Against Closed Eyes In Marketing

What I’m about to explain to you will change to way you do your online marketing Today, Tomorrow and Years to come with little effort on your part.

This simple But effective technique involves the use of a ‘Pop-Up’ on your website, but, the difference between this technique and just a standard ‘Pop-Up’ or ‘Exit Pop-Up’ as we all see them is that when your potential prospects see them they are more then willing to give you there Name and Email address.

Why you ask?

Because your offering them something of Value for FREE.

As you well know the word ‘Free’ is one of the most Powerful words on the internet when used correctly and when combined with an ‘Pop-Up’… it could make you alot of extra money with little effort.

As a marketer myself, a simple Name and Email Address is worth hundreds, if not thousands of extra dollars a year if I collect and follow-up my leads properly, but, the questions that always seem to arise are…

…How do I do it? …What steps do I need to take?

So… now that I have your attention, let me explain to you how this can be achieved in a simple ‘Step-By-Step’ fashion.

Step #1:

What do you have that you can give away to your visitors as they leave your website that is of value to your visitor and more importantly, will benefit from?(Here’s a hint… Free Reports, eBooks, eCourses, etc.)

(Note: Give away brandable ebooks, reports, etc. with your affiliate links embedded within them. Make sure they’re related to the subject of the content.)

Step #2:

Once you’ve figured out what your going to give away, put together some ad copy for your ‘Pop-Up’ that your going to build that will grab your visitors attention and get them to sign-up for your ‘Free Offer’ or ‘Give Away’ as they leave your website.

(Note: You don’t have write alot, just a few attention grabbing sentences pointing out the ‘Benefits’ of your offer.)

Step #3:

Write a short Solo. You need this because after they sign-up through your web-form from your pop-up, this is what they will receive in there Inbox with either download info or other instructions that you specify in order for them to receive there Report, eBook, eCourse, etc.

(Note: Also, make sure you attach a ‘Signature File’ at the end of your Solo. Many marketer’s forget this part and are losing out on alot of extra profits. Don’t Forget!)

Step #4:

You need to go to your ‘Auto-responder’ management console and set-up an seperate auto-responder with the solo you wrote for your ‘Free Offer’ and/or ‘Give Away’.

Once you’ve set your auto-responder its now time for you to copy the HTML code for your auto-responder’s Web-Form and paste it into the ‘Pop-Up’ you just put together.

(Note: Auto-responder services may very. Simply follow there directions.)

Step #5:

This is the easy part, once you have completed all of the other steps, simply paste your ‘Pop-Up’ code into your desired webpage(s).

If you use pop-up software that creates and automatically inserts the code for you simply select the webpage you want the code to be placed on and the software will do the rest.

Now simply upload your newly formatted webpage and pop-up to your host and start sending it Traffic!

As a general rule, test out your pop-up for your first week a see how it pulling. You may need to tweek it if its not performing to your stardards. All it takes is just a few words to be changed to make your pop-up a success.

That’s it… your Done!

These are the 5 basic steps needed to turn your website into an fully ‘Automated Sales Machine’ that will automatically follow-up your leads 24/7/365 without you lifting a finger.

It may take a little time to set-up initially, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.

Now, I just have one last tip for you.

If you really want to get the most out of your Pop-Up and the leads it brings in simply load-up your already set-up ‘Auto-Responder’ with 6 or 7(or however many you want) follow-up emails and set them to go out every 3 to 4 weeks.

For maximum results make sure that you target the particular Product or Service you are offering or promoting because it makes no sense to offer a Product or Service that doesn’t relate to what your initial offer was that they signed up for.

Want to get MORE ‘Insider’ marketing Secrets on How-To drive Traffic to your website? Subscribe to Cory Threlfall’s ezine called… The Internet Wonders eZine at — internet marketing — Or, you can go shop his popular CBmall with over 10,000 Ready-To-Download products. Go to ==> webmaster resource site

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The Internet has grown from a small network of academics needing a way to trade research into a world-spanning, ubiquitous marketplace and repository for nearly every possible kind of information and knowledge. How does a small business avoid being washed away in the constant tide of buying, selling and marketers hawking every conceivable item (and some difficult to conceive…)?

