5 Top Product Promotion Strategies

One of the biggest myths of the Internet is the good old line, “If you build it they will come …” So many people throw up a website and sit back rubbing their hands with glee convinced they are going to become supremely wealthy.

Months later they are wringing their hands with regret wondering why they’ve had five visitors, four of which were their friends!

A website does not just automatically appear high in the search engine rankings and get traffic, you have to do some work in order to get this traffic and start making sales. There are thousands, or even more of sites competing for the same traffic you want – depending on your niche and keywords, there could be millions of sites!

You need to promote your website and get it noticed – not only in the search engines, but in other places where you will get targeted traffic who are interested in your website.

Strategy 1 - Directories

There are a whole host of directories on the Internet. Just search for your keyword and “Directory” or “Link Exchange” or anything similar and you will find hundreds of places to put your links. Yeah, it is hard work to do this, but you will get links and traffic to your site. If it’s too much like hard work for you – hire someone to do it!

Strategy 2 - Articles

Articles are an excellent way to gain traffic and promote your site. Submitting your article to directories will get you backlinks and if they are quality articles, will get you known across the Internet as an expert. Newsletter and website owners will pick up your articles and use them as content. This will help to promote your site to a much wider audience.

Strategy 3 – Affiliate Program

Running an affiliate program for your product is an excellent way to promote your site. Instead of you working on promoting your site, you have all these affiliates doing the work for you. And the best thing is – you don’t pay them a penny unless they make a sale. Depending on how much you offer as a commission, you could have hundreds of hungry affiliates aggressively marketing your product all over the Internet.

Strategy 4 – Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is a concept that has been around for some time. It’s a very powerful method of getting traffic to your site. You have all seen those cute or funny emails and videos that people send to all their friends? That is viral marketing. If you can tap into this through a book, a video, games or anything people will want to pass on to their friends, suddenly you have a whole lot of people promoting your site – for free!

Strategy 5 – Forums

Forums are an excellent way to market your website. As you participate in a forum so you can establish yourself as an authority and trusted expert on your chosen subject, which will make people come to visit your website to find out more information. Be aware though, that if you blatantly promote your business without adding value or spam the forums you will do more harm than good to your reputation and your business.

Promoting your website will get you targeted traffic. It will also allow you to organically move up the search engine rankings through backlinks and the use of keywords. If you are someone who is serious about making money online, then you need to start taking your website promotion seriously. Remember though – spam and other unethical practises will harm your business in the long term. Promote your site ethically and responsibly, and you can be reaping the rewards for years to come.

3 Steps To Getting Highly Motivated Prospects Or Customers

With the many ways to advertise, it is easy to sometimes be in a rush to just get something out somewhere. But, no matter where you plan to advertise, there are several basic fundamentals that will help create advertisements that are effective and profitable. Here are three that will get you headed in the right direction.

1. First on the check list is; is your unique selling position (USP) clear and provoking?

You need to find out what makes your business different from that of your competitors. From that, you can develop a strategy based on the strengths or even weaknesses of those differences. Actually, good marketers identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOTs) and develop their strategy from those factors. Here is an example of a USP that stems from a companies weakness:

“We’re not #1, so we work harder to get the job done.”

In this example, a weakness was used to let customers know that they will do what it takes to get the job done. Customers know that they are not #1 so the service and pricing will be competitive.

Having a USP is extremely important in setting you apart from your competitors. It is what gets you into the minds and eventually the wallets of your customers and prospects.

2. Effective Headings and Ad Copy

In developing effective headings and ad copy, it is essential to live by the adage, Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Better know as “AIDA.”

This simply means that you grab the attention of the prospect or customer with an compelling headline or graphic, you keep them reading with an interesting ad copy which creates a desire and ends with a powerful call to action .

When developing “AIDA” it is important to keep in mind that all purchases revolve around basic human wants and they fall into two categories; the desire to gain, and the desire to avoid lose. The latter which is usually the most effective. This is an entire article in itself, but if you focus on those two principals, you will be on your way to an effective ad campaign.

3. It doesn’t matter what you say if your not saying it in the right place.

Just as important as what you say, is where you say it. Where and when you place your ads will have a tremendous effect on the results of those ads. Knowing little facts, such as, the following will give you a much more effective campaign:

Full page ads get better response on the right hand pages.

Larger ads work better than smaller ads.

If placing smaller ads, they are generate more response if lower on the page and closer to the outer margins.

In direct mail, buyers are more responsive to mailings received mid-week than on Mondays, Fridays, or weekends.

Seminars and lectures work better during the second and thirds weeks of the month.

Those are just a few simple facts that will create better response for you. Being a student and learning all the intricate details of advertising will be time well spent in regards to the success of your campaigns.

Ok, so those three simple steps will help you create more effective and more profitable advertising campaigns. Advertising can be costly if the little details are not given proper attention , but highly profitable if you do your homework and create the most compelling ad and place it at the right time and place.

3 Reasons Why Every Business Needs A Newsletter

There are many benefits you and your business can reap from publishing your own newsletter.

1. Keeping In Touch -- Your customers and clients are the lifeblood of your business. What better way to stay in touch with your existing customers than through a newsletter? A newsletter allows you to add personal touches to your relationship and celebrate milestones, both your own and your client's. In addition to furthering your relationship with your clients, a newsletter can also allow you to introduce new products, offer special sales or discounts to your existing client base, and encourage referrals.

2. Hook In New Customers -- Unless they have an immediate need or came to you through a powerful referral, most potential customers won't buy right away. Often they will shop around and compare which means you will likely never see them again. However if you have a free newsletter that offers interested clients the opportunity to learn more about you, your business, and your products for free and they can also learn more about your interaction with your existing customers. A newsletter can be a very simple strategy to turn a one-time visitor into a lifetime customer.

3. Establish Your Expertise -- No one knows more about your business than you do which makes you an expert. Likely the construction of your own business has further left you with a great deal of expertise in your field. Share your nuggets of knowledge through your newsletter to deepen your relationship with your existing customers and convince potential customers that you are the answer to their problems.

Now that I have convinced you that you need to publish your own newsletter, I want to go over a few questions that budding editors and publishers always ask.

What exactly is an electronic newsletter?

Just like their paper counterparts, electronic newsletters deliver written messages usually relating to a common theme or topic. The main difference is that an electronic newsletter transcends paper and ink and most likely only ever exists on a computer screen.

Some electronic newsletter are delivered only via email while others are delivered only on the web. Most are delivered in some combination of the two. Most of my ezines and newsletters are delivered via email but also available immediately via web page (or rather blog page) and RSS feed.

You can choose the method is most suited to you and your audience.

How do you publish an electronic newsletter?

It is much easier to start publication of your own electronic newsletter than it is to start up a print publication. You simply need to decide on a topic, name your publication and start writing. It is easy to find an audience (beyond your own customer base if you choose) through the various ezine and newsletter directories around the internet as well as going directly to the source, for example discussion boards for people interested in your topic.

You will need to determine a delivery method, which means most likely setting up your own web site or page on your existing web site; creating an archive for your issues once they are created, which could mean setting up a blog; and tracking your readers, which likely means setting up a mailing or autoresponder service. However you can use free tools to do any of these things.