In this article I’m going to explain how to follow-up or follow through. This is the final step of the Inviting Formula, the formula I successfully use to get prospects to take a look at my MLM Business.

The Inviting Formula is:
Greet
Qualify
Invite
Handle any Questions/Objections
Close to Action
Follow-up or Follow-through

The purpose of the Follow-Up is to re-contact your prospect and move him/her towards what they’ve stated they need, want or don’t want.

The purpose of the Follow-Through is when your prospect indicates readiness to act (join, enroll, sign-up) then you follow-through by delivering all they need to get what they’ve stated they need, want or don’t-want. This can start with completing simple distributor agreements, getting products or signing them up for services etc., then moves on to training them.

Being effective at Follow-up depends on the previous step of the Inviting Formula - Close to Action. You may have read my article about closing your prospect to action. When you close your prospect to action, they agree to do some things, and you agree to do some things. One of which was to re-contact them at a scheduled time.

Do that.

That’s follow up.

You may need to follow-up or re-contact your prospect several times to get them to the stage where you follow-through with them.

I’m not going to pretend this is fun. It most certainly is not. But, it is a requirement to your success.

I’ve identified three main areas about follow-up that need to be understood in order to be successful at it… therefore successful in network marketing.

1. Close to action well, and you’re follow-ups will work out a lot better.

2. Do… follow-up. Most don’t, that’s why most don’t succeed.

3. It’s not you. I know that doesn’t make an ounce of sense - but read on and it will.

So let’s just picture what’s going on here. Mr. Prospect has this need/want. For this discussion I’m going to say he needs money to pay down his debts and get some “breathing room.” I could interchange time or anything else here, but for this discussion I’m going to use money. So Mr. Prospect is very, very worried about his credit card bills. He’s gotten himself in over his head. There was a time when he didn’t have credit card bills. He could pay off the credit card the same month the charges came in. Then he charged something that required two or three months to pay it off, he used a little bit of discipline and reduced his expenses in other areas and with pride he sent in the payment and paid it all off. And at some point he sunk too deep and wasn’t able to pay it off in a month or two. He’s been in debt for years. But Mr. Prospect has pride. He is completely convinced he will pay it off. So convinced he starts erecting “walls of determination.”

“I will not spend any money on anything I don’t need!”

“Alright family, we need to tighten down on spending money.”

“We can’t afford that.”

“Honey, can we go to the movies tonight?” “GOOD GRIEF - can’t you see WE CAN’T SPEND ANY MORE MONEY!!”

A post card hits his mailbox about making money from home. He calls and leaves a message, “I’m just curious…” he states on your message machine. You call him back. You do a good greeting and qualify. He doesn’t express all the above - he’s got pride. He wraps it all up in a tiny statement like - “just looking to make some extra cash.”

The whole time you’re talking he’s got one thing on his mind… “What’s this going to cost me?” If it costs anything he’s going to put that wall of determination between you and him. This “what does it cost” question doesn’t come up because you’re moving right through the Inviting Formula. You conclude that he does in fact qualify and you invite him to look at an online movie. He agrees and you schedule a time to follow-up.

You call at the designated time - he doesn’t answer the phone and doesn’t return your phone call. You think it’s you. You think he’s turning you down. You think you need to go back to the drawing board because “this thing isn’t working.”

Networker - Mr. Prospect needs your help. He’s trapped himself behind his “WALL of determination!” You need to help him get around, under, through, over this wall…which requires you to continually follow-up with him. Don’t sit around looking at YOUR issues and dreaming up all kinds of stuff - it’s not you. Call the man back, call him again, call him again and keep calling till you reach him - hold his hand and walk him through HIS wall.

That’s what follow-up is all about. It’s not fun, but it’s honorable.

When thinking about… or dreading… “Doing the numbers,” remember that every “number” is a human being. Help that human being…and then, follow-up is a lot easier.

