Adam Smith on Competition: “The natural price or the price of free competition ... is the lowest which can be taken. [It] is the lowest which the sellers can commonly afford to take, and at the same time continue their business.”

Today, marketing is not the same as it was in the ‘60s or ‘70s, because there are enough products to satisfy customer’s needs. In fact customers are “hyper-satisfied”! Companies have segmented the market until it has become almost too small to service profitably.

Distribution is now largely in the hands of giant corporations such as Wal-Mart and Costco. There are more brands and fewer producers, products “life” have been shortened, and it’s cheaper to replace than to repair - all complicating the process further.

Marketing has always started with identifying the needs of your customer, but many companies are now focusing on the product. They focus on what category it falls into, and then what sub-category (for instance pudding and then what flavors). By focusing on the product, companies then focus on who’ll use the product, and those considered “not using” are excluded from the picture. In doing this, you’ve just given your competitor a target market.

You may have captured 75% of your “user market” because you have a USP (unique selling position) i.e.; more flavors, more convenient packaging, longer shelf life, etc. But why can’t YOU also take care of the other 25% instead of your competitor?

To do that, requires a new way of thinking known as “Lateral Marketing”. Stop thinking about how you can keep the 75% in love with your product (Vertical Marketing), think about drawing in the 25% of the market that wasn’t your customer. This is done by innovative thinking. This may be seen as further “segmenting” the market-place, but at the same time it’s making it bigger.

Let’s say you sell soap. You’ve captured 75% of your market because of some formulary development that makes more suds with fewer products. The 25% that your competition is trying to capture would rather spend less for soap, than use less. Your method of also capturing that 25% is to start thinking “innovation” and not different product.

Lateral Marketing works within the original category of product and complements it, not competes with it. You could come up with soap with more bleach, with less foam, fragrance free, with more foam. You can innovate by size – selling in large economy packs, selling in individual packs, and do this without ever changing the formula of the product. This type of marketing works best for mature markets with no growth (after all, what new uses can you come up with for soap). It also can create markets from scratch, requires greater resources, and may redefine your company’s mission and business focus.

This innovative method of marketing doesn’t create “new” categories or markets, it always occurs “within” the category where the idea originated. If you’ve done everything right, you’ve garnered the 25% of customers that might have got away and it didn’t require a lot of overhead – you’re still producing soap!

Despite the high volume of e-mail that flows invisibly all the time, there is often no substitute for talking with people. Indeed, in many organizations, big decisions are made only after in-person conversations. Many career people take this seriously. Herein lies an opening for misjudgement.

present with sincere gusto It is not uncommon to find a white-collar worker who believes that tone of voice and body language are underrated in effective speaking. Some polish their hand gestures and rehearse specific tones of voice because they believe that substance without style is weak. It's not just content, they say, but delivery. Seeking an edge, some even have the famous 7% rule memorized.

The 7% rule states:
• 55% of meaning comes from presentation
• 38% of meaning comes from tonality
• 7% of meaning comes from the words themselves.

Though this has brought confidence and success to some, there are still people who pay more than 7% attention to the words others speak. Neither is a fringe group. However, only the latter has the backing of scientific research.

still misunderstood
In 1967, Dr. Albert Mehabrian and his UCLA colleagues concluded studies in communication that yielded an astonishing result: The words you use in speaking to others do not matter nearly as much as the tone of your voice or your body language. As the press picked up the story, the idea was extended: written words also take a back seat to presentation and tonality.

good for shock value
According to Mehabrian and his team, the original studies were never well understood. They have always asserted that words matter very much. Perhaps they didn't use the right presentation and tone - or perhaps the media were hunting for shock value.

single-word expressions only
The Mehabrian studies attempted to reveal the relative impact of facial expressions and tonality on the understanding of spoken words. Subjects listened to recordings of a female voice saying single words (such as "maybe" and "honey") in different tonalities. They were also shown photos of female faces with different facial expressions. They were then asked to guess the emotions portrayed in each, and to link the recordings with the faces.

presentation and tone as guides
The results of the studies appeared in full in Mehabrian's books, Silent Messages (Wadsworth, 1971) and Nonverbal Communications (Aldine Atherton, 1972). In both books, he clearly states that for inconsistent messages or incongruent communications, body language and tonality are probably more reliable indicators of meaning than the words themselves. Presentation and tone are more reliable than words alone for interpretive guidance with single-word expressions. These are not general circumstances.

