Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Emotional Motivator 2

The second Emotional Motivator is Love. It is also the need to connect, socially, emotionally, sexually. This is a powerful motivator because of the fact that we are becoming more and more disconnected from one another. We now have more ways to connect with one another than at any time in history, yet at the same time we are also a socially disconnected society.

When you clearly demonstrate how your product or service offering can help connect people, you're more likely to have a winning marketing piece.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Emotional Motivator 1

The first Emotional Motivator is Fear. People will take action when they fear the consequences of not taking action. The more fear you can build into your advertising, the more response you will receive for your marketing efforts.

Scarcity marketing is a prominent example. It is based on the fear of missing out on something that you're offering. When you limit your offer either by time, quantity, or some other factor, you are leveraging on this fear.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

5 Emotional Motivators

Emotional Motivators must be employed in every contact point with prospects. Press their emotional button to help them make their buying decision.

Emotional Motivator 1 - Fear

Keyswords :-

- Don't miss out
- Don't be left out
- Only a limited number will be sold
- Protect
- Secure
- Ends soon
- Won't last
- Supplies are limited
- Only 24 hrs to take advantage
- Only 10 people will be accepted
- Missing out could cost you

Emotional Motivator 2 - Love (Connection, Sex)

Keyswords :-

- Join us
- Network with others
- Meet people just like you
- Be a part of
- Connection
- Meet your soul mate
- Relationship
- Intimate
- Seductive
- Sensual
- Sexy

Emotional Motivator 3 - Freebies & Bargains

Keyswords :-

- Free
- Free offer
- Free trial
- Free bonus
- No cost
- Half price
- Save
- Sale
- Prices slashed
- 24 hr sale

Emotional Motivator 4 - Effortless Moneymaking

Keyswords :-

- Make money while you sleep
- So easy even a fifth grader can do it
- Make one sale, get paid again and again
- Effortless
- You could win
- Enter to win
- Nothing to do
- We do it all for you
- Your computer does all the work

Emotional Motivator 5 - Making dreams come true

Keyswords :-

- Live your dream
- Own the house of your dreams
- Meet the man/woman of your dreams
- The solution you have been dreaming about is here
- You can have it all
- You don't have to wait to retire
- Run your business from the beach
- Turn your dreams into reality

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Building Online Credibility

Credibility is defined as the quality or power of inspiring belief. In the arena of internet marketing, credibility is vital.

The first step toward building online credibility is to ‘choose your fight’. Avoid clashing with the established internet super markerteers. Narrow your market by choosing a sub-niche.

The credibility that you can build be offering a free report to be given away for free on your website is an invaluable asset. A report of 10 to 12 pages should suffice. Relevant tips :-
- You need an attention getting headline
- Your report should contain vital and timely information, but not all of it
- Use bold type for sub-titles and make your point in one paragraph; never more than 2 paragraphs
- Include links to products that you are selling that will provide more information on subject matters covered in the report
- Include links to potential joint venture partners and make sure they receive a copy of your report

Publishing your e-zine and submitting them to e-zine directories is a great way to build your online credibility. However, understand that it is a very time consuming ongoing project.

Writing and marketing articles on your niche topic is one of the best, fastest and free way of gaining online credibility. Relevant tips :-
- Your articles must have an attention grabbing title that include the keywords for your niche market
- Your articles must have an attention grabbing first sentence of the first paragraph
- Your articles must be rich in keywords for your niche market
- Your articles must have contain pertinent and timely information that your readers find value in
- Your resource box must contain your full name, contact details, copyright information, and links to your website

The internet is all about information. No matter what your niche market is or what product or services you are selling, you are selling information along with it.

Branding is one of the most effective way first achieving and then leveraging on your credibility on the internet. You can either create a logo or use your own name.

Write and submit e-books to e-book directories. Allow them to be downloaded and redistributed. Your URL should be on the title page and every page of the e-book.

Niche interest forums is another source pool; but careful not to charge in and immediately advertise though… you will more likely than not be banned!

