Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

Stretch Your Marketing Reach

One of the most cost effective marketing strategies you can utilize is an online newsletter, also referred to as an E-Zine. You can provide valuable content to your customers and potential customers with an E-Zine. The beauty of utilizing the Internet to distribute your information is often people will forward your information to others who have similar interest. The key to success with an E-Zi. . .

Make Your Customer Your Friend

The simplest way to describe a ‘durian’ (pronounced doo-ree-ann) is to say it’s a yellowish-green fruit about the size of an mid-sized watermelon. It has a thick skin of spikes, and a rich bitterish-sweet fruit.Known as the King of Fruits, it emits an overpoweringly pungent smell that lingers on for days, hence it’s an item that’s banned in hotels and airplanes. To those unaccustomed to its str. . .

The Truth About Search Engines: Playing A Game You Can't Win

If you go strictly by the numbers, Yahoo, MSN and Google are the "Big 3" of search engines and directories. Between them, they index millions and millions of pages in their directories. Although Google claims to index over 4 billion. However, that's a subject for a different day. The point is, out of all those millions and millions of pages, there's room for only a very few websites at the top . . .

Courting Customers - From First Date to Marriage

Landing a new client is like courting a potential spouse. The first date is usually a make or break situation and if the door is still open, the work has just begun. Like dating, you’d better give your prospect a pretty good reason to meet with you again, because there is usually more than one suitor. Getting the Next DateThe key to getting that next date or meeting with a prospect is to delive. . .

Google's Trap, DMOZ's Nap, And Yahoo!'s Crap

On November 16th, 2003, Google commenced an update (the Florida update) which had a catastrophic effect for a very large number of websites and, in the process, turned search engine optimization upside down. It is common to give alphabetical names to Google's updates in the very same way that names are given to hurricanes, and this one became known as "Florida". In a nutshell, a vast number of . . .

Hire An Internet Marketing Expert For Online Success

It never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise intelligent people set-up a website, without any type of plan or clue about how to promote it, how to write a sales letter, how to write an ad--nothing! Fact is, nowadays, anyone can have a website. But once you get one, then what? How are you going to make money with it? If you don't know what you're doing, then do the smart thing and hire an Inte. . .

Ain't We Wonderful!

It may come as a surprise to you to discover that customers don’t buy your products or services because they feel that you have a right to make a profit. In other words, their motive for doing business with you is not to help you buy the latest Jaguar or put your children through college. You think this is a joke? Recent research shows that something like 60% of businesspeople place more import. . .

The New WebPosition Gold 3 . . . Definitely Worth the Wait

At the special request of my students, I've taken a long look at WebPosition Gold 3 (http://www.webposition.com), and I can honestly say I'm amazed at how this software program has matured and developed through the years. Let's take a tour of the most popular software program in the search engine marketing industry, and let's see "what's new" in WebPosition 3. The New Interface . . . When you f. . .

Free Traffic Programs and How to Use Them

I try to use as many free traffic programs as I can to increase traffic to my web sites. But does this traffic actually make sales for me? Probably not directly but indirectly they can. So what are the benefits of free traffic programs? Well the number 1 benefit is that it will boost your traffic. This is the most obvious benefit. But the biggest benefit of free traffic programs is that the mor. . .

Testing Headlines

A correspondent to AdBriefing, my monthly newsletter, has posed a very sticky question. How, she asks, can you tell whether a headline you have written is a good one…or not? What she means by this, I imagine, is whether the headline will actually help to make sales, rather than just act as a passing amusement to its readers.The latter precept, that a headline should actually try to sell somethi. . .

10 Magic Ways To Multiply Your Orders

1. Use reward programs to keep people revisiting your web site and buying your products. You could reward gifts or discounts for revisiting or buying. 2. Publish ezines for other web sites to increase your traffic. You could do it at no charge and in return just ask for a sponsor ad in each issue. 3. Trade endorsement ads with other ezines. They pull more hits and sales than just trading classi. . .

3 Steps To Effectively Increase Your Marketing Response

It's well known that internet marketers are in the business of marketing. To become successful in business, it's crucial to actively promote your business to gain new customers. Let's face it... No promotion, no new customers. It's a simple as that.If you've ever spent money on advertising before, you will know that it can be a costly process. Whether the cost is measured in time, effort, money. . .

