Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

How Nearly Going Broke Taught Me The Value Of Niche Marke...

If you want to learn how effective Niche Marketing can be, I suggest you "don't" take the route I did. Back in 1983 I started a company offering general Electronics Subcontract Assembly services to just about anyone who made Electronic products. By 1985 my company was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and I was perilously close to losing my home because of a large overdraft pledged against i. . .

The Efficacy of Full Color Printing

It is believed that there are only two ways to ensure customer satisfaction. The first is quality in the output and second is the affordability of the service or product. Full color printing companies are now well-equipped to fulfill customers discriminating needs. In fact, some are even assisting their customers starting from the conceptualization stage to design, printing and finally to the m. . .

Niche And Grow Rich

Unless you've been living under an Internet rock, you've probably heard the buzz about Niche Marketing. Right now it's the hottest marketing topic online. Is it a new concept? Well on the Internet maybe, but if like me, you've been involved in direct response marketing in the 'Bricks and Mortar' world then it isn't - that's the way we've done things since time immemorial. So what's this Niche M. . .

How Can People Find Your Site If They Don’t Know What To ...

We all know it is difficult to promote commercial products, especially those commodity items. People selling commodity items are generally submitting their sites to search engines, such as Google and getting links from other sites to increase page ranks. But you will lose some potential customers who don’t know what or how to search. When we look at how people are using Internet, there are basi. . .

Keys To Internet Marketing: Visibility

The keys to being profitable on the internet is simply visibility. Do you think that Wal-Mart became the business that they are by remaining unseen? What about Microsoft? Dell? I think that you get my point.Visibility takes time, and perseverance, but it can be achieved. Once you “get the hang of it” it is also relatively painless. However, if you are going to get into an internet based busines. . .

Review: Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions

If you've been online for any length of time at all, I'm sure you know of Marketing Sherpa. This trusted and dependable source for online marketing information has put out some of the most widely known and highly praised books and reports available today. Some of their repeated best sellers include, "Email Marketing Metrics Guide" and "How To Get Your Permission Emails Past Filters." Marketing. . .

The Correct Approach To Online Marketing

At the risk of sounding sensational, if you understand the concepts introduced in this article it could literally mean the difference between miserable failure and insane online profits for your business. I'm not talking about a magical formula that will guarantee success, but it's something that all online marketers need to understand... If you spend $50 on advertising and it generates more th. . .

Creating A Search Engine Copywriting Plan

Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of the overall search engine optimization process. However, in addition, search engine copywriting has developed into a misunderstood craft. Shoving keywords in anywhere they can possibly go is not considered search engine copywriting. The process is more defined than that. Successful SEO copywriting takes planning. Any half-h. . .

Your Business Card--Executive Pacifier or Marketing Tool?

Do you remember when you started your business or you got a new job? The excitement you felt when you the business cards arrived to match your new business or new position? The cards became your rite of passage. Now you realize business cards are part of every business boiler plate, one of the many adult pacifiers we all have. This article show you how to use marketing principles to re-do y. . .

Print Ads – Alive and Still Selling to Readers Near You

The print ad is not dead. Although some people will tell you otherwise. If they do, they’re wrong. In 2003 advertisers spent nearly $60 billion to place ads in magazines and newspapers – more than five times the amount spent on Internet advertising in the same year. And if that’s not confirmation that the print ad is alive and still selling, I don’t know what is.So how come many business owners. . .

Moving To The Top Of The Pile, Increasing Viral Distribution

You hear it all the time. Get viral by distributing info products that advertise your other offers. The main key of course is getting others to distribute your material in the first place.And even more, getting those distributions to produce results.A few years ago it was almost automatic and assumed that as long as your information was somewhat useful then others would beat a path to your door. . .

Postcards: Effective Marketing Tool

When you're having a hard time choosing which print media to use for your products and services, then think of postcards. Postcards are one of the marketing tools that can effectively deliver your message to your target clients.So why postcards? Here are ten reasons to market with postcards:10. They are affordable marketing strategies.Postcards are among the most affordable marketing print stra. . .

How to Star in your Own Promotional Video

Well, it’s official. You are going to star in the company marketing video (or commercial) and you will have a part talking to camera. After ringing your mother, to let her know about your newly found fame, reality hits in. How are you going to pull this off?The good news is a charismatic business leader can add tremendous impact and clout to a marketing video or commercial. The bad news is that. . .

