The Sample Bag Connection

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMERS MOVES TO WOMENSAVENUE.COM

2009-06-02T18:59:00.005-04:00

Direct-to-consumers is moving to WOMENSAVENUE.COM

Womens Avenue helps independent professionals of small businesses and work at home businesses with start up resources and continued support while growing your business.We are a national and international supporter of all women business owners and work at home moms everywhere across the world. We provide a member portal, network chat room, member blog and many opportunities which are listed in our membership benefits. We believe women business owners should be prepared for the future. We offer basic and paid memberships in networking so you can explore options available in the growth of your business!

Business owners should be aware how communication is important. We share small business resources by use of a message board, chat room, and portal; all of which are for registered users. Each one of these options allow members to network with one another share ideas such as marketing, advertising, time management, and customer service to name a few. We give you the tools to build a discussion group and grow in business. Locate accredited files and articles to enhance your skills and further your ability beyond expectations. Our business blog is available as a tool to share ideas and communicate with women in national and internationial locations. Our online radio station capability hosts interviews of featured business owners and the most recent events occuring in the small business industry.

We invite women business owners across the globe to join us. If you are ready to have a business we are ready with resources for planning. If you are ready for networking with others, we are ready to help you grow. Womens Avenue believes in opportunity, diversity, and joining businesses together. Join us on the road to success!

To Learn more about Womens Avenue CLICK HERE

Finding the Best Keywords to Use on Your Site © Terri Seymour

2009-05-06T12:25:00.002-04:00

When you own an online business one of the most important things you can do is get high rankings in the search engines. There are many ways of doing this. One of the most effective ways of getting your site noticed by the search engines is by using relative keywords.

Keywords are words that people use to search for a site. For example: If you owned a site from which you sold pet care items and people typed in puppy food, you would want your site to come up. Now, some people might type in more descriptive phrases as well such as nutritious puppy food, or cheap puppy food. These are the types of keywords you would need to add to your site so your potential customers can find you.

The first step in optimizing your site keywords would be to find exactly what phrases and words people are using to find sites like yours. One way to do this is to do a search for a free keyword suggestion tool. Once you find one, just type in a one or two word phrase and this tool will tell you how many times your word has been searched for and give you other suggestions with their search numbers.

This can be a great way to find out which keywords are best to start using on your site. NOTE: This has to be done consistently. Don’t think that doing it once is all it takes. Keywords are constantly changing so to stay on top, you always need to know what people are searching for.

Now you need to make a list of sp ecific targeted keywords (the more specific to your site, the better). I would start with a list of 10 – 20 keywords and/or phrases.

After you make up your list of highly competitive and specialized keywords it is time to start using them on your web pages. You need to take into consideration something called “keyword density”. This is the number of times you “plaster” your keywords onto your web pages. Too many times can do more harm than good. You would normally want your keyword density to be between 3% and 5%. That simply means that for every 100 words, your keyword appears 3 to 5 times. If you just paste the keywords anywhere and everywhere your site will more than likely be rejected by the search engines.

It is also a good idea to headline your keywords in large, bold type at the top of your site.

For example:
Cheap Pet Care Items Including Nutritious Puppy Food

Another way of putting your keywords to good use is by using them as anchor text for your links. For example, instead of using a regular url or “click here for a link”, use keywords such as “pet food and toys” as the link.

You also want to make sure your web pages are titled with keywords, not just index or homepage or other generic titles. One example of a good title would be Pet Care, Vitamins, Nutritious Puppy Food, Cheap Prices, Toys

You want to use ab out 8-10 words in your title as only the first 70 characters will show in the actual title on your page.

Besides using the above methods, you want to sprinkle your keywords in relevant places throughout your webpage. Do not just paste them anywhere. Remember, quality, not just quantity will get you more results.

The best placement for your keywords is in the first 20 or so sentences. Then limit the use of the keywords throughout the rest of the text. You might also try summarizing all your pertinent keywords in your final paragraph to tie them all together.

NOTE: The spiders cannot read text on graphics unless you use the ALT tag. The ALT tag is inserted into the image code like this:

Then, if for some reason the image does not show up your keywords “Pet Care Food Vitamins Toys” will.

If you consistently use the methods above, your site ranking should improve substantially. I know mine did once I used these techniques. But remember to research your keywords regularly and make any changes necessary.

About the Author:
Terri Seymour (also known as “The eBook Lady”) has over ten years online experience and has helped many people start their own business. Visit her site at http://www.seymourproducts.com for resources, $1 resell ebooks & software, free tutorials, affiliate programs, free ezine and free business ebook with Master Resell Rights. http://www.seymourproducts.com/free.shtml

Now IS THE TIME TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

2009-04-28T08:58:00.002-04:00

Now is the time that you should be marketing your products!

With the current recession competition has become VERY LOW, this in return has made it more profitable for you to do offline marketing.

How is this possible? With the current recession business owners are not marketing their products and services as much due to the economy. They are holding on to what ever monies they are making and not spending it on marketing. This is return has caused less competition for you the small or homebased business owner creating less competition offline and creating more possible potential customers.

Think about this for a moment:

You offer a type of mineral makeup that a lot of potential customers offline do not know about. You want to increase your downline and customer base growing both your income and your affiliates.

If you have been watching the news, you should remember that all the news has been talking about is how the unemployed are creating their own businesses and becoming entreprenuers. This in itself shows there is a possibility of getting new affiliates for your business. Also offline potential customers are looking for cheaper products where they will save money but still get the same quality they are use to. If you have been listening you will remember that the news stations have reported most people are now buying cheaper products, purchasing from resell shops and more.

Not only is now the time for you to be marketing offline but now is the time to start marketing if you offer a new product or service that is just starting. The playing field offline is low and this is an advantage to you the new business owner.

NOW is the time to take advantage of offline marketing, Now is the time to reach out to new potential customers while the competition is low.

Reasons you should be marketing offline:

Less Competition
Growing your customer base
Recruiting new downlines
New Potential Customers

ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS?

IF YOU PHONE ISN'T RINGING OFF THE HOOK THEN YOU NEED

http://www.direct-to-consumers.com

We specialize in offline marketing for your business and products, one bag at a time free of charge to that potential customer.

DON'T LET THE COMPETITION BOTHER YOU! KEEP IN MIND MANY COMPANIES ARE NOT MARKETING OFFLINE. NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE ECONOMY PICKS UP.

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMERS HELPS YOU GROW YOUR CUSTOMER BASE
FOR JUST $15.00 A YEAR. THAT'S RIGHT WE SAID $15.00, BUT YOU BETTER HURRY THIS OFFER WONT LAST LONG.

SAMPLES WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

COSMETICS
HEALTH PRODUCTS
CANDLES
BATH AND BODY
FOOD
SERVICES

JOIN US TODAY AT http://direct-to-consumers.com/phpautomembersarea/members/join.php

YOUR PRICE WILL NEVER GO UP AS LONG AS YOUR A SPONSOR!

VISIT US ON THE WEB AT
http://www.direct-to-consumers.com

VISIT US ON NING AT
http://www.direct-to-consumers.ning.com

VISIT OUR BLOG AT
http://www.samplebagconnection.blogspot.com

YOUR PRODUCTS ARE NEVER SOLD. THEY ARE ALWAYS GIVEN AWAY FREE TO THE POTENTIAL CUSTOMER!

__._,_.___

The Sample Bag is now in the hands of a Local Homebuilder

2009-04-24T18:49:00.003-04:00

GREAT NEWS! Recently I talked faced to face with a local home builder who is currently closing on 10 homes to new buyers. They closed 4 homes the day I was there and will soon be closing a new home with my son and his wife and children.

I was with my son when he was at the homebuilders office and brought up Thank You gifts, asking if they had ever considered giving a gift to those who purchased a new home, just something small that was not costly or expensive.

I spoke with the owner and his wife which is also the office manager and explained to them what I had in mind. The interest grew and now the sample bags will be given also to the homebuilder free of charge to give to each of their new customers who purchases a new home.

The homebuilder will be receiving the bags free of charge and will distribute them free of charge as a Thank You Gift to buyers. This is just another excellent way that products can be distributed.

Direct Sales - New Business Startups

2009-04-22T11:18:00.004-04:00

With the lack of jobs available in todays job market many job seekers are now starting or creating their own business in order to create an added income or to create a income due to job loss. Many are joining direct sales companies or creating a business where they sell products to potential customers.

Once they have created or joined their new business, they are faced with the task of marketing their products. Direct-to-consumers specializes in this type of marketing helping the wahm, homebased business owner, independent contractor or new business owner grow their business and customer base by offering various methods of marketing and advertising.

Direct-To-Consumers focuses on new business startups as well as those who are becoming direct sales consultants for various companies such as Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware,Lonaberger,Pampered Chef,Advocare and many more by placing sample products directly into the hands of potential customers free of charge.

Direct sales Marketing as well as internet marketing is a must in any small business offering products to consumers. Our success with this type marketing is outstanding due to the amount of potential customers who receive one of our sample bags.