Do not be shy to ask for testimonials and permission to quite them. These word of mouth advertisements are priceless!

Attend seminars to network and enhance visibility.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Product Creation

Idea to Product Development Process :-

1) Start Logging Needs
a. Instead of convincing the mkt to like your product, offer a product you already know they want and can use.
b. This decreases eventual sales resistance.
2) Brainstorm
a. Apply creativity at this stage. Do not censor.
3) Cull Options
a. Let the initial ideas simmer for a while so as to regain objectivity.
b. Identify those that have some basis in reality.
4) Research the Remains
a. Size up the competition. Identify their weakness and eliminate it in your offering.
5) Finalize Project Blueprint
a. Point of decision. Errors at this point can translate into costly mistakes that waste time and money.
b. Learn to outsource if you lack the time or expertise, or if things need to move fast to enjoy first mover advantage.
c. It is essential to keep your goals in mind when creating your product. Retain a focus on the true function of the product at all times. Keep it simple.
d. Think like a user. The product must retain its usability.
e. Think like a user.
6) Test the Product
a. Test systems and processes to eliminate glitches.
b. Approach a small group to review your product and come up with feedback, suggestions, and testimonials.
c. Get permission to use these testimonials. Ask for rewrites if necessary.
7) Pitfalls to Avoid
a. Resist shortcuts.
b. Don’t stay on the treadmill too long.
c. Don’t put the cart before the horse. No high impact sales and marketing effort will save a poor product creation. In fact, customer dissatisfaction will damage your marketing career in the long run.
8) Price Testing
a. Sell same product at different prices to different markets or at different times to test which is the optimal price to bring in the best revenue and profits.
b. Also, high volume with lesser gross revenue may be desirable if it can lead to backend sales.
9) Product Delivery
a. Product must get to the hands of the customer in good condition.
b. It should not be easily replicable and resold.
10) Final check
a. Get a third party to do a final check before launch.
11) Guarantee
a. Guarantees increase credibility.
b. They also induce a ‘fence-sitter’ to make a purchase decision.
c. A disatisfied customer who got his money back will not spread bad things about you.
d. Keep all warrantees to the product itself, unrelated to the way it is used.
e. Never promise anything out of your immediate control.
f. You can guarantee the originality of your product, and that it will live up to every representation in the sales copy.
g. Include ‘Terms of Use’.
h. Despite all these, understand that your guarantee of money back will still be subject to abuse by a minority.
12) Enhance Product Value
a. Include backend sales opportunities.
13) The Money is in The List
a. Always find a way to build your list. These are invaluable for future product launches.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Free Marketing Resources

Some free marketing resources to look into are :-

1) Link Exchanges

2) Banner Exchanges

3) Search Engine Placement

Action Plan

This is a sample action plan flow chart :-

1. Decide on a target market.

2. Research and price suppliers for products and services in demand by that target market.

3. Decide on the products and services to be offered.

4. Investigate production, fulfilment, or other issues specific to your product.

5. Work out roles, obligations, and agreement with partners or staff.

6. Brainstorm company names and URLs.

7. Research and register URLs appropriate to your new company's activities or products.

8. Set up company email accounts for yourself, plus separate email accounts for customer service and any partner or staff.

9. Create or commission a logo and graphics to use when customizing your website template.

10. Consider whether incorporation, copyright/trademark registrations, insurance, business licences, bank accounts, or other administrative issues need attention.

11. Diagram the website for the business on paper.

12. Apply for a credit card merchant account, if appropriate.

13. Write the copy for each page of your new site; prepare your copy using Microsoft Word so that it will be ready for cut and paste into the website template.

14. Build your website using a design template.

15. Create a privacy policy.

16. Build an online store to showcase products and services for sale.

17. Develop an inexpensive plan to test your new business online.

18. Set up an account with an email marketing list management service.

19. Create banner ads for use on Microsoft's Banner Network or elsewhere.

20. Have friends review and test your website and online store.

21. Soft-launch the site to the public to do free testing and receive feedback.

22. Begin marketing!

Reality Check

Go through the checklist to find out how viable is your e-business idea:-

- What is the sales pitch for your e-business?