The Internet provides advantages for both customer and proprietor in that one can search for exactly what is desired, without the bother of endless phone calls, driving to malls, or poring over mail-order catalogs. A quick keyword or 3, and hundreds of results vie for attention on the screen. Making sure your company is one of those results near the top is a combination of factors: specificity in product offerings, Search Engine Optimization of web content and linking to and from related topics and sites.

The only way to get noticed on the Internet is to have a listing or presence, whether a dedicated website, ads on relevant sites, or by word-of-mouth. Oftentimes ads on online journals, informative sites, or e-zines (online magazines) are cheaper than space in a print publication, as well as being available to a wider audience than a dedicated website may be. Rates are often available for daily, weekly, or monthly terms, increasing flexibility and allowing a tight budget more leeway. Word-of-mouth advertising can be very cheap, but the returns may be difficult to quantify. Sponsoring web shows such as podcasts or webcasts can be a great and cheap way to gain word-of-mouth exposure. Many times, a podcaster will be so thrilled to gain sponsorship that rates can be negotiated for very little, but make sure to approach a podcaster that has a show related somehow to your business. Don’t overlook resources like Google’s Adwords either, as they can be slightly pricier than similar options like banner ads, but they are shown to be far more effective than pop-ups, banners, or pay-per-click ads due to their specific targeting.

When a potential customer decides to look up a product that you sell, is he or she going to find your site or listing? Being specific in the terms used on your site or listing is key, as keywords are what drive the search engines like Google and Yahoo. If your company sells shoes, it’s not enough to put the word “shoes” on your site–it has to be anticipatory to the searches that potential customers are doing. Most customers have an idea of what they are looking for when doing a search, so instead of “shoes,” a customer will search for “imported Italian leather shoes.” Specific focusing of terminology and product listings are involved in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as SEO is driven by specific keywords and their repetition or location on a page. If the term “Italian Leather Shoes” is used 15 times on a website, it will pop up higher on the rating listings than one with the same words, but only as a page heading or title. It would be easy to go overboard on this if it were the only criteria, but it is only one of many different methods search engines use to list websites by relevance. Our article on Search Engine Optimization, located here, is a great reference to optimizing your site for maximum Search Engine Performance.

With a clear idea of where you want to go with Internet marketing, it can be a valuable tool to expand your business into the digital realm, but be careful not to go overboard, as all marketing eventually crosses into the zone of limited return. Customers are looking for what they want–it’s up to you to make sure they run into you, and the only way they will is for you to make sure your business is at the places they are going to go.

© 2005, Wholesale Pages UK. All rights reserved.

About the Author

William King is the director of Wholesale-Pages UK: http://www.wholesalepages.co.uk and Wholesale-Canada: http://www.wholesale-canada.com. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers, entrepreneurs and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

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Getting the word out about your online business can eat a large
piece of your marketing budget, especially in the beginning, when you are first starting you.

Luckily, there a number of ways you can get your name, offer or
website in front of your potential customer that don’t have to cost a fortune.

Here are 5 very effective ways you can draw more traffic to your
website, but not just any traffic, qualified and targeted traffic that is interested in what you have to say and offer them. After all what good is all the traffic in the world, if they don’t care about what you are selling?

1. Specialize. Find Your Niche. Identify Your Target Market.
If you had access to the budgets of some of the giant corporations, then you could just toss around a handful of cash and be able to get some people to visit you and purchase from you.

As an internet marketer you are better off tailoring your offer to a specialized group of prospects, your niche.

By narrowing the focus of your campaign, you can get in touch with the right people without having to spend millions on your marketing.
You will also find that your conversions will increase by focusing your marketing on a specific market, allowing you to sell more without spending more.

The beauty of focusing on a niche is that you can identify a specific problem or concern, create a site and offer to address it, help solve it and start driving targeted traffic to it.

Once you have a steady stream of traffic on autopilot, you can then head out and find the next niche who needs your help.

