Web Business

Turbo-Charge Your Business with These
Top 5 Cutting-Edge Strategies...
And Make 2007 Your Most Successful Year EVER

Happy New Year! Now that all the holiday celebrations are over, it's time to take stock of the major online developments that happened last year so you can start off 2007 on the best possible foot!

In this newsletter, I'm going to review the five hottest strategies I told you about in 2006, so you can put them to work for your business — and get the leap on your less 'Net-savvy competitors!

Specifically I'm going to show you how to:

• Seed the Web with articles that will drive swarms of eager buyers to your website
  
  
• Segment your list to laser-target your subscribers and generate tons more sales
  
  
• Create "win-win" business relationships to increase your profits without a ton of work
  
  
• Establish your expertise to instill confidence and encourage sales from new visitors and existing customers
  
  
• Network your way to top search engine placement

So let's jump right in and take a look at how you can rev up your business for the year ahead...

Top Strategy #1: Write articles that will increase your website traffic by 100% — OR MORE!

Writing short, targeted articles and distributing them to the far corners of the Web is an incredibly effective way to boost your rankings in the search engines, increase your website traffic, and establish your credibility!

And best of all, it's EASY!

Here's what you need to do:

1. Use Wordtracker to build a list of keywords related to your business. Ideally your keywords will have a good number of people searching for them, but not too many sites optimized for them. (For more about using Wordtracker, check out my two-part blog post.)
   
   
2. Write a SHORT, informative article (no more than 400 words!) for each of your top keywords. The keyword you are highlighting should appear in the title and in the first 90 characters of your article. And it can't hurt to plug it into the last paragraph as well.
   
   
3. Write a short, credibility-building "About the Author" blurb that you can tag onto the end of your articles — and make sure you include a link back to your website.
   
   
4. Submit your articles to directory sites with a high Google PageRank. (You can find a list of the top directories in Issue 129 of "Marketing Tips.")
   
   
5. Repeat weekly or monthly for best results!
   

For more information about this traffic-generation strategy, check out Issue 129 of my newsletter.

Top Strategy #2: Segment your list to laser-target your customers' desires... and increase your revenue by up to 781%!

Segmenting your opt-in list simply means dividing your subscribers and customers into smaller, more focused groups, according to factors such as:

• Whether they've bought something from you
• Which products they've bought
• What their specified interests are
• Where they live
• Their age group
• And so on

You then create different mailout promotions for each group that specifically targets their particular needs.

By following this strategy, you're guaranteed to see better results with your promotions. In fact, a study from Jupiter Research found that business owners who segmented their lists according to what customers bought, where they clicked on the website, and other collected information improved their conversion rates by up to 355% — and increased their revenues by an amazing 781%!

However, the study found that only 11% of marketers actually use this kind of data to segment their list! That means if you start segmenting your list, you'll get a definite edge on your competitors.

Here's how you can put this proven technique to work for your business:

1. Sort your current opt-in list into highly focused segments — such as customers who have purchased specific products from you before, subscribers who have never purchased, new subscribers, or any other segments you can create based on the information you have about your existing opt-in list.
   
   
2. Then create different mailout promotions for each segment of your list, so that you target them with highly personalized messages that speak directly to their wants and needs.

The sooner you start segmenting your list, the sooner you can start enjoying increased conversion rates and profits! Check out Issue 134 of "Marketing Tips" for more information about this strategy.

Top Strategy #3: Create profitable strategic alliances to unleash a FLOOD of new profits for your business!

With the right business partner, you can put your products in front of new customers and get fresh new products to sell to your existing customers. You can expand your reach AND boost your profits — talk about a "win-win" situation!

In business, these kinds of partnerships are called strategic alliances or joint ventures.

And the great thing is, strategic alliances are ESPECIALLY effective for online businesses.

So do a bit of research and find a partner who's right for you — and then hit them with an offer they can't refuse!

Here's how to start:

1. Look for potential partners by using the search engines. Check out any businesses that are trying to sell something to the same market as yours — something complementary but not competitive.
   
   
2. Use the Alexa toolbar to give potential partners the "once-over." (Look for a good traffic ranking in particular.)
   
   
3. Create joint venture proposals tailored to your list of potential partners, and make sure you include details about how they will benefit from the relationship.
   
   
4. Contact potential partners personally — with a phone call or face-to-face meeting.
   
   
5. Be sure to look for offline partners, too!

Many established businesses have been able to expand their product offerings, skills, and expertise through profitable alliances. With this plan — so will you!

To learn more about how to make strategic alliances work for your business, check out Issue 128 of my "Marketing Tips" newsletter.

Top Strategy #4: Use testimonials to establish your credibility and win over potential customers

Never underestimate the power of a good testimonial! Posting reviews and comments from satisfied customers on your website is a terrific way to increase your credibility in the eyes of visitors and encourage sales from first-time buyers.

An effective testimonial can convince your reader that your product really DOES do exactly what you promise — especially if you run a small business and don't yet have a widespread reputation.

Here's how to gather quality testimonials and benefit from them immediately:

1. If you already have some positive feedback from clients, ask their permission to include their comments on your site. Try to choose testimonials that are packed full of concrete benefits that tell your customers exactly what they can expect to gain from purchasing your product or service.
   
   Every testimonial should also have a first name, last name, and location — they help prove the recommendations are coming from real people.
   
