This article is to remind you of 3 of those basic principles that you should adhere to. After you’ve read this, be sure to make a bit of time to have a look at the other entries on this blog related to affiliate marketing. I’m sure you’ll find a few handy tips that you’ll be able to apply to your business today.

So, what are these 3 tactics that will help you improve your chances of making more profits from your online business?
1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing.

Do not lump all of your products and promotions together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.

If you can, always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the products can do for those who buy them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive compelling and include calls to action on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to read more or even contact you.

Highlight the points that represent the biggest benefits to the reader. This will make it obvious to your readers what the page is about and they will want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers.

If possible, position them at the very top right hand side of your page so they simply cannot be missed. Create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box.

According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect. If you didn’t close a sale, then it’s likely that person may never return to your website ever again. This is why you want to get them onto your mailing list, and why it’s so important to use it as a means to follow up with prospects.

By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified periods, you will remind them of the product they were interested in, and later, you will find out that you’ll close more sales.

Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.

FOCUS ON THE IMPORTANT BENEFITS TO THE PROSPECT

Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “f*ree” because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents into the junk before even anyone reading them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail of your products and services.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product.

Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that are focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.

Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day.

Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get the services offered. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can make 10 sales based on the average statistic.

The tactics given above are not difficult to do. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part.

Once you perfect these basic tactics, use them to replicate your business and create multiple streams of income. ALL of the successful marketers online do this and you should be looking to do this too. Think about it – you might make $500 / week with one site and one product but look what you can do if you run 10 sites concurrently.

All the best,

Steve.

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Typically an entrepreneur (experienced or not) is interested primarily in making money and the key to this is to create a loyal, responsive opt-in list (or lists) that you can market to, and communicate with, over and over again.

One of the most important things online entrepreneurs can do once they start marketing on the internet is to set up a squeeze page and start to build their list. The role of the squeeze page in the growth of an online business is critical however it is often overlooked or ignored completely.

BIG MISTAKE!

Let’s look at 5 major benefits using squeeze pages offers anyone with business aspirations on the internet:

Build an Email List of Targeted Leads

Developing an email list of people who have already shown an interest in the product(s) you promote will help increase your sales conversion rate. Knowing your customers’ preferences beforehand makes it easier to select only those products they are most interested in. Your leads are now more targeted and this eliminates the guess work in your product selection.

Build a Relationship with Your Customers

By virtue of having the ability to make contact with your list you can use this opportunity to forge a relationship with them. This is vital to any online business since the internet by nature is impersonal making it difficult to gain peoples trust. If trust can be established it greatly increases your marketing efforts due to the comfortable feeling that exist between the customers and you the promoter.

Builds Open Channels of Communication

Being able to freely contact your list allows you to keep them inform on matters that would interest them. This also gives you the chance to share other ‘random’ types of content that could be helpful to them, further aiding your relationship-building efforts.

Builds a Marketing Platform

The communication ‘platform’ that is now created between you and your customers can also be used to promote other products of yours that they may have an interest in. This approach is very effective provided you don’t abuse it by being way too ‘frequent’ with your promotions. This can easily encourage list members to opt out of your list.

Builds Multiple Streams of Income

With the trust you have built up with your customers it makes it easier to promote the products of others. Their trust in you will give your recommendations more influence over them, leading to additional sales. Once again, DO NOT abuse this trust.

The value of a squeeze page to the long term growth of any business marketing on the internet is indisputable. A trade-off, so to speak, is evident in the process however since site visitors are not shown a sales page UNLESS they leave their contact information. Due to this it is understandable that a start up entrepreneur would be reluctant to use squeeze pages and miss a sale but it should not be used as an excuse not to use them.

The above review does reveal 5 undeniable benefits these pages do offer, whether you are just starting an online business or operating an already established one. Hopefully this will serve to help reinforce the importance and value such a page has on the growth of your business.

All the best,

Steve.

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We’ve all heard the quote ‘you only get one chance to make a first impression’ but it’s often forgotten that you need to make just as much effort EVERY time you are speaking to a client or, especially, a prospective client.

