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| | The Business Networking Online Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Internet Marketing Lessons Part I..... Everything You Need To Know Step-By-Step | Views: 327 | | Aug 22, 2010 9:13 pm | | Internet Marketing Lessons Part I..... Everything You Need To Know Step-By-Step | # | 
Michael Lemm | | This is from an archive of old articles I keep around and share .... can't remember the original source of the meat (been awhile).
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 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 business seen by as many people as possible in your target market. Your target market is anyone interested in buying your product / service or making money (depends on your business). There are millions of people searching for a way to make extra money online.....and just as many looking to buy something. 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 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.
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. For example 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 your product/service or 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 business. 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 your product/service or making money, or marketing on the Internet (again .... depends on your business). 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 product/service or business opportunity. 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://Small-Business-Resources-Cafe.blogspot.com
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