Archive for August, 2006

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Direct Marketing – Why direct marketing in China is different

Thursday, August 31st, 2006

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I’ve been doing B2B (business to business) direct marketing throughout the Asia-Pacific region for the last seven years (including China).

I’ve seen many Western marketers ask me about what are some good China mailing lists? Should we do our own list research for names in China?

Here are my thoughts and tips:

* People and businesses in China are moving (changing addresses) at a regular pace. (just read this article on CRM in China). So no, no matter who’s telling you that they have a great China list, I don’t believe them. I know mailing lists for China can only be good for maybe 4-5 months at best (especially b2b).

* I DO think that using direct email marketing (gathering your own lists rather than renting external lists) may be better, especially due to the high penetration of broadband use in the major cities

* Renting email lists in general is already a shot in the dark. Renting China email lists is even worse. There are no real standards in terms of data privacy and most of these so called lists (they’ll tell you they’re all legitimate) are harvested from websites or compiled in a not so proper manner. You’ll find that emailing to these lists can increase the odds of you being marked as a SPAMMER and your complaints. There are a few that are worth a try and are legitimate. (i.e. 51mymail)

* They don’t or can’t arrange mail forwarding services which means mailing them to their last known address will not get your mail forwarded to your target.

* Address labels in English needs to be translated into Simplified Chinese

* List researched names can often be completely out of date by the time you finish the list researching project due to the rapid movement of people and businesses.

* Mail deliverability is still unstable – we’ve had situations where it took three to four months before the person actually received the promo – in Shanghai too!

* It’s not just a matter of taking your direct mail package and translating it into Chinese and sticking a picture of just any Asian looking model into the package (Just watch the latest Memoirs of a Geisha movie – very Hollywood – half the main cast were not Japanese but Chinese – not that it would make a difference in Westerner’s eyes, but Asians know the difference)

* If you’re unsure of where to start for your direct mail campaign into China, try working with Hong Kong based suppliers who know the market better and have more contacts in China.

The direct mailing business in China will be huge, however, at this point in time, it would be wise to tread carefully before you end up throwing all your money in the water.

About the Author

Wayne Po is the founder and publisher of Asiapreneur.com (http://www.asiapreneur.com), an online magazine helping overseas businesses who want to expand and do business in Asia.

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Marketing – These 50 Benefits of Joint Venture Marketing will Shock You

Thursday, August 31st, 2006

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Are you ready to find the solutions you have been searching for?

What you are about to read is the culmination of information from many different places and resources. I hope you enjoy it.

What you are about to discover will benefit you greatly.

You are about to learn the information you have been searching for. I hope you find it helpful.

Here are some of the killer benefits of joint venture marketing…

1. You can build long permanent trade relationships.

2. You can expand your credibility by teaming up with different reputable, branded businesses.

3. You can get free commodities and services.

4. You can construct most joint venture deals with little or no cash.

5. You can obtain new leads and customers.

6. You can get discounts on products and services.

7. You can save cash on business management expenses.

8. You can whip your competition.

9. You can gain referrals from different businesses.

10. You can clear up your business problems.

11. You can save useful time.

12. You can get free and low charge advertising.

13. You can propose your customers new goods and services.

14. You can continue in a depression, recession or a slow-moving economy.

15. You can save cash by sharing advertising and marketing costs.

16. You can target other developing markets.

17. You can expand and swell your business quickly.

18. You can gain valuable knowledge or skills.

19. You can enlarge and safeguard your cash flow.

20. You can discover new profit outlets.

21. You can become wealthy and rich.

22. You can start almost any business at little or no costs.

23. You can get rid of your extra inventory.

24. You can reduce and knock out your debts and avoid bankruptcy.

25. You can manage to sell your products at a lower cost.

26. You can increase your opt in or ezine subscribers for free.

27. You can get your website hosting and design for free.

28. You can save money outsourcing your workload for free.

29. You can discover hidden income streams.

30. You can trade unproductive products for money-making ones.

31. You can create new business funding and credit lines.

32. You can reduce your taxes.

33. You can discover and create new distribution channels for your products.

34. You can give your employees additional raises, bonuses and advantage.

35. You can even trade non business material to improve your individual life.

36. You can increase your sales and profits.

37. You can send your ad to huge, targeted email lists at no cost.

38. You can eliminate worker hiring costs creating barter outsourcing deals.

39. You can build your client or opt-in list for free.

40. You can build money-making alliances with other businesses.

41. You can learn insider information from other experts at no cost.

42. You can test your product for free.

43. You can out-sell other affiliates much easier.

44. You can increase the number of affiliates that sign up to your reseller program.

45. You can offer additional bonus products and incentives to buy.

46. You can get highly trustworthy endorsements and testimonials from other experts.

47. You can quickly increase your ezine subscribers.

48. You can offer your products at discount prices than your competition.

49. You can effortlessly find new up sell and backend products to sell.

50. You can create products faster and with less effort.

These are just some of the benefits. They’re unlimited!

I hope you have gotten some good ideas from this article and that you are able to use them.

So that’s the information I have on that subject. I hope it was helpful and you were able to get something out of it.

I’m hoping that you found all of this interesting and helpful. The internet is full of helpful tips and tricks and I appreciate you coming and visiting.

About the Author

Grab FREE $147 ‘Profit Pulling Minisites’ Vault.

Let Murtuza create Your Own “money-making” website ready to take orders in Less than 7 days? Learn how to start an internet business Today…

http://www.7DaysToEarn.com/internet-business

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Marketing – Golden Rules of Niche Marketing

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

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There are still thousands of Niches where pockets of opportunities exist, but to fill these certain Golden rules are a vital part of succesful Niche Marketing.

WIIFM – What’s In It For Me, is probably the most important rule. Whether the purpose of visiting a website is to access information or to buy a product/service, the visitor always has WIIFM in the forefront.

Look at your own areas of interest first. It is much easier to create information, a product or a service in ones own of interest. This does not mean that a new area of interest cannot be learnt.

Become an EXPERT in the specific area by providing valuable information in the area of interest. Remember WIIFM, because the visitor to the website needs to have a high level of comfort and trust. The best way to becoming an expert is to become Passionate about the area of interest.

To create comfort and trust always under-promise and over-deliver. Remember visitors will NOT part with their hard earned cash for anything without substance. One method which has been successful for centuries is to give something of value, away as a Free Gift. Everyone wants something for free.

If it is feasible, build in a Money Back Gaurantee. Again this creates a high level of comfort and trust. The longer the gaurantee the easier the sale. 90 days money back gaurantee is better than 30 days. Make sure that the money back gaurantee is not just an idle promise, but something that can be carried through.

The product must have a USP – Unique Selling Proposition. It must be unique to you and MUST differentiate from other products. Otherwise the perception of an Expert will not exist and over time visitors will quickly lose interest.

The ultimate aim should be to get the visitors email address. By having a powerful USP combined with WIIFM and all the other rules mentioned above the visitors will be more than willing to give the email address. These email address will become your biggest asset from which fortunes can be made.

Here is an interesting story. Hotmail was created by someone offering a free email account, which became the largest list of free emails globally. Bill Gates/Microsoft bought out Hotmail for a reported $300 million. Not bad for something that was given away for free.

Recently, I came across a tutorial course of an e-book and a set of videos which outlined a step-by-step process to ultimately achieve success in Internet Marketing. It’s a complete course creating a business model, searching for a “Niche”, setting up a website to collecting payment from prospective buyers.

All the ingredients necessary to create an Internet Marketing feast are available through the e-book/videos tutorial outlining the whole process necessary to run an online business, is set out in a methodical, easy to follow manner. You’ll be able to:

* Research for ideas

* Create INFO products based on the ideas with your own USP

* Create your own website

* Set up a Merchant account to collect the payment

* And a lot more besides, too numerous to mention

Wish you all the PROSPERITY

Ritesh Shah

If you’re truly Passionate about your own ONLINE business and want an easy to follow instructions and techniques then check out http://www.InternetProfitMentor.com.

About the Author

I am in the process of setting up the website http://www.revisionsecrets.com

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Internet Marketing – Internet Marketing Tools Help Make Your Home's Sales Flyer

Monday, August 28th, 2006

Selling your home? Do you want to sell right away, for top dollar? You can benefit from using Internet marketing tools.

Selling your home? Do you want to sell right away, for top dollar? You can benefit from using Internet marketing tools.

Internet marketers know how to play to the reader’s problems and motivate them to buy a solution, without delay. How do they do this? Internet marketers tell the benefits to the reader–not the features of the product. This happens because Internet readers want to know, within seconds, “What’s in it for me?”

Use these Internet marketers’ sales techniques to sell your home.

Real estate agents number two sales tool–just after the yard sign–is the sales flyer. Most real estate agents use a sales flyer template which showcases their listings using archaic marketing methods. For some reason, agents don’t follow successful Internet marketing sales-copy templates. Listing agents list the home’s features in detail, put an attractive home picture in the middle, and then add a big picture of their face. Buyers don’t care how pretty your agent is! Home buyers want to know how your property beats every other property in the area. Buyers want to know what your house can do for them!

Make your flyer motivate home buyers to look at your home and to remember it. This requires that you spend some time thinking about what’s in it for your buyers. Why would they like living in your home? What makes your home better than the other houses for sale in your area?

Marketing Psychology turns features into benefits.

Think about why your large back yard benefits the buyer. Instead of saying “large back yard,” give a reason to care, such as: Room to play in your large back yard. Why is your patio unique? Does it have a built-in barbeque? Then list the feature as a benefit: Entertain in your private park with built-in barbeque. Why does a buyer care about paint? No work needed, fresh paint throughout. Why does a buyer care about new kitchen appliances? No worries, all new kitchen appliances under warranty. What’s great about your neighborhood? Easy walk to great schools and downtown shopping district.

Take advantage of the marketing research done by the Internet sales masters. Create a benefit-driven sales flyer to sell your home, now.

Copyright (c) 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Jeanette Fisher teaches Design Psychology college courses and real estate seminars. She is the author of Design Psychology and real estate investing books. For more information on Design Psychology, see http://www.designpsych.com/ For a full report on sales flyer marketing tools with a template to sell your home (or investment houses), visit Jeanette Fishers http://www.sellfast.info

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Direct Marketing – How to Use the 3 Most Common Direct Marketing Measurements to Increase Your Profits!

Monday, August 28th, 2006

John Wanamaker, a 19th century entrepreneur, once famously made the statement, I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just dont know which half. Fortunately for todays marketers, there are scientific ways to determine which half is wasted, and which half is not, through the use of common direct marketing measurements.

Advertising is, and has always been, part art and part science. With direct marketing, the science part takes center stage as there are common direct marketing measurements that can be utilized to verify the results of the advertising.

With the increased popularity of direct marketing, the success of advertising can be measured through a variety of common direct marketing methods such as cost per acquisition, cost per piece, and response rate.

Before continuing in describing these common direct marketing measurements in detail, it is beneficial to review one of the direct marketing tools needed to determine the success of the mailing. The most important direct marketing tool is the response mechanism. This is how you can gauge the success, or lack of success, of a direct mail campaign. This is the mechanism by which the prospect will use to respond – it may be a postcard to request more information, an 800 number to call, or a website address to place an order. You can than utilize this response to determine the success of the direct mailing.

The first of the most common direct marketing measurements is the cost per acquisition. The cost per acquisition can be determined by taking the total cost of the mailing and dividing it by the number of responses. For example, lets say the total cost of a mailing is $2,000 and 20 people respond. The cost per acquisition is $100. This is an important tool to find out if the cost to obtain a new customer is in line with the profits that you will receive.

The second of the most common direct marketing measurements is the cost per piece. To find the cost per piece, you would take the total cost of the mailing and divide it by the total number of pieces sent. For example, if the total cost of the mailing was $4,500 and you sent 2000 direct mail pieces, the cost per piece would be $2.25. This is an important figure to keep in mind, because by lowering the cost per piece (as long as the number of responses stays the same), you can lower the cost per acquisition.

The third of the most common direct marketing measurements is the response rate. The response rate can be calculated by taking the number of people that responded and dividing it by the number of people that were sent the direct mail package. For example, if 2000 people were mailed a direct mail package and 20 people responded, the response rate would be 1%. This is an important tool that you can utilize to forecast the success of future mailings.