Growing Your Business With Your Marketing Priorities

None of us have enough time in the day to get everything done, but small business owners and entrepreneurs like you are particularly pressed. You wear so many hats; there is a seemingly infinite list of tasks to accomplish each day, from providing services to clients, managing product distribution and delivery, to keeping accounting in order.You try to fit in some marketing when you can, but yo. . .

What Business Card Are You In Need Of?

Have you been in a situation where you are sure that you are in dire need of a business card but then you are perplexed and unable to decide what kind must be chosen? Well, if you’re in that situation, you are on the same boat as thousands of individuals all over the globe. It is a given fact that black and white has an aura of elegance and formality. Nevertheless, in the eyes of the majority i. . .

3 Ways To Generate Profitable Business Ideas Anytime

All businesses are created first by ideas. Then once you're in business you need ideas for marketing, advertising, solving problems, product development etc. The difference between success or failure could be one just one idea. That's all! Below are three ways to generate profitable business ideas. Communicating regularly with other business people can generate many ideas. There are many. . .

Attract Your Dream Customer

Have you clearly defined your target audience? These are the prime buyers of your products or services. It is the people or organizations you are pursuing actively as customers. You don’t need every customer in the world! You need the ones who are a good match for YOU. The more specific you are, the more effective your marketing campaign will be.But, let’s take this concept one step further. Yo. . .

How To Avoid Your Joint Venture Proposals From Getting De...

I believe Joint Ventures are one of the very best ways to grow your business... Yet I know that many people struggle to find the right deals... and are especially challenged with getting their offers considered and accepted by their potential partners. An estimated 98% of JV offers get turned down. Why?...Because they are impersonal. Being impersonal is one of the best ways to shoot yourself in. . .

Marketing 101

Marketing 101 What is marketing?Marketing is the activities of listening to client needs, assessing the competition and the designing and creating your services. This is accompanied by messages that will shape your audience’s perceptions, and hopefully will to lead to opportunities for revenue. The main purpose of marketing is to deliver the right services to the right audience at the right ti. . .

Don’t Put All Of Your Eggs Into One Basket

I vaguely remember a particular story from my childhood. It had something to do with transporting eggs to market. The main character, a little girl who thought she knew more than she really did, put all of the day’s eggs into one basket, and when she tripped and fell on the way into town to sell the eggs, all of the eggs broke. It seems that her grandmother (the voice of experience and wisdo. . .

Three Faces of SPAM

Like everybody who will ever read this, I get spam in my e-mail. Mine seems to fall into one of three categories. The first is the Nigerian scam about helping some poor, pathetic soul collect megabucks, supposedly from someone who has died and left a fortune. I’m not sure what is worse: that there are people desperate enough to believe those messages, or that there are people despicable enou. . .

Branding: It's More Than a Logo

How clear is your image in the minds of your potential customers? How can you bring that image into focus? Defining, developing and maintaining a brand identity is the key.The word “branding” is frequently tossed about in the marketing and advertising world by marketing professionals and customers alike. Many times, what is being referred to as branding can be more accurately described as logo . . .

Why Trying to "Get the Appointment" Can be a Recipe for D...

Last week, this e-mail from Jack arrived in my inbox:To: Ari GalperFrom: JackSubj.: Help! I need to get more appointments Dear Ari,I've just coined a new disease for the medical books, and I'm hoping you can help me cure it.Have you ever heard of "freezing-up-on-the-first-call paralysis"? It's brought on by the stress of selling!I'm new to sales, and, as I've been starting out, I've studied all. . .

Email Marketing Best Practices

Permission-based Email Marketing is one of the most powerful ways to build your business. As a business owner you realize the importance of staying in front of your customers and prospects. By deploying a timely e-newsletter to touch base with your customers and prospects, you stay fresh in their minds, build credibility, and keep the communication channel open by eliciting product and/or servi. . .

TiVo is just a DVR – How Direct TV and Others Packaged A ...

Studying the way Direct TV packaged and positioned TiVo for success in a competitive market can indicate principles for successful marketing for small or home businesses. This article looks at TiVo’s success and discusses the marketing principles that made it work.TiVo, the poster child of technological advancement for companies like Direct TV, is really nothing more than a middle-aged woman in. . .

An Often Overlooked Secret of Marketing and Negotiating f...