2. Trade Links With Other Websites
Before you run off, to find link partners, a word of caution. Don’t just trade links with any site out there. Try to stick with websites that offer similar products and services. Better yet, find sites with complimentary topics that don’t directly compete with you.
Quite a few search engines consider not just the amount of links you have pointing to your website, but also the quality and relevance of the links pointing back to you as very important.

3. Articles, Articles, Articles… One of the best methods, period.
It’s true, writing and distributing articles is one of the most powerful and effective ways you can market your business.

Write a useful article about the topic you are focused on, include an author’s or resource box at the end and invite readers to visit your website.

Once you distribute your new article to the article directories or offer it to newsletter and ezine publishers or webmasters with permission to reprint it, you will find that you will not only begin to receive a steady stream of targeted traffic back to your website and offer, but it will also help your search engine rankings and result in extra traffic coming from there as well.

4. Viral Reports and Ebooks
One awesome tool you can use is to create a special report or even write your own eBook and give it away at no charge.

Even better, you could allow those that give it away to add their name and website information, giving them permission to rebrand it and then give it away.

This method is so effective, some webmasters have literally seen
thousands of new visitors within a couple of days from launching.
An easy and quick way to create a special report for example could be to use articles you have written in the past on one particular topic and put them together as a special report.

5. Forums and Bulletin Boards
There are forums and bulletin boards for any topic you can imagine, including your target audience. By offering advice and help to the visitors of these sites, you can also help yourself, with your signature.
Most forums allow you to include a small signature at the end of your post, giving you an opportunity to spread the word about your offer or website at no cost.

Be careful to follow the rules and guidelines of each forum, they can vary greatly and you don’t want to be accused of posting inappropriate content.

Head over to your favorite search engine and try searching for your topic and adding the word ‘forum’ or the phrase ‘bulletin board’ and go take a look around. Familiarize with the postings and the general tone of the board before you start to post and you will find that you can draw a steady stream of targeted traffic.

Many of these boards are also indexed by the search engines, which of course will just, again, help to increase your link popularity and the extra traffic from their visitors.

There are so many different ways you can drive highly qualified and targeted traffic to your website that won’t cost you an arm and a leg and we’ve now covered the basics of only 5 of them.

But now it’s up to you to get out there and use them.

Start with a few methods at a time and really make them work for you, then focus on the next few methods. You will be surprised how easy it really is and how fast the word about your new offer and website can spread across the internet and bring you visitors and buyers without you having to do anything or spend any money.

Xavier Nelson is an Entrepreneurial Consultant dedicated to your success.
Stop by http://special.businessinformationconnection.com/traffic and find out the top methods and most effective ways to increase targeted, qualified traffic to your website, to grow your list and to sell more products.

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Marketing results should be measured in only one way - increased sales. Marketing should not be considered an art form. Its mere existence is not enough. Marketing is the first step to the sale. There are seven underlying principles upon which to base your marketing strategy and efforts. Follow them and your business will be a raving success. Violate them and you will fail as so many small businesses do.

The seven underlying principles are Image, Differentiation, Repeat Business, Ease of Doing Business, Networking, Likeability, and Emotion. Let’s begin with image.

Image

Much like people have an image so does their business. Some people are informal and likeable, as are some businesses. Some people are formal and aloof, as are some businesses. Your image is wrapped up in your packaging. The clothes you wear, the haircut you sport, the weight you carry, and the age you are, all create your image. The same applies to your business.

Every way your business presents itself to your customers adds to or detracts from the image you are trying to create with your marketing efforts. Decide on the image you wish to convey to the public and design your business to support that image. Your business cards, letterhead, website, advertising materials, and every other portion of your business which will come into contact with a customer must reflect the same image.

If you sell a product, your image is also reflected in your packaging, the colors, the box, the website, the store — everything. If you sell a service, your image is reflected in your writings, your website, your proposals and your presentations. Make every interaction with a customer or prospect reflect the image you have for your business.

However, remember, it is far easier to create an unforgettable image by differentiating yourself from the competition.

Differentiation

Be as different as a zebra in a herd of horses. You must be different from your competitors in order to stand out. And, you must be able to convey that difference in all your messages to prospects. If you know you are different and don’t convey it, you lose. You must leverage your differences to your advantage.