By using all three of these common direct marketing measurements, you can finally determine which half of your marketing is working, and which half is not.


About the author:

Daegan Smith is the Ex-NCAA Wrestler Turned Webmaster of
Perfect Home Based Business Opportunities – The Internet’s Top Home Based Business Opportunities Free Information Resource!

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Marketing – 3 Easy Steps to Marketing Your Business to Success

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

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Copyright 2006 Alicia M Forest and ClientAbundance.com

Do you often find it difficult to make time for your marketing activities? Or do you find that when you do market, it’s not consistent enough to bring you the results you want? Marketing your business is as important as what it is that you do. If you embrace that, you will stop struggling so much and reach a whole other level of success!

Before my business evolved into what it is now, I was trading my time for money. As a webmistress, I charged by the hour. As a writer/editor, I charged by the hour. As a public relations and marketing consultant, I charged by the hour. Do you see the problem here? There are only so many hours in the day, right? And if I wanted to pay the rent, I needed the majority of them to be billable hours, which left little to no time for marketing. As you can imagine, I struggled to get clients.

But I don’t struggle anymore, and here’s why: it’s called passive income – multiple streams of passive income – that enables me to work with fewer (but more of my ideal) clients one-one-one, and gives me much more time for marketing and growing my business with a lot less effort.

Here are 3 steps to implementing this model into your business:

1. Use the funnel method of marketing. I talk about this constantly, but it’s such a powerful model (that actually works) that I want as many people as possible to embrace it. If you set your business up within this system, it will automatically do your marketing for you. And it’s the best kind of marketing – the “set it and forget it” kind! (Visit http://www.clientabundance.com/mpfunnelarticle.htm for an article I wrote about this.)

2. Stop trading time for money… and start creating products that will bring you passive income. You can create products from knowledge you already have, in a way that is easy to package and deliver, such as an ebook. Taking your expertise and bottling it actually allows you to help more people than you ever could one-on-one, and it lets those prospects who might not be able to afford your rates an option of still working with you, just in a different form.

3. Raise your fees. Once you start offering products, and start bringing in passive income, raise your one-on-one fees. Now don’t gasp! What will raising your fees do? It will allow you to gracefully let go of some of those less than ideal clients and let you work with more of those whom you are best suited to serve. The increase in fees will, at the very least, offset the loss of revenue from the clients that have dropped off, but ultimately you will bring in more revenue by taking your business to a higher level of quality and commitment. It will also give you more time to create more products!

Structure your business around this model and you will enjoy working with more of your ideal clients and customers, create more income by way of packaging your knowledge into products, and give yourself more time to spend building your business to the highest vision of it you can imagine.

About the Author

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach?, & Founder of http://www.ClientAbundance.com , teaches coaches, consultants, online entrepreneurs and solo professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com

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Internet Marketing – Do Not Create Another Internet Marketing Product

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

In May of 2003 I put on The Internet Marketing How
To Workshop. This was a workshop designed to teach
product creation and effective marketing of a product
over the internet.

Many of the people I communicated with in the weeks
just prior to this workshop had grand ideas for an
ebook or other information product. The problem was
that many wanted to cover a topic that is perhaps
already over-covered. They wanted to teach people
how to earn money teaching people how to earn money.

By the time that this 3-day workshop was over, many
of the attendees had developed plans for niche
products which weren’t in the internet marketing
arena. This occurred because the speakers at the
workshop had a natural knack for helping people to
identify unique knowledge and skills that they have
and which people are willing to pay for.

When you think about, you know more about some topic
than 98% of the people in the world. The problem is
that you may not appreciate/value that specialized
knowledge. Your challenge is to confirm that it’s
something others want or need, and then package it
for them.

It is very important that you verify the need
before investing a lot of resources in creating
something nobody wants. If you see a void in the
market, you need to ask yourself, is this because
there’s no demand. So do your research first.

By why NOT another internet marketing product?
Part of the problem for the market I study is the
short product life cycle. The product is released
with a lot of fanfare, lots of people become
affiliates for the product, and soon the market is
near the saturation point.

