Throw all these challenges together, and simply doing your job everyday can get fairly uncomfortable.

For an interesting insight into what I mean here, go to

http://www.get-free-publicity.com/ford.html

It's story of a near-disaster I experienced shortly after I had done an interview with former President Gerald Ford.

I'm not asking for sympathy here. If you're in business, you know that's how it is and you accept it. It's part of job description. It 'comes with territory.'

I'm describing it to you, however, so you know normal mental state, mindset of people you'll be dealing with when you're trying to get free publicity for yourself or your business.

And mindset is 'get to point, tell me what I need to know, and don't waste my time with anything unnecessary.'

When I was doing a weeknight sportscast at KMOL TV in San Antonio, I used to hang a sign on my office door every night at 'crunch time,' which was 60 minutes or so before I went on air.

The sign read:

'If it's important, say it fast. If it's not, say it later.'

As you send your press releases to people in media, keep that in mind. Nothing will hurt your chances of getting publicity from them as much as wasting their time with non- essential stuff.

Help them 'beat clock,' and they'll be more likely to help you 'beat drum' by giving you thousands of dollars worth of coverage -- and free publicity.

As she did, her affiliate commissions started growing. The more people that joined her list, more money she made.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

So, what was different this time around?

Chrystal advertised at many of same places. She didn't spend that much more money on advertising. She still promoted her affiliate programs?

So, what did she do differently that allowed her to be more successful?

Chrystal made one slight change in her marketing methods and it allowed her to start making money.

The difference was in her email list.

Here's why . . .

THE MAJOR MISTAKE MOST INTERNET MARKETERS MAKE

Promoting an affiliate link through ezine and classified advertising is a major mistake.

Think about it. If I'm sitting at home looking through my email and I find an ad that looks interesting, I'll click on it and see what it has to say.

When web page comes up, I'll spend a few seconds skimming text. If anything grabs my attention, I may hang around a little longer and read a little more carefully.

If I don't like what I see, then I click off and go somewhere else.

And that is probably last time I ever visit that web site again.

The owner of that website spent a lot of time and money to promote their website and only thing I did was come in and look around for a few seconds. Once I leave, you can bet that I will forget all about that website.

Doesn't seem to make any sense to advertise like this.

And that's exactly what happened to Chrystal. She put out a lot of ads. She even got some hits, but once they clicked away, she lost that prospect forever.

RADIO SHACK BUILT AN EMPIRE ON A LIST

I remember many years ago, whenever you went into a Radio Shack, whenever you bought something, sales clerk asked you for your name and address. It didn't matter if you were buying a battery or a stereo system.

By simply taking a few moments to get a customer's name and address, Radio Shack was able to build one of largest mail order catalog businesses in United States.

They've since stopped collecting this information in order to respect their customer's privacy. They still have an opt-in email list, however, that customers can request to be added to in order to get their catalogs. They just don't ask for it at cash register.

GENERATE CUSTOMERS NOT SALES

The main reason you should be promoting your opt-in mailing list rather than an affiliate link is so that you can continue to send your offers to your customers.

You should focus all of your marketing efforts on generating customers and future prospects, not on immediate sales.

If you have a list of people who want to receive information from you, you can send them information on a constant basis about your affiliate programs.

They'll become familiar with you and what you have to offer. Pretty soon, they'll start to buy.

REPEATED EXPOSURE CREATES SALES

The first time someone visits your affiliate link, they may not want to buy. But if you keep promoting it to everyone on your list, then pretty soon, they'll want what you have. You may not catch them today, but you may catch them tomorrow. It's as simple as that.

It's common knowledge in advertising industry that a prospect will probably not buy from you on first exposure to your offer. You must constantly expose them to what you are trying to sell. As they build trust in you and begin to recognize your product or service, walls of objection will start to come down. When they become more confident in you and your offer, they will start to think about buying.

Mmost people agree that magic number is between 7 and 10. This is number of times people will need to see your offer before they will even begin to consider putting their cash on line.

Only through repeated exposure to your offer can you expect your prospects to become customers.

When you own a list, you have a base of customers that you can continue to market to month after month and year after year.

Instead of an unknown person who clicks on your affiliate link and then disappears into abyss of Internet, you will have a customer who will grow to trust you over time and begin to act on your recommendations.

You will have ability to generate income at any time simply by sending an announcement to your opt-in list.

The success of your business lies in your list and in how you continually market your offers to your list.

If you're still promoting affiliate links and websites, then you need to stop now and focus your time and money in right place.

SHIFT TO HIGH GEAR

You'll get nothing if you do nothing!

Here's are your Victory Lap action steps to help you shift your business into high gear . . .

DECIDE - once and for all - that you will no longer promote programs and affiliate links except to your opt-in list. No exceptions. Stop wasting your time and money. Capture those names and email addresses starting today.

CREATE an opt-in mailing list. Below you'll find a link for a free autoresponder that you can use to host your opt-in list. It's easy to set up. It's free. There's no excuse.

http://www.rapidbizsuccess.com/recommended/get-response.htm

EMAIL ME to let me know you've done it! Let me know you're taking steps to kick your business into high gear. I'll be happy to subscribe to your opt-in list. Maybe we can even talk about some joint ventures. mailto:victory-lap@rapidbizsuccess.com?subject=opt-in-start

The Victory Lap Copyright 2003 Charles Davidson

Charles Davidson is a violence prevention educator and victim's rights advocate working in the field of sexual assault and domestic violence. He also runs an online publishing business. If you want to put your business into overdrive, then subscribe today to IMPACT: The Online Journal of Home Business Success. Send a blank email to: