Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

San Francisco-Based Company Introduces Pay-Per-Call Adver...

Is a phone call better than a click? Pretty soon advertisers will be able to make the final call on that question. Ad developers are pushing a new type of paid search ad dubbed "pay-per-call." The technology for pay-per-call was actually introduced in April by Ingenio, a San Francisco-based company that develops technology for delivering online ads. Five-year-old, privately held Ingenio has 90 . . .

10 Phone Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

"I hate making marketing calls. I don’t know what to say and how to say it. I’ve been assigned to find new clients and in the past 4 weeks I brought in zero new clients."Do you ever feel this way?Are you tired of being turned down?Are you frustrated by your limited success selling on the phone?Making any of the mistakes below takes the fun out of your job and can kill your sales.1. Using Push V. . .

Like it or not…You’re in SALES!

Mention the word sales or salesman and two out of three people get a little clammy under the skin. “I hate sales people and I could never do what they do!” is what many say at the mere thought of having to sell something. How wrong they are.Here is the cold hard fact: From the time you are born to the time you die, you – regardless of your profession or what you do – are in sales.Appreciate tha. . .

30 Tips for Keeping Meeting Expenses to a Minimum

Money makes the world go ‘round. And when it comes to meeting planning, money can probably get you whatever you want. However, few event planners have the luxury of an unlimited budget. Your boss may like to drink champagne on a beer budget. In other words, caution you to spend less, but expect miracles at the same time.Preparing and managing a realistic budget is serious business, but to s. . .

Create Powerful Joint Ventures Step by Step

Figure out what you are passionate about and make it your business.If you love golf, parachuting, surfing, computing, fishing , or whatever it may be, make it your business. A business that is also a hobby or pastime greatly increases the chances of enjoying getting up and wanting to go to “work “every day or every other day if you choose.Start subscribing to all the magazines, catalogs, and ne. . .

10 High Powered Ways To Magnify Your Profits

1. Give your prospects a f~ree trial of your software product, service, or let them read the first chapter or two of your informational product. Your f~ree trial or sample chapters will show your visitors that you are confident in the quality of your product and lead to more sales for you by demonstrating how valuable your product is.2. Add a bonus for purchasing your product. Provide a unique . . .

After the Speech

Usually the emphasis on making an effective speech is what you do in preparation before the presentation begins. But if you speak very much, what you do after the speech can help you become a more effective speaker.As soon as possible after the speech, write down impressions of how you felt the speech went. Answer at least two questions about the speech: What was the best part of the speech?. . .

Inside Google AdWords

For those unfamiliar with Google Adwords, they are the advertisements which appear in a table to the right side of your screen when searching Google. These are paid advertising spots where advertisers bid on keywords to determine their ads placement. The most clear benefit of the Google Adwords system is that you only pay for click throughs, so in other words, you are paying to have each visito. . .

An Approach to Advertising on the Internet

Budweiser has the frogs. McDonalds has Ronald. Goodyear has the baby. Each of these companies has used different images as a means of advertising with traditional media. Television, radio, and print ads have been extremely successful in helping companies develop a successful brand image. With the World Wide Web, however, marketing departments struggle to incorporate traditional advertising. . .

How to Get the Right Clients and Avoid the Wrong Ones

If you are like most service professionals and small business owners one of your primary concerns is generating as many leads as possible. And that may be your biggest mistake, resulting in wasting time on unqualified prospects and working with to many clients you wish you didn't have to. Bill is a financial advisor looking for clients. Working from his stack of leads he picks up the phone‘ and. . .

The Yin & Yang of Internet Marketing

Westerners believe opposites flow in a natural cycle always replacing the other. They tend to look at things as black or white, right or wrong, up or down, giving a separation and unrelated-ness in their perspective.Chinese view opposites as evolving and cycling. There is neither right nor wrong, but rather there is balance, transformation, interaction and a dependent opposition. Think of it. . .

10 Sizzling Tips For Affiliates

1. Create an infopacked mini site. Build your mini site for a specific niche audience and then choose affiliate programs specifically for that niche audience.2. Test and track your ads and promotions for your affiliate programs.Tracking and testing your ads will show you exactly which ads, promotions and affiliate programs pay off the most for you and are excellent choices for you to continue t. . .

Incorporate Humor in Your Next Speech

Some speakers say, “I could never use humor in my speech; I just don’t feel comfortable with it.” I believe that anyone can use humor and that it is a valuable tool in speaking. Appropriate humor relaxes an audience and makes it feel more comfortable with you as the speaker; humor can bring attention to the point you are making; and humor will help the audience better remember your point. It. . .

Creating a Powerful Sales Presentation

The quality of your sales presentation will often determine whether a prospect buys from you or one of your competitors. However, experience has taught me that most presentations lack pizzazz and are seldom compelling enough to motivate the other person to make a buying decision. Here are seven strategies that will help you create a presentation that will differentiate you from your competitio. . .

How to Critique Your Own Yellow Page Ad

Forget what you know about your business Your goal is to see your Yellow Page display advertisement the way a directory user sees it. You can’t act like you know anything about your enterprise that isn’t there, on the page. Look at your ad without pride or being identified with your operation. If you pretend it’s someone else’s, you can spot the flaws you’d otherwise overlook. Mentally put the . . .

Selling for Beginners

Speak to almost any self employed professional and most of them will say that they love their job but don't care much for selling their services. Here’s some advice to help all those reluctant professionals who need to sell to clients. We have identified 9 basic selling skills that will help you to sell your product or service. Ensure that you and your sales team master these skills and y. . .

Avoid the Duds: 10 Strategies for Selecting "The Perfect ...

Today, more than ever, the success of meetings relies heavily on the strength of program content and presentation. Nothing can spoil a meeting more than hiring the wrong speaker. That’s because speakers do more than just convey the overall meeting message. You look to them to provide insights, awareness, and cutting-edge information in an energetic, motivational, entertaining, and professional . . .

You CAN Be a Great Salesperson!

When you are in sales, you have the choice to be successful or unsuccessful. The only one to set limits on your income and success is you! A career in sales is a challenge. Use that challenge to motivate and excite you. Meet and beat that challenge!There are five basic components to sales: prospecting making contacts qualification handling objections effectively closingDo not fall into the "nat. . .

You Attract Who You Are On The Internet!

Being online is not only about getting your piece of pie, it's also about what kind of pie you are getting. Your company is often being measured by many other business people online. There are many ways that people are keeping an eye on you. Search engine placements Number of incoming links Alexa ranking PR Rating online Website growth What others are sayingThe reason why people do this is beca. . .

A Cost Effective Way to Advertise Online. . . A Permissio...

We all hate e-mail spam, right? I even have the coolest software program that will help you combat spam and actually bounces the spam e-mail straight back to the user. (http://www.mailwasher.net) However, one thing that we often fail to admit (except in private) is the importance of permission e-mail marketing, where the members of your mailing list have given you permission to contact them, o. . .

Why Marketing Fails: Situational Marketing 101

There is a nuclear-strength “secret” weapon that 90% of self-employed professionals are missing out on as they try to build their businesses. It’s amazingly simple, amazingly powerful – and – amazingly overlooked!It’s called “Situational Marketing,” and it can revolutionize your business.As professionals in service industries, we live, eat, and breathe ideas. We live flying in the stratosphere,. . .

What you need to find success Online The Easy Way!

What you need to find success Online The Easy Way!I get so many emails from people that I work with and my readers asking me what it takes to make a income online? The problem with most of these are that they are being guided by people that are just looking to make money from them. Well time has come for you to know what you need to do to earn the kind of income you want! What I am about to sha. . .

Tap the Ultimate Source of Abundance: How to Put More of ...

Corporations ignore consumers’ real needs…Company leaders engage in questionable business practices…Business owners and employees do work they don’t enjoy simply to pay the bills…such is the state of today’s business world. The key to bringing the world back to life will also bring you abundance in your business. The world needs people who are vibrantly alive and ready to build a new kind of bu. . .

Determining Visitor Types

The trade show floor is full of different types of people with different agendas. Some people have specific goals for attending the show; others do not. As an exhibitor your observation and questioning skills will be your key to determining who may be a viable sales prospect. Familiarize yourself with the various visitor types likely to frequent the tradeshow floor.1. Definites. If you have don. . .

Walking Talking Advertisements

So you've made a sale. Great! Now what? You're not just going to sell your new customer a product and let them walk away, are you? Not when you're marketing on tight budget! You now have to use the customer in front of you to build your business, and you do that with a successful referral program. Referrals work. Word of mouth advertising is still the most powerful form of advertising available. . .

