Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

How Any DJ Can Increase Their Bookings and Profits by Usi...

The DJ industry is very competitive. There are many DJ’s who are making huge amounts of money and then there are other DJ’s who are struggling to find any gigs at all.If there are some DJ’s who are thriving with their business and you are not, there is something you can do to change that completely around where you become booked with as many gigs as you can handle.To do this, you have to unders. . .

Why I like The Ads I Hate!

It's been said that the antidote to liking/loving is not hating, but indifference. So, when an ad makes you angry or disgusted or evokes any other strong emotion, it has done it's job. That is what advertising is supposed to do! Isn't it? There is an advertisement currently running on T.V. that makes me so disgusted that I spent quite a few minutes last night, discussing it with my sister, The . . .

What I Learned From a Woman's Magazine

It's amazing what you can learn about marketing if you can just find the time to spend in a dentist's waiting room. I was reading a certain woman's magazine, which will remain nameless because of my allergy to lawsuits. The magazine obviously has figured out what sells well, given that it operates on a consistent formula. For instance, one cover proclaims: "3 sizes slimmer by Memorial Day". . . .

How To Survive Speed Networking

Get More Clients From Networking – Follow The Rules Of Dating. If you’re a business owner, you probably spend quite a lot of your time at networking events. In fact, it may be the main way you try to get new clients. But do you ever feel that you could get more from these meetings? Do you actually get the results from your networking to justify the amount of time you put into it? If you don’t f. . .

How To Get Your Clients' Attention

“ Sorry, I was miles away “. How many times have you said that? It happened to me just the other day. I was walking down the High Street, thinking about the things I needed to do ( go to the bank, buy some milk… ) and trying to decide whether to treat myself to a sausage roll for lunch ( this is a fascinating glimpse into my daily life, isn’t it? ) Anyway, I was lost in a world of my own. I was. . .

Use Internet Marketing to Bring Customers to Your Local B...

Millions of "bricks and mortar" businesses have websites, but only a fraction of those businesses are using the Internet to bring in more sales. It's an expense that they pay because "everyone else is doing it". Don't settle for that. Is the Internet bringing customers to your doors? If not, here are three important tips to make you grin about your "net profits" (and make your competition jealo. . .

If You’re a Marketer, You Should be Blogging

Blogging has captured the interest of many across the World Wide Web. The cold, robotic nature of the virtual world becomes warm and cozy when we see personality and real life thoughts appearing on our screens. Sometimes we make a connection with the blogger that leaves an impression. We’re caught! Our natural curiousity will draw us back on a regular basis to get the juicy updates the blogger . . .

11 Joint Venture Ideas To Get You Started On The Fast Tra...

1. Find someone in your target market that either publishes an ezine or has a website. Ask them if they would like to join your affiliate program and promote your offers in their ezine, or on their site. In return, you'll give them the product at no charge, and if you have an ezine or website, offer to promote something for them. Remember to make it an irresistible offer for them! 2. Use your o. . .

Can You Steal Sales From Other Categories?

Yes, to grow and expand brand sales, you can increase the range of possibilities to increase sales. Increasing the number of situations your product is used in, can have a powerful effect on sales. Just how can you expand the range of situations in which people can use your product or service? How do you pick a product to target for enhancement or replacement for your product? How can you adver. . .

Warning! The Person Doing Your Marketing May Not Even Kno...

As a business advisor I work with clients helping them gain visibility within their market. Without sounding too arrogant or bold I can safely say I have earned the right to do this. The primary reason is because the very strategies I teach my clients are the same tactics that have afforded me a great deal of visibility within my market. It is this visibility that sets me apart from my competit. . .

Small Business Marketing: Are You Using a Net or a Spear

When I was back in college, over a decade ago, I decided that when I was done I would run off to Alaska and work in the fishing industry. The lure of hard menial labor and the outdoorsman’s life seemed so tantalizing to me after having toiled away in academia, not just for the past four years, but for most of my life. I learned as much as I could about the fishing industry: working on boats, at. . .

Putting Your Website to Work

Websites have replaced the brochure as the “must have” marketing tool for businesses large and small. While virtually every business has a website, few are harnessing the potential of their websites and the internet in general to promote and grow their businesses. So how can you be sure your website is working for you?First, you must look at the role you want your website to play in your over. . .