The 7% Rule is a Lie!
In a 1994 issue of Anchor Point, Dr. C.E. Johnson writes, "If these percentages were really valid, it would mean that learning foreign languages could be greatly abbreviated. After all, if the words only account for 7% of the meaning, we should all be able to go to any country in the world and simply by listening to tone and carefully observing body language, be able to accurately interpret 93% of their communications!"

Tone mightier than a sword?
In a 1997 issue of The Toastmaster, J.E. Pearson asks, "Imagine if Nathan Hale had said, 'Okay; I'm willing to die for my country,' instead of 'I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.' Imagine Winston Churchill saying, 'Don't be afraid,' instead of, 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.'

Yes; tone of voice and body language matter very much - especially with single-word expressions. When speaking within a common language and culture do not be fooled by the myth of the 7% rule. Words matter - probably much more than 7%.

About The Author
Don Jeffre is the Owner of Don’s Sales, a computer repair business based in Vilonia, AR. USA. He owns and operates Really Unique Home Business Ideas, a blog dedicated to providing social media marketing and search engine optimization information. With over 14 years of industry experience, Don Jeffre shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog. Contact Don Jeffre at 501-796-2525, Skype: revenue4u, or Facebook

3. Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing

Utilizing online distribution methods to promote products is known as digital marketing. This approach is both time saving and cost effective. Digital marketing is done through items such as cell phones, SMS, MMS, instant messaging, websites, emails, banner advertisement and digital billboards. Digital marketing involves some of the techniques of direct marketing and Internet marketing. In digital marketing traditional methods of promotions are executed digitally. It involves marketing in two forms, pull and push.

Pull digital marketing requires the user to pull or extract the content directly. The customer has to approach the promotional matter and see the matter by himself. Examples are websites, forums and web logs. All these require clicking on a URL in order to view the content. The content that is being displayed doesn’t have to follow any guidelines. Effort is required to only display the content on the website or forum and there is no additional cost of sending the information to the customer, but the customer has to make the extra effort of reaching to the content. The customer doesn’t have to opt-in for such kind of promotion and one message is being viewed by all and it cannot be personalized. The customers who see the content cannot be traced, although the click through rate can be considered which give details about the number of clicks the message received. This is be done by enabling the click though tracking during the campaign, which records the information.

Push digital marketing technologies requires the effort of both the marketer and the customer. The marketer has to push or send the content to the customer and the customer has to make the effort of receiving it. This is a very effective kind of marketing and the investments surely earn a big return as it creates brand recognition. SMS, MMS, emails, RSS podcasting are examples of push digital marketing. Since the content is sent to individuals, it can be personalized according to the intended recipient. Whether the message has been opened and viewed by the customer or deleted it can be tracked and reported.

Information related to the customer such as name, geographical location could be traced. But when sending this king of message, certain criteria should be met as the SMS and emails sent are monitored. If the marketer doesn’t follow the rules and regulations properly, there is a possibility of messages getting rejected and blocked, before they reach the targeted audience and the message is considered to be spam. Bigger consequences involve marketers getting blacklisted temporarily or even permanently. The number would be blocked and they won’t be able to send any messages at all. Messages sent to the RSS feeders require a mechanism with an application to reach, when sent by an email marketing system.

Both forms of digital marketing should be used in consonance to achieve positive results. A smart marketer sends out emails along with SMS and uses multiple channels to market his products. The type of messages being sent should also be different from one another. They should not only be text, but animations, audios and videos. There is a possibility of using pull and push message technologies in conjunction like the email sent to a potential customer can have a URL or a banner ad, which on clicking downloads information. If there is enormous group of people to be reached via email, Email service providers can be hired who sends loads of emails to the customers on behalf of the marketer and they take measures so that the messages are not considered as spam.

Although much of the marketing is opt-in, federal laws, such as CAN SPAM Act, have been passed to protect the customers from unscrupulous marketers who would go to any extent to promote their products or hackers or spammers who have a bad intent i.e. like harming the computer or installing adware, spyware on people’s computers.

