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Some of
most common formats include:
* How-to-do something tutorial * List of ways or tips to accomplish a desired objective * Interview of one or more experts regarding your topic * Narrative discussion of issues at hand.
Whatever format you select, it must be easy to read and understand. Do not use difficult words or long sentences and paragraphs. Write in a straightforward manner. Let your personality show in your writing. People that are comfortable with your writing are more likely to buy from you.
Be careful in promoting your own products or affiliate products in mini-course. The products and services promoted need to relate to content you are providing. Blend product or service promotions into your content so that it supports content. Find ways to weave your product or affiliate program information into your content in a low-key manner.
Avoid outright blatant advertising except in top sponsor, bottom sponsor and other designated areas of your articles. Blatant advertising in wrong section will be a quick turn-off. Your mini-course will be viewed as a sales letter and probably not read. Keep your audience in focus. They are reading your mini-course primarily for valuable content you promised to deliver in beginning.
The last segment of your mini-course needs to provide a conclusion or closing section. Pull together what you have presented in course and present your findings. It should satisfy original objective of your course or provide a solution to stated problem. Finalize mini-course with words of value to your readers. Direct your readers to utilize information you provided. Instill in them desire to get involved and follow through with your conclusions or implement your solutions.
Organize information into article segments of roughly 700 to 1,500 words per segment. Keep length of mini-course in range of 3 to 8 segments. Try to avoid information overload and unnecessary padding in your articles. Determine distribution cycle of articles. In general, one segment should be delivered each day or every 2 days. Personally, I prefer once every 2 days to avoid overloading recipient with too much information if they don’t check their e-mail on a daily basis.
The best way to distribute your mini-course is by autoresponder. Set up autoresponder to automatically distribute your articles according to your defined time schedule.
Use mini-course to promote yourself, your business and your products. It is fr*ee advertising. You can use following methods to promote your mini-course:
* Include in resource box of an article you wrote * Include in your newsletter * Include in your signature file * Provide as a fr*ee bonus on purchase of your product * Place in an advertisement * Provide as a promotional tool for your affiliates to use.
In conclusion, your mini-course should deliver valuable content to your audience with side benefit of promoting your ezine and products. Create your mini-course with a clear picture of wants and needs of your audience. You have wasted your time and effort if report has little or no value to your reader. Produce a quality mini-course and both you and your subscribers will benefit.
Best of success in your online business activities.
======================================= Copyright © 2003 F. Terrence Markle – All Rights Reserved Get FR*EE 8-Day Internet Business Mini-Course at: http://www.QuikSystems.com/WMC/FreeBizCourse.htm =======================================
F. Terrence Markle has worked for over 20 years with public and private companies. He has an MBA in marketing and finance. He has been involved with Internet-related businesses for over 3 years. His primary focus is the marketing of affiliate programs.