Getting in Shape: 10,000 Steps to Terrific Health

What if I could show you a completely simple, inexpensive, low risk, foolproof method to lose some weight, get healthy, and get in shape? Sound too good to be true? Well, it is true, and all it takes is a serious commitment and a $15 step-counting pedometer.It has been one full year now since I first strapped on a pedometer and started getting my 10,000 steps in a day. I’ll be honest, at times . . .

Creating Sales Conversations

You've got a great product or service that beats the competition by miles. Once you get in front of people or get them on the phone, they're sold. The only problem is you're not getting enough of those initial conversations with prospects started so you can convert them to clients. Instead of having your phone ringing of the hook with requests, you feel like your firm is the best kept secret in. . .

How to 'Force' Your Visitors to Order Immediately!

This may comes as a surprise to you but, if you're using popups on your website (which you should), then chances are you're using them all wrong. Almost everybody is. Did you know, for example, that top marketers are using HIDDEN techniques that make any given popup VASTLY more effective on their sites than the VERY SAME popup would be on yours! In fact, Stephen Pierce has actually admitted tha. . .

Promote Your Web Business With Every Email You Send!

Website owners are always on the lookout for new ways to promote their business. What if I told you could advertise your business every time you send an email and it wouldn't cost you a dime?When you meet someone you might give him or her one of your business cards. Now the recipient has all your contact information, learns a little about your business and this allows you to expose your brand. . . .

Find Out Where Your Firm Stands in Today’s Customer

Looking For Ways to Improve Sales and Customer Relationships?Find Out Where Your Firm Stands in Today’s Customer Touchpoint Management (CTM) Revolution by Taking the CTM Quiz(San Rafael, CA) What could be more important than improving sales and your customer relationships? Today, there is a fast growing movement, a revolution, among organizations interested in improving their customer-centricit. . .

Design Matters in our Visual Culture

FIRST IMPRESSIONS. First impressions often leave lasting impressions. Impressions also result in people’s perceptions. There goes that age-old debate -- “Perception versus Reality.” I say that perception is someone’s impression of reality. And sometimes... no matter what is reality, you just can’t change people’s perception of a situation or thing. Let’s define these words...(im·pres·sion) noun. . .

Do-It-Yourself or Hire a Professional Designer

Remember your vision for your company and the brand or statement you want to make when any of your current or potential customers come in contact with you. You have to impress them in all the ways you connect with them.DIY (Do-It-Yourself) ›› Knowledge is PowerI highly recommend reading and learning about graphic/web design. It’s a good idea in a long-term sense whether you do design projects y. . .

How to Create and Sell *Your Own* Product or Service

It's one thing to join affiliate programs and earn commissions but in order to make serious amounts of money, you need to have your own product or service to sell. The best thing to sell on the internet is a digitally delivered product or service. Examples include ebooks or electronic books, courses, membership sites and software. The reasons digitally delivered products and services are so gre. . .

Turn your dreams into reality: How to market your intelle...

Turn your dreams into reality: How to market your intellectual property to the global marketWhether you have tried to market your invention, art, craft, book or other talent in the past and failed or whether you have never tried beyond nurturing your ideas in your mind, please remember this--if you deeply believe in your talent, and if you have a vision of greatness for your ideas, one day you . . .

Building a HUGE List of Loyal Opt-in Subscribers

First of all, subscribers are not just subscribers, they are YOUR customers! If you treat your subscribers well, they will be your customers for life. What does this mean? We'll ezines are all about 'one to one marketing'. One to one marketing is relationship marketing. Your job is to continually build and foster your relationship with your subscribers. As your relationship builds, so will. . .

At Your Service: The Ten Commandments of Great Customer S...

Customer service is an integral part of our job and should not be seen as an extension of it. A company’s most vital asset is its customers. Without them, we would not and could not exist in business. When you satisfy our customers, they not only help us grow by continuing to do business with you, but recommend you to friends and associates.The practice of customer service should be as present . . .

Useful Tips for Evaluating Your Meeting Venue Options

However, large or small the meeting, location is key. Your environment, formal or informal, helps set the necessary mood and ambiance for the meeting to take place. Think about choosing a comfortable, yet stimulating environment that encourages attendees to concentrate, but beware of making it too cozy and relaxing that they’re likely to fall asleep.When thinking about the right location, consi. . .

Google Zombies Need To Wake Up

Over the last couple of weeks, I've received more e-mails in response to my article, "Google's Trap, DMOZ's Nap, And Yahoo!'s Crap," than any other article I've ever written. And that's saying a lot because, I've written close to forty articles.Most of the e-mails are very supportive and appreciate of the fact that I'm going after Google and the other large search engines, by telling it like it. . .

