. If the ad performs well, put your advertising with that ezine on "autopilot", by telling the editor to regularly place your ad. Depending on the frequency of issues, you may not want to advertise in every single issue. Once a month is usually satisfactory, however, there are exceptions... If you're ad is performing extraordinarily well, you may want to "roll out" and advertise as often as you can until referrals/sales begin to level off.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 12, 2008 2:37 pm | | re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Internet Marketing Lessons Part II..... Everything You Need To Know Step-By-Step
Here ya go ..... another installment of eye opening marketing education. ;)
LESSON 3: EMAIL...
In the previous section, using autoresponders was discussed in conjunction with your ezine advertising. That's just one example of effective email marketing...
If you market a website, you can use additional forms of email advertising to provide exposure for your special link (assuming you've placed it on your web site), and at the same time, whatever else you're offering.
Effective email marketing has nothing to do with spam, and everything to do with targeted mailing lists...
By a targeted list, I'm talking about a list composed of people with one specific interest, such as "Internet marketing". The idea is to send out regular (every 21 days is a good rule of thumb) offers that you believe will be of interest, and of value to the recipients. A list composed of people with varying interests is all but useless.
In the business of direct Internet marketing, your mailing list should be considered your most valuable asset. Let's say you have a list of 10,000 people that regularly receive your mailings - people that have grown to know and trust you. You've got a goldmine at your fingertips! With one simple mailing, if just 2% of the people on your list order respond, you'll suddenly have 200 orders to fulfill (with Your MLM you won't have to fulfill orders)! They'll order because they trust you, and because they know they'll be receiving a product of value.
This applies to business in general - not just having success with mailing lists... Many web sites sit dead in the water, and are eventually abandoned because site owners fail to recognize the "trust building" principle. Creating an aura of trust, professionalism, and credibility on your web site is absolutely critical. Do whatever you can to reflect credibility, and build trust with your prospective customers in every aspect of your offer, or you'll never reach your full potential.
Your assignment: Ask yourself the following question and give some serious thought to the answer: What are you doing to make your prospective customers trust you? Here are several ideas... Include testimonials throughout your site, make certain you offer a solid guarantee, sign up with a third party quality control sites such as i-cop.org, etc. to reassure your customers you're not just some "fly-by-night" operation ready to take their money and not deliver.
It makes sense to break mailing lists into two different groups - "prospect" lists and "customer" lists. Prospect lists are easier to compile, but have considerably less selling power than customer lists. If you don't currently have a customer base, start with a prospect list, and work on converting prospects into customers. As you begin fulfilling orders, you can compile your customer list along with your prospect list.
The way to begin building a prospect list is with an "opt-in" mailing list. You can promote your mailing in many of the same places you would your special link (web sites, online auctions, etc.) Offer a free report or eBook in exchange for signing up. The free information can be delivered via autoresponder. (Your email link doesn't have to be an autoresponder, but the easier you make it for people to receive your offer, the more success you'll have.)
Here's an example of how you might prompt people to join your mailing list...
-------------------------------------------
Receive the following eBook absolutely free (a $19.95 value) when you join our mailing list...
"101 Power Internet Marketing Tips and Secrets!"
To join and receive your free copy via email right away send a blank email to: power@bogusemailaddie.com
-------------------------------------------
There are other ways to build your prospect list, but none are as simple and effective as offering an irresistible free offer to people in exchange for receiving your mailings.
The next step is deciding what type of mailing to send out. There is nothing wrong with sending out direct-response special offers, as long as these offers are of interest, and of value to recipients. But the most popular, and considered most effective, type of mailings on the Internet are ezines and online newsletters.
Just a short, 2-3 page newsletter containing valuable information for your subscribers is all that's needed. Nothing fancy. Your newsletter might simply be serving the purpose of reminding people of your site.
Your assignment: Subscribe to several ezines and newsletters (if you haven't already) and study them. Study content, formats and layouts, and how promotions and special offers are integrated into the mailings. When you're ready to start your own newsletter, you can emulate the newsletters and ezines that appealed to you.
So how do you mail out your ezine or newsletter? If you've got a relatively small list of subscribers, using a mail program like Eudora is fine. But as your list begins to grow, you'll want to use a "list hosting service" such as that provided by AutresponderAny.123. In a sense, these services act as your personal administrative assistants. They automatically process requests to subscribe and unsubscribe from your publication, handle requests for general information about your newsletter, and perform the actual mailing out of issues to everyone on the subscription list. And they're available around the clock, seven days a week.
Due to the nature of email marketing, no matter what you do there's always a chance you'll receive a complaint or two from people who have forgotten they "opted in" to your list, etc. Follows these simple rules to help avoid complaints and claims of spamming being sent to you or your ISP.
* If someone on your list requests to be removed, or sends a complaint for whatever reason, remove that person immediately.
* Don't send email to people that aren't on your list!
* At the top of your letter, remind people of why they're receiving your mailing (because they opted in).
* Don't go for long periods of time without sending out a mailing. (21-30 days is normal.)
* Send offers only to those that have, in some way, demonstrated an interest in the type of product or service you're presenting (i.e., send offers that relate to your free report/eBook).
If a complaint should reach your ISP, demonstrate that the person complaining has opted in to your mailing list, and reassure your ISP that you'll be removing this person immediately. ISP's are reasonable, realizing that complaints are sometimes unavoidable, so don't let a single complaint worry you too much. Just do your absolute best to "make everyone happy".
The bottom line: As you gain new customers and add them to your mailing list for future promotions, focus on keeping them as customers: Always be up front and honest, provide excellent customer service, and offer only top quality products. Following these simple tips will ensure your customers will return to you again and again for years to come.
LESSON 4: PRESS RELEASES...
More free advertising! Ezine (or online newsletter) publishers in particular are always looking for new articles to offer their subscribers. By providing these publishers with articles they can include in their publications, they'll allow you to include a link to your offer. Some Internet entrepreneurs use this method almost exclusively in attracting visitors to their sites.
