Winning the Game of Advertising and Promotion
November 22, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
As a business owner, no doubt you’ve often thought about the question as to how much you should spend on advertising, and where exactly you should spend it. For most people who own small businesses, these questions simply give you more headaches beyond those simply suffered in the normal everyday operation of your business.
No Simple Answers
In fact, there aren’t any simple answers as to how much you should spend on your advertisement.
Depending on your business, there are those who suggest that you should spend anywhere from 4 to 10% of your gross receipts on advertising.
Of course, the conundrum is, it’s likely that your business is not going to survive unless you have a continuing flow of new customers. However, it’s not likely, either, that you’re going to get those new customers without spending at least something on advertising and get the word out about your business.
How to Develop Effective Advertising
Have you found yourself in this situation? You pay for advertising and then sit back, waiting for new customers to arrive. The only thing is, you sit and sit and sit, and they never come. Sound familiar?
Don’t worry; that has happened to many of us as well.
What most people don’t know is that you don’t have to just worry about knowing where to spend your advertisement money.
You also have to establish the following about advertising:
You have to have a marketing plan.
You have to have an advertising strategy.
You have to know about headlines, ad copy and visual presentation.
You have to know how to track the success of your advertising campaigns.
Your Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan is used primarily for you, so that you can identify what your products and services are, what they cost, their particular strengths and weaknesses, and finally, what your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses are as well.
Your Advertising Strategy
You need to understand just exactly what you expect to get from your advertising.
For example, do you just want to get your name out there so that customers will think of you first when they have a particular need you can fulfill? Or do you want your customers to come to you on a particular day, like Saturday?
Do you want your customers to come in and simply browse, whereupon they suddenly come upon an object they can’t do without? Or do you want them to come in and buy a particular product?
Do you want enough customers so that you can pay for your ad? Or do you want a customer who will come to you again and again, becoming a lifelong customer who will help pay your advertising costs over the next several years?
Once you know what you want, you can better formulate just how you should do it.
Ad Copy, Headlines and Visual Presentation
Many businesses actually put money into advertising without thinking much about their sales pitch or presentation; simply, the quality may not be as up to par as it should be. If your advertising is not quality, then it doesn’t matter how much money you spend on advertising or on your distribution, for example.
Make sure you test the advertising you plan to use in smaller markets before you put a lot of money into it to go to larger markets. You have to know that your advertising is going to have value before you put a lot of money behind it.
Track the Success of Your Advertising Campaigns
One particularly successful advertising campaign might be that you can tell your customers to save another 10% if they mention your ad. Or, you can suggest that they can register to win a free sample of product if they fill out a form and tell you how about your business. You can also advertise a particular product in your ad and then track how well that particular product sells.
It really doesn’t matter how you track your advertising, as long as you do.
In Conclusion
The best way to spend your advertising dollars is to make sure you target an advertisement specifically to the customer base you want to serve.
If you don’t track your advertising, then you are simply “shooting blind.” This is a waste of your time and money.
Even with more widespread advertising, if you are still “shooting blind,” then you’re only making a bigger mistake. You have to track your advertisement so that you know what’s working well and what you need to change. If you don’t, you’ll simply repeat mistakes over and over again, and further waste your time and money. This can actually make your business fail.
If you only rely on instinct, this isn’t necessarily going to help you; you may be choosing wrong so that your advertising dollars aren’t getting spent to the best benefit. And in fact, you may lose all of your money for no gain.
When it comes right down to it, if you want to make money from your advertising, you need to prepare, plan, track and study your advertising campaigns and see what the results are. Base your advertising decisions on facts and on the results you see. Once you’ve made the right advertising decisions, making profits from your business should come much easier for you.
John Navata has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business and subscribe to “Residual Wealth Factor System” Free Internet Business Secrets Mini-Course. You’ll receive a complimentary 3 days and 2 nights for two when you subscribe at http://www.YourFamilyDreams.com
Copywriting: The Big Copywriting Mistakes That Could Be Killing Your Sales
November 21, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Are your copywriting mistakes killing your sales? Well, before you can answer this question you have to know what copywriting is. This is known as the process of writing ads and articles that promote an idea, whether it is a person or a business. The whole idea behind copywriting is to persuade the person who is reading it. So now that you have a better understanding of what copywriting is, you can now clearly identify any problems that may be killing your sales. So lets take a look.
