5 Useful Website Design Tips For A More Reader-Friendly Site

One of my favorite things I like to do when I'm online is browse the Internet, and check out other marketing websites. I'm an avid reader, so when I come across a well-designed website that appears to have an abundance of quality content, I'll usually spend a few minutes on the site reading that content.

And if the site provides a pleasant reader experience, I'll bookmark it and visit it again.

However, it takes a very special website to capture my attention. And unfortunately, most sites fall far short of my expectations. As a result, I rarely bookmark websites. No, more often than not, when I visit a website, I click away after just a second or two.

Why? Because in my opinion, many websites just aren't what I would call reader-friendly. In fact, they're just the opposite. They provide a lousy reader experience.

Following are five things that ruin my reader experience:

1. Too Busy Web Pages

Have you ever visited a web page that was so busy and overcrowded your eyes didn't know what to focus on? The tragedy of these types of web pages is some of them probably have content that readers would be interested in.

But the web pages are so doggone clutttered and disorganized, visitors can't find what they're looking for - or are too frustrated to even try.

When you design your website, arrange items in a neat and orderly fashion. Space things out. Because when it comes to website design, a little white space is a good thing.

Also, if you don't already have one, install a sitemap. The following website will allow you to quickly and easily create your own sitemap right online:

http://www.xml-sitemaps.com

In addition to a sitemap, installing an internal search box will also improve your visitors reading experience, as well as assist them in finding the information that they're seeking. This is especially important if you have a large website with lots of pages.

If you would like to learn more about installing an internal search box on your site, TechSoup has an excellent article on the topic, titled Adding a Search Engine to Your Site Is Easier than You Think:

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/archives/page9353.cfm

2. Reverse Text

I'm absolutely amazed at how many websites I've visited that are written in reverse text. What's reverse text? Reverse text is light colored or white text on a dark or black background. If used correctly, reverse text can produce an impressive visual impact.

The problem is many websites don't use it correctly. And if you have a whole web page of reverse text, it's extremely difficult on the eyes.

Why? Because according to readability studies, reverse text is not suitable for reading because of its poor legibility even in normal lighting conditions. It's hard on the eyes, and just not reader-friendly. That's why newspapers, books and magazines have always been printed on white paper with black text.

When designing your website, it's best to use black text on a white or light-colored background, for optimum readability. However if you decide to use reverse text, use it in moderation.

3. Huge Blocks of Text

Internet users are notorious scanners. They’ll scan your text first, before deciding whether or not to actually read it. That's why you should always break up your text into short, reader-friendly paragraphs.

When I come across a web page that has these huge blocks of text, (ie, paragraphs that never seem to end), I won't even waste my valuable time trying to read it. I'll just click away, and leave your site.

And if I feel that way, you can bet other visitors to your site feel the exact same way. Again, always break up your text into short paragraphs. In addition, use bullets and subheads whenever possible. They help break up your text, so that it's easier to read.

Remember what I said earlier? Internet users are notorious scanners. That’s why subheads and bullets are so important.

4. Tiny Font Sizes

Do you remember the nearsighted cartoon character, Mr. Magoo? He always walked around with his eyes in a permanent squint, trying to visually decipher things that were right in front of him.

Well, that's exactly how I feel when I visit some websites. I find myself squinting like Mr. Magoo, because the font size is so tiny. When that happens, guess what? Click...I'm outta there.

Do your readers a favor, and stay away from tiny font sizes. Stick with the standard 12-point font size, whenever possible.

Conversely, it's not a good ideal to use overly large font sizes either. It's just not reader-friendly. Another thing, use ALL CAPS and fancy fonts in moderation.

5. Excessive Bold Type and Highlighting

The other day I was browsing the Internet doing research, when I came across something that caught my eye - but not in a good way. It was a web page, and it was absolutely hideous. So, what made it so hideous?

The entire web page was written entirely in bold type, which is a crime in itself. But even worse than that, the page was highlighted in yellow from top to bottom.

Can you imagine that? It looked like a big mustard sandwich with ants.

Unfortunately, I see this all too often on websites. You should always use bold type and highlight in moderation, and only to emphasize certain words, sentences or paragraphs.

In closing, I hope you'll take these reader-friendly website design tips to heart, and apply them to your website, if applicable. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Because if your visitors have an unpleasant reader experience, chances are, they won't be coming back.

Your Email Has 5 Seconds

The average reader takes 2 - 5 seconds to decide whether
to read or delete an email according to David Daniels,
Jupiter Research VP.

Your email is competing for attention against
the 274 personal email messages and 304 work emails that the
average person receives each week. It is sitting in one
of 2 email accounts that 74% of users have.

How do you get your message saved when the user does
his inbox cleaning? That's when the user sifts through
their email inboxes at warp speed to eliminate junk
(both permission email as well as spam) before they start
to read and respond to what they've saved.

How can you get your email noticed in that 5 second
window so that the user will take time to actually read
your message and act upon it?

A recent email marketing metrics study from MailerMailer
reveals key factors to getting opens and clicks from your
email campaigns. I'll review their report as well as point
out some important findings from other recent case studies.

Below are 10 steps you can take to give your email a
fighting chance:

1) Brand Name

Make sure your email clearly shows who you are. Your
brand name should be in both your "From" line as well
as your subject line.

When users recognize who sent the email they are more
likely to open the email and respond.

2) Short Subject Lines

Subject lines under 35 characters are significantly more
likely to be opened. In addition, short subject lines
generate more click throughs after the message is opened.

Keep your subjects short and snappy!

3) Key Words in Subject

Get a 10% increase in opens just by using key words in
your subject line.

What are key words?

They're the key words for your site and offerings.

For example, our site - http://www.sendfree.com - is an
autoresponder, email list hosting service. Our emails to
our lists should contain one of our sites key words -
such as email, lists, leads, autoresponders.

An email that discusses business planning or goal setting
for 2008 is not going to grab our readers' attention. Our
list members signed up for information on email marketing.
The email subject lines we use therefore should contain
"email marketing" key words if we want the messages
opened.

Start using your key words in your subjects and you'll see
higher open rates.

4) Go Back to Text

If you send out mostly HTML emails to your readers, send
out some text messages. Try out a text-only email -- with
no coding, graphics or hyperlinks.

A simple text email letter injected into a campaign of
HTML emails can grab readers' attention and get them
to respond.

Similarly if you send out mostly text email, inject a few
HTML message into your campaigns. You too will grab
your readers' attention with the change and generate
more response.

5) The More Links the Merrier

The more links to your landing page or links to a variety
of different offerings in your email the higher your emails
click through rate will be.

6) Use Video Landing pages

Nearly half of Web users watched online videos last year.
And according to The Pew Internet and American Life
Project online video watching is only going to increase.

More and more case studies document that video is a
proven tool for generating leads and response.

What you need is a simple video that gives a visual
overview of the service or product you provide.
A video will generate more clicks from your emails
and it will make more sales on your site.

7) To Personalize or Not To Personalize

That is the question email marketers face these days. With
so much spam using personalization in email subjects, does
personalizing an email with a recipients first name make
your email look like spam?

Well yes and no . . .

When only the subject line is personalized both open and
click rates are lower than having no personalization in your
message at all. When both the subject line and message
are personalized the open rates are higher than no
personalization but the click through rates are lower than
having no personalization.

The best strategy is to personalize just the message and not
the subject. This will give you a higher open rate and the
highest click through rates.

8) 3 Weeks Of Response

That is how long it can take for some to respond to your
emails.

Yes, the majority of people (73%) will respond in the first
24 hours of you sending out an email message. And 83%
will have responded within 48 hours of receiving your
message. But that last 17% can take up to 3 weeks to
respond to your email.

Your email links, images and landing pages all need to
remain active for at least 3 weeks to ensure you get the
maximum return.

When placing ads in email newsletter a delayed response is
even more likely. Studies show nearly 25% respond 15-21
days after viewing an ad.