If you can’t differentiate yourself, it’s because of two general reasons. You think you don’t have any competitors. Or, you have copied your competitors to the extent you all look alike to your prospects.

Thinking you don’t have any competitors is a dangerous and nave position to take. Even if someone doesn’t sell the exact product you sell, they do compete with you for people’s money. If a potential customer is spending money with someone else, they aren’t spending it with you. Offer something different in product or service.

The second option, where you look just like your competition, is equally dangerous. In this situation, the only way to compete is by having the lowest price. Lowest price also translates to lower profit margin. This means you’re working harder to make money than you have to.

Differentiating yourself from the competition is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish. It is also one with the largest positive impact upon your bottom line. Differentiating yourself will increase business. However, part of marketing is also hanging onto the business once you have it.

Repeat Business

A sale is great! But, two or more sales are even better!

A customer who buys once from you represents short-term revenue. Short-term revenue requires ten times more work. In this mode, you are in a constant search for new customers. A lifelong paying customer is your objective. If you offer a one-time event, you do not have a marketing process — you have a single sale. A marketing process sells to clients over and over again.

One of the reasons businesses fail is because they don’t stay in touch with customers. Frequency of contact can build trust and trust is a requirement for a sale. Set up a system to remind yourself to contact existing customers. This can be a regularly published newsletter, an email follow-up for input from the last sale, or a new product announcement. Keep in touch! Customers don’t want to be taken for granted. Make your customers feel special and they will return to you, time and time again.

Another proven method for encouraging that second purchase is to be a business that is easy to do business with.

Ease of Doing Business

Having many ways for people to buy from you increases your chance of the first sale and subsequent sales. Your website should be easy to navigate. This includes having contact information on every page, multiple methods of paying you, product descriptions with customer benefits clearly spelled out, and an easy to understand return policy.

Many websites lose sales every day because they can’t be contacted with questions or their order forms are confusing. Look at all the business systems you have established. These include the ordering system, the communication system, and the feedback system. Test them from the customer’s standpoint. If you can’t be objective, have relatives and friends test your systems and provide you with feedback. Remove anything they complain about, no matter how small it seems to you.

It can be hard enough to grow a business under the best of circumstances. Don’t build your own roadblocks. Build networks instead.

Networking.

To increase sales, increase your network of contacts, both customers and suppliers.

We’ve discussed how customers can increase your business. They can return to purchase from you again. They will also tell others about you. But why network with suppliers?

Suppliers profit when you profit. They have a vested interest in your success. The smaller the supplier, the more they have invested in your success. If you establish a really good network with your suppliers, you will have first access to new products and special closeout sales. In turn, you will both be more successful.

This principle is also referred to as the principle of reciprocity. This works on the principle: “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.” It is not just about relationships, it is about the value of those relationships. Make yours count.

Likeability

People buy from people they like. This is a long proven sales axiom. If people don’t know you, how can they like you? They need to like you before they will trust you. They must trust you before they buy from you.

Likeability is one of the most valuable assets you have. Does your marketing copy (on your website or in your advertising) come across as the type of person you would like? Would you do business with this person?

Is likeability subjective and emotional? Yes. But so are buying decisions!

Emotion

Marketing studies claim eighty-five percent of the buying decision is made from emotions. Buyers will then justify their purchase with logic. But emotion is where it starts! This means you must first connect with their emotions. Then give them the logic to justify what they bought. You cannot do one effectively without the other.

Your client’s perception creates the sale. So many business owners think their service or product is absolutely great. They cannot understand why it is not selling. It is because they developed their product or service according to their perceptions and not their prospects’ needs. Keep your prospects in mind at all times and you will succeed.

Remember, marketing is the first step to the sale. Keep these principles in mind and you will succeed. Nice doing business with you!

Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a “Corporate Freedom Fighter” dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners to experience their own successful online business. She has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (http://www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to “Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time”.

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What can be more infuriating to a potential purchaser of a non-fiction book than chapter headings which give no clue as to their contents? After all, if someone is looking in the non-fiction section of a book store, it implies they want facts, not a fancy and “clever” table of contents! Here are 4 sure-fire ways to make your text grab the reader’s attention:

1. Make sure the text on the front and back covers is compelling. It should state plainly and simply what the book is about. For example: “Buy this book, and learn how to master the craft of teaching in 15 lessons”.