Much respect and admiration,

Tim Sales

The article above makes reference to the Inviting Formula, - a training included in the CD series “Professional Inviter,” which teaches network marketers how to say the right thing to every prospect. Listen to a sample live prospecting call at http://www.professionalinviter.com

About Tim: In 1989, near the end of an 11-year tour with the US Navy Underwater Bomb Squad Team, Tim answered an ad in the Washington Post newspaper that led him to his first and only MLM company. Five years later his network marketing income rose to over $150,000 per month with over 56,000 people in his organization. His most noted contribution to the Network Marketing Industry is the “Brilliant Compensation” presentation and he is a highly respected mentor and trainer. Get his free monthly MLM training newsletter, filled with the strategies Tim used to successfully build his downline by going to http://www.brilliantexchange.com

© Brilliant Exchange, Inc.

Everybody wants good value when they buy books online - especially expensive ones. And everyone knows that people like Amazon have transformed book buying to provide everyone with better value than bookshops and other booksellers.

Don’t they? Haven’t they?

Not exactly. I am telling you because I should know. I too am a trader. I get the same prices, presumably, as Amazon from the publishing houses. They may even get a bigger discount from me becuase they buy in bulk for their thousands of customers. So how can I charge less than me?

Is it because they add apostage charge of around £3 to all orders under around £39? Most paperback books are around £6.99. If you look at Amazon’s description of the book it may say “Our price £5.59. You save 20%”. You are then invited to “buy now”.

So you are saving £1.40 on the price you would pay in a bookshop but then paying £3 postage. That makes the price £1.60 MORE than the bookshop price. That’s the smallest village bookshop you can find, remember. Are you really going to order £39 worth of books at once? Can your credit card stand it?

But are Amazon making a loss by offering you a 20% discount in the first place? Not on your life. They often get 35% discount. So they paid around £4.50 a book they are then asking you to pay £5.59. How many people buying a popular book does it take for them to cover their costs and make a profit even if they DIDN’T charge you £3 postage.

But they do charge you that. So its not even a question of making a small profit or loss on each sale and hoping selling to lots of people gets them a discount on their postage bill - which it usually does.

So how much should you pay? Well, we would make a profit on that £6.99 book with 35% discount to us from the publisher by charging you £5.75 INCLUDING POSTAGE.

So, please. Don’t think you’re not paying shop prices rather than discount prices. And I mean corner shop inflated prices, not Wal Mart sell it cheap prices.

We welcome any enquiries if oyu want more facts on the subject. Email us at books_and_beyond@businessmailbox.com.

About the Author

I am a mail order bookseller based in London, UK. I have 15 years experience in the book trade which developed from my own need to have a continous range of good and value books available as a bookseller. My company supplies books online and can be contacted at books_and_beyond@businessmailbox.com for more information.

Are Third-Party Payment Providers Really A Good Deal?
by Robert Key © 2002
http://www.PayPal-Encrypter.com

Looking for an economical, fast and safe alternative to merchant accounts? Want something that requires no credit check, and no application fee, but offers secure payment acceptance? Isn’t everybody?! These are the primary benefits of using a third-party payment provider (such as ClickBank or PayPal). However, is it really as good a deal as it seems on the surface?

These payment acceptance companies can offer a great deal of convenience and flexibility to those who want to get up and running quickly. There are, however, two major drawbacks that you should be aware of before making your decision to opt for a third-party provider over a merchant account… their security and the expense.

Security - Not Of the Payment Process, But Of Your Sales

One issue that has begun to come to light as of recently is the security of the links used for making sales. With many of the third-party payment providers (such as PayPal), it is remarkably easy for a cyber thief (or just an unscrupulous online surfer) to alter or completely delete your sales code. The result? They replace it with their own and swipe your commission right out from under your nose. You’ll have no idea it has happened - you’ll just gradually watch your sales dwindle down.

Just as simple is gaining access to your download page, or to your product itself.