Pay-Per-Click Search Engines: A Really Bad Investment

What was once such a good thing is now a rip-off and a sham! I'm talking about pay-per-click search engines, and how they've become a really bad investment! There are two reasons for the deterioration of pay-per-click search engines: high bid prices and out of control click fraud. A few years back, you could get popular keywords at a halfway decent bid price. Nowadays, even moderately popular k. . .

How popular are you,... online that is?

With the web today you "sorta haveta" have a rank in the major search engines if you want to be seen. I mean with 250,000,000, yes 250 million searches a day on Google™ alone, how are your visitors and potential customers going to find you? Now, there are numerous ways in which a Search Engine ranks a website; by keyword density, relevancy, content, etc. etc.. But Link Popularity is an ever gro. . .

The Sweet Aroma of Highly Effective Marketing

Highly effective marketing is accomplished when your marketing materials and marketing strategy work together to reliably move your prospects through your sales process. Have you ever caught a whiff of a tantalizing aroma wafting through the air as you walked down the street? With your senses suddenly alerted to something tasty in the air you notice the bakery on the corner. As you draw closer . . .

Can Pay-per-click Really Increase Blog Traffic?

You want to know if Pay-Per-Click really can increase blog traffic? The answer is: Yes, it can. Thanks for reading this article. Have a nice day. Wow, wouldn't it be great if the answer really was that easy? Of course pay-per-click is a great way to get a new pair of eye-balls in front of your world-class blog, but it's not as easy as depositing some money into a PPC account and then watching y. . .

What You Need To Know About Google's new AdWords Affiliat...

A lot of affiliates are selling other people's products with AdWords. This has been known as easy money, since no website is required. All you need is a ClickBank ID and you have over 10.000 products to offer your visitors. When Google changed the affiliate policy in January, many affiliates saw their future AdWords income vanish up in smoke. Simply because they didn't know how to build a . . .

A Blog Isn't Just For Christmas

I was watching the news on TV last night and there was a warning about buying puppies as Christmas presents. There's nothing worse than visiting the kennels in the new year and seeing all those unwanted dogs that were chosen as presents because they were so cute at the time. It reminded me of people who start a blog in the hope of making some money online only to give up after a few days or wee. . .

Exhibiting Wizardry

The world is suffering from a severe dose of Pottermania. Even if you don’t have kids, it’s impossible not to have heard about Harry Potter. In a relatively short time, he has cast his magical spell and become a veritable household name. His creator, J.K. Rowling has managed to pull off a feat that hasn’t been seen in decades — motivating kids to read because they want to and not because they h. . .

Benefiting From a Regular Exhibiting Workout

How often do you exercise your exhibiting muscles? Do you have a regular workout designed to increase your tradeshow dexterity and boost your results? Whether you’re looking for strength training to increase your competitive edge, flexibility to improve your marketing strategy, or just general overall fitness, a regular conditioning workout program is a must.Before beginning an exercise program. . .

Cheap 4 Color Printing That Looks Expensive

Have you ever received a brochure or a flyer that looked expensive at first glance? And afterwards, you learned that it was rather inexpensive yet its quality is comparable to such. This instance is not new to me. I’ve known several printing companies that can provide you with expensive-looking printed outputs at truly affordable costs.Know what guys, I’m talking here about printing companies h. . .

How Toyota Captured the #1 Market Share

How Toyota Captured the #1 Market Share . . . Through Solid Decision-Making!Toyota is arguably one of the most recognizable brand names in the world. Toyota captured the Number 1 spot in automotive sales, by creating high standards for quality, reliability and customer acceptance. In short, the name Toyota has become synonymous with the standard of excellence to which many aspire.Reaching this . . .

Everything You Want to Know About 4 Color Printing

No doubt, the 4 color printing revolution has definitely made color printing jobs so much easier and more affordable. They have also made so many print jobs stand out among others filled with life and energy. Remember that any document can benefit from 4 color printing, and at little expense. It's an effective way for you to present impressive color, at a fraction of the full-color cost.Have yo. . .

Increasing Short and Long Term Profits

Have you ever passed by a bakery display case without feeling the urge to buy at least one cookie, dessert or cinnamon bun? Have you ever taken a child into a candy store and not had them ask to buy at least one of their favorite sweets?The smell of fresh baked goods and the memory of the taste of a candy bar makes us want to buy more. The owners of bakeries and candy stores don’t have to spend. . .