   
2. To encourage new testimonials, add a link to your site attached to a form that allows customers to give you their vote of confidence. For example, "Click here to tell us what you think!"
   
   
3. Create an autoresponder that contacts your buyers after they've purchased your product to ask them how they're enjoying it.
   
   
4. When customers send you glowing praise in a letter or email, contact them and ask for permission to add it to your site.
   
   
5. If you don't have any testimonials yet, offer your product free of charge to a group of customers in exchange for their thoughts on the product.

Once you've accumulated some good testimonials, include them on your site:

• Put your best testimonials on your homepage.
• Insert some testimonials in the middle of your salescopy.
• Create a page on your site that features only testimonials.
• Put testimonials on each page of your website.

It's that simple!

For more information about increasing your credibility with testimonials, check out Issue 119 of "Marketing Tips."

Top Strategy #5: "Socialize" your way to improved search engine placement

Social media and networking sites such as MySpace, Flickr, and Digg are some of the fastest-growing sites on the Web today... and they're also a great way to improve your site's search engine placement!

That's because these sites all have high Google PageRank numbers — which means that if you can get links on these sites that point to your site, you'll be able to improve your search engine rankings DRAMATICALLY!

Here's how to get started:

1. Check out a few different social media sites to get an idea of what they're all about. For a list of the top sites, check out my blog.
   
   
2. Choose one or two sites that interest you and start participating in discussions and posting your new content. Just remember, these are social sites — so be sociable, not "salesy."
   
   
3. Create a profile of yourself to include with your posts — and make sure it contains a link back to your site.
   
   
4. Create some content to post on the sites you are interested in — such as a short article, list, or entertaining video — and then give it a snappy, attention-grabbing headline.

Here are some content ideas to get you started:

• Compile an entertaining or informative list related to your industry.
  
  
• Take existing content from a newsletter or blog and re-purpose it for social media sites.
  
  
• Create a funny compilation video.
  
  
• Post an interactive product demonstration.

5. Tag your submissions with keywords that describe your content. This will maximize the chances that other site members will find you and add you to their favorites — boosting your popularity and the number of people who view your content!
   
   
6. Invite all your friends to go online and vote for your links.

For more information about how you can "socialize" your way to better search engine placement, check out Issue 131 of "Marketing Tips."

Final thoughts

By now your mind should be full of possibilities for how your business can profit in the year ahead...

All you have to do to make it happen is to take ACTION with the steps outlined for each strategy. Consider this your roadmap to greater levels of Internet prosperity:

• Attract droves of highly-targeted traffic to your site by writing short, targeted articles that can be picked up by other web owners and spread to the far reaches of the 'Net.
  
  
• Maximize your mailout profits by segmenting your subscriber list into highly targeted groups and giving each group exactly what they desire.
  
  
• Dramatically increase your income by finding business partners who will help you reach new markets and expand your product offerings.
  
  
• Encourage first-time sales by using credibility-boosting testimonials... and make sure you place them on your site where they will have the greatest impact.
  
  
• And don't forget to take time to visit the 'Net's most popular social networking and media sites and socialize your way to improved search engine placement!

Once you start implementing these top 5 strategies, I guarantee you'll see HUGE results with your business. And I'd love to hear about them!

Here's to making 2007 your most profitable year ever!

***NEW FEATURE***

Inside the Internet Entrepreneur Club Forum

As you know, we recently created our Internet Entrepreneur Club. And even though the club is still in its early days, there are already so many great questions and discussions going on in the club members' forum that we just had to share some of them with you!

Here's a particularly good question posted by one of our members in the forum — and the response from one of our in-house experts...

***

This issue's question comes from club member "Brian":

Hi everyone,

I'd be interested in hearing people's results from their email campaigns, in a general percentage way of course so I can get an idea of whether my expectations are set too high or not from my campaigns.

Two weeks ago I offered a sale price to our email list, and followed that up on the last day of the sale with a reminder and summary of benefits.

From around 200 emails sent out, we had 35 unique visitors to the ad campaign's landing page, and of those visitors we made 7 sales. Our JV partner also sent out a letter and generated hits to a different landing page, but with slightly lower percentage results.

I haven't had too many problems with bounced emails or unsubscribes so far (touch wood), with only a couple of requests.

I expected to get more visitors from my emails, and more purchases from my visitors - but am I setting my expectations too high?

I'd appreciate some ideas on the sorts of percentages I should be aiming for regarding email delivery, clickthrough rates, and conversions.

Cheers,

Brian

And the answer from Jennifer, one of IMC's top marketing specialists:

Hey Brian,

I've got a lot of experience with email marketing, so let me be the first to congratulate you.

People would KILL for your conversion rates! ;-)

You sent 200 emails.
Got 35 visitors.
And got 7 sales.

That means, 1 in 6 people you emailed clicked through to your website. And 1 in 5 of your website visitors purchased.

That's excellent.

Generally speaking, click-throughs of 1 in 50 to 1 in 300-500 (no kidding) are considered good. And visitor-to-sale conversion rates of 1 in 20 to 1 in 100 are considered really good.

Why are the ranges so big? Because your conversion rates will vary dramatically depending on:

#1... How targeted is your email list? (i.e. You'll get higher conversions mailing a list of people with a narrowly defined interests, like ferrets, than people with a broad interest, like "pets.")

#2... Do you have a close relationship with your list? Do they know who you are right away? Do you have a good relationship with them?

