Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

The Domino Theory

Most of us know what dominos are and many of us have seen those amazing demonstrations when a massive number of dominos are set in a somewhat magical array and the creator pushes one domino over and they all fall down in harmony one after the other. It's called the domino theory and if you do it just right it works and looks spectacular. Wouldn't it be great if online businesses worked thi. . .

Who Is Your Market and Where Are They?

An important part of planning your business is to know who will use your products/services.The vast majority of small businesses will rely on their communities for sales. It is in your best interests to get to know everything you can about your community, or the people who will use yor business.Please don't spend advertising dollars on people who don't want or need your products/services. First. . .

Marketing

* Want to get more signups for your newsletter, ezine, downline club, optin list? * Want to make more sales for that special product or service you are offering or, get more paying members for that new program you just joined? Write an article and submit it... 'But I can't write a lick', you say. Well, read on because I'm going to show you how you can write an article easily and quickly. Pi. . .

The Five Rules Of Influential Web Writing

Building a professional reputation requires a campaign founded on your words: the positions you endorse, the motions you advocate, the accuracy of your vision. Writing for the Web can either establish your expert credibility or destroy it.When your business requires powerful words online, follow these five rules for promoting the message that will serve you well in the digital world:Stay on mes. . .

Offer Package Deals To Increase Profits And Sales

An effective way to increase your profits and sales is to bundle many products or services together into one package. This gives people more reasons to buy your products and services. People also have come to believe package deals are a better value. You want all the products or services to be closely related. For example: if you're selling a computer you could add in software, hardware, comput. . .

Getting Web Site Traffic in Less Than One Day

Every web site owner has wanted to drive additional traffic to their web site – and of course we’re all in a big hurry to do it. But have you ever thought about the fact that any webmaster can drive great qualified traffic to their site in less than one day? That’s right – you can literally set up an entire traffic driving campaign and see the traffic coming to your site even in the same day! H. . .

What Does Your Business Card Say?

Business cards are the most underutilized and misunderstood marketing tool in business. Many people spend the bucks for cards and don't make an effort to get them into the hands of those who can hire them or buy from them. Everyday people throw away stacks of undelivered business cards. Money down the dumper. Your goal is to design and use a memorable card and get so many delivered you have to . . .

What Is the Most Effective Way to Advertise?

Bob from Ottawa wrote to ask, "What is the most effective way to advertise locally at a friendly price. Thinking of postcards..." Bob has an unusual business. He paints murals on the walls of children's bedrooms. While his occupation is unique, his question about the best way to spend advertising dollars is not. I regularly get the same query from realtors, executive recruiters, and other servi. . .

Keyword Research Made Simple!

Keyword Research is the first task in optimizing your web site and pay-per-click campaign. Here you need to know what keywords your target group is using. Your keywords are the words and phrases that people might use to find your products, brands, services, or information, via search engines.Step 1: Keyword Identification The first step in your keyword research is to identify keywords. Keyword . . .

Use Targeted Decorating To Get A Higher Price For Your House

This article will show you how to sell your home quicker, get a higher price for it by using smart decorating techniques. The secret is to make your home feel like "my home", for the buyer. When a potential buyer walks into your house, she is wondering if this house will "feel" like home after they are settled in. The problem is that If you are going to decorate your house so it will "feel like. . .

Keeping It Real: The Only Copywriting Trick That Works

Much of today's accepted copywriting wisdom comes from old books written for a different, quieter world.For most of the twentieth century, widely promoting a successful message was expensive and difficult, requiring control of significant resources and substantial time commitments. Though the general public was more trusting and open to suggestion, more effort was required to reach them. Until . . .

Handling Questions with Authority

At some point in your presentation you will be expected to answer questions from your audience. They might have some burning questions that need to be answered before they buy into your message. Handling their questions with authority can make the difference for you between a successful presentation and a waste of time. This is the opportunity for the audience to test your knowledge on the topi. . .

Powerful Direct Marketing Numbers

Direct Marketing works! Why? It works because it's personal. It carries a message, answers questions and gets orders. Direct Response Marketing works because it is "conversation in writing". It works because, no matter what you have heard, read or believe ... most people look forward to personal communication. They like being treated as a person - as an individual.So, if Direct Response Marketi. . .

