10 Benefits of Business to Business Email Marketing

If there is any single tool that we should be enthusiastically embracing as marketers, it is business to business email marketing.

There is simply no way to match the value that business to business email marketing provides for communicating with prospects and customers.

The amazing thing is most of us are not actively engaged in any form of email marketing yet. At best, we send an occasional email blast to our customer base to introduce a new product or announce an event.

Many of us have NEVER sent a single promotional email to a list of prospects or customers. So if you are among the few who have, reach right back and give yourself a hearty slap on the back.

I have my theories about why most of us do not use business to business email marketing to its greatest advantage, which I will not go into here, but I suspect it is heavily related to the following barriers:

1) We must frequently rely on IT and/or our Web team to provide the enabling infrastructure and we are low on their priority list.

2) We do not have direct access to the mailing and tracking tools and have to rely on outside resources to put our strategies into play.

3) We do not know exactly how to implement an effective business to business email marketing strategy.

4) We fear being branded as a spammer at the slightest indiscretion.

Regardless of why business to business email marketing is not more widely accepted, the fact remains that it is a marketing tool that we must have in our toolbox.

Those marketers who jump on the bandwagon now will have a decided advantage versus the competition when they deploy their 'secret weapon'.

Benefits of Business to Business Email Marketing

1) Low cost

Compared to any other form of direct marketing, business to business email marketing is fantastically cheap. When you cultivate and mail to your own opt-in email list, the cost per message is so low, you can almost call it free.

You do need to invest in some kind of infrastructure, but if you are smart and careful, you can keep your costs below $1,000 a year.
If you only send 10 messages to a list of 2,000 subscribers, your cost is just $.05 per message. You can see how a serious business to business email marketing program could cost just a fraction of a penny per message.
2) Metrics Galore

With business to business email marketing, almost every step in the buying process can be measured and tracked on an ongoing basis. You can easily track the total clicks on every link in each message, the conversion of clicks to sales or clicks to leads, and with some programs you can measure opens (how many people opened your message) and forwards (how many people forwarded your message) You can take what you learn from one campaign and apply it to future campaigns with a high degree of precision.

3) Permission based

Unless you are spamming (sending unsolicited emails), all effective business to business email marketing is conducted to an opt-in list. This means that every subscriber requested to be on your list, they want to receive emails from you. Because of this, business to business email marketing is one of the purest forms of permission-based direct marketing. Very few direct mail or telemarketing campaigns can claim the same.

4) Easy to implement

If you aren't implementing business to business email marketing in your business right now, it may seem a daunting technical challenge to build the infrastructure and tools required to pull it off. But rest assured that adding business to business email marketing to your mix is not as difficult as it sounds.

There are many great tools available on a subscription basis that allow you to outsource the complete infrastructure required for effective business to business email marketing. You will find two great tools listed at the bottom of this article.

5) A gile Marketing Tool

All marketers and business owners are painfully aware of the fact that the speed of doing business continues to steadily increase. This relentless acceleration drives the need to be supremely responsive to new trends and opportunities in your market.

There is no more responsive tool available to marketers than business to business email marketing. You can literally deploy the tactical elements of a campaign moments after the strategic and messaging elements have been developed. In other words, you can decide on a new strategic direction in the morning, develop your message and offer in the afternoon, and have a message waiting in your prospect's inbox the next morning.

That is rapid communication!

6) Highly Targeted

Business to business email marketing is the only medium I can think of where you can not only easily segment your list based on demographic attributes, but also where you can segment your list based on the behavior of your prospect. With some of the simplest systems available, you can begin to develop a profile of your prospects based on the kinds of offers they respond to. With the more complex systems, you can track and store ALL of the actions individual prospects take as a result of your email efforts.
7) Can be Personalized

It is very easy to merge database fields in to email messages to add personalization. Simply adding your subscriber's first name to the subject link has been shown to increase readership dramatically.

The real power of personalization in email marketing comes when you can personalize an offer based on information you have added to your subscriber profiles based on their past behavior. Sending someone a personalized message like the following is a great way to leverage email marketing as a sales tool.

'Ted, I know you bought product x from us last month and I just wanted to check in to make sure it is working as well for you has it does for our other customers. I also wanted to let you know that we have replacement filters for product x available at a 30% discount for the remainder of this month. While you probably don't need filters yet, in a month or two you will. Why not buy now to take advantage the special price and make sure filters are on hand when you need them?'

8) Relationship Builder

Through frequency, personalization, and targeting, your marketing communications can be transformed from a traditional broadcast approach into a system that helps you build relationships with your subscribers.

Studies have shown that qualified prospects require 3-7 contacts from a company before they will respond with a purchase. The main driver of this need on the part of the prospect that they want to feel a level of trust in their relationship with the company.

business to business email marketing allows you to develop a personal presence with your subscribers and the low cost per contact makes it easy to contact subscribers frequently (within reason).

9) High Response Rates

There are many variables that contribute to response rates, but most direct marketing experts agree that email generally pulls a higher response than other direct marketing choices.

One of key reasons is that if you read a compelling offer in an email you can respond immediately by following a hyperlink to an order page or to get more information.

Responding to a direct mail piece requires one to pick up the phone and dial a number, a much more active response requirement.

10) Develops a Maturing Asset

The larger and more mature your list is, the more valuable it becomes. Your client database continues to be enriched with additional information about your subscribers and subscribers continue to develop a deeper and deeper relationship with the company.

Over a period of years, your opt-in database is likely to become your most valued marketing asset.

Ok, so there are a lot of compelling benefits...but what does one do to overcome the barriers I outlined at the beginning of this article?

The most important thing to do is to start doing something now, even the smallest steps will lead to big successes in the long run, just put some element of an business to business email marketing strategy into play within the next few weeks.
I've also listed some tips for overcoming the barriers below.

We must frequently rely on IT and/or our Web team to provide the enabling infrastructure and we are low on their priority list.

This one is easy. The best and fastest solution is to outsource. You can task a marketing communications agency with helping you set up a program, or you can subscribe to one of the hosted email solutions and do it yourself. I list some places to start investigating self-service solutions under point the next point.

We do not have direct access to our mailing and tracking tools and have to rely on outside resources to put our strategies into play.

This is why I prefer a do-it-yourself solution, at least in the beginning. Being able to touch and modify your campaigns directly is not only a great way to learn, it will save you a ton of money and help you ensure that your business to business email marketing strategy is truly a low-cost solution.

Here are a two popular tools you can look into...

1 Automation Wiz:

This is the tool I use to publish this e zine and to automate all of the email follow-up on my site. I chose it because it provides the subscriber acquisition and database management tools I need, allows me to send text or HTML emails, doesn't restrict the number of emails I can send in any given month, and (most importantly) provides unlimited sequential auto responders. The auto responder feature is a must-have if you want to truly automate your program.
Mailer
This is an excellent tool as well. Mailer Mailer provides a lot more HTML support than 1AutomationWiz (including complete, fill-in-the- blank templates). If your goal is to create good looking HTML messages, Mailer Mailer makes it really easy.

Another thing that this tool has that 1AutomationWiz does not is the ability to track opens (how many times your message was read). What it is lacking is unlimited sequential auto responders.
We do not know exactly how to implement an effective business to business email marketing strategy.

There are a lot of resources on the Web to help get you started, but this is definitely an area of need. As I look around, I find that there aren't any great, step-by-step guides for setting up an business to business email marketing strategy within a business. In fact, I see such a need that I've started writing a book about it. I'll keep you posted about the progress, but if you have immediate questions, please email me and I'll try to include answers in the Subscriber Q&A in the next issue.

We fear being branded as a spammer at the slightest indiscretion.

Spam is an epidemic, but this concern is overblown when it comes to emailing your customers. If you send an unsolicited email to a customer with legitimate information that they are likely to want, you will not be accused of spamming. Be reasonable, provide an easy way to opt-out, and check your ethics, and you won't have a problem. The best rule of thumb is to give first...then ask. Provide excellent, useful information, and then make an offer.
Of course, if you are mailing (as you should be) to people who have opted-in to your mailing list (thorough a Web form or some other means) then you are in safe water.
Good luck in building your business to business email marketing program!
Taken From (http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/business-management-articles-reports/10-benefits-of-b-to-b-email-marketing/10-benefits-of-b-to-b-email-marketing5.asp)

Make Money Online With Internet Marketing

Make money online is what many many people dream. The idea of working online gives us a lot of benefits such as the freedom of working at your own pace, working in your underwear, no need to wake up early, escape the morning traffic rush & so on. The benefits is just too many to say it here.

