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In this issue:
Marketing Article: The Value of Articles
Marketing Article: 9 Amazing Ways To Super-Charge Your Online Profits!

Directory of Associations

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It goes without saying that advertising is a key element to any successful business. If people aren't aware that your business exists, there's no way you'll make it. So to succeed, you need to get the word out.

There are several methods of advertising that have been proven to be effective. Email marketing is one that has been used for many years now. However, due to abuses like "spam" and the establishment of the "Can Spam" law, using this method has been reduced to sticking with opt-in subscribers to ezines and newsletters.

Though this can still bring in a great many sales, it's limited to the same people getting your message every time. Unless you have a killer way of getting more people to opt-in, you're marketing efforts could become stagnated.

Another way is to advertise in news groups such as those found on Yahoo Groups and Google Groups. This type of advertising also works, but for the most part you're inundated with return advertisements from other marketers who really aren't interested in your ad.

As each method of advertising gradually become "old news," the ingenuity of marketing experts come up with new ways of getting their messages out to the public. In fact, over the last couple of years, another way of getting "seen" has become quite popular among marketers . . .

Articles that carry a message geared to certain markets have taken the fore front of advertising lately. These articles, though rarely a direct advertisement for a particular product, can be "themed" to allude to products by offering "tips and tricks", "how-to's", and other information that put's a reader in a frame of mind that could lead them to wanting the product, or at least have an interest in it.

Added to these subtle hints in the body of an article, in most cases you are allowed to add your "bio box" which is a section attached to an article that tells the reader about you, the author. Here you can add your website url that leads the reader to the very product your article alludes to.

Your article can and should be uploaded to your website for browsers to find.

But there's also a better way to utilize of your article that could bring thousands of people into ear shot of your message . . .

Along with the popularity of articles, many websites have been created to accept and post articles. These websites are frequented by other marketers looking for free content for their own websites, who are allowed to take these posted articles and place them on their own pages providing they leave the article including the "bio boxes" intact.

Consider what this means . . .

A single article could conceivably be posted on hundreds of submission sites, and reused, intact, by thousands of other marketers.

Each time your article gets posted on a submission site, you get publicity, plus an external link pointing back to your site where your sales pages are. So with just going this far, your article could bring a couple of hundred links pointing back to your promotional or sales pages.

But what happens if thousands of other marketers take your article from these submission sites and reuse it on their sites?

You end up with an enormous viral campaign is what happens!

And unlike the regular ads you see on classified pages, your articles can, in time, label you as an expert in your field because they give you room to really say what you have to say.

Yes, writing articles and submitting them to as many places as possible, can be viral and can boost your credibility, your visitors, and most of all, your sales.

Not too bad for something you can do for free!

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Ken Nadreau is an entrepreneur, an author of popular ebooks, and a marketing coach specializing in effective writing skills and brain storming niche marketing ideas. His latest project centers around the value of article writing and submission. http://articlesubmitterpro.com

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Which do you think is harder to do: sell something new to someone who has already bought from you in the past or convince a stranger to make his/her first purchase?

The answer is obvious: a person who has already purchased your product and is enjoying the benefits you promised is a prime target for additional sales.

That's why it's important to build on your existing customer relationships and "leverage" the trust you've earned with the following techniques:

1. After you make a sale, be sure to follow-up with the customer. Sending a thank-you email message is good manners and including an advertisement for other products you sell is good business. You could follow-up every few months, quarterly, send holiday greetings, birthday messages, etc.

2. When a consumer is ready to buy, you can upsell additional items. When they're at your order page, tell them about related products you have for sale -- if you're selling Widgets, tell them about your Widget Cleaning Kit, or Customized Widget Covers. Make it easy (and economical) to add it to their original order.

3. Word-of-mouth is a huge sales generator. Give your customers an incentive for telling friends by offering them discounts for referrals. If possible offer a discount to your old customer AND his/her referral, and then watch as one sale blossoms into dozens.

4. When you sell a product, give your customers the option of joining an affiliate program so they can make commissions selling your product. A satisfied consumer is a great salesperson and your affiliate program can help you turn a single sale into a stream of orders.

5. You could cross-promote your product in a package deal. You can cross-promote your own products or enter into a partnership with another company. At the very least, you'll get free "exchange" advertising. At the most, you'll earn commissions for all the pass-along business. Just be sure that you're cross-promoting items that are related to your product/service and that your customers would truly find interesting.

6. When you ship out or deliver your product, include a discount coupon for other related products you sell in the package.

7. Ever wonder how the "Barbie" empire thrives when the doll itself sells for just a few dollars? It's the add-on products that makes the difference -- Barbie's car, clothes, beauty shop, friends, etc. Tell your customers about upgrades, special services, attachments in a catalogue. If consumers enjoy your product, they'll be grateful for the information and likely to buy the extra add-ons.

8. Sell gift certificates for your products. You can offer either a "pre-paid" gift certificate for a specific item or a dollar-amount certificate that would enable the recipient to make his/her own personal selection. (The second idea works extremely well because often the gift recipient will want something that's more expensive than his/her certificate…and that means more dollars for you!)

9. Send your customers free products (sometimes called promotional items) with their product package. It could be bumper stickers, ball caps, t-shirts etc. The key is to have your ad printed on the item. The free gift is an instant -- and long-term -- billboard for your product or service.

Remember, a satisfied customer wants to keep doing business with the company that provided the satisfaction So give the people what they want -- easy (and frequent) ways to spend more money with someone they trust…you!

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Dan Lok is known as "The World's #1 Website Conversion Expert", with a proven track record of selling over $25.7 million dollars of merchandise and services. Dan has resuscitated copy that was previously in "critical condition" and helped his clients to double and triple their conversion rates… some as much as 417%!!! More than 200 websites have been "Lok-ed" and loaded for Internet action. Go to: http://www.WebsiteConversionExpert.com