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December 25, 2006

10 Ways To Improve Your Ad Copy

Filed under: Marketing

1. You could decrease or increase the length of your ad copy. There is no rule on how long your ad copy should be unless space is a consideration. The ad should be long enough to sell your product.

2. You could add some sub headlines on your ad copy. Sub headlines act just like headlines; they grab the readers attention. They’ll keep the readers interested as they continue to read your ad.

3. You could ask your reader questions through out the ad copy. They will answer the questions in their own head as they read your ad copy. The questions you ask should persuade the reader into buying.

4. You could highlight keywords through out your ad copy. The keywords should be attractive to your target audience. You could highlight them with color, underlines, italics, etc.

5. You could bullet or indent your benefits on your ad copy. Must people won’t read a whole ad copy, so make your products benefits standout and you won’t lose the sales from all the skimmers.

6. You could change the size of your text on your ad copy. You want to make your text large enough so it’s not hard to read. You also want your headline and major points to be larger so they will standout.

7. You could raise or lower the price on your ad copy. A higher price could increase the perceived value of your product and a lower price could lesson your product’s value.

8. You could add proof of results on your ad copy. You should include testimonials, endorsements, and factual statistics to prove your product’s claims.

9. You could add special offers on your ad copy. It’s usually easier to sell the offer than the product. You could use discounts, free bonuses, volume sales, etc.

10. You could eliminate the hard-to-understand jargon on your ad copy. Unless your product calls for technical words, you want your ad to be read without people pulling out a dictionary.

December 18, 2006

10 Ways To Make Your Online Testimonials More Believable

Filed under: Marketing

1. PICTURES
Ask people if they would e-mail a picture with their testimonial. If they don’t have one scanned you could have them send their picture by mail and you could scan it. This technique will give your testimonials more credibility.

2. ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES
Most online testimonials you see have text signatures. You could have people mail their written signature, scan it, and upload it with their testimonial. People will feel the testimonial is more official.

3. ONLINE AUDIO
You could record people’s testimonials with a mini tape recorder over the phone, on your answering machine, or voice mail. Then you could convert the recording into a online audio file and upload it to your web site. You can find more information about converting audio recording’s by typing “real audio” at a search engine.

4. POSTCARDS
Have people mail you their testimonial on a postcard, scan it and upload it to your web site. This will give people proof that the testimonial isn’t fake because it will have a post mark on it.

5. PROFILES
Ask people to include a profile of themselves with their testimonial. You could just have them answer some questions like age, occupation, hobbies, favorite quote, etc. This will make your testimonials more entertaining to read.

6. HAND WRITTEN LETTERS
This is similar to the “electronic signature” tip. Scan and upload the entire written testimonial or letter to your web site. This will give your testimonials a feel of realism.

7. RECORDINGS
You could record peoples testimonials over the phone with a mini tape recorder. Then, take the recording and record it to an answering machine or voice mail system. Under each one, include a phone number they can call to hear the actual testimonial.

8. E-MAIL MESSAGES
When you get e-mail testimonials, publish the entire e-mail message instead of just the contents. It will be more believable because it will include the date, time, subject, who it’s from and who it’s to.

9. CONTACT INFORMATION
When you get testimonials from people, ask them if you could include their contact information under the testimonial. This will allow potential customers to ask your current customers questions about your product or service before they buy. Usually, they will trust them more than you.

10. ONLINE VIDEO
If some of the people who give you testimonials have a camcorder, ask them to record their testimonial on video and send it to you. Then you could convert the video to an online video file and upload it to your site. You can find more information about converting audio recording’s by typing “real video” at a search engine.

December 11, 2006

10 Effective Ways To Reduce Your Business Costs

Filed under: Marketing

1. Barter
If you have a business you should be bartering goods and services with other businesses. You should try to trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals usually require little or no money.

2. Network
Try networking your business with other businesses. You could trade leads or mailing lists. This will cut down on your marketing and advertising costs. You may also try bartering goods and services with them.

3. Wholesale/Bulk
You’ll save money buying your business supplies in bulk quantities. You could get a membership at a wholesale warehouse or buy them through a mail order wholesaler. Buy the supplies you are always running out of.

4. Free Stuff
You should try visiting the thousands of freebie sites on the internet before buying your business supplies. You can find free software, graphics, backgrounds, online business services etc.

5. Borrow/Rent
Have you ever purchased business equipment you only needed for a small period of time? You could have just borrowed the equipment from someone else or rented the equipment from a “rent-all” store.

6. Online/Offline Auctions
You can find lower prices on business supplies and equipment at online and offline auctions. I’m not saying all the time, but before you go pay retail for these items try bidding on them first.

7. Plan Ahead
Make a list of business supplies or equipment you’ll need in the future. Keep an eye out for stores that have big sales. Purchase the supplies when they go on sale before you need them.

8. Used Stuff
If  your business equipment and supplies don’t need to be new, buy them used. You can find used items at yard and garage sales, used stores, used stuff for sale message boards and newsgroups etc.

9. Negotiate
You should always try negotiate a lower price for any business equipment or supplies. It doesn’t hurt to try. Pretend you are talking to a salesman at a car lot.

10. Search
You can always be searching for new suppliers for your business supplies and equipment. Look for suppliers with lower prices and better quality. Don’t just be satisfied with a few.

December 4, 2006

10 Awesome Ways To Attract More Orders

Filed under: Marketing

1. Create a free ebook directory on a specific topic at your web site. People will visit your web site to read the free ebooks and may see your product ad.

2. Turn part of your web site into a members only web site. Instead of charging for access, use it as a free bonus for one of your products.

3. Add a free classified ad section to your web site. You could then trade banner ads with other web sites that have free classified ad sections.

4. Create two versions of your e-zine so people can choose if they want ads included with it or not. This’ll attract the people who hate ads to subscribe.

5. Publish your e-zine only on your web site. Have people subscribe to a “new issue” e-mail reminder. This could really increase your traffic and sales.

6. Sell advertising space in your product package. You could sell inserts, flyers, brochures, booklets, and digital ads for electronic products.

7. Offer daily or weekly visitor bonuses. This will increase your repeat traffic and sales because your visitors will visit regularly to get the visitor bonuses.

8. Allow people to download software or e-books from your web site at no cost. Just ask your visitors in return if they’ll refer their friends to your web site.

9. Build up the number of people that join your free affiliate program quickly by temporally offering your product for free to the people that sign up.

10. Negotiate with e-zine publishers to get free or discounted ads by letting them join your affiliate program and earn commissions on the ad you run.