Tag: marketing
Marketing to Marketers
Marketing to other marketers to make it easier to make money is great but many of the buyers never use the products and just try to pawn them off on other marketers. So you wind up with all these people selling scripts, programs, eBooks, and more to other online marketers and they profess how great they are without ever using them. They are just trying to make a buck as an affiliate of someone else’s idea.
I am all for new marketing ideas especially the ones that automate tedious tasks. I love submitting articles and use an auto submitter. RSS feeds provide news to my sites. Automatically creating links to Clickbank items based on keywords in my blogs is a godsend.
But, to me, if people donít use these products and just pimp them to others, they are missing out on the long term benefits for a quick buck.
I admit that I have done this in the past and may do it again in the future ñ but ñ I only sell products that I actually use and approve. That way I can actually vouch for them since I have used them and can speak from personal experience.
Personally, I prefer to market to the average Internet Joe. I market to people who are looking for a deal on a credit card (and I use a super script to keep my site current). I recommend hotels in Thailand and can speak from first-hand experience. I post links to hotels in Thailand forums and also have 6 Thai affiliate hotel sites.
I also write articles about Thailand and list my hotel affiliate links in the author’s resource box. These are pretty easy to write since I have been traveling to Thailand for over 30 years.
I also write the occasional marketing or credit article to get some traffic to those sites. I have about 10 article sites and advertise on those sites that others submit their articles to.
I would rather make a few bucks marketing a product to people who are actually going to use it instead of marketing to someone who is only going to try to sell it to someone else.
All of this is just my personal opinion. There is nothing morally wrong or illegal of marketing to marketers. I use many of the items that are up for sale, especially those that make my life a little bit easier.
The one thing that I do object to is the folks that market to others and make false or misleading statements indicating that they use the product and how wonderful it is when they have never used it and just want to make a buck.
Anyhow, keep coming up with all those great products that marketers can use to make our lives easier. Just market them honestly.
Please fill in the The Complete Speaking Business Assessment for free assessment
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
How to Market and Price Your Ebook
You’ve written and compiled an ebook. Now you have to
decide how much to charge for it. Finding the right
price is essential to the success of your product. If
you charge too little, people will think it’s of
little value, and they won’t purchase it, or even it
they do buy your book, you will have to sell thousands
of copies to get to the point where you can begin to
see a profit. If you price it too high when compared
with your competition, you will find yourself steadily
lowering the price, which will cause you all kinds of
new problems in the future. For example, if you sell
your ebook at first for $39.99, and later reduce it to
$24.95, don’t you think the people who bought it for
$39.99 are going to be PISSED?
Choosing the right price for your ebook is one of the
most critical parts of the marketing process. The
first rule of pricing ebooks is to never underprice.
Determine the highest price your audience can afford,
and then if you find your book isn?t selling, you can
always reduce the price. Before you take that step,
make sure you are promoting your book like crazy on
the Internet and on websites. The price should be
aimed at bringing in profits, but you should never
forget that price is one of the factors that people
use in judging the value of your ebook ? before they
buy it. So always start with the highest price, and
then launch a mega-marketing campaign.
Pricing an ebook is particularly difficult because
ebooks are a fairly new commodity. Since they are
digital, the value of an ebook is as confusing as the
understanding of what digital actually is to the
average layperson. This means that we must look at
ebooks in a different light in order to determine
their actual worth in this brave, new cyber world.
Let’s look at the difference between a book in print
and an ebook. A printed book is an object you can hold
in your hand, store on your bookshelf, even hand down
to the next generation. It is priced on factors such
as paper stock, design and production costs, and
marketing.
But the fact that unites ebooks and print books is
that they are composed of ideas. It is the ideas in
these books that have the ability to change, or
possibly transform, people’s lives.
What do you think an idea is worth when evaluated
against the cost of paper and ink?
It is the IDEAS that are valuable! That is how you
determine the cost of your ebook.
What should I charge for my ideas?
There are all different formulas and methods for
determining the correct price for your ebook. Let’s
begin with honing in on your ultimate goals.
Decide if your goal is to get wide distribution and
maximum exposure. This goal is aimed at drawing
customers to your business or service, or to
establishing the credibility of your reputation. If
this is your main goal, you should aim to keep your
price on the low side. Some authors have even priced
their ebooks at a profit loss to draw a high number of
new customers. The key is to find a price that
maximizes your profits and the number of books you
sell.
