28/12/2006 by management.

If you have been dabbling with internet marketing for some time now, you’re most probably aware of the fact that information products are one of the easiest and most profitable things that your could sell online.  Information products may be eBooks, special reports or articles which you could offer for a price.

Preparing information products is quite easy, at least in theory.  All you need are two things:

1. Information; and
2. Writing skills

Information is the hottest commodity in the World Wide Web.  This is why the Internet is called the information superhighway.  If you’d be able to provide the right kind of information, you will never run out of potential customers.  This is especially true if you manage to find a hungry market where the demand for such information would be immense.

Writing an eBook is very similar to writing a special report.  An eBook is work composed of approximately 30 or more pages.  Anything shorter would be considered as a special report.  Here are some simple steps you could take to come up with an information product of this type:

1. Select a topic from the niche you have previously chosen.  This topic must correspond to a particular aspect of the niche, something that people would want to know about.  For example, in our running example of dog grooming, supposing you choose the niche of shih tzu dog grooming, a good topic to write about is “how to select perfect grooming kits for your shih tzu.”

2. Prepare an outline for your work.  It should be as organized as possible.  Start with the most basic concepts, and gradually proceed to the more advanced ones.

3. Do your research!  This is very important.  If you’re offering something in exchange for your prospective customers’ hard-earned money, you should give them something valuable.  A well-researched work is what they deserve.

4. Fill up your outline with the necessary information.  If you have a great outline, this shouldn’t be a problem.  All you have to do is to write about what you have researched and include them in the specific portions allotted by the said outline.

5. This is very important: avoid plagiarism.  Plagiarism could ruin you.  You need to learn how to respect intellectual property rights when you’re doing business online.  There are no ifs and buts about it.  You need to come up with an original work to sell.

6. Once you have finished the draft of your eBook or special report, have it proofread for errors.  Make corresponding corrections.

7. Once you have your error-free manuscript, you would need to come up with an attractive and attention-grabbing eCover for your work.  People always say that no one should judge a book by its cover.  This is rarely practiced however.  Many books, and many eBooks, are sold on the basis of their covers alone.  Invest on a good eCover to boost your sales.

8. Then you would have to convert your work into .pdf format.  Being in .pdf format would allow more people to read your eBook, as a variety of computer platforms recognize this file type.

Once you have completed these steps, you will own an information product that is ready to be sold!

But what if you are not possessed of writing skills, or you simply don’t have the time to write?  Does this mean that you can’t come up with your own information product?  Most definitely not, of course, as there are many ways to skin the cat, in a manner of speaking.  For starters, you could always try outsourcing, or contracting the services of an outside party to help you prepare the information products you have in mind.  Another option is to make good use of private label rights, better known as PLR in the industry today.  Products sold with PLR would allow the purchaser to alter their contents and even name themselves as the author of the works.

There is no excuse why you couldn’t come up with your own information product.  If the internet promises to be your ride to a good life, then an information product, quite surely, is your ticket to hop aboard that freight train.

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28/12/2006 by management.

There’s no doubt about it.  The key to online prominence lies in mastering the art of finding the right keywords.

Keywords are the specific words that internet users type in the search engine fields to find the information they need.  If your website contains these exact keywords, in their proper density level, you’d have a great chance of appearing in a good position on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Whether you’re selling your own products, or promoting your affiliate links, or inviting people to subscribe to a membership program you have developed, you would need a website to carry out your marketing approach, and you will need visitors to come to your website to experience the success that its potentials promise.  And the key to generating a lot of visitors for your website lies in the selection of the correct keywords.

Keywords take on a more important role when it comes to online endeavors enrolled with Pay Per Click (PPC) programs.  Keywords would attract the ads that the PPC programs can assign, and once your visitors would click on such ads, you will earn a specified amount.  There are some ads that pay a measly $0.05 per click.  But there are also some ads that pay as much as $50.00 per click.  How can you secure for yourself the latter option?  Well, you must be able to determine the most profitable keywords beforehand.

Finding profitable keywords isn’t really difficult, for as long as you know what you’re doing.  There are three ways by which you could accomplish this.