Let me state right here that these problems are NOT the fault of the payment acceptance company. They make every known effort to provide a secure environment for your sales transactions, and account information. However, just as viruses can infect software, cyber thieves can hack into sales links.

Because the links are easily accessible, and because they are even more easily changed, the use of a payment acceptance company can represent a high risk of stolen sales.

The solution? Find a way to encrypt or hide the code that these sales hijackers are looking for. This can be accomplished by either hiring a programmer (or scripter) to create a special code for you, or by purchasing software that disguises your code so hijackers can’t recognize it.

Expense - Is It Costing You More Than You Think?

The other concern with third-party companies is the expense. While no set up fee, or a one-time $49.95 set up fee might sound like a dream come true, be sure you calculate all the costs before making your decision.

If we use an example where the same number of sales are made in a year, most merchant accounts would come out to be less expensive, followed by PayPal, and lastly (and most expensively) ClickBank.

However, many startups can’t afford the initial costs. Also, if you plan to incorporate an affiliate program or online shopping cart into your Web site, the fees climb even more.

Third-party payment providers like ClickBank and PayPal offer excellent alternatives that include affiliate tracking and payment, and shopping carts or “buy” buttons. Definitely worth a look!

The Bottom Line

The decision is ultimately yours. *Can* third-party payment providers such as PayPal be a better deal? Yes! Depending on your needs, they certainly can be. However, be very careful to investigate options for link security to ensure your sales stay YOUR sales.

Robert Key is a successful Internet marketer who specializes in helping small businesses market and sell wisely on the ‘Net. To ensure that your payment links are protected from cyber thieves, visit http://www.PayPal-Encrypter.com today!

So betterness isn’t a word huh. Well it is now Bunky. Your days in business will present you with all sorts of opportunities to test your metal. Your attitude will be the one ally you will have or it will be your downfall, the choice will be yours.

Having a good attitude can be as challenging as overcoming substance abuse or quitting smoking. You have to do it minute by minute, day by day, week by week, and be prepared to start over as you fail time after time. I know of no man or woman alive who can maintain a good attitude 24/7 but the real attitude pros have a faster rebound rate than the average person.

Ambitious people learn fairly early in their lives that not everyone will be happy with you as you strive to achieve and reach your maximum potential. We are fragile beings people, and our makeup is froth with imperfections. There are those in the world ready to leap on your every mistake in judgment while others will go to the wall defending your integrity regardless of the circumstances. Loyalty is a highly prized commodity in business circles, yet when it comes down to survival it’s every man for himself.

When we have been at the wrong end of the stick more frequently than we feel we deserve it would be very easy to get bitter. Temporary bouts with bitterness are not terribly damaging in themselves unless we dwell to the point where we become centered on the injustice at the expense of the bigger picture. People are well meaning in their desire to be fair but it is sometimes beyond the scope of what a person may be able to emotionally handle at the moment. We have to factor humanity and flexibility in our dealings.

Our desire for satisfaction when wronged is usually froth with pitfalls and potential regrets as we strive to put the aggrieving party in their place. What place might that be, a position to understand our superior rights or entitlements? To what benefit is it to destroy another who through stress, pressure, or discouragement has chosen the wrong path in the heat of the moment?

Business is tough enough. We would benefit greatly from less litigation and more compassion in our world. We need to allow people to say they’re sorry at times and not look for financial windfall at the expense of every mistake.

We are beginning to pay the price for such an approach. Physicians in many states are closing shop because of the high cost of insurance to protect them from litigation. We pay in higher insurance premiums from unneeded tests from cautious physicians. We pay in a higher cost for services of all types. Been to a real estate closing lately? I remember when it was a few pages, but now it’s dozens of pages that we sign without even reading them.

Litigation is sometimes the only avenue for satisfaction on occasion, but I assure you it is needed much less often then it is pursued. Examine your bitterness factor and try to make it your betterness factor whenever possible. You’ll be a happier person when the dust settles, and so will your customers and employees.