4. Use Screen Sharing or Remote Desktop Sharing for Small Meetings
Use Screen Sharing or Remote Desktop Sharing for Small Meetings

Webinars are intended for larger groups of participants. Many times, you do not need a large web conference room, you only need to work one-on-one with a single individual or a small group. Fortunately, there are two catagories of utilities available to make this an easy task. They are screen sharing and remote desktop sharing.

Screen Sharing - When you simply need to share a screen for others to see, a screen sharing program is the preferred choice. Examples of screen sharing utilities include: Brosix, YuuGuu, and Skype, among others. With these programs, you can easily show people exactly what you are talking about.

Remote Desktop Sharing - Remote Desktop sharing allows screen sharing as discussed above, but also offers the added advantage of allowing interaction by visitors with the client machine. For example, it is possible to connect to someone's computer and click their icons to start programs, create documents, use browsers and perform virtually any function you can perform on your own machine. Both Windows and Mac operating systems have had some form of "remote assistance" built in for many years. I have used the Windows version a number of times to assist others with PC issues. The difficulties with connections, especially between operating systems, has given rise to a number of 3rd party solutions which work quite well and connect almost instantly.

Team Viewer - TeamViewer connects to any PC or server around the world within a few seconds. You can remote control your partner's PC as if you were sitting right in front of it. Features allow: Online meetings, Presentations, Training sessions, and Team Collaboration.

Mikogo - Simple & Secure Desktop Sharing - Show any screen content from your computer live over the Web to multiple people. Anything you see, they see. Mikogo is ideal for web conferencing, online presentations and remote support. Features allow: Online Meetings, Web Conferencing, Product Demos, Online Presentations, Remote Support and Webinars.

Crossloop - CrossLoop makes helping other people fast, friendly and cost-effective by empowering any two people anywhere in the world to connect live via computer. Through its easy-to-use desktop sharing software and global, user-verified Help Community, CrossLoop connects computer users with trusted, qualified service providers and friends who can provide the support they need quickly and conveniently.

More Info

5. Build a Free Website using Free WYSIWYG Editors
Build a Free Website using Free WYSIWYG Editors

There are literally hundreds of free WYSIWYG editors available on the Internet so depending on your skill level and desired features, all you have to do is find the one that works for you. The following list will help you get started.

CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor - The CoffeeCup Free HTML editor is a text editor which offers a free version.

Evrsoft First Page - Evrsoft First Page is a text and WYSIWYG editor for Windows. It offers a lot of the features you expect from a professional web editing package.

Kompozer - KompoZer is a good WYSIWYG editor. It was originally based on the popular Nvu editor and is now based on the Mozilla platform.

PageBreeze Free HTML Editor - An HTML Editor which has both visual (WYSIWYG) and HTML tag/source modes. PageBreeze Free HTML Editor's design emphasizes simplicity and ease-of-use.

SeaMonkey - SeaMonkey is the Mozilla project all-in-one Internet application suite. The built-in Compose page is easy to use.

Trellian WebPage - Trellian WebPage is one of the few free web editors that offers both WYSIWYG functionality and image editing within the software.

This list is by no means exhaustive, there are plenty more free WYSIWYG editors, just Google it.

Warm Regards
Don Jeffre

6. You can sell anything on EBay – Or Can You?
You can sell anything on EBay – Or Can You?

Over 100 million people are members of EBay. Through EBay, you can buy items in almost any category that you can imagine – at great prices. You can also sell almost anything you can imagine on EBay – people often sell items that have absolutely no real value for very high prices. There are limits, however, to what can be bought and sold.

EBay does not allow certain items to be auctioned through their website. Services are one type of ‘item’ that cannot be auctioned – simply because it is not an item. Some sellers blatantly ignore this however. The sale of other items is illegal, even if it is not being sold through EBay. EBay restricts the sale of any type of item that is considered illegal for sale in any other selling format. Illegal items such as satellite descramblers are forbidden as well.

Anything that is copyrighted - such as copies of DVDs, CDs, or software - may not be sold through EBay auctions. You can, however, sell a DVD, CD, or any software that you bought legitimately…as long as you are not just selling a copy that you made of these types of items. EBay does not allow the sale of replicas. A replica is a knockoff version of designer items, such as purses, dresses, shoes, or sunglasses that look identical to those that have designer labels.

