Ok, so It’s been a while since I’ve written properly in this blog. I’ve had some family things to deal with- mainly the passing of my father.

But I’m back and I want to share with you some of the low cost marketing strategies that are making a huge impact today.

I’m going to share these with you one at a time so you can go and do some extra research on them.

The first is article marketing. This is one of my favourite marketing techniques. Purely because it’s free and it gives such an impact to the reader. It positions you as an expert in your field.

And to potential clients - this is incredibly important. Would you go to someone who is an expert, or someone who is mediocre for your services? And how best to establish this expert status? By being written about.

When you write articles, you write them not about your business, but about a particular topic. For example, I am going to write an article on low cost marketing strategies and creating action plans. I’m not going to mention anywhere that I actually can create a personalised action plan for you as this is deemed advertising.

Instead, I’m going to give you so much good, useful information that you can use right now in your business that you are going to come back to me and my site when you want more info.

Think about it.

If you read an article in a business magazine for example. How many times have you read that and thought - “wow, that was so helpful” and then visited that persons website.

And the good thing is, is that you can write that article!!

I know - I’ve done it! I’ve been published in a few different magazines from articles that I’ve written. And I don’t have any formal knowledge in writing articles.

It’s easy, it’s cheap and you’re missing out on a lot of business if you don’t start exploring the concept of article marketing.

Until next time,

Emma.

 Marketing Strategies - www.divapromotions.com.au

I’ve recently been notified of a newish website - http://www.bizthinktank.com.au

They are currently running a competition where you can win $10,000 worth of business coaching! It’s for small business and soho business so go along and check it out. It’s free to enter and you just need to answer 3 quick questions.

It’s sponsored by Optus, so you will end up on their mailing list, but you never know - you just might win!!

So go along, nominate your business and then vote for your own business plus others. The popularity vote also plays a part in winning.

Good luck!!

Emma Rhoades,

Diva Promotions - www.divapromotions.com.au

P.S - whilst you are there, give Diva Promotions a vote!!

by Cindy

 Nowadays, Social networking sites popularity is increasing day by day like facebook, myspace, orkut, digg etc…., we can say social networking is one of the best and free ways for increase traffic on our site. Social networking is important in blogging and if you can’t do social networking then it’s a rare chance that you’ll be successful in blogging. Leaving comments and trackbacks is part of social networking. Apart from that is part of one of the popular Social news networks.

(1). Increase traffic through Friends
Friends are the heart of the social networking attitude, and when promoting content this can be a valuable tool in viral marketing. The more friends you have in your network, the more visibility you will have when promoting.
(2). Increase traffic through Blogs
Blogs are one more great way to spread the word, most blogs allow you to post nameless comments. I use these blogs to post a comment then I include a link to one of my sites. I achieve a free back link for simply commenting on a story.
(3). Increase traffic through Picture Perfect
You may not understand it, but by passing on uploading your picture, you are also passing on an opportunity to get more people clicking on your articles. Why? Well, for one, it is known that spammers never take the time to upload a picture. Second, it is called ’social’ networking and ’social’ bookmarking sites. If you are trying to be ’social’ then you should put a face to your name.

(4). Increase traffic through Profile Pages
If you are a keen online social network’s, you will have a pimped out profile page. Here are a few examples of how you can increase visibility to your content. On my profile pages at myspace.com, digg.com, linkedin.com, stumbledupon.com and yahoo.com I have links to all my social network profiles & personal projects. This does 2 things; increases my link back total to my projects and shifts visitors to my other profile pages so I get more friends! to promote your RSS feeds via your profile pages, the service displays recent RSS activity and the service is free. Another service you find interesting is myspacestats.net myspacestats.net, a service that tracks and stores your social networking traffic. The service simply puts an image on your profile and counts the total amount of visitors per day, month and year.

(5). Increase traffic through bulletin
Bulletins use your friends list, basically the more friends you have the more views your bulletins receive. Common sense! Some people use bulletins way to much and if I grasp these spammers they get deleted ASAP. So my advice is to use this angle a few times a month and keep them simple, this raw move toward keeps the bulletins friendly and not to over bearing.

