Internet Marketing Basics

By Anna-Marie Stewart

Wow, life just keeps getting busier and busier at this time of year, have you noticed? Kids are back in school, the lazy days of the summer holidays are over and everybody`s starting to think about Christmas. The shops are full of Christmas stuff, ads on tv are showing pressies for the kids, even the World Wide Web is overflowing with Christmas.

Do you realise there`s only about 14 weeks between mid-September and mid-December? When you think of it that way, it`s understandable that everybody`s really starting to promote their stuff hard. Especially on the web, because things tend to happen so fast online compared to in real life.

If you don`t get going there in time, you risk missing out. So whatever it is you`re marketing: Go for gold, pull out all the stops, get the best copy you possibly can, and promote, promote, promote!

We all want to make sales at this time of year, so that we`ve got money in our own pockets for Christmas. So how do you go about getting as many sales as possible?

First of all, take a good, long hard look at yourself. What IS it that makes you want to buy something? What makes you say "I`ve just got to have that!" Why do you want it? Is it the price? Is it because it`s simple and easy to use? Does it solve a problem for you? Maybe it`s just because it`s outright fun?

Guess what you`ve just done? You`ve looked at yourself as your own prospective customer! You KNOW what draws you, and you KNOW you can`t possibly be the only person on earth that get`s drawn by those things, so you now KNOW what buyers want.

There are a few proven methods to getting your customers to buy more from you once they`ve made that first purchase, such as offering a freebie with it. Giving them that little bit more than what they bought can really work wonders. Of course, something worthwhile, and preferrably related to what they ordered from you usually works best.

After-sales follow-up is also extremely important. Write them an email asking if they`re happy with their purchase, or ask if there`s anything they need explaining about the product etc. Make sure you`re available to answer any questions they might have about the products they`ve bought.

If you sell actual hands-on products that you have to send through the post, then drop a business card with all your contact info into the parcel. Or add a little extra something to the package, trust me, they`ll remember you. How do I know this?

At times, I buy small wholesale lots on Ebay. One of my favourite items to buy happens to be belly bars (they`re actually good sellers for me). So anyway, I`ve been happy with most of my purchases, but this one time I`d bought some belly bars and waited for them to come to my door. Impatiently, as always..

When they arrived, I opened up the package, and inside was a small polythene bag, with 3 small candies in it and a "Thanks for your purchase" note. Just a tiny gesture, but guess what? It made me remember the seller, and I`ve bought from her time and time again.

I read somewhere that if you under-promise, and over-deliver, then you`re onto a winner. I think whoever wrote that may just have been knowing what they were talking about.

So get going. Christmas is close, and time is running out. If you`re useless at ad copy, then PAY someone to write your ads for you. It IS worth it, and there are a lot of extremely reasonably priced copywriters out there. My personal favourite is http://www.strategyadservice.com

Give your website a holiday feel, full of red and green, just don`t overdo it. Make people feel comfortable, give them a reason to trust you, and you WILL make those Christmas sales!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-Resource Box-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-
How to easily avoid those contrived Scams, Shams, and Spam. Yes; without spending your Hard won money with every so called Guru. Be far better informed and prepared With This Brand New, Huge money Saving Free E-Book! Now You can quickly learn how to run a real home spun business without all the Hype. http://annamarketing.com/pops/splash.html
Subscribe to Not Just Another Ezine http://annamarketing.com
=============================================
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine,
web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes
to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.
(c) 2004 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved

Just posting a new update on the Christmas Giveaway 2004 that I decided to be a part of. It`s now given me close to 50 new subscribers to NJAE since 1st December, so it was definitely worth my time signing up to it.

I just went over to the giveaway page to check it out again, and was pleased to see that there`s more downloads been added to the freebies list as promised.

Here`s a list of things that are available up to now, first the newer things since my last post:

List Builder Magic Webmaster Tool v.3

Unleash Your Niche by Teresa King

Family Report

Money Report

Untold Traffic Secrets ebook

The Gold Collection From AX Gold Software

INFOWAREMALL.COM -- ClickBank Digital Marketplace (90 day free trial)

Also available, as per my previous post about it:

The EZ - Redirect Generator

Audio Player Pro

MagicSubscriber

"Write, Create, Promote, Sell!"

Viral Success Report

Add2it PostIt Pro

Gifts Women Want Ebook

As you can see, it`s not a bad list of stuff to grab for free :)

Visit http://www.ezasmagic.com/Cheers/, subscribe to a few newsletters/ezines and enjoy. Don`t forget to bookmark the page so you don`t miss out on the other stuff that gets added between now and xmas day.

Also, I heard there`s still room for plenty more publishers who want to get involved, there`s a link for publishers on the same page, close to the bottom.

How to build a successful home business.

(c)Copyright 2004 by Sonya Anderson

First and foremost I must say that building a home business is a tough but a beneficial accomplishment. Many analysts say that 3 out of 4 home businesses fail, whether that has to do with the entrepeneur quitting before they gave it a real chance, or if it's based on a financial need. Most people will need to work outside of the home at the same time as building their home business.