Your assignment is as follows... Email a list of ezines that relate to your offer (such as ezines on Internet marketing), and request details on submitting your article to them... Do they accept outside article submissions? What type of material are they looking for? How long should the article be? Is there a specific email address to submit articles to?... Request information on including your promotional links (your special link or web-site URL) in the articles you'll be submitting as well. Each publisher will vary somewhat, so create a special file for your list of ezine publishers and their preferences for future reference.
Once you have compiled a list of ezines related to your offer, it's time to come up with articles for submission... Here's one method: You can purchase info. disks with reprint reports and booklets, and modify them to suit the publication as well as include your promotional links. The other option is to write your own articles. Here are a few general tips for writing effect submissions...
Use plenty of facts throughout the release; make sure it is well written, using proper wording, punctuation, and spelling; avoid obvious sales pitches; make certain your article in "on topic" and newsworthy, and use personal contacts for best results (especially relevant for offline submissions).
TIP: If you've already got an information product of your own, an eBook for example, you could divide it up into sections and submit these sections one at a time to various publications.
There is almost no limit to the amount of traffic you can generate with press releases, but it will take some persistence.
Your mission... Produce an article containing your special link and send it to the ezines on your list. In addition, conduct a search for alternative places to submit your article, as there are many other sources (in addition to ezine and newsletter publishers) open to accepting or distributing press releases. Here's just one example: Check out "PRweb", a free press release distribution service!
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 12, 2008 2:39 pm | | re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Internet Marketing Lessons Part III..... Everything You Need To Know Step-By-Step
Ok .... hunker down and turn off all the distractions. Here's the next slice of your marketing education.
LESSON 5: LINK EXCHANGES...
"Link exchanges" are a modestly effective way to promote your site (or offer) for free...
A link exchange (also known as reciprocal linking) is simply swapping links with another site... In return for another site posting your link, you post their link on yours. You can trade different types of links, including banners, text links, buttons, etc.
You can easily go after your target target by trading links with sites that relate to your offer. How do you find sites willing to trade links? You can go directly to sites that interest you and see if they offer reciprocal linking, either by reviewing the site, or by contacting the site owner/publisher by email and asking. (TIP: As you're contacting site owners, make sure to include your "marketing signature", as you never know - the person you contact may be interested in Your MLM themselves!) You can also conduct a search (try http://www.dogpile.com) under "reciprocal linking", "directory of link exchanges", "banner exchanges" etc., to find sites that either are willing to trade links themselves, or provide a list of other willing sites.
Some sites request a paid "entry fee", or request that you "sign up for free", to access their particular directory of link exchanges. These sites will often help you find the link exchange opportunity that's right for you, aid you in designing a banner ad or creating another type of link, assist you with the link trade, etc.
TIP: Many search engines pay attention to how many links "point" to your site. This is known as "link popularity", and search engines will use this information in determining your ranking, assuming that if a good number of sites are linking to yours, your site must be "in demand". For this reason, link exchanges are a "double edged sword"... Not only are you drawing traffic through the reciprocal link, but through the upgraded search engine placement as well. To maximize link popularity, link to sites that relate to yours, and use text links whenever possible as search engines can interpret the these text links as added keywords.
You can easily promote your business through link exchanges by setting up a quick web page (look for free web hosting). This could be the same page containing your free report (see the section on ezine advertising)... You'll just need to reserve a little space on the page to include your reciprocal links!
Keep in mind that not every web site, even those that are open to link exchange programs, will trade links with you. They may need to see your site as adding value to theirs, or providing a service to their visitors. If they don't feel that trading links with you offers these things, they may decide to pass on the exchange. This shouldn't deter you in your mission, which is to find 2 or 3 related sites that are willing to exchange links with you. Site owners may want to know what they'll gain by trading links with you. If so, explain to them the various ways in which you build traffic and gain exposure, and how your "free report page" is an integral part of your marketing system.
LESSON 6: ASSOCIATE PROGRAMS...
Associate programs (also called affiliate, or reseller programs), are a great way to build what I call "residual exposure"... I recommend advertising your associate program in the same way you advertise your main offer (or along with your main offer). As you do, you'll gain new associates who will further promote your main offer. So you see, your initial output of advertising to build your associate base is producing the residual effect, and you're effectively multiplying your efforts.
ClickBank, mentioned earlier, is one of the most popular merchant services providers on the web for those selling digital content. In addition to allowing you the ability to accept credit cards without a merchant account, and the ability to "deliver" your product automatically, ClickBank offers a full featured associate (affiliate) tracking program. Not only does ClickBank track the commissions due your associates, they also send the commission checks out for you!
Once you have your associate program set up, you'll have the ability to arrange "joint ventures" with eBook or newsletter publishers, mailing list owners, and so forth. Here's an example of how a joint venture might be arranged... You contact the publisher of an ezine that relates to your offer, and ask that your offer be sent out to the publisher's subscriber base, ideally along with an endorsement from the publisher. You'd, of course, offer a nice commission on each resulting sale in exchange. The publisher will most likely want a copy or sample of the product before offering it to subscribers (especially true if you're seeking a publisher endorsement to head your sales copy). In your initial contact, or letter to the publisher, you'll have to "sell" your product to that person... Convince the publisher of the quality and value of your product (or let the product speak for itself by sending a free sample), and demonstrate how it relates and can be of use to the publisher's subscribers. Offer a generous commission, 50% if possible.
Joint ventures can be somewhat of a challenge to arrange, but are worth the effort when you consider you're benefiting from someone else's prize possession - their mailing list. The key is in finding your "match"... Someone who feels they will benefit from the venture as much as you, and that their list is not "in danger".
Here's a sample letter to potential venture partners that you can refer to when you're ready to give the joint venture method a try...
----------------------------------------------------------
Hi "Bob",
I've recently completed my new eBook, called "Make $5000 a Month Raising Butterflies!", and the positive feedback is already rolling in. I'm certain your subscribers would love it. But don't take my word for it... Following is the download link if you'd like to check it out for yourself:
http://www.thisnotarealink.com/XcapiperSecret.exe
If you'd be interested in dropping your subscribers a note that I've prepared about the book (and perhaps send along a quick endorsement yourself), I'd be willing to pay you 50% ($10.00) for every resulting order.