(6). Increase traffic through Content
Nothing is more important than content. If you are a good writer and you write about interesting topics, you are going to do well on the social networking sites. People seem to like top 10 lists, top 20 lists, etc. I suggest that you look at digg.com to see what gets the most diggs. I have failed multiple times on getting a post digged or stumbled, even when I thought that it was the best article ever. You don’t always win.

(7) Increase traffic through clipart and screensavers
If you have some skills in this direction then try creating clipart and screensavers. Offering these for free is also a good way to get more traffic.

Finally, make sure that you are part of a few of the more popular social networking websites. These memberships will be only destined to build your own network and not of overt marketing. As your social network grows you can invite your contacts to join you on the social networking website. This should start a sequence reaction that will get them inviting their own contacts and so on. Finally your network will grow to a point where it becomes truly helpful.

Written by Cindy Battye
http://www.trafficbunnies.com
http://www.nettrafficchat.com

http://www.trafficbunnies.com
http://www.nettrafficchat.com

Article Source: http://www.therepozitory.com.au

�

I’ve found out recently that I’ve been nominated for the Telstra Business Women of the Year Award. I wanted to take the time to say thankyou to the valuable client who took the time to nominate me!

I’ve submitted my entry form which was a mammoth task!

I’ll ensure that I keep you updated of my progress!

Wish me luck!

How many times have you… 

placed an advert showcasing your website, with the intention of getting more subscribers, only to find that you received some visitors, but very little subscriptions to your database?

If you’re still reading, them I’m guessing quite a few times!

Getting people to sign up to your database sounds pretty easy, but it’s not. You need to give them some valuable incentives for them to give you their name and email address.

The following article will show you how to get maximum subscriptions for your visitors.

Did you know that only about 1% of people will purchase on their first visit to your site?

So this means that approx 99% of your visitors will look, and then click away.

You need to get their details on this first visit so that you can remind them later on what you can offer them.

It takes the average person approx 9 times of viewing your business before they will act and purchase. This is where building a database is critical to the success of your business.

Firstly, you are going to need a capture device on your website. This is an incentive that will ‘capture’ the details of your visitors.

Incentives usually come in the form of eBooks, or Mini E-Courses, or competitions.

Some people still use the words “sign up for my newsletter”

Ask yourself this - why would you sign up to someone’s newsletter? What incentive does it give?

However, look at this sentance in comparison - “ Find out how you can make an extra $200 per month with this FREE EBook!”

Which one are you going to give your email address to???

Using Competitions

Competitions are a fantastic way of increasing your database. Most people though believe that they have to actually give one of their products away, or provide the prize themselves.

Not so.

Why not form an alliance with another complimentary business owner, and give something of theirs away? They will gain some extra exposure from your site, and you get a free prize.

Make sure the value of the prize is relevant to the exposure they will receive.

Then promote your competition everywhere and watch your database flourish!

Making the most of EBooks

eBooks can be hard to put together, however if you can write a simple article, then you can put together an eBook.

Make the topic interesting and the information valuable. If the visitor can sense value, they will have no hesitation in passing over their name and email address.

Your headline and incentive must be clear and exciting for the visitor.

Something like “ See how you can work extra hard and earn $200 per month extra” is not going to cut it.

Try something like:” Would an extra $200 per month be useful to you? FREE info on how you can earn just that!” This entices your visitors to give their details.

Then ensure you actually tell them how they can earn that $200 per month. Tell them in detail, and give them value.

Mini E-Courses for database building

A Mini E-Course is like an eBook, however the information is delivered via email, in successive days.

You will need to set up an autoresponder system, such as aweber.com

Again, your headline needs to entice people to give their name and email address in return for a e-course on how to make an extra $200 per month.

These are ideal if you want to sell an information product - you can give tidbits of information from your product, and tell them they can skip ahead in the course by purchasing the full product.

Once you start to use capture devices all over your website, you will see a massive increase in your database.  How can people resist free information that is going to help them?

I have at least 3 capture devices on my home page of my website - and all 3 generate new people on my database.