There are many ways to make money online but there are one important tool you need to master to be able to generate an income online. This important tool is the Internet. You need to understand how it works to be able to tap on this great resources. With this, Internet marketing plays an important role in helping you to make money online. You will be lost without any knowledge in internet marketing.

There are many marketing techniques in Internet Marketing but I won't go into much detail into it. So now how do you really make money online with Internet Marketing? There are many ways to do that.

Many people blog for a living. They blog about anything that interest them & the readers. Blogging is one medium people use to get traffic & it turn convert that traffic into income. Bloggers sell advertising ads space to advertisers. There are also many programs in the internet such as PayPerPost, Text Link Ads, Paid Reviews for them to monetize their blog. As such, blogging is a popular way to make money online.

Another popular way is doing internet network marketing to make money online. There many popular network marketing or MLM programs out there. A good example is the Success University. Most network marketing programs do offer recruiting by using the internet without having to face the person. However, you need to be very good in internet marketing.

Now the most easiest way to make money online is none other than affiliate marketing. You don't have to have a product, a website, no need to keep track on inventory, no need to handle credit cards transaction, don't bother about customer enquirers & many more.

This means that you promote other people products in exchange for a commission. It is the most easiest proven business model to make money online. You will be given a affiliate link plus a few marketing tips or tolls from the product owner. However not all product owners provide you marketing tools.

All you need to do now is to promote your chosen affiliate program link & if someone click on your link & decided to buy it, you make a commission from the transaction.

I would suggest to you if you are just starting out on your quest in achieving your financial freedom online, becoming a affiliate marketer is best & easiest way in making money online. Just go here to get access & get started to become a super affiliate marketer immediately.

In summary, in order to make money online, you need to be knowledgeable in internet marketing. The success depend on your understanding of the internet skills. The internet is so huge that the potential of making money online can never end.
Taken From (http://www.articlecircle.com/internet-marketing/make-money-online-with-internet-marketing.html)

Social Media Marketing-A Mixture of Word-of-Mouth And Viral Marketing

Are you going to set the advantages of social media marketing for your business? This is the right time to make a perfect move on the decision. Social media is the most powerful marketing tool that saves your market share from big loss and help you beat competitors who are near to risking their market shares. Application and uses of internet in daily life has been increasing these days as more and more people visit internet to find the latest and authentic information on their search. Besides a channel to information, internet is being used as a medium to market business through social media sites at the best possible manner.

Social media sites now include information about products and services. These types of information are posted by marketing companies on behalf of business owners. Facebook is one of the popular social media which has millions of users. If you post your business information in this media, many people will view and read it and some of them will get attracted to your business. Thus, you will be able to generate more business without spending a single penny for marketing. You can do it by yourself or hire any experienced marketing professionals. Anyway, the result will be positive for your business. You just need to make a small initial investment for this kind of marketing strategy, and the rest will be best for you.

Business promotions through social media can kick in a viral effect and outstanding benefits can be achieved without pushing any physical strain. Facebook fanpage is a kind of marketing tool where you can post information about your business and attract more fans to it. All your friends and their fans will have the potential to see your business details on the fanpage. Social media can be something like word-of-mouth advertising which is the most powerful advertising mode available for a business. Social media advertising is a blend of word-of-mouth advertising and viral marketing. With this type of marketing, you are connected to those whom you are not familiar with.

Twitter and LinkedIn are other two popular social media outlets that work the same way as Facebook does for your business. The best aspects of these genre of marketing is they are available at free of cost and potentially reaching a multitude of people in very short span of time. You just need to spend a shot amount of time each day and you can get your business information to the knowledge of everyone who is a part of your social network. It is not something reserved for the future; else it is for this moment popularity. You have to bring the benefits of this technology for your business.

Businesses that neglect the advantages of social media are leaving their business at risk in this world of competitive market. Primary investment for getting started with social media includes very small amount but, it makes a good sense to begin as soon as possible.
So, start now and provide the benefits of social media marketing for your business.
Taken From (http://www.sooperarticles.com/internet-articles/social-networking-articles/social-media-marketing-mixture-word-mouth-viral-marketing-484503.html)

Developing an Effective Marketing Campaign

If you're trying to sell a product of service, you need to concern yourself with only four marketing principles. Although these marketing ideas may seem simple, they are incredibly powerful for communicating your message, motivating your prospects, and getting them to take an action.

As a marketing veteran, I can tell you that many people over complicate the process of marketing, and as a result, never see a positive return on their marketing investment. This is not to say that certain aspects of marketing are easy. Many require in-depth knowledge of a specific marketing discipline. However, the four basic principles I describe here are the building blocks of any effective marketing, Internet marketing, or search engine optimization campaign.

1. Know Your Audience. No one can effectively market, communicate, or sell without knowing their audience or what motivates them to buy. Is your potential customer male or female? Young or old? A first time buyer or frequent purchaser? Are they the final decision maker? Do they have preferences for a particular product, service, or delivery method? The more you know about your audience, the more targeted and relevant your marketing can be.

2. Timing is Everything. Even with the most convincing marketing campaign, prospects will have no interest in your product or service if you aren't communicating to them at the right time. Be sure your marketing message is in front of prospects when they're ready to buy. This could be at a particular time of year or perhaps prior to a life event.

3. Finding the Right Offer. In direct marketing, experts say that results are 40% dependant on your list, 40% on the offer, and 20% on your creative. The same is true for internet marketing, search engine marketing, and the like. Test your offers and find the one that out performs all the others. This offer should continually be tested and refined to improve your results.

4. It's all about the Messaging. If you know your audience well enough, you should be able to craft a message that addresses their needs and differentiates your product or service from the competition. Additionally, be sure to stress benefits over features. This will give your audience a reason to read, try, and buy.

The next time you are conducting a marketing campaign, use these effective marketing principles. Knowing your audience, ensuring that you reach them when they're ready to buy, experimenting to find the most productive offer, and communicating to them productively, are essential for any marketing campaign to deliver results.
Taken From (http://www.marketingscoop.com/developing-effective-marketing.htm)

Social Media Marketing interact with customers

Social media marketing іѕ characterized bу engaging social networks Ɩіkе online communities, blogs, wikis аnԁ οthеr form οf networking sites tο reach tο thеіr niche customers аnԁ сrеаtіnɡ аn interest іn thеm. Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, аnԁ UTube аrе social media marketing tools tο сrеаtе аn interest іn visiting community.

Social media communities аrе interactive аѕ well аѕ informative. It іѕ nοt essential thаt thе Company οr website hаѕ tο keep οn writing information аbουt thеіr Company. Thеѕе sites ѕhουƖԁ bе updated regularly fοr greater interactive ability аnԁ hence higher publicity. Once a visitor gets a prompt response frοm thе website owner, thеn οnƖу іt іѕ sure tο become a permanent member аnԁ promote thе website through word οf mouth.

Social media marketing іѕ a large means οf reaching tο thе customers, simultaneously. Those websites, whο hаνе large database οf thеіr customers аnԁ visitors, саn easily interact wіth thеm аnԁ сrеаtе interest іn thеіr website’s product аnԁ services easily.

Social Media Marketing саn сrеаtе a buzz οr events thаt саn attract attention frοm visitors. Buzz ticks аnԁ travel through user tο user contact.

Multiple online social media venues Ɩіkе Twitter, Facebook аrе ɡοοԁ means οf building fans.

It іѕ tο bе noted thаt bаԁ sites backfire οn social media marketing. Therefore сrеаtе such sites whісh аrе informative іn positive manner. BаԁƖу designed site wіƖƖ generate negative publicity аnԁ devastating effects fοr thаt website.