Bob, this could be a real win/win for both of us...
Let me know if you'd like me to make arrangements to get something going...
Best Regards,
(Your Name)
(Your URL)
----------------------------------------------------------
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 12, 2008 2:40 pm | | re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Internet Marketing Lessons Part IV..... Everything You Need To Know Step-By-Step
Alrights ladies and gents ..... you're almost there. Here's the last chapter of internet marketing education in this series. The next chapter ..... will be written by you. ;)
LESSON 7: OFF-LINE MARKETING...
Newspaper and magazine classifieds can be an effective way to gain exposure for any offer. Just as with online advertising, you'll want to make sure you advertise WITH your competitors - in the same publications, and in the same areas of those publications. Create a headline that stands out from the crowd. Most "readers" of classifieds are actually "skimmers" looking for something that catches their eye, arouses their curiosity... That's why it's said that your headline accounts for 80% of your success. The job of your headline is to make people stop and read the rest of your ad. The rest of your ad is to give people a kick in the butt - giving them enough motivation to get up, turn on their computers, log on, and type in your URL (or to make them tear out your ad and put it beside their computer for later, OR to commit your URL to memory).
Learn from your competitors... Here's a little game you can try to see how good an eye you have for effective classified ads. Each week, study the classified ads section (choose a particular category such as "Business Opportunities"). Cut out the ads you feel are most effective and save them. The following week, look over the same category again. Go through the ads you pulled the previous week and see which of them are still listed. Label which ads reappeared as well as those that didn't. Continue this process each week, always keeping track of which ads continue to appear.
The bottom line is this: You can be fairly certain that a re-occurring ad (appearing a good number of times) is not only a successful ad, but the ad of a successful offer. The idea behind tracking the ads is to study those you find to be successful. Determining what makes them successful can sometimes mean digging deeper than the ad itself. Most classified ads, by their very purpose and nature, leave much information to be desired. You may need to obtain this additional information to discover the "secret" behind a particular ad.
Keep in mind that the purpose of a classified ad is different from a display ad or the information contained in a direct mailing. Your sole purpose is to get the reader to take action and either obtain, or request additional information. That's it. If you can do this in three lines great. But who knows, you may need 10 lines (ouch!). Either way, a strong headline and a good "hook" within the body of the ad should do the trick.
In addition to newspaper and magazine classified ads, placing your URL virtually anywhere is good. Business cards are cheap. Why not print up several hundred that include your URL and have them ready to pass out whenever an opportunity presents itself? Every time time I take a trip to the gas station I see a lawn sign advertising a work at home business opportunity. You could market business in the same way. With a little creativity, there's almost no end to the ways in which you can promote and gain exposure for your URL and special link through off-line marketing!
ADVERTISING BUDGET...
I highly recommend setting aside a specific amount of money to serve as your monthly advertising "budget". As little as $50-100 per month will go a long way in helping you gain exposure for your offer.
YOUR FINAL MISSION...
Do at least one thing per day to promote your business. Invest the total amount of your advertising budget each month, spending it wisely and economically. Mix in as many free techniques as necessary to get you to the end of each month. If you stick with it, your efforts should really begin to snowball after just 2-3 months...
Be patient! Your efforts will eventually pay off, and pay off in convincing fashion. Internet marketing takes a certain level of faith - believing things will happen without seeing immediate results.
As you go along, pay attention to which advertising techniques and services are the most effective (and which are not so effective) based on the number of referrals you generate, and the response you get from each ad (via keying your ads). Keep a daily log of your marketing activities, so that you can check back and determine without much doubt which of your activities caused a sudden influx of orders. If you're not sure, repeat the "suspected" activity after some "downtime", and see if the results repeat themselves.
Finally, make a list of the techniques/services you like, and stop using the ones you dislike. When you've reached a level of performance you're satisfied with, work on automating the items on your list. For example, you can work out arrangements with ezine publishers to have your ad run regularly. Soon ... your advertising campaign will be running on "autopilot".
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 16, 2008 8:09 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Carolyn M. Scotti | | Hi Michael, Thank you for the time & effort you put into 'A Beginner's check list to promoting your business on line.'
Being brand new to 'Network Marketing' the information is greatly appreciated, and will be a great help to all of us trying to build our business'
God Bless,
Carolyn
Thinking of Building A Website?
Click below to see how easy it can be!
Use access code: cscotti
http://freedom.ws/
Private Reply to Carolyn M. Scotti | | Feb 18, 2008 1:10 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | How To Use The Internet To Build Your Downline
I just finished talking with my friend Joe Okoro. Joe has written several articles and a few ebooks on downline building. You might have seen him as a regular contributer at Home Based Business Forums where I'm the Administrator. Joe's definitely one of the good guys .... always willing to help others with what he worked so hard to learn himself.
Anyway, Joe has been in the network marketing business for 6 years and he knows all the known tactics in building a successful downline. Joe's particular expertise is how to build a successful downline using the internet. Believe me .... Joe's expertise is VERY impressive. If it works .... Joe knows all about it. What's more .... he can tell you EXACTLY how to make it work for you. In simple easy to understand terms. That's always refreshing.
Which brings me to this tip .... Joe has just concluded a free report detailing a step by step approach to building a huge downline using the Internet. This is not one of those "all theory - no meat" publications that are just too hard to apply for the regular MLMer. It's a practical, step-by-step, easy to follow and easy to apply now, "how to" roadmap. Short and sweet....simple to implement for anyone.
I strongly recommend that you download Joe's report on how to build a quick downline using the internet....and do it NOW. Even better than the info itself is that it won't cost you a penny. Yep .... it's FREE.
You can get your own personal copy of Joe's report right here: http://www.trafficbuilding.coolcashjackpot.net/
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business.....DO Business"
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Feb 19, 2008 12:13 am | | re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Michael Steve | | Very useful thank you very much.
