SuperTips Ezine: Issue 01
IN THIS ISSUE
2. Advertising Tips: "How To Create A
Captivating Headline"
3. Marketing Tips: "How To Give Your Product
Away For Free And Still Make A Fortune!"
4. Web Promotion Tips: "Web Promotion
For Newbies!" 5. Readers Questions 6. More "Super" Tips 7. Next Issue 1. Greetings! Hello folks,
Was there a particular item in the contents list above which caught your
Which proves that the author knows what he is talking about ! I've included this article in response to many of your requests for advice on what I regard as a key element of any marketing campaign - a winning headline which stands out above the competition. Also, we have lots of online newbies joining our newsletter asking how to get started - you will pick up some great ideas from Regina Garson's article. There are more great ideas and tips - so happy reading !
Regards, 2. Advertising Tips
HOW TO CREATE A CAPTIVATING HEADLINE You're reading this article because the headline captured your attention. It sparked your desire to know more about creating headlines. That's the mission of an effective headline. It captures the reader's attention and provides a compelling reason to read whatever follows. The headline is the most important part of any ad or sales letter. It determines whether or not people will read your message. You may have the best written copy in the world but you've wasted your time if your headline doesn't excite readers enough to read your message. Here are some examples of effective headlines I found in the classified ad section of a popular website: * Lose 15 Pounds In 30 Days... And Keep It Off * Submit Your Ad To 200 Websites With 1 Mouse Click * Instantly Increase Your Orders By 29% * How To Make $2,000/Month At Home With Your Computer * Discover How To Reduce Your Fuel Bills By 43% Each of these headlines clearly states the benefit I can expect to get from the product, service or business opportunity promoted in the ad under the headline. If I am interested in gaining the benefit, I cannot resist reading the entire ad to find out more. A SIMPLE FIVE STEP PROCEDURE I've used the following 5 step procedure many times to create powerful headlines. It's simple and easy to follow. Even someone without special talent, skill or previous experience can use it to create a captivating headline. STEP #1. Define in writing the ideal prospect you want to capture with your headline. Be sure to include the characteristics that make your product or service valuable to this prospect. STEP #2. Personalize this ideal prospect by visualizing them as one person you want to attract with your headline. Keep this vision of one person in your mind whenever you're writing a headline. Your ad or sales letter will be read by one person at a time. Therefore, you'll find it easier to produce an effective headline by visualizing just one person and writing to that person. STEP #3. Determine the most valuable benefit this person will gain from the product, service or business opportunity promoted in the message under your headline. STEP #4. Write as many one sentence statements as you can about this benefit. Use one or more of the words from the following list in each statement. There are many other power words you can use in your headlines. However, many years of trial and error have taught me these 12 are the most effective: You, Free, New, Guaranteed, Fast, Easy, Discover, Proven, How-to, Save, Increase, $7953 (any exact amount of money) STEP #5. Select the most powerful statement on your list. If you have several that seem equally powerful, try combining them into one statement and use that as your headline. That's it! You've just created a powerful headline to capture your reader's attention and provide a compelling reason to read whatever follows your headline. Here are some examples of effective headlines I developed using this 5 step procedure. * Easy Way To Increase Your Sales 60% or More This Month! * Discover How You Can Reduce Arthritis Pain FAST! * You Can Earn 50% More Commissions This Year - Guaranteed! * How To Save $1,329 On Your Next Printing Job! * NEW Free Report: 10 Proven MLM Recruiting Ads YOU Can Use * How To Build Your Small Business FAST - Guaranteed!
Use this simple 5 step procedure the next time you want to create a captivating headline. It's easy to follow and you'll create a powerful headline to attract your reader's attention and compel him/her to read your ad or sales letter. ============================================= Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a Sales Consultant. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more information...
Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards". 3. Marketing Tips How To Give Your Product Away For Free And Still Make A Fortune! - by Lesley Anne Lowe. What is the secret of business success? You may think it is to sell your product at the highest price to the most people. Think again - you can actually make more money by giving your product away! This is a technique that reveals the secret of practically every business. It relies on repeat sales, built up from the initial purchase of the product. The problem of generating the initial purchase is overcome if the product is free, so eventually you should be left with legions of loyal customers and you can hardly fail to make a fortune. Before we explain this in more detail, take the example of Coca-Cola - a company whose business has been based on the success of basically one drink. How far would the company have grown if they had sold a can to everyone in the world...but nobody had ever bought another one? The success of the business depends on gaining a customer, providing them with a product they are satisfied with, and then reaping the benefits of repeat sales. So what does this mean to you? Whatever business you are in it is likely that it actually costs you money to gain a customer. There may well be no profit in the initial sale, which will be swallowed up in marketing costs, whether advertising, direct mail, telesales, personal representation, or whatever. The fact is that this initial sale is crucial, in order to make subsequent sales which make a profit. Or is it? Giving your product away, in the context of the above, seems to make sense. Here is an example. Assume that you produce and market a food supplement which sells by mail for $10. Your product cost is $1.50, and postage and packing another $0.50. The gross profit margin is quite high, although this will be eroded by advertising costs when trying to attract the new customers. It would cost between $10 and $20 to attract the new customer, which you would hope to make back when people re-order the product.
