Advertising

Advertising

For years businesses have known the importance of using business articles Today it is not only important to just write good articles but also to showcase your talent and your business to the world. So what does article marketing refer to?

Article marketing refers to advertising your articles about your business through the internet or any other media so that the world comes to know about you or your business. Hence we see businesses writing articles about the types of products and services they offer and other details and then distribute them freely over the internet or other media.

Article marketing websites also prove to be very good places where you can market your articles. These websites categorically arrange your articles by business type so that your articles are easily searchable and they can be noticed. Internet marketing articles for small businesses are one of the fastest ways to make the small business known to the world at large in a very short period of time. The top article directory in the world is EzineArticles.com

Advertising article marketing is not a very recent concept. In fact, even before the internet began to be used on a large scale, articles were printed in other media sources such as newspapers and magazines with the business name and contact details below the article. Mainly strategic marketing articles were printed as they were the best way to draw attention towards one’s business. Of course, only original articles should be printed or put up on websites today as copying of content from other sources may lead to copyright violation issues.

Article marketing is also done in order to increase the search engine optimization of your site. This is because the articles contain important keywords that are picked up by the search engines and then displayed on your computer screen. Hence, proper article marketing using the proper techniques can go a long way in increasing your page rank on the search engines and subsequently leading to increased traffic to your website and more sales.

3 Reasons Why You’re Wasting Money and Time on Advertising If You are Not Publishing a Blog

Did you know you are literally giving away money and time on advertising if you are not publishing a blog?

Nowadays blogs have become very popular for diverse reasons. For internet home based business entrepreneurs, blogging represents a great opportunity for increasing their internet marketing effectiveness and presence.

You should really consider starting a blog to complement your advertisement efforts.

Here are 3 reasons why you should stop leaving money on the table and start blogging instead:

• It's the quickest way to build a website • Blogging expands your marketing reach dramatically • You can increase delivery rates for your newsletter

• Establishing your web presence in minutes and slowly but surely building an empire:

Publishing a blog is the easiest, quickest way to establish an online presence. You don’t even need your own website to publish a blog (although it’s recommended that you host it there for SEO reasons).

You can have your own blog up and running in as little as 5 minutes, using third party services such as Blogger (www.blogger.com).

As far as search engines are concerned, blogs are full-blown websites. And they love them because of the regularly updated, fresh content they often present. As time goes by and your posts become to accumulate, your “website” grows too, without any effort, linking, or HTML knowledge required from your part.

Soon your blog becomes your little “empire” of content-rich, interlinked webpages, which search engines keep visiting, crawling and indexing like crazy, often at various times during the day.

Here’s a surefire way to spread your advertisement across the web. Once you have your blog running, you can easily syndicate your content using RSS feeds.

You can submit your blog and RSS feed URLs to blog and RSS directories, which are proven means to increase your online presence besides normal website directories.

Even better, if your content is good, other webmasters might beging syndicating your blog posts, giving you effortless free advertising! And your posts can now be delivered instantly right to your readers’ desktops if they are subscribing via an RSS reader.

SPAM filters driving you crazy? Does your newsletter end up as a delicious snack on filter’s stomachs instead of client inboxes?

You can now give those nasty SPAM filters the finger forever! If you publish a newsletter by email, you may consider posting it at your blog instead, and using your mailing list just to announce your new issues to your subscribers. This way, you avoid the SPAM filter issue associated with delivering your newsletter via email.

At the same time, you are reaching more subscribers, the ones who have added your blog to their RSS readers, effectively “killing two birds with one shot”.

In addition to the above, you are naturally building an archive of your newsletter issues, which get included in your blog’s archives.

As with any new technologies, you should study the potential you are missing by not publishing a blog, and compare it to the extra work blogging would mean for you.

Personally, I think the benefits clearly outweigh the extra work involved, and I strongly encourage you to start blogging right now. Blogging is easy, even fun, and it doesn’t take much time either.

If you are not much of a writer, just try to blog something, anything, when you feel like it. When you become consistent with your blogging, you will soon realize why it’s so important for internet marketers.

Juan Pablo Cangas is a self-taught online entrepreneur. He specializes in internet marketing & promoting, copywriting and networking. In his website (www.getfreedom.ws), newsletter and blog (www.getfreedom.ws/blog/), Juan Pablo teaches you how to how to promote and sale online like a real pro, all the time giving you valuable gifts just for following his advice! Juan Pablo also shares his experiences and business opportunities he is currently involved in, so you can make money too.

You may reprint this article in any way, provided you don't modify it, and you include this resource box in your publication.

There are several ways to advertise and get the word out about your business online and the best of them include f-ree search engines, pay per click search engines, writing articles, utilizing press releases, doing joint ventures/ad co-ops, and posting to message boards and forums related to your target market.

But one advertising method that's neglected by most online marketers is off-line advertising.

There are several low/no cost ways to advertise off-line and I want to share 3 of them with you.

If you are serious about your business you must have business cards. They are cheap and are a great way to attract potential prospects or customers. Simply hand them out to people who you feel may be interested in your business.

Also, whenever I visit a restaraunt, bar, or club, I'll leave my business cards in all of the bathroom stalls. (Just make sure nobody is in there of course... lol!)

And don't laugh at this! It really works. When I visit the bathroom an hour or two later, I'll find that all of my business cards are gone and I'll have a fresh new set of sales the very next day.

You can get f-ree professional looking business cards at VistaPrint.com, all you have to pay is shipping and handling:

With today's technology, flyers are very easy to make. You can simply design a flyer online and just print it out and make copies. Then you can post them in area businesses where you feel your potential customers may hang out. (Just make sure you ask permission from the business owner.)

Or simply hand out your flyers to people you meet on the street. Many bars and clubs don't have a problem with posting flyers in their establishments either, especially if you are a patron.

And don't forget about supermarkets! Many have bulletin boards, at least here in New Jersey where I live, and you can post your flyer there. There are hundreds of people walking into supermarkets everyday and they are in a buying mentality. Take advantage of it and post your flyers often.

Here's a site that lets you create and print flyers or brochures online for free:

What... ? Yes you read that right! Your car is not only a driving vehicle but a great advertising vehicle as well. You can stick magnetic signs or plates on your car with your company name and/or domain name for all to see.

Your business can be exposed to hundreds, if not thousands of people everyday whether your car is parked, you are driving, or even when you are stuck in traffic. It's fairly inexpensive and a great way to "drive" home your message.

Those are just a few of the ways to advertise off-line. I'm sure you can come up with other clever ways as well.

Many people will tell you that traffic exchanges are not effective. For some this may be true depending on the service or product you offer. I, however, have had several customers that found my services through my advertising on traffic exchanges. So I am gonna tell you the 3 ways to make this an effective advertising option for you.

First: You need to be sure your home page is effective at explaining what service or product you are offering. Traffic exchanges have a timer so the person viewing your site has the option to leave within a matter of seconds. So your main goal is to give them a reason to stay!!

Second: Only choose traffic exchanges that offer manual surfing. Most people do not even watch the window when an autosurf is running. If it is a manual surf exchange they have to physically watch the pages in order to go to the next site. This gives you the best opportunity for them to actually see your site and be drawn in by your content.

Third: Be prepared to work. In order to earn credits for people to view your site, you have to view other people's sites. That is why it is called a "Traffic Exchange". The more you view other sites, the more your site is viewed.

With these 3 steps you can use traffic exchanges as an effective advertising strategy. It takes planning and work to get results, but doesn't every advertising plan? I urge everyone new to advertising to do alot of research to find the plan that is best for you and your business.
About the Author

As you begin to write your sales copy for your advertisement keep one thing in your mind…Everything you put into the must point out a specific benefit to your prospect.

Ask yourself as you write, “How will this help to get my prospect to act now?”

Always focus on the prospect, no matter what everyone else says or thinks. Tell them you’ve got a solution to their wants, needs desires, RIGHT NOW! The purpose is to get them to act.

1. Identify the prospect pain. (Research your target prospect to understand this)

2. Make them really feel it (they will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure…so really hit them between the eyes)

3. Let them know you can take it away right now. (Go into absolute detail here)

4. Let him know the pain will stay unless they act now. (Remind them of the pain they are currently feeling. Go into detail here as well)

5. Remove the risk of taking action for them. (make it so simple and risk free, they would feel silly not using your product or service)

Write your ad as though they are sitting beside you. You know their needs, wants and desires intimately because you have now done your research thoroughly.