I also recently created a mini E- Course and the growth to my database has doubled! It was so easy to create - I already had the information in my head, it was a matter of putting it down into some emails!

Start writing down some pointers today, ready to turn them into an eBook or simple mini E-Course.

Or better still, contact some other business owners whose products are complimentary to yours and see if they want to join you in a promotion. You can bet that most will!

Emma Rhoades is the author of the “ Start up Marketing Kit” - marketing basics presented to you in step by step format, allowing you get promoting your business straight away. Drop by www.divapromotions.com.au/marketingkit.asp for your FREE preview.

3 Incredibly Simple, but Outrageously Powerful Keys To Guaranteeing Your Email Messages Are Read
By Jimmy Brown

There’s nothing that comes close to its power in online marketing.

In fact, many of the most critical elements of eBusiness are tied to it: joint ventures, newsletter publishing, automated follow-up, article distribution, free reports, autoresponder messages and eCourses, networking… the list could go on and on.

Of course, I am referring to EMAIL MARKETING. It is impossible to be successful online without some form of marketing via email.

Nothing else can boost your business like a good list and an understanding of how to use it.

You can *literally* send a mailing in the morning and earn several thousand dollars by the end of the day with email marketing.

What I want to share with you in today’s lesson is how to increase your email marketing leads, sales and profits. So, let’s get at it…

–> Develop an attention-grabbing subject line.

Russell Crowe would have never won an Academy Award for Gladiator if no one had watched the movie. Britney Spears wouldn’t have gone quadruple platinum with her latest CD if no one listened to her music.

And you ain’t gonna earn a single penny in profits from your email marketing if folks don’t read the message you send.

It’s one thing to send an email out to 50,000 prospects, it’s another thing to get any of them to read it.

And whether or not you need to start writing your Oscar acceptance speech depends upon how well you craft the “subject” line of your email promotion message.

There are three keys to writing subject lines that are so compelling that the recipient is practically forced to click and open your email.

1. Personal. There is something both attention-grabbing and exciting about seeing your name in the subject line of an email.

For one thing, we just love to see our own names. Nothing grabs our attention quicker than something that is specifically about us or for us.

And, for another, personalization *typically* means it isn’t SPAM. While some spammers do have access to databases with our names, for the most part their lists are built by harvesting emails.

So, when we see our name in the subject line, we immediately are drawn to it…

“Jimmy, here is the information you requested”
“Jimmy, I’d like to give you a free copy”
“Jimmy, did you forget about this?”

Almost every good autoresponder or email distribution system will have a “personalization” feature that will allow you to automatically insert your prospect’s name into your email messages when sending your mailings. It works like this…

A. Person joins your list through a subscription form, which captures their name and email address.

B. You insert a predetermined code (like ) that your autoresponder or mailing system provides you, into the email message.

C. The system automatically converts that tag into the actual recipient’s name before delivering the email.

Voila – you’ve got personalized emails. You can generally use these personalization features in both your SUBJECT line of the email and the BODY of the actual email message itself.

An additional attention-grabbing feature to the ‘ol subject line is to TARGET your audience. Of course, you will *always* want to send your emails to a targeted audience. I.E. Don’t send your Wrestling email to a homemakers’ list. :o)

For example: I recently sent a mailing out to a smaller list I have of folks who are interested in reprint rights to products. I had made reprint rights available to my new product, and I wanted to let them know about the licenses. Here are some sample subject lines that I might have used…

“New reprint rights released today…”
“Reprint rights are available…”
“Sell this new product and keep every penny”

You may receive 500 emails a day, but if you are interested in reprint rights (and you would be, or you wouldn’t be on that list) then this particular subject line is going to stand out when you download your emails.

When you combine personalization AND targeted audience, then you have a very compelling subject line…

“Jimmy, new reprint rights released today…”
“Jimmy, reprint rights are available…”
“Jimmy, sell this new product and keep every penny”

That’s an email I’ll read every time. :o)

2. Powerful. Another key to writing an email subject line that entices the reader to take a look at your message is to use “power words.”

A “power word” is a word that appeals to the senses. It’s been shown over and over that we do not buy based on logic, but rather on emotion. Email marketing works on that same premise.

