Find exactly what people are searching for.

NicheBOT V2 is an online keyword analysis tool that is great for beginners and veterans alike and is one of the best free keyword research tools around.

NicheBOT V2 looks like a search engine with the typical search box centered in the middle of the page. There are six different searches that users can perform.
NicheBOT V2. Fits keyword research like a glove. If you do any keyword research at all, you must at least try this service. Allow yourself at least 30 minutes to get your head around how it all hangs together so you can get the full picture of the power of NicheBOT V2.
A keyword research tool that makes sense as it closely follows how users conduct their research. It has the ability to expand your lists to up to 10,000 words per seed keyword. This tool will suit almost anyone who does any kind of keyword research. This tool is especially useful with the demise of the Overture Keyword Tool.
The uneducated guess, but successful marketers know which are the best keywords to drive more traffic to your sites. NicheBOT V2 will do just that. Right now you can try it out for just $1.
To access NicheBOT V2 click this link:

http://www.nichebot.com/members/go.php?r=1494&i=l0
Or with NicheBOT Classic interface

http://www.nichebot.com/members/go.php?r=1494&i=l6

NicheBOT News Notes:
From Michael Campbell “NicheBOT just added a feature that lets you export data directly into Dr. Andy Williams Keyword Results Analyzer (KRA) that sorts and arranges raw keyword data into any format you chose.
From Jim Morris “With the departure of the Overture bid tool and now Google's Traffic Estimator tool only accessible to Adwords account holders only it's been quite a month of changes! It's also a good thing that NicheBOT now has the capability to acquire Pay-Per-Click data from such providers like Google Adwords, Miva and Enhance.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Douglas Mackie
http://www.fundamentallybusiness.com

Competitive Analysis - no company exists in a vacuum online.

Knowing who your competitors are, as well as their strengths and weaknesses is an essential part of assessing the market for your product for your product or service. Most businesses have direct and indirect competitors.

1. What is competitive analysis?

A competitive analysis is a formal evaluation in which you review the businesses of one or more companies that compete, directly or indirectly, with your own.

Online, competitors have access to each other's company information and marketing materials that they might not be able to gather as easily in the offline world. This allows for even greater opportunities to benefit from competitive analysis data.

But how can companies improve by analyzing their competitors? And what is the best way to implement a thorough competitive analysis?

For a business to succeed, you need to know almost as much about your competitors as you do about your own company and customers. Unfortunately most business owners make the mistake of waiting until a competitor opens up shop across the street and is cutting into profits to find out who and what they are up against.

A Competitive analysis allows you to identify your competitors and evaluate their respective strengths and weaknesses. By knowing the actions of your competitors, you will have a better understanding of what products and services you should offer; how you can market them effectively; and how you can position your business.

Competitive analysis is an ongoing process. You should always be gathering information about your competitors. Look at their Web sites. Read their product literature and brochures. Get your hands on their products. See how they present themselves at trade shows. Read about them in your industry’s trade publications. Talk to your customers to see hoe they feel about competitive products or services.

2. What are the benefits of conducting a competitive analysis?

The benefits of conducting a competitive analysis include:

1. You will identify WHO you are competing against. You will be able to assess the threat levels presented by other companies in your market.
2. You will identify your own weaknesses. Companies who do not pay attention to their competitors may not understand just what they are doing wrong because they have no frame of reference. Studying your competitors offers you a perfect opportunity to find out how you can better serve your customers.
3. Once you've identified those weaknesses, you'll be able to improve your business in a number of ways. The order in which those improvements should be implemented will often be dictated by the analyses of your competitors. For example, if all of the other companies sharing your target market have a certain feature considered essential to that market, this will be one of the first things you will want to remedy.
4. You will also identify your strengths. By comparing your own online presence to those of your direct competitors, you will discover what sets your business apart from theirs. These qualities can then be emphasized in your marketing efforts.
5. Additionally, you will be able to identify or confirm your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is the single most important element of your business that sets you apart from your competitors. Do you have the largest catalog of products? The lowest prices? The (quantifiably) best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected.

You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position

Identify your competition

Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.

Begin looking at your primary competitors. These are the market leaders, the companies who currently dominate your market.

Next, look at your secondary and indirect competitors. These are the businesses who may not go head-to-head with you, but who are targeting the same general market.

Finally, look at potential competitors. These are companies who might be moving into your market and who need to prepare to compete against.

Analyze strengths and weaknesses

After you have figured out who your competitors are, determine their strengths and find out what their vulnerabilities are. Why do customers buy from them? Is it price? Value? Service? Convenience? Reputation? Focus on as many “perceived” strengths and weaknesses as you do on actual ones.