In any business, especially if it’s your own business, you need to project a consistent level of professionalism and gravitas and the following points are a reminder of what you should do that your competitors might overlook:

1. Be the first to make an introduction. Say ‘hello’ first and offer a handshake. If a handshake is not an option then at least a head nod and a smile. From the outset you need to be personable.

2. Smile when engaging with others when appropriate.

3. Maintain steady eye contact while communicating with others. If this is uncomfortable, look just between their eyes and they won’t know the difference. It’s fine to glance away from time to time, but make sure they are your primary focus.

4. To improve your interpersonal communication skills, Listen, listen, listen. People will notice if you actually listen to them and respond to what they are talking about, rather than focusing solely on your agenda and what you have going on inside your head.

5. Don’t Interrupt! This is HUGE. Let them finish their sentence, even if you are tempted to finish their thought or idea. When you interrupt, they feel unimportant.

6. When someone is wrong about something, or incorrect about a fact that you know the truth about don’t feel like you need to correct them, unless the topic is of major importance. Some people just need to feel like they are right and letting them feel this way will make them feel good about themselves, thus helping them to be more relaxed and forthcoming.

7. If someone reads something, or sees something and feels that it is important enough to tell you about it, let them tell you – even if you already know about it. As much as you want to give the best impression possible, your client also wants to demonstrate their grasp of the subject.

8. Choose your words wisely. Once a word escapes your lips, you can never get it back. Think before you speak, and make sure what you are saying is appropriate. Do the right preparation before your meeting so you are comfortable with the subject.

9. Never Criticize, condemn, or complain. It makes other people defensive, and it won’t be welcomed. This also extends to demeaning your competitors – this does NOT go down well at all.

10. Lastly, to improve your interpersonal communication skills, talk in terms of other people’s interests. People are selfish by nature, they want to talk about what is important to them.

OK, I admit, some of these are pretty obvious but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded every now and then.

All the best,

Steve.

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Sometimes it’s just as important to know what NOT to do as it is to know what to do. The pifalls listed below should be avoided at all costs to ensure your blog is both professional and personable in equal measures AND measures up well agaioinst the dozens of other blogs that each and every reader of yours is likely to read on a regular basis.

Blogging is not rocket science but it is often the first time a visitor to your blog has encountered one of your sites. You only get ONE chance to make a first impression so make sure you give your blog the attention it deserves – it’s a great way to cement your reputation within your selected niche and build up a loyal core of readers that will benefit your business both in the short and long term.

Mistake #1

Not Using Your Own Domain

In the same way that you need your own ‘real estate’ online to build a serious internet business, you must make sure that you use your own domain name and not one from the many sites online that include a prefix before you site name.

It’s all about your reader’s perception of your site. You want anyone visiting your site to KNOW that you are professional, your products are of high quality and your site is established online, even if it has only just gone live. This all starts with your domain name.

Mistake #2

Not Promoting Your Posts

Are you one of those who think that if you build it they will come? Well, believe me, they won’t. You’ll need to promote your posts. Use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, forums, email and every tool you can think of to drive people to your posts. Having gone to the effort of putting together an interesting and informative post, it would be a shame to leave it sitting on your blog unread.

Mistake #3

Faking It

Don’t worry about trying to impress your readers by using unnecessarily complicated vocabulary? Just be yourself. People want to connect with you so open up to them and infuse your own personality into your blog.

Mistake #4

Using Boring Headlines

Writing doesn’t come naturally to everyone. If you need inspiration for writing headlines try checking out this blog: http://www.copyblogger.com/. Needless to say you can get all of the coaching you need on Income Elite.

Mistake #5

Not Asking for Help

Why would you want to do everything alone when having others to help you is a lot easier and more fun? You’ll find that most internet marketers work closely with a number of business partners on cross-promoting each others products, swapping testimonials, contributing content to each others blogs, etc.

Collaboration is everything in this industry so these are the types of working relationships you need to develop.

Mistake #6

Not Making It Easy for Your Readers to Share and Subscribe

It should be obvious how to subscribe to your blogs by email and RSS. Don’t count on your visitors figuring it out – it has to be plainly obvious at first glance. It’s your job to make it easy for them. Allow people to follow you on Twitter, Facebook and the rest of your social networks.