Items that are regulated by the state or federal government are forbidden on EBay. These items include alcoholic beverages, weapons and firearms, all tobacco products, and both prescription and illegal drugs. There are small exceptions to this rule, however. If you have a collectable, such as a tin that contains tobacco, you may sell that item if the package has never been opened, and if you state the contents of the package are not meant for consumption. There are other conditions that must be met as well when selling these types of collectables.

Any type or breed of animal or reptile may not be sold through an EBay auction. This includes animals that were once living, and are now stuffed and mounted. This rule may also apply to items that are taken from endangered species, such as Ivory. When it comes to these types of items, when in doubt, do not.

Tickets may be sold, but it is illegal to sell tickets for a higher price than you originally paid for them. This is called ticket scalping, and it is illegal. Lottery tickets are also banned from EBay auctions, as well as raffle tickets. Again, if you are not sure if your item is eligible for an EBay auction, either do not put it up for auction, or contact EBay to get an answer one way or the other. Don’t risk breaking the law!

7. Good Website Design Practices
Good Website Design Practices

Your website is where your business resides—it’s like the headquarters of an offline company. Hence, it is important to practice good design principles to make sure your site reaches out to the maximum number of visitors and sells to as many people as possible. Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.

Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size.

Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into separate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.

Make sure your website complies with web standards at w3.org and make sure it is cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.

Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.

Use CSS to style your page content because they save a lot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.

8. Internet Marketing the Easy Way
Internet Marketing the Easy Way

Just like there are no magic weight loss cures or ways to earn money from home without a great deal of effort, there is no one simple solution to guarantee Internet marketing success. However, Internet marketing is not overly complicated and many business owners can enjoy at least some degree of Internet marketing success with only limited knowledge about the industry. This article will discuss some of the simplest Internet marketing strategies business owners can implement to promote their business online.

Participation in industry related message boards is one of the easiest ways a business owner can use the Internet as a promotional tool. Message boards are websites which provide a forum for Internet users who share a common interest to share information related to this subject or just socialize. Business owners may opt to join message boards which closely relate to their industry or the products or services they offer. This is important because doing this gives the business owners access to a group of Internet users who fall into the target audience for his products or services. It also gives the business owner the opportunity to promote his own website. Many message boards allow users to place a link to their own website in their signature. Business owners who do this and also contribute useful commentary on the message boards may attract potential customers via the link they place in their signature.

Additionally, some message boards may even allow users to post links in the body of the message. This gives the business owner the opportunity to offer his link in response to questions and comments when doing so is relevant and offers something of value to the online conversation. However, care should be taken to carefully review the terms of service and all guidelines on the message board before posting links to ensure this is not a violation of the policies of the message board. Failure to adhere to message board policies may result in removal from the message board or the posts being viewed as spam by other users.

Another simple, but effective, Internet marketing strategy is to hire a consulting firm with search engine optimization (SEO) experience to assist you in achieving high search engine rankings. While the concept of SEO can be rather complex and understanding the most effective strategies and how to properly implement them may take years of experience as well as continual education, the ability to hire a qualified SEO firm is as simple as knowing how to interview candidates and select the most qualified one. Handling your own SEO efforts can be rather difficult but hiring another firm to take care of this for you is not only easy but it can have a significant impact on your website traffic because high search engine rankings typically translate to improved web traffic. This is because Internet users trust search engines to serve the most relevant websites first and typically only visit the best ranking websites when they search for a particular term.

Similarly another simple way to enjoy Internet marketing success is to hire a consulting firm to plan and execute your Internet marketing strategy. Just like SEO, Internet marketing is essentially a full time job. Business owners may have a great deal of difficulty trying to run their business and organize their Internet marketing. Outsourcing this work eases the burden on the business manager and will likely produce more favorable results.

9. How to Improve Your Adsense Earnings
How to Improve Your Adsense Earnings

If webmasters want to monetize their websites, a great way to do it is through Adsense. There are lots of webmasters struggling hard to earn some good money through their sites. But then some of the “geniuses” among them are enjoying hundreds of dollars a day from Adsense ads on their websites. What makes these webmasters different from the other kind is that they are different and they think outside of the box.

The ones who have been there and done it have some useful tips to help those who would want to venture into this field. Some of these tips have boosted earnings in the past and is continuously doing so.

Here are some 5 proven ways on how to improve your Adsense earnings.