2. Why should anyone buy the book from YOU? Don’t waste limited space on the back cover telling the potential reader about your 3 cats - unless it’s a book about cats, of course! Write something like: “The author has been a practising teacher for 13 years, and writes regularly for the Teaching Times.”

3. Organise the table of contents so that the chapters fall into easily-identifiable sections. For example: “Section 1: Before you face your first class; Section 2: The first year” and so on.

4. Make sure that the chapter headings actually MEAN something. You may think it’s great to have chapters like “All that glitters” and “Every cloud has a silver lining”, but I’ have news for you: nobody else is impressed! When people are browsing they want to know right away what they will get for their money if they buy the book. They don’t have time to look at each chapter to find out what it’s about. The chapter headings should tell them everything they need to know. For example, have chapters like: “Chapter 3: Maintaining order in your classroom; Chapter 4: Where to find excellent resources for your lessons”, and so on.

You have just a few seconds to impress a potential buyer. Don’t waste them!

Terry Freedman has nearly thirty years experience in education, and nearly 20 years experience as a writer. A member of the UK’s Society of Authors, Terry has had around a dozen books published, and over 800 specialist articles in leading newspapers and magazines. His website provides free access to many of his articles, a free newsletter and more, or visit his blog.

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Direct marketing is built on four things. The other way to look at it is that when you think direct marketing is not working only one of four things can be wrong. Let’s look at each.

1. The Target - This is who you are sending your marketing to. The target is your list and the list is your market. These are the people most interested in what you have to say, what you have to offer and what you have to sell. These are interested prospects, hopefully, that will want what you have to sell. If this group does not want or need what you have then your target needs changed. Your target does not represent your market in this case.

When working with list brokers, you can specify what your ideal target, ideal client or market should be. This is where most people think of demographics. How big a company is, what the income is or sales level is, where they are located, their age, their family size, etc. All of this defines your target and the tighter the definition of your target, the higher the probability of success.

TO-DO: Write out the description of your ideal client. Contact list brokers and see how many of these there are. Make sure to specify geographical areas. Determine the cost of such a list. Buy the list and start mailing to it over and over and over on a frequent, consistent basis.

2. The Vehicle - This is what you are sending to your list. In the world of direct mail its pretty simple: A letter, A postcard, A catalog or a three dimensional package. Professional companies like letters. People that are on the run, multi-tasker entrepreneurs may prefer postcards. C-level officers buying high ticket items may prefer a package. Consider this when determining your direct marketing campaign budget and base it on what you think your target market will want.

3. The Message - This component of direct marketing is what you are saying to your market; to your audience; to your list. This is also where you develop and communicate the offer that you are seeking a response to. Your job with the message is to communicate benefit oriented information and advantages that will motivate the prospect to take some type of action. The action might be a sale, a phone call, a visit or a web-site visit.

Think of a coupon. That is a response mechanism. The prospect sees the value and product offering on the coupon and visits a place of business and redeems it, all conforming to benefit communication and motivation to action.

4. Frequency - So many times people try direct marketing and give up because of low response. They typically give up before giving the campaign enough time to work. We are inundated with marketing messages everyday, therefore it takes repetition and consistency of delivering that message to match up with timing and desire to the point where the prospect will take action.

The rule of thumb is 6-8 times will create the top of mind awareness in the mind of your prospect so that they think of you, your product or service when their need or want arises.

Concentrating on just these four marketing components will help you develop the highest probable direct marketing campaign for your products and services.

Get a free 7 step PR plan by sending a blank email to prplan@market-for-profits.com or get a report on how to instantly add 50 people to your network by going to http://www.market-for-profits.com. Also visit http://www.directmailmarketingsuccess.com for over 300 tips, techniques and tactics on direct mail.