Making Headway on a Slow Day: 9 Ways to Turn Down-Time in...

If you work from home, you know the kind of day I mean. You made the calls. You revised those drafts. You sent out the emails. Where is everybody!? As much as you used to relish a slow day when you were corporate, it’s a little different when you’re playing boss to yourself. Your mind gets to wandering. Should I head out to the park? Should I hit the mall? Should I... file for unemployment?For . . .

10 Choice Ways To Give Your Subscriptions A Boost

1. Swap an ad. Use ads that you've tested and that have proven to be effective in getting you more subscriptions. You'll be able to get a greater response from your ads because you've already fine tuned them before swapping. 2. Write articles. You'll be able to get more new e-zine subscribers that enjoy your writing and that are interested in the topics you write about. 3. Swap an article. You . . .

3 Direct Mail Ideas That Almost Any Business Can Use To I...

Sending direct mail to current and past customers is an easy way to improve existing customer relationships, and drive revenue and profit growth. This article discusses three strategies that are consistently profitable across varied industries: (1) Refer-a-friend campaigns (2) Getting former customers to buy again and (3) Converting past enquiries into sales. Direct mail is one of the most powe. . .

What Do Your Ads Say?

Make a list of everything you think should be included at one time or another, in one of your ad, be it radio, newspaper or Little Jimmie's class play program. Everything. Experience, staff, facility, product. The list will be quite long. Take the time to do it now, before you read the rest of this article. Next, take a hard look at your list, pencil in hand, and cross off all items that are ab. . .

Which is Better: Digital or Offset Printing?

As technology continues to improve, the quality of digital prints also improves. Technology advancements have also made it easier for more and more businesses to enter the printing industry. Good digital printers cost a few thousands dollars…good offset printing presses may cost a few million dollars. For those companies interested in conveying the best possible image at all times, it is import. . .

Should You Advertise on TV?

When people discover my background in advertising, the questions flow. One of the most frequent questions is "Should I advertise on TV?" I can't answer that questions until I ask a number of questions first. Do you have an advertising plan? Are you working on a firm budget? What are you trying to accomplish with your advertising? Where are you spending your money now? Usually by the 4th questio. . .

Three Ways Flat Rate Conferencing Can Help Grow Your Busi...

There is no question that teleconferencing is revolutionizing the way that people do business, both on the Internet and offline. Internet marketers, coaches, consultants, counsellors, major corporations, even Sunday School teachers are using teleconferencing to stay in contact with their staff, clients, potential customers, and classes without having to set up a meeting place. Teleconferencing . . .

4 Steps to Selling More With Your Web Site

Most web sites are more like stage sets than real buildings; they make a good impression and they look substantial at first, but when you open a door, you end up back stage in the dark. They don't generate large numbers of leads, help build relationships with prospects or generate the desired volume of sales. Is your web site helping you get attention for your business? Does it prompt prospects. . .

Reasons People Go to Church

You can do a search of the internet and find lots of information about the excuses people give for not attending church. Some of the most common excuses seem to be that the worship services are boring, the beliefs of churches and the person has other commitments. Some religious leaders have taken these excuses and applied them to other things. One such leader made a list of reasons why he wa. . .

Great Marketing is Like Making a Great Movie

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCEThe Oscars will be handed out soon, and it’s a perfect time to keep this in mind: If you’re a business owner or manager, it’s wise to think of yourself as a great film director who’s telling a story. Having directed films, stage, television, and stage productions we noticed that the principles of great directing or filmmaking apply exactly to great marketing. OK, so you don’t . . .

Top 7 Internet Marketing Sites for 2005

Are you confused by what really works when marketing your business online?I know the feeling. There are literally thousands of sites out there that either promise to teach you how to effectively market online or tell you that they have the magic formula.However, there are some tried and true methods of internet marketing that actually work and never go out of style.These seven sites will teach . . .

9 Keys to an Effective Logo

The right logo, with the right characteristics, will boost your visibility, credibility and memorablity – which means more business for you! These characteristics include: Consistency in use of your logo, tagline, materials. Repetition of similar elements, used in the same or similar ways, helps people to remember who you are and what you do. Memorability, so that your logo stays at the forefro. . .

When to Get a Print Broker?