1. Concentrating on one format of an Adsense ad. The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format has the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates. Why choose this format out of the many you can use? Basically because the ads will look like normal web links, and people, being used to clicking on them, click these types of links. They may or may not know they are clicking on your Adsense but as long as there are clicks, then it will all be for your advantage.

2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site. If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background. The idea of patterning the colors is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web pages. Again, this will result to more clicks from people visiting your site.

3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site and put them at the top. Do not try to hide your Adsense. Put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between Adsense locations can make when you see your earnings.

4. Maintain links to relevant websites. If you think some sites are better off than the others, put your ads there and try to maintaining and managing them. If there are already lots of Adsense ads put into that certain site, put yours on top of all of them. That way visitors will see your ads first upon browsing into that site.

5. Try to automate the insertion of your Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your Adsense code in a text file, save it as “AdSense text”, and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then using SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.

These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites. It is important to know though that ads are displayed because it fits the interest of the people viewing them. So focusing on a specific topic should be your primary purpose because the displays will be targeted on a topic that persons will be viewing already.

Note also that there are many other Adsense users sharing the same topic as you. It is best to think of making a good ad that will be somewhat different and unique than the ones already done. Every click through that visitors make is a point for you so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will definitely click on.

Tips given by those who have boosted their earnings are just guidelines they want to share with others. If they have somehow worked wonders for some, maybe it can work wonders for you too. Try them out into your ads and see the results it will bring. If others have done it, there is nothing wrong trying it out for you.

10. How to Make a YouTube Video
How to Make a YouTube Video

Are you interested in making your own videos to upload to YouTube and to share with the rest of the internet community? If you are and if this is your first time trying to do so, you may be wondering how you can go about making your own videos. Although the process of making a YouTube video may seem like a complicated one, it is not. Even those with a low amount of computer knowledge are able to successfully make their own videos, many of which later end up on YouTube.

The first step in making a YouTube video is to get a video recording device. Video recording devices come in a number of different formats. For instance, it is possible to use cell phones, webcams, or traditional camcorders. If you are interested in using your cell phone to help you make a YouTube video, you will need to make sure that your cell phone has video recording capabilities. You will find that most new, modern cell phones do. For the best quality videos, you want to use traditional camcorders, particularly digital ones, but webcams are also nice low-cost alternatives.

Once you have a video recording device in your possession, you can start to make your own videos. Popular videos on YouTube include video blogs, comedy skits, how-to videos, or travel videos. You can make just about whatever type of video you want, whether it is one that is staged or just recording spur of the moment activities or conversations. When making a YouTube video, it is important to remember that YouTube does not limit the number of videos you can submit, but all videos must be ten minutes or less, if you have a traditional YouTube membership account. Therefore, if you want to have videos be longer than ten minutes, you either need to upgrade your account or make your videos in different segments.

When making your YouTube video, you will want to make sure that the quality is good. For this, it is a good idea to speak directly into the camera or else use raised voices. This will help to ensure that those watching your videos on YouTube can actually understand what you are saying. It is also advised that you make sure the lighting is good. The best time to make movies is during the day. If you want to make your movies at night, whether they take place inside or outdoors, you will want to make sure that you have the appropriate amount of lighting. Nothing is worse that watching a video that is hard to see.

Although there are a number of steps, like the ones mentioned above, which you can take to ensure that your YouTube videos are quality ones, there is a way that you can fix problems later on. You can do this with movie editing software. Moving editing software allows you to preview and edit your videos, should you wish to do so before uploading them to YouTube. If you have a relatively new computer, you should be able to find movie editing software already on your computer. If you are unable to find movie editing software, you should be able to get free software programs or even purchase deluxe software programs online or from one of your local media stores.

The decision as to whether or not you want to edit your videos, before sharing them on YouTube, is yours to make, but it is advised that you at least look into doing so, especially if your computer already has a movie editing program. You will want to watch your movies and see if there is anything that you would like to edit, change, or remove. If so, the time to do it is before you post your video on the YouTube website. Editing your YouTube videos or at least previewing them first is likely to improve their quality, which, in turn, will help to improve the exposure that your YouTube videos get. Many YouTube members share videos that they find interesting with those that they know and your videos may be one of them.