... I would GUESS, based on your conversion rates, that you're mailing a targeted group of people, with a narrowly defined interest.

So if you want to increase your sales with your email marketing campaigns at this point, my advice would be to focus on attracting more opt-ins.

Cheers,

Jennifer

***

If you're looking for the hottest, most up-to-the-minute information on EVERY area of the fast-paced Internet marketing world, connect with our massive team of experts TODAY!

For everything you need to know to get started, just click here!

http://www.marketingtips.com/sr/t.x/917369

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Internet Marketing Research Tools

This Top Internet Marketing Research Tool to Find the Keywords That Can Make — or Break! — Your Business

In the past two issues you've seen sample Q&A's from our newly formed Internet Entrepreneur Club forum. It's THE place for our members to ask their most pressing questions — and get answers — about their online businesses and the hottest Internet marketing research tools and strategies available.

It's also a great place for us to learn what's on people's minds, so we can refine our products and services to better meet YOUR needs.

One thing that's become clear as we've monitored the forum is that many online entrepreneurs have questions about finding good keywords.

Questions like:

• How do I use keywords to find a viable niche market?
  
• What makes a good keyword?
  
• How can I be sure I've found viable keywords? Is there a quick and easy way to test them?
  
• Where's the best place to put my keywords?

In fact, we had to create a whole new section for all the threads on this subject! And it was well worth doing. Keyword research is a fundamental skill that can be used in EVERY aspect of building a wildly profitable online business.

If you're just starting out and you want to find a viable niche market online, you need keyword research. If you're already established, and you want to increase your traffic numbers, you need keyword research. If you're looking for complementary products to sell on the back end, you need keyword research.

You need it when you're planning a pay-per-click ad campaign and when you want to reach out to find new markets for your products. And if you're trying to rank higher in the search engines, you can't do without it.

It's no wonder there are so many questions on the subject! Let's take an in-depth look at how to identify smokin' hot keywords using the best Internet marketing research tool available to you: Wordtracker.

The whole process can be broken down into five easy steps:

1. Build a list of keywords you think people are using to search for products in your area of interest
   
2. Refine your keyword research in Wordtracker
   
3. Check out the competition
   
4. Test your keywords using pay-per-click ads
   
5. Spread your keywords throughout your website copy, opt-ins, and distributed content

Even though finding viable keywords to build your Internet business can be challenging, it's also a lot of FUN. So let's dive into the exciting worlds that keyword research can reveal to you!

Step 1. Build a list of words and phrases you THINK people are using to search for a topic in your area of interest

This may seem obvious, but the first thing you need to do is come up with a list of keywords and phrases to use as the basis for your Wordtracker research. Don't forget that a keyword can actually be a phrase. In fact, the best ones often are!

To come up with your keyword list, you need to "think like a potential customer." Put yourself in their shoes, and think of words you might use to search for something that you don't necessarily know a lot about.

Let's say you are passionate about wine, and you want to check out the market potential for selling fine wines online. Your specialized knowledge tells you that fine wines include "1990 Bordeaux," or "Willamette Valley Pinot Noir," so you put those on your list.

However, you can't assume that all of your potential customers know exactly what kinds of wine they're looking for. Many people might be searching for gifts for other wine lovers — but not know anything about wine themselves. They might search for "best wines," "expensive wines," or "gifts for wine lovers." So make sure you include those types of phrases as well.

Once you've generated a list of 100 to 200 keywords (yup — that's how many you should aim for), then you can use your list as a jumping-off point for your research in Wordtracker.

In general, your list should be made up of keywords that are:

• Specific. You may think that "golf clubs" is pretty specific, but think of all the different reasons people might type "golf clubs" into a search engine. They might want to buy, sell, make, design, or even read a history of golf clubs.
  
  So if you're interested in selling golf clubs, think of all the phrases that people wanting to buy golf clubs would use to search online (e.g., "buy golf clubs," "purchase set of golf clubs," or "cheap golf clubs").
  
  
• Related. Think of as many ways as you can to express the same idea. If you wanted to teach yourself how to improve your golf swing, what words would you use to search for a course online?
  
  You might try searching for "golf swing lesson," or "golf swing video," or "demo good golf swing." Start by thinking of as many ways you can to express the main idea "golf swing," and then move on to as many different ways to describe "lesson."
  
  
• Problem statements. Many people use problem statements to search for information online. Continuing with the golf swing theme, you might also search for "correct golf swing," or "how to improve golf swing," or "fix slice in golf." So make sure you include some of these kinds of statements.

The important thing is to keep your eyes and mind open to all possibilities. Think like your potential customers as you type keywords into the search engines, and try to come up with terms they're likely to be searching.

There are a couple of great free Internet marketing research tools that can help you round out your list:

• Yahoo Search Marketing keyword selector tool: Gives you a list of related terms for a keyword you enter, and also tells you how many times those keywords have been searched on over the last month.
  
  
• Wordtracker's free suggestion tool: Generates up to 100 related keywords for your starting keyword, and estimates their daily search volume.

Add any related terms that look promising to your list. Once you've generated this initial list of keywords, you're ready to dive into Wordtracker.

Step 2. Look for "clusters" of related keywords in Wordtracker

If you're not already familiar with Wordtracker, you're in for a treat! This keyword research tool is absolutely indispensable for the online marketer!