In addition, make sure you have links to share your content on the most popular social networks. Try using the following WordPress luginjs for this:

SexyBookmarks: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sexybookmarks

TweetMeme: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweetmeme

Mistake #7

Not Asking for Feedback or Not Learning from It

A blog is a two-way conversation – don’t monopolize it. Ask your readers what they think and actively encourage the debate. And, when they give you feedback about your blog, listen and do your best to give them what they want.

Mistake #8

Posting Too Often or Not Often Enough

What is posting too often? What is not posting often enough? It depends… If you have a lot of information to share, posting once a day (or more) should be OK. Most people post two or three times a week.

It’s important to be consistent – don’t post 20 times this week and only one next week. The most important thing is to pay attention to the actions of your readers. If too many people are unsubscribing, ask them why and do something to fix it – FAST.

Mistake #9

Not Thinking About Search Engines

There is a lot written about making blogs SEO-friendly. In a nutshell, you want each post to have a keyword-rich link, a unique title and a unique meta description.

Try using the All-in-One SEO plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack for this.

Mistake #10

Not Linking to Others

Link to others as much as you can. You want to do this for two different reasons:

1. Your readers will appreciate the resources you share with them.
2. The people you link to will start paying attention to you and might even want to return the favour (remember the art of collaboration mentioned in point 5 above?) 

All the best,

Steve.

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There are some elements of SEO that are critical for the process of marketing your website online. One of these key search engine optimisation guidelines is understanding the importance of KEYWORDS. Keywords are the words and phrases that users on the Internet use to search for the things they want. Optimizing your website for popular keywords is a sure fire way of generating more traffic, which could lead to more ads served or more sales the products you’re selling.

As you may have read elsewhere on this blog, my FREE Clone Cash System explains KEYWORDS in the context of affiliate marketing but the principles are exactly the same whether you’re promoting your own products or someone else’s.

Another guideline for search engine optimization is to build up links that lead to your web site. These are called BACK LINKS. By linking your own web pages together, or finding ways to have other web sites link to yours, you can greatly increase traffic to your site. This is because Google and other search engines use links to your site as ‘references’ – in other words, they view links as recommendations to visit a site. Because of this, more links will increase your web site’s rank in search engine listings.

This is all thanks to a process known as ‘spidering’. The way it works is that search engines basically send out automated robots or ‘spiders’ to comb the Internet for data. When these spiders reach a link, they’ll follow it and then continue their search. So, the more links that lead to your websites, the more spiders that will find and index your site, making it more popular on search engine rankings.

Another in the list of important search engine optimization guidelines is to check your status. It’s not enough to simply use SEO methods on your site – you’ve got to make sure they’re working. If not, you’re just wasting your time… and who has time to waste these days? You should check your page rank, and frequently check to ensure the keywords you’re focusing on are still relevant. You mustn’t get emotionally attached to things like keywords – if they’re not working, drop them and try some new ones.

One tool that can help in this process is known as web analytics. Web analytics programs can give you a wide variety of data that can help you further customize your SEO plan. For instance, web analytics can tell you which keywords are bringing people to your website, how many people they’re bringing, and through which search engines. If you sell a product or offer a service to users who sign up, it can also track which parts of your site are most effective at converting visitors to buyers.

Search engine optimization is far more complex than these three basic concepts, but they will provide you with a solid foundation. For more information, there are a number of resources on the web to maximize your SEO but I would highly recommend visiting Income Elite for a 5 day trial period. This is a chance to work WITH myself and the Income Elite Team rather than just be left to your own devices to work things out for yourself.

I hope this add a little bit of clarity for newcomers to the wonderful world of internet marketing.

Steve.

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The simple answer is that there is no simple answer.

There are statistics prove that long copy outperforms short copy. There is also a popular school of thought that most readers won’t bother to read long copy (the counter argument is that these readers were not going to be buyers anyway).

So which side of the arguments do you believe will be best for your business? There has to be a compromise, right?

To find that compromise you need to put yourself into the same mindset that your visitor is likely to be in when he lands on your site. Look at things through his eyes.