Write the same way, as you would have a conversation. Use a friendly, matter of fact manner, (Don’t beat around the bush! This is serious)

Read it back to yourself out loud, putting yourself in their shoes.

Do you feel the pain? Can you truly empathise with him? Use short sharp spunky words. These will get more reaction from them.

Tell them exactly what you mean and what they need to do in a step-by-step way. Make it as simple as possible.

Take the risk out of it with a very strong guarantee. This will earn their trust for your product or service. They’ll feel like they got absolutely nothing to lose.

Make it as easy for them!

Make it interesting. If they get bored by what you have to say…so will lots of other prospects. Make the phone number, e-mail address, coupon, or whatever it is, easy to see and simple to use!

Make this information plain as day. Make them feel special, important and worthwhile.

You will win their loyalty.

About the author:
Smarter Business Leads specialize in using Low Cost Advertising & Marketing Ideas that will explode your businesses cash register. Check them out at www.smarterbusinessleads.comif you hurry they may even send you a free report go to www.smarterbusinessleads.comnow

Yes, pay per click advertising will cost you but if you do it right, it should make you money. If you are running pay per click advertising campaign and more money is going out than coming in, something is not right. Here are 5 steps to targeting the right keywords and minimizing costs.

Let's just say you have developed an amazing diet drink that is safe, effective, tasty and will guarantee that people will lose 15 lbs in 30 days. You know you have a product that is a winner and are excited about marketing it on the World Wide Web. However, you are relatively new to the Web and pick keywords that are too general and expensive like 'dieting' or 'weight loss'. Not only are you perhaps disappointed by your PPC advertising results but it will likely be draining your bank account. This is why niche keywords are so important. Look at bidding on keywords such as 'weight loss supplement' or 'weight loss drink'. Go to Overture or Word Tracker and find keywords that are more niche oriented and not so competitive.

It is worthwhile to spend some time learning about effective copy writing. It could be the difference between mediocrity and success. You want to know how to get someone's attention. Unfortunately saying "I have the best diet drink on the planet" doesn't work. You have to motivate and inspire people to take their time to look at what you have to offer. And, in pay per click advertising you have to do it in very few words. This can be a challenge. Learn the words that sell or attract or grab someone's attention like "Must see", "Quick results", "New…", "The truth…", "Groundbreaking…", "Instant…"

Sounds like a no-brainer but many times people either misspell their URL or send someone to their home page instead of the page that directly relates to their question. In other words, you may have a website that is dedicated to weight loss but in your pay per click advertising, you want to direct them specifically to your diet drink. So, you would want your URL to read http://www.myweightlosssite.com/dietdrink.html. There is nothing more frustrating to the website visitor than having to go hunting for the information. Your job is to make it easy to find and informative. If they have to look long, they will leave.

It is likely that your competitors who have a high PR (page rank) and continue to advertise, are doing something right. Learn from those who are successful. While the differences may seem subtle to you, in the World of PPC advertising a word or sentence can discourage or invite a potential website visitor.

Plain and simple use the keyword that is being searched on. Don't get fancy or creative here. If someone is looking for diet drink then your ad title is 'diet drink'. Give the website visitor what they want.

Try your best not to get caught in the bidding war game. There are plenty of ways to drive traffic to your site without spending a fortune. General keywords will always have high prices like 'dieting.' Don't fall for the trap. Most refined keywords will have lower priced bids but are excellent because they will target your traffic. A Website visitor may only be looking for diet recipes and dislike diet drinks. They are not your customer. Same for the website visitor who may want to tone-up while they are dieting. The more specific you can target your market, the better you will do.

Two other tips: If all the bids are around 25 cents and the lead bid is at $5.00, you know someone is trying to own the number 1 position. If you want to have fun bid $4.99 and they will get nailed $5.00 for every click and you will only pay 26 cents if they click on your ad. Warning though: if you want to play this game, keep an eye out so they don't drop their bid. I sometimes do this as a temporary measure to bring someone back to fair playing grounds.

Secondly, keep any eye on all of your bids. People do change what they are willing to bid on any given keyword or search term. I do an overview every few days.

One last key to good pay per click advertising is testing your ads. You can set up two different campaigns and rotate them for the same period of time. What you might learn could surprise you and benefit your bank account!

Jan Peterson founder of http://www.goldstarreview.com researches and reviews business opportunities Over 400 FREE reports available. Successful e-book with reprint rights also available.

Secondly, keep any eye on all of your bids. People do change what they are willing to bid on any given keyword or search term. I do an overview every few days.

Jan Peterson founder of http://www.goldstarreview.com researches and reviews business opportunities Over 400 FREE reports available. Successful e-book with reprint rights also available.
About the Author

Jan Peterson founder of http://www.goldstarreview.com researches and reviews business opportunities Over 400 FREE reports available. Successful e-book with reprint rights also available.

Copyright 2005 Carlo Cabrera

1. Give Testimonials
When you purchase a product or service and it exceeds your expectations e-mail the business a testimonial. Tell them in the testimonial the benefits you got from the product or service. Give them permission to publish the testimonial on the web site if they include your sig file at the end.

2. Leave A Message
When you visit a web site with a discussion board leave a message. You could post a question, interesting content or a compliment about their web site. Include your signature file at the end of the message. Some discussion boards let you post your banner ad or text link.

3. Sign Guest Books
When you visit a well designed web site leave a compliment on their guest book. You could give them a compliment on their content, ease of navigation, graphics etc. When you post your compliment include your sig file so other people will see it when they sign the guest book.

4. Write A Review
When you visit a web site you enjoyed a lot write a review for the web site Write about the benefits you gain from the site, the web site design, interesting online services it offers etc. E-mail the review to the web site. Tell them they can publish it on their web site if they include your resource box at the end.

5. Send An E-mail To The Editor
When you read a good article or enjoy a certain e-zine, e-mail a compliment to the editor. Give the editor permission to publish the compliment in their e-zine if they include your signature file at the end. The editor may post it on his or her web site.

About the author:
Carlo S. Cabrera Obtaining Your Desires http://www.InstantAutomaticWealth.com/blogger Discover 3 Easy Steps To Make Money Online: http://www.InstantAutomaticWealth.com/pips.html

1. Target your advertising.

The more targeted the e-zine is for your offer, the greater your response will be for your proven ad.

2. Track your ads.

Don't leave your ad campaigns to guesswork. Use ad tracking to show you exactly which e-zines and ads are most profitable.

3. Run your ad for multiple issues.

You'll get a better response, and possibly save money as many publishers offer special deals on bulk advertising.

4. Spend lots of time writing your headline.

An effective headline will successfully grab your reader's attention and target your audience.

Your winning headline will also get people to read the rest of your ad, leading to more traffic and sales.

If you're new to writing headlines, and need some help check out my "9 Power Packed Headline Formulas" at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5652

5. Don't try to sell your product from your ad.

Write your ads to create interest and get people to visit your site.

From here, your powerful sales page will do the selling for you, and you'll be able to get people to join your e-zine or mailing list for successful follow up.

6. Don't use all caps in your headline.

You'll appear like your yelling at your reader, and your ad will come off as amateurish.

7. Include a "call to action."

At the end of your e-zine ads, include a call to action that tells your reader what you want them to do next (i.e., visit your site or subscribe to your e-zine).

8. Don't be cute or funny with your ad.

You might put your reader in a good mood, but don't count on that translating into more visits to your site or more sales.

9. Offer something for free.

Provide an incentive for visiting your site such as a free ebook, sample chapter, or trial.

10. Subscribe to or view the archives of the
e-zines you would like to advertise in.

You'll be able to see the quality of the content provided, how many ads are published in each issue, and you'll get a good idea of the products those readers are interested in by the ads being run.

About Ken: Ken's articles have been published in numerous e-zines and web sites all over the net. Keep up to date on his latest articles, and get more new valuable tips by visiting him at: http://kenhill.blogspot.com

The word “research” can make many eBusiness owners cringe. Why? Because it sounds like such hard work.