I wrote a 2-part blog post about Wordtracker that gives a great introduction, so if you're not already familiar with this Internet marketing research tool, I recommend you check it out. I also recommend that you take their free tutorial to get a sense of how it works before you start tackling your own list.

Basically, Wordtracker keeps a record of how many times a particular keyword or phrase was searched during the past 60 days on several of the largest search engines and metacrawlers on the Web.

It then allows you to search its database of over 330 million searches (or "queries") to see how many times the particular keywords appeared.

Finally, it organizes all of this detailed information into useful reports that you can use to estimate how much traffic your site could expect to get in a 24-hour period if you were ranked in a top position under those keywords.

The important columns to check in the report are the "KEI Analysis," "24 Hrs," and "Competing."

The KEI is a number that mystifies many of my customers, but basically it shows you supply versus demand. KEI stands for "Keyword Effectiveness Index." This gives you an idea of how many people are searching those keywords in relation to the number of sites that are competing under them.

In general, the higher the KEI, the better the keywords — PROVIDED that a decent number of people are searching for them! (You'll find that number in the "24 Hrs" column.) Eventually you want to create a list of keywords that covers a range of KEIs.

Take a look at the results for the keywords generated from the term "dog house plans" below:




Can you tell by looking at these results why a high KEI doesn't necessarily mean a great keyword?

"Free plans for a large dog house" is at the top of the list, because it has a predicted 10 searchers a day, but only has 6 competing sites. With so few competitors, it would be a cinch to appear in the top page of the listings for that term! However, you'd only be able to get your site seen by 10 people a day. (And those people are looking for something for free!)

In contrast, "dog house plans" has a predicted 129 searchers a day. Of course, it also happens to have 20,400 sites competing for it, which will make it much more difficult for you to get your site listed on the top pages of the results.

So how do you know how many searches are enough to provide the basis for a good market?

A good rule of thumb is to aim for keywords that have at least 100 searchers or more per day in the "24 Hrs" column. And because you want to attract as many visitors as possible, you should look for groups of related keywords that express the same thing in different ways. A general guideline is to find 10 to 15 related keywords.

The exact number you'll need will vary on the KEIs of the keyword groupings you find. Jennifer Boulet, one of our copywriting experts here at IMC, really summed up the key rules to live by when she answered this question by Internet Entrepreneur Club forum member Peter, who was using keyword research to find a niche market:

Hi - just for my benefit and for others on the forum I was wondering if you could detail what a good KEI result is.

Thanks,

Peter

***

Hi Peter,

Great question. I'm sure members will appreciate it...

Wordtracker says a KEI of over 100 is good. The higher the KEI, the better the keyword (because it gets more searches, and has less competition).

However, if you're looking for a business idea, you should be looking at CLUSTERS of keywords around a theme.

For example, a keyword cluster around the topic of feeding ferrets might be:

"what to feed my ferret"
"diet to lose weight ferrets"
"natural food for ferrets"
"food tips for ferrets"

... etc.

You shouldn't base an entire business on ONE keyword with a KEI of 100+. That's risky.

When I look for keyword clusters, I look for keywords with a KEI greater than 10.

How many keywords need to be in a cluster for it to be a viable business idea?

That depends...

If you find a cluster of keywords that all have KEIs over 100+, then you'll need FEWER keywords — because you've found a group of keywords that get LOTS of searches with not a lot of competition.

If all the keywords in your cluster have KEIs of 10 to 15 (for example), you'll ideally want MORE keywords in your cluster before deciding it's a viable business option — because you're either faced with fewer searches or more competition.

I hope this helps!

Jennifer

Another general guideline when you're interpreting your results in Wordtracker is to try to make sure that each of your keywords has fewer than 1,000 sites in the "competing" column.

So here are the numbers to remember:

KEI: 10+

24 Hrs: 100+

Competing: <>

But not all of the "competing" sites listed will be real competition, so in the next step I'll show you how to find out for sure...

Step 3. How to REALLY find out who your competition is

To really find out who you're up against, just take your refined keyword list into the search engines. You can actually jump to the search engine results directly from your Wordtracker results.

Start checking out the websites that appear on the first few results pages for your keywords. Take note of your first impressions:

• Are they selling an entirely different product that happens to use the same keywords? If so, they're not really competition. Going back to the golf example, "golf clubs" could refer to a club you join so you can play golf, rather than the actual golf club you use to hit the ball.
  
  
• Do the sites look professional? Do they have clear navigation and compelling salescopy? If the only competing sites look sloppy or dodgy, there may still be an opportunity for you to capture eyeballs with a better-designed site.
  
  
• Do they have opt-in forms? This is a sign of how well they're capitalizing on their market — as well as how many devoted customers they might already have in their corner!
  
  
• Are they offering the same product for free? If they're offering information for free that you want to charge for, it's going to be a tough sell! However, you might be able to create a free product based on your keywords and use it as an opt-in offer.
  
  
• Are they heavily trafficked sites? You can get a good idea of how much traffic they get by looking at them with the Alexa toolbar, another great Internet marketing research tool.
  
  
• Are the sites well optimized for your keywords? Check their sites to see whether they are maximizing the keywords, or just ranking for them by accident! If so, you might be able to beat them with some smart keyword placement on your site!

By now you should have a pretty good list of possible keywords. Now you want to pare it down to the best performing ones. Here's a little-known method for testing the waters to see which ones will work best for you (shhh!)...