There are two things that happen when he visits your site.

1. On arrival he needs an instant quick overview of what your site offers, for example “an ebook about search engines which costs $27″

He does not want to wade through thousands of words to extract this information, so this is best dealt with by short copy.

2. At some point he begins to get interested and may consider a purchase. Now he wants to know everything about the product and how it can help him.

So now he wants to see all the detail − long copy.

So if it were possible you’d like to be able to switch from a summary to a full description.

You could start with short copy and at the end have a link to a second page with the instruction ‘For the full details click here’.

But a good alternative is to insert ‘more detail’ links throughout the body of the short copy and have them come up as pop ups which the reader can open and close while remaining on the main page.

On the subject of sales copy I would say that copywriting is one of the most profitable skills to acquire and here is one of the reasons why:

Suppose you spend the next 3 hours preparing an advertising campaign in a newsletter. You may produce successful results but these will appear as a one−off spike in the chart of your sales figures. You would need to continually repeat these campaigns to maintain the improved figure.

Instead let’s devote these 3 hours to revamping your sales copy. They say that simple improvements to a headline alone for example can see conversion rates multiply by 5, 10 or more. But let’s allow a modest increase − you are able just to double the conversion rate.

Then your sales figures will double from now on, and remain doubled without any further effort.

If you are serious about learning to write as the copywriters do, come and join me on a 5 day trial at www.incomeelite.com to share all of the resources you need to get to grips with this subject.

We’ve got a comprehensive copywriting guide waiting for you which has been written by our own Phil Coleman, a seasoned copywriter in his own right.

All the best,

Steve.

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WHAT IS VIRAL MARKETING?

Viral marketing is one of the very best kept secrets in online marketing and can generate huge quantities of traffic to your website very quickly.

The best way to think about it is just like a virus spreading. All the small actions that people take online combine to create a much larger, unstoppable force as your information gets passed around the Internet.

The effect can happen via emails, forum comments, blog comments, word of mouth, social networking sites, articles, and so on. There are literally hundreds of ways to spread your viral marketing message.

You can use this “word of mouth” style advertising in your own promotions with great effects. A viral campaign will outlast any paid program, as it can never be stopped, unless people take down their websites.

This means that a constant stream of traffic will flow to the website you create the viral marketing promotion around.

HOW TO USE VIRAL MARKETING IMMEDIATELY

• Give away free viral special reports on a topic within your market.
• Give away free viral ebooks.
• Give away free viral articles and e-zine publications.
• Give away free viral software (which links to your website).
• Give away free viral audio recordings (which links to your website).
• Give away free viral video (which links to your website).

THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL VIRAL MARKETING

Here are some quick tips to getting started and, most importantly, being effective:

• Allow other marketers in your market to give the free viral product to their customers free of charge. Put a value on the price of the book, and code the links so they all point back to your main website. This is a good way to promote your products.
• Create a report around a subject that is a hot topic or that solves a big problem for people.
• Give away the great content to people for free, simply for just visiting your blog or social networking profile page. If you demonstrate what you have to offer for free, then people will wonder how great your actual products are.
• Encourage people to pass the product to their friends and other people. People will want to publish it online and post about it on forums, blogs, and so on.

HOW TO CREATE VERY SIMPLE VIRAL REPORTS TO GIVE AWAY

The key is to give the impression that the free report has huge value and is worthy of a $47–$97 price tag. Provide great content and give away some of your best secrets. This will really create a buzz about you and your website.

The report should provide enough value that people cannot believe you have given it away free. This will create posts on forums and blogs and really get it to spread quickly.

If you write articles for your prospects, then a good tip is to combine ten or more and compile them into a viral report. This is a very quick and easy way to get started with viral marketing.

As long as the content is good quality and you distribute it widely enough, it will just continue to spread and spread. The keys are your content and picking the right style for your market.

Let’s look into that in more detail…

WHAT TYPE OF MARKETING WORKS BEST?

Content is king when it comes to viral reports, as people won’t pass it on if it’s useless information. The content you create should be something that solves a problem for people or engages them on a current topic of conversation.