Here's an alternative - offer the product free of charge. You may have spotted a flaw in this argument. What about advertising costs? You still have to inform potential customers that they can have a sample for free. Well, yes you do, but you don't necessarily have to pay for it. Get others to do it for free. Here is just one way of doing it. A recent copy of a national Sunday newspaper carried an article about a young man who had built his video tape business to a turnover in excess of $3 million using this method. One of the main methods he had used to achieve this was giving away his product free. For example, a series of his products was aimed at anglers. He contacted one of the major angling magazines and told them that he had several thousand videos to give away to its readers. They were naturally delighted, because being able to make such an offer helps to sell magazines. The magazine featured the offer heavily and it was a tremendous success. Although the initial result was a cost incurred, the entrepreneur was able to enclose literature promoting associated videos with the free one. This resulted in many thousands of pounds worth of sales. You will probably be able to think of many potential uses and spin-offs from this technique. It can be adapted to many different products and markets. Perhaps you have something to sell, which could benefit from this approach. But don't forget: the next time you're pondering over how to sell more of your product, consider giving it away instead. It's a lot easier and it could definitely be more profitable in the long run. ============================================= Lesley Anne Lowe is publisher of Advance News, a free email newsletter geared towards reseller marketing strategies and online business promotion. If you're interested in learning from entrepreneurs who are actually making a living on the Internet, then this newsletter is for you. email to: <mailto:subscribe@advance.to> - for your free copy! 4. Web Promotion Tips
WEB PROMOTIONS FOR NEWBIES! You launched a masterpiece, the site of all sites, the best of the net. Prepared for an onslaught of surfers, you fantasize about angry overloaded service providers. Patiently, you check your counter. In disbelief, you press reload to make sure it is working. Suppressing guilt, you reload a few more times to help it along. Reality Check: Those who wait for the world to surf in will eventually give up, or die waiting. Your Internet efforts do not end with the perfect website. They begin. Online as in the physical world, if no one knows you exist; they will not come to visit. Establishing a reputation takes as much effort in cyberspace, as it does in real life. Techniques and strategies are different, but for both, it is an ongoing process. Here are some online basics to get your site noticed and keep it visible. Organize your Tools: Begin by making a promotional cut and paste file. Spend time writing copy and collecting resources. Put the following items in an easily accessible file. For accuracy, open this file, to cut and paste when you do site submissions. An incorrect URL can take longer to get changed, than submitting a new one. Plan to get it right the first time. You will need to include:
Site title.
Get Listed: There are two choices. Do it yourself, or hire a submission service. Most established webmasters agree this job is better done yourself. Making sure submission guidelines are followed, greatly enhances your chances of being listed.
However, if you are new to the web, a submission service may be worth
the "initial" boost it gives your site. Ask for recommendations, or referrals
from satisfied customers. Search Engines: For most surfers, this is the first place they look for anything on the net. Search engines funnel the traffic flow of the web. Most established sites are listed. If you want to be found, get listed. Some engines index your whole site from one URL. For others you need to submit each URL. Search engines are part of Internet life, check guidelines before submitting. They are all different. If you want to be found, you want to be listed. Directories: Not to be confused with search engines, directories index and catalogue. Getting listed in the right places can make a difference. Start with major directories like Yahoo and Lycos. Then look for directories that catalogue sites in your field. For example, if you run a hotel, you might begin with regional travel guides. Network with Links: Good linked resources are a popular feature of many web sites. They are frequently bookmarked. Linked resources provide an excellent opportunity to network by trading links. The argument persists over whether or not to list competitive sites. For information providers such as libraries, linking competitive sources, may actually enhance your site because of the extended resources. In retail sales or service, most feel listing complimentary content a better tactic. If you bake and sell cakes, consider linking a gift shop or cyber cards, not another bakery. Awards: Awards build recognition, reputation and traffic, so do "Cool" and "Hot" site listings. Apply only after all your "Under Construction" signs have been removed. Build and Use your Mailing List: Build your mailing list from guestbook entries, comments and inquiries. Invite visitors to join the list. Newsletters are a good way to stay in touch. In every issue, give readers the option to be removed from your list. Remember, occasional mail can be fun, too much is annoying. Signatures: Most email packages allow up to six lines of copy for a signature line. Include URLs, a short description, phone number and address, if relevant. Whatever your online activities, this is an excellent source of