Marketing has not changed in over 100 years!

2008-07-27 Posted at 08:17:18 AM

You might think I am crazy – but it is true. Marketing hasn’t changed one, single bit in the last 100 years. Selling is still selling. And advertising is still advertising.

About the only difference is the past 100 years is the means of delivery. We now have the Internet to advertise whereas before we only had magazines, books and flyers. Instantaneous gratification can be achieved by advertising on the Internet, but the basics still apply.

If you think that the so-called Internet gurus of today invented BOLD HEADLINES, long, informative sub-headlines and long copy – think again. All of those “new innovations” have been around for ages. They may not have been in full color, shown electronically all over the world or made “search-engine’ friendly” – but they still existed.

Way back in the early 1900’s, a publisher by the name of A. W. Shaw published a series of “How To” books on advertising, real estate, sales, life insurance and about 12 more. Mr. Shaw had it wired. His topics all read almost the same – something like – “How to Run a Store”, or “How to Increase Your Sales”. All had a Sub-Headline that ran something along these lines – “Methods by which sixty two retailers sold more goods at less expense.” And for a reason I have yet to figure out – all the books were exactly 128 pages.

Mr. Shaw published his books to a market that was just grasping the industrial age. Men were going door-to-door selling anything and everything. The TV and the Internet did not exist and most salesmen had to rely on the written word and their ability to talk to make a sale.

Keep in mind that these salesmen were selling to buyers – not selling to other marketers. It was pure salesmanship and they relied on the same things that we rely on today. Headlining your product, sub-headlining some more detail and then explaining all of the benefits of the product. Whether this is done on the Internet, on radio or TV, or in person – it is all the same. Selling is selling and advertising is advertising.

Designing A Website That Sells!

2008-07-20 Posted at 07:22:49 AM

Would you buy meat from a grocery store that left the bad meat in with the good meat or wasn’t clean? Would you buy a car from a sales lot that had totaled automobiles on the front lot? I wouldn’t and neither would you. Your website is your grocery store; your car lot. You must have an atmosphere that is pleasing to buyers. One that tells that buyer that you are not an amateur, but instead a trained, seasoned professional. Your site is a direct reflection of your product and that is why that having a well designed website can make or break your sales.

The first thing to keep in mind when designing your website, is “surfability”. Take a few minutes a look around at several web pages. What makes them appealing? Were there some that you closed out of immediately? Why? Take notes and do your research. Keep in mind that when a person visits your site they have a goal in mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Give the person what they want without having to search for it. Be sure that all the information on your site is relevant to your product. Make the buyer think that they need your product to solve their problem.

Your main page serves a very specific purpose. It should be an avenue by which the customer can shop your site. It should be easy to view and load very quickly. This is your first impression and we all know that first impressions can either close the deal or loose the deal. Make it simple. It is best to have links that are easily viewable by the reader that will navigate them to where they want to be.

Tables are often a great choice when deciding on a way to design the main page of your site. Your main page should load very quickly, chances are if it takes the page more than ten seconds to load even on a 56k modem, the customer will click away to save time, hoping to find the information or product elsewhere. To increase the loading speed of your main page you should avoid large graphics or excessive graphics. To many banners or special effects can cause a page to load slowly as well.

To make your web site more appealing to the eyes, you should stick to mild colors. If your site is a content site where the user will be doing a lot of reading, it is best to stick to black and white. Color can be added when using tables, as a way to brighten up the page, but remember to keep the overall look of the page professional and appealing to the audience that will be visiting most often. Since screen resolutions vary among monitors, it is a good idea to set the pixels to a standard 800x600.

You may also choose to set the tables in your web page to span a percentage of the page rather than a set number of inches. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes. You should remember that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you, and therefore you should be sure that your site looks as good on other browsers as it does your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at your page.

Be aware of the fact that the overall look of your website is a way to make money. The appearance of the site, if designed properly, can be an excellent marketing strategy for your product or service.

I want my own domain!