A few “power words” include: Free, New, Exclusive, Amazing, Fast, Results, Guaranteed, Unlimited, Step-by-Step, Overnight, etc.

Etc. means “and so on.” Don’t put “etc.” in your subject line. That’s not a power word. :o)

“Power words” are strong motivators for reading further. Why? Because they trigger our emotions. They create curiosity. They are compelling.

So, use them.

— Sidebar —

Since I’ve mentioned something you SHOULD include in your subject line, let me also mention something that you SHOULD NOT use.

Avoid two things like you avoid an angry rattlesnake… hype and in-your-face symbols.

Don’t make outlandish claims like “Earn $50,000 overnight.” If it isn’t believable, then folks will simply delete your email without ever reading it.

And for goodness sake, don’t use “in-your-face” symbols!!!!!!! No one reads *****URGENT******* or (((((Read Now))))) or
@@@Newsflash@@@

Kind of gets the same response as that obnoxious alarm clock at five in the morning.

In other words, it’s a turn off! :o)

— End of Sidebar —

Another “type” of power words is a DEADLINE: 24 hours only, next 3 days, only 5 will be accepted, the first 10, etc.

Power words, especially the word “FREE” are particularly effective in getting people to read your email. Combine a power word with a deadline and you’ve got a winner.

3. Promising. The third key is to present a desirable result. Your subject line must make a promise. It must inform the reader, in that split-second that they view it, that there is something that awaits them if they read your email.

And that something must be desirable. It must be something that the reader does not want to miss out on. It must appeal to the emotions and pull the reader to the edge of their seat like they were waiting for the climax of a really good movie.

Your subject line should create expectation.

Understand this: folks don’t buy products because they want your product… they buy products because they want the result of your product. We buy exercise equipment because we want to look good. We buy candy bars because we like the taste. And we visit the dentist because we ate too many candy bars. :o)

We revolve around results. We work because we want the paycheck. We drive our vehicles because we want to get somewhere. We play golf because we enjoy it. We are a results-driven society.

By creating an email subject line that promises results you create expectation. Look at the difference between these two subject lines…

“Free 7-day eCourse released today…”
“Free 7-day eCourse you can obtain in 5 minutes…”

Both have a power word. Both are fairly interesting. But…

…which one creates expectation? The second one makes a promise… I can have it in 5 minutes!

This is one of the biggest keys in email marketing, and yet is often overlooked. It amazes me how many ezine publishers, for example, have this subject line…

“Bob’s Newsletter, Issue 212″

Whew, hold me back. I can’t wait to read that. :o)

Sure, some folks will read it anyway — especially if you have a loyal readership who knows your stuff is first rate.

But, I don’t care WHO you are, you will ALWAYS have better results with a subject line that creates expectation.

You can apply these three keys, “Personal, Powerful and Promising” to any form of email marketing you use… autoresponders, newsletters, free reports, solo mailings, joint venture offers, virtually anything to do with email marketing.

Get this right and it will be time to start working on the ‘ol Academy Awards acceptance speech for your Best Email Oscar. :o)

Are you ready to learn more from Jimmy D. Brown how to get your subscribers to open, read and act upon the messages you send them? Then grab your copy of Subject Line Secrets today at http://www.SubjectLineSecrets.com Not only will you find out which words trigger your readers to click on your emails, you will also get 20 proven templates you can start using right away.

How To Get All The Free Traffic You Want With Only One Marketing Activity
By Jimmy Brown

Are you a “traffic juggler”?

That is, do you attempt to get traffic to your site by doing all kinds of activities ranging from SEO to PPC
listings to buying solo mailings?

In other words, do you “juggle” your traffic generation activities like multi-colored balls – never holding on to one for very long and always moving on to the next one?

As a recovering “traffic juggler” myself, I can tell you this with great certainty … you and I aren’t alone.

Sadly, most internet marketers wear the same hat. They complicate things by trying every new traffic strategy, buying ever new traffic tool and joining every new traffic program.

It doesn’t need to be that way.