About The Author
Don Jeffre is the Owner of Don’s Sales, a computer repair business based in Vilonia, AR. USA. He owns and operates Really Unique Online Business Concepts, a blog dedicated to providing social media marketing and search engine optimization information. With over 14 years of industry experience, Don Jeffre shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog. Contact Don Jeffre at 501-796-2525, Skype: revenue4u, or Facebook

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11. Advertising on MySpace
Advertising on MySpace

MySpace is an online community where users have the opportunity to create websites where others can view personal information about them and contact them. However, savvy Internet marketers have found MySpace can also be used to advertise products or service or for the purpose of self promotion. Care should be taken to review the terms of use on MySpace to ensure none of your actions are in violation of these terms but otherwise users can advertise either directly or indirectly on their MySpace website.

Why Advertising on MySpace is Effective

Advertising on MySpace can be effective as long as it is done correctly and not in a way that is viewed as spam. The effectiveness of MySpace stems from amount of users who are currently using MySpace. This includes both members who place comments as well as nonmembers who only look at other websites. With so many daily visitors it is likely there will be visitors who are interested in the products or services you are offering on your MySpace website.

Another reason why MySpace is such an effective advertising tool is there are no fees associated with using your MySpace profile to create links to your ecommerce website or to provide more information about the products and services you offer. The best way to effectively advertise on MySpace is to follow the same guidelines that would normally be followed by advertisers in online locations. This includes knowing who your target audience is and how to effectively appeal to them. This is important because a marketing campaign which does not follow these simple rules will not likely be effective.

In addition to advertising within a MySpace website there are also opportunities to advertise in the form of banner advertisements on MySpace. MySpace is able to not charge a fee to members because they generate their income through paid advertisements. Contact MySpace administrators directly to learn more about these advertising opportunities.

Selling Products on MySpace

MySpace can be also be used to advertise products or services. This can be done either subtly or blatantly. Those who are active participants on MySpace and invest time in meeting others and making friends are more likely to benefit from selling products or services through a MySpace account. This is because most people who use MySpace are not exactly looking for information about products or services so they are unlikely to seek out this information.

However, if they have online friends who are using their MySpace account to promote a product or service they may see the advertisements and find the products or services interesting. In this case they may visit a link to an ecommerce website and consider making a purchase. However, care should be taken when advertising online. Links to your ecommerce website on your own profile are acceptable but placing comments with the same link on other members’ websites will likely be considered spam by both the other members and the MySpace administrators.

Using MySpace for Self Promotion

In addition to selling products and services, MySpace websites can also be used for the purpose of self promotion. Models, actors and actresses, bands and other performers are all realizing the potential for self promotion which exists on MySpace. Members of the community can include everything which may be useful to those who wish to hire them in the future. For example, models can include professional photos while bands can have their music playing on the website for visitors to enjoy. With so many people visiting MySpace on a daily basis, it can be easy for members of the community to create quite a following for them.

Those on MySpace should also be aware that industry executives are now dedicating staff members to comb MySpace to try to find new talent on MySpace. In fact more than one major recording company has admitted to having interns spend hours each day on MySpace looking for exciting new artists.

About The Author
Don Jeffre is the Owner of Don’s Sales, a computer repair business based in Vilonia, AR. USA. He owns and operates Really Unique Online Business Concepts, a blog dedicated to providing social media marketing and search engine optimization information. With over 14 years of industry experience, Don Jeffre shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog. Contact Don Jeffre at 501-796-2525, Skype: revenue4u, or revenue4u@gmail.com.

12. How to Get the Most Out of Your Email Marketing
How to Get the Most Out of Your Email Marketing

One of the main reasons small businesses fail is that they do not follow up with their leads. Usually it takes up to seven contacts with a prospect before they are ready to buy. Most people give up after one or two contacts. If you are not doing your follow up you, are leaving money on the table. Staying in touch with your prospects builds trust and keeps you fresh in their minds so that when they are ready to buy, they will come to you.

Email marketing is a great, inexpensive way to keep in contact with the people on your list and to form and nurture a relationship with them. If you do this correctly, you will get more business than the Average Joe and you will not have to do anything else to get clients to buy. It is therefore important to set this up correctly. Once you have done this, you can pretty much just leave it. Then you can concentrate on building traffic to your website because the system to capture leads and nurture the relationship with them is done for you automatically.