10 Tips For Bringing Your Event To Life

Your job as an event planner doesn’t stop with the meeting in the company boardroom. You may be call upon to organize an employee appreciation event, an awards dinner, a product launch, the celebration of a company milestone, a gala recognizing a longtime employee’s retirement, an incentive event for the company’s sales force, a fundraising event, a holiday celebration…the list goes on and on.. . .

Three Cost Effective Ways to Get Bumper-to-Bumper Traffic...

The following traffic generating ideas do not require costly set-up fees or minimum orders. Two of them can be printed in full color with no extra charge. They all can be given away at trade shows, as free gifts with orders, to new newsletter subscribers, etc. Try one or all three and watch your web traffic increase next time your vehicle is caught in traffic. 1.) Vinyl Lettering - Peel a. . .

The Power of Buzz

How did Hotmail gain over 12 million subscribers in 18 months? How did the very low budget movie “The Blair Witch Project” become such an incredibly successful phenomenon? The answer lies in the power of “buzz.” Buzz or word-of-mouth marketing influences more people to buy, or not to buy products and services, than most other forms of marketing. Why is it so powerful? Basically, we have a . . .

Local Search and Internet Yellow Pages - A Whole New Voca...

Buyers want both online and local information about where to buy. Most small businesses are local in nature, serving people who live nearby. Their customers found them through traditional methods like the Yellow Pages or newspaper ads. So far, the Internet hasn't figured prominently in their marketing efforts. That's about to change, as Local Search methods become more widespread. Even for buye. . .

Explode Your Sales With Free & Exclusive Content

Offering free and exclusive content to ezine publishers and webmasters is one of the best ways you can increase exposure for your products and services. There are several effective methods you can use to employ this marketing tactic and subsequently boost your sales. I personally suggest exploring the following two methods to increase your exposure: 1. Create exclusive content for websites. . .

Six Steps to Creating Online Presentations for Telephone ...

How much extra money could you make by closing just one or two additional sales a day? You can double, or even triple, the effectiveness of your telephone selling by showing prospects why they should buy from you, instead of just telling them.Clients and prospects are visually oriented. They process and retain 75% of the information they see, compared to about 15% of the information they hear.. . .

Five Tips to Become a Soundbite Genius

1. Speak in soundbites to everyone. Getting key phrases for concepts and ideas across clearly is central to all communication. As a fun practice try to shave off any extraneous details during conversation in your everyday life. In Errol Morris' film *Fog of War* former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said, *Never answer the question that is asked. Answer the question you wish were asked.* . . .

The Internet and Beyond - 12 Tips on Writing Better Broch...

Every year thousands of online businesses fail. None of them begin with the idea they’ll fail, in fact they have high hopes of success, but they fail all the same. One of the main reasons for the high failure rate is an over reliance on one marketing channel…the Internet.Marketing isn’t about using one medium. It’s about getting and keeping customers. Yes, Internet marketing can help you can do. . .

How to Generate Loads Of Free Traffic To Your Website!

One of the most popular ways to generate free traffic to your website these days is to use a free traffic exchange service. A traffic exhange is website service that enables you to view someones website, and others in turn view yours. You earn credits when you view someones site, and you use those credits to have others view your site. Internet marketers would like to know how to bring traffic. . .

Getting One Way SEO Links - The Easy and FREE Way

What we are hunting for? Unique Domains, One Way Links, Text Link copy of our choice , The ability to change those links,Sites that have PR and cover our choice topic .... Enter the Free Hosting SitesOne of the easiest and most often overlooked resources on the net today are the free hosting companies. Free hosting companies make money by upgrading accounts into paying accounts or selling servi. . .

4 Easy Ways to Boost Your Sales

Here are 4 easy ways you can boost your sales for little or no new expense ...and without making major changes in your selling process. 1. Focus on What Your Customers Really Want Your customers really don't want your products or services. They don't even want what those products or services do for them. What they really want is to gain the specific feeling they get after buying and using . . .

Ten Breakthrough Marketing Ideas

1. Create a directory of web sites on a specific topic. Give people the option of adding the directory to their web site by linking to it. Put your business advertisement at the top of the director's home page. This technique will get lots of people to linkto your web site and give you free advertising. 2. Do you have a product or service that doesn't sell good? Offer it as a free bonus. . .