Tabulate the strengths and weaknesses in a table format (template attached). This will allow you to see, at a glance, where each competitor stands.

Look at opportunities and threats

Strengths and weaknesses are often factors that are under a company’s control. But when you’re looking at your competition, you also need to examine how well prepared they are to deal with factors outside their control. These are called opportunities and threats.

Opportunities and threats fall into a wide range of categories, such as technology, regulatory and economic.

You should consider the following guidelines when conducting competitive analyses.

1. Utilize a multitude of resources to identify your competitors. Who else is bidding on your PPC terms? What sites come up as natural search results for your terms? Check trade association memberships and business registries. Use your referrer data to identify what sites your visitors are coming from. Don't overlook word-of-mouth information from your customers and investors.

These sources should yield a number of direct and indirect competitors. Narrow the scope of your analysis if necessary, but the most effective competitive analysis will compare at least three to five leading companies in your market.

2. Identify key success factors (KSFs) for your industry and rate yourself and others on each of them. One useful tool is the "strategic group map", which is part of a supporting Word document available for download:

http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysisSupplement.doc

3. Identify the competitive strengths of each company in the analysis, including your own. What makes each company unique? Do they own patents or copyrights that give them a competitive edge? Is there a dominant company with market share at or near "critical mass" level?
4. Identify the revenue models of your competitors. How do your competitors make money? Are you overlooking potential sources of revenue?
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analyses, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:

http://meclabs.com/cgi-bin/pl/pl.cgi?mls

8. If practical, make purchases from your competitors. How is their customer service? Are they utilizing drop-shipping or other forms of outsourcing? What can you learn from watching how they do business?
9. Monitor your competitors over time. Sign up for their email lists and analyze their marketing messages. How strong are your competitors' brands?
10. Analyze your competitors' Google, Overture, and other PPC ads. Knowing the best keywords for your market, it shouldn't be hard to locate your competitors' ads. These may give you ideas about how to modify your own campaigns.
11. Analyze your competitors' ratings and rankings on a number of platforms, including Google PageRank, Alexa, BizRate, comparison engines, and incoming links from other websites. The following spreadsheet may be useful in helping you track this analysis:

http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysis.xls

Once you have compiled this data, you should be able to use it to gauge the effectiveness of your competitors' marketing efforts compared to your own.

12. Depending on entry and exit barriers for your industry, your competitive environment will change over time. Competitors will enter and leave and the most resilient among them will learn and evolve. Continue to analyze your competitors as time progresses. Consider performing a competitive analysis update on an annual or semi-annual basis.

No company exists in a vacuum online. If you ignore your competition, you will lose the opportunity to discover your own strengths and weaknesses. Effective competitive analysis gives you the information you need to "remove the blinders" and see your company as your customers and investors do, and to tune your marketing and business strategies for success.

Douglas Mackie - Consultant and Business Planner

http://www.fundamentallybusiness.com

A new Era for Search Marketing

Search Marketing involves finding the right search engine keywords to generate sales and leads. By tracking, monitoring and measuring their effectiveness you will most definitely enhance your chances of success and profitability.

Adjusting your strategies based on results is paramount to maintaining your presence and competitiveness. Each day you don’t follow these guidelines your qualified leads will be fewer, your return on investment will be lower and your competitors will gain at your expense.

One area you need to focus on is the difference between organic search and sponsored search and how high visibility is attained

A recent report by the Marketing Leadership Council (http://www.marketingleadershipcouncil.com) highlights the following statistics.

1. Well over half of Web site traffic comes from search engines.
2. The majority of business-to-business customers visit search engines for product or service.
3. 90% of users rarely look beyond the first three pages of search results.
4. Approximately 70% of buyers click on organic searches as opposed to sponsored or paid listings.
5. 81% of searches are made using Google (47%), Yahoo (21%) and MSN (13%).
6. Online advertising expenditures are expected to rise considerably over the next few years.

With these facts in mind it is obvious that your immediate goal is to strive to be in the top 30 search result listings. Anything less means the majority of your customers can’t even consider what you are selling.

Although Organic and Sponsored search results look similar, they are, in fact, very different. Research shows that both consumers and business buyers trust Organic search results more because they believe search engine computer driven algorithms verify the relevancy of the topic subject matter and are not driven by economics.

Quite simply, organic search results are calculated by algorithms which determine the relevant list of sites that closely match the keywords and phrases typed into the search box. Because algorithms are always moving and are different for each search engine you must monitor the activity and be prepared to adjust at any given time.