9) Mail at Least Once a Month

Mailing to your subscribers at least monthly ensures your
readers do not forget that they signed up for your list.
You not only improve your open and click rates you also
improve your deliverability.

Failing to mail monthly more than doubles the number of
messages that bounce as undeliverable.

10) Bigger is not Better

Across practically all industry types when a list grew over
1000 subscribers both open and click rates declined.

Why?

Lack of specificity. When you fail to segment your list
into smaller more specific topic groups, you lose your
edge. By keeping your lists' subject matter tightly focused
and staying on topic you generate the best response.

What can you do when you find your list growing?

Take a survey and ask your readers to select the topics
in which they are most interested. Then place them into
separate lists for each of those topics. And for those who
don't respond, create a specific list for non-responders
as well.

If you sell multiple products, rather than creating one big
customer list, place your customers into lists specific to
the product / service they bought. Nothing irks a customer
more than receiving a promotion for a product they already
purchased. It makes the customer think, you as a business
aren't paying attention and thus don't care about their
business.

Yes, it may take more time to create separate email
campaigns for each of your lists, but the results will
be well worth the extra effort.

There you have it, 10 tactics that will keep your email out
of the trash and get your message read and clicked.

###
Abbie Drew
DEMC Editor

How to Ruin Your Business Reputation

Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.

To say it floored me would be an understatement.

What was worse was a few days later this person started sending emails promoting their coaching program. How could anyone who had gotten the "trade" email even consider signing up for their coaching program?

Now this was a pretty obvious blunder, but there are other, smaller blunders, you might be making that are hurting your business reputation and your ability to attract clients. But first, I want to make something clear.

The problem isn't that you're struggling right now. That happens. It's the nature of business and every seasoned business person knows it. Businesses will lose money or be flat from time to time. There's no shame in it, you just need to keep doing something about it (i.e. marketing, analyzing your offerings or your target market to see if you need to make a change, etc.)

The mistake happens when you make this too transparent. I'm not saying you should lie and say business is great when it's not. (In fact, please DON'T lie. That's another way to hurt your business reputation big time.) But (and this is ESPECIALLY true if you have a service business) don't make it obvious you're struggling. No one wants to hire a consultant who isn't busy. In the back of people's minds is the worry if the consultant isn't busy they must not be good. So you MUST not come across as too eager or that you have too much time on your hands.

No matter how desperate for customers you are, you must get that under control. People will sense desperation and either run from you or try and take advantage of you. Neither is all that good for you (either your business or your psyche).

So what can you do? Here are 3 tips to help you stay strong no matter what's going on in your business.

1. Keep marketing. Now is the time to step up your marketing. You have the time, why not write extra articles so you have them "stockpiled" when you do get busy again. Now might also be a good time to do a promotion but do NOT say it's because business is slow. Find some other creative way to do the same thing (for instance, maybe you have a "back to school" special, now that the kids are back in school you have some extra time to take on an additional client or two.) Or your promotion can be around a product or a group program. (Having a promotion around your product or group program doesn't carry nearly the social stigma of pedaling your service.)

2. Don't answer your phone. Yes, you heard me. Let voice mail pick it up or keep your virtual assistant on to return phone calls. Busy people don't sit by the phone willing it to ring. You need to get your mind off your phone (or your inbox) and on to drumming up customers.

3. Don't drop your fees. Your fees aren't the problem. Something else is the problem. Either you aren't marketing enough or your target market isn't the right target market for you anymore or you need to tweak your offerings or something else is going on. But the moment you start dropping your fees or doubting yourself is the moment you'll start down a vicious downward cycle.

(Now, this doesn't mean you can't put together a lower priced package and promote it. That's fine and it may be a smart business decision. But to lower your hourly rate -- not a smart move.)

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting, marketing communications and creativity agency. She helps people become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site http://www.michelepw.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michele_Pariza_Wacek

How to Use SEO Analytics to Make Quick Money - Aaron Wall

5 Reasons Why Most Online Marketers Fail

When it comes to starting any endeavor, whether
it be learning a new hobby or starting an online
business, we all have to start at ground zero.

We all have to start at the very beginning from
the very same place. Granted, we each bring different
skills and backgrounds into the mix, but for the
most part we are all on equal footing at the
starting line.

If this is the case, then we really have to
ponder why is it only a choice few go on to
succeed, while most people don't. Just what
are the reasons why most online marketers fail?
This is the core question that has to be answered
if you want to fully understand Internet marketing
and how it works.

What are these basic reasons?

What are the causes or stumbling blocks that hold many marketers
and webmasters from reaching their full online potential? If we
know these factors, we can learn how to avoid them and even
overcome them in our own online marketing. These reasons can be
a solid reference point or even a source of inspiration for any
online marketer just starting out.

Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who has started from the
very beginning with little to no knowledge of computers or even
marketing for that matter, I can honestly relate to the beginning
marketer. I even had to learn HTML from scratch in order to construct
my own webpages. Probably my only advantage, I did have a background
in art but designing webpages was completely different from anything
I had done previously to starting in online marketing.

Nor did I have any formal training in business or marketing,
just an art teaching background which really doesn't help
with the day to day running of an online business. I had to
learn as I went; struggling with hundreds of marketing
decisions before my sites became profitable. Don't get the
wrong impression, I have probably made hundreds of mistakes
along the way and I am still making them!

But from my own experiences I have drawn some general conclusions
about Internet marketing and why some people succeed while most
people fail. So here in my honest opinion, are some of the
main reasons why many online marketers fail:

1. Overwhelmed With Information

Perhaps, one of the biggest obstacles I faced when I first
started my website - I was bombarded with so much information
on how to proceed I didn't have a clue which direction to take
or who to believe. Thousands of different info products telling
you to do this, not to do that... so much marketing information
to absorb that you end up scratching your head and looking like
someone auditioning for a zombie movie.

Completely overwhelmed with so much information, many marketers
or webmasters enter a state of paralysis where nothing gets done.
You go from one course to another or from one method to another,
without any real understanding of how to proceed or how to get a
detailed blueprint to follow.

Been there, done that!

Information overflow can effectively crush all that novice
enthusiasm and literally kill even the most eager of entrepreneurs.
Anyone starting out must be aware of this obvious but insidious
pitfall you have to avoid at all costs. One of the best remedies,
simply try concentrating on just one or two marketing plans/marketers
for all your information. Try to eliminate the clutter by just working
on one marketing system. Just have a few key marketing resources
you go to for information, not a hundred! And do your homework,
only pick marketers who can back up their claims with observable results
on the web. One obvious checkmark - just see if those marketers have top
rankings for their sites for popular profitable keywords associated
with their sites or products.

2. Lack Of Key Marketing Basics

There are some key marketing basics or fundamentals you must
learn about marketing online. Internet marketing has some key
elements you must get right or you will have a difficult task
in succeeding on the web. Just simple factors you must get right
or it's game over before you even get started.

Most marketers fail to realize the web is "information driven"
and you must supply quality information or content in order to
truly succeed. You must provide a valuable service or function
to your visitors. You must help solve their problem. You must
give them a solid reason to use your site or product. Quality
content is and always will be King on the web.

You must also understand much of the web is "keyword driven" and you
must construct your webpages to take full advantage of these keywords.
You must have at least a rudimentary understanding of SEO (Search
Engine Optimization) and how you can use it to get top rankings
for your keyword phrases.

3. Lack Of Time And Resources

Another major reason why many marketers fail is because they
simply can't afford the time to learn and build their online
business. Most people just can't stop everything and work full
time online because they have bills to pay and families to
support. It may take months, probably years, before you can
build up a successful online business that gives you a comfortable
living. The average person just doesn't have the time or the resources
to spend months learning how all this works.