Steve Michael - Affiliate Manager
http://www.icongalore.com
affiliates@icongalore.com
Private Reply to Michael Steve | | Mar 22, 2008 10:17 pm | | re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Walt Williams | | Thanks for starting the thread, Michael, and thanks for all the information about how to do things right.
Now let me show you all how to do things wrong. I found the most awful homemade video on YouTube with some guy seriously promoting his home business. It is sooooo poor that most here will laugh.
Next time you have a discretionary 2 minutes, click here
to see a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDe-FWEcBM
It is a 10 minute video, but you only need watch the first minute or so to get the horrible idea. Maybe if he would bother to take the cigarette out of his mouth, it might help!
Okay, I'm having some fun at this guy's expense, but I will say power to him to getting out there and trying!
Walt
Private Reply to Walt Williams | | Apr 19, 2008 1:35 pm | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Curt Clapier | | Good resources. The internet is great, but I think it has a greater learning curve than traditional network marketing techniques. I tell my people to start with and immediate traditional marketing strategy and a long term internet strategy. For the internet is an awesome form of automation and leads generation, but it takes time, skills and knowledge. People need to learn these things and most people I see burn out because they buy in try squidoo, try facebook, waste money on adwords and wee no results and then quit. I know this happens to most because it happened to me when I started.
In response to another post by Michael about finding the right opportunity I believe a key aspect to the right opportunity is the team you are joining. They all claim to train you, but will they really? Coaching is a must.
Curt Clapier
801.809.0369
mlmnetworkingtools.com
Private Reply to Curt Clapier | | Apr 30, 2008 10:26 am | | re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Ted Melko | | Michael I'm dizzy...........;)
What Michael says is accurate, I have a traditional plumbing business that does very well on the web. We have great seo and ses that I sub out to a freind who has a web design company. We traditionally show up in the top 5 listings (organically) and that is for a multiple of cities in and around Atlanta GA. Internet marketing has been a real Godsend for our business as we do NO advertising in the YP aka the black hole of money. ROI for internet advertising is much better then print especially if you can get high organic se listings.
All the best,
Ted Melko
The Plumbers Inc.
Independent Associate
Ignite Inc.
www.weignite.net
Private Reply to Ted Melko | | May 27, 2008 11:53 am | | re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | How To Use YouTube To Advertise Your Home Based Business
For anyone using YouTube as part of your business marketing efforts ..... and for those thinking of using YouTube ..... here's a detailed "how to" to optimize your success kindly shared by Gregg at HomeBasedBusinessForum.com. You could also call this a "Step By Step Guide on How to Get Lots of Video Traffic":
http://best-mlm-resources.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-use-youtube-to-advertise-your.html
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jun 04, 2008 3:35 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Here's a tip....a blog can be about anything. It doesn't HAVE to be all about your business, your product, the industry niche you're in (nutritional, telecom, self improvement, etc.), or even MLM at all. It can be about anything.
My friend Julieanne Van Zyl has a blog on Scuba Diving. It's her passion so she talks about it. She also has some links to her biz strategically placed in the blog. She "connects" with people who share her passion for scuba diving. Some ask her "more" about her .... giving an opportunity to share her biz. Some of those join her biz with her or buy products. She has now attracted folks who share an interest in something she has a passion for (scuba diving) AND her business. Makes for great long term partners.
My friend Frank Morgan has a blog specificly focused on his company....Xooma. He shares tools, training, news, encouragement, experiences, etc. all about Xooma. It's for folks in his company but also attracts others who are curious. He connects with those unattached visitors...answers their questions, and some join Xooma with him. Again...attracts folks interested in his passion (Xooma) who also make great partners because they were highly targeted and asked HIM.
My buddies Dave Stone and Ty Tribble have blogs about network marketing/MLM in general. They share their insights, experiences, tips, etc. Folks visit for general knowledge and some ask them about their biz. Again...targeted to the curious about the industry as a whole who become attracted to Dave and Ty as people and THEN what they do for a biz. Some join them that aren't otherwise encumbered.
Me...I have 2 blogs. One is focused on MLM Resources....tips, ideas, news, tools, etc. Some folks get curious about what I do after being attacted to who I am. Some then buy a product/service (the majority) or join my business. Once again....targeted audience looking for information who connect to me and my "stuff".
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
My other blog is all techie...news, tools, resources, editorials, etc. focused on the broadband world. Some folks get curious and ask for more about what I do opening the door for potential partners.....or just see a link to a service and buy (again the majority).
http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com
For both of mine I share my own experiences and knowledge...as well as info, insights, resources, etc. from friends and research on the 'Net (Google, friends recommendations, and Forums discussions are great for material).
Also....my primary focus for attraction is customers not new reps. So that is what I get the most of.....by design. I don't really need or want to recruit tons of new "reps" (again by design) so the ones I do accept are much more commited high potential performers who convinced ME (LOL).
So...just find an interest/passion of your own. Decide a strategy to find and share material on it. Then design your blog to that. Lots of ways you can go...with the above just some ideas to help you brainstorm.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jul 03, 2008 11:22 pm | | re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business | # |
Michael Lemm | | For those of you with a blog......
You should ping immediately after every time you update your blog with a new post. However, I'd not ping more than once a day.
BTW...I recommend using http://pingoat.com as your primary ping service.....and ping-o-matic as your secondary back-up. Pingoat has a larger coverage of blog directories they submit to.
I also suggest tagging individual post pages with a social bookmarking network like Stumbleupon or de.licious. Or use a multi-tag service like http://Onlywire.com.
You can also submit individual article pages to http://Digg.com right after posting them to your blog. Make sure you select an appropriate category and that the content is "newsworthy".
Also submit your blog articles to http://ezinearticles.com. This gets you more visiibilty from those who use your articles (with your author links) .... as well as more back links to your blog (put your blog url in your author box ... in text link format).
Basically ... Post an article to your blog .... then ping it with Pingoat .... then tag it with Onlywire ..... then submit it to Digg (http://digg.com) ..... then submit it to http://ezinearticles.com .
Doing all of this for every blog post will get you higher search engine listings, back links, higher website page rank, and a ton of traffic if you're consistent with it.