2008-07-12 Posted at 09:41:36 AM

Choosing domain names, or web addresses is a major thing when you want to do business online. Whilst a great, or even halfway decent domain name may not guarantee success, it can most definitely have an impact on just about all aspects of your online biz.

When choosing a domain name, your best bet is to get one that is short, concise and easy to remember, as this will minimise confusion. If you are going for a domain that could possibly cause a bit of confusion, then it`s generally recommended that it falls into one of these categories: words that sound similar, common misspellings, hyphenated or non-hyphenated variations.

On the other hand, long domain names offer more flexibilty in choosing a domain name, allowing you to be more descriptive about what your site is about or what it does.

Don`t choose things like stuff4free.com or free-stuff-online though, as it makes it hard for the domain to be passed on to others through word of mouth. People can`t actually "hear" whether it`s 4 or four, and they can`t "hear" the hyphens. Again, joe_bloggs.com looks ok, but try telling someone to go there, joe underscore bloggs dot com is just hard to say.

Personally I`m not a fan of dots, dashes and numbers in a domain name, I think I prefer them as letters all in a row, like stuffforfree.com, freestuffonline.com and joebloggs.com (or whatever else the extention may be).

Try testing out names on family and friends, together you could come up with a really great name, one you wouldn`t have thought up on your own, and with a bit of luck it may not have been taken already.

Here are some various links that can be helpful to check out before trying to buy the domain name you want.

Domain naming idea generators:
http://www.nameboy.com
http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/domain-name-generator.shtml

Domain registration services:
http://godaddy.com
http://ranshan.com/domain_name_registration.html

You can use a whois search to look up domains that are already in use. This can be particulary useful If you`re looking for information such as the name and address of the registrant, creation date, expiration date, billing contact, technical contact, administrative contact, and domain servers.

Even if a domain name that you really want is taken, if no one actually has a site there they may just let the name lapse. So check the expiry on the domain name, and within a few months of it expiring you might just be able to grab it for yourself.

If you dont like your Results, change your Approach!

2008-06-16 Posted at 07:08:33 AM

"If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to get what you have always gotten." The question is do you want to be! Statistically 95 out of every 100 typical americans age 65 are either dead or broke. Only 5 % are financially independent or well off. What did they do different? This is the real question you must ask yourself. Internet Marketing is no different then the outside brick and mortar business or job. The same ugly statistics apply, 95 % of all internet businesses fail. So ask yourself the right questions..

What are they doing differently, how are they doing it, what resources did they use? If you ask the right questions you will search for the right answers! Hence changing your approach you will change your results. Remember you will always get what you expect, so expect great things! I have always treated my internet business as though it cost me a million dollars to aquire, in that way I have always expected it to give me huge results. Every great thing starts with a single idea or dream, so make yours big and treat it that way from the begining. You should treat your internet business like any other business and do your due diligence before you start spending your money.

Here are some steps you should take:

1. Do research on your idea, or affiliate program. Find out as much about it before you start, cost, hosting, marketing, resources available, read some books on internet marketing, join business forums and ask questions of others who allready have the experience and knowledge you seek.

2. Define your goals and dreams, why are you doing this? You will not be motivated enough to make it through the struggles unless you know why you are doing this. Make sure you write them down.

3. Write an action plan, how are you going to get to your goals and dreams, it must be clear and focused. What are you going to do daily, weekly, monthly, how much time will you spend a week? How much money will you invest?

4. Get organized ,clear the clutter so to speak. Remember you have all ready researched by this point so you know everything you are going to need.

5. Take consistant and persistant action, your going to have to swim out to your ship, its not going to sail into shore! Last things to remember " If you dont like your results, change your approach " rework your plan! Dont ever quit!! You cant succeed if you quit! Every great success failed many times, only difference is they kept getting back up!

Their are three main reasons why people fail in business, lack of capital, lack of knowledge, and they plain old quit! If at first you dont succeed try and try again!