Step 4. Test your keywords using pay-per-click ads

Testing your best keywords is another important step in your research. And the best way to do this is to buy pay-per-click (PPC) traffic. By testing the same ad with different keywords, you'll be able to:

• Get results fast. You'll see very quickly what kind of traffic numbers each keyword will generate.
  
  
• See which keywords convert best. Sometimes the most valuable keywords aren't the ones that bring in the most traffic. You can check your stats to see which keywords turn into sales most often.
  
  
• Refine your list to your top-performing keywords. Once you've figured out which keywords perform best, you can drop the bad ones, leaving you with the cream of the crop.

Now that you have a list of hot keywords, it's time to include them on your website and in your content.

Step 5. Use your top-performing keywords EVERYWHERE to capitalize on droves of targeted traffic

On your website, your keywords are what the search engine spiders will look for in your text and your HTML source code to categorize your web site and rank it appropriately.

By including the right keywords in a number of strategic "hot spots" on your site, you can give the search engines an accurate representation of what your site is all about. The best spots are:

• In your domain name, if possible. Search engines REALLY like URLs that are saturated with keywords! Take a look at your best-performing keywords and come up with a list of URLs containing them. Next, check if the domain name is available by entering it into MarketingTips.com/domains.
  
  
• In your website title tag. This is the text that appears in the bar at the top of a browser window. Your title tag looks like this: .
  
  This is the most important area of text in your website because search engines look at it FIRST when they spider your site.
  
  
• Your site's headlines and subheads. Using your keywords in your web page's headline and subheads helps your visitors see what your site is all about right away.
  
  
• Throughout your web page content. Include your top keywords in the first and last paragraphs of your content (two or three times if possible), and and a few more times throughout the rest of your copy.
  
  
• In your ongoing pay-per-click campaigns. If you build special "landing" pages for your top-performing keywords, you can write salescopy that laser-targets the people who search on those words.
  
  For example, for the keyword, "winemaking kits," your landing page can specifically target "brew-it-yourselfers." But on the landing page for the keyword "gifts for wine lovers," you can expand your copy to include other items like gift baskets and corkscrews.

You can also use your top-performing keywords in all your advertising and distributed content, such as articles and press releases — all of which add up to more and better targeted traffic.

One caution, however. Keyword popularity DOES change over time. So use the Internet marketing research tools we talked about on an ongoing basis to make sure that you're still bringing the most targeted traffic to your site.

6. Final thoughts

As you've seen, there are no shortcuts when it comes to finding viable keywords... but using Internet marketing research tools like Wordtracker, this critical aspect of building a successful online business is quite manageable — and FUN!

Just remember to:

1. Generate a list of 100 to 200 keywords, using as many different ways you can think of to describe the same thing!
   
   
2. Take your list into Wordtracker and look for 10 to 15 "keyword clusters." Each "word" should have a KEI of 10 or more, with roughly 100 searchers per day, and, ideally, fewer than 1,000 sites competing under those keywords.
   
   
3. Check out your competition! Is there already someone dominating a small niche leaving no room for anyone else? Or is information being offered for free that would make selling a product difficult? What sites are already ranking for those keywords, and can you beat them at their own game?
   
   
4. Test out your keywords using pay-per-click ads. This is the fastest way to find out just how well different keywords will perform.
   
   
5. Put your top-performing keywords in your website and in ALL your online content. Pay particular attention to your title tag, heads, and the first and last paragraph of copy on your website. And don't be afraid to include your keywords in as many types of marketing materials you can!

That should keep you busy for a while! But I guarantee that once you've worked your way through these five steps, you'll see a HUGE increase in your traffic.

Now that you've learned all about the exciting worlds of keyword research, you may find that you're hungry for more information on how to use it to build on your success.

If you used your research to identify a niche market, you'll probably want to know how to use keywords to create top-performing salescopy or get your website noticed by the search engines.

Or if you already have a website, you might want to learn the more advanced keyword strategies for driving even more qualified traffic to your site, or creating backend products and compelling opt-in offers to grow your email list.

Even if you're an Internet veteran, you'll want to learn about the hottest, most up-to the minute strategies for using your keyword research to generate better and BIGGER profits.

And when that time comes, you'll definitely want to check out the brand-new 2007 edition of our Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet course. This freshly updated and expanded version launches in just a couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for it.

The Internet marketing industry changes at warp speed, especially the areas of SEO and email marketing... and our latest version is chock full of the most up-to-the-minute techniques and strategies.

*** Inside the Internet Entrepreneur Club forum ***

Did you find the information in this newsletter useful? This is just a small sample of the kind of information that's being hashed out in the Internet Entrepreneur Club forums EVERY day! On a final note, I'd like to leave you with a response generated by the lively discussions in our IEC forum about keyword research...

Keyword research is the critical, first step on the road to finding a viable niche market, but it's not the final destination. As IMC expert copywriter Jennifer Boulet points out, there are some other things to consider...

"Here are some other factors that affect the viability of a business model:

1. Who is your competition in that market space? Sure maybe there are only 2 competitors. But you need to figure out whether or not these guys have already dominated the market space. I've seen plenty of examples of really tight niche markets, where there are lots of searches, but one or two websites have already won the loyalty and traffic of buyers... making it much more difficult for a little guy to step in. One example of that is kiteboarding. A couple of websites have already taken over this market space, gaining support of all the big kiteboarding brand names (who are paying them for advertising, and selling products off their websites)... You'd be hard pressed to step into that market space now. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's no longer an easy win.
   