The above is EXACTLY what I do. My blogs average 500+ visitors a day .... on a slow day.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
http://networkmarketing.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jul 04, 2008 2:59 am | | re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business | # | 
willan fay | | There are so many ways to promote business online! I have been working as market researcher quite long and starting to share my experience with online users to promote their site or products online.
If you want to learn my words, please check my blog:
http://buyingservice.blogspot.com
Because there are so many articles and I will update daily, so I can not put here.
Private Reply to willan fay | | Jul 07, 2008 2:53 am | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business | # | 
Liz Amason | | Michael,
Thank you so much for all of the knowledge that you share. I really appreciate it and am trying to incorporate many of these methods into my business. But, I have soooo much work ahead of me still :-)
God bless,
Liz Amason
Independent Shaklee Distributor
www.sowing4health.com
http://www.healthyathomehealthyplanet.blogspot.com/
Private Reply to Liz Amason | | Jul 07, 2008 10:45 am | | re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business | # |
Michael Lemm | | Analytics Are Vital For Your Internet / Online Marketing!!
This is Network Marketing, to have success we must network and we must market. What a concept eh?
If your online and off-line marketing is not tracked by analytics I see a lot of wasted time, lackluster results, and sure trouble for you ahead.
What are analytics some may ask?
.................
From Wikipedia:
The simplest definition of Analytics is "the science of analysis". A simple and practical definition, however, would be how an entity (i.e., business) arrives at an optimal or realistic decision based on existing data. Business managers may choose to make decisions based on past experiences or rule of thumb, or there might be other qualitative aspects to decision making; but unless there is data involved in the process, it would not be considered analytics.
.................
So, what does this mean for you? We'll you probably have a website, if not, you need to get one, so that you can reach other people, and so that you can leverage all the awesome business building tools available to you today.
Keeping track of your visitor analytics is one of the most important marketing skills you need to learn. For example; Where are your visitors coming from? Who is sending them? How many are coming? How long are they staying? Am I using the right headline? Is my sales letter too long? Is my video working?
This list of questions could go on and on, and it is your business, you need to know the answers.
Analytics set up correctly will tell you all this and more!
A free Analytics Program is Google Analytics, it is awesome, and used to cost a lot of money monthly before Google bought it for use with their Adwords program. Best of all, it can be used on your site if you are or are not using Adwords or Adsense, and it is FREE. I love Google, when you start learning Analytics you will too.
Another really good and free one is Site Meter. I use it on my sites and I know many of my freinds do as well.
Site Meter will also tell you what page a visitor came from. For example, if someone searched for something on Google and landed on your webpage, it'll show you that particular Google search page. This is excellent for figuring out which keywords and such are driving traffic to your site or blog.
It'll also show you what country, state and town a visitor came from, their IP address, their visit length, the number of page views, as well as their entry/exit pages and outclicks.
Another free service is StatsCounter. It shows, unqiue hits, new hits, return visitors. A very good service to see how your site is doing......though I've not personally used it to know for sure.
But ..... I do definitely recommend Site Meter.
If you know of other similar tools ... and/or have experiences with those mentioned so far (good or bad) .... please share as replies.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
Best MLM Resources
FreedomFire
Communications
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jul 18, 2008 3:33 pm | | re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business | # |
Michael Lemm | | U Comment I Follow for Increased Blogging Traffic
U Comment I Follow is a recent movement among some bloggers to try and help each other out and promote relevant commenting on Blogs.
Commenting on blogs has long been a good way to generate free traffic for your blog and in turn your network marketing opportunity. However, in the past, those links that were created when one left a comment were able to be spidered by search engines. This gave the person who made the comment something called "link juice" or a boost in search engine rankings.
This in turn led to widespread spammers of blogs with irrelevant comments and link lists full of spam. Therefore most blogging plat forms went to an automatic "No follow" coding which no longer gave link juice to that particular blog the commenter was from.
Recently, there has been a trend towards bloggers adding a plug-in called "U Comment I Follow" which essentially removes the coding blocking the linking. You can get this plug-in here for wordpress. For other blogging platforms, you can find great advice at Andy Beards blog.
The problem has always been finding U Comment I Follow Blogs. This problem has been solved by many U Comment I Follow icons being placed in bloggers blogs.
A good strategy to boost your Search Engine traffic is to go leave relevant comment on Do Follow Blogs, particularly in the industry you are in. Those "Do Follow" blogs are all about sharing the "Link Juice".
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
Best MLM Resources
FreedomFire Communications
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jul 23, 2008 10:21 am | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Judith Osowski | | I agree: A ton of good information and effort here. Thanks, Michael.
One thing that sticks out for me is that no matter how good our promotion techniques are, our success will ultimately depend on how good our product is and if people want or need it! I've gradually moved into having multiple streams of income and that's one of the reasons. Besides....it's fun! lol....
All the best,
Judith
Complete Online Business
http://www.web-marketing-concepts.com/ebay_referral.php?rmem=674952062534
Already Have a Business?
http://www.web-marketing-concepts.com/member_referrals.php?rmem=674952062534
Private Reply to Judith Osowski | | Aug 04, 2008 4:13 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Six Ways To Drive Traffic To Your MLM Website
Here are 6 good ways to get free traffic to your web site:
1- Add pages regularly. The search engines love it when your web site shows activity. Adding relevent information, by writing to your blog each day for example, will go a long way toward giving you a higher ranking in the search engines.
2- Of course, this is almost everybody's favorite -- article marketing. The average clickthrough rate of articles is a whooping 10%. (with PPC and traditional advertising, the CTR is only 4% to 5% on the average.) Still haven't switched to article marketing??
3- Participate in high-traffic discussion forums, and create an attractive forum signature that contains your link on it. Post everyday.
4- Submitting a video can be extremely powerful and help you get free traffic to your website very fast. If your video is relevant, funny and controversial it can create a buzz. YouTube comes to mind as an excellent source for this kind of traffic.
5- Put an e-mail signature with your web site address at the end of every e-mail you send. You can automate this process by creating a signature file in your e-mail program.