Social media sites аrе visited аƖmοѕt daily bу innumerable visitors. People аrе registering themselves daily tο interact wіth thеіr friends аnԁ mаkе nеw friends simultaneously.

• Thіѕ online marketing technique helps tο increase website traffic tο a website, irrelevant аѕ well аѕ relevant.

• It helps tο understand user-behavior.

• Helps detect conversions аnԁ keeps record οf sales.

• Networking sites provide page-views аnԁ exposure frοm advertisement.

• Crеаtіnɡ brand awareness amongst lesser known group аnԁ popularizing amongst known customers.

• One οf thе mοѕt іmрοrtаnt benefits іѕ tο сrеаtе positive brand association аnԁ maintaining wіth full aptitude.

Thе best раrt οf social media marketing іѕ thаt іt helps іn business development аnԁ broader customers reach.
Taken From (http://socialnetworkingtips.org/headlines/social-media-marketing-interact-with-customers.html)

Top Ten Opportunities to Use Testimonials to Power Up Your Marketing

Boost your marketing messages with testimonials. Without them you will have a tough time getting people to sign up for what you are offering or to part with their money. Treat them like gold. Seek them, collect them and use them at every opportunity. Here's a top ten list of how and when to use testimonials to power up your marketing.

When it comes to marketing, testimonials are as important to your business as your list. There is no substitute for authentic verification from a third party of what you offer. We all know people do business with people they know, like and trust and testimonials provide the perfect vehicle to deliver these essential ingredients in a truly authentic way.



Without testimonials you will have a tough time getting people to sign up for what you are offering or to part with their money.



Treat testimonials like gold. Seek them, collect them and use them at every opportunity.



Here's the top ten opportunities to use testimonials.



# 1 is on your website. Either on a particular page dedicated to testimonials or use the left and/or right margin and fill that with testimonials. Use pictures, audio or video for variety and impact.



# 2 is in a sales letter. Use throughout your sales letter, highlight them in boxes or filter into body copy to demonstrate or emphasise important aspects or benefits.



# 3 is in your newsletter. You could feature a testimonial to support your article or special promotion or simply have a little testimonial snippet. It might just be two sentences or part of a testimonial. Mix it up for variety.



# 4 is on the front and back cover of your information product. This is extremely valuable space as it will support the sale as well as re-enforce the product after the sale because whether shippable or downloadable it will be in the clients hands and read many times.



# 5 is woven into your articles. This is a subtle way to maximize the use of testimonials that will gently resonate with the reader. Weave them into your articles and quote clients to support a particular benefit or point you want to make or as part of a story you are telling.



# 6 is on a postcard or direct mail piece. Whether a solo mailing or part of a campaign, testimonials bring that third party endorsement right into the letter box . Keep it short and relevant and capitalize on this tangible, personal communication.



# 7 is in an email promotion. When you send out a promotional email for your preview call or sales page, you can use a testimonial one of two ways. Either use an outright quote or even better, as part of a before and after story to demonstrate your point.



# 8 is on your free articles page. If you have a dedicated page for free articles or resources, load it with testimonials to encourage people to sign-up to your list.



# 9 is on flyers, brochures or leave behinds. Whether mailing or handing out at networking opportunities a tangible item is a great place to feature testimonials.



# 10 is on the back of your business card. This is prime real-estate and will be read by everyone you hand your card to and most likely will be referred to more than once. Especially powerful place to use a celebrity endorsement.



In a nutshell, you want a testimonial on everything. Every product or service that you offer. Use them whenever and wherever possible and utilize every medium to exploit them to their full potential. You always need them and can never have too many.
Taken from (http://www.articlesfactory.com/articles/writing/top-ten-opportunities-to-use-testimonials-to-power-up-your-marketing.html)

Inbound Marketing VS. Outbound Marketing

Inbound marketing has been the most well liked on-line marketing pattern for the last decade. Experts and huge enterprise homeowners contemplate it a cheap and efficient method to achieve potential customers. Discover how SEO or web optimization and website marketing carry out better than telephone and email marketing.

Inbound advertising and marketing focuses on creating the company's visibility to the public, and never on instantly contacting potential customers. This system is extensively acknowledged and confirmed to be effective. Should you haven?t began on it but, that is the precise time to contemplate an inbound advertising and marketing campaign. Listed below are a few of the advantages of utilizing this methodology:

Your prospects and purchasers don't get aggravated or interrupted.

Based on studies, round 2000 outbound ads target an individual everyday. They come within the form of spam emails, TV and print ads, telephone calls, direct mails or SMS etc. These are thought of ineffective because the prospects do not need all of them. They can simply be thought of as an annoyance and be ignored. There are also a number of legislation restrictions on outbound marketing and there are computer filters that may block them.

Once you do inbound marketing, you simply make your organization and its provides readily accessible to the public. The campaign focuses on increasing the visibility of your brand. Keep in mind the precept that prospects have fixed demand for a selected product. You simply have to be probably the most seen company when they are able to make a purchase.

It requires less capital and fewer effort.

Outbound strategies require print materials, postal and telephone charges, and transportation expenses for promoting in person. Tv adverts, alternatively, require a large fee for airtime. One can also pay search engines to be displayed in sidebars or search engine results pages (SERPs). However, that is inefficient because search engine corporations can't assure putting you in high pages.

The sweetness with web optimization and other inbound strategies is its cost-efficiency. You invest money in creating your site and hiring a website optimization company. With a effectively-optimized site, you possibly can earn excessive ranks in SERPs and generate a large number of visitors. The best half is you get the site visitors without spending a dime!

Performance and progress can simply be tracked.

Not like TV adverts and telephone calls, the efficiency of an inbound campaign can easily be tracked. Website hyperlinks and keywords may be rated depending on the number of visits they've directed to the website. The outcomes may be stored in a text file or database for future reference.

Should you can monitor the progress of your campaign, you possibly can easily establish the strengths of your adverts and rooms for improvement. You should use the data in identifying new keywords to your web site content. Then, you possibly can provide you with a extra aggressive advertising and marketing strategy for the future.

It lets you realize your prospects more.

Lastly, inbound strategies can help you generate extra leads. There are website options that let you study extra about your visitors' demographics, needs and preferences. Examples of these options are remark containers, direct emails to website homeowners and fast survey forms. These further options can also be incorporated into website design and SEO.
Taken From (http://www.internet-marketing-home-business.com/internet-marketing-articles-directory/internet-marketing-article.php?article_id=1100)

The Five Most Common Joint Venture Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

Joint Venture marketing has become a highly popular way for small businesses to maximize their profits. When two or more businesses combineJoint Venture marketing has become a highly popular way for small businesses to maximize their profits. When two or more businesses combine their resources synergistically, it creates greater marketing impact and bigger profits than either can have alone.

Doing joint ventures has many benefits, but there are also many mistakes that can be made. These mistakes can be costly, not only in revenue, but in credibility with your client base.

These are not the only joint venture marketing mistakes made by small businesses, but as these are the most common, avoiding or correcting them will certainly put you on the right path.

Here are the five most common mistakes to avoid:

1. Not taking the time to ensure that your partner has great-quality products and services and a solid reputation.

When you choose a partner, it is imperative to choose one that has high-quality products and services as well as a good reputation within the industry. Sometimes, a company may look better on the surface than it really is.

Your credibility is at stake if you partner up with a company that has sub-standard products and services or one that is popular for bad customer service. Do your research about your potential joint venture partners and review their products and services before endorsing them as these issues will reflect on you and your business!

2. Offering your partner too small of a deal

There has to be an incentive for your partner to engage with you, and offering too small of a deal wont make it worth their time and effort. Remember that endorsers with a large, targeted and loyal client base are the most wanted joint venture partners. Theyll partner with others if you offer a percentage of the profits thats too low. So make this mental note... if they are worth pursuing, they are worth sharing the profits with.

3. Simply handing over your client list

This can constitute breach of contract with your clients if you have committed to their privacy. Youve also worked very hard to build your client list, and this forms part of the value you have to contribute to the joint venture relationship. If you simply hand over your client list, you have no point of leverage.

4. Not devising an exit strategy

Even the best of relationships can go sour, or simply not work. Make sure you have an open door to leave the joint venture if for any reason it is not working out.

