You’ve probably been hearing about the recession so often that the news is starting to fall on deaf ears. I know it is with me. I’m sick of hearing about it.

The stock market goes down, and it goes back up. Rest assured that it will not come back to last year’s levels anytime soon. The analysts call these bear market rallies a "dead cat bounce". When it's done bouncing, the cat's still dead.

I’ve been spending the last few weeks looking for real marketing products that will propel your sales into the atmosphere. The first one is about dominating your market. If you follow the procedures…

To learn the rest of the story and find out more about these important marketing tools, follow the link below, or copy and paste it into your web browser.

http://www.YourCyberWorld.com/namr1.aspx

Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:33:05 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

I wanted to take this opportunity to provide a bit of help to you in the area of writing advertising copy. We all know that one of the most important skills in internet marketing is writing easy to read, informative, articles and web content. In this post I want to focus on headlines.

You may already have a talent for writing powerful headlines. More likely, you will be in the majority of people who have trouble writing a headline that draws. Here are some simple methods, you can use, to help you write effective headlines. 

The only purpose of the headline is to make the reader read on. No more, no less. Once your reader moves on to the content of your article, your headline has done it's job. If he moves away your headline has failed, at least with that reader.

The very first thing you need to do is research what others are doing with their headlines. Every time you see a headline that catches your eye, and creates a desire to read more, save a copy in your "swipe file". Swipe files are files in which copywriters "swipe" other copywriter's good marketing ideas. They check out the swipe file when they are ready to work on their own material.

Often, the best headlines are already written. If can find a headline that works, you will have no need reinvent the wheel. Use the best ideas that you come across every day in your normal reading. I'm constantly coming across headlines that drive me to read on. Does the headline shock you? Is it exciting, strange, unbelievable? Maybe it just made you curious.

There are lots of very compelling headlines you can use just by filing in the blanks. You can work on a person's curiosity with, "Are You _______"? Examples such as: "Are You Ashamed of Your Children's Behavior?", or in today's economy, "Are You Worried Your Paychecks Will Stop?".

This one will send the message that the reader will learn something of importance. "How to _______" uses two of the most powerful words in a headline. Examples are: "How to Build a Fence", "How to Make a Million Dollars", or "How to Compose a Compelling Headline".

Another headline is "If You Are_________ You Can ________". Examples being: "If You Are a Non-smoker You Can Save 15% on Homeowners Insurance", and "If You Are Short on Money You Can Qualify For $10,000.00 Cash". This headline starts by focusing on a particular group and solves a problem for them.

You're not trying to sell anything with a headline. You just want to get enough interest from the reader so he will continue to read the rest of your letter or article. If you were a door to door salesman, this would be like putting your foot in the door, holding it open long enough to get your pitch out.

Make your headlines bold, punchy, and interest grabbing. Use them to bring your reader to the sub headline, or first paragraph where you will make your case that he needs to read on.

Thursday, October 23, 2008 9:58:48 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

For those of you working on website SEO for local businesses, Google's new rules will be difficult to deal with. You can no longer use a keyword rich phrase to name you business on Google Maps. You have to use the actual name.

While some of the rule changes will help the user find what they are looking for, not being able to use keywords in the naming at all could easily leave out many businesses who would fit the search very well.

Also, if your business exists in several areas, or cities, you will no longer be able to create multiple listings for keywords that are specific to a particular location.

So far most businesses that are in Google Maps haven't defined the attributes to describe their business. If you're using Google Maps for advertising, you could get a jump on the competition by adding these.

Check out the new rules in Google's Business Listing Quality Guidelines

Friday, October 10, 2008 9:55:13 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

Customers ask me daily how they can advertise their website. It is not terribly difficult, but it does take quite a bit of time and effort. I happen to be from the school of targeted traffic. That is, I'm much more interested in traffic that has a need to view my site, rather than traffic that is generated on a random basis.

To get a site going quickly, I find that pay per click (PPC) works very well. You have to be careful that your revenues are greater than your expenses here though. Once you get started with PPC, it is necessary to constantly tweak it using split-testing techniques to improve your conversion rates.

There are many ways to generate targeted traffic, but some of the best that I have found are:

• Article Marketing
• Blogging
• Email lists
• Social networking and forum participation.

There are a number of  article directories that are worthwhile. Here are a few of the best.

• EzineArticles.com
• Article Alley
• articledashboard.com

Write articles on your subject and link them back to your website.

A blog is a necessity. Try to post to it regularly if not every day. For myself, I find it very difficult to keep it up when I involved in a software project, which is why I haven't posted anything for some time.

Email lists are essential. The best company to handle your list is AWeber. You can setup auto-responders so that your customers hear from you on a regular basis automatically.

As to social networking, you should hook up to digital point forums, Twitter, and as many others as you have time for. It's also good to post to other peoples blogs because the links will point to your website.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008 12:26:07 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  

From everything I'm reading about Google Chrome, their new web browser, it's best to stay away for now. It looks like it will be an excellent platform, but they need to get some bugs and security holes worked out first.

Security researchers have found a buffer overflow vulnerability that could allow hackers to take control of your computer. They have found a half dozen other problems, and it's only been out a week. It's to be expected though as this is a new product that has to go through some growing pains.

I looks like it will be quite the contender in the browser wars, but for now it's probably best to stay with your old standby.

Bookmark & Share

Thursday, September 11, 2008 4:58:02 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  internet news

Beach Money is about businesses that provide income even when you aren't working. The main examples of this are network marketing companies.

Though network marketing is considered by many a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, some network marketing companies are the real deal. When they run professionally and have a quality product, they can make a great deal of money for the participants.

Jordan Adler is one of the most successful network marketing distributors on the planet. He describes the road he took to get there in his book. He also gets into ways others can follow in his footsteps.

It's an enjoyable, informative read.

Find out more at http://www.marketingideasandtools.com/beach_money.html

Thursday, September 04, 2008 11:03:31 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  general

I call this THE internet business opportunity because it is so effective. In fact, the company is growing so fast that they won't allow me to mention their name in a website or blog.

Check this out, and take your time. This will be an enjoyable experience. I can't get into the system here, just go to www.ourcardsender.com and watch the video. You can use this to market the opportunity, or if you have an existing business, you can use it to market your existing business, and improve your customer retention to boot.

Just like I was six months ago, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. If you like what you see, give me a call at 419-424-3896, or email me at rustyc@mtisoftware.com, and we'll go over the whole system.

Monday, July 28, 2008 11:47:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  internet news

If you've thought about making videos and putting on the web, take a look at Brad Fallon's podcast at Free Line. He discussed some free video editing tools which can be quite valuable.

Animoto, MuveeMix, JumpCut, EyeSpot, and Kaltura. I'm not going into a long winded description of these tools, because Brad does an excellent job of reviewing them. Just let me say that these tools can quickly move you into the video space.

Friday, July 25, 2008 7:52:28 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)      Comments [0]  web businesses