How to Network Effectively to Secure Freelance Work

When freelancers ask me what type of marketing is the easiest, costs the least, and yields the best results, I don't hesitate to recommend networking. Networking satisfies two primary prerequisites to secure clients. These two prerequisites are: Creating rapport. Networking has the ability to create strong rapport. When you have rapport you and the prospect feel at ease with each other, and con. . .

Promotional Vehicles

It is difficult to miss a Hummer, but how many companies could afford to run one to promote their business? The answer is, of course, very few and it is doubtful whether GM's overgrown offspring would be the most suitable promotional vehicle for many of them. What then are the alternatives and how could businesses benefit from using a vehicle as an advertising medium? What is a promotional vehi. . .

The Added Effectiveness of Promotional Products in Your M...

Recently, I stopped by a new car wash in my town and while preparing to insert my six quarters into the machine to start the cleaning process, the owner came over to me and thanked me for stopping in. He also handed me a pen that had the name and address of the car wash imprinted on it. The fact that the owner was going around passing out free promotional pens to patrons impressed me. I stop. . .

A Dozen Tips for Writing Good Articles

With the explosion of the Internet there is an ever-growing list of websites where you can publish articles. Very few sites will pay you for your content, so why would you want to do go to all this work? For publicity reasons, to drive traffic to your website, and to increase your search-engine rankings, that's why! Here's how it works:You write an article about something that is within your ar. . .

Does your Internet Marketing Pull?

"Pull Marketing" has always been, and will continue to be the most effective internet marketing strategy at your disposal. Allow me to explain. Most marketing efforts can be placed into one of three categories:1. "Push Marketing" or advertising basically screams at the viewer. "Hey Look at ME, Buy My Stuff NOW!" Because we are exposed to this type of marketing thousands of times a day, we've le. . .

Customer Lifetime Value - The Key To Maximizing Your Prof...

The greatest asset to your business is your Customer, specifically, your Customer Lifetime Value. In my many years in Sales and Marketing, I've met many CEOs and business owners who don't have much clue as to what Customer Lifetime Value is, much less its importance and the impact it has on their bottomline. To most of them, what matters most is to increase revenue by continuously acquiring new. . .

How "Secure" is YOUR Web Site?

A few days ago, an incident happened to me that has prompted the writing of this article. I’m sure that if this is an issue for me and one of my Web sites, it’s an issue for many others. With my personal Web site, I use a nationally known Internet Host provider to host it. They’ve hosted my site for years, and I can’t really complain about their services (except that you can rarely find a real . . .

Customer Excellence Returns to Web Site Hosting!

For those of you with Web sites, you probably know what a "host" is. It's a company that provides a location, or address, on the Internet where your Web site resides. In other words, just like a physical business needs an address, so does a Web site. You can't have a Web site and just "stick it up" on the Web. Unless you want to set up your own server, you have to go through a hosting company w. . .

Top 10 Marketing Pitfalls

If you want to make it BIG in Internet Marketing you need avoid some common mistakes. Here's a list of the top ten Pitfalls that catch out beginner Marketers (and many established ones too!).The problem is you don't realise you have fallen into one of these holes until someone points it out. Marketers tend to be stubborn and suffer from tunnel vision - hopefully these may help you kick a few ba. . .

Not Common But Effective Free Marketing

We all know the many "free" traffic producing avenues. We all know about free classified ads, traffic exchanges, web site submitters, banner exchanges, link exchanges, but how many of you have ever thought of this FREE traffic avenue! In the past I have tried, I think, every free method of advertising, and have also had some success with the variety of free advertising resources. I have also tr. . .

Schedule telemarketing time for more success

Telephone canvassing, or cold calling, is the practice of sitting down with a long list of potential prospects you've never met and telephoning them, one at a time, to learn which of them needs what you sell and then arranging to sell it to them. Believe me, nobody likes telephone cold calling. Salesmen don't like it because they perceive that cold calls are to unfriendly, unkind strangers who . . .

How to increase the ROI on your PPC campaigns

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is one of the most cost effective (and just plain effective) ways to get laser-targeted traffic to your website. For just pennies per click you can have your offer placed in front of only those people who are truly interested in what you have to offer.There is a problem with PPC however. Return On Investment (ROI) can be quite low if your ad campaigns aren’t desi. . .