The cost for this type marketing is relatively cheap costing a mere $25.00 for a year while reaching a mass array of potential customers offline. In todays economy customers are searching for new products,and services they can use with cheaper prices saving them money in return.

To learn more on about Direct-To-Consumers CLICK HERE

Thirty Creative Ways to Use Business Cards

2009-04-06T12:01:00.000-04:00

Thirty Creative Ways to Use Business Cards

© 2002 By Linda Elizabeth Alexander

On the Back

1. Print a team's sports schedule on the back. Fans will keep them handy and keep your name in front of them.

2. Print a special discount offer or coupon on the back. People will keep it because they intend to use the coupon.

3. If you do seminars, print key principals on the back. Your attendees will refer to them later and think of you.

4. Hand write on the back your "unlisted" 800 number. This adds value to your card, making people keep it longer because they don't want to lose the special number.

Ad Specialties

5. Make the business card the ad specialty: Print your company information on letter openers, CD openers, magnets, pens, highlighters, keychains, mousepads, mugs, luggage tags, and other items that people will keep because they are useful.

6. Attach a business card to an ad specialty: For example, give business card holders as a thank you gift and place your business card in as the first one. Or, have your card designed as a Rolodex card.

7. If you routinely give out seasonal gifts or specialties, attach your business card. Examples: candy canes at Christmas, heart shaped containers filled with candy for Valentine's Day, or even a sandwich bag of candy with a card stapled to it.

Unique Places to Put Them

8. Tuck them into the product before delivery: If you are a florist, cut a hole in it and tie a ribbon around the flowers and through the business card. If you sell gift baskets, Tuck one inside the basket before delivering it to your customer. The same goes for Mary Kay or Avon Cosmetics - place your card in the bag. You've seen how some restaurants staple a menu to their bags for takeout; if you use bags, staple your card to the outside of the bag.

9. Send a business card in every piece of correspondence - letters, invoices, even your electric bill. Sooner or later, those cards will be used.

10. If you are crafty, incorporate them into your designs: embellish them with rubber stamps, or blend them with other art projects. You can also mount them to greeting cards you create and send to customers and prospects.

11.When mailing out information: Take a number 10 envelope, facing you and upside down. Fold the envelope in thirds. When you turn it around, there is a little pocket to tuck your card in. Include it in the mailing. Using a colored envelope makes the presentation even more dramatic.

12. Scan your card in and use it as a graphic for when you exchange links with other websites. The other site can use your graphic as the link.

13. Place them in library books as if you used them as bookmarks. Visit bookstores place them in books related to your business.

Keeping Them Handy:

14. Use them as bookmarks so you'll always have some readily available if you meet someone at school, in the library, on the bus, or at the park where you like to read.

15. Have your spouse, family, and friends carry some of your cards with them in case they meet someone who might be interested in your product or service.

16. Wear them! Use them as nametags at meetings and conferences instead of the "Hello, my name is ..." type of tags.

17. Keep a stack of cards everywhere you might need them - in your car, your jacket pocket, your briefcase, your purse or wallet, in your planner, at home, anywhere you can think of. Then you'll always have some on hand when you meet a prospect.

When to Use Them:

18. Give them out during your personal meetings when you meet someone new: at your church, your children's soccer games, at lunch with your friends when someone brings a guest. To be more polite, you could have a personal "calling card" printed up with your information to use in these situations.

19. If you do seminars, have your participants exchange cards with each other. Have them write a compliment about the person on the back before they hand them out. Everyone will have a wealth of contacts; they will remember each other and it will also give participants a boost of confidence.

20. Ask neighborhood businesses if you may display your cards near their registers.

21. Tack them to bulletin boards at supermarkets, restaurants, retail stores and the library - anyplace that has a bulletin board.

22. Give out two cards at a time - one for your prospect or client, and one for her/him to give away.

23. Place some on the table when you leave a restaurant.

24. Agree to mail the cards of other businesspeople in the mailings you do, if they will do the same for you. Your networking circle will grow as your cards are passed around.

How Not to Use Business Cards:

25. Don't give them to a member of the opposite sex in the hopes that s/he will call you. I have a friend who was told this wouldn't work. He did an experiment for six months to prove it, and his friend was right! Sadly, not one woman called him. Although he does have a girlfriend now!

26. Some people don't give out business cards when they meet a prospective client. Instead, they send a follow- up note later with their card enclosed.

Other Types of Business Cards to Have

27. Business card CD-ROM. If you haven't seen these yet, they are a mini-sized CD that plays in any CD player and has your contact information on it, as well as an introduction to your business.

28. Email Signature. Put your contact information into a signature file for email, along with a link to your website (be sure to include the "http" in order to make it "clickable.")

29. Vcard. These are electronic business cards that recipients can click on and automatically add to their address books. Do a web search for "vcard" to find software that supports this technology. Then use it in all your emails!

30. One consulting company, which works with designers of products for people with disabilities, prints their cards in Braille. It reminds their clients how they can help them comply with disability laws. It also gets people asking for information.

******************************

Linda Elizabeth Alexander is a business writer and marketing consultant specializing in web content and sales copy. Be heard and understood! Subscribe to Write to the Point, a FREE ezine for business people who want to learn how to write better.

http://www.write2thepointcom.com

http://www.topica.com/lists/write2thepointcom

15 FOOLPROOF IDEAS FOR PROMOTING YOUR COMPANY

2009-04-04T08:42:00.001-04:00

15 FOOLPROOF IDEAS FOR PROMOTING YOUR COMPANY

Every successful company uses some sort of pro-
motion to influence certain audiences - usually
customers or prospects - by informing or per-
suading them. Reasons for promoting a business
include: increasing visibility; adding credibil-
ity to you or your company; enhancing or improv-
ing your image; and bringing in new business.
The following cost-effective, easy-to-execute
ideas have the power to increase sales in a way
conventional advertising cannot. The key is to
find the methods that are appropriate for your
business, marketplace and professional style.

1. CONTESTS. As one example, a cookware store
decided to sponsor cooking contests. After send-
ing out a press release announcing a competition
for the best cookie or chocolate cake, a mailing
went out to the store+s customers soliciting en-
tries. Food editors, professional chefs and cook-
ing teachers were invited to be judges. Both the
winners and the winning recipes were publicized.
Essay and design contests are also possibilities,
such as a furniture store establishing a prize
for student furniture design. Pie eating, pan-
cake flipping, oyster shucking and grape stomp-
ing contests make sense for restaurants. Den-
tists can hold smile contests, while video ren-
tal stores can stage movie trivia quizzes.

2. NEWSLETTERS. Another good way to promote, par-
ticularly for brokers, banks and business consul-
tants, is through newsletters. They demonstrate
how much you know about your field, and do it in
a low-key, informative way. They help keep your
company high in the consciousness of your pro-
spects.

3. DEMONSTRATIONS. Demonstrations are an option
to attract people to your place of business, show
them how to best use your product, and establish
your credibility. A retail-wholesale fish outlet
holds cooking demonstrations twice a week, fea-
turing a different restaurant chef each time and
attracting substantial crowds. Recipe cards are
even given out. Wallpaper demonstrations, fa-
shion shows, gift wrapping, refinishing and com-
puter demonstrations have all worked well for re-
tailers selling products associated with them.

4. SEMINARS. Often more appropriate for business-
to-business marketing, seminars are the commercial
side of demonstrations. If you hold a seminar,
follow these rules for success:

* Schedule the event at a time convenient to most
attendees.
* Be specific in the invitation about when the
event begins and ends, who will be there, and
what the agenda is.
* Follow up the invitations with personal phone
calls.
* Charge for the seminar to give it a higher
perceived value.
* Follow up after the event to get people's re-
actions.

5. PREMIUMS. Also called an advertising special-
ty, a premium is a gift of some kind that reminds
your customer of you and your service. There are
thousands from which to choose: key chains, cof-
fee mugs, refrigerator magnets, baseball caps,
paperweights - just about anything that can be
engraved, imprinted, silk-screened or embroidered
with your company name and phone number.

6. SPEECHES. Depending on your topic and your mar-
ket, you might want to speak before chambers of
commerce, trade associations, parent groups, sen-
ior citizens or other local organizations.

7. ARTICLES. Another possibility is to write an
article for a trade journal, reprint it, and mail
it off to your friends, customers and prospects.
This positions you as an expert, and is a partic-
ularly good way to promote a consulting business.

8. BONUSES. If you have a restaurant, give away a
glass of wine with dinner to introduce a new menu.
If you sell to retailers, give them a display fix-
ture with the order of a gross. If you sell of-
fice supplies, give away a new pen with a size-
able purchase. If you+re in the cosmetics busi-
ness, offer customers a free sample blusher when
they buy mascara and lipstick.

9. COUPONS. For best results, the price break
should be significant - at least 15 percent.
This is one of the least expensive ways to de-
velop new trade, and an excellent tool for eval-
uating advertising. However, one theory holds
that coupons draw people who only buy discount
and never become regular customers. So be sure
to monitor the results.