Jerry Hight

Marketing Rollercoaster

2008-06-08 Posted at 09:22:09 AM

Ever hear someone say Don't listen to them! They just want to take you on a rollercoaster ride!

Many people who care about you and your well being will say something to this effect when you are provided with a business opportunity online. It is a way to deter you from joining up but what does it mean?

A rollercoaster provides anxiety building climbs, adrenaline pumping falls and exhilarating twists and turns. Half the time one is unsure which direction they are going and after all the ups and downs and twists and turns they find themselves back where they started.

Like a rollercoaster there are times when business is slow and times when things seem to be overwhelming fast. However, the scariest part is that no one wants to end up where they started with their business. Starting up a business costs money too, so if you end up where you started you are actually at a loss.

This is what upsets people. No one wants to put themselves through such a stressful event and come out with less than what they put in! It is true that the aim of a rollercoaster is to provide some exciting entertainment, but a business is viewed as a very serious money making system. If you don't make money then the business experience is considered a total waste. A scam.

But it is exactly this mentality that prevents people from succeeding in life. Money cannot buy happiness. If you're only goal is to make money then every drop, climb and twist in your business will be felt doubly. It will consume you. To a person with this state of mind every missed chance at a sale is a disheartening loss and reason to give up.

It's like wishing a rollercoaster ride was over as you climb into the seat. Your goal is to have fun but if you are too fearful of the ups and downs then when you get to the end you've missed the point of taking the rollercoaster! Many people get off at the end and say "I'll never do that again!"

The same can be said for a home business. If you wish you had all the money before you even started your business then you are missing the point of having money. Why did you want to join a business? Most people say for the money but then why would you want money? Many people who start up their businesses do not need it to survive but rather to gain luxuries in their lives. Sure you could buy that new car or house but why does that make you happy?

It is for the status. It is for the experience; for a sense of freedom and accomplishment. Money does not buy all of these things for you but rather it is the time and energy you have spent taking on the rollercoaster. If you start up a business with the sole intent to make money then you will end up like the other 95% of internet based businesses that fail. T he most successful people take heed of the advice, "Watch out, they want to take you on a rollercoaster ride," and expect that there will be ups and downs but they have fun with them. Even if they do not make money they learn from their experiences and apply the knowledge they learn. In real life there are ups and downs to everything and it is the way one deals with these ups and downs that determines the quality of their lives.

Money is only a symbol of one's real goals. It is an illusion born from materialism that blinds so many people from the rollercoaster ride that is their life; from the rollercoaster that is their business. It makes every twist and every turn more frightening and overwhelming. Do not become blind and miss the ride because sometimes the journey is more important than its end.

Jerry Hight

Traffic Mistakes To Avoid

2008-05-25 Posted at 07:54:24 AM

When people look to submit their sites to the major search engines, there are some key mistakes that should be avoided for successful promotion.

Spam

The surefire way of getting your site blacklisted from the major search engines. Many people see creating thousands of cloaked or doorway pages with hidden text as the quick route to ranking success. It isn't.

Untargeted Traffic

It's one thing to generate lots of new traffic to your site, but is it the right traffic? If you're selling DVD's for example, you want potential buyers to visit, not people who are searching for pictures of a certain movie star. Best to make it clear in your meta information exactly what your site does, then you'll get the type of clientele you're after!

Single Keywords

Unless you're in some incredible niche marketplace where a single word can only be identified with your product with few competitors, single keywords aren't going to hit the bullseye in a traffic sense. Multiple word keyword phrases are the key to traffic success. Instead of going for "books", go for "cake recipe books" or whatever your target market is. You'll have far less competition for that keyword phrase than just a single word.

Poor Design

There's no way around this one. You can have the best rankings in the world, but if your site looks bad, you'll lose that traffic as soon as it arrives. Good, simple, clean design always wins - sloppy design and gimmicks don't!