Let’s analyse the word itself. “Search” means to go looking for something and “re” means “again”. Put them together and it means to go looking for something again.

Research is hard work. However, to survive online research must be done and it must be done on a regular basis. So if you don’t like doing research, well basically, that’s too bad. It’s time to take it by the hand and make it your friend because you need to do research to be a successful eBusiness owner for these reasons:

So let’s say the word again and this time let’s say it slowly and with a smile…

See, it doesn’t seem so awful now, does it? Because research is what is going to save you a lot of money, make you a lot of money, and research is what all successful Internet marketers do on a regular basis.

Okay, now that I hope you are feeling a little warm and fuzzy towards doing research ;o), what every Internet marketer must do on a regular basis is research what advertising works.

And the first step is to find a newsletter/ezine to advertise in and to do that you need to spend a bit of time collating some information.

By taking the time to wait for these answers and going over the responses carefully you will immediately be able to place ezines in rankings of importance as a result of the answers you receive.

The more “yes” answers you get to the above questions the higher the quality of the readership will be. The number of subscribers is not an indicator of how well your ad will pull. Quite often newsletters with low subscribers pull as well as newsletters with thousands of subscribers.

The bottom line at all times is the sales you receive as a result of your ad placement. The higher the readership quality the higher quality prospects and customers you will receive and the less refunds you will have to process :O).

So next time that you’re in two minds about doing things the quick way (looking for quick results with no research, high chance of monetary loss) or the slow methodical way (looking for quality results, possible delayed gratification, definite monetary savings in the long term) remember that Turtle who gave a certain self-confident Hare a big run (pardon the pun) for his money.

10 Effective Advertising Tips!
by BB Lee (c)2002

(500 words)

Writing a classified ad to sell your product isn't as hard as you might think, if you spend time researching effective copy writing strategies.

Here are a few to try NOW!

1. Never try to sell expensive items from a small classified ad. Use the two step method. Request the reader visit your site for free information or email an auto responder address for more details where you will respond with longer ad copy to effectively sell your product.

2. Study how other marketers write their sales copy. This is a no brainer. Simply study the ads in newsletters you are subscribed to.
Or surf to a few of the free classified ad sites and study the ads placed there. Don't copy their ads word for word but use them as an effective design to write your own adverts.

3. Advertise in the right Newsletter. That's right. This is basic stuff. Don't place your ad for cooking lessons in a Sports Trivia Newsletter. Or High Tech Ebooks on Java-Scripting in a Romance Writers Newsletter.

4. Target several appropriate publications. Subscribe to the publications and study their classified ads for several editions before placing your ads. Practice writing adverts following their basic ad writing guidelines.

5. Advertise in more than one publication at a time. Why? You want to pull in as many interested readers as possible in order to make sales.

6. Change your ad copy if it's not working. If people read the same old ad copy in the publication every month they will get bored and probably ignore your copy. It's human nature to do this. Freshen up your copy with new headlines, different lengths, new wording, power words, appropriate humor, details, interesting facts,testimonials.

7. Key your ads to find out which one's are working. Or simply have several email addresses or auto responders and calculate which email address receives the most response to your ads.

8. Keep records of every one who responds to your ads. Follow up with appropriate messages about your product. Of course give them the option to opt out of receiving further correspondence.

9. Free Classified Ad Sites are a great way to test your ad writing skills before placing paid ads in publications online. Study how other marketers at these sites write their ads. Respond to their ads to see how they further market their product. Don't forget to set up a free email account especially to handle your request.

10. Study offline publications. And, advertisements you receive by snail-mail to see how they put it all together. This will help to build your ad writing skills and confidence in your copy writing abilities.

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BB Lee is Editor/Publisher of SmallBizBits Newsletter.
Visit the site at http://www.angelfire.com/zine/smallbiz
Limited Time! New Subscribers Request Your Free Ad!
mailto:[email protected]

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About the Author

BB Lee is editor/publisher of the home based business newsletter SmallBizBits. And a published writer of articles and non-fiction books.

Copyright 2005 Diane Hughes

If you're like most ezine advertisers you wish to generate FAST Sales by sending your message in front of thousands ezine subscribers.

Some spend hundreds in ezine advertising hoping to generate a BIG profit... but it ends up costing them more than they earn.

Yes, ezine advertising works, but if you really want to WIN the ezine advertising GAME you must take in consideration the strategies below:

1. What do you plan to advertise?

e.g. an affiliate product, your own product, a course by e-mail, an ebook, etc.

You must know exactly what you want to promote in other ezines before advertising in them; ask yourself these questions:

Is the product related to your target audience?
Is the product valuable?
Does the seller offer a money-back guarantee?
Does the Web Site make you want to purchase the product yourself?
Does the Web Sales Letter convert into Sales?

2. Who is your target audience?

The product you plan to promote in other ezines must be related to a certain niche (target audience) so don't make the mistake to think that everyone needs or wants what you promote.

e.g. if your product is related to dog lovers, don't advertise in ezines related to cat lovers because you won't make any sales.

3. Where to find the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in?

The 'BEST' ezine to promote a product in is the one targeted to your audience.

The more specific your target audience and the ezine TOPIC, the more sales you could receive.

Also, the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in is the one where the publisher has already built TRUST with his/her subscribers and they purchase regularly from their recommendations.

Ezine Advertising List
http://www.probiztrack.com/go/p.cgi/ezines

4. What's your BUDGET?

If you only afford $300 to spend on ezine advertising, you don't want to spend it all on one ezine. Try to invest your money wisely, step-by-step.

Have you seen a publisher claiming their ezine has 90,000+ subscribers and they sell advertising for $25 - $50 or so?

If these offers sound too good to be true, maybe it is!

5. How many subscribers does the ezine have?

Numbers don't count, the quality of the ezine CONTENT itself is what makes the difference; if a publisher sends too many ads to their subscribers, I suppose you imagine there are not too happy seeing all those ads.

The more CONTENT and less advertising an ezine has, the better RESULTS you could receive from your advertising.

6. Who wrote your Ad Copy?

You know exactly the 'BEST' ezine to advertise in, how much you want to spend on advertising, but your ad copy is weak ... try to improve it yourself or ask a copywriter to rewrite it.

How to make your Ad Copy bring in GREAT results?

- write an eye-catching headline or no oone will read your WHOLE ad copy;

- use powerful / action words in your heeadline & ad copy like 'INSTANT', 'FREE', 'GET', 'CASH', 'UNLIMITED', 'TURN', 'BOOST', 'CREATE', etc.

- write your ad copy to promote a FREE ooffer like a FREE course by e-mail, a FREE ebook or a FREE sample of a product.

7. Don't want to track your Ad?

Why not? How will you know that the ezine you advertised in is profitable or not?

Most advertisers don't track their ads. Just look in other ezines and you'll see their regular Web Site link, no tracking URL available.

A tracking URL will show you how many clicks your ad receives and how many sales it makes from those clicks.

http://www.probiztrack.com

8. Don't want to use autoresponders in your Ad Copy?

Autoresponders are one of the SMARTEST internet marketing tools simply because they allow you to follow-up with your leads and send out more promotional offers automatically. You only write your messages once and then put them on the autoresponder sequences to be delivered at pre-determined intervals like 1, 2 or more days. You can even use autoresponders to build your own mailing lists of leads and customers.

Instead of sending prospects to your main Web Site page, direct them to a Web Page where they can GET a FREE course by e-mail. Use this course to educate them and build a relationship with them, gain their trust.

9. Want to play with 'SPAM'?

Don't do it if you are SMART. Search on your favorite search engine for "spam laws + email marketing" and you'll get a picture of what 'SPAM' is and how you can protect yourself!

Make sure you read about the CAN-Spam law if you want to know how to legally send commercial emails.

Also, don't forget about the FTC laws on e-mail marketing!

10. What ads are 'BEST'?

If you want to sell something directly from your ad, try Solo Mailings (one e-mail sent to all subscribers with no other ads in competition!)

If you want to TEST your ad or want to promote a FREE offer, try Classified, Top Sponsor or Bottom Ads.

They are much cheaper than Solos and could bring 'POOR' results.

If you invest in Solo Ads, make sure your ad copy is short and to the point, don't bore your prospect with long ad copy.