This is an excellent pricing strategy if you are
looking to acquire long-term customers. Long-term
customers are extremely likely to buy from you again
and again ? as long as the first ebook they buy is of
exceptional quality and beneficial to the customer.
However, if your book contains valuable ? and more
importantly NEW information, references, or techniques
? then you should aim to price it on the high end.
After you figure out your goal, you must figure out
what your audience’s need is for your ebook. For
example, does your book solve a particular problem? If
it does, and solves it in a way that hasn’t been
written about in one hundred other ebooks, you will be
able to achieve high sales at a high price. If your
book solves a problem or answers questions in a new
and unique way, you should price your book as high as
you can go. You will achieve larger profits this way,
but bring in fewer customers. Just make sure the
question or problem that your book solves is one that
is important and relevant to the majority of your
market audience. If your ideas are not common
knowledge, or you are presenting a brand new
technique, you will be able to sell books at a high
price. Just be prepared for your competition to
undercut you on price as soon as they hear about your
book.
Keep in mind that the above pricing strategy is
temporary. Eventually, you will cease to sell books at
this high price. So figure out in advance how long you
plan to offer your ebook at this high price, and when
that time is up, change your pricing strategy.
If you want to see large profits over customer draw,
aim for an audience that is looking for easy solutions
to their problems at a low price. If your book is
aimed at solving one particular problem rather than
general advice, then you can charge more. Start at the
highest price the market will bear to bring in the
largest profits, and plan to discount the book a
number of times throughout the year.
Marketing Strategies
The key that unlocks the sales potential of your ebook
is to find a single sentence that becomes your selling
handle. This sentence states what question or problem
your book answers and the benefits your ebook can
provide. Then be sure to use that sentence in every
piece of sales and promotional material, and every
time anyone asks you about your ebook.
Besides promoting your books assiduously online, there
are several other strategies that can help you sell
more books.
One is to give something away for free with your book,
such as a valuable bonus item. Or bundle several
ebooks under one price, which lowers the price for
each ebook if they were sold separately.
An effective technique for figuring out a price is to
send out a survey to your current customers. If these
customers have already bought an ebook from you, ask
for their opinion in terms of price. Do this by
creating a sales page for the new book, but don’t
include a price on that page. Instead, add a number of
links to survey questions that ask pointed questions
to aid you in assigning a price to your ebook.
Another strategy is to test out prices by creating a
number of duplicate sales pages with different prices
on each page. Make sure your sales copy is exactly the
same on every page, and includes your selling-handle
sentence. Then figure out for each page the conversion
ratio between visitors to your site and sales of your
book. This will tell you what your optimum price is.
Ultimately, if you’ve written a book that solves a
problem or presents a new technique, your book will
bring in both traffic and profits. So be sure to write
that selling-handle sentence that sums up what problem
your book solves and what the benefits of your book
will be to the customers who purchase it. And then
watch your market come to you!
Please fill in the The Complete Speaking Business Assessment for free assessment
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
Are You Missing Out Without Online Marketing?
Just about every business can benefit to some degree from online marketing. If you’re not online you could be missing out on a huge potential customer base. This article gives you some reasons to really consider why you should use internet marketing.
If you are not already marketing your business online, it is time to start. Although there are a few exceptions, just about every business can benefit from online marketing. There are just so many advantages to this type of marketing. First of all, it is extremely affordable to market your business online. Other advantages to marketing your business online include the ability to reach a large target audience, the ability to reach potential customers all over the world and the ability to customize the marketing for different sectors of the target audience.
The affordability of Internet marketing is one of many reasons why many business owners are turning to the Internet for advertising. Advertising online is incredibly affordable especially when you consider how many potential customers a business owner can reach with an online marketing campaign. Most methods of online advertising are quite affordable and some of them do not have any direct costs. For example, you may choose to market your business online by participating in industry forums and posting links to your website whenever it is appropriate to do so. In this case the cost of creating and maintaining the website is insignificant in comparison to the number of potential clients you could reach through online marketing. Additionally, the costs associated with posting links to your website are incidental. You could consider the cost of having access to the Internet as part of the cost but you most likely require Internet access for other reasons as well so it is completely worthwhile.
Reaching a large target audience is another very worthwhile reason for marketing your business online. You may have spent a great deal of time and energy doing market research and determine who your target audience is. You may have also spent a great deal of time trying to figure out the best way to reach this audience. This is a very sound marketing principle but as it applies to marketing on local television, radio and print media it only allows you to reach a limited audience. However, when you take your marketing to the Internet you automatically drastically increase your potential target audience because you now have the ability to reach members of your target audience around the world.
