HOW TO HAVE 'EM KNOCKING DOWN YOUR (WEBSITE) DOOR...By Running a Contest!

Written by Trevor A. Lastoka


One ofrepparttar most successful ways to get visitors to your site - and keep them coming back - is to run an online contest.

Not only does a contest give you a special kind of visibility, it gives you a method to 'capture'repparttar 125231 names and email addresses ofrepparttar 125232 folks who enter. (Don't worry, I'm not advocating that you spam them later - but there are legitimate ways you can use that list of contest entrants that you'll have).

If you decide you'd like to run a contest, you need to takerepparttar 125233 following questions into consideration:

1. What do you wantrepparttar 125234 contest to accomplish for you?

I know, you're saying, "But we just answered this question - to get people to my site, and to capture their email addresses." Wrong answer! There's more - do you want to get feedback for a new product or service you're offering? Are you wanting to expand your market? Would you like to start a newsletter? Once you've determined your 'agenda' forrepparttar 125235 contest, this will help to clarify ways to achieve your desired result.

2. What kind of prizes do you want to offer?

First of all,repparttar 125236 prizes you offer should be in some way related to your business. For example, if your goal is to increase your customer base, then you'll perhaps want to offer one of your products or services asrepparttar 125237 prize. This helps to insure that you're attractingrepparttar 125238 audience you want - your target market!

You may not have to offerrepparttar 125239 prizes yourself, either - many merchants are happy to offer prizes in exchange forrepparttar 125240 exposure to their product or service, or a link to their site. This may be a perfect opportunity for you to work with other non-competing merchants in ways that will be beneficial to both of you.

For example, I know of a sightseeing charter company who offered, as a contest prize, a 'day onrepparttar 125241 beach.' They providedrepparttar 125242 boat cruise, but they approached other merchants to include a barbecue, food enough for eight, a beach umbrella, and some snorkels and fins and other beach toys - in exchange forrepparttar 125243 advertising exposure.

Build An Internet Parthenon, Part 1

Written by Daniel Ramos


Dedicated to Athena Parthenos,repparttar great Parthenon was designed by architects Ictinus and Callicrates and built overrepparttar 125230 years 447-432 B.C. Basically it is a simple rectangular building, 237 feet long by 110« feet wide, with Doric columns around its four sides. A pediment on each end rises to a slanting roof. Withrepparttar 125231 exception ofrepparttar 125232 roof frame and parts ofrepparttar 125233 ceiling,repparttar 125234 entire temple is constructed in marble. To this dayrepparttar 125235 Parthenon remains repparttar 125236 masterpiece of consummate proportions.

Do you notice a very important fact about this structure? It is this:repparttar 125237 heavy roof is supported by numerous pillars. Without those pillars,repparttar 125238 roof would collapse. My personal mentor and friend Jay Abraham calls this The Parthenon Principle.

The Parthenon Principle, simply explained, is this: Have multiple pillars generate revenue rather than one or two. Your business could collapse if it's only supported by one or two income streams. Too many business owners gamble everything on a single revenue source. They often get attached to one type of marketing - and overlookrepparttar 125239 fact that there are at least a dozen income streams they could access!

Most companies in general, generate revenue - through one or two methods they depend on and use over and over and over. However, what happens when one of those "pillars" crashes? If just ONE pillar were to go down in this scenario, you would risk losing up to 50% of your business. Ouch!

What happens if one ofrepparttar 125240 pillars goes down? Dorepparttar 125241 math! If one of these TEN pillars went down, it wouldn't be catastrophic - it may even represent up to 10% of your business.

I submit however, what if your business had 15, or 20, or even 30 DIFFERENT ways, or "pillars" for generating revenue? That would make a difference, wouldn't it?

What may not seem obvious is this:repparttar 125242 more "pillars" you have,repparttar 125243 larger and heavierrepparttar 125244 roof that you can support. The more income-generating methods you have,repparttar 125245 larger revenue roof you will have. I will show you how to have more pillars by opening your eyes to whatrepparttar 125246 possibilities are, and what opportunities you might be missing.

In this article I am going to introduce you to a bakers dozen (yes, 13) different pillars your online business can use to generate revenue. Is that all there is, 13? No, but lets start here first and if you're bold enough, I may follow-up this article with a part 2 or even, part 3. As you go through these "pillars" think ofrepparttar 125247 ways that you can apply them for your business. DO NOT, at first glance, discard them and say they don't apply to you. Think ofrepparttar 125248 possibilities of how they COULD apply to you.

On torepparttar 125249 list:

Keywords Sit down and brainstorm as many keywords and phrases that someone might use to find a business like yours on Internet search engines. Be sure that you not only take into account not only keywords and phrases you might come up with, but also get fresh outside perspectives. Once you haverepparttar 125250 list, refine it to about 20 keywords and have your webdesigner insert these atrepparttar 125251 top of your webpages inrepparttar 125252

section in this format:

Include your URL on offline materials Put your website address onto every piece of marketing material you have, be it business cards, letterheads, invoices, brochures, everything. You don't have to include repparttar 125253 http:// justrepparttar 125254 www.yourcompanydomain.com will do just fine.

Capture email addresses from site visitors BIG tip here. Design a box on your website where visitors can leave you their name and email address, minimally. Offer them something in exchange (see next tip) and include a checkbox whererepparttar 125255 visitor gives you consent to e-mail them updates about products or services. This gives you "permission" to market to them and even remind them to revisit your website again. Keep these in a database for future and frequent use.

Publish an Ezine No bones about - producing an ezine (newsletter your email) on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, is hard work. But it is one ofrepparttar 125256 best ways, once you've established a solid list of email addresses, to keep in touch with those who have visited your site, build loyalty, develop brand awareness, and build future business. Don't make it long and boring, but relevant, easy to read, and something your reader can make use of. You can distribute it via your email program or subscribe to a listserver.

Press releases If you have a newsworthy event, why not consider writing a brief, one-page release and send it to print periodicals and other ezines? You can do it by hand or userepparttar 125257 services of Internet News Bureau [www.internetnewsbureau.com], Eric Ward's URLwire [www.urlwire.com], andrepparttar 125258 Netrageous PR Center found at [www.netrageousresults.com/PR/index.html]

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