Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

How To Ruin Your Business

If you're like the rest of us, you've spent a lot of time trying different things to make your online business come together. There are countless methods of conducting a viable marketing career, but there are also as many ways to destroy one as well.In any endeavor, there are costs. You need to weigh the costs before even getting started. Oh, you know about up front capital, advertising costs, . . .

At Last - A Plain English Guide to Internet Marketing

Have you ever been horrified and intimidated at the convoluted, jargon-reliant information about Internet marketing available on the Net? Often it results in many companies becoming confused and therefore reluctant to put into practice what would be a valuable and simple business resource when understood and applied correctly.Market Research consultant for Inteltab, Gordon Goodfellow, who is al. . .

How To Find Deep Discount Pro Online Marketing Tools

You can't row a boat without an oar or build a house without a hammer. And, you can't build an online business without essential Internet marketing tools. Sadly, thousands try (unsuccessfully) everyday. Those who do use online tools are generally paying far too much for them because they haven't yet looked into the alternative. I'll tell you about that in a minute, but first... What's the most . . .

Secrets To Buying Without Being Sold

Have you ever asked yourself, now how did I let that guy sell me on something that I had no real need for at the time? Do you ever get a sneaking suspicion that your probably not going to really use whatever it is that your buying in the way that it was presented? If this is true which is often the case, then why in the heck do we give up our hard earned money for something that until we heard . . .

Common Exhibit Marketing Mistakes: Ten Tips on How to Avo...

The key to great exhibiting is marketing. But marketing is a very inexact science that leaves room for a multitude of errors to occur. The following are 10 of the most common marketing mistakes that exhibitors often make. Learn to avoid them and you will increase your chances for a successful tradeshow.1. Have A Proper Exhibit Marketing PlanHaving both a strategic exhibit marketing and tactical. . .

Top Ten Tips for Leveraging Conferences for Big SUCCESS!

As I am preparing for my attendance to the CoachVille's Third Annual Coaching Conference, I have been considering how I can make the most of my conference attendance. These ten tips will support you in leveraging those conference you will attend in the future and for creating an unforgettable experience! 1. Connect, connect, connect! Some of the most valuable time spent at a conference can be t. . .

How To Bully Your Prospects Into Buying Your Product or S...

Selling is a tough job, and sometimes you may need to appear tough in order to get the sale.As a salesperson (whether in person or in print) you don’t have to appear to the customer as being needy of the sale. Many times, the opposite can work quite effectively, that is, to make the customer think of purchasing your product or service as a special privilege.Here are a number of ways that you ca. . .

How to Brief a Marketing Agency

A new client recently emailed us a brief here at Mano Design. It was very brief brief indeed. All it said was, "Can you write me some copy for a postcard?" Resisting the urge to write, "Dear Customers. Having a wonderful time - wish you were here. Love, The Client," we asked him for a more detailed brief and explained why it was necessary.Why Write a Brief? Even with something as simple as a sm. . .

5 Powerful Tips To Beat The Biggest Problem ALL Marketers...

I bet you can't tell me... the single biggest problem facing Every Direct Marketer, new and old. It's not generating traffic, nor building an O'pt-In list, nor is it finding products to market and it's not a lack of Cash. You can buy traffic, you can buy O'pt-In list members, you can make or buy products and you can even borrow Cash. The biggest single problem for any Direct Marketer is How To. . .

Ten Tips for Affiliate Marketers Using Google AdWords

One of the hottest ways to sell affiliate products is using Google AdWords. Follow these tips and strategies to maximize your earning potential.1. Seek out affiliate products that generate fifteen dollars or more in commission. Anything in the twenty-dollar range works well. Paying for clicks can add up quickly and when you do make a sell, it should be profitable.2. The vendor must present a. . .

Is It Legal? - Indecent Naming With Tradition

When Mitsubishi launched a new car with the name „Pajero“ on the Spanish market, it became obvious very soon that the name chosen was not optimal because it immediately was the subject of jokes due to its homophony with a Spanish expression related to masturbation.The same happened to Ford’s model „Pinto“(Portuguese for male genital) in Brazil where it was quickly renamed into „Corcel“(horse).T. . .

Basic Brochure Design In Two

You may already know some of the many different tips and techniques on designing your brochures. Based from what you have learned and followed, you might be thinking that you have the perfect type of brochure for your business.But do you know the characteristics that your brochures have? These characteristics are the factors that make up these cards even before you put all the styles and techni. . .