In fact, what I want to suggest to you in this article will make your life a whole lot easier, and, as a direct result, will actually get more traffic to your site than ever before.

Brace yourself for a life-changing statement –

** If you have your own product to sell online, you only need to focus on ONE traffic strategy! **

Yep, you read that correctly.

Instead of trying to do a gazillion things, there is a very simple, very effective approach: focus on the ONE thing that really matters, the ONE thing that produces the greatest results, the ONE thing that will get you all the traffic you’ll ever need.

And that ONE thing is to…

** Start, Strengthen and Spread Your Own Affiliate Program*

Let’s look at that statement in 3 steps for simplicity purposes…

Step 1: *START* Your Affiliate Program.

There is one major reason why you need to start your own affiliate program that stands head and shoulders above the rest: every traffic generation concept (past, present and future) can be done FOR YOU, BY OTHERS if you have your own affiliate program in place.

Let that sink in. Chew on that for a while. It’s such a paradigm shift that most people don’t even realize the tidal-wave-like power behind the concept.

Instead of you working with PPC ads and you working on the SEO stuff and you buying the solo mailings, you can get others to do this FOR YOU as a member of your affiliate program.

So, to begin with, you need to start your own affiliate program. A great place to do this is Clickbank.com.

Step 2: *STRENGTHEN* Your Affiliate Program.

After establishing your affiliate program, it’s important to “strengthen” it. That is, you will need to train your affiliates to do all of the marketing for you. You’ll also need to provide them with marketing materials such as brandable PDF reports, articles, advertisements, banners, etc.

But, let’s take this another step.

Instead of loading some marketing and training materials to your affiliate center and leaving it up to your affiliates to figure out how to use them, why not point out how to use them?

Example: List 10 great newsletters where they can purchase solo mailings to promote your offer. Put something in there for every budget. (What a nice treat it will be when one of your aggressive affiliates purchases a $500 solo mailing to promote your offer!)

You’ll be SHOCKED to see what this one additional step can mean to your bottom line.

But, you could take it even another step further.

How about offering to personally train 10 affiliates in how best to promote your offer? You could teach one how to use ezine advertising; another how to buy PPC ads in numerous engines; still another how to distribute ezine articles.

(Here’s an idea: how about you purchase a copy of the latest traffic tool or manual for one of your affiliates and get them involved in using it to promote you?!)

Can you imagine the impact?

Step 3: *SPREAD* Your Affiliate Program.

Finally, you want to continue growing your program by recruiting more and more affiliates. As your numbers grow, so will your results.

The bottom line is simple: instead of “juggling” a bunch of different traffic ideas, a much more effective use of your time is to focus on ONE source of traffic: your own affiliate program.

Juggling is great for clowns, but lousy for internet marketers.

Don’t be a clown when it comes to your business.

Jimmy D. Brown is the author of Sales Army Secrets, the most comprehensive, creative product available on the subject of profiting from your own affiliate program.

Get a free mini-course at http://www.SalesArmySecrets.com

How To Use Testing For Breakthrough Marketing Results

By Yanik Silver
www.SurefireMarketing.com

===================================

Advertising is expensive. And it costs you the same amount of money to run an ad (or mail a letter) that brings in 2 customers as one that drives in 20 customers. So that difference is in your ad (or letter).

Let’s say you’ve come up with what you think is a good ad (powerful headline, good offer, sizzling copy, etc.), now you’re ready to test.

Testing will help you:

1. Save yourself a bunch of money.

2. Improve any results you’re currently getting.

3. Stop guessing about what works.

I’d say those are some pretty good reasons to learn all about testing and how to apply it to your business. So before spending loads of money on your new ad you can (and should) do a few low-cost/no-cost tests:

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Sleep On It Test
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

First, you should let your ad sit for at least a day. Then the next day you can come back to it with new eyes and a fresher perspective. You can find errors that weren’t apparent before. Also, your chances of writing a good ad are significantly improved with rewriting. (I will rewrite an ad or letter 3, 4 or 5 times before I’m done.)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Reading Aloud Test
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I don’t know what it is about reading something aloud versus reading to yourself, but you’ll pick up lots and lots of insight into how good (or bad) your ad really is by reading it aloud. All the bumps and rough spots jump out at you.