10. DONATIONS. Donating your product or service
to a charitable cause often results in positive
exposure to community leaders, charity board mem-
bers, PTAs and civic groups. While consumer pro-
ducts are desired most, many organizations also
look for donations of professional service time.
If you have a restaurant or a large meeting facil-
ity, consider hosting an event for a charitable
organization. This works best if volunteers for
that charity are potential customers.

11. SAMPLES. No matter what you do to promote
your business, giving potential customers a sam-
ple is an excellent way to attract attention and
make a positive impression. In many cases, it
makes just as much sense to spend your marketing
and advertising dollars on giving out your own
products instead of buying advertisements -
especially if cash is tight. The key is to give
samples to the audience you want to reach, i.e.,
software packages to computer user groups, or
nutritious snacks to health-oriented consumers.
In the food arena, where one taste is worth a
thousand words, firms now exist that test market
new products for large and small companies alike
through in-store demonstrations. A good demon-
stration company not only keeps track of how much
of your product was given away, but also submits
detailed reports on what people said about the
product and how much of it was purchased.

12. FREE TRIALS. If your product is too big or
expensive to give away outright, why not offer
a free trial to qualified customers? Try ship-
ping it out to prospects with no strings at-
tached. Most people will appreciate the oppor-
tunity to try the product, and hopefully many
will like it enough to buy it.

13. FREE SERVICES. If you can+t afford to give
away products, offering your services as a way
of generating new business can also pay off.
For example, if you own a retail clothing busi-
ness, send out a flyer offering customers a
free fashion consultation to draw them into the
store.

14. SPECIAL BENEFITS, RATES OR NOTICES. Smart
organizations go out of their way to make cus-
tomers feel important and appreciated. Frequent
flyer clubs are the most pervasive example of
loyalty-building benefits for customers only,
now adapted by many kinds of businesses. Most
software companies sell program updates to cus-
tomers at discounted prices. And advance notices
about sales or other changes or opportunities can
help cement customer ties.

15. SAY "THANKS". One of the best ways to let cus-
tomers know you value their business, and to en-
courage their continued patronage, is also one of
the easiest. It boils down to saying "thank you"
- in letters, mailers and surveys. On statement
stuffers, receipts and invoices. And in person.

Drive Traffic To Your Website - Run A Contest

2009-04-01T05:37:00.001-04:00

Drive Traffic To Your Web Site —
Run a Contest!

By Terry Williams

Every online marketer who has a web site is always looking for ways to
increase traffic to their web site. There are many ways to do this,
however, one of the most powerful ways is to offer a Free Contest! Why?
Because it’s human nature to want something for free.

Web site contests have been around as long as the Internet has been used
for online commerce. They come in many shapes and forms but they all
have one thing in common. “They are designed to drive traffic to their
web sites!” These contests can work if you take the time to understand
and utilize them to reach your goals.

So how do you go about running a contest on your web site effectively?
Here are four tips you’ll want to consider before deciding to offer a
contest on your web site.

What Do I Want The Contest To Achieve?

Before you decide to run a web site contest, determine exactly what you
want the contest to do for you. Like the old saying goes “Nothing is
ever really free!” Whenever you’re offered something for free you’re
also asked to do something to get it. Now it’s up to you to determine if
what you have to do is worth it, to receive the reward. If it’s too
difficult or the reward is not perceived to be worth the effort, you
decline. So when you offer a contest, you need to be looking at what you
want to accomplish from it.

For example, you might want to get feedback about your product or
service, about your web site, build an in house mailing list, build a
customer base for new product offerings, produce a link to your web
site, build a reputation or whatever reason you may have, you’ll need to
have a clearly defined goal in mind when offering a free contest on your
site.

Once you’ve decided on your agenda for the contest, you’ll have to
decide how to go about producing the desired result. If you’re looking
for feedback then make the feedback form simple and easy for the entrant
to complete. If you’re looking for a link to your site then give them
everything they’ll need and make it simple to accomplish. Simplicity is
the key if you want your contest to be a success.

What Kind Of Prizes Should I Offer?

This is determined by the business you’re involved in and the goal of
your contest. Your prizes should be related to your business and what
you’re trying to accomplish by having the contest in the first place. It
makes no sense to offer a prize that has nothing to do with your
business or the goals of your contest. If your goal is to create a
customer base, then you want to offer one of your products as the prize.
When you make the prize related to your business, you’ll be attracting
the entrants you’re looking for, your target market! You also want to
make sure that the prize is worth the entry requirements. Too difficult
of an entry process or a prize that isn’t of value to your target market
can doom your contest to a small number of entrants.

How Long Should I Run The Contest?

Usually the best time frame is a monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly basis.
The time period depends on the type and cost of prizes you’re offering.
A simple rule of thumb is: The higher the cost of the prizes, the longer
period of time between drawings.

How Do I Let People Know I Have A Contest?

This is a promotion you’re running so advertise it just as you would any
other promotion. If no one knows about your contest then how do you
expect to get the traffic to you’re web site? Advertise your contest in
newsletters, bulletin boards, classified advertising sites, newsgroups,
digests, forums and any other place online that allows advertising. Add
it into your e-mail signature. Get the word out so you can accomplish
the goal of your contest.

A web site contest can be an incredible marketing success if you take
the time to figure out your goals, develop an easy method of entry so
that both parties win, control the cost of your prizes and promote the
contest for maximum exposure. HBM

Terry Williams, the publisher of "Internet Marketing Issues", publishes
a Free Weekly E-zine that provides online marketing tips, techniques and
secrets that will explode your online profits. You're invited to learn
all about the latest in online marketing and see why over 1000
subscribers in 10 countries around the world rely on the information
provided in IMI for their online business marketing needs. For a free
subscription, Sub-IMI@intersuccess.com or check out his current issue at
http://www.intersuccess.com/imi/

Originally Published at http://www.homebusinessmag.com/

Advertising In A Nutshell

2009-03-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

The bottom line of all advertising efforts is
an obvious one: to attract customers and bol-
ster sales. But often small business adver-
tising is wasted on a shotgun approach that
doesn't focus on the company's best prospects
- those who are ready, willing and able to pur-
chase the product or service. In an attempt
to reach "everybody," these advertisers either
miss their true market or spend far more than
necessary to reach it.

Once you've targeted your market, and
know exactly who and where your prospects are,
it's important to clearly identify what you
want your advertising to accomplish. Speci-
fic advertising objectives include:

* Creating new customers.
* Increasing usage.
* Increasing order size.
* Promoting replacement of functional but out-
dated products with technologically superior
ones.
* Improving brand name recognition.
* Generating customer inquiries.
* Creating sales leads through the use of re-
sponse ads, coupons or toll-free "800" numbers.
* Promoting special events such as sales, busi-
ness openings or the introduction of new pro-
ducts or services.
* Enhancing the overall image of the business.

Generally, the most effective ads focus on
customer needs or wants, and emphasize the most
desirable benefits of the product or service,
such as convenience, style or durability. Other
tactics include comparisons with competitive
products, two-for-one sales, special one-day
discounts, and offers of free information.

The tactics you choose in your advertising
will help determine the media you select and the
exact message you communicate. One of the best
ways to become familiar with the tactics in your
field is to collect your competitors' advertis-
ing materials and use them to stimulate your
thinking.

The most important things to take into con-
sideration in any ad are the audience and the
offer. Who is the ad trying to reach? If the
ad isn't presented to the right audience and ad-
dressed to them in their own language, then it
isn't going to get noticed. And if the offer
isn't something that interests them and gets them
excited, then they're not going to take any ac-
tion even if they do notice it.

Finally, make it easy for customers to re-
spond to your ad. Tell them what action to take
and include (depending on the advertising medium)
coupons, an "800" number or business reply en-
velopes. And be sure to stand behind what you
sell.

Deciding Where to Advertise

The mediums in which you choose to advertise
will depend on the audience you're trying to
reach, the geographical range of your busi-
ness, where your product or service can be
most effectively presented, and your budget.
In deciding where to advertise, keep the fol-
lowing considerations in mind:

* When and how often your message needs to be
sent.
* How effectively the medium communicates your
main selling points. Make sure any medium
you choose allows you to present all the in-
formation customers need to make a buying de-
cision or to request additional information.
* How much a particular medium costs, relative
to the number of people it reaches.
* How many of the people seeing the ad fall
within your target customer group. Getting
your message in front of those who are in-
terested in what you have to sell is pivotal
to advertising success.

A final point is that advertising does not
need to be brilliant or highly creative to be
effective. The secret of successful advertising
lies in its continuity - sending an informative,
consistent message over time that motivates ex-
isting customers and prospects to turn to you
when they are ready to buy.