Keep in mind, getting a business or website going is probably the most
inexpensive way to start your own business. Domains are cheap.
Web hosting is cheap. Web design is cheap if you can do it yourself...
compared to starting a business in the "real" world, creating an online
business will only cost a faction of the normal expenses connected with
starting a business. But the main problem is having the resources to pay
your living expenses until your online business is profitable. Many beginning
online marketers don't have these resources and the main complaint from
these marketers: "I Simply can't afford the time to work at this online
stuff."

One solution is to work at your online marketing in your spare time and
gradually build up your business until you can afford to do it full time.
It will obviously take longer but you can still get to the same end goal.

4. Lack Of Necessary Skills

Actually, you don't need many skills to succeed online. However,
one of the major skills you must have or you must learn is communication.
You must learn how to communicate. The web is all about communicating
your points to your visitors or viewers so you must acquire good
communication skills.

It really helps your marketing if you are a good writer because you can easily
get your points across with written text or copy on your site. Writing
skills can be learned but many beginning marketers don't fully understand
how important their writing skills will be to their success. You must
be able to communicate on your site, in your newsletters, with your
customers... might sound a bit obvious but you would be surprised at
how many marketers lack this simple, yet necessary skill.

But don't fret, because once upon a time, the written word was king
online - but not any more. Videos are rapidly taking the place of the printed
word so anyone with a camera can now be a success online. Of course,
you still need good communication skills even using videos, but many
marketers have found this is a much easier way to communicate information
about their site or product.

5. Lack Of Persistence

For me, one the most significant reasons most online marketers/webmasters
fail, is because of a lack of persistence. They simply give up too soon.
They try something for a few weeks, even for a few months and then they
conclude this is not working and they give up.

Building a solid online business or viable website takes time, a
lot of time. Just because your business is online, doesn't mean
everything will fall into place overnight, it takes time to establish
a customer base. It takes time to build your business relationships
and partnerships with others in your field.

Sometimes, it may take years before you see some solid returns. It was
three years before I saw any significant revenue coming from my online
ventures, and another year before I could summon enough courage to do
this online marketing full time. If I had given up and not persisted
at this web stuff, I would not be writing this article right now.

Building top rankings for your keywords in the search engines
(especially Google) can take months, even years before you see any
results. The real key is to be persistent and keep at it, day after
day, until you get those top rankings. You simply must be persistent
or you will fail.

In conclusion, having said all that, you must also realize
there are plenty of exceptions to all of the above. There
have been countless success stories on the web where someone
has come up with a novel idea or product and become
successful overnight. The web can offer immediate success
for some but for most of us, it will take some time and
hard effort on our part to build a successful online business.
Just try to avoid many of the pitfalls or reasons listed above
and you will have a better chance of placing yourself in the
success column.

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: Marketing Tools
If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7 Day
Marketing Course here: Internet Marketing Tools
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_901278_3.html

Top-Quality Content -- The Key To A Successful AdSense Site

Google's got a problem. We've all seen it. We've all had to deal with it. We've all been frustrated by it.

Enter a search term at Google and about a quarter to half of the results on the first page will be garbage. A couple of meaningless paragraphs and plenty of ad units and in-your-face banners.

The SEO is excellent. The content is terrible. And you can be sure the revenues are rock bottom too.

I'm not interested in building sites like that, and no one else should be either. They're a waste of time for the publisher and they're a waste of time for users too.

And they're also completely unnecessary.

Creating top quality content -- the sort that builds loyal users and gets ad clicks -- is easy. You don't have to be a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to create good articles. And you don't have to write like Hemingway to create Web pages that bring users back.

You just have to write the sort of content that people find interesting. That's all there is to it.

The best judge of whether an article is interesting is you. If you find your content enjoyable to create, there's a good chance that your users will find reading it appealing too.

One of the easiest ways to create interesting content is to write product reviews. Whatever you like to do in your spare time is going to have plenty of products. That's true whether you're playing golf, building home entertainment systems or doing home improvements.

You already know which of those products are the best and which are disappointing.

Write short reviews of the products you own -- or would like to own -- and you'll provide valuable information for users.

And you'll also bring up highly targeted ads.

When you're looking to create a new site rather than pick topics that you know have high-paying ads, pick topics that have high interest for you. You'll be able to create better content, and you'll have more users who will return regularly and give your site a solid base.

Joel Comm is The Internet Revenue Expert. Online for over 20 years, Joel teaches people how to make money in the digital age. The recognized authority on Google AdSense, Joel teaches how to multiply your AdSense income at The AdSense Code. To ask Joel Comm a question about making money online, visit http://www.AskJoelComm.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joel_Comm

Google AdWords Strategy - 7 Steps For Bidding Low to Reduce Wasteful Spending

Bidding low on Google AdWords is a highly successful strategy that minimizes your risk and the amount you spend. You simply start with a low daily budget and a low cost per click (CPC). It will take you longer to make a sale because your click through rate (CTR) may be lower (takes more clicks convert to sales) and your ads will not be in the top position (unless you have a few or no competitors).

Here are the 7 steps for a low bidding strategy

1. Keyword research

Use the AdWords keyword tool to find low cost keywords that receive a high number of searches per month (at least 1000 or more). Make sure you select exact match from the drop down when choosing your keywords. Selecting broad match won't provide an accurate picture of the number of searches for that keyword because it includes general phrases. For example if the keyword you are bidding on is "red shoes" a broad match will include "free red shoes" or "red shoes that smell" and so on.

2. Set a low minimum budget

The lowest budget you can set is $5.00. This means you will spend $35.00 a week or $150/month. Set it higher if you have a large budget however I recommend only raising it after you have collected a lot of data and seen conversions.

3. Set a low cost per click (CPC)

Decide what you wish to spend per click (ignore what Google suggests). If it's 31 cents set your default bid to 31 cents. You can adjust the bid of any keyword after setting up your campaign.

4. Turn off the content network

You only want to run your ads on Google and it's search partners to have control over where your ads are displayed so turn off the content network. Only show your ads on Google and its search partners. For the device platform only check desktop and laptop computers. Leave unchecked iPhones and other mobile devices.

5. Split test your ads

Create 2 ads so you can see which one performs the best. If you see one is clearly outperforming the other (high CTR), create a new one and test it against your control ad. The purpose of this exercise is to always try to get a better CTR to improve conversions. It will also reduce your CPC.

6. Adjust your keyword bids

After letting your campaign run for a few hours you'll be able to see how much each keyword costs and what position your ad has. The best position is between 2 and 8. The top position tends to get lots of tire kickers so adjust your CPC to achieve your desired ad position.

When your ad starts converting into sales increase your bids to generate more sales.

7. Track your keywords

Use a keyword tracker to track your keywords. You will then know which keyword produced the sale. I highly recommend the ad tracking took AdTrackz. It will track all your keywords, landing pages, affiliate web sites and protect affiliate links all from one location.

Bidding low on your keywords stops you from overspending your budget while still obtaining good ad positions on the first page and collecting valuable data for building a profitable campaign.

Learn how to maximize your profits without wasting your money on Google AdWords by reading my review of $1 a Day AdWords Marketing.

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com Affordable WebSite Design, Hosting and SEO.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Herman_Drost

How to Use Article Marketing to Get High-Profile Exposure on Sites like Google News

With Google Universal Search's integration of several types of web content into the main search engine, an opportunity now exists for you to snatch up better search engine results faster, if you're quick. One of those ways is by combining article marketing and Google News. Submitted through the right publication, article contents get into Google News faster, and for the right queries they can rise to the top of results faster.

The first thing that you'll need to do is get your article into a publication that is featured at Google News in your market. This is a lot harder than the hype surrounding the situation would make it seem. Submitting to a publication that shows up in Google news usually means going through a review process for each article - there's no guarantee that you'll get in. You must look at the big picture. You'll need to write an article that has the best odds of getting good placement, showing up for searches on your name as well as your keywords (which becomes vastly more important when you become well-known), and other factors which will affect how far the reach of your article is.