Having your own opt in list is essential if you want to succeed on the internet. Its common knowledge that email marketing is one of the most reliable ways of generating consistent free targeted traffic for your website.

Once you have your own responsive opt in list it can open up a variety of different opportunities, such as selling advertising space and setting up joint ventures with other list owners.

The first thing you need to do is collect email addresses from your visitors and you can do this by offering a free report or starting a newsletter using an auto responder, allowing you to set up a series of messages that will be sent out automatically on your behalf on a timeframe you specify.

Its important to choose the most reliable auto responder at the start because it can be very stressful and time consuming to transfer your opt in list from one place to another.

For best results you should not use a free auto responder service because advertisements will be added to all your outgoing emails. You will have no control over which ads are shown and this will distract your subscribers and dramatically reduce the response rates to your emails.

You can either pay a monthly fee and use a third party hosted auto responder service like Aweber or Get Response, or you can pay a one time fee and install an auto responder script like Auto Response Plus on your domain.

The problem with auto responder scripts is that the number of subscribers you can store will be limited depending on how much disk space you have with your hosting plan, and you will also need to backup your list on a regular basis in case a problem occurs and all of the information is lost.

Its much easier and safer to use a third party hosted auto responder service because you will not have to worry about installing a script and your subscribers will be stored securely on a dedicated server with no limits.

Its essential that you focus on one specific topic for your opt in list as this will dramatically increase your response rates. You need to create a landing page consisting of a short sales letter that encourages visitors to subscribe, and a subscription form that allows visitors to enter their name and email address. You should also offer some quality bonus gifts to increase your conversion rates.

Double opt in lists are becoming more popular because they provide extra security as subscribers must confirm their email address, but many people will forget to complete this confirmation which results in fewer active subscribers so you may prefer to use the single opt in feature.

Once you have set up your landing page and follow up messages you will need to start sending visitors to your website. Submitting content to article directories and writing press releases are the most effective ways of generating unlimited free targeted traffic.

This article was written by Simon Akers who is the editor of the Marketing Oasis newsletter. For more internet marketing tips join the ezine for free here: www.MarketingOasis.com/

Copyright 2005 Chris Stirling

Thousands of people have quit their JOBS and started earning money exclusively online. There are a lot of ways you can do it on the Internet… such as creating your own products, offering a service, licensing products, etc.

Many people have done it without having ANY products of their own. This is done through affiliate income or selling other people’s products for a commission.

Here’s how it can be done.

1. Don’t sell anything you don’t own.

This rule is listed first for a good reason. You should never sell anything that you don’t own yourself. If you don’t have enough faith in it’s results to buy it yourself, then you have no reason to sell it to others.

Think about this for a moment - if you don’t own it and are unwilling to purchase it how can you endorse the product? How can you honestly answer questions about the product? The answer is you can’t.

Too often people are willing to jump on the bandwagon and promote whatever the hyped product of the week is… without stopping to think of the value of the product itself. No matter how many other people are recommending it, you shouldn’t if you haven’t bought it yourself.

2. Only offer complementary products and services.

If your web site is about sports products, then you definitely shouldn’t be offering cigarettes in another program. It doesn’t make any sense at all, and these products defiantly do not compliment each other. You are unlikely to sell both products to the same customer.

A good example of selling complementary products would be, if you sell golf products, then you could sell golf vacations, golf clubs, golf subscriptions, golf training products, etc. All these products would entice the same consumer. Meaning once you get the person interested in golf to your site you increase your chances of selling them more than one item. This would not be the case if you sold golf clubs and gardening books.

Make sure everything you offer goes together. You should earn multiple streams of income, but they must all be related on the same subject.

3. Build an opt-in email list.

I can not stress enough how vital this is to your online success.

Ask any top business person what their most valuable asset. It isn’t their products. It isn’t their location. It isn’t even their employees.