The actual keywords are definitely important but they are only one of many factors determining your ranking. The order, combination, position and place in which they appear also bear weight on rank. Next is the frequency in which they appear throughout the site is also relevant.

Other factors include:

1. The web site’s structure must be search engine friendly.
2. A well constructed site navigation for ease of indexing.
3. Use of static images as opposed to flash.
4. Proper title tags, meta description and meta keyword tags.
5. A linking strategy.

When all these factors are properly optimized the site ranking is well positioned for Organic search results. Of course, if they are not the reverse is inevitable.

Just remember, the rules are constantly changing and you must act accordingly to remain strong, competitive and profitable.

Douglas Mackie http://www.fundamentallybusiness.com

ANALYZING YOUR BUSINESS & MARKET

Before you can develop an effective marketing plan for your business, you must know the answers to the following key questions and then proceed to preparing a feasibility study.

• What business are you really in?

• What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of your company?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your products/services?

• What are your company’s goals?

Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses

• Company image

• Products and services (including price)

• Benefits to customers

• The cost of producing these products or services

• Management skills

• Human resources

• Business location

• Facilities and equipment

• Financial situation, including financing, cash flow and net profits

Setting Company Goals

• Unrealistic vs. Realistic
• Inconsistent vs. Consistent
• Not Specific vs. Specific
• Not measurable vs. Measurable

To be successful make sure your goals are Realistic, Consistent, Specific and Measurable. It sounds easy but, it requires careful thought and honesty.

Analyzing the Market

In order to analyze the potential for your business, you need to answer some questions/requests to determine the data and methods you use to achieve your business goals.

1. What do you estimate the total market--in terms of numbers of prospective buyers and dollars--to be for your product or service?

2. If your business can be broken down into different categories, list the total market for each of these categories.

3. Has the market continued to grow over the last 5 to 10 years

4. State the growth as a percentage or total dollar volume. How does it relate to your business?

5. Are there any demographic trends to support your business concept?Have there been any shifts in the economy that will likely make your

6. Business prosper.

7. How will you attract and keep your customers?

8. How are you going to price your product or service, to make a fair profit, and at the same time, be competitive?

9. Will someone pay your price

10. How can you expand your market?

11. Who are your targeted customers?

12. Within these targeted customers, who is typically the buying decision maker?

13. What kinds of needs do your customers have and how will you meet them?

14. Will you offer credit to your customers (accounts receivable)? If so, is this really necessary? Can you afford to extend credit? Can you afford bad debts?

These are just some of the questions that need answers

Now you have to assess and examine your place in the market and the growth opportunities. There are two key components to understanding the market: knowing your customers and knowing your competition. Research information on both customers and competition is essential to creating an effective marketing plan.

Simply put, a market is a group of people with wants, needs, values, expectations, money to spend and the willingness to spend it. They will exchange their money for products and services for one of three reasons:

· To satisfy basic needs

· To solve problems

· To make themselves (or someone else) feel good.

It is most important to know your customers and potential customers and then give them what they want.

When selling to another business, you need to know:

• The type of business and location
• Its products, services and annual sales volume
• The specific needs of those who will use their product or service
• How purchasing decisions are made and who makes them

It is important not to identify your market as everyone and anyone. It’s difficult, and expensive, to let everyone know about your product or service. It is better, by far, to find the people most likely to buy your product or service.

Search around there are lots of other companies vying for your customer’s attention. Your goal is to create value, a reflection of worth rather than cost. This is where you have to differentiate yourself. If there is no difference between you and the next guy, it all comes down to price.

As mentioned, it is also important to understand what the competition is.

In addition to the competition, it is useful to understand the bigger industry you are playing in as well as the environmental and regulatory climate.

Once you have chosen your target market and understand the landscape, how do you fit in? The easiest way to find out is to take a snapshot--- a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Included in this should be:

• A cost analysis—what does it cost you to deliver the product or service?
• What are the financial resources and constraints of the company?
• What are your distinctive assets and liabilities?
• What strategic questions do you have?

There are other issues you must address including asking “What does the company stand for”? Clearly it is there to make money, but money is the byproduct of a well-run organization. A company that understands and operates from an ethical core will produce a sustainable business with satisfied customers, fulfilled employees, industry respect and the potential to do great things.

You can read more about Business Planning and download our Free Start-up Business Guide on our Web Site at http://www.fundamentallybusiness.com

Steps to evaluating your Business Idea

Whether you want to start an online or offline business, the first thing you need to do is find out whether your product or service will sell. The first step to finding that out is to research the supply and demand of the market. Ideally you want a product or service with high demand and low competition. There are many resources with which you can accomplish that. But, before we get to that, always remember that a business idea is NOT a business opportunity until you go through the evaluation procedure and judge it to be feasible.