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful)
Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business
Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/dian

If you're like most people starting out on the Internet,you've been along this well-worn path:

You try free classified ad sites and get bombarded with spam by people trying to sell you stuff.

You finally get into the top twenty results in the Search Engines, and then a week later your site has dropped back to number 150.

The Internet may the largest market in human history, but how on earth do you reach those millions of people?

Ezines (short for 'electronic magazines') are email newsletters that are sent out regularly to subscribers, like the one you're reading. They're sometimes called 'opt-in' lists because everyone who receives an ezine has chosen to do so.

And that's why ezine advertising gets results. People read ezines and they'll read your ad. And if you've matched the ezine to the product you're selling, you've reached your target audience.

Have a look at the ads in your favorite ezine - why are they there? Because they get results.

There are currently around 90,000 ezines being published every month. So whatever you're selling, there's more than likely an ezine that will take your ad straight to the audience you want to reach.

Ezine advertising is not only effective, its cheap as well. A 5-line ad in an ezine that goes to 3000 people will cost you between $5 and $20 per issue.

As a general rule, you'll always get back at least the cost of the ad, and usually much more. So there's very little risk.

1. The first and most important rule in ezine advertising is: "Track your Ads!". You might place your ad in 5 different ezines and get a hundred responses, but if you don't track your ads, you won't know which ezines were pulling responses and which weren't.

To advertise effectively in ezines, you must learn from experience - its a process of trial and error. Eventually, you'll end up with a handful of ezines that you know are bringing you a high response rate. After that, just keep placing your ads in those ezines and you'll have a guaranteed stream of customers.

The simplest method is to place a key or a code at the end of your email address. If your ad was in this ezine (for example), this is the email address you'd place with the ad:

Then, when you get a reply with 'freezine' in the subject field, you'll know which ezine it came from.

However, if you're going to code your URLs, you'll need a sophisticated webstats program to track the coded URLs. Here are a couple of free ones:

Here's another way to code your URLs : for every ezine ad, create a duplicate of your homepage and name the page after the ezine that your ad will appear in. So, if the ad is appearing in Ezine A, this is the

URL you'd place in that ad:

Again, you'll need to use a good web stats program to track the hits to your coded URLs.

2. The second rule is to target your audience. It may seem obvious but some advertisers overlook this. If you're selling a web-marketing course, don't advertise in an ezine that deals with stock options; they probably won't be interested.

Use the 'subject categories' in any ezine directory to find ezines that relate to the product you're selling. You can find a list of 60 ezine directories in 'The Free Directory of Ezines' at:

3. Once you've chosen a number of ezines that target your audience, subscribe to them and examine the ads closely. If you see an ad that keeps repeating issue after issue, you can be pretty sure that its getting results. You've found a good ezine to advertise in.

4. Check to see how many ads are in the ezine. You don't want your ad lost in an ezine farm at the bottom of the newsletter. You probably won't get much response from an ad in an ezine that has 15 or 20 ads per issue. Readers of those ezines have become hardened to the ads and have learnt to skip them.

5. Check to see if the ezine publisher has a policy of never running ads for two similar products in the same issue - your ad will be much more effective if its the only one of its kind in that particular issue.

6. Small ezines vs. Big ezines: bigger is not always better. The big ezines with 1000's of subscribers tend to have more ads than the small ezines. Also, small ezines with only a few hundred subscribers often have a much more targeted audience than the big ezines.

7. Repeat your ads. Research shows that off the Web, an ad has to be seen about 21 times before someone acts on it; on the Internet its about 9 times. If your budget allows, try and have your ad repeated at least three times in a particular ezine. Most ezines offer discount packages for bulk advertising.

8. Email address vs. URL. Opinions are divided on this; some people prefer to give an email address, others prefer to give a URL. The advantage of giving an email address is that it gives you the opportunity to send a powerful sales letter to the person who responded to your ad. Its also much easier to track your ads with an email address than a URL.

9. Offer something free in your ad copy. It'll often tip the balance between a response and no response.

10. Keep your ads short, even if you're not using the number of words you're allowed. Short ads are more likely to be read. Keep your sentences short too; they pack much more power. Use the word 'You'. Don't describe your product but tell the reader what your product can do for them.

Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3 years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this simple technique to get massive free publicity and dramatically increase traffic and sales. Click here to find out more: http://www.ezine-writer.com

Advertising is the life blood of any business, no matter how big or how small. No advertising usually means no business. Large companies have an almost unlimited source of advertising dollars. Small business owners on the other hand, are limited in the amount of money they have for advertising. So, the problem is how to make ones advertising dollar get the most bang for the buck. It's not enough to advertise. Your advertising must be effective. So, once you have a website or an ad to advertise, check out the following ways to advertise for little or no cost.

1. Advertising coop- Many businesses, especially work at home businesses, offer advertising coops. They will send people to your business for a fee. Usually the fee is relatively small. This is nice because you already know that these people have at least some interest in your business. Although they may not spend a penny with you, you at least get the exposure.

2. Website-The age of the internet has expanded the possibility of owning your own business to an almost unlimited number of people. It also has expanded the advertising audience to a tremendous amount of new people, world wide, who otherwise you would never have been able to reach. Although websites will cost you to get hosted, you can advertise it many ways for free. Things like link exchanges and article submissions allow you to get exposure to your website with no cost except for you time. And as we will see in a moment, your website can be advertised many other ways for free. The advantage of a website is that it centralizes all your business and products into one central location. It gives you somewhere to send people so that you don't have to do as much selling because you let your website do the selling for you.

3. Answering Machine-Change the message on your answering machine to reflect the fact that you are now in business for yourself. You could say something like," Hello. You have reached the home office of John Doe of My Business.com….." That way when you call that person back, they may ask you about your business and thus the door is open to discussing your business.

4. Put a sign in your front yard or in the yard of a friend or relative with your name and website address on it. This is a good way for your neighbors to find out about your new business as well as any people that ride by your house.

5. Place a magnetic sign or bumper sticker on your car. Now, when you are riding down the road, sitting at a stop sign, or leaving your car parked at the mall or grocery store, you are getting free advertising.

6. Wear your ad-Place your website on a sweatshirt, tee-shirt, or a hat. So, when you are out in public, people will see you ad and again it will open up the door to discussing your new business.

7. Flyers-There are many places that will allow you to place a flyer about your business. Businesses like grocery stores, libraries, laundromats, hair salons and others will let you place a free ad on their public bulletin board.

8. Business cards-Don't leave home without them. You never now when the chance to hand one out will happen. You may see an old friend, meet someone looking to get out of the 9-5 rut or who is in need of a new opportunity.

9. Free Classifieds-Use the internet and the many free classified ads on it to advertise your business. A search using "free classifieds" will give you an almost limitless number of places to submit your website and ad.

10.Ezines or electronic magazines are also a good place to advertise your business. Some charge a fee for placing your ad in the best location, some let you advertise for free. Again a web search will allow you find numerous ezines to place you ad in.

13.Word of Mouth-The least expensive form of advertising and maybe the most effective way to advertise your business is word of mouth. Simply tell those you come in contact with that you are in business for yourself. They will tell others and they will tell others and it can go on and on. Sooner or later someone will take a look at what you are doing.

Obviously, there are many more ways to advertise your business for little or no money. The point is you don't have to have the big bucks to successfully advertise you business or product. There are many people who have started and become extremely successful in their business on a shoe string advertising budget. There is hope for the small business owner. All you need is a website or add, a little creativity, a little time, and you too can advertise your way to success without going to the poor house.

Donnie Baird has been involved with work at home businesses for 4 years and is the webmaster/owner of http://internet-work-at-home-opportunity.com. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and two children.

I promise you’ll be able to finish this article before you finish the first half of your PBJ. Are you sitting down? Good. Because I have some startling news for you.

Print ads are here to stay. That’s right. Those dusty, musty, fusty old relics of the century past are still with us. And despite the ubiquity of commercials on radio and TV; despite the onslaught of banners, pop-ups and all manner of intrusive online ads; newspapers and magazines are, and always will be, a mainstay forum for mainstream advertising.

There’s something about the readiness, the handiness, the heft and feel of a magazine or a newspaper that appeals to the nature of human beings. Yes, flat screens that glow with vivid colors are attractive. Especially when they’re displaying something we specifically asked to see.