The first big mistake is the most common. Whenever people are copywriting, they tend to focus on the business or the advertiser. This is not going to persuade anyone to try your product or use your service. You have to think about how the product is going to relate to the consumer, not to the advertiser. Thus, you need to focus on the consumer, not the advertiser!
Of course, it does matter who you are advertising to. Another deadly copywriting mistake is when companies use bad headlines that do not grab the attention of the person reading it. This is a very big sales killer. If your ad is next to another company (that is selling the same product), and their ad “jumps” out more, people are going to click on that ad. Thus, you are killing your sale before you even have a chance to make one. Think of your headline as the sales pitch to get the prospect to read the whole ad.
The next big mistake that people are doing when copywriting is that they are putting too much information together. The information needs to be broken up into short, readable sets of information. That is why it’s always good to use things like bullets to list your information. People do not like to read very much online, and they usually only end up skimming over information. This means that they are not going to read everything you have to say if you do not break it up a little bit.
Last, but not the least, you need to know that copywriting should flow like a normal conversation. It should not have a whole bunch of to much impressive words, because you are just going to lose your customer. They need to see that they are buying from a person just like them. Not many people walk around and use big words while they are talking to their friends. What would you rather buy from, an ad that uses only big words or an ad that felt real, like it came from the heart. I think the answer is easy to see!
If your copywriting skills are poor, it may be a good idea to hire a professional copywriter. Having great copy is the single most important factor that will decide if your business will prosper or fail miserably.
Double check your own sales copy and eliminate these copywriting mistakes. You will thank yourself later. I promise!
To Your Success!
What is Copywriting? An Art and Science That Involves Writing Words to Promote Products
November 21, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
What is copywriting? One of the most important elements for successful online marketing is good copywriting. Copywriting is both an art and a science that involves writing words to promote a product, business, idea, opinion, or person. It’s primary intention is to get the reader to move and take action. Whether you want to promote or sell something or create traffic by generating links, good copywriting is a must so you can get the attention and response that you want from people.
Copywriting is a craft that takes time and effort. SEO copywriting, which specifically is created for online marketing involves writing a web page. SEO copywriting, if created properly, can also have a good ranking for certain search terms which people look for in different search engines. The basics of good copywriting has recently become more important because the search engines have become increasingly sophisticated.
What is copywriting? You should be able to write really attractive headlines. This is the most important skill in copywriting. Readers usually decide whether to read further by taking a quick look at the top of the page. Whether you are writing a title of an article or a sales headline, it should catch the attention of the reader otherwise they will go find something else to read that is far more interesting.
It is also important to write content that has good ranking in search engines. Integrating keywords into your copy’s titles is the most important spot for placing your keywords. Your headline must include the keywords that speaks well of what your content can offer. Also, have the keywords in the opening in a way that is relevant. The initial copy is often used by a lot of search engines to describe your content, so make sure that you are selling or promoting to the searcher appropriately when s/he clicks through.
Good copywriting should also have specific and descriptive terms instead of general terminology. This helps the reader by reinforcing relevance, dynamic cop,y and boosting the general keyword frequency as well. Instead of using generic terms, use specific keywords within the context of your copy.
Lastly, in good copywriting, you should be able to effectively get your point across to your readers. If you’ve been wondering “What is copywriting”, then a Swipe File will help you to understand how to get your website, email campaigns, and blogs to read like the pros. The best swipe files will have examples for you to emulate for a myriad of subject areas like the following: Problem Agitation, Pricing/Comparison, Proofs, Offers, Scarcity, Takeaway, Reasons Why, Postscripts, Value Building, Bullets, Guarantees, Openings, Closings, Stories, Pricing, Sales letters, and Hot Words.
The right words will help you to surpass the competition. Every serious online entrepreneur needs a swipe file. A swipe file is a conglomeration of expert ideas to pull from instantaneously, then alter change to match your business theme, and help you sky rocket your response.