Sell with KISS, as in "Keep it Simple, Stupid"

(From “Smart Marketing – What big companies practice and you should learn about marketing branding and business development” by Stan Rosenzweig).One of the most useful and fundamental communications lessons that has been repeated to me over the years, ever since my earliest days of formal business training, is the fabled, famous, and fabulous “KISS” formula.In my college marketing class we were. . .

Creating A Web Page That Sells - A Look At Graphics and C...

This is a response to a client that we have been working with, and a website they are building that will sell an eBook on "Hair Styling Tips". We thought the information was important and relevant enough to include in this months newsletter.==CREATING A WEBSITE THAT SELLS==The website that we'll be dealing with sells an eBook based on hair styling tips, but these concepts should translate very . . .

The Latest Innovation in Search Engine Algorithms . . . U...

For years, the search engines have continued to introduce new factors into their algorithms to make their search results more relevant and to keep savvy search engine marketers from "cracking the system." We've seen many ranking factors come and go in importance. For example, years ago, META tags were the key to success, or so we thought. Stick in META tags that were loaded with your keyword ph. . .

The Future Of Email Newsletter

What are you doing with the Spam you receive? I'm sure you are not happy receiving it just like none between us . You have installed already a good Spam filter or you let your ISP to select your Spam and you receive it already into your "Spam mail folder" where from you can delete it easily. But you as entrepreneur should carefully observe your feelings doing this activity because I'm s. . .

How to Set (and Get) the Right Prices

Which product feature of yours is every buyer keen to know about? Which sales tool closes prospects instantly? Your price. Yet, despite the far-reaching consequences of a company’s pricing, I’m surprised at how little time small business owners spend on it. Here are a few ways to bring pricing to the forefront of your marketing plan. Price is a promiseLet’s say you’re shopping for cereal and c. . .

10 Ways to Exceed Your Client's Expectations Every Time!

The following tips are just a few of the things I do as examples of setting my service apart from the crowd. In general, the weakest areas in the Internet Marketing and Web Development business, are "Customer Communications" and "Customer Service.” Set your effort towards learning to deliver "excellence" in both customer service and communication, and you'll have distinct advantages over many o. . .

Boost Your Selling Power With Your Call-To-Action Phrases

Look at your marketing material. Now, is there something missing? If you’re missing a phrase or paragraph requesting your customer’s business, your copy is lacking an essential component. You can’t assume that your customers will know why they should act, how they should, or when they should act. Still unsure of what “call-to-action” is. Look at late night infomercials. Notice how they emphasiz. . .

Lazy Man’s Way To Get Customers

No matter how big or small your business is and no matter how high or low sales are right now, there is something you need, badly. And that is a selling system. All firms are careful to have elaborate accounting, production and transport systems. And yet there is no system to handle the most important aspect of all – sales. Nothing moves until a sale is made, remember? Systems makes work easier. . .

7 Ways to Become an Obvious Expert in Your Field

Obvious Experts enjoy a compelling advantage over their competition; they’re the first ones thought of when there’s a challenge to be addressed. Obvious Experts are resources whose advice and expertise are welcomed, trusted, and enthusiastically recommended. When you become an Obvious Expert, prospects come to you pre-sold on your competence. This speeds sales and avoids pricing issues based on. . .

Pay-Per-Clicks . . . One Way to Boost Traffic to Your Web...

One of the ways to boost traffic to your Web site is by purchasing keywords from one of the pay-per-click search engines or directories. But with literally hundreds of choices, how do you pick the pay- per-click engine with the best visibility that has the potential of giving you a higher return on your investment? And, just as important, what are some strategies for working with the pay-per-. . .

“Google Friendly” Solutions to Graphic-Intense Sites

We all know that the search engines can’t “see” or “read” the graphics on our pages. We also know that we need to provide text on a page, so the spiders will have something to crawl and index. After all, we have to prove to the search engines without a shadow of a doubt that our pages are about what we say or claim they’re about if we want to achieve top rankings. That’s why I believe so strong. . .

In Sickness And In Health

I recently drove by a business that had a sign out front that read "Closed due to illness". This meant that the cash flow would stop until the owner was able to return to work. Even worse, the business would not be able to generate revenue for the owner when it was most needed. Take the following steps today to ensure that your business will still be working when you are not able to. 1. AUTOMA. . .

5 Successful Tips For Marketing Your Website

This could be the most amazing article to ever be released as you read this please keep in mind that the tips I am about to share with you are from my experience with my own successful website HaileysComet Weekly Ezine. (1)List Building: One of the most POWERFUL ways to promote any website is to have your own list to promote with. This is something that you have heard many times and it is . . .