This ability to reach customers around the world is another major advantage to marketing your business online. Regardless of where you live and operate your business, you have the ability to reach those who have an interest in the products you sell or the services you provide no matter where they live. This makes it possible for you to do business with customers around the world.
Likewise the fact that the Internet is available 24 hours a day is also very beneficial to those who choose to market their products or services online. Shopping for products and services in person can be very difficult especially for individuals who work long hours or those who work unusual hours. These working conditions make it difficult for these individuals to do business and make purchases of products and services they need during regular business hours. However, business owners who have an online presence are much more convenient because unlike stores and calling centers, the website never closes. This convenience gives potential customers the ability to view products and services, compare these products and service to the ones offered by competitors and make a purchase at any hour of any day.
If you are a business owner who is reading this article and you do not already have a strong online presence, you need to immediately start learning more about the world of Internet marketing. This is so important because if your competitors are marketing online, you may find they are gaining a steady advantage and are becoming more appealing to potential customers. Before too many of your potential customers become loyal customers of the competition it is time to start figuring out how you can market your business online and keep up with the competition.
Please fill in the The Complete Speaking Business Assessment for free assessment
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
Ebooks Are Raking It In
Have you always wanted an unlimited income that you didn’t have to leave the comfort of your own home for? Have you ever thought about becoming a writer, and publishing books? Well, many people have become well-known authors, and have made quite a bit of money writing books, but it seems that even more are making a lot more money writing ebooks.
Ebooks can be a very valuable asset. Let me just list a few of the reasons why they have become so popular. First of all, paper books take what seems an eternity to get published, not to mention that it costs quite a bit of money in printing, and postage, and handling, and stuff. Ebooks do not have a publishing cost, plus ebooks are digital. They can be emailed to your client directly, or they can download the ebook from your website, giving them instant gratification, which everyone loves. They are also digitally stored, so you don’t have all kinds of books cluttering up your house.
Ebooks also stay there, on the internet, indefinately, if you will, making money for you, while you sit back, on the beach, contemplating what you will be writing your next ebook about. That’s right, you can just relax while your ebook sits on your website, making you money. Many people are just raking in the dough from ebooks today. But, you will need to use some tools (there are links on my website to access these tools) to make sure that there is enough traffic being directed to your site.
There are all sorts of ways to bring traffic to your site, like writing articles, (like the one written here), using autoresponders, and buying mailing lists. My mentors, whom I have links to on my website, offer many tools and tips for driving traffic to your site. One tip is to build the customers trust, by offering plenty of free stuff. Free PDF files are a hot item to offer for free, because people can pass them around freely, appealing to more of a mass market. And any computer with Adobe Reader, (which can be downloaded for free), can read these types of files.
PDF files are also considered valuable to search engines, thus making it easier for customers to find your site.
There are many other ways to get traffic to your site, and many other methods of making money online, but writing ebooks is one of the easiest, and most profitable ways. For more information, please go to my website, and check out my links. If you register with my site, I will send you some simply amazing reports, with tons of invaluable information, all for FREE! Go there now! Take the step, learn something new. Learn something proven to make money!
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
I am the BRAND on online search engines
For the last 10+ years, many companies approached me and promise a better ranking for Google search and to get my link in the first page. This is the goal of many companies, which may be good.
Over the last two weeks, I was building my website and I deployed my experience on website development and social media.
I was able to get my name in all links in the first 2 pages of google search and at least 8 out of 10 links in pages 3 – 12 of the search engine. I am now the brand who can appear 105 times out of 120 result link.
I was able to be dominating the top 27search result out About 130,000 results, It basically demonstrate and I am listed in 134 out of the top 160 and I should conclude that I am the BRAND.
Similar results are achieved on Yahoo and BING, and the following images. The following 17 images prove that my name dominates the top 16 pages search result and the following 2 images show the first pages of Ping and Yahoo search,
Can you do me a favour, search my name “Wael Badawy“ from your end on google.com, yahoo.com and bing.com and write in the comment if you find me that I am the Brand in your search
Newbies Tips, Definitions, Download pages, and E-books
Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.
IS A….
COMPUTER: That thing thatís really clever but doesnít understand anything you tell it to do! It looks like a TV, but if you spend enough time in front of it, you will make money from it.
ISP: Internet Service Provider
SERVER: A computer that stores web page files and makes them available to the internet.