1. Go to www.adsensearena.com .  This is, by far, the easiest as well as the most cost-efficient approach.  The said website has long been a secret of people in the know.  No one knows how the website came about.  No one even knows who maintains its pages.  But everyone agree that the information it contains are pretty much accurate, save for some entries which are a little bit dated.  The website www.adsensearena.com contains a comprehensive list of keywords together with their corresponding Cost Per Click (CPC).  Simply do a manual search and look for the keywords that command a high CPC.  Then build a content website based on what you will discover.

2. Create an AdWords account.  AdWords is Google’s service for PPC advertisers.  Creating an account won’t cost a single cent, but it would give you access to a control panel where you could view the bidding for certain keywords.  All you have to do is to find keywords that command very high bids.  This would give you an idea about how much the CPC of those keywords could be.  Interested with this approach?  Visit http://adwords.google.com today.

3. A number of online marketers offer keyword lists of the hottest topics today.  These are subjects that have little competition, and which can be profitably exploited for your AdSense PPC campaigns.  Often, these lists come with reports detailing the expected CPC of each of the keywords in the said lists.  The online marketers who distribute the same would require a fee, of course, but if you have made content sites the engine of your online enterprise, these keyword lists could prove valuable for your endeavors.

There are three basic components to a successful PPC campaign.  These are your website’s page impressions, or the number of unique visitors who get to load up your pages; your website’s Click Through Rate (CTR), or the number of visitors who get to click on the ads displayed on your website; and your ads’ CPC.  The right keywords would attract ads with high CPC, and you’ll be able to solve 1/3 of the equation.  The other 2/3?  This is where marketing strategies would come in.

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28/12/2006 by management.

What was once considered as impossible is now a very real probability. Yes, your website can be indexed in Google’s database within a week’s time after it goes live! How are you supposed to do this?

Google said that you should not bother to submit your website to them. They will find your website, and once they do, they’ll index your web pages. The reason behind this is quite simple. Google uses links to hop from one website to another. If they arrive at a page that is unfamiliar to their database, they will index it… and thus is the method by which your very own website can be a part of their database.

The problem is, there are literally billions of web pages out there. Even with the mechanical precision by which it operates, it will take weeks, if not months, before Google can stumble upon your website for proper indexing. The trick is in expediting this process. And how are you supposed to do that?

Let’s put it this way. If only one website is linking to yours, Google has to crawl through that site before it could discover yours. 1 in 1,000,000,000 is not a favorable ratio. But what if you have 1,000 websites linking to yours? Alas! Your website would have better chances of getting indexed fast!

The number of websites linking to yours is called your link popularity. To check your current link popularity, use the tool that can be found at www.linkpopularity.com .

Regardless of what number would appear (which, chances are, would be zero if you have just published your website), we will have to build your link popularity to at least a thousand so that Google can find your website within a week’s time.

How are we to do this?

Here are some specific steps you should follow.

1. Write 10 highly informative and unique articles about the topic of your website.

2. If you can’t write articles, as such would require a lot of time, hire a freelancer to do it for you. Go to www.rentacoder.com , www.elance.com or www.guru.com and advertise a job. You’ll receive some bids, and it’s up to you to select the best freelancer for the task you want done.

3. Submit these articles to as many article directories you could find. The ones you shouldn’t miss are www.ezinearticles.com , www.goarticles.com and www.isnare.com . Being linked via the latter option has been known to work well with MSN rankings. There are more than a thousand prominent article directories today. If you have one article in each of their databanks, then you’d have a thousand pages linking to your website.

4. Create a blog at www.blogger.com . Choose the default hosting option, that is, allow Blogger to host your blog. Blogger is owned by Google. You see the point we’re driving at here? Make sure that your blog would link to your main website, either as a mention in your posts, or as a fixed link on your menu bar.

5. Link to as many blogs as possible. Chances are, the owners of those blogs would link to your blog as well, and the readers of those blogs may even do the same thing.

6. There are sure to be some forums devoted to the subject of your website. Find these forums and create an account with each of them. Use the tool at www.link-advantage.com/search to find the online community related to the subject of your site. Once you’re a member in those forums, include a link to your website in the signature box that would be provided for. Your signature box will appear in every post you will make. The trick here is to publish as many significant posts as you could. Each post will serve as a link to your main website, and would improve its link popularity.

These steps can be done in 3 days, and before the week is over, you’d be surprised that your website would have been indexed by Google, as well as the two other main search engines at that.

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28/12/2006 by management.