But as we page through a magazine or a newspaper while enjoying our lunch or riding a commuter train, we don’t mind at all if a surprising or intelligent or just plain appealing ad – even one in black and white – suddenly grabs our attention. We expect it. We secretly look for it. We even welcome it as a break from all the dull gray type we’ve been slogging through. Why? Because – let’s face it – a really good ad is a delight to behold.

Is this the kind of ad your target audience is seeing? Do your ads stop them and make them smile…think…take in your message and make a mental note to look closer at your product or service? Maybe even go to your website for the kind of information that could lead to a sale?

Think carefully about this. If your ad doesn’t stand apart, doesn’t attract, appeal or grab; if it doesn’t delight in some way, the readers you want to capture and bring into your world will simply turn the page and plow on through the dull stuff . . . until they bump into your competitor’s delightfully different ad. And then they’ll stop – and, unfortunately for you – pay attention to the message.

So take a close look at your company’s ads. Do they stand out from the crowd of other ads? Are they different from your competitor’s ads in a powerful and relevant way? And most important, do they convey your core message in an engaging, persuasive and delightful manner?

If not, better change your approach soon. Before the competition eats your lunch.

Gary Watson writes ads for companies that want to add to their bottom line. He also does product/service naming, slogans/tag lines, billboards, web content, sales letters (print and email), etc. etc. He can be reached at [email protected].

There is a new advertising style from Google Adsense that is available in your Adsense panel, it is called “Google Ad Links.”

This new ad system presents a list of 4 or 5 vertical links(you can pick either 4 or 5 and Google will supply the actually links) to your site visitors, when the visitors click on one of the targeted contextual words it displays a results page from Google listing ten Adwords advertiser’s ads for this related topic.

Here is what Google says Adlinks are: “What are Ad Links by Google?

Ad Links are a new form of text advertising that we're offering to our AdSense publishers. Using the same contextual targeting algorithm that targets Google ads to your content pages, Ad Links units display a list of topics that are relevant to your page. Each topic, when clicked, brings the user to a page of related advertisements.

The result is advertisements that are closely targeted to the interests of your users. By selecting the topics through interaction with the ad unit, users are presented with useful information in the form of related advertisements. Their direct involvement with the evolution of the ad unit guarantees an interest in the ads that are presented.”

Positive Aspects of Adlinks:

They allow you to blend this in with sections of your links which will get more visitors to click on them, inevitably increase your Adsense revenue.

The Adlinks ads display 10 ad results when clicked without cluttering you page.

Google’s rules allow you to place three Adsense code block on a website. If you are doing this near say a 500 word article it can distract the visitor from viewing the article. With Adlinks you can still display 1 block of normal Adsense code and the Adlinks block and it keeps your page relatively nice looking while still giving you revenue potential.

Negative Aspects of Adlinks:

Adlinks requires your visitors to make two clicks. One on the original Adlinks block and one when they view the Adlink results. As any marketer knows the more actions you need a visitor to take the less the response rate.

Where are the best places to display Adlinks ads?

The best place to display them are within your navigation menu. Try to make them blend in as best as possible.

Another great place to put them is at the end of an article suggesting an interested reader view these resources. When doing this the reader is very targeted since they red your whole article and if they are likely leaving your website, why not let them leave through Adlinks and make some money?

Are Adlink ads as effective as the normal ad blocks?

Well some have seen positive results while other have not. Personally I am going to test it some more to see what kind of results and make my decision then.

About the author:
http://www.derrickpizur.info
Want Free information about Google Adsense and Search Engine Opt?

Here's a simple way to use "No Results, No Pay" radio advertising and build traffic for your website.

Radio has a unique advertising format known as "PI" or per inquiry advertising.

"PI's" main benefit is that your commercial is aired and you ONLY PAY for inquiries phoned into the station from listeners !

The radio station counts each caller, and re-directs them to your web site address.

Find a good directory of all commercial radio stations where you intend to advertise.

Other online resources can be found by searching for keywords like "Radio Directories."

Alternatively, visit your library and in the references section ask for the Yearbook of Independent Local Radio Stations.

Before you contact the radio stations, be clear on strategy, goals and have your draft commercials in outline.

Decide how you will entice visitors to your web site. Will you offer FREEBIES, or a competition of some sort ?

If your "Wanted Response" is not selling a product, you must pay for inquiries out of your "own pocket". Negotiate a keen cost per inquiry !!

For instance writing the commercial Outline, handling product fulfilment, dealing with refunds and product support questions.

Depending on your negotiation skills and size of Radio station you might be able to work a deal where you only pay for *Converted Inquiries*.

This is practically *FREE* advertising, because you only pay for referrals once a sale is made !

Commercial radio is a busy environment. Be prepared to explain yourself and answer questions quickly and clearly.

Radio ad managers are always looking for advertisers. That is their job and advertising fees are the lifeblood of Commercial Radio.

However, "PI" is not the only money earner for stations, so be prepared for a polite but cool reception.

The rewards of a successful "PI" campaign will pay back your effort many times over.

Write the outlines for at least two 30 second, and two 60 second commercials.

Writing commercials for broadcasting is very different to writing ad copy for printed media. However, stations will help you by taking your outlines and turning them into finished commercials for a fee.

Alternatively, if your copy writing is good and you have time to tweak it for broadcasting, then do it yourself.

Listen to the station's ads, jingles, and catch phrases and pre-record your own following a similar model. Ask objective people to listen to your ad and give you critical feedback.

When recording for radio you may or may not want to use your own voice. Radio stations have "Voices" to record your commercial for a fee before it goes on air.

Make your commercials memorable, with clear contact information for listeners to follow up on.

When such ads go on air during relevant programming, you cangenerate considerable traffic.

In closing, "just do it" and learn more than I can show you in a brief article.

Radio is often overlooked by online advertisers, but it can bring good results depending on your "Wanted Response" and at a surprisingly low cost.

Ad Managers are tasked with maximising revenue for the broadcaster. They are flexible and as long as you demonstrate a financial benefit to the station, they will listen to your "PI" proposal actively.

This is good news for you because for minimal outlay and sometimes for free you can drive quality traffic to your site, product and services.

"PI" is the lowest cost form of broadcast advertising. Make this a new part of your overall advertising strategy.

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The "Simply Easier" brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources

Charles Kangethe has been involved in direct response marketing since 1982. He now lives in Suffolk County and spends his time working on new Online Marketing campaigns, with particular focus on helping new netpreneurs at http://www.simplyeasier.com

Copyright 2005 The Powerful Promoter

How Does Advertising and PR Add up to Success

Advertising and Public Relations (PR) are both integral to the success of any business. Without advertising and PR, few people will be able to locate your business or understand why they might need your services or products. Advertising budgets need to be used effectively to reach the potential clients, and your public relations efforts must ensure those potential clients become repeat customers.
What Is The Difference Between Advertising and PR?
Advertising and PR are two different functions, however, many business do not know the difference. Since spending your advertising budget and your PR budget effectively is crucial, how can you expect to accomplish this important goal unless you understand the difference?

When thinking of advertising, billboards, glossy spreads, quarter-page newspaper advertisements and other forms of highly visible promotional material comes to mind. This is clearly advertising. Branding or creating a well-recognized presence for your company is a clear example of effective advertising. Business cards with pizzazz are a form of advertising.

What, then, is PR? Public relations are those things that must be accomplished to let the world know who you are and what your company offers. Press releases, news conferences, professional networking and exhibitions or trade shows are examples of PR work. PR is not as flashy as advertising but it is every bit as important.
Effective Advertising and PR
In today's competitive marketplace, it is crucial to spend every bit of your advertising and PR budget strategically. Public relations can provide a mix that uses advertising but also enhances the efforts of your advertising dollar.

It has long been a "supposed fact" in business that word of mouth is the best advertising. This is not necessarily true. It is an unfortunate fact that a customer who has an exceptional experience dealing with your business will tell one or two people about their experience. A customer who has a bad experience will tell at least a dozen people and your business gets negative advertising.

Word of mouth is, however, one of the most effective PR tools available. Offering school tours, sponsoring science fairs or children's' sports teams, volunteering for public speaking opportunities, attending trade shows or presenting at conferences are rather inexpensive ways to build a wealth of good will and put your name out front.