Decide what people want to know most in your market, and then give it to them. You can ask your prospects and customers questions and get them to fill out questionnaires in return for the free report when complete (via your blog or social networking profile).

Look at current trends that are being discussed on forums, blogs, and social networking sites. Look for the most popular ones and then create a report about them—linking your own product into the equation.

Tips and Article Reports:

Some of the best viral reports to create are based around tips and articles in the market you are promoting to. You can simply combine a number of articles that already exist on the subject and edit them and add some further clarification. People love to be given new tips and advice on how to do something better, faster, or cheaper.

In certain cases, the more plain and bare the reports look, the more people are prone to reading them and passing them on. On the other hand, if they are seen as unusual and new, then the viral reports can create a lot of interest.

White Papers:

You can also create white papers (authoritative reports) and spread them virally. This can be a good idea, as many people see them as official documents and are more likely to read them than a report with a fancy graphic on the cover.

Special Reports to Solve a Major Problem:

Another idea is to create special report on a subject that is causing a lot of people problems. The viral report should just focus tightly on one particular problem and explain how to solve it. Make the report a step-by-step guide on how to remove the problem or get around it.

Trial Versions:

Offer a trial version of a product, or a limited version. If the product is software, then this works very well. Typically you can offer a 30-day trial run without any problems. This is known to increase traffic as the application is passed around the Internet virally.

If you are promoting an information product, you can cut certain chapters out of the ebook and publish them for free inside a viral ebook. This is like a sneak preview, but provides really valuable content. If the content is high quality, it will be passed virally from person to person.

Case Studies & Interviews:

You should also think about writing case studies of customers who have bought your product and then building them into full-length interviews in which the customer reveals all.

People like to read exclusives (just think about the popularity of celebrity gossip) and find out what the real secrets are.

WHERE TO GIVE THE VIRAL PRODUCT AWAY

You must market and “sell” the free report as much as you would a paid product. This is one of the missing keys in viral marketing. A lot of people think that you only need to create something free and people will go wild over it, but this is not true. In fact many people don’t use free products, as they perceive them to have no value.

You should mention your free report in the following places:

• Blogs—add this as a permanent feature on your site and talk about it in each blog post.
• Blog comments—make reference to it on other people’s blogs.
• Forums—add the link to the report inside your blog signature file as discussed earlier. You can also create a new conversation for people to provide feedback on.
• Email important people in your marketplace and offer to send them the report for free.
• Ask other authors in your market to send it to their email list. They will probably do this if the content is good enough.
• Add the attachment to social networking sites and send out announcements to your friends list. Ensure that every page has a link back to your website and a clear call to action. Include partial stories in the ebook, which are explained in more detail on the website. This is a great way to ensure people visit your website.

SUMMARY

Always try to incorporate viral marketing into any website or any marketing campaign you create and run. You can really increase your exposure and web traffic from something that is relatively simple to do.

All the best,

Steve.

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 Press releases are one of the very best ways to get your message spread all over the Internet and, with the news media involved, it can spread to some of the top news websites on the Internet, as well as offline news sources. 

WHY YOU SHOULD USE A PRESS RELEASE

Press releases are seen as official documents, not blatant marketing sales pitches, so you can gain a lot more exposure with a press release than with a regular article.

People also tend to see them as impartial stories and not as sales letters. As such, most people do not expect a press release to be selling anything, so they are syndicated, spread and used by many of the big news services within your market.

To be seen and noticed in today’s busy marketplace, you need to use press releases, as many of the top marketing experts do. They are great for generating a quick surge of traffic and can be re-released at a later date if you need to.

You should think about using press releases whenever you want to announce a product or a new service as part of your business, as well as if you launch, say, a new or updated website.

WRITING THE PRESS RELEASE

You should always include quality content in your press release in order to initiate a lot of traffic to your website. Of course, your aim is to make sales and encourage the reader to visit your site, but you must avoid the hard sale used in most online advertising.

You should write your release in a journalistic manner by revealing something new in order to capture the attention of the readers and other people in the media. Press releases are different from articles, and the layout should also be different. You need to tailor your writing style to the news media rather than the end user, or it will not be published in the big news sites (and you will lose a lot of traffic and free exposure).