Here’s a not-so-secret secret: the market is getting tired of the usual eBooks and special reports that promises the most revolutionary information.  They want something new… something more… something that they could actually respond to.  And it as become an Internet marketer’s challenge to come up with novel products that would excite a market slowly sinking to indifferent stupor.

And the most encouraging product types that have been invented in recent months are video products.  Yes, video that you could actually watch from your monitor screen.  Video that is accompanied by audio commentaries, which seek to inform, if not to entertain.

There are many reasons why video products are better than written works, which have become passé after a decade or so.

• People respond more to what they could see and hear, rather than what they could merely read.
• People are more stimulated with what they get to enjoy watching.
• Some information which cannot be clearly conveyed with written works can actually be demonstrated with video presentations.
• Video presentations present information in a clearer, and often, more concise manner.
• Video presentations are viewed as more professional products compared to their counterparts.

Indeed, video products are easily better options compared to conventional varieties.  But the problem that most Internet marketers experience with this medium is the seemingly complicated process involved in their creation.  This, however, should not be the case.  With the right knowledge on how to proceed, you’d realize the creating a video product is easier than baking an apple pie.

Let’s take a look at the essential steps.

1. Select a subject you want to tackle, preferably a subject you are already familiar with.
2. Select a particular aspect of that topic which you will want to discuss.  It should be something engaging and helpful for your future customers.
3. Prepare an outline of how you will discuss the said aspect of the subject.
4. Do your research.
5. If your subject involves a certain niche, get a digital camcorder and record the appropriate material.  You may choose to add your audio in real time, that is, while you’re filming your footage, or later on, during the editing process.
6. If your subject involves online affairs, download the screen capture program at www.camtasia.com .  This would allow you to capture your computer screen’s movements in .avi format.  Camtasia would also allow you to record the audio in real time, or you may prepare a different audio file via Windows Sound Recorder and synchronize both formats later on.
7. Edit the materials using a video editing software program.  There are many of these for sale, but if you want something readily available, Windows XP comes with a movie maker program already.
8. If you will offer your video product for download, convert your file into .wmv format to compress its size.
9. If you choose physical delivery, burn your video product on CDs or DVDs, and prepare them for shipping.
10. Then you could market your product already.

Nothing is complicated about it.  Creating your own video product is indeed that simple.  Anyone could do it, actually.  And the applications for this type of creation are amazingly diverse.

• You could add video components to your sales page to increase your response rate.
• You could offer downloadable video lessons to increase consumer confidence.
• Instead of preparing a written manual, you could demonstrate what is needed to be done with a software product you’re offering through a series of videos that can be packaged with your item.

The possibilities are endless.  The above examples are just a sampling of the many doors that video products can open for you.  If you want to favorably position yourself in the online marketing field, do consider creating your own video products as soon as possible.

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28/12/2006 by management.

If you’ve been focusing solely on the market you could reach online, then you’re missing some big profit.

The World Wide Web can be a very big place, but let’s face it.  More people are actually not interested with the Internet compared to the people who are regular web users.  You may be servicing a bustling segment of the online market today, but how long would it take before that segment of the market becomes saturated?  And even if new people are logging online on a daily basis, you will have to compete with other internet marketers for their valuable attention.

So, how do you increase your market base?  How can you ensure a more profitable business for your online enterprise?

One approach which has yet to be fully exploited is organizing local internet marketing seminars.  These are workshops, symposiums, conventions and even boot camps that aim to teach people, live and in person, the real possibility of earning a living online, and the fundamental steps that should be taken to ensure the same.

Conducting internet marketing seminars would be very beneficial in so many levels.

• You’d be able to tap into the offline market and bring them online.
• Your audience would find you even more credible, as they won’t have to rely on written words alone.  They will see and hear you, live and in the flesh, and this could effectively eliminate the hesitations usually caused by the anonymity provided by the internet.
• You’d be able to build your brand as an expert for being able to organize an event like an internet marketing seminar.
• You’d be able to promote your own products, more effectively at that because you’d be able to tell your audience about it in person.
• You’d be able to build a battalion of committed affiliates since you’ll be able to interact with your prospects.
• You’d be able to build great relationships, which could result in faithful customers as well as future joint venture partners.

