Posted December 21st, 2009

A Free 2010 Blogging Calendar and Planner For You

Don’t you just hate it when you really need to update your blog and draw a blank? Well, one of the best ways to jump start those creative juices is to simply look at the calendar. How simple is that?

Every month, week and day, there are some really strange, fun and downright funny holidays and observances celebrated everywhere. In fact, you can even make up your own ‘holiday’ to celebrate on your blog with your readers – that’s how easy it is to come up with days of posts at a time. But you don’t have to make it up yourself. It’s hard enough coming up with a post. Here’s a blogging calendar I found that feature some of these holidays. The other nice thing is, it has room to jot down your own ideas and you can use it to literally plan out the year’s content – or just a month or two ahead if you’re not the planning type. This really helps keep your blog going without rushing to write last minute posts.

Download and check it out for yourself. I bet you can find a couple of posts just off those dates you can write about. In fact, you can write about them right away and schedule them. Your readers will have fun and marvel at how you are so on top of the holidays and seasons.

Posted December 8th, 2009

The Reality of Newsletter Advertising

In our quest for ways to promote our businesses, most of us have likely come across the opportunity to place an ad in an email newsletter, or “ezine”.

Often, though, people who have tried ezine ads come out frustrated. They expect that the money they spend will result in sales. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always result in enough sales to cover the cost of the ad, let alone to make a profit.

Ezine ads sometimes appeal to people who are seeking what they think of as an “easy” way to reach a big audience quickly. And let’s face it, some of the ad sales pages are pretty good, and can conjure up visions of sales notifications swamping your in-box in the hours after your ad runs.

It’s just not that easy.

Even if someone else highly recommends an ezine, that doesn’t mean you’re going to get the same results. The success of an ad depends on numerous factors, including:

* The “fit” of your product or service with the ezine’s audience. An audience consisting of dog agility enthusiasts aren’t likely to be interested in the latest ad tracking software. Even different pet products won’t have the same appeal — for example, they’re more likely to be interested in a “tennis ball launcher” than in a ramp for disabled pets.

* The strength of your ad copy. A poor ad won’t do well, regardless of how great your product is.

* The responsiveness of the audience. Keep in mind that the number of subscribers an ezine has is not a good indicator of its quality.

For instance, one ezine may have 50,000 subscribers but on average only 200 people ever bother to open the issue, and even fewer bother to read it. A different ezine may have 1000 subscribers, but most of them eagerly await it and read it from start to finish.

* The day the ezine goes out — are you competing with a bunch of other ezines, all published on the same day? Holidays, or holiday periods, will work better for some types of businesses (such as those that sell gift items) and much worse for others (such as those that sell business-to-business products or services).

* How many ads and of what type the ezine runs. Most people don’t like to be inundated with ads… and the more ads they receive, the more immune they become to them — the “delete” key becomes a favorite way to clear out the mailbox without being forced to read advertisements.

Consider this: many ezine editors won’t sell advertising — why would they, when they can run their own ads and make much more money?

That isn’t to say that all ezines that offer ad sales are poor quality. Obviously that’s not true. Some businesses prefer the more stable income from ad sales.

Do your research prior to choosing an ezine. One site that offers a small selection of ezines that are auction off ad space to the highest bidder is EzineAdAuction. They list primarily business and marketing ezines, but occasionally you’ll find others as well.

[Note: although some of the ads are quite cheap, don't force it if it doesn't fit! You're not getting a "good deal" if the readers' aren't interested in what you're offering]

Make sure the ezine you’re considering collects their subscribers ethically. That means no harvesting of email addresses or other questionable methods. A double opt-in method is preferred (it forces people to confirm their subscriptions prior to adding them to the list). Subscribe yourself, to see how it’s handled and to read a copy of the ezine.

To combat the risk of losing money on an ad that doesn’t work, there are alternatives you can try:

* Barter for ad space if you have your own ezine. If you don’t, you can trying bartering ezine ad space for web ad space.

* Write an article and offer it for reprint. Include a link back to your site in your resource box. This has the advantage of building your credibility while promoting your business.

* Offer a complimentary copy of your product or service in exchange for a review from the editor.

Use your imagination! Promotion doesn’t always come down to parting with dollars… there are other ways to earn publicity without out-of-pocket expenses.

Ezine ads may be an affordable way to reach a large audience quickly, and often relatively cheaply.

However, print publications still tend to have more credibility than an emailed publication. Why not try your hand there? Print ads are another topic for another time, but just briefly:

* Start small. Many print publications offer relatively cheap classified ads, or business card-sized ads. Run a few and monitor the response. Like it? Then figure out whether the cost of a larger ad (or a color ad) is worth the expected increase in response.