Messy Meta Tags

It's worth spending a bit of time getting your meta tags in order - they tell search engines what your site's about, and act as a basic marketing tool to attract visitors to your site. Check the spelling and make them relevant and you'll be off to a flyer. Read our dedicated article here.

Stickiness

Page design and marketing are inseparable. Once you've attracted your visitors, your traffic building exercise has gone well and your site looks good, what are you offering which will encourage return visits? Regular site updates are very useful since your site will appear active and worth revisiting. The most successful sites have been regularly updated. After all the effort you've gone to in gaining traffic, it's worth considering how to hang on to it.

Messy Code

After the search engine robots have visited your site, they'll see the meta information first, then they'll scan your page for the first chunk of relevant text. A large number of sites have cluttered code (Javascript usually) after the meta tags. This will not help your search engine ranking since the relevant text will be too far down the page. Try hiding the Javascript code (or similar) into another file and refer to it from the HTML.

Beware of Rogue "Experts"

Before handing your hard earned money over to "Site Submission Experts", be sure to find out exactly what you're getting. They may claim to be able to submit your site to "30,000 engines", but let's be honest, there's only a handful which create almost all the search traffic on the web, so you can submit yourself. Some firms claim to guarantee you a Top 20 ranked page - yes, if your search phrase is 8 words long. It's not that easy in reality. Reputable firms can help you optimize your pages, and advise you on how best to market your site to your target audience, so best to do some homework first.

Patience

Building traffic is an ongoing activity. After your initial hard work, you should check your pages on the engines and "tweak" them if the results aren't as you expected. Traffic is the oxygen of the Internet and your site is dead without it, so regularly give your code a tune-up and resubmit if necessary. Don't oversubmit though. If you look at your server logs, you'll see the major engine robots visiting on a regular basis, they'll pick up your changes soon enough if you can afford to wait a week or so.

Jerry Hight
Jerry Hight Blog

There's no business like no business!

2008-05-18 Posted at 07:41:12 AM

If you want to run an online business you've got to run an online business.

Pause for effect and repeat again....just like the better public speakers and charismatic preachers do.

If you want to run an online business....

Look, let's face it. Business is the word we should be concentrating on here. It's a business, and until you treat it like one you won't succeed. You've got to run an online business like any other business.

You simply can't play at it. If you want to achieve even moderate part-time success with a web business of your own, you have to approach it with:

* goals * planning * drive * ambition * dedication * purpose
* direction * hard work and a lot more besides.

Setting goals, and planning how you are going to reach them is the one step you HAVE to make. You are very unlikely to achieve success without knowing what you want and the exact route you are going to take to get there.

You need goals and plans to achieve those goals. But goals and planning aren't enough. If you're working part-time from home you will find online success very hard to come by without the encouragement and help of your family.

You also need to spend a lot of time on your computer, and on the net: working at developing your site or newsletter, at networking and schmoozing, at grabbing all the free publicity you can, at developing
products or finding the right existing products ( often affiliate programs )
to sell from your site.

And above all you have to learn discipline. You have to learn to avoid time wasting and surfing around when you're supposed to be working. It's so very important to be organized online. Otherwise you tend to drift and not get essential work done.

Make a daily and weekly online to-do list and use it.

Jerry Hight
Jerry Hight Blog

Blog And Ping

2008-05-11 Posted at 07:32:16 AM

Blogs and ping are the most frequently used words in the IT sector today. These two words are on everyone's lips today. So why are blogs and pinging getting so much importance today? Blogs and pinging can get you very good profits in the wrong run. So what exactly are blogs and pinging?

A blog is a website where members can discuss online their views on a particular topic. There are some blogs that are general in nature where people can discuss anything and there are blogs on which you can discuss only on a particular topic. However it is advisable that when you start a blog it should not be generalized but it should be opened on a particular topic. For example instead of starting a blog on the Information Technology you can start a blog only on Microsoft Technologies. There are a lot of blog softwares that you can use on your server and then run it independently.