Before you start thinking that organizing an internet marketing seminar is a difficult task, think again.  With a little planning and solid logistical support, you’ll be able to conduct an event like this quite easily.  Here are the steps you should take.

1. Choose a subject you wish to focus on.  This subject should be particular enough for discussion.  Basic lessons, techniques, tips and overviews are good topics for internet marketing seminars.

2. Try to determine if you could discuss the subject yourself.  Be honest.  Do you have the requisite public speaking skills for the job?  If not, you should invite speakers from the internet marketing industry to discuss the topic before your audience.  Some of your speakers would require a profit sharing scheme, others would do it for free for the chance to promote their brands.  In any event, it is but proper that you provide for their accommodations and travel expenses.

3. Determine where you want to hold your event.  A densely populated locality would be a great option.  But the place where most of your mailing list’s subscribers are located would be an excellent option as well, to guarantee you the audience you need.

4. Find a suitable venue in the place where you have decided to hold your seminar.  This could be a ballroom of a hotel, a university’s conference hall, or even a convention center if you’re planning to invite more than 500 people.  You have to reserve the venue at least 3 months in advance.

5. Prepare the program of your event.  If you will have several speakers, make sure that there will be an open forum after each segment to give your audience the chance to ask their questions.

6. Determine if you want to charge an entrance fee for the event.  You could choose to earn from the gate receipts, of course.  The price would be dependent on your overhead expenses as well as how renowned your speakers are.  However, it is also a good idea to offer your seminar for free, especially if your expenses aren’t that big.  This way, you’d be able to attract more people to whom you could efficiently promote your products.

7. Market your event as you would a digital product.

The logistical difficulty would depend on the magnitude of the event you will be organizing.  For starters, you should keep things small, to help you gain the necessary experience.  Once your efforts prove successful, you could start organizing bigger events involving bigger personalities in the online marketing scene.

Internet marketing seminars are excellent marketing options that would leave your audience fully satisfied, and your business fully invigorated with newfound vigor.

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28/12/2006 by management.

(Plus, How To Use Dynamic Pricing To Boost Your Sales Rate)

Internet marketing, by its very name is about promoting your products online.  But to believe that internet marketing is all about, well, marketing, would be quite restrictive.

Assuming that you have already acquainted yourself with the intricacies of product creation as well as the myriad forms of advertising tactics that can be implemented online, we will now discuss a matter that could make or break your success in internet marketing.

Now, what we will be discussing is a subject that many online businessmen have taken for granted.  It is that very thing that would connect your business to the affirmative action of your visitors.  It is that very thing that would convert your visitors into paying customers.

We’re talking about the price for your product.

How exactly should you price your product?  Naturally, you would want to reach a range that would recover the investments you have made for its creation and promotion.  This is called the break even point.  Anything above the break even point would be considered as your profit.  Naturally, again, you would want to attain as much profit as possible.

So these are the two things that determine price:

1.  how much you have invested; and

2.  how much you want to earn per item

There are two approaches that are generally used when it comes to pricing.  Let’s take a look at them.

1.  Price your product a little over the break even point, and rely on the volume of items you will be able to sell.

2.  Price your product substantially higher than the break even point, so that every sale would reap some substantial rewards.

If you foresee your product to be a hot seller, then the first approach would be the best one for your needs.  You could just rake in your earnings through the several sales you will be able to achieve.

If you foresee slow sales for your product, then the second approach would be more appropriate.  Each sale would give you what you need, and you won’t be pressured to sell a lot of items to realize your earnings.

But both approaches have their own shares of problems.  Pricing your product too low might just give your prospective customers the impression that your product is of inferior quality.  Pricing your product too high would alienate a large segment of the market.

Personally, I say that you should price your product for what it’s worth.  Let the market forces take care of themselves.  If you bestow a fair price for your product, you won’t have to worry about the backlash of consequences.  Each product is a different case, and it merits special attention when it comes to pricing.  Keep this in mind when deciding on the right price for the same.

But here’s a very secret tip: you could use the price of your product to tremendously boost your sales.  Yes, you read that right.  YOU CAN USE THE PRICE OF YOUR PRODUCT TO TREMENDOUSLY BOOST YOUR SALES.  This is through a process called dynamic pricing.  Dynamic pricing can create an urgency that would compel people to purchase your product as soon as possible.