4 Color Printing: A Must-Have for Businesses

The printing industry continues to evolve in the midst of technological advancements and global competition. And undoubtedly, above all the printing processes, it is 4 color printing that has been widely used by almost every business. Originally created for printing color photography, it didn’t take long to incorporate it into the printed graphics seen today. For those who still don’t know, thi. . .

Transparent Images for the Web and Print

For transparent images that you have extracted from your photos, the next step is to choose where you’re going to post them. There are several options: you could either post the images on the Web for your website, on a page layout application, or on a presentation program.Your image to the Web.If your image is going to be posted on the web, it should be in GIF, PNG or “Fake Transparency” with J. . .

One or Two Colors Can Be More

Colors make any object interesting and exciting. To make your designs and media material stand out, it takes one color, or two, or even three extra dashes. Hence, spot color design can be as rewarding as any process design. Here is an adaptation of money saving design ideas to make colors look more, as well as other ideas to make your design stand out: Overprinting colors can create a third int. . .

Enhance Your Digital Photos With Photoshop CS

Digital cameras are wonderful items to have. Unlike before when you have to content yourself with what the developer has produced from your roll of film, nowadays, we have the flexibility to do whatever we want to do with our photos. You could enhance the color, perhaps, or cut out unwanted people and things from the photos. You could also take away the face of the girl from the photo of the ma. . .

Simple Media Kits with the Help of Publisher

For a marketing campaign to work, you have to provide the media with a kit. Announcing news and information about your business can be attractive when combined with a useful and packed media kit.A media kit is a collection of significant materials that gives the media information on who you are, what you do, and best of all, why they should care. It can be as fancy as you want it to be, just ma. . .

Getting You Started With Your Brochure

First of all, any business needs something to advertise or market its products and services being offered. A brochure is one of the most popular and useful tools to effectively present your information about your products. A cover letter is simply not enough to achieve this particular purpose.With all those business mail and letters received by many potential clients, your letter might get the . . .

Flyers Printing Quotes Flying on the Net

Flyer printing is a trendy and inexpensive way for businesses to get the word out. You can get flyers printed on regular paper, cover stock, and in various rectangular sizes. A flyer is an immense way to exhibit important information to potential customers. Online printing services can help you design a valuable marketing flyer with the precise colors and crisp texts. With their help, you will . . .

Flashy Posters Flash its Flamboyant Price

Posters are flashy, head-turner and informative advertising materials that can draw back mob’s attention. Poster printing, on the other hand, allows various companies to grab customer’s attention. With it, people are guaranteed to respond. That response might lead to a large percentage in sale. In effect, it will generate success of your business. To sum it up, effective posters coupled with pr. . .

The Easy Way to Order Catalogs

Catalog printing can fill a customer's demand for information. With detailed product catalogs, you can engender orders from customers without delay. Catalog printing services offer a selection of sizes, or you can use the clever 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 or the ever-popular 8-1/2 x 11. Research showed that having a printed catalog of your products will produce 10%-20% more sales than a website alone. Wheth. . .

Postcard Printing: Swiftly Meets Your Standard and Budget

Postcard printing can easily take us from fantasy to reality. Thus, to be an effective postcard, it must have striking, colorful image plus crisp text. This will call for a situation of excellence in graphic design and photography. You can acquire the look you wanted by a file in your computer. If you don’t have any, then leave it to the expert in the printing industry. Printing companies will . . .

The Essence of Quotes in Brochure Printing

Brochure printing allows us to fabricate glossy full-color brochure to showcase our products or establish a company. It can be a key element to build your company’s image or identity, to promote an event, to publicize a new product, to update product spec’s and hundreds of other purposes. In a spirited and competitive business world, a four-color brochure helps distinguish your company from the. . .

7 Cold Calling Secrets Even The Sales Gurus Don't Know

More and more e-mails are arriving in my in-box from people who hate cold calling. Here's what they're saying: “Cold calling terrifies me.” “The phone feels like a 10,000-pound weight.” “Every time I have to make a cold call, I freeze up.” “I feel like a fraud when I’m cold calling.” “I can’t take the rejection when I do cold calling. It just kills me.” “I’ve gone from top producer to ‘hermit’ . . .

Changing Your Position When There's Competition

Are you finding many of your best prospects already working with competitors? When you pursue a new opportunity, is someone else capturing the prize? Maybe it's time to re-evaluate your positioning.Your market position is the place you occupy in the mind of your prospective clients. It's how they think of you as compared to your competitors. Adjectives like established or cutting-edge; high-qua. . .