Al Lautenslager is a speaker, author, business owner, consultant, a certified guerrilla marketing coach who helps businesses and professionals increase their revenue through focused marketing and an increased client base. He is the bestselling co-author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days and a featured business coach for entrepreneur.com. He can be contacted through his website, http://www.market-for-profits.com

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You want to make sure you leave a lasting image on the minds of the “hiring” companies. They may not hire you immediately and it may be months down the road, but if you put together a professional and entertaining video clip that portrays you as an expert in your field, then they will remember you!

•Have a “comfortable and “warm” background setting

•Your demo video should always show you speaking within the first minute or so of the video; you want to catch the audience and the energy they are generating such as clapping, laughing, listening carefully and possibly jotting down notes

•Your first anecdote or presentation needs to be the most important thing you have; you only have 2-3 minutes to WOW the attention of the “hiring” company (meeting planners, associations, organizations, and groups)

•Show yourself open on the platform; don’t “hide” behind anything

•Energy is the toughest thing to capture on film; create energy with your body movements (use the stage fully) and pitch your voice firmly

•Try to tape the type of audience that you enjoy the most to work with

•When taping make clear what you are an expert on and use your best stories

•Show your excitement about the topic you are speaking on

•Use a little humor

•Tape at least 6 -10 minutes long

•Keep any one-on-one interviews short

•Avoid taping empty seats or things that may be distracting

•Use music underneath your presentation to add energy

Your video tape / CD / DVD cover

•Packaging: should be very attractive with a full-length picture of the speaker

•Top: the title / topic of your program should appear notably

•Middle: leave a blank space reaching to the bottom - this is where you will attach an eye-catching label with your contact information

•Bottom: the speaker’s name should go across the bottom of the cover

•Back: list 3 or 4 of your best testimonials - keep them brief

Wendi McNeill is owner of Charli Jane Speaker Management Services. She provides professional and affordable virtual business support to authors, consultants, public speakers, coaches, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and meeting planners, assisting them with representation, mentoring, marketing, and administration. Subscribe to Call for Speaker Proposals and sign up for her monthly ezine at http://www.CharliJane.com you can also email Wendi at wendi@CharliJane.com

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A current floral industry buzzword is “boxed flower program”. This refers to the practice of selling flowers to the consumer in a box, normally through distribution channels other than the traditional retail florist. Some boxed flowers come directly from growers, some come from order fulfillment centers. In all cases, the flowers are delivered by a freight service such as Fed ex.

Big players in the boxed flower program game are Proflowers, Growers Flowers, Flowers by Martha, and, perhaps surprisingly, FTD.

Traditional florists and the businesses that support them, such as traditional wholesale florists, are rightfully concerned about the competition they are receiving from vendors who sell flowers this way. They are also concerned about the effect these flowers are having on the consumer flower market’s perception of value.

The fear is that if sub-standard quality flowers and floral services are being sold, the overall demand for flowers will fall; that the boxed flower programs are giving flowers in general a bad name. According to an FTD consumer survey, florists believe that consumers who receive boxed flowers are disappointed in the quality, price and service. However, consumers asked the same questions respond overwhelmingly that they are more than satisfied with their flower buying and receiving experience through boxed flower programs.

Perhaps, the florists are responding to good science that shows that the single most important factor in prolonging the eventual vase life of flowers is the cold chain. In other words, flowers kept cold from post-harvest to home will perform best. In boxed flower programs, flowers leave the farm or order fulfillment center via a shipping company that does not have refrigeration. Flowers are generally out of the cold for 24 hours before reaching the recipient. I would challenge florists to consider how many hours their flowers are out of the cold chain before the consumer receives them. Do their flowers sit in buckets in their design room? Do completed arrangements sit in the garage waiting to be delivered? Are their delivery vans, and the delivery vans of their suppliers refrigerated?

It is my assertion that flowers delivered in boxes and flowers delivered by florists have equal chances of good performance, provided everything goes well at each stop along the distribution channel from farm to home. Tremendous effort and pride is taken in the proper care and handling of flowers in the floral industry, however the more hands handling the flowers along the way, the more chance there is for a break in the chain.