There are some tools that would allow you to implement dynamic pricing for your offers.  The way it works is that you’d offer a product for an amazingly low price, with a warning that after a specified period of time, the price would increase.  This increase would continue until the offer is priced beyond your market’s budget.

For example, an eBook can be offered for a mere $5 today.  After 25 hours, its price would increase by $5.  And after another 24 hours, the price would again increase by $5… and so on and so forth.  The result would be mass hysteria, as the members of your target market would line up in a hurry to purchase your offer while it is cheap.

Dynamic pricing is one of those novel marketing strategies that has proved successful for many online businessmen.  It’s worth the try if you want to experience an immediate rush of incoming orders.

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28/12/2006 by management.

Many things can be said about the benefits of having an online business.  Inexpensive marketing platforms, a global audience, automation and the likes are just some of the top answers whenever online businessmen are asked why they decided to establish their enterprises in the World Wide Web.

But there’s one factor that is often left undisclosed.  The online field would also require you to compete with hundreds, if not thousands, of other businesses jockeying for the same market.  It’s a virtual race for sales, or for clicks if you’re engaged in a PPC venture.  And since any given market is finite, the number and strength of your competition plays an important role in determining your success in the internet marketing industry.

Competition is said to be at its highest level in the search engine game.  As you may very well know, 80% of the traffic that can be generated from any website would come from the search engines.  If you are competing with 100 other enterprises, this means that you should try your very best to beat all 100 of them for the top spot in the search engine results page for every relevant query.  This is the best way to ensure that you’ll get first dibs on a prospect before they could grab a hold of him.

As is usually the case, search engine optimization (SEO) techniques abound to help you gain good position in search engine results.  Mastering these techniques would give you a greater chance of succeeding in the online industry.

At least in theory.

In practice, however, things aren’t that easy.  What remains unsaid is the fact that most of your competitors would be doing the same thing.  You’d still have to compete with the tactics that they themselves would employ.  And if all of you would be implementing the same strategies, then it’s back to square one.  If you can’t get ahead of them in the search engine positions before, there’s no reason why you’d get ahead of them after employing the same tricks that they likewise employ.

So what should you do?

Here’s an unorthodox strategy.  Instead of competing against your rivals, you could actually learn from them.  And in the process, you could steal their spots.

Competition is always about figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents.  The keys to victory lie in replicating what your opponents are doing correctly and correcting what your opponents are doing wrong.

And these can only be achieved by studying their performance.

Let’s give it a shot through an example.

Supposing your online business has something to do with dog grooming.  A cursory look at Google would reveal that you have around 10,000,000 pages servicing the same subject.  An approximation based on averages would tell us that around 2.5 million webmasters are engaged in the same field.

On the number one spot in the search engine results would be petgroomer.com.  This website’s spot is your aim.  Your goal is to dislodge this website from its number one position.

How are you supposed to do that?

Let’s try to study the website.  On your Internet browser, go to VIEW then select SOURCE.  You’ll be taken to a text file that would reveal the source code of the said website.  Now study this source code and answer the following questions:

• Are you doing the SEO techniques the website is employing?
• What is the website implementing that you’re not doing?
• What are you doing that the website is not implementing?

For example, the said website is employing META tags.  Are you using the same META tags?  Does he have more META tags than you do?  The website also hosts a variety of content pieces.  Are its content pieces better than yours?  Are there any keywords in such pieces that you have failed to capitalize on?  The said website is also using ALT tags.  Are you using ALT tags for your pages with same level of proficiency?

Again, just as a reminder, the trick is to determine what your competitor is doing right so that you’d know what to imitate, and to determine what your competitor is doing wrong so that you’d know where to beat him.

Now go to www.linkpopularity.com and run a check on that website’s URL.  You’d know that the said website has 1,927 MSN back links and 2,760 Yahoo back links.  The next step is to acquire more back links than what this website has.  This is where you should employ off page SEO tactics so that you’d be able to beat the aforementioned number one website.  If you will manage to get more back links, then chances are, Google will consider assigning your website a higher page rank.

These are the secrets to studying – and beating – your competition, even if the playing field is fairly built.  As Arie De Geus did say, “the ability to learn faster than your competitors may be only sustainable competitive advantage.”

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28/12/2006 by management.