5. Committing to a long term relationship from the beginning, without testing your strategy first

Any joint venture should involve a trial period to see if profits will show a real upwards trend, or if the idea is a valid one. If you sign a long term contract, you may be stuck in a no-win situation with no way to escape. As with any marketing strategy, test in small numbers first, before rolling out fully.

Joint Venture marketing is very lucrative, and with some forethought and planning, can help springboard your business to new success levels. Just make sure to do your homework right from the start, and avoid these pitfalls to ensure high returns on your investment of time, money and effort.

Copyright © 2005 by Habiba Abubakar and Emprez. All rights reserved.

Note: You are welcome to republish this article as long as the resource box at the end is included fully and unaltered.

Habiba Abubakar, a.k.a. The Profit Diva, specializes in helping small business owners who are struggling to increase their client base and are tired of earning mediocre profits.

The tips in this article have been excerpted from her home-study program, "Joint Venture Profits For Small Business Owners."
Taken From (http://www.marketingbestpractices.com/marketing-articles/online-marketing/joint-venture-marketing/five-most-common-joint-venture-marketing)

Reduce Marketing Costs with Online B2B Marketing

B2B marketing is the best way to make your business recession-proof in today’s economy.
Whether luxury items or everyday human necessities, consumers have begun to spend less money on everything. Businesses aspire to follow a similar strategy and cut costs but maintain value and quality at the same time. Even though marketing is the main source of generating leads and getting consumers interested in a particular product, businesses are realizing that it is now vital to reduce marketing costs as well.

This is where B2B marketing plays a crucial role. Not only it enables businesses to save money on marketing, it also helps them work even more effectively and reach a larger audience.

B2B marketing brings the world of online trade to an individual’s PC. The idea of having your target audience just a click away is energizing, but the competition is intense as well. An amalgamation of effective thinking and out of the box approach is the only way of leaving the competition far behind.

Offline marketing is costly as compared to B2B marketing. Plus, with offline marketing you can only reach a small chunk with each campaign. You may target your buyers in a specific town or city through newspapers, local TV channels, local trade magazines, etc. Each time you run a new campaign, you end up spending more money.

B2B marketing is cost-effective and even free, depending on the B2B portal you intend to exploit. If you prefer paid B2B marketing then the cost will be extremely low, from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars per year, based on benefits you aim to acquire.

Compare the cost of B2B marketing with offline marketing and you will observe that the amount of money you need per month for offline marketing like newspapers, TV, Radio, magazines, is equivalent or more than what’s required for B2B marketing for an entire year.

B2B marketing is the best way to make your business recession-proof in today’s economy. Not only will you dramatically reduce your marketing costs, you will also have more leads at your disposal than ever before.
Taken From (http://community.tradekey.com/article-31/Reduce_Marketing_Costs_with_Online_B2B_Marketing.html)

Top Tips to Help You Save Money

In the current recession we are all looking for ways to reduce our spending. Yet despite our best attempts to spend less when we are out shopping, the average credit card holder currently owes over £2,200 – a sum that will take them more than 2 years to clear if they paid back £100 a month.

Now our goal here is to not depress you. Quite the opposite. Through the following tips we will show you an array of easy to do exercises that will enable you to pay this outstanding debt even earlier and also increase your monthly balance.

1. Your Mortgage

Notably one of the most expensive items you’ll ever have to buy, unless you have got the cash to buy it outright, more than likely you will have to get a mortgage.

Now when it comes to your mortgage it is important to offer yourself the best deal. Despite your Bank’s claims that you will get a better deal with them, you won’t. So instead of trying to remain loyal to your bank, go do some research and find the best repayment rate for you.

More importantly, if you have got the spare cash to pay an extra £100 more a month on your mortgage, do it. This will shorten the length of your mortgage, allowing you to live mortgage free even earlier and make thousands back in interest.

2. Credit Card

Whilst it may feel tempting to put everything on your credit card in the current climate, the reality is you could be repaying a lot less if you chose to get a loan.

The average credit card starts at 15% (APR) so if you were trying to pay off the above sum of £2,200 you would be repaying £545 in interest over a 3 year period. Now compare this to a loan rate of 6% and you could be spending £300 less – namely £209 in total.

3. Save on your fuel bills

The question is: are you getting the best deal? If the answer is no and you know there is a better offer available with another supplier, then switch.

4. Watch your phone bills

Most phone suppliers offer you the choice of free weekend and evening calls at discounted rates. However, if you are one of the unfortunate few to not be on this deal, it might be worth considering changing your supplier and picking one that suits your phoning hours.

5. Switch to pay-as-you go

Many of us are led to believe that contract phones can save you more a month moneywise, but that is not always the case. Costing on average £50+ a month, if you accidentally go above your agreed package during this time you could be spending even more.

Do the maths. Even if you stick to your allowance that is £600 a year that are paying to a phone company. However, if you change to a pay-as-you go phone and set yourself a limit of £20-30 a month, you can halve your costs. How? Because you’re in complete control of your expenses and the number of messages you have got left.

6. Shop better

The curse of shopping at a supermarket with no list is that more often than not you’ll buy foods that you don’t want or need. Instead, go through your cupboards, make a list of what you need and stick to it.

Unless there is an offer that is just too good to refuse, which will save you money in the long run, ignore them and simply follow your list.

Another useful tip is to either buy the supermarkets own brand foods or alternatively to buy from your local market stall. In the case of the store brand foods they cost considerably less than your well known brands. A tin of baked beans made by Asda for example only costs 14p – meaning you can stock up at a much cheaper price.

Buying from market stalls will give you an added bonus of cheaper prices. With smaller overheads, stallholders can price their foods at a much more tempting rate.

7. eBay

We are all secret hoarders. The only problem with this though is that we often keep items that we will never use again but which could generate us a pretty sum if it were sold on eBay.

The great thing about eBay is that setting up an account is incredibly simple and that you can sell absolutely anything there. So have a good look through your stuff; assess what you do or don’t need and if it is worth selling, try putting it on eBay. It will be worth it.

8. Learn DIY

The amount we are willing to pay builders, decorators and plumbers to repair our homes is shocking. Every year we must spend hundreds if not thousands of pounds trying to repair our homes, when spending just £100 to do a plumbing course could save you loads.

Lots of colleges offer these types of courses teaching you the very basics to more advanced techniques. Either way though, taking such a course will enable you to do more repairs yourself and save you money.

9. Pick your insurance wisely

Whether it’s your car or your home, it is important to keep yourself covered. Yes when you’re struggling cancelling these policies may feel tempting, but in the long run they will keep you protected.

That being said you need to be careful who you take your insurance out with. Shop around and see which can offer you the best deals and the best coverage.

10. Book early

If you know you want to go on holiday during the coming summer, book your holiday as early as you can, as this will allow you to pay lower airline costs, plus give you time to find a cheaper holiday.

Another useful tip is to book your own ‘package’ holiday online. This will allow you to structure your holiday to your needs and more importantly find better deals.

11. Learn to say ‘no’

How often have you given in to your friends, your family or your children to buy something that you didn’t really want or need? The answer is we all have.

Try instead to learn how to say ‘no’ and only pay to go to places you really want to go. Once there also try to set yourself a budget to make sure 1 quick drink doesn’t turn into 20.

12. Get a train, walk or ride a bike to work

Aside from cutting down on your fuel costs, walking to work every day will help you to get fitter.

Of course it is not plausible to walk to work if it would take you 2 hours to do so, but a 30 minute walk is within your reach.

Similarly with catching a train. You need to consider the distance and the costs of the ticket. If it is cheaper, give it a try.

13. Make use of your resources

If you do make good use of your gym membership, continue, but if you rarely go then swapping your gym membership for a good walk could save you £40 a month.

It is the same with books. If you love to read, try going to your local library to read them instead of buying every one. A library is free, whereas a bookshop is not.

14. Use an ISA

For every tax year you can put up to £3,000 into a cash ISA, earn interest and have to pay no tax on it. So instead of leaving your savings in account with an interest rate of 0.1%, transfer it over to an ISA and begin earning 3% in interest every year.