DNS: Domain Name Server, The address of the server, it looks like this ###.###.###.### or this, NS1.XXXXXXXX.COM (XXX = a word, and ### = a number)
DOMAIN:Is a unique set of characters used to identify a piece of cyberspace. These characters are called a ëDOMAIN NAMEí, NO TWO CAN BE THE SAME. They look like MMM.XXXXXX.com/net/web,etc..( MMM = www)
PARKED DOMAIN:A Domain name that has been registered but hasnít been HOSTED.
HOSTING: The service that provides a SERVER for a DOMAIN.
So we can see that a DOMAIN can be HOSTED on a SERVER and then files can be added to the ëDOMAINí and this will give you aÖ..
WEBSITE: All the files hosted on a server and are available on the internet using the unique ëDOMAIN NAMEí
WEBPAGE: Any ONE of the Files (pages) on a WEBSITE they each have an NAME that comes after the DOMAIN NAME. Like this; MMM.XXXX.com/NAME
URL: The address of any WEBPAGE
HTML: Is the base language from which web pages are made.
SOURCE CODE: Is HTML
Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.
How do I make my hyperlink open in a new window and why do I want that to happen?
HEREîS HOW in response to a question I received recently about creating a ëDownload pageí
It answers the above questions and gives some other valuable tips.
TIP #1
Hi, I clicked on your XXXXX link and found that it worked fine. However, it loaded the XXXXX page in the same window as yours, so I was taken away from your download page, very inconvenient for someone trying to download.
To fix it do this: Add ìtarget=_blankî into the code after the URL. Make sure you save your original page first and work on a copy, then when your copy is done upload it and test it, then save it as the original on your desk top, then upload the new original to your server. Done!
(In this example I use [ ] instead of V brackets, to make this publishable.)
Tip #2
Hereís a friendly way make prospects SAVE YOUR EBOOK full of your links on their computer.
If you don’t do this they might just look at the ebook in their browser and then close it. You will have lost them maybe for ever, but if you made them save it onto their hard drive; you will always get another chance, even if they remove themselves from your mailing list. The links are still in the E book on their computer, and who knows when they might open it again and go click!
HEREíS HOW: Just use this as a guide.
Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook. Then Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can easily find it. Make a note of the location that you’ve saved it to so you can easily access it again in the future.
NOTE: Add the “target=_blank” code to the “right click here” link, so that if they just left click and load to their browser at least your download page (with a link back to home) is still on their desk top!
WHY HAVE LINKS OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW?
Adding “target=_blank” to all links on a home page will keep the home page on the prospects desk top for as long as possible this will increase the chances of a sign up!
WARNING!!! DONíT use the code to open a new window on links back to your home page this will just annoy people.
Below, is a complete template for a typical download page. I have used ëí to indicate the hyperlinks. You should use ìtarget=_blankî on all links except the one that takes them home.
TEMPLATE
Step One: You will need XXsoftwareXX to read the E-book. If you do not have it installed on your computer, Please ëCLICK HEREí to get the software.
Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook.
Step Three: Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can find it easily. Make a note of the location where you saved it, so that you can easily access it again in the future.
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
PDF to Success while Selling E-books
Learn why giving away PDF’s can boost your Ebook website sales.
Having a successful online E-book business means more than just selling E-books. It means giving the customer great value, great quality, and gaining their trust by giving away valuable information in free PDF files.
So, what is a PDF file? A PDF file is a computer file type that stands for portable document format. Essentially it gives people a free way to share articles and documents, so that everyone can read them on any type of computer. Youíll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read PDFís. Nowadays most people have this free reader already installed on their systems. PDFís also offer the advantage that they are indexed by search engines, as they look at PDFís as more valuable than web content. So, it is likely that the more PDFís you have, the easier it will be for customers to find your site.
By giving away free PDF files that contain valuable information, you automatically build trust into your products. Your prospective customers will very likely have to pay for the information in your PDFís elsewhere, so they feel that they are getting a deal. Furthermore, PDFís help to potentially mass market your website, because they are free to be passed around. PDFís can be emailed and distributed around the internet, so if there is valuable information in them, it is highly likely they will spread like wildfire, through emails, groups, chat rooms and web forums. This viral effect of PDF distribution has a huge potential to help drive tons of traffic to your website.
Lastly, try using the concept of delivering more than your product promises. After one has purchased your product, offer them an unexpected free PDF that includes information that has high value. This will build in greater customer satisfaction and people will likely spread the word.
Wishing you Success!
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
Be Imaginative
Whatís the easiest way to kill a great ad campaign before it even begins? Take it too seriously. Advertising is not rocket science. You shouldnít need a degree in the physical sciences to create or understand an ad.