- What value are you adding?

- Is there real demand for your offering?

- Does your target market want your offering bad enough to pay?

- Is there any history of people paying for similar offerings?

- Is there any company that do similar things successful today?

- How large is the potential customer base?

- Who are your competitors?

- How will you be different?

- How much money and time can you afford to invest in this venture?

- How long can you sustain that level of involvement?

- What is the minimum time commitment you'll need to get the business to suceed?

- What is the minimum amount of revenue you'll need for this business to support you?

- If the business were to go really well, what is the most money you think you could make?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Shopping Cart

Considerations for installing shopping cart software :-

- are easy for shopper to use

- are easy for you to install on your website

- offer easy visibility of the cart's content

- make it easy for shopper to add/subtract goods

- display the current total cost of cart items, including shipping n sales tax

Web Hosting

Considerations for choosing a web hosting service provider :-

- Fees : upfront vs monthly vs usage based

- Contract Length : best deals usually come with a contract for 1 yr or more

- Traffic Limit : traffic and storage allowance? What do overages cost you?

- Scalability : will it crash with an unexpected surge of visitors?

- Uptime Guarantee : what is the penalty if these guarantees are not met?

- Data transferability : is it difficult to retrieve files from the company to transfer to new host?

- Security : is it hacker proof?

- Included Services : traffic reports? website building tools?

Domain Name Registration

Pick a domain name that is easy to remember and that reflects the nature of your business.

When sourcing for a domain name registrar, take the following into consideration :-

- Cost of URLs
- Ease of access to technical settings
- Free domain forwarding
- Free domain locking
- Free email accounts
- Ease of transfers to other registrars
- Technical support

Leveraging on ASP

Do not be intimidated by the technological aspects of running an internet marketing campaign. ASPs, or Application Service Providers can take care of that. We now have ASPs for

- Website Hosting
- Website Building
- Payment Processing
- Auto-responders n Email List Management
- Advertising Sales and Management
- etc

You must always focus on your very core creative new business ideas, for those are the components that contribute crucial value to transform lifeless software into a vibrant new million dollar e-business.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Selecting Your E-Business Model

The formula to selecting your e-business model, as precribed by Scott Fox in his wonderful book 'Internet Riches', can be summed up in the acronym 'ICICLE'.

'I' stands for your Interest and Ideas. The trick is to focus first on what you are passionate about so that every morning you're charge out of bed all excited to build your website into a multi-million dollar success.

'C' stands for your Customers. This is where you identify customer groups with whom your personal background suggests you would enjoy working and to whom you have something to offer.

The second 'I' stands for In-demand Product Identification. You need to research which products are most in demand, and follow that up by researching product suppliers and competitors online to get pricing.

The second 'C' stands for Competitive advantage. You need to analyse situation and personal resources to determine differentiating factors that could make your approach unique and profitable.

'L' stands for Leverage. You need to apply results of strategic analysis to the unique capabilities and reach of the internet.

'E' stands for E-Business Model for Your New Business. By compiling the results of the previous steps, you would be able to define the business model most suitable for you new business!!

3 Internet E-Business Models

"Internet Riches" by Scott Fox identified 3 Internet E-Business Models as follows:--

A) Efficiency Based E-Business

This model helps people and businesses do things faster, easier, or in more entertaining ways. EBay is one excellent example.

B) Product Based E-Business

This model connects buyers to sellers, with a product, service, or information as the focus. Under its umbrella we can also find resellers and brokers of products, services and information.

C) Niche Based E-Business

This model invloves marketing appropriately targetted products, services, or information to niche communities that addresses the needs of their specific lifestyles, hobbies, products, services, or industries. The need to interact amongst the members has to be catered to.

The Learning Journey Begins

This blog serves to document the learning journey of an Internet Marketer who has committed to mastering the game.