The most valuable asset to any business is their customer list. The most valuable asset to any Internet business is the opt-in email list. Your email list IS your Internet business.

If you don’t have an email list, you don’t have an Internet business.

Offer an affiliate product…and you earn money once. Offer a subscription to your opt-in email list and you earn money forever (from hundreds of offers you can make to that list).

4. Concentrate on your brand.

Use your opt-in email list to build a relationship with your subscribers. When they first subscribe, they may not know you from Peter. So tell them about yourself. Express your opinions.

On your first 2-3 contacts do not sell them anything. Tell them about yourself, your experiences, stick your neck out and tell them what you think. Let your customers get to know you. You have to give people a reason to know, like, and trust you.

You don’t have to be the best writer on the planet. You don’t have to be just like your favorite guru. Just write some things that are exclusively you in your emails.

Sure, some of them will get mad. Some will ask to be removed. Some will cuss you out. Deal with it. The way I see these people are by removing themselves from my list I do not have to waist time on trying to sell to them. I just move on to the people who are interested and I have a greater chance of making money off.

If you’re just like everyone else, then why should anyone choose to buy from you?

5. Write your own endorsements and reviews.

Every affiliate program has solo ads, endorsement ads, and classified ads available. You can use them sometimes, but they should never become your only marketing pieces.

But on top of every ad you should have your OWN opinion of the product. You should tell your customers in your own words why they should buy this or that. Then use the ad copy you were given UNDER your own statements.

The same thing goes for online newsletters. You can use content and articles from other people, but every single email you ever send out should have something written from you…in your own words…at the top of it if nowhere else. It could be just a short ‘what’s going on’ section or an editorial.

You don’t have to be professional writer. You just have to have opinions and be willing to stick your neck out giving them.

6. Offer extra specials.

You don’t have to do this every single time, but you should be making special offers for your list. Why should they buy a product from you instead of one of 1,000 other affiliates offering it?

Give them something extra they can’t get from other affiliates!

You can tell them that if they buy affiliate product A from you…you’ll give them this special report.

All they have to do is buy the product and then email you the receipt. You’ll send them their extra bonus report right over.

It could also be an eBook, an email consultation, a phone consultation, an ad in your newsletter, a link on your special links page, etc. Give them something extra special with some of your offers and watch your checks soar. Make sure the items you give for free are related to your product.

7. Ask for the sale.

You have to ask for the sale. If you don’t ask you will never get. The worst they can say is “no” and all that means is you are no worse off than you are right now. But if you ask and they say yes you are in a much better place.

You can’t be wimpy or shy. You can’t just give away a lot of content hoping someone will click on your little link somewhere and magically decide to buy your product. You have to tell your prospects and customers why they want and need your product. You have to tell them what they get when they buy.

If some subscribers get mad when you send them an offer, help them remove themselves from your list. It’s funny, but most profitable promotions have also get the most complaints and removes.

I’ve had people email me saying, “If you’re just trying to sell something online, then I don’t even want your newsletter.” Guess what? Remove them. That is the end purpose of your newsletter, any content you provide, or anything you do online.

Remember why you started on online business - to make money not to give out free gifts and content.

About the author:

Chris Stirling is the owner of Stirls.com and His Internet Marketing website is designed to help other people achieve their goal of having their own work at home business.
http://www.stirls.com

The Power Play Interviews: Markus Frind- $3 Million in 6 Months

This is the first in a series of Internet Success Stories that you will begin to see on the Power Play Blog.
Hope you enjoy them!

Markus Frind, the creator of Plentyoffish.com is a success story worth noting, as he has managed to take a niche formerly ruled by giant corporations and give it his own brand of marketing savvy.
A case of David vs. Goliath, where the little guy comes out on top in the end.
Markus is the top “individual” adsense publisher in terms of pageviews.
Lets find out what some of his secrets are as he shares some advice with our readers.
Feel free to comment!