Here are some points you should keep in mind when you are writing your press release:

The press releases must be compelling and interesting to read. It must have an angle and that should be clear to anyone reading. Make an announcement!

• Use a journalistic or newspaper approach when writing. You should be reporting on the story instead of overtly selling.
• It should be informative and have valuable information. Give away some quality facts and reveal some information that other people would not know.
• The most important details should be included in the opening paragraph of the press release. The reason for writing should be very clear after reading the opening paragraph.
• The remainder of the press release should contain more information about your business and how to contact you. You can include a call to action here, but don’t let it come across as a sales pitch.
• The media won’t publish stories that are simply sales pitches, so avoid this or your press release will fail to reach your intended audience.

There are also a number of important sections to add into the press release. If you create the press release with these features, you will have a very good chance of getting it published by the big services.

Remember to include the following when writing your press release:

Facts about the topic you are writing about.

• Quotes from people mentioned in the story, or even from people who have been affected by the topic of the story.
• Write it like a newspaper article informing people about an event they should be aware of. Don’t sell them on a product or service.
• The history of your business and how it relates to the announcement.
• Images of the product, service, launch, event etc.—images are a great way to break up the main text.
• Statements that back up the main theme of the press release.
• Contact info (choose whether or not you want your telephone number, address, or a by-line).

PUBLISHING YOUR PRESS RELEASE

The initial stage in the process is to publish the press release as far and wide as possible in relevant markets and locations. You can do this manually by hand, or use some services that will cost you a small fee. Such services promise to promote your press release to a set number of locations.

Publishing Press Releases Yourself

It can take a little time to locate and find the best possible places for press release submission, although there are a number of free resources online that offer great help for beginners.

You need to know where you will get the best exposure and where the most people will see and act on the release. This will ensure you get the maximum benefit and traffic from the work you have done by writing the press release.

Press Release Services

There are also a number of press release services available on the Internet. Pay attention to the submission guidelines that the service uses, as you may be in breach of some them without realising it. Some services have strict guidelines that you need to follow, or your press release could be removed from their database for not meeting their requirements.

There are a number of press release services that require you to use a character-per-line format. Other services allow you to submit the press release in other formats. They are all different, so make sure that you read the terms of service first.

Probably the most popular and well-known press release service online is called PR Web. It can be found at www.prweb.com.

PR Web offers a broad range of service to users and it will cost between $80 and $360 per press/news release, depending on the level of service you want. The high-end option guarantees a lot of attention from the media offline and ensures that a major online presence is seen as well.

By using PR Web or any other service, you are guaranteed to have your press release syndicated to newspapers, radio stations, and offline magazine publishers. Besides this, it is also sent to a host of top webmasters and other press releases services.

As with anything nowadays you can easily search Google and find options for a whole gamut of services to suit your budget. Just do a Google search for ‘press release sites’ and see the breadth of options available to you.

Press releases will always generate a lot of traffic, especially if the press release is well written. It is a marketing technique that I encourage you to explore further and take the advantages that it offers.

All the best,

Steve.

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When choosing your domain name remember that it will probably be used for several different purposes, including your website, email address, etc. It will be an integral part of your marketing campaign so you must get it right as it could cost a lot of time and money to change it at a later date.

If your domain name can be easily remembered then you will attract more customers. People will use your web site or email address to get immediate and convenient access to the information or service that you are providing.

Domain names are portable. You can move physical address, change phone numbers, change Internet service providers, change the company that hosts your web site and still keep the same domain name. This provides an extremely flexible method of keeping in touch with your customers and users.