   
2. What are you going to be able to realistically sell the product for? And, what's it going to cost to get set up to sell it via the Web? Obviously, with any new business you need to expect to price test. However, with enough research, you should be able to at least GUESS what range your price point will fall into. Once you've figured this out, you need to estimate your start up costs. Again, this takes research because every business model is different. Can you reduce costs by investing your own elbow grease?
   
   How do your start up costs compare to your potential profits? How many of these products do you need to sell before you're profitable? Look at how many searches are being done per month... And LOW BALL your traffic and sales conversions to start (assume 1/100 to 1/50 depending on how tight your niche is).
   
   Are these numbers you can live with?
   
   
3. Are your clients REALLY going to be willing to buy the product online? There are lots of products that people come online to RESEARCH but that they buy locally. Granite countertops, pianos, common household items and food products are all difficult to sell online. Maybe it's too difficult/expensive to ship. Maybe they can't wait to buy it (common foods). What's the benefit of buying this product online vs. just buying it locally?

... These are some of the key factors you need to consider.

They should help give you a ROUGH idea of what the income potential of a particular business is. But again, it will be very very rough.

For example, keep in mind that your estimates here don't consider traffic sources OUTSIDE of the search engines. Maybe with some hard work you can drive traffic by giving away free content to other sites (as I've seen many businesses do successfully)... Maybe once the website is up and running, you can secure a really great joint venture partner.

For more info on researching niches, I highly recommend reading previous threads in the Wordtracker section of the Sales Copy & Website design portion of this forum. You'll find lots of great info along these lines there, too..."

To get the hottest, most up-to-the-minute information on EVERY area of the fast-paced Internet marketing world, you can connect with our team of experts in our Internet Entrepreneur Club forum, too.

For everything you need to know to get started, just click here.

http://www.marketingtips.com/sr/t.x/917369

Home Base Business
http://www.lbt-business.com

Start an Internet Business

The Proven System to Help You Grow a Hugely Profitable Internet Business... Without Breaking the Bank!

One of the questions I get asked all the time is "Derek, how do I start a successful Internet business?"

My response? There is a very specific sequence of steps you NEED to follow to guarantee your success.

How do I know?

Because it's the exact same sequence of steps that my team and I have used to grow from a one-man company to a team of over 100 Internet marketing experts... generating more than $60 million in sales!

Over the years, my team and I have continually tested this system, and have proven its effectiveness over and over again.

But this system hasn't worked only for us... Since IMC opened its doors in 1996, we've seen a staggering number of real, everyday people follow these steps to earn life-changing incomes with their Internet businesses. And the numbers keep growing exponentially!

In this newsletter, I'm going to give you a brief overview of the eight steps you need to take in order to start and grow a profitable online business. They are:

1. Find a hungry niche market — BEFORE you decide what to sell

2. Write compelling salescopy that draws in your visitors

3. Design a winning site that converts visitors into buyers

4. Use the 'Net's top search engines to drive tons of targeted traffic to your site

5. Tap into secret sources of cheap (and even free!) traffic

6. Use the power of email marketing to keep in touch with your visitors... and turn them into buyers!

7. Grow your business by selling new products to your existing customer base

8. Harness the power of affiliate programs for hands-free traffic... and sales!

Anyone, from newbie to seasoned Internet marketer, can benefit from going through this proven series of steps. No matter where you are in your business, it always pays to revisit the basics and make sure you're doing everything possible to grow your business to be as good as it can possibly be.

Read on to review this proven eight-step system — and discover how simple it is!

Step #1: Find a hungry niche market — BEFORE you decide what to sell

Most marketers make the mistake of looking for a "hot product" to sell when they're first starting out online — and they end up choosing a product before they determine whether there's a market for it. And this is the reason the majority of Internet startups fail!

The fact is, most people do NOT go online to buy. They go online looking for information or to solve a problem.

What you need to do is find an untapped niche market: a group of people who are going online to solve a common problem, but are not having any luck finding a solution.

By doing some simple research, you can discover EXACTLY what these people are looking for — and then figure out a way to give it to them. That way, you KNOW you'll have a market that's eager to buy your product — before you even know what it is!

Once you've found a hungry niche market and come up with a product that will satisfy their wants, it's time to write your salescopy...

Step #2: Write compelling salescopy that draws in your visitors

Without a doubt, the most important part of your website is your salescopy. It's the only contact most of your visitors are going to have with your business — so you have to make sure it does the job of a top-performing salesperson.

A lot of people don't feel confident about writing. But don't worry! Writing salescopy is a "science," not an "art" — there's a specific formula to follow that will lead your visitors smoothly through the sales process.

You need to focus on how your product or service will solve people's problems or make their lives better. Think like a customer: "What's in it for ME?"

A few key things to remember when you're writing your salescopy:

* Include a headline and subHdrlines that are packed with benefits

* Build credibility with testimonials

* Offer a strong guarantee

* Pile on the bonuses

* Don't forget to ask for the order! Never assume that your visitors will understand what you want them to do on your site — you have to TELL them, and then make it easy for them to follow through with their purchase.

And remember: You want your copy to emphasize the BENEFITS of your product, not its features. What's the difference? Features TELL, benefits SELL.

Say, for example, you're selling low-energy washing machines.