Have you noticed that television commercials for a product often run a 15 to 30 second advertisement of a really great advertisement and within a few weeks shorten the advertisement to the most important 5 to 10 seconds? The reason is that the initial advertising is meant to brand the product or service and associate the advertisement and the product or service in your mind. It works very well – provided you have really memorable advertisements.

About the author:
Matt Bacak became "##1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s e-Biz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets To Unleash The Powerful Promoter In You! Sign up for Matt Bacak's Promoting Tips Ezine ($100 value) just visit his website at http://www.powerfulpromoter.comor http://promotingtips.com

For the first time internet entrepreneur [newbie] the best ways to promote your website at first instance are :

1. Express inclusion of your website for the usual 12 months offered by most of the major search engines. You can choose express inclusion for askjeeves, inktomi, altavista,msn etc but keep in mind to have your site submitted to the local index of your region.

For example if you reside in Toronto, Canada and you are submitting for express inclusion in the DMOZ or Canada.com search engine/directory you must ensure that your site is indexed in the Toronto's business and economy directory. Get your site in the local index first things first.

If your submission listing includes the regional version of the DMOZ directory then thats good enough to go.

One point to note is that many of the major search engines and directories actually inter-relate that is they search across each other's database therefore submitting to only one major engine or directory will satisfice for the Internet Marketing beginner.

2. Next, the most overlooked approach for the first-time website owner is the maximisation of the benefit of offline marketing methods.

Promote your website in exactly the same way you would have promoted a normal business by telling everyone about it.

Put your motto and logo along with your url address on everything from a pin to an anchor. From stationery, pens, letterheads, postcards, flyers,posters, in your usual email, the list goes on...

Run other programs such as sponsoring quizzes, prize competitions, trivia and other participating programs with your website address. You might ask readers to submit the answer to a quiz by visiting you website. Anything that gets the local community to know that your website exists. You can do it !!

Most start-up webmasters usually make the mistake on concentrating on those numerous ways to promote their site and become confused on deciding what works best. What works best can only be determined by careful evaluation of each and every advertising scheme in use on the web today :

Its interesting to note that no seller of the above services except for Google and the other search engine services has ever took the time to evaluate your website to decide whether or not your site is most suitable to fit the advertising package they are offering.

The best approach is to evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Not everything out there works for everybody in every instant. Test your website across every platform say 10000 visitor package each and assess the outcome one by one.

Some will work better than others but the ones returning the higher rate of response doesn't necessarily mean they are the most profitable unless they each cost exactly the same per 1000 visitor.

What I had recommended in the first two paragraphs above should work best for the first-timer and is the most prudent approach.

Be careful when trying to find the best way of advertising, Don't be caught up in the Internet Marketing clutter out there as every you come in contact with will tell you the advertising method they sell is the best.

Ignore whatever testimony you see written on these webpages, use these services under a trial based approach before you order that 100000 package or start paying that monthly subscription.

Any method you are interested in should be test and proven in quality. Careful tjought and consideration should be given in order to plan, make decisions and control your business operating expenses.

What works for seasoned campaigners of Internet Marketing does'nt necessary works in the same way for the starter.

Your website is unique just like your fingerprint and its now your duty to determine the most economic,effective and efficient approach in promoting it.

R. Urien Shaw is a contributor to the WebMarketing Financial Newsletter and the developer of the 43-21 Budgeting Strategy. He is currently a final year student reading for the B.sc in Applied Accounting in London.

An Advertising business opportunity on the Internet is just exploding with possibilities. This is one of the most profitable endeavors available in the field of Internet advertising. If you have advertising experience and know even the basics of Internet, you have potential to start your own advertising business on the Internet.

There are many areas of the Internet that need to be learned before starting your advertising business opportunity. Multi level marketing, or MLM, is one way of generating advertising and sales at the same time. MLM is a system that allows someone to collect commissions on their own sales as well as on people they recruit under them. This used to be known as pyramid schemes.

MLM has become very popular with product sales, helping the organization build wealth by paying commissions on multiple levels. The concept from an advertising point of view is great, the more motivation you have to recruit people to sell your product, the more your product is out there on the market. Some examples of companies that use MLM are nutritional product lines, make up product lines, and home decoration lines.

Multi level marketing has been around for years and not likely to go away anytime soon. Focus needs to be clear however on what the drive is for the company. If your focus is only on recruiting people to recruit more people, then your product sales are going to suffer. When your product sales suffer, your business as a whole suffers and then no one wants to be a part of the industry. Keep your focus when dealing with MLM with your advertising business opportunity.

Ezines are another emerging way to get a product or service out to the public. Ezines, or electronic magazines, are usually specialized to a certain areas of interest. This is very much like conventional magazines. However, advertising in ezines is low-cost and even occasionally free. Another advertising business opportunity that is wide open.

Ezines in themselves will need advertising to get their word out. A perfectly written ezine does no one any good if no one knows that it is out there to be seen. Finding an audience for your ezine may be easier than you think. Make sure when going into ezines that you know your material and that the writing is concise and accurate.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a proven method of advertising on the Internet and a field, which is very much in demand at this time. SEO is a system of writing web content that uses specific key words and phrases that will pull the page up when that keyword or phrase is typed into any of the search engines. Knowing how to effectively use keywords to get a site recognized is critical for small businesses on the web.

When you open a search engine such as 'Yahoo!' or 'Google', and type in the phrase Internet advertising, you will get a list of results. Those results are formulated by the words Internet and advertising. Sites that have those two words incorporated consistently throughout the site will come up on the list. These lists are in order by the most hit on sites at the top of this list. Of course, that is where you want your advertising business opportunity clients to be.

Educating your self on these concepts and a few more will allow you to start marketing your Internet advertising business. Becoming an Internet business advertising consultant to companies who are looking to expand their presence on the web is a first step in building your reputation and presence in this field.

You must have a well-written profile centered on your Internet advertising experience and an up to date resume'. Businesses today are being inundated with new, and sometimes bogus, advertising opportunities and you need to stand out above all those other offers. Keep your presence, online and in the field, professional at all times and make sure you can deliver what you promise. With those things in mind, you should be successful.

© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

Randy is owner of Profitable Home Businesses. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.

Advertising Consulting Services: Advertising is one of the most important expenses a business can have. Businesses large and small, have some form of advertising, be it word of mouth referrals or multi million dollar television campaigns. Business owners of all types will pay good money for the right kind of advertising. That is why advertising consulting services on the Internet is becoming so popular.

There are two key things you need to know when considering starting out as an internet advertising consultant. The first of course is advertising experience. If you have done advertising in the past and enjoy the work, then that is the first step.

Secondly, you need to know about the Internet. Your Internet knowledge needs to be updated constantly to keep abreast of the current trends. While contemporary advertising - television, radio, and print, are still effective means of advertising, the Internet needs to be approached a bit differently.

When watching television or listening to the radio, people don't generally have a choice about what they see and hear in the line of commercials. Those commercials of course are advertising. Even when reading the newspaper or a sale ad, people only see what is in front of them, not all the options available. If one grocery store buys an ad in the local newspaper and another grocer does not, the consumer is only seeing one ad.

The Internet has changed the face of this kind of advertising. Anytime that someone opens a web page; they are looking for something specific. People who surf five or six web sites are likely to see hundreds of ads without really knowing they are seeing advertising. Banners, affiliate links, tool bars and the like are all types of Internet advertising, revealing products or brands in front of the consumer.

If a consumer is looking for a product online, and does not know where to find it, or there are multiple sources to find it, the savvy Internet user generally goes to a search engine. Searching for the product by typing in the general name or brand that they are looking for, the consumer can then choose from a list of sites that offer that product. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a system of strategic placing of certain words or keyword phrases on a web site that will allow the search engine to select that site if someone types in that word or phrase. The key to SEO - the first sites to pop up are the ones that are hit on the most often.

Knowing these concepts and expanding on them allows internet advertising consultants to guide and direct business owners in the most effective line of advertising for their products. Many people who run successful Internet businesses are people who don't know much about the differences between Internet and other forms of advertising. You are the link that these business people need to market their products.