One resource that has a long-standing record of getting published in Google News is American Chronicles. You must apply to be an author, and not everyone gets in. Heighten your chances by writing a great article.

The second thing you'll need to do is write something that would achieve not just appearance in Google News, but circulation beyond it. You want people to be quoting your article and passing it along to their friends and colleagues. In other words, you need a great topic. One tip: test your article at EzineArticles.com. If the editors there won't accept it, then you're not ready. If they do, when people recognize your name, they'll have a place to go to re-publish your work.

The third thing you need in order to get your articles published on high-profile sites like Google News you have to is find a way to tie your piece into a recent event, in a niche you're well versed in, with a style people can learn from and relate to - then if you can bring them from the article to your site, you're pretty much set.

This is building on a tip I've given before, namely, write about something that's on everyone's mind already. Find a way to tie your tip, news, opinion, review, etc, into what everyone is chatting about by the virtual water cooler.

But here's the spin.

Don't just talk about what everyone else is talking about. Go from a different angle, take a different opinion than the prevailing one, use a different style.

For example. You can write about that fact that Google is doing something new, like when the Google Sitemaps program started.

OR you could write about how webmasters can take advantage of Google Sitemaps. And what is the easiest point of entry. Or mistakes to avoid.

With me now? You want your article to be more interesting, compelling and useful than the next person's. As you begin to get more exposure, you'll find yourself published in the places that give you much more publicity for the same amount of work.

You can learn from someone who says they know what they're doing, or you can learn from someone who can prove it. Get more free tips at http://www.freetraffictip.com on article marketing, business blogging, blog traffic, RSS, linking, search engine optimization, and podcasting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tinu_Abayomi-Paul

Article Marketing Tip - Who is Your Online Writing Role Model?

If you do not already have an online writing role model, find one. This is perhaps the best article marketing tip that I can give you to help you grow in your writing.

When you start article marketing, each month you will need to produce a steady stream of articles. At first you may have an initial burst of creative energy that helps you consistently produce your articles, but after a while it's very easy to lose your focus and your inspiration.

This is where an online writing role model comes in. Not just any type of writing role model, but one who writes for the internet. Online writing is different from any other type of writing.

If you have someone who you can look up to, who you can see producing quality writing on the net, you have a built in motivator. It's encouraging to think, "If he can do it, so can I!"

Having an web writing role model also helps you to learn. As you watch this person you admire write, you will continuously pick up some of his or her positive writing habits and characteristics.

This is not to say that your writing will mimic someone else's--quite the contrary. By having someone whose writing you look up to, you will learn from them and have the confidence to develop your own style.

I have a select few web writers who I really look up to, and I'd like to share some of the crucial lessons I've learned from them:

Lesson 1 - Your articles should provide a generous amount of helpful information.

When writing an article, the idea is to serve your reader by providing valuable information that is not found elsewhere. Aim to give your reader more than he is expecting. When you write in this fashion, your articles will convey a sense of professionalism, quality, and dedication that readers appreciate.

Lesson 2 - Focus on teaching in your articles.

Not sales, not links, not anything that is directly geared to benefit you. The body of your article is for your readers, and the reason why a reader wants to read your article is to LEARN something. Each article should teach something new. You can be writing on the same topic, but each article should offer new tips, new information, new angles on your topic.

Lesson 3 - It is never a waste of time to thoroughly think through your article structure and proofread it several times.

We've all seen articles that are obviously thrown together with little thought for how the article is organized and with numerous spelling or grammar errors. What do you think when you see an article like that? Readers can form some pretty powerful opinions about an author, the author's business, and the author's products when the article is obviously low quality. It pays to spend time writing an article that makes sense, has proper spelling and grammar, and offers valuable information to the reader. Writing quality articles takes time, but it's worth it.

Lesson 4 - Learn to write on your topic from every angle possible.

Publishers do not appreciate seeing virtually the same article being submitted repeatedly. No matter what your topic is, you must come up with a way to offer fresh content. Think about how a beginner would view your topic. Also write articles with more advanced content. Get creative with your approaches to your topic in each article. Any topic can be exciting, depending on how you write about it.

Lesson 5 - Be yourself.

Your articles should demonstrate your expertise, but there's no need to try to be someone that you're not. Write about lessons that you've learned the hard way. Admit to not always doing things perfectly. Your readers will appreciate your honesty, and they will have the benefit of learning from your experience.

These are some of the major lessons I've learned from watching online writers that I admire. Do you have a web writing role model yet? What has he or she taught you?

For more info on how you can use article marketing to reach thousands of potential prospects for your website, go now to http://www.submityourarticle.com/report. Steve Shaw is an article marketing expert and founder of the popular article submitter SubmitYOURArticle.com used by thousands of business owners.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Shaw

15 Proven Copywriting Techniques to Help Improve Your Sales Conversions

I'm sure you've heard the old adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

This is especially true, when it comes to copywriting techniques. The same timeless copywriting techniques that were so successful fifty years ago, are just as effective today. In fact, some of the greatest ads in the history of advertising were written during the 50's, 60's and 70's.

This exciting time period was known as The Golden Age of Advertising.

In that regard, I've decided to compile a list of time-tested copywriting techniques to help improve your sales conversions. Please don't look for anything new here. Like I said earlier, these time-tested techniques are just as effective today as they were fifty years ago.

However, with the advent of the Internet, sometimes we need to be reminded of that fact.

1. Always Use a Compelling Headline

Readers will decide whether or not to read your ad, based solely on how compelling your headline is. And if your headline doesn't capture the readers imagination, your ad is pretty much destined to fail. That's how critically important it is to get the readers attention.

In essence, your headline needs to act like a big red stop sign. Your headline has to make readers slam on their eyeball brakes. This is especially true for online copy, because Internet users are notorious scanners.

If you would like to learn how to write effective headlines, after you finish reading this article, read How to Write Headlines That Make Readers Slam On Their Eyeball Brakes.

2. Get Right to the Point

After your headline gets the readers attention, next, you want to get them interested in your product or service. You do that by immediately delivering what your headline promises.

In other words, respect the readers time and get right to the point. That way, the reader can decide immediately if she wants to continue reading the rest of your copy.

Whatever you do, don't string your readers along unnecessarily with a bunch of fluff designed to fill out your ad. For instance, did you notice how quickly I got right to the point in this article?

3. Long Copy vs. Short Copy

There's been a debate going on in Internet Marketing circles for several years about long copy vs. short copy. I'm going to end that debate right now.

Research has shown that long copy usually outperforms short copy - provided the copy is well-written and interesting. Every single day, people read long newspaper and magazine articles, as well as novels. They will read your long copy IF it is interesting.

That being said, I don't believe you should intentionally set out to write long copy. Only make your copy as long as it needs to be to effectively sell your product or service. No longer.

4. Use Subheads and Bullet Points

Subheads and bullet points are important, because they serve two purposes: 1. They break up your copy, so that it's easier to read. 2. They act like stop signs.

Remember what I said earlier? Internet users are notorious scanners. They'll scan your copy first, before deciding whether or not to actually read it. That's why compelling subheads and bullet points are so important.

5. Write the Way You Talk

Writing the way you talk is known as "conversational copy." What's conversational copy? Conversational copy simply means talking to the reader in a conversational manner - like you're talking to your best friend.

6. Keep it Simple

Don't try to be cute or clever with your writing. The purpose of copywriting is to sell products - not impress readers with your brilliance. keep your writing simple, instead of composing riddles or using sophisticated jargon.

The goal of your copy should be to entice readers to buy what you're selling - period. Leave the riddles to The Riddler.

7. It's Not About You

You may be a very nice person - the salt of the earth, in fact. That being said, readers don't care about "YOU." The only thing they care about is what can you do to help them solve their problem?

"What's in it for ME?" That's all your readers really care about. Remember, it's not about you. It's about your readers.