15. Cook from scratch

Ready meals may be quick to prepare but you could save £100+ by simply copying the chefs on TV and cooking your meals from scratch.

16. Shop online

It cannot be denied that the internet is taking over. Offering easy access to all your favourite food, digital and clothes stores, with the web you can easily compare prices and find the best deals for you.

More exciting is the fact that many stores are offering better package deals than they do in their offline stores. So search online first and see which can offer the better price. If it is cheaper online, go for it.

You may also want to check out our review on the best Cashback websites.

Now we could go on forever giving you advice on how to save your money more effectively, but to help get you started on this journey, why not try one of the above tips first and begin feeling the difference.
Taken from(http://www.ukmakemoneyprograms.com/top-money-saving-tips.html)

Business and Marketing Tips: How To Tell If Web Based Marketing Will Get Results For Your Business

This is an extremely difficult question to answer as there are so many complicated factors concerned. Especially they methodologies you employ in your web marketing campaign as well as the execution of these systems can determine whether or not internet marketing will work for your business. Additionally, the possibility of your target market using the Net and replying to your marketing efforts also should be considered into the melting pot. This article will outline the capability for success in a Net marketing program.

Before making the decision to start on a Net marketing program you need to punctiliously consider your target audience. The web is employed widely around the globe but whether or not members of your target market are probably going to use the web to investigate or purchase the services you sell isn't guaranteed. This is significant because investing a good deal of time, effort and cash into online marketing when your audience is not very likely to respond to these efforts is not advantageous.

Conducting market research can do a good deal to help you determine whether you must invest in an internet marketing program for your business. This step is very important as it will give you a good proof of whether you must even begin promoting your business on the internet. Hiring a firm concentrating on consumer analysis is recommended because they will be able to conduct this research fast and efficiently and will probably gain a great deal of valuable info as a result of their research efforts. If they decide your business can gain benefit from a Web marketing program, it is time to get thinking about how you want to publicize your business on the internet.

Again, looking for the aid of pros can be a highly advantageous investment. If you're not well capable in the sector of internet marketing, hiring a firm with a great deal of experience in this industry can be particularly helpful. They can assist you by consulting with you to establish which marketing strategies will be most efficient, planning advertisements for your campaign, helping you to orchestrate your online marketing campaign and gauging the result of marketing efforts to figure out which systems are working and which aren't.

The potential for success with a Web marketing program is nearly unlimited. The success you like is constrained only by your ability to pump your services and products and execute effective marketing secrets. Some of the marketing methods you may want to employ may include enhancing your website for relevant keyword phrases, placing links to your site judiciously on the web, writing and publishing e-newsletters and exploiting affiliates to pump your internet site.

SEO is one of the most significant aspects of any internet marketing and web site traffic generation campaigns. SEO is so significant as it dictates the ranking of your website on preferred search websites. Net users value these results and are unlikely to seek out websites which do not rank well with search sites. Conversely, good ranking websites can enjoy a good deal of increased website traffic as a consequence of these rankings.

In pointing links to your internet site are also important in online marketing. Inbound links are links on other internet sites which direct users to your internet site. These backlinks are crucial in a Net promotional campaign. First of all many search sites factor inwards bound links into their ranking procedures that means inwards bound links can lead to higher search engines rankings. Also, these links may be employed without delay by site users to access your site. This suggests you can gain traffic straight from these links.

Another way to enjoy a successful web marketing campaign is to orchestrate an affiliate marketing campaign. Affiliates are largely site proprietors who place a banner ad on their internet site to direct traffic to your internet site. Typically , affiliates are only compensated when the advert on their website produces a desired effect like captivating the users to click through the advertisement, leading to a sale or resulting in another action such as filling out a survey or registering with your website. Affiliate marketing can not only be highly effective but it's also inexpensive because you only pay the affiliates when they generate results.
Taken From (http://www.basearticles.com/Art/524369/94/Business-and-Marketing-Tips-How-To-Tell-If-Web-Based-Marketing-Will-Get-Results-For-Your-Business.html)

See How You Can Earn Quick Cash Online With No Skills

The internet provides us with tons of good ways to make fast cash from home business ventures. What's great about making money on the internet is it's convenient, it is fast, it gives you real earning power, and anybody can do it. The web is the ideal place to make money from home businesses.

One thing to keep under consideration as you are attempting to earn cash from home is that there are a lot of stings and get wealthy fast schemes online, and you will fall for one if you're careless. While you need to be aware that there are stings out there, it is also vital to realise that there are terrific money making openings to be had too.

After having worked online for so long, I have came across several programs that claim to aid you in making quick cash from home, but only a handful that actually worked. To save you both time and money I would like to share some of the most notable products that I've used. These are authenticated systems that give you the facility to makequick cash from home, and they're straightforward and don't need a large time investment.

The primary way to make fast money from home is a superb product called Adsense Big. This is a very remarkable product. It not only offers a pretty way to generate lots of money quickly online, but it is easy, surefire, and runs on near autopilot when you activate it. If you are new to earning online, Adsense is a program through Google that allows any internet site or blog owner to put Google ads on their site to get some money.

It works great, but in order to make a large amount of money with Adsense, you want a very big website with lots and masses of pages. To save you years in internet site development, Adsense huge was made. You can get your very own, very big website, already supplied with over 1600 cash making pages. Activation is fast and easy. Just one or two clicks of the mouse and you have a potent money machine that goes to work for you around the clock.

Another great way to make fast cash from home is the eBay Crusher. This is a superb product. What you get with the eBay crusher is a way to make lots of money on eBay, without having to sell anything at all. EBay is a billion dollar business, and over seven hundred thousand people make money on eBay.

The majority of them earn a couple of dollars here and there, but the top-flight eBay cash generators earn thousands of dollars a month, a week, and often even a day. This is a system that shows you how to master eBay, and it allows you to spend 20 minutes setting up a campaign which will generate money for you all month on autopilot. This could be the swiftest money you have each made.

Either one of these proven money making systems will allow you to make fast cash from home, and you can get started today. All these programs need to make money is someone to get them started. Isn’t today you day to get started on the fast track to wealth and financial freedom?
Taken From (http://www.basearticles.com/Art/524381/24/See-How-You-Can-Earn-Quick-Cash-Online-With-No-Skills.html)

“Affiliate Marketing Or Market Your Own Products?”

How should you organize your online business?

Affiliate marketing seems to make sense, its easy and low cost to start, and you can be up and running within a few days – but the struggle is how to get traffic and make my offer different than all the others?

On the other hand, creating your own product is what you may really want to do, if not for being so unsure about what topic to write about and finding the time in your busy life to get started?

Let me share two important true facts with you about choosing between affiliate marketing and producing/marketing your own products.

Tip 1: 99% of Successful Online Entrepreneurs Do Both

Tip 2: Most Successful Online Entrepreneurs Lead With Their Own Product To Build Affiliate Business

Here’s why.

Truly successful online marketers look to differentiate and dominate a given niche demand within a market.

For example, Steve Manning offers a course on how to write and publish your book fast over at: How To Write A Book About Anything In 14 Days…Or Less There are many books and experts that aim at teaching people how to write or get published.

Steve focused on opening the doors to writing books to the everday NON-writer. Simple techniques that anyone can use to put their ideas into print.

Steve offers his own product, but also occassionally offers affiliate products that he feels make sense for his audience.

Let’s take another market – Strength Training and Fitness

Matt Furey has come from nowhere to dominate his market niche in the last few years with a combination of his own products, but also offers many affiliate products to his subscribers.

Affiliate marketing, marketing your own products, and for that matter network marketing and franchising are all just business models.

No matter what the business, what you really want to do is dominate your market with a combination of hitting the right demand and meeting that demand in a unique way.

You Want To Position Yourself Between The Challenges
And Solutions Within Your Chosen Niche Market

Think of it this way.

You find an interesting niche market and discover they are challenged by 3 main issues.

You know more about issue 1, but less about issue 2 and 3.

So – you create a product around solving issue 1 and plan to address issues 2 and 3 with affiliate programs.

You lead with your product, including a list building campaign such as a minicourse or newsletter through which you later market products that fulfill issues 2 and 3.