Internet Advertising Consulting Services are quickly becoming a specialized field. There are so many aspects of the Internet that business owners, especially those new to the web as a market, will not know and will be grateful to you for showing them. Knowing how to get those companies names and brands out their on the web will give you an edge over advertising companies that are still focusing on contemporary methods of advertising.

The Internet is not a fad or a passing phase. The challenges and changes that are coming with this relatively new market are going to be both exciting and profitable for anyone who embraces it. Open your own advertising consulting services business today and step into the future.

© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

At the bottom of this article you will find my "sig file". I attach it to every article that I write. As you can see it bears my name, web-site address and e-mail address.

This is not done out of vanity, or a desire to see my name in print. It is done because it costs me nothing. When I submit my article to an Ezine or other publication, I do so on the condition that the article be re-printed in its' entirety.

This means that the company that re-prints my article sends it to their subscriber base, at no cost to me, and even better that the publication considers my work to be authorative.

What do you know, I'm an "expert", at least to the entire subscriber list of the Ezine in question. If I were not an "expert", the publisher would not re-print my article !!

Every time I see one of my articles re-printed, I see an immediate increase in my own subscriber base, as people who did not previously know me check out my web-site, and click through on one or more of the banners there.

The result is a Marketers' dream come true. Potential buyers at absolutely no cost to me.

I write the articles in question for my own use in my "Independence Day Ezine", so I would have to expend the time and effort anyway, and the fact that I can use them as an active part of my Marketing Campaign is a huge bonus.

I recommend most strenuously that you start to write articles if you have not already done so, and make sure to attach your own "sig file".

This valuable piece of free advertising should be attached to every piece of e-mail that you send out, as well as each article.

I can see you sitting there reading this and saying to yourself, "it's all right for him to say write an article, but I don't know how. I've never tried."

First open a new file in whatever word pro- cessing system you normally use. There, a nice blank page. All you have to do now is fill it up.

You need a subject for your article. "Marvellous", you say,"I all ready knew that but what can I write about?"

Examine your life carefully and make a list of all your experiences to this point. Here is just part of mine:

I was born and bred in the North of England Started in the Direct Mail business selling collectibles to Soccer fans.

I ran a tele-marketing centre

I am married

I have two children, one boy and one girl.

I have had my own retail business (Electronics)

I lost the business when I was diagnosed with Cancer.

I underwent Cobalt radiation treatment for 6 months.

After I recovered I was a Business Management Consultant.

Until I had a heart attack, while shoveling snow (stupid !!)

The cardiologist forbids me to work as I could suffer another attack, if I am under too much stress.

I started my own on-line business in Internet Marketing.

That's a partial list, it tells you nothing of my hobbies, areas of expertise, likes or dislikes, as I wanted to keep the list short enough that I didn't lose your interest.

Choose one of the items on your list, type it on the blank screen, and then just sit and type out whatever comes into your head.

Keep going until you can't think of anything else to type. Don't correct your spelling errors or punctuation. Don't second guess yourself and re-write anything. It doesn't matter whether all this typing is making sense or not.

Re-open the file and proof-read what you've just written. Check the spelling carefully, and smooth out any awkward passages. Correct the punctuation and spacing where needed.

Do you think I could write an interesting article about sailing across the North Atlantic, from Liverpool to Montreal, via Quebec City, in the mid 1960's ?? Or the three day train ride across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver, on the West Coast ?? Or any of the other facts on my list ??

There are tens of thousands of Ezines on the Web, covering every area of human experience. They all have one thing in common. They are looking for, no desperately seeking, quality content for their publications.

When your article is finished to your satis- faction, search the Web for 10 Ezines that cover the same area of interest as your article.

E-mail the editor of each one and inquire if they accept unsolicited articles for re-print. No matter which ten you choose at least five will reply encouraging you to submit your article.

You'll never be at a loss for a subject again. As proof please reflect on the fact that I have just finished an article on how to write an article.

Martin Cargill has his website at www.millionsbynet.com and gives a FREE mini-course at [email protected] This and his newsletter " Independence Day Ezine " are available FREE on an opt-in basis only.

After over 40 years in Direct Marketing, I am trying to come to terms with that "new-fangled" internet. It's a steep learning curve, but I'm getting there. I can offer you the chance to learn from my experience (and mistakes), and the best of the web guest articles and web resources.

Everyone knows that advertising is essential to growing a business. One problem that small business owners have always faced is the high cost of marketing. Most, however don't realize that there is an effective way to reduce the cost of your advertising while - at the same time - increasing its reach.

Advertising co-ops are nothing new. Usually they are a "perk" offered by major manufacturers to encourage retailers to promote their products. Because the retailer has direct access to customers that would want to buy certain products, it only makes sense that they should do joint advertising. You've seen it - McDonalds mentioning Coke in their commercials, Dell stating that you get a free Epson printer with purchase and so on.

The retailer doesn't make the product the manufacturer is providing, but it IS a great match with what they DO offer. Nobody would want to eat a Big Mac without something to drink, and a computer wouldn't do a lot of good without a printer.

Now you can use this same strategy to create your own advertising co-op to increase the reach of your ads and drastically reduce the cost, too.

--- How It Works

Generally speaking, the cost of any advertisements (bulk emailings, ezine ads, banners, newspaper, etc.) would be split equally between all participants. If you and two associates decide to purchase a solo ad, you would each receive equal mentions in the ad and you would each pay equal portions of the cost.

So if the solo ad were going to a list of 200,000 and cost $150, each of the three would pay $50. You get to reach 200,000 people for 1/3 the cost you would have normally paid. And, because this ad relates you to other types of businesses, you actually expand your advertising reach.

--- Getting Started

So who would be qualified to enter into an ad co-op with you? It depends on the nature of your business. Think of others that reach your same target customer and make a list. If you design Web sites, you might approach hosting companies, graphic artists, copywriters or programmers. If your business is landscaping, you could invite yard maintenance companies to join you.

Once you have a list of one or more business types, think of current associates you know who belong to those groups. Also, ask others if they know of any reliable businesses that fall into the categories you've outlined.

--- Making the Approach

When you have a list of businesses to approach, simply write or email them with your offer. Be sure to point out the benefits such as:

* a win-win situation
* reduced cost of advertising
* expanded reach of advertising
* larger, more prominent ads for a fraction of the cost

Also, be sure to ask about the advertising outlets these businesses currently use. You will likely find new avenues that lead to greater exposure.

--- Finalizing the Deal

You'll need to work out payment arrangements with your partners prior to placing the ad(s). The best way I have found to handle the finances is for each party to pay me for their portion of the cost with a credit card. I then place the ad order with MY credit card. This way, you are assured of receiving the dollar amount due to you; and your partners have the assurance that - should you default on your end of the deal - they have recourse for getting their money back.

Working in cooperation with other businesses can lead to tremendous successes with advertising. When like-minded companies pool their resources to reach one target audience, the impact is doubled while the cost is reduced by at least half. That's the best advertising bargain around today!
About the author:

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful)
Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business
Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

Copyright 2005 Ryan Ginster

When advertising, you need to sell your opportunity, your products and yourself. What sets you apart from everyone else? Maybe you produce a newsletter with a specific content where there is a demand from a particular group of people, or you promote your own special product that no one have not yet seen. That´s a huge benefit! That´s what you need to sell in your ad campaign, and those are the things you need to do in order to become successful.

You don´t have to be worried that network marketing prosperity is difficult. It isn´t. In fact, it has never been so easy to make a decent second income or even a full time. But it takes time, persistence and uniqueness.

The people looking at your ads and reading your follow up letters are going to judge you and your whole business not only by what the materials have to say, but also by their appearance.

Be sure you send a powerful, positive and convincing message. Invest some time and money on your marketing materials, the payoff will be well worth it. Look at others ads on the Internet, see what´s attracting you, this will most likely attract others too.

Do you see what I have in mind? Your advertising campaign will be the propel to your business success. By now you think "How do I create one of those successful ads" After all, It´s the words that sell your opportunity. Write a good ad and It´s taking you to the top. Read others ads, get some good ideas from it, don´t copy it, that´s theft. Just get some inspiration from it.Let your friends take a look at your new written ad and say what they think about it, honestly.