When you call sellers, what do you say? When you sit down to write a marketing postcard to find deals, what do you write? When you go to negotiate price and terms, how do you present it?These are scary situations and it is not unusual to be at a loss for words at such times. In fact, you may avoid these situations all together just so you don’t have to face the overwhelming fear.I want to help . . .

Five Steps to Protecting Your Music and Your Money

There are a lot of independent labels out there waiting to use a talented musician to make quick money. The offers may seem hard to refuse, especially if you are a struggling artist or band that has struggled to get a record deal. A little money and exposure may seem great for the moment, but you run a high risk of getting contractually bound to that record label for the rest of your life. If a. . .

Marketing vs Selling - Why There's A Difference

Marketing is something that we do to let people know what products we have to offer. Selling is something that we do to show people that the products we have to offer are of value to them.In the high tech world of today, much of what we consider marketing is very inconspicuous. Messages are moving at the speed of light, and we are hardly even aware of what we saw or heard that ever made us thin. . .

Finding "Riches in Niches" by Streamlining Your Web Content

When marketing online it’s crucial to remember the old business adage, “There are riches in niches.” Niche marketing is the process of filling a small, distinguishable segment of the marketplace in a way competitors are not. Your business must have an edge—online and off. An effective web site should state it’s purpose immediately. Here’s why: Web Usability, Your web visitors are zooming by at. . .

Viral Marketing has Left the Building

Viral Marketing - as a forward-thinking "buzzword" - is missing. Gone are the days of catchy buzz-marketing that you could just let loose upon the world and watch take off. Now, with users getting more knowledgeable and opportunities getting slim, you need to take advantage of using your know-how as part of the reason Viral Marketing campaigns work.Now, Viral Marketing is all about information,. . .

Cheapskate Viral Marketing

Every day someone gets brave and tries Cheapskate Viral Marketing and it never works. As a matter of fact, it's more likely to backfire than to have no effect at all, and that's simply not good for your business.Cheapskate Viral Marketing is the act of spreading around re-hashed or garbage information with gimmicks and tricks in order to lure people into your clutches so you can market to them . . .

Captive Marketing - What Will They Think of Next?

Every once in awhile a light bulb goes off in someone's head and a new marketing concept is born. One of the more recent "opportunistic" marketing methods is marketing to you when you have no choice.Imagine yourself in a very small metal room with 10 other people. The doors close and you have no way of escaping this room for a minute or two. While locked in with these strangers you are exposed . . .

Profiting With Blogs

How to Profit From a BlogBlogs permit you to quickly and easily communicate with your market at very low cost. A blog is a low cost tool that permits you to add, remove, and update online content without knowing anything about web programming or html. Blogs complement, rather than replace, your website, e-mail, and One-Page Newsletter. You can use your blog to promote your other communications,. . .

Marketing Lessons from a Rabid Chipmunk

A relative of mine is a mail-carrier for the United States Post Office. Like any place of employment, there are all sorts of colorful characters working there. They're all very good people - friendly and enjoyable to chat with.A gentleman working at the same post office as my relative is a happy, cheery kind of guy. I met him on a few occassions back when I was basically a rebellious high-schoo. . .

How To Earn Money Without A Website

I will tell you right here and now you do not need to have a website to be successful in internet marketing.There are some essential tools you will need, but a website needn’t be one of them.Ok, a website is useful, even more so if you sell your own products. But if you are an affiliate salesperson, you don’t need your own site.For affiliate marketing, there is in truth only one tool you need a. . .

PR Tips For Your Business: Should We Issue A Press Release?

Question: Why should your business issue a press release? Answer: because you have something to say, you want to say it in public and a press release encourages the press to say it for you. And because you want to show your business in a favourable light from the outset and begin the longer-term process of building awareness and understanding of your product or service. There’s plenty of resear. . .

Virtual Interactivity vs. Actual Interactivity on the Web

Interactivity on the web generally works as sexuality on the web: virtually. In both cases, it is a bit frustrating.Click the mouse, ask questions, navigate, write messages, up and download files, customize your web page according to your preferences… the site itself remains unflappably itself. One has no influence on the flesh and blood, no power to modify anything that is proposed.That is Vir. . .

Start Blogging Now: 10 Reasons Why You Really Need a Blog...