All successful business start-ups begin with the customer and the market in mind. Careful analysis needs to be done to determine the industry issues. What are the structure, size, growth rate and capacity of the market you have targeted? From a financial standpoint you need to look at what market share you need to reach to be profitable. You must develop a pricing strategy. Budget for your opening and operating costs to determine how long it will take to breakeven.

Just as important, analyze any barriers that may hinder your entry into the market.

To help you do the above follow these suggestions:

• Consider the advantages/benefits of your idea. Do they meet a need?
• Will your idea solve a specific problem your proposed customer may have?
• Is your idea original, an improvement on or a new combination of services or products?
• Who and what is your competition? What do they offer? How do you compare?
• Make sure you market test your product or service. Produce samples and ask for feedback. Listen to your customers.
• Project your short, intermediate and long range goals. What will your return-on-investment be?
• I your pricing structure such that customers can afford to buy it? What is the lifecycle of the product or service?
• Have you given any consideration to a customer service policy?

As you can see there are many factors that come into play when you are considering a new business proposal or idea. The bulk of what is covered here would be included in your business plan and accompanying marketing plan. Both of which are crucial to your success.

In summary.

It is not only customers, but competitors as well, that will determine the success or failure of your new business idea.

Securing customers in today’s cluttered marketplace is difficult and requires creativity and plenty of hard work. Identifying your customer base and attracting them to be potential customers is first and foremost. As I mentioned earlier there is a wealth of information available on the Internet, albeit mostly theoretical, but with persistence and common sense you can develop a plan. The mere fact there is competition in your chosen market means there is a market for your product or service.

Keep in mind the old axiom “People don’t plan to fail. They fail to

plan.”

Douglas Mackie

February 25, 2007

http://www.fundamentallybusiness.com

Internet Marketing Resources

Here is a current list of some of the programs I endorse and use that will help you achieve success with your Internet business efforts.

Affiliate Marketing Formula

This program is basically “brand new’. I was impressed with the professional approach and the content which Matthew Glanfield is offering. Go to his site using the link below and judge for yourself.

I immediately signed on for the 27 part free course he is offering, plus he has a number of other services available.

His course is very detailed and gives plenty of solid information to digest. Heck, he even gives you homework to do and planning sheets to fill out.

He states on his sales page, "I Want To Teach You The Same Step-By-Step Plan That I Used To Build My First Affiliate Marketing Business That Made Over $100,000 Within Only 6 Months...".

Here's What You'll Learn in the FREE 27-day Affiliate Marketing Formula course:

* How you can easily get started with my simple step-by-step Affiliate Marketing formula that will help you to build a thriving Affiliate Marketing business in less than two months!

* How you can drive a TON of traffic to your website WITHOUT spending a lot of money on advertising.

* How you can convert more visitors into life-long customers, more customers into affiliates, and more affiliates into life-long partners.

* How you can grow a thriving Internet business that will continue to expand and gain more revenue year after year!

· And much more...I, for one, liked the lesson on “Finding your Niche Market”.

Here’s the link to click:

http://www.affiliatemarketingformula.com/?ref=ideasby

NicheBOT V2

NicheBOT V2 is an online keyword analysis tool that is great for beginners and veterans alike and is one of the best free keyword research tools around.

NicheBOT V2 looks like a search engine with the typical search box centered in the middle of the page. There are six different searches that users can perform.

NicheBOT V2. Fits keyword research like a glove. If you do any keyword research at all, you must at least try this service. Allow yourself at least 30 minutes to get your head around how it all hangs together so you can get the full picture of the power of NicheBOT V2.

A keyword research tool that makes sense as it closely follows how users conduct their research. It has the ability to expand your lists to up to 10,000 words per seed keyword. This tool will suit almost anyone who does any kind of keyword research. This tool is especially useful with the demise of the Overture Keyword Tool.

The uneducated guess, but successful marketers know which are the best keywords to drive more traffic to your sites. NicheBOT V2 will do just that.

To access NicheBOT V2 click this link:

http://www.nichebot.com/members/go.php?r=1494&i=l0

Site Build It!

Site Build It! is an all-in-one, system that leads you step-by-step through the process of researching, designing, building, search engine optimization, and marketing for all kinds of websites.

All the tools are included to build and promote a web site which makes it great for beginners and experienced webmasters alike. Their system makes it possible to gain #1 rankings on Google, Yahoo! and AOL, as some of their published success stories detail.