6- Create a report or a program (software) that you give out for free when people go to your web site. Make sure your URL is prominent throughout your report or program so that when people pass it around, you get some traffic.
To get free traffic to your web site is not really difficult if you regularly follow the steps mentioned above. The key word is "regularly".
For more tips specific to the 6 categories listed above...peruse the archives of Best MLM Resources.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Sep 06, 2008 11:29 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | MLM Marketing Tip - Guerrilla Linking Or Power Linking
You already know there's been lot's of great advise on Article Marketing shared in my Best MLM Resources blog over the years. Just check the archives to see for yourself (link in my sig).
I'd like to add a tactic called Guerrilla Linking or Power Linking to the tips passed on ... with articles it works great ...
Most people are using Videos, Blogging, Hubpages and articles to market with, but they don't use them together. How would you like to keep doing that, but have them working together as a cohesive marketing campaign to produce more traffic and get you on google...?
Cool right?
Here's the simple game plan:
1. Use everything Best MLM Resources teaches you here about writing an effect article. Post your lead capture page link on that article in the resource box or wherever ... Work really hard to make this article really GOOD. Outsource it to a Direct Response copywriter if you have to ...
THIS IS YOUR "TRAFFIC BAIT" piece... our mission is to now work on getting it indexed on Google or other search engines for free traffic...
How do we do this?
Backlinks!
Here's the plan:
1. Your article will have it's own link.
2. You'll write blog posts focused on relevent keywords and topics that relate to the info on your "Traffic Bait" article. You will then place a recommendation link to your article on your blog posts ... which will be a BACK LINK to your traffic bait article ...
3. You'll do the same with videos on youtube and submit them to TubeMogul as well (free)... with a link to your TRAFFIC BAIT article ...
4. Same with HubPages and Squidoo lenses ...
5. Include your Traffic Bait link in your forum signature lines too if you do a lot of forum marketing ...
THE BIG MAGIC SECRET:
Your blog posts, videos and articles and HubPages ...
Submit them to:
Propeller.com
Digg.com
Each and everytime ...
It's free. Don't worry now about why this works. Just trust me and do it ...
Over time... sometimes quickly...
Your original Traffic Bait piece will start to get ranked higher and indexed on search engines ... and this will lead to free organic traffic relevant to your keyword research ...
THIS WORKS GANG!
It's one of the things that the HIGH PRICED coaching programs like STOMPERNET, and Mass Control are teaching...
It's simple ...
It's FREE ...
It ROCKS ...
Its real internet marketing tactics...
Wanna be a pro? Do what the pros do...
(above is an example of the articles shared in the Best MLM Resources blog.)
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
http://services.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Dec 26, 2008 3:29 pm | | re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | You might also consider writing articles and submitting them to article directories, ezine publishers you know, and websites (like MLM.com). I do this faithfully and it works great.
Free marketing, very viral, and great publicity. Focus on a useful informational article that targets your market (audience) of interest...and include an author resource box (sig box) with your links in it (capture page, blog, company site, whatever).
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
http://localbiz.sitesell.com/FreedomFire1.html
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jan 06, 2009 7:29 pm | | re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Sandra Moore | | I'm in the middle of reading your "A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online" but had to stop and say Thank You!!! (I'm also going to print and save it to review as needed!) So much of what is on most of the networks is worse than worthless because I spend a lot of time scanning through the junk to find one morsel that is of any value.
>>>
>>>I'm new to online marketing/selling so I appreciate that you're willing to share your expertise and in such a concise manner. Thanks again and please keep it coming!
>>>
Sandra Mountain Moore - Want loyal clients who remember your name, purchase from
you again and again, and send you referrals?
Give me 15 minutes, and I'll show you how to achieve this in 2009.
PM me.
Private Reply to Sandra Moore | | Jan 29, 2009 12:36 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Generating traffic is one of the most important elements of building a successful internet business - once you’ve worked out how you can drive quality visitors to your website you should be on the road to success (wherever that is!). By creating quality traffic cheaply, you can almost afford to be a little lackluster when it comes to other elements of the site (although this depends what sort of site you have and who your audience is).
Below are some methods and I'm not going to cover each in great detail. That wou;ld take a rather long explanatory post for each to explain properly. For the moment, I’m providing an overview of various different techniques and options available for generating traffic:
Free Search Engine Traffic
Getting listed in search engines like Google is a great way to get free traffic (There are over 200 million people using the Google search engine each day!). If you can get to the top of Google for important and valuable keyword phrases then it’s possible to get loads of free traffic - a fantastic strategy, but one that is hard to master.
You have to be extremely dedicated and focused to succeed in this way- but it is possible (especially if you can find an area where there’s no too many people trying the same thing). Another consideration is that many search engines crowd their listings with paid ‘advertisements’ which makes it increasingly harder to stand out in the crowd.
Cost per click (CPC) advertising
CPC Advertising is the fastest (and easiest) method for getting traffic to your site. Another advantage is that you only pay for each click that you get to your site.
You can set up an account with Google Adwords and start getting traffic to your site within 10-20 minutes. The other major system that implements CPC advertising is Overture (who has relationships with Yahoo and MSN and other major search engines).
The difficulty is that there are also lots of other people who are going to be competing with you and driving up the cost per click. For example, if you want to bid on the keyword “mortgage” in Overture you are probably going to be paying several dollars for every person that clicks on your ad. The trick with CPC advertising is to find clicks that are much cheaper (in the range of 5-25 cents per click).
Viral traffic or referrals
This is probably the most powerful method of getting traffic to your site if you now how to make it work. If you can get other people to tell their friends about your website, there’s a good chance they will tell their friends as well. Such ‘viral advertising’ is terrific because it is totally free and comes packaged with a recommendation from a friend.
This is how Hotmail got started; at the end of each Hotmail email was a tag line which said “If you want to join Hotmail and get free email click here”, so any person who sent the email to another person was actually promoting Hotmail for free.
Writing articles for an ezine
You can get free publicity by writing articles for ezines who accept content from outside writers - another popular (and free) method to attract new visitors to your site.