Now where to put your ad? If you place your ad in a pets publication and the ad is promoting toys for children you might not get a single response. But placed in the right publication it will be a winner. It´s very important that you from the beginning know exactly where to put your ad. Just think about you having spent hours on that ad and then you put it in the wrong publication and get no response at all, that´s a big waste of time and effort.

My best advice is that you always work on your ads. Write them down, leave them for some time, go back to look at them again, let others look at them and after a while you will see the picture of your ad and you will se if it's working or not. If not then you have to start from the beginning and write a new one and follow the same procedure again. But now it´s easier because you are deeply involved in the process.

The Internet are full of ads, start clicking around and read others ads, this is the best way to learn what is working or not. You probably can tell instantly when an ad is good or not at least after a while.

About the author:
Not long ago, I didn't know ANYTHING about Internet marketing... However, within just 2 weeks, I launched my own website AND learned how to profit from an opt-in list, pull in sales with ezines, make money with Google Adwords and setup my own BLOG! Here's how: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-10193 http://www.ginsterprofits.com

From early on in my online career I realised that the fastest way to internet riches was to find a marketing concept that brought me profits and plough as much as I could into that resource, thus building my business and capital as I went.

For those just beginning in home business marketing it would be prudent to start off with a very small investment (I started with around $30) and try to build from there. It would like to report that I was very wise after the first investment but the truth is that the illusion of easily gotten riches lured me into a spree of buying virtually every item of software/marketing resource that I happened to feast my eyes upon.

Needless to say this is not the best way to go about building a successful online career but the experience and benefits I got from this initial burst of enthusiasm, in how not to go about targeted advertising, far outweighed the financial losses. I have spent money on most of what the web has to offer in terms of marketing and can now enlighten you on what to buy and what not to touch with a 12 ft barge pole.

FFAs or Free For All link pages were once a useful free resource and could have provided at least a few hits per day given the right ad. Today using the free version of these pages is all but useless and in my humble opinion a total waste of time. The vast majority of people submitting to these sites today are using automated submission software so human eyes WILL never see your ad and as far as I know Automatons (Robots to some people) DO NOT buy products;-)

Paid or free safelists from my experience are just not worth the effort involved. The very fact that everyone posting to a safelist is not interested in the subject matter but in selling their own products gives us some idea on the ineffectiveness of this method. Couple this with the time spent sorting through emails mostly for deletion you really could spend your time in more worthwhile marketing ventures.

Moving up the ladder of effectiveness we have banner advertising. From my experience the best banner I was able to design brought me in a maximum of 2.8% click through rate and from what I hear this is a GREAT %. Most banners will only pull a 1% CTR. If you can find a company selling banner advertising cheap enough to bring you into the profit zone then certainly give it a bash. Please remember though to track all your banner ads otherwise you will not know whether you are getting massive click throughs or none at all.

If you are going to post to classified sites then opt for the free version. There is some good classified submission software out there and may be worth the investment. Again ALWAYS TRACK YOUR ADS. For free classifieds visit:

Renting an email list is a good option and can bring you many hits to your product or affiliate site. Make sure that the list is optin only, meaning the people have requested to see your ad. There are many good reputable companies out there and if you are willing to pay sometimes high fees to rent a list, this can be a profitable venture.

Search engine submission is definitely a worthwhile project and considering a good listing will bring you daily and continuing free traffic I suggest you spend a bit of time perfecting this method. I use Web Position Gold software to automate my submissions and prepare my pages for submission. This cuts down in hours of work and I would certainly recommend any budding business owners to get a copy. To learn more about Webposition Gold visit this link:

I have also paid for a listing to Yahoo's directory. At $299 per year this may sound very expensive to some but the traffic I have gotten from this listing paid for the submission within a short period of time.

Pay per click advertising is another good advertising resource to drive TARGETED traffic to your site. First figure out how much you can afford to pay per visitor to your site. For instance if you make a sale every 100 visitors and your product costs $20 then if you paid 20 cents per visitor you would break even. The reality is of course that you can get visitors for much less than 20 cents and I have many keyword phrases that will send visitors to my site for 1 cent each. If you can find a few good keyword phrases at a profitable price then you will do well. Two good PPCSEs to start with and that I use are Overture.com and Findwhat.com.

Ezine advertising is by far the best form of advertising and more importantly is reasonably priced. From my own experience a solo or top spot ad are the most effective and will return more visitors for the price. For a good list of ezines visit:

A word of WARNING before closing this article: If you want to keep your business and your reputation intact then NEVER EVER use bulk email advertising. It just isn't worth the risk. The hassle that you will get from sending out unsolicited email to 1000s of untargeted prospects will bring your business down in the long run. There are enough forms of advertising listed here to keep you going for a long time. Don't waste your time on unproductive and senseless SPAMMING.

That's right. The most effective way of advertising your business on the net is FREE and mostly ignored. And yet it's so easy to see why it is so effective. We just need to ask ourselves two simple questions.

Question 1- What do most people use the internet for?

Answer - For email and to seek information to solve problems.

Question 2 - How do you get information from the net?

Answer - I go directly to certain web sites or I use a search engine like Yahoo or Google.

So shouldn't it be obvious that a free article on the net that mentions your business after providing valuable information free will be seen by hundreds of thousands of your eager prospects over time?

The biggest marketing mistake that many businesses have made and continue to make over the internet is treating this new medium as if it were just an extension or advancement of the last new medium to change the marketing world, namely Television. In Television, advertising is king. And therefore many assumed that the internet was the next big thing in conventional advertising with predictably disastrous results.

The internet is primarily an information medium. So is it any wonder that people get so upset when somebody tries to interrupt their search for information with an advertisement?

Being an information medium, it stands to reason that you will only attract attention by providing information - free, valuable information.

So the most effective way to advertise on the net is to give away free information of a very specific nature. The free information will of course have something to do with your product or service. But it should be written in such an interesting way and should focus on solving a problem or need of your potential clientele that it will be of great value without them having to purchase your product immediately.
For example, somebody selling anti-glare gadgets for computers or headache medication or whatever service or product that deals with the problem of headaches, can post the following useful free information;

1) An article about the different types of headaches caused by sitting in front of a computer the whole day.

2) He can post yet another article hinged on a case study of a headache that refused to go away despite medication etc.

3) How a deadly type of headache feels like e.g caused by a developing brain tumour etc.

In all the articles, no direct reference should be made to the product or service except in the resource box right at the end which should have your web-site, email and any other contact information.

An article on the web is a very powerful advertising tool that will do more for you than any conventional advertising or email list. Firstly you are guaranteed that many of your target market or people who may be interested in your product or service will read your article and the name of your business. Most so-called advertisements on the net, never get read at all, even by the people targeted - they get deleted long before.

Secondly, you create a very favorable image of a knowledgeable and competent person or business and you do this instantly. Offline this is rather difficult to do even over a longer period of time. In fact articles can't even be posted as easily as they can on the net. For example it will be virtually impossible for any newspaper or magazine with a decent readership to find the space for any of the suggested headache articles above.

There are various ways one can post articles on the net. You can do it on your web site or you can do it at a wide range of different sites. Actually the idea here is to get it posted in as many different places as you possibly can (remember it's an advertisment.)

The real power of the internet is in its' ability to reach a colossal number of people within a very short time, who are interested in the subject at hand.
Most of the people you reach may not be in the market for your offering right now, but they will have heard of you and will already have a very favourable image of you.

Some of the people who will benefit from your information will be in the market for your product and will request for more information, visit your web-site and so on - still they will not buy immediately. A fraction of these people may buy from you one day in the future. They may also like you enough to tell others about you.

The last group of people may end up being a very tiny decimal fraction of the total but these are the people who will become your customers shortly after benefiting from your FREE information. Still there will be a steady and constant flow of these wonderful people who put money in your bank account, as your articles get posted in newer web sites all the time.

Can you sincerely think of another marketing weapon on the web that even comes close to this one in terms of effectiveness?
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If you found this article interesting, you can read another article by this author at the link below that will give you the only 2 things you need to acknowledge to gurantee success in any online marketing program.

Here's the link:-

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=26206

Christopher Kyalo has over 20 years experience in marketing and creative writing. Order his FREE report "How to use the most effective advertising weapon on the net, it's free" by sending a blank email to ckyalo at yahoo.com. Or download his favourite ebook. You can get it FREE at; http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/valueinfo.html