8. Always Sell Benefits

When you write copy, don't make the mistake of focusing on features instead of benefits. There's a huge difference. Features are the sizzle. Benefits are the steak. Features are distinctive characteristics that distinguishes your product or service from similar items.

Benefits, on the other hand describe how your product or service will help the customer solve her problem. In other words, what the customer will gain by using your product or service.

For example, let's suppose your company sells light bulbs. A couple of features of your light bulbs may be the fact they burn cooler than normal bulbs and are guaranteed to last 10 years.

However, the benefits customers will derive from purchasing your light bulbs is the amount of money they will save on their electric bill, as well as the amount of money they will save not having to buy new bulbs every few months.

9. Be Specific

To make your copywriting as compelling as possible, you should always be specific. For example, instead of saying "lose weight fast!" say, "lose 10 pounds in 10 days!" Instead of saying, "this car is fast", say, "this car goes 0-60 in 7.2 seconds!" Those are much more compelling statements. Be specific.

10. Prove it. Use Testimonials

Using testimonials from current customers is an extremely powerful way to reassure prospects, and to prove or bolster your claims. But you have to do it correctly. Always use your customers full name and where they live. For example, David Jackson, Albany, NY, as opposed to initials only. When you read a testimonial written by DJ, New York, chances are it's a bogus testimonial. NEVER use bogus testimonials, or you will find yourself in trouble with the FTC.

In addition, you should also use proven facts and figures and scientific evidence whenever possible to further add credence to your claims.

11. Offer a FREE Bonus

Offering a free bonus is one of the most effective copywriting techniques you can use. Not only does it give prospective customers extra incentive to purchase your product or service, free bonuses have been proven to dramatically increase sales conversions. The best type of free bonus is something unique - something that has real value - something that you can afford to give away cost-effectively.

12. Use a P.S.

Readership studies show that after the headline, readers scan down to the end of the sales letter to read the P.S. (post- script). This means that the P.S is the second-most read part of a sales letter. Use this knowledge wisely. Make your post-script as potent as possible. Use it to summarize your offer, and as a final "call to action" to make prospects BUY NOW!

Here's an example of an effective post-script:

P.S. Order NOW, and receive a FREE Blackberry. But only if you Order NOW!

One last thing. You've probably seen sales letters that use multiple post-scripts. I strongly disagree with this practice. In my opinion, using multiple post-scripts dilutes the effectiveness of your P.S.

13. Use Bold Type and Highlighting Sparingly

The overuse of bold, italics and highlighting in copywriting is rampant. Seriously. I've seen ads and sales letters that were so overly-highlighted, they looked like a big mustard sandwich with ants...hideous!

Unfortunately, I see this all too often with sales copy, as well as other types of copy. You should use bold type and highlight sparingly, and only to emphasize certain words, sentences or paragraphs.

If you overdo it with these tools, you dramatically dilute their effectiveness. Then it becomes impossible to effectively "highlight" (no pun intended) the points you were trying to emphasize.

Remember, "when you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing!"

14. Test Your Copy

Testing is a critical element of successful marketing. You should always test your copy, to make sure that you are obtaining optimum results.

Experiment with different headlines in your ads and sales letters. Tweak your copy to increase conversion rates. You'd be surprised what a difference changing a few words here and there can make.

Did you know changing a single word in a headline has been known increase response by as much as 1700%? It's true. That's why testing your copy is so important.

The easiest way to test your copy is with multi-variate testing software, such as Google's Website Optimizer.

By the way, when tweaking your copy, don't make wholesale changes all at once. Tweak a little bit at a time. For example, test different headlines and subheads first, before delving into the body of your ad or sales letter.

15. Give a Strong Guarantee

One of the best things you can do to reassure prospective customers and give them peace of mind is to offer a strong guarantee. Unfortunately, some marketers are afraid to guarantee their products for fear of being hit with a mountain of refund requests. Their fear is unfounded. Here's the truth:

If you provide good value for the dollar, statistics show that less than 2% of your customers will ask for a refund. In fact, even if you offer lousy value, most people just won't go through the hassles of requesting a refund. That's a fact.

Here's something else to consider. Offering s strong guarantee has been known to increase sales dramatically. So, how long should your guarantee be? At least 30 days. But if you really believe in your product, the longer, the better.

Killer Copywriting Resources

Top 10 Reasons Why Online Marketers Fail With Article Marketing

If you've been marketing products online for any length of time, you've likely heard people talk about the power and promise of article marketing for the promotion of your online business.

Unfortunately, many online marketers have tried to utilize article marketing to benefit their online business and failed. After numerous failures, many online marketers decide that success with article marketing is an illusion. They decide that article marketing is a complete and utter waste of their time and resources.

As one of those people, who has found great success with article marketing, I have taken it upon myself to try to help people understand what enables some people to be truly successful with article marketing, while others will never see any success at all with it.

Some people believe that the only way to learn to be successful, in any task, is to study those who have been successful. I happen to be one of those people, who believe that studying failure can be just as useful, as studying success.

I see the concept of studying successful techniques and techniques that fail, as the yen and the yang of success.

It is one thing to study the people, who have been most successful with article marketing. If you are attentive, you can learn a lot from them. It is quite another thing to study the people, who have failed with article marketing. If you are attentive, you can learn a lot from them as well.

In my recent e-book titled, "How To Use Article Marketing To Positively Impact Your SEO Efforts", I talk about what it takes to be successful with article marketing. But in this article, I am talking about the reasons why many people fail with article marketing.

Top 10 Reasons Article Marketers Fail

The top 10 reasons why online marketers fail to find success with article marketing:

1. Failing to create an article that carries an interesting title - a title that will attract the attention and interest of publishers first and readers second.

2. Failing to acknowledge that publishers have a vested interest in keeping their readers happy - submitting crap articles that publishers know their readers will not want to read.

3. Failing to understand that people want articles that help them solve problems and answer questions - as opposed to glorified sales copy.

4. Failing to keep the information interesting for the reader - when people abandon your articles, they will never see the link to your website.

5. Failing to present a strong call-to-action in the authors' resource box - if the resource box does not attract a click, the article is simply page filler.

6. Failing to focus on the needs of readers in the authors' resource box - readers, who enjoyed reading your article, want to know why they should visit your website. Don't bore them to tears with a lengthy personal story and a lengthy brag fest about what makes you more special than everyone else.

7. Failing to expend a few more minutes during the editing process, to present your article with nice formatting - articles that break to a new line in mid-sentence are annoying and hard-to-follow. Long paragraphs that run for miles are hard-to-read and lead to eyestrain and article abandonment.

8. Failing to spell check your articles can annoy a lot of people - you may not catch all of the mistakes, especially when your Spellchecker software does not identify the misspelling to you. Often, you can get by with a few misspellings and instances of poor grammar in an article, so long as the misspelling or poor grammar does not distract the publisher, when he or she is reading the article.

9. Failing to make sure that you put the article into the correct category - when publishers ask you to select a category for your article. Do not cut corners here. If you expect the publisher to fix your category for you, they won't... If a publisher sees your article in the wrong category, they will more often hit delete, rather than fix your article placement.

10. Failing to follow simple instructions - the easiest thing to fix is the one thing that 85% of article marketers ignore, and that is making sure your articles' word counts match the publishers' requirements for word counts. Article marketers, who are willing to waste a publishers' time, by submitting articles that do not meet minimum or maximum word counts will find that the publisher would prefer to reject all of the marketers' articles, rather than to take the time to check if the marketer finally started following instructions.

Final Thoughts

In the end, as an article marketer, you must always strive to satisfy two audiences - the publisher, who might want to publish your articles, and the reader, who might want to read your articles.

If your article fails to satisfy one or both of the people in your target audience, then you should not be surprised that your article marketing failed to achieve its intended goals.

The most common reason for failure in article marketing is actually the tendency of marketers to view article marketing, in the same way that they view ordinary advertising.

With ordinary advertising, people write sales copy to generate an immediate action.