Or a variation on this is to have someone else read it you. This is even better. As they’re reading it, you should take out a copy of the ad and make notes on it. One big advantage of this is your reader is completely impartial. They won’t stress certain phrases or words to make the meaning clearer. And if the reader is having trouble you know that’s an area to edit.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sneaky Opinion Test
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This test is really great. Take your ad off your printer and make a photocopy of it. Then go around to a few people who should be in your target market and say something like, “Take a look at this, I just found this in a magazine.” Key point: Do not tell people you wrote the ad because they’ll say how nice it is.

You’re gauging their response. If they say something like “Did you write this?” or “This is really good.” What that really means is your ad stinks.

But if you start hearing “Do you know how I can get this done?” or “Do you do this?” then you know you’re on to something good and ready to spend money on your test.

Opinions are great, but the only votes that really count are the ones that are paid for. The first thing you *don’t* want to do is call every newspaper, magazine, throw-away, etc. You need to start by testing small. And that means spending as little as possible to get accurate results.

=-=-=-=-=-=-
Test Small
=-=-=-=-=-=-

Joe Sugarman (He sold millions of Blu-blocker sunglasses) tells how he would test all his ads in the Southwestern edition of the Wall Street Journal. Because this was the cheapest and smallest edition of the Journal to test.

That way he was able to read results quickly and then decide whether or not to ‘roll-out’ to other editions. So how can you apply this information to your business?

Easy.

Let’s say you’ve been running ads in your local paper. Well, usually newspapers have zoned editions based on postal codes. So instead of paying for your ad to appear in the entire circulation, you simply put it in one of the cheapest and most representative zones available.

And by tracking the response (using a specific phone#, person, extension#, etc.) you can safely predict what results you’ll get once you go out to the entire circulation.

One more point: It’s better to run your test ad in a daily paper instead of a monthly magazine. Simply because you can ascertain information more quickly.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Don’t Fall For Your Ad Rep’s Traps
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

You cannot multiply zero. That means if there is no life in your ad — kill it before it drains more money and time from you.

Don’t listen to your media rep’s b.s. about repetition and getting discounts for multiple insertions. Remember, these guys have no clue about how to create advertising that works. If they did, they’d be running ads in their own magazines and making tons of money.

Infomercial marketers realize this point. Imagine spending $100,000.00 to produce one single 30 minute spot and then buying $400 - $1,000 in media to test it out. That’s whatbinfomercial companies do.

They know if the phones aren’t ringing after a couple of TV spots — they’re definitely not going to ring if they throw tens of thousands of dollars in media at it, either.

Follow these tips and you’ll be able to save a lot of money plus increase response. Just test until you come up with a winner and then keep running it!

(c) Surefire Marketing, Inc.

==========================================================
Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on
creating automatic, moneymaking websites…and he still
doesn’t know how to put up a website.

He is the author, co-author or creator of several best-
selling online marketing books and tools, which can be
found at http://www.SurefireMarketing.com/?52513
==========================================================

Every business should have a database. Actually, you need to have a database. It is crucial that you get one and build on it. I will explain why in a minute.

Firstly - what is a database? A database is where you store all of your clients names, emails and details and also your potential clients. This is where you put your leads’ information so that you can contact them later.

You use your database to collect details of your website visitors. Generally people need to see your business or your products 5-7 times before they will act upon buying. Most of the time, people will not buy off your site on the first visit. So your main purpose of your website should actually be to capture these visitors’ details so that you can email them later with specials, great offers etc.

How do you do that? You use capture devices. A capture device is normally in the form of an ebook, or competition and people still to this day use “sign up for my newsletter” (why would I want to do that???) make your capture device exciting - let potential visitors know that you have something free to give them if they just enter their first name and email address in this little box…

Hey presto - you have a database!

Then you can use your marketing efforts to contact these people again to convert them from leads to sales!

More information on capture devices in the brand new Start Up Marketing Kit - Get yours today!.

Diva Promotions is proud to support this event.

Are you faced with lack of qualified prospects?