Blogs are increasingly used for SEO marketing. Through blogs you can advertise your internet site on the blogs. Blog and ping is a process through which you can post a snippet of information from your site to a blog to increase your SEO. When you post snippets of your website information on the blog, search engine sites like Google and Yahoo will find it more easily. The search engine will be able to track your site more easily due to spidering and indexing. You can blog and ping only very important information from your site and not all information. You can also rent links to your site which makes the work of spidering easier for search engines. There were many aggressive marketers before who used to blog and ping all their web pages and that also repeatedly. As a result the search sites termed the individuals spammers and then banned their websites from ranking.

So how is blog and ping done successfully? The tasks can be easily done with the help of softwares like Wordpress and RSS to Blog. Using these softwares you can submit your links to over 50 blog directories at a click of a button. You can download Wordpress and RSS to Blog and then install them on your computer. Once you have installed the programs on your computer you should them customize them according to your needs. Then you should create a list of links from your site that will use in the blog sites. You can do this automatically using RSS to Blog. You can save these links for future use also so that you don't have to enter the list of links all over again. You also have the ability to add more data to RSS to Blog from external sources. The list of blog entries are automatically modified when you make more entries.

Hence we see that blog and ping are one of the best methods to make your website more famous in the search engines. You can use them and also modify their configuration according to your needs.

Jerry Hight
Jerry Hight Blog

Web Promotion That Nobody Talks About!

2008-05-04 Posted at 08:27:14 AM

You've built the perfect web site (in your eyes at least) and that most-important traffic is out there just waiting to visit you. You've done your research and followed the customary methods for making people aware of your site, and you're now sitting there playing with your Slinky, regularly checking your traffic stats analyzer in case you get a sudden gush of visitors. Of course, unless you're a big business with massive promotional effort behind you, those days of awe-inspiring traffic are quite a ways off. So while you wait for your search engine submissions to garner their reward, is there anything else you can do to help yourself?

Short answer. Yes, there is. And it's a technique that isn't discussed much. What is it?

Forums. Now don't run off in a huff just yet. Not only will you build up a small amount of traffic in the first few days of launch (a few hundred visitors easily) but you'll acquire a ton of priceless feedback about your site that can help you to make changes before the search engines send out their spiders. What could be better than free evaluation?

But, first things first. If you're not familiar with forums they can best be described as the collective discussion area of a web site. If you've never used one before don't be afraid. They're not as intimidating as you might think. Go take a look at a few to see for your self. Read some of the topics and look at the messages people have posted. Nobody is going to jump out at you and ask what you're doing there. Really, they won't.

Right, now that you're convinced that you can post a message on a forum, you should be aware that you can't, and shouldn't, post a message about your magnificent new web site on every forum you happen to find. If you have taken a look, as I suggested, you'll note that most forums are divided into areas that cover different topics related to that particular web site. Thus, if you want to tell people about your site you need to find forums that will allow this sort of entry.

There are certainly plenty of forums to choose from. If you spent every minute of every waking day looking for them, you couldn't possibly find them all. That's okay. You don't have to. Finding the most active forums is as easy as doing a search engine look up. Simply type in "marketing forums" or "forums" for one search and "marketing message boards" for another.

It isn't hard to determine where these mysterious forums might be. You'll want to look at computer magazine sites, webmaster sites and web review sites for starters. I'm sure you'll discover more once you get started. The process is then straightforward; find one of these sites, take a look to see if they run a forum, then check out the forum to see if they have an area that allows for your site to be submitted for review by other members.

If you're new to this then keep things simple with just a simple post at first. Just ask people to look at your site and give you some feedback. The best things to remember with forums are to be polite and friendly in your posts. Most people will usually have something positive to say about your web site despite all the criticisms they may also offer. Even if you get lots of praise, you'll often be amazed at how the smallest tips that you get can make your site a little bit more professional looking. Once you've participated in a couple of forums and noted the general response, use a different set forums to get more specific. Ask what they think about your site's navigation, ask about the content, ask about the colors, or whatever else may be concerning you.