Markus, what is your experience in computer programming and how did it prepare you for becoming a webmaster?

The average pageviews a day is around 14 million for the last
week. I’m getting another 80 million pageviews a day from users
polling the site to see if they have new messages. Really intensive
bandwidth wise!

When I go to your website, I notice that the ads are targeted to my region, yet I have not even registered- can you explain to our
readers how you accomplish this feat?

I’m just using ip2location.com- Basically i take your IP, look it up
in the database and it tells me what your city is. I then bring up
a list of users in your city, nothing magical about it at all.

Are most of your visitors coming primarily from search engines (SERPS), or are you finding that they come from other avenues? Do you actively advertise in the media?

Search engines account for something like 2% of my traffic. The vast majority of my traffic, like any other site with over 5 million pageviews a day comes from word of mouth, and repeat visitors.

The services on your site seem to be offered at no cost to the registrants. Is there some advantage you have over your competitors that allows you to do this?

I’ve developed new algorithms that allow me to create a mega site for
next to no cost. Several years ago I created algorithm that was thousands of times faster then the algorithm used in the 1990’s to find a string of 22 prime numbers. At the time a professor used several super computers and hundreds of regular computers over the course of several years to find a record. I did the same thing on 1 computer in 2 weeks.

Fascinating! Are there any other sites you currently maintain, or is plentyoffish.com the only one?

Its the only site at the moment. I’ve got a few other sites I
registered for friends so they could learn to do marketing/affiliate
stuff. At this point i think 1 site is enough.

Any tips for those looking to create a profitable endeavor on the internet?

IF someone else thinks what you are doing is a cool idea I’d say it
isn’t… Find something no one else thinks is important and build
up a site with big traffic in that area.
Also keep in mind, sites that have low monetization today but have
traffic may be the gold mines of tomorrow. In the internet world
anything and everything will be monetized at some point and traffic is king.

Traffic is King- very wise advice, Markus.
One last question-
How do you find the time to maintain such a large commodity on the
internet? Surely you must have some other interests in life besides programming and website monitoring?

It only takes a hour a day on average, but its very tiring
work. I spend the other couple of hours reading and seeing what
is going on.

Thanks Markus!

Mike owns and operates the Power Play.
You can find this article and more like it on the Power Play Blog:
Power Play

What’s wrong with all of you affiliate managers? True, it’s essential to focus on the super affiliates, because they are the drivers of most of the sales, leads, and clicks in affiliate marketing. But that doesn’t mean that those affiliates who have not achieved super affiliate status should be treated as pariahs.

The plain fact is that very few affiliate managers are bothering with the majority of their affiliates. According to findings by affiliate metrix, the top reason why affiliate managers neglect their affiliates is a lack of time. Affiliate managers do not plan to fail, rather they fail to plan. A little time management can translate into a lot of longevity for an affiliate program.

Who are your affiliates?
The super affiliates are a finite group. You are already communicating with them, but you’ve got to shift your paradigm a bit and fit in ample time for the others, that critical mass of producers that will be with you from month to month. If you step one rung below the super affiliates, you’ve got the Up-and-Comers: targeted sites that do well enough with your program to generate multiple checks each year. With a little help, they could be the next big thing in your program.

Also, you’ve got a large segment of Onesies: low traffic and low revenue sites that will earn one (maybe) check from you per year, hence their name. And lastly, you’ve got the one’s to avoid… the Untouchables: banner farmers, under construction sites, no focus, no content, and no traffic sites.

Time can be on your side
Sure, we all have time constraints, which results in our inevitable focus on building and maintaining relationships with our super affiliates. However, it’s easy enough to create shortcuts for yourself, so that you can service all affiliates, without neglecting the top affiliates.

One habit of successful affiliate managers is to compile canned answers to the frequently asked questions of their affiliates. Yes, these questions should be answered in your FAQ (frequently asked questions document), but if the affiliates are asking you, they obviously do not know the answer.

