This month's issue is all about "Building" your Business both on-line and off-line.
We have a great "Feature Article" on "Landing Pages", as well as, some tips concerning "Do-It Yourself PR". In fact, the Tips were so good we had to split them between this month and next month's issues.
Our"Bulletin Board" features a constest sponsored by eBay. The contest is geared toward Small Businesses and offers great prizes as well as benefits for all contest entrants.
Also, a little blurb concerning email marketing/distribution campaigns. As of January 1, 2004, all email campaigns must include the sendee's complete address and contact information within the email. This is part of the Can Spam Legislation that was signed into law last fall.
Finally, if you have a Topic idea you want included in future issues, let us know. We want the newsletter to reflect your wants, needs, and interests.
For every referral sent-in to us, we will give you $2.
If the referral purchases one of our Design Packages, we'll give you 1 Month Free Hosting. (Instead of the free month, we can add this to your Total Referral Compensation, if desired).
If the referral purchases any of our other Internet Services (Logo/Graphic Designs, Site Transfer, Re-Design a Current Site, or a Site Critique), we'll give you 5% of the sale.
Checks will be sent-out each month for the previous month's TOTAL Referral Compensation.
Simply click on the link below and fill out the form for each referral--or have the referral fill out the form. Either way, you'll be compensated.
YOU'VE GOT BIG DREAMS about growing your business, but you may not always have the financial resources to make those dreams a reality. To help small-business owners in this situation, eBay is launching a small-business contest, "Dream Big, Save Big, eBay".
Entrants must write a 250-word essay about how eBay can help them achieve their business dreams. A panel of judges will select five finalists, who will receive eBay gift certificates ranging from $2,500 to $50,000. The finalists will be recognized at an awards ceremony at eBay's headquarters in San Jose, California, and each will receive a one-on-one coaching session with a small-business expert.
The contest is intended to build awareness of all the ways eBay can help small business owners and to "demonstrate in a very tangible way eBay's commitment to helping make small businesses successful," says Julie Haddon, ebay's director of consumer promotions.
Entrepreneurs who enter the contest will receive perks, including access to articles tailored for entrepreneurs, online business workshops and peer-to-peer mentoring opportunities. Other prizes will also be given away weekly for the duration of the contest. The contest started February 19, 2004; entries must be submitted online by April 15, 2004. For more details about the contest and to enter, visit www.ebaybusiness.com
If you're like most companies, you focus on driving traffic to your Web site via advertising. If too few visitors buy something once they're there, you blame it on your marketing program. You may say the media costs were too high or the clicks were junk traffic. True, some marketing campaigns will per form better than others. But in many cases, you can improve your visitor-to-buyer conversion rate just by modifying your Web site, not your marketing.
In his e-book, How to Develop a landing Page That Closes the Sale (www.wilsonweb.com), Dr. Ralph F. Wilson urges business owners to evaluate their landing pages, also known as entry pages. The landing page is the page shoppers see once they click an online ad, a search engine listing or a banner ad, for example. The goal of a landing page is to persuade visitors to complete a transaction.
Is your home page a landing page? You shouldn't consider it one. Your ad entices people to click for more information, while your landing page closes the sale. It shouldn't invite people to surf your Web site. It's a stand-alone page that hides your main Web site navigation. It offers few or no options other than taking the intended action. And the copy should expand upon the message revealed in the advertisement visitors clicked on. Keep in mind that different ads require different landing pages; each landing page should be customized for a particular audience.
There's more than explanatory copy at work on entry pages. According to Wilson, an effective landing page uses the psychological factors of enhancing desire, creating a rational, making the offer compelling, and building trust to sell a product or service.
"Never underestimate the power of emotional selling," says Wilson. " A no-nonsense description of an offer may work for nationally branded companies. Most companies don't have that luxury. Today's shoppers are pressed for time and money Address their emotional needs, and your sales will at least double."
To write copy that appeals to your potential customers on an emotional level, pretent to interview them. Start with the following questions:
What problems are you dealing with now?
How do you want these resolved?
What are your concerns?
What would make you buy this solution today?
Strip out the industry jargon from your reply for simple, results-orientated copy. This is the making of a good entry page.
What makes a good landing page better? Unfortunately, there is no magic formula. But it's an easy question to answer: Test a variety of pages. you can change your page design, reprioritize your benefits, or use case studies.
The Web audience is diverse, and individuals will respon to different marketing messages and presentation styles. It's up to you to discover which landing pages will get your visitors to become your customers.
By Catherine Seda. Article originally published in the April 2003 Issue of Entrepreneur
Advertising is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for.
What is a small business owner to do? You have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of competitors around the world. How do you make yourself known amid the noise and confusion? One thing is for certain. You may or may not have a budget for marketing and promotion but you want to get the most bang for your buck.
Stretch your budget by developing a low cost public relations campaign that you can handle in house. Publicity is a much more powerful tool than advertising and a successful campaign lends credibility to you and your company.
Use the following tips to take advantage of the many opportunities to make yourself known in the on-line and off-line world. Think creatively and you'll come up with even more ideas to propel your public relations campaign ahead.
1. Write articles such as customer case studies, book reviews, how to advice, editorials, etc and develop a snazzy by-line that drives readers to your web site. Submit your articles to directories, newsgroups, e-zines, web sites and off-line newsletters and magazines. You'll be astonished at how far one article can reach and how it can convert readers to loyal, long-term clients.
2. Speak for free at your local Chamber of Commerce, trade associations and clubs. Ask the sponsoring organization to hand out your business cards and brochures to all attendees prior to the event. Collect business cards and hold a prize drawing at the end of your speech. Use the business cards to send out "thank you for attending" emails after the event and ask for permission to add the recipient to your newsletter list. Build this list and communicate regularly.
3. Approach local and national radio shows covering your target audience and offer to appear as a guest. You will need to craft a pitch letter that can be sent via e-mail to the producer of the show. Make your pitch exciting and spend a great deal of time on the benefits listeners will derive from your segment. To find radio stations search www.radio-directory.com
4. Write a free e-book on a topic of use to your potential clients. People have become accustomed to receiving free information that is nicely formatted and easy to read. you can advertise your products and services in your free e-book and sell or swap advertising with other related businesses. Tip e-books (101 ways to. . .) and article compilations are very popular. Promote your free ebook at www.ebookdirectory.com and www.free-ebooks.net. Make your e-book viral by authorizing readers to freely distribute copies.
More Advertising Tips Coming in April!
By Bonnie Jo Davis. Originally published in the January 15, 2004 Issue of Webmaster Weekly Newsletter.
Sincerely, 