Telecommuting is defined as working from the comforts of your own home, for an employer who is situated many miles away.  Everything can be done via your computer, and communication is facilitated via phone calls, emails, fax messages and other means made possible by modern technology.

Much like any other job, you have to seek out vacancies, and often, you would have to apply for the position.  You may be subjected to some requirements before you could be admitted.

There are many kinds of telecommuting opportunities.  Here are some of them:

1. Working as a digital secretary.  You will be tasked to do what a normal secretary would do.  The difference is that you won’t have to report to a work place, and yes, you won’t have to prepare coffee for your boss.  Everything that would require your care and attention, and every work that is covered by your job description, can be sent via email or fax machine.  You just have to convey to your employer what is needed to be conveyed, and submit what are needed to be submitted, through digital methods.

2. Medical transcription.  This is an emerging field in telecommuting.  You would have to transcribe some audio files that would be sent by your employer.  These audio files are recorded by doctors and other medical professionals, and they need them in hard copy, i.e. written form.  The job pays around $0.04 to $0.15 per line, which isn’t bad considering that all you’ll have to do is to write down what you will get to hear.  One audio file can be as long as 15 pages, which is equivalent to an hour or an hour and half work.  Being a medical transcriptionist requires familiarity with medical terms, however.  There are some medical transcription courses available, both online and offline.  Some of them last for 30 hours.  Others for 6 months.

3. Legal transcription.  Much like medical transcription, only, you would have to transcribe audio files sent in my practicing attorneys.  You’d need some basic knowledge of legal terms for this one.  And there are likewise legal transcription courses available online and offline.

4. Help desk representative.  You will be briefed about the employer’s products or services, and you will be tasked to accept calls at home and answer the customers’ needs on behalf of your employer.  Some would require you to answer via your phone line.  Others employ VoIP over the internet.

5. Collection agent.  You would have to make calls for and on behalf of the employer to attempt to collect debts that have become due and demandable.

There are other opportunities that are available under telecommuting.  The common denominator among them is that you will be paid by the hour, compared to freelancing where you will be paid for every delivery and where the fee is pegged per project.

When looking for open positions, it is best to consult with appropriate website in the World Wide Web.  The best of these websites is www.craigslist.com , an online classified section filled with thousands and thousands of job opportunities.  What differs this from other similar websites like www.hotjobs.com and www.jobstreet.com is that every ad has a designation about whether or not it is a telecommuting position.  This would make your search narrower and more precise.

Personally, however, I feel that there is only so much you could earn via telecommuting.  Remember that your earning potential is determined by how much you work, hence, your earnings are pretty much set per day.  Rare are the times when you could earn more than what you have signed up for.

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28/12/2006 by management.

It is common business practice never to aid your competitor.  Having your competition gain the upper hand is one thing.  Handing it to them would be another.  Some people claim that helping out your competitors would be tantamount to signing your own enterprise’s death warrant.  You’re paving the way for your business’ downfall.

This isn’t true… not always, at least.

In online marketing, there is a way by which you could benefit from extending aid to your competition.  Amazingly, you could even manage to grab some of his website’s page rank, as well as steal his traffic.  And you could do these without being antagonistic at all.  It’ll all be accomplished while helping him sell a product or two.

What is this strategy?

It’s called testimonials.

Every internet marketer is faced with the gargantuan task of having to overcome the lack of consumer confidence.  It is the World Wide Web, after all.  The anonymity in these virtual halls makes it difficult for any online businessman to win the trust of his prospective customers.  Yes, the online businessman may pay thousands of dollars for a truly engaging and convincing sales page, but as often is the case, these words are not enough to win a sale.  Why?  Because these words will still be associated with the online businessman, and people do not expect him to badmouth his own products.  That he will talk favorably about his offers is a given.

But what if a third party would share some favorable words about the online businessman and the product he is offering?  Surely, his statement would bear more weight than the sales pitch of the businessman himself, right?  After all, the third party has no stakes on the success of the campaign.

Such is the importance of testimonials for most sales pages.  They greatly contribute to the conversion rate the sales copy would manage to pull off, essentially because of their seemingly objective nature.

Almost every online businessman – your competitors included – will be on the lookout for people who will be willing to provide for them some generously written testimonials.  To gather these, online marketers even go to the extent of giving away free samples of their products for review purposes.

Now, here’s the trick.

