Internet Marketing and Advertising

As you get started in internet marketing all of you might have come across gurus proclaiming their wisdom that “the money is in the list “. Like all newbies to marketing you start focusing on building your list . You try every software ,every promotion method in an attempt to build your list of subscribers.

Now that you have your list of faithful subscribers, you are told (by the same gurus) to provide valuable information to the list to build a relationship and trust with your subscribers. The theory is, the more your list of subscribers see you as an expert and their well wisher(!), they will just quickly make a beeline to the site you are promoting and with every mail you send, you will rake in pots of gold with the commissions on purchases made by your subscribers.

Now let us shift to what the experienced marketers themselves are doing. To be fair to them, they also do the same thing they advice you to do. But then, they also do it mindlessly.

I got a mail from a respected marketer recently, preselling one of the Late Corey Rudl’s products. The products of Corey, as we all know, are quite the things you need in your internet marketing, and the way Corey has mentored many a internet millionaire, one can be sure that his products still remain as top resources for anyone getting started in internet business.

But I digress – the marketer’s mail goes on to tell me that “last week” Corey has given him special permission to offer the product at a special discount to the marketer’s subscribers, and in a recent update, Corey had said that 80 sales has happened in one week alone!

C’mon, even a newbie like me has mourned the sad demise of Corey Rudl, and felt a loss and void at having him with us no longer. The man, a legend in his lifetime and a mentor to many like me, would turn in his grave if he sees the way the marketers market nowadays. Mindlessly they promote stuff by copying and pasting some promotional mail, without even trying to see what the subscribers need. Email marketing taught to us by Corey has much more to it that just flooding your subscribers with “special offers”, “promotions” and the like. Whatever happened to preselling, need analysis, and closing the sale with leaving the buyer feeling he got what he wanted?

Unlike other marketers who submit their articles to ezines for ultimately making readers to click to their site and buy something, I wrote this article just out of a frustration, and a pain that marketing is not done the right way. In fact, you may notice that my bio at the bottom shows a site called www.homeremediesandcures.com, and is not in any way related to internet marketing. (I make my money out of adsense ads and clickbank products on home remedies – am doing quite well, thank you).

Swaminathan is a newbie marketer having several sites earning income through sale of products and adsense. His latest site is a simple site on home remedies and cures, at http://www.homeremediesandcures.com.

Tags: Email Marketing, Internet Marketing, make money online

Achieving sales is probably the biggest
challenge a web business owner has. It requires
a balanced mix of the right products, competitive
pricing, optimal web design, aggressive advertising
and attracting the right online visitors.

While all of the above are equally important in
achieving abundant sales, none of them will work
at all if you don’t target the people that are most
likely to buy your products or services. These
people are known as your target or niche market.
Focusing in on your niche market will allow you to
find only those that are ready, willing and able to
buy what you have to offer.

Your niche market provides you the competitive edge
over larger corporations because larger companies
tend to market to a much broader range of people.
Their promotions are more generalized and less focused.
For them, the smaller markets are not worth bothering
with. This now becomes your opportunity to capture
those highly defined niche markets that they left behind.

Defining your Market

In order to find these people you must first determine
who they are. This might sound like a simple or
perhaps insignificant question at first but it can
possibly make or break the success of your sales if
you don’t give it some serious thought.
Here’s how to get started.

Think about the following and jot down all those
that might apply to people interested in your products
or services. Don’t rule out any category completely.
Think about each group of people and how they might
apply.

Age Group:

infants, Children, teens, young adults, baby boomers,
middle aged, elderly or all.

Gender:

Male, female or both

Marital status:

single, married, divorced, widowed or all

Ethnic or religious backgrounds

Occupations:

Executives, doctors, lawyers, housewives,
business owners, teachers, blue collar,
white collar, students, out of work, etc.

Health Status:

healthy, diseased, home bound, active, sedentary, etc.

Interests:

sports, hiking, music, arts, computers, reading
television, animals, home decorating, cars,
walking, running, relaxation, health conscious,
age conscious, physical fitness, etc.