Wouldn't it be nice if someone could do the job of buying printing materials and equipment for you? Instead of spending your time looking for the best deals, and afterwards haggling for the cheapest price, wouldn't it be better if you could spend that time working on plans and strategies to keep your business afloat.This is the time to hire a print broker. A print broker does all this things an. . .

Is Procrastination Holding You Back?

When you look at your marketing to-do list, do many of the items on it look all too familiar? Have entries like "call Donna Sanchez" and "follow up with Floyd Corp." been copied from a previous week? Putting off unappealing tasks may be human nature, but for an entrepreneur, procrastination can be deadly. Delays in contacting a prospect can lose the business to the competition. Failing to get t. . .

Learn The Five Key Steps To Getting Free Publicity

For many of us, the idea of getting free publicity can be a confusing and daunting task. So why do it? Because free publicity really works and if you are looking for ways to attract new customers to your internet business, free publicity is by far one of the best ways to do it. I am going to share with you five key steps to getting free publicity for your products. They go as follows: 1) Websit. . .

The Press Pack Is Chasing You - Give Them Room

There’s good news for public relations execs, marketing professionals and even one-man-band entrepreneurs: journalists are surfing your sites looking for news. It’s true - while some PR people spend months trying to win over cynical reporters in order to wrangle a company profile or CEO interview (and get nowhere), an army of journalists are proactively hunting for facts, figures and interview . . .

Create a Successful Print Ad

Planning to create a print advertisement to introduce your business or product and/or to announce some kind of activity to the public? Then, you have to consider the some pointers we have for you here on how to make a successful print ad and avoid costly problems in channeling out your printed message to your target audience. There are several fundamental principles that you need to review befo. . .

Internet Marketing

Is internet marketing something for you? Do you dream about working at home where your kids are, where you feel you should be? Internet marketing can promise this and so much more. But, tread lightly and do your research before jumping into the world of Internet marketing.While many people feel that internet marketing is all a scam, simply stated, this is false. There are quality companies . . .

A Simple 8 Step Formula For Testing Your Headlines

I am going to let you in on a secret? The successful entrepreneurs are not successful because they know things that you don’t know. They are successful because they TEST every advertising campaign they embark on first before they start spending "big" money on effective forms of newsletter and ezine ads.Ezine AdsPlacing ezine ads is one of the most effective form of advertising on the Internet t. . .

Secrets to Writing Powerful Press Releases

Using press releases for marketing purposes has become increasingly popular lately.There has been an increase of firms springing up online offering optimized press release services for individuals or firms wanting to get the word out about their web sites, newsletters, products or services.Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if constructed properly. Learning to write a p. . .

10 Way to Improve Your Sales

Note! This article may be republished in its entirety as long as the Toolbox information is not removed. 1. Determine your current situation. How are you currently positioned in the market? How do you compare to the competition? Where would you like to be in a Year or in five years and how would you like to get there? Or more appropriately how can you get there, as it is not always the way that. . .

Marketing In A Virtual World

Before the Internet, small business owners like yourself were usually limited to a local market -resorting to expensive advertising and brochures, direct mail, cold-calling, networking at the local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary. You hoped customers found you through word- of- mouth or a Yellow Pages ad.Today, you can work with a consultant, a financial planner, or a business coach across the co. . .

Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Leads for Your Small Bus...

Do you ever wonder if you could be doing a better job marketing your small business or professional service firm? Successfully marketing a small business is hard work. There are several key skills required to consistently develop new business that you, as a small business owner, must master in order to succeed.The first skill you need to have is the ability to regularly generate qualified leads. . .

Top Ten Ways of Why and How to Write your Book's Sales Le...

Authors/publishers are great at getting their books written. But after the initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down. To counter this make sure your print or ebook will keep on selling from the first day, the first year, even for life. Count on this being a two to three- year project to become well known. Write a short sales letter for each book.Whether you have a web site or not, you can wri. . .

What's Missing From Your Marketing?

Holly called from Anchorage, Alaska looking for ideas on ways to increase advertising s.ales. She provides live traffic reports from her plane to six radio stations and wanted help selling the 15-second advertising spots she reads during the traffic reports.John called from Boston, Massachusetts for ideas on how to market his new product. He wants companies like Black and Decker to license, pro. . .

How Professionals Everywhere Are Gaining New Clients Thro...