Here are a couple of ways you can improve your email marketing:

First, you have to worry about your prospects opening your emails. If you are not yet tracking your email open rates, you need to start doing so straight away. You need a good email marketing provider like Aweber (or mailchimp if you are in New Zealand). Not using a provider will give you too much work, as well as the possibility of you getting banned by your Internet Service Provider for sending bulk mail. Bulk mail just ends up in the spam folder just because it is bulk mail.

Once you have a provider, you can then set up your emails, set the frequency that they are sent as well as track the click through rates, open rates and bounce rates. You then have something to work from.

Once you have this information you will want to improve your messages so that it does not happen again. Here are some reasons why your emails may not get through to your prospects inbox:

Spam Words

Some words are triggers for the spam filter. These include: special offer, free, discount, cheap, home business, work-from-home, limited time, click here, coupon. The chance that your prospects are getting your emails if these words are present are slim. Spam filters are becoming more sophisticated, and your email can be removed before it even hits the inbox. A good email marketing provider like AWeber will be able to pick up if you have any spam words in your messages, and will alert you before you send them.

Subject Lines

The next thing you need to worry about is getting your readers to open your email. This should not be a problem if they signed up because they want to read what you have to say. However, if you have a boring headline they may want to skip reading it because they have many other emails or they are busy. Make sure they know it is from you, and have a proactive title so that they want to open it. If your emails are interesting, and give them more information related to the reason they signed up in the first place, they should look forward to it, and open it. Avoid subject lines that are full of hype or make outrageous claims. If it sounds unbelievable, you will lose credibility with your prospect. Make sure your subject lines are real, convincing and a bit mysterious.

You need to put your name or your company name in the from field so that the prospect recognizes you. Noreply or Systems addresses are less likely to be opened.

Make Sure You Send Relevant, Interesting And Valuable Content

Make sure that the content of your email is valuable. When I sign up for something because I am interested in it and then get an email that says nothing or wastes my time, I unsubscribe on the spot. Most people will do the same. Make sure you deliver on the promise you gave when they signed up.

You should only send your emails to those who asked for it. Do not use lists from somewhere else that you bought or lists that are out dated. This will just invite complaints.

Make sure your emails are interesting. Do not copy from somewhere, be yourself. You should know how you are different from your competition. This will ensure that you stand out from the crowd.

Your content should guide your customers toward a sale. Every email you write should help your prospect get answers to their problems, clarify their misconceptions on the subject, climb over stumbling blocks they may encounter, and help them arrive at your product or service, ready to buy. I use again the example of the nutritionist who uses a different illness in every email, usually related to the digestive system. She describes it in graphic detail so that you feel with the sufferer. Then she offers her special diet as a solution. In every email she also has a testimonial from someone who used to suffer this illness, but is now cured thanks to the diet. This is powerful stuff. Think of how you can offer your prospect a solution to their problem. Find all the problems, misconceptions, stumbling blocks and objections they may have and solve them one by one.

Frequency If you send out emails daily, you will be seen as a severe nuisance before long. This will get your messages deleted or result in unsubscribes. On the other hand, waiting too long between emails will make your prospects forget you. I send one email per week with good content. This ensures a list that looks forward to my emails. The only way to know for sure would be to ask your prospects. Take a survey and find out.

Adhering to these guidelines will ensure successful email marketing. Once this system is in place, you can concentrate on building traffic to your website.

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Article by Hannah Du Plessis. For more information on setting up a Lead Generation System for your Business visit Attraction Marketing today. http://masterattractionmarketing.net

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

13. SEO for Adsense
SEO for Adsense

If you have been using Google AdSense on your pages you obviously feel the need to somehow generate even more traffic for your website, which in turn would translate to more clicks and a higher income. But how do you do this? Well, the major way you will get visitors to see your website is to use some techniques to have search engines send more and more users towards your page, by ranking high in search results for your topics of interest.

Believe it or not this is a technique, better known as search-engine optimization or simply SEO. So here are a bunch of tips that come in handy under every amateur or professional optimizers belt. The first thing you need to take care of is the actual source code and layout of your page. This has to be kept as simple as possible. The problem comes when AdSense and the search engines themselves begin to have trouble extracting the most relevant keywords on your site because of a too complex layout.

Secondly, try to have each of your pages target only one specific topic. This way it is a lot easier for them to get indexed properly and for the AdSense ads to be consistent with the content of the site itself. Also, try not to include too many hyperlinks in your page as well. This also means you should try not to use too many AdSense ads on your page either.