Of course, it wouldn’t reach the saturation point as
quickly if each affiliate targeted a different
audience. However, what usually happens is that
affiliates run promotions in the same places and
for the same audience… with disappointing results.

If your product has a low production cost and you
can generate a new one of these every few months, it’s
not as bad. This type of product should be used
primarily for lead generation. However, it’s still
a lot of work for a very low return. You need to
also have a good backend product in place :-)

So what kind of product should you generate then?

At the Internet Marketing How To Workshop, attendees
explored the possibilities of:

- Reports on better negotiation
- Information products on time tested sales techniques
- Pet fur coats from recycles furs
- Info products on breeding pets
- Cookbooks
- Software
- Speaking and consulting
- and a number of specialized services both inside
and outside the internet marketing arena

One of the speakers focuses on the self-storage and
recording industries. Why? Because there is a lot
of demand, and he dominates those industries.

I won’t give away all of their ideas, but if you’d
like to listen to the recordings of the event, I am
running a special. The event is on 9 videotapes and
when you get a set before Monday, February 2nd, at
midnight Central Standard Time, I will throw in a
free set of the audiotapes.

Why am I doing that? I’m moving my home office and
mini-warehouse to a different location. I have a LOT
of boxes of tapes that I don’t want to put back in
storage. So if this is something that interests you,
drop by my site at:
http://InternetMarketingHowToWorkshop.com After you
order the videos send me an email telling me you want
the audiotapes too. Send the email to
willie@williecrawford.com

To give you some extra brainstorming ideas, I also
have several hours of coaching on CD. These are MP3
files that we made the Monday following the workshop
mentioned above. Weather canceled a fishing trip
that we had planned, so we salvaged the day by
recording an information product and giving those
who helped make the recording reprint licenses to
them. This was one-on-one consulting with the
attendees who were at the hotel.
Once you start exploring your experiences and knowledge
you should be able to come up with several ideas for
very profitable info products. I’ll close with an
example I did On January 13th, 2004. As you may know, I
wrote a fairly successful cookbook. Realizing that
others wanted to know how to do this, I partnered with
2 other cookbook authors and we put on a teleseminar.
We recorded the event and we now market the recordings
from our websites. You can check it out at:
http://WriteACookbook.com A very simple idea, which
created an inexpensive product which will sell for years.


About the author:

Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, master network marketing trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple, easily modeled systems. An example of such a system that you can study and duplicate is at:
http://ProfitMagician.com

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Direct Marketing – The Easiest Small Business Direct Marketing Tip Youll Ever Get

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

This really and truly is the easiest (and most profitable) small business direct marketing tip youll ever get.
And when I say easy I really mean EASY.

This really and truly is the easiest (and most profitable) small business direct marketing tip youll ever get.
And when I say easy I really mean EASY.

Its a no-brainer.

Once I tell you what it is youre probably going to say, Oh that? I already knew that.

But if you own a small business and are doing this I can tell you right now youre an exception. If this is such an easy and profitable small business direct marketing tip why isnt everyone using it?

Thats a good question. I dont know. Maybe most small business owners think its too much of a hassle?

Not so.

It doesnt take much time. Costs little. You could even pay a high school geek to do the computer stuff for you if you dont feel like messing with it.

The financial rewards can be huge… if you do it right. But this seems to be a small business direct marketing tip most people are happy to ignore.

So whats the big tip?

Simple.

Every time you do business with a new customer ask them if theyd like to sign up for your free e-mail alert. Tell them you periodically offer specials and discounts for customers and ask them if theyd like to be included on your list so they can know when you have them. Many customers will gladly sign up.

Then use your list.

Offer your customers something

specific
limited
and of value to them as well as yourself.

Lets pretend… just for discussions sake… youre the owner of Little Town Diner in Smallville.

Youd place a little E-mail address sign-up book right next to the cash register. Include spaces on each page for customers to write-in both their name and a Email address. Have the cashier invite customers to sign it.

Build up your list of names. Its valuable.

Suppose every Wednesday is a slow day at the diner. On Wednesday mornings you start sending out an Email like this one to your list.

Hi (Customers Name),

Pat here from the Little Town Diner. Howd you like for me to do the cooking tonight? I just got a HUGE shipment of chicken breasts in today and Ive got to move these babies out!

