Whether you have writing talent or not is not an excuse for letting your site “grow old.” or not to take advantage of a great marketing tool. There are definitely places on internet to help you out. Writers are not really doing it from goodness of their hearts, but yes, sometimes they do. They are also looking for exposure and far-reaching avenues that they may never have opportunity to tap into. They may be selling a book, or some other commodity and need exposure, just like you do. They have something of value to offer and so do you. You have subscribers that may never venture onto their sites, and therefore, your e-zine or newsletter is a great way to reach these people. Keeping your list of subscribers interested in your particular subject matter, product or service is made a lot easier with publishing a short, informative, yet pointed newsletter. If you stray too far off beaten path of your particular subject, there is always that “unsubscribe” button. So, keep to subject, give them more features and facts, and you will have happy readers and repeat visitors.

Having a website and preparing an e-zine or newsletter is a win-win situation. You get fresh, new content and writers get exposure. With a deal like this, both of you will travel down that internet avenue of success in your chosen fields. After all, isn’t this what friends are for? ENJOY! ©Arleen M. Kaptur

In off-line direct marketing world, when you send a snail-mail offer a second time, a few people who didn’t respond to first mailing will buy. This can continue up to seventh mailing, although with fewer orders from each mailing.

But on-line audience is very different. On-line people have an extremely short attention span, and bore easily. They will scan your offer once, and either accept it or reject it. They don’t want to see your offer again. The second time they see your offer, their eyes will gloss over as they click away as fast as possible.

Instead of pushing your offer to same people seven times, put it in front of seven times as many people. Spread offer to as wide an audience as you can. Then radically modify offer (so it is unrecognizable as original offer) and spread it wide again.

5. You need to establish personal relationships with your customers - FALSE!

In off-line world, it costs much more to find new customers than it costs to get new orders from past customers. But on-line world is very different. On Web, it costs about same to find new customers as it does to get new orders from past customers.

The on-line world is impersonal. On-line people have an extremely short attention span and they bore very easily. They are not interested in yesterday’s news or yesterday’s contacts. If you contact a past on-line customer, they will consider it spam!

Instead of trying to establish personal relationships on-line, establish an on-line presence. Promote your Web site, publish a newsletter, publish ebooks, write and distribute articles. Let your customers find you - out there in cyberspace!

6. Sell “benefits” not “features” - FALSE!

Only a tiny percentage of people will buy based on benefits. This is because they already know benefits of particular product or service. The benefits are reason why they are in market for a particular product or service. To buy, they need to know the

features of your specific offering.

For example, having a web site will increase profits and reduce costs for a business. These are some of benefits of having a web site. But advertising those benefits will not sell your web development service. To buy, prospective customer needs to know what features your specific web development service has to offer.

Instead of selling benefits, tell prospective customers what features make your product or service better or unique compared to other offerings available.

Of course, if your product or service has no better or unique features to offer - sell benefits.

7. Using a P.O. box makes your business look “unprofessional” - FALSE!

If using a P.O. box makes a business look unprofessional, then why do so many major corporations use P.O. boxes? If you have an office outside your home, then go ahead and use that address.

But if your business is in your home, NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR HOME ADDRESS. Do you want some lunatic who is dissatisfied with your business showing up at your house with a gun? If you think this world is safe enough to be using your home address in your advertising and business correspondence, then stop reading this. Go back to reading your Winnie Pooh fairytales.

Don’t put yourself and your family in danger. When I see a small business using a P.O. box, I think “this business person is intelligent and professional”.

8. There is a lot more bad marketing advice out there.

I can’t expose all bad marketing advice out there in this one article. So instead of following next bad marketing idea that you read, take a moment to think it through. Always be skeptical about any marketing advice you read - including what you just read in this article. ---------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box: Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com ----------------------------------------------------------