Its really common sense when you think about your business in terms of solving problems or overcoming obstacles in a given market rather than lets market hot product #1 because it seems like a good affiliate program.

If you are struggling with what your business model should be – don’t get caught in this trap. Instead, find out what your market needs, then figure out the best way to solve the problem for them – either through someone else’s products or your own.
Taken from(http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/articles/online-business-model.html)

10 Quick Traffic Building Tips For Any Web Site

The question most often asked on the Internet is, "How do I get more traffic to my site?"

You would think that an answer for this question would be extremely simple, but it really isn't. It isn't that it is so hard to get traffic to web sites. The problem is that there are so many different avenues of traffic generation you can choose from for any site.

In this short report, we are going to cover 10 different low or no cost ways you can get traffic to any web site. This isn't even an extensive list. I could easily name off 5 - 10 more ways you could be getting traffic to your site, but I don't want to overwhelm you with too many options.

The reason that most people don't get traffic is that they "Try" something, and then they give up. The key to any marketing is testing and then improving. If a method doesn't work for you on your first try, second try, or even your twelfth try, it doesn't matter. Keep going anyway.

Read everything you can about that subject and keep trying different things. If you have chosen to use classified ads for your products and services, try different ezines. Use AOL classifieds. Try Yahoo's classifieds. Create new headlines for your ads. Create new sales letters to follow-up.

Classified ads can work if you figure out how to work them for your product or service.

The same aspects are true of many different types of Internet advertising. They work, but only if you are willing to keep on going even if you fail a dozen times trying. You keep learning and you keep testing.

So, without further ado, here are your ten killer Internet Traffic Building Techniques:

1. Search Engine Submissions

Almost everyone starts right here. They know that search engines bring 84% of the traffic to most web sites, so they know they have to submit to them.

To achieve the top rankings in the search engines will take some serious work. You have millions of competitors, but you have an advantage. You are willing to learn and do what it takes to get to the top.

To achieve the top traffic building positions, you will need to study everything you can on search engine positioning and meta tags. Then, you will have to test. Use a tool such as Web Position to check your rankings, examine your competitors who are beating you, and then edit your pages.

If you are willing to keep going through this process and learning each step along the rise of your rankings, you too could soon be generating 100s of hits daily from top search engine positions.

2. Classifieds in Ezines

The biggest bang for your marketing buck will come from ezine advertising. For $10 - $50 per classified ad, you can reach thousands of potential customers in your targeted market.

With thousands of different ezines available, you can expand into hundreds of them once you find a classified ad and follow-up system that works for your product or service.

By testing your little classified ads and expanding into more and more ezines every week, you could quickly start reaching millions of people weekly and earning an income to match.

3. AOL Classifieds

AOL currently has over 15 million members. If I could only place one classified ad for any web site or product, it would probably be here. For $12.50, you can have your ad placed in view of people on a service where the ads are actually read.

I know several people earn a couple of hundred dollars weekly by placing little classified ads just using AOL's system. The key on AOL is to create a killer headline for your ad so it stands out above the hundreds of other ads in every category.

4. Yahoo Classifieds

There are very few free classified ad sites that actually work. Yahoo is one of the shining lights that stands out above the crowd of mediocre free ad sites. Yahoo has more traffic than any other Internet site and it definitely shows when you place your ads here.

On Yahoo, you are allowed to place 10 ads at a time, so do so. A little key to creating effective ads here is to delete your ads every few days and replace them. Then, you will be able to keep your ads towards the top of the list and receive more free readers.

5. Trade Links

If you develop a strong content oriented site you can persuade thousands of other webmasters to link to you or to trade links with you. There are even a few consultants online who have developed linking campaigns and have achieved a million hits a month or more for their customers within 90 days by linking with the right sites.

You can do this yourself. The key is to develop content people want to link to and then get out there and make the contacts by visiting people's sites, sending out personalized emails to webmasters you have visited, and networking in discussion groups.

6. Participate in Leveraged Banner Exchanges

Regular banner exchanges don't work that well. Although they can produce a few extra hits a month for your site, they never seem to give you the kind of traffic building leverage you need to grow to hundreds of thousands of hits a month.

A new wave of banner exchanges is growing though at unprecedented rates. What they do that separates them apart is that they will give you a 5% to 20% credit of banner impressions of anyone's site that you refer. If you refer a site which gets a million hits a month, you would get 200,000 free impressions a month extra.

7. Start Your Own Mailing List

If you want to make money online, start your own mailing list. It is the best way to keep contact with your prospects and your customers. It is also the best way to build the credibility you need to make sales to your targeted market.

A little less talked about advantage to having your own mailing list is that you can use it to trade ads with other ezines out there. If you trade ads with 10 other ezines out there, you could easily be saving yourself $100 - $500 in advertising expense every week!

8. Banner Ads on Individual Sites

When people think of banner ads they almost always think of the major search engines or major sites online. Well, I have been advertising lately with banners, and I can tell you something.

Making money using banner ads on these high traffic high cost sites is extremely difficult and risky.

These sites will charge you $20 per 1,000 impressions to general audiences and $50 per 1,000 impressions to targeted markets.

By seeking out individual sites who get high traffic (50,000 hits to 1,000,000 hits a month), you can actually get rates of $1 - $10 per 1,000 impressions of your banner ads. By finding 10 - 20 of these sites, you can quickly build yourself an overwhelming river of traffic to your site for a much lower cost than the major search engines.

9. Advertise on Overture.com

Overture has come up with a great advertising plan for businesses. You can actually go to Overture and bid on traffic for your site. You pick keywords for your site and then place a bid of whatever price you are willing to pay for traffic from that keyword...generally you would bid .05 to .10 per keyword.

Then, Overture will only charge you for the actual hits you receive from them. If you bid one penny for the keyword and you receive 10 hits from it today, you only owe 10 cents for the day. This low cost traffic building method cannot be beat anywhere.

The key to making it work for you is to come up with hundreds of possible keywords for your site and then bid low amounts such as a few cents on each. Then, check your stats continually and find out what kind of traffic you are getting.

10. Free Stuff

The KING of traffic is free stuff. If you want to get real traffic to your site, provide the kind of free content and services that your market is hunting desperately for.

Provide free articles to other web sites. Provide free downloads. Give away free CGI programs. Provide hundreds of links to needed tools. Provide links to downloadable software. Give your visitors what they want and they will keep coming back and referring their friends.
Taken From (http://www.working-at-home-business.com/articles/trafficbuilding.shtml)

How to market your business on the cheap

1. Embrace Web 2.0

Social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are all the rage and are being used by businesses to promote their products and services. A group on Facebook, for example, allows you to network with people looking for the very sort of thing your business is offering. Use it to promote your offerings and keep people up to date on the latest content on your website. You could also consider posting promotional videos on sites such as YouTube.

2. Blog your business

Outdated content can be a real turn-off to site visitors, so ensuring it remains fresh is vitally important. Blogging allows you to do that. As well as writing specifically about what your company is up to, you can also offer your opinion on subjects affecting your sector, your customers or events in the news. Free blogging software such as Wordpress, which can be incorporated into your website, is available online.

3. Network yourself silly

There are endless networking opportunities both online and offline. Services like the FPB's forum allow small business owners to network with other entrepreneurs. As well as promoting your firm, you can also use forums to actually do business. Make sure you have something worthwhile to say though, as spamming will do you no favours.

Similarly, there are a host of offline networking meetings available. Run by several organisations including business groups and trade associations, the events allow you to network face-to-face with other business owners. Make sure you take along business cards and if possible prepare what you're going to tell people in advance.

4. Win! Win! Win!

People love free stuff so why not run regular competitions? Organising contests relevant to big sporting events or specific times of the year such as Christmas, Easter and Valentine's Day is a good way of promoting your company and making people think favourably about it.

5. The customer is always right

It may be obvious, but ensuring you offer good customer or client service is essential to building business success. Answering calls and emails quickly or at least having a useful answer phone message is key. In these days of online forums and social networking websites, negative comments about your business can spread like wildfire so it's vital you stay on top of it.