When you take into consideration that a regular hosting package with far less features will cost you above $200. The Site Build It all-in-one system plus unlimited storage and bandwidth, makes it a great buy at the price of $299.

It really is the most simple information site building and marketing system available.

As a bonus, Site Build It is backed by a 30-day money back guarantee. After the 30-day money back period, they will refund on a pro-rated basis.

I have been an affiliate of this company for a long time and the services keep increasing and getting better. The free ebook downloads are a must, especially the “Affiliate Masters Course”…. click this link for a copy. http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/ideasby.html

"Don’t JUST build a Web site...build a Web BUSINESS?

http://buildit.sitesell.com/ideasby.html

For more quality, fully researched resources please visit my web site:

http://www.fundamentallybusiness.com

Published by Riverbank Traders Inc. 2007

The Beginnings of a New Report - Ezines

I am in the process of putting together a report on all aspects of Internet Marketing aimed at providing relevant, easy-to-understand information for the beginning marketer. Any comments you may have would be greatly appreciated. I can be reachec through email at start@fundamentallybusiness.com


A Changing Email Environment.
Emailing has become a complex form of communication with all the technological, social and regulatory measures affecting the patterns of delivery and the content of the messages. The speed with which the medium changes is almost mind boggling, where changes to today's "best practices" are literally just around the corner. For example Blogs and RSS are considered to be new wave but there are newer methods lurking on the horizon.
But, there is still plenty of opportunity and money to be made by sending out Ezines or Newsletters, whichever you prefer to call them. And Blogging has proven to be a good way to increase your Web Site ranking.
One of the most attractive features in sending your messages by Email are they are inexpensive to produce and distribute. That fact still remains true today.
Effective emails do come with a cost. You must put the effort and resources together to produce quality messages in order for them to be read. And that is much harder to do with the clutter that invades everyone's inbox. You must keep your messages free from fluff, filler and hype and give a direct benefit.
To begin with creating and publishing a regular newsletter (or ezine) requires careful thought and planning. On my Web site I discuss the options available to you, supply creative and technical perspectives and recommend resources where you can find further specific information. There is no shortage of different products and services being offered on the Internet. So much so it becomes a bit overwhelming as to which ones are being best suited for your individual situation.
Here are two products you should have a look at, they will give you basic, practical information on how to start and write an Ezine (Newsletter). They are Easy Ezine Toolkit and Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Ezines.
You can rest assured that the ideas and recommendations I put forward will have been researched and are supplied by reputable businesses. As you will learn, or may already know, a business is always in a state of change. You're always making adjustments, testing and targeting. The history of marketing, and in particular direct marketing, is full of false starts, failed attempts and sudden changes. Email is no different and is changing to counteract some formidable challenges. Such as, Spam which has emerged as a threat to an exciting and highly effective marketing tool. The backlash against spam, through blocking and filtering, is becoming problematic as overzealous blocking is hindering legitimate messages.
You need to be aware of what is going on around you. What are the industry trends, new technology, the competition's strategy, and most importantly, listen to your customers.
The planning stage, in my opinion, is critical and will save you a lot of time, money and frustration. Doing your homework will enhance your chances for success given the fact that 80% of new businesses fail in their first year of operation.