RSS the Future of Internet Marketing - Part 3 of 4

Prompt delivery of your Internet content to end-users The first step in marketing your product is to get your content delivered to end-users. Only then can you communicate to them, sell your products and build lasting relationships with them. As we have already seen, some Internet information delivery channels fail in their purpose as in the case of e-mails. This in turn throws most of our publ. . .

Keyword Selection For Website Marketing

Keyword selection is the first step for writing meta tags or the text of your website. If you don’t select your keywords wisely and carefully, you would not be able to attract the desired traffic to your website. Simply having meta tags in your website does not guarantee more website visitors or high rankings in the search engines. You need to base these meta tags on carefully selected and targ. . .

Raised Letter or Full Color Business Cards?

Raised Letter and Full Color. These are the Big Two to consider when you are searching around for business cards that will best represent the image you want to portray for your business.The difference between Raised Letter and Full Color printing is in how the ink is applied to the card stock. Thermography is the type of printing that produces ink that stands up off the page slightly. When you . . .

6 Tips For Affiliates-Choose Your Merchant Wisely

Affiliate marketing has become increasingly popular in recent years. Affiliate programs offer merchants the opportunity to employ vast armies of sales people who only get paid for the results they achieve. The rewards for affiliates are high too, and the skilled affiliate marketer can make many thousands of dollars a month. This win- win situation has lead to an explosion in the number of affi. . .

The Humble Postcard Is Making A Comeback

If you were a contestant on Jeopardy and the answer was "Postcards," what would the question be?How about:"What is one of the most incredibly effective, yet under-utilized methods for driving qualified buyers to your business or website?"Many businesses think postcards are a little old-fashioned for this era of Internet Marketing, but nothing could be further from the truth.Online marketers are. . .

Writing Killer Press Release for Massive Publicity

Online marketers are always on the lookout for promotional channels that are novel and are yet to be saturated with the unfortunate stigma of marketing abuse. Different people are constantly trying to find new ways by which they could promote their online enterprises. One of the newer, and most effective, marketing strategies are press releases. Press releases are informative and objective p. . .

Check Yahoo Mail: Get Free Targeted Traffic Like Yahoo

This article tells you the methods used by yahoo mail site to get free targeted traffic, and how you can adopt the same method to get tons of free targeted traffic to your new or already existing business.Without any doubt, yahoo mail site is getting a lot of online traffic today, with about 2 millions visits per day and number 2 ranking in alexa survey, then you know that this site is a clear . . .

Pay Per Click Marketing - Does It Work For Industrial Com...

I discovered pay per click marketing in late 2001, launching my first campaign with Google Adwords. At the time, I was managing a search engine optimization (SEO) project for an industrial controls manufacturer and immediately recognized the potential of this new channel.I opened a Google Adwords account, compiled a list of keywords, and developed a small group of text ads. Within five minutes . . .

The 10 Essential Elements You Must Include In Every Offer

Before you begin writing any e-mail promotion , it’s important that you sit downAnd clearly map out your offer. Do not skip this critical step.You want to make sure that you have all the details of your offer sitting in front ofyou before you start writing , because you’re literally going to be plugging this information into a formula. And if you want it to flow together nicely, you needbe foc. . .

The Niche Jerk

Here is the first rule anyone learns who is even remotely concerned with marketing ..."Sell the sizzle and not the steak."In other words, an appeal to what excites the consumer is much more effective than the properties of the product. This is not necessarily deceptive. In many cases, products can be so similar that the only real difference among them is in their perception, ie- 'sizzle,' by th. . .

Profiles of the Powerful: Advertising Exec Mary Austen

When you spend time with Mary Stengel Austen, you come away with one feeling. "That woman is affable." After thinking it over, you might find other words which describe her: smart, realistic, enthusiastic, tough minded, determined, articulate, strategic, focused. But you'll always include affable in your memory of her because that's what she is.Perhaps she has to be that way because of the two. . .

Are Promotional Items Right For Your Business?

If you're a small business owner, then you know how difficult advertising can be. The most difficult decision is what to spend the money allocated toward marketing and advertising on. Do you spend money on a billboard or spring for some radio airtime? If so what kind of station most represents your target audience, soft adult contemporary or urban R&B? Should you buy some on screen time on c. . .

Preshow Planning Equals Success : 10 Essential Questions ...