Feature: They use less electricity than conventional machines.

Benefit: You save money with every load!

Do you see the difference? You want your visitors to have a clear idea of how your product is going to help improve their lives — because that is what's going to convince them to make a purchase!

Step #3: Design a winning site that converts visitors into buyers

Yes, it's true: You should only start building your website once you know what you're going to sell and have written your salescopy. That way, your site design will facilitate the sales process, rather than get in its way.

The most important thing to remember when designing your sales website is KEEP IT SIMPLE! You only have 10 seconds when someone arrives at your website to grab their attention — otherwise, they're gone, never to be seen again.

Some important tips to keep in mind:

* Choose a plain, sans-serif font (like Arial or Verdana)

* Use black text on a white background

* Make sure your navigation is clear and simple, and include a sitemap

* Avoid using cheesy or distracting flash or audio (using video and audio is OK so long as it supports, rather than distracts from, your message)

* Make sure you include an opt-in form to collect visitors' names and email addresses — offer something useful, like a free subscription to a monthly newsletter or a free report that's loaded with useful information

Whether you decide to teach yourself a bit of HTML and design your site yourself, or hire a web designer to do it for you, your goal is not to confuse your visitors, but rather to draw them in and lead them step by step through your sales process.

Make it EASY for them to purchase, and they will!

Step #4: Use the 'Net's top search engines to drive tons of targeted traffic to your site

Now that you've got your site built, it's time to start selling. But how do you get traffic to a brand-new site? The answer: search engines!

Over 90% of Internet users start with free search engines when they're looking for information online, so you want to make sure your site ranks as high as possible in their listings.

There are two ways to use search engines to drive traffic to your site: Using pay-per-click (PPC) programs like Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing, and getting ranked in the "organic" search engines. You're going to want to start with PPC, as it's the best way to start driving IMMEDIATE traffic to your site.

Once you have some paid traffic coming to your site, and you've figured out which keywords are performing best, you'll want to optimize your web pages for those keywords so that your site starts showing up in the organic search engine results as well.

Step #5: Tap into secret sources of cheap (and even free!) traffic

As an online marketer, one of your most important assets is your reputation. People need to know who you are, and why they should trust you!

So how do you "spread the good word" about you and your business to the far corners of the Web?

Easy! You can:

* Give away free, expert content! Write a series of short, informative articles packed with useful information and tips, and submit them to online article directories. Include a brief bio and a link back to your website at the end of each one.

* Issue press releases about your business. This is a great way to announce a new product, or report on exciting developments in your industry — and it'll drive traffic back to your site.

* Become an active expert in industry forums. Find out where your target market hangs out, and share your knowledge with them by posting knowledgeable replies to their questions... and remember to include a link back to your site in your signature!

Sending all this great information out — with your name and website URL linked to it — will also help you get a better ranking in the search engine listings, since every site that posts your content will link back to yours. Search engines LOVE inbound links from relevant sites, and they will reward you accordingly.

Step #6: Use the power of email marketing to keep in touch with your visitors... and turn them into buyers!

I hear it all the time: email marketing doesn't work anymore. And when I hear that, I just laugh... because it's not true AT ALL. In fact, according to PostFuture, 82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase in response to an email promotion.

It takes an average of four to seven contacts with someone before they will be comfortable enough to buy something from you, so you need to stay in touch with your visitors and build a relationship with them.

Email marketing is the ideal way to do this. You can show your subscribers you really know what you're talking about and make them feel comfortable enough to make a purchase.

Plus, you can stay in regular contact with your existing customers and keep them informed of new products you have to offer!

Step #7: Grow your business by selling new products to your existing customer base

It's a little-recognized fact that at least 36% of people who have purchased from you once will buy from you again IF you follow up with them. That means one-third of your customer base is just waiting for you to offer them something new!

You have already cultivated a relationship with your customers — you have put in the time and money to get their attention, establish credibility, and close that first sale. That's by far the most difficult part — not to mention the most expensive!

(Think of all the planning, advertising, and promotional activity that goes into getting those initial sales... )

But once you've acquired those customers, you want to develop their "lifetime value." An old marketing adage says that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers.

This means backend selling and upselling are your best bets. You can:

* Offer products that complement their original purchase

* Send out electronic loyalty coupons they can redeem on their next visit

* Include an offer for related products on your "Thank You" page

* Sell affiliate products that complement your product or service

By staying in regular touch with our customers and letting them know about new products we have available, we were able to increase our revenues by over 30%!

Step #8: Harness the power of affiliate programs for hands-free traffic... and sales!

Once you have a profitable business on your hands, you should always be on the lookout for new ways to grow it. And one of the best ways to do that is to launch your own affiliate program.

Affiliates are people who promote your products on their web site for a cut of the selling price. Every time they send you a buyer, you pay them a commission.

With an affiliate program, you have the power to exponentially increase your income. Think of it... You don't have to go out and spend any money on advertising because your affiliates do the advertising for you... and you only pay them when they make a sale. You can't lose!

Final thoughts

This is a very brief overview of everything that's involved in growing a successful online business. It's impossible to go into very much detail here, of course, but I wanted to review the key steps of our proven system so you can confirm whether you're following the right path in your own business-building efforts.

If you'd like to know more about these steps — including detailed information on EXACTLY how to implement them, as well as scores of free and cheap resources to help you do so — check out the brand-new 2007 edition of my best-selling Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet course.