With article marketing, the process is a little bit different. With article marketing, those who are most successful answer the needs of the reader first, before presenting the sales copy that is designed to get people to take an action. This is why successful article marketers solve problems and answer questions in the body of the article, reserving the sales copy for the authors' resource box.

By putting the focus on solving problems and answering questions for readers, we are able to get the attention of the publishers, whom we absolutely want and need to publish our articles. By restricting our sales copy to our authors' resource box, publishers are more inclined to give us what we want (access to their audiences for our sales message), because we have successfully given publishers what they wanted - information that their readers will find useful and interesting.

About The Author:

My name is Bill Platt. If you enjoyed this article and found it useful, then you will love my newest ebook titled, "How To Use Article Marketing To Positively Impact Your SEO Efforts". It is 70-pages of hard-hitting information about how to make your article marketing truly profitable: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-seo.html Or, you can get warmed up with my free "Article Marketing: Beyond The Basics" ebook at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/advanced-article-marketing.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Platt

Pricing Your Products: Is The Number 7 More Magical Than Other Numbers?

When it comes to pricing your products, there seems to be a debate in Internet Marketing circles that product prices with the number seven in them are more effective and convert better than other prices.

For example, $7.77, $17.77 or $37.77. Some marketing experts believe you should drop the change altogether and price your products at $7.00 or $37.00 or $67.00.

Personally, I think that whole number seven thing needs to be examined on a case by case basis. I'm not suggesting those marketing experts are wrong. I'm sure they've conducted their own tests, and developed their own conclusions - and that's what works for them.

However, I've conducted my own pricing tests as well. And the items I tested using prices with the number seven in them didn't convert any better than other prices.

So why the discrepancy? Because marketing is not "one size fits all". There are far too many variables involved for anyone to suggest that you will achieve the exact same results as the next person.

Even with everything being equal, results vary. That's just the way it is. That's marketing. In a lot of ways, marketing is like playing golf. There are some days when you just can't figure it out, and it drives you crazy!

That's why you should never take any marketing experts advice at face value (including mine) without questioning it. Better yet, you should always conduct your own tests and develop your own conclusions.

That's what being a professional is all about. Sure, there's more work involved in conducting your own tests, as opposed to relying and depending on the results of others.

But unless you're doing Internet Marketing as a hobby, you should want to be absolutely certain that you're maximizing your marketing efforts. That's the only way to be sure that you're getting the best possible result, and achieving maximum profits.

And isn't that what running a for-profit business is all about - maximizing profits?

Okay then. Don't blindly play follow the leader. That's the easy way out. That's what amateurs do. Professionals do things the right way, and that includes conducting your own tests.

Sure, it involves a little more work on your part. But multi-variate testing software such as Google's Website Optimizer has really simplified the process.

Besides, testing is really the only way to be sure that you're maximizing your marketing efforts. But don't just test pricing. Test all aspect of your marketing...advertising, copy, software, social networking, etc.

To do otherwise is just plain foolish!

NOTE: This article is available in video version on my YouTube channel.

Is E-mail Marketing One of Your Online Marketing Goals?

Assuming that a sale or lead is the only important goal for its users to achieve is a common mistake many people make in search campaigns. After all, these are the figures they see when looking at where they're making money.

However, every Web site has different buying cycles, and users are each visiting at different...Continue reading Is E-mail Marketing One of Your Online Marketing Goals?

Don't Get in the Way of Your Customer Online

We are all products of our environment and experiences. And recently I experienced a confluence of events that brought me back to the fundamental issue found in most marketing efforts - you.

Our animal instincts tell us to protect ourselves, to look out for danger, and to better our situation. To that, no one can be faulted. But it's when we look at how to do so beyond the instinct and transition to intellect that we fail. Failure was witnessed first hand when speaking last week at the... Continue reading Don't Get in the Way of Your Customer Online.

Google share of searches at 71 percent for April 2010

New York, N.Y., May 5, 2010 - Experian® Hitwise® announced today that Google accounted for 71.40 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending May 1, 2010. Yahoo! Search, Bing and Ask received 14.96 percent, 9.43 percent and 2.18 percent, respectively. The remaining 78 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 2.03 percent of U.S. searches. You can read the entire article here.

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Link Building That Works

There are several different ways to build links for traffic and for search engine rankings. Matt Cutts describes the best links as links which are given freely by authoritative sources that are trusted by visitors and Google themselves. (to paraphrase)

So the following tactics will get you those kinds of links:

1. Linkbaiting: writing controversial, wise, witty, valuable, or otherwise good content that gets other people talking about you on their sites, linking back to your post.

2. Press Releases: This may seem counter-intuitive since most people think press release syndication is only about "placing" links where you want them across a large network. But think of it this way: PRWeb.com has a trackback feature where bloggers can do a trackback to your release and get a valuable link back to their site in the process. They talk up your release and your release gets more traffic, link popularity, which sends you more traffic from the release including more link popularity by having a release that actually ranks.

Link Buying

Text Link Brokers and Text Link Ads (both .com) are the best places to buy advertising. I say advertising because you shouldn't be buying links just for pagerank. I likely get more traffic than you do and my pagerank sucks. Plus if Google finds out you are buying links solely to manipulate their rankings, they will zap you.

(I know this is stupid. How can Google know the difference between you buying a link on a site for traffic and buying it to manipulate their link popularity algorithm? It's a ridiculous argument to say they know why I bought a link. Google doesn't know your reasoning for buying advertising other than you want more exposure. Keep it that way by not talking about "buying links" and instead call it advertising. That's really what it is.)

Don't buy links for pagerank. Here's another reason:

You should be buying ads for traffic directly from the site you are buying from. Search engine rankings are a side effect of good advertising, not the reason for it.

Authoritative Directories

There are authoritative directories you must be listed in if you are serious about your online business. And they cost money. Sorry, but you can play the "free" game for years before you see any serious traffic from free link building alone.

You can gain a lot by submitting to Yahoo Directory, Best of the Web, What You Seek and other human edited paid directories. Google trusts the sites they find there and so do the visitors who use these directories to search.

You can circumvent any paid linking and advertising and still succeed. But I'm willing to bet you don't want to wait as long as it is going to take to get the results you are looking for by going to totally free link building route.

Jack Humphrey is the editor of the Friday Traffic Report (FTR) where he teaches link building tactics and blog marketing strategies responsible for Billions of hits for his readers per year. Jack will get you the traffic you need. All you have to do is read the FTR!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Humphrey

The Most Important Parts of an Email

How To Use Viral Marketing To Generate More Traffic

Have you ever visited a site, like what you see and then told your friends about it?

OR

Have your friends ever told you about an interesting or useful site they've visited in the last 30 days?

I'll bet this happens almost every day, or at least weekly. Believe it or not there is actually a method to this madness. These seemingly random acts of kindness or referral may actually dramatically impact your business.

OK Dan, so what are you talking about, right?

I am talking about Viral Marketing. Viral marketing is key to your business. It is a simple and effective tool you can use to drive traffic to your site, without spending thousands of dollars implementing more expensive marketing tools.

How can you take advantage of viral marketing?

The easiest to make your visitors tell their friends and relatives about your site is by implementing a tell-a-friend script.

If done correctly, a tell-a-friend script is one of the most powerful traffic-generation strategies you'll ever use. And it's FREE!

Here's how it works.

You ask your visitors to enter the name and e-mail address of friends and relatives they think will be interested in your site. Then, the script automatically sends a personalized e-mail promotion your site to all their friends from the visitor.

Now how are you going to get your visitors to enter the names of their friends and relatives that may have an interest in your site? Simple. Give them an incentive. Make them an offer. Tell them WHY they should refer their friends.

You can't just expect your visitors to enter information. Remember they are giving up some of their free time to refer other people to you. You have to make it worth their while. You have to sell it.

Don't forget, you also have to provide your customers with practical and useful content. You want information on your site your visitors truly believe will benefit their friends.