You might call it the new gold rush for professionals… because all it takes is five dollars and only five minutes and anybody can advertise their business on the world’s most popular search engine Google. Ordinary folks from around the globe, from those in insurance sales to web design, are now able to gain new clients whenever they want, anytime they want… …Simply by tapping into the thousands. . .

Guaranteed Ways to Build Up Your Ezine List

Want your ezine list to catch fire and really start to fill up? Jenna Glatzer took her own list from the hundreds all the way to 75,000 in 7 years by simple, steady marketing, and using many of these techniques. (Jenna bought only 4000 opt-in names along the way.) Here are some tips we provided, and some I've pulled from my own experience, building my list for The Joy Letter to 17,000 over five. . .

Sage Advice from a Marketing Expert!

An international hair-cutting chain opened a new store directly across the street from the small town’s only barbershop owned and operated by a man affectionately known to the locals as ‘ol’Joe’. Joe and his barbershop were fixtures on Main Street for over twenty-eight years where he had enjoyed the privilege of trimming the hair on every man and boy in the community. Life was good for ol’Joe b. . .

Are You Risking The Relationship for the Sale -- And Then...

Losing a sale can be disheartening, especially if you lose it for reasons you aren't even aware of.Traditional selling approaches tell us that sales are usually lost because of some element -- price, features, benefits -- having to do with our product or service.So, when we sell, we naturally focus on what we're selling because we feel we have to differentiate our product or service so prospect. . .

Business Card Design - How to Stand out and Get Noticed

One of the most powerful, yet over looked weapons in your marketing arsenal is your business card. If designed properly this little 3 x 2.5 piece of paper will not only let people know how to contact you it will also tell them why they should contact you. In order to be effective and get you more Business your business card must stand out, and get noticed.How a distinctive business card resulte. . .

Top Ten Ways of Why and How to Write your Book's Sales Le...

Authors/publishers are great at getting their books written. But after the initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down. To counter this make sure your print or ebook will keep on selling from the first day, the first year, even for life. Count on this being a two to three- year project to become well known. Write a short sales letter for each book.Whether you have a web site or not, you can wri. . .

Copy SoapNet and Make Money

Whether you want to admit it or not, soap operas may hold the key to your home business success. This article includes a few home and small business principles I learned while watching SoapNet.Be really, really good looking. I don’t know if you’ve had this experience, but every time I turn on SoapNet I feel overweight, ugly, and hopelessly average. There is no way I could ever compete with the . . .

An Often Overlooked Secret of Selling

This could be the single most important secret you ever learn about marketing. I know it was for me. I probably heard this particular gem of wisdom a few dozen times over the course of several years before I really 'got' it. And when I did, it changed my life. This one secret is at the root of *all* marketing success - and failure - whether online or offline. Grasping it will *greatly* accelera. . .

Blueprint of Online Success

I'm going to introduce you to what is potentially the most valuable strategy you're ever going to learn about Internet Marketing, or even business in general. Once you grasp this concept and make it your own, your marketing life will never be the same again.And, you're going to wonder why this simple idea, which is so incredibly powerful and immediately useful, is not taught as part of every In. . .

Infopreneur - Overlooked Golden Opportunity

What it takes to be an infopreneur on the internet.If you like to teach, enjoying writing and write well, and have or can get access to a body of knowledge that other people are willing to pay good money for, then you could be best served by getting into the information marketing business.Notice the three qualities you need to have for the info marketing business to work for you:Quality #1 - 'Y. . .

Your Book is a Business

Thinking of your book as a business will help you produce more sales. How do you do that?Think like a businessperson, not an author. Once the final draft is written, you're no longer an author. You're an entrepreneur with a product to sell, and it's critical that you start thinking that way. Instead of spending your time on editing and proofreading, you've got to invest your time in marketing . . .

Filling Internet Potholes

How do you find products that will make you successful online? Here are three simple steps to teach you how.You can be the person in the game of making real money if you'll follow this simple method...The most successful marketers in the world are all good at one thing: observing the obvious.In fact, coming up with winning product ideas is no more complicated than fixing holes in a road. Here's. . .

Your Book and a Great Website

One of the most overlooked and easiest ways to get your book into the hands of the people you wrote it for, is having a great website.Build a great Website. I can't state this often enough or strongly enough: you must have an attractive, easy to use Website that lets your visitors do four things: Buy your book. Register and download sample chapters or get your e-newsletter. E-mail friends about. . .