And you should never, ever, under any circumstances, kill an ad because it is not literal enough. On the contrary, if you find your ads are too literal, you should destroy them all and start fresh.
Are Volkswagens flawed pieces of junk? No, but an ad with the headline ìLemonî gets your attention, doesnít it? It makes you want to read the story, which goes on to explain how the particular car shown in the ad would never be driven because VW cares so much it weeds out the lemons so you never get a bad car. Think what an opportunity would have been missed if the folks at Volkswagen had taken that headline too literally.
Think about it from this angle. Why do people read an ad or watch a commercial? The majority do so because they find them entertaining and informative. If your ads are all information and no entertainment, youíve wasted your budget.
This is not to say that an ad should be created purely for entertainment purposes. Again, a great ad is both entertaining and informative. The entertainment value should be derived from a feature of your product or brand. In other words, what youíre selling should be the star of the show. Sounds simple enough, but it is often hard to strike the right balance. Thatís what makes advertising so fun.
How much information does your audience really need? What kind of story will they find entertaining? These are questions that should be asked and answered early on so that when you finally are presented with an ad or a campaign, you can judge the work according to these preordained guidelines.
A good campaign will reach your target audience and talk to them on a personal level. This has a valuable effect on your sales and reputation. A great advertising campaign will do more than that. It will create a buzz outside of your target audience.
Apple Computerís ì1984î commercial ran only once. But it is still one of the most talked about commercials because it was rebroadcast on every major news show and written about in every major newspaper for weeks and months. And none of this cost Apple anything more than a single TV buy.
Itís worth noting that Appleís Super Bowl commercial helped make the company a household name and created unbelievable demand for the new Macintosh computer-yet the ad never showed the product or explained any details about it.
BMWís Mini Cooper was one of the first cars to be introduced in the United States with no TV advertising. Blasphemy! Instead, they bolted the Minis to the roofs of SUVs and drove them around major cities. They created tongue-in-cheek billboards, interactive print ads and great guerrilla promotions. Most importantly, they created a waiting list of customers who couldnít wait to get a Mini.
Companies that think bigger become bigger. Itís a self-fulfilling cycle. If you just think like a local operation, you might miss the opportunity to expand regionally, nationally, or even internationally. Your advertising campaign should reflect the direction of your companyóeven if youíre not yet there.
Challenge yourself and your agency to think bigger
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
The magic price to market your ebook.
Have you ever wondered why all those products on TV all cost $19.95? How about why used car dealers…excuse me, “preowned” car dealers offer $199 down $199 a month?
It’s an often used and very successful marketing concept. The idea is that certain numbers set off alarm bells in a buyers mind and by shaving a penny or two off the price we can avoid these alarm bells. A person will wrinkle his brow and wonder if that fancy kitchen gadget is worth $20, but he will be franticly dialing the phone credit card in hand for the low low price of $19.95. What a bargain.
Believe it or not sales figures seem to support this idea. Shave a few pennies off the round dollar amount and people are more likely to buy from a TV ad, however this doesn’t work in all forms of marketing.
When buying in person people appear to prefer round numbers. For instance. I have a friend who sells knockoff tennis shoes at flea markets. Don’t laugh. He quit his regular job because he makes more in a weekend at the flea market than he did in a 40 hour week.
Anyway he dicovered that the magic price for knockoff tennis shoes at a flea market is $20. Any more and buyers huff and go “I might as well go to the shoe store for these prices.” Any less and they question the quality of the shoes, Look them over again and agian, then walk away without buying.
I won’t make a value judgement about peoples’ behavior. The object is to make sales, not judge your customers right? The simple fact is for every product and service there is a magic price that a customer will readily pay with almost no selling on your part.
I won’t even try to guess why, but for ebooks that price appears to be $7. You have probably by now seen the rash of $7 dollar ebooks everywhere. On marketing web sites and blogs and all over the web. For some unknown reason $5 is too low and 8$ is too high.
Does it really matter why? As marketers we don’t need to question why. We find what sells and stick with it until it doesn’t sell anymore.
If the public will pay $7 without flinching who am I to question them?
Maybe it’s because $5 is not a lot of money these days. So if it cost $5 it must not be any good or it would cost more. But then $10 is double digits. Hold on here $10, I could get two fast food lunches for that.
Okay, I am guessing why, but the point is, $7 is the magic price for an ebook. At least for now it is.
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
You must be logged in to post a comment.