Every time an affiliate asks a question, write out a thoughtful answer to that affiliate. But never re-write the same answer twice. Instead, create a file in Notepad where you will house all of your eloquent answers. Save the file to your Desktop, and the next time you are asked a banal question about your program, don’t hit the delete button, hit your answer page, copy the answer, and shoot it off to the affiliate.

For starters, answer the following questions on your answer page:

How can I join your program?
When and how do I get paid?
How do I get your affiliate links?
Can I link to your from more than one site?
How do I update my contact information?

Just the FAQs
Many questions from affiliates could have been answered by your FAQ document. But they weren’t, because very few people actually bother to read them. Since some people do read them, you should have an exhaustive list of questions and answers that is easily accessed by your affiliates.

If you don’t know what people are going to ask, try asking a select group of affiliates and co-workers to navigate through your program and ask them to each write down 2-3 questions. Answer these questions and you’ve got a FAQ. As your program grows, you will receive questions from your prospective affiliates - whenever you answer a new question, be sure that the question and answer are added to the FAQ.

You’ve still got that issue about nobody reading your FAQ, but there’s an easy solution. E-mail your FAQ out to the members of your affiliate program two to four times per year.

Educate to elevate
Another measure you can take to reduce the need for your affiliates to contact you is to provide them with educational resources, such as e-books and tutorials. If you share resources with your affiliates about the dynamics of affiliate marketing, and other tangentially related topics, not only will you minimize contact from affiliates, but you will also be contributing to the improvement of your affiliate sites.

One new resource, “Affiliate Marketing 101,” by Wayne and Kim Porter, is designed for those new affiliates that need some hand holding and a basic education in affiliate marketing. Pass these free excerpts along to your affiliates, and it will enable you to focus more on your key relationships.

Another free e-book that affiliate managers can share with their affiliates is “Search Engine School.” I created this resource for ClubMom affiliates after receiving repeated requests for information on driving traffic. This e-book consists of easy, step-by-step lessons to help your affiliates achieve better placement in the search engines.

There’s really no excuse for disregarding all but your super affiliates. Not only is it bad business to ignore the critical mass of your program, but it’s invariably easy to curry favor with the Up-and-Comer and Onesie affiliates by answering their questions before they ask them. In order to properly manage your program and all of your affiliates, you’ve got to manage your time. And now you know how. As Francis Bacon once said, “knowledge itself is power.”

About the Author

Shawn Collins
ClubMom Affiliate Manager
scollins@clubmom-inc.com
646-435-6513

Do you dream of dramatically increasing the number of people who come to
your web site? Do you tend to limit yourself only to Internet-based promotions?

I want to share a little secret with you about how you can use a regular old
postcard to build traffic to your web site by the thousands in almost no time
at all!

Now before you go out of the room screaming, just listen for just a moment.
This past month, I have been using postcards with my clients and they have a
dded literally thousands of names to their client lists! That’s right, and
they did it by using little 3×5 inch postcards that are sent via regular old
snail-mail!

I realize that this is not new technology, and that it may not even be all
that sexy, but what I do know is that it REALLY WORKS! And the results are
nothing shy of amazing, if you know how to make the most of this powerful
medium.

Are you curious to learn how? Read on because I am going to tell you and then
I’ll share a few secrets to postcard marketing that will explode your response
rate!

Postcards work because more people read them. . .and they are read more often
because there is no envelope to open. Everybody will look at a brightly colored
postcard when it arrives in the mail. So the first thing to know is that you
always use brightly colored postcards. I prefer sunshine yellow for my
postcards.

Start with a powerful offer. I like to offer a FREE E-BOOK. So I put the words
“FREE E-BOOK” in big bold letters across the top of the postcard. Yes, it’s
fine to be bold! Remember, your goal is to capture attention, so use the
biggest, boldest type face you can get!