AUNT KIZZY'S BACK PORCH IS NOW INTERNATIONALLY
KNOWN

"Most entrepreneurs think that if they have a
good product, people will buy it. They don't
understand that promoting their business is
key," advises restauranteur Adolf Dulan, co-
owner with his wife Mary of Aunt Kizzy's Back
Porch in Marina del Rey, California. "This
does not mean just putting flyers on wind-
shields, however. You need to be more sophis-
ticated." The Dulans decided to specialize in
"authentic American home-style food and tradi-
tional Southern hospitality" after being in
the fast-food business for 10 years. "We saw
the trend towards healthier eating styles," he
recalls. In addition to advertising in a local
newspaper ("as most restaurant clientele comes
from a three to five mile radius"), the Dulans
give each customer a hand-out that details
their 18-year relationship and working partner-
ship, and the restaurant's colorful history.
"This hand-out has made Aunt Kizzy's interna-
tionally known," says Dulan, who admits that
word-of-mouth advertising from customers has
been their strongest promotional tool of all

Are Samples Really free

2009-03-29T17:30:00.003-04:00

Companies are always talking about free samples but are they really free? Major companies sometimes offer free trials and samples of certain products they are promoting.

Normally you end up paying a small shipping fee, buying a product to get a another product free, fill out a form,print out a coupon and then drive to the store to get your free sample just about anything you can imagine.

Even sample companies sometimes resort to buying samples from major retailers or products from major retailers and place in the sample containers.

Direct-To-Consumers gives away FREE SAMPLES on a regular basis, These samples come from work at home moms and small business owners who are sponsors for our company. Direct-To-Consumers never puts samples from any major retailer in our bags nor do we offer them.

We feel that you can do a search for free products online from these major retailers and find their products in many groups, even on well know freebie websites.

Our goal is to market these small businesses and work at home businesses products by giving away free samples of their products, free of charge, no shipping, no purchasing of other products. Just plain and simple free samples.

This is what Direct-To-Consumers is all about FREE SAMPLES FROM WORK AT HOME AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS. We put our sponsors first in everything we do.....

Is It Fair To Sell A Company's Sample Products?

2009-03-29T12:10:00.004-04:00

Is it fair to sell a company's samples for profit? Sample companies are popping up all over the internet, selling samples from other companies and making a profit.

This type of sample distribution has been portrayed as helping a small or homebased business grow, but in reality it does not help grow a business. What this type of sample company does is profit from the samples that the companies send in. Is this fair?

No it is not fair! But the companies still push and insist that that this type of marketing will help grow the companies and their business.

Let's look at the facts for just a moment.

You are a small business desperate to grow your customer base. You spend x amount of monies on samples to send into these sample companies, they in return place your samples in either what they call the sample bag, or the sample box. Once placed into the sample bags or sample boxes, the products are then placed into a shopping cart for resell.

Then the sample companies post ads for the sample bag or the sample boxes to be sold, now this is where they begin to make a profit.

They set up an affiliate program, for those who want to earn a little extra income offering anywhere from 15%-30% commission on each bag or box sold. Then they offer a 5%-15% commission for downlines that the affiliates recruit.

Now take for instance the sample bag and the sample boxes sell from a range of $3.94 up to as much as $40.00 plus then of course shipping charges are added to the actual cost of the sample bags and the sample boxes, this in return increases the cost for the customer who purchases either of these products. Now do the math, they pay you your commissions, ship out the bags or boxes which actually already has shipping paid for, the rest is clear money!!!! It's discouraging isnt it? Just do the math and realize what these sample companies are putting into their pockets!!!

In most instances the affiliates themselves purchase these bags and boxes from the sample company, this in return places monies into the sample company owners pockets. When the affiliates purchase these bags or boxes they of course are getting the same products in each one plus also getting a discount for purchasing by either buying wholesale, affiliate discount price or a return commission on the purchase.

This is not growing the small or homebased businesses customer base, this is growing the sample company's business by adding new sponsors and selling their products for profit.

Normally a sample company has very little overhead, only purchasing the bags or boxes and other needed supplies, therefore putting a good bit of the sales into the sample company's bank account.

This in return drains the small or homebased business owners and increases the sample company's profits. Sure everyone is out to make money and make a living, but profiting from the sale of sample products from companies who already possibly have to purchase samples is just wrong.

This is where Direct-To-Consumers took a totally different approach, to sample marketing.

Direct-To-Consumers does not resell your samples nor do they have an affiliate program. Direct- To- Consumers charges a flat fee for one year to distribute your products to offline potential customers. The sample bags never go into the hands of the same person. Each sample bag is given away totally free. This increases the chance of the small or homebased businesses customer base to grow. This also totally eliminates the profits that other sample companies make off your samples. The only income Direct-To-Consumers receives is the income from small and homebased business signing up. From those profits, all supplies and necessities needed for the sample bags to be distributed are take from those monies.

The profits are put back into the company for use on helping the small and homebased businesses by way of bag purchses, cost to set up in various areas, promotion,marketing,advertising. Eliminating, selling of bags and boxes and eliminating commissions and shipping.

Therefore all sponsors are put in the position for their company to grow on a regular basisby reaching potential customers offline.

Very simple math shows that Direct-To-Consumers does not profit from your business or products. Direct-To-Consumers was designed to help you the small or homebased business owner grow, and doing all the legwork for you giving you time to focus on the more important things.

So the next time you consider growing your business with samples, take a look at the company you are thinking about joining.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does the company resell my products?
2. How will reselling my products benefit me the samll or homebased business owner?
3. Does the sample company offer and affiliate program and how much do they pay their affiliates in commissions?
4. Will my sample products reach new potential customers or will they just be sold to affiliates and others who already know about my business?

Once you really look at the above questions you will then see why it is wrong for other sample companies to make a profit from your products samples. Then take a L@@K at how Direct- To- Consumers helps you the small or homebased business owner grow.

We can not promise that your business will boom, but we can honestly state that your products are distributed to new potential customers never the same person or same affiliates.

Still not convinced? Give us a try and see how it helps you! See the difference and make a decision for yourself.

visit us at Direct-To-Consumers

Marketing

2009-03-29T11:01:00.000-04:00

Blogging -- A Critical Part of Your Web Business Strategy

2009-03-28T06:21:00.000-04:00

Blogging -- A Critical Part of Your Web Business Strategy
By: Stephen Wright

The methods by which we use to contact each other, especially in internet marketing activities continue to undergo dramatic transformation. In the not to distant past (only a couple of years ago!) we kept in touch with customers -- existing or potential new ones, using the telephone, fax machines, direct mail marketing and even in-person meetings. Today, people expect more frequent updates, new information, and the latest of everything. So much so that it is literally impossible to keep up with this dizzying pace and certainly not on a continuing or ongoing basis with any consistency. Thankfully, blogging has come to the rescue. Setting up a blog on your web site - and having an associated RSS feed - means you can keep in constant touch with your clients and potential customers. Plus you don't have to email them and they can get your latest news without having to visit your web site.

So how does this all work? A blog is really a fancy name for a web page that gets updated regularly. It's nothing special. There are several methods of writing 'blogs', but they are nothing more than computer programs which allow you to easily update a web page. Far and away the easiest way to start a blog is with a popular blog website. One example is called blogger.com.

However, for keeping in touch with your customers, RSS is the key. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. What this means is that your blog can be automatically delivered to people who want to read it - you don't have to send it to them and neither do they have to come and collect it. All they need is the address of your RSS Feed and their RSS Newsreader can do the job for them. There are several RSS readers available and new web browsers incorporate the ability to read RSS feeds and keep them updated.

Whenever you add new content to your blog, the RSS Feed automatically gets updated in everyone's Reader program or web browser. That means you are guaranteed to be able to keep in touch with clients and prospects. You don't have to do anything other than produce the content. Equally, you don't face the problems of email filters and anti-spam programs blocking your email. Furthermore, people tend to read RSS Feeds because they have subscribed to them whereas they tend to ignore non urgent emails.

After a small amount of basic research and reading, you will quickly see, there are numerous advantages to Blogs and RSS Feeds. One of the biggest reasons is that search engines love them. This is because blogs provide fresh and new content - precisely the thing that searchers are looking for. Hence the search engines are actively pushing blogs higher up the search engine ranking. What this means to internet marketers is that if you don't have a blog for your business, you are potentially reducing your chances of a high search engine ranking. You need a blog nowadays to get noticed by the search engines.

For all the reasons mentioned above (and many, many more), blogging is essential. Not only does it improve your web presence, it also means you can keep in touch with clients and prospects more easily. All the marketing research you can find will tell you that regular contact with your customers is a vital component in retaining existing clients, as well as gaining new business. Don't put it off any longer; it is time to get your blog going---today!

Stephen Wright is President & CEO of InternetMarketingUSA.com
Looking for Internet Marketing Ideas, Tips, and Solutions?
Get everything you need to make money online in "Dotcomology: The Science of Making Money Online". Absolutely Free at: http://www.InternetMarketingUSA.com/dotcomology.html

THE SAMPLE BAG IS AN IMPORTANT MARKETING TOOL

2009-03-27T09:23:00.002-04:00

Offline Marketing Is Still Important
by Renee'Brown March 26, 2009

All the talk these days seems to revolve around ways to promote your Internet business. Most of them center around online methods such as group advertising , ezine ads, banner ads. Marketing online has become a multi million dollar business, which has now become a necessity to business owners, but lets take a look at offline marketing.