But This Is Just My Opinion

Hi, Charles...here, Your Cap and t-shirt guy From Texas. How are you doing today.I have been doing that for the last 18 years. Taking care the needs of my customers and becoming Con fondant and friend.Now I want to be your friend and take care of you. But first I want to tell you a story.I want to tell you a story about a customer of mine. Keith lives in Florida he has been a customer of mine. . .

20 Top tips to writing effective surveys

Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The truth is that writing surveys is easy but writing effective surveys is more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you write more effective surveys.1. What is the purpose of the survey?Surveys are conducted for many reasons. By phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for. . .

The Most Powerful Marketing Weapon Ever Invented

It was probably first discovered out there in the caves or wherever else the history of mankind begun. And yet this weapon has been used so sparingly over the centuries. It is so powerful that those surprisingly few who have stumbled on to it and appreciated and respected its power have ended up making untold fortunes. Even the greatest mail order marketer of them all, Joe Karbo, created a sell. . .

Are Keywords Destroying the Flow of Your SEO Copy?

With all the shuffling that’s been seen in the search engine world within the last year, the issue of obvious optimizing has become a hot button. The current line of thinking is that most engines (especially Google) are on the lookout for sites that purposely make an effort to optimize their pages in order to get high rankings. While this theory has not been proven, I agree that obvious optimi. . .

3 Steps To Better Sales Copywriting

Whether you’re wet-behind-the-ears or a seasoned copywriter, your craft will benefit by remembering one thing:You’re nothing more than a salesperson.There’s an old saying in the “business” that, “a copywriter is a salesperson sitting in front of a typewriter.” True, few of us are using typewriters these days. The principal, however, remains unchanged.We’re in sales. I know this. You know th. . .

Marketing is a Long-term Investment

"Dig your well before you're thirsty" is the title of a wonderful book by Harvey Mackay. It is smart advice for investing your money, "Save your money before you need it", or growing your business, "Market today for tomorrow". When times are tough some businesses stop marketing. They reason, 'No one is buying so why should I advertise?' The other time some businesses stop marketing is when they. . .

Visibility, Credibility and Position Through Articles and...

A huge problem for many people who are working on market visibility and position is the amount of competition vying for the same market. An extremely effective strategy for gaining visibility is by writing articles. This positions you as more of an expert and valuable resource rather than "just another" vendor or salesperson. Writing articles is a great way to niche yourself as an expert in you. . .

Making Money from Parked Domains

Let me tell you a true story. A friend of my who likes to collect domain names was describing a few that he had acquired. While he has a wide range of domains in various categories, these particular domains were all related to web hosting.Some of the domain names were similar to existing web hosting company names (or derivatives of web hosting company names). Others simply had ‘hosting&rs. . .

“Super Adjectives” Boost the Power of Your Copy

Pretty or elegant? Good or scrumptious? Nice or delightful? There is power in the adjectives you choose. Just like Clark Kent and Superman or Bruce Wayne and Batman, some adjectives are plain, ordinary, everyday words. Others are alter-ego Super Adjectives that leap into your customers’ minds in a single bound. Adjectives are boring, but Super Adjectives impress, inspire, and convince your cust. . .

Build Your Business by Building Relationships

People do business with people that they know and trust. As a solo entrepreneur, your goals will be to make yourself known to your target market and then elevate the relationship to the trust level. This process of building relationships can take many forms. Take a few minutes to review what is working for you in this area. Then consider these ideas to add to your relationship building toolkit.. . .

Google, Yahoo!, Pandora's Box And The Lottery

In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had a monster number one hit record called, "I've Got The Power." Nowadays, a search engine and a directory (AKA) Google and Yahoo!--number one and number two respectively, have "the power," and we handed it to them on a silver platter. The aforementioned search engine and directory are the two biggest players in the multi billion dollar pay-for-searc. . .

Removing Obstacles to Sales

During the summer Olympics I watched the men's and women's hurdles. I'm always impressed by these athletes' ability to run at full speed and leap the hurdles without breaking stride. But each time I watch this track event, I have the same reaction. If they just went out on the track and removed those barriers, it would be a heck of lot easier to get around the track. The athletes could run fast. . .

The Truth About Overture's Pay-Per-Click Program

Before Google's AdWords, Overture was the preeminent pay-per- click program. It's still a monolith in its own right that deserves a closer look. Overture's pay-per-click program actually consists of four different programs: Precision Match, Local Match, Content Match and Site Match. However, for this article, I'm just going to be talking about Precision Match. Precision Match (formerly Pay-For-. . .