So Im running a SPECIAL today

Pats 2 for 1 Special (today only- – eat in or take out)

2 juicy, tender barbecued chicken breasts… 2 baked potatoes or French fries on the side… 2 servings of string beans or cole slaw…AND…2 slices from any of our delicious pies-of-the-day (your choice).

Dont want to eat out? No problem.

We can have your dinner packaged and ready for you to pick up at your convenience if you place your order before 3pm. Let us know about what time youll be in for your pick-up.

**********

Or heres another way you could apply this small business direct marketing tip

**********

Hi (Customers Name),

Pat here. I want to say, thank you for making Little Town Diner a part of your dining experience. Serving folks like you is what makes our business so enjoyable.

To formally say, thanks Id like to offer you a special discount this week. If you visit us between now and Sunday tell your waitress you want the Thank You Discount. You and your family can order anything on our menu and get 20% off.

Now remember – - you have to ask for the discount to get it. This offer is just our way of saying, thanks for choosing us to serve you.

Thanks Again,
Pat

**********

Theres no limit to how you can use this.

If youre a tree trimmer you could use this small business marketing tip too.

Lets pretend you drop off some of the wood from your tree cutting business to someone who makes mulch. This person tells you one day, Ive got a LOT of excess mulch here Id like to get rid of for cheap. Do you know anyone who might want some?

So you e-mail your list

**********

Hi (Customers Name),

Fred here from Smallville Tree Trimming Service.

Ive got a friend who has a lot of mulch. They practically want to give it away. You can have as much as you want for $xxx per yard. Every yard of mulch covers xxx square feet.

If youd like some call 800-555-5555 and place your order. Itll probably go quickly at this price so call and reserve yours now.

Ill even drop it off at your home to save you the hassle of having to pick it up.

Sincerely,
Fred

You then split the profits with your friend who is in the wood mulch business. The people on your list know you. They trust you. Youve done work for them before. Theyre more likely to buy from you than from anyone else.

Many on your list arent going to be interested in mulch. Some of them will… and theyll be glad you contacted them with a great deal to help them out.

This small business direct marketing tip applies to ALL types of small businesses.

Get your message out. The people most likely to buy from you are waiting to hear from you. You can contact them for next to nothing. Anytime you want.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joe Farinaccio is a direct-response copywriter. In addition to writing sales letters for online clients Joe specializes in putting together successful direct mail packages for small and medium sized businesses. You can learn more about how to market your business successfully and sign up to receive his free monthly Ezine at http://www.sales-letters-and-marketing.com

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Marketing – Internet Marketing Secret – How to Double Your Sales Overnight

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

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What if you could double your sales overnight by applying just one Internet marketing secret?

One of the greatest secrets of direct marketing is that it is scientific. With many forms of advertising, you cannot tell which ad or marketing campaign produced the results. But smart direct marketers know exactly which ad or sales letter produced what results because the results are tracked and measured.

Direct marketers have a secret they have been using to double their income – or more – for a hundred years. And when this marketing secret is combined with the power and speed of Internet marketing, the results can be phenomenal. It is not an exaggeration to say that you could potentially double your sales overnight with this one Internet marketing secret.

What’s the secret? Split testing. This is done by using a “key” to associate a sale with the ad or sales letter that produced the sale so that you can measure the results. In a print ad, you might provide a phone number with an extension. The extension is actually the key. You would have two ads or sales letters, each with a different key, and would then track the results using their respective keys. Internet marketers typically use tracking software to associate a key with the resulting sales, although it can be done as simply as having two sales pages and tracking the sales from each.

For accurate results, you need a test that is big enough that you can rely on your statistics. For example, with a direct mail sales letter this is generally considered to be a mailing of at least 1000. Internet marketers can substitute 1000 page views. Either way, once you know what results you can consistently expect from an ad or sales letter, it becomes what direct marketers call your “control.” You always need to have one control that produces known results. Then you can test other versions against the control to see if you can consistently beat the results of the control.

Suppose that you have a Web sales letter that consistently produces an average of 10 sales for every 1000 times the page is viewed. This is a 1% response, a figure that is often cited as average for a direct response sales letter.