Offline marketing is an age old promotional tool that actually works very well still to this day. Many business owners have forgotten that it is still important to market offline as well as online.
Using one offline marketing method works very well for those who have products to sell or offer. This method is known as sample distribution.

Sample Distribution allows the potential customer a try before they buy option. This type of offline marketing has an advantage over some of the other typical offline marketing strategies. The potential customer gets to feel , see, smell, taste, and/or use the product without purchasing it blindly. Sample marketing also drives the potential customer online to view what other products the company may offer on your website.

Sample Distribution also aids in educating offline potential customers about products they may not know even exist. The sample bag is usually packed with samples from various type companies. Some of the sample bag contents may even contain full size samples. The distribution of the sample bag also aids in word of mouth advertising as the recipients of the sample bags tell friends, contacts and others about this unique product they have received free of charge.

Not every recipient of the sample bag will like or use the products they receive, but they may pass these products or a product onto someone whom they think or believe will like them. Keep in mind that one recipient may not like a certain product and someone else may, this in return could lead to the next potential customer placing an order from you.

The important factor is to remember that for a business to grow one must combine online marketing with offline marketing. There are multitudes of potential customers offline who may not know you offer a quality product.

ã 2008-2009 Direct-To-Consumers.com. To learn more about Direct-To-Consumers Marketing program visit us online at http://www.direct-to-consumers.com.

About Direct-To-Consumers.com

2009-03-26T08:53:00.004-04:00

Direct-to-Consumers an offline and online direct marketing company was created in 2008, Renee Brown founder and developer of this unique marketing company started in 2008 using samples when she co-founded and co- developed The Sample Bag

Renee stepped down as co-owner and took her knowledge of samples a step further helping Barb Ireland of Make A Diaper Cake create The Sample Cake , a unique replica of a cake created from towels packed full of samples from various companies. The Sample Cake is now part of Barbs original website and business Make A Diaper Cake , where Barb has taught 10's of thounsands to create her outstanding cakes. Barb originally created the towel cake used in The Sample Cake.

Renee took another step forward and created Direct-To-Consumers where she offers direct marketing to small and homebased businesses.

Direct-To-Consumers was created with a twist, Direct-To-Consumers does not sell the bags of samples that are distributed to offline potential customers free of charge. Renee stated " We do not believe in making money from our sponsors. DTC's goal is to help every sponsor grow their business by way of gaining new customers offline. We also do not offer an affiliate program or represenative program simply because it has been my experience that more affiliates and represenatives purchased the products rather than customers. That in it's self will not grow nor will it help you gain new potential customers. People are looking for good quality products at a cheaper price since the economy has slumped. So it makes sense to hand out free samples. Our sponsors spend their money and time to get us these samples. It is unfair to them, when we offer to sell them."

Direct-To-Consumers has a yearly fee for the sponsors who join, this fee covers various marketing for each sponsor. Direct-To-Consumers does all of the legwork so the small or homebased business owner has more time to focus on their business rather than on advertising and marketing.

Those who have received these sample bags have enjoyed the option of try before you buy. "It's great when you can try a product before you buy it. Receiving this bag of free samples made me want to go to their websites and check out other products they have to offer. I definately will be purchasing from several of these companies! from Michelle, Charlotte NC"

Direct-To-Consumers reccommends that if you are a business owner and are serious about growing your business, you have to give this type of marketing a try. This is truley direct marketing at its best.

Visit Direct-To-Consumers and join us today! Be on your way to gaining more customers.

5 Innovative Ways To Advertise Your Web Site

2009-03-25T14:23:00.000-04:00

5 Innovative Ways To Advertise Your Web Site
By Larry Dotson

1. Directory Linking
Create a directory of web sites on a specific topic.
Give people the option of adding the directory to
their web site by linking to it. Put your business
advertisement at the top of the director's home
page. This technique will get lots of people to link
to your web site and give you free advertising.

2. Bonus Advertising
Do you have a product or service that doesn't sell
good? Offer it as a free bonus for someone else's
product or service. Get free advertising by placing
your web site or business ad on the product or in
the product package.

3. Autoresponder Trade
Trade autoresponder ads with other businesses.
If both of you send out information with auto-
responders just exchange a small classified ad
to put at the bottom or top of each other's
autoresponder message.

4. Tip Line
Start a free tip line. Offer a free daily, weekly, or
monthly tip recorded on your voice mail. The tips
should be related to your business. Include your ad
for your web site or business at the beginning or
end of your message.

5. Content Swap
Exchange content with other web sites and ezines.
You could trade articles, top ten lists, etc. Both
parties could include a resource box at the end of
the content.

------------------------------
© 2004 Larry Dotson
Sponsored by Simple Joe, Inc. makers of simple PC software.
Simple Joe's Money Tools gives you 14 professional money
and finance calculators. The secrets of the pros.
Visit
http://www.simplejoe.com/moneytools.
This article may be freely reprinted provided the Author
and Sponsor information remain part of the article.
Links should be active where appropriate.

10 Important Things To Tell Your Prospects

2009-03-25T14:15:00.000-04:00

10 Important Things To Tell Your Prospects
By Larry Dotson

1. Tell your prospects that you offer free delivery.
This may cost a little money, but, you will gain the
extra customers to make up for it.

2. Tell your prospects that you offer a lower price.
If you can't afford to offer a lower price you could
always hold the occasional discount sale.

3. Tell your prospects that your product achieves
results faster. People are becoming more and more
impatient and want results fast.

4. Tell your prospects you've been in business for
a longer period of time. People think if you've been
in business longer you have more credibility.

5. Tell your prospects that your product tastes,
smells sounds, looks, or feels better. When you
target the senses you're triggering human appeal.

6. Tell your prospects your product is compact or
light. People may want to take the product on a trip
or don't have much room where they live.

7. Tell your prospects that your product lasts longer.
People don't like to spend more money purchasing
replacement products all the time.

8. Tell your prospects that your product is easy to
use. People don't want to buy a product that they
have to read a 100 page instruction manual.

9. Tell your prospects that your product has better
safety features. People want to feel safe when they
use your products.

10. Tell your prospects that you stand behind all
your products. People want to know that you back-
up any claims you make about your product.
------------------------------
© 2004 Larry Dotson
Sponsored by Simple Joe, Inc. makers of simple PC software.
Simple Joe's Income & Expenses is the ideal tool to help
you manage your business accounting, simple and easy.
Visit
http://www.simplejoe.com/incomeexpenses.
This article may be freely reprinted provided the Author
and Sponsor information remain part of the article.
Links should be active where appropriate.

Ten Breakthrough Marketing Ideas

2009-03-25T14:10:00.000-04:00

Ten Breakthrough Marketing Ideas
By Larry Dotson

1. Create a directory of web sites on a specific
topic. Give people the option of adding the
directory to their web site by linking to it. Put
your business advertisement at the top of the
director's home page. This technique will get lots
of people to linkto your web site and give you
free advertising.

2. Do you have a product or service that doesn't
sell good? Offer it as a free bonus for someone
else's product or service. Get free advertising by
placing your web site or business ad on the
product or in the product package.

3. Trade autoresponder ads with other businesses.
If both of you send out information with auto-
responders just exchange a small classified ad
to put at the bottom or top of each other's
autoresponder message.

4. Start a free tip line. Offer a free daily, weekly,
or monthly tip recorded on your voice mail. The
tips should be related to your business. Include
your ad for your web site or business at the
beginning or end of your message.

5. Exchange content with other web sites and
ezines. You could trade articles, top ten lists, etc.
Both parties could include a resource box at the
end of the content.

6. Offer to insert ads into your product package
for other businesses. Just ask, in return that they
do the same for your business. You should only
trade insert ads with businesses that have the
same target audience.

7. Offer a free daily class in your web site's chat
room. The class should be related to the subject
of your business or web site. This will get people
to visit your web site everyday.

8. Do you have a product that doesn't sell good?
Offer it as a free bonus for another businesses
product or service. You'll get free advertising by
placing your web site or business ad on the free
bonus.

9. Place different emotional response ads for the
same product or service all over your web site.
One ad may hit their hot button to buy more than
another ad.

10. Publish your e-zine in e-book format. You
could offer a larger number of articles per issue.
It also allows you to include graphics with your
ezine.Your advertising revenue would increase
because you could charge businesses for large
color ads.

------------------------------
© 2004 Larry Dotson
Sponsored by Simple Joe, Inc. makers of simple PC software.
Simple Joe's Income & Expenses is the ideal tool to help
you manage your business accounting, simple and easy.
Visit
http://www.simplejoe.com/incomeexpenses.
This article may be freely reprinted provided the Author
and Sponsor information remain part of the article.
Links should be active where appropriate.