Some forums ask that you look first at one or two other members' sites and give some feedback of your own before asking for yours to be evaluated. This can help you in that it may teach you how to critique your own site by looking at what's wrong (and right) with someone else's. Also, if you do need to give some feedback, look at the list of posts and pick someone whose reply count is low or non-existent. They'll be delighted that you've responded and may pay you the same compliment by looking at yours.

This brings me to another point concerning the reply/view count. Most people who go to the forums (especially newbies) are more likely to look first at the posts that have a decent reply and/or view count. It's a psychological phenomenon; the post looks popular so you want to see what's so appealing. With some forums you can use this to your advantage (just don't abuse it). Be aware of the forums that show an increase in the reply/view count every time someone (including you) adds a message. If you find one, make sure you revisit your own posts to respond to any comments and add a new message to keep the count going. It's a bit black-hat I know, but like I said, don't abuse it and you'll gain a small advantage by getting more eyes looking at your site.

Now don't expect thousands of visitors from this technique (unless your site is so good that everybody starts talking about it) but for every person that responds to your request for feedback you'll get loads more that just visit your site who, for whatever reason, don't reply. At the end of the day it's all about getting the ball rolling and anything you can do to proactively promote your web site has to be considered. So best foot forward and get busy exploring all those forums.

P.S. Usually, you may append a signature at the end of your post, but review the guidelines so the Administrator does not have to warn you about advertising.

Your signature file -- the blurb at the end of your forum posts and your emails -- is prime real estate. Are you using it to the fullest?

Do you put any thought into your sig lines? I hope you are putting as much thought into your sig lines as you would a paid advertisement. Your signature file has the potential to work for you, if you let it.

Jerry Hight
Jerry Hight Blog
RanShan Telecom Mall

How To Lose Money OnLine...

2008-05-01 Posted at 07:50:37 AM

Get a good website and start promoting like crazy. Do not bother doing any market research to see where people are spending their money. Do not bother to plan or put together a budget for your new venture. Just go with your gut and do not get involved with the marketing, operation, or accounting functions. Do not try different approaches to see what works better. Spend as much money as you can on a lot of advertising and do not bother to track it to see what works best. After all we all know that "Only half of advertising really works" so why bother to track it. If you get burned, just look around and blame it on someone else or the system. Then go off and do it again with another online business opportunity where they tell you that you will make more money and work less.

If you are not getting traffic just keep changing your site. Do not try to find a way to attract more people to your site. Just keep telling yourself that business is changing and go with the flow. Eventually you will be exposed to the whole world on line and have a huge market place. The exchange is so impersonal online, it is a different business, so do not try the conventional way of selling with the phone or in person. In fact, do not even try to sell anyone because it makes everybody feel uncomfortable.

If you have read this far you probably think that all of this is fiction. Well let me tell you, I see people behave this way everyday. There are those individuals who truly believe they can log online and make a business up and be making tons of cash in no time.

Just because the web is huge and everyone and their granddaddy seem to have an online business doesn't mean their business is successful. The ones that are took much time, money, and hard work to get there and it was not done overnight. For most good online marketers it took at least a year to get up and running to get successful. They had to budget their time and money well. They had to put together a detailed marketing plan and not just do some promotions.

The marketing plan started with their doing their homework and checking the market place to see where people were spending their money. They had to develop the right product as a result of this research and price it properly to satisfy these customer needs and wants better than the competition. And finally, they had to spend time and money on several different approaches to see which ones generate the best hits. It took a lot of hard work and some burning of the midnight oil. But that is what it takes to make it in business.

Now there is a lot of room for opportunity and success in an online business. But it is a business and must be developed and managed like a business. You must be actively involved and work at improving various strategies to reach your objectives. Nothing comes easy in business, on or offline. However, if you plan your business and devote the time, money and energy to work the marketing plan you will be successful.

Jerry Hight
Jerry Hight Blog

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