Print Advertising

A lunchtime lesson on print advertising
by: Gary Watson
I promise you’ll be able to finish this article before you finish the first half of your PBJ. Are you sitting down? Good. Because I have some startling news for you.

Print ads are here to stay. That’s right. Those dusty, musty, fusty old relics of the century past are still with us. And despite the ubiquity of commercials on radio and TV; despite the onslaught of banners, pop-ups and all manner of intrusive online ads; newspapers and magazines are, and always will be, a mainstay forum for mainstream advertising.

There’s something about the readiness, the handiness, the heft and feel of a magazine or a newspaper that appeals to the nature of human beings. Yes, flat screens that glow with vivid colors are attractive. Especially when they’re displaying something we specifically asked to see.

But as we page through a magazine or a newspaper while enjoying our lunch or riding a commuter train, we don’t mind at all if a surprising or intelligent or just plain appealing ad – even one in black and white – suddenly grabs our attention. We expect it. We secretly look for it. We even welcome it as a break from all the dull gray type we’ve been slogging through. Why? Because – let’s face it – a really good ad is a delight to behold.

Is this the kind of ad your target audience is seeing? Do your ads stop them and make them smile…think…take in your message and make a mental note to look closer at your product or service? Maybe even go to your website for the kind of information that could lead to a sale?

Think carefully about this. If your ad doesn’t stand apart, doesn’t attract, appeal or grab; if it doesn’t delight in some way, the readers you want to capture and bring into your world will simply turn the page and plow on through the dull stuff . . . until they bump into your competitor’s delightfully different ad. And then they’ll stop – and, unfortunately for you – pay attention to the message.

So take a close look at your company’s ads. Do they stand out from the crowd of other ads? Are they different from your competitor’s ads in a powerful and relevant way? And most important, do they convey your core message in an engaging, persuasive and delightful manner?

If so, let them run and run, because they’re bound to bring you business.

If not, better change your approach soon. Before the competition eats your lunch.

About
Gary Watson writes ads for companies that want to add to their bottom line. He also does product/service naming, slogans/tag lines, billboards, web content, sales letters (print and email), etc. etc. He can be reached at Gary@GWCopy.com.

Reciprocal Linking

How To Request A Reciprocal Link
by: Henry James
On the Internet, various webmasters exchange their links for free to generate link popularity as well as targeted traffic on their sites. This exchange of links is called reciprocal linking and it an important tool for webmasters to gain the targeted traffic on their websites. If you are also serious to build up a strong Internet presence, start making requests for reciprocal links. But if you think you don’t know much about reciprocal linking and want to learn how to request a reciprocal link, read this article.

First of all you must understand that you can attain much-desired link popularity with the help of quality reciprocal links. In fact for a long-term Internet presence, a strong reciprocal linking is needed to be built by you. Building reciprocal links is a strategy to be devised carefully. And for the purpose, a number of links and quality of the links has to be good enough to make them search engine friendly.

The search engines are capable of distinguishing between the right links and the useless ones. You cannot fool them by linking to all kind of websites. If you are a travel website, do not link to a baby care website. The link will be considered as useless in this case. Do not send a link request to any such website that is not complimentary to your business. Send the link requests to the targeted links websites only. When you make a reciprocal link with a complimentary business website, indexing of links by both of you will readily benefit both the parties.

To request a reciprocal link, first you have to find out the websites with a good page rank. You can get a list of the websites having good page ranks by making a record of their ranking by major search engines. Type the keyword describing the theme of your website. Press enter and wait for the results to appear. The websites with a good page rank should be your target for the link request. Once you have the list of high ranking websites, you can send the request to them in a humble manner. Post an email containing details of your website. The email should also contain the name of the website owner, URL of the website, the theme of your website and email address of the website owner.

How to request a reciprocal link is necessary to be understood for getting correct reciprocal links. You can easily send a link request to the website by sighting its articles on any ezine. Yes, the articles are a great way for link building on the Internet A number of ezines and forums publish articles that are a good source of reciprocal links.

