Have you wasted valuable time and money on promotion that doesn't work? Have your announcements and releases been ignored? Have you been too quiet about getting word out how your product or service will help solve people's problems?

You have put passion and creativity into your business; now it's time to put passion and creativity into promoting it! Since no one really cares as much about your products as you do, then take time to learn this new, effective way to sell them. Know that World Wide Web audience wants and needs your information--your expertise, how-to's, your experience or entertainment.

If you are willing to take four-five actions each day to promote your products, you will have successful sales. Follow these steps to learn how to promote yourself on line and make big sales:

Step One. Promote yourself through writing. Create several short "how-to" articles, short stories, poetry or humor, anywhere from 75-800 words. Prepare several lengths of same article. For one eMagazine I submitted a seventy-five-word article on how to write a short article. For a top business Web site, I expanded it to 800 words.

Step Two. Take responsibility for Online promotion yourself. If other marketing has been weak and sales were disappointing, you can still create ongoing, lifetime profits. Online promotion is great if you are totally bashful or reluctant to "sell." You don't have to talk to anyone in person. You promote straight from your home or office. Now, that's convenience! Learn basics from teleclasses and seminars, from Internet, and from professional networking organizations.

Step Three. Develop Internet savvy. When you don't take this step, you will hang back, and stay stuck in fear. Action spurs you on. Take a free community college course, or visit your library for help. In just three hours, I learned about search engines, and other basics. If you are like me and are passionate to succeed, then hire a coach or virtual assistant from a local high school or tech school. Jump in and get yourself an email address and try out surfing. You won't need a Web site right away, but if you want to be a market leader, you eventually should have one.

Step Four. Visit top Web sites in your field. Without them, your product won't get much exposure. Many authors report only a few sales from their own sites. High traffic web sites are always looking for new material (your articles) to entice their visitors to come back, again and again. Notice their signals: "New material added daily." In turn, they will put your "signature" which includes product name or service and Web address where it can be purchased. It doesn't have to be your Web site.

By Stephen Bucaro

You provide a Web service such as Web site design, Web site evaluation, search engine optimization, graphics design, or copy writing. You find a Web site that could sorely use your services. You send a friendly email message to Web site's owner.

Your ISP disconnects your service, your Web host cancels your service, your affiliate membership gets terminated with loss of commissions, your business gets a bad reputation, and you are labeled SPAMMER.

All because you sent an "innocent" email. Spam has become such an invasive and revolting phenomenon today that people who receive any unsolicited email messages will make sure sender pays dearly for crime. Is there a way to send a friendly email message without getting persecuted?

Let's make one thing clear, improperly sending mass unsolicited email messages will result in big problems for you. Proper mass email marketing is done through opt-in lists or newsletter advertising. There is no effective way to mass email market for free. Safe lists and FAA sites are a waste of your valuable time.

But there is a safe way to send a small number of friendly email messages to solicit customers. What makes this possible is your "signature" block. A signature block is a short paragraph, about six lines long, that you include at bottom of every email message. The signature box includes information about your business and how to contact you.

Most email programs let you configure a signature block that automatically gets included in every email message that you send. To properly use a signature block, make sure that it is not personalized in any way to individual that you are sending message to. Make sure there is a dividing line that separates signature block from rest of email message.

To put it another way, you are NOT sending a marketing message to individual. You are sending a personal message that just happens to automatically include your signature block. Now all you need is an legitimate reason to send a personal message to prospective customer. Below are five different scenarios for this.

1. Give a Compliment.

Find something you like about prospective customer's website and send them a compliment. For example: "I'm writing to let you know that I found information on your Web site about how to buy a new car very informative. I find your Web site very useful. Keep up good work. Thank you". And of course, your signature block is automatically included at bottom of your message.

Don't be too transparent or patronizing with your compliment. Don't send a general compliment. You must compliment something specific. If you honestly can't find something you like about prospective customer's website, use one of other methods described below.