advertising. Let your contacts know what you do. Advertise: Even small web sites, can advertise online. There are several excellent banner exchange programs. Your ad banner is shown on member sites, in exchange for displaying their banners on your site. Link Exchange is the most popular, and has a large membership. If there are only a few member sites, the exchange may be more work than it is worth. The good ones have rating categories as to site content. Find out who you will be trading with. Is the group compatible with your online image? Shop carefully. Advertising is a valuable online commodity, you should expect a fair return whether you swap or buy. Be Part of the Community: Even though virtual, the Internet is very much a community. Visit your neighbors. Sign their guestbooks. Be involved. There are online forums, email groups, usenets, and chat rooms. Participate knowledgeably in your field. It is bad netiquette, to simply post a sales message. Instead, contribute to discussions, and include a signature line which directs readers to your message site. There are also numerous opportunities to hone your skills and have fun with web competitions. Traffic wars can bring visitors and excitement for entertainment pages. Get involved. Be aware of what is happening in your field on the net. Look at who is sponsoring the activities. If your site is on Football Recruiting, it is probably not worth your time to participate with a Basket Weavers Group. However, if you sell baskets, this may be an excellent opportunity. Integrate your Real World and Online Resources: Include your URL and email address on business cards, stationary, brochures and any other print resources you use. Remember to include online news in your press releases and organization announcements. Refer your online visitors to your real world services, and your real world customers to your online resources. It takes time, effort and persistence to build online traffic. Establishing a reputation on the web takes as much effort as it does in the physical world. Those who work and put forth the effort will be the ones who make their places in this new frontier. ============================================== Regina Garson is a writer, editor and webdeveloper/consultant. She writes for and about the Internet, online and in print. Editor and publisher of Magic Stream, she has won numerous awards for her web publications. Enjoying advertising, sweepstakes and online promotions; she also maintains Gina's Sweeps and Contest Page. She can be reached by email at: mailto:garson@hiwaay.net 5. Readers Questions
Nigel Adams asks: Nigel,
I'm sure most people will agree with this, the most important step was
to get a domain name. There are so many benefits to this that I have written
an article 'Why your Web Site must have a Domain name'
http://www.supertips.com/reports/r01.htm?ez
For example, if your PC went up in flames and you lost all your information I'm sure the first thing you would want to do is resubscribe to the SuperTips Ezine. But where would you find it ? Easy, just type www.supertips.com into your browser and you'll reach my website. As for my worst mistake, there have been many but I regard them as part of a learning experience. In fact you have given me the idea to write a new article about all the mistakes and how to avoid them. But I would say the worst one was in dealing with a completely unreliable company who would not respond to Emails about my commission payments and I kept hanging on thinking they would improve. So a golden rule for dealing with companies which provide any kind of service: ensure that their level of support is first rate. Prove it for yourself - send in questions and observe the quality and speed of response. ---------------------------------------
Julie Wright asks:
Julie, They are codes which help me track the source of visitors to my web pages. It's very useful to know how many people arrive at your site from particular ads in newsgroups, forums, other Ezines etc. The log file at my site will show all visits to each page so, for example, any with the code 'ez' will have visited as a result of reading this newsletter. You have access, by the way, to log files when your web site is provided by a professional hosting service (as opposed to free sites) which you get when you use a domain name - yet another reason for getting one ! 6. More "Super" Tips You often find that a seemingly trivial change to yourwebsite can bring an unexpected return. When I first offered my free E-book "The SuperTips Book of Internet Marketing" I wondered how I could get my visitors to explore the rest of my site before going offline to read the book. The obvious answer: add an eye-catching offer at the end of the page such as "Before you read the book remember to visit our Free Gifts section at ...'. I soon found that some 80% of visitors who would have been 'lost' to me after downloading were now clicking on to the rest of my site.
So here's my tip:
Ask yourself the questions You'll find that simply adding one sentence can make all the difference. 7. Next Issue Thanks for reading "SuperTips Ezine".
We're back next week, our articles will include some great tips from Jim
Turner with And if you have your own article or tip please feel free to contribute it, with your bio information, and you will receive full credit if it gets published. Also if you have any suggestions to improve this newsletter so that we can make it a great resource for all our readers please drop me a line
Thanks,
To SUBSCRIBE to the SuperTips Ezine:Click here ARCHIVES: Click here Copyright (C) 1999 by Harvey Segal, SuperTips
http://www.supertips.com/ezine/e01.htm
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