After all, they don't want to look like an idiot, and neither do you! If you don't provide good content, in fact if you provide anything but the best, I don't care what "bribes" you offer, your visitors won't refer anybody to you.

By doing this you can simply and easily virally grow your list automatically!

Where do you find tell a friend scripts? You could get some free tell a friend scripts if you do a Google search.

Let me you another killer viral marketing strategy that very few people use.

Giving away a free e-book is a pretty common strategy. But what I want you to do is to create an e-book for your AFFILIATES to give away to their lists.

Let's say you have a 20-page e-book. Instead of asking your subscribers to pass it along (which is not very effective) you encourage your visitors to join your affiliate program. Then you let them customize and brand the e-book with their own affiliate links for your products!

Now, they're motivated to tell everyone about you. Now they're motivated to pass it along the e-book to every single soul they know. Why? They are getting something out of it!

That's not all. The people who read the e-book might also become your affiliates, they will go to your sites, create more customized e-books and they too will pass those e-books to more people.

Do you understand the power of this? That's viral marketing on steroid!

And the people who read your e-books are much better prospects because they're pre-sold on your materials. So they're much more likely to buy from you when they hit your sales page.

So what are you waiting for? Start cranking your viral marketing machine today. You'll see that your traffic and sales will grow steadily with absolutely no work on your part.

Author Resource:-> A former college dropout, Dan Lok transformed himself from a grocery bagger in a local supermarket to a multi-millionaire. Dan is a sought-after business mentor, as well as a best-selling author. Visit him at:

www.WebsiteConversionExpert.com

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The Essentialness of Online Marketing Fundamentals

If you're a sports fan like I am and watch sports on tv, you've probably heard certain athletes being described as "fundamentally" sound.

For example, Tiger Woods is always described as being fundamentally sound. That means the follow-through on his picture-perfect golf swing is always the same, and when he putts the ball he always keeps his head perfectly still, is in perfect alignment and makes solid contact with his putter. Those are some of the fundamentals of playing golf.

His amazing god-given talent notwithstanding, Woods greatness is tied directly to his spectacular consistency. He's consistent because he's not only mastered the fundamentals of golf, he consistently applies those fundamentals. That's one of the reasons, he's arguably the greatest golfer of all time.

NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is also described as being fundamentally sound. That means he displays proper footwork, and is always on balance when he throws the football. He looks off his receivers before he throws the ball, so that he doesn't put them in compromising positions on the field. Those are some of the fundamentals of playing the position of quarterback.

And while many quarterbacks are fundamentally undisciplined and often drift away from the fundamentals, Manning follows the same basic routine each and every time.

He's mastered the fundamentals of his profession. That leads to amazing consistency, and that's part of why Manning is arguably the greatest quarterback of all time.

But what about online marketing?

Are There Such Things As Online Marketing Fundamentals?

In a word, yes. In fact, I've developed a simple formula I'd like to share with you that helps keep me on track. The formula is called ADCF. ADCF is an acronym for Attract, Desire, Close, Follow-up.

Let's discuss the elements of the formula, one step at a time:

1. Attract

The key to attracting prospects to your website is effective promotion. Now there are a variety of ways that you can promote your website. You can do SEO, pay-per-click, ezine advertising, article marketing, social networking, video advertising, podcasting, banners, forum and blog posting, offline advertising, etc.

Which methods you choose to use are a matter of personal preference and budget. And despite all the self-serving opinions touting one method over the other, there is no such thing as a "best" marketing method. All of the aforementioned methods work. It's just a matter of developing a comfort level with something that works for you.

2. Desire

After you get prospects to your website, your marketing materials must not only have the ability to hold their attention, it must also have the ability to create an overwhelming desire for your product, instead of having prospects click away after just a few seconds. The best way to build desire within prospects is with proven benefit after proven benefit after proven benefit.

Ultimately, you want to build so much value in prospects minds about your offer, that they'll feel like they're getting an incredible bargain - regardless of the price.

3. Close

The close is where you seal the deal - lay down the hammer, if you will. The close is also known as a "call to action." Following are a few examples of effective closes:

- Order today

- Limited time offer

- Buy now

- Free gift

- Free bonus

- Supplies limited

- This offer expires at midnight

- We're only selling 1000 copies and that's it

- This offer will not be repeated

- Not sold in stores

When it comes to closing the deal, you are limited only by your imagination. The main thing is to ALWAYS ASK FOR THE SALE!

One last thing: You should always ask for the sale at least three or four times in your close. Why? Because society in general is naturally suspicious of advertising of all types. Because of that suspicion, people are psychologically predisposed to saying NO the first time you ask for the sale.

That's why it's so critical to ask for the sale numerous times. Ask at the end of your sales letter...in your p.s., in your p.p.s., etc.

4. Follow-up

After you make the sale, you should always follow-up with customers to say thank you and make sure they're happy with their purchase, as well as offer them additional products. If a prospect buys from you once, she'll buy from you again - provided you offer good value for the dollar. You just have to give her the opportunity to do so.

While we're on the topic of follow-up, you shouldn't just follow-up after the sale. You should also follow-up with prospects who visit your website, and don't purchase anything.

This is critical because on average, 99% of visitors to your website will not purchase anything the first time they visit your site. In fact, it takes an average of seven contacts with a prospect, before you can convert her into a customer. That's why effective follow-up is so crucial.

What Type of Follow-Up Is best?

Instead of capturing prospects e-mail addresses and sending them endless offers and propositions like so many novices do (which most prospects hate). Create an informative newsletter with helpful tips and advice, and allow prospects to subscribe to that. Include a brief promotional message in your newsletter.

The easiest way to create and distribute professional-looking newsletters is through services like Constant Contact, Vertical Response and others.

Is Your Copy Strong?

Even though it's not part of my ADCF formula, copy is a critical element of successful marketing. What's copy? Copy is the words you use in your marketing materials to sell your products or services.

Your copy must be compelling enough, from beginning to end to make prospects whip out their credit cards. This is no easy task, especially when you consider the fact that in most cases, your competitors are selling products that are exactly the same or similar to what you're offering.

That's why your copy must be above average, and expertly written. It must be better than your competitors copy. Give prospects a compelling reason to buy from you rather than your competitor. Otherwise, why would they? More importantly, why should they?

Your marketing success hinges on the effectiveness of your copy. Yes, your copy is that important. And if you don't know anything about copywriting, I suggest you learn. Unless, of course, you have thousands of dollars to hire a copywriter.

On the other hand, if you don't have thousands of dollars to hire a copywriter and would like to learn how to write effective copy, there are some amazing free copywriting resources on the Internet. One of the best is Brian Clark's outstanding blog, CopyBlogger.

Also, I highly recommend that you Google master copywriter Michel Fortin and read his copywriting articles. Michel's content is brilliance personified.

Test Your Marketing

Testing is also a critical element of successful marketing. You should always test your marketing materials, to make sure that you are obtaining optimum results.

Experiment with different headlines in your ads and sales letters. Tweak your website copy to increase conversion rates. You'd be surprised what a difference changing a few words here and there can make.

The easiest and best way to do this is with multi-variate testing software, such as Google's Website Optimizer.

By the way, when tweaking your copy, don't make wholesale changes all at once. Tweak a little bit at a time. For example, test different headlines and subheads first, before delving into the body of your ad or sales letter.

The reason for this is simple. If you rewrite all of your copy in one fell swoop, there's absolutely no way for you to know which changes worked and which ones didn't.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Anyway, those are the fundamentals of online marketing. And like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the main reason that Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning are so successful is the fact they've mastered the fundamentals of their profession. More importantly, they apply those fundamentals assiduously.

And if you are serious about marketing online and want to be successful, you must be just as assiduous in learning and applying the fundamentals of online marketing. Otherwise, you will waste needless time and energy just spinning your wheels and going nowhere.