Getting New Customers The Old Fashioned Way

2009-03-23T13:39:00.000-04:00

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and relax. In the next couple of minutes, let me share with you a new direct marketing approach that is growing by leaps and bounds…..Just Imagine.....
Your shopping cart receiving orders from new customers..... Think Your eyes are playing tricks on you? No, you read that right…Think about it....

Here is what's in store for you…a potential to grab new customers and create more sales. It's amazing, isn't it? What your imagination does when you think about becoming successful.....

I assure you….that in order for a business to grow you must market to potential customers offline as well as online. Offline marketing is an essential for any business. Direct-to-consumers realized this type of marketing is great for those small or homebased business owners who want to reach new potential customers.

You may be asking….What does this all mean for you? By handing out samples to potential customers offline and free of charge your products are getting into the hands of those who may not know you even exist.

Are you kidding? No we're not kidding......And the best part is….
Direct-To-Consumers does the legwork for you, so that you have more time to focus on other task.... And the worst part is….joining Direct.to-Consumers.com May Cause Your Business To Grow Beyond What You Are Presently Able To Handle.

Here is what's in store for you…Your samples are placed into an attractive bag and distributed offline to potential customers. This enables the new potential customer to try before they buy. This type of marketing also drives offline potential customers to your online website.

Still not convinced? How about I throw in a couple more freebies?

Not only do we do the leg work for you offline, we also do your leg work online by offering the following:

Blog to post your ads (FREE)

..Directory Submissions 100 Directories (valued at 20.00)

..Social Bookmarking Listed in 50-75 Social Bookmarking Sites (value 25.00)

..Blog Posting Services 75 blogs (value at 25.00)

..RSS Feed Submissions 75 submissions (value 20.00)

..Press Release Submissions 30 Submissions (value 35.00)

..Article Directory Submissions 50 article Directories (12.00)

..Audio to Text Transcribing ( value 15.00 per 30 minute Transcription)

..Submissions to Classified ad websites ( value 25.00)

..Recorded Interview For Your Business. (value 20.00 15-30 min interview)

..Web-to Phone ads unlimited to the following cell phone carriers....These are subscribers who have agreed to accept ads. This is not unwanted ads to subscribers. 135,000 optin subscribers (value 29.95 a month)...$3083.40 for 1 year

Mobile Companies are:
Alltel ,AT&T Wireless ,Cingular, T-Mobile,Nextel,Cellular One,Virgin Mobile,Boost Mobile,Sprint PCS,MCI, Qwest, Veriz on

24/7 Recorded Information for your business. This allows those interested to call the 800 number for your information. Can be used for recruiting tool, sales tool, contact, calls can be forwarded to a 10 digit number of your choice (value 49.00 monthly or 588.00 per year)

I've just let the cat out of the bag by sharing with you…..These amazing tactics Direct-to-consumers applies to help you the business owner become successful!

AND WE DON"T SELL YOUR SAMPLES!! EVER!!

The reality is...WE ALL WANT OUR BUSINESS TO BE SUCCESSFUL! Don't you agree?

WELL IT'S TIME TO START NOW AND YOU CAN DO THIS BY GOING HERE:

http://www.direct-to-consumers.com

Hang on! Wait a minute!

If you have more than one business you get the second business for just 10.00. That is advertising for both businesses for just 25.00 for 1 full year.

Where else can you get a deal like this with so much advertising!!!!!!

Don't just sit around scratching the surface with your business.. go to the tip of the iceberg and start..... TODAY!! http://www.direct-to-consumers.com

Want To Learn More About us? Visit us at the following sites:

http://www.samplebagconnection.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/direct2consumers
http://www.direct-to-consumers.ning.com

50 Free Or Cheap Advertising Ideas For Offline and Online Marketing!

2009-03-23T08:42:00.000-04:00

There are many ways to advertise without putting out a lot of cash. Use these tips to your advantage. Modify them and make them your own. Just remember that the only way to succeed with your business is to do something.

No one has ever found success by doing nothing.

1. Put your website on notepads, pens, newsletters, bumper stickers, coffee cups.

2. Flyers - When you buy your morning newspaper, slip some flyers into the rest of the newspapers.

3. Business cards (You can make up your own or get them free through VistaPrint)

4. Article marketing is one of my favorite method of advertising. If you write articles and then use a service to publish them, your articles become viral.Your articles will spread like a virus and could have the potential to be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

5. Participating in online discussion forums is an excellent way to get the word out about your business - and it is free. Build relationships first and use your signature file to let everyone know what you do and who you are.

6. Free classifieds

7. Targeted ezine advertising is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise your business.

8. Paid ads - such as solo ads. Test, test, test. Your success depends on your ad and your heading!

9. Mail out postcards.

10. Purchase leads that are targeted and related to your business. If possible get their phone number and followup.

11. Bookmarks for libraries, don't forget to talk to your librarian first.

12. Purchase cheap seed packets, put a tag on them with your website as well as a saying like, I am in the business of helping people grow.

13. Use your knowledge and publish a newsletter or ezine. One your build up your list you can offer paid subscriptions or ads.

14. Word of mouth (friends and family)

15. Forwarded emails - Add your testimony to your signature line.

16. Buttons

17. Pens to hand out with a short advertisement and your URL.

18. Welcome baby cards for hospitals.

19. If your domain name is a string words, try capitalizing each. This helps people who just take a quick glance remember it.

20. Create an information type handout that briefly explains your business.

21. When you go to a garage or yard sale, ask if you can leave a few of your flyers there.

22. Community Colleges. Every student needs a part time job.

23. Put a business card in all outgoing mail including anything that has a postage paid envelope.

24. Visit establishments you do business with (doctor offices, health food stores, karate/dance studios, etc) and ask if you can leave flyers.

25. Car magnets - You can put magnets all over your car.

26. Promote your business for free in local magazines, newspapers, community newsletters, etc. Many rely on voluntary writing contributions. Translate your knowledge into an article. It is free advertising and an effective way to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

27. Leave your business card in restrooms at restaurants or on cork boards around grocery stores.

28. Get a booth at school events and share what you offer.

29. Look into putting an ad in school sponsored publications (directories, PTA booklets, etc). Usually not to expensive.

30. Set up a free giveaway box in any store that will give you permission.

31. Post flyers at apartment complexes if they will allow it.

32. Place flyers under windshield wipers of cars.

33. Newspaper classified ads are cheap and effective. Ask about having your ad appear with a color background to make it stand out even more.

34. Buy a pre-inked, personalized stamp and put your ad on it. Stamp the back of any envelopes that you mail out.

35. When it comes to advertising and marketing, repetition plays an important part in your campaigns success.

36. We all get junk mail with the postage paid envelopes. Just send a flyer back to the company and use their return envelope.

37. Personalized T-shirts

38. Make up Gift basket raffles for Church bazaars, concerts held during summer, at your local community hall, or any town function. Do not forget to put your business card or some other advertisement in the basket.

39. Put flyers on car windshields at your kids sporting events.

40. Leave a business card with your tip for your waiter/waitress.

41. Reply to spam email with your own business advertisement.

42. Give your business cards to friends and family and ask them to give them out to people they know who would be interested in part time income.

43. Put up flyers at the local colleges, libraries and grocery stores.

44. Ask your local chinese takeout if you can post a flyer in their window.

45. Create a post it stack of your business cards with a glue stick and then post them at pay phones, etc.

46. Business cards with a magnetic back really stick in people's minds as well as on their refrigerator.

47. Leave business cards by the change machine in the mall arcade or at the ATM machine.

48. Put your website address on your sun visor using vinyl letters.

49. Find an old metal tin (or new), put a magnet on the back, put your business cards in them and then just attach this to your car when you go into a store.

50. Be different and get noticed. When you are unique then you are one step ahead of your competition.

There are many ways to promote your business without spending a fortune. Think outside the box. Most people notice things that are different, something that draws their attention or even makes them laugh.

Keep it simple, keep it cheap and before you know it your success will be achieved without going broke.

Copyright 2007 Joe Rispoli

Joe Rispoli has been involved in online marketing for over 10 years. He would like to invite entrepreneurs to start using his online marketing information and free advertising resources to help promote their home business

WE DO THE LEGWORK SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO!

2009-03-21T15:57:00.002-04:00

How To Effectively Use Offline Advertising To Build Your Online Business

2009-03-20T06:49:00.001-04:00

"How To Effectively Use Offline Advertising To Build Your Online Business"
Written By Jeff Schuman © 2004
http://www.Team-Schuman.com

First of all let me say that having spent the past 20 years
working closely with small businesses I know exactly what works
when it comes to offline advertising.

What I have found today is that online businesses have a
built in advantage when it comes to promoting their business offline.
You already have a website and autoresponder in place to lead
your prospect to. When you combine that fact along with the traditional
capture methods of telephone and snail mail there is no reason any
online business can't use offline methods to build their businesses and
sell their products and services.

A lot of online based businesses forget about offline
advertising. I know I have. It is important to combine offline and
online advertising together in your marketing campaign. This will
give you to a more well rounded approach to promoting as well
as attract potential prospects and customers you might not
otherwise get.