1. It is perfect for creating a web presence for independent professionals who have something to say and who need people to get to know them and what they can do for them. 2. Having your own business blog gives you credibility and a forum where you can show your expertise. 3. Readers can comment directly onto your blog, creating interaction and interest.4. No more waiting for your web designer . . .

Direct Mail Advertising: A Key Ingredient For Successful ...

Direct Mail Advertising: A Key Ingredient For Successful Business Growth By Keturah WhitakerIn today’s highly competitive economy, it is essential that you promote your business with marketing materials that strategically position your business for increased customer traffic, expansion and growth.A highly effective marketing tool that will dynamically promote your business is direct mail advert. . .

Walt Disney Announced to Support the Blu-Ray Disc Format

The beginning of this December, the major film company Walt Disney announced its intention to start releasing movies and other content on Blu-ray discs in North America, as soon as the new-format players become available there.Walt Disney has a market share of 17.2 of Hollywood's prepackaged DVD sales.Sony, one of the most active developers of the Blu-ray format, owns Columbia Pictures. Metro-G. . .

Spike TV – Know Your Audience

What do Klingons, giant rubber bands, and monster trucks all have in common? They hold the fascination of every male on the planet - and they make frequent appearances on Spike TV. Spike TV, which totes itself as a network for men, is the perfect example of the power of knowing your audience and giving them what they want.In one week of watching Spike TV you can expect to see poker, ultimate fi. . .

Improving Customer Relationships: Beyond the Buzz

Customers are always a hot topic. But lately the discussions on customer relationships, including retention, satisfaction, and loyalty, have intensified. What is the basis for these discussions, and more importantly, what are leading organizations actually doing to improve customer relationships? Savvy organizations have begun to realize that customer relationships are not the domain of an indi. . .

Creating a Powerful Brand Name

“Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.” -- Dwight D EisenhowerFrom top business executives, to people striving everyday in theircommunities. From traditional corporations, to the internet,“branding” has become one of the most significant marketingpractices to date. We have all become accustomed to the fact that our favorite brand will con. . .

Can Walmart Make You Rich?

Have you ever shopped at Walmart and thought... I need to get my products on those shelves. Did you spot the perfect place for your new product and think, Bingo, that's where my product will go. I think I'll give them a call.The truth is, Walmart receives hundreds of calls each day, asking the same question, "How do I become a vendor?" For many people getting your products on the shelves of Wal. . .

Simple Lines and Shapes For Your Logo Design

Geometric designs come in all shapes and sizes… and lines. You can create your logo design or customize your illustration by using simple lines and shapes to create your very own unique image.Integrate the principle of simplicity with lines, circles, squares, triangles and rectangles, and you'll be able to come up with wonderful results that you can use for logos, newsletters, flyers, brochures. . .

How To Increase Your Affiliate Commissions

There are literally countless ways to advertise your affiliate links. The real trick to affilliate marketing though is winning the clicks to conversions number game.Now, since your not in direct control of the conversion process you only need to concern yourself with identifying top selling products and where to advertise them. Identiying top sellers through the Click Bank marketplace is a no b. . .

Festival Mania!

“Free Wheelin’”What’s the big deal with festivals these days?I mean it, why are there so many festivals now? Used to, you would hear about an occasional festival here and there, for example, there might be a watermelon festival down in south Georgia somewhere, or there might be a rattlesnake round-up over in Alabama, or whatever. These events came very few and far between, and they were a fairl. . .

The Cheapest Way To Use Pay Per Click Advertising

It may seem to be a very expensive way of selling your products. But if it's done the right way it can be a money making machine on auto-pilot. Let's say that you have bought one of the many ebooks with reprint rights that you can find online. Then you use the tools that you receive with the ebook to set up your own web page on your own domain. It's very easy and often done in just one hour or . . .

Mobile Marketing tips for Small Businesses

Welcome to the next frontier in marketing – wireless or mobile marketing, also known as m-commerce.Analysts predict that 2005 will be the year that mobile marketing really takes off and that companies will take advantage of this medium in much the same way as they did in the early days of the Internet.The benefits of mobile marketingThe key benefits of mobile marketing are clear to see. Most mo. . .

Cost-Effective Ideas from Los Angeles Business Card Prin...

Owners of small or big businesses, managers and heads of companies and even officers of social organizations eventually avail of business card printing services. Why? It is a well known fact that business cards are important advertising tools getting you recognition above other competitors. Once distributed depending on its paper and design quality, business cards maintain in the prospective cl. . .