Online forums or news groups
Generally most forums and news groups do not allow blatant advertising of your product or service. In fact, in doing so you would probably get yourself banned from a site. However, you can make ‘intelligent’ posts in a forum, some will even allow you to have a tag or signature line at the end of your post (if someone reads the post they might decide to click onto your tag line and visit your site, especially if you have provided some useful advice).
Advertising in Ezines – There are some ezines which accept advertisements – a great way to gain exposure with a targeted audience. However, you should be cautious; make sure the ezine really does have the readership that they are claiming.
Solo email advertisements – Instead of advertising in an ezine, you may be ableto pay to send out a solo mailing to the readers of an ezine.
Online classifieds – There are a number of places where you can advertise in online classifieds, sometimes for free or sometimes you need to pay. I haven’t had any personal experience with this area, and I’m not sure that it is really that effective, but everything is worth a try!
Offline advertising – Some companies have had success in advertising their website in offline media such as newspapers and magazines. I wouldn’t focus on this area until you have exhausted all other online possibilities.
Banner advertising – If you have a product which is aimed at a general consumer market (and you have good conversion rates) then you can be quite successful with this method. However, you will generally need to spend a minimum of $5000 just to test and see if it is working (that’s if you advertise on any of the major banner networks). I wouldn’t recommend banner advertising unless you have experience with Internet marketing and / or you have a really great product or offer.
Pop-ups – As you probably already know, untargeted pop-ups are generally quite ineffective (unless your aim is to have your visitors pull their own hair out!). Once again it can work but it is only for those who are experienced at the game. Targeted pop-ups can be a lot more effective but you need to make sure that they are really targeted – a lot of research is needed to make successful use of ‘pops’.
Guaranteed traffic 10,000 hits!!! – If you ever see any promotions for guaranteed hits, for example: “10,000 hits for $360” - stay away. Generally, companies making these offers will get you hits by using overpriced pop-up traffic.
Other online advertising methods – There are many other niche methods to advertise online and I can’t cover them all here, but they are all worth trying as long as it doesn’t cost you too much money.
Free links from other sites – A highly recommended way to boost traffic is to get links from other sites for free. To get quality traffic the site should have a similar subject to yours and the other site needs to give your site a great recommendation from a page that people visit on their site -not just a simple link from their links page- A link from their links page may increase your popularity with Google but it is unlikely to get you any visitors.
Affiliate links from other sites – An affiliate program is a great way to get visitors to your site to buy your product. This is obviously only appropriate if you have a product to sell which you can offer an affiliate commission on. If you are only selling other people’s products through their affiliate programs then you can’t really have an affiliate program of your own.
Other paid links from other sites – You can pay other sites to link to your site in an arrangement where you pay per month or other negotiated period.
Affiliate networks – If you have an affiliate program you can get your program onto an affiliate network which gives you instant access to a whole lot of new affiliates who can promote your program.
Joint Ventures – I have left this to last because it is one of the most effective methods. You can get a relationship with someone who has a website in your general topic area or an ezine in your topic area. The key to this method is to develop a relationship with that person. Then they can promote your product and get a commission from the sales that ensue.
Which method should I use?
There is no best method for getting traffic. Generating quality traffic requires some hard work and dedication – everyone will hit and miss using the methods described above. The most important thing is to test each method, look at the results and the overall trends in your sales and then decide which method is best for you.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jan 29, 2009 12:53 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
EmilieMWP | | This is a great post Michael. Thank you for all of your advice. I'm new to the game, and any advice is appreciated.
EmilieMWP
Private Reply to EmilieMWP | | Jan 29, 2009 9:36 pm | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Gopal Dev | | Great tips. There are so many fundamental web marketing strategies/tools that can be applied to any online business. It often seems overwhelming but by attacking as many as you can in an organized fashion you will be on your way to establishing a solid online presence.
Having an Internet marketing game plan is essential to stay competitive in the 21st century. Essentially, Internet marketing can help your business by using the Internet to do one or more of the following:
·Communicate your company's message: ex) Biography, mission statement, information about products, services, or business opportunity
·Conduct research: Preferences, needs, and demographics of your existing and potential customers/business partners.
·Sell products and services on your web site or for other vendors on their sites.
·Sell advertising space on your web site and/or other sites over the Internet.
·Share ideas and experiences with others in order for you to build valuable relationships that are vital for success in any business.
There are many elements to marketing online, but the core concepts are essentially the same. Here are the most popular techniques used by Internet marketers.
·Building a website, consisting of text, images, and possibly audio/video elements used to convey your message online and inform existing and potential customers of the features and benefits of doing business with you. The website has your contact information clearly displayed and may also include the ability to capture visitors contact information thereby allowing you to keep in touch with them via email. Websites are the Internet equivalents of offline brochures or mail order catalogues and they are a great way to establish your business identity.
·Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is marketing your website online via search engines, either by improving the site's natural ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to offline yellow page listings.
·Email marketing, which is a method of distributing information and getting feedback from customers about your product, service, or business opportunity through Email. Interested parties can subscribe to your mailing list through an opt-in form that is prominently displayed on your web site. You can use an Autoresponder (software program) to send emails out to your prospect list, even when you’re not at a computer. What you do is you create, lets say, a seven-part email course. Then you can set the intervals for the emails to, say, once a day and send them one part of the course each day over the course of a week. So you write the emails one time and then anyone joining that list will automatically be sent those emails for the next seven days. This doesn’t matter if you’re online or if you’re away from the computer. They will get sent automatically. They also get added to the list automatically. And if they choose to unsubscribe, all of that is taken care of without you having to lift a finger. Email marketing is essentially the online equivalent of direct mail marketing.
·Blogging, which is the act of posting comments, expressing opinions or making announcements and can be accomplished either by hosting your own blog or by posting comments and/or URLs in other blogs related to your product, service, or business opportunity online.
·Classified Ads, which is the online equivalent to placing small ads in newspapers or magazines. There are plenty of free online classified Ads sites that you can promote your business on by category and really target your audience.