Does it feel like you are working 24/7 on your out of home job and building your home business? My guess is yes it does. Success comes to those who have the most patience, business smarts, and money behind them. You can not do it without investing some money and taking the time to do some marketing research on your product and community needs.

The different areas that your money may need to be invested in are building a web site, optimising that site, and building your clientele. Whether it may be online advertising that you opt for, or simply advertising in your local community, it will take time and some money.

The first thing is to find your first potential clients, and then build from there. Word of mouth is still the best promotion that a small business can have. When you get a lead from someone concerning a potential client, follow it up. Following up may lead to a client or to other potential clients.

Try to build your own opt-in email list as well. Email, by far, is the most beneficial form of communication to the small business owner. Telephone communication is still the best, but may not be necessary if your client is accute to email communication. Respond to your emails immediately. While you may have opted for an auto responder on your email, you should still respond personally, using the client's name, as soon as you possibly can.

Follow up after you have concluded your business dealings to ensure customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer will return your investment two fold. Also think about doing charity work within the realm of your business community. While plenty of time and effort goes into charity work, the charm is the end result of the self satisfaction that you were able to help out someone in need with your expertise and then the result from the word of mouth from the community of what your business did for them.

Don't give up in the short term on your small business. Try to keep building on it, being creative with your marketing and building of your clientele. It may just be profitable for you. Being your own boss has it's benefits!

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Classic Web and Digital Designs creates unique web sites in a business web site design concept and strives to provide affordable web site design and development, logo creations, and fast-loading and easy to navigate sites that attract and inform your customers. Through personal consultation, a business web site design will be created, specifically tailored to your company's needs. http://www.classicdesigns.ca
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This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.

This article was first published on 9th December 2004 as part of Issue #80 of NJAE. For more like this, please visit us at http://annamarketing.com and subscribe to Not Just Another Ezine.

Email Netiquette Using BCC in Outlook Express.
(C) Copyright 2004 by Anna-Marie Stewart

How many times have you received an email with a whole bunch of other email addresses in the To: line? Or are you guilty of doing the same? The problem with adding lots of email addressess in the To: line of an email is that every single addressee also ends up with a copy of each email address.

This in itself isn`t really bad if you`re 100% positive that nobody will use the email addresses to send spam to, but face it, can you really be that sure? I, for one, find it really frustrating to know that all kinds of people have received my most personal email address just because somebody doesn`t know how to BCC (or Blind Carbon Copy) an email.

The worst of it is, I`ve even seen big companies do this when I`ve received mails from them. If I were any less honest I could just pick up each and every one of the email addresses in the mail and create a huge mailing list for myself. Yukk!

There`s a really easy way to blind carbon copy emails in Outlook Express which means that all of the addresses you send the email to will be hidden and you won`t be classed as "one of those people who shares email addresses with the world and his uncle".

How to Blind Carbon Copy (bcc) emails:

1. Click Create Mail
2. Select "View" from the message menu
3. Make sure "All Headers" is checked
4. A Bcc: field will appear beneath the Cc: field
5. Put your own email address in the To: field
6. Add all recipients addresses to the Bcc: field
7. Create the mail as you normally would and hit send

It`s that simple. Practice a little email netiquette and you`ll be sure your friends and contacts don`t get mad at you. You will receive a copy of your own mail, and the people who receive the email won`t even know you`ve sent it to multiple addressees.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-Resource Box-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-
How to easily avoid those contrived Scams, Shams, and Spam. Yes; without spending your Hard won money with every so called Guru. Be far better informed and prepared With This Brand New, Huge money Saving Free E-Book! Now You can quickly learn how to run a real home spun business without all the Hype. http://annamarketing.com/pops/splash.html
Subscribe to Not Just Another Ezine http://annamarketing.com
=============================================
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine,
web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes
to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.
(c) 2004 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved.

Spam is basically unsolicited advertising online, sent in bulk to you by people you don`t know.

You know, the type of ads that you didn`t ask for, but get thrown in your face anyway.

It happens in your emails, it happens in forums you could otherwise enjoy, it happens in chatrooms etc etc etc.

Most of us frown upon spam as not only is it a total waste of our bandwidth (which we happen to be paying for), but it`s also a total waste of our time (as if we have enough of THAT...lol).

Hope this helps clarify a little for you. I`ve also got an article about email spam that you may find interesting. http://annamarketing.com/17.html

You can get a free keyword extractor here

http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/keyex.htm

Just load the file or the url into it, and it counts how many times each word is in the text, it also has different options for generating reports of what it finds. Pretty nifty really

Pretty much in the same way as ordinary traffic exchanges. I`ve got 2 articles you can read regarding traffic exchanges here:

The Nuts And Bolts Of Traffic Exchanges http://annamarketing.com/10.html
Utilize Those Traffic Exchanges: http://annamarketing.com/4.html

The one main difference is that whilst a plain old TE offers you visitors in return for surfing, a lot of the newer ones offer you a tiny amount of cash. Most of the surf for cash sites offer to buy your traffic credits from you.