Income status:

low income, middle income, high income, no income.

Education:

high school dropout, high school, college, MBA
PHD, hates school, loves school, etc.

Certainly all categories are not listed above,
however these can get you started on thinking about
all the possibilities.

Next, it’s important to determine what benefits
you are offering. Examine your products or services
carefully listing all the benefits that you can
think of. Perhaps take a poll of your existing
customers and ask them what it is they like about
your products or services. What benefits them the
most.

Once you have a listed all of the benefits, think
about what people would be interested in these
benefits based on your list above. Then put them
together to assist you in reaching a market that
will bring you sales.

Reaching Your Target Market

Search engines are the best way of finding a
targeted market because those searching on the
web can type in exactly what they are searching
for and receive the targeted traffic the search
engines so proudly advertise.

But attaining good placement on the search engines
is often difficult and time consuming.

Ezines and newsletters are a very effective alternative.

Most ezines cover specific subjects such as finance,
marketing, health, internet, etc. Your job will be to
find an ezine whose topic matches your target market.
To do this you must locate an ezine directory. Directories
usually list contact information, advertising rates, and
circulation. Once you find a targeted ezine then place
your ad. Be sure your ad includes as many of your product
benefits as the ad will allow.

The idea is to define your target market specifically
enough so that you can find the appropriate place to
advertise and then create sales messages that
make your readers feel you are talking directly to them.

You’ll be amazed at the amount of traffic you can receive
by finding your target market and reaching them in the
appropriate location.

Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry.
She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses
find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and
increase sales. Elizabeth’s sites can be viewed here:
http://www.pro-marketing-online.com
http://www.homenotion.com

Copyright © 2004 Adlite Enterprises
All Rights Reserved.

Tags: niche market, niche sales, target market, targeted traffic

As I was looking around the Internet this week I was reminded of
something that I have seen so many email marketers miss. It’s so
simple I can’t believe anybody does it, but everyday I open my
inbox, I see it dozens of times.

What is it?

-Well it’s something that takes about one minute to set up
-It’s critical to your success as an Email Marketer
-If you miss it, your open rate will surely suffer
-It’s one of the seven deadly sins that will sabotage your email
marketing campaign

Interested to know the sin?

Putting something that means nothing in your From field.

The From field is the part of the email message that identifies
where the message is coming from (e.g., Jack’s Flowers). The From field in your email marketing message can be set to anything you wish.

When your subscriber gets your email message, the first point of
contact is their inbox. If the subscriber recognizes the
information in the From field, the message is quickly opened.

If your subscriber doesn’t recognize the information in the From
field, the message is likely to get deleted before it’s opened.

Why?

Do you readily open messages from people you don’t know? I sure
don’t. I don’t want to get bombarded with emails promoting little blue pills, or worse, somebody’s cruel virus.

Putting something that means nothing in your From field is
certainly the surefire way to get your email message in the delete box – before it even gets opened!

Wondering what should go in your From box?

a) The name of your business
b) The name of your e-newsletter (if the name is recognizable)
c) Your web address (if it is recognizable)

Do NOT use your personal name unless you are well known.

Okay, I agree if I got an email from Anthony Robbins I think I
would recognize his name. However getting an email from Mary
Johnson (when I don’t know her)it is another story.

This is usually the way that companies blow it with the From field:

Some well-intentioned employee who is responsible for sending out the e-newsletter sends the email message from their email address. Unfortunately that employee doesn’t realize that no one will recognize their name and will most likely delete the message before it gets opened.

So what do you do now?

Immediately go and check what you have set up in your From field on all of your e-newsletters.

If you are guilty of the From field sin, ask forgiveness from the email gods and move on. If you were already one step ahead of me and had a great From field entry – congratulations!

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:

Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Check out Joan here: http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Email Joan here: joanpasay@EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright – Joan Pasay 2005

Tags: e-newsletters, email, Email Marketing, how to write emails, opt-in email, permission email marketing