There are those who charge that boxed flower retailers are using marketing tactics, which mislead consumers to believe they are ordering flowers from a local florist. Should this be found to be the case, the traditional retail florist would certainly have a right to be angry. Laws of this great country generally support a level playing field. It’s this nuance of the argument that goes unnoticed by many florists. While FTD loudly fights against those unfair marketing tactics, they are not so quick to mention their own boxed flower program. On the surface, FTD appears to be fighting the battle to protect their retail florist members while it seems to me that they are protecting their own interest as a competitor to those very same traditional retail florists who are their customers.

I guess what I’m saying is… Game on! Both traditional retail florists and boxed flower programs are going concerns in the flower market. I do not believe they need to exist independently of one another. There are services provided by each that are not provided by the other. Each needs to understand the other and their place in the market, so they can focus their energies growing their businesses.

This article provided by http://www.send-flowers-online.ws

Karen Marinelli is a Floral Industry Professional with nineteen years of experience in the academic, retail, and wholesale sectors of the industry. She believes the common goal should be to sell more flowers to more people, more often.

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These 3 marketing myths can cause you to lose sales if you base
your marketing decisions on them. We’ve given you some marketing
tips to blast each myth and boost your sales.

Myth 1: People buy a product at the cheapest price they can find.

That is not true - if it was then companies like Rolex and would
not exist - Timex would have put them out of business a long
time ago. Despite the ease of research that the internet affords
- buyers are generally lazy and don’t undertake full research.
Even on eBay where it is far easier to check the relative prices
of a product - people often buy a product at a higher price than
they could. So what causes people to buy? These are called
buying triggers - the most common are:

* Confidence in the seller * A high perceived value *
Recommendations * Ease of purchase

Blasting Myth 1: Establish your credentials - for example we
have over 20 years of business consultancy experience - so we
know what works and what does not work in a business.

Find ways of enhancing the perceived value of your product or
service by adding extras or clearly demonstrating the value of
it’s purchase.

Ensure that you include some actual recommendations within your
sales letter. Make it easy to purchase and receive your product
by not introducing any barriers to purchase such as extra forms,
obscure or complex payment methods.

Myth 2: Offering your customers numerous different options will
boost your sales

When confronted with several options, most customers have
difficulty making a decision. They often react by
procrastinating - and going to a seller who offers a clearer
product. Now by this we don’t say add extras or up sells, just
clearly state what is included in the product and don’t offer
options that not only confuse but making your selling and
processing more difficult.

The human mind works better when offered the two options “buy”,
“don’t buy”.

Blasting Myth 2: Only offer one product - or product package per
page. You can have a clear (and short) menu on each page to
encourage multiple purchases. If you have more than one option
for a product or service - then give them different names and
present them each separately. For example you can call them
“silver service”, “gold service”, “opal service” etc. This is
what we did with our various marketing services and it works
quite well.

You should always aim at a small, easily understood product or
service range. You should be able to explain each of your
products in one or two sentences. If you can’t do this - how do
you expect your potential buyers to understand what they are
buying?

Myth 3: Everybody Needs My Product or Service

Unfortunately, most people don’t believe that they do need a
particular service of product. Obviously with items such as
Ipods - your teenager will try and tell you they really, really,
really need one, but this is peer pressure that has been built
up with millions of dollars. Much of this was spent on research
into what there market wanted - and they got it right!

If you believe this myth then you also believe that you can
succeed without doing much marketing or selling. Unfortunately,
despite what some marketers tell you - it does not happen that
way. Undoubtedly there some very successful marketers around,
but they will all admit that a great deal of market research,
testing and reviewing of their offerings - happened before they
became successful.

Building a successful business is hard work - most of it devoted
to finding potential customers and then matching them with your
products and services. Even if most people can use your product
or service, you still need a marketing strategy to reach them
and a persuasive sales message to close sales - because you can
bet your last dollar - that where there a lots of potential
customers - there are just as many sellers.

Blasting Myth 3: * Do your homework - find out where your
potential customers are, what particular needs and desires they
have and what they are seeking to solve these. * Look for a
narrowly defined niche market where your product or service will
solve a unique need of the customers. * Design your product or
service to meet these needs. * Test, Change, Test, Refine, Test
and obtain customer feedback.

Unless you are one of the millionaire marketers around - you
will find many myths that you follow and potentially lose money
on. Hopefully the ones above have helped you.