7 Things I've Learned About Twitter

I`ve been using Twitter for approximately 1 year now, and I`ve learned a few things that have enabled me to use Twitter very effectively:

1. You need to have a clear and concise vision how you`re going to use Twitter. You need to know going in exactly what you want from Twitter. Are you going to use Twitter as a serious business tool, or for casual, social purposes? What is your end game?

2. You can use Twitter anyway you like. You can use it to build a mailing list - to announce specials or discounts - to take surveys - to announce new blog posts. Brick and mortar stores can use it to pre-take orders for pickup, like one coffee shop I read about is doing. Authors can use it to post book excerpts. I could go on and on and on. The point is you are limited only by your imagination.

3. Twitter works. In the approximately 12 months I`ve been using Twitter, I`ve increased my affiliate sales and my traffic. I`ve made invaluable business contacts and a few friends. That being said, Twitter is not a panacea. It`s a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. And it`s only as effective as the person using it.

4. It isn`t necessary to follow thousands of people to get the most out of Twitter. You can if you want to of course, but in my opinion, following that many people is counter-productive. Besides, it`s impossible to follow thousands of people and actually read what each one of them has to say.

After awhile, following thousands of people becomes background noise. I was following nearly everyone who followed me - over 1400 followers. But I`ve recently cut that total nearly in half. I`m currently following approximately 700 people.

Why? Because I`m only interested in following people who I find interesting, have something of value to say, and who keep the personal chit-chat to a minimum.

5. The people who are the most successful on Twitter give value. Be it business tips, articles, free reports, free software downloads, etc. They spend the majority of their time giving value, and helping others. They don`t bombard their followers with spam, and they don`t spend the majority of their time talking about what they had for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

6. You have to participate. Get involved in conversations. Even if no one responds to you everytime, people do take notice of who participates and who sits on the sidelines. If someone tweets something you like and you think others would like it as well, retweet (RT) it to your followers.

7. Reach out to others. I`ve reached out to people who can help me get to where I want to go. For example, I`ve reached out to one lady who is a PR expert, and is constantly being interviewed on national television. I`ve also reached out to a blogger with a national radio show and 100,000 followers. A few people have reached out to me as well. Reach out!

Boost Your Conversion Rate In Three Steps

When I critique, edit or rewrite sales copy, I discover that many clients commit common errors. Granted, not all of them are writers. But most of them fail to drive customer actions not because they lack writing skills but because they fail to look at their copy from their readers’ perspective.

Although unintentional, they're so involved with their business or product that they tend to forget their prospects. They tend to explain things in ways that only they understand. They tend to forget the number one axiom in copywriting:

Different words mean different things to different people.

Let me share with you at least three simple steps you can take now to increase the readability of your copy, the excitement level of your offer and the responsiveness of your readers.

1) Lace Your Copy With Headers

On the Internet, people don't read. They scan. Unlike a book that's purchased for the purpose of being read from cover to cover, people seldom read entire web pages from top to bottom.

How often do you read entire newspapers, for example? More than likely, you scan them quickly and stop at any headline that captures your attention, piques your curiosity and pulls you into the article. On the Internet, that behavior is even more prevalent.

Moreover, reading web or sales copy, especially long copy salesletters, is a wearying task and hard on the eyes. So, don't write to be read. Instead, write to be scanned. Keep paragraphs brief, and incorporate headers throughout your copy in order to direct your readers’ eyes.

Make your lines short, either within small tables of no more than 600 pixels wide or 70 characters in length. And refrain from writing your paragraphs deeper than four to five lines, too. If you have to, cut them up into smaller ones. Above all, add a header at every two to five paragraphs.

Make your headers prominent by using different sizes, colors or fonts. And avoid overused, stale and hackneyed expressions, such as the common “Welcome to [Whatever]." Lace your copy with powerful yet brief headers that are inviting, invoking and informative.

When your readers scan your copy, your headers must be strong enough to stop them in their tracks and to make them feel that the following text cannot be ignored. In fact, write your headers with the assumption that the preceding text was not read at all.

Here's an example. Let's say you promote business opportunities or show people how to find them. Instead of, “Home-Based Business Success," use, “Uncover Profitable Opportunities Hidden In Your Home!" Rather than, “Affordable Diamond Business Opportunities," say “Mine Your Own Business ... At Rock Bottom Prices, Too!"

2) Blend Your Copy With Bullets

Directing the eye is an important element of copywriting. In order to direct your readers’ actions, you must first direct their attention. While an effective headline will capture it, captivating their attention is a whole different issue.

Maintain your readers’ attention with bullets. Bulleted lists are effective because they are captivating, intriguing and pleasing to the eye. They can help to reinforce the offer, give readers a visual break and are clustered for greater impact. This is particularly true with long copy offers.

In fact, an effective way to use bullets is when they follow the words “you get" and “reasons why," such as “with this [product] you get" and “here are the reasons why [you must buy now]." They give the reader the ability to know, instantly, what they get out of reading further or responding.

Here's an example. Let's say you sell an exercising machine that helps to strengthen the abdominals. You can say, “With your new Abdominoflex Machine, here's what you get," and then you follow it with a bulleted list of the various benefits a customer receives from your machine, such as ...

A system that provides an easier yet intense workout that will burn off unwanted calories more rapidly and enjoyably;

A scientifically designed exercise regimen laser-targeting specific areas for a faster, firmer and shapelier figure;

A compact, lightweight and space-saving machine that can be stored right under your bed and pulled out only when needed;

... And so on. Also, you can use bullets to list the various consequences of going ahead (or not) with your offer. For instance, you can use them to reinforce scarcity-enhancing elements (such as deadlines) and emphasize the negative consequences of not enjoying the benefits of your offer.

3) Paint Your Copy With Pictures

Another strategy is to use words and phrases that help to paint vivid pictures in the mind. When people can visualize the process of doing what you want them to do, including the enjoyment of the benefits of your offer, you drive their actions almost instinctually.

The brain, according to “Psycho-Cybernetics" by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, is a goal-seeking mechanism. If I told you not to think of a white flower, you would still think of one because I directed your mind by giving it a goal. But if I told you to think of a pink one, you would then not think of a white one.

In order to direct your readers’ actions, you must also direct their minds. Use mental imagery and picture words that invite, entice and incite. Guide the mind and you guide the action.

We think in relative terms. And we are predominantly visual, too. Our brains have a tendency to translate messages into their visual equivalents in order to appreciate what they are being told. In plain English, the mind thinks in pictures, and not in words or numbers.

For example, if I told you to think of a garbage can, you're not going to think of “G," “A," “R," etc. You'll visualize a garbage can. The more I describe it to you as well as the more senses I engage in my description, the more realistic it becomes in your mind, including its color, smell and texture.

During a televised newscast, a reporter, flying over the scene of a forest fire in her station's helicopter, was asked, “How big is the fire?" In a voice partially drowned by the whizzing sounds of helicopter blades, she said, “It's over 140 acres of land, which is about 200 football fields back to back."

Similarly, compel your readers not only with vivid picture words and mental imagery but also with stories, examples, analogies and metaphors that they can intimately understand and appreciate. Help your readers to paint the kinds of pictures you want them to paint.

The more vivid the words paint, the easier it will be for the mind to decode the message you are conveying into something your readers can understand, appreciate, relate to and, above all, act upon. In Conclusion, Remember This ...

I agree that copywriting may not be an easy task for many. But one of the most important steps you can take is this: look at your website through your readers’ eyes. Imagine coming across your site for the first time. What would you read? Where would your eyes go? What would your mind think?

More importantly, what would you do?

If you hesitate at any point, realize that hesitation on your part is confusion on the part of your readers. And confusion often leads to procrastination. If your readers are confused, they will do nothing.

About the Author

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker and consultant. His specialty are long copy sales letters and websites. Watch him rewrite copy on video each month, and get tips and tested conversion strategies proven to boost response in his membership site at http://TheCopyDoctor.com/ today.

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