If there are certain keywords you wish to target, make sure the word you wish to target is present in the title, in the first paragraphs as well as in the name of the file. While you are at it you might want to ensure the word springs up in the pages last paragraphs. And of course, it is very important for your content to have original and compelling information. How do you do this? Well the easiest way to do it is to find something you are really passionate about. That way, providing you give it a lot of effort you are bound to have a great page quite fast.

If the content you use in your site is in the public domain (which is highly discouraged) make sure that you at least give it an original title, and add an opening and a closing paragraph of your own. This takes a little while, but if, after waiting, you still cannot find your page near the top, you should try rewriting your title and your first and last paragraphs. It does not take much; often just changing a few words will give you the right results.

And of, course there is the use of keyword tools that may aid you in finding some good keywords to include on your page that will drive visitors to your site more and more. So those are about the basic techniques in search engine optimization. You can find a lot of computer tools to aid you in doing this, and of course, Google is a great place to search for this.

In the end, you will find that SEO is a complex topic, and entire books have been written on the topic as well. You might find that you have a lot of optimization you need to do in order to get more and more visitors to your site and clicking those precious AdSense banners.

Don Jeffre

14. Advertising on Craigslist

Advertising on Craigslist

Advertising on Craigslist is worthwhile for just about any business offering products or services. Whether these products are offered through ecommerce websites or physical stores, the business owners can see financial gains through advertising on Craigslist. Firstly unlike other advertising opportunities there is very little risk involved in posting on Craigslist. With the exception of job postings and housing postings in specific markets, advertising is free on Craigslist. Users are asked to agree to the terms of service of the community and are expected to follow specific guidelines when posting advertisements but there are no financial obligations to those placing advertisements on Craigslist. This means those who post advertisements do not have to be concerned with whether or not the advertisement they place will meet their expectations in terms of sales generated.

Reaching Potential Customers on Craigslist

Another reason why posting advertisements for products or services on Craigslist is so worthwhile is the likelihood of reaching a large audience of potential customers. A review of the Craigslist fact sheet reveals pertinent information regarding the amount of traffic the website receives. According to this information Craigslist receives approximately four billion page views each month with ten million people using Craigslist each month. From these statistics it is clear that advertisements placed on Craigslist are likely to receive at least some attention from potential clients. With so many visitors using Craigslist each month the advertising possibilities are limitless, however, there are no guarantee any of these visitors will be interested in your products or services. Like any marketing campaign, your advertisements on Craigslist must be intriguing, informative and in a location where you will reach your target audience.

Finding Your Target Audience on Craigslist

We’ve already discussed the number of visitors using Craigslist each month but the key to taking advantage of these numbers is to target your advertising in a way aimed at reaching your target audience as opposed to a wide audience of individuals who have no specific interest in your products or services. It is much more worthwhile to reach a small audience of those with a keen interest in your products or services than to reach a much larger audience of those who are not interested. Those who have an interest in your products or services are your target audience. The key to reaching your target audience on Craigslist is placing your advertisement in the most appropriate locations. Craigslist has a specific section for businesses to advertise their services. This section is broken down into a number of categories. Those who are in the business of computer repair would be wise to place their advertisement in the computer section as opposed to the automotive section because individuals looking for computer help will naturally migrate to the computer section. It may sometimes be appropriate to place an advertisement in more than one section. This is acceptable as long as it does not cross the line to spamming the section.

If there is not a specific section for the products or services offered by your business there are a couple of options. Business owners can place an advertisement in the section for small business advertisements where it might be found by those doing a search in this section. Alternately the business owner can contact Craigslist to suggest the addition of a new category. They might be willing to oblige if they believe this category warrants an addition.

The Difference between Advertising and Spamming

Advertising on Craigslist is one thing but spamming is quite another. Placing an advertisement in an appropriate section of Craigslist is acceptable; however, placing the same advertisement in nearly every section of Craigslist websites for a number of different geographical regions is considered spam. Spam is ineffective for a number of reasons. First of all potential customers who see a particular advertisement in a number of different locations are likely to recognize the spamming techniques and be less inclined to patronize this business. Also, if Craigslist detects the practice of spamming they may delete all of the postings and could potentially ban advertisements from the individual in the future.