Now you need to test one variable at a time to see if you can increase the percentage of sales. For example, you may want to test the sales letter with a different headline, a different graphic, a different price, different bonuses, different text, etc. But always only test one variable at a time. Generally, the headline is considered to be the most important element to test first.

What you want to determine is whether any change in a single variable will consistently produce a higher response. The payoff can be quite significant. Imagine if a different headline was determined to produce a 2% response. That doesn’t sound like much of a change – only 1% more. But this would double your sales! Instead of making 10 sales out of a thousand, you would be making 20 sales.

This is a very realistic scenario, so you always want to test against your control. The better your control, the more tests will fail to beat it. But once you find a sales letter that consistently beats the control, then you make it the new control and continue with testing another variation of the headline or a different variable. Perhaps you might next test whether the color of the headline makes a difference. Suppose that changing the color of the headline resulted in another 1% increase in sales to a 3% response rate. This would be another 50% increase in sales and would be triple the number of sales averaged from the original sales letter!

It is very easy to be complacent with a working sales letter and not test further, but this can be a costly mistake. Any change in a variable could result in higher profits. For example, suppose that you determined that you consistently had a 1% response rate when selling your product for $97 but a 2% response rate when selling the product for $67. For every 1000 page views, you would make $970 at $97 per sale but $1340 at $67 per sale.

Always track your response rate, always keep split testing against your control looking for a new control, and always consider the bottom line – your net profit. Many tests will fail – they will not beat your control. But once you have a successful test that consistently beats your control, you will likely have significantly increased your income. Without split testing, you will never know how much money you are losing. But with this Internet marketing secret, you can potentially double your sales overnight.

About the Author

Mike Adams has been marketing on the Internet since the early 1990’s. His latest project is Gigantic Resale Rights.com. As part of the launch of Gigantic Resale Rights.com, Mike is offering our readers several FREE Master Resale Rights Packages at: http://www.gigantic-resale-rights.com/

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Internet Marketing – Internet Marketing Short Term Strategy

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

After spending a lot of time and effort on building a site, many wonder where they should start with Internet marketing. Site owners can be bombarded with pitches about marketing and it is hard to sort out what should be done. In this article, a short term marketing strategy is discussed.

Short Term Marketing Strategy

The single best short term marketing strategy is pay-per-click marketing campaigns. A PPC campaign simply involves placing advertisements on the results pages of search engines. In essence, you open an account with the PPCs, develop a list of keywords and create ads for those keywords. The two best PPC platforms are Google Adwords and Overture.

Google Adwords lets you place ads on Google search results. In addition to its own search engine, Google also supplies search results to AOL and other sites. When you create your ads, you can choose to place your ads on content or search results. Select only search results until you are sure the advertisement and your site coverts traffic into revenues.

Yahoo purchased Overture a few years ago for 1.8 billion dollars. Overture places advertisements on search results for MSN and, ta da, Yahoo among others. To build your ads, you search for keywords from a list provided by the PPC and create individuals ads. It can take a long time, but it is worth it.

Which PPC is Best?

Both Google and Overture have serious benefits. Google will send more traffic to your site than Overture. Getting your ad in front of AOL users is particularly advantageous because AOL users are buyers. For whatever reason, they simply seem to be more amenable to buying what youre selling.

If Google is so great, why use Overture? In many ways, Overture has serious advantages over Google Adwords. One of the biggest advantages involves the size of ads.

To effectively run a profitable PPC campaign, you must get the maximum bang for your buck. One strategy for doing this is to qualify your traffic by explaining details in your description. If you only carry one model of a product, say that so money isnt wasted with people who are looking for a different model clicking on your ad. With Google, you only get two to three words in your title and 8 to 10 in your description.

PPC advertising is a tremendous short term marketing strategy for a number or reasons. First, the advertising gets traffic to your site immediately. Second, it allows you to test the ability of your site to convert traffic into dollars. If conversions are low, you can modify the site and get immediate feedback.

If its time to get working on your marketing, research the PPC possibilities. Google Adwords and Overture have a lot to offer.

About The Author

Halstatt Pires is with http://www.marketingtitan.com – a internet marketing and advertising company in San Diego, California.

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