While we're on this, how about ezines that allow free ads. This is could be a further waste of time and effort. Yes, there is even software to place your free ad automatically to these, again by thousands. Many of people placing ads this way never even see publication they submit to. Some require you to subscribe before accepting your free ad, and this helps build their subscriber base. There is however, little if any loyalty to publication, and many times, only reason they subscribe is to be able to place their ad. If they bother to read it, they might make a cursory scan to ensure their ad is there, and then delete it.

So what should you do? First, find a few ezines and web sites that accept paid ads, and most are relatively inexpensive. You can get your message out to thousands of potential customers this way. Don't think a "one time" ad however will work. It can take 5 - 7 or so exposures to your ad before you can expect results.

One other mistake you should avoid is to assume that larger subscriber base of publication, better results will be. An ezine with only a few thousand targeted subscribers, many times will produce better results than some that have several hundred thousand that are not.

So, when planning a marketing campaign for your business, do a little research. Don't stumble around in dark, hoping to find something that works.

oThe development of a survey in a password-protected area of your website. oPurchase of an opt-in e-mail respondent list. (Opt-in lists are available from companies like Survey Sampling, Inc.) Make sure sample size is proportionally related to size of population you are targeting. oSend broadcast e-mails to members of list. The e-mail will instruct recipients to click on link to take them to password-protected survey. An incentive will help boost response rate. oUpon completion of survey, database of answers can be queried to pull information based on selected variables. The data can also be exported to a statistical software application for further analysis. oUpon completion of survey, a new survey can be developed using online administrative screens provided by high-end survey developers and process starts over again.

The advantages of online market research survey are numerous. From development time to delivery of results, these surveys present distinct advantages over traditional research methodologies.

Online surveys can also be designed to appear in a pop-up box at specified locations on a website. Such surveys will ask visitor if they have a few seconds to take survey and then proceed to ask them a few questions about their site experience to that point. By asking a series of questions company can ascertain if site is well received by visitor. If not, survey should provide specific clues to improve your site.

To summarize, online surveys offer following benefits over standard surveys:

·Speed of set up - using web-based administrative screens, online surveys can be set up and delivered quickly. ·Data entry - Respondents do data entry, so no data entry staff is required. Additionally, accuracy is greatly improved since no data is being rekeyed. ·New designs and concepts can be presented online. Respondents can view new products, packaging and other offerings online while they are responding to survey. Standard surveys required mailing package concepts to respondent in advance. The costs associated with printing, postage and data entry, combined with time inefficiencies, make online surveys far superior in most instances. ·Results are tabulated quickly for fast analysis. ·Early results are showing better response rates. One company that has typically surveyed their employees in past by traditional means has seen a response rate improvement from 25 to 50% since moving their surveys online.

The opportunities to learn from your customers using Internet are enormous. By surveying your customers, prospects, and employees online you can uncover opportunities and address issues faster, more accurately and at greatly reduced expense.