* Approach smaller or new publications. Many are just starting their search for an advertising base, and you may be able to negotiate a discount. Some may even be open to a barter arrangement, ie. an ad in their publication for some ad space on your website (assuming you have the traffic to support it, of course).

If you need artwork for a print publication, Rent-A-Coder is a good place to look.

Generally speaking, there are still some good values to be had in terms of ezine advertising — but you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to find them, and back it up with the funds to experiment.

A big problem lies in whether or not the ezine actually gets read. People get so much junk mail these days that the delete key is their friend. Assuming that the ezine even makes it past their email filters, they may not recognize it immediately and accidentally delete it. There are lots of reasons why an ezine may not be read. That’s why print media is something to consider in order to supplement your online marketing efforts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The Online Business Basics website offers free marketing tips and articles for beginners to the ‘net. Visit www.onlinebusinessbasics.com for more tips on how to effectively market your business on a limited budget.

Originally published August, 2004

Posted December 1st, 2009

“5 Ways to Use Testimonials in Your Marketing”

Author: Katrina Sawa

This is an obvious message for some of you but is it for all of you? Are there areas you’re missing in your marketing where you could be utilizing testimonials in order to give you, your business and your products and services more credibility?

Using testimonials in your marketing in various ways is a F.R.E.E. way to compel people to buy from you so you really want to maximize your efforts.

First of course you have to HAVE testimonials to show. If you don’t have any then ASK your customers for them. If they drag their heels in getting them to you on their own then offer to write them for them if you have to and let them review and approve them. If you have customers that are business owners, offer to showcase their testimonial with their picture and website link on your website or in your ezine and they’ll get added exposure for their business just for helping you out.

If you have customers that want to keep their involvement with you kept secret or the services you provide are more embarrassing for many to admit to using for example then try getting testimonials from vendors, referral sources or other means for other things.

5 Ways to use Testimonials in Your Marketing:

1. Ezines
You may always want to put a testimonial in your ezines because it could be the only thing your subscribers see about you every once in a while. Whether they read every single issue or only one once in a while, if you always have a testimonial in them then that ONE day that ONE person decides to think about taking action with your products or services from one of your ezines it could very well help them make their decision if you have a really great testimonial in it.
Notice I always have a testimonial in my ezines right below the featured article, whether I wrote the article or if I’m using a guest article, it doesn’t matter. I trade them out about every 3 ezines in case you didn’t notice…I do have many and collect them all the time for this reason.

2. Website
You should always have testimonials on your website and I say it’s better to sprinkle them all over the site, on every page in boxes or side columns so they stand out rather than just putting them all on ONE testimonial page (which you can still have but put them everywhere too).

3. Direct Mail
You want to use testimonials even in your direct mailing like on oversized postcards, letters and flyers or anything you send to add credibility to whatever you’re trying to sell. (P.S. Hopefully you ARE still doing direct mail as a means of follow up even if you’re doing email marketing too!!)

4. Marketing Materials
You can put testimonials on your brochures (if you still have them), your handouts, flyers and anything in print you use to promote your business with. Testimonials are actually more important to show here than bullet points of your products or services; those should be on your website because most people will look at your website before taking action with you anyway and one marketing piece sure isn’t going to sell them. So use testimonials to give them an incentive to actually go to your site for more info.

5. Ads
If you’re still doing some sort of traditional advertising (it’s still a good way to market for some businesses, but typically not entrepreneurs like coaches, consultants, etc.) then the same thing goes for testimonials in your ads like I mentioned in #4 above. People are less likely these days to buy your stuff from an ad but your ad if done well and compelling enough could lead them to your website where you can get them on the list and encourage them more to take action.

Another thing to consider when gathering your testimonials is to try getting them in other formats rather than just the written word. You can have your customer read their testimonial into an audio recording service with their phone even. You can videotape your clients when you meet with them or have them videotape themselves and send you the file. With videos then you can even upload them to your YouTube, MySpace and Facebook profiles in addition to your website.

The more creative you can get the more they will work for you.

My favorite thing to do whenever I can is to brainstorm with entrepreneurs on how they can design, update, recreate or shift their businesses and implement new marketing strategies in order to be happier, live a more fulfilled life and do the things they are passionate about that can make them a very good living if set up correctly.

What is YOUR favorite thing to do for ‘work’? Are you doing that or do YOU need to make a shift?

About the Author:

(c) Copyright 2009 K. Sawa Marketing International. Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Relationship Marketing Coach who’s helped hundreds of small business owners take dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next level in business, revenues and life. Go online now to get started with her Free Report and Free Audio at http://www.jumpstartyourmarketing.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – “5 Ways to Use Testimonials in Your Marketing”

Posted December 1st, 2009

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