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© Copyright 2006 Biz Guru LLC Lee Lister, writes as The Biz
Guru, for a number of web sites including her own www.BizGuru.us
and www.clikks.com where she sells her informational products.
With over 20 year’s management and business consultancy
experience with businesses large and small as well as being a
serial entrepreneur, she now helps others set up, develop and
market their businesses.

You might like to join our: Clikks Ezine: - aimed at the small
businesses - click or brick with a web site presence. We provide
business strategy and internet marketing assistance and
products. clikks_ezine@aweber.com

This article may be freely distributed if this resource box
stays attached.

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Copyright 2006 Anwar Ahmed Ally

Okay, you’re reading this because you want to make money online. You are fairly new to this, so you want some assistance. Well, you’re reading the right article. I will attempt to show you the basics on how to start an online money-making venture as quickly as possible.

The internet, through its sheer size, can be a bit overwhelming for a newcomer especially if there’s so many different types of lucrative opportunities out there. Follow these simple steps to get started.

STEP 1: Understand how money is made on the internet

In its simplest form, money can be made on the internet in roughly three ways:

By setting up your own web site

A web site can be an ideal way to make money online. However, it should be pointed out that you have to be prepared to put in a lot of hard work and have a great deal of patience. Your web site can make money by you offering a product or service on it or by earning advertising revenue or both. You can sell just about anything on a web site but it is recommended that you start with items that are instantly downloadable like software or ebooks. This spares you the agony and extra work of having to specially ship physical items around the world.

You will start by choosing a domain name, registering it and hosting your site. You need to design a site to suit your needs and what you have to sell. You can use the services of a web designer to do this for you or if you are the creative sort with reasonable computer knowledge and some good common sense, you could do this yourself -it’s not that difficult!

You will also need the ability to accept credit card payments from your customers. This has become reasonably easy to do these days by simply making use of a third party processor. Search for these on the search engines. You then need to market your web site either by way of paid ads or by using good Seo (search engine optimization) techniques to get your site ranked well in the search engines.

An alternate method of making money with a web site is by offering free, useful and quality content that appeals to users. Once you have built up a decent amount of regular visitors, you host Google Adsense ads. Google will pay you a commission on all their ads that are clicked on your site. You can also offer paid advertising to other web sites on your own by way of text or banner ads.

By doing some sort of online work for a company

There are numerous genuine companies out there that offer part time work to ordinary individuals. You can find research work, taking of surveys, data capturing, typing, etc. You can source these companies by searching for them on the search engines.

By participating in affiliate programs

Affiliate programs are popular with work-at-homers. An affiliate program is simply an advertising/marketing program run by company/web site in which they get members to refer visitors to their site. Members are paid per visitor or per sign-up or a combination of both. Most affiliate programs are free to join and the company will provide you with marketing/advertising aids in the form of text ads, sales copy, banners, etc to use. It is quite alright for you to participate in more that one affiliate program at the same time - this greatly increases your chance of success. Incidentally, affiliate activities create a great deal of internet traffic. To further increase your chance of success with affiliate programs, only join established companies that offer well respected and popular products or services.

STEP 2: Decide what you feel comfortable with

Now that you have a brief idea on the most popular money-making methods, you need to decide which one appeals to you. Once you have, feel free to do more research in that area and try to get as much information as possible. Play around with a few ideas until you are sure what you want to do.

STEP 3: Finding the right opportunity

Once you’ve decided on what you’d like to do, you now need to find the right opportunity. If you’ve decided to start your own web site, you need to determine what it’s going to be about. It’s best to base it upon something you have a fair knowledge of or are passionate about. If you’ve decided to take the affiliate route or to do online work for a company, make sure you are dealing with a reputable company that pays promptly. Use the search engines to find possible companies, then email these companies with any questions you have. Ask for references (people who are doing work for this company) and contact these people about their experiences.

Following these simple steps should put you on the right track very quickly. All the best!

Anwar Ally specializes in work at home opportunities. He is the founder of: www.thehomeworker.org
He also blogs at: www.2work-at-home.blogspot.com

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