Another important source to request a reciprocal links is the web directories. You have specialized reciprocal linking websites that are available for reciprocal link building with your website. The directories are able to give you the exact websites as the links are divided under certain categories. If you are owner of a sports website, you can enter a search for other sports websites links on the directory. You will be having a huge variety of websites that are willing to link back to you. Simply add a link on your website and send a link request to the websites mentioned in the directory.

To request a reciprocal link, make sure the website provides relevant information related to your website on its indexed link. If the website does not have a good page rank but has relevant information, you can send a reciprocal link request to that website as well.

About the author:
Discover advanced link popularity tools and resources as a Member of: http://www.Link-Advantage.com

Build a Subscriber List

Build a Profitable Subscriber List
by: Kathleen Gage

Why is it some people are incredibly successful at utilizing the power of the Internet in their marketing while others can’t seem to figure out the winning formula?

How often do entrepreneurs and salespeople look for that next magic formula to build their business and increasing revenues, never quite making any of it work? Many people make it much more difficult to succeed than it need be while others know exactly what to do … and they do it.

Ask anyone who has effectively integrated the use of the Internet into their overall marketing strategy and they will tell you success in building your business, both online and off, is about systems. Simple as that.

Developing and utilizing systems is nothing new. Yet, the great search for the pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow and getting-rich-quick continues.

The place you’ll find more gold than virtually anywhere else is in doing something many people just don’t find appealing. It is in developing and maintaining a solid database. Unfortunately, many people don’t find database management “sexy” enough. So they continually buy into that next “secret formula.”

Fact is, with a well-groomed database you can increase your revenues and decrease your marketing costs. You can build customer relations and keep your name fresh in the minds of your market by keeping in touch. This establishes excellent position within your market.

Most people would be amazed at how simple it is to build an incredibly profitable database by applying a few simple strategies. Remember, simple is not always easy. It will take time, commitment and focus.

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to your database. Depending on your industry and what you sell you may be well served to focus on the few dozen or few hundred who want to buy from you rather than thousands who couldn’t care less about what you offer.

On the other hand, there will be situations where building a massive list is exactly what you need to do. Especially if you have mass quantity products you are selling at a very low price. Then you may want to go for the numbers.

Driving traffic to your site is an ongoing process as is building and maintaining your database. If you are serious about using the Internet in your marketing you need to lay the groundwork to optimize your opportunities.

-Develop a fully operational web site
-Have a way to capture contact information such as a sign up form
-Give people a reason for leaving their contact information such as an Ezine, free report or ebook, an article of interest to your target market or anything that is of benefit to the reader
-Develop a series of content driven messages that address your customers’ needs
-Keep your name in front of your market consistently without being annoying
-Write and distribute articles to various online resources pertinent to your market
-Create a resource box containing your web address
-Do not make the articles a hard sell. Rather, provide information that positions you as a resource before you are a vendor
-Develop a list of forums and discussion groups you can participate in
-Commit to the long-term.

By focusing on developing a solid database and providing incredible value to your market you can and will achieve success in your business. Guaranteed!

 

About the Author:
Kathleen Gage is one of the top rated business owners for 2004 in Utah. Gage is an award winning keynote speaker and author. Access her FREE eBook Street Smarts eMarketing Tips Guaranteed to Jump Start Your Internet Presence to Put You Miles Ahead of the Competition at http://www.streetsmartsmarketing.com/free-ebook.htm

Advertising Do’s and Don’ts

Advertising Do’s and Don’ts
by: Jeremy Gislason
As you begin marketing and promoting your online business you are going to run into some unbelievable advertising opportunities. Generally speaking if the ad offering sounds too good to be true–It is.