6. Share your expertise

There are always thousands of events which need speakers, and publications which need content, so why not offer your expertise? Seek out events and exhibitions focusing on your sector and contact the organisers about being a speaker. Similarly, publications – particularly local ones – will generally be happy to consider articles. Find out the names of local journalists on the publication's website and get in touch. And if you are particularly knowledgeable sign up to media contact agencies which put journalists in touch with experts in particular fields.

7. A sporting chance

You may not have the resources of AIG to spend on sponsoring the likes of Manchester United but you are likely to be able to afford sponsoring a local sports team. Backing an amateur or school football squad for instance and getting your company logo on the players' shirts can be a cheap and effective way of raising your profile. And you never know, the team may end up doing a Havant and Waterlooville and end up playing at Anfield.

8. Become a campaigner

If there's something that the government is or isn't doing that is really winding you up, then start a petition. Setting up petitions on the Downing Street website is an easy and effective way of promoting your business. During the recent controversy over the government's capital gains tax reforms for example, Duncan Cheatle of networking group The Supper Club started a petition which attracted more than 18,000 signatures. As a result, he was quoted in several media articles.

9. Testimonials

If you've got lots of happy customers, shout about it! Get them to give you a quote saying why they liked your product or service and put it on your website or promotional literature. Also considering fuller case studies which new customers can read to find out how great your company is. Whatever you do though, don't make up testimonials. You will get found out!

10. Poll-tastic

With the plethora of news pages both online and offline, journalists are always looking for stories, so carry out some research and send out a press release. Online tools such as Survey Monkey allow you to gather survey data while forums allow paid-up members to carry out online polls. When you've got some data, put together a well-written press release that has a story to tell. You could consider taking on the services of a PR company to help you but it is very possible to do it yourself. If you're happy to spend a bit of time searching for the email addresses of journalists from particular publications it can bring big benefits.
Taken From (http://www.fpb.org/hottips/223/How_to_market_your_business_on_the_cheap.htm)

10 Easy Ways to Promote Your Website.

Promoting your website can be a daunting task: it feels like there are thousands of ways to do it, but all of them take a lot of time or money for no guaranteed return. To help solve this problem, I’ve compiled a list of ten easy ways to promote your website.

1. Advertise in the Media. Now, you might have already ruled out advertising in newspapers and the like as too expensive, especially since the chances are your audience doesn’t live in any specific local area. That mostly rules out radio, too, and TV is even more likely to be out of your reach. What you might not have realised, though, is that you should stop looking at the general media and start looking at the specialist media for your area. For example, if you run a house-buying website, you could advertise it in specialist property magazines, and even on ‘lifestyle’ cable channels that show programmes about moving home.

2. Write Your Web Address on Things. If your business has any physical objects, whether it’s a product, a carrier bag or just the front of your office, make sure to write your web address on there. Even if people don’t keep or remember the exact address, it at least lets them know that your website exists.

3. Give Out Leaflets. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of old-fashioned paper promotion: leaflet as many areas as you can. The chances are that your website is targeted to a specific demographic rather than an area, but the post office will be surprisingly helpful when it comes to getting your leaflets where they need to go, if you ask them.

4. Go to Specialist Events. If there’s some kind of trade fair for the industry your website is in, turn up to it and promote your website. While there might not be all that many people there, the ones who are there will be influential, and can get your site talked about.

5. Put it on Business Cards. It should go without saying, but once you’ve gone to all that trouble to set up a website, don’t forget to put it on your business cards. After all, if you’re relying on them to get people to phone you, why not give them the option of reading more about you on your website?

6. Astroturf on Forums. An often overlooked way of getting traffic to your website is to participate on forums related to the subject and put your web address in your signature. This gets you more traffic than you’d think, especially at very popular forums.

7. Create Controversy. A great trick to promote your website is to use it to say controversial things: as the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity. This works best if you say something that you know will be provocative to a certain kind of person, getting it linked from all over the place. Bear in mind, though, that this strategy is better for advertising-driven websites than it is if you’re trying to build a reputation and make sales directly.

8. Keep a Good Blog. While more and more businesses are starting blogs, few of them are doing it right. If you’re using your blog to publish product announcements in corporate-speak, it’s useless. You need to remember a simple mantra, ‘views not news’ – make sure your blog has something interesting to say.

9. Buy Search Engine Ads. Many people seem to think it’s some kind of admission of defeat, but search engine advertising can work very well, especially with keywords that aren’t already cluttered with ads. If you do it right, you can get very targeted ads very cheap – indeed, ironically, the more targeted the ads, the cheaper they tend to be.

10. Start an Affiliate Program. Finally, if you’re selling something, don’t forget that old standby of web marketing: the affiliate program. Offer visitors a cut of the profits if they can sell your products for you, and all of a sudden you’ve got a crack sales team raring to go. The only trouble with this plan is that everyone is doing it, so you’ll need to offer a high percentage of your profits to your affiliates to make the offer attractive to them.
Taken From (http://www.freeinternetmarketingcourses.com/blog/2011/07/31/10-easy-ways-to-promote-your-website-2/)

How To Get The Best Leads For Your Network Marketing Business

Have you had enough? Have you decided that it is finally time to take back control of your life and finances by getting serious about building a home based business? If so, then one way
to promote your new network marketing business is to purchase or find quality network marketing lead.

It has been reported on CNN that a new home business starts up every 60 seconds in North America, and most are network marketing related!

There are two options for getting leads for your network marketing business.

1. Lead generating company. You can buy leads from a company, but you really never know how current they are or if the leads are valid. Before buying any leads ask a few questions. How
old are the leads? What category or area of interest do they fall under? How many times have the leads that you are buying been sold? Most importantly, are they verified? Make sure that
these leads are interested in what you are contacting them about. You do not want to contact someone who has
no interest in your offer!

2. Get your own leads. The best way to get good, interested leads is to find them yourself. You can do this through your website or by advertising. One idea that really makes it easy to get
leads is to offer a newsletter relating to your business. Set up a subscribe link on your website and start collecting leads. Another idea is to set up a lead generating survey for your website.
Let your visitors tell you want they think of your site while leaving their contact information. These are leads that you know are interested in your business since they came to your website.
You can then call them and thank them for taking the survey while mentioning your business.

TIP: Contact any lead within 24 hours. People change their minds or move on to something else very quickly. So move fast. People expect a quick response.

Before you spend your money on any leads it is important that you understand that all leads are not created equal. You can save alot of money and give your business a boost by knowing
and understanding that there are three distinct types of mlm leads:

1. Targeted, high quality leads. Think back before you found your current home business; chances are that you were a high quality, targeted lead. You probably actively searched for your
business on some search engine, found an interesting website and then requested more information. Guess what the definition of a high quality lead is? It is the result that comes from the
proactive search on the part of a prospect. It is pre-qualified and self-generated, thus making it the best type of lead for your business.

2. Direct response generated leads. Unlike the above leads these people probably were not actively searching for a home business opportunity but they may have spotted your ad or website
while looking for something else and then contacted you for more information.

3. Cheap, unresponsive leads. These leads are usually not very good because they have been used way too much. But if you do not have a big advertising budget, then by using large
quantities of cheap mlm leads you may find a small percentage of people that are currently looking for another opportunity.

Massive results come from taking massive action over a specific period of time.

Before buying any leads first ask yourself what type of marketing you are doing. It is important that you have the right type of leads for your campaign. It is also important to know how you
will initiate contact with any leads, through email or phone? It takes time and effort to convert leads into members.

The number of leads is not as important as the quality of the leads. You can maximize your time and effort by finding leads that bring results.

How do you know whether a lead is high quality?

- How often has the lead been sold?

- Have they been contacted concerning your offer or program previously?

- How old is the lead? The fresher the better.

- Are they guaranteed?

- A lead may not convert, but you should be able to talk to the right person.

TIP: Contact your upline sponsor and find out what leads they have used successfully.

One thing to remember about leads is that most of them do not want to be sold on any business opportunity. They do not care how great your company is or how wonderful the products,
they really want to know what’s in it for them!

You are not in the business of convincing people. If someone joins your team, it is because they are actually looking. The key to building your network marketing business is to attract people
who are actively seeking a business opportunity.