In all your offline advertising you want to include your web site
address, e-mail or autoresponder addresses, and your phone number
and mailing address. This gives you the appearance of a real bonafide
business.

Another thing is to start selling products for manufacturers who
offer co-op advertising for promoting their products. You can read
a little more about this technique in an article I wrote titled
"Why Are You Wasting Free Advertising Money?"
http://sites-plus.com/articles/article2.html

Finally you need to view offline marketing as a long term
committment. I've seen businesses over and over run and ad
not get the response they were looking for and quit.

This will not work offline. Or online for that matter.
You need to establish a budget and stick to it. That doesn't
mean that you can't change the ad copy if your response is marginal.
It just means if you are going to run classified ads for example that
you run them for a period of time and allow them to do their job.

Here are 10 offline marketing ideas. Use as many of these
as possible to move your business forward.

-Classified Newspaper Ads- Place classified ads in newspapers.
Local newspapers often have great advertising rates
that you can take advantage of to promote your business.
Here's a great source for running classified ads.
http://www.nationwideadvertising.com

-Put up flyers. They could be in computer stores, libraries,
restaurants, car windshields, or anywhere you shop that allows flyers.

-Direct mail. A nice direct mail piece when done consistently
over a period of time can bring tremendous exposure for your business.
The biggest benefit of direct mail is it allows you to reach thousands
of people at a bulk mail rate. You could not do this if you had to mail
each piece individually.

-Buy time on local cable T.V. It is surprisingly affordable and
if you commit to a block of advertising you can develop
Top Of Mind Awareness. TOMA is being there when they
want or need you. If you are an affiliate or in an MLM consider
doing group advertising and spreading the cost out over several
of you. You can have leads routed into one phone number and divied
out to all advertisers or have each ad display a different phone number.

-Pass out your CD-ROM or diskette business cards at
special events. It could be at trade shows, seminars,
fairs, etc.

-Get 250 free business cards here and leave them everywhere you go.
http://www.vistaprint.com
-Hold a free offline class and teach people how to use
their computer or how to use the internet. You could
have your web site on display as an example.

-Give away promotional items such as free mouse pads.
Put your advertising on the mouse pads and give them away at
computer or internet events.

-Advertise in card decks. The card deck you advertise
in should be targeted toward internet users.

You would also want to target your offline advertising
to groups of people that will actually be interested in
your product or service. If you're selling business books,
you will want to market to business owners.

In conclusion, if you have a business that's only based
online using offline advertising to make money online is
a great idea because so many people today go online to get
information about products and services they are interested in.

About the Author
Jeff Schuman is a 20 year veteran of sales and marketing
and has made over $35 million dollars in sales in that
time. His Team-Schuman.Com website contains the Top 5 work
at home websites, make money fast websites, make money
articles, a free classified ad service and more. Vist it
here today: http://www.Team-Schuman.com
http://www.make-money-bay.com

Effective Offline Promotion

2009-03-20T06:34:00.001-04:00

Although, most of your traffic will still come from search
engines and various online promotions, a little effort using
traditional media might also bring a large number of visitors
to your website.

Reasons, why you should take offline promotion of your website
seriously include:

Internet is increasingly becoming a part of our daily life.
However, still a big segment of the society – especially, the
elderly – don’t spend that much of time online. Traditional
media is a good method of getting their attention.

If a person sees your printed advertisement with your URL in
a year-old magazine and gets interested in what you have to
offer, he will still be able to check out your website.
Research shows that at least four people browse through
a printed magazine in its life time.

With planned media promotion, you can tap into particular
target market, which otherwise might not be that easy to do.
For example: if you sell car accessories through your website,
a good promotional channel would be a specific radio station
that commuters like to tune in.

Your offline promotion endeavor should combine advertisement,
publicity and promotional items.

Advertising

Once you identified the potential target market that you would
like to reach, you can try to communicate with them using
various advertising methods. Advertising is a paid form of
delivering message to broad range of prospective customers
through billboards, posters, print, broadcast media, etc.

Each of your advertising campaign should have a clear goal
and carefully crafted plan. Since advertising in some media
forms is quite expensive, without a well-defined plan you
might waste your money for nothing.

Your advertising goal might include the followings:

- Bring targeted traffic to your website
- Stimulate sales
- Build brand recognition of your website
- Increase public awareness of your product and services
- Promote seasonal sales, clearance, etc. conducted through
your site.

Once you established your advertising goal, you need to clarify
advertising budget, timing and media. You should set your
advertising budget based on your objective. In general,
companies set aside a percentage of their gross sales as
promotional budget. A new online business might choose to
spend on advertising, amount allocated in its business plan.
Timing and scheduling are also crucial factors in advertising.

Where should you advertise is a difficult decision, which should
base on a number of factors:

Market reach
What is the market segment you would like to cover with your
present campaign?

Message
Depending on your goal, you have to choose the right message to
communicate with your prospective customers. The advertising
media has to conform to the selected message.

Product and service that you offer through your site
B2B and B2C products and services are usually different in
nature and require different media to reach targeted market.

Budget
The choice of media depends vastly on your budget consideration.

Major offline advertising mediums

Newspapers

Newspapers are very popular media forms of advertising. If you
are not planning to reach out to the mass, classified sections
of local newspapers should be your first choice.

Magazines

Specialized magazines are good for targeting particular interest
group. If you sell golf accessories through your site, you
should definitely consider advertising in one of the local golf
magazines. However, ad spaces in magazines are often quite
expensive.

Radio

Radio advertising is a good option, if your business is aimed at
certain social group like teenagers, housewives, drivers, etc.
This is also a relatively inexpensive way of delivering your
message to a certain community or locality.

Television

If the products or services that you offer have mass appeal,
television is an excellent media of advertising. As the audience
of a TV station changes depending on the show aired there is
a limited possibility of target marketing. The ability to use
audio visual scenes helps delivering certain types of message
to the audience more clearly than any other media, which makes
TV advertising highly effective but quite costly.

Yellow pages and other directories

You should definitely add your business along with your website
URL to as many printed directories as you can. Industry
specific directories are good advertising media for B2B
businesses.

Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising with billboards, posters, etc. are effective
way of reaching out to a certain neighborhood. Since the
exposure rate of billboards is very high – people often take
the same route to work, it is a great medium to create brand
recognition.

Transit advertising

Advertising on various transports, terminals, subway are known
as transit advertising. Like billboards with this type of
advertising you can target a specific route or area. This can
be a very effective way to get your message to blue-collar
workers, if that is your market segment.

Direct Mail

Excellent way of delivering you message in the form of
promotional letters, catalogs, flyers, circulars, coupons, etc.
to your prospective customers. If you choose your mailing list
correct, the exposure rate and the response rate can be very
high.

Publicity

Publicity is any form of presentation of ideas, products, or
services delivered by the media themselves rather than as a paid
advertisement.
If your website carries a really new message or unique and
innovative products or services, for you publicity will be
definitely more effective than advertising. People, often, trust
news stories and articles much more than they trust paid
advertisements.

Press release

Newspapers, magazines, TV and Radio are the main publicity
conduits. Press releases are the tool to get into these media.
Whenever, you do something with your online business, which you
think is newsworthy you should write a press release and send it
off.

The main idea of a press release is to grab attention from a
news editor so that he writes a story on the subject.

That’s why follow the following rules while writing a press
release:

- Keep it simple, clear and precise
- Be accurate in facts and figures
- The news highlights should be expressed in the first two
paragraphs
- The press release should have an eye-catching headline
- Tell your story from different perspective
- The press release should have less than 200 words
- Mention your website URL at least in two different places

Business material and stationery

All your business literatures, materials and stationery should
have similar consistent logotype and URL address. This is an
extremely effective brand creation method within the group of
people those, who one way or another, interact with your
business.

Promotional Items

Give away items such as Pens, coffee mugs, key chains, coasters,
calendars, sticky notes, etc. should have your company logo and
web address. Apart from building brand this also work as a daily
reminder for users of these items.

About the Author
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present
CEO of Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he
has wide experience in Business Consulting, International
Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B Emarketplace
with solutions to start and run online business.
You can contact him at mailto:nowshade[at]rusbiz.com
http://ezine.rusbiz.com

YOUR WEBSITE ON MY FOREHEAD by John Castle

2009-03-20T06:25:00.002-04:00

People are so focused on promoting their websites on the web nowadays that many are overlooking the original marketing medium—the offline world! Many tried and true methods of advertising exist for brick and mortar businesses that could just as easily be applied to online businesses. These methods have been developed over hundreds if not thousands of years—what cavemen used to sell I have no idea—but the point is still valid. Business promotion existed long before the internet. So what methods of marketing in the “real” world can an online business owner apply to the cyber world?

One extremely effective method is brand marketing through merchandise. Think about it—before the web existed, how did businesses like real estate companies market their brands? One way they did it was to give stuff away—a marketing trick that is still being applied effectively today. How many pens, pencils, and magnets do you have lying around the house, stuck to the refrigerator, placed behind your ear—wherever—that bear some company’s logo or name? If you have ever worked in an office environment doubtless you would have noticed several different slogans on a hodgepodge collection of pens (some that might even still work) and pencils collected over time from seminars, informational fairs, trade events, etc. Brick and mortar businesses are doing it, so why aren’t you?