It's packed with the hottest-performing tips and strategies that have been exhaustively tested and retested by my team of experts — in order to guarantee that we're delivering the best possible information to you.

And because we've done all the "grunt" work research, it means you can stay focused on growing your business!

I've also included a ton of bonus materials, including my private "Rolodex" of 267 must-have Internet resources, how to use Google AdSense to increase your profits, and much more.

You can find out more about it at www.MarketingTips.com/onlineprofits. Be sure to check it out!

*** Inside the Internet Entrepreneur Club forum ***

Did you find the information in this newsletter useful? This is just a small sample of the kind of information that's being hashed out in the Internet Entrepreneur Club forums EVERY day!

I'd like to leave you with a question posed by a forum member about pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Hi Guys,

I have recently changed my Google PPC campaign and although my costs are a lot cheaper as I am bidding on far more niche words (rather than the more general words), the number of sales has dropped dramatically from an average of 12-15 per day to 3-5 per day.

I really don't want to go back to spending £200 per day with around £5 profit per sale.

Firstly, do you have any advice on increasing the number of sales from my PPC?

What is the next thing I should focus on to drive traffic to my site?

Should I focus on natural search engines, email campaigns, affiliate schemes?

Is there a particular order I should do things in?

Thanks
Dave

***

And the answer from one of our marketing experts, Chris R.

It is smart to remove the non-performing PPC words in order to have a better ROI on your overall PPC campaign.

But in your message you say that you do not want to make £5 profit from a sale. My thought is £5 profit on the first sale is profit and allows you to build a customer base to sell other more profitable products to.

So I would take a look at the PPC words you removed that were generating sales and determine if you can sell those customers other products in a backend marketing system. Yes, it may be close to break even, but the backend is really where the big money is made.

As for other strategies, I like the affiliate program route. If you can find websites that are willing to introduce your product to their list of targeted customers this is a way to explode your sales. I would strongly consider this; make a list of potential affiliates and start calling them to determine if they are willing to introduce your product for commissions on sales.

If you are getting traction on this, you could then set up an affiliate program fairly quickly and have the ability to track their results. This will allow you to enter the affiliate game with only phone cost and then when you have your first affiliate, rush to set up your program. Alternatively set up an affiliate program now and then start the calls, it all depends on your budget.

As for increasing the number of sales from the PPC I will go back to the backend marketing system. If you have a solid opt-in form that is generating signups I would really focus on an email system that sells these people your product.

You need to look at your traffic conversion rates in order to see if you can increase the conversion rate of your site. Create a more impactful headline, test different salescopy, offer bonuses or free shipping — test, test, and then do more testing keeping an eye on the conversion rate.

If you are after natural search listings start writing articles and submit them to article directories and get links from good related web sites.

If you have varying markets coming to you, meaning that some of the keywords you bid on are different to each other, consider a different sales page that speaks better to the different markets.

As for the order:

1. Improve your website conversion rate.


2. Work on the email backend system before you start driving more traffic as you are throwing sales away with a poor email marketing system.


3. Write articles to get your info syndicated and links to your site for better natural SE listing.


4. Set up an affiliate program and find partners to drive a lot of sales in a short period of time.

I think it would be wise to mention the site you are speaking about for more detailed ideas.

Keep us posted on how you're doing!

If you're looking for the hottest, most up-to-the-minute information on EVERY area of the fast-paced Internet marketing world, connect with our massive team of experts TODAY! For everything you need to know to get started, just click here!

http://www.marketingtips.com/sr/t.x/917369

Dotcomology

Do you have what it takes to be an e-entrepreneur?
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Author of "Dotcomology - The Science of Making Money Online"

These days, it seems like everyone wants to work
from home and make money on the Internet. But
before you even turn on your computer, the first
question you have to ask yourself is whether
you’re cut out for this kind of work.

The fact is, building a home-based business isn’t
for everyone. Some people like the commute. They
really do enjoy having a boss who tells them what
to do, and they like the routine of working
nine-to-five for an ordinary salary that can
barely pay the mortgage. Personally, I think
they’re nuts.

More reasonably, there are people who are
concerned about the risk of starting up their own
business. They’re not sure it’s worth the
investment of time and money, and they’re scared
of the responsibility that comes with running
their own company. They wonder if there is
another way to escape the rat race.

I’m sure there is. You could win the lottery or
wait for your Aunt Sue to keel over and leave you
her condo. Or maybe you could sit down with a pen
and paper and draw the blueprint for "The Next
Big Thing". Anything can happen... Right?

For me, what happened was creating a successful,
self-running Internet marketing system. It didn’t
happen without effort. It didn’t happen without
at least some initial investment of both time and
money and, of course, it doesn’t happen now
without me making sure that the taxes are filed
and the paperwork is done. But it happened.

I’m my own boss. I work from home according to my
own schedule and I get to pocket all the cash my
business makes. If you’re prepared to give an
e-business the time, the work and the money it
needs to get started and get growing, it can
happen for you too.

Article excerpted from "Dotcomology":
Don't Pay A Dime For Any Ebook, Marketing
Course, Software Program Or Anything Else Until
You've Read This Groundbreaking Document...
Click Here to Discover "Dotcomology" Now!

Welcome to my blog!

I've just launched my new blog! Stay tuned...

Best regards,

Lee Boon Tiong
http://www.LBT-Business.com