What is an Ezine?
An Ezine is a newsletter that is distributed via email or online. It is also known as an Email Magazine, Online Publication or Electronic Newsletter.
Companies use ezines to keep in touch with their customers, inform them of new products, special offers, and are usually published free of charge. When your mailing list reaches a certain number, say around 4000 you can consider selling advertising space in your Ezine.
The usual way to subscribe to an Ezine is by signing-up on a web site and sending a blank email to a subscribe email address. Anther method is through Web Directories.
Why should I publish an Ezine?
Staying in touch with your customers and potential customers is a key reason to publish an Ezine.. It can overcome one of the challenges to business on the Internet, and that is the trust factor. Ezines enable you to build relationships and create an online identity.
For example, someone is interested in buying a product you offer, but is hesitate because they don't know you, or have any history with you. Plus.. There is no face to face interaction and they can't talk to you directly. If, however, your messages have been clear, concise and straight forward and are willing to help me, this reinforces your competency and potential customers are more likely to buy from you. Ezines provide the perfect vehicle with which to accomplish this.
An important side benefit to publishing an Ezine (newsletter) is it allows you to notice trends in your business, so that you can improve your customer service and ultimately improve your bottom line.
Consider this?
What is one of the first tasks you undertake when you arrive at the office? Chances are you read your email. Email use is rising fast. According to Forrester Research, over 35 percent of Internet user time is spent with email. What is most interesting is that we even check our work email while on vacation and during the weekend. It has become a part of our every day lives.With people spending so much time on email, there is an enormous opportunity to market to them and build solid customer relationships. Email has emerged to become one of the most profitable and economical ways to manage customer relationships, presenting marketers with many opportunities and benefits.
Opportunities
Low Cost - Email advertising is the most cost-effective way to reach customers. When you consider how much money you spend on traditional marketing vehicles, the value of email marketing is evident. For instance, you do not have to worry about production, the use of materials or postage - as you do for direct mail. What is most attractive is that you market to an audience that will receive your message and likely respond to it because they have provided permission to accept it
Targeted and Qualified Audience
When you create your own email list (as opposed to buying it) it means you follow a process whereby you contact your intended audience and gain permission to use their email address for future communications from your company. No list is more targeted or qualified. Because these individuals have agreed to accept a message from you, it is likely that they will read the message and take part in a particular action, whether it is to simply visit your site or make a purchase. This type of marketing is very effective – particularly when you consider direct marketing or other forms of traditional advertising where you spend large amounts to reach an audience that may never receive your message.
Fast, Efficient and Effective
Developing an email campaign is not as resource hungry as other marketing activities. You simply develop the message, identify your audience and send the message. There is also the flexibility to alter the message for different audience groups. For example, you may send a message informing recent buyers about a sale you are having. Then, you may add a coupon to this message for customers who have visited your store but have not yet made a purchase. This flexibility is not available with other marketing vehicles, which require various resources to implement. Email marketing also generates immediate responses since the call to action is within the message and provides an easy response mechanism for customers. For example, all they have to do is click on a link.
Personalized Communication
Email marketing is a proactive medium to maintain contact with customers and build relationships with them. Leveraging information from past interactions, you can identify where your customers are in the buying process and engage them with regular communication that is tailored to their needs with personalized messages and timely information. You can deliver information that provides the most satisfaction to them and is most profitable to you.For instance, you may remind customers about a sale you are having, invite them to a customer appreciation night or alert them with new product notifications. By personalizing the customer experience you can maximize existing relationships and turn prospects into long-term, loyal and profitable customers.
Easy to Track and Evaluate
Traditional marketing campaigns can take months to plan, implement and evaluate. For instance, to roll-out a direct mail campaign it would take weeks to develop the content, organize production and mail the promotion. Then, there is a period of time when you wait and see if your campaign brought any results. Have people visited your web site? Have they visited your store? Have they made a purchase? What exactly is the return on investment? Measurement of the effectiveness of the campaign is limited. Email marketing campaigns can be executed within days and results tracked immediately. Using various software packages, you can determine how many customers received the email, how many opened it and how many bought a product because of your message.The low cost, efficiency, and personalized nature of email marketing provides substantial opportunity to reach all your marketing objectives, whether it be to increase sales, improve brand awareness, or drive site traffic.
Increase Sales
In addition to providing an easy means to send out coupons, discounts and other promotions, email marketing enables you to provide a solid call-to-action to a specific offer, which is easy to take advantage of. If you want to increase sales, a strong offer is central to the success of your email campaign. It’s also effective to include e-commerce functionality within the email to shorten the sales process.
Improve Brand Awareness
Email provides an easy medium through which to gain the attention of a large audience, particularly if your message is entertaining, compelling, or unique. The trick is to improve the association of your message with the branding of your company. For instance, if your audience is primarily young and have a carefree attitude, you may provide a promotion to win an outdoor adventure vacation.