With these points in mind consider the following tips for choosing domain names:

• DO know the domain name format. Domain names can generally be up to 67 characters long (including the extension), and contain two or more of the characters a-z, 0-9 and ‘-’ (hyphen). Some domain names must be a minimum of 3 characters (not including the extension). Domain names cannot start or end with ‘-’ (hyphen). Domain names are not case sensitive, therefore DomainName.com and domainname.com and DoMaInNaMe.com are all equivalent. You can now also register multi-lingual domain names.
• DO know your target audience. Choose domain names that are appropriate for them. Depending on who you are targeting this could mean choosing names that sound sincere, cool, current, active, professional, or that use key words from the industry for example.
• DO keep domain names short and simple. Generally, the shorter the domain name the easier it is to remember or write down and the less chance of users noting and remembering it incorrectly. Restrict the domain name to one, two or three words at most. (The one exception to this is the next tip). All other things being equal, give preference to words with fewer syllables and words that are easy to pronounce. Short is good, but don’t use difficult to remember acronyms, such as qmxf.
• DO register a long domain name containing a list of relevant words for your web site to achieve a higher ranking in some search engines. Several of the major search engines rank web sites much higher if the search terms are contained in the domain name. You can use up to 63 characters to create a long domain name with keywords and automatically redirect visitors to the real web site. Some registrars offer the redirect service as standard in their price.
• DO use the appropriate pluralisation. For example, newhomes.com is probably better than newhome.com if the web site is not relating to “a” particular home. If in doubt you can register both domain names.
• DO use words that can be visualized. Vision is the strongest of human senses. Even better, use words that involve several of the 5 senses. This usually involves choosing more common nouns (names or objects), verbs (actions), and adjectives (descriptions). For example, the word “fire” is easily imagined. It includes strong cues in four of the five senses – visual (red and yellow flames), auditory (crackling and other noises), feeling (heat), and smell (smoke).
• DO plan for the future. If you are planning on releasing other products or services from this domain name in the future then don’t limit the relevance to the initial product or service. That being said Internet marketing experts believe that your web site should have only one subject or focus. All products or services listed on the web site should be related. A web site with a broad focus is not as appealing to someone who is looking for particular information.
• DO use a domain name search program such as Mozzle Domain Name Pro to generate and check your domain names. There are some great free and free to try programs available, and several include advanced word and character combinations and other features far beyond those that web based services provide. For example, Mozzle Domain Name Pro contains an automatic thesaurus, acronyms, alternative domain name spellings, trademark searches, a pattern search and so on. These tools can save you many hours of time.
• DO register the domain name in the correct global or country level domain. For universal appeal use a .com, .info, .biz, .org, or .net domain. For local appeal use an appropriate domain in your country, such as .co.uk or .org.au. Note that many domains have restrictions on what domain names can be registered. In some domains you can only use a name that is derived from a registered business or organization name.
• DO check that you are not infringing on an existing trademark or other name that rightfully belongs to another company or individual. An available domain name does not necessarily give you the right to register and use it.
• DON’T use hyphens between words if possible. A domain name with hyphens is harder to describe when said aloud. It is commonly accepted that a domain name with multiple words does not include hyphens. An exception to this rule is when choosing a domain name that has many words or words that are hard to decipher. Consider using capitalisation when displaying the domain name in marketing material instead. For example, SuperBaitAndTackle.com is easier to read than superbaitandtackle.com.
• DON’T use confusing spelling. If your domain is targeted at a worldwide audience then stay away from words that are spelt differently throughout the world, such as words ending in ize(US)/ise(UK). This also applies to many words that have different meanings throughout the world. Some common English words are even offensive in other languages.
• DON’T choose domain names that are very similar to others if possible. After all, you want customers coming to you, not your competitors! An exception to this rule is if you register the domain name of a commonly misspelt word, in the hope of catching additional customers, provided that you are not infringing on any trademarks.
• DON’T choose domain names with words that join to form unintentional words such as “Jeans Wearing” which can read “Jean Swearing”. Avoid them altogether or use capitalisation in marketing material (JeansWearing.com) or hyphens in the domain name (jeans-wearing.com) to separate the words if really necessary.

Bear these points in mind when choosing your domain name and you will save yourself the hassle and expense of having to change any part of your business or marketing campaign in the future.

All the best,

Steve.

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This post is designed to introduce you to the basic principles of Direct Mail and to dispel some of the myths surrounding the subject of Direct Mail. It also clarifies the key guidelines that you should follow to run a successful and profitable direct marketing campaign.

First, let’s address the argument that ‘Direct Mail doesn’t work.’