One of the incentives to encourage favorable testimonials is the mention of the testimonial giver’s link on the sales page itself.  There are many benefits to this.

• If your link can be found in your competitor’s sales page, then chances are, you will be targeting the same market.  Since the people who will be reading your competitor’s sales page are already there, we could assume that they are highly targeted leads.  Once they see your link, there is a great chance that they’d get transported to your own sales page, which would only work wonders for you.

• If your competitor’s sales page has a higher page rank (PR), having your link in the said copy would provide a boost to your own website’s PR.

• In any event, it is an additional back link for your website which would only increase your link popularity.

Yes, by giving a favorable testimonial for your competitor’s campaign, you’d be helping him bag more sales.  But then again, internet marketing is not really a dog-eat-dog kind of business.  His success can make the industry very healthy.  And the fact that your link will be prominently displayed on his sales page could only mean that you could share his success, eventually.

So, the next time someone asks you for a testimonial, take some time to prepare for him a good one.  You’ll gain immediate results for your own business.  And who knows?  Someday, he might even return the favor with a testimonial of his own.

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28/12/2006 by management.

Online selling strategies have evolved throughout the years.  The internet, after all, is already in its second decade.  People have smartened up on some selling tactics that, because of overuse, have become passé.

There is a need to come up with new marketing techniques to provide a boost for any online enterprise.  Internet marketers have experimented with a lot of novel approaches.  Though most of these have failed, some yielded more than positive results.  Indeed, a number of packaging tactics have been developed that have caused tremendous leaps in sales rates across the board.

What are these packaging tactics and how will you be able to employ them for your own online business?  Read on, dear friend, as we discuss some amazing sales strategies that are sure to reap fantastic dividends.

Onetime Offer

 So you have a mailing list, and a big one at that.  But how is your conversion rate?  Onetime offers can immediately jack up your conversion rate by as much as 800% at the average.

Here’s the deal.  Your subscribers have most probably gotten immune with your sales messages.  Indeed, you may be getting some “yes” customers from time to time, but the number of “no” respondents far outnumber them.  Onetime offers can help you change the mind of your “no” customers, but more importantly, they could help you bag the previously untapped members of your mailing list… the “maybe tomorrow” prospects.

A onetime offer is an offer for an amazing value-loaded package for a limited time, with a warning that such an offer will NEVER happen again.  For example, you’re selling a product for $47, normally.  Create a onetime offer that will cut the price in half, and support the same with a plethora of bonuses.  Offer this for one month.

This would create a sense of panic on anyone who would get to know about your offer.  The result?  A mad rush to purchase the same!

In some circles, a onetime offer is also called a Fire Sale, alluding to the sheer bargain and urgency involved with the package.

Time Sensitive Offers

Time sensitive offers are very similar to onetime offers.  Time sensitive offers make use of some tools to include a timer on your sales page, with a warning that once the displayed time would run out, the readers won’t be able to purchase the package ever again.

Again, the result is mass hysteria leading to a spike in your sales rate.  Imagine your sales page displaying the words “xx:xx before this offer closes forever!” with “xx:xx” representing the amount of time remaining.  The tools that can be used for time sensitive offers actually display the remaining period in real time, meaning, a virtual clock would appear on your page, and your visitors would get to see the seconds pass by.

If you don’t have the resources to invest on these tools, you could always do things the old fashioned way.  You could specify an exact date as well as an exact time when the deal would expire.  It would be great if you’d constantly update your sales page per day to indicate the number of days or hours remaining before your offer closes its doors.

Proper Usage Of Bonuses

This is pretty basic but some online marketers have failed to make the most out of including bonuses for their products.  Including bonuses doesn’t only entail offering a slew of other products for free.  If you take this simple approach, you will just deteriorate the value of your bonuses.

It’s all about the perceived value of the package as a whole.  You have to make your readers know that your package, not just your main product, is truly valuable and very much worth their hard earned money,

To do this, you have to include the real value of each and every one of your bonuses.  If bonus A is worth $50, then state that fact.  If bonus B is worth $20, state that fact as well.  The total value of all your bonuses combined should likewise be stated.  This would give your readers the impression of how much they’d be getting all the products if they were to purchase them individually.  And since your offer will be charging them for your main product alone, they’d have a clearer perspective about how valuable your package really is.

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