Don`t expect to get rich, or even make much pocket money without a lot of surfing and a huge downline tho ;~)

This one`s for my friend, Bill

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"Putting a smile on a child's face"

We would like to extend to you an invitation for you to share in what we call the Aloha Spirit! In Hawaii, we believe everyone, who can - will, give from our hearts, loan our wisdom, helping to bring communities and ohana (family) together. Sharing our Aloha is truly what makes Hawaii a special paradise!

http://thunderalleyinternational.com/
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By Cheryl Haining

How you see feel about yourself is vital to your success and happiness. You can achieve your desired goals with the right tools. A regular mental workout will keep your self-image in shape.

Self Image
Most of us do not work on our self-image. We battle against it, disbelieving and ignoring its existence. However it is closely connected to the success or failure of any undertaking. Self-image is your true opinion of yourself. History repeats itself when we do not attend to the needs of our self-image. Improve your self-image by putting the following steps into practice, you will see amazing results.

Self-diagnosis
Make a list of all the negative thoughts you have about yourself. Things like “I get up too late, I procrastinate, what if it doesn’t work?” etc. Then write another list including everything positive about yourself. Make this list longer than the first. Only use positive language. “I am a good listener, I am always on time” etc. Now convert your negative to positives. “I get up late” becomes “I can get up early”. This new list becomes your active List for Improvement.

Decide on your new Self Image
Using your improvement list, create a new image for yourself. Regularly visualize yourself doing and being everything on your list. Vividly depict the areas of your life you are changing or improving. When you go to bed at night spend 5-10 minutes watching the new you. You may be thinner, happier, wiser etc. These mental images retrain your self-image and reinforce your desires. The brain doesn’t differentiate between reality and what is vividly imagined. You can turn your desired images into reality. Decide your new image and get busy mentally creating it.

Focus on success.
Keep a daily diary listing all your successes. As you progress the number of entries will grow. Your self-image will strengthen and mirror your list of improvements, positively reinforcing the new you.

Work in the Present
Many people dwell on past mistakes or worry about the future. NOW is the only moment you can control. Chris Widener says that time is more important than money. We can always make more money, but never make more time. Move forward at a much faster pace by concentrating on what you can achieve now.

Have a Life Plan.
Make your plan in three sections
How I want to be. Write your list here and add a date when you will achieve each item.
What I want to have. Write a list of things you want to acquire, include photos, and the date you intend to have them. What I need to do. Here write the plan of how you will achieve the above.
This is goal setting. Ensure your goals are genuine, realistic and well defined.
There are numerous cd’s and books devoted to goal setting. If you don’t have any I suggest you buy NOW.

Affirmations
“Every day in Every way I am getting Better and Better”. The fastest way to rejuvenate self-image is to reinforce it countless times daily. Have flash cards with you, on your desk, in the car, bathroom, next to the bed. Use short affirmations to trigger positive images in your mind.

Set aside time daily to work on your self-development. With a positive self-image your strength will grow and your weaknesses diminish. Following the above involves self-discipline and a desire to achieve. Be focused and your self-image and business will soar.

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Cheryl Haining is a successful home based business operator. To
learn how to create an income stream from your home that will
replace your job and develop true financial freedom visit
http://www.keybusinesstips.info
=============================================
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine,
web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes
to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.

Well, the Christmas Giveaway 2004 that I decided to be a part of has given me about 20 new subscribers to NJAE since 1st December, so it seems to be working out pretty good so far.

I just went over to the giveaway page to check it out again, and was pleased to see that there`s more downloads been added to the freebies list as promised.

Here`s a list of things that are available up to now:

The EZ - Redirect Generator

Audio Player Pro

MagicSubscriber

"Write, Create, Promote, Sell!"

Viral Success Report

Add2it PostIt Pro

Gifts Women Want Ebook

As you can see, it`s not a bad list of stuff to grab for free :)

Visit http://www.ezasmagic.com/Cheers/, subscribe to a few newsletters/ezines and enjoy. Don`t forget to bookmark the page so you don`t miss out on the other stuff that gets added between now and xmas day.

Also, I heard there`s still room for plenty more publishers who want to get involved, there`s a link for publishers on the same page, close to the bottom.

Here are some more of the tips Ron sent me about blogging:

- If you want more visitors and comments, you will have to beat the bushes to get them. Visit (and comment on) other blogs, always leaving the address of yours behind. Visit the most popular ones possible, consistent with your purpose.

- Be visual. If you are going to blog, get some graphical content in there.

Thanks again Ron. Points noted ;)

It is hard to believe a whole year has come and just about gone.

The Christmas Season is upon us. As a result I have been reflecting over all the successes of this year. In doing so, I want to take the time to give you some special gifts just for being YOU.

This is completely F-r-e-e. It's my Christmas Gift to you. Because I wanted to give you the very best and valuable Christmas Gift possible, I have jointed with dozens of other Publishers that feel the same way. Instead of receiving a gift from just me, you will be able to download dozens of gifts.

So get your mouse in high gear and click on the link below...
=> http://www.EZasMagic.com/Cheers

Thank you for your support this last year and I wish you a Merry Holiday Season.

P.S. Be sure to bookmark the page when you get there because new items will be added every day until Christmas Day.