Affiliate Marketing: How to Create a Presell Affiliate Products Sales Page
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
One of the strategies that you can use is to create your own affiliate product sales page to improve your income. There are some products that are very good but its sales letter is not good enough. If you direct your customer to the merchant’s lousy sales letter, you might not even get any sales no matter how good the product is. The article will touch on how to create your own affiliate sales page.
You can take all the best parts of the sales copy bits from the merchant’s sales page that you are promoting for. Once you have collected all, you can even add your own sales copy and the end of your page will be the order button which will be linked to your affiliate order link page. When you are using this method, do make sure that you also cover these few areas:
• You must have a good headline to capture attentions. What you can do is have your own swipe file of good headlines that attracts your attention. You can try out the different headlines to find out which headlines works best for you.
• You must develop interest telling a true short story on how this product helps you or the customer that have bought them before. Tell them “what’s in it for them” and list in bullet points the reasons why they must buy this product and the problems that will be solved if they buy the product.
• You should include testimonials and proof in your webpage to increase the customer’s trust in you. One of the sneaky ways to get the testimonials if to get it directly from the merchant’s sales letter.
• You must call to action. Tell them exactly the action that they have to take and do to close the sales.
These are the few things that you must include in your affiliate products sales page. This will ensure that you will be able to effectively presell them the affiliate products and you will have more control compare to if you direct them directly to the merchant’s website, there is no control for you as whether it will makes sales or not will depend on the merchant’s sales letter. I hope that you will find this article useful to you.
Zack Lim is an up and coming affiliate marketer who owns http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com providing information on Affiliate Marketing. To get Free “7 Days to Affiliate Marketing” course, go to http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com.
How to Maximize Your Site Reponse Using SEO Copywriting Services
Article writing is a key internet marketing tool and you must get your search engine optimisation copywriting strategy right. In this piece we are going to look at the steps in preparing an article for use with your SEO campaign and look at some of the tools and techniques available to maximize search engine impact as well as deliver interesting content for human readers. By following this step by step guide you will improve your search engine optimisation copywriting.
The first point to remember is, “Who are you writing for?” ultimately, human readers will determine whether your SEO campaign is a success simply because they spend the money on your site and not a web crawler. Whenever you prepare content, human readers should have priority over the content and not the search engines; on the other hand, search engines will determine how many human readers are going to actually land on the content so we have a chicken and egg situation.
The answer is simple; cater for both human readers and the search engines by striking a balance between interesting content relevant for users while also achieving the aim of promoting search engine rankings for the web site and content.
By following this step by step guide you will improve your copywriting services .
Step One – Headlines are there to get someone to read the first line of your article and more!
The basic copywriting maxim is to come up with a headline that will grab the attention of the reader and entice them to read the first line of your search engine optimisation copywriting article.
Include your keyword or phrase within the title as your anchor text and this satisfies SEO requirements.
If you are targeting “London hotel” as a key phrase, look at how this can be incorporated into an attention grabbing headline:
“London hotel deliver best deal for tourists!”
“The cheapest London hotel reviewed”
“Best London hotel for business users”
Step Two – Generate interest with the first sentence of your SEO copywriting content
You’ve gained a user’s attention with your search engine optimisation copywriting headline, and now you have to suck the user into the body of your piece by activating their desire.
You can do this by a variety of methods such as promising to save money by following the article’s advice or solving a problem the target audience is likely to have.
At the same time, ensure you use the search engine optimisation copywriting keyword within the first sentence to satisfy SEO requirements.
Using our example of “London hotel”, we can create an opening line such as;
“How does a London hotel generate the highest levels of repeat business when the rest of the sector is experiencing difficulties?”
“We reviewed the cheapest London hotel for tourists and had a fantastic surprise in store; “cheap” can mean high quality and hard to beat value when stretching your holiday budget and here’s how you do it.”
Step Three – Use your headers to give structure for improved SEO copywriting
Using headers and sub-headers will give your search engine optimisation copywriting structure and allow your users to focus on the relevant content for them.
Users scan internet content and tend not to read it from start to finish so use headers as mini-headlines which make your key information stand out at a glance to a human reader.
Look at this article and the use of sub-headers to split up the piece and highlight key points.
Use the keyword or phrase in the sub-header as well as when you come to upload the content to your site, you can use the h1,h2 and h3 tags to further underline the importance of your keyword to the search engines.