Drive Site Traffic
If you want to increase your site traffic, email marketing provides an easy and effective avenue through which to entice people to your site. Attract attention to your site with a sample of the benefits your business provides. Provide content that will attract the audience’s attention and encourage customers to check your site for more information. Entice them with free offers, humor, or entertaining tools.
Challenges
The biggest challenge with email marketing is the collection and maintenance of email addresses. To have a successful email campaign you need to qualify your email addresses and ensure you have your customer’s permission to use their address - otherwise the long-term costs could negatively impact your business success.
Qualify
How can you ensure an email address on your list belongs to a particular person? How can you ensure the email address is correct? When you compose a list of email addresses it is necessary to qualify each one. There are many techniques to test the quality of the addresses you gather. For instance, you may send an automatic email telling the customer that they have been added to your mail list and ask them to confirm their acceptance. Or, you can have the customer provide their address twice to reduce entry mistakes.
Inform and Gain Permission
Adding email addresses to your customer files requires that you inform customers on how you plan to use their address and obtain permission to do it. If you do not follow this process, the long-term results could result in lawsuits, and wasted marketing dollars trying to reach people who do not want to receive your messages. You may also be labeled a ‘spammer’, which can affect your business reputation and image.
Maintain Lists
Email addresses are perishable pieces of information. What may be the correct email address for a customer one day may be different the next. According to NFO Research Group (2000), 32 percent of consumers change their email address each year. Therefore, it is important to ensure you maintain contact with customers and provide then with easy methods to update their address. It is also important to re-establish email purposes. For instance, if the customer has agreed to accept information on product sales, this does not mean they are open to accepting other forms of communication, such as a newsletter. You will need to re-affirm what your customers have agreed to accept so you do not anger them or risk jeopardizing your company image.
What will it cost to publish my Ezine?
The cost of producing an Ezine varies widely; depending on how much of it you do yourself and how much you rely on outside sources. Discounting the cost of Internet connection and web hosting you should be able, at the outset, to keep the costs to a bare minimum. You can always add services as you progress and learn more about the processes and start fine tuning your program.
There are three basic methods to manage your list and mail your Ezine.
1. Do It Yourself - here's a source to check out
E-ZINEZ.COM
2. Use a Free ListServer Service
YahooGroups -eGroups/OneList
3. Hire a Professional List Host
Vertical Response
Mailloop
Topica
My Ezine's Name and Focus
The name of your Ezine is one of the most important decisions you will make. Try to create a simple, but easy to remember name. One that will reinforce the subject matter you are going to write about and promote. Many Ezine publishers create a “slogan” or “catchy phrase” to capture potential readers’ attention. While this has its benefits don’t get too cute. You don’t want to confuse people and leave them unsure as to what it is you are writing about and what benefit it will be to them to read it. Always keep in mind there hundreds of thousands of ezines published so you have to make yours stand out to be noticed.
When you have chosen a topic, research your competitors to see what they offer. And also research what it is your target audience wants to know. Talk to you customers to find out what they really need; don't just assume. Whatever you write your email newsletter about, it must absolutely and clearly benefit your customer somehow; otherwise, it'll be dropped into the email trash can quicker than a promotion for Viagra.
With this information you can then create subject categories and list them chronologically in a reader-friendly format. People won’t search too long for information. If it is not readily available they will move on. And you’ve lost them.
Knowing what particular theme you are going to feature makes you content search a little easier. Even if you feature multiple categories in your Ezine there are literally thousands of sources on the Internet to find relevant articles. Of course writing your own articles is important as it will create and identity and promote your own credibility. Most importantly you want to develop a trusting relationship with your readers. This is the sure way to a profitable online business.
Your ability to solve a problem for someone or to meet a need is of prime importance. Will it save them time? Make them money? Entertain them? Or, inform and educate them?
Again, the strategy for writing an Ezine is no different than for starting a business. What you write needs to be something that your competition is not doing, or is significantly better than your competition. You must deliver a "Unique Selling Position."
Use the search engines to start researching your content, look up the highest rated keywords and start assembling information. Bookmark the sites of interest and create a file to keep all your information together in one place.
After a while you’ll be amazed at how much information you have gathered. Read it and filter through it to compact it into clear, concise, to the point content.
Don’t rely solely on the Internet for your research and information. Take a look, depending on your theme, at what is around you. It may be medical, educational, social or associations that can supply quality case studies, research, experiment or repots that you can incorporate in your articles.
The bottom line is to write an email newsletter that delivers substantial value to both your customers and your company.
How You Write is Important
Equally important as to what you write is how you write it. You could choose the best topic in the world, have the best design and promote it relentlessly, but if your style of writing doesn't go over well with your email newsletter subscribers, you'll be spinning your wheels. For more information on choosing the best style for your Ezine (newsletter) and one that effectively meets your goals is available with this free Ebook download at 10 Ways to Profit from an Email Newsletter