There are companies that will tell you they will get you listed in the top 10 search engines or place your link on millions of sites or they will get you listed in the top 10 returns of search engines. This last one sounds similar to the first, but there is a big difference.
Google searches over 3 billion pages during their searches. The companies that tell you they will get you listed in the top 10 of the major search engines would have to defy all the principles of math to do this. They could not work with more than a few companies in order to achieve this and honestly, there is no way they can get you listed in the top 10 of the search engines placements at all unless they make up their own search terms and people search on that specific term.
Stay away from the companies that tell you they are going to place you in search engines for a fee, for the most part they will do nothing more than use a site software submitter. You can get your own software for this or use an online service and submit your site yourself for a lot less than what most SEO companies charge for this service.
Guaranteed traffic– They work fine for free sites or if your goal is to build a database of names, but if you are selling a product or service, you will get hits, but not many sales.
Mass email — Any company that tells you they will send your ad to millions of people for $20 or $30 is simply taking your money. This might sound inviting, but do not waste your money. They are either using site submit tools or sending your ad to millions of harvested email addresses. The companies who tell you they are going to submit your site to millions of pages will most likely do what they say, but you will not see any return and may even get you Spam complaints.
Mass emails are a complete waste of your money regardless of what product you are selling. There are many sites that will tell you they will send your ad to double opt-in lists of people. We have tried over a dozen of these services and have barely received a hit, much less sales. The problem is you lose control over your ad when you use mass email companies. There is no way to verify the ad was sent and if you could verify it was sent, there is no way to tell it was sent to the numbers they promise. Plus, you run the risk of being accused of Spam.
Solo ads– These are by far one of the best methods of promoting your product and service. They are targeted, you can verify the numbers and you can subscribe using a unique email and verify the ad was sent on the day and time it was supposed to be sent.
Consultants– Use your best judgment when hiring consultants, call some or send an email and ask about a money back guarantee if they cannot meet the objectives they set forth. I am not a big believer in money-back guarantees because if a service is valuable and you can see the value before you buy, then a money back guarantee is not necessary. However, if someone comes to you and says, I can make your site profitable within 30 or 60 or 90 days and it is going to cost you X amount of money, then they should give you your money back if they do not achieve the desired results.
A good consultant will work with companies that he or she knows they can help by relying on their background and expertise in certain areas of marketing and advertising. Nobody knows everything, but if someone has an expertise in an area that I lack knowledge with, I would hire him or her in a second if they can honestly help me and they can prove they can help me and they will back up what they tell me.
We get emails every day from people who want to join ISOR with the plan of retiring in a month, making a million dollars without doing anything, etc. and we turn every one of them down. There is no business on the Internet or in traditional business where you can accomplish this type of unrealistic goal.
There are, however consultants who will tell you what you want to hear, just to get your business. They take your money and run and they will not help you a bit. We hired a copy writer one time who seemed like a good fit for our company and only after she finished the writing at $120 an hour did she tell me that she would not buy my product. Not because she could not benefit from it, but she refused to pay for anything online. Her copy was terrible and we ended up re–writing the entire sales page. Her feelings and beliefs came across in her writings. It was simply impossible for her to write positively when her mind was telling her negative things.
We have many marketing and advertising partners and all the companies we partner with have been tested by us to offer valuable services, but there are thousands of other companies on the Internet and you might find a very good company with a very good service that works for you and within your budget. Not all companies are out to cheat you, but the purpose of this article is to forewarn you regarding where you spend your advertising dollars.
We have spent a lot of money and time buying and trying different advertising options and by using our own ad campaign and link tracking system for all our advertising campaigns we have the data to back up what we say.
Research your advertising options carefully and do not get pulled into a good deal just because it sounds like a good deal. You do not need to spend a lot of money to advertise and promote your business, you just need to use your common sense and think long term.
Copyright 2004 Jeremy Gislason
About The Author

Jeremy Gislason has over 15 years of marketing experience and is the Vice President of ISORegister, Inc. We are dedicated to helping online businesses succeed by providing them with the tools and resources every online business should not be without. Discover how ISOR has helped 1000’s of ordinary people and dozens of top Internet marketers earn a living online. Visit http://www.isoregister.com today.