Step Four – Review your search engine optimisation copywriting for human users
You’ve finished! Now look at copywriting services providers to assist you if you need a high volume of articles – then you are ready – almost!
Read it through and edit it; best advice is to leave the article alone for a day and return to the piece and read it through. The reason for this is as a writer, you will be too wrapped up in what the content has to say and not the actual English language such as the grammar and typos. Seeing the piece with fresh eyes will allow your mind to concentrate firstly on the standard of English (or other language) and secondly, you can assess whether the piece actually makes sense and runs together as a fluid piece of writing.
Specifically, look out for jarring use of keywords and phrases where the writer has inserted keywords in places which make the search engine optimisation copywriting appear disjointed and written by a ten year old. Keyword stuffing is not good practice and will deter human readers from following through on your advice or call to action.
How long should a search engine optimisation copywriting piece be?
The answer is “How long is a piece of string!”, however between 500 and 1,000 words is probably ideal depending on the subject matter and the purpose of the search engine optimisation copywriting in respect of human readers; sales copy should be short and snappy while instructional or technical pieces will be discursive and lengthier.
Step Five – Review your SEO copywriting for search engines
Finally, review your search engine optimisation copywriting for keyword density and use of anchor text and tags where appropriate.
Do not overdo the keyword insertion; too much and the search engines will recognise you as keyword stuffing and discount you in the rankings while too little and you may be deemed as not relevant enough to warrant high rank. Typically, keyword density between 2% and 4% is recommended – but more importantly you should use synonyms and variations of the keyword as the search engines are becoming quite savvy and assess your ‘theme’ words as well. The best policy is to write an article organically then integrate the words appropriately.
Anton Stoutjesdijk, CEO – New Frontier Digital. Fast & professional copywriting services of your business and website in any of 30 languages. Tailored copywriting services and international SEO campaigns that increase your websites international performance.
Copyright (c) 2008 New Frontier Digital, Inc. All rights reserved.
Finding Content for Blogging
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Blogging can be an incredibly rewarding activity. Some people start a blog to promote a business. Other people start a blog because they simply like the idea of having their own website and a blog is the easiest kind of website to start. Others blog because they have an agenda that they want to promote. Still others start blogs because they want to educate people about certain issues. Whatever your reason for blogging, there is one thing that all bloggers can agree on: finding content can be a big pain in the…you-know-where.
When you start blogging thinking of blog post topics will be easy. This is largely due to your level of enthusiasm over your new site. Most bloggers will write a few posts a day when they start out. As time goes on, however, finding things to blog about becomes more difficult. It is not unlike looking across the table at your husband and realizing that the funny story you were about to tell him is the same funny story you’ve told him fifty times and is probably bored with it.
So what do you do?
The first place we go when we need to find blogging content is the news. We look at headlines in our local area first to see if anything piques our interest. Sometimes an article or a topic will jump out at us and give us enough ideas that we’ll have a few days worth of content for our blogs. Sometimes it is just a passing fancy that we mention only once. If no local news seems fitting for our blog (this will depend largely on your blog’s niche), then we move on to national news and then world news.
If we don’t find any current events to write about, the next place we look when we need help with blogging is our own entertainment cache. What have we been playing with lately? What books are we reading? Did we just see a movie that we can write about? Remember, blogging is about sharing opinions. Your readers want to know what you think about something even if it is just about a television show that was on last night.
If we still can’t think of any blogging material, we call our friends. Sometimes having a conversation with a friend will remind us of a topic we wanted to cover. Sometimes we’ll have such a great conversation that the conversation itself will become the topic of our blog post. Sometimes our friends will alert us to something that we think would work well for content.
Sometimes, in lieu of blogging original words, we’ll start blogging original visuals. Blogs are a great place to display photos from your recent vacation (you’ve probably been meaning to post them anyway) or a quick sketch you did. If you draw cartoons, your blog is a great method of distributing those cartoons to the public!
Finally, if all else fails you can always write a blog post about having nothing to blog about. It probably isn’t a good idea to do this too often, though!
For more information on blogging, visit http://www.microbloggingsites.com and http://www.microbloggingtool.com.