The early bird gets the worm. The same holds true for trade shows -- the most successful exhibitors are those who start planning at least 12 months prior to the next event. Exhibiting requires a great deal of time, money, and personnel. Make the most of your resources by utilizing them at the show that best meets your marketing needs.But how do you know what show is right for you? Here’s a . . .

Creating Your Own Marketing Product

There are thousands of marketing tool kits available online for a whole range of prices, but what if you are not interested in buying someone else’s tool kit and are more interested in creating your own internet marketing product or e-book to sell. Well, there are plenty of ways to going about doing this.First, you should have considerable information that you can easily compile into a product . . .

The Hidden Use of Reciprocity as a Powerful Persuasion Te...

How would you like a quick and easy Persuasion Technique to get just about anyone to feel they "owe" you? Imagine what a persuasion technique this would mean for a sales call, a sales letter (yes you can do in it writing too), a negotiation, business discussions, or a situation where you are trying to get someone to do something. There is a simple way you can create this sense of obligation in . . .

20 Major Marketing Mistakes - No 1. Failing To Understand...

A surprisingly high number of people who are new to the world of online marketing believe that it is a simple art. If only this were true!I’m not saying that they believe that all they need to do is find themselves a product, build a website, plug-in an order system, place an advertisement or two and then wait for the money to roll in, but many people simply fail to appreciate the significance. . .

Why Market With Postcards?

You are overlooking a highly effective and very low-cost sales tool if your marketing activity does not include postcards.Here are some of the many reasons postcards should be a part of your marketing program.1. Postcards work for any kind of business.Postcards can produce all kinds of sales activity for all types of businesses. For example, they can produce web site traffic for online marketer. . .

Trade Show Giveaways: What Works

You have your trade show exhibit ready to go, the trade show booth is set up, and your product is a winner. Now all you need are the customers. Standing room only, please. Right? Well, for most trade show exhibitors, attracting customers is just as important as the product they are selling. Enter trade show giveaways! Trade show giveaways are promotionals tools (items, handouts, marketing . . .

Do FREE Classified Ad Sites really work?

The question is…DO FREE CLASSIFIED AD SITES REALLY WORK? The answer is yes and no. I know that is not the answer you wanted to hear, but it is the truth.Let me try to explain further. All marketing is numbers! The more advertising methods you are using in the market place, ultimately the website visitors you will have and the more sales you will make.With that said, a few years ago when we . . .

Make your Brochure Stay on Top

Why do you need to have the best brochures? The answer of course is yes without any doubts. You need to leave your customers with a lasting impression that will keep them hanging with your services. Again you will ask, why do you need to have a brochure for your company and ad? You need it to have it so that you will leave your customers with a certain brand name and style. This is significant . . .

Using Offline Advertising To Promote Your Online Business

A lot of online based businesses forget about offlineadvertising. It is important to combine offline andonline advertising together in your marketing campaign.You can market offline more effectively by targetingpeople that actually have access to the internet. In allyour advertising you want to include your web siteaddress, e-mail or autoresponder addresses, and thee-mail address to subscribe t. . .

Linked In: Basic Marketing Blunders

Like me, have you received email invitations like these? I'm using LinkedIn to keep up with my professional contacts and help them with introductions. Since you are one of the people I recommend, I wanted to invite you to access my network on LinkedIn. Basic membership is free, and it takes less than a minute to sign up and join my network. I've received well over 35 invitations like this, w. . .

Why Postcards Printing Services is Considered the Best

Most people think that postcards printing services are not useful at all. They would also think that postcards are just a waste because results are not that vague. But did they know that it doesn’t need to be obvious in order to see if it really works?The outcome of postcards may not be that broad because postcards are privately sent right at your mailbox. If a company keeps a top secret or a n. . .

Unique Catalog Designs

Through the years, catalog printing services has continued to expand with their services. There are a lot of companies and individuals who have realized its importance and have switched to using catalogs to showcase their needs and personal means to communicate with the customers. This has been considered a smart strategy because we all know that catalogs are very unique in spreading out their . . .

Internet Marketing: 10 Deadly Sins of a Poorly Designed W...

Face it. There are tons of websites out there but very few that actually pull their weight and get results. Effective website design is not easy. If it was, every business that put up a website would realize enormous success. It takes many different skill sets to pull together a killer website.That being said, here is a list of website design sins for your edification. Consider these deepl. . .

A FREE endless supply of the Best Multi-Level Marketing L...