The Easiest Way to Write Anything!
By "Mr. Fire" Joe Vitale
You've got something to say. You know it. Your associates knowit. But you don't regard yourself as "a writer."
How are you going to express your wisdom? How will you communicate your thoughts?
Yes, you can follow the path of J.Paul Getty, Lee Iacocca, andDonald Trump and hire someone to write your words. That works.
But there is an easier way.
I call this the "two step" because that's all there is to it. Here's the secret in a nutshell:
Step one is state your principle. Step two is illustrating it.
Pretty simple dance routine, right? Yet you can use this methodto write ANY type of nonfiction---whether it's your life story, a school paper, an executive brief, or a full length scholarlybook. (Actually, the scholars sorely need this method. They'retoo stuffy!)
I was reminded of this method while reading a book from the1940's. I noticed that throughout the book the author would makea statement and then illustrate it with a story. The more Ithought about it, I felt this was the easiest way to writeanything.
Here's how it works:
1. Make a list of the ideas you want to communicate. Pretendthese are laws, rules, insights, commandments, theories, orwhatever will work for you. What you're looking for is a list ofmessages. For example, I was working with a Houston body-mindtherapist and I told him about this method. I said, "One of yourmessages is that people can have whatever they want, as long asthey aren't attached to how they get it." He nodded. "Anothermessage of yours is that the energy we put out is the result weget." He nodded again. "Those are your key points," Iexplained. "Write those down. That's easy. All you do is pullout a sheet of paper or turn on your laptop, and just jot downthe ideas you want to get across."
2. Now all you do is illustrate every point with three stories.This is what I liked about that book from the forties. Theauthor made a statement, and then illustrated it with a story thatmade the statement come to life. "You have all kinds of storiesto share," I reminded my therapist friend. "For every point youmake, support it with a story. Maybe tell how someone achieved abreakthrough following your main point. This reinforces yourpoint and makes it easier to understand."
That's it!
Principle-story, principle-story, principle-story. You can take ANY subject and break it down this way.
You're making it easier on the readers, too. They don't have towade through a long involved tale. With this method, you cutright to the point. You say, "Here's what I believe," and thenyou use a story to explain why you believe it.
The book from the forties that I'm referring to was "How toDevelop Your Executive Ability" by Daniel Starch. I'm using itas an example of this two-step formula, and not necessarilyurging you to run out and find a copy (it's out of print, anyway).
I just pulled the book off the shelf and opened it at random.I'm looking at the chapter titled "Putting New Ideas to Work."It begins with a statement: "Write them down at the time theycome to you."
It then spends four paragraphs giving lively quotes fromTolstoy, Darwin, and Robert Louis Stevenson about the importanceof writing down your ideas when they come to you.
If you just write down your message or key point, it will sit onthe page in a lifeless, very un-hypnotic way. If you want peopleto remember the message, if you want them to install the messagein their skull, then tell a story that illustrates it.
Your stories don't have to be classics of literature. A relevantquote can bring a statement to life. Stories from other peoplecan bring your message to life. But most powerful and memorableof all are the stories from your own experience.
I just flipped open Starch's book to chapter twenty-four, on"Turning Bad Breaks Into Opportunities." Right off the batthere's a statement: "Resolve not to be downed by failure."
And then follows a page and half of stories about people whowere in accidents and went on with their lives, including aquote from Cervantes and John Bunyan. This supportive materialawakens your message in the reader's mind.
You might notice that I just used this very technique to writethis chapter. I told you there was a two-step formula forwriting anything. Then I illustrated the two steps with storiesfrom my clients, and with a story about the book that gave methe idea.
This "two-step" works!
The next time you have to write something, remember: principle-story, principle-story, principle-story.
It's the easiest way to write anything!
Joe "Mr. Fire!" Vitale, regarded as one of the world's most powerful copywriters, is a best-selling author of marketing books and courses. Here's a listing of some of his products:
Hypnotic Marketing - techniques to publicize your emails and web sites
Hypnotic Writing - "hypnotic" tricks to get people to read your messages
Hypnotic Selling Tools - how to write for results
How often should I publish my Ezine?
The frequency with which you send your messages affects the format of your Ezine in terms of length and form. If you email less than once per month that normally won't be enough to positively impact your customers. A better frequency would be to send ezines on a weekly basis as that seems to be the optimum between not overwhelming your readers with information and maintaining a strong relationship with them.
What time of the day and what day of the week your Ezine is published can also impact on the response to your email newsletter. In this area there are a lot of theories and basically you'll have to test your messages to see what time works best for you.
The following is one such theory with the reasoning given:
.Email newsletters between Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET. With the reasoning being:
1) People are usually extremely busy on Mondays and don't have time to read;
2) People are distracted on Fridays as they are getting ready for the weekend;
3) Sending in the meat of the day ensures that people will be at their desks -- after they have processed emails they have received the previous night but before they get ready to go home. Again this is not the case in all scenarios. You'll do best by studying your readers' habits.

Thank you for your time and assistance
Douglas Mackie
Riverbank Traders Inc
St. Catharines CANADA

Start-up Business Guide

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The Guide is written in everyday language and if you follow the format, it will save you time and money and give you a little... peace of mind.

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