Under that bold headline, I’ll generally provide a little more info about the
value of the Free E-book. It may look like this:

“You can GET RICH on the Internet! Learn how in a powerful FREE E-Book by
Expert Internet Marketer, Robert Imbriale. Claim your FREE copy of this
eye-opening E-Book now! Go to http://www.ultimatewealth.com“

That’s it. I will not put any more copy on the postcard. I may include a
graphic of the cover of the e-book, but nothing else. It’s possible to say
too much, so you’re better off saying less, and getting more response because
the prospect is now curious and will come to your web site to find out more!

All I want to do is get the prospect to RESPOND by going to my web site. So I
give them enough information to get them curious and then let them come to my
site to get the whole story.

You could also run a contest and use the words, “You Could Win” along the top
of your postcard. I tested this headline a few weeks ago for one of my clients,
(http://www.welburngourdfarm.com) and the results were amazing! In just a few
short days, they had received thousands of visits to their site because of this
one little postcard!

Your postcard must simply attract attention and then send the reader to your
web site. NEVER try to SELL off the postcard! There is simply not enough room
to convince a prospect to make a purchasing decision. And I know that your
natural temptation is to try and tell them about EVERYTHING that you have to
offer. DON’T DO IT! Stay focused, keep it short and you’ll see thousands of
people on your web site in just days!

Get your list together, (or rent a list from a list broker) print your labels,
place a mere 20-cent postage stamp on each postcard and drop them off at your
nearest Post Office. There is not that much to this form of promotion, and it
will be well worth your efforts, if you follow the simple guidelines I’ve just
outlined for you.

My very first online marketing promotion was a postcard mailing that I used to
promote my very first online marketing venture in 1989. At the time I invested
less than $200 to print and mail my postcards and made over $5,000.00 in sales!

The good news is that postcards are just as profitable today as they were then!
So, go get some postcards made up, bring them to your local printer and get a
few thousand copies made. In days, you’ll see a nice jump in traffic to your
web site - and your profits!

This is one great marketing tip and I’ve got at least 20 more on my CD called,
“21 Ways to Promote Your Web Site.” Get yourself a copy right now at
www.ultimatewealth.com and you’ll be on your way to Internet profits without
investing a fortune in advertising!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Imbriale is an internationally known Internet Marketing Expert who
has helped sell well over $100 Million in products and services over the
Internet. He is the author of several books, including his latest, “Internet
Mareting Secrets” which you can get for free by going to
http://www.ultimatewealth.com Robert can be reached via e-mail at
robert@ultimatewealth.com

How many methods you know to increase your site traffic?

Do you know 3, 7, or 14 ways to get visitors? I don’t know your
numbers…but I have some killing methods you can use to grow
your traffic!

1) Write articles and submit them to e-zines, web sites and
magazines that accept article submissions. Include your business
information and web address at the end of the article.

2) Form an online community. It could be an online message
board, e-mail discussion list or chat room. When people get
involved in your community they will regularly return to
communicate with others.

3) Start an e-zine for your web site. When people read each
issue they’ll be reminded to revisit your web site. They’ll see
your product ad more than just once which will increase your
orders.

4) Give away an electronic freebie with your ad on it. Allow
your visitors to also give the freebie away. This’ll increase
your ad exposure and attract people to your web site at the same
time.

5) Trade links with other web sites. They should be related to
the subject of your web site. Instead of trading links, you
could also trade banner ads, half page ads, classified ads, etc.

6) Combine your products or services into one big package deal
with other businesses offerings. You could share a web site and
advertise the package deal; which means double the traffic.

7) Participate on message boards. Post answers to other
people’s questions, ask questions and post appropriate
information. Include your signature file at the end of all your
postings.

Exchange classified or sponsor ads with other free e-zine
publishers. If there is a huge subscriber difference between
e-zines, one can run more ads to make up for it.

Great. Try my methods now…You will increase your site traffic
and make more sales.