If you’ve ever been involved in MLM, Multi-Level Marketing or Network Marketing (all the same really), what’s the one thing you run out of after 3-6 months in the business?It’s warm leads right? I know, I’ve been there. Of course it makes sense to first talk to people you know (warm market) since they would most likely listen, perhaps buy your product and even join your organization. If you l. . .

The Best Brochure Printing Company to Handle your Services

If brochures are your ideal choice, you should identify what you need to come up with the best brochures that will sell out completely. Of course the most vital is to find the best brochure company that can handle all your brochure printing.In choosing the company, it should have some deliberation in brochure printing. Some companies offer different types of printing but it would be suitable to. . .

Marketing: Your Brand Is About More Than Just Good Looks

First let’s clear up a common misconception of what a “Brand” really is. A brand is more than just your company’s name or logo. It’s more than just a particular type of product you offer such as Q-tips brand of cotton swabs. It’s more than just the look of the packaging of your product. In a nutshell your ”Brand” is the culmination of everything your prospect’s 5 senses can pick up on about. . .

The Elements of an Effective Business Card

Most of the biggest deals in the business world begin with the exchange of business cards. Everything starts from a good introduction, customer maintenance and customer acquisition. Business cards printing services have continued to grow and enhance because it has proven that the services are equally helpful and useful in gaining a promotion. The little cards that you send out are useful to bri. . .

Effective Email Marketing

Email marketing is getting tougher everyday. Due to the result of blatent SPAM techniques, email markting has been given a bad name. It has such a bad name that the US legistration has passed CAN/SPAM laws against it.This is despite the fact that spyware and other forms of maliscous attacks on people's computers and personal identity is at an all time high.At Lifeline Leads we are out to take . . .

Trade Show Giveaways: What Works

You have your trade show exhibit ready to go, the trade show booth is set up, and your product is a winner. Now all you need are the customers. Standing room only, please. Right?Well, for most trade show exhibitors, attracting customers is just as important as the product they are selling. Enter trade show giveaways! Trade show giveaways are promotionals tools (items, handouts, marketing materi. . .

Sell Yourself by Sharing Your Success Stories

Q. “You’ve asked me to come up with success stories. But I’m a consultant. I go into companies and help senior managers develop relationships with employees and customers. I’m a great listener. How do I translate these skills into copy?”A. Open-ended results are not uncommon.I ran into this challenge with my own consulting sites. When I looked up benefits, all I could find was “more-better-fast. . .

Writing Effective Email Newsletter

We all know the importance of having an excellent follow-up system integrated into our online business. A follow-up system is capable of securing for our web pages recurring visitors, and eventually, sustainable traffic. Additionally, a follow-up system is also a great way of promoting our products via back end sales. Having captured the leads of past visitors would also allow us to cross-se. . .

How To Improve Your Pictures and Sell At a Higher Price o...

A picture is worth a thousand words.Nowhere else is that more true than on eBay!For example, recently two cuckoo clocks sold on eBay. One had a nice clear picture. The other had a fuzzy picturewith a dark contrasting background. The two clocks sold for vastly different prices.Can you guess which one sold for more money?Of course - the one with the nice picture! It sold for nearlydouble the pric. . .

7 Smart Ways To Magnify Your Profits

1. Write articles.Submit your articles to article directories and also get the word out about them by submitting them to article announcement lists.2. Follow up with your visitors by email.For example you could offer your visitors an ezine, an email course or an email series that shares how your product will benefit them.You could also follow up with people that reprint your articles by offerin. . .

Your E-Newsletter: The Basics

When designing your newsletter always keep in mind the amount of time you can expect your reader to spend viewing your newsletter. Everyone today is information hungry, but always in a hurry. How you display your content within your newsletter can capitalize on this assumption.What Information Should I Include in My Newsletter?Obviously this will depend on your business and the audience in whic. . .

Internet Marketing: 7 Killer Tools You Can Use On A Shoes...

When most people think of Internet marketing, they think solely of websites. Are they right or wrong? Well both. While websites are a key component of Internet marketing and in many cases are the only Internet marketing tool businesses use, they are not the “be all, end all”. They are not required for Internet marketing. However, I do highly recommend them as they are best suited to sit at. . .

Discourage Your Customers From Cherry Picking!

When I was a kid my mom made fruit salad from a can with ONE banana sliced into it. She could feed 4 people from one little can. Bring back any memories? The problem was that in each can there were only 4 little cherry halves and my Dad made sure he picked them out and ate them first! It drove me crazy!In business we tend to unknowingly encourage our customers to "cherry pick" our services. How. . .