·Forum Marketing, where you can participate in discussion boards on a number of subjects relating to your business. Leaving your URL at the end of all your posts is an excellent way of creating many back links online that readers can click on and visit your web site long after you have posted your entry in the forum.
·Social Networking that can put you in touch with old friends and help you establish relationships with new prospective customers and business partners all over the world. You can set up a personal profile, display your photos, educational info, business info, website URL and email address, audio and video files etc…
·Press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about your company, website, products/services, or any related events with on online wire service.
·Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained. Article marketing can result in significant traffic to your website, and the distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience.
·Banner advertising, which is the placement of ads on a website for a fee. The offline equivalent of this form of online marketing would be traditional ads in newspapers or magazines.
·Social Bookmarking, a method for you to search, store, and organize bookmarks of web pages on the Internet. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine. You can store links to your blog,press releases,and articles in these Social bookmarking sites and allow others to search them.
By consistently applying these strategies to your business you will see an increase in the traffic to your website which you can turn into customers and/or partners. Each technique has its benefits and some may work better for you than others.
Also, different online marketers will have varying results with the different techniques in their Internet marketing game plan. So, it is extremely important for you to use Site Traffic Analysis tools that will give you a clear indication as to where you are getting the bulk of your traffic from. This will let you focus on what works best and maximize your results. Cheers!
Gopal (The Musical Mad Scientist and Entrepreneur)
http://www.boom.thevfusiongroup.biz
Private Reply to Gopal Dev | | Mar 04, 2009 2:40 pm | | re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Remember to always focus upon the Fundamental Reality of the way people Use The Web.
Content: Online, people search for information, look for solutions -- they are not looking for you. Give them what they want by converting your knowledge into high-quality, in-demand CONTENT.
Traffic: Your theme-based topical content ranks high at the Search Engines, attracting free, targeted TRAFFIC... interested, open-to-you visitors.
PREsell: Develop trust and confidence ("PREsell") by OVERdelivering relevant, original, high-value information to these motivated pre-customers.
Then... and only then...
MONETIZE your warm, willing-to-buy visitors in various ways.
Monetization is the easy part -- it flows from traffic the way electricity flows from a river through a dam. But monetization does not matter until your "visitor-river" delivers hundreds (at least) to your site (every day)... and your content PREsells them. Unfortunately...
PREsold traffic is the hard part -- this is where 98% of home businesses fail. Once you have PREsold traffic, then blend in monetization options to build a thriving, diversified business.
Follow the step-by-step C - T - P - M process!
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
http://Small-Business-Resources-Cafe.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Mar 04, 2009 11:28 pm | | re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Tosha Dyson | | Thanks for all the great info Michael!
Tosha
Private Reply to Tosha Dyson | | Mar 26, 2009 9:28 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Souleymane Maiga | | Hey Mike,
That's awsome that you're sharing all this great information with us...
Keep posting great content like that.
All The Best,
Souleymane Maiga
"The 20-Yr Old Attraction Marketer"
Private Reply to Souleymane Maiga | | Apr 18, 2009 12:40 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
JC Ent | | GREAT advice Michael . . . Top Notch!!
Private Reply to JC Ent | | May 31, 2009 7:28 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Here's a few suggestions for you.
1. Set-up a blog (use Google's blogger it's free) and post to it regularly. Read through the info in the Ryze Blog networks for ideas. This can serve as 1 of your "sites" for marketing, link strategy, and SEO purposes.
2. Learn SEO, PR, and SE listing and apply them.
3. Get a simple capture page and use it. My friend Carl Sorenson is a genius with these and can set you up with one specific for your company. Look him up here at Ryze.com
4. Get a domain name for your company site and set it up to redirect to your company site. You pick whatever you want the domain name to be....so you can market an "affiliate" url without the ? etc. in it. Much better for the search engines. Or better yet....make your own website (SBI is good for that).
5. Put a link to your own website or your main company site (using the redirect url) and blog in your capture page (for the search engine spiders not visitors really). Put a link to your own website or main company site (using the redirect domain) and capture page in your blog....for the same reason. This gives you a triad of sites linked together for higher link popularity/strategy.
Now promote all 3 via forum sigs, ezine article author bio boxes, SE/directory submission, google adwords, ads where appropriate, etc.
But the big key is to post content/key word rich articles to your blog religiously (2-4/week) and ping the blog directories right after (use pingoat or pingomatic) . The SEs will spider your blog and list the individual article pages for the key words consistently and fairly high (usually). Of course every blog article page has the links to your lead capture page and redirect url to your company site.
The second key is consistently submiting original informative articles.....with your links in the author bio box......to article directories. They'll be picked up and published in ezines and as website content reaching 1,000's you wouldn't have reached yourself. This is called viral marketing.
Takes time, takes effort, but it works.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communication
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | May 31, 2009 7:41 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Chuck & Shirley Bartok | |
The silver Bullet assuring Success !!!!!
"Takes time, takes effort, but it works."
Thank you again Michael for your wisdom
Private Reply to Chuck & Shirley Bartok | | Jun 03, 2009 10:42 am | | re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
David Davis | | Awesome Topic! Thanx for the input and I will be back to reread all the content that you offered.. NICE, VERY NICE!
Private Reply to David Davis | | Jul 25, 2009 10:08 pm | | re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # | 
Dalisha Carmichael | | Hello,
I am new to this group and already I enjoy it. I thank you all for the insight and tips that you've posted. I enjoy meeting individuals who together work towards the common goal of pushing their businesses forward. I look forward to learning and contributing to this group.
Private Reply to Dalisha Carmichael | | Sep 23, 2009 8:13 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: A Beginner's Checklist to Promoting Your Business Online | # |
Michael Lemm | | Please add any online marketing, SEO (search engine optimization), and SEM (search engine marketing) tips and resources you may have to this thread. Members then have a "one stop shop" for lots of "learning opportunities".
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
FreedomFire Communications
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
http://mscprez.ld.net
http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com
http://Small-Business-Resources-Cafe.blogspot.com
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