How to Convert Telephone Calls into Powerful Presentations

You can multiply your ability to persuade by 400%, whether your audience is 1 or 100. Web-based presentations add a visual element to teleconferences. Instead of just talking to prospects, you can simultaneously show them and tell them. According to a Wharton Business School study, this dual mode communication makes your message up to four times more effective than using just your voice.Presen. . .

Keeping your Business Alive

As long as you eat and breathe you will stay alive. But is that really living? In a crisis that may be enough. If your business is in crisis - deal with it. But the secret to keeping your business alive is growth. That is the litmus test of keeping your business alive. Look at nature. Everything that is alive continues to grow. Growing your business is the best way of keeping it alive in the lo. . .

10 Eye Popping, Jaw Dropping Ad Copy Secrets

1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Write the ad on a piece of paper, scan it and publish the ad on your web page. Adding a personal touch will always increase your sales. 2. Publish a list of famous and respected customers who have bought from you on your a copy. People will think that if these people bought from you, they should also trust your business and purchase . . .

Harvesting Leads from Yahoo Groups

If you own an internet business or you're involved in an affliate program and you're having trouble getting traffic to your website or gateway, consider Yahoo Groups as an option to expand your visibility. You can sign up for dozens of these groups tonight--some which have subscriber bases of over 10,000 people--and then submit your ad to them immediately. Before you begin, you'll need to deter. . .

Calls-To-Action: Making Them Fit Makes All the Difference

It was going so well, so what happened? Many copywriters get off to a wonderful start: The headline is compelling, the body copy is benefit-filled, but then comes the call-to-action and the whole thing falls apart. Why? It could be a dozen different reasons, but one of the most common I’ve seen is that the call-to-action doesn’t fit the target audience.Call-to-action statements (those final . . .

The Power Of Viral Marketing

You certainly know by now that the term "viral marketing" is not just another dot-com cliché. Quite the contrary, it describes the incredible, unmatched power of the Web to promote your business by marrying email to the traditional concept of "word-of-mouth." Viral marketing, the concept of making each customer a marketer by encouraging word-of-mouth referrals, is indisputably one of the most . . .

Using Demographic Data For Your Direct Mail Marketing Cam...

Targeting high potential markets with a direct mail marketing campaign can be a very affordable and efficient way to get new customers for most companies and entrepreneurs but how can you find a way to reach those high potential markets? Using demographic data could be your solution.In the United States, demographic data is easy to get through the US Census Bureau website. Although, understandi. . .

How Can Multimedia Work For You?

Multimedia here and multimedia there. Is it just a flashy thing you don't need or the reason why your competitors are getting ahead? Today's reality is that people live on a fast pace so their time is important. They watch tv going from one channel to the other, get a satellite dish so they can watch their favorite show on a different time schedule after putting the kids to bed, go through mail. . .

Ten Reasons Why Online Surveys are the Future Of Marketing

Customers are tough cookies. They're extremely media aware and increasingly cynical – it's a clever marketeer who can get under their skin. Online surveys reinvent the traditional format and offer a unique way of interaction – all the benefits of the internet without the programming. Here are ten reasons why they may be the silver bullet marketeers' need, complete with examples supplied by Mart. . .

Online Marketing Dont's

There are over 200 million people worldwide connected to the Internet, with over 64 million regular users in America. It’s no wonder that such a vast audience has made online marketing one of the fastest growing industries in the world. However, half the trick of conducing successful ecommerce is finding a way to get people to your site in the first place—hence online advertising. Internet. . .

5 reasons why participating in forums can benefit your bu...

Did you know that by simply participating in various forums and posting your various views and ideas, can potentially bring new growth and life to your online business?Let’s look at some of the positive aspects that forum participation can bring to your business.1. We are all looking for traffic to our websites and if we can get it for free with little effort, that’s even better. Did you know t. . .

Attention-Grabbing Fixes that Make Your Yellow Page Ad Le...

Stand Out in Ways that Matter to Directory Users A Yellow Page directory presents a difficult challenge for advertisers. All the competitors are packed together, within the space of a few pages. Each ad within the directory category screams "Notice me!" so insistently, they blend into an muffled chorus. It's not easy for one to stand out with a clear, distinctive voice - like a soloist above th. . .