Keep it simple and only do what you know will work.
Taken from(http://ucanto.com/article-network-marketing-leads.html)

7 Ways to Improve The Stickiness Of Your Website

Today more than ever, consumers are overwhelmed with choices, and distractions. The cost of attracting users to your website continues to increase and keeping them engaged is more important than ever.

Engagement doesn’t end with an individual browser reading content or clicking on an ad. Rather, engagement is an ongoing process that results in loyal customers who come back again and again, becoming more vested in your web site.

How can you make sure you’re engaging and keeping customers?

In order to create a loyal following, there are some basic principles you need to consider. From first impressions to life-long membership, put yourself in the shoes of your browsers and make their experience a valuable one.

Reduce Clutter. How many times have you visited a website only to be overwhelmed and confused? What is this site about you may have asked yourself. Or perhaps you found yourself asking, ‘Where is the information I’m looking for?’

Don’t ask your browsers or potential customers to figure this out. Make your site clutter free and create a visual priority that emphasizes the information, resources, or actions your browsers want. By reducing obstacles you build trust among new web site visitors and allow for simple decision making – which benefits everyone.

Make Navigation Intuitive. There are many ways to navigate a web page but intuition rules the day. Don’t try to get fancy with your navigation or overuse java script. Basic navigation that follows current convention is the best way to lead individuals through your web site to the information they’re looking for.

Make The Initial Site Interaction Relevant. When a browser reaches your web site, you have less than seven seconds to get them engaged. Making your initial site interaction relevant to what individuals are looking for is essential for keeping them interacting long term.

If you are promoting your web site with Google Adwords, or any pay per click advertising for that matter, be sure to create customer landing pages that are truly relevant to the individual who clicks-through your ad. Once you’ve established relevancy, you can move them deeper into your content, tools, and resources.

Ensure That Your Content Is Up-to-date. Web site content that isn’t up to date does not serve your audience and browsers are likely to move on. One way to ensure that information is timely is by providing a feed of relevant news or information. If including static text on your web pages, try not to include specific dates. However, if you must publish dates, be sure to update this information on a regular basis.

Start An Interaction With Your Users. Each time a browser views your web page, you have an opportunity to interact with them. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. One great way to interact is to offer something of value at no cost. This can be a white paper, access to an exclusive list, or simply a 30 day free trial. Be sure to capture an individual’s valid email address and include them on your mailing list. An auto-responder is best if you wish to engage these individuals on an ongoing basis.

Provide Plenty Of Support. Don’t hesitate to offer support right from your home page. Prominently display your 800 number, support email address, and additional information for your prospects and customers such as mailing address. This information is viewed favorably by search engines and also creates a sense of legitimacy. Contact information builds trust among prospects and elicits interest in your company.

Make Sharing Easy. Once you’ve made your web site easy to use, don’t hesitate to offer browsers the ability to share your web site with others. This can be in the form of a simple widget that allows users to bookmark your page, subscribe to an Rss feed, or submit your content to popular news sites like Digg.com.

Individuals are much more likely to visit a web site based on a friend’s recommendation versus some other type of marketing initiative. Leverage the power of viral marketing with easy sharing tools.

Your web site can be your greatest asset. Unfortunately, many marketers and website owners are so focused on increasing traffic that they lose site of the audience that’s already visiting their web pages but are simply not converting.

Don’t make the same mistake. Improve the quality of you site through relevant content that is up-to-date and easy to find. Once you’ve engaged users, encourage them to share. Doing so will make your site perform better, increase conversions, and deliver value for all involved.
Taken From (http://marketingscoop.com/improve-website-stickiness.htm)

Affiliate Managers: Your Top Five Biggest Affiliate Program Mistakes

I felt compelled to write this article after seeing the same mistakes made by most of the hundreds of affiliate programs I have joined since I started promoting them in 1997. I have delivered millions of dollars in sales for my clients over the years, so I know a thing or two about them. I would dearly love to make more money with affiliate programs, but affiliate managers don't make it easy for us affiliates. So hopefully this article will do a bit for the cause.

Here are my top five biggest affiliate program mistakes that I find today:

1. Competing With Your Affiliates.

This is by far the worst mistake made by companies that offer affiliate programs. I often see companies for products I am trying to promote compete with me in the search engine rankings and pay per click advertising programs.

Why companies invest money and resources in competing with their affiliates is beyond me. By competing with me, you're trying to put me out of business. Have marketing directors ever thought of it in that way? Because if you succeed, you will no longer have an affiliate network to speak of.

The money would be better spent on supporting your affiliate network by creating a better product, providing more referral statistics, higher commission payouts, faster support, and more, fresh promotional creatives.

So if you're an affiliate manager reading this article, tell your affiliate director at your next meeting to STOP competing with your affiliates, and support them instead!

2. Not Providing Your Affiliates With Useful, Real-Time Statistics.

All marketers rely on statistics to measure the effectiveness of any marketing campaign. Yet most affiliate programs only provide their affiliates with basic statistics such as number of visitors sent, number of sales, and commission earned. These statistics aren't much help to affiliates who want to measure the effectiveness of a particular pay per click campaign.

Affiliate managers - please consider providing these useful statistics so that I can market your products effectively:

Archive of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly statistics and by date range.
Commission earned, broken down by product or service, and how the customer was referred to the site.
Daily email update of all affiliate statistics.
Instant email notification of a new affiliate.
Instant email notification of a new free trial sign up.
Instant email notification of a new sale and all relevant statistics. I love getting new sales notification emails!
Number of free trial downloads or subscriptions.
Number of returns and all relevant statistics.
Affiliate links with trackable IDs, so that affiliates can tell exactly which site, or ad campaign is sending the referrals and sales.
Unique clicks - which refers to the unique number of visitors referred - in addition to raw clicks - which refers to the total number of click throughs.
A list of top performing affiliate statistics, so that affiliates can compare how they're doing and which areas they can improve on.
Include the most important statistics at the top of the email and subject line. There's nothing worse than having to scroll down to see what the referral purchased or how much commission I have made.

The following only apply if the affiliate program offers more than one level of commissions.

Commission earned as a result of referrals sent by 2nd-tier affiliates.
Commission earned, broken down by commission level.
Number of 2nd-tier affiliates referred.

I've been promoting products and services via affiliate programs for over 10 years and I have yet to come across an affiliate program that provides anything close to these statistics.

3. Not Compensating Your Affiliates Fairly For Their Hard Work.

The #1 incentive for any affiliate is cold hard cash. Money sells! So tell your marketing director to fire the search engine optimization firm and advertising department, and redirect the resources to paying your affiliates a higher commission rate.

Another thing I hate is seeing my commissions go down the drain because someone I had referred signs up to the affiliate program and purchases the product via their affiliate link. It almost feels like I'm being robbed blind! I highly recommend affiliate managers deter this practice by making it harder for affiliates to pocket the commission from their own purchases, at least the initial one.

4. Not Providing Enough Fresh Promotional Creatives.

Most affiliate managers seem to give their promotional creatives little thought. All they offer is a handful of 468x60 banners, buttons and text links. What happens is that affiliates end up using the same ads on hundreds, even thousands of web sites.

Affiliate managers - what about these promotional creatives?

Articles and tips with embedded affiliate links
Classified ads
Customer testimonials
Direct email ads
Email signatures
Newsletter ads
pay per click ads
Pop-up/under ads
Product photographs
Product reviews
Product screenshots
Rich-media ads
Skyscrapers
Staff interviews

Listen up! Different ads perform better on different sites. And ads generally have a life span of a carton of milk. So offer your affiliates a greater variety of ads, more often.

5. Not Providing Fast, Quality Support For Your Affiliates.

This is the 21st century. Don't make your affiliates wait longer for an email reply than it takes to send a letter by snail-mail post.

Don't outsource your affiliate support work. If you have to, then at least train your support staff so that they understand the ins and outs of your products and affiliate program. I'm often dumbfounded by affiliate support staff who can't give me answers to simple questions.

Well there you have it - my five biggest complaints about affiliate programs today. I hope affiliate managers take note and take strides to better support their affiliates, because if you don't, affiliates will find other ways to make money on their site.
Take from (http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/marketing-tips/affiliate-program-mistakes.html)