If you don’t want to market your website on writing utensils or magnets you have several alternatives. Other products that work well for marketing include coffee mugs, travel-and-go cups, mouse pads, bumper stickers, key tags, and stress balls. Let’s not forget another great place to show off your website—on your body! No, I’m not talking about taking drastic measures like tattooing your company URL on your forehead. Clothing advertisements are the name of the game. Clothing is a wonderful way to advertise your website, especially if you have a funny slogan or eye-catching logo. You can have your website address printed on hats, shirts, umbrellas, tote bags, and all sorts of wearable accessories. The best thing about advertising on clothing is that the advertisement is mobile—it goes wherever you go. The next time you get dressed to go out why not wear something that promotes your business? Don’t forget that you can give away things as well—imagine a hundred walking billboards for your website!

There are plenty of companies that will apply your brands to products. The cost is cheap and the rewards can be high, so what are you waiting for? Look through your local phonebook or do an internet search for companies that print to merchandise and then go get branding!

Copyright 2005 Jon Castle

This article can be reprinted freely as long as the author bylines are included.

About the Author
We are each a single drop of rain strafed by the wind to merge with other droplets and thereby form an ocean. For more unconventional home business wisdom, home business opportunities, and more please visit Jon Castle’s website www.AmericanHouseDad.com.

OFFLINE PROMOTION UNDERVALUED OPPORTUNITY

2009-03-20T06:18:00.001-04:00

When it goes about Website promotion, people usually think about such things as search engine optimization (also known as SEO), different pay-per-click advertising opportunities (such as Google AdWords and Overture), incoming links campaigns, and other methods of online promotion. It seems obvious - the Website is online, so one should promote it online. Although it is true, people always undervalue a grand set of techniques of offline promotion.

So offline promotion is…

Basically, it’s a complex of activities that make your target group aware of your Website’s existence through different material mediums or word of mouth. Let’s imagine that you are trying to promote a company’s Website. Your target group doesn’t surf Internet to find a company like yours. It’s used to seek potential partners trough exhibitions, industry magazines or so. However, you do realize that if they see your Website and find all necessary info there, they won’t pass by your company under no circumstances. What should you do then? Definitely, you should advertise your Website with those mediums that can reach your customer’s mind freely. More often than you might imagine, your message can be located offline.

Is it right for me?

Like there is no universal cure for anyone, there is no common answer for that question. However, there are two main groups of Websites that can benefit from the usage of some offline promotional techniques:

Online community Websites;
Websites of companies that run their operations offline.

Why those two? The logic is different there. As for the online communities, those unprofitable Websites unite thousands of people common in their interests. So we can assume that if your community Website is dedicated to e.g. blues harmonica playing you can promote it widely with some material fan attributes etc. Your aim here would be to involve as many permanent visitors as you can.

As for the company’s Website, you should turn an attention of a specific narrow circle of potential customers and partners. Business people are like two-faced Janus; they believe only the facts, people they know and material things, while they like to get an info as quickly as Internet can afford (if not even rapidly). Tell them about your company in a real time, let others tell them about you too, give them your card with your site’s URL, and you’ll be looking much more solid in their eyes, much worthier than your competitors.

Here the techniques go…

The number of ways of offline promotion is infinite. It can be limited with your own fantasy only. However, it would be wise to divide all possible ways into 3 main groups.

Group	Appeals to	Presumable Effect
Wide exposure of site’s URL on different material mediums (bags, billboards etc.)	People’s Curiosity	Increase of site’s general traffic. Some visitors can become permanent.
Usage of site’s URL on company’s souvenirs, proposals etc.	Need to find a necessary info	Increase of company’s solid image in potential partners’ eyes. Their awareness of company’s existence.
Usage of site’s URL on different occasions (press releases, conversations)	People’s Curiosity	Increase of site’s targeted traffic.

Let’s clarify a usage of those groups.

1. Wide exposure of site’s URL on different material mediums.

Material mediums mentioned above can be:

Billboards;
Bags;
Umbrellas;
Cars;
T-Shirts and caps;
Print, radio, television ads etc.

That method can be used effectively mainly for online community site’s promotion just because it appeals to people curiosity. A general scheme of its performance is:

A person sees an ad;
He gets curious;
He keeps the URL in mind;
As soon as he gets to Internet he visits that URL;
At the end, he either returns over and over, or he doesn’t.

In some specific cases, such method can give great results for companies’ Websites as well. It can be true mainly if:

The company has a well-known brand, so that such promotion can be just a reminiscent advertising.
The company runs a specific advertising campaign that makes people get curious and visit its Website.

As a conclusion, one should say that although such method can give high increase of general traffic, only a little number of visitors would be targeted. However, the word-of-mouth effect will change the scale to proper direction then.

2. Usage of Site’s URL on company’s souvenirs, proposals etc.
This specific method can be applied mainly to a marketing strategy of a company that runs its operations offline. Since little souvenirs with company’s logo became a kind of good form in business, no one would argue that having an URL of a Website of a company you are going to deal with on the pen that company has presented you recently could be both pleasant and useful. Moreover, it is more likely that a person will visit your site if he finds its URL placed on the clock or a calendar on his table rather than if he would need to look for it in his documents or in a search engine.

Company’s correspondence is also a good medium to advertise your Website. Don’t forget to include the URL in all your letters and proposals, and people who are interested in such services will definitely spend several minutes to browse your Website.

3. Usage of site’s URL on different occasions.
That’s what is usually defined as word-of-mouth effect. You can include the URL of your Website into all your press release and articles about your company that you publish in prints. That will definitely make people who are interested in further info about your company to browse the site. It can be also interviews or just private conversations when you can advertise the Website. And if it’s really informational and useful, you can expect a great effect of viral marketing when people will promote your Website yourself. In fact, although it seems the easiest way to proceed, it’s the most difficult and long-term technique to get more or less sizable result. However, it’s worth trying.

What’s the next…

Although now you can think that offline promotion of your Website will be a cure, do not fall into a trip of thoughtless running of advertising campaigns. This simple algorithm can save your time and money if you use it.

Define your target group. Will they really take care about your Website if they see an offline advertisement?
Think how you can reach their attention. Whether it should be TV or radio ads, billboards or bags and T-shirts, souvenir pens, calendars etc.?
Define where you’ll place/distribute the final advertising mediums.
Think what message will make people curious enough to visit your Website.
Prepare a draft copy and test it on some of your acquaintances.
When an ideal copy will be developed, you can start your campaign.

As a conclusion, try to think from a position of your target group. That will make you able to produce the most efficient message and distribute it wisely.

Just several tips…

And if you’ll think from a position of your target group, you’ll understand that you should make everything for them to memorize your Website’s URL. This applies mainly to if you wish to try to place your ads onto T-shirts, caps, bags, cars, billboards etc. There are tree main tips to make it easy:

Do not use long URL’s
Use meaningful URL’s
Try to make people curious with a logo or design

About the long URL’s. Imagine a person with a text on T-shirt, ‘THE-BEST-ONLINE-COMMUNITY-IN-THE-WORLD.COM’ or a shorter one, ‘PLAY-BLUES-HARMONICA.INFO’. Although those URL’s are meaningful enough, it would be hard to people that pass by such ad to read and memorize it. Hence, you loose visitors. It would be much better if you use a short type such as e.g. ‘NEIGHBOUR.COM’, or ‘BLUESHARP.INFO’. Anyway, if your Website is already known online with its long clumsy name, you can register a shorter one and redirect visitors to a real site.

If you aren’t an owner of such companies like Procter&Gamble (PG.com) or KPMG (KPMG.com), unlikely it would be good for you to name your site something like ‘BDFR.com’. People won’t remember such set of letters, so you won’t benefit from your offline promotion.

Although if you can’t use an URL name that will explain the main topic of your Website, you still can get targeted visitors. Place this URL along with a logo or informational design. It will certainly lead to a higher attention to your ad and subsequently will increase a targeted traffic to the Website. As for the logo style, it can appeal to two main issues:

It can lead to people’s curiosity;
It can be informational.

Whatever style you choose that will define a quality of traffic you’ll get.

And at the end…

At the end, you should really think if offline promotion can help you increase your site’s traffic and make it more targeted. It’s obvious that not any Website can use it. However, if you believe that yours can, if you apply an algorithm mentioned above, if you take care and adjust your URL to those three tips, if you use various techniques you’ll definitely be able to say then that your site’s visitors are as targeted as you always dreamt for.

About the Author

Alex Polonski is a Senior Sales Manager at XITEX Software Company, Ukraine. The company works in offshore software development market since 1999 anв has a fair expertise in J2EE and .NET technologies. Among company’s own-developed and marketed solutions, one can see a J2EE content management system, Xitex WebContent M1.