This sweeping statement is made based on the fact that most people throw away their unsolicited mail and, therefore, it must be a waste of money. What you have to remember is that Direct Mail, like so many methods of marketing, is a numbers game and the fact is that, even if only 1 person out of 100 who receives your mailshot buys your product, it can still be a profitable marketing campaign. (One of the important factors is to make sure that your mailing is so compelling that people DO open it and read it – but we’ll come to that later.)

So the reason that Viking Direct and many other big companies bombard you with mailings is because they work. These companies have spent a fortune testing and fine tuning their mailings – they know what works and what doesn’t. But here’s a word of warning – it is true that a significant amount of direct mail does not work – and that tends to be the mailings conducted by small and medium sized businesses who do not really understand what they are doing. When it’s done well direct mail can make your profits soar. When it’s done badly it can eat up your marketing budget instantly. So be careful.

The second myth to be dispelled is that there is a magical percentage conversion rate that a successful mailing campaign should receive. In other words, you should ‘expect’ 3% of the people you mail to buy from you. This is absolute nonsense – and it’s very dangerous nonsense.

• First of all, the price of what you are offering is a significant factor. If you’re selling CDs at £9.95 you’ll probably get a different response rate than if you’re selling million pound yachts.
• Secondly, it’s not the percentage response that counts – it’s whether the mailing is profitable or not.
• Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, nobody can ever predict the response from a direct mail campaign. This is why TESTING is absolutely imperative in Direct Mail.

You should never embark on a Direct Mail campaign without testing it on a small scale first. Why? Because the beauty of Direct Mail is that it is statistically very predictable. If you send out 2000 letters and get 20 responses, you can predict with some certainty that if you send out 4000 letters (to the same group) you will get somewhere in the region of 40 responses. Equally, if you send out 2000 letters, get 1 response and lose money on the mailing, it is highly unlikely that if you send out 4000 letters you will have a profitable mailing.

Why is this so important? Because far too many people spend a fortune on a glossy brochure, mail out 10,000 copies to a dodgy list, get a terrible result and lose thousands of pounds. I’ve seen this again and again and it can really harm your business.

So always test your mailing on a small scale first. It needs to be small enough to be an amount of money you can afford to lose if it doesn’t work out but large enough to be able to hopefully generate at least 7 or 8 responses.

Any mailings you consider are likely to fall into two categories:

• Mailings to your existing customers.
• Mailings to potential new customers.

If you do not currently do much direct mail, and you have a list of existing customers, you should start by mailing these companies or individuals.

Let me be more explicit. Every client I have ever worked with who has existing customers has been sitting on a goldmine of untapped profits because they have not been utilising direct mail with these customers.

Think of something you can offer these customers, send them a letter and measure the response. If it works, mail them again next month and measure the results. If it keeps on working, keep on doing it.

Then there is using Direct Mail to attract new customers. This is an art and science in itself – and you may want to bring in outside help – but again there are some fundamentals which you will want to follow. Here are eight of them to keep you going:

1. Remember to TEST any Direct Mail campaigns for new customers on a small scale before rolling them out.

2. Consider testing rented mailing lists relevant to your target group. There are thousands of highly accurate mailing lists which can be a great way of reaching new people. A favourite of mine in the UK is www.hilitedms.co.uk but if you Google ‘list brokers’ I’m sure you’ll find many more.

3. Always include a letter with any brochure you send – it will increase the response rate. People buy from people and this will personalise your mailing.

4. Make sure that the contents of your mailing focus on the BENEFITES of your product or service. You want it to be about your potential customer and what you can do for them rather than just being about you.

5. Don’t limit Direct Mail to pure selling. You can use it to say ‘thank you’ to customers. You can use it to ask for referrals or to introduce your customers to a company you’ve partnered with. It’s only limited by your imagination.

6. If you repeat a successful mailing three weeks later you can expect a response rate around 50% of the original.

7. Test mailing postcards – they are cheaper than a normal mailing and in some cases will produce a higher response rate.

8. If you follow up a mailing with a phone call you can increase the response rate by up to 1000%. This is not for everyone but it’s worth bearing in mind.

Direct Mail is a huge subject but these principles should help you make a start on your next campaign and avoid costly mistakes in the future.

All the best,

Steve.

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